My Own Skillbook - Chapter 32
Chapter 32
After running for about 30 minutes, the place we arrived at was the foot of a mountain.
The craters everywhere, the burned-down houses, and the scorched paths made it clear that this was an area where an Overflow had occurred and people no longer lived.
It was a scenery you could see anywhere these days. The farther you got from the city, the more noticeably these areas increased.
If left alone entirely, the monsters coming out of the dungeons would reach the cities, so the government was issuing quests to the guilds to stop the Overflows.
We got off the bus and followed the proctors up the mountain.
Not long after climbing, a guard post with armed soldiers appeared. Beyond the post, a portal came into view.
"The second exam is clearing a 6-star dungeon."
A proctor holding a megaphone stood in front of the portal and spoke.
"The time limit is four hours. If you wish to give up midway, inform a proctor and you will be given a return stone immediately."
"With four whole hours, we won't need to run out of breath like in the first exam."
The middle-aged man said.
"Then I shall announce the order."
Our turn was second this time.
"Let's finish as quickly as possible and rest during the remaining time. We still have one more exam left."
I said, looking at the two of them.
"You all seem quite confident."
"Ms. Jeongyeon?"
Ms. Jeongyeon, holding documents against her chest, approached us.
"Honestly, I was very surprised during the first exam. The fastest record until now was 4 minutes 20 seconds, but you all beat that by about a minute."
"Oh, so does that mean we're in first place right now?"
The middle-aged man said in an excited voice.
"Yes. It's a new record. But the second exam is much harder than the first. Among the Hunters who passed the first test, 40% fail here entirely. On days like that, it's comfortable because I can go straight home……"
She let out a short sigh and smiled bitterly.
"Somehow, I don't think today will be like that."
Just then, my name was called from up ahead.
It was our party's turn to enter.
***
Jeongyeon stood there with her mouth gaping as if her soul had left her body.
The second task of the S-rank Hunter exam took place in a 6-star dungeon.
The 6-star dungeon used as the testing grounds was nicknamed "Status Ailment Hell."
Burns that periodically stole HP.
Paralysis that temporarily made thought and action impossible.
Freezing that gradually reduced HP and MP while also applying a slowing effect.
And on top of that, poison, slow, vision restriction, sleep, petrification, and so on.
All sorts of headache-inducing status effects used by the monsters assailed the Hunters.
In this 6-star dungeon, they could test many things beyond basic stats, such as knowledge about monsters and the ability to improvise.
Since much was already known about the contents of the S-rank Hunter exam, Hunters had prepared thoroughly for it.
Nevertheless, very few examinees cleared the Status Ailment Hell dungeon, and even those who did were mostly on the brink of death.
Therefore, Jeongyeon, who had proctored the S-rank exam many times until now, could not believe the sight unfolding before her eyes.
'Is this really Status Ailment Hell?'
The three she was proctoring—Hwajin, Gangil, and Hyeri—were currently at the midpoint of the 6-star dungeon.
The three were fiercely fighting against the monsters of the 6-star dungeon.
Because the monsters had grown stronger, the trio couldn't show the same swift breakthrough as in the previous exam.
However, by making good use of their teamwork, they advanced through the dungeon step by step without taking major damage.
The fact that they took no major damage was exactly what Jeongyeon found unbelievable.
No matter how desperately the monsters used all sorts of special abilities inflicting status effects, the three moved as normally as if nothing was happening.
"Excuse me……."
Right after Hwajin smashed the head of a monster that had been spewing poison until it ran out and started coughing up blood droplets, Jeongyeon couldn't hold back and opened her mouth.
"Just what trick are the three of you using? Why aren't the status effects working on you at all?"
Hwajin smiled thinly.
"I simply used a skill."
***
Having heard about the second task from the Vice Guild Master, while the middle-aged man and Ms. Hyeri were gathering money to buy magic stones, I went around looking for monsters that used status effects. It was to obtain Words.
Having passed through the Magic Tower where magic-using dwarves resided, I had already created counter-skills for burns, freezing, and paralysis.
