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CHAPTER 159 – DEVIL’S BLESSING
Before Baiel arrived,
Ryu Min called Yamtti.
“Yamtti, I told you before, didn’t I? To tame a hundred mealworms. Did you do it?”
“Of course, Master. Do you think I only brought a hundred? I prepared up to a thousand.”
Yamtti’s class was Tamer.
She could dominate and control animals, insects, and monsters—excluding humans.
Of course, it wasn’t automatically guaranteed; there was a probability.
The lower the intelligence and rank of the target to be tamed, the higher the success rate.
That was why taming a hundred mealworms wasn’t difficult for Yamtti.
“Just in case, besides mealworms, what else have you dominated?”
“Starting with goblins, I’ve dominated all kinds of monsters I’ve caught. I couldn’t tame boss mobs like minotaurs, though—maybe because their level is high.”
“You’ll be able to later. It’s only because your level is low right now.”
There was no limit to the number of monsters Yamtti could tame.
Like being able to put infinite items into an inventory, she could collect monsters or insects without limit.
However, there was a limit to how many she could summon at once.
Meaning she couldn’t just pull out hundreds of tamed monsters all at the same time.
‘Otherwise, people would absolutely call it a broken class.’
Though small bugs like mealworms were possible.
“Bring out only a hundred.”
“Yes!”
When Yamtti used her skill, a hundred mealworms were summoned on the ground.
Even real-world insects could be brought into the other world as long as it was through Yamtti’s taming.
Crunch—!
[Current Kill Count: 100/100]
[With the Rune of Slaughter effect, all stats increase by 100%.]
When he stomped a hundred to death at once, the Rune of Slaughter buff filled instantly.
He was grinning when a flash of light flickered before his eyes.
The angel Kallen had sent as a distress signal appeared.
‘Hmm.’
Ryu Min silently watched the bastard.
You could tell an angel’s strength by its wings.
‘The more wings, or the longer they are, the stronger the bastard is.’
But the combat angel in front of Ryu Min had short wings at a glance.
Of course, they were longer than Kallen’s—a normal angel’s.
‘Four wings, and judging by the length… about a 6th-rank angel.’
It was only natural Ryu Min knew angels’ ranks—thanks to previous experience.
He’d tortured angels and learned a lot.
He might not know high-level secrets, but as for the basic information about the heavens, he had it down cold.
That was why Ryu Min no longer felt any need to torture angels.
‘Just kill them.’
Since he could read thoughts with the Rune of Inner Thoughts, there was no need to interrogate them for information anyway.
He didn’t need to exchange a single word to know the angel’s name was Baiel, and that it prided itself on fast swordsmanship.
‘First, let’s drink a potion.’
Baiel babbled something, but Ryu Min ignored it and pulled out a potion to use.
It was a mid-grade potion, so all his stats rose by 8.
It wasn’t a huge number, but to maximize the benefit of the first-clear reward, he needed to raise his stats even a little.
That was why he filled the Rune of Slaughter buff, and why he used Reaperization against a combat angel.
[You have entered Reaperization state.]
[All stats, damage, attack speed, and movement speed increase by 44%.]
[All damage received from enemies is reduced by 44%.]
[The probability of enemies recognizing you is reduced by 44%.]
‘It feels like using a butcher’s knife to catch a chicken, but it can’t be helped.’
Before he activated Reaperization, he provoked it a bit, and the combat angel came charging in like it wanted to kill him, slashing wildly.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-shk—
It was fast, in its own way, but it didn’t work on Ryu Min.
Because his Agility alone was already over 8,800.
‘Round buff, Rune of Balance, Rune of Slaughter, The First Angel Slayer, Min Juri’s buff too.’
Once everything multiplied together, the increase was enormous.
And with Reaperization applied on top, his stats were truly insane.
[Kk—kugh……!]
With a single swing of Ryu Min’s scythe, Baiel collapsed, spraying blood.
Ryu Min ordered Kallen—who had gone pale—to summon more.
In the meantime, Ryu Min checked the messages that popped up the moment Baiel died.
[You have slain a combat angel.]
[It has been confirmed that you are the first player to slay a combat angel.]
