I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 24

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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 24. The Wall (3)
While all eyes were fixed ahead, an ambush unfolded in their blind spot.
The effect surpassed imagination.
Ju-sang and Baek Seol-gi, having penetrated to the rear in one swift movement, drove deep into the enemy’s heart.
‘Let’s test it out, shall we.’
Kabalado’s Short Sword.
An artifact-class item with a whopping thirty times the attack power of the Sword of Punishment.
The feel of it settling snugly around each finger.
The quality of the sword light streaming from the blade.
They were incomparable.
Thump-thump.
Anticipation coursed through him.
So this is what it felt like.
[Star-Devouring Style, First Form ‘Moonlight’ activates!]
Kabalado’s Short Sword blazed with a blood-red light.
Like starlight fallen into darkness.
As trailing afterimages dealt additional damage, three Join fell in an instant.
“Whoa.”
Ju-sang let out an exclamation.
How could he not.
The sensation in his palm was exquisite.
Light as air yet with flawless cutting power—the words formed unbidden.
And more than that.
Whooom!
A sinister, ominous aura began to gather in his right hand.
Kabalado’s Short Sword, being a sacred relic of the Evil God, possessed a passive ability called Mana Emission.
It allowed him to channel something of the Evil God’s very presence.
“Kieee!”
Ju-sang faced a Join charging toward him.
It wielded a scythe larger than its own body, beak gaping wide open.
Whoosh!
He slipped past it effortlessly.
After countless real battles, his body’s senses were already pushed to their limit.
Such broad, sweeping motions were perfect openings for a counter.
Ju-sang pressed his hand against the Join’s abdomen.
Then, he released the mana outward.
Bwoooom!
Black sparks erupted in all directions—the Join’s upper half simply ceased to exist.
‘Is this… real?’
The power was absurd.
He felt a recoil strong enough to make his right hand ache.
‘Even if the Join is only at the very beginning of the third Star Rank, to be this strong?’
Desire bloomed ever brighter.
To make this strength his own.
“What in the world is that ability…”
Baek Seol-gi’s eyes narrowed.
A tingling sense of awe crept through her, making her heart race.
Like peeling an onion, layer after layer.
Just when she thought she understood something, he revealed something new.
She burned to know where the depths of him truly ended.
Kim Sang-ho’s shock was no less profound.
“So it’s true—you really are stronger than she is.”
He had witnessed masters from Gangdong, Gwangjin District, and Jamsil clash before.
Yet none of them had ever wielded such alien, diverse power.
When he first saw the white-haired girl, he’d thought the rumors carried some exaggeration.
But seeing it with his own eyes, he understood.
That those words were no mere falsehood.
While the two stood marveling, Ju-sang had already reached the Watchtower’s rear gate.
Tatter-tap-tap!
The short sword traced a dizzying, brilliant arc before—
Boom!
The last of the Join fell.
[You have acquired the Avian Compendium!]
A kind of encyclopedia recording the characteristics and strengths and weaknesses of each Join species.
There was a useful way to employ it.
Not immediately, but when the time came to face Keruza, it would prove its worth.
‘How many Stat Points did I gain?’
Ju-sang glanced toward the empty air.
[Stat Points Available: 9]
Hmm.
Leaner than expected.
Perhaps because I’m standing at the threshold of 5-Star Rank.
Weak creatures don’t yield many Stat Points no matter how much you hunt them.
‘I need to take down bosses and Named creatures.’
Only by hunting substantial prey could he claim substantial rewards.
The abilities he’d been plundering all devoured enormous amounts of Mana, so he had no choice but to fixate on accumulating additional Stat Points.
‘The opportunity will come soon enough.’
He was certain strong opponents awaited him.
Not just Keruza, the 6-Star creature leading the Join, but other factions had infiltrated this place—he could feel it.
[Magic Power increases: 264 → 273.]
Step by step, building up.
Toward a place no one else could follow.
* * *
At the same moment.
The High Ground was locked in a tedious war of attrition.
“Raymond! The mercenaries’ formation is collapsing!”
“The infantry support has reached its limit. We need to fall back and regroup!”
The hastily assembled mercenaries were the problem.
Without proper coordination, their limitations were stark.
“Damn it. They keep swarming up like roaches.”
Raymond, who had cut through dozens of Join, grimaced fiercely.
