Chapter 327. With Your Own Power (7)
“"Tada!”"
When I returned to the guild house in Jongno, Hwaya and Ina welcomed me as they spread their arms and showed the cake they made.
I thought it was possible that they failed and ended up ordering one from a bakery, but the slightly odd whipped cream decoration and the grape seed I saw Ina cut proved that the cake was home-made.
“You made it for me?”
“Of course. How is it? Looks as good as a store-bought cake, right?”
“You should first wipe that whipped cream off your face.”
“Hm?”
They must have played around with the whipped cream as Hwaya’s face was full of whipped cream. I thought she left it there on purpose, but judging by her expression, it seemed she had no clue.
I approached Hwaya and wiped the whipped cream off with my fingers. Then, I did the same for Ina. While Ina laughed joyfully and clung to my arm, Hwaya slightly blushed and complained.
“Shouldn’t you take it off with a kiss or something?”
“That won’t even happen in old manhwa.”
“Can’t you though? Kyak!”
When I carried out her request, she immediately smacked me. Though she was the one who hit me, she ended up grabbing her hand and groaning in pain.
“Stupid, do it after my heart’s ready!”
“I just did what you told me to!”
“I almost got a heart attack!”
“Daddy, give Ina a kiss too!”
The daughter was more honest than her mom. When I hugged Ina and gave her a smooch, Hwaya narrowed her eyes at Ina.
“I don’t know why, but she hates losing to me.”
“You shouldn’t be jealous of a kid. Let’s just eat the cake.”
“Kuk...”
When the three of us were cutting the cake, Ciara also appeared. Her lips were pouting, which led me to believe she was a bit angry.
“Can I join now, Hwaya-nim?”
“Yeah, come.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the clear hierarchy between them. Ciara bowed to me respectfully before finding a seat to sit.
“Hero-nim, I’ve been trying for a while, but I can’t seem to grasp when the next wave of Event Dungeons will come.”
“Don’t rush it. We should still have some time left.”
At my words, Hwaya smiled faintly and spoke.
“But we should be able to estimate the approximate time. There might be a bit of an error, but it should be in about three months.”
“Three months? ... I’ll keep that in mind for now.”
“I can foresee parts of Hero-nim fighting the monsters... but I can’t figure out the location. Sorry, Hero-nim. My ability is lacking.”
I sliced off a piece of cake, put it on Ciara’s plate, and spoke.
“You don’t need to be sorry. If you’re trying your best and still can’t do it, then it’s not your fault. You can take it slower. Just knowing when is already good.”
“Yes, Hero-nim.”
Hearing Ciara’s words, something seemed to pop up in my head, but the thought disappeared when I took a bite out of the cake. I only hoped that it was edible, but it seemed Hwaya was a better cook than I thought. Truthfully, it was delicious.
While Hwaya and Ina made time to make this cake for me, it wasn’t like they had ample time to spend freely. Taking the opportunity cost into account, this cake might have been the most expensive cake in the world.
Currently, these two expensive-bodied girls were sipping tea next to me as if they didn’t want to enter the dungeon, while I enjoyed a second slice of cake.
After staring at me intently, Hwaya suddenly asked.
“Shin, are you on the 90th floor now?”
“Yeah, I should get it over with quickly.”
“I can’t believe I never managed to catch up after being passed.”
Hwaya groaned defeatedly, and I stroked her head with a smile.
“You’re already amazing.”
“Hmph, you can say that because you’re better than me. That’s it, I’m going to the dungeon.”
“Hwaya, wait.”
“Hm? Ah.”
I stopped Hwaya and kissed her on the cheek. She widened her eyes.
“Shin, my stat just rose...”
“That’s why I did it.”
“Kissing can raise stats!?”
This time, Hwaya stopped me. Her eyes were burning passionately. Scary. I immediately confessed.
“Lo... Loretta taught it to me. I can do it now because my League reached a certain point. It’s not something anyone can do. Apparently, I can influence others because I can wield Enigma’s power and several gods’ powers. It’s not permanent, but I figured it’ll help while you’re in battle.”
“You kissed enough times to learn something like this!?”
As it poked at my consciousness, I couldn’t refute what she said. According to Loretta, it was only possible for me to give blessings to others because I was the chosen partner of the Elf Queen Loretta.
In other words, I had been intimate with Loretta to the point that I was recognized as her partner.
Instead of giving Hwaya a direct answer, I replied with a smile.
“I’ll kiss you too to make up for it.”
“That’s a different story!”
“So you don’t want it?”
“No, I do. I might have given up on monopolizing you, but I can’t lose to that woman!”
“Hwaya, you sure choose to live your life the hard way.”
“Hurry, do it ten more times! ... Does doing it on the lips have a better effect?”
Once I gave Hwaya enough blessings to satisfy her, this time, Ina and Ciara were watching me with sparkling eyes. First, I set Ciara aside as she didn’t need to go to the dungeon.
“Hero-nim, if I receive a blessing, I’m sure I can foresee the exact time and place!”
“That’s just an empty illusion. I’ll break it for you.”
“Why don’t we test it!”
“No need. Go away. Shoo.”
But I did give a blessing to Ina. Ina simply smiled joyfully, but because of Ciara’s increasingly clingy gaze, I also hurriedly escaped to the dungeon.
