LRAB Chapter 379: Gale Ironwood (4)
Chapter 379: Gale Ironwood (4)
“Shadow skills are really handy skills. The fact that you can swap positions makes them excellent for creating variables.”
“Honestly, that’s why there’s such a big difference between when you can use shadows and when you can’t.”
“Of course. It’s such an appealing skill that it can’t help but create a lot of dependency.”
Five minutes later.
Kang-hoo was reviewing the battle together with Celestial Assassin.
The body of the dead Gale Ironwood had already oxidized and vanished, leaving only the tongue he had cut off while it was alive as his loot.
What Celestial Assassin was talking about was an overall evaluation of the Gale Ironwood’s final moments.
In the midst of the roaring flames, Kang-hoo had secretly sent one shadow behind the Gale Ironwood.
And when the Gale Ironwood unleashed what it believed would be a decisive blow at him, he had swapped places with that shadow.The Gale Ironwood thought its attack had succeeded, but it was mistaken. What had been pierced was the back of its own head.After the dagger punched through and tore up its insides, Blood Flame detonated on top of that, leaving it no way to endure.
Thanks to that, the “Unfair Trade” he had put in place as insurance just in case ended up never being used.
Even if he had taken the hit head-on instead of turning it into a counterattack, he would have had a way to nullify that single physical strike.
He felt that no matter how things had unfolded, the result would not have changed. The Gale Ironwood might have been convinced it would win, but still.
Meanwhile, his level had jumped to 370.
【Shin Kang-hoo Lv. 370】
【Class: Assassin】
【Innate Talents: Pretty Decent Main Power / Exceptionally Keen Dynamic Vision / Versatile】
【Strength 1457】【Agility 1718】
【Stamina 1215】【Mana 31】
【Anti-Magic 1735】【Toughness 1325】
【 Dark Energy 1220】【 Holy Power 125】
It had been a while since he last checked his stats.
He was still growing well across the board.
Since there had been no need to invest extra stat points into Mana, the spare points had been nicely distributed into other stats.
As for Dark Energy, if he used Emilia or Jang Si-hwan as the standard, he had reached about one-quarter of their level.
Someone might see those numbers and ask if he didn’t still have a very long way to go. The numerical gap was that big.
‘I haven’t even started full-scale Dark Energy farming yet. This much is just from a little taste.’
But Kang-hoo had something he was confident in.
It was something he had thought about even in the past: in North Korea there existed what he had dubbed the “Top 10 Dark Energy Farming” spots.
It wasn’t a term that actually existed in-world, but the growth route he used in the original story to boost Jang Si-hwan’s Dark Energy.
In other words, it was the Royal Road he himself, as the original author, had created—only this was the point in time before Jang Si-hwan ever touched it.
Just having Jang Si-hwan run those ten farming spots near the very end of the story had increased his Dark Energy by a staggering three thousand.
It was a growth spurt that instantly quenched Jang Si-hwan’s thirst for more Dark Energy.
‘At the same time, the power balance shot up to some otherworldly level and the story’s ending point sped up too.’
Looking back, he was also the culprit who made Kang-hoo fail at pacing the story’s rhythm. That was how broken that route was.
Kang-hoo still had not touched that Royal Road.
Even if he just worked his way through all those places steadily, raising his Dark Energy to around four thousand would be nothing hard.
If it came to that, he could seriously consider developing skills and abilities on the black magic side as well.
“Assassin” and “Black Mage” had a certain similarity in direction, and there wouldn’t be much of a gap when linking them together.
‘Just the fact that I can use both Dark Energy and Holy Power at the same time is already busted. The stats are secondary.’
That he was abnormal, unrealistic, broken—that was Kang-hoo’s own verdict on himself.
If anyone else could see this status window, a hundred out of a hundred would be shocked.
He was certain there wasn’t a single Hunter who could correctly predict how his stats were configured. Not even his master.
“Kang-hoo.”
“Yes, Master.”
“As for fire, are there now truly no variables left?”
