Chapter 95

Hiss?

The Elder Snake seemed extremely flustered when Carpe showed no reaction.

But soon, it let out a tearing cry and greatly inflated its neck.

“Kieeek!”

And as it opened its mouth wide, green smoke began to seep out from inside.

It was the famous 7-star skill ‘Poison Mist’ among poison-based skills.

As the poison mist spread by the Elder Snake, the surrounding plants began to wither rapidly.

“Oh. Amazing.”

Of course, Carpe couldn’t feel any tension at all.

Carpe just walked steadily into the poison mist.

[You have been exposed to Poison Mist. You are afflicted with the severe status anomaly ‘Deadly Poison.’ You lose 1% of your total HP per second.]

Severe status anomaly ‘Deadly Poison.’

It was the top-tier status anomaly that could definitively end any enemy within 100 seconds.

[Unlock has been activated.]

[The status anomaly ‘Deadly Poison’ has been removed.]

In front of ‘Unlock,’ which removes all status anomalies, it had no meaning at all.

“Kieeek?!”

The Elder Snake seemed to fall into a panic, starting to flounder around.

The Heavenly Horse somehow felt like it could understand that feeling.

-Yeah… You must be speechless. Who would have thought some lunatic would have an item that recovers from all status anomalies? The game developers must be crazy to create such a skill.

“Bro. Whose side are you on?”

-Justice and balance! This munchkin! Oh, look at it, panicking and trying to back away.

The Elder Snake, realizing something was wrong, began to slowly retreat.

“Why were you hissing just now? Where are you running to!”

Carpe dashed forward and struck the giant snake’s head.

Thud!

With a sound like metal clashing, the Elder Snake began to let out cries of pain.

No, it sounded more like cries of sorrow.

“Kieeek! Kieeek!”

The Elder Snake, whose abilities were all blocked, groaned in pain.

Realizing there was no chance of winning, it made a pitiful, coquettish cry.

Thwack!

“Kieeek?!”

“Do you think coquetry works with a snake face? Maybe if you were a cat.”

-…You caught all the cats too, didn’t you?

“Disappear and become experience points!”

Carpe was a true egalitarian, treating cats and snakes equally.

To him, the only things that mattered were items and experience points! Appearance was a secondary issue.

Crunch!

As the Heavenly Horse said, the Elder Snake’s physical abilities were very poor.

Because all its abilities were focused on poison and curses, its physical abilities were significantly lacking.

Carpe kept moving his hands and feet without rest.

He hit it.

“Kieek?!”

And hit it again.

“Kieeek!”

The Elder Snake, writhing in pain, tried to emit poison mist, but it was all in vain.

“Lord, keep it up!”

“Quack quack quack!”

“The snake… is a bit pitiful.”

His subordinates were cheering for Carpe from outside the range of the poison.

And Carpe’s behavior, which was hard to distinguish between hunting and beating, continued.

“Damn, it’s so big, it’s satisfying to hit.”

-…I can’t watch. It’s too pitiful.

“The impact feels good. Really good.”

Unfortunately, the Elder Snake’s physical abilities were weak, but its health bar was quite large, making the moment of pain seem endless.

How much time had passed?

“…Kieek.”

Ding.

[Black Plague – The Elder Snake has fallen.]

[You have obtained the Elder Snake’s fang as proof of your defeat.]

“Phew. Finally over. What a stubborn one. It was really tough.”

-You? You were the one who was tough.

“What are you saying? I tried my best to make it quick and easy. It just took longer because this guy was too tough.”

And as if moved by Carpe’s efforts, two items dropped where the Elder Snake had disappeared.

“Kuh. As expected, one must live kindly. Then everything comes back like this!”

-…

One of the two items was a dagger, and the other was a material item.

Carpe first checked the equipment item. It was a dagger with a striking green blade.

[Penetrating Poison Fang]

[Wearing Restriction: Level 50 or higher, Dagger Mastery required]

[Grade: Unique]

[Physical Attack Power: 380 ~ 420]

- Strength + 3

- Agility + 5

- Dexterity + 4

- Additional Option 1: High chance to inflict the status anomaly ‘Poison’ on hit.

