Max Talent Player - Chapter 212

The broken pieces of the Dewinged Angel Statues were scattered by the wind, breaking down into pebbles and then disappearing as powder.

Hyukjin said, “I have a special skill.”

“…”

Junghwa could not pester him for details. Special skills, innate abilities, class skills, etc. Revealing one’s hidden cards was a disadvantageous move, something you only did with trustworthy companions or party members you needed to cooperate right at that moment.

But Kim Hyukjin shared such important information very readily.

“It’s a skill that determines the opponent’s weakness and strikes it, no matter what.”

[Sword of Insight]

An advanced innate ability created by combining and pooling the merits of Excellent Strike and Sword Path Tracing in one place. No matter the situation, it will lock onto the enemy’s weakness and deliver a powerful attack at the most vulnerable point.

He didn’t reveal its name, nor did he say it was actually a ‘sword’-related technique. IfHyun Junghwa heard that, it was highly likely she would either not believe him or have a mental breakdown.

‘It’s actually a sword technique, but I synthesized it into a bow technique using Unique Ability Fusion. It somehow worked when I applied it to the arrow.’

He kept those words to himself, but in any case, he didn’t lie.

“I stacked another title effect onto that skill.”

“…You have another title other than True Ruler?”

“Yes. Luckily.”

Junghwa nodded. Titles were pretty difficult to get, but she could acknowledge it if the title holder was Kim Hyukjin. She believed he had two titles at the very least.

‘He might even have three.’

In fact, he had eight, but there was no way Junghwa could have known that.

“That title has a 20% damage buff.”

That was the effect of Excellent Player.

“20%?”

Not 2%, but 20%. Junghwa’s jaw dropped wide open. A 20% amplification effect. She’d never heard of such a thing.

“But that wasn’t quite enough, so I also drew on my sovereign skill, which increases crit chance.”

Plus one more thing.

“Arrows are consumable items, right?”

“Technically, yes.”

“And what I just did was a 1 vs. 1 fight.”

“Right.”

“I have a sovereign exclusive ability that amplifies item effects by another 30%.”

“…”

Junghwa was silent. The numbers she was hearing weren’t 2% or 3%, but 20% and 30%. Kim Hyukjin was a Player on a scale she had never once encountered.

“But didn’t you just give that same buff to us?”

“I did. I have a skill to give the same buff to myself.”

Having experienced it herself, Junghwa knew how potent it was. She just hadn’t expected he could overlap it twice.

“Very well.” Junghwa nodded. “I will take it as your title and skills being broken and not that you used some kind of special ability as an archer.”

“It’d be best to think of it like that, yes.”

Unique Ability Fusion was also a skill, after all. What she said wasn’t wrong.

“I guess there was nothing for me to learn.”

“Unfortunately.”

“But a promise is a promise. Here.”

Junghwa handed him an item. It was called ‘Angel Statue’s Wings’.

“You’re giving this to me?”

“You’re not going to refuse?”

“I’ll gladly take what is offered.”

“That kind of makes me want to take it back. Isn’t it good form to refuse once out of courtesy?”

“You’re the one who wanted to give it to me first.”

Junghwa’s brows furrowed a little. Somehow, she got the feeling she was getting more entangled with every word.

“But still, this is kinda mean.”

Just then, Hyukjin heard a notice.

[The ‘Night of Shooting Stars’ is deeply awed by your archery.]

The dine-and-dash suspect, the Stage 2 Guardian ‘Night of Shooting Stars’, appeared again with a message expressing his awe. Finally, after a long time, Hyukjin got a quest clear notification.

[‘Qualifications of an Outstanding Bowman’ has been perfectly cleared.]

[Receiving the reward.]

Which was none other…

[Tome of the Divine Bow Physique acquired.]

…than the Tome of the Divine Bow Physique itself.

‘He wasn’t… a dine-and-dasher.’

It did take a long time, but he got it in the end. As he expected, you had to kill something on the level of these Dewinged Angel Statues to get a reward of this level.

