Chapter 77 — Star of the Absolute (2)

Muyoung slightly bent his eyebrows.

Not here? Then, where were they going to fight?

By looking at the reaction around him, it seemed like forfeit was unprecedented.

Oloness was thought to be one of the strongest to the point where his opponents would forfeit.

Also, there was no doubt in their minds that opponents of Oloness would either die or meet a fate similar to death.

Then, why?

‘The guy doesn’t know me.’

Muyoung was certain.

Oloness was a devil. The one who used to serve the 3rd seat Vassago.

However, there was no one in the Underworld who knew of Muyoung’s existence yet.

Since it was unlikely for the Demon Gods, Demon Kings and the transcendental beings to care about the current Muyoung.

Above all, Muyoung was able to more clearly differentiate between truths and lies after awakening to his purity.

It meant that he was able to detect other’s emotions no matter how weak they were.

And the emotions contained in Oloness’s words were close to ‘curiosity’.

Curiosity. The desire to study someone else!

‘Did he notice my change?’

Muyoung broke through his limits when he awakened.

He didn’t just break through but he achieved what should have been impossible at this stage.

However, none of the monsters in the arena noticed Muyoung’s change.

It seemed like only Oloness noticed that Muyoung had gotten stronger.

After his awakening, there were times when his gaze reached Muyoung.

Also, although it was only one sentence, it included a desire to win along with curiosity.

‘It seems a larger stage is needed.’

Muyoung nodded.

It didn’t seem like he was trying to avoid fighting him.

If Oloness wanted to fight magnificently on a much large stage, Muyoung didn’t have a reason to refuse.

Rumors about Muyoung quickly spread.

10 consecutive wins. He now had the authority to move to the next floor.

However, he received more attention by being the only dokkaebi to get Oloness to forfeit.

And it seemed like the old dwarf also heard of this rumor.

“Is it true that Oloness forfeited?”

His eyes were bloodshot. He looked at Muyoung as if he couldn’t believe it.

The reason for his actions was obvious.

Among monsters, the status of dokkaebis was known to be poor.

Even if there were duaxinis, only a very few existed. Dokkaebis were monsters that just wandered on the edges of the land.

So they were waiting for the appearance of the strong ‘Oom’.

It was amazing that Muyoung won all his fights but no one thought that Oloness would forfeit.

On the other hand, they thought Oloness would completely destroy Muyoung.

“You’re right.”

Clank!

As Muyoung confirmed it, the old dwarf pushed his body close to the bars.

“Oloness has never forfeited from a fight. It was probably because he was afraid and ran away!”

The old dwarf was desperate.

It was because Oloness was the sworn enemy who killed his son.

That was why he wanted to believe that was the case but Muyoung denied it.

“He didn’t run away. However, since Oloness avoided me, I have no choice.”

The best way to get the Three Pickaxe Sack Alliance to forge an equipment for him was to bring the old dwarf in front of him.

If the old dwarf was to help Muyoung, things could be easily solved.

If it was possible, Muyoung was planning on having the work done personally by the owner of the alliance, ‘Bartas the God’s Hammer’.

However, to do this, he needed the death of Oloness.

If Oloness kept avoiding him, there was no way to do that.

The old dwarf shook his head.

“No, starting from the 2nd floor you could forcefully choose your opponent. If you refuse, you become a slave. By knowing his personality, he would rather die than become a slave.”

“If it’s like that then it’s a good thing. Just wait.”

Muyoung turned his body.

He only came to the slave store to listen to the old dwarf’s opinion.

To see if his current attitude was same as when they first met.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like his heart had changed.

“Take, take me! If you truly want to kill him, you will need my help.”

The moment he was about to leave, the old dwarf yelled.

When he looked back at the old dwarf, he opened his mouth again.

“At first, I was unsure. I thought you were joking with me. But, that wasn’t true. You are the real deal. My last hope!”

His madness disappeared.

Instead, he passionately delivered his speech to persuade Muyoung.

“If you are planning on fighting continuously, it is crucial that you maintain your equipment. And in terms of repairing equipment, there aren’t many who can follow me. Please let me help you. Use the equipment I fix to cut his head off.”

Thump! Thump!

The old dwarf banged his head.

He truly did see hope through Muyoung.

Up until now, to obtain his services, many sweet-talked him but they were all liars.

There was no one who could fight against Oloness. Instead, they were busy running away.

However, the dokkaebi in front of him was different.

If Oloness himself avoided Muyoung, that was enough for him to assist him with his heart and soul.

If the weapon he worked on pierced through Oloness’s neck, there couldn’t be a more satisfying revenge.

Muyoung just stood there and looked at the old dwarf.

‘Actually, there are quite a lot of equipment that are losing their durability.’

There were no species that could match a dwarf’s craftsmanship. Even more, since he said he was an expert on maintenance, it seemed perfect to ask him to work on it.

Since Muyoung still had to fight at least a dozen times, it wouldn’t be bad to receive some help.

He slowly approached the cage.

As Muyoung nodded, with a clank!, the bars started to go down.

Afterwards, the old dwarf’s forehead was branded with Muyoung’s name.

It was the branding of a slave.

It wouldn’t be odd to see a dwarf commit suicide after getting branded as they were monsters with very large egos.

However, let alone commit suicide, the old dwarf kneeled in front of Muyoung.

“My name is Kalmooh. The top blacksmith of the ‘Gold Hammer’ tribe.”

His way of speaking had also changed.

