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Chapter 245 - This is Africa (5)

It was evident once he thought about it. There was no way Zeus wouldn’t have put a single spy into a mercenary guild that size. Kang Shin-hyuk looked at them closely from the start, considering that possibility, but it seemed that Tylo Kaube, their leader, was the traitor.

‘It was all smoke screens.’

-It was an unlikely strategy. There is nothing to say about the member who suffered from it.

‘I know, so you don’t need to tell me.’

Perhaps he shared the information with Zeus, knowing that Shin Eun-hyuk was from an orphanage with the three new mercenaries that had joined them. It looked like he unexpectedly played into the enemy’s hand, so Kang Shin-hyuk suddenly felt sick. It happened with perfect timing. It would be a good thing to study later, but he first needed to solve the situation somehow.

“You first...!”

-Quaaaaah!

As if it noticed that reinforcements were coming, the bear suddenly seemed to be more energetic. However, Kang Shin-hyuk realized that his body wasn’t in good shape.

‘I can’t waste my time against him like this!’

He concentrated the cold air on the growing scythe. The growing scythe couldn’t naturally hold that power, but the Golden Dragon energy served as a buffer.

‘Ah...?’

The power of the Golden Dragon strengthened anything, regardless if it was a weapon or attribute. Blue energy mixed in with the golden energy, and the weapon vibrated as it gently emanated cold air. He hadn’t been thinking it through, but the result was more stable than he had expected.

‘Is this, maybe...’

-Kuoooooh!

The bear threw itself back into the crater, sensing the dangerous energy contained in the scythe. Kang Shin-hyuk swung the scythe with the feeling that he was throwing his Golden Dragon energy at the same time.

‘It’s a little difficult, but with the power of space coordination...!’

The blue and gold energy was released from the scythe as it flew towards the bear in a distinctly crescent shape, cleaving through and freezing part of the crater.

“Wow.”

Kang Shin-hyuk blankly opened his mouth, the feeling of that energy lingering in his mind.

-Golden Dragon Fighter (SS+) skill proficiency has increased to S+ rank! A positive increase has been applied to all body stats!

-Your Stamina has grown to SS+ Rank! Golden Dragon Fighter has gone beyond the limit and grown to SSS-rank!

-Spatial Coordination (SSS) skill proficiency has increased to D+ rank! Your spatial perception ability has greatly increased!

Not only had his stamina and skill grown, but his Golden Dragon Fighter had grown to the SSS-rank. That was surprising already, but something even more shocking appeared a second later.

-Trait [Guardian Golden Dragon (SS)] has met one of the conditions for evolution. The moment the other two conditions are met, the trait will evolve.

Now he had even achieved the second condition for evolving! He had never heard of an SS-rank trait evolving, but now it seemed even more attainable.

‘I have a sense of my own growth... has my ability achieved harmony by linking weapons and energy together through Golden Dragon Fighter as the medium?’

-It is a realization that could be connected to the creation of artifacts.

‘Right. The range of Guardian Golden Dragon is very wide...’

Kang Shin-hyuk intuitively felt that the next time his trait evolved, it would reach the level of Shin Eunah’s Master of Mana, if not exceed it. When he thought about it, he couldn’t help but grow excited, but now wasn’t the time.

-You have subdued one that is harmful to the order of things! Bonus based on membership level! You received 45,000,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you received an additional amount of HP equivalent to 50% of the reward, for a total of 67,500,000HP!

It was a monster in the SSS-rank, so a reasonable amount of HP arrived. However, the message that Kang Shin-hyuk had been waiting for didn’t arrive. Since the boss had been killed, the gate should be closed, but that didn’t happen. That meant the gate had already acquired another core to keep it alive. He already knew what it was.

‘Rotten.’

The gate had been created on the premise that it would be connected to the main base of Jormungand. The name of the forward base was rather revealing.

‘I can’t stop it. I have to do my best in this situation.’

He clicked his tongue, looking up at the hole opening in the air, and went straight to the mercenaries using space coordination. The area above the ship stuck on land was a crucible of chaos. The mercenaries tried to subdue Tylo Kaube, with Onyx blocking him from the front. Bridget had joined them in a panic, while Bomber Girl had triumphantly opened the gate using her trait. Kang Shin-hyuk, judging the situation in an instant, first went for Tylo Kaube’s neck.

“Huh...!”

“Too late.”

When he noticed that Kang Shin-hyuk had suddenly appeared, he tried to trigger some unknown magic tool, but the scythe cleaved through his neck before he could. He lit a flame in the air and burned the man’s head to ash before it could land.

