Editor: Cherish
[Kraken's Wrath has expired.]
[You may reuse this skill after 24 hours.]
'Wow.' Kang Yu looked radiantly at the Black Pearl coat.
As expected, the Kraken's Wrath was effective.
Although this feature was limited to only a minute, thanks to the increase of Magi to 93 units, Kang Yu was able to surpass Young-ju in strength.
'The higher the stats, the more powerful the effect will be.'
If Kang Yu continues to develop, then with the help of the coat, he will become even stronger.
Kang Yu understood exactly why high-class Players dream of Legendary gear.
The higher the level of the Player, the better the effect of its use.
'But Young-ju is also amazing.'
If he did not possess Legendary equipment, he could not have gained the upper hand with such ease.
Now, having fought with her personally, the guy had a good idea of her strength.
'It feels like she's hiding something.'
But that was just a hunch.
At the last moment when Kang Yu had used the Heavenly Rift technique, it felt like she was about to do something, but in the end did not.
It was likely she stopped because she noticed Kang Yu's next move.
He held out his hand to Young-ju, who was sitting on the floor. She grabbed it and stood up.
— What a monster, — mumbled the pale Young-ju.
Kang Yu shrugged.
— It's all thanks to the equipment.
— So? I also have Legendary equipment. — The girl pointed to the bracelet hanging on her wrist. — Are you really human? —
— What? Can't believe I learned all this in two months?
— What do you think? Oh, my head hurts… — The girl rubbed her forehead.
— Well, in the end, it's not a bad thing, is it? I'm at least as good as you.
— But you aren't exactly reliable either…
Taking a breath, she turned away from Kang Yu.
They both looked in the same direction and met the gaze of a pale and shaking Baek Hwa Yeon.
It was clear from her face that she was not only surprised by the outcome of the battle.
Hwa Yeon's horrified look was aimed at the huge dent in the metal wall of the training room.
— This… this is…
— Hmm?
— Do you have any idea how much this room costs? Hundreds of millions have been invested in it! How could you tear it up like that?!
Kang Yu turned his gaze to the wall, where he had punched with his fist using the Heavenly Rift technique.
It was so curved that it could no longer be called a wall.
The rest of the hall was also destroyed beyond recognition.
— Oh… uh… well…
It was a rare moment where Kang Yu was at a loss for words.
In fact, he could have done without using the Heavenly Rift.
And Young-ju, being an adult, would have understood how strong he was just by seeing his fist.
But at that moment, greed awakened in Kang Yu – he wanted to personally experience all the strength gained from the coat.
Of course, now he was ashamed that he could not restrain himself and destroyed such an expensive room, but there was nothing to be done about it.
— It wasn't me, — Young-ju quickly replied, looking away.
Wearing a serious expression, she tried to defend her innocence.
— In terms of what? You did damage too.
— Are you talking about the scratches on the floor because of my chains…?
— That's also damage.
— Um… then I will also pay for the repairs. — She nodded obediently.
— Out of good conscience, I think we should pay for the repairs 50/50, — Kang Yu spoke up.
— Conscience? Do you even know what that is? You must be kidding me.
A harsh answer.
The girl's words stung Kang Yu and he winced. But if he backs down now, he wouldn't look cool at all.
— The only reason I hit so hard is because of how strong you are. I couldn't hit any weaker than that.
— Hey, even so…
— If you had fallen earlier from my lighter blows, this would not have happened in the first place.
A paradox disguised as logic.
— Are you saying that the dent in the wall is my fault?
Kang Yu nodded his head without a doubt.
— I was too afraid of your attacks, and I had no choice but to do so.
— No, but that last blow was unnecessary…
She was right. The last attack was unnecessary.
— What are you talking about? You know perfectly well how hard it is to stop yourself when your whole body is overflowing with energy.
He spoke with conviction.
He didn't even need to lie. And it was reflected on his face.
— As you know, I became a Player only two months ago. Thanks to luck and talent, I was able to gain great strength, but I have not yet learned how to fully control it.
Well, that was a lie.
The man, capable of subjugating Man Ma Jung, was almost certainly able to control his Player powers.
— Khh! — Young-ju was shaking with frustration.
She had a feeling the guy was lying, but she had nothing to say in retaliation.
Because for a Player who rose to Rank 6 in two months, control indeed could pose a serious problem.
— Oh, you…! — There were many things she wanted to scream at him.
Kang Yu only smiled.
— So, in that case, let's split half and half on repairs. After all, this is both your fault and mine.
