âThat bracelet and necklace, youâd better hurry up and use it.â
âBracelet and necklaceâŚ?â
âAre you going to keep pretending to distract me? Maybe it would have worked on me in the past. But it doesnât work on me right nowâŚ!â
Yoon-seok didnât know what was happening, but Carpbenny narrowed the distance after gaining enlightenment (?) and awakening.
âFire Dragon Body.â
Was it a skill or a power? It didnât matter. Flames burned across his palms, but that wasnât the end.
âSpirit of the Armorer.â
Light emanated from the blue crystal embedded in his forehead then covered Carpbennyâs body.
Swaaaaaaaaaa-!
âIs that the equipment activation effect?â
It was highly likely, but Yoon-seok couldnât figure out what kind of ability it was. However, as he was observing the light, he received a spoiler.
âNothing that contains magic will work on me for three minutes!â
Oh, I see. Yoon-seok needed to wait for three minutes. Why did Carpbenny tell him?
âWell, is it workingâŚâ
Yoon-seok gave up on thinking. Rather, he was growing tired of being surprised.
Whoosh.
Yoon-seok was able to easily evade his foe. Honestly, even if he was hit for three minutes straight, he didnât think Carpbenny would be enough to challenge his durability statsâŚ
But for some reason, Yoon-seok felt more nonsense would be muttered if he got hit. Well, although avoiding it didnât change much.
âAs expected, you move fast!â
Tick tock, tick-tock.
Yoon-seok didnât make a sound as time gradually passed.
Whoosh-! Whoosh-!
He failed to lay a single effective blow. Nevertheless, Carpbenny was chattier than ever.
âHuhu! I can see how flustered you are!â
It looked like he thought Yoon-seok was forced to avoid it because he couldnât use magic⌠well, he couldnât use magic. Because his magic stats were fixed at F- for 20 minutes due to the self-sabotage effect of Vajra Step, most of his magic-based skills and powers were sealed, including b Divine Ultimatum}, which reduced his force by more than 90%. HoweverâŚ
âNo matter what, this guy thinks heâs going to win.â
With the disappearance of his magic, it had become impossible to strengthen his body. Therefore, Carpbenny, who had magic, was almost balanced regarding stats. Well, he still missed out on the most important thing.
âYouâre avoiding like a cockroach, but itâll be different from now on!â
âYouâre just too easy to read. I donât see the point to moving so much.â
It would be different from now on. This sounded like a habit. Yoon-seok prepared himself, but there was no big change right away despite the bragging.
Whoosh-!
His fist was as slow as usual. The trajectory was so honest that it was super obvious. However, was he not a fighter?
âSea Godâs Judgment.â
As soon as he recited the command, the sky turned dark. Dark clouds covered the sky, and thunder rumbled, shaking the ground. Yoon-seok felt an unknown existence beyond the dark clouds.
âSummoned creatureâŚ?â
Did he feel lonely because Yoon-seok didnât answer back much? Carpbenny shrugged.
âNo way. This is a new treasure that I recently acquired. Rank is SSâŚâ
Yoon-seok stopped listening and turned to thoughts of ending this absurdity.
Swaaaaaaaaaa-!
A chilly gust of wind blew from the sky. At the same time, the dark clouds split, and something huge revealed itself from beyond. But unfortunately, they couldnât see its face.
Boooooooooom-!
The moment Yoon-seok swung his sword toward the sky.
Swaaaaaaaaaa-!
The sky was divided, and nothing could be seen above except the bright sky.
âBut it was pretty fun at the end.â
Yoon-seok, who made the Sea God or whatever leave the stage in a snap, stretched. Unlike Carpbenny, he felt very relieved because he didnât have to worry about dying. Above all, he was satisfied with the impact even if he only used the muscle principle from Dimension Muscle.
Of course, it was different for Carpbenny.
ââŚâ
Carpbenny silently raised his head and looked up at the sky. Warm sunlight was shining through the dark clouds.
âH-HowâŚ?â
Sea Godâs bracelet. Rank SS. This high-ranking bracelet could summon the Sea God, and the summoned Sea God was strong enough to face off against many rankers one on one. Carpbenny thought using all his saved tricks would incapacitate his opponent before that. ButâŚ
ăThe summoned creature was forcibly removed due to a fatal blow.ă
The Sea God disappeared. It was the first time this had happened. There were times when it disappeared as time ran out, but heâd never experienced this before.
âWhat did you doâŚ!â
Carpbenny took a step back without realizing it.
âArenât you weaker than meâŚ?â
âI thought the misunderstanding had been resolved. Is it not yetâŚ?â
âM-MisunderstandingâŚ?â
Misunderstanding? He still couldnât understand. Wasnât his opponent just now on the defensive?
ââŚBracelet. Yes, youâre wearing that bracelet.â
Carpbenny finally understood the situation. The bracelet, which emitted brilliant light, seemed unusual from the beginning. He didnât know exactly what it was, but he used that itemâs effect to block his summoning.
