Chapter 225. The Rewards, One More Time
He killed the archangels ranked 4th and 5th.
Ryu Min only truly felt it sink in after checking the messages.
[You have slain one of the Seven Archangels, ‘Raguel’!]
[Stat Points +14,536]
[Gold +145,366,800]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Raguel, ‘Condensed Aether’ has dropped.]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Raguel, ‘Rune of Judgment’ has dropped.]
[The acquired Rune is automatically engraved onto the player’s body!]
[Demon faction reputation has increased greatly.]
[You have slain one of the Seven Archangels, ‘Uriel’!]
[Stat Points +18,170]
[Gold +181,708,500]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Uriel, ‘Condensed Aether’ has dropped.]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Uriel, ‘Rune of Light Beam’ has dropped.]
[The acquired Rune is automatically engraved onto the player’s body!]
[Demon faction reputation has increased greatly.]
[Demon faction reputation toward Black Scythe has risen from ‘Very Friendly’ -> ‘Eternal Ally’.]
As expected, two Aethers came in.
‘Now I can make a god-grade weapon.’
His Stat Points had skyrocketed too.
‘One hundred Grade 5 angels is 7,200, and the two archangels are 32,706….’
In total, nearly 40,000 stats had come in.
A ridiculous number.
His gold had also ballooned by 400 million.
Not only that—his reputation with the demon faction had risen all the way to the maximum.
From the demons’ point of view, it was only natural. Ryu Min was essentially a hero who had taken the enemy commander’s head.
But more than anything else, Ryu Min’s gaze settled on the Rune info window.
[Rune of Judgment]
-Effect: Each time you kill an enemy, you gain 1 Judgment stack (max 100).
You can consume 100 Judgment stacks to use ‘Heavenly Judgment’.
└ Heavenly Judgment ▶ Deals magic damage equal to 2,400% of Intelligence in an X-shaped area in front.
[Rune of Light Beam]
-Effect: You can move using light.
└ Light Speed ▶ You can move in a straight line (up to 1,000m) as fast as light. If obstructed by an object, you stop.
└ Transfer ▶ Fire light (up to 100m) and move your body to wherever the light touches.
└ Call ▶ Fire light (up to 100m) and move the target the light touches to directly in front of you.
‘One is Raguel’s attack, and the other is Uriel’s movement technique.’
Reading the descriptions, both were efficient.
He was especially satisfied because they were holy-type skills.
Because Ryu Min had the Rune of Radiance, which amplified the effects of holy-type skills by his level.
‘They both look good, but the Rune of Light Beam will be pretty useful. Since I can even Call distant targets.’
It would be useful when he wanted to bring an ally—or an enemy trying to flee—right to his doorstep.
‘If the effect amplifies by my level, and it’s a 92% increase… does that mean I can bring a target from 192m?’
Light Speed looked good too.
With no obstacles, he could cross up to 1,920m in a single burst.
‘I should check the cooldown at some point.’
He decided to figure that out later. For now, it was time to check something else.
“Come out now. It’s safe.”
Rustle— rustle—
At Ryu Min’s call, movement sounded from behind.
When he turned his head, it was none other than John Delgado.
This was the one Ryu Min had gone to see last, before meeting the angels.
“D-did you do all of this, Master?”
Seeing the scorched, annihilated site—like a bomber had swept through—John couldn’t close his mouth.
“More or less. It wasn’t as violent a fight as it looks.”
Rather than violent, it had been dull.
If 4th and 5th were this level, he felt confident he could fight even 1st place right now.
‘No. Is 1st place too much?’
He didn’t know what rank the archangel he met in the 68th run had been, but he suspected it might’ve been 1st.
Because the strength he’d felt back then was on a different plane than the archangels he’d just faced.
“What do you need me to do?”
At John’s question, Ryu Min came to his senses and pointed to a soldier lying off to one side.
“First, turn one angel into a corporeal undead. I have something to test. At that state, there won’t be a problem making it undead, right?”
John looked at the angel’s corpse, then nodded.
“Of course. You killed them quite cleanly. At this level, it’s absolutely possible.”
A necromancer’s undead conversion came in two types.
Spiritual undead conversion, which enslaved the soul, and corporeal undead conversion, which raised the corpse.
You could only use one of the two on a single corpse, and unlike spiritual conversion, corporeal conversion required the corpse to be relatively intact.
