Chapter 14: 14

Max Talent Player

Chapter 14: This is When I’m the Cheapest

‘Gotta take my time with the final blow.’

I had to take my time killing the troll. According to the strategies I had seen, a delay of at least fifteen minutes was necessary. Otherwise, yet another change would occur in the troll.

‘Let’s put in one more hit and then wait.’

My Iron Sword was about to hit the troll’s left eye, when—

I instantly stilled, but it was already too late to draw back my sword. The tip of the Iron Sword went into the troll’s left eye.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ has gifted you ‘Superb Superhuman Strength’, and it has taken effect.]

[Due to ‘Superb Superhuman Strength’, the attack power of this attack has increased by 100%.]

I instantly came to a conclusion.

‘Dammit.’

There was no doubt that the damned Courageous Lion King had been waiting for this moment. He was probably snickering, [Now. Show me your courage.] If one day, I had the chance to beat a Guardian to death, that Guardian would be my first target.

‘It’s too late.’

What I had intended on being a light hit had become a finishing blow. I had dealt too powerful an attack without a delay. Now, the troll’s counterattack would begin.

Even before I retracted my sword, I made a decision.

‘I have to run.’

Plunge!

The Iron Sword plunged into the magic troll’s left eye.

Ting!

And then, an arrow flew out of nowhere and embedded itself in the middle of the magic troll’s forehead along with a triumphant “I did it!”

* * *

One of the guys that had been unconscious near the troll had fired an arrow. His name was Jang Hyunsoo. He had received a bow as his random weapon and was a pretty good hand at it. Actually, it had been quite a while since he regained consciousness.

“If you come to, don’t do anything and just stay still. That’s what oppa said.”

Jang Hyunsoo had heard those words. He had remained lying down in fear, because if he accidentally drew the troll’s aggro, he would die. After praying for what seemed like an eternity for that man to somehow kill the troll, he opened his eyes to discover a shocking scene.

‘What the hell? Holy shit. It’s almost dead.’

A monster that even So Yoohyun couldn’t kill was almost hunted by a man who didn’t look all that special. Hyunsoo hadn’t even imagined that there was a Player stronger than So Yoohyun.

‘It’s really almost over?’

Once this troll fell, the Tutorial would end. Once his desire to survive was satisfied, a different kind of greed began to bud within him.

‘If I put in the finishing blow…!’

There would be a lot of rewards for simply dealing the finishing hit. Even though he couldn’t grab all the rewards, he thought he would be able to get at least half. 

‘I don’t really need to stay still… just because that little girl told me to, right?’

He could just say he hadn’t heard her. Or he could just say he helped that man with no consideration for his own life because it looked dangerous. There were plenty of excuses or justifications he could use.

He let his arrow fly. The big troll made a large target, and he was lucky this time, managing to plant the arrow precisely in the middle of the troll’s forehead.

‘It’s a success!’

He successfully dealt the final blow. The troll staggered. It seemed as though the Tutorial’s boss monster, the ‘magic troll’, would disappear like that.

‘I was the one who killed the boss monster! I killed it!’

It was possible he might become stronger than So Yoohyun. His heart began to thump.

‘Reward! What’s the reward?!’

A smile floated unbidden to his lips at the thought of the reward. He felt like he was getting a reward that matched all of his struggles up to this point. He had killed a boss monster. 

Kim Hyukjin, who had run over, asked him a question.

“Why did you do that?”

The final blow wasn’t the end. This man had made a mistake just now.

“I think you must have dealt the final blow just now.”

A change occurred in the magic troll. At the same time, notices began to stream in.

“If you want to live, run. I can’t save you.”

The magic troll’s gaze turned to Jang Hyunsoo. Unlike what the Courageous Lion King had planned, Hyunsoo was the one who drew the aggro.

* * *

* * *

Kang Sunhwa fed people Constitution Pots as she glanced stealthily at Kim Hyukjin, who was breathing hard as he fought the magic troll for over an hour.

‘It’s been over one hour.’

Over that time, Sunhwa had continued to pour potions into people’s mouths, never forgetting to warn them.

‘Fortunately, I don’t think anyone died.’ There was only one person left. ‘That’s the last person I have to feed.’

Moving carefully, she headed to the remaining person, So Yoohyun. She straightened the unconscious man on the ground and tilted open his mouth, then began to pour in a potion.

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ is delighted by your act of good.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ wishes to gift you a Tutorial Bonus.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ has gifted you the Tutorial skill ‘Platinum Shield’.]

Sunhwa fed So Yoohyun, a man of the same age as Kim Hyukjin, a second potion. She didn’t have the time to check the skill at all.

“Mister, wake up.”

At long last, So Yoohyun began to regain consciousness like the others.

* * *

There was a reason why I wanted to take my time dealing the final blow. If you killed the magic troll in one hit, it would go into a ‘berserker state’, a state of ultimate agitation. That monster wasn’t something the current me could defeat, no matter how hard I struggled. It was a monster that had to be killed slowly, leaving plenty of time in between blows.

Kuaaaagghhh!

The magic troll’s green skin began to turn red, and sinew bulged out all over its body.

[The rationality of the boss, the Magic Troll, is starting to numb.]

[The boss, the Magic Troll, is going into a berserker state.]

[With the loss of the boss monster’s rationality, the Boss Monster Zone will be deactivated.]

I spoke quickly.

“Sunhwa.”

“Yes?”

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“Run.”

And then, I ran ahead of her.

Kuaaaagghhh!

The magic troll started running towards the archer who had dealt it the final blow.

‘I can’t tell whether this is good or bad luck.’