- Additional Option 2: Low chance to inflict the status anomaly ‘Deadly Poison’ on hit.

- Additional Option 3: 20% additional damage per status anomaly effect on the target.

“Wow. Unique!”

Carpe exclaimed in surprise.

The Great Tiger had somewhat boring drop items, but here they were, finally dropping something good!

-Oh, it seems to be a unique drop item. I’ve never seen this item before. The options are quite excellent.

“Really? Didn’t you catch it in the previous chapter?”

-I didn’t get any drops. This game is all about luck. Ah, thinking about it makes me angry. Why did I have such bad luck with items?

“Ah…”

After sending a brief condolence to the Heavenly Horse, Carpe put the dagger in his inventory.

“The options are good, but I can’t use it. I can’t give up my gauntlets.”

-It’s tradeable, so you can sell it. If you really want to use it, you can switch to it when you need to apply poison.

“Hmm. I’ll have to think about it.”

Nodding, Carpe checked the second item.

Surprisingly, this item was also a Unique-grade item.

[Great Snake’s Poison Pill]

[Grade: Unique]

[Category: Consumable Item, Material Item]

[The result of the Elder Snake’s poison condensed over a long period. It carries a strong yin energy. To consume it, you must neutralize the yin and poison energy.]

[+50% Poison Resistance, +10 Magic Power on consumption. High chance of death if consumed without neutralization.]

“…Poison Pill? The one from martial arts novels?”

-Yeah, that one. It’s properly here.

The Heavenly Horse nodded in satisfaction. This Poison Pill was the key to summoning the next opponent, ‘Byakko.’

-These two are natural enemies, each trying to eat the other. See the strong yin energy mentioned in the Poison Pill’s description? Byakko, on the other hand, is a monster with strong yang energy.

The two hidden monsters each possessed an inner core filled with yang and yin energy, respectively.

-But the funny thing is, they can’t properly digest the yang and yin energy they possess. The strong energy of their inner cores is slowly eating away at their bodies.

However, they couldn’t discard their inner cores, which were the foundation of their existence, and sought other means to escape their pain.

Using other energies to neutralize the energy of their inner cores.

-Yang with yin, yin with yang. They try to kill each other to steal the other’s inner core.

“Ah. I get the general scenario.”

According to the Heavenly Horse, the rest was simple.

If he wandered around where Byakko lived with this Poison Pill, Byakko would detect the yin energy and come to find him.

“It’s like a linked quest, falling into place perfectly.”

A structure where one monster’s drop item summons the next monster, and that monster’s drop item summons another!

Carpe’s job advancement quest was progressing smoothly, almost too smoothly.

Whether it was covered in status anomalies or focused entirely on physical attacks, such minor things had no meaning to Carpe.

Even if he hadn’t completed his second job advancement, Carpe was overwhelmingly strong.

Compared to the time with Ruana, the only difference was that it took a bit longer.

A famous quote from a legendary Korean Go player came to mind.

‘I have no confidence. In losing.’

‘I fight because it’s worth it. What can I do if my hand moves automatically when I see an opening?’

“…Maybe I’m really that strong.”

-…It’s annoying that it’s true.

“Ah. Still, this guy was definitely tough.”

-For someone who didn’t even get hit once…

“It feels like the training with Gillian paid off. I can see attacks much better now.”

Though it didn’t show in the stats, the training with Gillian had brought Carpe closer to mastery.

“Huh? Unique? Again?”

And just like with the Elder Snake, two items dropped.

A white bow named ‘Byakko Bow’ of Unique grade.

And Byakko’s inner core.

The moment Carpe picked up Byakko’s inner core.

Ding.

[The skill ‘Mado Engineering’ has reacted to the player’s inventory.]

[There are two items that can be synthesized.]

“Huh?”

Opening his inventory, ‘Great Snake’s Poison Pill’ was blinking. And the ‘Byakko’s Inner Core’ in Carpe’s hand was also blinking.

“…I haven’t seen this in a while.”

It was the same situation as when he synthesized the ‘Attribute Acorns’ to hatch Mokhyang.

The 10-star player who became stronger by luck.