Chapter 17

Chapter 17

[You’ve earned 2,000 achievement points.]

1. [Do you want to continue the test?]

2. [Do you want to move to the next floor?]

BZZT, BZZT—

A single strand of lightning faintly flickered before his eyes. There was a yellow effect to it, and even though he hadn’t fully cleared the trial yet, just as the message indicated, it was definitely the ‘lightning’ he was after.

– What?

– What????

– WOAH!

– OMG OMG OMG!

The chat window was filled with astonishment and admiration. Chats went by so fast that Su-hyeok, who hadn’t been looking at the chat during the trial, glanced over.

– Is this how you get it?

– The difficulty is insane, lol.

– How do you get ‘Lightning’? You just need to defeat the giant race’s leader!

– Now I understand why Lee Su-hyeok didn’t say anything, lol.

– Right? No one would be able to do it anyway. What’s the point of revealing it?

People mistakenly thought that you had to defeat the giants’ leader for the skill.

‘No.’ The only one who knew the truth was Su-hyeok. ‘I didn’t get it here.’ Last time, he hadn’t earned it until later. He knew he might be able to defeat the giants’ leader, but he didn’t expect to get the skill from it.

‘Should I be happy?’ If the situation were different, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hide his joy. Even though his Stamina had increased by two, it was almost depleted. Just like the magic sword, Lightning required Stamina, making it hard to use it effectively in the situation he was in.

He didn’t have time to think too much about it. Though it wasn’t favorable, there was no reward he could use better.

Grab—

He grabbed the lightning that had fallen before him. For a moment, he felt a tingling sensation passing through his hands and fingers and then flashing through his mind.

【 Lightning 】

# Type: Skill

# Rank: A+

# LV: 1

# Consumes Stamina and Magic Power to borrow the power of lightning.

# You can add other strands of lightning to level it up.

The skill’s details appeared in front of him. Despite only being at level one, the skill had an A+ ranking.

‘I’d like to merge it with my body, but...’ He almost fell into the illusion that he’d become Blue Eyes’s Lee Su-hyeok from the past and felt confident that he could sweep away the hundreds of giants in front of him in an instant.

He needed to stay calm. He wasn’t the Lee Su-hyeok who’d held the completed ‘Lightning’ skill.

‘What I’m holding right now is just a small strand that fell on the 2nd floor.’

If he overestimated his power, he would surely fall to the giants. Lightning was like a well-forged double-edged sword, after all. It was sharper and more reliable than anything else, but it was capable of hurting the wielder as well. The properties were similar to his magic sword’s.

That was precisely why he’d obtained a certain skill during the tutorial, though. “Everyone, thanks for your sponsorship.”

[You’ve completed the mission.]

[You’ve received 5,000 points from ‘Lee Su-hyeok, I love you.’]

[You’ve received 5,000 points from ‘I’m Bald.’]

[You’ve received 3,000 points from ‘Mission Villain.’]

[You’ve received 7,000 points from ‘Safe Asset.’]

As he completed the registered missions, donations poured in.

[Owned Points: 24,860]

The total number of points he had exceeded 20,000.

‘I guess that’s a relief.’ Lightning consumed Stamina for more destructive power, and Selfish Sacrifice could reduce the burden on the user’s body. He had already used the magic sword to confirm that such skills had synergy.

[You’ve used 20,000 points.]

[The skill level of ‘Selfish Sacrifice Lv2’ has increased.]

With that, ‘Selfish Sacrifice’ rose to level three, but there was no time to check how much more effective it was before trying it in real combat.

“Since the points came in, it’s time to react, right?” Su-hyeok used his Magic Power, and his eyes glowed with a golden light similar to the lightning he’d picked up.

BZZ, BZZT—!

He recalled the sensation he’d felt when he picked up the lightning and controlled its power.

[‘Lightning’ permeates your hand.]

That wasn’t all.

[‘Lightning’ permeates the ‘Nameless Magic Sword’.]

WHOOM-!

As he swung the sword, thunder echoed out. One of the giants was unable to withstand the power of lightning, and its head exploded.

Using the Lightning skill as efficiently as possible, Su-hyeok started to freely move through the crowd of giants.

[‘Lightning’ permeates your arm.]

[‘Lightning’...]

It was just the start of Lightning’s power.

Clang—!

He advanced and continued to swing his sword, again and again, all while using the minimum amount of Magic Power and Stamina to handle the Lightning skill. He was well-accustomed to doing so, after all.

Flash—

To those who couldn’t recognize such delicate techniques, it probably looked like he still had a lot of Stamina.

– He seems to be using it well.

– Huh? Right?

– It seems that he still has Stamina.

– After putting on such a show...?

– Hahaha. It’s a show indeed. The Su-hyeok show!

Swoosh—

The lightning was destroying his body. Although Selfish Sacrifice was fighting against the damage, he still had too little Stamina left.

‘I just need to use one shot well.’

BZZ—

He took a step forward and looked at the path he’d been heading down from the start. He’d almost broken through the encirclement. All he needed was a final push.

‘The timing...’

“There he is!” someone yelled, and a familiar face appeared from the mountain’s descent. “Save our benefactor!”

“Distract the giants!”

Arrows flew toward the giants’ heads and necks.

“That fool,” Su-hyeok murmured as he cut a giant’s neck. His lips tugged into a smile.

Felius had arrived. He’d gone through the trouble of drawing the giants’ attention so they could escape, but it seemed like the soldiers had been watching instead of running away.

Given the situation, there was no need to save energy any longer. He didn’t need to run down the mountain—he just had to break through the path once.

BZZ, BZZ—

[‘Lightning’ permeates the ‘Nameless Magic Sword.’]

Electricity gathered at the tip of his sword. Even if you used the same technique, its power could greatly vary depending on how you used it.

[‘Selfish Sacrifice LV3’ attempts to resist the damage from ‘Lightning’.]

[‘Selfish Sacrifice LV3’ fails to fully resist ‘Lightning’.]

[Your Fatigue is high.]

[Your Fatigue has increased to 94.]

[Your Fatigue has increased to 95.]

[Your Fatigue...]

He was getting numerous warning messages about his Fatigue, but it didn’t matter.

‘With this one attack...’ Golden electricity wrapped around his sword. The weapon suddenly felt heavy, and the dense lightning around it was hard to handle.

‘I’m going to break through...’ Regardless of that, he used all of his power and swung his sword at the giants blocking his path.

Flash—!

WHOOM—!

The giants were swept away, torn apart by the lightning in a blinding, thunderous cacophony of light and sound.

Felius stood at the end of the path, looking surprised and seeming to wonder what’d happened. “This makes it pointless that I came to help,” he muttered in astonishment.

“Nice...” After breaking through the encirclement of giants, Su-hyeok raised his thumb. As his tension eased, Su-hyeok collapsed onto Felius’s shoulder.

* * *

Around the time he cleared the 5th stage, a user post appeared on the Player Community’s trending section.

▶ The method for obtaining Lightning is out, lol. PS. Newbie-hyuk. ◀

____