I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 20

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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 020. Amy von Bastion (1)
Joo-sang confirmed once more the ability he had seized.
[You have stolen the Unique Ability ‘Gate of Avici’.]
[Acquisition Difficulty: SS]
[Description: Countless living entities dwell in Avici Hell. You can summon fragments of their bodies or portions of their abilities.]
[However, the Mana consumption is extremely high, and there is a risk of mental deterioration when dealing with powerful entities.]
Insane.
The pinnacle of skills themselves.
He had stolen a Unique Ability—the kind permitted only one per person.
And an extraordinarily high-tier one at that.
‘No one’s ever obtained this before, I’d wager.’
It must have been pulled from some treasure vault within the Immortal Cult.
Too precious, it had probably been gathering dust for decades, waiting for someone worthy enough to emerge.
In any case.
‘Gate of Avici’ being a Unique Ability was a shame, really.
Had it been a Skill, he could have linked it with ‘Show Time’—which reduced consumption to zero—and pulled off something utterly broken.
“I went out of my way… went out of my way to give you a chance. And you dare tear down everything I’ve built like a sandcastle? You’ve picked the wrong person to mess with.”
That was when Kang Suhyuk revealed his true nature.
Kuku-kuku-kuku!
As he released his Mana, the black pool churned violently.
There it was.
So that’s what he meant to use.
Joo-sang felt the reality of it settle in—this fight was finally entering its endgame.
Joo-sang swallowed hard, watching the ominous spiral of Mana unfold.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Through the surging waves.
A pale white hand—sword still embedded in it—slowly rose above the surface.
“Ahhh….”
A woman with an exquisite face emerged.
Her entire body was pure white.
She had the noble, ethereal beauty of an angel descending from the heavens.
But the moment her jaw split open horizontally, revealing hundreds of teeth within.
Everything became a nightmare.
[The Guardian of Cabalado activates ‘Summons of the Dead’!]
A Guardian who watches over the unholy relic.
That was her true identity.
Simultaneously.
“Kyieee!”
“Croooah!”
Countless corpses began stirring to life.
All the countless dead from Hannam rose as Undead, surging forward.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Aaaaagh!”
The strike force dispatched from Vatican was utterly annihilated.
The Holy Order knights and priests who had barely rested for mere minutes couldn’t possibly handle such numbers.
Joo-sang’s lips pressed into a thin line.
Activating a Unique Ability of this caliber at this point was reckless….
But if he did nothing, total annihilation was certain.
And so.
[Unique Ability ‘Gate of Avici’ is activated!]
Now was the time to cross the line.
Whoooosh….
In an instant, he felt the density of the surrounding air shift.
The suddenly frigid air heralded the beginning of a reversal.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded like madness.
The SS-tier Ability drained every last drop of Mana from his entire body—and still that wasn’t enough; it evaporated his very willpower.
Vertigo surged up, bringing nausea with it.
“Guh….”
Joo-sang, barely clinging to consciousness, stared into the void.
Before it stood an enormous gate.
Its form evoked the gates of Hell from Dante’s Inferno.
Creak…
Through the gap of the opening, dark iron chains stretched forth.
At their end hung a skull of indeterminate size.
The gatekeeper of the Gate of Avici, its entire body wreathed in hellfire.
That skull.
“Roooaaaargh!”
It drove down a greatsword exceeding ten meters.
Countless human skulls embedded in the blade’s surface screamed.
Crash-crash-crash-crash…crash-crash-crash-crash-BOOM!!!
Volcanic ash consumed everything.
Buildings trembled violently.
The sheer force rivaled a magnitude nine earthquake striking without warning.
Hundreds upon hundreds of Undead simply ceased to exist in that single stroke.
Boom-crack!
The shockwave reached all the way to where the Guardian stood.
Even with a defense raised, being pushed back several meters spoke volumes.
“What… what kind of monster is this thing? Surely it’s not stronger than the Guardian itself?”
Kang Suhyuk stammered in disbelief.
* * *
The one responsible for summoning the creature was equally stunned.
Given the limits of his understanding of his abilities and his Mana reserves, only the weakest of Avici Hell’s inhabitants should have emerged.
And yet.
‘Is that all it can do?’
If he were to hone this further…
And if sufficient Mana backed his efforts…
Just what manner of creatures could he summon into being?
Merely thinking of the countless beings dwelling in Avici Hell sent anticipation surging through him like madness.
“Hrmm! This was merely a taste, you understand. Since you now know you’re outmatched, leave the sacred relics behind and flee. I’ll at least spare your lives.”
Please. Just retreat now.
Both his Mana and stamina had reached their limit; his limbs trembled uncontrollably.
At this moment, he couldn’t even defeat a single Undead grandmother who’d been dead a decade.
“I’ll grant that you possess an extraordinary Unique Ability. But threatening us with a one-shot spell? That’s rather underhanded, isn’t it?”
“One-shot? What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said. Whatever the constraint might be, that skull-faced creature—it’s already peaked and begun its decline.”
The Gate of Avici was closing bit by bit with each passing moment.
The skull itself retreated with a sheepish expression.
“I was planning to summon something stronger. One about twice its size that demolishes everything in its path.”
“Is that so? If that were true, you wouldn’t be flapping your tongue about it—you’d have already acted.”
