I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 264

“I know. I’ve seen a few Phantom Swordswomen before.”

‘But it should be classified more as an offensive Mystery rather than a defensive one.’ Lessefim tilted her head in confusion. ‘Besides, her appearance is quite peculiar.’

The Phantom Swordswomen whom Lessefim had seen were mostly clean and neat in appearance, usually wielding white swords.

‘Why is a Phantom Swordswoman, known for being neat and elegant, looking so haggard?’ This one looked as though she would cry tears of blood any moment. ‘And why is she holding a hammer?’

It seemed likely that this Phantom Swordswoman’s synchronization with the Mystery owner was extremely high. Lessefim had felt like this when she saw Jin-Hyeok’s Unleashing Technique, and it was the same for the Phantom Swordswoman.

“You must be born with a body that has an excellent compatibility with Mysteries. But be careful. No matter how superior your body is, acquiring too many Mysteries can lead to conflict between the Mysteries, rendering them ineffective,” Lessefim said.

Boom!

An explosion erupted. Lessefim tilted her head again as she moved.

‘That... is a defensive Mystery?’

She had never seen such a ferocious Phantom Swordswoman before. No matter how she looked at it, this Phantom Swordswoman was undoubtedly an offensive Mystery. The most absurd part was the Mystery owner firmly believing her to be a defensive Mystery.

***

Lessefim walked toward the space Hamlet had emerged from and spoke. “It seems like they are trying to stall time. What does Swampland No.1 want?”

“...”

Although the sound of the Phantom Swordswoman clashing with Hamlet still rang behind her, Lessefim felt as though her surroundings were silent.

‘Why isn’t Chul-Soo answering? Just a moment ago, he was chatting constantly.’

Jin-Hyeok usually kept throwing comments to ensure there was no silence for his recording, but now, it was eerily quiet.

‘Urg, this is bothering me!’

Lessefim seldom felt so concerned about someone she was Playing with. It was like having a pricking sensation at the back of her head. This was the first time she realized that having someone this handsome behind her could make her feel this way.

Eventually, she turned around and asked, “What in the world are you doing?”

“Hm...” Jin-Hyeok was thinking about an idea.

‘If I follow her from behind and play some scary background music, wouldn’t it heighten the tension?’

He thought that maintaining silence for a moment to create the right amount of tension was not a bad idea, especially if he could amplify the creaking sounds of the wooden floor with each step he took.

Jin-Hyeok asked, “Aren’t you the one who is trying to stall?”

“What?”

Jin-Hyeok did not actually think that Lessefim was stalling. This was not in his script, but he wanted to say it anyway.

‘How will Lessefim react?’

Feeling a strange satisfaction while Playing with Lessefim, he wanted to see how much they could exchange their emotions and thoughts without words. He wanted to experience more of this exciting Play!

‘If she truly understands my Play, she would either be surprised or maintain silence to draw out the tension.’

He wanted to continue this deep exchange of feelings.

Lessefim responded with a bewildered expression, “What are you talking about?”

“It’s a bit suspicious. A top ranker in Arvis can\'t even find Swampland No.1.... It’s as if you are deliberately wasting time.”

“...” Lessefim was even more dumbfounded. “I found his hideout in a week, didn’t I?”

“...”

‘W-What’s with that look?’ Lessefim thought.

Jin-Hyeok’s eyes seemed to say, ‘Aren’t you supposed to do that? Why are you making a big deal out of it?’

Lessefim felt a sinking feeling in her heart after seeing that expression.

‘Well... he is not wrong.’

It had been five years since she had secured her position as the fifth-ranked Player in Arvis. Unable to climb higher or fall lower, she had firmly maintained her position. In other words, she had not grown as a Player.

Jin-Hyeok continued, “When you think about it, it just doesn’t make sense. How can a fifth-ranked Player not find Swampland No.1 more quickly, and why would she go out of her way to help a rookie Player like me?”

Lessefim could not believe her ears.

‘He thinks he is a rookie? Really?’

Despite his low Level, he had killed the captain of Dion’s guard; quickly unlocked a barrier she could not easily break; and faced Hamlet with his Mystery alone, albeit this Hamlet was just a doll.

A spark appeared in Lessefim’s eyes. ‘His standards are... so different from mine!’

His standards were the standards that Lessefim used to follow long ago. She, too, had once possessed such a mindset. She felt like she had become complacent after becoming a ranker, but now her heart had been ignited again. ‘He’s quite something. But even if he had blabbered some nonsense, I would have agreed with it.’’

Someone had once said that the handsomeness of a person was the essence of plausibility, and she realized the truth of that saying today.

“Actually, I’ve been eyeing you,” she said.

“Me?”

“I was thinking of possibly converting you to a Navigator.”

“But, I don’t possess such exceptional talent in that area.”

“You don’t have to be modest. I already know how talented you are.”

“...What?”

“It’s about time I started training a disciple anyway.” Lessefim smirked.

“Jin-Hyeok felt an inexplicable sense of unease. He had thought Lessefim was relatively sensible and conventional, but it seemed he was mistaken. People who smiled like that were rarely in their right mind.

“But you know, I’m a bit hurt. How can you doubt your future wife like that?” she said.

‘Wife? What’s that supposed to mean? Is that some kind of slang from Arvis that means disciple?’ Jin-Hyeok was utterly confused.

***

Swampland No.1 spat out a curse. “Fuck...”

He was tightly bound with thin silver webs. In front of him, a spider as big as a human was crawling around. The spider kept spewing out silver webs from its mouth, continually wrapping Swampland No.1 up in them.

