Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 53
“What kind of insane nonsense is that!?”
I’d anticipated Cha Hye-ryeon’s objection, of course, but I hadn’t expected the onlookers gathered around to nod in agreement as if she’d spoken for them all.
“You’re saying you’ll skin a person…?”
“Is Butchering even a word you use on people?”
“That’s insane……”
No.
Obviously I had no intention of actually doing it.
‘But they don’t need to know that.’
I let my gaze drift downward, and the fallen men’s faces had turned a sickly white.
They were keeping their mouths shut out of fear of the Black Market’s retaliation.
So all I needed was to show them something even more terrifying.
‘Intimidation is all about momentum.’
Probably.
“I’m just asking which is scarier—the Black Market’s revenge, or watching your own skin get peeled off your fingers while you’re perfectly conscious.”
“Are you serious?”
Cha Hye-ryeon asked with an expression of disbelief.
Instead of answering, I pulled the Crystal Dagger from my coat.
And then.
Swoosh.
I deliberately brought the blade close to one of the men’s fingers where they could all see it clearly.
Flinch!
The finger of the man I’d thought was unconscious twitched.
‘So he was awake after all.’
My lips curled upward of their own accord.
“Hmm?”
I grabbed his wrist and slowly brought the dagger down toward it.
“Let’s start with the one playing dead.”
“……!”
The man’s eyelid trembled violently.
Good.
Just a bit more pressure and—
Crack!
“Heyah!”
A whip came flying through the air.
Zzzzzzzzzip!
“Oh, I see……”
Even though I’d been expecting it, I would’ve had trouble dodging it if I hadn’t been in Pung Cheol-woo’s Transformation state.
‘Third-Class is in a different league, isn’t it?’
I glanced once at the whip she’d lashed across the floor.
Then I looked at Cha Hye-ryeon.
“…Why?”
“What?”
“Why are you going to such lengths to stop me?”
“You psycho!? Someone’s about to have their fingers cut off and you just sit and watch!?”
“Ah.”
I nodded.
“I was just trying to scare them.”
“What?”
I grinned wickedly.
“But you seem more desperate than they do?”
“……”
“Could it be.”
I raised my voice slightly so the people around us could hear.
“That I’ve struck a nerve?”
“You psycho!? Does it look like I’m upset about something!?”
I was about to ask “Then why?” but the murderous weight of everyone’s stares around me stopped the words cold.
“To skin a person……”
“Butchering…?”
“You don’t know where to draw the line?”
Hmm.
-This won’t do. You, come with me.
Crack.
The moment I dropped the Transformation, I caught people whispering again around me.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
Maintaining the transformed state was draining my mana steadily, and I had to manage that too.
On top of which, I needed to clean up this mess Pung Cheol-woo had so carelessly created.
“Ahem. I was only feinting, wasn’t I? You’re being oversensitive, Cha Hye-ryeon.”
“What are you talking about, you lunatic! Everyone here saw you actually try to use that blade!”
Pung Cheol-woo had only meant to make a light jab and nothing more.
Though admittedly, the fact that it came anywhere near that point was hard to defend.
“I said it was a feint. And someone overreacted to it, that’s all.”
I tried playing dumb.
“When you had the white hair, you were laughing while holding that blade over me, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. It was creepy.”
“Are you actually insane…….”
The whispers around me offered no support.
Worse still.
“Didn’t those bastards start the trouble first?”
“I came late, so I didn’t see.”
“I heard shouting and looked, but one guy was already on the ground.”
If this went badly, I’d be left holding the entire bag alone.
Scraaape.
“Subduing someone who’s committing assault can’t possibly be a problem.”
Cha Hye-ryeon was pressing her advantage with a cold smile.
I didn’t like how this situation was developing.
In that case.
“Really? Then let’s wait for the Guard Corps together.”
“What?”
“The Guard Corps wouldn’t care much about adventurers squabbling with each other, but the Black Market would, wouldn’t they? So who knows — maybe those esteemed mages will actually lift their heavy backsides and try to extract these men’s souls?”
Everyone knew the Black Market existed in the shadows.
And there had long been rumors that the reason those people were never eliminated was because they had connections to someone high up in the Royal Palace.
Which meant, conversely, that the Royal Palace officially denied the Black Market’s existence.
“Do you really think the Guard Corps will humor your nonsense?”
