Chapter 154: Secret Ruins, Ruins of the Forgotten Goddess (2)

Kang Taesan picked up the broken arrow.

[An arrow with its own will]

[An arrow that moves on its own to protect its master. Currently broken and unusable.]

Taesan stared at the arrow intently.

The ghost noticed something in his gaze.

[What are you thinking about?]

“Don’t you think it’s worth a try?”

[Hmm… Maybe, but it seems quite dangerous.]

“It seems worth the risk.”

Taesan lifted his head.

[You have activated Scout.]

Scout was a skill that provided information within his field of view.

But nothing appeared.

Just as with the secret room of the forgotten goddess, it seemed that anything related to the goddess was immune to scouting.

[You have activated Trap Disarm.]

He activated the trap-disarming skill, but no message appeared. It was one of two possibilities: either there were no traps, or the traps were too high level for Taesan’s skill to detect.

Taesan was sure it was the latter.

He took a step forward, and arrows shot out from the walls.

Ssshwish!

Arrows moved erratically, confusing his sight.

Taesan focused his mind.

[You have activated Mental Acceleration.]

Since the arrows moved with a will of their own, reading their trajectory was meaningless. What mattered was his vision and reaction.

He dodged the arrows aimed at piercing his limbs by moving his body.

Though the arrows moved sharply enough to leave little room for evasion, Taesan used his high agility to narrowly avoid them all.

Then the movement of the arrows changed.

They began to fly into Taesan’s blind spots.

But Taesan had anticipated this.

With his skill, Eyes of Synchronization, he could see even outside his field of vision.

With the support of his sensory enhancement skills, he could block attacks from behind as if he could see them.

An arrow flew towards Taesan’s shoulder blade. He waited until the last possible moment and then turned his body.

The arrow tried to change its trajectory, but because Taesan waited until the limit, it couldn’t.

He caught the arrow in his hand.

The arrow began to struggle violently, trying to escape from Taesan’s grip. Seeing the arrow trying to slip away, Taesan spoke.

“Come out.”

Swhirl!

The whips wrapped around his arm rose and swallowed the arrow.

The arrow was fixed in Taesan’s hand. He then slammed it to the ground with all his strength.

Boom!

The small corridor shook.

The ghost asked worriedly.

[The arrow seems like it might break.]

“It won’t break.”

It wasn’t an arrow that could be destroyed with such force.

Taesan applied more force to the hand that held the arrow against the ground.

The arrow struggled a few more times before it went quiet.

[You have obtained an arrow with its own will.]

Taesan loosened his grip.

When he opened his hand, the arrow lay quietly in his palm.

The ghost was amazed.

[You actually caught it.]

Even the ghost found the arrow’s movements to be fast and erratic. Its speed was on par with Taesan’s, making it difficult to catch without exhausting oneself.

Taesan had captured it in less than 20 minutes.

He laughed.

“As expected, it worked.”

The first time he discovered a secret room in Solo Mode, he encountered an arrow trap.

There, he had caught all the flying arrows and used them to capture a Giant Rat.

Traps in the labyrinth became the property of the adventurer who grasped them.

Recalling this, he had taken a gamble, and it had paid off.

Taesan checked the arrow.

[An arrow with its own will]

[An arrow that moves on its own to protect its master. It moves with its own will. It cannot move beyond a certain range.]

[Current master: Kang Taesan]

[User’s level is insufficient. Attack power: 1]

Taesan threw the arrow. It floated in the air and started orbiting around him.

His smile deepened.

“This is good.”

An arrow that attacked on its own without needing any attention. It was fast, and the force contained in it was almost hard for Taesan to restrain.

Its attack power was very low, but as a supplementary tool, it was sufficient. Even just being a minor nuisance to an enemy during combat could change the outcome.

“I need to collect more.”

Taesan took another step forward.

This time, two arrows appeared.

As the arrows aimed at Taesan, the arrow already under his control also moved to intercept one of them.

Thanks to that, Taesan only had to focus on the remaining arrow. He quickly smashed it and immediately grabbed the other arrow, slamming it to the ground.

He applied pressure to the arrow trying to escape. The arrow struggled a few times before it finally stopped.

[You have obtained an arrow with its own will.]

“Good.”

That made two.

Taesan smiled with satisfaction. And the fun was not over yet.

There was still a long way to go down the corridor.

As he expected, more arrows appeared as he went forward.

Two, three were common, and at the end, four arrows flew at once.

In the end, Taesan managed to capture four arrows.

“It’s still not enough.”

Taesan looked at the arrows orbiting around him with a somewhat disappointed expression.

Considering the number of arrows that appeared, he hadn’t captured that many.

As the number of arrows increased, the combat situation became chaotic, making it difficult to catch and pin them down.

[You should be satisfied with this. You’re so greedy.]

The ghost chuckled at Taesan’s appearance. Arrows with their own will were like ego weapons.

Tools or equipment with their own will were valuable in themselves.

The shopkeeper who sold him the wrist guard in the form of a whip had said it was not something one could find in such a low-level area, meaning it was a rare item.

To say it wasn’t enough after obtaining four such arrows left the ghost speechless.

[It seems like the arrow traps are all over.]

“Seems like it.”

Bzzz!

Large circular blades moved in a semicircle in front of Taesan.

“This is conventional.”

Following the arrow traps were rotating blade traps fixed to an axis. It was a stereotypical trap anyone would imagine.

About ten blades moved at regular intervals.