Just because a slave was branded, didn’t mean you earned their respect.

All it did was add force to the owner’s words and made it so that they wouldn’t be able to physically harm their owner.

It wasn’t a devoted attitude but they were willing to follow.

Afterwards, Kalmooh’s eyes sparkled.

“If, you kill Oloness, my life is…”

“I don’t need it.”

An instant reply.

Kalmooh made an odd expression.

However, Muyoung specified what Kalmooh needed to do.

“You fix and I fight. That’s all you need to focus on.”

Him devoting his life or not, that was a later matter.

However, Kalmooh smiled at Muyoung’s cold response.

As if he chose the right person to follow.

“Leave it to me.”

Using the rest of the onz, he purchased the equipment Kalmooh needed.

It wasn’t a bad investment if he thought about how Kalmooh was going to constantly use it.

On top of that, if a blacksmith sincerely repaired an existing equipment, there was even a chance for the abilities of the equipment to become reinforced even further.

‘I need to see Kalmooh’s skills.”

The problem was that those cases were very rare.

It was creating something from nothing. It was only possible for very skilled dwarves.

Kalmooh said it himself that he was the top blacksmith.

It seemed like he could wait in anticipation.

Besides Anguish which was unrepairable, Muyoung handed over all his equipment for maintenance.

“Your armor is worn out. It only lasted this far because the skills of the person that made this equipment was exceptional.”

Almost all the equipment Muyoung wore were earned from the trials.

It wasn’t strange for them to be old.

On top of that, since he never entrusted them to anyone else, the durability of the Lunatic Sovereign’s Set decreased by quite a bit.

“Will you be able to repair it?”

“Leave it to me. I will show you my skills.”

Kalmooh lifted his hammer confidently.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Kalmooh moved his hands at a consistent rhythm.

The work continued for a long time.

It took about 12 hours to fix one.

Yet, Kalmooh didn’t rest. Without faltering and with a high degree of concentration, he just hammered endlessly.

After a good 5 days, Kalmooh with his pale face showed the repaired equipment to Muyoung.

“…They are done.”

“Amazing.”

To be honest, after looked at the finished product, Muyoung was surprised.

Muyoung hadn’t seen a lot of dwarves but among them, Kalmooh’s skills were good enough to be recognized as top class.

The equipment he left with him seemed new.

In fact, the durability of a few pieces of equipment had actually risen.

‘The stats of the Shadow Armor has changed.’

More surprisingly, the Shadow Armor had changed.

Name: Shadow Armor

Rank: B+

Classification: Equipable Type

Durability: 22,000

Effect: By blacksmith Kalmooh, the equipment has been enhanced.

*Agility +5

*It allows you to teleport to a shadow within your vision 3 times a day.

Agility +5 was a stat that didn’t exist previously.

He really did produce something from nothing.

It was something most experts couldn’t do.

“I look forward to working with you.”

Kalmooh smiled as he looked Muyoung’s expression.

*

Muyoung left the 5th floor and headed for the 4th.

As he followed the directions of the living armor and entered the arena, around 10 monsters were fiercely fighting each other.

“It is possible to have up to 5 vs. 5 fights on the 4th floor. Of course, you can fight alone but it’s normally better to find comrades. But, you still need to watch your back. Even if they are on the same side, they can always betray you.”

Kalmooh gave Muyoung some advice.

He was a slave and would have had to follow even if Muyoung treated him like an object.

Muyoung’s eyes turned to look at the arena once more.

“Active, Block! Active. A bit stronger!”

There was someone who caught his eyes.

Bug.

During the 5 days, Muyoung was getting his equipment repaired, Bug seemed to have achieved his 10th win and had headed for the 4th floor.

3 people were with him.

It seemed like they were his comrades who came with him.

They were so well-coordinated with each other that they were able to win the fight without many injuries.

‘Their coordination is good.’

After leaving a short comment, he was about to leave.

However, he stopped momentarily when he saw who appeared next.

“O, Oloness!”

Grit!

Kalmooh ground his teeth.

It was because Oloness appeared in the arena alone.

On the other hand, his opponents were five male dark elves.

“Even if you are a slaughterer, you can’t beat all five of us alone.”

“The weak ones always say those words when they group up.”

The dark elves were known to be a species with high agility.

They immediately surrounded Oloness when the fight began.

However, it was pointless.

As Oloness bared his teeth, the surrounding space was shrouded with a dark haze.

Afterwards, a hand stretched out from the floor and grabbed the dark elves’ feet.

And the dark elves were drawn into the floor.

“My son, my son’s there too!”

Muyoung held Kalmooh’s shoulder as he attempted to run into the arena.

“Endure it.”

“B, but.”

“You fix and I fight.”

“…I understand.”

As he stressed their roles again, Kalmooh bit his lips and stepped back.

‘He knows how to use specter type skills.’

It was a skill similar to his.

But unlike the 5th floor, he felt like he could continuously watch Oloness fight on the 4th floor.

If he gathered information and was well prepared, his chances of victory would increase.

Since the fight was already held back. It wasn’t late to fight when he was more certain of his victory.

After witnessing this new side of Oloness, Muyoung started to leave once again.

Someone came to find them just as they arrived at their assigned room.

As soon as Kalmooh opened the door after hearing a knock, a man with an awkward expression came in and opened his mouth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Umm, can we talk for a moment?”

A very nervous look.

Muyoung looked at the visitor as if this was unexpected.

This person who had come to his room holding a cane while sweating was Bug.