One Man Army

Chapter 104 [Episode 54] Ragna Blade 1

@ Ragna Blade

Like Egray, Pokin spat out the ‘star of glory (Pokin)’ which emitted white light. She reacted similarly to Egray, but there was one difference.

That was the feeling of reverence for Sang Hyuk. She may have been a little “off” because of the ragna blade, but she was very polite to Sang Hyuk.*

Sang Hyuk felt it too, but he didn’t mind it.

Pokin’s response was not important to him because he already had his next goal, Warrior of Glory Crepo in his mind.

Starting from the Warrior of Glory, it was not going to be easy for Sang Hyuk to use the surprise attacks that had been effective until now.

Because, Warrior of Glory Crepo and Knight of Glory Tamia were still in active duty, so of course they had ‘forces’ attached to them.

Warrior of Glory Crepo was also nicknamed as the “Mercenary of Iron” and he was the most famous mercenary NPC in Heroic Lands.

So, there were mercenaries always around him.

Sang Hyuk headed to the battle Fortress of Blue Light where he was stationed.

This area was still an area full of Mazor (Demon) who climbed up from Magye (Devil World), so countless NPC mercenaries were active.

Of course there were regular armies as well. Therefore also here was the Knight of Glory, Tamia.

The background lore of the game stated that the great heroes of Planet of Treenark defeated the Mawang (Devil King) and pushed Magye’s (Devil World) power to the north end of Heroic Lands, but the war was not over.

Another Mawang (Devil King), who had not yet fallen, was constantly waging war in the Continent of the Sun.

Of course, the Continent of the Sun was more like halfway between Planet of Treenark and the moon, but that didn’t matter.

The important thing was that the Magye’s (Devil World)  invasion was weakened but not over yet.

It was not difficult to find Crepo. It was not even difficult to get the information about him.

With only a few bought glasses of alcohol, the mercenaries readily gave up the information about Crepo. Crepo did not even think to hide his strength because ‘strength’ was the objective for them.

Thanks to it, Sang Hyuk was able to gather all the information about Crepo very easily.

But the problem was that he could not raid Crepo inside the fortress.

There was no big change even when he went outside. Crepo moved mainly on large commissions and most of the big orders came from the Four Knight’s Orders that were guarding this place.

To hire an NPC on Crepo level, he was usually commissioned by a nation.

Anyway, when he moved out from the war fortress for such a large commission, he moved with many mercenaries, not alone. It was more difficult to attack than it was in the fortress.

Sang Hyuk who gathered all the information, quietly worried.

The situation to be able to fight only with Crepo.  He kept thinking about how to make that situation happen.

And after thinking intensely, he found an answer within a few hours.

It is the money to pay the mercenaries.

And if it was money…Sang Hyuk has it overflowing. Even if it is not as much as a nation yet, it was at least enough to hire a legendary NPC mercenary.

A million gold.

It was exactly one million gold for the half-day escort request, but it was able to get Crepo out of the war fortress.

Actually, he tried for half a day, but it was only half an hour. For that long, there was no user who would spend one million gold.

Sang Hyuk would never have done it if not for this. It was a waste to pay 1 million gold to hire a legendary NPC mercenary that could not even enter a dungeon.

But this was the only way to get Crepo out alone from the war fortress.

Fortunately, it was decided to pay 300,000 gold in advance and 700,000 gold after it. If Sang Hyuk succeeded in subjugating Crepo, there was a high possibility that he would not have to give up the 700,000 gold that he had promised to pay at job completion.

“But if it fails, the 700,000 gold will fly away, together with the quest.”

Sang Hyuk, who called Crepo, hid in a shadow and waited for him to come in at one corner of the place where he had set up to encounter Crepo.

Win or lose would be decided soon anyway.

Rather, Sang Hyuk needed to figure out the conditions for Ragna Blade before this showdown.

There was still some ambiguity in the skill description.

Transcendence skill ‘Ragna Blade’ [Event]

:God’s blade that will erase everything that blocks your path. Powerful enough to annihilate the chains of Karma.

Detailed Effect: Defined as Critical Attack, Damage Enhancement (10x), Ignore all damage Invalidation Techniques, Ignore Damage Reduction Abilities, Ignore Armor, Certain Death (Resurrection skill cannot be activated).

Activation Condition: When you activate High Master Class (level 120) attack skill, the attack is automatically changed to ‘Ragna Blade’.

Proficiency: None.

Uniqueness: Unlocking the limiters will change your skill.

It was not surprising because he knew the effect was terrible, but the triggering conditions were a little surprising.

High Master Class attack…..

This meant that the ‘Shadow Blade’ which Sang Hyuk blown towards Pokin, had a high master class (level 120) offensive power.

“This is the power of multiples.”

