Chapter 110 - The Last String (1)
'What's that…?'
After watching dumbfounded for a moment, Salon noticed something.
Rather than her muscle strength, the girl was using the reaction of the exploding wind under her feet.
That way of moving somehow resembled TarrTarr's way of moving.
TarrTarr moved faster. Not only that, but the principles behind their movements were different. So why was he thinking that?
While thinking that, Salon noticed that the girl had changed her direction and was running toward him.
'Is she approaching me...?'
As she got closer, he was able to see her face.
Her young looks didn't match a grim battlefield.
But because of the holy atmosphere coming out from her body, she somehow seemed to symbolize the last hope of the war.
The girl, who had gotten closer, suddenly shouted.
"Are you a user?"
Salon was surprised by the girl's question.
She seemed desperate.
Then, Salon got a message.
Ting-!
[Player 'Hyun' wants to control your soul.]
[Will you accept? Y/N]
"What...?"
Salon shook his shoulders.
'Wait, Hyun?!'
Because Salon wanted to become a ranker, he was also interested in the previous game.
He remembered a thread that talked about the different Asra rankers.
In that post, there was some information related to Ain.
Since Salon had never fought against Ain, he’d read that information with great interest.
And by pure coincidence, he’d learned about the existence of a user named 'Hyun.'
Salon had burst into a laugh because the information related to him was hard to believe.
It was as if the one who had posted the thread was his fan.
Even if he had been 1st in the rankings in the previous game, there was no guarantee that he would be able to show his talent in Asrian. After all, the number of players had increased a lot...
Not only that, but no one knew if he was playing Asrian or not.
'Is it that Hyun?'
Salon began wondering.
The message said that the girl was a 'player.'
Was the girl in front of him really Hyun?
He wouldn't have imagined that Hyun was actually a girl. No, maybe they just shared the same ID.
Among users, there were some who copied the IDs of famous people.
"Please accept!"
The user who shouted was the Hyun Salon was thinking about.
The last possibility Hyun thought of was «Assimilating» to a user rather than Louise.
Of course, he knew that the possibility of it working was low. There probably wouldn't be many users who would give him control priority of their bodies.
But at that moment, something unbelievable happened.
[The target has accepted!]
[Now you can use «Assimilation» on 'Salon'!]
Salon was one of the persons who valued their character more than their own lives.
He wouldn't have accepted if he hadn't taken a closer look at the girl's feet.
'Wait, that light is...!'
The girl was emitting a blue aura.
The day of the Count's Quest, Ain was also emitting a blue aura.
On the combo video, TarrTarr was also covered by the same shining effect.
That was the effect of 'Powerless Wave,' but there was no way Salon knew that.
But Salon had been looking closely at the users who were surrounded by that aura.
Just because they had that in common, he loosened his suspicion.
'It's going to be okay, I guess.'
Why was this girl being chased by monsters? What was the blue aura emanating from her feet?
Salon wanted to know the answers to those questions. but he also wanted to help that girl, who seemed desperate.
Lots of different things made Salon make his decision.
Fwoosh-!
The girl's body shone.
Salon absorbed the light particles that came out of her body.
Salon soon discovered that the same blue aura was coming out of his body.
'What... Did the effect get transferred to me?'
Surprised, Salon opened his status window.
He was lost for words.
Vast sentences that he couldn't read at first glance had appeared.
Salon (Lv. 101)
HP: 11084/23857(+8000)
Mana: 820/1600
Job: Sword Dancer
Tendency: 43 (Heaven)
[Strength 51(+103)] [Agility 103(+237)] [Vitality 51(+106)] [Magical Power 51(+109)]
(※ Because of Maria's sacrifice, all your stats have been increased by 100, and your HP has increased by 8000!)
[«Combo» Lv.5(+1)] -<+Open>
(※ Because of Maria's sacrifice, this skill has been strengthened! The time frame of the combo has been increased by 0.5 seconds!)
[«Flawless» Lv.3(+1)]
- If you don't receive any attack for 10 seconds, your speed is increased by 20%.
[«Quick Step» Lv.2(+1)]
- If you successfully hit an opponent, speed is increased by 20% for 2 seconds.
[«Target Locked» Lv.2(+1)]
- The speed at which you approach an opponent increases by 35%.
[«Rhythm» Control Lv.2(+1)]
- Reduce the combo number to half and increase the next instance of dealt damage by a lot. If you manage to land critical hit damage, you'll recover the combos spent.
[«Trance» Lv.0] -<+Open>
(※ You can use Hyun's following skills.)
[«One Second Absorption» Lv.8] - <+Open>
[«Shield» Lv.0] - <+Open>
[«Powerless Wave» Lv.2] - <+Open>
[«Wind Barrier» Lv.0] - <+Open>
[«Pray» Lv.7] - <+Open>
[«Impact Amplification» Lv.3] - <+Open>
[«Invisible» Lv.2] - <+Open>
[«Biorhythm Acceleration» Lv.3] - <+Open>
[«Angel's Basic Sword Art» Lv.5] - <+Open>
[«Assimilation» Lv.0] - <+Open>
As soon as he «Assimilated», Hyun checked out the status window.
After doing it, he bit his lips.
He never would’ve imagined that a user he'd never seen and someone at the level of a ranker would accept his proposal.
If there were a God, he would've liked to «Pray» to say thanks, but there was no time to do that.