[As a first combat angel kill reward, the ‘Devil’s Blessing’ buff has been applied.]
[As a first combat angel kill reward, the ‘Rune of the Devil’ has dropped.]
[The acquired rune will be automatically engraved into the player’s body!]
He’d only killed one combat angel, yet messages streamed up.
The first-clear reward was this sweet.
‘Most importantly, the Devil’s Blessing buff.’
Ryu Min’s gaze moved to the next message.
[You have been afflicted with Devil’s Blessing.]
[Based on the current total of your stats (40,890), the following effects are applied.]
[When you kill an angel, you gain gold equal to 1x (40,890) the base value. Depending on the angel’s level, it can increase up to 1,000x (40,890,000).]
[When you kill an angel, you gain stat points equal to 0.01% (4) of the base value. Depending on the angel’s level, it can increase up to 10% (4,089).]
[When you kill an angel, the demon faction’s reputation increases slightly.]
[This buff lasts until the end of the current Round.]
Devil’s Blessing was an absurdly overpowered buff that gave stats and gold every time you killed an angel.
Depending on the angel’s level, the reward could increase up to 1,000 times.
‘Even at the minimum value, you can see how broken it is.’
By the current baseline, per angel, he gained 4 stat points and 40,890 gold.
Four stat points per angel kill?
‘That’s a total jackpot.’
It was basically the same as leveling up every time he killed one.
‘And this is still the minimum. The stronger the angel, the more it increases.’
Of course, if it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have gotten benefits on this level.
He could get rewards this large because his stats were inflated with all kinds of buffs.
Since the reward values were determined based on the stats at the time you received the blessing.
‘That’s why I went out of my way to raise my stats even a little.’
The downside was that the buff only lasted until the end of the Round, but—
‘No problem. I have the Rune of the Devil.’
[Rune of the Devil]
-Effect: After killing 100 angels, you can use the ‘Devil’s Blessing’ buff.
Even after the Round passed, if he had the Rune of the Devil, he could receive the blessing again anytime.
With the condition that he had to kill angels, of course.
‘There’s no way I can end this after killing just one angel. I need to kill at least a hundred. To reap the blessing rewards, and to be able to use Devil’s Blessing again later.’
When he calculated the remaining time, he had at least an hour to hunt angels.
The rest of the time needed to be spent clearing sub-quests.
“Hey.”
[……Y-yes?]
“Summon more.”
Ryu Min made Kallen summon angels.
At first, five appeared. Then ten appeared.
The result was obvious.
[You have defeated 5th-rank angel ‘Rapir’!]
[Stat Points +8]
[Gold +81,780]
[Angels Killed: 15/100]
[You have defeated 5th-rank angel ‘Bellyu’!]
[Stat Points +8]
[Gold +81,780]
[Angels Killed: 16/100]
‘They’re all 5th- and 6th-rank angels. Send stronger ones.’
This time, ten angels appeared again.
Judging by their wings, they looked like 4th-rank angels.
[So you’re the human slaughtering angels.]
[How dare you cause a ruckus without fear. I’ll kill you as painfully as possible.]
[Pathetic human. You’re unlucky.]
But the one who was unlucky wasn’t Ryu Min.
It was the angels.
With his stats inflated to an extreme, it ended with just a few swings of the hooked scythe.
[You have defeated 4th-rank angel ‘Bolua’!]
[Stat Points +16]
[Gold +163,560]
[Angels Killed: 26/100]
‘Even 2nd or 3rd rank is fine—send someone stronger.’
He didn’t have time, so he wanted stronger ones to come.
And he wasn’t worried about word reaching the ears of the Seven Archangels.
‘Those high-and-mighty types aren’t going to show up because they have nothing better to do.’
Besides, would those selfish angels ever move just because a few soldiers died?
If they showed up at all, it would be more likely out of boredom.
‘Fill 100 like this, then go clear the sub-quests.’
He’d killed about fifty—
His stats were skyrocketing as he killed up to 4th-rank angels—
when a variable appeared.
[Hmmm. So you were killing angels in a place like this?]
Unlike before, a new angel appeared with long, brilliant wings, and Ryu Min fell silent.