âEven if itâs not expendable, at least it will have a waiting time.â
After a quick decision, Carpbenny again regained his determination and rushed toward Yoon-seok. Since the bracelet he was wearing could no longer be used, there was no need to save up his tricks anymore.
ăThe duration of Spirit of the Armor has ended.ă
ăAll abilities fall by 2 levels for 10 minutes as a side effect.ă
Carpbenny removed the penalty with his Unique Power Neutralization and recited a series of commands.
ăDue to Unique Skill b Treasure Hunter}, stat temporarily increases depending on the number of treasures equipped.ă
Vitality seeped into his body.
ăDue to the Infinity effect, the cognitive domain increases significantly.ă
His field of view widened, and time slowed down.
ăAs an effect of Future Guidance, the enemyâs movement is recognized one second earlier.ă
A future afterimage overlapped with reality. As long as he read the enemyâs future, he wouldnât miss as he did earlier.
ăDue to the Black Spot effect, all damage increases by 80 times for 1 minute.ă
To save even a little time. Reciting the command while narrowing the distance, Carpbenny ensured he could finish it in one blow. His magic was hemorrhaging out, but it wouldnât matter.
âMy best record was 47 seconds.â
No one had endured more than a minute against him after entering this state. It was going to be the same this timeâŚ
Plork-!
The sound came first; then, the shock was transmitted from his abdomen. When he came to his senses, his body was floating.
ââŚHuh?â
Recognition and understanding were completely different. Although it was only a second ahead, he was reading the opponentâs future until now. So why didnât he see anything?
âGaspppppâŚ!â
All his questions disappeared under the pain that came one step later. His mind turned blank, and the only thing he could think was something was wrong. Even though he knew it was already too late, Carpbenny was surprised as he hit the floor.
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ââŚWhy is he staying still?â
His foe remained motionless. He was thinking about something while looking at his sword with a dissatisfied expression.
âCan you come at me again?â
ââŚ?â
âI need to experiment with something.â
âExperimentâŚ?â
Carpbenny wanted to ask something after hearing that word.
âWhat⌠is your rank?â
The reply came back immediately.
âItâs probably 92nd place. Unless someone else from the top died in the meantime.â
It didnât sound like a lie. Was that why?
ââŚâ
It was even more unacceptable. He was a high ranker, but he wasnât at the top. Yet the difference was this big?
âWhat on earth was I mistaken aboutâŚ?â
b Treasure Hunter} wasnât a combat-type Unique Skill. So he misunderstood this man had a lower rating than himself?
But it wasnât really like that. The reality he faced was different from expectation. The ranking he thoroughly denied was more accurate than anything else.
âIf youâre done with your questions, will you charge again?â
Carpbenny realized the fact that just as he treated the lower rankers as trash, he was no different in their eyes.
âWhy did you deceive meâŚâ
âI didnât.â
âThen why didnât you kill me?â
âDidnât I mention it? I have something to experiment with.â
ââŚAre you treating me like a toy?â
Carpbenny felt humiliated.
But that was his last pride. He was able to say this calmly.
âKill me.â
Carpbenny closed his eyes.
ââŚIn the end, do I have no choice but to train alone?â
However, when he opened his eyes again-
He couldnât see anything. Carpbenny reached out to the wall blankly.
Wiggle.
The wall writhed under his fingertips.
Muscles are great. Yoon-seok could make anything possible this way.
âPretty good, huh?â
Yoon-seok, who built a muscle wall around Carpbenny, nodded.
âIf Iâm good, I can even use it as a jail.â
His research was progressing steadily during the battle. HoweverâŚ
âBut what if he kills himself inside?â
Yoon-seok narrowed his muscle wall due to this late concern. It conformed to exactly the size of his opponentâs physique, so he wouldnât have room to move freely.
Clench-!
Then Yoon-seok removed the muscle wall only around his face because they had to breathe. Sadly, the silence broke at the same timeâŚ
âW-What a-are you doing⌠eup, hmph!â
He could still breathe through his nose, at least. Although Carpbenny blinked enthusiastically and mumbled through the covering, it wasnât that distracting.
ââŚEup, hmph!â
Yoon-seok turned his eyes away, pretending he didnât see it. Even if it was his muscles, the sight of somebody cocooned in muscle was scary.
âEup, up! Eumph!â
Prodded by a constant muffled scream, Yoon-seok turned his head slightly to check on Carpbenny. For some reason, it sounded like he was asking Yoon-seok to kill him, butâŚ
Unfortunately, Yoon-seok had no intention of doing so. Time didnât flow in here, so there was no better environment for training.
ââŚThen, shall we get started?â
Yoon-seok started with an easy warm-up. His body wasnât stiff, but it was a reflex behavior.
âIf heâs 490th place, heâll be able to endure for at least four months.â
Yoon-seok, roughly estimating the time he could stay in the arena, closed his eyes. His available time was probably four to five months.