'How can a man be so insolent?' Young-ju narrowed her eyes, glaring at Kang Yu.
She let out a heavy sigh. A training room built from high quality material.
The repairs would cost at least ten million. If she could use money from the guild, then there would be no problem. But the situation now was different.
'I can't spend guild money on something like this.'
Even if she was the Commander of one of Korea's largest guilds, she could not spend money on personal problems.
— I have a good idea, — Kang Yu said.
In fact, this idea had appeared during their battle. Of course, it was not intended to be used to pay off debts.
— A good idea?
— How about hunting together?
— What? — Young-ju tilted her head to one side.
Kang Yu continued:
— El Quero.
The girl fell silent.
El Quero.
The boss monster whose appearance resembles a giant stingray, the very one that has made the lake in Suwon's Level S Gate his home.
El Quero was considered the most terrible of all monsters among the Players.
Because when this Gate first opened, an expedition crew was sent there, and not a single person returned.
After that incident, there was an unspoken law among Players that if a Player hunts in the Level S Gate, he must bypass the lake.
— Do you have any idea what El Quero is…?
He was strong.
However, he was considered dangerous not only for his strength.
First, he lives in water.
Although he sometimes got out on dry land, he spends most of the time in the water, ready to attack anyone with his poisonous needles.
Anyone who wants to attack him will not even have the time to approach him, as they will be attacked first.
Not only does he live in water and is difficult to catch, but he is almost immune to magic and repels all ranged attacks.
Five years have passed since the opening of the Gate in Suwon. During these five years, not one Player has been able to catch El Quero.
Of course, he was not an elusive and impregnable monster. If a punitive squad consisting exclusively of high-class Players is made, they will most likely be able to defeat the monster.
But no punitive squad of any sorts have been made to kill El Quero. More precisely, there was simply no need for it.
Usually, a punitive unit is gathered only in cases when there is a possibility of a monster leaving the Gate and becoming a threat to civilians.
On this basis, it is not difficult to guess that a monster who lives under water will not pose any danger to civilians.
And now, given that he is so difficult to catch and there is no need for it, he has been peacefully living there for five years as a boss.
— I know it's going to be tough.
— More than 'tough'… If your goal is money, there's no need to go as far as catching El Quero.
Of course, ten million won is a lot of money, but for Players as strong as Young-ju and Kang Yu, this amount was not impossible.
They could easily accumulate the necessary amount by hunting giant orcs for a while in the S-level gate and selling their mana stones.
— It's not just because of the money.
— Then what else?
— If this is an S-rank boss, albeit small, then there's a chance that we'll get materials to make Legendary equipment, right?
— Yes, but even if you get them, producing the equipment is not as easy as you think… Do you only want to attack him because of Legendary gear?
— Not only that. I also thought that killing such a difficult boss could be the key to solving the Level 59 crisis.
'Oh, you're at 6th rank now.' The girl looked thoughtfully at Kang Yu.
She had already forgotten that Kang Yu had not yet faced the problem known as 'Effort's End.'
Comparing his strength to his level, it hadn't occurred to her that he had not yet crossed that line.
'Did I really just lose to this Player, weaker than myself in terms of level?'
She immediately realized how devastating her defeat had been.
Young-ju sighed sadly.
— But you know that every Player has their own way of solving this problem, right?
— I've heard that killing a high-level monster is the most common way.
— That's true.
The three most typical ways to overcome the Level 59 wall were: hunting a boss, self-comprehension and mortal danger.
Of course, there were many other ways in addition to these methods, but it was thanks to these methods that most Players got rid of their problem.
And the most effective and popular of these methods was boss hunting.
After all, there were practically no Players who wanted to devote a huge amount of time to tedious training for the sake of enlightenment which may not come, nor those who wanted to deliberately put their lives on the line.
— It's a great way to get money for repairs, materials for Legendary gear and overcome the Level 59 crisis all at the same time! What do you think?
— Something tells me that only you will benefit from this.
— I disagree. This is all for the sake of strengthening our allyship.
— You speak well, — Young-ju chuckled.
Truthfully, killing El Quero would be good for her, too.
After all, for a very long time she has been unable to overcome the Level 59 crisis.
'Okay, let's catch him, this El Quero.' She nodded her head to agree, and looked at the guy.
Fear and anticipation mingled in her gaze.
'If he overcomes the problem of Level 59 and continues to rise…'
She was curious: she wanted to see for herself just how far Kang Yu could go, and what kind of monster he would become.