Chapter 139

Chapter 139

Spendthrift Necromancer (139)

Isabella.

She wasn't an easy opponent.

Minwoo's stats had risen considerably through titles and accessories, but fighting her barehanded would still amount to suicide.

All he had to do was look at Isabella's fingers to know that.‘Flashy.’He'd only just obtained two Ancient-grade rings himself.

Isabella's fingers were another story.

Every single one seemed to have some ominously powerful ring sitting on it.

Several were famous items even Kim Minwoo knew.

The Ring of the Dark Martial Artist and Phoenix Ring were prime examples.[Ring of the Dark Martial Artist][Rank: Ancient][Level Requirement: 800 or higher, Martial Artist Class][A ring left by a legendary martial artist who danced within the shadows.][Effect 1. Strength, Agility, Stamina +150][Effect 2. Critical chance increases by 30%.][Effect 3. Critical damage increases by 100%.][Effect 4. Negates one attack that would inflict a fatal wound. (Cooldown: 30 days)][Phoenix Ring][Rank: Ancient][Level Requirement: 900 or higher, Martial Artist Class][A ring containing the power of the Phoenix, the symbolic being that endlessly repeats death and rebirth.][Effect 1. Strength, Agility, Stamina +150][Effect 2. When Stamina falls below 30%, the Phoenix's Blessing envelops the wearer. For 10 seconds, attack power increases by 50%, movement speed by 30%, and healing received by 50%.][Effect 3. Killing an enemy charges 1 Flame Energy. Consuming 30 Flame Energy increases the damage of the next attack by 150%.]

High Level requirements.

Ancient rank.

And Class-exclusive accessories on top of that.

Those three conditions together produced performance like this.

Apparently she'd risked her life clearing Hidden Gates to obtain several of them.

Isabella was an Awakened who embodied the absolute extreme of equipment advantage, covered head to toe in items of that caliber.

Standing on the training ground, Isabella looked at Kim Minwoo.

“Equipment?”

“We'll use everything.”

“You'll be at a disadvantage.”

“Don't we use equipment inside Gates too?”

Isabella nodded, looking satisfied.

Their entire purpose was to determine whether he could perform inside a Hidden Gate.

What meaning was there in fighting well barehanded?

It wasn't as though either of them planned to enter Gates without equipment.

Ultimately, an Awakened's equipment was part of their ability too. She'd only asked in advance in case he tried to complain about it later.‘His mindset is decent.’That was when.

Kim Minwoo grinned.

“And I wouldn't say I'm necessarily at a disadvantage.”

“……?”

Familiar summons appeared beside him.

Merhen and Cedric.

Isabella knew both of them too. Kim Minwoo handed equipment to the pair.

Every piece had been Legendary-grade gear he'd swept up at the auction.

Cedric received armor and gauntlets.

Merhen got boots and a hat.

“Put them on.”

Cedric checked the descriptions and nodded in satisfaction.

Hrulunif's Forest.

It felt like only yesterday he'd been wearing equipment that looked like rags there.

Now things were different.

Legendary rank.

And perhaps because every item required Level 250 or higher, they even looked respectable.―Finally, you brought something usable.

“You think Legendary gear is easy to find?”―Exactly. Cedric doesn't appreciate Minwoo's hard work. He clothes us, feeds us, gives us a place to sleep. Right?

“Exactly.”

What a thoughtful summon.

Since she'd said something nice, he should reward her.

“Here. Wear these earrings too.”―Wow! Pretty!

Legendary-grade earrings acquired from the auction.

Merhen's eyes lit up the moment she saw them.―You worked hard, Minwoo!

She threw her arms around him.

Cedric glanced at Minwoo and asked.―……

Nothing for me?

“I've got something.”

He tossed him a ring.

A melee-Class-exclusive ring.

Cedric caught it, checked the details, then slipped it onto one skeletal finger with satisfaction.[Cedric equips Ring of the Barbarian Great Chieftain…….][Cedric equips Giant's Armor…….][Cedric equips Black Drake Gauntlets…….][Merhen equips Elegant Soul Earrings…….][Merhen equips Clever Ogre Mage King's Hat…….][Merhen equips Magic Ghost Boots…….]

