I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 446

Cha Jin-Hyeok indeed didn’t know who Jeypel was. It wasn’t that he was trying to deceive anyone; Jeypel did not possess enough mana to warrant Jin-Hyeok’s attention. If one had to draw a comparison, Jin-Hyeok currently felt like he was surrounded by flying insects. He couldn’t easily tell if the bug he just swatted was one he had swatted earlier or a new one. Of course, he could probably distinguish them if he focused, but he didn’t see any need to do so.

“Do you think I will fall for such provocation?” Jeypel shouted.

Jin-Hyeok remained silent. Jeypel spread his tattered wings wide and flew toward Jin-Hyeok. He seemed powerful, but was full of openings.

‘He must be a young Demon.’ Jin-Hyeok forcibly stopped Miri from striking Jeypel’s temple of her own accord.

Miri was quite disappointed.

-Why won’t you let me smash him?

“He’s spreading his swings and flying in dramatically,” Jin-Hyeok explained. It was best to keep such opponents alive to make the scene more spectacular. Jin-Hyeok summoned the Phantom Swordswoman and whispered, “Fight as flashily as possible, but do not kill him.”

The Phantom Swordswoman, now incomparably stronger than before, spread her wings and engaged in an aerial battle with Jeypel. On the surface, it appeared to be an even match. A dazzling combat scene unfolded. Meanwhile, Jin-Hyeok swung Miri around, swiftly clearing out the remaining Demons.

‘Maybe I should’ve used the Babylon Cannon...’ Jin-Hyeok mused. The Babylon Cannon was the most powerful area-of-effect skill Jin-Hyeok could currently use. Transforming his right hand into a massive cannon would have undoubtedly made for a far more impressive scene. However, it would have made Miri upset. ‘I will use that on Julius later.’

Though it was an area attack, using it on a single target could still give off the impression that it was a powerful individual Skill.

Most of the Demons vanished without a trace and were summoned back to their Realm.

“Die!” Jeypel swung his sword, which was made from his horn.

The Phantom Swordswoman could not react in time and ended up losing her right arm. Red blood flowed from around her right shoulder.

‘Oh, Phantom Swordswoman...!’ Jin-Hyeok could not help but marvel. ‘You’re deliberately getting injured? Has there ever been a case where a Phantom Swordswoman understood her master’s intentions so well? That’s impressive!’

In this respect, the Phantom Swordswoman could even be better than Miri, who tended to mindlessly attack any enemy that appeared.

Miri became slightly sulky.

-I don’t like her at all!

***

‘Hm... it seems like Jeypel becomes stronger as he fights,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

However, he did not find this particularly exciting. It was normal for experience points to accumulate faster at lower Levels. Even so, Jeypel’s growth was slower than Jin-Hyeok’s current rate of growth.

‘It’s not that he’s growing slowly; I’m growing more rapidly. Get a grip, Jin-Hyeok.’ Jin-Hyeok realized he had to make an effort to maintain his common sense. He had reached a singularity after surpassing Level 500, and he could feel himself getting stronger with each breath. As he had become so accustomed to this, he often assumed others grew at a similar rate. That was why he thought he had to stay true to his humble self.

As he grew stronger, so did the Phantom Swordswoman, and in fact, she was starting to find the battle a bit boring. With her strengthened sense of self, the Phantom Swordswoman came to a conclusion. Dragging out the fight any longer would only make the progression boring. She bit her finger.

Whoosh!

A fountain of blood spurted out. As the droplets gathered, they formed into a sharp blood sword.

‘Huh? What Skill is that?’ Even Jin-Hyeok had never seen it before.

When the Phantom Swordswoman swung the blood-red sword, it dispersed into tens of thousands of tiny blood droplets that engulfed Jeypel. Each droplet was a sharp weapon.

Pierced by the blood that had transformed into red needles, Jeypel screamed, “Arghh!”