“As long as there doesn’t exist some method that can pierce absolute resistance, I can say that with certainty.”
“I’ve seen plenty of cases where someone is immune to the flames they themselves create. But I’ve never seen a case where that immunity extends to flames that spread because of those fires.”
“I had a big opportunity to gain something related to resistances. Thanks to that, fire is no longer a burden for me.”
“Among the so-called top dogs who strut around, a lot of them manipulate fire. You’ve got the best possible shield for giving those guys a proper thrashing.”
“So my confidence really has gone up a lot lately.”
“By the way... you didn’t use Heaven-and-Earth Dragnet – Kill until the very end. That was your stubbornness, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. You gave me excellent guidance, Master, but I really wanted to find my own method.”
“Good. Even as I said it, I was secretly hoping you wouldn’t do things my way. I had a hunch, and I was right. Heh heh heh.”
Celestial Assassin’s face was full of satisfaction as he repeatedly patted Kang-hoo’s shoulder.
It was the kind of gaze and expression you’d show when you felt your eyes had been thoroughly spoiled in a good way. Naturally, Kang-hoo’s mood brightened too.
Celestial Assassin continued speaking.
“Personally, I think the Gale Ironwood is twice as tricky as the Swarm Queen. You handled it cleanly.”
“It was all thanks to your teachings, Master.”
“Teachings, my ass! What of what you used in that fight did you learn from me? You’re just that damn good yourself.”
Was he asking because he truly didn’t know? Or did he know, but felt too embarrassed to say it out loud himself?
Kang-hoo thought there was one lesson among the many he had received from Celestial Assassin that had completely changed him.
That dodging gracefully and smoothly, and in a comfortable way by stepping back, was not the answer.
If you were going to dodge, you should instead choose the method of stepping in more aggressively to the front as you avoided the attack.
Once he became aware of this active, proactive form of evasion, his combat style became even more dynamic.
Not only that.
Because his opponents started missing the timing by half a beat or a full beat when trying to predict his movements...
The room for him to create variables had doubled. Today’s fight with the Gale Ironwood was just an extension of that.
When Kang-hoo only opened and closed his mouth, unable to decide what to say, Celestial Assassin seemed embarrassed and changed the subject.
“I do have to give you one piece of harsh criticism.”
“Yes.”
“It’s one of your chronic problems. You have no second or third plan. Or you only hold them as vague concepts.”
“That’s true.”
He admitted it right away.
He didn’t want to deny it.
It had always been an issue he kept tucked away in a corner of his mind.
Fortunately, that problem had never yet turned into any real damage or threat to Kang-hoo himself.
“Up to now, your enemies may have been opponents you could get rid of with your clever ideas. And your calculations were meticulous enough, and your strategic level high enough, that you could pull it off.”
“You flatter me.”
“I’m not trying to praise you, you brat. I’m saying the good times when you can play around on top of other people’s heads are almost over.”
He didn’t need to look far for an example.
Even just comparing the Swarm Queen and the Gale Ironwood right in front of them, the Gale Ironwood had been far more troublesome and dangerous.
Let alone when the enemy was a Hunter capable of more meticulous and higher-order thinking—there’d be nothing more to say then.
“I’ll broaden my range of thinking. It’s not like I can always keep a relative advantage forever.”
“The biggest weakness of a gambit is when the opponent responds from outside the bounds of what you’ve thought of. Even if you’ve considered all the exceptions, if your expectations are broken, an assassin in particular has to pay with his life.”
“My life.”
“Yeah. An assassin always gambles with the one and only life he has. That’s why I say you’re dangerous.”
At his master’s words, which dug heavily into his chest, Kang-hoo simply nodded in silence.
It was a truth he had no reason, and no grounds, to argue against.
Even if you win ten times, if you lose once, you can lose your entire stake—that’s gambling.
For an assassin, the stake is his life. Once he loses it, that’s the end—death.
“Alright. That’s enough nagging! Now I’ll make a useful medicine from that thing’s tongue. You can look forward to it.”
