Episode 160

6.

It was clearly an accident.

An accident that should never have happened.

It occurred because Fly and his guild members had all assumed that the Flame Death Knight was the final boss and that there would be no further phases.

They could hardly be blamed.

By any reasonable standard, the battle had already gone on far too long, and the movements of the catastrophe army, including the Flame Death Knight, had slowed noticeably.

At most, they had thought there might be one last berserk phase. It was hard to imagine it would evolve yet again on top of that.

If it had evolved earlier, the Chinese players might have suffered a complete defeat and been wiped out.

The catastrophe had fully justified its title as a Legendary event.

Even so, at the very last moment, it pulled out yet another hidden card.

Whether that was a final outburst of desperation or the beginning of something new was unknown. The question and the truth didn't matter.

What mattered right now was that, at a time no one could have predicted, the Flame Death Knight had evolved once more and, in that fleeting instant, identified the most dangerous enemy and launched an attack without hesitation.

The culmination of countless coincidences and circumstances was nothing short of horrific.

No matter that Fly's class was Legendary, and that his close-quarters combat skills were excellent enough to rival typical melee classes, that was only true when he had time to prepare his spells.

A surprise attack at an unexpected moment.

Even if the master of a 9th-circle archmage had been there, not just Fly, there would have been no way to block a sword that slit your throat before you could finish casting a defensive spell.

Everyone's eyes were filled with shock.

Even the usually unflappable Fly was rattled.

His body instinctively began chanting a defensive spell, but he knew.

'I'm too late.'

He had entered the battlefield looking cooler, calmer, and more calculated than ever, but this was the most careless he had been in his entire career.

'It's just a 6-star boss monster.'

Even if it evolved into a seven-star, it still shouldn't have been a match for someone like him, who had reached level 70.

That thought had been lurking in a corner of his mind.

A swirl of emotions flashed through him.

For once, even he felt a twinge of regret, wishing he had paid a little more attention to his own safety.

Even in that instant, he gritted his teeth and tried to think of a way to escape with minimal damage.

But the sword was faster than he was.

And something even faster than that sword slammed into Fly.

A heavy impact crashed into his shoulder, and he went flying.

Clang!

At the same time, the screech of metal grinding against metal rang out from farther away, snapping him back to his senses and allowing him to finish casting his defensive spell.

Fwish!

In less than a second, dozens of spells wrapped around his body.

The barrier felt so solid that nothing could possibly break through, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

It was also the moment he realized once again that if he had been attacked before, he could have prepared this kind of defense; it would have been meaningless.

His gaze swept quickly across the battlefield.

'What was that?'

The Flame Death Knight's sword, surely dulled by the long battle, couldn't have suddenly lost its edge and struck him with the flat of the blade instead of taking his head.

Besides, the sound he had heard afterward had clearly been the sound of that sword grinding against something.

There was only one answer.

Someone had shoved Fly aside and blocked the Flame Death Knight's incoming sword in his place.

'Who?'

The next question was one he couldn't easily answer.

The Fly Guild had plenty of rankers.

But if you asked how many of them had the level and class to read the Flame Death Knight's movement in advance and block that attack the moment it was unleashed, Fly would have to shake his head.

It wasn't about pride in his own level.

Because Fly was a mage, most of the guild members assigned to guard him were mages, healers, and buffers.

The few melee-class players they had needed to be that much higher in level, but the attack the Flame Death Knight had just unleashed was practically a last-ditch strike with every ounce of its remaining strength.

If someone capable of blocking that attack had been present, the thought of death would never have crossed his mind.

The simplest way to find out was to look with his own eyes.

Fly looked.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He saw a player standing firm without retreating, blocking the Flame Death Knight's follow-up attacks one after another.

He stared in disbelief.

It was someone he had not expected at all.

And that was precisely why it made perfect sense.

Fly's personal intel network, which cataloged the classes, traits, and strengths of every guild member—especially the elites—had not a single scrap of information on this man.

"How the…?"

Fly hit the dirt, the blade slicing through the air just above his head. As he lay there, he watched in stunned confusion as Kim Buja, still on his back, hacked through the Phantom Steed's legs.

* * *

From beginning to end, Kim Buja had only one objective.

'I'm going to milk the contribution rewards dry. No matter what.'

If he hadn't been able to enter China, that would have been the end of it, but Fly had practically set the table for him.

Granted, Fly had set the table for himself, and Buja was, at best, a side dish. But for someone with a hidden trump card, this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

'If I land the last hit, I should get at least a thousand points.'

The skill he had tested, Gnawing Soul, demanded an absurd amount of gold and points—enough to gnaw away at his own soul, just as its name implied.

However, the Soul Unleashed state, which was activated in return, offered performance and effects that made every gold coin spent feel worth it.

The only question was how big a reward he could claw back with that power.

He decided not to overthink it.

One way or another, this was a chance that would only come once.

This opportunity had only materialized through a stroke of luck layered on a coincidence, so even if he ended up taking a loss, he was determined to put on a show one more time.

Especially right in front of Fly, who was trying to test him.

So, as Fly and his guild charged the Flame Death Knight without hesitation, Kim Buja followed in their wake and activated the skill.

Bang!

He felt an intangible energy, subtly different from mana, explode from his body as a new power seeped into him.

['Soul Unleashed: Stage 1' has been activated.]

[Duration: 15 minutes]

All of his stats rose slightly, and both his attack and defense increased as well.

