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Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Duel

Isabella.

She’s not an easy opponent.

Although her stats have increased significantly through titles and accessories, facing her bare-handed is practically suicidal.

Just a glance at Isabella’s fingers confirms this.

‘So flashy.’

While he had just acquired two ancient-rank rings, Isabella’s fingers were different.

Each finger was adorned with a ring that seemed extraordinary.

Among them, some were famous items that Kim Minwoo recognized.

The representative accessories, the Shadow Dancer’s Ring and the Phoenix Ring, were prime examples.

[Shadow Dancer’s Ring]

[Grade: Ancient]

[Level Requirement: 800+, Martial Artist Class]

[A ring left behind by the legendary dancer who danced in the shadows.]

[Effect 1. Strength, Agility, Vitality +150]

[Effect 2. Critical Hit Rate +30%]

[Effect 3. Critical Damage +100%]

[Effect 4. Nullifies one fatal blow (Cooldown 30 days)]

[Phoenix Ring]

[Rank: Ancient]

[Level Requirement: 900+, Martial Artist Class]

[A ring containing the power of the phoenix, a symbolic being that endlessly repeats death and resurrection.]

[Effect 1. Strength, Agility, Vitality +150]

[Effect 2. When health falls below 30%, the protection of the phoenix envelops the body. For 10 seconds, attack power increases by 50%, movement speed increases by 30%, and healing received increases by 50%]

[Effect 3. Upon defeating an enemy, 1 flame energy is charged. Consuming 30 flame energy increases the damage of the next attack by 150%.]

High level requirement.

Ancient rank.

And on top of that, class-specific accessories. These three factors combined to create the incredible performance of these items.

He heard she obtained them by risking her life to conquer a hidden gate.

Isabella could be described as an awakened being who demonstrated the pinnacle of equipment advantage, adorned with items of such caliber all over her body.

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

“Equipment?”

“Let’s wear it all.”

“You’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“Don’t we use equipment in Gates too?”

Isabella nodded satisfactorily at his words.

After all, the goal was to see if he could perform inside the hidden gate.

What good was it to fight well bare-handed?

It’s not like they wouldn’t use equipment in the gate.

Ultimately, an Awakened’s equipment was also part of their strength. She had asked in advance in case there were any objections.

At that moment,

Kim Minwoo grinned and said,

“And, it’s not necessarily true that I’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“…?”

Familiar summons appeared beside him.

Merhen and Cedric.

Isabella knew these two as well. Kim Minwoo handed them equipment.

All of them were legend-rank items he had swept up at the auction house.

Cedric received armor and gauntlets.

Merhen got shoes and a hat.

“Equip them.”

Cedric nodded satisfactorily after checking the detailed descriptions.

Ulupalu Forest.

It seemed like just yesterday they were wearing tattered equipment there.

Now, things were different.

Legend rank.

The level requirement was over 250, and the appearance alone was impressive.

―Finally, you’ve brought something decent.

“Do you think it’s easy to find legendary items?”

―Right. Cedric doesn’t appreciate Minwoo’s efforts. He clothes us, feeds us, and gives us a place to sleep. Right?

“Exactly.”

Such a delightful summon.

Since she said something nice, he should give her a reward.

“Here, wear these earrings too.”

―Wow! So pretty!

Merhen’s eyes sparkled at the legend-rank earrings he got from the auction.

―You worked hard, Minwoo!

Merhen threw her arms around him in a hug.

Cedric glanced over and asked.

—……Is there nothing for me?

“There is.”

He tossed a ring to him.

A melee class-specific ring.

Catching it with a snap, he inspected the detailed description and, satisfied, slipped it onto his skeletal finger.

[Cedric equips the Barbarian Chieftain’s Ring…]

[Cedric equips the Giant’s Armor…]

[Cedric equips the Black Drake’s Gauntlets…]

[Merhen equips the Graceful Soul Earrings…]

[Merhen equips the Wise Ogre Mage King Hat…]

[Merhen equips the Magic Ghost Boots…]

Quality-wise, Isabella might have the upper hand with her ancient gear, but quantity can be our edge.

Kim Minwoo also donned his equipment.

