The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All

Boom!

A qi cannon was fired consecutively.

The qi cannon, painfully squeezed out, failed to properly aim at Kang-hoo.

By utilizing swift evasion, Kang-hoo dodged slightly to the side, and the qi cannon missed him completely as it flew by.

At that moment…

Crack, crack, crack!

Rügé’s body started to split.

It was his usual pattern.

Whenever he was cornered or needed to recover his strength, he immediately split his body to seek an opportunity.

It was almost like dividing a lump of dough in half.

As a result, those watching often felt a strange sense of discomfort.

“Now!”

Kang-hoo shouted.

He had already accumulated 50 stacks of bleeding, so identifying the real Rügé was as easy as pie.

From the moment Rügé began to split, Kang-hoo had already aimed a copied qi cannon, using his manipulation skills, at the real Rügé.

The real Rügé, having split while under maximum bleeding stacks, was easy to identify as he emitted a red glow.

Next.

Whether the qi cannon hit or not, Kang-hoo immediately began charging White Sun Slash.

Up until now, he had only used Black Moon Slash while hunting spectral monsters, but White Sun Slash was far more convenient to use.

After all, compared to the Dark Phase with its many recovery limitations, it was better to utilize magical power.

Fwoosh…

Magical power explosively gathered at the tip of Kang-hoo’s dagger, shaping itself into a sharp form.

In the meantime, Eto rammed into the real Rügé, and Miyuki relentlessly struck him with flaming spears.

An Yeong-ho joined in as well, now having a grasp on things, using healing skills to torment Rügé.

The fake was thoroughly ignored, leaving Rügé to suffer exponentially increasing damage as the price for his split.

The only drawback of White Sun Slash and Black Moon Slash was that they required charging time.

But Rügé, preoccupied with fending off the attacks of three hunters, couldn’t pay attention to Kang-hoo.

And finally…

Shiiiiing!

White Sun Slash, releasing a silver flash, flew straight into the center of Rügé’s back.

“Gahhh!”

Rügé coughed up blood.

At the same time, White Sun Slash’s sharp edge left a wound that cut deep into his back.

Thanks to the boss monster’s durability, the attack didn’t pierce through completely, but the force was enough to shred the flesh on his back.

And that wasn’t all.

The flash effect of White Sun Slash went off, temporarily blinding Rügé.

‘The Dark Phase is still saved.’

Since Kang-hoo had already used White Sun Slash, he needed to wait for his magical power to recover, but the amount of Dark Phase was still sufficient.

In other words, he could use Black Moon Slash at any time. That meant he could deploy two consecutive hidden skills.

“Graaaaah!”

Rügé roared in rage.

In an attempt to recover through his split, he had instead been severely hit, and his health had plummeted to an absurdly low level.

At the start of the battle, he had thought the human assassin was the weakest, but he was gravely mistaken. Kang-hoo was the most troublesome.

Meanwhile, Kang-hoo had sent one of his clones forward to distract Rügé, further irritating him.

“Hrrrgh!”

Rügé, his temper flaring, angrily swatted Kang-hoo’s clone aside and charged forward.

At that moment, several of Miyuki’s flaming spears struck his back, but he ignored them. The real threat was that assassin.

Rumble!

The ground trembled as Rügé, a massive figure, charged toward Kang-hoo.

It was a dangerous situation, one that Kang-hoo could easily dodge, but for some reason, he remained still.

Just as Rügé was about to pause at Kang-hoo’s strange response…

Swish!

It felt as though an invisible thread wrapped around his waist.

Though it didn’t restrict his movement, it felt as though something had coiled around him like a belt.

Then, distortion activated!

In that instant, Rügé realized he had fallen into a trap.

The thread of distortion wound around his body, grinding his waist and abdomen.

It felt like being sawed in half by a thin wire! The pain was excruciating.

Splat!

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Both Rügé and the onlookers, including Miyuki, were shocked, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Pop. Pop!

During this, Kang-hoo approached with Shadow Step, applied a simple bleed effect, and retreated back to his original position.

“Graaaah!”

Unable to bear the pain, Rügé began to frantically tear off the thread of distortion wrapped around his waist.

It was his typical pattern.

Unable to endure the pain, he desperately tried to remove the cause of his suffering.

It was a common monster mistake, not understanding why Kang-hoo had used the distortion thread.

While Rügé focused on his body, Kang-hoo completed charging his Black Moon Slash to its maximum power.

And just as Rügé finally ripped off the thread of distortion, extinguishing the immediate threat…

Shwoosh!

Black Moon Slash, flying at lightning speed, struck Rügé squarely in the chest.

Splat!

Blood splattered both front and back.

The blood spraying forward came from the severe bleeding caused by the wound inflicted by the Black Moon Slash.

The blood spraying backward was due to the immense pressure applied to the earlier wound, causing yet another tear.

“Guh…”

Rügé, who had once carried the image of a mighty warrior, let out a deflating groan.

Even in such a state, he seemed determined to seize a chance for recovery, as he began to split again in an instant.

However.

This was the exact opportunity Kang-hoo had been waiting for, and it became Rügé’s fatal mistake.

The moment of splitting was when the body became most vulnerable, even if only for a brief time.

It was clear that this weakness existed, and Kang-hoo wasn’t going to let the moment pass.

Snap!

A sharp sound echoed as Kang-hoo snapped his fingers.