If they couldn’t break through now, the next attempt would be harder.
Especially.
The Ice Extreme Bird, cloaked in pristine white plumage.
The Fire Escape Bird, cloaked in crimson feathers.
The two massive birds, hurling ice spheres and fireballs, were the greatest headache.
Bombarding them from the top of the Watchtower with long-range area attacks caused devastating casualties.
‘I have to neutralize those two birds somehow to open an escape route.’
Breaking through a Join force numbering in the hundreds wouldn’t be easy, but some casualties would have to be accepted.
However, the two birds were charging their Mana faster.
By drawing in the Mana flowing through the entire mountain, their casting speed had skyrocketed.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!
Converging fireballs and white spheres.
Massive forces bearing opposite attributes had taken on their final form.
“They’re targeting the porters!”
A military mage shouted.
The rearguard supply unit carrying potions and scrolls had been marked as the target.
If supplies were lost, the force’s capacity to sustain the battle would vanish.
All manner of defensive magic rose to meet it, but….
“It’s… impossible.”
“We can’t block it. Scatter!”
There was no way to stop it.
And then, at that very moment.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
A blizzard erupted from the western Watchtower.
With such tremendous force it seemed to touch the clouds.
Whoooosh….
Thousands of branching snowflakes created a scene of desolation.
As though the entire High Ground had been buried under fresh snow.
Crackle!
A salamander’s crimson flames surged forth in its wake.
“Crooooahhh…”
The Fire Escape Bird, trapped in the blizzard, froze slowly from within.
“Screeeeee!”
By contrast, the Ice Extreme Bird, its entire plumage wreathed in flames, thrashed about in mad desperation.
“What… what in blazes is happening?”
“Could there be a mercenary unit that infiltrated from behind?”
“No separate report has been filed.”
Was an unknown third faction or named mercenary company getting involved?
Or had the higher command sent down a senior mage for support?
Questions cascaded into confusion, yet no one could offer a satisfying answer.
The truth emerged soon enough.
“Thank you for deliberately holding back your firepower. Thanks to your restraint, I got to enjoy such a pleasant display of flames.”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt, Seol-gi, so I exercised some restraint. Ahem! But I’m genuinely curious about this—was it truly just warm? It didn’t feel hot at all, did it?”
“Not at all. It was perfectly warm—I nearly dozed off.”
……
Two figures emerged between the snowflakes and flames.
A white-haired girl moving with unhurried grace, a faint smile playing on her lips.
And beside her, a man who looked utterly spent, his expression etched with exhaustion.
Even with over eight hundred soldiers swarming them, they’d barely managed to advance a few meters.
Yet these two had succeeded in reclaiming the western Watchtower alone.
It was an overwhelmingly superior feat beyond all comparison.
“Who on earth are those people?”
“Ah, them? They’re the ones who received a ball invitation and agreed to help some guild called Hwarang or something!”
Mercenaries who recognized them began to point.
The girl who had slain the Poison Venom Bird in a single strike.
An extraordinary performance one could never forget.
“Back then, she wasn’t even using a tenth of her strength.”
“Damn it. That invitation was a steal.”
If they’d known, they should have pooled every asset the guild possessed to recruit her at any cost.
They should have handed out blank checks without hesitation.
But regret was pointless—the train had already left the station.
Word of the pair spread quickly even to Raymond and his knights.
“Was it Jeong Ju-sang? Thanks to you both, we were able to complete our mission.”
Raymond approached with a notably warmer smile.
The overbearing, forceful demeanor he’d shown the mercenaries had vanished entirely.
He radiated the warmth of one reuniting with a long-lost family.
“You’re far superior to the trainee knights, actually. Thanks to you, our casualties came to barely a tenth of what we’d anticipated.”
“You’re too kind. We simply did what was our duty as members of the Empire.”
“Hahahaha! Such loyalty too. I’m most impressed.”
“Hahahaha! I do pride myself on my devotion.”
In the military, this tongue of his alone had earned him five commendations for leave.
He’d even satisfied the palates of jaded old instructors.
Surely he could win over a fledgling knight.
Ju-sang smiled and let something slip from his grasp.
It was a business card with Benneroff’s name on it.
Oops.
I really did drop that by accident.
“Do you know Commander Benneroff as well?”
The reaction was immediate.
Of course—what would someone from the 5th Knights Order know of such things?
