Chapter 192: Chapter 192

[Lycanthrope uses Frigid Chains.]

As the second pattern began, thousands of bundles of dark red chains sprang up from the ground.

[What are all those…?]

Frigid Chains.

They might look incredibly hot, but that was an illusion.

These chains were so cold that they would freeze anything they touched.

Even Jeong-Hoon, clad in Legendary armor, would be instantly out if he got hit by those chains.

Clatter!

Countless chains stretched towards Jeong-Hoon.

‘Leviathan needs to hold up.’

Jeong-Hoon used his movement technique and swung Leviathan widely.

A few chains collided and bounced off.

The deflected chains, as if they had lost their power, sank back into the ground.

However, there were still countless chains remaining.

Clatter!

Numerous chains surrounded and reached out towards Jeong-Hoon.

[1st Form: Initiation activated.]

Jeong-Hoon activated Initiation and spun his body widely.

He quickly deflected the approaching chains.

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough to block all the chains.

Then he had no choice but to use an additional method.

It wasn’t a skill, but a technique anyone could use if they could control mana.

However, it was a technique rarely used by anyone other than experts, as it was difficult to control the amount of mana released without sufficient mastery.

Moreover, the released mana could only weakly defend against external attacks for a brief moment, and if the timing was even slightly off, it would only consume mana without providing any defense.

This was because the condensed mana would disperse into the air.

In essence, it was a technique used only by experienced players.

And Jeong-Hoon was an experienced player.

He was Jeong-Hoon, who had done everything he could to rise from his weakest days.

“Hup!”

Jeong-Hoon released a faint amount of mana outwards.

*Ting!* Ting!

A few chains collided with the released mana and slowed down.

The mana that had briefly protected Jeong-Hoon’s body quickly dispersed.

[1st Form: Initiation activated.]

Gaining that brief moment, Jeong-Hoon quickly repositioned himself and deflected the chains with Leviathan.

After repeating this for a while, the second pattern ended.

“Damn human…!”

Lycanthrope glared at Jeong-Hoon with bloodshot eyes.

With the second pattern over, it had exhausted all its mana.

Since the energy source was destroyed, it couldn’t recover.

Jeong-Hoon used his movement technique and swung Leviathan down at Lycanthrope.

Slice.

With a cutting sound, Lycanthrope screamed.

Jeong-Hoon didn’t stop and continued to unleash the Sword of Extinction repeatedly, pressuring Lycanthrope.

Thus, its health, which had been at 70%, dropped to 40%.

[Lycanthrope enters 2nd Berserk.]

With this, the third pattern.

Jeong-Hoon used his movement technique and retreated.

Although the third pattern could be skipped, he had noticed something slightly different from the second pattern.

If he gambled on skipping it and failed, he would die instantly.

He would be logged out for 24 hours.

If that happened, it would be impossible to acquire Heavenly Power within the remaining time.

“I’ll kill you!”

Various attacks poured out from the arms attached to Lycanthrope.

He was able to avoid some attacks because he kept his distance, but he endured the unavoidable attacks by relying on the terrain, like icebergs.

[Wow… Look at it unleashing attacks. Where is all that energy coming from?]

Where else would it come from?

It was fully charged with energy after going berserk.

The third pattern was to dodge all its attacks until that energy ran out.

Similarly, if he got hit by those attacks even once, it wouldn’t be surprising if he died instantly.

‘Is this the last pattern?’

Jeong-Hoon shook his head at Anima’s question.

“It has a total of four patterns.”

[Why so many?]

‘They must have made it on purpose to prevent clearing.’

That’s right.

They had made the difficulty level hellish to prevent anyone from reaching the Heavens.

Nevertheless, there were quite a few people who had overcome that hellish difficulty and approached Heavenly Power.

“Grrrr! Hiding is useless!”

Lycanthrope extended an arm towards the iceberg where Jeong-Hoon was hiding.

That arm, unlike the others, was made of machinery.

A breath blasted out from the machine, melting the entire iceberg.