Celestial Assassin pulled a bottle out from inside his robe. He wondered what it was, but judging from the color and shape, it was the Swarm Queen’s bile.
His master had boldly declared he would mix the Gale Ironwood’s tongue with it and create some bizarre drug.
Kang-hoo was already looking forward to what kind of result would come out.
His master was not the sort of frivolous man who would bluff just to stir up false expectations.
Whatever he imagined, he felt sure the medicine would turn out even better than that, and he was already excited.“Si-hwan. Back then and now, you really are amazing. The fact that you own this many dungeons is impressive enough, but I’m even more amazed that they’re all such high-level ones.”
“How is it, do you like it? Ranvir, you need a big stage. India is putting too many restrictions on you.”
“Like it? I love it. Besides, our constellation synergy is good, isn’t it? We’re a naturally well-matched pair.”
“I’ll have to decline any romantic feelings between men.”
“Ha ha. Let’s just call it affection as battle partners then. I don’t like same-sex stuff either.”
Around that time, Jang Si-hwan was having a deep conversation with Ranvir.
The idea of calling Ranvir over to Seoul was something that had come up only recently.
Not only because of Justice’s cohesion, but also because he felt that overall, the atmosphere had become unsettled.
Especially after Yu Cheonghwa returned to China over the Shintu Guild’s succession issue and then started acting as if she were drawing a line between them.
Jang Si-hwan had decided he shouldn’t show himself worrying too much about each individual member of Justice.
Yes, it was a kind of push-and-pull.
Of course, that was the secondary reason.
Primarily, it was closer to adding a high-level asset to the guild while also bringing in early a talent he had marked long ago.
Even though the caste system had officially been abolished, India still had deep discrimination based on social status.
Ranvir, a Hunter whose talent had been different from the very beginning, had proven his value by growing rapidly again and again.
But the fact that he had been born an untouchable ultimately shackled him.
You might think there wouldn’t be that many old-fashioned Hunters still clinging to such relics of a bygone era, but unfortunately India’s reality was just like that.
Because of that, Ranvir’s growth had stalled and stayed stagnant from a certain point onward.
He was a Hunter who should have long since passed level 700, but he was still groaning against the wall at 650.
Having recognized Ranvir’s value long ago, Jang Si-hwan had called him over this time determined to truly make him his own person.
The operation had been a success.
Ranvir had fallen head over heels for the various dungeons Jang Si-hwan owned and the secret infrastructure he had built all over the world.
It was half a joke, but at one point he had even asked about the process for changing his nationality.
The two men sat comfortably facing each other on the sofa in the office.
Fssshh.
Jang Si-hwan filled the empty teacup.
Ranvir moistened his dry throat.
They had just spent some quality time together in a dungeon, so it happened to be the perfect moment to quench his thirst.
Then, as if something had just occurred to him, Ranvir brought up a different topic.
“Si-hwan.”
“Yeah?”
“You once told me about someone, remember? That there was a rather interesting assassin-type Hunter in Korea.”
“I did. I also said he was someone I was continuously keeping an eye on, like you. That I was waiting for the right timing.”
“Was his name Shin Kang-hoo? I remember his face clearly because I kept seeing his photo, but his name is a bit fuzzy.”
“Right, Shin Kang-hoo.”
“That Hunter, I saw him on the plane coming from Charles de Gaulle Airport. We passed each other on the way to the bathroom.”
“Did you recognize each other?”
“No, I don’t think he knew who I was. Of course he wouldn’t. I’d only ever operated in India until now.”
“Shin Kang-hoo... was at Charles de Gaulle Airport? As far as I know, he has absolutely no ties to France.”
“Anyway, he got on the flight to Korea with me from there. I’m only mentioning it because I remembered.”
“So France, huh...”
Because he had a hunch as to why, Jang Si-hwan narrowed his eyes.
There was no way he had gone just to travel. If anything, it was probably for some kind of secret meeting.