Chapter 14 — A Fight I Could Never Win
[Name: Kim In-gwang. Level: 13. Gender: Male.]
Strength: 23
Vitality: 37
Agility: 18
Wisdom: 10
Total Defense: 15
Class — Sinner of Madness
My stats were pathetic.
My only skills were Swimming in the Sea and the recently acquired Berserk.
I did possess two very fantasy-like powers called Mental Power: Madness and Indomitable. But Indomitable hadn’t been properly refined yet, so I was hesitant to use Berserk, which was related to madness.
I’d already told the employee about how Mental Power affected me, but they had said it would be difficult to fix immediately.
That made me even more reluctant.
As for weapons, I had a rough, ugly sword that Piai had somehow managed to make after recovering.
I had no armor at all.
Thanks to Modak transferring himself into a wolf, I now had a summoned beast that could understand my feelings instead of being merely a mount.
But Modak had only recently been born, and because I absolutely hated the appearance of wolves, it was unreasonable to expect him to use his full strength.
And today was the day our one-month agreement ended.
So I was heading into battle without a single decisive weapon.
All I could hope for was one thing.
That the cow-headed bastard would get lost in the Labyrinth Forest and never find me.
That was all.
[Hayangi: How about borrowing my power even now?]
[Modak: Damn, you’re noisy. Why do you keep clinging to someone who already said no?]
“Modak, where did you learn such rough language?”
“I’ve only ever used nice words in front of you.”
[Modak: Who else could it be? You or that woman you live with.]
So Piai really had enough complaints to make him swear like that?
If so, I wished he’d just tell me what was bothering him.
Because if I lost today, I wouldn’t even get to hear those complaints anymore!
I had to fight to the death just to hear someone’s complaints.
What a miserable life!
Even worse, I’d gone through the trouble of researching that cow-headed bastard in real life just for today’s fight.
I had spent an exhausting day approaching complete strangers and awkwardly asking things like:
“H-have you… maybe… heard of a… cow-headed… um… horse-body monster…?”
I had basically forced them to use their imagination just to understand what I was talking about.
Surprisingly, people had been kind enough to answer me and explain whatever they knew.
I had even secretly shed tears of emotion because of their kindness.
I never imagined that all that effort would come back to me as a reward in the form of becoming the punching bag of the day.
“You seem really nervous.”
Piai carefully approached me as I wandered around the white beach alone, muttering anxiously.
Hearing that from someone who probably considered this moment even more hellish than I did, despite the fact that I could be reborn even after dying, made me realize just how unreliable I must look.
“What about you?”
“Me too.”
Step… step…
Unlike our anxious hearts, the sky was clear, and the sound of our feet touching the white sand was strangely pleasant.
This place looked beautiful if you didn’t know what was beneath the water.
The deep sea was a perfect place to die, while even the shallow waters were filled with shipwrecks spread out like coral.
I didn’t want to be this nervous in such a beautiful place.
But…
If I lose, Piai dies.
And my character definitely wouldn’t come out of this completely unharmed either.
Maybe another form of Mental Power would appear in my body.
Before that happened, I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to return to being human.
And if I met that angel lady again, she might look at me with disgust, call me shameful, and give me some horrible punishment.
I was extremely nervous.
This was a game where I couldn’t save or load.
I was standing at a decisive crossroads with absolutely no walkthrough.
There was no one I could ask for help.
“Hey…”
“Hmm?”
“Even if you lose… I won’t blame you.”
“…”
My chest hurt from guilt.
It had been a long time since I’d felt something this heavy pressing down on my heart.
I knew taking responsibility for something was heavy.
But I never expected even an AI to make me feel this kind of weight.
If only Super Real’s technology weren’t good enough to make an AI this realistic.
“Even if I lose, I won’t just go down quietly.”
“Get ready to run.”
“Hmph. Where exactly am I supposed to run from that monster?”
“That’s your problem. By the time you’re running away, I’ll already be dead. How am I supposed to worry about that too?”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
That smile on her face was probably coming from resignation.
Perhaps she felt so empty that she didn’t care what happened anymore.
[Are you giving up?]
Man, this thing is strict.
Ever since I learned about Indomitable Mental Power, the system seemed even stricter than before.
Whenever I showed even the slightest sign of losing heart, this notification appeared and poked at my pathetic pride.
“Why are you worrying about that?!”
“I’ll win beautifully, so don’t worry!”
“Go home, wash your feet, and get some sleep!”
“Ridiculous.”
Clop. Clop. Clop.
An unforgettable voice and heavy footsteps slowly approached from the forest toward the white beach.
“If you’re coming, you should at least announce yourself.”
“What an impolite friend.”
“I kept my promise to you. Isn’t that enough?”
“Why should I show you any courtesy?”
What an arrogant attitude.
He was probably like that because he was confident in his strength.
But thanks to that, my anxiety disappeared and was replaced by anger.
I gestured for Piai to move farther away.
Then I firmly gripped the crude sword she had made for me.
Finally, only the cow-headed monster and I remained on the wide beach.
The memory of that night one month ago came back to me, making me feel a little troubled.
“You’ve definitely become stronger.”
“Just a little.”
“You too.”
“Quite a lot.”
