Chapter 13: Do You Have A Skill Too? (1)

Grrrrrr!

Maybe the orc didn’t roar. It probably just growled for a moment, but to me, it sounded like a roar ringing around my ears for a good fifty seconds!

“Urgh...!”

It felt like my brain was going to be shredded at impossibly slow speeds.

—Hey, focus!

the Guardian snapped at me.

—Don’t let low-level monsters like orcs scare you! An orc is freakishly strong, but its attacks are very straightforward. As long as you know where the attack is coming from, you can dodge or counter it. It’s a piece of cake.

“That’s...easier said...than done...!”

—It’s coming.

The orc swung—no, was swinging its bat. Although it was slow, the orc was clearly aiming for my head. Unless I did something about it, my head was going to be crushed in less than twenty seconds.

“Fu...ck!” I leaped to the side with all my might, but it didn’t work out like I had thought.

I’m slow as a slug!

Even though it only took one step to dodge the orc’s attack, taking that one step took too long. It was frustrating as hell. I was sure I could avoid it! I knew which direction the attack was coming from!

—You can dodge it. Don’t give up.

Use the aura around your heart and strengthen your foot! Push more of your aura to the right foot! Come on!

Shit. I know you’re a ghost, but did you really have to be just all talk?

[1]

I was sensing my aura for the first time in my life, so how in the world was I supposed to focus it in my foot? It was really easier said than done, but...I didn’t have any other choice. I had to do it somehow. Even though it was true that I didn’t fear death, I hated the idea of getting my head crushed by an orc’s club!

Move!

I yelled at myself.

The pure flow, centered on my heart and thinner than my veins, was somehow as refreshing as a clear brook. I tried to push the sensation toward my right leg, and it worked, somewhat. I could feel my aura starting to move from my heart, but...

—It’s more difficult than you think, isn’t it?

...Yes, it was.

—That’s because your pathways for your aura haven’t been developed enough. They’re like remote trails deep in a mountain. You need to pave them into expressways to be considered an expert in aura.

I took a deep breath and concentrated on my right leg.

My heart was a clogged faucet, and my leg was a cup below the faucet. The clogged faucet dripped out aura drop by drop.

—The only reason you can sense your aura is the elixir you drank. It wouldn’t have been possible without it. Tsk. The lady has a questionable sense of hygiene but she’s damn good.

I could feel the wind beat on my skin as the club narrowly brushed past me. It left a small whirlwind behind which scattered against my leg. I would have been crushed by the orc’s bat if I had been just half a second late.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Wh...at...happensss...?”

I was relieved that I’d managed to avoid the orc’s attack, but that feeling didn’t last long. The orc snorted in anger, upset by the fact that a weak prey like me had dared to dodge its attack. The orc immediately raised its club again.

The orc was getting ready to plow through my waist with a horizontal swing. There was no time to rest—I focused my aura into my torso.

—Hmm? What do you mean ‘what happens’?

“Once I make the trails...into expressways...!”

It was still difficult. My heart was still a clogged faucet with no signs of running like a river. My mouth burned with thirst, but only a drop of aura came out of the tap.

I hate to admit it, but he’s right.

His analogy couldn’t be more accurate; the pathways for my aura were remote trails choked by weeds. That was why I wondered, when I finally surpassed my current level...

“...What...happens!”

—Ha.

The Guardian chuckled.

—You got your head chopped off by Gramps Marcus before you could do anything, right?

Indeed, I recalled how the waxing moon had waned that night.

—That is the level of neat avenues.

The beautiful slash I had seen was just at the level of avenues.

—Gramps Marcus still has a long way to go. I’m sure I don’t have to hurt my mouth repeating the same thing for you. Zombie, I don’t give you hell because I have a trashy personality. I’m doing it for a good reason, heh.

I clenched my teeth with determination.

—Hmm?

I sucked in a breath and ducked.

The orc’s club

swished

right over my head. It was already the second time I narrowly avoided the orc’s attacks. I wasn’t going to let the orc attack a third time.

—Wow.

I focused my aura into my feet.

—Look at you.

And then I flexed my legs. As I gathered my aura, I also tried to bend my knees, bunching up my legs like a coiled spring. One second, three second, five second... It was not much, but the moment I had gathered some aura, I leaped as high as I could with my dagger aimed at the front of the orc’s neck!

The monster looked down at me and made a dumb noise. I could see me and the dagger reflected in its eyes, growing bigger by the second. I stabbed its neck with my dagger, and the orc’s face contorted in pain. Its scream echoed over the empty hunting ground.

I did it.

The moment I thought it was done, I heard the Guardian’s shouting at me.

—Don’t let your guard down just yet! Orcs have thick skin! Focus your aura at the tip of your dagger! No, that’s too hard for you—just pour out everything you have!

I did just that. I squeezed out every drop of aura from my heart and pushed it into my dagger. Every time I added another drop, the orc’s screams of pain became louder.

Krrr. Grrrr.... Krrrr...!

