The Duke's Son :Re

Chapter 43

With a click, Jae-Hyeok withdrew his sword.

The freed heads of the hobgoblins rolled Jae-Hyeok’s feet. They were still smiling, ignorant of their own deaths.

Below, the rain of arrows stopped, and Department Manager Gu and the team leaders gulped and raised their heads.

“What?”

They saw Jae-Hyeok standing on the clifftop high above, facing off against dozens of monsters.

“What type of magic did he use?”

Although they’d seen Jae-Hyeok dashing toward the cliff, they were too occupied by the arrow barrage to spare anything more than a glance.

How had he done it? How had he reached the summit so fast?

Does he have any flying artifacts or Skills?

Team Leader- Seol and Baek's eyes were strange as they exchanged looks. The Kang family might’ve fallen, but it was still a ducal family. It wouldn’t be strange for him to have precious treasures.

On the other hand, Department Manager Gu wasted no time as he ran toward the cliff.

“Hurry up! If that child dies, we will die too!”

Some of the hobgoblin’s arrows had been magically imbued. This suggested a shaman was among them—or a summoned monster, in the worst-case scenario.

Department Manager Gu started climbing rapidly. As he passed, he urged the hesitating employees who were halfway up the cliff, “You guys follow me! Quickly!”

Among their group, the support players came to their senses and gave Haste or other acceleration buffs to their allies.

However, the steep slope of the canyon became steeper the higher they climbed. It was hard for them to speed up, despite the buffs.

Just how did that kid do it?

Kieek!Kiyaaaack!

The hobgoblins’ cries—whether they were cheers, screams, or shouts of joy—were gradually getting louder.

The lip of the canyon obscured their view, making it impossible to see what was going on. No one knew if Jae-Hyeok was still fighting or if he was already dead and being eaten.

“Everybody, stick tightly to the cliff. I’m going to break it.”

Department Manager Gu’s sword began to emit a while glow.

He was a B-class player, one among the top 15% of players worldwide.

Although Jae-Hyeok had hunted B-class players in the past with relative ease, he had caught them off guard both times. Neither the Sword Demon nor Yoon Sang-Ho had been given a chance to attack Jae-Hyeok properly—let alone use their Skills.

“Brilliant—”

In truth, the power of B-class players, who were treated with respect everywhere they went, defied common sense.

“—Sword.”

Baaaaang!!

A column of white light shot from the tip of Department Manager Gu’s sword. It reached dozens of meters and removed the overhanging section of rock above them.

***

Slash!

It happened after the heads of five of their comrades were cut off.

Kiik!

The hobgoblins finally flinched.

They realized that every time this young human drew his sword, a comrade’s head flew through the air with a spray of blood.

It was useless whether they jumped from a tree to attack from above, took advantage of their small forms to ambush from below, or concealed their presence to attack from behind.

Jae-Hyeok’s scabbard changed positions frequently and easily adapted his angle of attack.

He used the Kang sword-drawing technique, taking advantage of the benefits of the hwando to the extreme.

The sword draw was his ultimate move, a move designed for no other purpose than to slaughter enemies. And it was much too tricky for those rampaging monsters, who relied solely on their physical abilities.

Kiruk!Kiruruk!

Among the rock-like hobgoblins, a particularly large one shouted something, and the group moved back in unison. They threw down their swords and grabbed their bows. It seemed their leader had decided that a close-combat battle was disadvantageous.

“You should’ve held on to your bows in the first place. What's the point of rushing to them now?”

Jae-Hyeok took a powerful step, and the stone depressed beneath his foot. In the next instant, he arrived at the side of a hobgoblin who was picking up its bow.

To the hobgoblin’s eyes, it seemed like the young human had teleported.

In reality, Jae-Hyeok had concentrated mana into his legs before releasing it. The Kang family’s mana control method had allowed him to cross fifteen meters in one step.

Kieek!

Jae-Hyeok slashed the frightened monster’s throat before sheathing his sword, spinning around, and drawing once more to block a surprise attack.

Just like that, another hobgoblin had died.

[Your level has risen.]

He’d already gained two levels.

The hobgoblins were level 40; as C-class monsters, they gave him plenty of experience.

The vast majority of players could never experience the level of rapid growth that Jae-Hyeok was experiencing. For them, it was impossible to cut down a monster whose level was twice their own, even if they used Skills—a sword swung with all their might wouldn’t leave a scratch.

Jae-Hyeok was different. He’d awakened only after raising his stats to the limit, and immediately after awakening, he’d achieved legendary- and amazing achievements in succession.

Above all, he had the All Mastery passive Skill.

Attack power, accuracy, defense, and evasion—the four most essential elements of combat were enhanced by 10%.

And the effect of Chivalry of Bravery and Loyalty: Praying Mantis Blocking a Cart increased his attack power by a further 10% when fighting against high-level opponents.

His stats weren’t lacking even against C-class monsters. There was only one thing Jae-Hyeok felt regret about.

My total amount of mana is too low.

