Episode 213 Status Anomaly (2)
“Ugh…”
Sophia frowned and turned her head away.
Unlike Sanghyun, who was trying to remain as composed as possible while witnessing the scene of countless ghosts jumping to their deaths,
Sophia, being a player with exceptional mental communion abilities, felt differently in this situation.
She was empathizing with the pain and sorrow of the countless vengeful spirits before her eyes.
It was the inevitable fate of her ability. Because each of them had a reason for having to take their own life, the feeling resonated with her even more desperately. She
could not understand why the dark fragments of the human world were contained within the gate created by the system.
It felt as if wandering vengeful spirits had been forcibly dragged from outside the gate and placed inside.
“Just please maintain the link.”
“Yes. I’m counting on you.”
At the sight of Sanghyun turning around and smiling broadly, Sophia’s overwhelming emotions finally stopped.
After all, he was the only bright face she had seen in the entire gate.
As she had felt from their first meeting, Sanghyun was a person who exuded a strong positive energy.
For one thing, he had a strong spirit of challenge, and his belief that he could do it was stronger than his doubts about whether he could.
However, he was not arrogant or conceited. He was humble, yet he did not back down when it came to conviction.
“The goal is to buy time rather than kill them, so you need to stick right behind me when I move.”
“I’ll get ready immediately.”
“Yes. After all, we have to get through. I don’t think they’ll die just from a few tricks.”
Standing before the suicide zone, Sang-hyun gripped his Nameless Sword tighter.
He had to use his skills effectively.
He also needed to meticulously calculate the positions of the falling ghosts. If the timing was off, they could collide.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Counting silently, Sang-hyun took in the ghosts’ movements.
At first glance, they seemed to be falling randomly, but as he watched, a standardized pattern emerged.
While not perfectly synchronized, there was a gap after each jump.
Apart from that, watching the ghosts continuously jump from above, crash into the ground, get crushed to pieces, and then reassemble was torture.
It felt like a constant replay of grotesque scenes, so I doubted my stomach would hold out for long.
『Updraft』
■ Skill Level: Stage 4 (89.1%)
■ Skill Description – Creates an updraft to inflict an Airborne effect on enemies.
The duration of the Airborne effect is proportional to the total amount of Strength stats, generating 0.6 seconds of effect for every 100 Strength.
However, the duration may be shortened depending on the opponent's skill resistance.
I looked at the tooltip for Updraft, the skill that would be the core of Sanghyeon.
It was a skill where it was difficult to keep enemies airborne for even a second at first, but now it has become incredibly long.
Unlike players, who have varying levels of skill resistance, ghosts had no immunity to such status effects.
If the timing is right, you can keep them airborne for at least 10 seconds.
If you factor in the time it takes to fall back to the ground, it makes sense that you are gaining much more time.
'I need to refine Updraft further through training and finish leveling it up quickly. Level 5 is right around the corner.'
Sanghyeon pulled his sword back.
Then, after counting to five one last time, he thrust the Nameless Sword with all his might, unleashing an updraft.
Whoosh!
A current that pulled the air upwards surged from the tip of the sword and flew straight forward.
Lightning speed!
The updraft, having instantly closed the distance to the target, collided with the ghost. What would happen?
Aaaargh!
With an unpleasant scream, the ghost, caught in the updraft, shot up like a gyro drop.
The ascent and speed were much higher than Sanghyeon had anticipated. It had worked perfectly.
“Wow.”
Sophia, watching from behind, let out a gasp of amazement as a bonus.
This was the first time he had witnessed the airborne effect so clearly visually.
The airborne effects he had experienced until now had only involved floating slightly before sinking back down.
To begin with, the status effect known as "airborne" wasn't that common. It was considered a completely niche trait.
'Is it really possible to be this long?'
Sophia knew that ghosts had absolutely no resistance to status effects.
That was nothing special. Therefore, it was only natural that the duration of status effects was applied without any reduction.
What surprised Sophia was that the ghost, caught in the updraft Sanghyeon had just created, remained suspended in the air.
Instead of reaching its peak and returning, it couldn't come down, remaining at the peak as if floating.
Sanghyeon started running while holding Sophia's hand.
If he had been moving alone, he would have used skills like Acceleration, Valiant Charge, or Berserk, but now there were two of them.
That said, he didn't consider Sophia a burden.
Without her, the very formula of fighting ghosts wouldn't have worked in the first place.
Even at this moment, he is benefiting from Sophia, and Sanghyun prioritizes her protection above all else.
“Hmm.”
Sanghyun, who had been gazing ahead while running with Sophia, nodded after noticing a slight variable.
Up to the middle of the falling section, the structure was such that the ghosts simply fell from above.
However, in the latter part, the ghosts curved before hitting the ground as they fell.
For those running through this section, it was a situation where a head-on collision was possible.
Sanghyun asked,
“Is your stamina okay?”
“No problem. My running speed might be a bit slow, but I’m fine with running for a long time.”
If Sophia was okay, it seemed they could be a bit more aggressive.
For now, the data indicated that they could buy quite a bit of time using updrafts.
However, since they couldn't cover every falling ghost, it seemed they would need a different option towards the end.
Sanghyun continued to deploy updrafts, clearing away the ghosts blocking their path.