I had also made a counter-skill for poison while fighting Mad Armadillos, so there weren't many Words I actually needed.
I went around looking for status-effect monsters in 3-star dungeons or lower with low damage. There was no need to go into high-rank dungeons and risk danger for no reason.
I obtained Words while experiencing the terrible sensation of my legs stiffening from petrification and even banging my head against walls when my vision suddenly went pitch black.
After obtaining status-ailment-related Words through personal experience, I combined them with suitable words to create resistance skills.
As a result, in addition to the [Three-Attribute Resistance] and [Detoxification] I originally had, I acquired the skill [Impediment Resistance] that blocked vision restriction, petrification, and sleep.
Thanks to these three skills, we could remain perfectly fine even in Status Ailment Hell.
Because there was a time limit, we had to periodically cast the skills, but with the mana recharging bracelet, it was nothing to worry about.
"This is obviously the boss room."
The middle-aged man muttered.
A massive red iron door blocked our path.
I replenished my MP with the bracelet, then cast the resistance skills on the middle-aged man and Ms. Hyeri. Of course, I didn't forget to cast them on myself either.
'The remaining problem is the boss…….'
As a dungeon called Status Ailment Hell, the boss's special ability was also a status effect.
The problem was that I didn't have a resistance skill for that special ability.
"The boss of the Status Ailment Hell dungeon possesses a unique status effect that cannot be found in any other monster."
The status effect that came out of the Vice Guild Master's mouth was truly something I was hearing for the first time.
I wondered if the Vice Guild Master might have been mistaken, so I did some investigation of my own—I even contacted Hyeongcheol, whose specialty was information gathering, for the first time in a while—but the result was that it was indeed an ability unique to that boss, just as the Vice Guild Master had said.
Since I couldn't obtain the Word, I couldn't create a resistance skill corresponding to that ability.
"Ajusshi, Ms. Hyeri. You haven't forgotten what I said, right?"
The two answered that they hadn't forgotten, but I urged them once more.
"Until I say it's all right, you must absolutely not attack the boss. Absolutely not."
"I told you I got it."
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly.
We opened the door and went inside.
Inside the vast space were the boss, the master of the dungeon, and the elite monsters guarding it.
The most eye-catching thing was the boss floating in the air.
The boss was about twice the height of an adult man, wearing a tattered hooded mantle and wielding a scythe.
It looked exactly like a grim reaper straight out of a ghost story.
The elites around it were recolored versions of the monsters we'd seen on the way to this room.
"Hahehahuh hohahuh hahihuh hi hohahue……."
As soon as we entered, the Reaper began chanting rapidly.
"You two, stay apart!"
I charged at the Reaper.
'I'll strike before the chant is complete!'
As I approached, the elites rushed at me.
'Charge!'
I jumped over the elites.
The elites used their respective special abilities on me.
Special abilities imbued with status effects came at me all at once, but because the resistance skills were still active, they didn't work on me.
Ignoring the bewildered elites, I raised my spear.
"One......"
"Hohuh!"
Then a black chain stretched out from the Reaper and wrapped around my neck.
'Tch!'
The plan had failed.
The sight of the chain constricting my neck vanished in an instant. However, the suffocating sensation transmitted through my neck still remained.
[The Reaper's curse constricts your neck.]
[Status Ailment: Life Subordination]
The name of the ability used only by the Reaper, the boss of this dungeon, was Life Subordination.
The specific effect was synchronizing the HP of the cursed target and the Reaper itself; in this state, if I attacked him, his HP and mine would decrease simultaneously.
"Hwajin!"
The middle-aged man ran toward me.
"I've been cursed! Ajusshi, please take care of the elites!"
"Got it!"
The middle-aged man raised his axe and began attacking the elites.
When I turned my head, I saw the Reaper directing its red eyes toward me.
Clang!
I blocked the scythe swung by the Reaper.
True to the name Life Subordination, even if it attacked me, the Reaper's HP wouldn't decrease.
