Chapter 5: A Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial (4) |
2. Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character (4)
“Do– Don’t come… Don’t come!”
Son Mingi stammered with his words again while stepping back.
Still, he was able to make a rational decision and throw the spiderweb net-trap.
The smell of oat flowers’ recovery extract will linger for roughly over a 1 minute.
Out of 3 items, only a mere 2 were left, since one was used on Yu Sang-hun.
The spiderweb net-trap binding effect lasts for 5 seconds. In 10 seconds, Son Mingi will have to gamble his life playing hide and seek with the demonic beast.
‘The barrier will be released in 4 minutes. Son Mingi won’t survive until that time.’
It’s when I had to use my last trick.
⟨Reading the Enemy’s status window.⟩
[Enemy name] Rinoseron no. 13
[Rarity] R+
[Titles] Demonic monster-pet, Ung’s family
[Blessing] Your master commanded you this ‘Destroy everything’
[Status] Complete obedience(impossible to disable), cognitive abilities degeneration, perception degeneration, instinct strengthening, 12 physical strength reduction, 15 power reduction, 8 defense reduction, 6 magic reduction, 9 magic resistance reduction, 6 agility reduction, 13 special attack resistance decline.
[Overall statistics] Lv. 19
[Skills]
Heavy rush Lv. 3
…
…
…
Worthy of the barrier created by the staff of prestigious Eungwang School and strengthened by the Ung.
As expected, approximately 70 barrier’s status effects had been replicated and applied.
The ‘Exam’s boundary barrier’ didn’t apply damage, but produced status effects by replication.
‘It’s still strong enough to annihilate middle schoolers here.’
It was cut in half, but the Rinoseron’s overall statistics were Lv. 19.
My overall statistics were Lv. 10
However, it didn’t matter how big a difference of the overall statistics level, the outcome of the battle depended on strategy and skill types.
If compared, it’s a human, not a demonic beast, who possesses higher level battle skills.
‘I can do it, I can do it…’
I held the materialized ‘Assassin’s apprentice’s pocket knife’ card.
After unfolding it, I realized the blade wasn’t even 6 cm long.
In comparison, the beast had over 2m in shoulder height while standing on four limbs.
There was no way I wouldn’t be afraid.
I was only waiting to die while staring into my smartphone screen and now I’m about to run towards a demonic beast or something?
I felt as if my heart was about to jump out of my throat.
I took out the knife, but my feet didn’t move.
The hand holding the knife was shaking.
It was at a different level from preparing attack moves in my head or the game happening over the screen.
“Ah! Aaaah! Sav–Save me! No!”
While I couldn’t move.
The 10 seconds given to Son Mingi ended.
It was also a treasure like 10 seconds I wasted.
The Rinoseron untangled itself from the trap and rushed at Son Mingi.
Son Mingi tried to flee, but the demonic beast caught up immediately.
Bang! Pop, pop…
“Uaaaghr, kuuugh!”
I heard the sound of something breaking and bursting.
The Rinoseron didn’t stop and continued to repeatedly hammer its enormous horns against Son Mingi.
Bang, bang, bang-crack!
At some point, Son Mingi wasn’t even screaming.
The fear grew more because of that.
‘If things won’t go according to my thoughts, I’ll be next.’
I repeatedly took a deep breath, but my feet didn’t budge.
The Rinoseron’s legs weren’t tied.
It may perceive my attack as a threat and attack me instead of Son Mingi.
‘Move, you have to go…!’
I saw Yu Sang-hun, who froze since hearing the screams, started to run away with Jang Namuk supporting him from the side .
Jang Namuk, who still had some strength left, might be lucky to survive in critical condition.
Even though most of the body will be gone.
‘Yu Sang-hun will definitely die.’
The tutorial ending scene I saw, the broken polygon chunks, the dying NPCs, those will be the two of them.
As I thought up to here, I was already moving towards the demon beast.
⟨The skill ‘Use of everything’ activated.⟩
My hand moved freely.
As if it was a hammer or something I held before, I naturally corrected the hold on the knife and struck down at the demonic beast attacking Son Mingi.
I saw a red health bar above its body when I tried to attack it.
It didn’t decrease even a little.
One hit, two hits, three hits…
Hits, stabs, cuts. My hand never took a wrong posture, skillfully attacking the opponent, but I felt like a glass cutter cutting a stone.
As if the demonic beast wore a cloak made of steel, I couldn’t inflict even one wound.
That was because, compared to the Enemy, the knife efficiency and my abilities were absurdly low.
I repeatedly hit, dozen of times, but Rinoseron’s health bar didn’t decrease even 1%.
“Jo Uisin!”
As he observed the scene from afar, Jang Namuk had an anxious expression.
If it was Jang Namuk who possessed an insight skill, he would know the damage the Enemy currently took was close to 0.
Still, if I stop here, it’s the end.
I had to finish it while the demonic beast was attacking Son Mingi.
However…
The oat flower scent completely vanished and the smell of rotting meat began to fill my nose.
The blood dripping beast no longer cared about the motionless Son Mingi and glared at me.