“Ah, I happened to meet him recently. He was kind enough to offer me a position as a trainee knight.”
Ju-sang said it as though it were nothing of importance.
Though the weight of those words was anything but trivial.
“Commander Benneroff… offered you that?”
“That can’t be right. It makes no sense.”
The trainee knights around Raymond widened their eyes in disbelief.
And well they might.
Who was Benneroff?
A core member of the 2nd Knights Order, and a man already being discussed as a candidate for knight commander within the decade.
He was a knight famous for yielding to no outside pressure, moving only by his own conviction.
And yet he had just offered a position as an apprentice knight to someone?
To a former mercenary at that, not the scion of a noble house?
It was nonsense even drink would struggle to excuse.
Yet, having seen the business card before him, he could hardly disbelieve it.
“Truly… not an ordinary man at all. Of course. Lord Benneroff wouldn’t have wanted to let talent like you slip away either.”
[Favorability has increased by +5.]
Had a status window existed, some such message would have appeared.
Raymond’s gaze had grown sticky, heavy—burdensome even.
“Master. That man… I don’t like him.”
How much must she have been on edge for Baek Seol-gi to show such wariness.
Unaware of Baek Seol-gi’s sharp, snarling teeth, Raymond spoke another audacious words.
“Come along to discuss the defense of the western Watchtower and our operations to come. Both of you.”
A knight himself had extended an invitation to a military strategy conference?
It was tantamount to declaring them core talent.
Good.
This was exactly what he wanted.
“Ah, would it be alright if this person joined us as well?”
The Master placed his hand on Kim Sang-ho’s shoulder.
“Hmm? Who is that?”
“The master of the Hwarang guild. A colleague who’s joined us this time.”
The Master spoke the word “Hwarang” with emphasis, under the gaze of everyone present.
“Of course. I’ll arrange for the Hwarang guild to attend the military strategy conferences as well going forward.”
Raymond consented without hesitation.
Far too easily.
One light nod, and the fate of the Hwarang had shifted.
“This… this can’t be real.”
“It really happens that fast?”
The mercenaries’ faces twisted beyond envy, on the verge of tears.
They seemed about to lose their minds at the realization they’d just let slip the very fortune that could have been theirs.
“Well then. Shall we go together, Sang-ho?”
“…Yes. Y-yes, we should. Of course.”
Kim Sang-ho answered with his lips pressed tight.
A small guild in Gangdong that nobody remembered.
The man who had struggled alone there had just thrown his final gamble.
And so, that small shot cast with the desperation of a drowning man grasping at straws…
had finally reached the place he’d yearned for so long.
‘Thank you… thank you so much.’
Kim Sang-ho’s eyes began to redden.
A single word, compressed with countless unspoken sentiments, echoed through his chest.
* * *
The meeting continued late into the evening.
More violent combat awaited them starting tomorrow.
Of course, since rest and recovery were equally important, the meeting was concluded before midnight.
“By the way, Master. Is it really alright to sleep well?”
Baek Seol-gi spoke, clutching a large pillow to her chest.
She was now dressed in pajamas printed with a rabbit, freshly issued to her.
“Ha ha. Rest easy. Even if Poison Venom Birds—no, even worse things than that swarm down upon us, we’d handle it without a scratch.”
Raymond let out a hearty laugh.
The western Watchtower now had regular army troops and mercenaries from below the mountain deployed in large numbers.
Fortification for defense was already over eighty percent complete.
So there would be no unforeseen disaster.
“Well then. I’ll head back first.”
“See you all tomorrow.”
Everyone exchanged farewells and dispersed to their respective rooms.
And as the small hours of dawn grew deep…
hell began.
Thwack!
“Krrgh…”
Raymond stared blankly at the blade driven through his heart.
The elite soldiers assigned to night watch were slaughtered to a man.
The apprentice knights, too, couldn’t hold for even five minutes before being annihilated.
“What… are you?”
Raymond squeezed out the last of his strength, staring at the assassins.
Hair white as snow.
Eyes blue as sapphire.
Boys and girls with innocent faces.
“This must be the place. Where the one who stole the Number One White Ghost is said to be.”
“Hee-hee! We can kill the rest, yeah?”
“Yeah. Since we’re out for a rare stroll, let’s have some fun.”
White reapers had come to the battlefield.

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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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