Chapter 42

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[Copied successfully.]

[The “knife” that became material has been destroyed.]

[The copied ability is adjusted according to the item’s “classification”.]

[Additional option]

– Characteristic: Martial Arts – Adamantine Form

[Martial Arts – Adamantine Form]

– In the situation of an external attack. The body that has been trained by getting beaten ten million times will eventually reach the Adamantine Form.

Do-joon opened his eyes wide once he saw the new characteristics.

‘Martial Arts – Adamantine Form?’

He knew these kinds of words. It was intuitive and sometimes seen on sports news.

He checked his body right away.

Taktak.

He jumped a few times in place. He moved his arms and legs around and tried to pinch or scratch his skin.

However, he didn’t feel like his body was getting any hardened.

This time, he picked up a knife and drew it on his skin. But

‘It’s not going to penetrate because of the defence option.’

The blade did not enter because of the additional defences that he had been copying before.

Unavoidably, Do-joon pulled out Exiga’s thunderbolt. It was the most powerful weapon he had.

When he held it and gave it a little strength, he was able to quickly break through the magical barrier caused by the defense option.

― What are you doing? Why are you hurting yourself?

Khalish talked next to him, but he couldn’t answer. Now his nerves were solely on the spear and on his forearm.

Do-joon frowned at the moment when the blade of the spear touched the skin, expecting a wound right away and worrying about the flow of the spear’s electricity.

But

‘…….’

The spear couldn’t go in any further.

He tried pressing it with a little more force, and tried hitting it down altogether.

However, his forearm was still fine and intact.

A rare weapon that pierced the defense options like a paper could not pass through the skin at all.

Only then did Do-joon know.

An outer shell that is hard enough to block any sword with its bare body without losing the flexibility and softness of the human body.

This was the realm of the Adamantine Form.

‘Ha.’

It means that he has to train by getting hit 10 million times and that was written on the information window.

Perhaps it was a metaphorical expression. It was a state that can only be achieved after such difficult training.

But he obtained it at once as he copied it.

He heard that there were many organizations in China that call their skill as martial arts and worship them, but it would be deplorable if they found out.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter what others think.’

There was one thing that was certain.

The fact that this one copy was far more valuable than anything he has ever done.

‘Now, the defence option can be given a lower priority. Come to think of it…….’

Wasn’t he 75% resistant to the four major elements? And after giving all of the cold air resistance to So-eun, and gradually increasing it.

Plus the characteristic that wouldn’t let any blade get through.

‘Isn’t this invincibility?’

He wondered if it was a word worth using at this age, but he couldn’t think of anything other than this. As such, Do-joon became so excited.

― Huh? Tsk tsk tsk. You’re alone in your thoughts, what’s so good… … .

Kalish kicks his tongue. Do-joon spoke with a grin on his face.

“I feel like I’ve got something amazing.”

― Hm? Is that so? Khhmm, hmmm!

Kalish suddenly coughed in an awkward tone.

What’s wrong with him?

Do-joon tilted his head, but soon he stopped paying attention. He quickly became absorbed in getting the Adamantine Form now.

After a while, Do-joon became a little more rational.

‘No, I’m still not invincible. There will be attacks that cannot be stopped at 75%, and I don’t know what will happen to the internal parts from the impact. It’s a Dokdo Island problem.

(T/N: The Dokdo Islands are the center of a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Japan that goes back more than 300 years.)

In terms of it, there were quite a few points which could be weaknesses. As expected, he didn’t think he was in the stage to fully like it yet.

But nonetheless.

‘I am much stronger than I was yesterday.’

It was certain without a doubt.

* * *

One dungeon root where many people stood patiently.

The gate there fluttered open, and a man stepped out.

Armor that was covered in seven layers of blood. A claymore that reached 1.5 meters in length, held in one hand.

When the man came out, those waiting at the gate entrance quickly approached and took off the armor of the man.

As they took off the seams of his armor with great familiarity with it, they could see a sweaty shirt inside.