“Do you think you’ll hit me if you just shoot randomly?”

However, Jeong-Hoon dodged even that breath.

Frustrated by the continuous misses, Lycanthrope stomped its feet in anger.

“Get hit! That’s an order!”

“Bullshit.”

Jeong-Hoon dodged playfully, waiting for it to tire out.

After repeated attacks, Lycanthrope started to pant.

The energy that had been replenished by the berserk state was depleted once again.

As the third pattern ended, Jeong-Hoon, as if he had been waiting, used his movement technique and attacked it.

Its health rapidly decreased, and when it reached 5%,

A light flickered in Lycanthrope’s eyes.

The fourth pattern was about to begin.

“Okay. Let’s end this.”

Jeong-Hoon threw a potion he had purchased beforehand, called ‘Burning Asda’s Curse’, at it.

Smoke started to rise from Lycanthrope’s body, which was about to go berserk, and it let out a scream on a completely different level from before.

“Kraaaaaaaaaaagh!”

This potion, which melted everything, was fatal to Lycanthrope, an ice-attribute monster.

That’s why he was able to skip the fourth pattern.

Jeong-Hoon switched to Anima, pulled the bowstring, and released it.

Ultimate Arrow.

The arrow shot towards its heart and pierced it accurately.

“Keugh…”

Blood poured from its nose and mouth, and its massive body collapsed.

[You have defeated Lycanthrope.]

[Lycanthrope (1/30)]

With Lycanthrope’s defeat, the count increased by one.

Mukho and Anima clicked their tongues at the sight.

[You worked so hard to catch it, and you still have to do it 29 more times?]

‘This is really serious…’

Still, Jeong-Hoon was quite satisfied with this hunt.

“It’s okay. I can catch the next one even faster.”

If he could skip up to the third pattern, he could clear it in a much shorter time.

Jeong-Hoon exited the dungeon and immediately entered the Frigid Lycanthrope dungeon again.

***

16 hours later.

“…You finished?”

Jeong-Hoon returned to the NPC after defeating all 30.

Naturally, the NPC couldn’t help but be shocked.

He had defeated the tricky Lycanthrope in just 16 hours.

It was an unbelievable result.

“Yes. What’s the next quest?”

“…Why don’t you rest a bit?”

The NPC suggested that Jeong-Hoon take a break, but he shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

“No… I’m not fine…”

“Then just hand over the Heavenly Power right now.”

“That’s even more…”

She was trying to avoid giving it to him no matter what.

That meant she knew about the countdown.

“Then give me the 3rd quest.”

“…Ha, alright. I can’t help it.”

The NPC let out a small sigh and snapped her fingers.

[Pass the trial.]

– Defeat NPC ???

The final quest was to have a duel with the NPC in front of him.

“That’s too unfair.”

“Huh? What’s unfair?”

The NPC asked with a relaxed smile.

“Our levels are different.”

“Ah, I’ll match the levels.”

“What about stats?”

“…Why are you so suspicious?”

“Isn’t it strange not to be suspicious?”

“…Alright. I’ll match the stats to level 226 as well. Is that okay now?”

“Are you confident you can keep that promise?”

“Yes! If I break it, I’ll hand over the Heavenly Power right away! Satisfied?”

Jeong-Hoon nodded.

“I hope you keep your word.”

The final duel with the NPC.

That was the same method he had used to obtain Heavenly Power before his regression.

No matter how much she didn’t want to give it to him, she would keep her word.

“But if you fail, I’ll take all of your Heavenly Energy.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

At that moment, the NPC’s figure disappeared.

Whoosh-

Wind rushed past Jeong-Hoon’s face.

He tilted his head to the side.

A fist grazed his ear and passed by.

‘Quite fast.’

Even though she had matched his level to 226, the NPC’s movements were so fast that Jeong-Hoon couldn’t read them properly.

He had dodged that attack almost unconsciously.

Bam!

And then a counterattack followed immediately.

Jeong-Hoon’s fist hit her side.

