Skillbook, My Way
Chapter 46
A tornado formed immediately after Kim Woojin, shrouded in black energy, let out a bizarre shriek.
Hwajin, who had been clinging to him, as well as Jigwang, Chohui, and Gangil—all of whom had been rushing in to attack Kim Woojin—were swept up in the whirlwind and sent flying into the air.
'Kugh……'
Caught in the tornado, Hwajin could feel her HP decreasing.
'This is bad‥….'
She tried to use a skill, but her mana wouldn't move.
'So this is Kim Woojin's skill, Demon-Sealing Whirlwind.'
She recalled one of Kim Woojin's skills she had checked using the bookmark feature.
[Demon-Sealing Whirlwind] was a skill that simultaneously possessed both offensive and debuff capabilities, generating a whirlwind that disrupted the flow of mana.
'But according to the description, it wasn't supposed to be this powerful.'
The bookmark had stated that the targets of [Demon-Sealing Whirlwind] were one to two people, and the mana flow disruption only reduced the power of the opponent's skills rather than completely preventing skill use as it was doing now.
'The cause is probably…… that bound item.'
The mana that had suddenly swelled after using the bound item, the skill producing an effect beyond what the bookmark had indicated, and the word "Rampage" that Kim Woojin had shouted.
'Even if I know the cause, I can't escape like this.'
Not only her, but everyone caught in the whirlwind couldn't use their skills, and being suspended in the air meant their movements were sealed as well.
If this continued, their HP would deplete and all four would be defeated; at worst, they could die.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the Guild Leader, Jinhan, and Hyeri were watching the tornado.
They, too, could not easily approach Kim Woojin's skill, which displayed a scale far beyond what Hwajin had described.
"It can't be helped."
The Guild Leader spoke and stepped forward.
"Jinhan, Hyeri. Please take care of things if I don't make it."
"Guild Leader?"
Jinhan called out to him in surprise.
"Anyway, I only have about twenty seconds left on my [Giantification]. In that case, I should make the best possible use of the remaining time."
The Guild Leader assumed a crouching start stance. Veins bulged in his enlarged leg and arm muscles.
"Hah!"
Shouting sharply, the Guild Leader kicked off the ground and shot forward.
"Ugh!"
"Kyak!"
At the bedrock fragments and dust flying behind him, and the air pressure that felt like a bomb had exploded, Jinhan and Hyeri screamed.
'If the four of them can't escape, it means they can't use skills inside.'
The Guild Leader thought as he dashed.
'Then all I have to do is defeat the hunter generating the tornado without using skills.'
With the tornado right before his eyes, the Guild Leader stomped on the ground once more with tremendous force.
The Guild Leader's massive, muscular body broke through the wall of the tornado as if he were a cannonball, reaching the center in an instant.
"!?"
Kim Woojin's bloodshot eyes turned toward the Guild Leader who had penetrated the tornado.
Caught off guard by the sudden enemy, Kim Woojin was unable to react in any way.
"Got you."
The Guild Leader wrapped his arms around Kim Woojin's waist and brought him down, then grabbed both legs like lightning. And trapping Kim Woojin's legs between his thick arms, he began to spin round and round.
Perhaps due to the mana interference effect, the Guild Leader's swollen muscles began to shrink little by little.
However, the Guild Leader, sweating profusely and gritting his teeth, did not stop spinning while holding Kim Woojin.
"Hah!"
The Guild Leader shouted sharply and threw Kim Woojin outside the tornado, immediately reverting to his original body and collapsing to the ground.
Thud!
Kim Woojin, flung outside the tornado, fell headfirst to the ground and lay sprawled on his back.
At the same time, the tornado that had swallowed the four people disappeared.
The four, landing safely on the ground, looked at the Guild Leader on the floor.
The Guild Leader weakly raised his hand and pointed at Kim Woojin. Kim Woojin was slowly rising to his feet.
"Now is your chance."
At the Guild Leader's words, all four rushed toward Kim Woojin without hesitation.
"Kuaaack!"
Kim Woojin, who had just risen, looked at the four and raised his sword. He seemed ready to unleash that whirlwind again.
"Not a chance! [Supergravity!]"
At that moment, Jinhan fell from the air at a terrifying speed and slammed his shield into Kim Woojin's head.
The moment he saw Kim Woojin flying toward him inside the tornado, Jinhan had asked Hyeri for a strength buff. Then he had used his skill to leap as high as possible and descended vertically.
"Keoheok!"