[Equipping Plague Monarch’s Gloves…]

[Equipping Mourner’s Lament!!]

[Equipping Ghost Step…]

[Equipping Cold Heart Ring…]

Armor, Mourner’s Lament.

Shoes, Ghost Step.

Gloves, Plague Monarch’s Gloves.

Ring, Cold Heart Ring.

He couldn’t find a helmet or lower body gear, so he filled the gaps with Rare items.

He looked at Isabella.

“Not too shabby, right?”

“Your summons are living the good life. But, aren’t you summoning any more?”

He shook his head.

He wasn’t crazy enough to summon weaklings.

Just look at the Phoenix Ring.

It charges flame energy upon defeating enemies.

If he summoned skeletons and they got wiped out, he’d be hit with explosive damage.

Against a monster like Isabella, ordinary summons were meaningless.

Maybe…

-Grrr.

Dolsae might be somewhat useful.

A pure white gauntlet appeared on her hand.

The Martial God’s Gauntlet (Ancient).

It was her signature weapon.

The night was pitch black.

But the training hall was already brightly lit.

In fact, for awakened of her caliber, darkness was hardly a hindrance.

“Shall we start?”

“Then, here I come.”

[Casting Land of the Dead (S)!]

[All undead allies’ stats increase by 20%…]

Isabella’s figure slid forward.

[Dolsae uses Provoke (A) on Isabella…]

[The gap is immense…]

[Isabella uses Colossal Strike (S)…]

Boom!

Her punch obliterated the golem, shield and all.

With one punch, the sturdy Dolsae was vaporized.

Kim Minwoo frowned at the sight.

‘Her stats are insane, aren’t they?’

The average human’s stats increase by 4 per level.

Isabella was over level 1,000, and her stats were further inflated by equipment, potions, and title effects.

Just by looking, it seemed like all her stats were close to the high 2000s.

‘Still, it’s doable.’

Considering his titles and ancient rings, his stats were also around 1,000.

The Law of Victory.

Even without the monster-specific title activating, it was enough to try something.

[Curse of Aging (D) +9…]

[Title, ‘Weird Glutton’ activates!]

[Consumes the status effect, Curse!]

‘Curses don’t work.’

Merhen’s magic erupted.

Lightning, flames, and even wind.

All sorts of elemental magic swirled around.

[Isabella uses Swift Response (S)!]

[Isabella uses Dance of Annihilation (S)!]

[Isabella uses Iron Body (S) +9…]

Overwhelming the difference in stats, Isabella dodged and smashed through everything, closing the distance. The S-rank skill, Iron Body, perfected by the love of France, made her flesh harder than diamond.

Even if magic hit her, it only caused superficial burns on her skin.

Knowing this, she boldly approached Merhen in a straight line.

Cedric and Kim Minwoo.

The undead and the human exchanged glances and nodded, then charged forward.

Isabella’s physical durability was beyond imagination.

Her entire body was protected flawlessly by ancient rank gear.

To capture her?

Each part needed to be neutralized separately.

‘Start by breaking the equipment. Especially the gauntlets.’

In that sense, the gauntlets she wore were a good target.

To punch, she had to use the gauntlets.

Since she was closing the distance herself, it would be relatively easy to aim for overlapping attacks.

If they broke those, she’d have to use her bare hands or feet.

Sword energy poured out due to the Command Swordsmanship.

Along with it, a spear imbued with Shadow Spear and Dragon Strike was swung.

Ignoring the sword energy, she swiftly extended her hand towards one of the multiple spear shadows.

Cedric rotated the spear into the gauntlet and struck.

Boom! Boom!

The spear struck with 14 times the damage.

He swung the Command Sword at the momentarily flinching gauntlet.

[The same area was struck! Damage increased by 11%…]

Her remaining fist flew towards his face.

[Merhen uses Sticky Web (SS)……]

Splat!

No matter how strong the body, it couldn’t help but slow down a bit against the sticky web.

‘As expected.’

In the meantime, Cedric struck with the spear again, further delaying her.

Meanwhile, barely dodging, he struck the opposite gauntlet with his sword.

