I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 36

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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 36. Match Manipulation (1)
Taylor Maiden.
During nine years of work as a Hunter, an opportunity had finally come her way.
—Pour life into this dagger. Until the moon carved upon its surface turns as black as pitch.
She had no right to refuse.
It was a command from a being transcendent beyond measure.
And as if merely enslaving her weren’t enough, she was offered sweetened fruit as compensation.
[You have been selected as a Servant.]
The mark of her subordination was inscribed upon her.
In return, she received a longbow that only Rankers typically wielded.
Its value was difficult to quantify, but even a conservative estimate placed it well over a billion.
‘Killing people isn’t difficult.’
Death and killing were simply the natural order of her existence.
Perhaps outside these walls, but in Dungeons and Labyrinths—wasn’t this everyday life?
So she carried out her assigned tasks without guilt.
She approached people warmly. Then drove daggers through their hearts.
Her weakness as a fragile woman had become an excellent weapon.
But.
Her smooth path had suddenly struck a reef.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
Taylor’s heart hammered wildly.
Normally, Holy Knights ranked several tiers below regular Knights and were hardly something to fear.
Even if they were somewhat resilient, she knew multiple strategies to overcome them.
The problem was.
Once a Holy Knight’s Star Level exceeded a certain threshold, they became something entirely different.
Cackle-cackle-cackle!
The imposing presence of one who had far surpassed Seven Star.
The wave of Divine Power bearing down felt as though it would swallow her consciousness whole.
‘I was told there was nothing to fear in this place except the Jungju Guild or the Juksong Guild….’
She had been completely wrong.
A preposterous monster was roaming these halls.
‘If the two of them work together, there’s no chance for me at all.’
[Taylor activates the skill ‘Single-Point Shooting’!]
Whoosh-whoosh!
A skill that synergized beautifully with the [Physical Impact] trait.
Three arrows streaked forth like lightning, aimed at the warrior’s heart.
She had seized the moment while they were speaking, hoping to eliminate at least one of them.
Of course.
Crash-bang!
Her shallow gambit was shattered in an instant.
Amy, raising her Shield, blocked every single arrow.
Divine Power rippled outward, shattering the arrows wreathed in black Demonic Power to pieces.
“Who is this person?”
Amy’s expression hardened with vigilance.
“An enemy. I’ve seen her kill two people myself.”
Jusang answered tersely.
“Then she’s wicked.”
Good and evil.
As if that knowledge alone were sufficient, a blood-red smile bloomed across Amy’s lips.
Not the sunlit smile Taylor knew from before, but one reeking of a chilling, suffocating stench of blood.
Amy charged forward, swinging her Hammer.
The metal mass tore through the air with a whooshing roar.
“Ugh!”
Taylor clicked her tongue and twisted her body like a flying squirrel.
Crash!
The Hammer grazed Taylor’s arm before smashing into the ground.
Shattered fragments scattered in every direction.
“Aren’t Holy Knights supposed to capture, not kill? One hit like that and it’s instant death!”
“It’s fine to do so against anyone who would harm Jusang.”
Brilliant light flared along the Hammer’s edge, then transformed into a lightning bolt that surged forward.
Crack-crack-crack!
The hammer’s trajectory seared a trail of scorched earth in its wake.
[Amy activates the skill ‘Holy Burst’!]
A blow from a Holy Knight nearly reaching the eighth star level.
There was no question of blocking it.
She had to evade, no matter what.
Thud! Bang!
Taylor fled in a panic.
And even that proved difficult.
“Faster, faster.”
The archer, who had invested most of her stats into agility, pushed herself to the limit to create distance, but Amy continued to close the gap relentlessly.
She fired off a few arrows in retaliation, but it was like throwing pebbles against a cliff face.
There was no need to even defend.
Clang! Screech!
The armor wreathed in Divine Power was, quite simply, invincible.
The entire fight lasted less than two minutes.