Senia faithfully fulfilled her duty. Her expression was as flat as a board, but she was doing her best to respond to the massive sponsorship, allowing Hyukjin to focus on his Playing.

Hyukjin smiled.

“Now then. Shall we go inside?”

* * *

* * *

The inside of the Wind Temple was different from its outside appearance. The ceiling was far higher. It wasn’t an ordinary ceiling—it was so high you had to tilt your head all the way back to barely see the top. A fresco was painted on the ceiling in western flair.

‘Geometric patterns.’

Between the patterns were nude humans he presumed were ‘gods’. Each naked person was laying down, pointing at something.

The rectangular border of the ceiling was glowing with faint purple light.

‘Eighteen pillars.’

But there was one difference from when they saw the pillars outside.

‘A Central Pillar in the middle.’

The pillar, larger and greater in diameter than the others, went through the ceiling high into the air.

‘It’s like the Wind Temple from before.’

Before, Jo Sunghyun scaled that pillar and brought down the ‘Offering Box’. If this place went by the same schema, there might be something on top of that pillar.

Junghwa fired her bow.

Splurt!

The arrow dispatched its target, a level 22 Bigmouth Lizard. A bunch of them were descending from the Central Pillar.

‘There’s also a Bigmouth Lizard, same as before.’

It was all too identical.

‘Inmyeonjos will probably show up, too.’

Sure enough, an Inmyeonjo appeared. The monster with a human face and bird’s body was level 29. Both Bigmouth Lizards and Inmyeonjos were weak monsters.

Junghwa’s hand moved without stopping.

[Using the innate ability Consecutive Rapidfire.]

As expected from the future Divine Archer, her aim was true. She hunted a whopping twelve Bigmouth Lizards and Inmyeonjos without Hyukjin having to do a thing. The monsters were no big threat.

“It really is the same as before,” said Hyukjin.

“Looks like I’ll need to go up. I also have the Wind Shoes.”

“I think so, yeah. But let’s look around a little longer.”

Before, Jo Sunghyun would have been ripped into pieces by the ‘mana current’ if he slipped up even a little. Getting separated from that Central Pillar meant death.

‘But I don’t see the mana current this time.’

It appeared to be extremely simple. All they had to do was send Sunghyun up the pillar and bring down whatever was up there, be it the Offering Box or something else. That would bring them closer to the clear.

‘Is it really that easy?’

Probably not. They were missing something.

“But Oppa, didn’t we smash the pillars before?” asked Sunhwa.

“We did.”

That was another difference.

“Back then, we had to destroy seven pillars for the Central Pillar to appear.”

But now, it was already there.

“The more pillars we smashed, the lower the Central Pillar became. In exchange, the monsters became more fierce.” Hyukjin came to a conclusion. “That Central Pillar is the key.”

He turned to Junghwa. “Do you think you can destroy the Central Pillar?”

“I’ll try.”

In no time at all, Junghwa found herself faithfully following Hyukjin’s orders. She had acknowledged him as a leader without even realizing it.

She changed her weapon to a bow blazing with fire. It was a slow, but powerful fire attribute item called ‘Flame Toad’.

[Using the special skill Explosion.]

The arrow she fired hit the pillar.

Babang!

An explosion rocked the temple. After several attacks, the pillar collapsed, leaving a small circular hole through which the sky was visible in the ceiling where it had been.

[1 pillar has been destroyed.]

[The monsters have become fiercer.]

With that, Hyukjin was sure of it.

‘There’s an order.’

It was similar to the past, but not the same. The details were different.

‘We got the first one right.’

It was time for the next.

‘If we mess up the order…’

There was a high chance this temple would be sealed off, and the field would cease to exist. If that happened, everyone here would die.

‘The former Hyun Junghwa cleared this?’

The angel statues aside, that was unlikely. He was absolutely sure she hadn’t managed it on her own. Someone had definitely helped her.

Hyukjin fired a shot with Sylphid’s Wing.

“Miss Junghwa, over there.”

Junghwa quickly caught on.

[Using the special skill Explosion.]

