Chapter 102 – Corrupt Examinee(s) (Part 2)  

The short man started shouting something out about this and that. He was in a rage at the death of his teammate.

Due to the pain of my throat and lungs on fire, I wasn’t able to get my get my head on straight.

The fat man’s specialty was surprise attacks with poison.

The second he attacked me, he had his blind spot open and suffered from the shooting but at the very least he succeeded had in poisoning me.

“Kuuk! Kuk!”

I screamed in agony. The pain was so intense I thought I would stop breathing.

‘Calm down.’

Even through the pain, I desperately tried to think things through.

He wouldn’t have used something strong enough to kill me. Because capturing me should be their goal. In that case, I should be able to overcome. Heal......!

“Kuhuk, flame of life......!”

As I said so a flame of life was born. I immediately put that in my mouth and swallowed.

The hot energy passed through my throat and spread into my entire body. The pain then started to dissipate.

As I panted, I was barely able to get my body up.

“Kuahh!”

The short man came running at me. He was in a raging fit due to his friend’s death.

Then.

Ddang!

The bullet that Sylph shot hit the short man on his helmet.

He momentarily faltered.

‘He couldn’t block that?’

Such a broken blocking skill wasn’t able to block that shot?

Then that means the defense wasn’t actually 100% perfect.

Then........

I suddenly recalled the time I beat Leon Silver.

At first, when I shot at him with the revolvers, Leon Silver was able to dodge it.

Even though my 100% accuracy skill shouldn’t have missed.

But after that when I shot with double revolvers, I was able to hit him even though he was trying to dodge.

That was because I shot while anticipating the direction he would dodge in.

Thus, the 100% shooting accuracy was only effective when I anticipated the direction of my moving target.

Now if I apply this information to this man with the shield...

‘He can only block what he can see!’

I found the man’s weak spot.

He couldn’t block an unexpected attack.

Despite having that great shield, the reason for his heavy armor wa to cover that weakness.

Taang! Tang!

I pressured the man by blindly firing shots at him. At the same time, Sylph and Kasa’s power infused shooting began too.

Dda da dang!

As that happened, this time, the square shield blocked all the shots.

‘My theory is correct.’

This time, the man was aware of the shots and could block all of them!

Then I have to emphasize the unexpected shots.

“Sylph, wind blades!”

As soon as I said it, Sylph appeared beside me and consecutively sent blades of wind flying out towards him.

The man was completely surprised and tried to put up his square shield while crouching his body.

Chwa chwa chwa chwa Chwak-!

The wind blades crashed into the shield and armor.

“Continue!”

At my shout, Sylph continued to throw blades of wind at the man.

But as she does so, the small man’s shield moved at super speed and blocked them all.

It was able to recognize and block the blades of wind too.

“Teleport!”

I quickly shifted through space.

I moved atop the man’s head. The man quickly looked up.

Ta tang-

The two shots I got out from my double guns were blocked by the man’s shield.

That moment, I used both of my legs to wrap around his left arm that was holding the shield.

‘Now, he probably can’t use his shield?’

Just like that I twisted my body and aimed the Nielsen H2 in my left hand at the middle of his forehead.

This time too, the square shield blocks it.

The moment the man’s left arm was stuck, he threw down the sword and picked up the shield in his right hand.

“Uh ahhh!”

As he shouted, he flung around his shield.

Swoosh!

I laid down flat on the ground and dodged the shield. Then with a back kick, I hit the man’s back leg and knocked him down.

“Wind blade!”

At my call, Sylph started throwing out blades of wind once again.

Even after falling on the ground, the man spun as if he was break dancing and blocked everything with his square shield.

“Kasa! Burn it up!”

And Kasa appeared next to me and blew fire from his mouth.

The flames went forth like waves.

The man jumped up to his feet and clenched his teeth and swung his square shield with all his might

Hwa lu lu lu-! Hwa lu luk!

The flames were flung left and right off of the swirling square shield.

This shield defense skill was even able to block Kasa’s flames.

‘What a ridiculous skill.’

The man picked up the sword he had dropped. Then he came towards me.

The sword wasn’t really all that scary. The scary thing was the square shield he kept flinging around.

It would make a loud screech and every time the heavy shield came towards me, it frightened me and I would take a step back.

While dodging the swinging square shield, I swung my revolver in my right hand forward. I hit with the handle of the gun but that too was quickly blocked by the square shield.

The shield moved automatically and in this situation, it was blocking every one of my attacks.

Sylph was still attacking with her blades of wind and Kasa was still spitting his flames.

And me with my reload skill to automatically replenish my bullets, I keep throwing out attacks with my double guns.

Kwa kwa Kwang!

Chwa chwa chwa chwaak-

Ta ta ta tang!

The man stood firm and blocked all these attacks with this square shield.

‘I won’t be able to hold out if I keep doing this.’

I think I’ll tire first.

My fitness level was adequate enough but I was worried about the time left I had on my spirit summons. I’ve used too much of their strength.

‘For now I need to take a step back.’

“Teleport!”

I moved 12 m away from the man. The short man shouted and chased after me. But...

“Teleport! Teleport! Teleport!”

With 3 consecutive teleports successfully made a simple escape.

“Divine Protection of the Wind!”

Adding the Divine Protection of the Wind, I made my way through the mountains at top speed.

After running for about 10 minutes like that, I sat down to get some rest.

“Board retrieval.”

-Name: Kim Hyun-ho

-Class: 21

-Karma: +3,499

-Mission: Rest until the next exam

-Time limit: 75 days 5 hours 39 minutes

I got 3,400 karma.

The dead fat man’s karma must have been – 3,400.

“Show me the spirit summons skill.”

For now I decided to check how much time I had left on the spirit summons.

