The Boundless Necromancer - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: The Murim Challenger (2)

My brows knitted as I stared at the poised old man.

Not only did he steal my objective, but I could tell that he was strong.

After spending so much time in this damned tower, I started being able to feel these things.

Who’s strong and who’s weak.

And the man who called himself Baek Sunhak was part of the former group.

‘Fuck.’

It felt like I was standing in front of an immovable mountain.

‘I had a bad feeling about this…’

But to face an intruder right at the cusp of the 10th floor…

I got myself into a defensive stance to prepare for the impending battle.

Whatever the situation was before, my objective now was to fight this man.

‘I have no choice.’

I had to kill the old man standing in front of me.

It was then—

“Young man, what is your name?”

Out of nowhere, the man put on a warm smile and asked for my name.

‘What?’

Is he just a self-obsessed narcissist like the black knight?

But he gave off a completely different impression.

He didn’t seem to be taunting me or letting his guard down.

As if it was common etiquette to ask for my name.

And because I stood there staring at him, without uttering a word—

“Even if we die, shouldn’t we at least know our opponent’s names?”

The old man asked as if he genuinely didn’t understand my actions.

It caught me off guard, but it didn’t seem to be a trap.

‘I don’t think he’s up to anything but…’

I took a step back to gain some distance before finally speaking up.

At this distance, I should be able to block or dodge anything he could throw at me.

‘Don’t let your guard down.’

He might have something hidden up his sleeve like the aura thing that the black knight used.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Hm, I’ve also revealed my position and name…”

That’s not what I asked.

I don’t know why he revealed what he did but…

Just because he did doesn’t mean I had to as well.

“I mean, for what purpose did you ask me that?”

In other words, I know you’re up to something.

The man seemed to understand what I meant and let out a sigh.

“This is difficult. Maybe because you’re from a different world.”

Likewise.

‘I think you have a loose screw somewhere in your head.’

Looking at how frustrated he was, he didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive but…

I didn’t particularly want to tell him my name.

It could potentially be a prerequisite to activating his innate ability or something.

And…

“You probably didn’t intrude my trial out of the goodness of your heart.”

He was literally here to eliminate me.

I had no reason to answer him.

But…

“It’s just simple etiquette…”

The old man clicked his tongue and took out the sword hanging from his waist.

I didn’t know what kind of place this ‘Murim’ was, but it definitely wasn’t normal.

Especially if they consider introductions before a duel to be normal.

“Well, it’s fine. I can’t force you to be respectful.”

In an instant, the old man’s atmosphere sharpened and…

Shssst—!

“Goodbye, nameless swordsman.”

He swung his sword cleanly at the empty space in front of him.

“…?”

My confusion didn’t last very long.

「 Your vision is blinded by the innate ability ‘Sword Flash.’ 」

The man’s sword flashed with a bright white light and blinded me.

‘What the…!’

As if to undermine my decision to put some distance between us, the flash took away my ability to react to any of his attacks.

Of course…

「 Activating the skill ‘Mana Resistance.’ 」

「 The blindness duration has been reduced to 2.5 seconds. 」

My mana circuit and resistance activated and reduced the effectiveness but…

It didn’t matter that much against a ridiculous ability like blinding.

It was then—

「 Activating the skill ‘Mind’s Eye.’ 」

Everything changed when the skill I obtained from the dungeon boss activated.

I was able to feel his blade rapidly approaching my throat.

‘Nice…!’

I relied heavily on this feeling and tried to react to the best of my ability.

Even though I couldn’t gauge an accurate distance or see his body,

It was still enough.

Slaaash—!

“Ugh!”

I twisted my torso at the very moment the blade tried to pierce my throat and managed to dodge it.

「 Achievement ‘Blind Evasion’ unlocked. 」

「 Agility increased by 2. 」

***

I couldn’t dodge it completely and the blade slightly grazed my neck, but it wasn’t something to worry about.

「 Innate ability ‘Sword Flash’s effect has concluded. 」

“What…?”

The first thing I saw as I gained sight again was a flustered face.

He must have been shocked that his attack didn’t work but…

「 Activating the skill ‘Ashen Blood.’ 」

「 Activating the skill ‘Instant Acceleration.’ 」

I healed the scratch on my neck as I counter-attacked with an attack of my own.

Fwoosh—!

Ripping the air in front of me, I lunged forward as the old man almost glided back from surprise.

“…How did you know?”

I had no reason to answer this either.

It was a waste of my breath.

I looked him directly in the eye and said the only thing I needed to say.

“Wind’s Blessing.”

「 Activating the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」

「 All speeds increased by 30%. 」

「 Number of stacks – 3/7 」

With both the Wind’s Blessing and Instant Acceleration stacked on each other, I leaped forward.

I closed the distance in an instant and swung the sword in my right hand.

“You evil demon…”!

The old man finally gave up on trying to make me talk and bit his lip as he fended off my swing.

Clang!

The blades collided and sparks flew out between us.

