The Only Enhancer - Chapter 98

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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 98
98 – Trait Enhancement (3)
5.
The single horn that erupted from the ground unleashed a tremendous pulling force from its tip.
The mantis beast with a lion’s head—the lion mantis—sensed it and rapidly flapped its wings, retreating backward.
Whirrrrrr!
The sound of insectoid wings spread as it pulled back, but the overwhelming gravitational force that acted only on it showed no mercy despite its desperate retreat, attempting to ensnare the creature.
The more it tried to withdraw, the closer it drew, and the force only intensified.
If this continued, a massive hole would be torn through its abdomen—that much was certain.
Without some countermeasure here, it would suffer catastrophic damage before even entering true combat.
A creature born as a hunter understood better than anyone that such damage meant defeat.
Yet it possessed no strength to shake off the mysterious force pulling it toward destruction.
In that moment, instinct surged through it, and it lunged forward.
Screech! Whirrrrrr!
It charged forward with frantic wing beats.
Its target was none other than the horn itself.
Unable to escape, it instead rushed toward the source of the pulling force, offering not its body but its wings to the horn’s grasp.
Shrieeeeek!
Its wings were shredded in an instant, pierced through by the horn, but save for the wings, the creature remained intact.
It had instinctively found its path to survival.
Watching this, Min-jun’s eyebrows twitched.
Its movements were fundamentally different from any beast I’d encountered thus far.
The very act of thinking and moving instinctively simultaneously was on an incomprehensible level.
As the creature honed its innate senses to razor sharpness, minimizing damage before striking the horn with its forelegs, the horn’s power weakened.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Using its mantis forelegs, it shattered the horn into fragments.
‘Impressive.’
Rather than growing tense, I found myself watching the creature with genuine fascination.
A human torso, a lioness’s head, cheetah legs, and mantis arms—I’d expected it to be formidable, but it exceeded my expectations.
From what I sensed now, it appeared even stronger than Entrebite.
As I entertained this thought, I glanced at Gwen.
Gwen nodded in agreement and spoke.
“Its mana reserves are greater than that one’s were.”
“Hmm, as I suspected.”
A specimen stronger than Entrebite, then.
Endlessly intriguing.
As I pondered this, I allowed a momentary opening to show.
The creature seized the gap, its amber eyes blazing with ferocity as it drove the muscles of its thighs to their absolute limit.
Then it pushed off the ground with both legs.
Boom———!
The ground erupted as if a colossal bomb had detonated, and something flashed—the creature materialized before Min-jun in an instant.
Momentum carried it forward in a sliding rush, and it wielded its front legs—thin and sharp like a mantis’s—in sweeping arcs that resembled scythes.
Wreathed in darkness by its ability, the black sickle evoked the image of death itself, and Min-jun’s eyes widened slightly at the sight.
So it had seized this fleeting moment, closing the distance in a fraction of a second to strike.
Impressive, certainly.
A far cry from Entrebite, who had fled in panic at the very start.
But.
Screeeech———!
Sparks erupted in the empty air as the creature’s death-scythe never reached Min-jun.
The barrier held firm, and the attack, unable to breach it, merely glanced off and sent the creature’s posture into disarray.
As its flank momentarily exposed itself, Min-jun swiftly exchanged his weapon.
The wand he’d been holding vanished without a trace, and a massive iron maul materialized in his grip, crashing down upon the creature’s side with devastating force.
Boooooom!
A thunderous explosion erupted alongside the colossal shockwave.
The creature was hurled from the cloud of dust it had created.
Crash! Bang! Screeeech———!
It skipped across the ground like a stone on water before being dragged backward in a grinding slide.
Witnessing this, Min-jun let out an involuntary whistle.
“Whew! Nimble little thing, aren’t you?”
At Min-jun’s words, the creature staggered to its feet, and where its flank should have been exposed, one of its scythe-like front legs was now deeply dented—evidence of the counterattack it had failed to block with its other limb.
The damage spoke volumes of the impact’s ferocity.
The creature too seemed engulfed in shock, its yellow eyes clouded with bewilderment.
It had never imagined a mere human could possess such strength.
Its own attacks proved ineffective, and the counterattack it couldn’t block would have been fatal.
If it had taken a fatal blow?
Gulp.
The creature swallowed hard, staring at Min-jun.
It had known Min-jun was strong, but thought them evenly matched—until seeing his ability in action, it had believed victory possible without it. Yet his close combat prowess was formidable as well.
Remarkably so.
In that moment, the iron maul vanished from Min-jun’s grip, and as he naturally drew his hands as if nocking a bow, a bow materialized in his hands.
The bow, forged from what seemed like lightning itself, drank in Min-jun’s mana and conjured an arrow, which settled naturally upon the string.
That was all the creature saw.
But why?
Thunk.
It had clearly seen the arrow nocked on the string just moments before.
When consciousness returned, that very arrow was embedded in its shoulder.
And.
Cracklecracklecrackle———!
Tremendous mana transformed into lightning, charring its insides black as ash.
“Gahhh!”
As I opened my mouth, black smoke billowed forth, and I took considerable damage.
How could anything be so devilishly cunning!
When I tried to close in and attack to counter its ability, it proved skilled in close combat, yet when I retreated, its ranged attacks were even more formidable.
A situation where I could neither advance nor withdraw.
But the answer was already predetermined.
Its thigh swelled like a balloon once more.
