Chapter 144

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 183,900 damage to the target.]

The fusion skill Transcended Link did more damage than Kill. In addition, it also caused the status condition of stiffness. It was the birth of a new special move.

Kiyaaaaaah!

The awakened guardian screamed with pain from the profound blow. Then notification windows flashed in front of Grid.

[Pagma’s Swordsmanship has reached a higher ground.]

[The level of Pagma’s Swordsmanship has increased.]

[Pagma’s Swordsmanship]

Lv. 2

-When the skill is deactivated-

You can become one with the sword at any time. Increases physical attack by 30%, critical hit rate by 20% and critical damage by 10%.

* This effect is only applied when a sword type weapon is equipped.

* The skill consumes no mana.

-When the skill is activated-

Become one with the sword. Wave, Restraint, Link, Kill, Transcend and Transcended Link. You can unleash a total of six sword techniques.

* The effect of the deactivated skill will be lost.

* 20 mana is required to activate the skill.

* Once deactivated, it will take 10 seconds until the skill can be activated again. Nothing will be consumed when deactivated.

“This is good.”

His physical attack power, critical hit chance, and critical damage when Pagma’s Swordsmanship was deactivated had increased by 10%. It was comparable to the Advanced Weapon Mastery skill that only rankers above level 240 could acquire. No, it was more than that.

‘I am sorry that it is only applied when deactivated, but…’

He only activated Pagma’s Swordsmanship whenever he used active skills such as Wave, Kill, and Link. Unfortunately, all of those active skills had a long cooldown time. Due to this, the time he activated Pagma’s Swordsmanship was very short, and Grid looked forward to the deactivated effect in the future.

Kuweeeeeoh!

The awakened guardian roared. Its health gauge was reduced by one-third. It cried out for Grid to come down to the ground and fight.

“You want to kill me?”

Grid scoffed from the sky. Now that the level of Pagma’s Swordsmanship had risen, he wanted to go down and test out its power. But why should he make things harder for himself?

“It is up to here.”

Suuuuoh.

Grid took a high-grade health potion and started to unfold his sword dance again. He did two sword dances in succession. He was aiming for a new skill fusion. This time it was Transcend and Wave. Grid had no doubt that the fusion of these two skills would result in a powerful skill like Transcended Link.

“Transcend, Wave!”

Grid was filled with anticipation. But there was no skill fusion. The effects were the normal skills.

Kukukukung!

The black energy swords poured down from the sky like a waterfall in every direction. It was a very threatening attack for the awakened guardian. It used all the hard minerals and rocks on its body to form a shell.

[You have dealt 15,800 damage to the target.]

[The target’s attack speed has reduced.]

“This.”

The skill fusion might’ve failed but Wave’s attack power was doubled due to Transcend. The shell was badly damaged.

‘It seems only some of the sword dances can be fused… I will take care of this first, then experiment later.’

The ones he wanted to try fusing most were Transcend and Kill, or Link and Kill. If the fusion was possible, it would be a skill that went beyond the power of Transcended Link.

But the cooldown time for Kill was 400 seconds, even with the 20% decrease in cooldown time from Braham’s Boots. The experiment had to be postponed because the cooldown time of Kill wasn’t over yet.

“Blacksmith’s Rage!”

Grid’s attack power and attack speed rose! He wielded Dainsleif with all his strength.

Pepepepeong!

Depending on the angle with which Grid swung Dainsleif, sword energies with different shapes were fired.

It was impossible for the guardian to evade due to having its movement speed slowed by Wave. the Awakened Guardian of the Forest was unable to defend against all attacks with its shell and started to scream again.

“Amazing!”

“Viscount Grid is invincible…”

Romeo and the soldiers were thrilled. The powerful Guardian of the Forest was being one-sidedly turned into a turtle inside its shell. Grid truly seemed to transcend human limits. But this transcendent dignity was only temporary.

[The duration of Transcend is over.]

The cooldown time was 50 minutes, while the duration was only 30 seconds.

“Pant pant…”

After constantly attacking for 30 seconds, Grid stopped and suffered from the stamina loss. Despite his high persistence stat, he was exhausted and gasping for breath. However, his expression was relaxed.

‘It is almost over.’

The awakened guardian only had a quarter of its health left. After being hit by Transcended Link, it started to use its minerals as a shield, but it was useless. Grid’s power in Transcend mode was so overwhelming that its health kept falling.

The cooldown time for Kill was almost over, so it was time to finish this. Grid recovered his breathing as he slowly descended.

“I will collect it.”

Grid was ready to take out his pickaxe. However, he overlooked the fact that night was coming.

Kikik. Kkikikikik.

Grid descended to the ground because he believed that he had caught the awakened guardian when it suddenly made a strange sound. As the surroundings darkened, the red eyes turned blue and the blue orichalcum on its body started to turn purple.

“What? What are you trying to do?”

Grid frowned as he sensed the change. Then there was an explosion of magic power from the transformed awakened guardian.

Kwaaaang!

“Ouch!”

The explosion seemed like it would blow the entire forest away. Grid was blown away by the aftermath of the explosion just before he landed on the ground, then he rotated several times as he was thrown into the forest.

Ku tang tang tang! Kwa kwang!

“Ouch…”

Grid fell onto some rocks and shuddered with pain. He was covered with volcanic ash that poured from the shaking trees. Grid spat out the ash in his mouth and cursed.

“That crazy bastard… Eh?”

Grid murmured as he rose from his spot.

Kwang! Kwang! The speed of the awakened guardian rushing through the forest couldn’t be compared to before. But Grid didn’t feel any tension.

