I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 52

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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 52. Heuk Bi (2)
“What—what is this?”
“Doctor… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The Doctor and nurses trembled at the torrent of magical power radiating from Heuk Bi.
The Abandoned Hospital, now flooded with Yin-Yang energies, was no longer a place the Doctor recognized.
For one’s innate ability to be consumed by another’s was nearly impossible.
It meant the gap in power was that vast.
Hopelessly vast.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Krooooah!”
The guards and staff were swallowed alive by the Ghost Spirit Resurrection Formation.
Some turned to gold.
Others burned to ash.
Still others were pulled down into the earth.
The life force of all those who died flowed toward Heuk Bi.
It wouldn’t be long now.
Soon the Formation Magic would be complete—one fueled by lives spent to restore consciousness.
‘I need to move fast.’
Jusang activated the Master of Spirit Servants, borrowed from Heuk Bi.
And then.
“Pip!”
“Peet!”
Spirit Servants burst forth, each with a different character carved into their plump bodies.
Perhaps using the ability was still unfamiliar.
The pressure they exuded fell short by far.
At best, they looked like well-fed chicks.
Still, even this much was enough to be useful.
[The skill Spirit Forest activates!]
[All stat values of the Spirit Servants increase by 20%!]
This was why stolen abilities were broken.
You could deploy the right tool for each situation exactly when you needed it.
“I need to destroy the pivot point of the Four-Directional Formation. Where Metal and Earth properties converge, I’ll drive a blade made of Fire and Wood.”
“Piiit!”
“Squeeeeak!”
The Spirit Servants, grown bulkier, moved at once.
Good. That’s settled.
Now it was Heuk Bi’s turn….
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
He was already wielding the Five Elements freely, riding the earth like an escalator.
The winds and fireballs floating to his left and right continued to swell.
Truly, a monster worthy of one destined to reach the realm of True Qi mastery.
But that was only if he accumulated experience over time.
Right now, there were still openings to exploit.
Jusang waited anxiously for the right moment.
And finally….
[The Ghost Spirit Resurrection Formation opens!]
The Formation Magic activated, using the gathered life essence to restore Suho’s consciousness.
Now!
Boom!
The Spirit Servants Jusang had summoned drove a blade of wood and fire into the axis.
In an instant, a tremendous impact struck the ground.
Crack-crack-crack!
The framework of the Formation shuddered; fissures spread through the entire spell structure.
Success. This should be enough to halt the Formation’s activation.
……
Heuk Bi’s gaze snapped toward Jusang.
He’d grasped immediately whose work it was.
A chill shot through the air.
At the same moment, a bone-deep cold descended.
Boom!
A hand made of earth erupted from where the pillar had been.
Massive fingers crushed the pillar flat in an instant.
But.
Thump!
Instead of flesh and blood spraying outward, white smoke billowed forth.
Spirit Servant Transformation.
Through the art that swapped positions between a spirit servant and himself, he barely escaped.
“Awakened, and yet you see nothing clearly.”
Now it was time to counterattack using the spirit servants.
[The skill Spirit Soul Cannon activates!]
As hundreds upon hundreds of spirit servants opened their mouths, pearlescent spheres materialized.
A form akin to a dragon’s breath.
Infused with the characters for Explosion, Inferno, and Blizzard to maximize the Spirit Soul Cannon’s power.
“Take one blast and come to your senses. Please.”
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
What followed was a brilliant beam of white light.
The Spirit Soul Cannon, tearing forward in a straight line, was immediately blocked by the wooden vines Heuk Bi had conjured.
Crackle!
The Spirit Soul Cannon spewed scorching flames as it gnawed through the wooden vines, but its firepower visibly diminished with each passing second.
Tsk—only thirty seconds of sustained output. That’s the limit, then.
Regrettable as it is, we’ve avoided the worst. That’s enough.
My purpose was never to defeat Heuk Bi, after all.
Fwip!
The pillar placed a small spirit servant into Namgung Suho’s mouth.
Gulp!
As the spirit servant melted down his throat, focus returned to Namgung Suho’s gaze.
[The target’s consciousness returns.]
“What in the world… how did this…”
Namgung Suho stammered, staring at the pillar standing directly before him.
Thank goodness. It worked.
“Can you come to your senses now?”
“It’s as though I’ve been wandering through a long fog.”
Yes, that would make sense.
“To save the Patriarch, Heuk Bi has stepped down a twisted path. If you don’t act now, the situation will become irreversible.”
“I understand the situation, but it’s impossible… I have neither the right nor the will left to change anything.”
A horrifying form, changed like a hopping corpse.
A mind where only the instinct to slaughter remained.