At the same time, Blood Flower activated, causing Rügé’s body, in the middle of splitting, to explode violently.

There was more than enough blood to fuel the Flower of Blood, so the scale of the explosion was immense.

Rügé was utterly destroyed.

The failed split and the doubled damage from the explosion were disastrous.

The usually impenetrable moment of division had become his worst downfall, as it coincided with the detonation of Blood Flower.

Rügé’s body, now back to its original form, was so torn apart that it barely resembled a living creature.

His back, waist, chest, and stomach were in shreds, with muscles and flesh indistinguishable from one another.

“Gah! Gaaah!”

The blood Rügé was vomiting wasn’t just blood; it contained everything that could spill from a body.

Meanwhile, Miyuki, who had just created a massive flaming spear, paused.

“…”

Seeing the situation seemingly resolved, she stopped, realizing that no further effort was necessary.

And, as expected.

Kang-hoo, who had already dashed forward, leaped over the half-kneeling Rügé, aiming at his head.

Squelch!

He drove a decisive blow straight into the crown of Rügé’s head. It was a perfect strike to end his life.

“…You took him down like this.”

Eto, who had been tanking and watching Kang-hoo’s actions from start to finish, was impressed.

Was this what you’d call planning?

Looking at the “ending” brought about by Rügé’s death, it felt as if they were witnessing a stage play orchestrated by Kang-hoo.

It hadn’t been a chaotic bloodbath of flesh and gore.

Kang-hoo had methodically utilized his team members, laying the groundwork to drive Rügé toward his death.

Rügé had stayed within the lines of Kang-hoo’s blueprint, ultimately charging headfirst toward his own demise.

Who would have thought that Rügé’s high-speed rush toward Kang-hoo would be like opening his own coffin and jumping in?

“I thought you only asked me to maintain the bleed…”

Miyuki, retracting her now unnecessary flaming spear, looked at Kang-hoo with reverence.

The thought of facing Kang-hoo as an enemy and standing a chance seemed impossible and was now etched into her mind.

The skill linkage she had witnessed from Kang-hoo had no consistency or uniformity.

It wasn’t meant negatively. In short, it was completely unpredictable.

The initial briefing where he’d simply asked her to maintain the bleed now felt embarrassing in retrospect.

At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Kang-hoo had handled everything himself.

Eto, Miyuki, and An Yeong-ho might deserve a small share of the credit.

But really, could the three of them have killed Rügé on their own? Absolutely not.

“Now do you see why I always praise Kang-hoo hyung whenever I talk about him? This is why. When you enter a dungeon with him…”

An Yeong-ho beamed proudly.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

His connection with Kang-hoo began with gratitude, as the man who saved his life in Korea.

Though his experiences with the Jeonghwa Guild had been dreadful, now, in hindsight, he was grateful for that misfortune.

It had allowed him to meet Shin Kang-hoo.

And An Yeong-ho was certain of one thing.

Kang-hoo was a hunter who would soar even higher, someone to look forward to not just today, but tomorrow as well.

‘Did I finish this without using the Elixir of Divinity? Is that an unseen benefit?’

Kang-hoo nodded as he looked at the ten bottles of the Elixir of Divinity, still neatly sealed in the vial.

He always kept them close, thinking he might need them, but so far, he had never actually used one.

With Rügé’s death, Kang-hoo’s level had increased by three at once, bringing him to level 232.

It was a significant leap, more than expected.

Perhaps it was because Rügé had never been defeated before, and so the experience gained was substantial.

Finally, the moment of reward had come.

They had already agreed that everything dropped by the boss monster would belong to Kang-hoo.

His gaze first turned to the skill theft that had been activated by Rügé’s death.

Ego Split.

Qi Cannon.

Shell Game.

These were the three skills that had been activated.

Ego Split was a skill that induced body division, just as seen earlier… but Kang-hoo had no need for it.

He already possessed the Clone Technique, a much superior skill. There was no need to actually tear his body apart.

As for Shell Game, it was far too random.

What kind of skill was it? With Shell Game, you would open a box, and randomly either a buff or debuff would emerge.

For example.

Just like what had happened to Rügé earlier, your damage might recover fivefold, but on the flip side, your damage might double.

Unless you wanted to gamble with your life, this mischievous skill wasn’t worth the risk.

So Kang-hoo chose Qi Cannon.

The skill alone would allow him to perform the role of a qi user to some extent.

【Qi Cannon】

【Skill Mastery: Lv. Max】

【A skill that uses magical power to condense surrounding energy and release it forward with great force. The power scales with the condensed energy and magical power used, and it does not require additional focus.】

As soon as Kang-hoo tried the skill, energy naturally gathered in one of his hands just by activating it.

It felt like a scene from a martial arts movie, where a character prepares to unleash a powerful strike. The energy gathered on its own, waiting to be unleashed at any moment.

It seemed like this skill would be incredibly useful for creating unexpected variables during combat. It was entirely different from his usual assassin techniques.

But just then.

As Kang-hoo finished the skill theft and shifted his gaze, something caught his attention.

Though Rügé hadn’t dropped any magical stones or items, there was a separate reward that had been activated:

Skill Enhancement (1 use).

It was Skill Enhancement!

A chance to evolve any skill into an ultimate ability once it reached maximum mastery.

The rarest reward had appeared after a long absence.