I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 34

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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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Chapter 34. Hidden Dungeon (2)
Matching Manipulation.
In countless games back in reality, players had raged over this exact problem.
Whenever someone went on a winning streak, the system would deliberately pair them with trolls and saboteurs.
Naturally, anyone trying their best would be furious.
‘Of course, that’s from the perspective of those being victimized.’
But if one could exploit that system entirely to their advantage, there was nothing more exhilarating.
Joo-sang ran his tongue across his lips.
Slip.
What he carefully withdrew was a Hound Tsetse Fly.
A harmful species specialized in draining blood and transmitting disease.
But with a little manipulation, it could produce quite entertaining results.
[Skill ‘Spirit’s Forest’ activates!]
Whirrrr!
As the field-type magic unfolded, all of the Hound Tsetse Fly’s stats surged dramatically.
“Bite.”
Joo-sang rolled up his sleeve and made the Hound Tsetse Fly bite itself.
[You have contracted the abnormal condition ‘Excessive Hemorrhage’!]
One second. Two seconds….
As time passed, the Hound Tsetse Fly’s body grew noticeably plump.
The amount of blood flowing down his wrist increased proportionally.
And precisely at 6.5 seconds.
He activated the special effect of Malkarim.
[Due to ‘Knight’s Oath’, all abnormal conditions Grade A and below are removed!]
Conditions that allowed not the slightest margin for error.
The timing was finicky, but once successful….
It yielded results befitting the effort.
[Hound Tsetse Fly evolves into ‘Golden Hound Tsetse Fly’!]
[You can drain Luck from a target of your choice and deliver it to yourself!]
[The traits ‘Invisibility’, ‘Partial Paralysis’, and ‘Silent Flight’ have been added.]
[Evolution maintenance time is 5 minutes!]
Its body shifted to a soft golden hue.
At first glance, it bore an extraordinary air.
“See that one over there? That’s your target.”
Joo-sang pointed to Boradoli, who was striking quite the pose.
Pulled hood low, playing the role of a sufficiently mysterious webnovel character—he seemed so enamored with the concept that he barely noticed the attention around him.
“Look at that equipment.”
“Grade A… or wait. Is that a Holy Relic? It looks insanely expensive.”
“He’s probably a ranker. If you got on a team with someone like that, clearing it first would be in the bag.”
Thanks to that, it was far easier to target him with the tsetse fly.
Whirrr!
The Golden Hound Tsetse Fly, cloaked in Invisibility and Silent Flight, flew over and gently alighted on Boradoli’s ankle.
As expected, he noticed nothing.
Even as it drained his blood via Partial Paralysis, no incident occurred.
Shortly after, the tsetse fly returned, brimming with luminous liquid.
[You have acquired all ‘Luck’ Boradoli can use within this dungeon.]
‘A ranker’s luck is truly something special.’
Especially in the case of Boradoli, whose Luck stat was absurdly high, its value was immense.
Ordinarily, one would need to gather various materials inside the dungeon to perform Matching Manipulation.
But that entire process could now be skipped.
Joo-sang downloaded an app on his smartphone.
As the lock disengaged lightly….
Ding!
[The ‘Matching Manipulation App’ has been installed!]
A cute little troll emoticon appeared in the center of the screen.
From the user’s perspective, ‘cute’ would be the apt word, but from the victim’s, ‘revolting’ would fit best.
‘Thanks to the Luck, I got a pretty good app.’
[Matching Manipulation], [Summon], [Conditional Command Authority], and more.
Excellent functions in abundance.
Good.
All right, let me give this a try.
Ju-sang hummed tunelessly as he scrolled through the list of available matches.
The ability to freely choose who to partner with—absurdly broken, really.
Of course, if he wanted to match with someone stronger and more exceptional, he’d need to pay the appropriate price.
‘I can accumulate what I need as I go.’
About fifteen minutes passed before the decision was made.
He’d deliberated quite a bit, but…
Yes.
This was the best choice.
[Will you enter the Demon’s Throat?]
“I’m going in.”
Ju-sang answered to empty air.
And then.
Whoosh!
The Black Ticket in his hand ignited in flames.
Five thousand Public Merit Points reduced to ash in an instant.
At the same time.
His vision went completely black.
* * *
When he opened his eyes, a completely new landscape spread before him.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Flames shot up from every direction.
The ground flowed with glowing magma.
“You’re quite the operator, my friend. This place is notorious for reckless pairings, yet somehow you’ve managed this feat—how?”
The first candidate was Hyang Pyeong-jak.
A 7-Star Dealer.
