Chapter 93

Yuseong was well aware of the issues with his personality.

The issue here wasn’t a lack of empathy for others, but rather the fundamentally negative mindset underlying his thought process.

When problems arose, he would think of negative scenarios before positive ones, worrying beyond worst-case scenarios into realms of delusions with extremely low or no possibility of occurring in reality.

His past behaviors – not revealing his identity to users, unnecessarily involving others when disposing of gold coins and magic stones, fleeing immediately upon meeting Kang Changseok – were all heavily influenced by this distinctly negative mindset.

Beyond mere cautiousness, it bordered on paranoia.

However, being cautious didn’t necessarily mean being timid.

While he generally maintained a passive attitude, in certain situations he would display completely opposite behavior, like a compressed spring suddenly releasing.

When there was no choice but to confront things head-on, or when there were absolute gains that couldn’t be missed… Interestingly, this included situations involving games or quests.

In situations where failure carried no consequences, or where victory was assured through repeated attempts, Yuseong actually displayed a more aggressive and proactive disposition than anyone else.

This meant that even in reality, not just games or quests, he could become equally aggressive and proactive when those two conditions were met.

Bang!

With a violent explosion, the golem’s asphalt legs shattered.

The fallen golem tried to regenerate its broken body by absorbing asphalt from the road, plunging both arms into the ground, but Yuseong was faster, destroying its core by striking Infiltration Path into its empty chest.

Without letting the golem utter a single scream, Yuseong used its crumbling remains as a stepping stone to leap into the air, then crossed the city using regularly spaced streetlights as foothold.

‘Eight more to go.’

According to the information provided by the United States, none of the eleven elite monsters in this city could match him.

Of course, there was a possibility the information was wrong, but that didn’t really matter.

Even if the elite monsters were 1.5 times… no, even twice as strong as expected, they still couldn’t handle him in his current state.

Swoosh!

The moment he took to the air, something flew toward his chest with a heavy sound breaking through the air.

An attack so fast and precise it would be difficult to dodge even from the ground.

However, Yuseong calmly activated Asura Perception Way.

‘An arrow.’

In the slowed perceived time with accelerated thought, Yuseong identified the attack and without hesitation raised his arm to catch the arrow.

SCRAAAPE!

The arrow’s power was immense.

Enough to pierce a military armored vehicle.

However, the arrow caught in Yuseong’s grip only made an unpleasant sound as it scraped against Thousand Hands, stopping completely without advancing even a millimeter.

“Impossible!”

A scream of disbelief erupted from the rooftop of a distant apartment building.

Spotting the centaur – human upper body and horse lower body – Yuseong grinned and began charging toward the apartment.

Perhaps judging escape impossible.

The centaur drew back the string of a bow as large as its own body repeatedly.

However, with Asura Perception Way activated, Yuseong showed off by either slightly twisting his body to avoid all attacks or deliberately catching them by hand, reaching the centaur in an instant.

“W-wait…”

“Seven.”

There wasn’t even a need for skills.

After taking the centaur’s life with a light jab, Yuseong jumped straight down to the ground.

The subordinate centaurs chased after him with rage-filled battle cries, but they couldn’t properly build speed in streets packed with abandoned cars.

The next target was an octopus that had claimed an artificial lake as its territory, attacking anything that approached, whether human or monster.

It would have been troublesome if the water was deep, but the lake was only deep enough for the octopus to barely submerge, making it easy to lure out by throwing a nearby car.

Splash! Splash!

Eight legs flew up creating violent water sprays, but Yuseong instead used the blind spots created by the legs to close the distance and delivered a powerful strike to its forehead.

‘Six.’

As the strike point exploded, the octopus’s entire body turned white.

Yuseong’s appearance was almost unbearable to look at, covered in the remains of monsters he’d defeated plus the sticky fragments of the octopus, but a faint smile played on his lips.

‘This really is fun.’

While it slightly bothered him that this was more of a massacre than a proper fight, it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

It wasn’t about taking pleasure in tormenting beings far weaker than himself.