‘And unlike spiritual undead—which I can keep summoning—corporeal undead are one-time.’
In exchange, they were stronger than spiritual undead and had immunity to magic damage.
‘And if I kill them again, I even get rewards.’
Normally, even if you killed a summon, you got no rewards—but corporeal undead were different.
Maybe because they were one-time summons: if you killed them, about 50% of the reward still came through.
That was exactly what Ryu Min wanted to test.
‘If I turn an angel into a corporeal undead and kill it, will the reward still come in?’
To test this, he had killed the first hundred soldiers by only snapping their necks, leaving them relatively intact.
The next hundred, in the urgency of the moment, he’d had to erase.
“Raise it now.”
“Yes, Master.”
John aimed his staff at the corpse and used the skill ‘Corpse Revival’.
CRACK—
The angel’s neck, which had been snapped, returned to its proper place, and it opened its eyes with an intact appearance.
Though since it was undead, its eyes showed only white.
“I raised it as ordered, Master.”
“That thing is bound to you?”
“It is, but other Players will recognize it as an enemy.”
“Good. Now let’s kill it.”
Without hesitation, Ryu Min swung his scythe and beheaded the angel.
Thud—
Then something surprising happened.
[You have slain a Grade 5 angel, ‘Oliver’!]
[Stat Points +36]
[Gold +363,417]
[Angels slain: 103/100]
[Judgment Rune Stack: 2/100]
When he killed the angel that had been turned into a corporeal undead, the count went from 102 to 103.
And on top of that, the reward he’d only half-believed might work came in as well.
‘I expected it, but it really does give rewards.’
However, the reward wasn’t 100%—only half.
It seemed the corporeal undead only exerted half its power compared to when it was alive.
‘Even if I can only revive each corpse once, this is still huge.’
John Delgado’s value skyrocketed because of this.
It was a good thing he hadn’t killed him outright.
“John. Revive every angel here as corporeal undead.”
“Understood.”
“Ah—wait a second.”
Stopping the order, Ryu Min suddenly had this thought.
‘Rather than killing them now, wouldn’t it be better to apply Demon’s Blessing again first, then kill them?’
Ryu Min had used Demon’s Blessing after killing the first hundred soldiers.
Now, after killing the remaining hundred and the archangels, his stack was filled again.
Meaning he could use Demon’s Blessing one more time.
‘After killing archangels my stats increased, so if I use the blessing again, I’ll get even more rewards.’
Besides, if he killed all the corpses here, he could fill the stack back to 100 too.
‘First, I should distribute my stat points.’
Ryu Min opened the status window and distributed 39,906 Stat Points.
After investing evenly into the four stats, he instructed John.
“Revive all the angels here.”
“Understood.”
One by one, John turned them into corporeal undead.
Unlike spiritual undead, corporeal undead are one-time summons, so there’s no limit based on “how many you can maintain.”
And you can’t keep them with you like typical summons.
‘So I have to dispose of them all right here.’
A moment later, excluding the one he’d killed as a test, a total of 101 corporeal undead had been created.
[There are 101 enemies within a 100m radius.]
[Due to Rune of One vs. Many effect, all stats increase by 100%.]
Because the summons were recognized as enemies, the Rune of One vs. Many boosted his stats.
That was exactly why Ryu Min hadn’t used the blessing yet.
To raise his stats as high as possible.
Maybe because he’d just killed angels, Reaperization was still active too.
If he was going to use it, now was the perfect time.
‘Demon’s Blessing.’
[You are under Demon’s Blessing.]
[Based on your current total stats (2,019,892), the following effects apply.]
[When slaying an angel, you gain gold equal to 1x the base value (2,019,892). Depending on the angel’s level, this can increase up to 1,000x (2,019,892,000).]
[When slaying an angel, you gain stat points equal to 0.01% (201) of the base value. Depending on the angel’s level, this can increase up to 10% (201,989).]
[When slaying an angel, reputation with the demon faction increases slightly.]
[The buff lasts until the end of the Round.]
Once he used Demon’s Blessing, the rewards were far higher than before.
‘It jumped by more than five times.’
Ryu Min killed the revived angels on the spot once again.
It meant killing the dead twice, but he didn’t care.
All he needed was the reward.
