All‑Master Who Regressed to Bronze - Chapter 73

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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All Master Who Regressed to Bronze Episode 073

Jin Zaopin, the Danju of Salmak and an assassination-type player from China, sneered as he watched Shin Hyeok charging toward him.

‘He thinks he’s something special because people around him praise him. His abilities seem impressive, but in the world of assassination techniques, he’s worse than a newly recruited assassin. I’ll play with him a bit and then cut a few of his tendons.’

Shin Hyeok’s charging speed after planting his feet was certainly impressive.

The leg strength that dented the solid floor of the Colosseum and the way he wrapped mana around his body to lighten it and increase speed was worthy of praise, but in the world of assassins, being strong and fast wasn’t everything.

Swoooosh-

Jin Zaopin’s figure melted away like snow despite being right in front of him.

It was the result of master-level stealth techniques combined with the bonuses from his unique-grade job: Dark Assassin.

‘I don’t know how he detected my stealth before, but this time will be different. Even Diamond players couldn’t detect my stealth until they were on the verge of death.’

Since this was a completely different level of stealth from what he had used earlier to observe Shin Hyeok, Jin Zaopin was confident.

Shin Hyeok would only notice his stealth after his tendons were already cut.

Thinking this, he quickly used his movement technique and the moment he got behind Shin Hyeok, who had been charging toward where he had just been standing.

“There you are.”

“…!!!”

Jin Zaopin was shocked as Shin Hyeok suddenly whipped around and their eyes met perfectly, causing him to leap backward in alarm.

Slash!

Jin Zaopin felt the twin daggers swing in an X-pattern, shallowly cutting across his chest area at the exact moment Shin Hyeok pinpointed his location. Though panicked, he quickly regained his composure and moved again.

Even though he was attacked, his stealth hadn’t been broken.

‘…It was a coincidence. Definitely just a coincidence. Even the Salmak-ju has praised my stealth. There’s no way a mere 20-year-old brat who just reached Platinum could see through stealth that even he couldn’t.’

However, his already shaken mind couldn’t be easily restored.

More than anything, Jin Zaopin had clearly seen it.

Shin Hyeok had not only looked exactly where he was standing but had even made direct eye contact with him.

But Jin Zaopin comforted himself, saying that couldn’t be possible, and looked for another opportunity.

He poured more mana into his stealth and used his traits to increase his concealment.

The moment high-level stealth that would require even the Salmak-ju to concentrate briefly was completed and Jin Zaopin formed a sinister smile.

Whiiiiish- Clang!!!

“Kuk!”

“Your stealth skills are terrible. Secretary Hong really is amazing after all.”

Jin Zaopin had to hastily raise his twin daggers to deflect the dagger Shin Hyeok had thrown.

Jin Zaopin frowned at the tingling sensation transmitted through his twin daggers.

Even though his tier was definitely higher so he shouldn’t lose in terms of strength, his hands were numb from the impact contained in that throwing attack.

This meant Shin Hyeok possessed physical abilities that didn’t match his tier, so Jin Zaopin caught his breath and raised his guard against Shin Hyeok.

“…I don’t know who this Secretary Hong is, but it’s ridiculous to be compared to some nobody I’ve never heard of.”

“Isn’t the ridiculous one you, having your stealth detected twice in a row?”

“…Ha, fine. If you want to die that badly, I’ll kill you.”

Bang!

Jin Zaopin, swallowing a hollow laugh at Shin Hyeok’s mocking smile, planted his feet and launched forward.

Realizing that stealth was useless, rather than being obsessed with it, he put even that effort into speed.

Extreme speed.

The moment the explosive speed concentrated into a single point enveloped Jin Zaopin.

He had reached Shin Hyeok’s front in an instant.

‘Die.’

Driving his twin daggers that flashed like viper fangs into Shin Hyeok, Jin Zaopin was certain.

With this move, his twin daggers would be embedded in Shin Hyeok’s nape.

But Shin Hyeok’s head turned slowly-

Clang!

“What?”

“Your stealth is sloppy, your surprise attack is slow, and the power in your twin daggers is pathetic. Ah, I get it. Salmak’s level. It’s so boring I want to die.”

“You damn brat!”

Seeing Shin Hyeok deflect all his twin daggers with his remaining single dagger and look genuinely bored, Jin Zaopin’s face turned bright red as his hands began creating afterimages.

Pababababababak!

Assassination techniques.

What was called the main skill of assassination-type players unfolded from Jin Zaopin’s hands.

True to being a skill that existed solely to kill people, each of Jin Zaopin’s attacks flew precisely targeting human vital points and death points.

His assassination technique skill grade was A.

Moreover, having continuously trained and refined his assassination technique skills for a long time, Jin Zaopin’s proficiency was at its peak.

