244. Increase in reward (2)
Justice.
If the only reason the knights put forward as the correct way is that the strong take it alone…
The one who can be called the apostle of justice here will be me, not them.
So I just spoke directly to the knight in golden armor without hesitation.
According to that nonsensical logic, the only justice here would be me.
By the way-
“…Justice? A challenger with no roots like you, a brat?”
Could it be that he didn’t know that he would return exactly what he said?
“How dare you talk about justice when you’re a bug you don’t even know where it came from…”
The knight in the golden armor shook his helmet-wearing head slightly as if shocked.
As if he had heard a terrible insult.
The moment when the red line-like eyes glowed like an afterimage beyond the helmet.
He cursed at me in a voice that sounded like scratching an iron plate.
“Don’t even think about going back alive. You will die miserably here today.”
and.
“Top! As a knight, I challenge the enemy in front of me to a duel!”
As soon as the other person finished talking like that, a system message appeared in my field of vision.
「Conditions satisfied.」
「The unique attribute ‘Knight Duel’ is activated and a fair duel between each other begins.」 「
You cannot escape from the ‘Duel Location’ until the end of the duel.
」 It is set so that it cannot be used repeatedly.」
「Duelists are not damaged by external factors until the end of the duel.」 It’s
nothing different…
‘It’s a unique trait I haven’t seen in a while.’
The unique characteristic of the golden knight, who introduced himself as Ark Van Heustiger, was activated.
And at the same time, something like a red border appeared in a range of about 100m.
Maybe that’s the anti-escape function that the system message said.
It designated a certain area as a ‘dueling place’ so that it could not escape.
But again, this is close to good news for me.
That’s probably the case…
‘The unique trait itself isn’t bad… but the user’s thoughts aren’t that deep.’
Because I have no intention of running away from this place anyway.
So, so, so, so—!
「The authority ‘King of Winter’ is activated automatically when the conditions are met.」
「All stats are boosted by +10% and the user is not affected by cold at all.」 By
replacing holy power with cold, it freezes the entire area, so even the opponent Responded right away.
“You’re using a nasty trick like a worm.”
Wow!
“But it’s meaningless to me—!”
The moment Ark Van Heustiger stomped his foot on the ground that was about to be covered with ice.
「The cold air of the ice area is greatly suppressed by the authority skill ‘Snowflake Spirit Control Art’.
」
As if being blocked by an invisible flow.
Are you still a challenger who reached the 21st floor in his own way?
As soon as the spreading frost was blocked, Ark Van Heustiger swung his sword right away without delay.
Whoa…!
His sword was already covered with a yellowish sword flame.
I don’t even know if it’s a skill or power, but it seems that the body has been greatly accelerated by this and that effect…
It was definitely different from the knights I’ve dealt with before.
Even if the depth of swordsmanship was not deep, he had the basic skills.
‘At that time, all those who claimed to be vigilantes were subdued, so they sent a powerful person.’
But…
‘It’s fun.’
To put it bluntly, that was all the challenger Ark Van Heustiger had.
Considering the Moorim people he had dealt with so far, this level was not too surprising.
Why did he act so conceited when he couldn’t even deal with swordsmanship or even mind swords?
I laughed at the opponent’s baseless confidence and activated my skill.
「Skill ‘Deceleration of designated target’ is strongly activated.」
「Challenger ‘Ark Van Heustiger”s all speed is reduced by 40% for 4 minutes.」
And.
“Kuh…! What is this…!?”
At the same time, he immediately cut the right arm of Ark Van Heustiger, who was extremely slow.
I’m sorry-!
Immediately the sword in his right hand fell to the ground, his face contorted with pain.
However, as the saying goes, even if it rots,
it’s junchi.
He immediately grabbed the falling sword with his left hand and swung it swiftly.
Incredible swiftness.
It was a level of agility that could not be thought of in the state of giving up one arm.
But I didn’t really care about that.
This series of processes laid the foundation to neutralize him.
actually-
「The skill ‘Abyssal Lineage’ is strongly activated.
」
In the blink of an eye, the black tentacles generated from his left hand stabbed Ark Van Heustiger.
that too exactly.
His right arm was cut off and his ability to evade was blunted due to his loss of balance.
Originally, even this much would cause mental delirium as well as numbness and retirement, but
unlike those I’ve seen so far, he was holding up quite well.
“Cheer up…! I don’t think you can hurt me with something like this—”
It’s probably because he’s overflowing with stamina
…
The solution was very simple.
I immediately swung the black tentacle firmly anchored to his torso.
Soon, the black tentacles swayed wildly, and the new type of Arc Van Heustiger rolled as if swept around.
bang! Kwakwawang! Kwakwagwagwang—!
It shattered the ice made of divinity and mercilessly broke the vegetation, and eventually the opponent’s model touched the red border like a barrier.
Aaaaaaaaaagh!
「*Until the end of the duel, you cannot escape from the “duel location.
”
The forced duel space created by his unique trait ‘Knight’s duel’ was hurting him.
It would do more damage if it crashed into an invisible wall that even received systematic help than if it crashed into the floor.
In response, I swung the black tentacle a few more times and slammed Ark Van Heustiger into the wall.
How many times did you repeat the process?
A moan that had never been heard before began to flow from Ak van Heustiger’s mouth.
“Kkekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeheo…”
Originally, the arena that was set up to prevent me from escaping was actually only
harmful to him….
But that was only for a moment.