Then a young woman touched his sword.

“…….”

The man frowned.

Seeing that, the woman’s seniority became contemplative.

“I’m sorry! She’s still a rookie…….”

“…….”

“Hey, hey, dude! I told you not to touch the sword. Didn’t I!”

“Yes? Ah! So-, sorry!”

The woman turned blue, perhaps realising she made a grave mistake. The man looked at the woman.

“Be careful next time.”

He relaxed his expression and spoke calmly.

The woman, who thought that scolding would fall, looked dumb. Behind her, the senior sighed in relief.

Leaving those two behind, he headed to the limousine where a man in a light outfit with only a sword was waiting.

There, his secretary was waiting with him.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“It wasn’t much.”

The man said casually and got into a car.

Closing the car door, the secretary glanced toward the gate where the man came out.

Workers in hats were hauling the dead body of a truncated monster outside.

The numbers were endless.

‘There are so many A-class beasts… … .’

The secretary’s eyes shook with admiration.

Not long ago, he said he would go into an A-class dungeon alone, but his secretary stopped him. But he finally went in by himself and eventually came out after killing all the bosses.

His boss, Oh Tae-jin, was alone.

He got into the driver’s seat and adjusted the rearview mirror, and the secretary glanced at Oh Tae-jin. He didn’t know if it’s just him, but his eyes seemed to have deepened.

“You seem to have succeeded. Congratulations, Guild Master.”

“Be careful with what you say. The owner of Karma is still my father.”

Oh Tae-jin answered drowsy, burying himself deep in the seat.

“You’re only going to succeed, aren’t you since he has already retired?”

As he prepared something with a flattering comment. The secretary carefully looked into Oh Tae-jin’s eyes.

However, he couldn’t tell that there was a change in expression. Whether he was happy or not.

‘It would have been more convenient if he had an easy-to-understand personality like his younger brother.’

Even if he gets a little hysterical, wouldn’t that make him feel at ease?

Oh Tae-jin was not the type to get angry or long for others, but it was rather difficult to deal with him because nobody could know what he was thinking.

“Did anything special happen during that time?”

Oh Tae-jin asked, looking at the scenery outside the window that quickly passed by. After organising the information that the secretary had prepared in advance in his head, he answered.

“Yes, there are a few.”

“Report.”

“First of all, an S-class dungeon appeared in Russia.”

Oh Tae-jin’s eyes shone. It was the only moment you could read his expression.

“And?”

“There was no separate request for support from our side. From what I found out, they only asked Mir to send healers.”

“Tsk”.

Unfortunate.

Oh Tae-jin kicked his tongue.

He was thirsty for action now.

Among the domestic A-class hunters, he was confident that his skills were the best. His skills were already on par with S-class.

However, it was not being recognized because there was no plausible performance.

It would have been better if he was recognized for his strength, but he couldn’t suddenly visit another S-class and apply for a duel.

“These are the only S-class incidents that have occurred recently. Not only S-class dungeons but also other-class dungeons have significantly reduced their occurrence rate.”

“The incidence rate always goes up and down.”

“This is the lowest ever. Some people are talking about a time of peace or something else.”

Oh Tae-jin snorted.

In the history of mankind, it is the struggle that emerged before thought. Monsters were nothing more than a more concrete form of it.

Saying that the monsters had decreased a bit, peace or anything like that was a sound that didn’t know anything.

That was why he was so thirsty for strength.

‘The chance will come one day.’

An opportunity to build an overwhelming performance that no one can stop him from rising to S-class.

Even if it was somewhat lulled, there was no way this situation would last for a thousand or ten thousand years. He was still young and the opportunity to prove his skills will always come.

It was his job to keep a sharp eye on himself in case the opportunity came.

“And also…. Kwak Dong-gyu is dead.”

“Kwak Dong-gyu?”

He didn’t know who he was.

The secretary slightly checked the rearview mirror and answered.

“He is a man who had the skill to become a beast.”

