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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Specter
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'Simple enough.'
After taking down four Specters, I sheathed my sword.
I'd been a little worried about handling them solo, but before a weapon imbued with holy properties, they were little more than paper.
'That aside, ghost-type corpses all look the same, huh.'
I lowered my gaze.
On the floor lay the Specter's corpse, resembling transparent jelly or pudding.
Placing my hand on that moist, squishy body, I felt a texture like aloe gel.
Watching the transparent jelly crumble in my grip, I smirked.
'There were guys who once thought of using this as a cooking ingredient.'
Surprisingly, the texture was just like jelly.
Scoop it with a spoon, and it jiggles enticingly; with proper plating, it could pass muster even in a high-end restaurant.
But it never saw the light of day and got tossed aside. The reason was simple: eat too much, and while your stomach fills up, your mind wastes away.
'The stronger the grudge, the more mental power it drains.'
Of course, this being the first Trial, munching on it for a few days wouldn't be an issue. But in higher-difficulty Trial zones down the line, it was a somewhat problematic food source.
Would you like to process the corpse separately?
[Yes / No]
I initialized the corpse.
A stone resembling an opal gem—white base flecked with colorful hues—thunked onto the floor. As I picked it up, I clicked my tongue lowly.
"Tch, as expected."
Junk item. In other words, worthless trash. I'd half-expected as much...
Hah, no. Too early to judge. Maybe something else drops?
So I went hunting more Specters...
Thud.
'Miss.'
Thud.
'...Another miss.'
Sure enough, only thumbnail-sized crappy opals.
'Ghost-type mobs never drop good loot in any Trial.'
Not completely useless, but...
I searched every corner of the worship hall floor by floor, hoping for other mobs, but disappointingly, only Specters.
'No money to be made here.'
Skeletons were the real moneymaker. That's why I'd left Shin Seo-yeon and the Saintess up top—I'd suspected as much.
'Specters are trickier than skeletons, though.'
Specters primarily use magic attacks and debuffs, and they phase through walls, so getting surrounded turns them into an impossible nightmare.
'And that's not all.'
Unlike skeletons, they're immune to physical attacks, and while skeletons have action delays from broken bones, these guys have no such thing.
Slashing at them is like cutting empty air—no effect whatsoever.
Come down here totally unprepared, and you'd end up just like the countless mummies littering the place.
'Leave the mid-layers to Isera and head to the depths myself?'
I was standing on the railing of the fourth-floor worship hall, taking in the full view of the chapel stage below, when—
Tadadad!
Urgent footsteps echoed from the floor above.
"H-How do we do this? There are too many!"
"Damn, way too many bunched up."
"Can we make it to the door?"
"Just run! We've survived this long; can't die here. Hey, you too—no funny ideas, run! Dawdle and you're headed straight to the afterlife!"
Sounded like a dire situation.
'That prickling skin sensation is getting intense.'
The chill brushing my skin was raising goosebumps nonstop.
Ghost-types radiate cold aura that chills the air around them.
You can't predict when or where they'll phase through a wall, but you can at least sense when they're closing in via that cold.
'Must be a lot of them.'
Even from the lower floor, the chill they exuded hit me full force.
Rough count: at least a dozen.
'Normal players for once. Might as well get a look at their faces.'
I stepped onto the railing and leaped up, grabbing hold of the upper-floor railing.
One slip, and I'd plummet all the way to the first floor for some serious injuries—but this level of daring and parkour was basic training anyone picks up after 1-2 years rolling in Trial zones.
'Top floor's more like balconies than proper rooms.'
Partitions aside, the whole floor was wide open.
I hopped safely onto the fifth floor just as two women rushed past right in front of me.
'Those two look safe.'
Four survivors total. Two had passed, but the other two were still lagging behind, fleeing desperately from somewhere rearward.
"Kyaa! S-Save me! Please take me too...!"
The rearmost woman screamed for help. Low stamina or agility—she was already getting cut off as the Specter pack overtook and blocked her path ahead.
"Eek!"
The woman ahead swung her weapon in a flash, but seven Specters were clinging to her.
And so?
"N-No! Kugh..."