Considering that even with the same skill and grade, the power varies drastically depending on the player’s proficiency, each of Jin Zaopin’s attacks was more than just powerful.

In the literal festival of attacks sufficient to take down a person, Shin Hyeok calmly took them all in with his eyes.

Swish! Swoosh! Swish! Swishshshshshsh!

He began absorbing all of Jin Zaopin’s attacks, naturally flowing and deflecting dozens of attacks passing right in front of his nose like flowing water.

This was possible for two reasons.

‘Super Senses and Mana Detection. These are really good.’

Super Senses and Mana Detection.

It was thanks to these two skills.

These two skills were created by combining skills obtained from devouring Diamond-grade villains, and despite their low grades, their effects were definitely remarkable.

Of course, when they were F-grade, the effects were minimal, but once they rose to C-grade and D-grade respectively through the Late Bloomer effect, he could truly enjoy their benefits.

Super Senses activated his senses to the extreme, allowing him to feel his opponent’s attacks like instinctive intuition, while Mana Detection combined with his already excellent mana sensitivity reached the level of scanning the entire surrounding area like radar.

Each skill was excellent on its own, but they existed simultaneously in one player, and that player was Shin Hyeok.

With all these favorable conditions combined, Shin Hyeok’s current reaction speed and area control were tremendous.

‘It’s unfortunate that mana depletes quickly and mental energy consumption is fast too, but it can’t be helped. I have no choice but to accept this level of penalty.’

Of course, there weren’t only good points, but this aspect was acceptable enough to endure.

Using Super Senses and Mana Detection as his foundation to grasp Jin Zaopin’s location and even detect where his attacks were heading at an instinctive level, Shin Hyeok successfully blocked all of Jin Zaopin’s attacks without receiving even a single wound.

“…Fine. I’ll show you Salmak’s secret technique. Death Lotus Flower!”

“Oh.”

Swishshshshshshshsh!

Seeing Shin Hyeok without a single scratch even after his full-power attacks, Jin Zaopin finally half-lost his grip on reason and unleashed Salmak’s secret technique that was only passed down to Danju-level members and taught directly by the Salmak-ju.

A single flower blooming from connected deaths.

That flower bloomed from Jin Zaopin’s hands.

The killing intent flowing continuously from his twin daggers occupying all directions materialized and began to bind Shin Hyeok.

Like a venus flytrap slowly wrapping around and strangling to death an insect that entered its domain, Jin Zaopin’s killing intent was so sharp it seemed like it would cut even without touching.

However-

“Hmm, so you do it roughly like this.”

Clangangangangangang!

“…What?”

The moment Shin Hyeok’s dagger gracefully embroidered the air and countered his offensive.

The flow of Death Lotus Flower was futilely severed.

Death Lotus Flower was certainly a powerful technique, but true to its name, it had the weakness of rapidly losing power if the killing intent wasn’t connected.

However, since that weakness had never been exposed before, Jin Zaopin’s surprise was even greater.

“How on earth…?”

“I’m starting to understand assassination techniques now.”

“That’s impossible! Assassination techniques are the exclusive domain of us assassins! Do you think you can learn such arts just by seeing them a few times!”

When Shin Hyeok said he was starting to understand assassination techniques, his excitement reached its peak.

All players have pride in the field they belong to.

This tends to grow stronger as their rank increases.

It was natural for Jin Zaopin, an assassination-type player powerful enough to serve as Danju of Salmak, to vehemently deny this, but-

[You have acquired Skill: Assassination Techniques [D].]

[Skill: Assassination Techniques [D] has been absorbed by Skill: Comprehensive Weapon Arts [A].]

[The proficiency of Skill: Assassination Techniques increases dramatically.]

“Assassination techniques. That’s not how you do it.”

“…You bastard!!!”

Trait: Versatility and the assistance of memories and senses from before his regression meant nothing was impossible for Shin Hyeok.

He acquired D-rank assassination techniques in one go.

Moreover, as it was absorbed into Comprehensive Weapon Arts [A], the proficiency of the assassination techniques themselves increased dramatically once again.

At this moment, Shin Hyeok’s skill: Assassination Techniques had surpassed C-rank and reached a level approaching B-rank.

Of course, the gap between B-rank and A-rank was about the difference between a wooden sword and a real sword, but that was fine.

Crack!

“Hold out as long as you can. It would be a shame if such an excellent textbook fell too easily, wouldn’t it?”

“I’ll kill you. I’ll definitely kill you!”

“You were already trying to kill me from the start, so what’s the point of saying that now.”

Whether wooden sword or real sword, they were merely tools in the end.

What truly mattered was the being who gripped and wielded them.

In that regard, the gap between Shin Hyeok and Jin Zaopin was far too great.

Having acquired assassination techniques and being able to examine Jin Zaopin’s methods even more deeply and thoroughly, Jin Zaopin was no different from a frog on a dissection table to Shin Hyeok.

