abcnovels
Chapter 266: Ill-fated Relationship (4)
Chapter 266: Ill-fated Relationship (4)
Chapter 266 Ill-fated Relationship (4)
Sharon Aphlan. When he first found out about her ranking, Yoon-seok had her in mind as a fellow candidate but gave up because of her unique habit. He instinctively felt uncomfortable around her. However, it was now a different story.
“Teammate…?”
“Yes. I need you.”
To be precise, he needed her powers of cooldown reset. Wasn’t that the same ability as the dwarf from 500 years ago? He would have to look for more details, but for now, Infinite Regression could be established with just that ability alone.
“No, wait a minute. Human, I don’t understand at all? What is this watch?”
Instead of explaining everything, Yoon-seok glanced at the pocket watch in his hand.
“Appraise it.”
As Dracar did in the past, she would notice what he wanted as soon as she saw it if she could reset cooldowns.
“Appraisal.”
Sharon uttered the command aloud.
“It goes back to five minutes before death…?”
Compared to other pieces of equipment, it was a short and clear phrase. However, she frowned as if she didn’t understand. Of course, it didn’t last long.
“Human!!!”
Sharon’s eyes began to twinkle with excitement.
“Give me this! No, sell it! What do you need? Huh? Just tell me! I have a lot of everything! I also can transfer ownership of items!”
Yoon-seok smirked.
‘As expected.’
Sharon was also a Duel Ranker who had reached the 24th floor. She would know how well it matched her abilities at a glance.
“If you’re done with it, return it.”
Yoon-seok snatched the watch from her hands.
“W-why’d you take it away! Give it to me!”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
Seeing Sharon acting like a child who had her candy taken away, Yoon-seok cut her off and drew a line. Contrary to expectations, she accepted it calmly.
“Yeah, then there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m sorry too…”
Yoon-seok was speechless. Seeing her curling the end of her tail, her shoulders suddenly shrinking, and her face dyed red… Yoon-seok guesses he accidentally activated ‘that.’
‘It’s more troublesome than I imagined…’
It was shocking. Would she react to empty apologies from anyone? At this point, it was questionable whether daily life was possible.
‘…Should I just give up?’
He couldn’t now. After all, Sharon’s abilities were more valuable than anything else. To be honest, in terms of usability and importance, even the King of Steel and Lavan couldn’t do this alone.
‘…Let’s get it right for now.’
Yoon-seok let out a sigh.
“I’m sorry for giving you room for misunderstanding… no, I gave you the watch because I thought it would be easier to see it for yourself.”
“…I get that. About teammates, it’s because you need my help, right?”
Fortunately, Sharon quickly came to her senses. It seemed that the value of the pocket watch was more important than her immediate sexual excitement.
“What is it? Tell me.”
Yoon-seok shortened the explanation he had given to Lavan. Sharon threw away her recklessness and listened carefully. At the end of the explanation, she took the time to organize things succinctly.
“You’re trying to kill a being called the Queen. A total of twelve people can enter together with a ticket. Currently, five people have agreed, and if I join, it will make it six. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
Sharon didn’t ask him what she had to do there.
“I don’t know who the Queen is, but it wouldn’t be dangerous if I included this item.”
Infinite Regression was invincible. At least in the eyes of those who had never experienced such horrors themselves.
‘But it would be easier to convince them into thinking they can’t fail.’
Yoon-seok smiled and kept quiet.
“I know there’s little risk. What do I gain if I give you strength?”
“I’m sorry, but there is no such thing.”
“Heh…?”
“I’m sorry, but could you lend me your strength just once?”
Yoon-seok bowed and fixed his gaze clearly on her eyes.
“I-I-I can’t help it if you say… human! You’re making fun of me right now!
‘…It doesn’t work.’
Her reason remained. If it weren’t for that, she wouldn’t have been able to survive dozens of duels and come this far.
‘I can’t help it.’
Yoon-seok reluctantly brought out his final proposal.
“I will give it to you.”
“Huh? What? Don’t tell me…”
Sharon’s eyes widened, and Yoon-seok quietly nodded. He meant he would give her the watch when it was done.
“Really? Are you going to give it to me?”
“Yes. If I succeed in killing the Queen, I will hand over the watch to you in ten days.”
“Can you write me a contract?”