They lost to Isabella's Ancient-covered body in quality?

Then they'd fight with quantity.

Kim Minwoo equipped his own gear too.[Equipping Gloves of the Contagion Lord…….][Equipping Mourning of the Dead!][Equipping Wraith Step…….][Equipping Ring of the Chilling Heart…….]

Armor, Mourning of the Dead.

Boots, Wraith Step.

Gloves, Gloves of the Contagion Lord.

Ring, Ring of the Chilling Heart.

He hadn't found a helmet or leg armor, so he filled those slots with ordinary Rare items.

He looked at Isabella.

“Not bad, right?”

“Your summons live well. But you're not summoning any more?”

He shook his head.

Why would he summon all the small fry like an idiot?

Just look at the Phoenix Ring.

It gained Flame Energy whenever the wearer killed an enemy.

If he summoned Skeletons and she swept them away in one go, she'd follow up with explosive damage.

Ordinary summons were largely meaningless against a monster like Isabella.

At most.―Grooo.

Dolsoe might have some use.

Pure-white gauntlets appeared over Isabella's hands.

Martial God's Gauntlets(Ancient).

A weapon practically synonymous with her.

Pitch-black night.

But the training ground was already brightly illuminated.

And for Awakened of this level, darkness wasn't much of an obstacle anyway.

“Shall we begin?”

“Then I'm coming.”[Casting Land of Death(S)

!][All allied undead stats increase by 20%…….]

Isabella's body glided forward.[Dolsoe uses Taunt(A)

on Isabella…….][The difference in Rank is overwhelming…….][Isabella uses Strike of the Colossus(S)

…….]

BOOM!

Her fist smashed straight through the Golem, shield and all.

Sturdy Dolsoe vanished in a single punch.

Kim Minwoo frowned.‘Those stats are ridiculous.’The average human gained four stat points per Level.

Isabella was already above Level 1,000, and equipment, elixirs, and title effects had inflated her even further.

At a glance, all her stats looked close to the high 2,000s.‘Still, I can work with this.’Factoring in his titles and Ancient rings, Minwoo's own stats were around 1,000.

Law of Victory.

Even without that monster-exclusive title activating, he had enough raw ability to attempt something.[Curse of Aging(D)+9…….][Title, ‘Status Effect Glutton,’ activates!][The status ailment and curse are devoured!]‘Curses don't work.’Merhen unleashed magic.

Lightning, flame, and wind.

Spells of every attribute swept toward Isabella.[Isabella uses Rapid Response(S)

!][Isabella uses Dance of Annihilation(S)

!][Isabella uses Iron Man(S)+9…….]

Using the overwhelming difference in stats, Isabella dodged or smashed through everything while closing the distance. The S-rank +9 Skill Iron Man, completed through France's love, made her flesh harder than diamond.

Even when magic struck her directly, it left little more than scorch marks on her skin.

Apparently knowing that, she charged straight toward Merhen without hesitation.

Cedric and Kim Minwoo.

Undead and human exchanged a glance, nodded, then rushed forward together.

Isabella's physical durability was beyond imagination.

Her entire body was perfectly protected by Ancient equipment.

How did they bring her down?

Disable each piece one by one.‘Break the equipment first. Especially the gauntlets.’Her gauntlets were perfect targets for that plan.

If she wanted to punch, she had no choice but to put those gauntlets in front of them.

She was voluntarily closing the distance, making it comparatively easier to stack repeated attacks on the same spot.

Break those, and she'd have to use bare hands or kicks.

Sword energy poured out through Necromantic Sword Art.

At the same time, Cedric swung his spear carrying Shadow Spear and Dragon Strike.

Ignoring the sword energy, Isabella chose one of the countless spear shadows and snapped out a hand.

Cedric rotated the spear and struck her gauntlet.

CLANG!A spear blow dealing fourteen times damage.

As the gauntlet flinched for an instant, Minwoo brought the Necromantic Sword down on the same place.[You struck the same location! Damage increases by 11%…….]

Her other fist flew toward his face.[Merhen uses Water Snare(SS)

…….]

Smack!

No matter how tough her body was.

Even she couldn't prevent sticky water from slowing her slightly.‘Just as expected.’Cedric struck with his spear to slow her again.