His defense was somewhat lacking, but he had the attack power and speed to compensate.
“There’s always a way. But still—that style suits you remarkably well.”
“It feels odd. Where I come from, the bitter cold means we do nothing like this.”
Ju-sang had trimmed his shaggy hair to avoid being recognized.
And that had turned out to be a stroke of luck.
He now looked like a pawnshop owner from some movie.
The look paired perfectly with his lean, muscular frame—he felt like he’d found a pearl in the mud.
Just then.
“You two seem to know each other?”
A Western archer with waist-length green hair approached.
[Matched with the person who yields the greatest reward when adventuring together.]
The condition he’d input into the Matching Manipulation.
And this female archer was the result…
“I’m Taylor. My Position is Archer, and my Star Rank is 4.”
Hmm.
Calm, professional smile.
Moderate Star Rank, decent Position.
He couldn’t get a read on her yet.
“I’m Ju-sang. This is my friend Hyang Pyeong-jak. We’ve run raids together a few times.”
“Wow, you’ve coordinated multiple times? That’s reassuring. I’ll count on you as our vanguard!”
For now, he’d keep her in the group.
He’d have to watch and see why she was matched as the one who’d bring the greatest reward.
Next was…
Ju-sang’s gaze turned toward the middle-aged man.
A mage handling the raid party’s firepower.
He appeared to be in his late thirties.
“I’m Paul Garten. My Position is Mage, and my Star Rank is… well, I doubt anyone here outranks me.”
A German-looking man with bristly blond hair smiled with unmistakable arrogance.
Right. A magic user, naturally.
True to his aristocratic vocation, his pride was stratospheric.
[Star Rank 5 or higher. Raid experience: 20+ dungeons, 2+ labyrinths. Ice-attribute Mage.]
Since fire-attribute monsters were abundant here, he’d selected this mage for his versatility.
But seeing his attitude now, Ju-sang felt a twinge of regret—he should have brought Boradoli instead.
‘I’ll manage.’
Boradoli would need to be pushed and rolled around before I threw down the rope.
Only then would he listen obediently to whatever I said.
Besides, with my smartphone’s current battery capacity, it would be difficult to summon a powerhouse like Boradoli anyway.
“Call me Han Yong-su. I’m Star Rank 3, and my Position is sub-Tanker.”
This fellow had a low Star Rank, but he possessed a very special advantage.
He carried the rare trait [Advanced Recovery].
Honestly, I’d searched the conditions without much hope, and then reeled in a prize catch.
If I used this, I could even recharge the smartphone.
And then.
The final member, at last….
[The matched individual is currently outside the summoning range.]
It seemed they hadn’t reached the dungeon entrance yet.
They’d said they’d come as quickly as possible, so I’d meet them soon enough.
“Still, we’re fortunate. With five of us, at least we won’t take the Penalty.”
Garten was right.
If we couldn’t maintain the minimum five members, forced penalty traits would be imposed.
Like [Hunger] and [Dehydration], which made you ravenous and parched easily, or [Depression] and [Influenza] and [Stomach Upset], which tanked the entire team’s morale.
In severe cases, you could even receive lethal Penalties like [Narcolepsy] or [Immune System Collapse].
“We must not lose a single ally,” she murmured.
Taylor swallowed hard, her throat tight.
Now that we had the team assembled, it was time to move forward.
As we exchanged basic information about each other, we suddenly encountered a pack of monsters.
“Beast Tamers,” Taylor said.
“And a Lava Tortoise too. Three in total.”
Taylor and Garten’s voices grew more serious.
The Star Rank 2 Beast Tamers were nothing to worry about, but the Lava Tortoise—rated as mid-to-late Star Rank 4—was notoriously difficult to fight.
The standard tactic was to avoid combat and find another way.
Of course, that assumed we could find a new path in this place, which was nothing but magma in all directions.
“They’re nothing special. I’ll handle them.”
Hyang Pyeong-jak rose to his feet, gripping his hand axe and kukri knife.
“Tch. This is exactly why I don’t like teaming up with low Star Rank riffraff. How the hell are you hunting without any understanding of elemental properties—I can’t even begin to say.”
“What did you just say? Are you talking to me like that?”
Hyang Pyeong-jak’s eyebrows arched in anger.
If only the lord hadn’t ordered me never to cut down a comrade without cause….
Garten’s head would have rolled beautifully from his shoulders.
Before the situation grew worse, the lord stepped in.
“So the great Mage has a clever way to break through here, it seems. Since you’ve already brought it up, why don’t you show us your skill?”
