Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 39

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

Episode 39
[Info]
Designation: Minotaur Warrior
Rank: D
[A gap exists between you and the target.]
[Discernment will take time to complete.]
Because its rank was higher, Discernment would take a while to finish.
Hyeonjun had no intention of rushing in until a weakness revealed itself.
‘No reason to fight on unfavorable terms.’
But things didn’t go the way he wanted.
Whether it had sensed his presence or reacted to the skill, he couldn’t tell.
The Minotaur, which had been sitting with its head bowed the whole time, suddenly snapped its head up.
Its red eyes locked straight onto Hyeonjun’s position.
“Kwooooaah!”
A thunderous roar echoed through the sealed-off Altar Chamber.
The beast hefted its axe and rose to its feet.
‘It’s huge.’
Over five meters tall, at a glance.
I wasn’t sure a dagger could handle something like that.
‘I should probably switch weapons, I think.’
If I use Analysis, proficiency won’t be much of a problem.
What bothered him was the side effect that came after acquiring a skill.
With a fight against a Minotaur looming, he didn’t want to take on that kind of risk.
‘For now, let me see how far I can get with the dagger.’
The War Hammer wouldn’t help much against an opponent this tough.
Hyeonjun tossed the hammer hanging from his waist carelessly onto the floor to lighten his load.
“Kwooooooaah!”
The beast charged at Hyeonjun.
[Skill – Body Enhancement activated.]
Hyeonjun activated the skill and quickly put distance between them.
‘Just dodge until I’ve figured out its weakness.’
I already know where the Minotaur’s vital points are.
But this was his first time fighting something like this, so he wasn’t sure he could actually hit them.
‘Keep the risk to a minimum.’
Whoosh!
The moment he judged he’d put enough distance between them, the Minotaur hurled its axe.
An unexpected throwing attack.
Hyeonjun threw himself aside on reflex.
“Ugh!”
Bang!
A tremendous crash shook the Altar Chamber.
‘That crazy bull-headed beast.’
He knew the creature sometimes threw its axe as an attack.
But he never expected it to open with that.
Thankfully, having known about the attack, he caught its intent quickly and barely managed to dodge.
“Kwooooooaah!”
The beast snatched up its axe and charged again.
Its speed was utterly out of place for such a massive body.
In an instant the distance closed, and it was back within striking range.
‘This is more than I expected.’
The Minotaur was suddenly right in front of him.
The axe it swung came screaming toward Hyeonjun’s head at a ferocious speed.
[Skill – Analysis activated.]
Just as the axe reached him.
Hyeonjun activated Analysis and slowed the world around him.
‘Too close.’
The axe had closed in too near to dodge. He had misjudged the timing. He should have activated the skill sooner.
‘It was faster than I calculated.’
It was a misstep born of inexperience.
‘Blocking with the shield is my best option now.’
The Bark Shield strapped to his arm.
I have no idea how much of the axe’s damage it’ll actually absorb.
But there was no other option right now.
‘Skill release.’
Right after he cancelled Analysis.
Bang!
The axe slammed down right beside Hyeonjun, who had hunched himself down as tight as he could.
It struck squarely on top of the shield.
Hyeonjun’s body was flung across the room and slammed into the wall.
“Gah… urgh….”
Hyeonjun groaned through his teeth.
And this is what the damage looks like even after I softened it.
It felt like the arm bearing the shield might tear clean off.
‘Shattered, huh.’
The shield, built from layers of bark wrapped around the spots that guarded the Blood Vine’s vital points.
One swing of the Minotaur’s axe had split it in half, cutting its size down by half.
“Krwaaaaah!”
Before Hyeonjun could even catch his breath, the Minotaur charged at him again.
Gritting through the pain, Hyeonjun forced his legs to move.
‘It’s ahead of me on every front. Knowing its weak points won’t mean a thing at this rate.’
The distance closed in before he knew it.
The axe came flying toward him once more.
[Activating .]
Hyeonjun used the Analysis skill yet again.
This time, the timing was dead on.
He had room to dodge.
