Chapter 161 – An Incredible Reward
Ryu Min first saw the seven archangels in the 68th Round.
‘That was when I’d overcome the cursed Round 15 and was massacring angels in Round 16.’
Back then, Ryu Min, who couldn’t hold back his rage and kept killing angels, abruptly lost the words on his tongue when an angel appeared out of nowhere.
He was utterly overwhelmed.
It was on a completely different level from every combat angel he’d seen until then.
‘Was his name Michael?’
He couldn’t even entertain the thought of taking him on.
Back then, Ryu Min had been so weak he couldn’t even clear the 99th floor of the Tower of Trials.
‘Well, even after I cleared the 99th floor, I ran into them plenty of times… but I just let it slide. There was no reason to take a risk for no benefit.’
But the angel who appeared today was, frankly, disappointing.
His skills didn’t live up to expectations.
‘Is it because he’s the lowest among the seven? He’s weaker than I thought. Or am I just too strong?’
He had to seize momentum early, so he didn’t go easy—he pressed hard.
But only after watching the guy’s movements a few times did he realize it.
Remiel was an angel far slower and weaker than him.
‘It’d be a waste to kill him like this.’
Thinking that, Ryu Min used a Crimson Moon and Moonlight Slaughter combo to sever the guy’s limbs.
He could have killed him, but he deliberately kept him alive.
Because he wanted to draw in other angels.
[Guooohhh…….]
[Kkhh…….]
And the result was exactly what he was looking at now.
Fifty 3rd-Rank Battle Angels were sprawled across the ground.
Their limbs were torn apart, and most of them had become corpses rolling around on the floor.
There were still a few not dead yet, though.
[You have defeated 3rd-Rank Angel ‘Roichel’!]
[Stat Points +32]
[Gold +327,120]
[Number of angels defeated: 100/100]
[You have satisfied the conditions to use Demon’s Blessing.]
[You may use ‘Demon’s Blessing’ by speaking its activation phrase whenever you wish.]
He had just killed the last angel that had still been alive.
Leaving only Remiel.
And with that, he’d filled the count of 100 angels and could now use Demon’s Blessing.
‘I’ll use it next time I have to kill angels again.’
Ryu Min looked at Remiel, left all alone.
With no arms or legs, he looked so wretched you could mistake him for a corpse at a glance.
“Well, well. All your underlings are dead. What are you going to do now?”
[You bastard…….]
Sparks flew from the eyes that glared at him as if to kill.
Even if he’d fallen this far, that glare alone was still very much alive.
“Even in this situation, your pride is sky-high. Then again, if you’ve been lording it over everyone as one of the seven archangels for ages, I guess that’d happen.”
[Who the hell are you? How do you have that kind of power? Why doesn’t ‘Judgment’ even work? Why are you killing angels?]
Even as the questions poured out, Ryu Min only twisted his lips into a smile.
Why was he killing angels?
It was simple.
Because rewards dropped.
‘Even one of the seven archangels doesn’t know that items drop when you kill angels?’
It was truly ridiculous.
Even the angels—whom he’d assumed were the game’s hosts—were, in truth, being used by someone else.
‘Used by the System? If so, whoever created the System is very likely the one pulling the strings.’
Whoever that puppetmaster was, from Ryu Min’s perspective he could only be grateful.
Because they’d made him strong enough to stand against angels.
“You’re asking why?”
Ryu Min’s steps headed toward Remiel.
For now, it seemed more advantageous not to say outright that rewards came in.
“After seeing what you angels did to humans, you’re still spouting that kind of bullshit?”
[…….]
“Switch perspectives. 1.8 billion humans who were living peacefully died. The survivors are suddenly playing some survival game. And the host is you angels. If it were you, wouldn’t you want to kill them?”
Remiel kept silent, but Ryu Min knew.
The guy wasn’t taking a single word to heart.
—Damn it. What do I do? If I look like I’m about to chant a return spell, he’ll kill me immediately……
Reading his thoughts, Ryu Min saw him desperately working that lone head of his.
—How do I turn this around? Should I do it as planned—detonate all my current and holy power and self-destruct? I could at least deal damage that way……. But then I’d die without even seeing that human die. Damn it.
No arms, no legs, and he was still searching for a way to survive.
He really must hate dying at a human’s hands.
“Why no answer? You want to die?”
[……I understand. The hearts of you humans. Yes, to your eyes, we must look like demons. But it can’t be helped.]
“Can’t be helped?”
[Humanity is far too many. Because of your humanity, the natural ecosystem is being destroyed, and resources are being depleted.]
“So what. Did humans ever harm you angels? No, they didn’t.”
[How could you say there was no harm? Your very existence is unpleasant to us angels—no different from vermin. Isn’t it the duty of the higher angelic race to regulate things so the insects don’t multiply any further?]
“…….”
Remiel’s words weren’t anything new to Ryu Min.
He’d heard it before from angels.
The reason they hated humans.
It was the same as the reason humans hated bugs.
‘Still, this is the first time I’ve heard them say they did all this to reduce the number of humans.’
He’d gained what passed for information.
Not that it would change anything.
“And even now, you’re not begging to be spared even once? Looks like you really want to die.”
[Who was the one to break the agreement first? How shameless.]
“If that’s how you want to see it, then it can’t be helped. Farewell.”
[W-wait.]
Squelch—!
He stabbed through the heart.
Even angels must have their hearts in the same place—there was a sound like air leaking out.