“Of course.”
Why ten days later? Sharon didn’t question but nodded vigorously.
“Great! I’m in!”
Looking at her pure and innocent eyes, Yoon-seok felt guilty.
‘In ten days, the decision will already be made.’
Whether Yoon-seok was dead, or the Tower broke down. Either way, promises to give her the pocket watch then were meaningless.
* * *
“Uh, do I have to buy the contract too?”
“It’s your condition, so wouldn’t that be right?”
“Well, that’s true… yeah, okay.”
In response to Yoon-seok’s imposing request, Sharon sullenly bought a Mutual Agreement contract with 500 LP from the achievement shop. Yoon-seok wrote down the provisions.
{Mutual Agreement}
- Challenger Sharon Aphlan uses the Last Bastion item with the Challenger Choi Yoon-seok at the desired time.
- Challenger Sharon Aphlan obeys all commands of Challenger Choi Yoon-seok until they return safely to the Tower following when the item is used.
- Ten days after returning safely to the Tower, Challenger Choi Yoon-seok transfers ownership of the Old Pocket Watch (Rank S+) to Challenger Sharon Aphlan.
4, If the contract is not fulfilled, the violator’s body will be destroyed.
There were four main provisions specified in the completed contract.
“What do you think?”
When Yoon-seok asked for her opinion, Sharon responded in a small voice.
“Everything is fine, but obeying all orders is a bit scary… even though I’m a demon, I’m also a woman….”
“Sorry, but this part cannot be yielded.”
“Yeah… then there’s nothing I can do…”
Sharon, receiving his apology, blushed and signed the contract. And right after Yoon-seok wrote down his name…
Whooosh!
The contract went up in a flash of smoke.
[There is no compulsion in the contract.]
[The Mutual Agreement has been concluded.]
Now it couldn’t be taken back. However, even though it went as he wanted, Yoon-seok felt guilty.
“Anyways, let’s take care of each other!”
Sharon, who stretched out her hand innocently, wouldn’t even know how favorable these provisions were to Yoon-seok.
‘I feel sorry for her…’
If his prediction was correct, there was a strong possibility that there would be no penalty for Yoon-seok even if he violated the contract. In the case of non-fulfillment, his body would be destroyed, but Yoon-seok was a complete exception in this category.
*Unbreakable Muscle — It will not be destroyed.
Well, that was just a reasonable guess. If possible, he would keep the contract.
“Then, since we’re teammates, please fill this out.”
Yoon-seok presented a new paper to Sharon, and he had her fill out all the information that could be verified through the tablet.
“…Do I have to do this?”
Sharon seemed reluctant to disclose her information to another challenger, but…
“I’m sorry, but it’s a necessary process.”
When he uttered the magic word, Sharon began to write down what he asked for.
“…Okay, I got it.”
At first, he thought it was a cumbersome unique habit, but now it was quite convenient. If he asked with an apology, she would respond most of the time without question.
“Okay, it’s done.”
Yoon-seok grabbed the paper and looked through it. He paused at one part.
“What’s wrong, Human? Did I make a mistake?”
“It is not like that. It’s a bit unexpected…”
“What?”
“I thought you were a wizard, but you’re a martial artist.”
“Yes! I’m not good at magic. I’m good at tearing and killing!”
When she answered honestly, Sharon smiled brightly. However, Yoon-seok re-read the stats written in the contract with a somewhat puzzled expression.
*Abilities
Strength SS, Agility SSS-, Stamina S+, Durability S+, Magic SSS-… it was good to have a strong teammate. So, why did he feel disappointed?
* * *
“Then let’s prepare well for the rest of our time and meet on the 25th floor.”
“Okay! Do I have to keep the watch until then?”
“Yes. And if you get a communication request under the nickname Grape Jam, please accept.”
“Yeah!”
After successfully recruiting Sharon (?), Yoon-seok headed straight to Earth. With his tight schedule, he didn’t have time to rest.
“You’re here.”
“Oh?”
Ashton and Lee Soo-yeon were waiting for Yoon-seok. They didn’t make any promises to do so, but from some point on, the three started gathering to talk after a duel.
‘I think Soo-yeon’s way of speaking has become a little more polite…’
Rather than talking about all his plans, Yoon-seok first asked about Lee Soo-yeon’s current situation.