Boom————!
Its body vanished.
The moment it disappeared as if teleporting, I released another arrow from my bowstring.
The instant I released it, the arrow vanished simultaneously as a blade materialized, suddenly blocking a scythe that had appeared in the void.
Clang! Screeeech!
Its scythe shattered through the barrier enveloping me and clashed against my blade.
Sparks erupted as I swung my sword, and it retreated sharply backward.
Flutterrrr!
Its wings, regenerated by then, fluttered rapidly as it withdrew through the air without losing momentum, then immediately charged forward again.
Its other hand, also regenerated, was utilized as well, and with both limbs it swung its front legs faster than anyone else could.
Its front legs, which even gave the impression of facing a master of the scythe, were that threatening, yet I deflected every single one of its attacks with a single greatsword as if it were nothing.
Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang!
Though it moved with remarkable speed, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow slightly.
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly confident in close combat.
I had always been more accustomed to acting as a ranged attacker from the rear rather than engaging in melee.
Right now, I was simply blocking whatever came at me.
The few attacks that slipped through were being blocked by my barrier instead.
I couldn’t see any opening, but that was fine.
The cooldown was about to reset.
And that moment was now.
Crack!
While it was wildly swinging both front legs without restraint.
Something burst through the ground.
A single horn brimming with gravitational force.
It hadn’t imagined it would appear again and tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
At roughly the same speed the horn erupted, I swung my blade, and since not blocking would mean its neck being severed, it blocked my sword.
But if things continued this way, it would be pierced by the horn and suffer grave damage.
It twisted its body toward the erupting horn by skillfully using its remaining leg, but its left leg was completely pierced through.
Splurt!
Its left leg hung in tatters.
The moment I confirmed its injury, I released the sword, and as it vanished, two short blades—slightly longer than daggers—appeared in both my hands, which I gripped and swung.
Clang! Slash!
It managed to block one of my sudden attacks, but couldn’t block the other and was forced to allow it through, and its left leg was severed clean off.
It tried to regenerate quickly, but what was this?
“Krraaaaaagh!”
Despite its anguished cry, I watched the creature’s eyes blaze with infernal fury as it glared at me—its leg refusing to regenerate.
The short blade I’d just wielded carried no flashy skills, only a constellation of passive effects and debuffs designed to cripple regeneration and healing.
A terrifying dagger known as the Troll Slayer.
I smirked and released both blades, summoning my bow in their place.
The moment the creature saw my bow, its instincts screamed.
Flee.
Without regeneration active, taking a hit from that would deal catastrophic damage.
As it pivoted to escape, a mana-woven arrow nocked against the bowstring, and in that instant—
Thwack. Sizzzzzzzzzzzzz———!
“Shriek!”
The creature vomited black smoke once more.
Its organs burned to ash.
It understood now.
This battle was unwinnable from the start.
It had to escape now.
The moment it reached that realization and turned to flee—
Another mana arrow nocked against the string.
This time, not one, but five arrows.
Despair flooded the creature’s eyes as it registered the count.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack!
Five arrows pierced its body.
And from the sky, a colossal dragon of lightning descended with gaping maw, ready to devour the entire area where the creature stood.
That was its final memory.
Boom boom boom boom! Roooooooaaaaaaagh———!
As the lightning dragon’s jaws clamped down upon the earth, the ground scattered into dust and vanished, while the tremendous pressure crushed the surrounding area even as other sections erupted upward.
A catastrophic blow.
Yet even so, it fell short of the Seven-Star Fragment’s power—I’d been preparing for worse.
The creature was already crumbling into ash and dust.
As the powder dispersed, light spilled from its corpse, and items tumbled forth.
A +5 item, mana stones, and—
‘An Evolution Orb.’
But it looked different from the incomplete Evolution Orbs I’d seen before.
‘What is this?’
Curious, I examined it more closely.
I discovered an unexpected treasure.
[Incomplete Evolution Orb]
-A crystalline aggregate formed when a Calamity-rank 5 or higher monster devours other monsters.
-Upon completion, the monster evolves to the next stage.
*Due to its incomplete state, only an Enchanter’s eyes can decipher this information.
The item that dropped bore the name of an incomplete evolution orb—not a flawed one, but rather one on the verge of completion.
I sensed it myself, and hadn’t Gwen said so directly?
That it was stronger than Entrebite.
This creature… surely not?
‘If I’d left it alone just a bit longer, wouldn’t it have become a Disaster Level 6 monster?’
The thought made me click my tongue in an instant.
Out of fear?
Out of tension?
No, neither.
‘Should I have waited a little longer?’
If I’d obtained a complete evolution orb, wouldn’t the enhancement have been far more effective?
Such mad thoughts occupied my mind.
Though truthfully, I harbored the confidence that I could defeat it even if it became Disaster Level 6.
Still, this battle left me with some regret.
Perhaps it was because I only had one +7 reinforced item.
‘I really need to increase my +7 items.’
After all, I’d been told I could reinforce them stably now.
I’d have to do it soon.
But before that, there was something more pressing, wasn’t there?
“How many are left now?”
“Th-three more left!”
“Hmm, we’ll finish before the day’s over then. Let’s go.”
I smiled as I thought to myself.
‘Trait enhancement comes before +7 reinforcement.’
And then another thought crossed my mind.
I hoped there was something stronger than the Lion Demon lurking somewhere in the Alps Mountains.

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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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