abcnovels
Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Chapter 68
"The refinement of mana is the Elf’s unique way of manipulating mana," Lee Shin muttered.
In the midst of the confrontation, Lee Shin’s sudden advice on Vuela’s technique made Vuela lose his energy and be disheartened.
‘What is he trying to do with me? Is he trying to distract me or something?’
Vuela decided to listen to Lee Shin for a moment because it seemed like Lee Shin knew about the mana manipulation of the Elves. It was also because Lee Shin did not seem nervous about this battle at all.
"What you just did was very good mana manipulation. Of course, there are still some things you have to work on, but the refinement of mana that maximized your slashes was great," Lee Shin explained.
"...So what is it that you want to say?” Vuela asked Lee Shin with an annoyed voice.
Unless they had known something about a clan’s refinement of mana, it was impossible for anyone to identify what needed improvement from simply blocking a single attack. If they could, then they must be a wizard with a tremendous understanding of mana manipulation to grasp all of these nuances at once.
However, Vuela thought that it did not make sense for a human, instead of some higher-ranked species, to have such talent at—what’s more—the seventeenth floor, which was considered a low floor.
‘What is this guy up to?’
Whether Lee Shin realized Vuela’s distress or not, Lee Shin continued on with his monologue.
"Well… What was the name of the technique that you just used?" Lee Shin asked Vuela.
"...It was the Wave Cutting Sword," Vuela said.
"Hmm… a sword that cuts through waves. That's a pretty good name for it actually," Lee Shin muttered.
When Lee Shin nodded, he seemed like a teacher who was standing in front of a student who just showed off their skills.
"In order to cut through the waves, you would first have to figure out the flow. I’m talking about the flow of nature here, and it’s almost impossible to feel it if you don’t have talent. In that sense, Elves are born with tremendous talent. And among them, I think you must have the greatest talent." Lee Shin complimented Vuela, continuing with his explanation.
Vuela had been listening to Lee Shin’s calm words attentively, before he even realized it.
"The way you refined your mana was a flawless way of mana manipulation, to the point where you can say that there is no better method to manipulate it for the Elves.” Lee Shin explained.
"But then what's the problem?” Vuela asked because his feedback did not make sense to him.
"Well, I don’t think this technique really suits you," Lee Shin replied.
"What did you say?" Vuela asked with an annoyed voice, because he could not believe the words coming from Lee Shin’s mouth.
"To be more exact, it does not suit the sword,” Lee Shin explained.
When Lee Shin said that, Vuela became emotional and was getting enraged once again.
"Don't be ridiculous! You’ve only seen it once! So you probably don’t even know what you're saying!” Vuela shouted as if what Lee Shin was saying was nonsense.
"Then do it once again with all your might. If you really believe in your technique, prove it,” said Lee Shin.
Crunch—
After hearing Lee Shin’s provocation, Vuela gritted his teeth so hard that his teeth almost cracked. He activated his mana once again.
There was no swordsman who would not get angry when a challenger whom he had just met suddenly criticized their technique. The refinement of mana was so fundamental to Vuela and it made no sense for him to stop using this technique.
All of the sudden, it seemed as if the Herman Temple became a place of instruction. The challenger from the Miao tribe and the two human challengers who had been standing beside the Elf stared at Lee Shin and Vuela, stunned.
They had thought Vuela was already a strong challenger, but there was another challenger who seemed even more outstanding. They did not want to get on Lee Shin’s nerves, because they thought they might get killed by Lee Shin, even before they could accomplish anything.
"Again?"
"Stay back."
Those three challengers freaked out at the sudden sight of Lee Shin and Vuela trying to confront each other. They thought for a second whether they should intervene in their battle or not, but ended up deciding that it was best to just stay back. It was because they thought that even if they were to intervene, they were unlikely to have an influence in this fight.
"I'll make you regret saying that,” Vuela said with rage.
Vuela’s wildly soaring mana contained a different anger than before.
‘Yeah, this is it.’
There was a determination to tear the enemy in front of him apart in Vuela’s attack this time. His determination could be seen from the sword when energy gathered in the sword.
[Wave Cutting Sword]
Woong— Swoosh—
A torrent of mana swept over Lee Shin. And this time, Lee Shin really had to start feeling the pressure.