Reason had returned, yes—but only for a moment.
In minutes, he would descend into madness again.
“Can’t you see? I am no longer a member of the Namgung Clan, nor its Patriarch. I am nothing but a monster!”
A monster.
That was what the Patriarch of the Namgung Clan had become.
That was Namgung Suho’s end.
Such pathetic excuses, all of them.
“Don’t you dare give up for such a trivial reason. And stop making cowardly excuses! The Namgung Clan I know is not a tree that topples at the first small wind!”
The pillar hurled something toward Namgung Suho.
It was the keepsake of his father—the one Namgung Suho had long harbored such resentment toward.
“This is…”
Namgung Suho grasped the keepsake in his hand.
It was stained with dried blood from ages past, yet somehow—
It was warm.
As if it had continued to flow, alive, all this time.
[The Lord Stat moves the target’s heart!]
The Namgung Clan.
A great tree of Anhui Province that stood steadfast, guarding its territory and pride against the threats of countless sects and heretical cults.
As his father had done.
And as his ancestors had done before him.
As Patriarch.
To fulfill his duty to the bitter end.
Even if that end holds no meaning and is remembered by no one.
That was precisely why it was Namgung.
“Truly, who can say who the head of the clan is anymore. But… thank you. For giving me a place to burn my final flame.”
Clang!
Namgung Suho seized the blade with his one remaining arm.
Expelling the last True Qi from his body….
[Namgung Suho activates the Secret Technique ‘Emperor Sword Form’!]
Whoosh!
He spoke to the one who had wrought this tragedy.
That he was here.
The Doctor, sensing the blade turning toward him, reacted at once.
“Ah, don’t be absurd. A Chimera I created—you’d dare defy your creator? Your heart will burst before that blade even touches me!”
“My heart stopped long ago.”
Yet Namgung Suho’s sword did not stop.
It only gathered fiercer momentum, pressing forward with redoubled force.
Crack!
Namgung Suho’s heart shattering.
Slash!
The Doctor’s upper body cleaved in two—both happened in nearly the same instant.
“Cough… cough! So… so this is beyond even surgical recovery…”
The Doctor, who had exhausted all his mana through hundreds of surgical procedures, could not deflect that single stroke.
[The duty of a Chimera fades.]
With the Doctor dead, there would be no more times he lost his reason and rampaged wildly.
Yet the time he had left to live while still retaining his mind was not long either.
“Not yet. Not yet.”
Step.
Namgung Suho moved forward.
Blade in hand, he approached Heuk Bi.
Heuk Bi’s eyes remained hollow and vacant.
Just as Namgung Suho’s had been moments before.
“A worthy opponent for my final exchange of blades.”
Though his body had changed, his heart as a warrior had not been corrupted.
A life-and-death duel with a formidable foe.
And if that opponent was someone he held dear—there could be nothing more fitting.
Boom!
One exchange.
Sword and Yin-Yang Magic clashed.
Like a greeting passed between them, they measured each other’s strength.
Bang-bang-boom!
Two exchanges.
Now that they understood each other’s measure, only the final verdict remained.
Every manner of technique and skill aimed toward the opponent.
Drawing closer.
Ever forward.
The shorter the distance became, the more terrifying Heuk Bi’s Yin-Yang Magic grew—yet.
Like a moth drawn to shining flames that cannot stop, so too did Namgung Suho press on without hesitation.
And by the twenty-fifth exchange.
When the gap between them had narrowed to mere inches, the sharp stone Heuk Bi had summoned swept across Namgung Suho’s abdomen.
“Cough!”
Thick blood stained Heuk Bi’s shoulder.
“My… my lord?”
Only then did Heuk Bi’s mind return to him.
And he realized what he had done—that he had struck down Namgung Suho.
Trembling.
His whole body shook.
For he had harmed the very one he had sought so desperately to save.
In that moment.
—Heuk Bi.
Namgung Suho’s lips opened slowly.
Gently.
He placed a hand upon his head.
Calmly. And gently.
The way a parent comforts a child.
—It’s not your fault.
Not losing your family and friends.
Not the slaughter of countless people because of it.
Not closing the doors of your heart.
Not those doors opening again.
And least of all,
not failing to protect what you held dear.
None of it was wrong.
If there is fault to be found…
it lies with those who failed to guide you onto the right path.
Namgung Suho held all those words in his touch as he stroked Heuk Bi’s head.
—From now on, follow your master.
There are not many in this world who truly understand justice and cooperation.
In an age where people disregard means and method for the sake of their goals, even fewer still.
—He cares for you more than anyone else. No matter what circumstances arise, I believe he will never cast aside his own people.