‘If I keep just dodging, this is going to end badly.’
I need another approach.
Some way to keep chipping away at a foe whose physical abilities outmatch mine.
‘…If only I could predict its attack path.’
I’ll use Analysis over and over to figure out the Minotaur’s attack patterns.
Then I’ll be able to predict the path, too.
Using Analysis from outside the predicted path, I’ll dodge cleanly and aim for a counterattack at the same time.
‘It’s a bit complicated, but for now, this is the best I’ve got…’
That was when it happened.
A message appeared in front of Hyeonjun.
[The skill will end in 5 seconds.]
[Select a target to analyze.]
The moment he read that message.
Hyeonjun was struck by a sensation, as though someone had clubbed him on the head.
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
Analysis.
If it works on people, and it works on weapons.
Then surely it can work on monsters, too.
‘I have no idea what I’ll get, but…’
Nothing to lose.
It might even offer a more effective solution to this situation.
Hyeonjun chose the Minotaur standing before him as the target to analyze.
[Analyzing .]
[A gap exists between you and the target.]
[Analysis will take some time.]
Within the slowed time, something began to stir.
Hyeonjun waited quietly for the change.
‘Surely it won’t be slowed down along with time, will it?’
How long had he stayed like that?
A string of messages appeared one after another.
[Discernment is complete.]
[The weakness of the Discernment target is revealed.]
Red dots began appearing across the Minotaur’s body.
From the tendons at the ankles and wrists to the heart, the neck, and beyond. Every one of them was a weak point.
[Analysis complete.]
[Displaying the enemy’s attack path in your field of vision.]
[You can toggle the path display on and off as you wish.]
‘What?’
The moment the message appeared, a red line bloomed across the translucent message window.
Hyeonjun checked the line with startled eyes.
‘It’s tilted slightly from horizontal.’
The angle of the Minotaur’s arm, the direction of the axe it had swung.
Judging from those two things, its next attack was very likely to follow that line.
‘No way…’
It was practically no different from reading the future.
It was on a completely different level from predicting the path yourself and moving accordingly.
A personal prediction could always be wrong, but this was the skill handing him the perfect answer.
Whoosh!
As the analysis ended, the skill automatically deactivated.
The red line still hung in the air.
The axe passed precisely along that line.
“Kwaaaargh!”
This time, a red line appeared on a diagonal.
Hyeonjun twisted his body.
The axe came down just inches in front of him.
‘Not a hair’s breadth off.’
Hyeonjun dodged several more times, testing it.
Two things became clear.
One. The attack passes exactly along the red line.
Two. If you dodge too early, the path changes.
‘It’s being updated in real time.’
Whatever lingering doubt he’d held about the red line vanished.
Hyeonjun moved along that line.
Whoosh!
A vicious whistle of wind slicing through the empty air.
Having evaded the blow, Hyeonjun stepped exactly as he’d pictured in his mind and swung his arm.
Schk!
A red dot on the monster’s forearm.
His dagger sliced clean through that very spot.
“Kkyaaaaargh!”
The axe the monster held dropped sharply downward.
It snapped back up almost immediately, but Hyeonjun knew at once.
‘Clean cut.’
He had severed the tendon connected to its finger.
The index finger hung limp, clearly unable to grip with any strength.
“Hehehe…”
Hyeonjun smiled with easy composure, as though he’d never been pressed at all.
He knew the enemy’s weakness.
He knew the enemy’s attack path, too.
It was like having the answer sheet right in front of him while sitting the exam.
He could hardly keep from laughing.
“Hey, come on in.”
Hyeonjun grinned and crooked his finger.
“Kwaaaarr!”
The Minotaur snorted hot breath and charged at Hyeonjun.
***
“Huff, haah.”
Kim Changdong gasped for breath.
Behind him, the corpses of several skeletons lay strewn along the path he’d walked.
“Hey! Stop resting and hurry up!”
Seong Sohui stood a little ahead.
The two of them were working together with one goal in mind: claiming the key.
“I still need to grab the magic stones…”
“You can do that later!”
“No… no.”