Of course, the Stage 1 effect was so minor it was almost embarrassing to call it a buff.

It cost 50 gold—not exactly pocket change, but for a Stage 1 effect, it was equivalent to gaining a level or two at most.

Even that was something to be grateful for, considering the efficiency and duration, but it still wasn't enough.

If he wanted to do more than just sneak a spoonful from the Flame Death Knight's loot table—if he wanted to take a full ladle—he had to be ready to pour in everything he had.

And he was.

The only reason he had started from Stage 1 was thanks to a lucky discovery he'd made during his limited testing.

['Soul Unleashed: Stage 2' has been activated.]

[The effects of Soul Unleashed do not stack. Only the highest stage is applied.]

'What if, even for just a brief moment, the effects of two Soul Unleashed stages overlapped?'

'If I could combine the weaker, less efficient stages, maybe I could get some decent use out of the skill for relatively cheap.'

That was the very first thought that had crossed his mind the moment he acquired Gnawing Soul.

Naturally, it turned out to be complete nonsense.

He had been about to dismiss it as a basic mechanic not even worth being disappointed over when he stumbled upon something else entirely.

[Duration: 25 minutes]

Stage 2 was only a bit stronger than Stage 1, yet the duration had actually increased.

Anyone could see that something was off.

The answer was simple.

'What kind of garbage item is this?'

The effects didn't stack, but if he triggered Stage 2 while Stage 1 was still active, the durations did.

Stage 2's duration was 10 minutes.

Stage 3's duration was 5 minutes.

Naturally, the higher the stage, the shorter the duration. However, using this method meant he could keep Soul Unleashed active for at least thirty minutes.

Of course, the downside was just as obvious.

It was as if the system was determined to prove its own rule—"no bugs allowed"—because even this workaround had its restrictions.

First, he absolutely had to start from Stage 1.

He couldn't activate the longest-duration Stage 1 and then jump straight to Stage 3 or skip ahead to Stage 6. That kind of shortcut simply didn't work.

On top of that, the most critical drawback was that extending the duration by a mere thirty minutes increased the total cost of maintaining Soul Unleashed by more than fifty percent.

Because of that, even after discovering this special method, Kim Buja had agonized over it for quite a while.

'Do I really have to use such a gold-devouring special ability?'

'Even if the day comes when I need it, I swear I'll never actually use it.'

And yet, here he was.

Once the moment came, he stopped thinking about gold altogether.

When he no longer cared about the cost, the duration-stacking method became an insanely powerful tool.

['Soul Unleashed: Stage 6' has been activated.]

[The effects of Soul Unleashed do not stack. Only the highest stage is applied.]

[Duration: 34 minutes 12 seconds]

The fact that the stacked time didn't reset when he unlocked a new stage was further proof that this was not a bug.

It was a moment where the advantages stood out, and the drawbacks faded into the background.

An overwhelming power flooded his entire body, and a smile naturally tugged at his lips.

"This is it."

He remembered the time he had blown every last coin in a Gold Mission and savored the resulting sense of accomplishment.

This power, too, had been purchased by burning through all 15,000 gold coins he had on hand.

It wasn't permanent, not even semi-permanent. It was power that would last for a mere thirty-four minutes.

Short.

So short it was almost infuriating.

However, on this battlefield, in this final sprint toward the end, it was more than enough time.

The very speed at which he kicked off the ground was on a completely different level.

The distance between him and Fly, which had been widening, closed in an instant, and things that had been invisible to him before now came into sharp focus.

It wasn't that he had lacked the eye for combat.

He had simply lacked the stats.

He could feel it now: the target of the killing intent, carried on the massive surge of mana that erupted from the Flame Death Knight as it roared, watching its domain, its land, its barrier, and its minions crumble.

He kicked off the ground again.

The speed at which the Flame Death Knight hurtled toward them was so fast that even Buja, with Soul Unleashed active, couldn't help but be impressed.

In that split second, he didn't have the luxury of watching and then deciding.

He had to predict.

'Why would it suddenly abandon the Chinese players it had been fighting for hours and charge over here?'

'Why did its aggro suddenly jump to this location?'

'Because of my sudden spike in power?'

This wasn't some wuxia novel where a monster would sense his aura, feel fear at his overwhelming strength, and instinctively rush him. That kind of unscientific reasoning was useless.

His body shot toward Fly.

The logic was simple.

Disaster-class monsters were smart, and they even took orders from someone.

From the perspective of an intelligent commander, the most annoying and threatening presence on the field would naturally be the first target for elimination.

If you had a powerful weapon you could only use once, the right answer was to use it now.

He slammed his shoulder into the unguarded Fly, shoving him aside, and drew his sword in the same motion.

With his current stats, it was an attack that a mage like Fly would struggle to withstand unscathed, but it was far better than being decapitated by the Flame Death Knight.

Clang!

Their blades collided at the same instant.

If this had been the level 14 Kim Buja from before, his gold-ring sword would have been sliced apart first, and his head would have rolled in Fly's place.

He was still level 14, but in terms of raw stats, he was confident he wouldn't lose to a level 70 player.

The unyielding strength in his arms and the impact that traveled from his sword into his shoulder told him he had made the right call.

A slow grin spread across his face.

'It's been so long since I've felt this kind of god-tier high.'

He could move exactly as he thought and had the power to attack exactly as he intended. He couldn't even remember the last time that had been true.

"Now this is a game."

His sword began to dance.

Against a Catastrophe-class monster that had just entered Phase 3.

* * *

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