Damn.
This is why sharp-eyed brats are so troublesome.
The world doesn’t unfold as easily as one might hope.
“Kee-yah!”
“Roooaaar!”
The Guardian stirred into motion once more.
Undead formed walls of flesh and bone, advancing steadily.
Damn it. Now we’re truly in danger…
Just as that thought crossed his mind.
“Your Majesty!”
Whoosh!
Baek Seolgi appeared amid a flurry of snow-like crystals.
Finally, she’d come.
He’d nearly choked waiting for her.
[The Glacial Divine Sword ‘Snowpetal Blossom’ activates!]
Slash-slash-slash!
Baek Seolgi tore through the corpses like a tempest, pressing forward relentlessly.
“Found it!”
In the next moment, she hurled a brilliantly luminous azure orb.
A Trait obtained from ‘Sweet Home.’
Joo-sang snatched the orb out of the air in one swift motion.
Normally, Traits cannot be verified by the naked eye. There’s always the risk of accidentally absorbing a useless Trait, something you don’t even need.
But.
There was only one Trait that could come from Sweet Home: the Hundred Ghosts Night Walk.
And.
In this world, there was only one person suited to master the Hundred Ghosts Night Walk.
* * *
“Amy! You must withdraw!”
“But… but….”
Amy mumbled, her face drained of all color.
Antonio and her comrades were isolated ahead, cut off from retreat.
Without aid, they wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.
“We have to save them.”
We have to go.
We have to bring out those left behind in that place.
“What could we possibly do with just these numbers?”
“It’s suicide!”
The priests tried to hold Amy back.
Aid is only worth attempting when there’s at least some chance of success.
In this situation, they’d only be adding more bodies to the count.
“Antonio would want us to survive and bring word of this to the Vatican.”
Some might call it cowardly rationalization, but it was the harsh truth of their reality.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
“May the God of Light watch over you.”
In the end, all of the surviving assault team withdrew from the chapel.
Only Amy remained.
Clutching a dented Shield.
Gripping a Hammer broken in half.
Burning her last reserves of holy power, she steeled herself to follow them out.
But right then.
“Still reckless as ever. Were you really planning to go alone?”
Someone spoke to her from directly beside her.
Joo-sang had drawn near without a sound.
“Hadn’t you already escaped?”
Amy murmured in disbelief.
“I couldn’t leave while my comrades were in danger. If we’re going to survive, we do it together.”
“Comrade….”
Amy turned the word over quietly in her mind.
Those she’d thought of as comrades had fled in fear of death.
This stranger, met for the first time today, called her comrade and stayed behind in this hell.
The irony was almost unbearable.
“Thank you. For saying that.”
“We can thank each other later. First, please absorb this.”
Joo-sang handed her a luminous orb.
“It’s a Trait of some kind… what is this?”
“It’s a Trait that lets you command the dead and spirits. With this, you can awaken the bloodline that flows through the Bastion Family.”
“What!? How could you possibly….”
At Joo-sang’s words, Amy froze in place.
A deep and terrible trauma gripped her.
“I… I can’t accept this.”
The Bastion Family, where Amy was born and raised, had delved into realms that should never be touched.
On the surface, they served as members of the Empire, but their true nature was that of Necromancers.
They had killed countless people through cruel experiments. The number of missing persons in the territory had grown exponentially.
Eventually, word reached the Holy Order.
On a deep night where even the moonlight was blotted out.
The family vanished.
Those who carried the family’s blood were hunted relentlessly and put to the sword, one and all.
There were no exceptions, not even for infants.
It had happened when Amy turned seven.
Yes.
It’s a common tale.
The last survivor of a fallen house. And that survivor succumbing to Corruption, unable to bear the weight of the stigma branded upon them.
But.
If someone stands beside them, that tragedy can be prevented.
“Without this Trait, saving my comrades would be impossible.”
Comrades.
The word pierced Amy’s heart again, sharp and sudden.
Those people who had saved her when she’d lost everything—family, house, all of it—and wandered alone.
Of course, because of this, she would never be able to return to the Vatican again….
But if she could save them, none of that mattered.
“If you stay with me, Ju-sang, you’ll become a target of the Empire’s pursuit as well.”
The Vatican wouldn’t remain idle once they learned of this either.
Because they’d recoil from a Necromancer.
“I’m already traveling with one problem. One more won’t make much difference.”
“Among the family’s elders, there was one who succumbed to dark power and harmed his own family. He laid hands on his wife and children while they slept.”
“That’s all right. I have the habit of locking my door firmly at night. Even if you came creeping in, I wouldn’t open it.”
“Even if I end up walking down the wrong path… I don’t want to be left alone.”
Solitude, at times, is a punishment harsher than death itself.
The girl who had wandered the forests alone in her childhood knew keenly how agonizing such isolation could be.
“That much, at least, I can promise you.”
Ju-sang smiled faintly and spoke.
That no matter what happened, he would never abandon someone he had chosen to stand with.
There was no falsehood or pretense in it.
Amy gripped the Trait tightly in her hand.
“…All right. I’ll give it a try.”
[Amy absorbs the Trait ‘Hundred Ghosts Night Walk’.]
Thus the calamity accepted her fate.

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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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