Max Talent Player

‘I’ll use… sword ki.’

Kim Hyukjin’s unique innate energy based on Athenae’s pure flame was under his authority, and was an ability he could control.

‘I’ll cut the casper without harming Sunhwa.’

That would be impossible with a physical sword, but it was achievable with sword ki, an energy. Despite having never tried it before, Hyukjin was certain of it.

‘It’s theoretically possible.’

With the combined effect of his Willpower stat that was impossibly high for the beginner period and his own keen focus, it was as though time were flowing like honey. To Hyukjin, a span of less than one second felt like an eternity.

‘Even though it'll be impossible to completely avoid harming Sunhwa…’

That might’ve been possible if his sword ki proficiency were much higher, but not now.

‘...thankfully, Sunhwa’s an outstanding tank.’

Most attacks wouldn’t even leave a scratch on her sturdy body.

‘I will trust.’

In his ability, and Sunhwa’s. There could be no doubt, not even for a second. There would be no better opportunity than this to kill the casper and thus eliminate a nebulous future variable. He had landed this serendipitous opportunity because of two unlikely factors, Ban Kimyung and the Yellow Charm.

‘I won’t… let this chance slip.’

It was risky. Sunhwa could get hurt. But he had to do this. Hyukjin chose to slash the casper.

Schwing!

He felt something part at his blade. Blood flowed from Sunhwa’s neck. To Hyukjin’s relief, she wasn’t gravely injured. She was bleeding a little, but the wound would soon heal.

‘I cut something.’

Hyukjin was sure that he cut something other than Sunhwa’s neck.

Sunhwa crumpled to the ground—the casper had left her body.

Hyukjin wanted to catch her, but there was no time. Yeonseo jumped forward to catch his unconscious sister in his stead. The members of Giantgod didn’t doubt Hyukjin’s actions—they only watched the situation with attentive eyes, ready to do what was needed of them, something Hyukjin was grateful for.

He couldn’t spare a single moment.

‘There’s only one place for him to go.’

Hyukjin thought it was possible that the casper believed Hyukjin would never be able to cut his little sister, an assumption that made the casper careless. And Hyukjin was right. The casper grit his teeth.

‘Crazy bastard. He really swung at his precious little sister?’

The casper fled Sunhwa’s body in a panic. This wasn’t what he had envisioned. But the murderous intent in Kim Hyukjin’s eyes was real, and if he had stayed put, he would have been heavily injured in Sunhwa’s body. He didn’t want that.

‘There’s an even better body for me over there!’

Truth be told, Kim Sunhwa wasn’t the best body for the casper. Her body itself was amazing, but she was a little troublesome to control as he wished. Her traumatized mind was mostly healed, and her brother Kim Hyukjin took too prominent a position in her consciousness. Because Kim Sunhwa possessed infinite trust and faith in her brother, it wasn’t easy to make her waver or assume control over her body when they were together.

‘This sucker’s the perfect prey for me.’

So the casper made a tough call. He hadn’t expected this fiasco, but all he had to do was seize the new guy’s body and flee.

‘And not long from now, I… will rip you to pieces, Kim Hyukjin.’

He never thought an Intermediate Administrator like himself would be forced into such dire straits. Caspers were astral beings, and without a body, it was difficult to do any real harm to a Player. In exchange, the moment they acquired the perfect body, they would be even stronger than regular Intermediate Administrators.

‘I see it.’

Ban Kimyung, and the man’s dark, negative mind. That was a man with a weak soul ripe for the taking.

‘I need to go in quickly.’

But unawares to the casper, his decision was one Hyukjin had foreseen.

* * *

* * *

Even before Hyukjin wrapped Isabel in sword ki and slashed Sunhwa, he predicted how things would go and directed the scene accordingly. If the casper stayed in Sunhwa’s body, he might be heavily injured or even die, so of course he would leave.

‘If I slash Sunhwa wholeheartedly.’

That was the hardest part. But as long as Hyukjin could do that, he was sure that the casper would move exactly as he predicted.