Like when fighting the orc warrior, the very act of going all out against something was tremendously enjoyable.

It was a joy equal to quests where he became a person of another world solving various situations.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

With his heart pounding audibly from excitement, Yuseong spotted his next target.

A black wyvern nesting on a building rooftop.

It tried to take flight upon noticing him, flapping its wings, but before the massive wyvern could lift off, Yuseong had already pulled out a nearby streetlight and thrown it like a javelin.

Wham!

Though it didn’t pierce the skin, the physical force carried by the streetlight transferred completely throughout the wyvern’s body.

As the wyvern stumbled and fell to the ground, Yuseong landed a strike on its head, muttering unconsciously.

“Five.”

A display of pure strength, using neither internal energy, magic power, nor skills.

But simple didn’t mean weak.

Rather, because it was the distillation of pure strength without any technique or tricks, it had aspects that made it more difficult to handle.

Urghh…

A specter emanating ominous aura from its entire body.

Known as one of the most difficult monsters to deal with, resistant to both simple physical force and magic, the only way to damage these beings was attacking with pure energy.

Naturally, Yuseong had skills that met those conditions.

Woong!

Magic power guided by Bermund Cultivation Method flowed to his left hand, while internal energy guided by Full Moon Cultivation Method flowed to his right, forming golden and silver Fist Energy respectively.

Before these two purified energies, the specter dispersed like morning mist in sunlight.

“Four!”

Perhaps due to continuous battles while sprinting through the city, a sweet taste began forming in his mouth and his breathing grew labored.

The current Yuseong had increased strength but not stamina, meaning he could display powerful combat ability in short bursts but wasn’t suited for prolonged battles.

However, instead of stopping, Yuseong increased his speed even further, putting more strength into his legs from some unknown exhilaration and satisfaction.

It was endorphins being released from intense exercise, leading to a runner’s high phenomenon, but the details didn’t matter.

“Three!”

The three-headed six-armed warrior possessed considerable skill.

Using the shields in two arms to deflect punches, the warrior skillfully targeted vital points with weapons in the remaining four arms.

While slightly surprised by the unexpected showing, the outcome was already decided.

Using the 99% shock absorption option to block attacks with both arms, Yuseong deployed Vacuum Step and cleanly split the warrior from groin to crown in reverse.

Three monsters remained.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the remaining monsters were gathered in a nearby location.

As he approached the high-rise building in the city center, arrows began flying from all directions.

“Fire!”

He couldn’t have handled it if the archery skills were on par with the centaur from earlier.

However, the ones shooting arrows were orcs, not centaurs, and Yuseong instantly broke through the rain of arrows to reach the two orcs giving commands from the rear.

“You dare face us both at once?”

“Arrogant human!”

Red auras erupted from the glaives the two orcs were wielding.

The glaives swung targeting his left and right collarbones respectively.

Instead of using any special skills, Yuseong resolved the situation by lightly flicking the side of one glaive with his finger.

“Huk?!”

With a clear sound, the deflected glaive collided with the glaive on the opposite side.

Though it was just a momentary opening, it was more than enough time to determine victory.

“One!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After instantly taking both orcs’ lives, Yuseong quickly retreated while covering his face from a nearby explosion.

Through the heat-distorted vision, he saw an ogre holding a massive log on top of the building.

‘Ogre Magician!’

Classified as the most dangerous among the eleven elite monsters.

A typical mage who deployed powerful magic from the rear while using multiple subordinates as shields, normally handled through close combat, but this one was problematic because as an ogre, it could display tremendous combat power in close quarters as well.

‘What to do.’

Thinking rationally, the correct choice would be to retreat and regroup.

His stamina had fallen to a precarious level, while the Ogre Magician was still healthy and the number of monsters inside that building was not small.

However, instead of following rational judgment, Yuseong gave in to momentary impulse.

Swoosh!

Within the limits his body could handle, he infused strength into his thighs and leaped toward the building.