‘Ha… He’s just attacking me recklessly just because I told him to.’
Lee Shin was aware that practice and actual fighting were different. Lee Shin smiled mysteriously and spread his black mana. The next moment, May popped out behind Lee Shin, casting a spell at Vuela, who was brandishing his sword without hesitation.
"Keugh…!" Vuela gasped.
Suddenly, a mana wave hit Vuela. Vuela, who had only concentrated on a single goal because of his anger, was struck by May’s spell and was pushed away so helplessly, not even able to withdraw his sword.
"Keugh!" Vuela gasped again.
Vuela vomited blood several times, because of a severe internal injury.
"Hey, V-Vuela! Are you alright?"
"What a coward! You told him to show you his skills, and then attack him from behind?”
"This is why we don’t like wizards who use black magic!”
Vuela's team members supported him and criticized Lee Shin.
"You sure you want to be fair? Then shall we be fair and fight one-on-one?” Lee Shin asked the challengers who were in Vuela’s group and suggested.
When Lee Shin suggested that, they could not argue with him anymore. They had more things that they wanted to say, but they knew they might have to fight that crazy necromancer one-on-one if they were to say something back to Lee Shin.
"Keugh..." Vuela groaned.
"You are well-trained to not be beaten,” Lee Shin muttered.
Vuela, who had been sitting leaning against the wall, looked at Lee Shin with bloodshot eyes, then sighed, with a resigned look on his face.
"So, I guess this is how I end up.” Vuela smirked, looking at his clenched fist.
"There's a saying that I've heard since I was a child. They told me to kill this fiery person in me, since Elves must always stay cool and calm. But I guess I'm dying like this, so helplessly,” Vuela muttered.
"Who said I’m going to kill you?” Lee Shin asked.
Vuela looked up at Lee Shin as if he did not understand what Lee Shin meant. However, Lee Shin was looking down at him with an expressionless face as if his interest in Vuela had disappeared.
"You seem to think of yourself as a great Elf, but I don't really care whether you die or not. And besides, why should it matter whether you are dying alone or not?” Lee Shin asked.
When Vuela could sense that Lee Shin was looking down on him, his anger that had just been suppressed, rose again.
"Aren’t you too short-tempered to be an Elf? Besides, you have no rationality. Aren’t you just an idiot who only knows how to strike a sword but can’t avoid an attack?" Lee Shin asked and made fun of Vuela.
Crack— Crack!
Vuela’s pale face became red as he was becoming increasingly overcome with anger. When his colleagues noticed his rising anger, they took a step back.
"Stop… that… right now," Vuela said.
"What if I don’t want to?” Lee Shin asked.
"You… fucking… bastard…” Vuela muttered.
Even though he probably was already suffering a major internal injury, his mana began to move rapidly in his body. Lee Shin, who had been observing the flow of his mana, found that the mana blood vessels that had been broken throughout his body had stopped deteriorating.
‘This is…’
Rather, the movement of mana accelerated even more than before. Lee Shin was certain of that when he saw Vuela’s red eyes as if all the veins in his eyes had burst.
'No way… Is he a Berserker?'
However, Lee Shin did not notice any sign of that when Vuela made the sudden attack a while ago.
Wooong—!
There was a sudden upward slash from the bottom to the top. Lee Shin, barely avoiding it, clicked his tongue.
‘Did he just experience an awakening?’
Having the feature of a Berserker was a talent that only a few challengers were born with. If one had failed to kill a Berserker with a single blow, they had to be prepared to deal with an opponent that was a few times stronger than that.
Since Vuela had only started experiencing the awakening, he was not a full Berkerser just yet. However, if Vuela managed to clear this stage, he would have a 90% chance of acquiring the class of a Berserker.
If that happened, it would give Vuela the chance to be placed at a high rank and make his name known across all dimensions.
Lee Shin concentrated hard to avoid Vuela’s sword attacks, but with his current physical ability, he was beginning to reach his limit.
‘If I call out the wrong one, I will lose my subordinate.’
Even Warrie and May were still not enough to deal with Vuela in this condition.
‘Lilian.’
Lilian, who came out of the red portal, blocked Vuela’s sword using her blood spell. As if Vuela was sucked into a swamp, he sank into a pool of blood that was created in the black space. Vuela struggled, trying to escape from it.
