Chapter 46 – The Firing From The Readied Marksman Begins
“Hello?”
“Hey Min-Cheol. Where are you?”
“In front of the association building. When do you think you’ll finish?”
“This stuff isn’t important to listen to. I’ll be escorting your mother outside in 10 minutes.”
“Ok. I’ll be in front of the subway. Exit 3.”
Due to the heavy amount of security around the association building, I decided to wait by the subway.
I had wiped all the blood off me, as well as getting a change of clothes.
But I could not hide the scent of blood that permeated my skin.
I looked around my surroundings briefly.
Soon, I saw my mother and Jong Ho exiting.
“Oh my. Why are you so smelly.”
“I went hunting. How was the debate?”
“Don’t even ask. You can’t go around hitting people, okay? Especially beating the weak to death, to the point where you can’t even recognize their corpses. I don’t know where the world is headed towards.”
At my mother’s words, my heart became heavy.
Didn’t I just kill over 500 members of the guild?
But I do not regret today’s events in the slightest.
I had to get tougher, both physically and mentally.
To protect what is mine, I could take on more.
“Hey. What do you think I think of you. Mom already knows. You won’t hurt anyone first.”
“You’re wrong. Even if a regular person attacks first, you have to solve it with words.”
“Ok! I got it, I got it. Guess you had quite the fun, since you’re still talking. Let’s go home already. I’m hungry.”
* * *
After coming back home and finishing the meal, I talked to Jong Ho about Jin.
I needed a plan to deal with him.
He already fully understood my abilities.
But I had no information regarding his abilities or the superiors above him.
And I can handle their attacks to some degree.
But I could not guarantee the safety of my mother when I leave to hunt.
Jong Ho was surprised at my infinite mana ability, as he heard it for the first time.
He did guess that my mana regeneration rate was insanely high.
Why would I trust him so much to the point where I’d share my ability?
It’s a bit embarrassing, but I had the midget do a background search on Jong Ho using a mid-ranking assassin.
All I could find out was that he was a better man than I thought he was.
That’s why I trust him with my mother during the Noblesse incident.
I teased him about how I could not hide the truth from him, but I couldn’t hate him.
Jong Ho shifted the topic to the battle’s events.
“An attack through 3 level 100 shields? Definitely something else for sure.”
“I don’t care about how amazing he is. I’m worried for my mother’s safety. The day we meet again is going to be his funeral.”
My rare look of seriousness must have made him feel awkward, because he waited until I finished.
“But there one thing that I found amusing.”
“What would that be?”
“Hyung, think about it carefully. If someone that skilled attacked, wouldn’t they aim for the heart or through the head?”
“That’s true.”
“But he aimed for my stomach. Definitely an injury I could die from, but not something you’d die instantly from.”
“Hm….”
“Due to the 3 shields I had on, the attack angle got shifted? That’s possible. However, I felt it for sure. That he aimed for a non-vital spot on purpose.”
“Their income line the Noblesse guild is heading towards annihilation, so why would he not finish you off in one hit? Don’t you think his attack missed its mark?”
“As I said before, he already knows about my ability. If I take that into account, I’m guessing that he needs my infinite mana ability.”
Soon as I finished talking, I pulled out my smartphone.
It was to show what I filmed on the 15th underground floor.
Jong Ho’s expression turned serious, and he began to focus on the smartphone.
“What is this?”
“It’s the Noblesse’s 15th underground floor. Do you have any idea what this machine is?”
“Ah… where did I see this.”
Jong Ho was trying to think of something.
“I became sure of something after looking at this.”
“Sure of?”
“The thing which they’re extracting out of all those people. It’s mana.”
“Mana? So they extract all the mana and send it to the portal? For what reason?”
“That I do not know. But the mana required will be something that even mana from hundreds of people cannot complete. Due to how much they need my ability, they can’t act rashly.”
“If what you say is right, you’ll be okay for a while. But they’ll probably point their sword as you, just like how Noblesse did.”
“Of course I’ll have to get enough power to rip them apart. And before I do that, I need to guarantee my mother’s safety. So I could be at ease and focus on getting stronger.”
“There is a simple method.”
“What’s that?”
“You just have to cast a skill on your mother.”
“You can’t cast anything but attack skills on regular people though?”
That was true.
Including the Status Negation that Park Hyun used, as well as heal, attack and defensive buffs, etc. could not be used on anyone but the Awakened.
There was no way Jong Ho didn’t know this.
But Jong Ho isn’t the type to just make up nonsense.
I prayed that what he was about to say was the solution I needed.
“Recovery or buff skills are impossible. But attacks are fine, right?”
“… What do you mean?”
I couldn’t help but be surprised at what Jong Ho said.