Looking closely, they all moved slowly and were spaced far enough apart that he could dodge them one by one without much problem.

“There’s no way it’s that simple.”

The arrows had their own will. There was no way the blades were ordinary.

Taesan decided to test it out.

He threw himself into the trajectory of the blades. The blades suddenly sped up. Since he had anticipated this, Taesan calmly raised his sword.

Clang!

A heavy sensation transmitted through his sword. He stepped back a bit, but it was manageable.

Then the circular blade started spinning wildly. Sparks flew from his sword as it began to push back.

He couldn’t block it. Taesan quickly redirected the force on his sword and jumped back.

The blade’s axis moved strangely, changing its trajectory. Taesan quickly blocked again, but unable to withstand the rotation, he received a blow to his chest.

[Your first attack nullification has activated.]

“Hmm.”

Taesan stepped out of the trap’s range and calmly organized his thoughts.

‘I can’t block it.’

He could block the blade’s initial force, but the subsequent rotation was a problem. The sudden rotation made it hard to respond in time, meaning he had to dodge it.

But with the changing speed and trajectory, evading wasn’t easy. As Taesan pondered, the ghost spoke.

[Is relying on attack nullification a bad idea?]

“There are too many variables. I don’t know how the blades will move. And the value of nullification decreases against such mechanisms.”

The greatest advantage of attack nullification was not just returning to the pre-attack state, but also the surprise element.

Taesan’s main strategy was to deal significant damage during that surprise.

But mechanisms had no emotions. If the attack reverted, they would simply attack again.

“Plus, we don’t know what will happen.”

He hadn’t fully understood how the blades moved yet.

Charging in relying on attack nullification, only to get trapped among the blades without knowing the information, was a real possibility.

“I could use Blink to escape with the Brand, but with limited nullifications, there’s no reason to rush.”

The ghost agreed and fell silent.

After a bit more thought, Taesan decided to experiment further.

He extended his sword towards the incoming blade.

[You have activated Distortion.]

Just as the sword and blade were about to meet, the blade twisted.

It twisted and changed its trajectory, forcing Taesan to retreat, but he had gained the information he needed.

The blades could be affected by ability swords.

“The judgement range is broader than I thought.”

Sometimes, skills didn’t work on traps or mechanisms, so he had tested it, and the result was satisfactory.

This clarified the solution.

Taesan took a deep breath, switching his selfish choice from attack to power, and pushed forward.

He had noticed while using Distortion.

The rotation of the blade activated when it made contact with the sword.

So, he just needed to knock the blade away entirely.

[You have activated Force Strike.]

He swung his arm roughly at the incoming blade.

Clang!

Instead of just blocking, he deflected the blade.

‘As expected.’

Using Force Strike, he could push the blade away.

Taesan charged forward. The blades moved chaotically to target him, but he avoided what he could and deflected the rest with his sword. What he couldn’t avoid, he nullified.

Thud.

Taesan reached the end of the trap without taking any damage.

He was pleased with his strategy. He looked satisfied.

“It’s been a while since I had something like this.”

Although there were traps in the secret rooms on each floor, they were meaningless with his current stats. Just a casual swing was enough to destroy the traps.

It had been a long time since he had a proper trap challenge.

For someone like Taesan who enjoyed this, it was a fun time.

“I wonder how far this goes.”

He took another step forward with anticipation.

Traps continued to appear.

A floor that exploded upon being stepped on, walls that charged in to crush him, and so on.

Taesan flawlessly overcame all of them using his skills and items.

The next trap triggered a net that ensnared and dragged its victim into the labyrinth.

Taesan first used the arrow to test the trap.

Since getting caught was not an attack, attack nullification didn’t activate.

He couldn’t use a skill to free himself from the net either.

Testing whether he could cut it carried too much risk, so he carefully began his strategy.

After testing a few things, he gathered some information.

The ceiling opened, and the net dropped to the floor. The net then pressed down with great force.

After a certain time, the floor would open, pulling the net and its victim into the labyrinth.

The trigger for the trap was any impact.

Even the slightest impact transmitted through the corridor triggered the net to ensnare the entire passageway.

The solution was simple then.

Don’t cause any impact.

[You have activated Wind Walker.]

By wrapping his body in wind, he ensured no impact was transmitted to the passageway.

After boosting his agility with a skill, he pushed off the ground.

But the passageway was long. He couldn’t reach the end in a single leap.

[You have activated Air Step.]

So, he leaped again.

He ran through the air.

Yet the passageway was still halfway.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, the ceiling opened, and the net dropped. Taesan quickly pushed off the ground again.

He pressed his body against the falling net from the ceiling.

[You have activated Brand.]

And when the net ensnared him and touched the ground, Taesan cast another spell.

[You have activated Random Blink.]

The Brand fixed the position for Random Blink.

Because the Brand was placed on the ceiling, Taesan’s body was transported above the net.

Since the net was already on the ground, stepping on it didn’t trigger it again.

He then used Air Step once more to reach the end of the passageway.

But Taesan didn’t pass through.

He continued to trigger the net, testing it in various ways.

Eventually, he discovered that Mephisto’s Sword could slightly scorch the net with its black lightning.

“Is it vulnerable to black magic?”

After triggering the net again, he used all his magic to cast another black lightning spell.

As a result, he obtained a length of the net about one meter long.

The ghost, seeing Taesan’s satisfied expression, spoke with a mix of admiration and exasperation.

[Is this guy insane?]