With that, Shin Hyeok lightly gripped his dagger while rotating his wrist and charged toward Jin Zaopin.

* * *

Thunk!

“Kgh, kghhhhh…”

The dagger pierced precisely into his spine.

The squeezed, strained breathing sounds flowing from Jin Zaopin’s lungs as his lower body became paralyzed in an instant.

In contrast, Shin Hyeok’s condition was disgustingly fine.

-Caw!

“That’s right, that’s right, Kkamak. I didn’t even need you, right?”

-Caw! Caw!

He hadn’t even used Kkamak’s skill: Equipment Transformation.

Considering that Kkamak was currently eating well, resting well, and steadily growing in an upward trajectory, meaning the all-stat boost from equipment transformation would be quite substantial, it was clear just how large the gap between Jin Zaopin and Shin Hyeok was.

“The automatic defense device is indeed useful.”

“If, if only it weren’t for that damn equipment…!”

“Even then, it would have been just a wound or two. Let’s not pathetically blame the equipment.”

The effect of the legendary-grade automatic defense device was also significant.

Jin Zaopin, like the excellent assassin he was, had tremendous skill at targeting openings, often aiming for split-second gaps that even Shin Hyeok couldn’t perceive.

Naturally, all those attacks were blocked by the automatic defense device.

Well, it was ironic considering that those gaps only existed because he trusted in the automatic defense device.

Thus Jin Zaopin was defeated and ended up writhing on the floor with a dagger stuck in his spine, but Jin Zaopin instead let out a sneer.

“Hehe, hahahaha! You might have stopped us, but can you do the same for your blacksmith?”

“…You targeted Sejin hyung too. Yeah, I thought you would.”

“Look forward to it. What you’ll see when you leave this place will be the death or disappearance of that blacksmith you cherished like a real brother!”

“…”

Words indicating that Sejin had also become a target of attack.

As Shin Hyeok’s face hardened upon learning that Sejin had also been targeted when they attacked him, Jin Zaopin’s smile grew even deeper.

This was the only consolation for Jin Zaopin, who had been helplessly defeated by Shin Hyeok, become a specimen for assassination techniques, and had all his subordinates either killed or captured.

Of course-

“It probably wasn’t much use though.”

“…What?”

“You’ll understand when you see for yourself.”

Shin Hyeok didn’t care in the slightest.

While Jin Zaopin’s face went blank at Shin Hyeok’s far too calm reaction.

“Devour.”

Crunch crunch crunch crunch!

Shin Hyeok devoured all the assassins that Tarkan, the Army of the Dead, and the spirits had defeated.

More than ten assassins.

Among them were even master-level assassins equivalent to Diamond rank, so the messages that appeared were incredibly sweet.

[Stat: Strength increased by 532.]

[Stat: Stamina increased by 481.]

[Stat: Intelligence increased by 449.]

[Stat: Mana increased by 667.]

[Skills: Stealth [B], Infiltration [C], Light Steps [B], Breath Holding [B], Poker Face [B]… have combined to acquire Assassination Manual [C].]

“Nice.”

As befitting assassins, their physical stats were generally low, and perhaps their mana stats were high, as the mana stat increase was the highest.

Moreover, all the assassination-type skills they possessed combined to create Assassination Manual [C].

Just by mastering this one skill well, he would be able to obtain everything needed for assassination, stealth, infiltration, and more.

Since the gains were quite substantial, Shin Hyeok grabbed the retired Jin Zaopin by the scruff of his neck and left the Colosseum.

“Secretary Hong. How’s the situation on your end?”

-Those Salmak bastards came swarming. Just as you said, young master. Are you alright?

“I’m talking to you on the phone just fine right now. I’m okay. I’ll head to Sinwha Workshop.”

-Yes, I’ll be waiting.

As soon as he left the Colosseum, Shin Hyeok contacted Secretary Hong to confirm his safety, then smiled at Jin Zaopin who was staring at him with a blank face.

“You’re excited about meeting your friend, right? You’ll see him soon.”

“Su, surely you didn’t assign people to the craftsman’s side too? Just who the hell is this Secretary Hong guy!”

Knowing that a master-level assassin of his own caliber had been sent to Sejin’s side, Jin Zaopin couldn’t believe this fact.

Satisfied with Jin Zaopin’s reaction, Shin Hyeok whispered in his ear.

“Shadow.”

“…Ah.”

The legendary assassin and early Player, Salmak-ju.

Shadow, who was called just below his level.

Upon learning that Secretary Hong was that very Shadow, all life completely drained from Jin Zaopin’s face.

Thud!

“Please take us to Sinwha Workshop.”

“Yes, young master.”

Shin Hyeok roughly shoved Jin Zaopin into the limousine that had come to meet them and headed toward Sinwha Workshop.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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