“Death... Death Puppeteer!”

“This hedgehog will protect you as planned, keep down...”

“No...!”

Lee Jinseok ran up to him and mumbled quietly so that only he could hear.

“Hey, we awakened...!”

“What?”

He thought he was blocking the artificial superhuman project, but now his friends said they had awakened? Kang Shin-hyuk turned his head to check on his friends, wondering what sort of terrible joke this was. But, he felt it. Mana was overflowing from their bodies.

‘What, you really awakened?!’

They even had mana that was at least C-rank, despite the fact just awakening. No, it didn’t seem like ordinary mana either. It had similar attributes to Onyx. He was about to panic over this bizarre simultaneous awakening, but then the Gaia system gave him the answer.

-Trait [Guardian Golden Dragon (SS)] has met one of the conditions for evolution. The moment the other condition is met, the trait will evolve.

‘Administrator.’

-This is something even the administrator doesn’t know. However, presumably, the fact that you instilled Golden Dragon energy and spiritual power into them over the past few weeks of harsh training became the trigger for their awakening. That was linked to the nature of Guardian Golden Dragon and thus helped it grow. Maybe.

‘That sounds more or less correct?’

He had also noticed that the cause was due to his own power. However, his trait wasn’t enough to permanently increase someone’s abilities or even cause them to awaken! The evolution of his trait was coming even faster than he had anticipated.

“When the master attacked us earlier, we really almost died. I didn’t want to die, then suddenly...”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve got the gist, so stay in hiding. We’ll talk about it later.”

“Yes, yes!”

He connected the two boats with his thread and reinforced them to make the shield stronger.

“Onyx, you’re doing well. Keep it up.”

-Myu...

“It’s okay; I won’t die.”

He took out the potion he prepared before and raised it up. Bomber Girl was charging at Bridget now, having no need to run anymore. However, when he lifted up his sickle to kill her, a chill came out of the gate and grabbed his body. He had been expecting something like this, though he was disappointed to see he was right.

“Is it Oh Joo-young, or something close enough?”

[You were expecting me? That’s not fun.]

“To be honest, it was too obvious.”

Kang Shin-hyuk responded cynically towards the monster with Oh Joo-young’s face. He was wearing the same black armor that the monster had in Paris, the armor that Anvil had made for Janus. What happened to the monster wearing the armor before? He could roughly tell the answer from Oh Joo-young’s face. There was no need to separate the two entities.

“Is the artificial superhuman project sponsored by Jormungand?”

[You’ve already read that far? Great, great.]

“Your connection with each other appears to be deep.”

Kang Shin-hyuk emptied the contents of the potion bottle.

-You’ve consumed a special Transcendental Potion (SS+) containing the Alchemist’s affection!

-All wounds below the fatal level have been healed. The effect has been amplified by receiving the spiritual power contained in the potion. All wounds and abnormalities will be healed, and the remaining healing power will remain in your body for a while to protect you!

-For fifteen minutes, all stats will increase by two ranks. The effect has been amplified by receiving the spiritual power contained in the potion. For thirty minutes, all stats will increase by three ranks. Spiritual power has increased by another level.

-You are connected to the source of the spiritual power contained in the potion, and your spiritual power has been strengthened for the potion’s duration. The potion’s duration has been extended for ten more minutes!

-All statuses have reached the threshold (SSS+). In order to grow beyond this, you need to break through the current limit with a special experience.

Previously, only his strength, stamina, and spiritual power had reached the limit, but now it was different. All of his statuses had now reached the SSS+ rank.

[What? I thought you were doping, but you...]

“Isn’t it worth trying?”

[I thought it wouldn’t be fun to chop you up. Now it’s better.]

Oh Joo-young’s personality seemed to have changed a bit, but the essence hadn’t. Kang Shin-hyuk smiled while checking the sword in his hand.

“That’s not the Godslayer.”

[I don’t know what that is, but it won’t be better than this sword.]

Dark mana lit the sword up with an ominous glow. It felt like degenerated light that had turned into a curse. Kang Shin-hyuk lifted up his scythe, hoping that something as great as Excalibur would come out like last time. He couldn’t waste time; more terrifying things than Oh Joo-young would appear from that gate.

‘Kill him as soon as possible and destroy the gate. There’s no other way...!’

But at that moment.

[I know what you’re thinking, but with your strength...!]

-Kzzzzt!

Golden lightning split Oh Joo-young in half.

“...Huh?!”

He really had died, leaving only one sword behind.

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