I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 237

When Cha Jin-Hyeok’s Absolute Barrier shattered, the lethal attacks came flying at him, giving the feeling that they were waiting for just that moment. It felt like this sequence of attacks was devised for dealing with Initially Awakened Streamers like Jin-Hyeok, which made him feel alive for the first time in a while. To be precise, the situation felt more like a game to him than reality

‘This isn’t it...! What a shame.’

If his Play during his Sword King days was fierce and artistic enough to make him feel truly alive, this experience made him feel more like he was visiting an amusement park.

‘Well, my livestream concept this time is more about fun anyway. I guess I can show my intense Play for later content.’

Jin-Hyeok did not feel any sense of crisis.

‘Who would get hit by such slow attacks, no matter how powerful they are?’

No matter how strong an attack was, if it could not hit him, it would not do any damage. Following the arrows with the meteor spell was a good choice, but the sequence of attacks had to happen simultaneously to deal damage.

‘What’s the use of breaking my Absolute Barrier if I can just cast it again?’

Barriers were meant to be broken. There was no such thing as an unbreakable barrier. In every fight, the attacker was supposed to break the barrier and the defender was supposed to restore it. This should happen fluidly like running water, but the gap between the attacks of Jin-Hyeok’s current opponent was too big.

‘But still, I shouldn’t cast it again.’

Jin-Hyeok had never thought Absolute Barrier was the answer to everything. Now that the barrier was broken, it was time to check his defensive capabilities.

‘There is no need for me to use Time-Lapse Recording since I am going to get hit by it anyway.’

The thought of being hit by a meteor attack cast by a Lich was somewhat exciting.

The meteor struck his head.

‘Wow!’

There was a slightly dizzy feeling. It was not very painful, but he felt like his head was being heavily pressed down.

‘Should I deflect it?’

The attack was almost vertical, so dodging it by slightly altering its trajectory seemed easy.

‘No, I have to withstand this.’

Jin-Hyeok braced his legs and core and decided to endure the meteor. It felt fun, like wrestling.

‘So, this is the damage from a magic attack of this level.’

Calling it damage would be overselling it. The attack made him feel like he had spun around ten times in a row. It was not at the level he was expecting, but it was not devoid of fun either.

‘But... what about that figure lurking in the shadow on the wall? It doesn’t seem like an Assassin.’

Jin-Hyeok could sense something akin to hostility, but it was not an outright killing intent. If it were killing intent, he would have immediately used Broadcaster’s Insight to identify and deal with whoever that was. However, it did not seem that serious. Still, someone had crawled all the way here to intensely stare at him, with a gaze very strong but devoid of any killing intent.

‘Could it be...?’

Jin-Hyeok reached a plausible conclusion.

‘A stalker?’

***

Swampland No.2 was adept at utilizing the terrain and manipulating elements within Dungeons, which was a significant advantage in dangerous Dungeons. He was the one who had created and manipulated the Sand Worms in the early part of the Haeundae Dungeon.

‘I knew the Sand Worms would not be able to defeat Chul-Soo,’ Swampland No.2 thought.

It was merely a ploy to gauge Chul-Soo’s abilities.

‘I needed monsters neither too weak nor too strong to make you reveal your abilities, and Sand Worms were tricky enough to do just that.’

Swampland No.2 never believed in rumors. He had to see and understand things for himself to be satisfied.

‘Chul-Soo’s offensive capabilities are quite remarkable. Much more than what the world knows.’

However, that did not concern him. Unknowns were scary, but once known, they could be countered.

‘And... he is intoxicated with heroism.’

Chul-Soo had gone out of his way, though it was not much of a hassle for him, to enter the habitat of the Sand Worms and retrieve two Players’ corpses. Also, his party had not put the corpses in their inventory; instead, one of them had carried the corpses on his back. This showed that Chul-Soo’s party valued ceremony and formality. All this played into Swampland No.2’s hands.

‘And he tries hard to minimize damage.’

Swampland No.2’s attacks with both Sand Worms had one thing in common: there were no casualties.

‘With such firepower, he showed delicate and precise control to avoid injuring his party members.’

This could look easy on the outside, but required intense concentration. Unbeknownst to many, it drained physical and mental strength. An experienced and seasoned Player would not act the way Chul-Soo did. Letting teammates get slightly injured and leaving the healing to the Healers was more cost-effective.

Swampland No.2 came to a conclusion. ‘His abilities are outstanding, but he is still naive.’

This made Chul-Soo much easier to handle.

‘I can’t kill him.’

Lady Harkoen’s request could not be ignored. A whopping two hundred billion Dias were at stake. Swampland No.2 desperately suppressed his killing intent, which led Jin-Hyeok to misunderstand Swampland No.2 as his stalker.

However, Swampland No.2 could not completely hide the killing intent, though he suppressed it rationally. Occasionally, the accumulated killing intent seeped out a little. Every time that happened, his heart skipped a beat, but fortunately, Chul-Soo did not seem to have noticed him.

‘You have not noticed me at all.’

This was Swampland No.2’s misconception. Jin-Hyeok had not completely missed the killing intent. However, he perceived it as something relatively harmless, akin to a strong gaze rather than a serious threat. It was more like sensing the hostility of a harmless rabbit—not something to be concerned about.

To one, it was entertainment; to another, a documentary. The so-called Chul-Soo Law was still very much in effect. Swampland No.2, who was filming this documentary, was able to confirm a very useful piece of information.

‘That strong barrier of yours has quite a long cooldown.’

He did not know the exact duration, but it was evident there was a cooldown of at least five seconds.

‘And you panic when the barrier breaks!’