“Nothing much. I was just exploring until the duel started.”
Contrary to saying that, her change was evident. Her equipment was better, the energy she exuded was stronger, and above all, the force with which she carried herself had changed.
“What about you?”
Yoon-seok concisely explained what had happened, starting with recruiting King of Steel and Lavan to Sharon just now.
“Then there are now six people left.”
“Are you upset that I picked all of them?”
“No, now I trust you. Your eyes will be more accurate than mine. And if it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to persuade those monsters. You have the power to attract people.”
Yoon-seok was at a loss given her excessive praise. However, Lee Soo-yeon continued casually.
“But there’s one thing that bothers me.”
“What is it?”
“You, Big Sister, the King of Steel, Lavan, and even that demon named Sharon. The roles are very similar. We don’t know what will happen, so we need to make up with the rest of the people.”
That was a good point. Sharon had the utility ability of reset, but she was a fighter of the Melee Fighter Faction. Either wizards or special talents, they would need challengers of that field.
“More than anything else, it would be nice to have at least one Healer Specialist…”
“Healing Specialist?”
However, Yoon-seok couldn’t agree with those words. As can be seen, most rankers self-healed based on their monster-like bodies. Moreover, if recovery was needed, there was a means for Yoon-seok to heal others using Skywrath Energy.
When he said that, Lee Soo-yeon smiled.
“Haven’t you met a proper healer yet?”
“But that’s….”
“You’ll change your mind when you meet them. They can even bring the dead back to life.”
“Bringing the dead back to life?”
He was a little surprised, but… come to think of it, Yoon-seok had seen similar abilities.
‘Challengers who have developed their abilities in that direction… it’ll help if there are any.’
However, one problem remained. Such challengers were extremely rare, and there were no such talents on Earth.
“I have one person in mind, but that guy isn’t from the duels. Of course, they’re a challenger from a different dimension.”
“Seheranbad? Moorim? Killian? Where?”
A completely unexpected answer came back.
“It’s Piarundal.”
Piarundal. Like Fedomia and Taklan, it was one of the outer dimensions Yoon-seok had never visited.
“It’s impossible right now. I’ll have to check it out later.”
“Yes. First, I’ll write down everything I remember about the Challenger. Well, even with this, it may be difficult to meet them…”
Even if they went to Piarundal, it was difficult to meet with a challenger. A lot of the time, they wouldn’t even be on the same dimension.
“Anyway, that’s all I have to say. Do you have anything more?”
“Nope. That’s all from me. I’m sorry, but can I leave this teammate stuff to you?”
Yoon-seok nodded as if there was no problem. For the current Lee Soo-yeon, becoming strong enough to survive the next duel was more important than this.
“Thank you for your understanding. Then, I will go first.”
Lee Soo-yeon went straight back to the Tower, and Yoon-seok followed Ashton to destroy the precious items they accumulated for several months to obtain WP. With this, all Yoon-seok’s business on Earth was over.
‘A total of five million…’
By purchasing Evolution and the One Who Leads the Light from Elle, he had grown his strength.
‘This should be enough.’
Yoon-seok returned to the Tower after summoning Lynn to Earth. Then, he sacrificed a million WP to meet another administrator.
[The unique skill {Heart of the Destructive Monarch} detects new connections in return for WP.]
[Random administrator matching completed.]
[You can use the WP. You have to purchase one of the administrator’s powers.]
He was finding out for the first time that only one could be purchased, but… there were no more powers to purchase from Elle anyway, so there was nothing to lose.
[Moving to the administrator’s residence.?
Yoon-seok slowly opened his eyes to find a quiet mansion with a pond in the yard. For a moment, he thought it was a familiar space.
“An unexpected guest… interesting.”
A man sitting on the large wood floor turned his head and looked at Yoon-seok, and he stiffened.
Yoon-seok reacted the same.
“Y-you from back then…!”
‘I didn’t know I’d meet this guy here. The world is so small.’
Once at the Auction of Desire and once at the duel on the 7th floor. Also, in the duel on the 10th floor… this man even had a history of dealing with Yoon-seok in a past life.
“Long time no see.”
Why did he have such a strong fate with this man? He didn’t know, but Yoon-seok grinned.
“Namgoong Zhe.”
Yoon-seok was truly glad to see him.