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Chapter 7
Kwadak! Kwajik! Udeuk!
In the place where Kang Shin-hwa passed, all that could be heard were sounds of breaking and shattering.
This was actually the case.
Small monsters, especially enhanced goblins, became Kang Shin-hwa’s punching bags eight out of ten times.
The destruction method was simple.
After grabbing a goblin’s neck with his heavily reinforced arm, lifting it up with all his might, and then striking with his fist.
In fact, even for a strong awakener, crushing a goblin’s head was never an easy task.
However, what made this possible was Kang Shin-hwa’s skillful mana control.
Precisely by condensing the mana within his body only where necessary, he maximized the destructive power’s efficiency.
Moreover, as his mana reserves increased.
The influence was significant in being able to smoothly employ the ‘Explosive Fist’ technique up to its 3rd stage, which he had learned from Muk-cheo in his previous life.
[Explosive Fist, 1st Chapter – Rage]
[Explosive Fist, 2nd Chapter – Pressure]
[Explosive Fist, 3rd Chapter – Madness]
The Explosive Fist changes its nature as its stages increase.
If the 1st stage feels like shaking the opponent, the 2nd stage feels like pressing down heavily.
And the 3rd stage is closer to a scattered attack spread across multiple strikes rather than a single attack.
While crushing a D- rank monster one-on-one, Kang Shin-hwa could roughly check his own combat power.
In fact, the best measure of one’s strength is not a device, but monsters.
‘First, the judgment rank is D-. But if I appropriately add transformation ability usage, it becomes C- rank. And by adding explosive fist’s chain skills, the momentary firepower can reach B- rank.’
The cold diagnosis was complete.
In other words, his power was generally one rank higher than what external observers could judge, and depending on the circumstances, could even exceed two ranks.
Usually, Awakeners display combat abilities matching their rank. This is because they are specialized for that level of magic.
However, Kang Shin-hwa was a veteran among veterans who had seen the ultimate limits of enhancement and transformation abilities in his previous life.
Combining a solid foundation with future knowledge made overpowered performance possible.
“Kiyaak!”
Meanwhile, a fearless enhanced goblin rushed towards Kang Shin-hwa, swinging an axe.
“Kek!”
The goblin, grabbed by the throat just like its fallen comrade, struggled at Kang Shin-hwa’s fingertips.
“You are just appetizers.”
Next moment.
Udeuk!
“Kkheok…”
The goblin’s neck broke, then dropped to one side like a limp candy stick.
Death was instantaneous.
After confirming the goblin’s breath had stopped, Kang Shin-hwa took out a sharp dagger from his bosom and sliced open the goblin’s chest.
Zzwaak!
A sparkling dimensional stone appeared.
“Oh! A low-grade dimensional stone? Usually, even enhanced goblins rarely drop dimensional stones. What a windfall!”
A smile crossed Kang Shin-hwa’s lips.
A low-grade dimensional stone typically trades for 1 million won at the Korean Awakener Exchange, abbreviated as KSX.
Even after 10% tax, 900,000 won remains, which is enough for a day’s wages.
This is the scene of deep-rooted rich-get-richer inequality in the Awakener’s world.
An F- rank awakener barely receives a day’s wage for not being able to catch a D- rank monster.
A D- rank awakener can easily defeat this creature and divide the sale proceeds into N parts.
Occasionally, when guild awakeners casually throw even the lowest-grade dimensional stone,
The porters bow and scrape as if being offered a soul, and this is precisely the reason.
Hoping that a bit more crumbs might fall later, they’re currying favor.
“Not more, not less, just 3 would be good. High-grade dimensional stones.”
Kang Shin-hwa smacked his lips.
A high-grade dimensional stone commands a price of 10 million won each.
The ‘Rampaging Magos’ he is seeking who has never encountered an awakener before and is a primordial monster.
Meaning, it contains dimensional stones with the highest purity and grade, containing the most dimensional energy.
Typically, one monster drops one dimensional stone, but sometimes they carry two or three.
“…”
Meanwhile, Kang Shin-hwa reviewed the path he had walked.
Certainly, due to walking through a maze-like entangled path, the return route was slightly confusing.
Of course, once Magos is killed, the exit dimensional gate will open, so it doesn’t matter.
“Because the path is so complicated, and there’s no one with keen eyes to discover the cracks, they must have wandered repeatedly.”
Unlike Kang Shin-hwa, who knows all paths, the agents dispatched from the previous life’s KSA unfortunately could not find Magos.
They needed to find the crack in the K-848 dungeon, which was split into a double dungeon, but ultimately failed to do so.
This ultimately became the root cause, leading to the Rampaging Magos disaster in 2030.
It was one of the massacres where hundreds of top-tier awakener forces died.
Kang Shin-hwa moved deeper into the dungeon.
He had long since deviated from the official route, entering increasingly narrow side paths.
From a certain point, he could no longer see in front of him properly.
‘Visual transition.’
Kang Shin-hwa immediately concentrated his eye capabilities 100% in night vision mode.
There was no need to prepare for hallucinations or distortions.
It was clear.
The world seen in infrared was very different from the world seen in visible light.
How long had he walked?
Ten paths were visible.
This was the branching path that had troubled KSA agents exploring the dungeon’s interior.