Hyukjin’s eyes swiveled to the place he heard footsteps from.

‘He’ll move quickly to find a new body.’

There was no time to pull back Isabel—every millisecond was precious. He dropped her on the ground, upon which Darongi scampered over to stow her in his Inventory.

In the meantime, Hyukjin took out a bow, a beginner wooden bow purchasable in the Beginner Shop. There was no time for fancy techniques. As one would expect from a bow meant for beginners, it was light and had fast attack speed; it was a bow Hyukjin could use very easily.

His Divine Bow Physique body took aim at the casper.

‘I can’t do it with just a physical attack.’

It would probably go straight through the casper.

‘Wrap sword ki around the arrow.’

He had never done it before, but it should be possible. Because not only did Hyukjin have the Divine Sword Physique, but he also had the Divine Bow Physique.

‘I can do it.’

His concentration honed to the limit, he fired at the casper. The arrow went whistling towards the casper’s hazy, indistinct back.

The hawk-eyed Jo Sunghyun quickly followed up with wind magic. Wind magic might be less destructive than fire magic, but it was faster and more accurate. He didn’t even pause to recite the spell incantation aloud. A wind arrow shot into the casper’s back. Because it had been cast so quickly, it didn’t deal much damage.

The casper continued moving towards Ban Kimyung undeterred. Hyukjin drew his bowstring again.

‘My target is Ban Kimyung.’

If the casper managed to seize a perfectly intact body, he would definitely flee using advanced magic like Warp.

‘You’ve made a mistake by not fleeing right now.’

If the casper had taken this chance to flee, Hyukjin probably wouldn’t have had another peaceful night in his life. He would have had to fear for the constant threat of a vindictive casper’s revenge. But the casper was unable to give Ban Kimyung up, the ‘perfect body’ in front of him.

Hyukjin pulled and released the bowstring in quick succession. He had observed and mimicked the movements of Hyun Junghwa before. Even though he couldn’t use Consecutive Rapidfire as a skill, he could produce an imitation that nearly matched it.

The casper panicked upon seeing the four arrows shot almost simultaneously whistling towards him.

‘What?!’

He had already taken two arrows to the back. He was in a great deal of pain, so when he sensed the arrows shooting towards him, he flinched. It was just a sliver of a second, but that flinch caused a moment of delay.

But to his surprise, Kim Hyukjin’s arrows failed to deal damage to the casper.

‘They went through me?’

They were just ordinary arrows, not ones imbued with Hyukjin’s sword ki. The casper realized at once that Kim Hyukjin had intentionally rigged the first arrow with sword ki exactly for this intent.

The intent of eliciting a flinch from the casper, thus slowing him down and allowing the arrows to strike the real target, Ban Kimyung.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The arrows embedded themselves in four different places: both shoulders and both thighs.

“GAHHHHH!” screamed Ban Kimyung, falling to the ground. “Eu-Euagh!”

Ban Kimyung was a level 1 Player who had just awakened. Even though Hyukjin avoided hitting any vital points, his attack was dangerously powerful and caused Ban Kimyung indescribable agony. Pain, pain the likes of which he’d never felt in his entire life. But ironically, the terrible sensation of sharp blades piercing his flesh and nerves made Ban Kimyung feel that he was alive.

His mind was shocked to crystal clarity.

‘What in the world is going on?’

It felt as though he’d been floating along in a dream. Amidst the terrible pain, he began to see the world anew.

‘Will… I die?’

He could see blood flowing out. His blood. He couldn’t move his arms or legs. It was like his body was broken. He couldn’t even speak, the pain was too great.

‘It might be better to just die like this.’

That was the thought that ran through his mind, but something was odd.

‘No.’

It was really strange. The moment death was upon him, a peculiar thought awakened within him.

‘I want to live.’

He decided to die, enjoyed his final vacation, and thought it would be okay to die now. And yet, when his time of death was really upon him, he wanted to live. He wanted to live so desperately that he found himself wondering if humans were always this fickle.