-Spirit summons (main skill): summon intermediate levels spirits and gain the power of nature, absorb the power of surrounding nature to improve self.

*Spirits able to be summoned: Sylph, Kasa

*Intermediate level 1: summons time 5 hours (remaining time 2 hours 13 minutes), when the summon time is up, summoning is possible again in 10 hours’ time.

I have used up just over half the time. If I keep fighting the same way as before, it will just be a disadvantage to me. I have to make a solid play for his weak spot.

“Sylph, where is the man?”

Sylph draws the number 213.

Just 213 meters?

I was sure that he hasn’t given up and was still chasing me.

If he has already shortened the distance by this much, it means he must be chasing me while knowing my exact location. He might have the guider skill.

How should I use the 3,400 karma? What skill should I invest in in order to beat this guy?

I was deep in thought when...

Ring, ring.

My smartphone suddenly buzzed.

“Fuck that scared me!”

Who is this, in this situation!

First, to avoid the man that was closing in on me, I ran away as I answered up the phone.

The Divine Protection of the Wind hadn’t run out yet and I was able to put a lot of distance in between us pretty quickly.

“Hello?”

-Where are you right now?

A female voice with a strict and ordered soldier-like tone.

“Miss Cha Ji-hye?”

-Yes. Where are you now?

“I am in Bucheon.”

-I know you live in Bucheon. Where are you now?

“On Wonmi Mountain. I’m busy right now, could I return your call later?”

-It is an urgent matter. Have you by any chance been attacked before?

“I am being attacked right now.”

Yep, it was definitely Cha Ji-hye who sent me the warning text message before.

-Excuse me?

Asked Cha Ji-hye in a surprised voice.

“I mean, I am in the middle of being chased right now. Remember I said I’m busy at the moment?”

-Did you say Wonmi Mountain? What is your situation right now?

“I killed one and the remaining one is pissed and chasing after me. His attacks nor his speed are that threatening but his defense is unbelievable and I can’t figure out a way to beat him.”

-And you have taken care of one of them?

“Yes, thanks to him I’ve got some karma but I don’t know where to invest it in order to beat this guy.”

-Please wait a second.

I could hear Cha Ji-hye conversing with someone. Hearing “to Bucheon Wonmi Mountain” meant she’s probably in a taxi.

-Please tell me more specifics about him.

“His shield moves so fast that the naked eye can’t even see it move and it blocks all attacks. I think that any attack that the user is aware of will be blocked 100% of the time. It might permit an unexpected attack.”

-It is an assist skill called ‘block.’

“Block?”

-It is a skill using a shield. When that skill is completely mastered, it displays such effects. It even blocks magic.

“Mastered? Damn it.”

Mastered a skill. I thought that level of blocking was ridiculous.

“Is there no weakness?”

-As you mentioned, you can kill him by attacking in an unexpected pattern of attacks.

“His body was so strong even getting hit with a bullet didn’t do anything.”

-He has mastered the physical strength buff or...... did you say his attacks and speed weren’t special?

“Yes.”

-Then that means he hasn’t trained his aura control so it can’t be the physical strength buff. It is probably the main skill called ‘body malleability/ductility’.*

“Body malleability/ductility? Well, does it make the body hard?

(TN: Malleability is said to be the property of a material to deform under compression. Ductility is said to be the property of a material to stretch without getting damaged. Basically it’s a metal body that can stretch.)

-Yes, but first, you have to break through the block. The block’s second weak point is the shield’s durability.

“Are you saying to break the shield?”

-Yes, the block skill can’t be used if you break the shield by using strong physical attacks.

“Ugh.”

That square shield, even at a glance it was iron......

Regardless, all I could do was try.

“Okay. But, are you on your way over here?”

-Yes, I am.

“Is there help coming from another examinee?”

-Yes. Please survive until I get there.

“Will do.”

After I ended the call, I continued to run and I retrieved my board.

“Show me all my skills.”

-Showing all skills attained by examinee Kim Hyun-ho.

-Main skill: spirit summons (intermediate level 1)

-Assist skill: Physical Strength Buff (intermediate level 5), Guider (entry level 1), Teleport (intermediate level 1)

-Special skill: Skill synthesis

-Synthesis skill: Divine Protection of The Wind (intermediate level 1), Divine Protection of Fire (entry level 1), reflex (superior level 1), flame of life (intermediate level 4), transmission (entry level 1), space bag (entry level 4), shooting (entry level 1), ammo compensation (entry level 1), reload.

-Remaining karma: +3,499

Skimming over my skills I landed on one thing.

“Show me ammo compensation!”

-ammo compensation (synthesis skill): strengthens bullets across use of all firearms.

*entry level 1

“If I use all my karma?”

Then the words on the board changed again.

-Showing the results of using all remaining karma on ammo compensation (skill synthesis).

-Ammo compensation (synthesis skill): strengthens bullets across use of all firearms.

*Intermediate level 1: bullets have the power to go through boulders.

-Remaining karma: +399

It goes through a boulder? I guess that’s not enough to pierce through iron.

‘No, what if I use this with spirit summons?’

If I just shoot it, the bullet could go through a boulder.

On top of that, if Sylph and Kasa both used their strength, the bullet will be that much stronger.

With that, it really might be enough to penetrate that square shield made of iron.

“I will raise my ammo compensation to intermediate level 4!”

Pat!

The board lit up.

-Using 3,100 karma to raise the ammo compensation to intermediate level 4.

-Ammo compensation (synthesis skill): strengthens bullets across use of all firearms.

*intermediate level 4: bullets have the power to go through boulders

-remaining karma: +399

‘Yes!’

I picked up my two Nielsen H2 revolvers and turned around.

If it was strong enough to penetrate that square shield, it will definitely be enough to get through the man’s body.

‘You’re dead.’