I Got an Ex-Class Omnipotent System - Chapter 98
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 98
98: Crackka Bandit Group (2)
After devising the strategy, Dohyun found himself genuinely anxious.
It was a plan that required trusting Hanalin and Jiyuchan, both of whom had lost their memories. While I held off Cracka Pushil, they would eliminate the bandits and regroup with me—a fairly standard operation.
The critical element was that Hanalin and Jiyuchan needed to rejoin quickly while I held the line, and that was precisely where my unease lay.
Could I hold out long enough?
I could. I could certainly manage it. Yet I couldn’t guarantee how long I could endure alone, which meant they had to arrive swiftly. The fact that they were amnesiac only deepened my anxiety.
‘It’ll work out, won’t it?’
I tried to think positively.
They’d lost their memories, not their intelligence.
Jiyuchan seemed a bit unreliable in that regard, but his combat instincts had actually sharpened, so I just needed to endure until they arrived. The moment Hanalin unleashed her magical barrage, I spotted Cracka Pushil and let out a wry smile.
Despite being the bandit leader, he’d made a cold, calculated decision to pursue the mage Hanalin, and in anticipation of a feint, he himself remained stationary to defend the Bandit Stronghold.
One might argue this was another trap, but Cracka Pushil had no choice. If this stronghold fell, his options would shrink considerably. Knowing full well the situation, yet holding his ground, I observed him intently.
As I suspected, Cracka Pushil’s stats, observed from a distance, were far from ordinary.
『Cracka Pushil』
『Trait: Spy [C]』
『Skills』
▶「Dagger Mastery [C]」
▶「Concealment [C]」
▶「Pathfinding [C]」
▶「Ambush [C]」
▶「Mana Manipulation [C]」
…(Show More)
『Stats』
▶「Strength: 60」
▶「Agility: 70」
▶「Endurance: 70」
▶「Mana: 60」
※He is an Iguana Birdman.
※A Hunter who has grown to his limits.
※He can only acquire a single skill.
[Through the effects of the skills 「Sword King’s Intuition [A]」 and 「Dragon Emperor’s Heir [S]」, 『Analysis』 succeeded.]
[You acquire 500 AP.]
‘I didn’t expect this to be easy, but….’
This was too much.
Had I forgotten this was a D-Rank Dungeon? Of course, I understood C-rank strength well enough to recognize that Cracka Pushil was at the lower end of C-rank, but right now, he was roughly half a tier stronger than me.
It wasn’t a difference of a full tier, but half a tier was still considerable.
Asking another party to hold off a monster half a tier stronger was practically begging for a knife in the back.
But what could I do?
I had to manage somehow.
‘If nothing unexpected happens, he’ll stay here and then head to Narin or Yuchan.’
Crackka was a clever one, so that was certainly his plan.
I had to stop that bastard no matter what.
To accomplish this rather grueling task, I slipped quietly through the Thicket more than 100 meters away, and Crackka’s head immediately turned toward me.
‘Damn monster.’
Clang——
The moment his head turned, a dagger flew at me, and watching its speed, my spine went cold.
I had raised my dagger technique to C-rank as well, but my stats hadn’t yet reached C-rank, so I couldn’t wield dagger technique at Crackka’s level. My technique was about half a step behind his.
The instant Crackka sensed my movement, he dug his feet into the ground with a reptilian motion and launched himself forward like a spring.
The crest atop Crackka’s head folded down as he moved, demonstrating just how fast he was, and the moment I saw that terrifying speed, Analysis activated.
[Analyzing a lethal and threatening attack trajectory.]
Just as expected—a blood-red warning window of intense severity.
The same color warning I’d seen when facing Gallaclro and the Deathworm appeared before me, and I quickly grasped the attack path Analysis revealed, piercing through Crackka’s assault.
His front hand coming at me first was his right.
But I knew full well that was a feint, so I made a show of blocking with my right hand while watching his flexible leg rising from below, leaning my head and body backward.
Whoosh———
His reptilian claws sliced sharply through the air, grazing my hair.
Simultaneously, I closed my eyes, and in that moment, Crackka threw the dirt he’d been gripping with his foot, but I was already retreating with my eyes shut, moving outside its range.
Seeing my movements as if I’d glimpsed the future, Crackka looked at me with confusion.
I was clearly slower and more sluggish than him—not completely slow and clumsy, but definitely slower compared to Crackka—yet I’d evaded all his attacks in that first exchange as if they were nothing.
Even if I’d known his right-hand attack was fake, if I’d shown any tell, he would have sliced me with the dagger in his right hand, yet I’d known that too.
I’d also avoided the vertical kick and the dirt he threw afterward.
Reaching that conclusion, I arrived at one realization.
‘This bastard’s a professional.’
I judged him to be a spy like myself or someone of that ilk.
There was no other way to explain the movements of mine that Crackka had observed.
The moment Crackka decided I was in the same line of work as him and his eyes sharpened, I exhaled and drew not a greatsword but two daggers.
If I drew a greatsword here and couldn’t match his speed, I’d be assassinated on the spot, so my strategy was to block as much as possible with daggers.
Analysis conveyed the same thing. I held one dagger reverse-gripped in my left hand and a proper grip in my right, then bounced lightly backward before launching myself at Crackka.
