Chapter 186. Sure-Hit (1)
As the knight charged towards him, Taesan designated a critical point. The knight instinctively moved to protect the designated area.
Seeing this, Taesan stomped his foot. His will shot towards the knight.
The knight flinched momentarily.
The knight felt that Taesan was targeting the weak spot on his nape.
So, to protect its nape, the knight moved, naturally exposing the designated critical point.
Taesan exploited this.
Crunch.
“Thirty-three.”
He muttered as he retrieved his sword.
Using the Concept Skill, he adjusted his will. This wasn’t a physical restriction. He merely projected his intent to attack the knight’s nape.
Since nothing directly influenced the knight, there was no issue with the conditions for acquiring the Sure-Hit skill.
Taesan designated the critical point, projected his will to restrict the knight’s movements, and then attacked.
The process repeated. The ghost watching laughed softly.
[That’s quite tricky.]
Just like the other skills Taesan had acquired, the conditions were clearly difficult.
First, the Forced Duel.
Against multiple enemies, conduct a duel as if facing only one and win.
Taesan had quickly acquired it by subduing many with paralysis arrows. But that was only possible because it was in the lower floors.
The deeper the floor, the rarer it was to encounter multiple monsters at once.
Even if they appeared, their numbers would be overwhelming, or they would support each other perfectly, making it almost impossible to ignore them.
Monsters below a certain level would resist status effects like paralysis, making it difficult to bypass them. Thus, it was a skill that was practically unobtainable after the early stages.
The same went for Attack Nullification. You had to withstand attacks without losing health, and you couldn’t wear any armor, which made it extremely tricky.
Without a shield, it was an unattainable skill. Even with a shield, you had to minimize damage to barely acquire it.
Of course, now with the shield’s increased value, it might be easier to obtain.
But the labyrinth doesn’t give skills easily. The ghost thought that no matter how high the shield’s value increased, other restrictions would certainly be added.
And then there was Multiplication.
A skill that doubled the final damage.
It had an incredible effect. And its value increased as you descended the labyrinth.
You had to increase the damage to double without using any skill other than perseverance, an insane requirement.
No one but Taesan would have tried such an experiment. And that included the ghost.
To obtain such overwhelming skills, one had to clear nearly impossible conditions.
The ghost recalled a memory.
[The Administrator did mention that.]
Skills aren’t created but are given if specific conditions are met and deemed appropriate.
[It’s all about creativity and imagination.]
It must have been the labyrinth’s wizard who designed such a system.
The one who personally negotiated with the gods and created this vast space using their powers.
The ghost could somewhat understand why the wizard made the skill acquisition conditions like this.
Clang!
“Eighty-seven.”
Taesan murmured. He was almost there. Just thirteen more successful hits to go.
The knight stood still as if deep in thought.
Then it charged at Taesan again.
Taesan activated Critical Point Targeting. The knight protected the designated area with its body, and Taesan targeted the nape with his will as he had been doing.
A chilling sensation, the feeling of death, flowed down the knight’s back.
But the knight didn’t change its stance.
Boom!
Taesan frowned. The knight, leaving its nape exposed, swung its sword at him.
Taesan dodged the attack by stepping back and moved his will again.
But once again, the knight showed no intention of protecting its nape and kept charging.
Taesan realized it. The knight no longer intended to protect its nape. It was only blocking the part Taesan designated.
In the end, deciding he couldn’t avoid all the attacks, Taesan moved his sword.
Clang!
The swords clashed.
He had to start from the beginning again. The ghost chuckled.
[This is another crazy repetitive task like Multiplication.]
In a way, it was even worse. While Multiplication required repeated attacks, this also demanded keen attention to dodging.
“It doesn’t matter.”
How long it took wasn’t important to Taesan.
What mattered was that he could obtain it.
Taesan designated the critical point and charged again. The knight, having adapted to Taesan’s attacks, left its weak point exposed again as it charged.
Taesan observed the charging knight. Reading the trajectory of the swinging sword, he twisted his body.
Whoosh!
The knight’s sword sliced through the air.
But Taesan didn’t retreat a single step, evading all attacks just by twisting his body.
The knight’s movements became faster. Consequently, the part it was tightly protecting became exposed.
Seeing this, Taesan dashed forward.
The knight hurriedly tried to defend, but Taesan’s sword twisted like a snake and struck the critical point.
“That makes one.”
Taesan muttered.
The knight had changed its tactics to only protect the critical point instead of its nape.
So Taesan also changed his approach.
His stats were overwhelmingly higher than the knight’s.
Additionally, the proficiency in the Concept Skill had increased enough to vaguely read the knight’s will, making it easy to dodge the attacks.
Therefore, he focused solely on evading until the critical point was exposed.
Soon enough, the knight, tired of Taesan’s evasion, unconsciously exposed its critical point.
Clang!
“That makes thirty-three.”
Taesan murmured.
When he had succeeded about fifty times, the knight changed its movements again.
The knight corrupted by the Abyss had its unique swordsmanship. It pushed Taesan with ruthless but controlled movements.
But suddenly, the knight abandoned its swordsmanship and started to recklessly charge.
Taesan tried to dodge, but the distance was too close. Ultimately, he had to allow the knight’s charge.
“Huff.”
Back to the beginning again.