[Gkheh-heuhhk…….]
Slice—!
He swung the scythe and cut off the head.
Reading his thoughts right before death, it seemed he was furious he hadn’t been able to self-destruct.
‘No need to be furious. I’m not someone who’d die to something as trivial as self-destruction.’
He had a title that reduced damage taken from holy-type enemies by 80%.
He also had a title that nullified mental-type damage.
Half of their attacks that used holy power were mental-type damage, so he could reduce the damage even further.
‘And even if I die, I’ve got a title that revives me.’
A moment later, Ryu Min’s gaze went to the message floating in midair.
[You have defeated one of the seven archangels, ‘Remiel’!]
[Stat Points +817]
[Gold +8,178,000]
Stat points and gold that couldn’t even be compared to ordinary angels poured in.
All thanks to Demon’s Blessing.
‘They said the max stat points were 10%, but only 2% came in? And gold can go up to 1,000×, but I only got 200×.’
Ryu Min, who’d been expecting the maximum, was disappointed.
They’d said he was the lowest among the archangels—so he really must have been a rung below the others.
‘Still, thanks to this, I’ve piled up a ridiculous amount of stats and gold.’
As a result of killing 100 combat angels and an archangel on top of that, he received 3,049 stat points and over thirty million gold.
In simple level terms, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’d gained 1,500 levels’ worth of stats.
And that wasn’t all.
[As a reward for killing Archangel Remiel, ‘Condensed Aether’ has dropped.]
[As a reward for killing Archangel Remiel, ‘Rune of Lightning’ has dropped.]
[The acquired rune will be automatically engraved onto the player’s body!]
A God-grade material and even a rune reward dropped.
[Rune of Lightning]
-Effect: You can summon lightning from your hand and use it in various ways. Magic damage is proportional to Intelligence.
└ Shot ▶ Fires like a laser, dealing magic damage equal to 1,200% of Intelligence.
└ Charging ▶ Deals 800% magic damage and knocks the enemy back at least 15m.
└ Wide Discharge ▶ Releases electric current in a 30m radius, dealing 400% area damage.
└ Amplify ▶ Stores current in the body, increasing attack speed and movement speed by 100%.
└ Self-Destruct ▶ Releases all current in a 100m radius, dealing 3,600% area damage. This damage also applies to yourself.
It was a rune that reflected the ability Remiel used.
Naturally, it was also a rune he’d never seen before.
‘Just looking at the effects, it’s insane.’
He liked the damage, but he liked the additional effects even more.
‘With current, I can knock enemies back—or boost attack speed and move speed.’
Those were things Ryu Min didn’t have, which made it even better.
‘It’s magic damage, so it must be affected by Intelligence.’
Ryu Min opened his status window.
-Name: Ryu Min
-Nickname: Black Scythe
-Rank: Master
-Titles: Last Time Reversal (Public), The First Angel Slayer (Hidden), The One Who Defies Divine Punishment (Hidden), The One Who Leads (Hidden), Supreme Being (Hidden), Massacrer (Hidden)
-Level: 89
-Class: Reaper (Grim Reaper)
-Strength: 5,743, Intelligence: 6,022
-Agility: 4,435, Luck: 4,244
-Common Skills: Tracking, Detection, Trace Erasure, First Aid, Area Scan, Enhanced Motion Vision, Basic Resistance, Dexterity
-Exclusive Skills: Seal of Death, Night of Death, Moonlight Slaughter, Crimson Moon
-Runes: Rune of Slaughter, Rune of the Reaper, Rune of Radiance, Rune of Inner Thoughts, Rune of Doppelganger, Rune of Balance, Rune of Mental Barrier, Rune of Durability, Rune of Foresight, Rune of Stealth, Rune of the Devil, Rune of Lightning
-Gold Held: 32,687,000
-Remaining Stat Points: 3,049
As it happened, his highest stat was Intelligence.
Even though he hadn’t invested much into Intelligence.
‘If I’m ever too lazy to swing a scythe, I could fight like a mage and it’d still be fine, huh?’
His Intelligence was that overwhelmingly high compared to his level.
At this point, he could give most high-level monsters an electrical shock treatment with ease.
There were more messages for Ryu Min.
[The Demon faction’s reputation has greatly increased.]
[The Demon’s reputation toward Black Scythe has increased from ‘Neutral’ -> ‘Friendly’.]
When he killed Remiel, his reputation must have risen a lot—because it jumped straight to Friendly.
‘It feels weird, thinking I’ll be treated well by the demon race.’
Of course, since there were angels in this world, there were also demons.
He’d met them before, too.
‘Round 18 was the quest where you fight demons.’
That was when he realized for the first time.
That demons weren’t necessarily evil the way the media portrayed them.
‘It’s just a difference of race, that’s all.’
They simply looked different from humans and held different ideologies.
They weren’t all that different from humans.
That was when his prejudice toward angels and demons began to break.
‘As far as I know, on the demon side they rank their hierarchy down to 72nd place….’
Other than that, he didn’t know much.
He hadn’t felt the need to gather information about the demons.
Because, when you got down to it, Ryu Min’s opponent wasn’t demons—it was angels.
‘Stats, gold, a God-grade material, a rune, and even reputation.’
He’d gained an enormous amount.
‘Is that the end of the rewards?’
That was when—
[There is a hidden Soul Binding Quest!]
‘A Soul Binding Quest?’
A quest message he’d never seen before appeared.