[The same area was struck! Damage increased by 11%…]

An attack that perfectly matched Cedric’s strike, applying a stacking effect.

Cedric’s spear technique had become much more refined as his level increased.

They had enough coordination to pull this off.

At that moment,

Isabella, who had leaped back, asked with a frown.

“…What are you doing?”

“Can’t you tell?”

“Ha.”

Isabella furrowed her brow as if her pride was hurt.

It wasn’t strange.

Stacking attacks?

Judging by the difficulty of canceling out the attack with even a slight twist of the receiving body part, it was a challenging tactic.

Therefore, unless there was a significant difference in skill, it was normal not to even attempt this attack method.

But to try it against her?

And with the help of a summon, three against one?

It was enough to make her head steam.

After briefly exhaling as if in disbelief,

“…From now on, I’ll only use my hands. So try it. If you can.”

[Isabella uses High-Speed Offense and Defense (S)!]

Isabella intensified her attacks with even greater speed.

He quickly raised his sword to block the gauntlet.

Thud!

[The same area was struck! Damage increased by 22%…]

[Title, ‘Single-minded Striker’…]

The stack increased again as he struck the same spot on the gauntlet with his sword that Cedric had hit.

Cedric’s spear, the Command Sword, and the Martial God’s Gauntlet clashed at high speed, sparks flying.

Merhen wasn’t idle either.

[Underwater Prison (SS)…]

[Binding Earth (SS)…]

As if to repay the earrings, she cast all sorts of magic to hinder Isabella.

It was a very tricky attack method, slowing her down intermittently.

The damage accumulated on both gauntlets over time.

Isabella frowned as if she had seen something incomprehensible.

The difference in stats was devastating.

But the two summons were meticulously filling that gap.

Whenever a gap inevitably appeared, magic and spear attacks provided support, slowing her down.

As if anticipating this, he was dodging attacks with just a hair’s breadth to spare.

‘He’s reading my moves.’

If not, it would be impossible to show such a performance even with the help of the summons.

Both gauntlets had already been struck six times.

Despite constantly changing the direction of her attacks to confuse them, the blades followed her like leeches.

‘What’s going on…’

She bit her lip.

Moreover, as time passed, they were attempting stacking attacks more and more smoothly.

Isabella was bewildered by this unprecedented situation.

As her urgency grew, her hands started to falter.

Seven times.

Eight times.

Nine times.

Stunned by the escalating damage, she quickly stepped back.

“W-Wait a moment.”

Isabella murmured, clutching her gauntlets.

She seemed to want to say something, but her pride made it difficult to speak.

He decided to ease her burden a little.

“By any chance, are you thinking of using your feet as well as your hands?”

Her face flushed red.

But only for a moment.

Isabella nodded.

If they clashed any further, her gauntlets would be in danger.

It hurt her pride, but there was no other choice.

She gritted her teeth and spoke.

“…Sorry for going back on my word. But it seems like hands alone won’t be enough.”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t make sense for a martial artist to only use their hands anyway.”

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

…All Out??

At that moment,

[Isabella uses Genius’s Time (SS)!]

[Perception of time slows down significantly!]

[Isabella uses Master of Martial Arts (SS)!]

[For 10 minutes, all martial arts techniques receive a very powerful buff!]

[Martial God’s Gauntlet activates! ‘Martial God’s Descent’…]

[Merciless Hermit’s Necklace activates… ‘Feast of Slaughter’…]

[Empress’s Armor activates…]

[Dance of the Wind activates…]

[Judge’s Wrath activates…]

[Dark Requiem activates…]

.

.

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

In addition, all sorts of skills embedded in the ancient-rank equipment were activated in a dazzling display.

In a fleeting moment,

Boom!

Cedric exploded and was recalled.

Next was Merhen.

As if annoyed by her constant magical interference, Isabella rushed towards Merhen as soon as Cedric was gone.

Merhen hurriedly cast defensive magic.

However, she was instantly recalled by a single kick that concentrated immense stats.

It happened in just about a second.

Before the legion commanders could even be summoned again, Isabella was right in front of him.

‘Holy crap.’

Wasn’t this cheating?

Thanks to the sacrifice of the two legion commanders, he barely had time to raise his sword in reaction.