Slumped on the ground, Ban Kimyung looked at the people in front of him.

‘No way… is that person the Song Kiyeol?’

He was one of Korea’s most famous tanks.

‘Huh? Come to think of it…’

He remembered seeing some people barge in earlier.

‘I’m sure I saw them earlier…? Why does it feel like I’m seeing them for the first time?’

That man with the huge body was the Tutorial Ender. Kimyung definitely saw him earlier, but it was like he was seeing him anew, like he was a different person than he was earlier. As if he had been possessed by something.

“Urya!”

When Ban Kimyung’s body was greatly injured, the casper finally realized the situation he was in. Judging that fleeing this place right now was the best move, he relinquished his dominance over the patisserie.

And So Yoohyun, seizing the moment the casper took to retract all his power, narrowed the gap between him and the casper in an instant.

“I!”

So Yoohyun’s fists glowed with faint fist ki. It wasn’t as advanced an energy as Hyukjin’s sword ki, but it was enough to deal damage to an astral.

He struck out.

“Will also!”

He leapt onto the casper, straddling him as best he could.

“Play a part!”

After crushing the casper with his enormous bulk, Yoohyun squeezed the casper’s neck between his massive biceps, strangling his foe from behind.

“In front of Hyungnim! An active! Part!”

He squeezed with all his strength. As a result, the casper completely lost his chance to escape.

‘These lowly animals!’

Normally, these scum wouldn’t even be able to meet his eyes. If he weren’t so tired right now, he would have made all their heads explode.

‘Damn humans…’

Tired he might be, but he was still an Intermediate Administrator. The casper flung off his assailant with a burst of strength, sending the bulky man flying across the room.

“Gugh!”

It was like So Yoohyun was sent flying by a powerful gust. Jo Sunghyun raised a wind of his own to cushion his teammate’s body, but he couldn’t support all of Yoohyun’s weight.

BAM!

Yoohyun crashed into the wall, sending cracks splintering across the surface.

The casper believed that was his chance to run, thinking his foes would hesitate a little. It was good that he overextended himself just now, he thought.

Until he heard Kim Hyukjin speak.

“If you were a weak existence like us…”

Raiding monsters more powerful than yourself and cracking difficult scenarios and quests required extensive use of one’s brain, and you would gain a lot of experience in the process. But that didn’t apply to the casper. He was an Intermediate Administrator who didn’t directly Play. Book smarts were different from experiencing something yourself.

Choi Sung-gu’s Flame Whip came down with a crack. The fire magician knew exactly what he had to do. He couldn’t react quickly and promptly like Jo Sunghyun—that was Sunghyun’s job. Instead, Sung-gu prepared a spell with slightly greater destructive force, lying in wait to strike if the chance arose.

Sung-gu’s Flame Whip entangled the casper, burning bright. Hyukjin continued.

“...you wouldn’t have expended so much strength just now.”

The casper was unable to flee. He was already too exhausted. Simply resisting Sung-gu’s flames was a monumental task.

“And you wouldn’t have forgotten the fact that we are teammates who have worked together for a long time.”

Kim Hyukjin used Flash Step. This was it. This was his chance. As expected of his long-time guild members, each of them carried out their roles surely and precisely.

‘All for this moment.’

Ultimately, a major technique and a great deal of power were needed to completely wipe out the casper. Hyukjin’s teammates bought him time and opportunity for exactly that.

Wrapped in Flame Whip, the casper flailed on the ground.

“Y-You son of a bitch! Fuck off!”

Having received Isabel from Darongi, Kim Hyukjin jumped onto the casper’s body. Sung-gu’s Flame Whip had little effect on Hyukjin. Though it was hot, it wasn’t unbearably so. He squeezed the casper tightly with his legs.

Then, he raised Isabel in a reverse grip.

“Farewell.”

Here and now, he would eliminate a variable. Hyukjin decided to bring out the strongest technique he was capable of. Song Kiyeol was watching, but this wasn’t the time to be worrying about that.

Isabel’s blade began to burn with black flames.