“Well, I’m confident enough to stake my life on that fact. With that kind of appeal, wouldn’t they at least look into it properly?”
The moment those words left my mouth, I saw Cha Hye-ryeon’s killing intent spike.
So I leaned in and whispered to Pung Cheol-woo at the same time.
-If you really want to finish me off that badly, how about one-on-one instead? Somewhere with no one around.
-Unless you’re not confident, of course.
I needled at her pride.
In that moment, Cha Hye-ryeon’s killing intent began to subside.
No — it felt more like it was being contained.
Gathering itself behind that impassive expression.
“You defeat a handful of sloppy Secondary Class amateurs through ambush and strut about like a peacock. It’s pathetic.”
Wait.
“Whether the Guard Corps investigates or not is irrelevant, but I won’t overlook you trying to pin your crimes on me. Come. I’ll teach you proper discipline.”
Did she just say that out loud?
I couldn’t let this stand.
“I never said it was you.”
…….
I scratched at her pride one more time.
“If you’re coming, then you follow me.”
Whoosh.
I unleashed the Volante Step Technique at full speed and bolted toward the city gates.
“Who the hell is that madman……?”
“Used Transformation. And a spear?”
“Was that Gotherol just now……?”
“Char?”
The voices calling after me from afar only cemented the wisdom of this decision.
I didn’t want to draw any more public attention.
I need to figure out how to deal with Cha Hye-ryeon.
‘Come on, follow me.’
I glanced back over my shoulder and flinched.
I’d locked eyes with Cha Hye-ryeon’s lethal gaze as she followed just behind me, her face utterly expressionless.
Even though her footwork and mobility didn’t seem particularly exceptional.
‘Shit. Specs really do matter.’
The confidence I’d gained from subduing the secondary-class hitmen evaporated in an instant, replaced by sharp alertness.
Whoosh.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
I stopped as I entered a hillside north of Bartus, and Cha Hye-ryeon’s voice reached me from close range.
“So you want to die here?”
“You don’t know which is better until you try.”
“Ha. So you finally got yourself a primary-class rank and your guts swelled up nicely.”
“Well, turns out I’ve got some talent.”
“Hmph. Even so, you’re still a worthless one-slot nobody.”
“And who was it that went to all that trouble for this worthless nobody?”
“I was trying to show the world to someone who didn’t understand their place in it.”
“Right, that was funny. You thought if you sent those thugs to beat me down and then played the hero, I’d bow and grovel my thanks?”
“Save you? Who would? Me saving you?”
“Still making excuses?”
“I wanted to show you the world’s cruelty and mock you for it. I wanted you to understand that there are limits to what you can do alone. Well, I admit my preparation was lacking.”
Huh… is that so?
‘Did I read too much into it?’
Actually, that explanation does fit this woman’s personality better.
“So this time I’m going to teach you directly. You got way too cocky from that one hit last time.”
Crack-crack-crack.
Damn. That whip is vicious.
“Come at me. I’ll show you the difference in our levels.”
[Name: Cha Hye-ryeon]
[Rose Whipper (Tertiary) Lv.37]
[Innate Abilities: 3/4]
—Whip. Gluttony. Hypnosis
[Summoner of Bartus]
[Trait: Mana Reinforcement]
[Anger]
One more emotion added itself to my confirmation of Cha Hye-ryeon’s information.
But even looking again, I still don’t understand.
The trait is obvious enough,
‘Gluttony? Hypnosis?’
I’d heard that harmony between innate abilities was important, but what kind of combination could this possibly be?
“By the way. If that white-haired one doesn’t transform, you’ll be shattered in an instant.”
“…My, aren’t you considerate.”
That was my plan anyway.
If the spec gap was clear, I’d at least need to match speed to make the fight viable.
‘Come on.’
—Okay!
Crack.
Would my current form even work against a tertiary Special Class?
Separate from the immediate threat, it was worth testing my own strength.
“Let’s go.”
Bang.
“As ordered!”
The moment I charged straight forward.
A black whip immediately filled my vision.
‘Ugh!?’
I instinctively executed an evasion maneuver.
Slash-slash-slash-slash.
The whip carved a line straight through the ground.
As if a massive sword had gouged deep furrows into the earth.
I tried to charge again after the evasion, but my momentum had already broken, and my acceleration came too late.
In that moment.
“Die!”
Crack!
