My Self-Willed Skillbook - Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Using the newly acquired
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Creative Skill: [Detox] (Excellent)
Tool Used: Staff
Mana Consumption: 3(5-2)pt
Description: Immediately removes poison from the body. Grants immunity to poison for 10 minutes.
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As my body's trembling stopped and the pain disappeared, my mind cleared.
‘Ajusshi……!’
I turned to the side. Sure enough, Ajusshi was coughing up blood as well.
"Detox!"
After casting the skill on him, Ajusshi's expression gradually improved.
"Ajusshi, if you're okay now, please help me. We need to look after our guild members."
"Y-yeah."
I went with Ajusshi to find our guild's dealers and cast Detox on them. After that, my already depleted mana from the battle ran out completely.
When I escaped the smoke with the guild members who had come to their senses, I saw a hunter from the Pacheon Guild receiving treatment from another hunter.
"*Cough!* What the hell is going on……. Why is the Mad Armadillo using poison attacks……."
[Dealers, is everyone alright!]
The vice guild leader's voice came through the earpiece I was wearing.
"This is Hwajin. Fortunately, I have a Detox skill, so for now, all of our guild's dealers are safe."
[Aah, that's a relief! We are suspending the raid until the smoke clears. Your HP must have dropped from the poison, so please head to the rear support team. I'll be heading there soon as well!]
We moved to the rear where the support team was, following the vice guild leader's orders.
"Hwajin! Ajusshi!"
It was Hyeri who called out to us. Hyeri came running this way, holding several water bottles in her arms alongside our guild's healer.
While I was drinking water frantically, the vice guild leader arrived with another tanker.
"Hwajin, you did very well."
The vice guild leader grabbed my hand and spoke.
"Thanks to you, all of our guild members are safe."
‘All of our guild members?’
I had a bad feeling.
"What about the other guilds……?"
"Except for our guild, about seventy percent of the dealers and tankers combined are in a coma. For now, the support team's healers are treating them, so they won't die. However, with so many people injured, we can't restore everyone's HP. If they rejoin the battle and get poisoned again, they'll definitely die."
The vice guild leader seemed reluctant to speak, then closed his mouth for a moment before calling the other guild members over as well.
"This Mad Armadillo that appeared used a poison smoke attack, a pattern it didn't have before. Because this was completely unexpected, there are almost no hunters with detox-related skills, and no one had prepared antidotes either."
The vice guild leader's face was dark as he explained the situation.
"If this continues, each guild will have to request reinforcements. But even if we request them now, it will be difficult to gather hunters immediately……."
Kwa-ang!
At that moment, I turned around at the sudden roar.
The Mad Armadillo was ramming into a building. It was an abandoned building that used to be a department store in the old days.
"…For now, what we can do is minimize damage until reinforcements arrive and keep the Mad Armadillo from destroying the railway or reaching the residential area. It's a desperate situation, but……. If we let the field boss get away, the credibility of the guilds participating in the raid will plummet. As the vice guild leader, I can't just stay here."
The vice guild leader raised his shield.
"Hwajin. How much MP do you have left?"
"I've hit rock bottom from continuously using the Detox skill."
Hearing my answer, the vice guild leader took a potion out of his inventory and handed it to me.
"It's an MP recovery potion. Drink it. And help treat the hunters over here. Everyone else, wait here. Do not follow me. This is an order as the vice guild leader."
"A-ah, wait……!"
Before I could call out to him, the vice guild leader ran toward the Armadillo.
[A new objective has been assigned.]
‘Objective?’
I summoned the book.
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-Objective Set-
[Main] Field Boss Raid
- Defeat the Mad Armadillo.
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The moment I saw the objective, I remembered defeating Jang So-yu and leveling up my unique skill, [Edit].
‘Now that it's come to this, I really can't stay here!’
I looked at Hyeri.
"Hyeri, over here for a moment……."
I took her to a corner.
"I have a favor to ask."
"A favor?"
"Of the magic stones that came out at the plaza earlier, please give me all the ones that increase magic power."
"What??"
"I'll pay you back later. At this rate, the vice guild leader is in danger."
"But……."
Hyeri glanced toward where the other guild members were. I grabbed Hyeri's shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
"Please trust me."
"……Okay. You've solved the problem every time like this, so you must have a way this time too."
She brought her hand to her inventory.
"Thank you. And please give me a mana recovery buff as well."
After receiving 10 magic stones from Hyeri and getting buffed, I ran toward where the Armadillo was.
"Hwajin!? Hey!"
I heard Ajusshi calling from behind, but I didn't have time to stop now.
I downed the MP recovery potion the vice guild leader had given me in one go. It was such a high-quality item that my MP was instantly full.
I held 5 magic stones in one hand and my staff in the other.
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[Magic Stone of the Turbid Forest]
The core of a monster imbued with the forest's energy. Its purity is rather low.
Magic ▲ 0.2
Sense ▲ 0.1
Mental Strength ▼ 0.1
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‘Refine!’
The 5 magic stones transformed into 1 magic stone. I immediately absorbed it and then refined the remaining 5 magic stones into a higher-grade magic stone and absorbed them as well.
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-Status-
Yi Hwajin
HP: 200/200 MP: 20/60
Vitality: 10(5+5) Strength: 13(3+10) Magic: 6(3+3) Mental Strength: 3.9(4-0.1) Sense: 4.5(3+1.5)
Unique Skill: [Edit Lv.2]
Exp: 8127
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I confirmed that my magic and MP had increased.
‘Alright!’