He monotonously nullified my attack with his own.

And from the looks of his trembling fingers, the difference in our stats wasn’t very big.

‘I don’t overpower him with all my stat boosts?’

Even the black knight couldn’t do anything with my stats that were boosted by necromancy…

This self-proclaimed Murim elder was different.

Even if he did use both of his hands, the fact that I couldn’t push him back meant his stats were much higher than I expected.

That wasn’t all.

Even though he wasted his breath by asking me useless questions, he wasn’t out of breath at all.

Compared to me, I may be the one who was out of breath.

‘Is it a difference in technique?’

I thought my swordsmanship wasn’t all that bad, especially with my weapons skill…

This otherworldly challenger was in a league of his own.

‘An experienced swordsman with similar stats…’

I suddenly felt a lick of chill down my back.

The old man exuded bloodlust from his eyes as he muttered in a cold voice.

“I’ll get serious now.”

Before I could even process what he had just said, the old man slashed the air once more and…

「 Your vision is blinded by the innate ability ‘Sword Flash.’ 」

I was blinded yet again.

「 Activating the skill ‘Mana Resistance.’ 」

「 The blindness duration has been reduced to 2.5 seconds. 」

But now, without my sense of sight, my other senses felt more heightened than before.

「 The skill ‘Mind’s Eye’ is currently activated. 」

The Mind’s Eye skill allows me to ‘perceive attacks from outside my range of vision.’

And because this ability completely blocked my field of vision, I was able to perceive attacks from all directions.

Even then, the old man’s attacks were ferocious.

Shhhhsst—!

He ripped through the air as if he didn’t even want to hide his attacks anymore.

I was relying on the Mind’s Eye to dodge, but the attacks weren’t slowing down.

‘How is his attack speed so high…?’

I must have dodged seven different swings but the blindness was still effective.

That means the old man swung seven times within a 2.5 second time frame.

And all my speeds were increased by 30% with the Wind’s Blessing.

That included an attack speed boost, and he easily matched that.

‘No, he was overpowering it…!’

「 Innate ability ‘Sword Flash’s effect has concluded. 」

Claaaang—!

The sound of two metals clashing filled the whole colosseum.

I instinctually swung my sword at the incoming blade as soon as my sight came back but…

The old man seemed to have expected that and used the rebound to counter-attack.

It was an insane combo that combined his insane attack speed with increased momentum.

‘I can’t dodge this.’

After determining that, I raised the shield that was attached to my left hand.

Of course, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to block that with just a shield.

It was my last-ditch effort to reduce some of the damage.

The old man seemed to know this as well and accelerated his attack.

But…

「 Activating Wrought Iron Pendant’s (B) effect ‘Steel’s Blessing.’ 」

「 Your skin develops a property that absorbs all physical damage by 10% 」

I had no intentions of taking the full impact of that attack.

Kraack…!

The shield attached to my left arm shattered into tiny pieces and scattered everywhere.

His sword didn’t stop there and pierced through about half my arm before I could pull it away.

Slaaaash—!

My left arm was completely tattered by the sword but it didn’t matter.

The pain was drastically reduced and it had already started healing.

「 Deactivating Wrought Iron Pendant’s (B) effect ‘Steel’s Blessing.’ 」

I deactivated the pendant so as to not waste extra mana and…

I glared at the old man as I hopped back while holding my left arm.

‘He’s a monster…’

He was much more skilled than me and his stats were comparable to mine.

And his innate ability was so broken that I couldn’t get a good attack in.

I could deal with his attacks but I couldn’t control the flow of the battle.

‘If the fight continues like this it’ll be my loss.’

Ashen Blood’s healing effect wasn’t infinite.

The old man scowled as he saw my arm heal.

“You must be using some sort of demon-arts to heal all of your injuries.”

I didn’t reply and instead moved my hand over to grip my sword with both hands.

I might as well since my shield was beyond usable.

“I thought you were a decent martial artist but you must be using borrowed powers…”

Was the innate ability that he used not given to him by the tower?

If he was using skills to move, was he not using demon-arts?

‘What a damn hypocrite.’

I had just lost my first line of defense.

I still had my pendant, but I couldn’t rely on it completely.

‘I have to finish this as fast as possible.’

I needed to find a way to completely overpower him.

And…

I realized that there may be an easy method to do so.

「 Activating the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」

「 All speeds increased by 70%. 」

「 Number of stacks – 7/7 」

「 Due to reaching the maximum number of stacks, a cooldown has been placed on the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」

I’ll just stack my wind’s blessing to the max.

“Are you using demon-arts again?”

He stared at me as if he was at a loss for words.

But…

“A swordsman shouldn’t rely on borrowed…?!”

Fwooom—!

Was it because he realized all my speeds had increased again?

“What the…?”

The old man’s face froze as the iridescent winds wrapped around my body.

“Did you say that these were borrowed powers?”

I smirked at the old man.

“Then die to this rental, old man.”

It was time to turn the tables…

——