“Urgh! Ngh….”
The hammer pressed down on Taylor’s throat.
Like a captured frog pinned beneath a stone.
“What should we do? If you wish, I can end this immediately.”
Hmm.
I couldn’t fathom what kind of training had taken place in Vatican to transform that once-gentle girl into this.
It wasn’t merely the penalty trait she’d received.
‘She’s fully accepted Bastion’s blood.’
Others wouldn’t have noticed, but Jungju, a stagnant observer of power, could sense the scent of death woven between the threads of Divine Power.
At this level….
‘She’s slain at least hundreds of evildoers.’
It seemed quite possible she’d done far more.
“Wait. I have a question.”
“Yes.”
Amy lightened the weight pressing down through the hammer.
Taylor exhaled the breath she’d been holding in one desperate rush.
“Cough! Hack! Hack!”
“Tell me who’s backing you. Then I’ll let you go without suffering.”
“If you kill me, you’ll definitely regret it.”
“For someone begging for her life, that’s painfully clichéd. If you’re going to threaten us, at least try something more original.”
“I’m not joking—I’m serious. There’s a geas binding my tongue, so I can’t speak, but I’m telling you this for your own good.”
A geas….
Something similar to what bound Godomn, then.
“So the bottom line is you can’t say anything?”
Then there was no point continuing this conversation.
Jungju nodded toward Amy.
“Wai—!”
Crunch.
The hammer came down, crushing Taylor entirely.
[Demonic Bow ‘Harad’]
[Acquisition Difficulty: AA]
[Attack Power: 1,100]
[Durability: 2,500 / 2,500]
[Effect: When using ‘Mist’, you gain resistance to moonlight and starlight. Rate of fire and armor penetration each increase by 10%, and allows you to fire arrows made of Demonic Power.]
[Black Moon]
[Acquisition Difficulty: A]
[Attack Power: 1,750]
[Durability: 1,000 / 1,000]
[Effect: Each time life force is drained through ‘Life Spirit Absorption’, the crescent darkens. Upon awakening as a complete Black Moon, you obtain the purest Demonic Essence.]
The spoils from Taylor totaled two items.
‘This….’
Jungju’s eyes narrowed.
A bow that emanated Demonic Essence, and….
This dagger that fed on life itself.
They all bore the mark of something far from ordinary.
Something ominous hung in the air.
‘Could it be that this woman is serving…?’
The thought had scarcely taken shape when it happened.
Whoooosh….
Gray mist erupted from Taylor’s body, roiling violently.
In that same instant, a Demonic Power so immense it defied imagination crashed down upon the entire area.
A chill ran through him.
Goosebumps erupted across his skin.
His mind recoiled from the reality even as his body trembled beneath a Demonic Power that tore through him like invisible blades.
—Ho. So there are amusing creatures among you humans.
I had wondered why you boasted so confidently.
So this is what it was.
This feeling.
This presence.
There could be no doubt.
A Demon.
And a considerably high-ranked one at that.
A pair of pale yellow eyes gleamed through the mist, sweeping slowly across Hyang Pyeong-jak and Amy.
Then, as if amused, it spoke.
—All I’ve done on this assignment is tedious work. At least this will be some entertainment. There’s pleasure in exerting real power.
Damn.
They’d become prey.
True to its nature as a race that reveled in combat, it had already entered hunting mode.
Thrum!
Spatial displacement magic was beginning to activate through the Servant mark etched upon Taylor.
‘That much, at least, I have to stop.’
If that creature crossed into this space now, the probability of survival dropped to zero.
Even with Amy by his side, fighting a high-ranked Demon at this moment was simply impossible.
The opponent’s temperament.
The nature of the Demon Race.
Weighing all of it, he calculated the single highest probability.
“Well, that’s rather unfortunate,” Hyang Pyeong-jak said, smacking his lips and scratching his head.
—Unfortunate? What do you mean by that?