Sang Hyuk thought that the biggest reason was ‘stacking’ so that even though Sang Hyuk was level 56, with the infinity Challenge title he was strengthened to level 70, so he was still able to make a level 120 High Master Class attack at level 70.

Multiple reinforcement effects.

Multiple critical hit effects.

Multiple strike kill effects.

As more effects, effects, and even more effects continued to stack on top of each other, the attack power that he could not have imagined was completed.

“Anyway, I cannot use Ragna Blade to throw away the rewards,. So I have to know the trigger conditions, even if it’s just a rough guess.”

Sang Hyuk thought it was necessary to unconditionally determine the Ragna Blade’s trigger conditions.

The effect of Infinite Challenge (SS+) is not maximized at present, so if he doesn’t know it right now, he may not be able to use it later.

“For now subtract all the reinforcement effects.”

Sang Hyuk first excluded five reinforcements. If these were excluded, the attack power amplified by multiple effects stacked on top of each other could be reduced.

“Even so the ragna blade will not be triggered right?”

Sang Hyuk thought that this would be enough to suppress the ragna blade.

He wanted to get more accurate knowledge of the conditions necessary to trigger the Ragna Blade by subtracting one of the five strengthening effects and testing, but he could not afford the time.*

“The weapon should be the Ten Millennia Goldbone Whip, not the Great Sword of the Weakened Shadow King, right?”

If Ragna Blade was not triggered, Crepo was likely to survive. Then he had to think about the follow-on battle.

Thinking about it, the ten millennia goldbone whip was much better than the great sword of the weakened shadow king.

“Since I already have the insurance, it’ll be okay.”

If there was no insurance, Sang Hyuk would have considered using Ragna Blade again. Although losing the rewards and karma was a waste, it was much better to blow them out than to fail the quest.

But since he made the insurance, he did not have to use Ragna Blade and give up on them.

Of course, it was such a waste to use it even though there are a numbers of uses for the  insurance, but it was at least less a waste than Ragna Blade, which would blow up all the rewards.

“Now it’s the time for him to come.”

NPCs were punctual. It was only the users who are not.

While Sang Hyuk thought about this, Crepo finally showed up.

It has been almost ten years since he received a referral other than a commission from the Four Knight’s Orders.

Especially, it was the first time a client was a dimensional traveller.

It was also interesting that the dimensional travellers had grown to that extent that they had commissioned him, and he was curious about this request to escort, so he put off a request from the Knights Order and then came directly to this place.

But the interesting thing that is waiting for him was not the escort.

It was Sang Hyuk who is hiding in the shadows.

Crepo and Sang Hyuk, who are totally different from each other, have finally met in one place. And the two of them naturally ….. collided violently.

Crepo freely handled a large two-handed sword. He had enough offensive power to split his enemy into two but while he hit 10, his attack was 8 and defense was 2.

Is that so? Sang Hyuk’s first strike was a hit.

Crepo did not even have an item that was automatically triggered in an emergency situation. After all, his defense was higher than Egray or Pokin, which, honestly was not really that great.

So he lost 70% of his life when he encountered the Shadow Blade wielded by Sang Hyuk who emerged from his hiding place. *

If there is something good from his misfortune, it was that Crepo had a legendary ring with the effect of restoration when he has an abnormal condition, so he wasn’t affected by the linked effects in Sang Hyuk’s weapons.

However, Sang Hyuk did not hesitate to call the ‘Wheel of Fortune? Darkness’ at that moment.*

‘Wheel of Fortune? Darkness’ blocked all the light in the boundary area, creating a perfect darkness within it, which in turn dropped the hit rate by 90%.

In other words, it means that if you attack 10 times, you only hit once. Of course, it would have been different depending on the person’s adaptability to the darkness.

For example, in the case of Sang Hyuk, the hit rate fell by only 5% because his adaptability to darkness was high. But Crepo’s fell by a whopping 30%.

Sang Hyuk also had high evasion, and thanks to Shadow Duke’s power on the Great Sword of the Weakened Shadow King, all damage in darkness was reduced by 20%, evasion rate of +20%, critical strike chance of +10% and movement speed of +20%.

Sang Hyuk has also reduced Crepo’s attack power and defense by using ‘Golden Lion Aura Crystal’.*

That place prepared by Sang Hyuk became the arena for Sang Hyuk, where he held all the advantages. Thanks to the massive amount of money that brought Crepo to that place, it was possible to trigger the Wheel of Fortune by absorbing the dark energy that surrounds it without using other means.*

Even so, he spent almost one million gold for this battle, but if he did not use Ragna Blade or the insurance he had prepared, Sang Hyuk would not take a loss.*

Khukhukhung.

After a fierce battle, Crepo eventually collapsed.