She began a barrage on the pillar Hyukjin had struck. Sunghyun pitched in as well, and together, the pillar quickly came down.

“Next, this one.”

Their party began to take down the eighteen pillars one by one in order. Thinking back to what he learned from the Hill of Blowing Wind, Hyukjin decided to only destroy twelve.

His experience back then clued him in now. They couldn’t destroy all eighteen pillars. The temple would come down on them. Smashing twelve and leaving six intact was the most efficient way; Hyukjin was sure of it. He checked the ceiling.

The ‘half-naked god’ located at the first pillar they destroyed, the central one, was pointing at another pillar. That was the one they took down next. Another ‘half-naked god’ was there, pointing at another pillar, which they smashed.

The fresco above them wasn’t just for show. It was the key to clearing this place. At the end of every finger was a pillar, tracing an order of pillars starting from the central one.

[7 pillars have been destroyed.]

[The true Central Pillar is being generated.]

The collapsed Central Pillar came together again in mere seconds, as if time were being rewound. A massive pillar glowing faintly with golden light and marked with various geometric patterns appeared before them, shooting through the ceiling high into the air.

“Sunghyun, please.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“Be careful, the mana current’s strong.”

“Yes.”

Sunghyun was confident. This time, he’d absorbed the Tome of the Divine Wind Physique, and his level was much higher. He could climb the pillar far better than last time.

“We’ll support you from below.”

Sunghyun began to run, the Wind Shoes equipped. He clambered up the Central Pillar. In the meantime, Hyukjin, Sunhwa, and Junghwa set out to destroy more pillars.

“Here.”

Sunhwa and Junghwa faithfully carried out Hyukjin’s orders.

[12 pillars have been destroyed.]

[The monsters have become fiercer.]

That was the cue for a new monster’s appearance.

‘That’s…’

GrudgeInmyeonjo LVL 37

It was a level 37 monster. It was similar to anInmyeonjo, but gave off a purple aura.

‘Curse type.’

The Grudge Inmyeonjo was capable of a fairly powerful curse. It spread its wings in flight. Its target appeared to be Sunghyun, who was climbing the Central Pillar.

“Sunhwa, aggro.”

Sunhwa responded immediately.

“Taunt!”

Like the genius tank she was, she aggroed it in one shot. The Grudge Inmyeonjo’s eyes glowed purple as it let loose an eerie cry at Sunhwa. It folded its wings, dropping into a dive. It had a human face, but its mouth was extremely large and gleamed with the sharp fangs of a savage beast.

Junghwa immediately shot an arrow.

Clink!

But her arrow failed to penetrate the Grudge Inmyeonjo’s barrier. This monster had a strong resistance to long-ranged attacks. But there was no time to use the powerful ‘Explosion’ or another special skill that could punch through its barrier. The Inmyeonjo was approaching too quickly.

Junghwa shouted, “Sunhwa!”

Normally, she would politely say ‘Miss Sunhwa’, but the honorific fell away in her haste.

‘No!’

However, Hyukjin knew what the Grudge Inmyeonjo was trying to do.

‘The suicide attack, Bitter Grudge.’

The Grudge Inmyeonjo was the evolved version of an Inmyeonjo. It didn’t just have higher stats. It had a powerful one-time-use attack called ‘Bitter Grudge’, a suicide bombing. Its power was proportionate to the cost.

‘It’s dangerous, even for Sunhwa.’

That suicide attack came with a potent curse. Even if Sunhwa blocked it somehow, she would be left with an aftermath effect, either disease or permanent paralyzation. At this point in time, there were no advanced priests who could dispel a Grudge Inmyeonjo’s Bitter Grudge. It was best to avoid it in the first place.

‘She’s my sister.’

Of course he wasn’t going to let such a shitty attack land. Hyukjin spoke to the panicking Junghwa, looking every bit relaxed.

“Have I told you already?”

The artifact bearing the same name as the Queen of the Sword Forest, the transcendent sword with the stigma of ‘cursing her heavenly talent’.

He pulled out Isabel.

“My main weapon isn’t the bow, but the sword.”