Jjejeong!

The rotating pavranium defended against the fists and kicks of the awakened guardian.

The awakened guardian attempted to strike through gaps in the pavranium, but the wall of defense developed by the pavranium was absolute. They successfully defended against the awakened guardian’s lightning speed attacks.

Grid snorted. “Isn’t it amazing? This is the power of items.”

Kiyaaaaaah!

The awakened guardian yelled like it didn’t like his words. Then a blue flash emerged from its open mouth.

Jeeeong!

The pavranium shook as they blocked the flash. They became stiff and didn’t move, just like when they defended against Jishuka’s arrow. This was bad. Grid’s face tensed for the first time.

Kikik. Kik.

The awakened guardian made a sound like it was laughing and shot past the pavranium. Grid didn’t stay still. He defended against the kick flying towards his abdomen with Dainsleif.

Chaaeng!

[The durability of +5 Dainsleif (Reproduction) has been reduced by 46.]

‘What?’

Before the change, Dainsleif’s durability had dropped by 37 when he defended against the guardian’s attack. But now it dropped by another 20%. Looking at this numerically, it meant that the guardian’s attack power had increased by 20%.

‘What is this?’

Grid was confused by the strengthened guardian before noticing the darkness that was around him. It was night. He recalled some of the descriptions written about Failure.

‘Attack power +20% in dark places.’

‘Due to the nature of the blue orichalcum, it becomes stronger in the dark.’

“…Should I have come in the morning?”

After entering the Grey Forest in the afternoon, he had wasted time by hunting monsters, including the poison flowers and goblin lord.

Chaaeng! Chaaeng!

“How rotten!”

Grid pledged that next time he would come in the morning, as he defended against the awakened guardian’s onslaught. Dainsleif boasted a maximum durability of 500. It was experiencing continuous durability loss and started cracking.

During that time, pavranium recovered and started to protect Grid again. However, the guardian had already found the method to disable it. It fired the blue flash at the pavranium again.

“Damn! Damn!”

Grid’s personality started to be revealed under his confusion and agitation. He lost his coolness. The awakened guardian stretched like it was making fun of him. Kik. There was a strange noise like a laugh.

It was an obvious provocation!

“You dog bastard!”

The moment that Grid was about to completely lose control of his thinking power.

[The effect of the composure stat is activated.]

His 400 points in composure showed an effect. Grid instantly recovered his cool thanks to it. A greatsword user focused on attacks that used its weight to deal damage.

Peeeeok!

Grid didn’t defend against the flying fist.

[You have suffered 7,300 damage.]

Immediately after the hit,

“Ohhhhhh!”

He swung his greatsword with all his strength.

Kwaang!

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 7,700 damage to the target.]

Peeok!

[You have suffered 7,250 damage.]

A hit once again.

[You have dealt 3,900 damage to the target.]

He hit back.

“Yes, let’s see who dies first!”

Grid was originally a person whose control sucked. His combat method was simple. Hit, be hit, drink potions and hit again.

[You have suffered 7,140 damage.]

[You have dealt 3,920 damage to the target.]

[You have taken a high-grade health potion. 8,000 health will be restored.]

[You have suffered 7,300 damage.]

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 7,810 damage to the target.]

[You have been hit by a lethal blow!]

[You have suffered 15,600 damage.]

Hit! Be hit! Drink potion!

Then at this moment,

[The effect of Doran’s Ring has been activated.]

[The option of the Holy Light Armor has been activated.]

[23,400 health has been restored.]

The power of his items was revealed.

Kkik?

The awakened guardian panicked. The more it fought the intruder, the weaker it was becoming, while the intruder seemed the same.

Buuong.

The guardian was disadvantaged every time it was hit, so it became cautious. It avoided the big greatsword and tried to counterattack when Grid’s back was exposed. Then it was surprised. It was because Grid had been moving in one direction, but he suddenly turned towards the opposite direction.

Chaaeng!

The guardian flinched as it was hit in the waist.

Tong! Grid’s right foot left the ground. He used that reaction to raise Dainsleif, which was stuck in the awakened guardian’s waist.

Kwajak!

The body of the awakened guardian was thrown into the air. Unlike the past, Grid now had some level of control.

“Pagma’s Swordsmanship…!”

He planned to trigger the final blow while the guardian was defenseless in the air.

Kiyaaaaaah!

The guardian’s survival instincts woke up! It didn’t want to die alone so it instead aimed the blue flash from its mouth towards Grid.

“Kill!”

Peeeeeong!

The greatsword shattered the head of the awakened guardian.

Puoook!

The blue flash pierced Grid’s heart.

[A legend doesn’t die easily. You can resist all attacks for 5 seconds with a minimum of health.]

Grid lived.

On the other hand, the awakened guardian’s head was destroyed and turned into grey light. Blue orichalcum ore was scattered all over the place, seeming more beautiful than ant jewel in the moonlight.

[Under two full moons, you have defeated the Awakened Guardian of the Forest!]

[14 pieces of blue orichalcum have been acquired.]

[3 pieces of purple orichalcum have been acquired.]

[The Amethyst Shield has been acquired.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level…]

[You have reached level 200!]

[Your stats have awakened and the unique features of all stats will improve.]

“…How rotten.”

Flop!

The joy of gaining levels and items only lasted for a short moment! Grid flopped down without any hesitation. Then he started lamenting on the ground. The enemy was so strong that he had focused on the battle and forgot about the pickaxe. It was a matter of huge regret for him.

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