Seong Sohui would take the key.
Kim Changdong agreed to take the magic stone.
That’s exactly why they’re cooperating in the first place.
But now he’s being told to collect the magic stone later.
“Hurry!”
Kim Changdong was dumbfounded, but he followed her lead anyway, since that was what he’d been told to do.
“I think this is the last one.”
“Really? Then let’s go grab the magic stone…”
“Oh, it’s open.”
The stone door, which had been shut tight.
A light push, and it began to grind open, slowly.
-Krrraaah!
A monster’s roar spilled through the widening gap.
The two of them looked at each other, as if they’d agreed on it beforehand.
“Was that a monster?”
“Sounds like it. Someone must be in there.”
“What’s going on? Someone got here ahead of us?”
Seong Sohui bit her lip.
She’d even teamed up with Kim Changdong, only to have the lead snatched away.
Her pride, already bruised, crumpled even further.
“Whoever it is, the key is mine. Hey, you help me take it from them.”
“T-take it? From them?”
“That guy’s got a magic stone too, right? Just hand me all of yours and that’ll be fine.”
“Even so…”
Kim Changdong trailed off.
It was allowed, technically, but taking something that belonged to someone else pricked at his conscience.
“If you don’t like it, give me back my magic stone.”
“….”
“Didn’t think so. Now come along quietly.”
Seong Sohui darted forward in a flash.
Kim Changdong had no choice but to chase after her.
And so, a little while later.
The two of them made their way down the corridor and entered the Altar Chamber.
And there, they witnessed a sight they never could have predicted.
“Go Hyeonjun?”
“W-what is that? That’s a Minotaur…”
Hyeonjun was fighting the Minotaur.
And the battle was anything but ordinary.
“What… what is that?”
Seong Sohui was thoroughly bewildered.
The Minotaur was a D-Grade monster.
Yet Hyeonjun was fighting it with such ease, such effortless composure.
‘How is that even possible?’
He sidestepped attacks that were barely visible to the eye, as if they weren’t even there.
He moved like someone who could read the future.
And between each evasion, he slipped in a counterattack.
It wasn’t until a moment later that she realized every one of those counters had struck a vital spot dead-on.
“Ha.”
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
The moment she saw the fight, she understood.
That trying to keep up with him had been a foolish thing to do from the start.
Go Hyeonjun.
He had never been a rival standing on the same ground as her to begin with.
Thud.
The Minotaur’s weapon slipped from its grip and hit the floor.
Even when it tried to grab it again, every tendon had been severed, and its fingers wouldn’t move.
“Krrraaaaah!”
The Minotaur flailed its arm wildly.
With its tendons cut and its fist unable to close, it was nothing more than a flailing swing, quite literally.
“Wow⋯⋯.”
Kim Changdong parted his lips in admiration.
It was a fight that looked like a grown-up playing with a child.
To fight that Minotaur in such a way.
Even if he gathered every Hunter currently taking the Test, none of them could replicate a battle like this.
Kwoogung!
For a while, he lost himself in watching.
The Minotaur lost its balance and toppled over.
It seemed to try to brace itself with its arm against the ground, but its movements amounted to nothing more than a feeble twitch.
Its tendons were severed all over its body.
At least one leg was still intact, but it was far too heavy a body to rise on a single leg.
“Rest well.”
Hyeonjun drove a final strike into the Minotaur’s throat.
With a wet tearing sound, the light in its eyes dimmed.
The thrashing body soon went completely still.
“Phew.”
Hyeonjun cut through the chain that had been linked to the box fastened to the creature’s armor.
Just as he reached in to pull out the key inside.
Jjigeut!
A sudden, severe headache struck.
At the same time, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
“Wh-whoa⋯⋯.”
He tried desperately to steady himself, but he couldn’t stop his body from tilting.
Thud.
Hyeonjun collapsed.
His consciousness went dark at once.
“H-Hyeonjun-ssi!”
Kim Changdong bolted forward.
“⋯⋯.”
Seong Sohui gazed steadily at the key that had fallen to the ground.

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