It felt good to see a target with a 100% status effect applied for the first time in quite a while.
Previously, Ashutaros remained unharmed even after being hit by an updraft, which was embarrassing from the caster's perspective.
As we passed from the mid-to-late stages and reached the latter part of the God of War zone…
*Thud!
* Sanghyeon found a suitable spot, stopped, and began preparing to cast a skill. It was a charge.
*Wooosh!
* Intense energy soon began to gather at the tip of the sword, and the power to be released by the skill awaited Sanghyeon's will.
*Kihiii!
* The moment he saw a group of ghosts approaching and twisting their direction just before hitting the ground! He used the
*Iljin
Gale* skill, which is specialized for knockback.
Here, he had used knockback—another countermeasure alongside airborne—and it was fully charged.
*Kheeeeek!
* "…!"
From the moment the ghosts were caught in the Iljin Gale, Sophia's mouth dropped open.
Just like grass and trees caught in a giant tornado, mingling and scattering helplessly.
The ghosts, having collided head-on with the gale, were swept up in the whirlwind and became entangled with one another.
It felt like looking at laundry just taken out of a washing machine. Everything was so tangled that it was impossible to tell what was what.
Since Sophia had checked for status ailments beforehand, the knockback itself wasn't surprising.
The problem was the firepower.
It wasn't a knockback that merely pushed them back; at this level, it was more accurate to describe it as a proper bounce.
Furthermore, due to the rotational force of the whirlwind itself, they weren't knocked back immediately.
It was as if they were bounced back as if spat out after being sufficiently mixed (?) within the whirlwind.
Pow! Crunch! Snap!
The ghosts swept away crashed into the stone wall, shattering into pieces and scattering.
The ghosts, having suffered severe damage to their spirit bodies, died without even realizing that they had been annihilated.
And.
Whoosh.
Ahead of Sang-hyun and Sophia, only a neatly arranged, wide-open path remained to welcome them.
Kuaaaah!
The Iljin Gale was still flying toward the end of the path, and even the ghosts falling belatedly were all swept up in it.
It was like a vacuum cleaner.
All that remained in the place where the ghosts had been swept away was silence.
* * *
Thanks to their confidence in the solution, Sang-hyun and Sophia gained momentum and moved faster.
Sophia's worries, which had been half-doubting just in case, completely vanished.
Sang-hyun, too, was not worried, knowing that Sophia was providing solid cover for his mental state.
With the answer in hand, solving it was incredibly easy.
Although a few tricky sections appeared afterward, they were easily resolved using the status effects Sang-hyun possessed.
At this rate, Sophia reached a point where she felt it was a pity that she had struggled at the Gates all this time.
Proceeding with the攻略 (strategy/guide) with Sang-hyun was just too comfortable. She even regretted not having come with him sooner.
Status Effect Vending Machine.
Sophia gave Sang-hyun that nickname. A vending machine where you press a button and everything you need comes out instantly.
Inwardly, however, a different word came to mind.
'Ecosystem Destroyer.'
Sophia had seen countless players in the Nobility Guild over the years. This
was because Frederick often sought her advice regarding players he was recruiting or trying to recruit.
Consequently, she had had many opportunities to come across data on a truly diverse range of players.
Players specialized in knockback, players specialized in electrocution, sleep, ignition, gravity enhancement, taunt, and so on…
She had even looked at data on players who could be considered oddities, but there were no cases like Sanghyeon.
However, that did not mean Sanghyeon was specialized solely in status ailments.
If that were the case, one would have simply dismissed him as a status ailment shuttle, since that was his primary ability.
But Sanghyeon possessed exceptional basic combat skills as well.
His swordsmanship had solid fundamentals, and his skills were well-differentiated.
In particular, he had invincibility skills like "Song of the Sword," giving him excellent resilience against variables.
It is not impossible for a player to possess such diverse abilities. However, it is not normal.
So, the feeling Sophia experienced was…
"It is comfortable."
That was it.
She felt as though there was a "master key" capable of opening any door that appeared. Sanghyeon was that kind of being.
"I should lend him more strength. He is worth investing in. He is someone who delivers a guaranteed return."
Sophia elevated her own combat phase to Phase 2.
While it is usually divided into three phases, she typically engages in Phase 1 against a player she can reasonably trust.
This means maintaining a Soul Link of about 75%.
The reason was simple.
This is because achieving 100% synchronization would cause her to feel every single one of the target player's pain and emotions.
She never did it again after coughing up blood once when she gave a 100% link to an incompetent player.
Phase 2 is about 90%. It is the
level at which she invests in players whose skills she is confident in; about ten players, including Frederick, constituted Phase 2 for her.
Then, Upper Rank was added to that.
Phase 3 was the final phase used for someone she truly wanted to protect, someone she didn't want to lose, and someone she absolutely had to save.
Since it was a last resort where she sacrificed herself to save that person, she had never once entered Phase 3 before.
'I'm nervous. No, I think it's going to be fun.'
The clearing of the Gate, which had always been a chore to come through until now, felt like a joy.
She was looking forward to seeing what kind of unique variables Upper Rank would create this time through some kind of status ailment. The feeling
was different from seeing it with her own eyes compared to just reading a few words on a list.
Yes, it felt like a feast for the eyes.