Though still an incredible jumping power, it was far from enough to clear the building, as Yuseong lost all momentum and stopped at about one-tenth of the building’s height.

A sinister smile appeared on the Ogre Magician’s face.

However, that smile turned to shock in less than a second.

Wham!

Yuseong’s form rose upward once again.

The moment his momentum stopped, he had created a foothold on the building’s exterior wall using Thorny Vine and used it to jump again.

Though the Ogre Magician didn’t understand these details, it began casting magic to block Yuseong’s approach.

‘Can’t dodge.’

If he slowed even slightly, more and stronger magic would come flying.

It was already precarious – losing balance even a little here would mean falling straight down.

He had to charge up at once before the ogre could regain its senses.

Asura Perception Way.

In slowed time.

Calculate the position, trajectory, and speed of incoming magic to plot the optimal line for reaching the Ogre Magician with minimal damage.

Of course, some magic was unavoidable, but he wasn’t worried about that.

Wooong!

Waves of force emanating from his entire body.

With a sound like countless bees buzzing, magic near Yuseong began exploding into pieces.

Force affecting a much wider range and more powerfully than usual.

This was because he was using not one but two energies – both magic power and internal energy.

The two energies that normally couldn’t coexist were achieving a strange coexistence while repelling each other due to his abnormal wisdom stat, protecting Yuseong’s entire body.

“…!”

The Ogre Magician, now just two steps away, shouted something while raising the log above its head.

An obvious stance that anyone could predict the next action from.

And Yuseong took an even more obvious stance in response.

Twisting his body fully, right fist pulled back to his waist.

Yuseong and the Ogre Magician wore the same smile.

A smile full of certainty of victory, without any thought of defeat.

Bang! Boom!

The first step was Flash Step to steal timing, the second step was Meteor Step to raise power even further.

And the moment Yuseong’s fist and the ogre’s log collided, victory was decided.

Booooom!

The log shattered to pieces, the ogre wore a dumbfounded expression, and Yuseong’s body, which had pierced through the unguarded chest and emerged from the back, didn’t have a single drop of blood on it.

[You have acquired Limit Break (C+).]

[You have created new skill ??? (B+).]

[You have created new skill ??? (A-).]

A bright smile spread across Yuseong’s face.

* * *

The temporary encampment outside the city was enveloped in silence so complete you could hear a pin drop.

When it was first revealed that Yuseong had charged into the city alone, there was an uproar about needing to rescue him immediately, that others couldn’t risk suffering damage because of someone acting on their own against the plan, but before long everyone realized such discussion was unnecessary.

“This is a hero…”

The drone footage showed Yuseong displaying unbelievable divine might while toying with monsters.

Elite monsters that couldn’t be dealt with despite weeks of bombing and special forces deployment were turned into cold corpses in less than 10 seconds before Yuseong.

There was no need for drone support fire.

No, there wasn’t even time for it.

When he took down the octopus, wyvern, specter, yaksha, and two orc warriors, cheers and screams crossed simultaneously.

The cheers came from those who only saw him defeat the orc warriors, the screams from those who saw the magic that flew in afterward.

“This is as far as it goes, I suppose.”

The Ogre Magician launching magic from high ground while protected by numerous monsters was an insurmountable opponent alone.

Even Yuseong would have to retreat here for now.

However, that was merely their assumption.

“…Huh?”

An unbelievable sight was unfolding on screen.

As if unaffected by gravity, Yuseong was climbing up the building’s exterior wall.

The panicked Ogre Magician cast magic, but it couldn’t penetrate the golden and silver energy currents Yuseong wielded around his body, only causing futile explosions.

And finally reaching the building’s peak, Yuseong pierced through the Ogre Magician and reached the highest point.

“Shooting star…”

Someone muttered, and everyone nodded in unison as if planned.

Though he didn’t fall from above, the sight of him wrapped in golden and silver energy currents, piercing through countless explosions to finally penetrate his target, couldn’t be described as anything but a shooting star.

It was the moment a half-hero without a title became a true hero.