As if pulling a fishing line, the black tentacles were retracted, and Ark van Heustiger’s neck was immediately caught in his grasp.
Kwaaaak-!
“Kek…!”
“Stop bothering me and unlock these nonsensical traits.”
“I refuse…! I won’t negotiate with the evil one…!”
“You know you can’t win anyway, right? Even if you put the same condition as not being able to use the same skill, you are at a more disadvantage.”
“Hehehe. that’s what you don’t know In the end, justice always wins.”
I smiled at him and put my left hand on his neck.
“Justice wins in the end….”
Whoops!
“You really think so?”
As he quietly asked the question, Ack Van Heustiger’s eyes were filled with a little bit of fear.
Considering that he had been claiming justice up to now, it was a great improvement.
Now that I’m holding my breath, I think I’m starting to
have the will to talk…
“Answer the question and I’ll let you go.”
“As a knight, do you think you’ll answer something for someone like you!”
“….”
Still, I felt the need for a little deeper persuasion (?).
I grabbed him by the neck and immediately slammed his face on the floor.
very quickly too.
Wow…!
「The skill ‘pain amplification’ is activated.」
Even the pain amplification skill was activated to raise the opponent’s pain.
The numerous experiences accumulated while climbing the tower told me that this would increase the efficiency of the conversation.
Especially when dealing with such a stubborn enemy.
So…
「The skill ‘Torture Skill’ is activated.」
「From now on, you can use a more natural torture method.」
「It becomes easier to instill fear, and all kinds of torture efficiency increases by 10%. Now
it was time to instill manners in this headstrong knight.
***
About an hour passed.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!”
The barrier created by the unique characteristic ‘Knight’s duel’ disappeared before I knew it.
I’m guessing it’s either the duration of the activation has passed or the system treated it as the end of the duel after seeing Ark Van Heustiger’s condition… It does
n’t really matter.
Even if he hadn’t unlocked like this anyway, he would have had to unlock his unique trait eventually.
“Hee hee hee…! Don’t tell me! No matter what you ask, I’ll answer it without hesitation, so stop doing that…!”
As expected, he soon succumbed to the torture, and I immediately asked him questions.
“Is this what vigilantes are all about?”
“…what what—.”
“Are you plundering challengers belonging to a minor dimension and suppressing challengers who don’t agree with you?”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“…Yes. But that is unavoidable. Originally, a big goal comes with a small sacrifice, so there’s nothing you can do about it—”
“I didn’t ask for that.”
And repeating the conversation a few times, I was able to find out this and that information.
‘…First of all, I know that vigilantes are badly rotten.’
vigilante corps.
A group of challengers guarding common areas.
Those who belonged to it were all knights belonging to the Ares dimension.
And according to Ark van Heustiger’s explanation, they all had that same belief.
‘…I never thought he would have taken the position of thoroughly exploiting the weak.’
He stuck out his tongue at the heterogeneous definition that all the weak who did not conform to the strong could be killed.
Originally, I would have passed by thinking that they were just crazy people…
but now it was different.
Having figured out everything I wanted to know, I immediately forced Ark van Heustiger to tell him where the vigilante was.
And—
“…Yes, there it is. That’s where all the vigilantes live. It’s a place only vigilantes can enter.”
The moment I arrived at the real common area with Ark Van Heustiger.
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the sight that came into my field of vision.
It was worth it.
It was because there was a place to use the core function of the public area prepared by the tower.
So I couldn’t understand it any more.
“Only vigilantes can get in there?”
Originally, this common area on the 21st floor was also available for use by other challengers.
The common area I saw before also allowed challengers to be active.
However, the truth that soon flowed from Ark Van Heustiger’s mouth was different from what was expected.
that’s not good either.
“…okay. These vigilantes are those who defend the weak. As those who uphold justice, they deserve to enjoy the due rights accordingly.”
nonsense.
Small-level challengers do not think deeply and protect the weak from the thought of persecuting them, so are they rewarded appropriately?
I can’t understand and I can’t understand.
Even then, I couldn’t figure out where the challengers other than the vigilantes were interacting.
Feeling that my head was pounding, I opened my mouth and asked a question.
“Then where are the other challengers interacting?”
“…That’s right, it’s over there. A place where you can interact.”
And—
“….”
The moment I saw the place Ark Van Heustiger’s eyes were pointing at.
Then I had no choice but to close my eyes and keep my eyes closed.
Unlike the public area prepared by the tower, shabby buildings were lined up.
Only then could I understand the situation.
‘Is it like that?’
They are not vigilantes in the first place.
As knights belonging to the Ares dimension empire, they are only occupying common areas by force.
They simply wrapped themselves in words of justice and greatness to look noble.
In reality, it was nothing more than a group of thugs who had taken over the village.
I’m guessing that no one would fight them.
After all, things like common areas can be used elsewhere once you move on to the next floor.
Therefore, the weak are thoroughly exploited, and the strong stand by because they do not want to suffer losses.
They are well aware of that, so they are occupying all the advantages of the common area.
“…”
I laughed silently at that.
I couldn’t believe that so many parts had rotted.
Thanks to this odd sight, I couldn’t regret the new convictions in the end.
And I could think
Enemy is something that must be rooted out.
And—
“It’s fun.”
next moment.
「Boss skill ‘Blood Deep Gong’ is strongly activated.」
「Skill ‘Seeker of Fresh Blood’ is strongly activated.」
「Skill ‘Unextinguished Mortal Flame’ is strongly activated.」
Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
A bloody storm hurled into the common areas with black flames.