‘Is this okay?’ Jin-Hyeok could tell how much this Skill prioritized flashiness over efficiency. Condensing blood into the form of a sword, only to revert it to blood droplets and spray it out—this Skill was truly inefficient.

Rather than dispersing it into tens of thousands of droplets, concentrating the attack on a single point would have been better. When attacking a single opponent, one lethal bullet was more destructive than numerous bullets shot at once. Of course, a missile would be better than a single bullet.

There was no need for the Phantom Swordswoman to show such a performance when holding a proper sword. At least, that was how a combatant Player would see it.

‘I never expected the Phantom Swordswoman to develop so impressively.’

In any case, the Phantom Swordswoman successfully forced Jeypel to return to the Demon Realm with her flashy blood sword skill. The other Demons also escaped through the summoning magic circle.

‘What? It’s over?’ Jin-Hyeok thought as he approached Faceless. “Is this all you’ve got, Faceless?”

He wondered if there was anything else. If this was indeed the end, there was a chance he could get angry.

***

-Normal people: Happy when the opponent is weak. Kim Chul-Soo: Disappointed when the opponent is weak.

-Hahaha, why are his opponents always weak? T_T

-The Phantom Swordswoman’s battle scene was awesome! But is it okay for her to do that?

-It still surprises me that she’s a defensive Mystery.

-And she is a non-growth Mystery at that.

The viewers had become quite familiar with Jin-Hyeok by now.

-You’re wrong! She’s an all-rounder Mystery for offense and defense!

-If you can’t make the Phantom Swordswoman grow, you might want to check if you’re the weak one.

Jin-Hyeok received the viewers’ reactions from Wang Yu-Mi. Although there was a slight delay due to the livestream lag, he was generally satisfied with their reactions. The concept of overwhelming power seemed to be working better than expected.

‘Still, it would’ve been better if Jeypel had prepared a little bit more,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

After all, if he was going to overwhelm something, it would be more impressive to overwhelm a Dragon than a slime. Unfortunately, Faceless’s abilities had reached their limit.

“Just kill me,” Faceless said.

Jin-Hyeok sighed. ‘I really shouldn’t have expected anything.’

He very well knew that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. It was better to not expect anything at all.

“In the past, I would have killed you.” Jin-Hyeok deliberately turned his back, exposing a weak point in case Faceless might attack, but the latter did not take the bait. “You must have your reasons.

Faceless remained silent.

The hostility Jin-Hyeok sensed from Faceless was real, but its root was not malice. It was the sadness of being abandoned and emotions such as loneliness and fear. After confirming this with his Broadcaster’s Insight, he no longer wanted to kill Faceless.

‘I really should kill him but...,’ Jin-Hyeok thought. An enemy who had once bared its fangs was likely to do so again. Common sense dictated that killing him was the right choice. ‘Do normal people kill in situations like this?’

The more Jin-Hyeok tried to be a sensible person every day, the harder it was to distinguish what was common sense and what wasn’t. Jin-Hyeok, who had just begun to understand human emotions, decided to be honest with his feelings.

“Well, your contribution wasn’t insignificant,” he said. If it weren’t for Faceless, countless people would have lost their lives at the second checkpoint. ‘And... it would be even better if he comes looking for revenge later.’

***

Jin-Hyeok began walking through the sleep-inducing fragrance with Furface. After the battle with the Demons, Furface seemed a bit out of sorts.

“Um...,” Furface said, treating Jin-Hyeok with extreme caution.

“Relax, Furface,” Jin-Hyeok replied.

“I’ve seen enough of your power.” He was baffled. Now that they had passed the first checkpoint, there was no particular reason for Chul-Soo to keep him around. “Even if I stay by your side, I will be just in the way...”

“I told you I would let you out of here. The sooner you get out, the better, right?”

Furface closed his mouth and followed Jin-Hyeok. By this point, he no longer had any doubts about Absolute Barrier.

‘Absolute Barrier is perfectly blocking out the sleep-inducing fragrance.’ Furface thought about the incredibly powerful barrier—the wide-ranging defensive ability, the versatility that applied to others, and the durability beyond imagination. ‘How amazing is barr—Huh?’