‘I want to run…!’
There was no comparison to the things seen on the smartphone screen and that intense pressure.
I didn’t know if I wouldn’t end up like Son Mingi in the next second.
Uwaaaa….!
But the demonic beast howled before me once and then ignored me completely.
Maybe it was because the accumulated damage was almost 0.
Probably the Jin’s family member judged me as harmless, and instead of attacking me directly, it was determined to carry out an order given with a blessing to ‘Destroy everything’.
⟨Warning. The Enemy ‘Rinoseron’ is about to use the skill ‘Heavy rush’.⟩
One of the effects when an Enemy uses its skill – the red steam gushing out – occurred on the Rinoseron’s body.
In the next few seconds, my body will turn into powder in the shock wave of the skill Rinoseron’s used.
Faster.
A bit faster!
I put my whole heart and soul into swinging the knife.
“No…! Stop and run, Jo Uisin!”
Far away, Jang Namuk was shouting.
Even so, I didn’t stop and swing my arm wildly towards the body visible over red steam.
Ping.
⟨Weapon proficiency reached 100%.⟩
I heard the system’s announcement.
Done!
I raised the knife to stab the Rinoseron just as it began to glow.
⟨Weapon’s rarity rank raised from N- to N.⟩
The rank change effect wrapped around the knife.
The knife in my hand penetrated the steam gushing out of the Rinoseron and dug deep into its body.
The time when I couldn’t leave even one scratch seemed like a lie. The knife flew, burrowing into the monster’s vital point.
Pat!
⟨The special attack ‘Insta-kill’ activated.⟩
Uwee…
The Rinoseron roared in its final death struggle and collapsed with a thud. It couldn’t resist at all.
Even after it collapsed, I stood there, aiming at it with a pocket knife for a long time, but it no longer moved.
‘I brought it down..!’
I looked down at the motionless monster while panting and gasping for breath.
If I was even a bit late, I would end up in a similar state to Son Mingi.
My hand holding the knife no longer trembled, but my head still felt dizzy.
“Jo Uisin!”
Jang Namuk and Yu Sang-hun yelled my name while they came running as if on fire.
It was a much faster speed than when they escaped.
At that sight, the tension dried out, and laughter broke out.
“You brought it down… Well done. Jo Uisin!”
“That was so close. Were you showing off?”
Jang Namuk’s face was crumbling on the verge of crying, while Yu Sang-hun was smiling brightly.
Pale faced Yu Sang-hun seemed to forget about pain because of adrenaline secretion and had time to joke around.
“What showing off? You did a good job, guys.”
I patted teary Jang Namuk’s shoulder hard so that tears would go back in.
Even if you’re just a middle school kid, if you cry with a person next to you, it will become your black history in the future.
I hit him quite strongly, so it must have hurt, but even so, he gave me a brilliant smile.
“Yu Sang-hun. Did the bleeding stop?”
“Thanks to that bastard Son Mingi spraying a recover[1] I’m a bit better.”
Though he said the bleeding currently stopped, if he moves, a wound may open again.
Yu Sang-hun was a guy who didn’t make a weak sound once, even on the brink of dying.
‘It’s likely he will keep his mouth shut, even if the wound worsens.’
In preparation for such a case, I made Yu Sang-hun take off his school uniform’s jacket, which turned into rags and cut it with a pocket knife to make temporary bandages.
I cardified the pocket knife before I wrapped Yu Sang-hun’s chest in temporary bandages.
The item data seemed to be updated just as I cardified it.
⟨Reading updated item data.⟩
[Item name] Assassin’s apprentice’s pocket knife
[Type] Weapon
[Rarity] N
[Proficiency] 102%
[Effect] Proficiency experience bonus 10%, agility +2.5, strength +0.5
[Description]
A cheap weapon you can buy even at the ordinary market.
It contains the deep grudges of its previous user, an assassin’s apprentice, and an avenger.
To cut the archenemy’s throat, the avenger honed his skills without rest.
If he didn’t give up until the end, his one hit would surely…
When confronting Enemies with a big level difference, you gain as much as you risk.
‘One of the things you receive is a weapon’s proficiency experience.’
This knife had the lowest rank, with a proficiency boost added.
So, the proficiency needed to increase the rank wasn’t that big, and by using this knife to attack a high level Enemy, you could level up in a moment.
And upon this weapon level up, a special effect is added.
That was one of the special attacks – the Insta-kill.
‘Ultimately, in the game it was useless junk, because the chances of Insta-kill were low and the weapon’s abilities and level were also too low.’
The story is different if you have a barrier giving status effects in front of you, which has its strength reinforced by who knows how many Jin people.
Thanks to Rinoseron’s status window, I confirmed that among the status effects the barrier generates was a special attack resistance debuff.
‘I was lucky.’
However, the luck during pulling items was the worst.
Because surviving 15 minutes would be much easier if I pulled out items of a bit higher rarity or more usable.
Also, if not for the Power of Fate skill activating, at least one person would have died in Son Mingi’s scheme.
“Jo Uisin, aren’t you wrapping it too tight?”