The ghost shook its head.
[As I felt with Multiplication, I would have gone insane.]
Spending hours succeeding up to ninety, almost there, only for the knight to change its tactics and having to start over from the beginning…
It had to be repeated, over and over again. It was a task requiring nearly infinite time.
“Really? I think this is better than Multiplication.”
[Why? It seems the same to me.]
“This one is guaranteed to be obtained.”
[…Ah.]
The ghost understood what Taesan meant.
With Multiplication, you had to eliminate all variables. But variables, by nature, were beyond Taesan’s control.
When trying to acquire Multiplication, all Taesan could do was repeatedly swing his sword. That was all. What he could actively do was extremely limited.
It was a skill that could not be acquired even in a lifetime if luck wasn’t on your side.
In contrast, with Sure-Hit, Taesan could manage the variables. The monsters just kept coming up with countermeasures to his attacks.
So the story was simple.
If he could understand and counter all the responses the opponent used, success was only a matter of time.
[Oh my.]
The ghost chuckled.
Taesan kept moving.
When he succeeded about fifty times, the knight changed its pattern again.
Taesan couldn’t counter it immediately and had to start over.
But there was no change in his expression.
And at some point, the knight’s patterns became repetitive within a certain flow.
Judging that the knight couldn’t come up with any new patterns, Taesan moved immediately.
Crunch.
“One.”
The knight changed its moves. It tried to push Taesan by changing its patterns.
But all of them were moves Taesan had already experienced.
Having seen them before, it wasn’t difficult to counter.
After progressing steadily.
Crunch.
Taesan’s sword struck the critical point. The knight’s body shook violently.
“That makes a hundred.”
[You continuously attacked the opponent’s critical point. You acquired the special skill [Sure-Hit].]
Finally, he obtained the skill. The ghost admired him.
[As with Multiplication, it’s truly impressive. Even knowing the method, would anyone else succeed?]
“Probably not.”
Even in his previous life, he had taught many people how to acquire it, but only Lee Taeyeon had succeeded.
Having acquired Sure-Hit, he had no more business with the knight.
He charged at the staggering knight.
Deflecting the knight’s thrust, he plunged his sword into the nape.
Crunch.
The knight fell.
[You defeated the Abyss-corrupted knight.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You obtained the Rune of Lightning.]
[You obtained ???.]
“Whew.”
Taesan let out a small breath. Although he was used to it, hitting the critical point over a hundred times and adjusting his will with the Concept Skill was quite tiring.
But he had succeeded.
[Special Skill: Sure-Hit]
[Mana Cost: 5]
[Proficiency: 1%]
[The next attack will definitely hit the opponent. This attack cannot be dodged.]
It was a skill true to its name. It launched an unavoidable attack at the opponent. The opponent could only erase the attack, block it, or take the hit.
[This is amazing… They give such a skill?]
The Sure-Hit skill, which forced specific responses from the opponent, was comparable to Attack Nullification or Forced Duel.
Moreover, Taesan had the Ability Sword.
As a skill that could be used endlessly as long as the swords clashed, combining it with the Ability Sword would maximize its efficiency.
But Taesan was still not satisfied.
There were many more skills to acquire. He intended to obtain each one as the conditions were met.
All the skills from his previous life.
And the stats and additional skills obtained in Solo Mode.
It was hard even for him to imagine how strong he would become when all of these were combined.
Taesan checked the reward for clearing the 38th floor.
[Rune of Lightning]
[Imbues equipment with the energy of lightning.]
He wasn’t sure when he would change his weapon. Since the ghost said he could get the weapon he used later, Taesan applied the rune to his arrows.
Crackle.
Blue light flickered from the arrows.
[Self-Aware Lightning Arrow: Rune of Lightning]
[An arrow that moves on its own to protect its master. It moves with self-awareness. It cannot exceed a certain range.]
[Current Master: Kang Taesan]
[User’s level is insufficient. Attack Power: 1]
[The Rune of Lightning is imbued. Attack Power +30]
[Attempts to inflict the Electrify status ailment on hit enemies.]
An additional 30 attack power. Like the arrows imbued with the lightning of the ancient tree, each attack now had a small but beneficial effect of inflicting a status ailment.
Taesan pulled out the arrows.
Two arrows flickered with lightning.
“Not bad.”
It was a decent improvement. However, he was curious about how to increase the attack power, which remained low due to insufficient level.
[You used ???.]
[You obtained the Dagger of Dispel Magic.]
[Dagger of Dispel Magic]
[A dagger imbued with the magic of dispel. It can break magic seals. It cannot break seals of higher magic than the dagger’s dispel level.]
A dagger that dispelled magic seals. It was a useful item to keep for future use.
Taesan took the dagger and descended to the 40th floor.
[40th Floor Quest Start.]
[Defeat the 40th floor boss and pass.]
[Reward: Necklace of the Majestic]
[Secret Reward: ???]
Finally, he reached the 40th floor.
The end of the knight-occupied 30th floors was in sight.
As Taesan was about to move towards the floor.
A girl appeared, parting the darkness.
“What is it this time?”
Even with the sudden appearance of the Demon Goddess, Taesan asked without a hint of disturbance.
He had a good guess why she appeared. There weren’t many reasons for her to show up like this.
Guide of Sin.
They had made their move.