Furface rubbed his eyes and said, “Chul-Soo, you...”

“What?”

“Absolute Barrier...”

“Absolute Barrier? Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“No, I mean...”

There was no Absolute Barrier around Jin-Hyeok. Furface gave up on being surprised anymore.

‘So, he wasn’t blocking it with Absolute Barrier after all.’

Chul-Soo was simply enduring it with his physical body.

***

As they pushed through the sleep-inducing fragrance, a massive bamboo forest came into view. They could hear a chorus so loud it hurt their ears.

Furface tensed up a bit more. ‘The closer we get to the bamboo forest, the stronger the effect of the Singing Bamboos becomes.’

Despite Absolute Barrier providing him with an incredible defense, Furface felt nervous. Fortunately, Absolute Barrier perfectly blocked out the bamboos’ chorus.

“There are traces of Players who’ve passed through here,” Jin-Hyeok said. These were the traces of the Players who had gone ahead, those who had taken Faceless’s stimulant.

“We’ll reach the last camp after passing through here,” Furface explained.

The rule of this place was to wait at the final camp, reinforce their strength, and then attempt the Dragon’s Nest raid that opened once every one hundred days.

After walking for a while, they came upon a fairly large area.

“There are tents set up here and there,” Furface said.

They could sense about ten people. Some were deeply asleep, others were in a daze, and only three or four were fully alert. Among those alert was Nick, the Player who had been staying here the longest. He spotted Jin-Hyeok.

“Who are you?” Nick asked. Then, he noticed Furface beside Jin-Hyeok. “Furface?”

“Nick, it’s been a while,” Furface said.

“You finally progressed through the first checkpoint!”

“That’s right.”

“I see. Congratulations, Furface!” However, Nick was also a bit confused. “But someone who passed the second checkpoint just arrived here, how did you...”

Nick wondered if Faceless’s ability to produce stimulants increased rapidly. It was extremely rare for three people to arrive here at the same time.

Furface shook his head. “We broke through using a defensive ability called Absolute Barrier.”

“He’s an impressive Tank. I was worried we didn’t have enough tanks.”

“I’m not a Tank. I’m an Eltuber,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Huh?” Nick thought Jin-Hyeok was making a frivolous joke. ‘What an impressive Tank!’

Nick never imagined a barrier that could block both the sleep-inducing fragrance and the bamboos’ chorus. However, he was flexible in accepting what was going on. As a Tamer who communicated with all sorts of living creatures, he was one of the people who best understood the diversity of life and had quite an open mind.

“Anyway, we need to wait here for a while. As you probably know, if we stay here for a few days, we will develop immunity to the bamboos’ chorus. Once we are immune and have gathered enough stamina, we will attack Julius,” Nick said.

Jin-Hyeok glanced behind Nick. Chul-Soo Land No.1000 had changed his form and was enjoying a nap.

“You don’t seem to know me, but my concept for the livestream is overwhelming power,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Pardon?”

If Jin-Hyeok had intended to wait for a long time, he would not have advanced this far.

“I’m going to open the path to the Dragon’s Nest,” Jin-Hyeok declared.

“That’s impossible. The Singing Bamboo colony is blocking the entrance. We have to wait for the path to open every one hundred days.”

Nick became anxious. He had seen many promising young Players like Jin-Hyeok before. Most of those who had exceptional talent at a young age met an early demise due to overestimating their abilities. As the leader of the final camp before the Dragon’s Nest, he felt a sense of duty to stop the young Jin-Hyeok.

“We need to go now,” Jin-Hyeok insisted.

“I told you. It’s impossible!”

“Why?”

“The Singing Bamboos are blocking the way. The path to the Dragon’s Nest can only be opened when the bamboos allow it. Do you think those are just ordinary bamboos?”

Nick frantically explained just how ferocious and dangerous these bamboos were.