“If you renegotiate the distribution ratio, I might consider it.”
Garten laid down his real demand.
He wasn’t satisfied with the twenty percent split and wanted more.
“If you do your part properly, I’ll have you take it from my share.”
“Do you mean that?”
“Of course. A raid party operates entirely on merit, after all, doesn’t it?”
“Fine. In that case….”
[Garten activates the skill ‘Ice Arrow’!]
Gathering ice shards transformed into the shape of an arrow.
“It’s not something you see every day. Watch carefully and remember it well.”
Whoosh!
The arrow shot toward the Lava Tortoise’s neck.
Sizzle-crackle!
“Graaaagh!”
It was indeed worth shouting about.
Using ice magic in a place this scorching was no trivial feat.
And the power was considerable—the Lava Tortoise that took the direct hit crashed down with a tremendous roar.
“You see? Now it’s thirty percent for me! If I take care of the rest myself, I should get forty percent—no, fifty percent!”
Garten’s voice rang out, thick with pride.
Hmm.
“But… it looks like there are more hiding over there?”
The lord pointed toward the roiling magma.
Not three. More than that.
At least fifteen lava turtles emerged from the magma.
“That… that’s way too many.”
Paul Garten stumbled backward, his face drained of color.
No matter how fast he cast, there was no way he could handle so many.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Roooaaar!”
“Guaaaah!”
The lava turtles closed in with a deafening clamor, moving with terrifying speed.
“Retreat, everyone!”
“No! This is exactly why I said we should’ve gone a different way from the start!”
Taylor and Han Yong-su immediately prepared to flee.
“Sigh. It was going to come down to either me or him anyway, so why the hell are we taking such a complicated route?”
Hyang Pyeong-jak rose to his feet with a weary exhale.
Tsk, tsk.
‘This one still only looks one step ahead.’
“It was deliberate.”
All that effort to steer the conversation toward splitting the loot had paid off.
He’d said it himself, so he couldn’t backtrack later.
With this arrangement, I could now legitimately claim all the byproducts from our hunts.
[Icy Flame Divine Sword activates!]
Snap!
Frost spread outward along the short sword.
The honed energy blazed with an almost painful brilliance.
That was the beginning.
Slash!
His form vanished.
He leaped across the rocks jutting from the lava, cutting straight through the center of the beasts’ formation.
Crunch!
Three heads flew.
That’s right.
No matter how tough their hides, they meant nothing against Cavalado’s Short Sword with its 3,000 attack power.
And with the chill effect dealing an additional 300 to 600 damage per strike, he was unstoppable.
He spun through the air, the blade’s tip angling toward another turtle’s skull.
From above…
To below.
[Extinction Star Style, Second Form: Lightning activates!]
Crackle, pop, sizzle!
A single bolt of lightning fell.
The lava turtle’s brain burned pitch black in an instant.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Naturally, the beasts didn’t take it lying down.
The remaining turtles unleashed balls of flame.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Fire engulfed his body.
A direct hit.
But.
He didn’t even blister in that inferno.
“Not bad, though compared to that flame monkey, it’s lukewarm at best.”
What’s a tanker, anyway?
Take hits, tank through them, repeat—that’s being a tanker.
Once magical resistance passed fifty, most enemies’ attacks were nothing even barehanded.
[Snow Plum Flower activates!]
Snowflowers bloomed, and the lava turtle’s legs froze solid mid-flame.
“Wh-what?!”
“No, no, nooooo!!!”
It struggled uselessly—utterly locked in place.
If anything, its thrashing only made the snow cling thicker.
“Just finish them off for me, would you?”
He opened a Dimensional Space.
And then.
“Roooaarrr!”
Salamander, the intermediate-rank fire spirit beast.
“Shrieeee!”
Sylphid, the lower-rank wind spirit beast.
The two spirit beasts advanced slowly.
Ever since breaking free from Han Yong-su and forming new contracts, the pair had come into their own power in earnest.
Salamander and Sylphid immediately set about slaughtering the remnants.
“Wait—was that a Spirit Summoner?”
“No way. The way she handles the Icy Flame Divine Sword—she’s definitely not a Spirit Summoner. Though I could’ve sworn she was wielding the same blade as those imperial knights earlier. Must be my imagination.”
“No, it has to be. If she’s not a Tanker, none of this makes sense. Taking a direct hit from the lava turtle’s flames and walking away unscathed? That’s a Tanker Position ability.”
The three of them stared, eyes wide, at the sight before them.
Every move defied all convention.
Han Yong-su even rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was dreaming.

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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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