After the barrier shattered, Jin-Hyeok had chosen the worst possible move by just taking the falling meteor with his body. This was undoubtedly due to a lack of experience. It was a trait often seen in novice Players who were skilled but lacked accumulated experience.

‘Perfect!’

As time passed, Swampland No.2 felt more of Chul-Soo’s weaknesses being exposed.

‘There are hundreds of ways I can exploit you!’

***

Having blocked the meteor with his body, Jin-Hyeok immediately closed the distance and swung Miri at the Lich.

[“You insolent fool!”]

The Lich swung its skeletal staff to block Miri, but the magic staff was no match for the hammer. The staff shattered.

-Ah... That was satisfying...!

Miri gulped hard. It seemed quite content with having smashed the skull of the skeletal staff, considering the skull a head nonetheless.

“Usually, Liches store their Life Stone elsewhere. So, destroying their body often leads to them resurrecting.”

-The back of the head! Aim for the back of the head!

The Lich appeared to be a monster specialized in offensive magic. Jin-Hyeok’s swift movements left it struggling to respond, exposing its back.

“Let’s give it a hit.” He swung Miri.

-Ha... So...Good...!

Miri exhaled a thrilled breath, clearly excited. It crushed the Lich’s head.

-Delicious! Give... me more! More! Ah...!

Jin-Hyeok resolved not to be swayed by Miri’s madness. To his sane mind, Miri was excessively over the top.

[“I will never forgive you!”]

The Lich turned to smoke and disappeared, only to reappear some distance away. Its head was restored as if nothing had happened. Arrows from Skeletal Soldiers flew toward him.

‘Poison?’

Jin-Hyeok did not bother to dodge the poison arrows. After all, he was immune to poison. This was Swampland No.2 testing Jin-Hyeok’s poison immunity.

‘I should just take the hit.’

Jin-Hyeok did not even use Absolute Barrier. The poison was just a slight sting to him. Focusing on trivial things could distract him from what really mattered. The real goal was to smash the Lich’s head.

The Lich tried to dodge Jin-Hyeok’s attacks with its teleportation skills, but could not escape his speed.

Thwack!

“I’ve smashed it a second time.”

Thwack!

“I’ve smashed it a third time.

Thwack!

“Fourth.”

...

...

...

“Ninth.”

After disappearing and reappearing several times, the Lich glowed green. Dozens of large and small magic circles formed around it.

[“I will face you will all my might!”]

The Lich repeatedly exposing its weak point was part of Swampland No.2’s strategy. He was buying time to complete his magic formulas. Jin-Hyeok seemed too preoccupied with smashing the head to properly activate Absolute Barrier or see the bigger picture.

However, Jin-Hyeok said this time, “Then I, too, will strike you with all my might.”

Jin-Hyeok vanished. Up until now, it was more like entertainment for him. He had just been fooling around because Miri seemed to enjoy it. But fooling around was inherently exhausting and irrational.

-Ah...! I’m so happy! This is wonderful...!

Miri seemed quite pleased too. Jin-Hyeok swung Miri with genuine intent this time. He could not simply tell his viewers that he was fooling around until now, so he exclaimed, “Nine rehearsals culminate in one shining moment!”

Thwack!

The feeling was vastly different from the previous nine thwacks.

‘This feeling...!’

True mastery was on a different level compared to the previous feigned attempts. Miri also seemed to be experiencing euphoria, continuously letting out excited breaths.

‘This is what it should feel like.’

The previous nine feigned attempts made this genuine strike feel even more gratifying. The Lich’s head shattered once again.

[“It’s usele—”]

However, it was not useless.

***

Swampland No.2 widened his eyes in shock. ‘What the hell?’

There were traditionally two ways to deal with a Lich. The first and most standard method was to find and destroy the hidden Life Stone. This was the most efficient and easiest way. The second method involved using transcendental attacks that exceeded the set parameters—using an attack of a high enough grade that it could break the condition that a Lich was annihilated only when the Life Stone was shattered. The second method was typically possible for only absolute beings, so it was not commonly applicable.

‘I need to stay calm.’

Swampland No.2 had never thought the Lich would capture Chul-Soo. This was still a phase of gathering information.

‘He struck it ten times.’

If it had been easy, Chul-Soo would have done it in one hit.

‘He must have a special power that creates a massive explosion after hitting the same spot ten times.’

Swampland No.2 observed that Chul-Soo persistently targeted only the back of the Lich’s head. He had opportunities to strike elsewhere but chose not to. This meant that even his tremendous attack came with significant limitations.

‘Phew. It’s a relief I figured it out now.’

Swampland No.2 now knew that being struck continuously ten times in the same spot would be dangerous. He absolutely could not allow the same spot to be hit more than nine times.

As Swampland No.2 continued to accumulate information on Chul-Soo, an explosion erupted from the wall.

Boom!

“It seems like the Life Stone was hidden in that wall,” Jin-Hyeok said. When he smashed the Lich’s head, its Life Stone exploded alongside it. He approached the exploded wall and swung Miri.

Boom!

There was a hidden space behind the wall.

“Oh, there seems to be a treasure chest there.”

Thud!

A giant stone fell, blocking the entrance. Soon after, a voice was heard.

[“You will never be able to open that chest. You will wither and die here with me... Eternal glory... to the Queen...”]

The voice of the Lich was no longer heard. It seemed that opening that chest was the only way out of there.

‘It’s like an escape room.’

The chest appeared to have a powerful barrier, strong enough to make the Lich confident.

“Let’s try opening the chest.”

[You have activated the Mystery Unleashing Technique.]

Jin-Hyeok opened the chest.

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