During that opening, Minwoo barely evaded and struck her opposite gauntlet with his sword.[You struck the same location! Damage increases by 11%…….]

He had struck the exact same point Cedric had hit, triggering the stacked-attack bonus.

Cedric's spear technique had grown considerably more refined as his Level rose.

Enough for the two of them to coordinate at this level without trouble.

That was when.

Isabella jumped backward and frowned.

“……

What exactly are you doing?”

“Can't you tell?”

“Hah.”

Her eyes narrowed, pride clearly wounded.

There was nothing strange about that.

Stacked attacks?

The判定 was so strict that twisting the struck area even slightly could cancel the stack.

It was a method no one normally attempted unless the difference in skill was considerable.

And he was trying it against her?

With his summons, three against one?

Of course her blood pressure would rise a little.

She exhaled in disbelief.

“……

From now on, I'll use only my hands. So try it. If you can.”[Isabella uses High-Speed Offense and Defense(S)

!]

Her attacks accelerated even further.

Minwoo raised his sword and intercepted one gauntlet.

THOOM![You struck the same location! Damage increases by 22%…….][Title, ‘One Who Keeps Digging at the Same Spot,’ activates…….]

By blocking the gauntlet with the exact area he'd already struck, another stack accumulated.

Cedric's spear, the Necromantic Sword, and Martial God's Gauntlets collided at extreme speed, scattering sparks.

Merhen wasn't standing idle either.[Underwater Prison(SS)

activates…….][Binding Earth(SS)

activates…….]

As though determined to earn those earrings, she continuously interfered with Isabella using every kind of magic.

The repeated slowing effects made it an extremely troublesome attack pattern.

Damage continued accumulating across both gauntlets as time passed.

Isabella frowned as though looking at something she couldn't understand.

The difference in stats was catastrophic.

Yet those two summons were precisely compensating for that gap.

Whenever an opening inevitably appeared, magic and spear support slowed her down.

And Kim Minwoo evaded by the thinnest possible margin, as though he had already calculated those delays.‘He's reading my movements.’Otherwise, even with support from summons, he couldn't possibly be showing performance like this.

Both gauntlets had already been struck six times.

No matter how often she changed her attack angles to disrupt him, the blade followed like a leech.‘What kind of absurd…….’She bit her lip.

Worse, the longer the fight continued, the easier he seemed to find it to land stacked attacks.

For the first time in her life, Isabella felt flustered.

The urgency made her movements tangle more and more.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

As the damage climbed higher and higher, she finally retreated in alarm.

“W-Wait.”

Isabella covered her gauntlets and worked her mouth.

She clearly wanted to say something, but her pride made it difficult to force out.

Minwoo decided to make it easier for her.

“Want to use your feet too?”

Her face flushed bright red.

Only briefly.

Then Isabella nodded.

If they kept colliding like this, her gauntlets would be in danger.

It hurt her pride, but she had no choice.

Biting her lip, she said.

“……

Sorry for taking it back. But I don't think hands alone will work.”

“It's fine. A martial artist using only their hands makes no sense in the first place.”

“……

Thank you for understanding. From now on, I'll go all out too.”……

All out?

That was when.[Isabella uses Time of Genius(SS)

!][Your perception of time slows dramatically!][Isabella uses Martial Arts Master(SS)

!][All martial techniques receive an extremely powerful adjustment for 10 minutes!][Martial God's Gauntlets activate! ‘Descent of the Martial God’…….][Merciless Hermit's Necklace activates…… ‘Feast of Slaughter’…….][Empress's Armor activates…….][Dance of Wind activates…….][Judge's Wrath activates…….][Requiem of Darkness activates…….]..

Several Skills that had recently grown from S-rank to SS-rank.

And every Skill embedded within her Ancient equipment activated in dazzling succession.

In the next instant.

BOOM!

Cedric exploded and was unsummoned.

Merhen was next.

Apparently furious at the constant magical interference, Isabella charged toward Merhen the instant Cedric vanished.

Merhen hurriedly cast defensive magic.

It meant nothing.

One kick containing her overwhelming stats sent Merhen into instant unsummoning.

Barely one second had passed.