The orc’s blood splashed onto my face, but I let it drip down my skin without even blinking because I was fully intent on jamming more aura through my dagger.

“Di..e...!”

For a fleeting moment, I could feel that I’d pierced the orc’s neck.

Grrr... Grr...

The orc staggered. Even that took a long time.

I was still holding onto my dagger, so I had also fallen with it when it had finally collapsed.

I clawed for breath as I looked at the orc’s corpse.

Breathing wasn’t my only problem; my muscle aches caught up a little later and my head was spinning.

“

Urgh...

”

—Does it hurt? Yeah, I’m sure it hurts like hell. You haven’t even built proper pathways yet, but you still pushed yourself to your limit. There’s no way your feeble body can handle that! Serves you right!

The Guardian smirked as he flew around me.

“You evil—”

—Oh, yeah. I like how you used your aura to jump. Good job on that one. You always have to be creative when using aura. Many people are mistaken about this—smart people tend to be better fighters.

That was none of my concern right now.

“

H-huff..! Urgh...!

”

My biggest interest was how to quell this bone-crushing, vein-bursting pain. Pain tended to subside over time, but the elixir I had consumed made the sensations stretch into an eternity.

It hurt. It just hurt. I felt like I was going to die.

—Does it hurt so much you feel like you’re going to die?

“Can’t you...see...?”

—It’ll get better if you actually die.

What?

—Forcibly building pathways for aura nearly paralyzes you. The injury is irreversible, so it’s not something potions can fix, which basically means you voluntarily crippled yourself to kill an orc.

“Wh...at...?”

—I already told you, Zombie. I wouldn’t have recommended this kind of training if it weren’t for your time regression Skill. Gramps Marcus also drinks elixirs, but he just sits in the lotus position and meditates. He doesn’t throw himself at monsters.

Something was fundamentally twisted with this ghost.

—But you go back in time if you die. It’s awesome! You’re fine with whatever method of training because you don’t have to suffer the consequences! Gosh, I envy you. I envy you so much. It would’ve been so great if I had a time regression Skill like you!

Wow. How could anyone be this annoying? Maybe the Guardian’s passive Skills were

Smirk

or

Be a Dickhead.

Otherwise, I had no way to explain his fundamentally twisted nature.

—But it increases your kill count when you kill yourself, right, Zombie?

“So...?”

—We don’t need to take the risk. It’ll make it even more dangerous if Gramps Marcus sees you.

I heard a loud, ominous

thump

behind me. I had an unnerving feeling that I’d heard the same sound not too long ago. When I turned around, I realized that I was on point: another orc, practically identical to the orc I had just defeated, was standing there, drooling.

“Sh...it...”

It was the same type of monster, but my condition wasn’t the same. Every part of me ached and I couldn’t even lift a finger. Just like the Guardian had said, I was nearly paralyzed.

—It’s okay! So many Hunters out there never learn how to use their aura their entire lives. It only took one elixir for you to get the gist of it; at this rate, you’ll only need to die one hundred times to get the hang of it! It’s said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You need to die first to reach one hundred deaths!

The Guardian grinned.

—Let’s go, Zombie! Start with one death!

The orc swung his club down on my head. I watched it fill more and more of my vision.

“Ah... Crap...”

My nose was broken, my skull was shattered, and my brain was crushed. I was sure that not many people would have experienced this. That was good for them because it felt like shit. The one consolation was that I heard a voice as soon as my brain exploded.

[You have died.]

The world was now normal, although it was more that my sense of time that returned to its original state.

Phew...

I sighed after I found myself in a dark world. This was the place I briefly stayed in after I died and was waiting for time to be rewound. Although I was starting to get used to the place now... someone I didn’t want to get used to was also here with me, floating in the air.

—Huh?

It was the Guardian.

—Wow, what is this?

...It’s where I wait after I die. This is where I picked the Skill Cards when the Fire Emperor and Sword Star killed me. I’m calling it the Underworld for now.

—It’s super interesting.

The Guardian looked around the dark world.

—But why am I here too, Zombie?

Who knows? It’s probably because you’re haunting me.

I sighed.

After a little while, I hear a voice that says “Rewinding twenty-four hours,” and I go back in time. Oh, I wonder if you’ll also—

Just as I was about to finish...

[It has been determined that your death met the requirement of the Skill activation.]

[Duplicating Monster: Orc’s Skills at random.]

...Huh?

—What?

The Guardian and I froze. We turned and looked at each other at the same time. The Guardian had a dumbfounded look on his face, and I was sure that my expression wasn’t any different from his.

[Creating Skill Cards]

Looking up at two bronze-colored cards floating in the dark world, I blankly thought,

...Monsters have Skills?

—What the hell! This is so broken!

the Guardian yelled.

1. The raw is ????? ?? ?? ????! It’s a Korean play on words. ?? ?? ????(Only your mouth is alive) is an expression that a person is all talk, so Gong-Ja is using the Guardian’s death as a comeback. ☜