The voice shifted slightly.
And no wonder.
Humans facing overwhelming death typically showed similar reactions.
They begged for their lives.
Or offered to become new hunting dogs in exchange.
But this.
A response the Demon had never encountered before.
It paused the spatial displacement.
“I mean only that with a bit more time, I could have finished preparing to hunt Demons. The timing is just unfortunate,” Hyang Pyeong-jak said.
He was prodding it.
Its pride. Its competitive instinct.
—Ha! You truly are a mad human. Hunt us? If you knew anything of the Demon Race, you’d understand how absurdly impossible that is.
“Then there’s no harm in giving me the time. After all, insignificant creatures like us pose no real threat to great Demons, do they?”
A tiger does not fear mice.
No matter how many mice gather to scheme, they cannot transcend the limits of their own nature.
“In fact, this rare hunt might become far more interesting if I make the proper preparations.”
Combat itself was life.
To walk an eternal battlefield where death always loomed—that was their deepest desire.
—Time, you say. How much time are we talking about?
It worked.
At least he’d managed to kindle curiosity.
“Two days should be sufficient, I think.”
—Exactly ten hours then. After that, we’ll slaughter every last human in this Dungeon. So feel free to run far and wide, or set up whatever cute traps you wish. See what you can manage.
Ten hours….
He’d been hoping for eight, but this was acceptable. Just winning time counted as a major victory.
And he’d gained useful intelligence to boot.
‘She said she was on a mission.’
She didn’t scale that wall simply to indulge in slaughter.
There was a clear purpose.
And she was moving with that purpose in mind, her instincts reined in.
In the Demon’s Throat, there was only one thing the Demon Race would likely be after.
And I already knew what it was.
And.
‘The number is at least two.’
The word “we” wouldn’t include minions like Taylor.
This was better than if only one had come.
There were angles I could exploit in reverse.
Besides, so far this counted as mere “amusement”—she wouldn’t have come at full strength from the start.
And so a deadly game of tag began.
* * *
In the wake of the tempest that had passed.
“M-master Jusang. What do we do now?”
Amy stared blankly at the space where Barkan’s will had vanished.
What do we do? What else could we do.
We’d bought time—now we had to employ every means to stay alive.
“Get up.”
Jusang shook Hyang Pyeong-jak, who still lay sprawled on the ground.
“Nngh…”
Hyang Pyeong-jak, who’d caught the full brunt of the Drunken Reverie, let out a heavy groan.
Here was someone who’d struck every impressive pose while perched on that boulder.
What kind of helpless fool turned out to be like this.
“My apologies. Such a lovely fragrance wafted over suddenly, and I lost consciousness… In heaven’s name, what’s happened?”
“I’ll explain as we move.”
Right now, we needed to move as fast as possible—every second counted.
“Where should we head?”
“Follow me. This way.”
Jusang took the lead.
[Amy activates Holy Sprint!]
[Stamina increases by 10%!]
[Movement speed increases by 7.5%!]
Thanks to the buff, her steps felt considerably lighter.
But her mind felt heavy, as if weighed down by stone.
‘How much of a chance do we actually have.’
Honestly, I couldn’t say.
Superior Demons could reach even the late stages of ten-star rank.
If I’d at least learned her name, it would’ve been invaluable for formulating strategy… but.
Unfortunately, reading even basic information from intent alone was impossible.
‘Was sending Baek Seol-gi a mistake.’
I should’ve come to this Dungeon with him, had I known it would come to this.
No. No, wait.
Jusang shook his head clear.
Since when had he become someone who relied on others.
All this time, running The Emperor, he’d faced countless life-or-death situations.
He’d been swallowed by despair itself—what could only be called hell—and the schemes of transcendents.
And because of that.
He could overcome this.
Obstacles like these were nothing—he could breeze past them with a smile.
The will to press forward was itself the very root that sustained even stagnant waters.

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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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