That I can remain the head of the Namgung Clan as something other than a monster—this is all thanks to your master.
A man with a warm heart and the will to never surrender, even in the most desperate of circumstances, is someone Heuk Bi can trust and follow.
“Your command.”
Heuk Bi clasped his fist in salute, quiet and composed.
Not merely as a servant, but as a member of the Namgung Clan. He received his master’s final command into his heart.
—Now… I think I’d like to rest for a while. I have so much to tell Father.
Namgung Suho set down his sword.
It would be the last moment of Namgung Suho that only a handful would ever remember.
* * *
The fighting was over.
“I, Heuk Bi, shall henceforth serve your excellency as my sole teacher and sovereign.”
Heuk Bi performed the Nine Bows Ceremony.
With nine separate gestures of respect, just as he had believed in and followed Namgung Suho,
he now swore to believe in and follow his master.
Well, this is a strange feeling.
I went through hell for it, but having secured the greatest Yin-Yang Master was intoxicatingly sweet.
‘Given his nature—single-minded loyalty—I can rule out the risk of betrayal.’
At the very least, I won’t have to worry about being backstabbed in my sleep.
With three calamities enlisted now…
I should start thinking seriously about founding a Guild.
Of course, charging into a high-difficulty Dungeon right now carried risk.
The tank and damage dealers were perfect, but the rest left something to be desired.
I’d need at least one support, one healer, one additional tank or better, and a solid area-damage dealer to run stable raids.
‘While I’m at it, I should think about my job class too.’
The framework for playing The Emperor smoothly.
How you develop everything afterward depends entirely on which job you choose.
I’ll decide on that soon enough.
Next,
there’s the matter of the auction items…
My gaze settled on the pile of items stacked high with treasure.
Honestly, I’d love to take them all, but that would be greedy.
The auction items had various security measures including Recognition Magic, which made them worthless as stolen goods.
‘Unless I were a Ghoul, I can’t safely keep these right now.’
I’d definitely be traced back to.
Better to slip away with just a few and turn over the rest—butter them up with my contribution and ask them to look the other way.
With the credit I’ve earned, it should be manageable.
[Mermaid’s Tear]
[Acquisition Difficulty: S]
[Description: Drinking a beverage made from a mermaid’s tear grants various types of buffs. There’s an extremely rare chance of receiving an SS-rank or higher buff.]
The Mermaid’s Tear was the top priority for recruitment—the item the pacifist most desired.
Because I needed this item to conquer the ruins he so desperately wanted to explore.
‘I might be able to strike a deal with him, actually.’
He’s no pushover, so I’d need to be careful.
Given his nature, I had no way of knowing what he’d do if he found out the Mermaid’s Tear had been stolen from him.
Next, I’d secured the Ancient Giant’s Eye as well.
[Ancient Giant’s Eye]
[Acquisition Difficulty: AA]
[Description: Increases enhancement success rate by 10–25%.]
This was an item everyone coveted, so there was no point mentioning it—my jaw would only ache for nothing.
Then, should I grab just one more item for good measure?
Three items ought to slip through safely enough.
But right then, as I was carefully selecting my final acquisition—
Bang!
Amy and Baek Seol-gi burst through the door.
“Your Majesty! Are you hurt?”
“Majesty. Don’t worry. We’re here!”
Why were they only arriving now, when everything was already falling apart?
I’d already wrapped up the situation and was handling the cleanup.
The moment I opened my eyes wide, the two of them scrambled for excuses.
“The distance was simply too great, and Empire soldiers kept stopping us at checkpoints.”
“I faced the same difficulty. I did turn a few of them into ice statues, but they should thaw by tomorrow afternoon.”
My head throbbed for some reason, but if no one was dead, that would have to suffice.
“Your Majesty. However, I cannot locate those men from before.”
Heuk Bi was right.
The Doctor’s corpse had vanished as if it had never existed.
The nurses who’d been attached to him like a set menu had also disappeared without a trace.
They specialized in surgical procedures, or so I’d heard.
Could they really treat wounds of that severity?
Only then did I fully grasp how abnormal those affiliated with the Ghoul truly were.
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
‘The way the auction items were torn open—something about it felt off.’
No matter how skilled the Doctor was, it would have been impossible to handle it so swiftly and quietly.
Not without deliberately stationing fewer security forces.
Moreover, the decision to pursue the culprit as a martial artist and mobilize the entire order for the hunt had been excessive.
Could it be.
‘There’s another hand behind this?’
Someone had aided the Doctor, making it easy for him to spirit away the auction items.
If I assumed that, all the pieces of this puzzle fell into place.

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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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