“Ah, that guy. I picked him up because it was the strangest skill that I’ve seen.”

A man who had the skill of easily deceiving grades without any other trick.

He was a person under his command because he thought it would be a useful card someday if he raised it well. Of course, because of the “use”, they maintained an informal relationship, not an official one.

“Yes. He succeeded in raising the fit rate close to B grade while maintaining D grade, but he died in a dungeon in Sangam-dong.”

“In an accident?”

“No, it’s an incident.”

It’s not an accident, it’s an incident…….

“What’s the difference between the two?”

“He usually doesn’t get caught because he erases everything carefully, but… … .”

The secretary blurted out.

“It seems that your brother was on Kwak Dong-gyu’s recent call list. There has been an investigation into it.”

Oh Tae-jin’s eyebrows wriggled.

‘He can’t even stand for a second and cause trouble.’

His younger brother was still immature even though he was an adult. It was fortunate that he had the will to work, but it was difficult to hold back his incompetence.

He said, kicking his tongue once again.

“You should pay attention to it and hide what you have as much as possible. And tell him to keep a low profile for the time being.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

It was not a waste that Kwak Dong-gyu died. It wasn’t even a much-anticipated loss anyway.

However, it was a specification that the guild’s image was damaged by useless things.

A guild is a group that owns a private force. Due to its nature, it was a hero when it has a good image, but a terrorist group when it had a bad image.

“So, how did Kwak Dong-gyu die?”

When asked by Oh Tae-jin, the secretary mumbled a little. Then he answered as if he had given up.

“That’s actually… … . It was said that he was killed by an E-class hunter.”

Oh Tae-jin frowned the most at once from the words so far.

“His name is Kim Do-joon, and he got his license last quarter.”

“I remember. Did you say that he was the one who came up after beating Kang Je-jun?”

“Yes.”

In less than a year, has he grown enough to catch Kwak Dong-gyu?

It wasn’t impossible. It wasn’t impossible…… It wasn’t common either.

“He must have a pretty useful skill.”

“… … What should I do?”

Oh Tae-jin thought for a while before answering.

“You said Kwak Dong-gyu was at a B-class, so that man must be around that level.”

“The support team did a simulation with the information from the sightings. As you said, he is said to be an intermediate level B-class person.”

The secretary handed over the support team’s report to Oh Tae-jin.

He roughly looked through it and tossed it next to him.

“Just leave it alone. It’s not a situation where I’m hanging on to just one B-class.”

* * *

A week later.

Do-joon was in the Orc Labyrinth with Kalish.

First of all, Do-joon hunted a group of orcs using thunderbolt as usual. Seeing that, Kalish said.

― You’re relying too much on weapons.

“…….”

That was correct.

As with the attack power worthy for the rare class, it was a hunting method that relied more on the speciality of wide-area attacks.

― If you stick to such hunting methods, you will not improve your skills, but just improve your tricks.

“It’s the most efficient.”

― If you just want to make money, that would be fine, but are you satisfied with that, my master?

Do-joon kept his mouth shut.

The faster the hunting, the faster the fit rate rises. Then the stat runes go up.

This, too, was a way to become stronger. It was also the direction most hunters pursue.

However.

‘It’s not the right way for me.’

Do-joon can raise his stats as much as he wants through the copy skill. Therefore, simply insisting on fast and efficient hunting was rather inefficient.

What he needed was the ability to use the raised stat rather than just raising the fit rate day and night through simple hunting.

― And that spear is like a dragon that throws no matter what. It looks small and light.

“That’s right. It’s a weapon that was initially classified as a javelin.”

― Throwing has its own limits after all. Just use it as an auxiliary, and hold me up. As long as you cooperate in finding my memories, I will pass on my vision to you.

When Do-joon seemed to be interested, Kalish spoke pleasantly.

― The spear of Nox, the God of War and Storm.

Of course, he was not talking about the real god’s stuff, Kalish laughed as he added.

T/N: Happy New Year!!! ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

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