Monopolizing Skills to the 666th Floor - Chapter 28
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Skill Devouring to the 666th Floor Episode 028
28. Random Orb
In that moment, my eyes couldn’t help but widen.
[Creating an orb at random.]
[Item ‘Skill Enhancement Orb (B)’ has appeared. Congratulations!]
A Skill Enhancement Orb appeared.
Among the various orbs, this was quite a useful one.
Though it was B-rank.
‘B-rank is plenty useful too.’
I opened the Item Information window.
[Skill Enhancement Orb (B)]
―Category: Consumable
―Effect: Can select one B-rank skill to enhance it to A-rank.
―Usage Restriction: Lee Tae Seong (Bound)
―Description: An orb that can enhance B-rank skills to A-rank. You can become one level stronger.
Skill ranks always stay in place.
Unless enhanced with Enhancement Orbs.
‘In that sense, Enhancement Orbs are essential elements for growth.’
Not bad at all.
‘If I’d been lucky, an SSS-rank Skill Enhancement Orb might have appeared… but I can’t get full on the first spoonful.’
Satisfied with this much, I opened my Status Window.
I currently had two B-rank skills.
▷Flight (B)
―Effect: Wings sprout from your back. When spread, you can fly through the sky.
Flight was a skill used by an Apostle of a Transcendent Spirit called the Fallen Angel.
Considering the hidden piece on the 44th Floor, I copied it as an absolutely necessary skill.
Next was Camouflage.
▷Camouflage (B)
―Effect: Can slightly change your face. Lowers the probability of being recognized by those around you.
A skill possessed by an Apostle of a Transcendent Spirit called the Shadow Sniper.
Since it lowers enemy recognition rates, it’s a good skill for moving stealthily.
It’s also useful for changing faces to hide one’s identity.
‘Soon the government will start managing the Sinkholes. They’ll monitor Apostles nationwide too.’
To hide my identity, Camouflage should be considered essential.
‘Flight and Camouflage… which skill would be better to enhance?’
Though they were copied skills, enhancement would still work on them.
‘I heard from Joshua before my regression. Copied skills can be enhanced too.’
Even if I got separated from the target and lost the skill, it would be fine.
If I copied it again, it would be copied in its enhanced state.
‘He even said that copying other people’s skills would result in the enhanced version.’
In other words, once enhanced, I could use it in its enhanced state no matter whose skill I copied.
So there was no need to worry about it being downgraded.
The problem was which of the two skills to enhance.
‘I should think about it slowly. Right now, conquering the 40th Floor takes priority.’
What I absolutely had to do before the conquest was…
Thud!
Recalling the conquest method with Clear Mind Like Still Water.
As I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes, memories naturally surfaced.
‘The 40th Floor is a rescue-type mission. To set a record, I need to know the rescue target’s location.’
I figured it out.
How to conquer it.
After recalling the necessary information, I turned my attention elsewhere.
‘Let me see what the people I planted parasites in are doing.’
Similarly, when I closed my eyes and focused, it appeared.
Every move of the Apostles I had implanted Parasites in.
‘I know this isn’t the right thing to do. But…’
There was a reason for planting parasites without permission, copying skills, and even spying on them.
I could only continue using the skills as long as they stayed alive.
‘I need to keep tabs on their movements from time to time.’
I had to avoid situations where I suddenly couldn’t use skills.
To become strong enough to kill Amon, I absolutely needed their skills.
‘I’ll gladly accept the consequences for today’s wrongdoing after I kill Amon.’
The parasite embedded in the target’s ear transmits various information.
―The government is taking control of the Sinkhole starting today? How annoying.
―Come on! Let’s drink until sunrise, drink up! I’m buying today!
―So it wasn’t Amon but an impersonator. Unbelievable, really.
―That bastard who stole my items… If I meet him again, I’ll kill him.
―Manager brought us these side dishes too. He’s such a thoughtful person.
―Jason. Let’s duel. Come to my house quickly.
―Snore… Zzz…
People reading internet articles, drinking, checking Transcendence Net, making phone calls, sleeping, and so on.
Phone conversations, dialogue, everything seen and heard.
All transmitted to me remotely.
I could gather various information through other people.
This is the power of the Parasite skill.
‘The image quality isn’t great since it’s detected like radar, but it’s better than CCTV in many ways.’
However, the guilt from monitoring complete strangers is the Caster’s burden to bear.
Not that I’m doing this out of boredom.
‘There are those types. Scumbags who use Apostle powers to commit crimes.’
I hope at least the guys I used Skill Copy on aren’t such trash.
It would make me sick.
In a way, you could call this an interview process.
To verify whether they’re Apostles with proper character.
‘At least one of them seems to be disqualified.’
My vision soon switched to Jo Do-pal’s.
Given his character of impersonating Amon to scam countless people, it wouldn’t be strange for him to do anything.
But.
‘This bastard is completely insane?’
I shot up from my seat the moment I saw the vile acts Jo Do-pal was committing.
I couldn’t just sit by and watch his crimes unfold.
Jo Do-pal had anger management issues.
Once he got angry, he would charge in without regard for consequences.
That’s why he got into so many fights during his school days.
Now that he’s middle-aged, he lives with restraint, but.
“I was fucking badass back in the day, you know? Everyone would avoid me when they saw me coming. Saying a mad dog was passing by.”
Jo Do-pal lit his cigarette and blew smoke into the air.
“You know why someone like me stopped fighting when I became an adult?”