I really couldn’t tell, and I didn’t have the leisure to contemplate it. I didn’t even look behind me. The berserk troll could kill with a touch.

The reddened troll grabbed the archer by the ankles and lifted him upside down.

“U-Uaaaaaghhhhh!”

And then, the troll slammed him down again and again to the left and right.

Thud! Thud!

With each thump, the archer’s screams became weaker and weaker. I could tell without even looking. The sounds told me everything.

‘That has to be… instant death.’

There wasn’t even time to light a candle, to pray for the man’s departed soul. The berserk troll’s movements were even faster than the lycanthrope’s. I swiftly activated the escalator prompt.

[Escalator Going to the 1st Floor]

An escalator going to the Miniboss Field of D-Tower, the 1st Floor. Can transport fifteen people at once.

Cooldown: The descending escalator has no cooldown.

“Hurry and run!”

I used the escalator to move to the 1st floor. The Boss Monster Zone had been deactivated and no longer restricted the use of the escalator. For now, I had to escape, no matter what. I wasn’t able to pay any attention to the people collapsed on the 2nd floor, and I didn’t know what was going on up there. I simply prayed that they would survive on their own.

I slightly bit my lips.

‘A variable.’

I had failed to account for possible variables. Only a god could know everything. This was a learning experience. I had learned my lesson, so in the future, I would include variables like this into my calculations. The scheming of Guardians, their enjoyment, all of it had to be included in my future raids and calculations. I really learned my lesson.

“O-Oppa, what happened?”

“Dunno, run.”

There was no time to explain. We had to run and see. I didn’t know how this guy’s D-Tower was structured, but it didn’t look like the escalator continued running down to other floors. The elevator to go down was a bit far away.

‘No.’

That wasn’t a real elevator. There happened to be one on the 1st floor, but it wasn’t possible to prompt an explanation window. It didn’t work. Right now, we weren’t safe. There was no knowing when that crazy troll would come down and bash in my head.

“Over there. Let’s go down the stairs.” My eyes fell on the stairs. “We just have to reach the 2nd floor underground.”

Sunhwa worked hard to follow me. I opened the emergency door and ran down the emergency stairs, heading for the 2nd underground floor. It was the ‘Additional Safe Zone’ only I had heard of, the ‘D-Tower underground 2nd floor parking lot’.

But as we ran, the thud thud thud thud! of massive footsteps came from above. It almost sounded like a dinosaur.

‘Shit!’

How was a creature two meters in size with that kind of bulk able to move so fast? It almost felt like an earthquake was shaking the stairs.

‘We have to run faster.’

Apparently, it had finished its business on the 2nd floor, because it made a beeline for me. Currently, I was on the 1st underground floor. I dragged Sunhwa along. Sunhwa had extremely good resilience, but her constitution itself wasn’t that great.

“Run faster!”

I gripped Sunhwa’s thin wrist hard in one hand, starting to drag her down the stairs. She was tripping, but there was no time to pay any attention to that.

‘She won’t be hurt by this.’

Her body had been completely unhurt by a goblin’s dagger. Even if I roughly towed her along, she wouldn’t get any big injuries, just a few scratches, at the most. Ending up with a few scratches was way better than getting smashed to pieces by a berserking troll.

Hah! Hah! Hah!

I gasped for air.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The troll’s footsteps sounded closer and closer, until I could even hear the growl of its breathing.

‘Why’s the 2nd underground floor so far?!’

I saw a sign saying we were heading towards the 2nd underground floor. I ran with all my strength towards that destination, the Safe Zone. And then, I saw the door going into the 2nd underground floor.

It was a fire door, the type that could be opened by pushing the bar. I slammed my weight into it to open it, and as I did so, the magic troll was right on our tail.

“O-Oppa!”

The berserking troll with only the whites of its eyes visible punched out.

Crash!

‘Shit.’

With the sound of an exploding bomb, the fire door crumpled like a piece of paper. I had survived by swiftly ducking, but if that fist had hit me, I would have flown to the heavens. My hair stood on end.

‘Why the hell are there two layers of fire doors?!’

We had to open another one to go inside. Only then could we enter the 2nd underground floor parking lot. Somehow, the fire door felt impossibly heavy today. I pushed it open.

I felt a shiver run down my back and knew. The troll was readying its fist again behind us. I couldn’t describe it exactly, but I somehow knew. The back of my head was tingling.

‘Definitely.’

Somehow, somehow, I felt it. I saw it, even without seeing it. The trajectory of its fist, and the end of its trajectory, were outlined in my head.

[The System has recognized a critical situation.]

[Confirming that the situation aligns with the Tutorial Field Boss Monster’s ‘Unique Situation’ and a ‘Special Encounter’.]

[Forcibly awakening your dormant talent, the ‘Innate Ability’ engraved in your body.]

Special encounter. Dormant talent. Innate ability. I didn’t hear any of it.

I had no time to pay attention to that notice. However, ‘Sixth Sense’ vividly sketched out what was happening behind me in my head. I could see, without looking.

The troll’s swinging fist, where that fist would land, how fast it would travel—everything was naturally laid out before me. How I should act to avoid that fist, what kind of movement I should show, it was all clear to me, as if I were someone who had been trained to perfection. The outcomes of ten different actions were all instantly sketched out in my head.

And the result of that calculation was clear.

‘I can’t dodge.’

There was absolutely nowhere to evade. No matter how I moved, no matter how I dodged, no matter how I blocked, the result of each and every action was my death.

I had a feeling.

‘I’m gonna die.’

The fear of death filled my head to the brim… for one moment. For a very short millisecond, what felt like a long time to me, my innate ability, ‘Sixth Sense’, loudly proclaimed my death.

But then, a miracle occurred.

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