“Be patient. First, you need to press the wound to an extent, to stop bleeding.”
Yu Sang-hun didn’t make a painful sound even though he was frowning.
At the side of playing tough Yu Sang-hun, Jang Namuk went into a nag attack about this and that.
I felt I was seeing a part of this game’s happy ending I wished for, even when I was dying.
It was a time-limited life that didn’t have a future anyway.
It wouldn’t be bad if I could use it to see a happy ending of this world.
I still had doubts about the situation I encountered…
‘But, now…’
Now was a time to share the joy of surviving and clearing a tutorial quest with teammates.
Because it will be our first and the last clear of this game’s ‘Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character’.
****
“Why did you give it to that bastard?”
Yu Sang-hun‘s gaze turned from the formed blood clot to lying Son Mingi.
Somehow his shape was preserved, but his body was completely destroyed in some places.
It was difficult to tell whether he was dead or just fainted.
‘It’s a big chance he is alive.’
Because near Son Mingi, 4 pieces of ‘Scarecrow’s devotion’ remains, of which Yu Sang-hun passed his ownership to me before, were left.
“Isn’t it an item to reduce damage?”
Jang Namuk probably identified it with an insight skill.
The moment when ‘Spiderweb net-trap’ was released, I used ‘Scarecrow’s devotion’ on Son Mingi.
“To help him survive. With the Rinoseron’s abilities already decreased, I thought that if I reduced damage, he would likely survive, even if crippled.”
Players’ bodies were far stronger than ordinary peoples, so it wasn’t easy to die.
If you think about a player and an ordinary person in terms of levels, my – a 3 year middle school student and a reserve player – overall statistics were 10.
It differs depending on the individual, but for an ordinary person, the level was known to be somewhere between 1 to 5.
An ordinary person would die out of shock within seconds if their limbs were simultaneously crushed, but Son Mingi was a reserve player supported by the most prestigious school in Korea.
He wouldn’t die easily.
“I gave it to you because you took a dangerous part. I didn’t give it to the backstabbing bastard to use.”
“I know.”
“Are you saying you’re going to turn a blind eye to a bastard who tried to kill you?”
“No.”
Yu Sang-hun had a face as if he chewed on a rotten tangerine.
“If you reflect, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but this guy won’t do that. That to say, it’s okay.”
I also had no thoughts about turning a blind eye to this trash.
‘So I can’t have Son Mingi die here.’
Let’s assume that in the most prestigious school of Korea, Eungwang Player Maister High School, due to the Jin’s family member attack, one examinee dies and three survive.
There is a good chance that every arrow will be pointed at the school and three survivors.
I experienced that before, but those two will also get involved.
I’ll be okay, but whether those middle school kids can handle their daily life falling apart is a question.
‘So, based on my thoughts, I need Son Mingi to survive, even if he probably won’t reflect quietly.’
The person’s essence won’t change in a deadly crisis.
I saw Son Mingi’s essence in a desperate situation.
“I get it.”
In the end, the first to bend was Yu Sang-hun.
The mood became awkward.
Jang Namuk looked into my and Yu Sang-hun’s eyes and barely said a word.
“Um… Yes, by the way, did I give you 2 item cards? I was convinced there were only 4 cards, but it seems I made a mistake, but the results were fortunate…”
Clang!
Jang Namuk’s efforts to change a mood were wasted.
Before his words even finished, the gym’s door cracked and split.
‘There is still 1 minute until the release of the barrier.’
Only those with abilities at the level of Jin people could break a Jin’s barrier.
Me, Jang Namuk and Yu Sang-hun looked in the direction where the sound was heard with anxious eyes.
‘What…’
My mind turned hazy for a moment before I realized what appeared before my eyes.
In front of the shattered gym’s door stood a person holding a sword so white my eyes prickled. [2]
I knew very well that sword’s identity.
The White Fang of the Thunder Clouds Breaker[3].
If swung towards the sky, it will slice the clouds and thunder, that is Baekho’s fang.
‘It’s Baek Ho-gun…!’
I could recognize him without even looking at his favorite White Fang, by just his silhouette.
Baek Ho-gun was among the last playable characters who remained alone in the final battle.
He was my main playable character, who I raised the most and used the longest.
However…
‘Baek Ho-gun didn’t appear during this event.’
It was something different between the game I knew and this world.
~*~*~
[1] recover – He said ‘recovery medicine’ but as I gracefully omitted ‘medicine’ from the item name before, we ended up with ‘recover’…
[2] Jo Uisin is implying that the sword is so pure-white that his eyes itch, but I swear he must be lying. He had a history of that.
[3] The Fang of the Thunder clouds breaker – literally translation would be: ‘The fang of the one who broke clouds and decapitated the thunder’, or something like that. Chinese is a language this translator didn’t learn yet.
Translator’s note: This probably is one of the few moments when Jo Uisin describes his negative emotions like fear with such clarity… And it’s one of the worst in the current 850 chapters, when I’m writing this. Which leads this translator to believe that in fact, this bastard is still downplaying it. Guys, he is having a full-fledged freaking panic attack there and acts like nothing happened!
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