As Professor Lee So-Yeong had said, the principle behind mana control techniques was similar to Skills.

They both consumed mana from the dantian.

And the Kang family’s mana control technique was especially hungry; it focused large amounts of pure mana in a particular body part before consuming it to enhance physical abilities. Depending on how much mana was channeled, it could consume much more than a Skill.

Now, Jae-Hyeok used mana with every step and draw of his sword. He had no choice if he was to cut through the hard muscle and bone of the hobgoblins and kill them in one strike.

I wouldn’t need to do this if Thunderbolt Sword triggered every time.

So far, his mana was restored every time he leveled up. This allowed him to survive.

But having reached level 22, he’d need to hunt more hobgoblins than before to level up.

He needed to control his mana use.

Let’s fight like a player.

Kkirik!

Just then, the elite hobgoblin commanding the group from the rear pulled its bowstring.

Jae-Hyeok threw his weapon without hesitation.

Kyaak!

The elite hobgoblin let out a scream as the hwando pierced its brow. It dropped its bow and arrows in surprise, but it didn’t die.

The large hobgoblin was living up to its size—it seemed to have twice as much health compared to the others. It pulled out the hwando and roared.

In response, all the red-eyed hobgoblins once again dropped their bows, picked up their swords, and charged at Jae-Hyeok.

The sound of their screeches changed. They seemed to be laughing at Jae-Hyeok for throwing his sword away.

Jae-Hyeok snorted and dropped the scabbard he had separated from his belt to the ground.

[Two Scythes Block a Cart]

[Deal a powerful attack on the target. The higher the target’s level, the more powerful it is.]

In the distance, the hwando unleashed two auras on either side, forming scythes that burst through the upper bodies of nearby enemies.

Skills were powers that allowed players to transcend humans.

Two Scythes Block a Cart was a great power. The mana consumption was only 100, so it wasn’t burdensome. But in return, the cooldown time was three minutes.

Skills often had such trade-offs. This made relying solely on Skills a low-level strategy.

Jae-Hyeok pulled out the Grand Justice Alus's Dagger and swung it.

Slash!

As an epic-grade weapon, it easily split apart the hobgoblins’ hard muscles and bones.

The blade’s reach was short, so he had to attack at close distance. But Jae-Hyeok stepped back rather than rush forward, making the hobgoblins chase him.

He dodged the hobgoblins rushing at him like a pack of dogs and cut their wrists or the backs of their hands.

With every flash of silver, a hobgoblin was forced to let go of its weapon.

Kyaak!

Seeing its subordinates faltering, the frantic elite hobgoblin charged in. It wielded Jae-Hyeok’s hwando instead of its old sword.

Jae-Hyeok threw out three pouches as if he’d been waiting for that moment.

They were not the flat, weighted pouches that he wore as body weights before awakening. These were different. They were poisonous pouches made by condensing poison from the Leech King's Ring into fine powder.

The moment the elite hobgoblin reacted and sliced through the three pouches, a dark powder sprayed out.

The elite hobgoblin was covered in the powder and melted without even being able to scream. Some powder also hit the hobgoblins around it, causing them to fall to the ground howling.

“This is the power of items.”

Jae-Hyeok kicked the ground with his leg. It caused a shockwave that made the cloud of poison powder spread wider.

The remaining hobgoblins were affected by the poison. Their dose was less, so they didn’t melt, but they were crippled. Blood and saliva were pouring from their mouths.

Jae-Hyeok waited in silence until all the powder settled back to the ground. Then he picked up his hwando and leisurely moved around the battlefield.

Those who were still standing he killed with the dagger, while those who had collapsed he stabbed to death with the hwando.

[Your level has risen.]

[Your level has risen.]

Soon, all the hobgoblins were dead, and he’d reached level 24.

Jae-Hyeok began cleaning all the blood, poison, and flesh off his hwando and dagger.

“......”

The employees of Jaegyeong Pharmaceuticals, who had only just reached the top of the canyon, couldn’t shut their mouths.

A boy was humming a song as he stood with his back to dozens of corpses.

It was an eerie and surreal sight.

Jae-Hyeok beckoned to them as they shivered and gulped nervously.

“Look at these monsters. They’re all wearing rings, but the shape and design are uniform, like mass-produced goods. Can monsters make something like this?”

“Um... ”

They hurried over at the boy’s gesture, only to fall silent.

“There’s a magic circle engraved inside the rings.”

“They’re summoned monsters, player-summoned monsters.”

“They were tasked to target us from the beginning. However, a player who can summon nearly twenty C-class monsters...”

Department Manager Gu judged that the situation was unusual and urged the employees. “There’s no time. We have to get out of here first.”

“Wait.” Jae-Hyeok stopped the employees of Jaegyeong Pharmaceuticals as they were about to leave in a hurry.

The employees were nervous. What other clues had Jae-Hyeok found?

Then, Jae-Hyeok made a suggestion, “Don’t you want to buy their corpses? I’ll sell them to you cheaply.”

“......”