Now all that was left was to bring out everything I had.
I used [Charge] and kicked off the ground.
***
Before long, I saw the vice guild leader facing the Armadillo head-on.
The vice guild leader was not alone. Hunters who appeared to be from other guilds were fighting the Armadillo around him. The S-rank hunter from the Pacheon Guild who had been giving orders to the dealers was also there.
"Vice Guild Leader!"
"Hwajin!?"
The vice guild leader stopped.
"Why did you follow me! Didn't I order you to wait!"
I faced the vice guild leader's angry expression.
"My [Detox] skill grants immunity to poison for 10 minutes. I was going to cast it on you before you left, but you ran off before I could get a hold of you."
"Even so, if you follow me here, you could get caught up in this too."
"That's the second reason I came here."
"What?"
"I came to fight that Armadillo too."
"I know that you're different from ordinary A-rank hunters. But that thing isn't just a monster. You will die."
The vice guild leader spoke as if frustrated.
"I didn't come here to die."
I took out a spear from my inventory.
"That!?"
The vice guild leader's eyes widened as he saw the golden spear. I then took a vial out of my inventory.
"Hoo……."
After drinking the mana recovery potion, I took a deep breath in and out. I had received one more before separating from the vice guild leader.
When I opened the book, my MP was at 57. It felt like fresh, clean water was rushing through my body.
Kwang!
Then a roar echoed. It was the sound of S-rank hunters from each guild drawing the Armadillo's attention.
The Armadillo swung its tail or curled up and rolled, targeting the hunters in the front line, including the vice guild leader.
"Okay, let's go."
I dismissed the book and held the spear with both hands, and a gray window appeared before my eyes.
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[Zain's Axe Spear]
An axe-spear made of metal imbued with the power of the Lightning King Zain.
The spear's wielder gains high affinity with lightning, increasing abilities that use lightning and resistance to lightning.
(Usage Restriction)
Strength 8 / Magic 4
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The golden axe-spear obtained from the boss Centaurus.
What had been too heavy to lift properly at first now felt like it was sticking to my hand.
It was thanks to my stats surpassing the strength and magic restrictions.
‘Charge!’
While the Mad Armadillo was targeting the other hunters, I approached its flank.
A crack on the Armadillo's side came into my view.
‘Thunderbolt Spear!’
Crackle!
A dazzling golden current flowed through the spear.
It was a newly created skill using the lightning attribute effect of Zain's Axe Spear itself, essentially a lightning version of [Flame Spear].
Having gotten close enough to the Armadillo, I put all my strength into the hand gripping the spear and thought of the skill.
My very first 6-Word skill, which I had never been able to properly use even once after creating it because I lacked the MP.
"Here I go!"
I shouted with all my might.
"One Flash!"
The world was dyed entirely in golden light.
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Creative Skill: [One Flash] (Very Excellent)
Tool Used: Spear
Mana Consumption: 30pt
Description: Performs a very powerful thrust attack at the target. Ignores 50% of defense.
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***
Kwaaaang!
At the sound like a lightning strike, the hunters fighting the Armadillo's ears rang.
"What!?"
Jeon Jeong-ha, the S-rank hunter of the Pacheon Guild, stopped swinging his staff suffused with light and shouted.
"What just happened?"
The vice guild leader of another guild participating in the raid, the Aurora Guild, also lowered his sword and looked around.
"Ah! The Mad Armadillo!"
Jeon Jeong-ha pointed at the front with his finger.
"……Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped the lips of Choe Jin-han, the vice guild leader of the Atlas Guild.
"That's not what you said."
He muttered as if speaking to someone.
"You said you'd break the shell to create an attack chance, not that you'd solo the field boss."
In the center of the space where the Mad Armadillo had vanished stood Hwajin, holding a golden spear crackling with sparks.
***
‘Good grief…….’
I could see the hunters looking this way with dumbfounded expressions.
But I was just as dumbfounded.
How could I have expected that a single attack would pierce through the Armadillo's shell, and even shatter the field boss's core in the process?
It seemed that a destructive force beyond my imagination had resulted from the combination of my strength stat that had risen to 13, Zain's Axe Spear imbued with [Thunderbolt Spear], and [One Flash] that ignored half of defense.
As I stood there in a daze, a sudden thought flashed through my head.
‘Aaaack! If I'd known this would happen, I would've used [Drop Enhancement] beforehand!’
Only after everything was over did I remember that the items dropped by a field boss were of enormous value. The thought of missing a prime opportunity felt like the sky was falling.
Then a voice was heard.
[You have repelled the field boss.]
[Your individual raid contribution rate has exceeded 50%!]
[A portion of the field boss's soul is bound to you.]
A yellow light suddenly appeared before my eyes and latched onto my hand.
"What!?"
The light swirling around my fingers transformed into a ring embedded with a yellow gem.
A gray window appeared in my sight.
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[Hechel's Blessing] (Bound: Yi Hwajin)
A ring containing the blessing bestowed by Armor King Hechel. Unconditionally reduces all physical damage received by the owner by 70%.
(Usage Restriction)
None
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"……Wow."
An exclamation escaped my lips without realizing it. It was a simple yet powerful effect.
Immediately after obtaining the ring, countless magic stones and materials appeared around me.
[You have achieved the 'Field Boss Raid' objective.]
[You have acquired 2000 Exp.]
[As a reward for achieving the objective, your unique skill is upgraded!]
[You can now use Bookmarks.]
‘Ah, come to think of it, a new objective had appeared in the book.’
I had forgotten about it because I was mesmerized by the ring.