SHHK—! SHHK—
As he slaughtered the undead standing blankly, his stats piled up quickly.
[Angels slain: 99/100]
[Judgment Rune Stack: 100/100]
[You can consume 100 stacks to use ‘Heavenly Judgment.’]
After dealing with ninety-nine undead soldiers, he received nearly 20,000 stat points and 200 million gold.
Now only the archangels remained.
Ryu Min stood before the revived Raguel and Uriel again.
Those things, without souls, showed no hostility toward Ryu Min.
They didn’t even recognize him.
SHHK—!
[You have slain one of the Seven Archangels, ‘Raguel’!]
[Stat Points +40,397]
[Gold +403,978,400]
[Angels slain: 100/100]
[You have met the conditions to use Demon’s Blessing.]
[You may use it by speaking the activation phrase ‘Demon’s Blessing’ whenever you wish.]
Even at 50%, the reward was enormous.
Because the base value had grown higher, he received more than before.
‘But items or runes weren’t rewarded again.’
Maybe because he’d already obtained them once—there were no duplicate rewards.
It was the same with the Soul Binding quest. <Soul Binding Quest>
└Slay the Seven Archangels
└Archangels slain so far (4/7)
└On success ▶ ?????
He wondered if the archangel count would go up, but it didn’t—at all.
‘So killing the same ones again doesn’t count.’
In the end, it meant he had to kill all seven—each a different one.
‘Fine. Let’s go all the way. I have a debt to collect from angels anyway. And I’m curious about the Binding quest reward.’
No matter how strong 1st place was, if he wanted to kill that one too, he needed to become as strong as possible.
[You have slain one of the Seven Archangels, ‘Uriel’!]
[Stat Points +50,497]
[Gold +504,973,000]
[Angels slain: 101/100]
After killing every last angel, Ryu Min checked his status window.
-Name: Ryu Min
-Nickname: Black Scythe
-Rank: Master
-Titles: Last Time Reversal (Hidden), The First Angel Slayer (Hidden), The One Who Defies Divine Punishment (Hidden), The One Who Leads (Hidden), Supreme Being (Hidden), Massacrer (Hidden)
-Level: 92
-Class: Reaper (Grim Reaper)
-Strength: 501,935, Intelligence: 505,751
-Agility: 501,935, Luck: 510,271
-Common Skills: Tracking, Presence Detection, Trace Erasure, First Aid, Area Search, 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, Rune of Sensibility, Rune of Expansion, Rune of Reputation, Rune of Darkness, Rune of Gale, Rune of the Hero, Rune of One vs. Many, Rune of Resistance, Rune of Endurance, Rune of Judgment, Rune of Light Beam
-Gold Held: 1,568,887,025
-Remaining Stat Points: 110,793
‘Gold is 1.5 billion, and Stat Points to distribute are 110,000.’
It was truly absurd.
It was like getting almost triple the rewards compared to the first time.
‘So I can get this strong by using a necromancer.’
Deciding he had to keep him around for the rewards alone, Ryu Min asked John, who was standing there blankly.
“How far did you get on the Sub Quest?”
“I finished up through the errand quest.”
“My fault for delaying you. I’ll take you to the Holy Empire, so finish as fast as possible.”
“Understood.”
‘Because you have to survive with me until the final Round.’
Hiding his inner words, Ryu Min and John used Trace Erasure to remove the angels’ corpses.
“Let’s go. Get on my back.”
With John on his back, Ryu Min used the Rune of Light Beam and left at the speed of light.
[Time remaining until Round ends: 00:00:00]
When the given ten hours passed, Players scattered across the fantasy world gathered in one place.
It was the monochrome space—the starting point.
“Ten hours already?”
“Ah, f*ck! I was in the middle of a quest!”
“Crazy! I only needed one more!”
“What do I do… I’m screwed.”
Players who still hadn’t raised their reputation to Very Friendly screamed and fell to their knees.
Meanwhile, players who’d raised it late prayed desperately to fall within the “top half.”
As if prayer could change results that had already been decided.
[Hoho, you worked hard for ten hours, humans. Once you actually tried it, raising reputation was harder than you expected, right?]
“…….”
[No answer—so I guess it was easy? I’m looking forward to how many passed. Let’s hope we don’t get failures like last time. Hee-hee.]
At the angel’s blatant mockery, it sent a signal, and the tally results rose into view.