But even that reaction was almost meaningless.

Boom!

The moment her fist connected with his sword, he was sent flying and slammed into the ground.

Forget about deflecting or anything.

Her speed was simply impossible to deal with.

“Cough!”

Kim Minwoo coughed up blood.

It was a devastatingly painful blow.

Isabella, who had approached in the blink of an eye, stopped her fist and stared at him.

“GG. I lost.”

Kim Minwoo said, raising both hands.

Her monstrous stats were already bad enough, but combined with her gear, it was overwhelming.

To beat her, he’d probably need Golden Skeleton Cedric riding Bone Dragon.

Even after hearing the words that decided the match, Isabella’s face remained grim.

As if something didn’t sit right with her.

“…Your level?”

“270.”

“Stats?”

“Around 1,000.”

Two ancient rings for a total of 200 in all stats. This was the kind of stat achievable when combined with two percentage-based titles.

“But how did you manage to do that?”

“I just did. What about it?”

She looked at Kim Minwoo in disbelief.

“So, what’s the verdict?”

“…Your use of summons was impressive. If your level were higher… it would be fine.”

Kim Minwoo nodded.

He had only been awakened for five months.

On the other hand, Isabella was a world-class ranker with over ten years of experience.

The current difference?

It was only natural.

“Then I’ll raise my level and join you. Let’s merge the stone tablets later, shall we?”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

If he was trying to force his way in without any qualifications, it would be a different story.

But from what she had seen, Kim Minwoo was already a skilled and experienced player.

However.

“…I hope it won’t take too long.”

“About four months should do. Leveling up shouldn’t take long.”

“Alright. Then I’ll be on my way.”

Isabella turned towards the main gate without delay.

She was truly straightforward.

“Wait a moment. Are you really in a hurry?”

“Why do you ask?”

“If you’re not actually busy, how about doing a bit of PR for us before you go?”

“PR ambassador?”

“We’ll pay you well.”

Any company associated with Isabella was perceived as the world’s best.

And it was true.

So, if she were to appear with Ilsung products?

It could change the world’s perception in an instant. Since she was already in Korea, wouldn’t it be great if she could do some work before returning home?

“…Money doesn’t mean much to me.”

“Even five thousand won is precious. Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

Isabella’s brow furrowed as if a painful memory had surfaced.

But only for a moment.

She asked,

“Money aside, does Ilsung have any products worthy of being called the world’s best?”

“There will be one soon.”

He heard that Dr. Kim’s battery development was on fire. He was even tipped off that a prototype would be ready in just a few days.

He was planning to make a big deal out of it and promote it worldwide.

And Isabella happened to be right there?

She was perfect for the role of PR ambassador.

Isabella pondered the offer for a moment.

She already had more than enough offers.

In fact, her problem was the lack of training time due to her busy schedule.

Even now, she had barely squeezed out time for this visit.

She was aware that it was rude to visit unexpectedly at night like this. However, she wouldn’t have had any time to visit Korea otherwise.

That’s how busy Isabella was.

Therefore, her answer was already decided.

“I’m sorry, but I’m also busy…”

“You like fighting, right? By any chance, wouldn’t you like to meet the first generation of Korean Awakened?”

“…The first generation?”

“Yes. Awakened who had already made a name for themselves and retired when you were just starting to conquer Gates. For example, the Sword Saint.”

“…!”

At those words, Isabella’s eyes sparkled. The first generation of Korean Awakened were considered the best among Awakened worldwide in the past.

Especially the Sword Saint.

As they say, old masters never fade.

He set a new record at the age of 80.

Moreover, the fact that there was still no swordsman who confidently claimed to surpass his swordsmanship spoke volumes.

Naturally, she was interested.

“…Are you really saying you can arrange a meeting?”

“Of course. I have that kind of connection. It’s late, why don’t you stay the night? I’ll introduce you tomorrow.”

He also had the Divine Spear, the Poison Demon, and the Fist King, to whom he had given his number as a set.

[TL/N: Shing Chang -> Divine Spear(I am still skeptical about this name), Dokma -> Poison Demon, Kwon Wang -> Fist King]