"Argh!" Vuela screamed.
Swoosh!
However, after pulling himself out of the pool of blood using brute force, Vuela glared at Lilian who just used the blood spell on him.
"Wow, you’re a Berserker? You have such delicious blood," Lilian said with a smile
When Lilian made a hand gesture, the blood of fallen ascetics gathered and formed a drill-like figure which looked so violent as if it could penetrate everything it touched.
[Wave Cutting Sword]
However, Vuela's Wave Cutting Sword, which began to gain the effect of the Berserker, was equally strong.
Clang—!
With a loud bang, both Vuela and Lilian were pushed back by the force of the rebound. However, it was Lee Shin who started to look sick.
[You have consumed 15,200 Mana Points.]
[You have consumed 6,780 Mana Points.]
[You have consumed…]
Even if Lee Shin’s current Mana Points were hundreds of thousands, he could not handle it if the Mana Points started to reduce at this rate. Berserkers never got tired or exhausted, and fighting it would just reduce Lee Shin’s vitality. These battles were meaningless. Therefore, Lee Shin had to end this battle quickly, even if it cost him twice as much mana.
[Ice Fog]
[Electric Chain]
[Bomb]
The temperature of the battlefield dropped in an instant. Electricity started to flow in his flesh.
Crack! Crack!
"Keugh..." Vuela groaned.
Vuela held out. However, with the attack of ice pellets wrapped in the thunderbolt, his flesh was ripped and his muscle was torn apart.
"Keuuaahhh..." Vuela groaned again.
Lilian dealt the final blow in response to Vuela’s movement, which had slowed down for a short second.
"Keaaauuuggghh…" Vuela collapsed to the floor and lost his mind.
"If you’re not anywhere in my memory, it means you had probably died early," Lee Shin muttered.
There was no way that the name of such a talented challenger were not known. That meant that Vuela had died early because of his hot-tempered personality, or he lived his whole life without experiencing a full awakening.
[Divine Healing]
Lee Shin had acquired divine power from the previous floor. With that, Lee Shin was able to buy a skill on the 17th floor with some points.
There was not much divine magic that Lee Shin could use with two divinity stat, but this alone would help a lot in recovery. Lee Shin, who had somewhat finished recovering, got up. Then, Lee Shin called the three challengers who were watching him with trembling eyes.
"Huh? A-a-are you c-c-calling us?"
"Yes you guys, come and protect him," Lee Shin replied.
"What if he wakes up and becomes crazy again?”
"He won’t, so don’t worry. And by the way, do you guys think you have a choice right now?” Lee Shin asked.
Surprised by Lee Shin’s cold look, they nodded vigorously.
"Warrie," Lee Shin called out.
Lee Shin called Warrie, who returned from dealing with the ascetics and monks, and told him to protect Vuela. Then, Lee Shin moved on to the next room, because he could not just stand beside Vuela and wait until he woke up.
‘He'll come by when he wakes up.’
Vuela would realize how much he had gained when he woke up and doubt his future direction and plans.
"What now? Do we have some administrative monks?” Lee Shin muttered.
There were ten ascetics and ten administrative monks waiting for him in the room.
"I was aware of the chaos outside, but…you must have great skills to have come all the way here.”
"You won’t be able to go any further."
"Try stopping us then."
"What can you do alone?"
Lee Shin’s black mana radiated across the room and his undead entered the room. Lee Shin did not bother to answer their questions, because he was ready to respond with action.
Thump!
Beltiar, who struck a greatsword in the ground, roared.
"Corps of Death, kill all those humans,” Beltiar ordered with a determined voice.
"It won't be that easy.”
The ascetics mainly attacked using martial arts and the administrative monks used their psychic energy blast. They got into a formation and destroyed the undead one by one.
"I mean, we are also capable of making a series of attacks, you know?” The undead started to get into the same combat position as the monks.
Soon after, gaps began to appear in the monks’ formation.
"You evil!" One of the monks shouted.
It was completely different from when Lee Shin had to face the ascetics only, as the combination of the administrative monks completely made up for the lack of synergy among the ascetics.
Majority of the undead, except for Lee Shin’s main subordinates, were not having much impact on them. However, that changed when Lee Shin used his skill which was considered his power.
[Summoning of the World of Death]