‘I shouldn’t have trusted that bitch...!’

After the Arvis guards had started pursuing him, the only person he could trust was Lady Harkoen. So, he had hidden in a hideout she told him about, but it turned out to be a trap.

‘I should never have accepted her request!’

His greed for the one hundred billion Dias was his downfall. He should have stopped when Swampland No.3 had died. However, he had not, and consequently, he ended up wrapped up in silver webs.

‘My body is getting hot.’ He could not feel his lower half. It seemed like most of his lower body had melted away. ‘At least there is no pain, thankfully.’

The silver webs seemed to contain a powerful anesthetic. The spider spewing these webs was named the Silver Thread Tarantula. More precisely, it was a doll made from a Silver Thread Tarantula. This monster had the ability to melt its prey with its silver webs. After melting its prey, it sucked up the resulting liquid.

‘So, Lady Harkoen is trying not to leave any evidence that she was involved with me.’

The Silver Thread Tarantula was one of the most powerful in Lady Harkoen’s doll collection. This monster’s Level when it used to be alive had been a whopping 302. Based on Level alone, it couldn’t be said that this was the most powerful one, since Lady Harkoen had collected many entities over Level 300. However, these entities were mostly human.

‘If only it had been a human doll, I might have been able to escape.’

The abilities of human dolls plummeted the moment the humans were turned into dolls. Humans gained their strength through training endlessly and honing their skills. High intelligence and proficiency were critical to them. However, when they were turned into dolls, their intelligence would disappear, leaving only instinct, so most of the abilities they had learned during their lives would disappear.

But it was different for insect-type monsters. Such entities did not really have honed skills. They were beings that followed instinct, rather than intellect and knowledge. That was why even when they were turned into dolls, they retained almost the same level of power as they did when they were alive.

“It’s good you are not flailing about unnecessarily,” Lady Harkoen said.

“Please spare me.”

Lady Harkoen approached him, holding a fan. She spoke, half-covering her face with the fan. “It’s too late now. By now, your upper body must have melted away, too. Though you won’t even feel it. Hohoho!”

“I... can capture Kim Chul-Soo for you.”

“But the situation has gotten too big.” Harkoen sighed as if she felt pity toward Swampland No.1. “Someone has to take responsibility.”

“So, you’re planning to melt me here without leaving any evide—”

“No, not exactly.” Lady Harkoen shook her head. “You will be found by Chul-Soo since he will be filming everything.”

The scene of Swampland No.1’s death had to be captured accurately. That way, she could cut off the tail cleanly.

“And then, I’ll take my precious Chul-Soo. What do you think about my beautiful plan?”

“...”

Swampland No.1 cursed in his mind. ‘You freak...’

He knew why she was kindly explaining her plan to him. She wanted to see him trembling in fear and betrayal. Then, he could end up as one of the ‘Interesting Expressions’ in her collection.

‘She purposely left only my face unwrapped to collect it.’

He knew she wanted to collect his expression-filled face. But he did not want to end up like that, so he spoke expressionlessly. “You must pride yourself on your meticulous timing, right?”

Swampland No.1 shook his head and continued, “You’re wrong, you idiot.”

The Player Hunter knew Chul-Soo very well. “Chul-Soo is always faster than you think.”

This was an intuition only those who had faced Chul-Soo directly could understand. No matter how sophisticated the calculations or the plans were against him, Chul-Soo was always one step ahead.

Bang!

An explosion sounded from the wall. Dust swirled up, and a voice rang out. “Ah, there’s Swampland No.1”

***

Lessefim scanned the surroundings.

‘There was definitely one more person here...’

She could feel a faint residual body heat on the floor. Reading the tracks through a Skill, she frowned. ‘Did they use a weak levitation spell?’

That was why the other person had not left proper tracks.

‘I could track them if I tried....’

The problem was the Silver Thread Tarantula standing squarely in the way.

Swampland No.1 appeared to be in agony.

“Ugh... Ugh...!” It seemed like he was trying to say something. Veins bulged in his neck, and his eyes were bloodshot.

“Swampland No.1 is trying to say something, but it’s hard to get close. A Level 300 monster is a first for me.” Jin-Hyeok was also quite tense. “It seems this palace was a Dungeon, and this is the boss room.”

“Hmph! Ugh...! Ugh!” Swampland No.1 continued to try to say something. He wanted to shout, ‘Lady Harkoen is the one behind all this! That bitch is the real deal!’ However, his tongue was paralyzed, and he could not say anything.

Lessefim slowly backed away and said, “Swampland No.1 is done for. Let’s get out of here.”

“But the monster seems to have already seen us.”

Lessefim felt a strange sense of alienation. “No, it hasn’t seen us.”

The monster had been watching this way from the very start as if it had been waiting for them. She had accurately read the gaze of the Silver Thread Tarantula.

“It’s targeting you, Chul-Soo,” Lessefim said.

“It seems so.”

“Hmph! Ugh..!”

‘It’s Lady Harkoen! Lady Harkoen is targeting you!’

Regrettably, the voice of Swampland No.1 did not reach Jin-Hyeok.

The Silver Thread Tarantula slowly moved toward Jin-Hyeok.

“Lessefim, I have a question for you.”

“What is it?”

“What is Harkoen?”

“What?”

“Well, I know that’s the Silver Thread Tarantula, but according to the System setting, it’s listed as Lady Harkoen’s pet spider.”

The expression of Swampland No.1 became peaceful.