Before Minwoo could summon either Legion Commander again, Isabella was already directly in front of him.‘Holy shit.’Wasn't this cheating?

The sacrifice of two Legion Commanders barely bought enough time for him to raise his sword.

Even that response meant little.

BANG!

The instant her fist struck his sword, Minwoo's body was launched across the training ground and smashed into the distance.

Deflect it?

Redirect it?

At that speed, there was nothing he could do.

“Cough!”

Kim Minwoo spat blood.

The punch had hurt like absolute hell.

Isabella was already in front of him, fist stopped in midair as she stared down.

“GG. I lost.”

Kim Minwoo raised both hands.

Her already monstrous stats had been combined with overwhelming equipment.

To beat her, he'd probably need something like golden-skeleton Cedric riding a Bone Dragon.

Even after hearing him concede.

Isabella's expression remained dark.

As though something was bothering her immensely.

“……

Your Level?”

“Two-seventy.”

“Stats?”

“Low one-thousands.”

Two Ancient rings gave all stats +

2

0

0. Combined with two percentage-based titles, those were perfectly plausible numbers.

“Then how did you do that?”

“Guess I did well.”

She stared at Kim Minwoo in disbelief.

“So? What do you think?”

“……

The way you used your summons was impressive. If your Level were higher…… you'd be acceptable.”

Kim Minwoo nodded.

He'd only been at this for five months.

Isabella, meanwhile, had spent over ten years rolling around at the world-ranker level.

Of course there was a gap right now.

“Then I'll raise my Level and join you. We'll combine the tablets later?”

She stared at him for a moment before nodding.

If he had been completely unqualified and was trying to force himself into the party, that would've been another matter.

Having personally tested him, Isabella could tell Kim Minwoo was already a fully matured combatant in terms of skill.

Still.

“……

I'd rather the wait not be too long.”

“Four months should do. I raise Levels quickly.”

“Understood. Then I'll be going.”

Isabella immediately turned toward the front gate.

Truly a woman who moved in straight lines.

“Wait. Are you seriously that busy?”

“Why ask?”

“If you're not actually busy, how about doing some promotional work before you go?”

“Promotional work?”

“I'll pay well.”

Every company associated with Isabella carried the image of being the best in the world.

And in truth, they usually were.

So what if she appeared in advertisements for an Ilseong product?

It could overturn the world's perception in a single stroke.

Since she'd already stepped onto Korean soil, how nice would it be if she did a little work before going home?

“……

Money doesn't mean much to me.”

“Even five thousand won is precious money. Didn't you learn your lesson?”

Apparently remembering something painful, Isabella's brow furrowed.

Only briefly.

Then she asked back.

“Forget the money. Does Ilseong have any product worthy of being called the world's best?”

“One will be coming out soon.”

Maybe because Minwoo had given him the breakthrough.

He'd heard Dr. Kim's battery development had suddenly caught fire. Apparently the prototype would be finished in only a few days.

Minwoo intended to stage a huge event and promote it across the world.

And Isabella happened to be right here?

She was perfect for promotional work.

Isabella considered the proposal briefly.

She already received endless sponsorship offers.

If anything, her schedule was so packed she barely had time to train.

Even this trip had only been possible because she'd forced a tiny gap into her schedule.

She wasn't unaware that suddenly showing up at someone's house at night was rude.

She'd simply had no other time to visit Korea.

That was how busy Isabella was.

Which meant her answer was obvious.

“Sorry, but I'm busy too…….”

“You like fighting, right? Wouldn't you like to meet Korea's first-generation Awakened?”

“……First generation?”

“Yes. Awakened who were already famous and retired by the time you had barely begun clearing Gates. The Sword Immortal, for example.”

“……!”

Isabella's eyes lit up.

Korea's first-generation Awakened had once been considered among the strongest Awakened in the entire world.

The Sword Immortal especially.

Old age hadn't dulled him.

He had broken a new record in his eighties.

And even now, no Swordsman dared confidently claim they had surpassed his sword.

Naturally, she was interested.

“……

You'll really arrange a fight?”

“Of course. I have those kinds of connections. It's late, so stay the night. I'll introduce you tomorrow.”

He also had the numbers of Divine Spear, Poison Demon, and Fist King from that same set.