In other words, it could attack me as much as it wanted, while I was in a situation where I couldn't attack it.
It was truly a shameless ability.
'But if we're talking shameless, nothing beats my ability.'
I fended off the Reaper's attacks with my axe-spear while observing the middle-aged man.
With his drastically increased strength, the middle-aged man swung his massive axe like a toy and split an elite in half.
Against the middle-aged man, whom their abilities didn't work on, the elites were simply cut down.
Before long, the elites were annihilated.
"Ajusshi, please defend in my stead!"
"Got it!"
I pushed the Reaper's scythe away with all my strength using my axe-spear, then switched places with the middle-aged man.
While the middle-aged man held off the Reaper, I swapped my weapon from spear to staff. Then I used a skill targeting myself.
I felt quite a lot of mana draining away.
'10, 9, 8, 7.......'
After counting to ten, I recharged my mana using the bracelet. Then I put the staff into my inventory and took out my spear.
"Thunderbolt Spear!"
After seeing electric current wrap around the spear, I used Charge to launch myself into the air.
"Ajusshi! Fall back!"
The moment the middle-aged man created distance, I shouted loudly.
"One Flash!"
At that moment, the Reaper definitely made an expression that said, 'Are you crazy right now?'
Kwaaang!
After the light following One Flash disappeared, I looked back.
"Ha... hahu......."
The Reaper glared at me with its left half blown away.
As if asking how I could deal such damage and remain unharmed myself.
The answer was simple.
In the Magic Tower, I had prepared a countermeasure against the Reaper without even realizing it myself.
[Complete Dispel]
It was a skill that removed all magic-induced effects applied to the target.
The difference was that while I had created it to remove the boss of the Magic Tower's barrier back then, now I had used it to dispel the curse on me.
I looked at the Reaper and shouted.
"Ajusshi! Finish it!"
The Reaper turned around in surprise, but it was already too late.
The middle-aged man was floating in the air, holding his axe.
"Bisection Slash!"
The middle-aged man's offensive skill—whose strength, like mine, had surpassed 10—cleanly split the Reaper apart along with its scythe.
***
Jeongyeon was bewildered.
She had never seen anyone remain so perfectly fine after being hit by the Reaper's special ability, Life Subordination, except for Hwajin.
The commonly known strategy for the Reaper was as follows.
1. A tank with high HP receives the curse.
2. The damage dealers attack the Reaper.
3. The tank somehow holds on without dying until the Reaper dies first, using healer recovery or potions.
This was a tactic possible because the Reaper's HP did not change even if the cursed Hunter recovered HP.
Because the strategy worked like this, battles with the Reaper were always close calls, and the success rate was low.
If the tank's defense or HP was even slightly lacking, or if the healer's recovery and potions couldn't keep up, the result was the tank's death.
This was why the number of Hunters failing or giving up on the second task was countless.
"Mr. Hwajin."
Jeongyeon approached the three who were rejoicing in their victory.
"How did you ignore the Reaper's curse at the end? Is your Vitality stat perhaps extremely high?"
If that were the case, it would be possible to ignore the damage reflected to himself and attack the Reaper. But to do that, one's Vitality stat had to exceed 25.
Hwajin answered her question with a smile.
"I just removed what was wrapped around my neck."
Stop joking!
Jeongyeon had almost shouted that but sighed instead.
"All three of you have passed the second task as well. There are over three hours remaining until the exam ends, so please wait on the bus during that time."
"Understood."
Hwajin walked toward the portal, grinning along with his companions.
'In the end, I have to stay until the very end today.'
Jeongyeon wondered whether that enigmatic man would be able to show such leisure in the third task as well.
***
"Hoo. Look at these? Their scores are pretty good?"
Beneath a tent where the proctors were gathered, a young man was looking over some documents.
Unlike the proctors in uniform, he wore light armor and carried two swords at his waist.
"Shall I go ruffle their feathers a bit?"
The man muttered, curling up the corners of his mouth.