‘Th-this guy… no way… one of the Seven Archangels?’
The angel before him was clearly one of those said to possess power beyond the standard.
You could tell just by the wings.
Majestic wings that looked like they’d exceed twenty meters if spread.
And the number of wings—eight in total, counting both sides.
‘It’s definitely one of the Seven Archangels.’
He’d fought a 1st-rank angel before, so he knew.
Their wings couldn’t exceed six.
‘But looking at the face, it’s not one I met in a previous run.’
It didn’t have the overwhelming pressure of the one Ryu Min had met before, but it still didn’t feel easy.
‘What is this? An Archangel showing up out of nowhere?’
Normally, he could have leisurely filled 100 angel kills and left.
Nothing would happen.
It was like that in the immediately previous run, and the one before, and the one before that.
That was why he’d been relaxed—
but now a bastard he’d never even seen was standing right there.
And at an early timing like this.
‘Did the future get twisted?’
Ryu Min stayed tense and watched what the bastard said.
[Are you Black Scythe?]
‘He knows my nickname?’
[Seeing you use a scythe, I suppose you are. The Akashic Records can’t be wrong, after all.]
‘Akashic Records?’
It was a term he’d heard before.
When he killed a High Orc in one second, and when he cleared the 99th floor of the Tower of Trials.
Each time, messages had appeared saying he’d been registered in the Akashic Records.
[I came because I was curious, hearing you set a new record twice. And I also heard you were killing my precious soldiers.]
‘Ah.’
Only then did Ryu Min roughly infer the cause of the variable.
‘Normally at this point, I should’ve only entered the Akashic Records once, for clearing the Tower of Trials. But I recorded twice.’
Killing the High Orc in one second was something that happened for the first time in this run.
Because of that, at this point in time, he’d been registered in the Akashic Records twice.
It seemed that had created the variable.
‘What do I do? Do I fight? He doesn’t look hostile, but…’
He could tell because he could read thoughts.
The bastard had appeared out of sheer curiosity.
But in the archangel’s mind, contempt for humans was deeply rooted.
And if he looked deeper, he could see it.
No matter what—he intended to kill Ryu Min and erase him.
‘This is getting annoying. What do I do? If I fight, do I even have a chance?’
In a brief moment, Ryu Min desperately dug through his thoughts, gathering information about the opponent.
He also learned the bastard’s name was Remiel.
That among the Seven Archangels, he was among the lowest ranks—and that he possessed the authority of lightning.
‘Just like the other angels, his thoughts are readable, and I can see seven seconds into the future. Maybe… there’s a chance.’
Part of him wanted to challenge a Seven Archangel at least once.
He’d been curious what kind of reward would drop if he killed one.
Since rewards had been hidden even for ordinary angels, the system surely had rewards set for the Seven Archangels too.
‘The problem is, there’s no time to think anymore.’
If he was going to fight, it had to be now.
Reaperization would end soon.
‘I can reset the time by killing one of Yamtti’s monsters.’
But Ryu Min didn’t even glance at Yamtti.
He didn’t roll his eyes toward her.
She’d already hidden her body in a corner far away so she wouldn’t get in the way.
If he called her and revealed her presence for no reason, Yamtti would be put in danger.
‘I’ll need Yamtti’s ability continuously from here on out. I can’t let her die here just to maintain the Reaperization buff.’
Time was tight.
Only ten seconds remained until Reaperization ended.
He had to kill someone to reset the time.
If he was going to fight a Seven Archangel.
‘In that case…’
Ryu Min’s gaze moved to Kallen beside Remiel.
The hooked scythe extended in an instant.
At the same time, Remiel opened his mouth.
[Why are you silent? You could at least talk to—]
Wham—!
Kallen’s skull shattered into pieces, and blood sprayed onto Remiel.
And with that, Ryu Min’s Reaperization time reset.
‘Good!’
He managed to maintain Reaperization, but judging by the expression, he’d bought the archangel’s wrath.
[So you have no need for conversation.]
Sparks crackled across Remiel’s entire body as he trembled with fury.
[Then I’ll grant your wish. Human.]