Boom-boom-boom-boom.
As the whip surged upward through the earth again, the ground erupted, scattering stones and clods of soil in all directions.
The earth spirit had foreseen the situation and managed to evade in time.
But the result was the opposite of what was needed—the distance between him and Cha Hye-ryeon only grew.
In the end.
“Hmph! Let’s see how long you can keep running!”
Whoooosh.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.
After that, Cha Hye-ryeon’s whip strikes came down like a storm.
Bang!
Boom-boom-boom!
‘Damn! What kind of whip is this?’
The whip, which appeared to be only four or five meters long at first glance, stretched six times its length the moment it was swung.
And the destructive power that erupted from its end was such that it pulverized the surrounding environment as if Cha Hye-ryeon were wielding an enormous sword or hammer.
“You’re just a little mouse!”
Crash!
The speed was so vicious that there was barely any opening to close the distance.
And more than anything else.
‘Something’s off…’
Just moments ago, he’d wanted nothing more than to smash that woman’s face in.
But at some point, that emotion had become hazy.
And so.
‘All right. Let’s see who tires first.’
Since Cha Hye-ryeon was burning through mana recklessly, he thought he might take the fight to an endurance battle.
‘It’s not right for countrymen to fight to the death anyway. Once we’re both exhausted, maybe we can talk this through.’
The instant that thought crossed his mind.
A chorus of different voices roared from within.
-What’s wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?
-This isn’t natural.
-You’re bewitched.
-This is Hypnosis! Snap out of it!
Even as the cries of the other spirits and his true self thundered loudly through his consciousness.
‘Still… she’s a woman. I can’t just charge in trying to kill her.’
His fighting spirit wouldn’t ignite.
Then.
-Do you want to be trampled by a woman who looks down on you?
His true self’s single shout snapped him back to awareness.
“Damn it!”
Crash!
He steeled himself and drew forth his fighting spirit, forcing himself to close the distance.
‘Do we really need to go this far? If we just talked it through…’
Again, an absurd thought intruded.
Knowing it was absurd, he couldn’t help but feel his body slow for that brief instant.
Crack.
“Ugh!?”
In that moment, the whip crashed into his left shoulder, and his body flew backward.
Rip.
The shoulder section of his Batlesca Leather Armor was torn clean away.
If he hadn’t managed to twist his body at the last instant, it wouldn’t have been just the armor—his shoulder would have been ripped clean off.
Thud-crash-bang.
He forced his battered body upright, but the world spun around him.
‘Poison?’
Whoosh.
The Purification Authority emanating from his undergarments washed the venom from his body.
But in that same instant, a black whip was already flying straight at his face.
‘Insane!’
Thump.
In a brief moment of supreme concentration, I reversed the Volante Step Technique to strike the true angle, concentrated the power of the Shatter Spear to its peak, and struck the whip’s impact point with precision.
Crash!
[Shatter Spear Level increased.]
[Volante Step Technique Level increased.]
My body slid backward in a tumble.
Every nerve tingled, but mercifully, I took no additional impact.
Still, the distance between Cha Hye-ryeon and me had opened to over thirty meters again.
My throbbing shoulder and the wavering mana were clear aftereffects that lingered.
“Hmph. Now you understand your place?”
Crack!
As if to make a show of it, Cha Hye-ryeon lashed the whip against the ground, and fury surged within me—but I had to acknowledge what was true.
‘I can’t even close the distance at this rate.’
Overwhelming specs and broad-ranged weapon attacks.
And on top of that, a Hypnosis ability whose origin I couldn’t fathom.
Then there was another Innate Ability, Gluttony, that I hadn’t even glimpsed yet.
“If my druthers, I’d finish you off right here, but tsk. If you’re going to sign with the Royal Palace, I’ll call today’s lesson sufficient.”
“Ha. You say that with a look that screams you want me to refuse—and now I almost want to prove you right.”
Then.
I had to play my hidden card.
“Be careful.”
“What?”
“Don’t die pointlessly.”
“Ha……”
The moment Cha Hye-ryeon was about to speak.
Pung Cheol-woo erupted from my body and charged straight toward her, his form expanding as he bore down.
“……Is that all you’ve got!?”
Crack!
The instant Cha Hye-ryeon’s whip lashed out at Pung Cheol-woo.
Boom!
A massive explosion consumed the hillside.

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