Watching me bound forward with light steps, Crackka similarly gripped his dagger and closed in on me.
I’d charged first, but Crackka arrived first.
‘Damn, he’s fast.’
I thought that and, missing the initiative I’d tried to seize, read Crackka’s attack.
Seeing him extend his right hand as a feint again, I tried to block with my reverse-gripped dagger, and his right hand bent, moving through the air like a whip toward my left hand.
Clang———
But I perceived it and pulled my reverse-gripped dagger and left hand back toward myself, blocking his flexing blade.
Yet the moment that first exchange occurred, Crackka’s other arm whipped out like a lash, and this time I blocked his dagger with my right hand.
Clang clang clang———!
The metallic ring of the daggers resonated deeper than before.
But I paid no mind to such things, instead watching Crackka’s right arm whip toward me again and raising my left hand to block, while his forearm crest unfurled like sharp blades, cutting in, and I leaned my upper body back to evade.
Cracka Pushil, seeing my form, didn’t hesitate and swung his left hand with identical ferocity.
The dance of short blades exchanged between us scattered countless sparks through the air, making it vividly visible.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang————!!!
Against Cracka Pushil’s storm-like barrage of blade strikes, I barely managed to deflect every attack. Cuts appeared here and there, but my Guardian body healed them almost instantly.
However.
Screech, screech, screech————!!
While blocking every attack, the relentless onslaught of blade strikes forced me backward, and I quickly judged the situation as unfavorable.
‘This is no joke.’
As dozens of exchanges compressed into a single second, flowing seamlessly between us, I deployed every skill at my disposal.
I tried using Severance to annihilate Cracka Pushil’s blade.
I actually succeeded in completely disabling one of his blades, but he produced another from somewhere and resumed his assault on me.
On top of that, he hurled blades at me while intensifying his pressure. Sensing this, I similarly brought forth the small teeth of the Deathworm, attempting to land them on Cracka Pushil and use Swallow to inflict at least some damage, but the moment the technique was about to connect, he retreated a considerable distance.
His instincts were nothing short of extraordinary.
And whenever I tried to seize the brief opening he created, he would uncannily rush in and unleash another barrage of attacks.
How much time had passed?
After more than ten minutes, my body bore countless traces of wounds.
While all the wounds had healed, my clothes and armor were shredded to the point of being worse than useless, yet the blade strikes continued unabated.
In fact, they seemed to be accelerating.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang————!!!
Amid the shower of sparks, as I desperately tried to block, I suddenly sensed the presence of two approaching auras.
Cracka Pushil felt it too and his brow furrowed slightly. Sensing the arrival of Hanalin and Jiyuchan, I let out a small laugh.
‘Finally, they’ve come!’
So I immediately prepared to launch a counterattack the moment they joined, while Cracka Pushil, anticipating their intervention, deliberately held back slightly, reducing his speed just a fraction to maintain some reserve.
But seeing the two of them simply marveling at our battle, I looked back at them in disbelief, and Cracka Pushil also asked with a somewhat exasperated tone.
“Are you… actually allies?”
“….”
Looking at the expressions in Hanalin and Jiyuchan’s eyes—ones that could hardly be called those of true allies—something like understanding seemed to dawn on me, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Even if enlightenment came and went like in martial arts stories, there was nothing I could do.
I was in a hurry right now.
So I shouted at them both with considerable irritation and urgency in my voice.
“What are you doing!! Help me!!!”
“Ah!?” “Oh!?”
Seeing them react that way, I almost burst into laughter, but after they joined in, I finally had a moment to breathe.
Screeeee————
A bullet created instantly through Intent was fired, and thanks to exceeding the speed of sound, a sonic boom erupted as it hurtled toward Cracka Pushil. But even without hearing the sound, he perceived it and shifted away, trying to distance himself from me.
However, I pursued relentlessly, and Jiyuchan rushed in from behind Cracka Pushil.
Feeling annoyed, Cracka Pushil turned his body toward Jiyuchan, who seemed the easier target, and launched an attack, but then another spell came flying.
This time it was quite a powerful spell.
A pure white frost beam shot toward him. Even for Cracka Pushil, the matchup was judged as unfavorable, so rather than block it, he ignored inertia and twisted 90 degrees to change direction, allowing the beam to pass through empty space while he remained unscathed.
Boom————!!!
But when Crackka Pushil tried to evade in that direction, Jiyuchan was already positioned and waiting. Even as Crackka Pushil lost his balance during the evasion, he unleashed Ambush, swelling his mana as he charged at Jiyuchan. Yet Jiyuchan showed no intention to attack—he merely blocked Crackka Pushil’s assault.
Kwaaaaaang———!!!
A thunderous impact erupted from the short blade—a sound that should have been impossible from such a weapon—but it failed to pierce Jiyuchan’s golden sword, which he had resolved to hold firm. In that instant, Crackka Pushil sensed Dohyun, who had not been there moments before, materializing behind him.
“Damn.”
Dohyun, appearing suddenly, swung his short blade. Crackka Pushil reacted, but it was already too late.
Squelch——!
Crackka Pushil’s right arm and blood scattered into the air.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————