“Ugh!”

She let out a small groan.

“It doesn’t seem like I’ll be losing my energy.”

Jeong-Hoon grinned.

The NPC’s face flushed at his smile.

“This brat?”

Whoosh!

Another fist flew at him.

She was trying to subdue him in the same way because he was a martial artist.

‘Dangerous.’

It was a much faster and sharper punch than the one he had barely dodged before.

Thinking he couldn’t avoid it, he raised his guard and hurriedly defended.

Thud!

He succeeded in blocking it, but a shock that made his whole body tingle surged through him.

‘She said she would match the stats to level 226.’

It was obvious that she hadn’t perfectly matched them.

Jeong-Hoon used the Underworld King’s Fist Technique and counterattacked once again.

A fist imbued with the Underworld King’s energy flew towards her face.

She dodged it lightly, using her left foot as an axis and pulling her right shoulder back, as if it was nothing.

Thud!

Of course, Jeong-Hoon, who had anticipated the dodge, swung his extended fist to the right and accurately struck her jaw.

“Ugh!”

The NPC’s head snapped to the left.

She gritted her teeth and struck Jeong-Hoon’s abdomen with her right hand.

“…!”

Jeong-Hoon’s eyes widened slightly at the heavy blow.

Then, he grabbed the NPC by the collar and headbutted her nose.

Her head was thrown back by the brute force attack, and blood spurted from her nose.

“Kragh!”

Jeong-Hoon’s forehead also reddened, but he quickly healed it with Advanced Healing.

“You’re still far off.”

“Damn it!”

Jeong-Hoon didn’t let go of the collar he was holding.

Then, he started punching her face with his left hand.

Of course, the NPC didn’t just take the hits; she attacked Jeong-Hoon using both her hands and feet.

It was a contest of pure endurance.

However, as time passed, the NPC’s movements started to slow down.

‘What the… What is this?!’

As the damage accumulated, she felt like she was about to collapse at any moment.

‘This is strange… I matched the stats to level 330?’

Her claim of matching the stats to level 226 was a lie.

It was to prevent him from getting the Heavenly Power at all costs.

If she had known it would turn out like this, she should have matched it to level 400 instead of 330.

The NPC gritted her teeth and slapped Jeong-Hoon’s face.

Jeong-Hoon’s head turned to the side, and he punched the NPC’s jaw again.

“Cough!”

“You’re still far off.”

Jeong-Hoon repeated the words ‘still far off’ and focused on hitting the same spot on the NPC.

“Damn you! Please stop it!”

“No. We have to go all the way.”

With those chilling words, a grin spread across Jeong-Hoon’s face.

The NPC’s shoulders trembled once at his smile.

Then, a look of panic washed over the NPC’s face.

‘Am I scared…?’

She couldn’t believe it.

Scared of a mere human.

It was a moment of crushing pride.

“Alright! Let’s go all the way!”

***

A long time had passed since the battle began.

There was no part of the NPC’s face left unscathed.

And the NPC, whose collar was being held, raised both hands, trembling.

“S-Stop… I lost…”

This damn persistent guy.

How could he not even think about letting go of her collar?

She felt like she would really die if this continued.

“Really?”

Thud!

Jeong-Hoon said that and punched the NPC’s face one more time.

The Underworld King’s energy surrounding his fist was at a whopping 8th form.

The NPC, fed up with the absurdly powerful Underworld King’s Fist Technique, shouted,

“Stop it! You bastard!”

“Alright.”

Thud!

Jeong-Hoon punched her jaw again.

“Ack! Fuck!”

“You shouldn’t have lied. If you had honestly matched the stats to level 226, I would have hit you less.”

“…What, you knew?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

Jeong-Hoon grinned with his battered face.

“…Ha. Alright, I was wrong.”

“So I won?”

“Yes… So please, just stop.”

A rainbow-colored exclamation mark blinked above the NPC’s head.

Only then did Jeong-Hoon release the collar he had been holding.

———-