The problem was that within these ten paths, they would further branch into ten more, making the actual choices amount to 100.
‘Eight, and two.’
But for Kang Shin-hwa, whose memories remained intact, this was no problem.
This was information discovered by agents investigating the traces after Magos’s manifestation in his previous life.
According to the known answer.
Kang Shin-hwa whistled leisurely and quickly disappeared deeper into the dungeon.
* * *
1 hour later.
“Whew! Even knowing the exact answer, finding the crack is still difficult. No wonder first-timers can’t find it!”
I was brushing off the dust covering my entire coat, adapting to the feeling of the new space.
A double dungeon inside the special space called the ‘Heteromorphic Crack’.
A space where Magos can be reached only after going through a complex process.
“That’s why, even after crouching for an incredibly long period of ten years, waiting for the right moment, it seems they couldn’t find what they were looking for.
Magos grew steadily while receiving dimensional energy within this dual dungeon for a long time in this state.
After 10 years, it becomes an enormous disaster.
From my perspective, I actually came to make money, but somehow I ended up preparing for a future disaster as well. I didn’t particularly intend to do so.
“Looks like I’ve pinpointed the right location.”
A special space where Magos appears was visible in front of me.
It was a massive space in the shape of a playground, surrounded by a blue-colored boundary.
It looks close at first glance, but even running in a straight line, it’s a space that would take at least 5km.
The air quality is very poor.
The refreshing oxygen that can be felt on Earth is gone, and a pungent smell wafts strongly.
An atmosphere where if an awakened person with ordinary lungs came, it would be no surprise if they immediately showed respiratory difficulties and intoxication symptoms.
However, the modified ‘magical lungs’ appropriately filtered and accepted the air. This is the power of modification.
Although my unmodified nose and throat felt a slight tingling sensation, there was no toxicity.
“…Huh?”
As I walked towards the boundary, I could see a skeleton lying next to a withered old tree.
At a glance, it looked like the skeleton of a deceased person from a long time ago.
There was no recognizable facial structure or identification, of course.
Only a ring worn on the finger particularly caught my eye.
I carefully removed the ring and examined its information.
[Invisible Ring]
[Judgment rank: C]
[An artifact with a short-term invisibility ability].
[The wearer cannot be detected by ordinary visual means. However, presence and body temperature cannot be hidden.]
“It would be good for infiltrating areas with weak boundaries. It would be immediately exposed if there were infrared CCTVs.”
I silently pocketed the ring.
Whoever gets it first is the owner.
Thoughts like finding the original owner are meaningless. The original owner is already dead, isn’t he?
A C- rank artifact is typically traded for 1 billion won.
The invisibility ability is something many would salivate over, so its sales value was sufficient.
But sales are on hold.
I plan to wear it for now, as I don’t know when the invisibility ability might be needed.
Of course, invisibility only occurs when activated. Otherwise, it’s just an ordinary ring.
There are many uses.
It might be fun to beat up that Park Do-won guy again from an unseen location.
Just then.
“Kuwaaa! Kuwaaa!”
A creature crouching about 500m ahead fully revealed its massive body.
At a glance, it looked exactly like an Asiatic black bear.
‘Is this the gatekeeper Mad Bear that Magos brought along?’
Mad Bear.
A monster with a special heart that, when consumed, temporarily provides an ability to maximize physical strength to over 3 times its original level.
“I was thinking only about Magos, but you’re here too? Right, in my previous life, Lee Ha-seong took your heart? Nicholas was trying to secure it for me… But missed it.”
Lee Ha-seong.
A man currently serving as the head of the Korean Awakener Association.
At this point, he would be an SSS-rank Awakener, and also approaching forty, on the verge of his philosophical maturity.
“Since you enjoyed yourself thoroughly in the previous life, I’ll use this life. Mr. Lee Ha-seong?”
Making a joke that he wouldn’t even be aware of, I approached the Mad Bear.
Obtaining its enhancement ability would be like adding wings to a running horse.
There was no reason to kick away this opportunity. First, I needed to subdue this creature to meet Magos.
“Whew.”
After narrowing the distance somewhat, I stopped and took a deep breath.
The Mad Bear becomes more violent over time, with its combat ability increasing exponentially.
In other words, the best approach is to cut off its breath right from the start. A prolonged battle would definitely be disadvantageous to me.
“Kyak…!”
Not without feeling slightly dirty, I gathered saliva in my mouth with all my might.
And when I transformed it with magical power, the ordinary saliva instantly became highly toxic saliva.
Next,
I began to concentrate all my magical power in my right hand at high intensity.
A compression that didn’t leave even 1% of magical power behind, even drawing in my soul.
“Kuoooo!”
The Mad Bear, whose eyes met mine, swung its massive arms and began charging towards me.
The sight of a huge bear reaching 4m in height running fiercely was threatening enough to chill my heart.
“Come. Let’s end this quickly.”
I waited a bit more.
And the moment the Mad Bear stepped into the exact point I was aiming for!
“Ptui!”
I spat with all my might.
Paralyzing toxic saliva.
Toxic saliva that would instantly freeze the entire body as if injected with anesthetic upon swallowing.
“Kkheub!”
The Mad Bear, with its mouth wide open from roaring, swallowed my saliva without a chance to avoid it.
The beginning of an indirect kiss.
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