However he continued on without his expression changing in the slightest.
“Necromancer has a skill called ‘Proof of Oath’ that you can use.”
“What’s that?”
“Basically you make the target your servant.”
“Wait hyung. I don’t think you understand. I….”
“You can only cast it on targets much weaker than you. A skill that’s like a debuff, but it is classified as an attack skill.”
“…..”
“Originally it’s used to transfer all the damage taken by the user to the target, like a human meat shield. But the funny thing is that it also goes the other way around as well.”
“Really? If there is a skill like that, I feel like Necromancer deserves far more praise than the king of VIPs, the tanks. Or even the all-purpose warriors.”
“That’s true. But if I didn’t know about your ability, I wouldn’t recommend this skill.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nobody in the world can use this skill. At least not as of yet. Well, I don’t think it would even be used in the future anyways.”
“Is the mana cost that much? How much is it?”
“5 million. Exactly 5 million. If mankind kept evolving endlessly, it would be possible to use. If death doesn’t exist, they could continue to level and by using incredible items… cast the skill. But that doesn’t apply to you, does it?”
“But if you use that skill, won’t you take away their will? Since you could control them.”
“That’s true, but that depends on your control. You could take over their minds, or you could just have the effect of the skill on them and leave their mind alone.”
If what Jong Ho said was correct, this was the perfect plan.
Even if my mother is attacked, all the damage would be transferred to me.
Other than skills beyond being classified with a rank, there is no attack that could go through my Mana Shield.
And it has the benefit of not tampering with the will of the target if desired.
No matter how much it costed, it was something I needed to obtain.
I couldn’t hide my excitement as I asked.
“It would be incredibly expensive, right?”
“Yes… incredibly expensive.”
“I only have to Awakened Essences, but would that be enough?”
“Difficult.”
“Where could I get it?”
“Probably in the trash dump behind the market place.”
“Ah. I almost hit you. So a skill that’s worthless.”
“Of course, who would buy a skill that’s worthless even after you obtain it? If you hunt a Mimic, something crazy like that drops.”
“How did you know this so well?”
“I’ve been working on the bottom level of society for this long. This is just the basics.”
I headed to the market with Jong Ho.
* * *
It’s been a week since I wiped out Noblesse and Park Hyun.
I immediately obtained the skill Jong Ho talked about.
A magician could cast it by using both hands.
Thankfully it wasn’t a skill that required constant casting like Mana Shield.
It continued to stay on with just one cast, and only needed to be recasted when you controlled the target.
I needed to test the effect of the skill.
I couldn’t just cast the skill on my mother without being safe.
But there was a quick and easy way to find out.
It was Sunday morning.
I headed towards the scream I heard in the kitchen with urgency.
My mother had cut her finger while cooking.
She held onto the finger tightly.
But when she opened her hand, there was no wound, as if the cut never happened.
She was surprised, but thought of it as being fortunate. She didn’t seem that suspicious.
I was using Mana Shield.
Even if it was the all cutting rose knife, she would not have a wound.
The news had the ‘Disappearance of Noblesse’s guild members’ as a special feature.
They were treating it as a mystery, since they could not find a single trace of them.
500 were treated as murdered, but there was nothing about the portal.
The Association was not able to find the portal in the building?
The chance of that happening was zero.
And the machine set up around the portal was cleanly removed.
Guess they couldn’t let it be exposed through the media.
Through the skill Proof of Oath, I could finally feel a bit more relieved concerning my mother.
But Jin is incredibly skilled.
If he’s following an organization, there must be people far more powerful than him.
If they had a skill beyond a ranking? Then I would be done in without any resistance.
I had bought myself some time due to my ability.
I had to use this opportunity to the fullest so that I would not be hit by any attack. That was the amount of growth I needed.
Since level 19 to 21 dungeons could not be hit magic attacks, I went to the level 23 dungeon.
To make the hunting go by faster, I had even obtained the Louver’s Necklace at the level 18 dungeon, so I could use both hands without worry.
Using the set effect, I could create a shield using their magical essences.
Anything the dungeon threw at me could easily be blocked by this shield.
I went through the level 18 dungeon for the necklace, but I also leveled.
I had reached level 170, and put all the points into the stamina stat.
There was no reason to put any more points into strength.
Just counting the amount I put in, it was already past 600.
It was something only a warrior who only put strength stat until level 118 could reach.
Both Banwol Jincheon on both my hands gave a massive stat bonus to my strength already.
Unless a skill or an item that nullified all magic appeared, I planned to put all the points into dexterity and stamina.
That was also the reason to choose the level 23 dungeon.
It was to obtain the defensive gear dropped from that dungeon.
“Jin or whoever it may be, I’ll shoot the moment I’m ready.”
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