Her swings slowed bit by bit, strength draining from her grip until her weapon dropped with a thud.
Weaponless, she tried scrambling away, but her legs gave out too, and she collapsed thrashing to the floor.
"P-Please..."
The hand she stretched toward her party withered, losing all life and shriveling like a dry twig before going still.
'Specter's attack method: energy drain.'
They suck out mana and stamina first, and once that's gone, they go for life force.
Surrounded by a bunch like that, you turn into a mummy in seconds flat.
"Kuh, damn curse...!"
And sometimes they inflict curses too.
While the seven Specters slurped up the pinned woman's life force, the rest lunged at the next closest target, unleashing curses.
A swarm of red auras rapidly assailed the hooded woman.
Shoooo—
I took note of that curse. Ghost-type curses vary by Trial.
'Here, it slows movement.'
The AoE curse slowed her down too... and it synergized perfectly, her speed dropping by nearly half.
"Get off me, you bastards!"
"Aaak...!"
Moving sluggishly, she swung her sword anyway. It wasn't an ordinary blade—each swing made Specters scream as their forms got sliced apart.
But that was it.
Five more were charging her.
Swish—
Mid-swing, she was fully surrounded by the pack.
"!!"
No chance to flee. The Specters were already prepped to drain her energy.
"Kiki."
A blue glow suffused their transparent forms. The telltale sign before they siphon energy from prey.
"Ah."
Despair settled on her lips, spilling out as a sigh. That's when I dropped my observer role and moved.
Tadadot—I shot forward.
'I've watched enough.'
Specters only need their curse noted. If it was something nasty like blindness, I'd dodge; mere movement slow?
"Get flat on the floor."
"!!"
A flicker of light rippled in the woman's despair-filled eyes.
Whoosh.
She flattened herself to the ground with astonishing speed. Impressed by her snap judgment and reflexes, I closed in on the Specter pack surrounding her and swung my sword.
Hung—
No need for finesse. Unlike rigid skeletal frames, Specters were like a mere handful of wind.
Slashslashslash—
Fast combos over precision cuts—I cleaved through them.
"Aaaaak...!"
The Specters screamed, stiffened rigid, then turned to sticky gel and splattered across the floor.
"!!"
Seven Specters. The ones mid-drain or scouting the next meal all whipped around toward us in unison.
"H-How? In one hit?"
The hooded woman who'd flattened herself stared up at me in disbelief.
"Simple. Gear carry, basically."
"...Gear carry?"
"Aaaa...!"
The Specters charged all at once. Spotting it, she yelled.
"Danger...!"
Well, normally, seven piling on at once would be dangerous.
My stamina and intelligence were easily triple that of an ordinary person. It'd take these things quite a while to drain me dry.
And that's not all?
Kwang!
I stomped the floor hard, and my figure blasted straight through the Specter pack in an instant.
"?! "
Four of the seven turned to moist jelly clumps and splattered to the floor.
"F-Fast?"
Fast? Yeah. High agility and all. Strength goes without saying.
With my current stats, I could survive even past the third Trial.
Mere first-Trial small fry couldn't overwhelm me with numbers.
'Alright, last ones.'
Whoosh!
I lightly dispatched the remaining three charging me. Once it was all over, the other two women who'd fled earlier had returned and were staring at me blankly.
Awe, admiration, and greed filled their eyes.
"You three all okay?"
"Yes, thank you. I'm Kim Yu-rim."
"I'm Joo Ah-hyun!"
The first two who'd bolted came rushing back, introducing themselves and sticking out their hands.
"You alone by any chance?"
"Got a party? If not, wanna team up with us?"
Kim Yu-rim, late twenties.
Joo Ah-hyun, mid-twenties.
Nothing special about their stats. Or their weapons. I shifted my gaze to the hooded woman and hit her with Full Appraisal.
And my eyes went wide.
'Her face seemed familiar, and sure enough—that chaebol group girl from back then?'
Just as I'd recognized her, her eyes trembled faintly—she knew me too.
Unlike our first meeting, she was left entirely alone without a single guard. And in the deadliest survival-rate hellhole, no less.
No clue why, but her situation didn't look good at all.
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