Jo Do-pal curled his fingers like coins.
“This shit costs money. I can’t beat people up freely because of settlement fees. That’s how scary money is.”
Jo Do-pal removed the plastic bag covering his target’s head.
“Mmph, mmph!”
A woman moved her tape-sealed mouth and looked around.
An environment completely surrounded by mountains.
Not a single sign in sight.
The woman’s eyes turned to Jo Do-pal.
Her gaze pleaded for her life, but Jo Do-pal paid no attention and just muttered to himself.
“After that, I did whatever it took to make money. I pulled every scam in the book. Mostly stock reading rooms though.”
“Mmph, mmph!”
“It was fun, you know. Pretending to be a businessman and taking money from married women. Satisfying my sexual desires under the pretense of giving good information. Hehehe.”
Jo Do-pal ripped off the tape.
Riiip―
“Pl, please…”
“If you say ‘please save me,’ I’ll kill you.”
The woman immediately shut up at his murderous gaze.
“That’s right. Quick reflexes for someone young. Nice body too…”
Jo Do-pal gulped as he looked over the woman’s body.
“I was a bit rough bringing you here, wasn’t I? I apologize. Normally I would have sweet-talked and lured you nicely, but as you can see, I became an Apostle. No need to go through the trouble of talking, right? Just use force and that’s it.”
“Why, why are you doing this? Pl, please let me go, I’m begging you…”
“If I was going to let you go, why would I have brought you to this remote mountain? Hm? Think about it. Why would I go through the trouble of putting you in the trunk?”
“Pl, please save…”
“I told you I’d kill you if you said that.”
“Eek!”
He raised his fist but Jo Do-pal didn’t strike.
He had no hobby of hitting women.
Though he would rape them.
“Consider yourself lucky. I have good manners. Bedroom manners too.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t worry. There’s no one here so you can scream all you want. Feel free to scream if it feels good. Kukuku.”
The woman tried to escape from Jo Do-pal’s touch.
But her hands and feet were bound with rope, so she couldn’t.
“Stay still. I’m trying to untie the rope. I don’t have a hobby of doing it while tied up. It’s no fun either.”
The rope was untied.
A chance to escape had arisen, but the woman read the situation carefully.
“You’re not thinking of running away, are you? With me, an Apostle, right in front of you.”
Despair crept into the woman’s eyes.
Her opponent was an Apostle.
A savior who would rescue humanity with power that transcended humans.
That’s what she had believed, but it varied depending on the person.
When power is given to a criminal, greater disasters are bound to occur.
The woman was painfully realizing this fact.
“Please spare me, sir. Please, I’m begging you like this. Please…”
“Hah… this is really tiresome. When did I say I’d kill you? I said I’d just have some fun for a bit. That’s all, okay? It’s simple and easy, right?”
“Hic, sob…”
“But you can’t keep crying like you are now. Serve me with all your heart and soul. Then I’ll decide whether to spare you or not.”
Jo Do-pal, who had never met a woman in his life, wanted to satisfy himself this way.
The emotion called love.
“Treat me as if you truly love me. Then you can live.”
“…”
“Can’t do it? I’m asking if you can’t do it.”
When Jo Do-pal raised his fist again, the woman shook her head.
It was crying while eating mustard.
She couldn’t muster the courage to refuse.
“I, I’ll do it.”
“That’s right. Young people really are quick to understand and obedient.”
Jo Do-pal chuckled.
As if planning to film a video, he set up a tripod in one spot.
“What, what are you doing?”
“I need to have insurance too. You might get other ideas later when I spare you, right?”
Though he said that, it was actually for his personal collection.
Jo Do-pal had no intention of letting the woman live.
‘I’ll kill her and bury her.’
It wasn’t for nothing that he chose the mountain as the location.
Unaware of this fact, the woman thought she could at least save her life.
“Now, everything’s ready, so shall we start? Take off your clothes yourself.”
“Excuse me…?”
“What are you doing? I said take them off.”
The woman with a fearful expression looked around.
There were only trees.
There was no one to ask for help.
“Aren’t you going to hurry up?”
“Hic, sob…”
To survive, she had no choice.
She had to listen to that man’s words.
As she slowly unbuttoned her clothes, a deep smile formed on Jo Do-pal’s lips.
His greasy face flushed with excitement.
Just as the woman was about to take off her top.
“Jo Do-pal.”
Startled.
Someone’s voice was heard.
With surprised eyes, Jo Do-pal looked around.
But there was no one.
‘Damn, what is it? A ghost?’
Did he hear an auditory hallucination?
While thinking that, he heard the voice again.
“Over here, you idiot.”
Where was that sound coming from…
‘Above?’
It was from above.
Jo Do-pal, who raised his head up, momentarily doubted his own eyes.
‘What is that?’
A person was floating above his head.
And with white wings attached to both sides.
‘An angel?’
But the hair was short.
It was a male.
Thud!
The man who had called out to him descended to the ground.
To think a person could fly around.
Of course, if it’s an Apostle, that might be possible.
Apostles have various abilities after all.
‘He even has the ability to fly. That’s shocking.’
But what was even more shocking than that was.
“Gasp!”
The face of his opponent seen up close.
‘That’s… that’s me?’
A man who looked exactly like him folded his wings and approached, saying.
“Jo Do-pal. It’s time to go now.”
“What? Wh-where?”
When he reflexively threw out the question.
“There’s only one place for you to go.”
Came the reply.
Along with a cold smile.
“Hell.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————