First Dungeon’s 90th floor. Normally, there were monsters on the way to the Floor Master room, but the 90th floor was dead silent. No robots appeared and the Eliminator didn’t try to snipe me. The only thing I had to do was cross a vast wasteland.
Of course, I had an idea as to why this was happening. The Eliminator was likely the one controlling the robots I’ve been facing since the 86th floor. With only 1% of his main body remaining, he must be having a hard time even breathing.
By the time I finished digesting the cake I ate, I reached the Floor Master room. Near the end of the wasteland was a single giant iron door that didn’t seem to fit in with the surroundings. Though faint, I could feel a bone-chilling energy pulsating inside.
“Huu... Alright.”
As always, standing in front of a Floor Master room gave me a sense of tension. While only 1% of his main body remained, it was entirely possible that he was prepared for an instant burst attack. However, a sense of tension of this level didn’t hinder a fight. In fact, it helped me prepare for battle and ultimately perform better.
After taking another breath, I kicked open the iron door.
“Fight me, Eliminator!”
However, what greeted me was a giant ruin.
“Wow...”
I looked around. Giant machinery and structures were lined up endlessly, but they were all destroyed. Most of them seemed to have exploded, and the wreckage seemed to be the size of an entire city.
“If I actually fought here, that would have been quite the scene.”
I murmured with a smile. Amidst the mountain of scraps continuing endlessly, a conventional weapon seemed to be ditched inside. It vibrated weakly, signaling that the Eliminator wasn’t dead yet.
“Looks like I’ll have to find the real main body to end it.”
[It’s not... over yet...]
Oh! It seemed the Eliminator even had the energy to rabble. The moment its voice rang out, I detected several presences pop up. Weapons. They were coming from the thrown aside weapons nearby.
There were many guns that survived the explosion, but it seemed the Eliminator didn’t have enough energy to move them, as the weapons that floated up were cold weapons like swords, spears, axes, and hammers.
[A weapon... with a Hero’s power... If I can have that...!]
“You want Chaotic Spear? You’re quite greedy.”
With a smirk, I raised my spear. However, the Eliminator seemed to have some confidence.
[In this... vast space... will you be able to... find me...? Before then... your weapon will... become mine...!]
I think I understood what it was saying. The Floor Master room was no different than its domain. Its main body was here, and it was overall the best place for the Eliminator to use its ability to manipulate weapons.
Even now, I could feel an invisible hand reaching out toward Chaotic Spear. Though the Eliminator was barely breathing at this point, a world’s enemy was still a world’s enemy.
“Well, go ahead to your heart’s content.”
[Huu...!]
Weapons floated up. Countless weapons, similar to what I experienced against the Death Knights, aimed towards me. No, to be exact, they were aiming for my Chaotic Spear. Judging from what the Eliminator said, it seemed it could absorb the power of a weapon and make it its own.
In that case, what I had to find was...!
“Gaia Buster!”
I shouted valiantly and struck down on the ground. Black lightning shot out from the tip of Chaotic Spear and ran across the field of ruined machinery.
An explosion erupted, but I ignored it completely. Cracks appeared on metals, shattering it and scattering millions of fragments.
[This is!?]
“Let’s see if you can hide after I wipe everything off the ground!”
I raised my spear. That served as a signal. The Eliminator’s weapons floating unnervingly in the sky were instantly swept away by Gaia Buster’s current.
An enormous explosion erupted. I indifferently struck the ground once again. This time, I released pure aura from the spear tip.
Then, I easily located the Eliminator’s main body.
[Kuk!?]
“Let’s see if you can run now!”
I pulled out my spear and swung it. The aura string connected to its tip pulled in an elegant longsword, which I grabbed with my hand. Although I felt an enormous recoil for a moment, Extort blocked a portion of it, and I also raised my aura and thoroughly destroyed it. The sword’s defensive barrier shattered, and its real appearance came out.
“... Well, this is surprising...”
An absurdly sharp and smooth sword body, and a hilt made from a leather of unknown origin. The guard of the hilt contained a green jewel, which shone with periodic light.
“Your main body is a sword?”
[How, in just two months... Kuk!]
The Eliminator seemed to be shocked just like me, but for a different reason. Indeed, it was true that I couldn’t utilize my aura so freely two months ago.
However, just by adding my thoughts about spearmanship into the aura, I learned to control aura like my limbs. But of course, it wasn’t something I accomplished alone.
Loretta didn’t just teach me Dimensional Travel. She passed down all of her knowledge of mana. It was the kind of knowledge that my past self couldn’t have carried out, but one that my current self desperately needed.
Without it, even I wouldn’t have been able to learn to perfectly control all of the different energies I had.
“Don’t try anything funny while you act shocked.”
Even now, just by having the Eliminator in my hands, an authority surpassing my imagination attempted to invade and take control of all my weapons. I instantly realized the central source of the authority. It was the shining green jewel.
What controlled so many weapons and robots was this tiny jewel! If I didn’t destroy all the machinery and metals beforehand, finding the Eliminator’s main body would have been difficult, to say the least. Just thinking about it made me sweat.
However, that wasn’t the reality. After all, the Eliminator’s main body was in my hand.
[You won’t be able... to destroy me... As long as... weapons exist... I will never... be eliminated...!]
“Who said I’d destroy you?”
I replied with a grin. I decisively pulled the green jewel out of the sword and squeezed it in my hand.
“Thanks for the meal.”
Then, I began to steal his power.
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