When I first met him, his pronunciation hadn’t been this clear.
He also hadn’t had so many scars, like some battle-hardened hero.
Even the pillar in his hand looked sturdier than before.
Why couldn’t he have just shown up looking exactly like he did back then?
Why did he have to train so seriously and then come back in front of me?
Couldn’t he have just died during training or something?
“I am not foolish enough to neglect my training because I became drunk on my own strength.”
Just looking at his size, he was probably three times bigger than me.
There was an obvious difference in physical ability.
And this guy hadn’t even neglected his training.
That’s just unfair.
“Today’s battle will make me even stronger.”
“On the day I first met you, I failed to kill you in one blow.”
“Today, I will overcome the humiliation of that day and advance to the next level.”
“I don’t think I’m important enough to have that much influence on you.”
“Could you stop overestimating me?”
I wished he had just come after fooling around a little.
Why was he so thorough despite being so arrogant?
“I will defeat you completely.”
His enormous pillar cut through the air and stopped right in front of my nose.
The pressure was intimidating.
But I could clearly see its movement.
It’s not that fast!
Right.
The information I’d gathered outside the game had also said that he had tremendous strength, but his attacks were slow.
Even though he’d trained, it seemed he hadn’t managed to overcome that racial weakness yet.
That gave me a small opening!
I could avoid his slow attacks and strike whenever he left himself open!
Still, I couldn’t rely completely on that.
He had trained.
Maybe he’d already overcome his weakness and was simply hiding it from me.
“Whew… I’m shaking.”
“Don’t worry. It will be over soon.”
What an irritating way to talk.
“Then…”
That was clearly the signal to begin.
I immediately prepared myself to charge.
But he simply raised his pillar high and stared at me.
No other movement.
Just like that day.
“It seems you don’t have the confidence to endure it this time.”
This damn game.
Everything about it keeps provoking the player!
Why did it keep making me angry?
“Ha! You’re all talk, just like last time.”
I relaxed my stance and confidently walked right up to him.
I wasn’t going to lose a battle of pride even inside a game.
Tch.
No wonder men die young.
Well… I’m not planning to die.
I had a rough idea now.
This fight was absolutely impossible to win through a straightforward battle.
If I wanted to win, I had to catch him off guard somehow.
If I could create even the smallest opening and move even slightly, I might be able to land a fatal blow.
Using all the accumulated data from my years of reading fantasy novels, I tried to think of a line that might confuse this type of character.
“…By the way, what’s your name?”
“…I don’t have one!”
Whoosh!
“WHAT?! You’re starting already?!”
I thought we’d talk a little more!
This is unfair!
You betrayed me!
Give me back my expectations and trust!
My body moved on instinct.
I raised my left arm like a shield and took the attack.
It wasn’t a bad decision.
If I’d used my right arm and it broke, the fight would have been over immediately.
[**Status Effect! ~~~**]
Still, it wasn’t exactly a good choice either.
Standing directly in front of this guy and honestly taking his attack was never a good idea.
“Ghk! Again!”
“Heehee! That’s nothing! Cough! …Okay, maybe it is!”
The food I’d eaten that morning seemed determined to come back out the same way it had gone in.
The impact was horrifying.
My entire body felt like it had been shaken apart.
My center of balance was completely destroyed.
There was no chance to look for an opening.
“Modak!”
I summoned Modak, hoping he could buy me even a tiny amount of time.
Surprisingly, I’d completely forgotten about him.
That did allow him to make a surprise entrance, though.
“What—?! Ghk!”
The confidence he’d gained from all his training—that he could defeat someone like me in one blow—was shaken.
And then he was caught off guard once again by Modak’s flaming wolf attack.
There was a huge opening.
But my left arm was completely destroyed.
And because my body had taken the full impact—
[Are you giving up?]
…my body was in absolutely perfect condition.
Damn it.
“Raaah!”
With my body feeling as heavy as a wet rag, I used every bit of strength I had to cling to his leg and put my weight on his joints.
His body was basically a mass of muscle, so obviously he wouldn’t fall easily.
I bit him and stabbed him with my sword, injuring him.
“Graaah! You pathetic little pests!”
“Hey, hey! Don’t fall right away—Aaaaaah!”
Thankfully, the series of unexpected attacks caused him to lose his balance slightly.
That gave Modak a chance to attack safely.
Unfortunately, his balance collapsed and he fell on top of me.
[Recalling the Indomitable Heart!]
And he crushed me properly.
Thankfully, the part underneath him was my left arm.
The sound of my arm breaking was horrifying.
[The Indomitable Heart becomes even stronger! You have awakened the Mental Power of Indomitable—never falling and never giving up!]
Perfect timing!
I had gained the Indomitable power I needed to control my madness!
Finally! This is what a game should be!
“Take this! Berserk!”
Black energy suddenly burst from my body.
It gathered around my badly damaged left arm, transforming it into a shiny black arm that looked like obsidian.
[Dark energy filled with madness surrounds your entire body and sends your mind into a berserk state!]
[All stats greatly increased!]
[A skill that can only be used during Berserk has been created!]
[Your mind is barely being maintained by ‘Indomitable.’]
Why are there so many notifications?!