From the unexpected impact, Kim Woojin fell to his knees and collapsed to the ground, and Jinhan jumped back.
"[Gale!]"
Jigwang's skill, arriving first, engulfed Kim Woojin in blade-like winds.
"[Bisection!]"
Next, Gangil's axe broke Kim Woojin's sword,
"[Mighty Fist!]"
And at Chohui's uppercut, Kim Woojin, having lost his weapon, was launched into the air,
"[Single Flash!]"
And Hwajin's axe-spear, having kicked off the ground in a leap, pierced Kim Woojin's stomach.
Kwaaang!
After the flash and flames disappeared, Kim Woojin lay collapsed on the ground, the black energy that had enveloped his body gone.
The ring on his finger had disappeared along with the black energy.
The people watching from around the crater all wore expressions of surprise at the outcome of the battle.
Especially the hunters; they couldn't hide their bewilderment at the Anti-Paewang Alliance's victory, which none of them had predicted in the slightest.
"The Paewang Guild lost?"
"Even if it's Evergreen, Atlas is a guild I've never even heard of……."
"Wh-what happens now?"
"Still, siding with the Paewang Guild seems……."
"You fool. Look, all the Paewang Guild's SS-rank hunters are lying over there. Meanwhile, the Anti-Paewang Alliance doesn't have a single person in a coma. It's a crushing victory."
"But the Paewang Guild side still has two more first-class guilds attached to it."
"Those first-class guilds only joined that side because they couldn't beat the Paewang Guild's SS-rank hunters. But Evergreen and Atlas's SS-rank hunters beat them. Where on earth did hunters like that come from?"
The commotion among the hunters didn't die down easily.
***
After the battle ended in the Anti-Paewang Alliance's victory, the Paewang Guild side officially announced that they acknowledged their defeat.
And they proposed that if the Anti-Paewang Alliance wished, they would include them in the command structure to form an Overflow Countermeasures Committee.
In response, the guild leaders of the two guilds, Evergreen and Atlas, issued a joint statement.
The fair distribution of raid participation rights, which can be called the very meaning of a guild's existence, must be maintained.
And the response to Overflow must be achieved through the voluntary participation of each guild.
Furthermore, a vertical structure rife with impure intentions must not be formed.>
The day after the joint statement was issued, an unexpected visitor arrived at the guild.
As I entered the guild hall, I saw guild members gathered in front of the Guild Leader's room, murmuring amongst themselves.
When I approached, they all made way.
"What is it?"
I spotted Hyeri among them and asked.
"Well…… the Guild Leader and Vice Guild Leader of Baekun Guild have come."
"Baekun Guild? Weren't they one of the first-class guilds that betrayed us?"
Hyeri nodded.
Boom!
A loud sound suddenly rang out.
'Damn it!'
Reflexively, I pulled a spear from my inventory and flung open the door.
"Guild Leader! ……Huh?"
Inside the room, a completely different scene from what I had expected was unfolding.
Our Guild Leader and Vice Guild Leader were looking at the floor with bewildered expressions.
At the end of their gazes, two men were prostrated on the floor with their foreheads pressed to the ground.
One man raised his head.
'Wow, that must hurt.'
Blood was trickling from the forehead he had smashed against the floor.
"We have committed a crime worthy of death!"
"We know this is shameless. But please, allow us to return to the Anti-Paewang Alliance! We won't waver anymore!"
Silence fell over the room.
The Guild Leader, who had been silently watching the two men prostrated on the floor, knelt down.
"Both of you, please rise."
The Guild Leader extended his hand.
"There is no need to bow your heads like that. I understand you had no choice. Um, Hwajin."
The Guild Leader called me and asked me to treat the foreheads of the Baekun Guild members.
I used my skill to heal the Baekun Guild members.
I found out later from the Vice Guild Leader, but apparently the Paewang Guild had forcibly inserted themselves into a raid that Baekun Guild was running, treated the Baekun Guild members like slaves, and monopolized almost all the items.
Even so, Baekun Guild had followed the Paewang Guild's words with extreme reluctance—owing to the overwhelming difference in power, as despite being a first-class guild, the gap in their number of SS-rank hunters was enormous.
'What scum.'
It was a disgusting story.
"After watching your match, we too have steeled our resolve."
The Guild Leader of Baekun Guild spoke.
"Even if it means we all die, we will not move according to their will. Because if left alone like this, nothing will ever be resolved."
The Guild Leader immediately contacted the Evergreen Guild Leader. The Baekun Guild members watched nervously as the Guild Leader made the call.