With only 30% vitality remaining, he fought at the place made perfectly for Sang Hyuk and he reduced Sang Hyuk’s vitality by as much as 70%.

Sang Hyuk would never have beaten him if he had fought without the first strike or a cheat like Wheel of Fortune.

But the important thing was that he won.

Even though it looks like a cheat, the first strike, and the Wheel of Fortune was only a part of Sang Hyuk’s abilities. So this victory was a perfect victory for Sang Hyuk.

* * * *

1) [Roar of the Warrior] – Legendary Ring, recovery item for abnormal status effects, owned by Crepo.

2)[Man in Blood] – Legendary sword, the weapon used by Crepo.

3) [Mercenary King] – Unique rating title, significant bonus when hiring NPC mercenaries.

4) [Madness of battlefield] Hidden Ancient Knowledge used by Crepo.

5) [Guidebook of Pegasus] – Unique grade marking book, an item with a different effects than a normal making book.

After winning against Crepo and completing the quest, this time there are also five reward windows.

Thanks to the great Ragna Blade, when he won against Pokin he didn’t even have a reward window to look at.

When he had won against Egray, it only took Sang Hyuk about a second, but this time he thought a bit more. But in the end, he picked the reward he wanted within a few minutes. Although it was a problem deciding between number 1 and 5, because both  the ring and the ‘Guidebook of Pegasus’ were great items.

The grade was unique, but the guidebook of the Pegasus was never treated as an unique grade item. It was similar to an advanced legendary grade item, even though it was marked as unique grade.

Guidebook of Pegasus (Unique++)

– A guidebook with instructions on how to use the Sky Horse (Pegasus). With this guidebook, you can move faster and with greater efficiency.

[Basic Abilities] You can mark up to 1,000 points.

[Special Abilities] Skill Casting Speed +10 (+2)%, Moving Speed +10 (+2)%

[Special Effects] < Space Horsepower Infinity  (A): No need to expend a charge for recall.>*

[Item Skill] <Large-scale Space Movement (S): You can move up to 10 people at once. However, restricted to party members or guild members. Cooldown 2 hours.>

[Bonus Effect] Intelligence +10, Charm +15.

The two most important things.

It is possible to mark 1,000 points and large space movement (S).

With these two things, Guidebook of Pegasus become an item that exceeded the unique rating. It was a bonus because no additional marking abilities were attached to the general marking books, nor did the Guidebook of Pegasus require a charge for recall.

Rare-grade marking book named ‘Magic Secretary’, the best marking book that can be purchased by top rated users for about 100,000 gold, is able to store only 100 points and the only additional ability is a moving speed bonus of +5.

There was no item skill. However, for the Guidebook of Pegasus, thanks to the special effects, we were able to save 500 location entries, because recall was free.*

If it compared to the Guidebook of Pegasus, the difference was like sun and firefly.

In the case of Guidebook of Pegasus, it was the best marking book even before Sang Hyuk returned, so he did not have to worry about upgrading his marking book.

For this reason, the reward of course is the Guidebook of Pegasus.

Crepo had a look of not being able to accept the result, but there was nothing he could do. He was already forced into a ring of fate, so he had no choice but to comply with Sang Hyuk, according to the ‘rules’ created by the system.

With this three out of four have been solved.

Now there is one left.

It was only Knight of Glory, Tamia.

Chapter 104 [Episode 54] Ragna Blade 1 – End

Editor’s Notes: Yep, she had just been vaporized by the Ragna Blade, but she was nice to Sang Hyuk?!  Yep, she was “off” alright…

Editor’s Notes: Remember Sang Hyuk is hiding, waiting to ambush his target.  He can’t test things right now.

Editor’s Notes: Yes, I know, he should have been using his whip.  Apparently, the author changed his mind. 😀

Editor’s Notes: Remember chapter 101?  Apparently the Wheel of Fortune card is capable of multiple effects, chosen by the user.

Editor’s Notes: Chapter 73.

Editor’s Notes: In chapter 101, we found out that the Wheel of Fortune had demanding trigger requirements.

Editor’s Notes: Yep, I’m afraid the implication by the author is that the “Wheel of Fortune” card was NOT Sang Hyuk’s insurance…

Editor’s Notes: We found out during chapter 13 about marking books.  In chapter 45, we found out marking books require a mana stone to make a jump. Apparently, this book can make a spatial jump without a second mana stone when you return to your starting point.

Editor’s Notes: Because the Guidebook of Pegasus has free recall, you can save 500 location entries that would otherwise be wasted.  For example, you start at point A, and teleport to point B.  To go back to point A, a normal marking book requires two location entries, one for A and one for B.  But the Guidebook for Pegasus only needs an entry for point B.  You get a free recall to point A.