「I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain. Just stay still.」
Thanks to the soul conversation, Salon was able to hear Hyun's voice for the first time.
But he didn't immediately answer.
Salon was still busy reading the status window.
Hyun took a glimpse at Louise.
"Louise…"
As an unfamiliar voice called her, she shook her shoulders.
But soon she understood it was Hyun who was calling her…
"Follow me. I'll run at a speed where you should be able to follow me."
"Understood..."
Hyun quickly cooled down his head.
Translator - Daniel Shin
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
Hyun was one of the people who, if they had a goal, would concentrate solely on that goal.
He grabbed the double swords.
Was it because the Heavens were helping him? The user he found was a combo Thief.
Not only that, but his stats were a lot higher than TarrTarr or Louise's.
"Let's go."
Hyun jumped back onto the rooftops.
Louise followed him.
While looking at Louise, he shouted.
"Don't lose sight of me!"
As they appeared in a high place, Hyun and Louise became everyone's target.
Ghosts came from the sky and ghouls from the land.
Not only that, but skeleton archers and mages sent long-range attacks.
Judging by their movements, it was clear that there was a monster with a high rank giving them orders from somewhere.
He wouldn't be able to dodge all of those attacks.
Hundreds of attacks became concentrated on a single point.
'«One Second Absorption», «Invisible»!'
As Hyun extended his hands, Louise's figure disappeared.
'«Biorhythm Acceleration»!'
He used the other skill on himself.
Salon's hands moved explosively.
A silver light flashed beside Louise.
Hyun had taken his concentration to a limit; his movements resembled a sword dance.
It was the dance of the Sword Dancer, a job that derived from a combo Thief.
The sword dance lasted for two seconds, but during that short period, Hyun cut down countless undead.
The bodies of the undead explode while making silver fireworks and falling to the snow.
Once the time of «Invisible» was over, a road opened in front of Hyun.
"Run toward the south!"
Hyun and Louise ran through the roofs.
Sometimes they had to step on the walls and run vertically.
Thankfully, Louise remembered the sensation of climbing the walls.
Even while running as fast as possible, countless monsters came out.
From the sky, land, and even the gaps between buildings!
But at the moment, Hyun was just a knight who was protecting the Priestess.
The two swords drew a crescent moon.
The right sword tore down the ghost, and the left sword destroyed a skeleton who was trying to launch a surprise attack on them.
The death effect of the monsters around Louise didn't stop.
Even without trying too hard, the number of combos quickly surpassed 500.
AIN: Hyun, can you hear me? I've found Radiette's location.
Hyun came back to his senses.
—It was because he'd suddenly heard Ain's voice.
AIN: He isn't in that direction! You need to get a little bit closer to the center!
Even after logging out, you could talk with the other person via the capsule's whisper.
This was possible if, instead of Asrian's ID, you used the capsule's account.
Ain wasn't used to checking out the communities, so it was weird for her to look at streams.
After checking out the locations of both Hyun and Radiette, she told Hyun in which direction to move.
AIN: Just go in the direction you're going right now and you should be okay!
Hyun changed direction to where Ain had told him to.
Radiette was a Heavenly Being, so it was understandable that he had appeared on the streams, but how did Ain know about his location?
He quickly realized the answer.
He saw numerous drone cameras following him.
The drones were flying acrobatically between the buildings while facing this way.
He heard Ain's voice once more.
AIN: Oh! Also, it seems like the eclipse will be over eight minutes after the magic circle goes off! That's what the commentator said.
'Eight minutes... Thanks, Ain.'
He decided to ignore the cameras.
If it weren't for them, Ain wouldn't have been able to see him. And even if he had successfully reached his destination, it would've taken him a while to find Radiette.
Hyun was thankful for the constant lucky situations.
* * *
'Is it a skill that allows him to control another person's body?'
Salon came back to his senses after a while.
He learned many things by reading his status window.
Hyun... The Support job and skills.
He also learned about the unbelievable effect of the «Assimilation» skill.
As he read the description of each skill, he began to understand.
'They're too similar.'
Salon looked at Hyun's plays as if he were watching a puppet show.
He soon discovered something.
His current movements resembled TarrTarr's.
There was no way he would have forgotten the scenes of the video he had seen countless times.
'Maybe...'
Salon made a hypothesis.
Was it possible that the blue aura surrounding TarrTarr in that video was Hyun's «Powerless Wave»?
Maybe Hyun had been «Assimilated» to TarrTarr while recording that video.
Then the owner of those godly movements...
'No. I can think about that later on.'
[1000 combos! Only attacks faster than 1.3 seconds will be counted as a combo!]
Salon shook off the useless thoughts and concentrated on what was happening right in front of him.
Hyun, «Assimilation», Tarr Tarr, Ain, etc.
Instead of worrying about those things, he should focus on himself.
'So this is how he moves.'
How it felt stacking combos.
Salon soon realized that it was a unique opportunity.
There was a huge difference between watching someone's gameplay and feeling it firsthand.
Salon was feeling how Hyun looked at the opponents, how he balanced, timed, and many other things.
If he used that day’s footage while remembering those sensations, how much would he be able to progress?
[Providing first-person perspective to 'The Gamez'!]
[Providing first-person perspective to 'I Game'! To cancel synchronization, check out your status window!]
...
And one more thing…!
There was another thing that made Salon excited.
The drones that had left him had returned and were currently focusing on him.