"The Evergreen Guild Leader thinks the same as I do. Understood."
The Guild Leader ended the call with a smile. And he looked at the Baekun Guild members.
"Welcome back. Let's join forces and stop the tyranny of the Paewang Guild."
"Thank you!"
The two guild leaders shook hands.
Less than a week after that incident, more than half of the second-class guilds on the Paewang Guild's side moved to the Anti-Paewang side.
"Our Guild Leader and the Evergreen Guild Leader made the right decision. Perception of the Anti-Paewang side is continuing to improve among the guilds."
The Vice Guild Leader spoke with a healthy complexion for the first time in a while.
"When you think about it, this is all thanks to you, Hwajin. If we had lost the match, everything would have been over. As the Vice Guild Leader, I thank you."
"I only did what any guild member should do."
When I said that roughly out of embarrassment, the Vice Guild Leader made an enormously moved expression. Backfired…….
"Really, everything worked out."
Hyeri said with a bright smile she hadn't shown in a while.
"The Paewang faction's power was halved, and thanks to that, the government had no choice but to reverse its position on restricting raid participation rights."
"If they were going to do this, they shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Those damn government morons."
The man said, twitching his nose. I gave a bitter smile.
"Anyway, those Paewang Guild bastards must be going crazy now. Not only did nothing they aimed for come true, but they also tarnished their own name with this battle."
"They reaped what they sowed."
When I said that, the Vice Guild Leader chimed in, "Yes, they reaped what they sowed."
'With this, they'll probably be quiet for a while.'
I muttered internally.
***
One month after the battle with the Paewang Guild.
Eventually, an Overflow occurred in a 7-Star Dungeon.
'Critical Strike!'
I plunged my dual-attribute axe-spear into a giant caterpillar.
The green skin with cracks tore away, revealing the core inside.
"Mister!"
"Hmm!"
Axe in hand, the man leaped inside the body of the caterpillar, which was as long as a ten-car subway train.
"Bisection!"
At the man's skill, the caterpillar's core split apart with a cracking sound, and shortly after, the caterpillar itself disappeared.
"Waaaah!"
Cheers came from the hunters in the rear.
They were S-rank hunters from guilds on the Anti-Paewang Alliance side who had come to respond to the 7-Star Dungeon Overflow with us.
After catching the field boss, light descended from the sky shortly after.
I confirmed the green light swirling around the man's finger transforming into a ring, then approached him.
"May I take a look?"
"Of course."
The man extended his hand to me. When I placed my hand above the ring, a gray window appeared before my eyes.
--------------------
[Rangide's Loyalty] (Bound to: Kim Gangil)
A ring in which a portion of King Knight Rangide's abilities is sealed. When a person the wearer wishes to protect falls into danger, all stats increase by up to 30%.
However, if that person loses their life, this bound item disappears.
--------------------
"Well, that's quite the unique item. Are all bound items like this?"
The man examined the ring this way and that as he spoke.
"Anyway, the Guild Leader was right. Since it says it can disappear, this must be the restriction of bound items, right?"
"Yes."
I answered the man and recalled what the Guild Leader had told me.
Surprisingly, the Guild Leader knew about bound items.
It was a day not long after the battle had ended.
"With this matter, all of you are no different from SS-rank hunters, save for the lack of a certificate. I suppose it's time to tell you about bound items."
I was startled by the Guild Leader's words when he called us in.
The Guild Leader said that most SS-rank hunters know about bound items.
"Ordinary S-rank hunters are not strong enough to obtain bound items. Their stats fall far short. In your case, Hwajin, you could be called an exception among exceptions."
At the Guild Leader's words, everyone in his office looked at me.
"To be honest, in my case, I even suspected that you might be a spy from another guild."
The Vice Guild Leader confessed with a bitter smile.
"SS-rank hunters don't take an exam; they receive promotion evaluations based on their accumulated achievements. One of those conditions is defeating a low-grade field boss by oneself."
The Guild Leader's explanation continued.
So that was why hunters from other guilds had mistaken me for an SS-rank hunter when I caught the Mad Armadillo.
"The effects of bound items are extremely powerful compared to normal drop items, but they have a fatal flaw."
"A fatal flaw?"
I was puzzled.
While using 'Hechel's Blessing,' which increased physical defense, and 'Hesto's Bracelet,' which recharged mana, I had never once felt anything like that.
"The fatal flaw of bound items is that, depending on circumstances, they can disappear."
The Guild Leader's subsequent explanation was something even more incomprehensible.