The Return of the Legendary All-Master

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 285

<"Kahaha, those conditions? Truly amusing.">

Baal laughed heartily, clearly satisfied.

Hariel, in turn, offered a polite smile and bowed respectfully.

"I told you, didn’t I? Clearing the second stage is absolutely impossible, no matter what they do."

<"Excellent. With this, the human will fall into my hands.">

The four “special” conditions.

In simpler terms, they were designed to be impossible to clear.

Winning in a straightforward fight was already uncertain, and now the human had to fulfill absurd conditions on top of that?

Baal was confident that this time, Jeong-hoon would fail.

"Of course! That human will eventually join your side, my lord."

<"Hmph, but there’s one thing I’m curious about.">

"Please, speak freely."

<"What happens if, by some chance, he manages to pass?">

"You mean… if he clears it?"

<"Yes. Isn’t there always that one-in-a-million chance?">

Considering Jeong-hoon’s track record of accomplishing the impossible, it was only natural for Baal to entertain even the faintest possibility.

Hariel smirked and replied confidently, "That won’t happen. Not only are the conditions absurd, but the Puppet inside there is based on none other than Perlis."

<"Oh? Perlis?">

Perlis.

Though now classified as a Demon King-level Transcendent, he had once stood as a Lord—a peer to Baal himself.

Although circumstances led to his demotion, his power was still comparable to that of a Lord.

If the Puppet was modeled after Perlis, Jeong-hoon’s chances of victory were effectively zero.

"So, there’s no need to worry. He is bound to fail."

<"Kukuku, good. If the human proceeds to form a contract with me, I’ll grant you a great reward.">

"Ah, my lord, just hearing that is a joy in itself."

Hariel’s grin stretched almost to his ears.

Inwardly, he was already fantasizing about what he would demand from Baal.

"Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion."

[Skill (1/5)]

With the activation of Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion, Jeong-hoon was left with only four remaining skills he could use.

In his hand, he gripped the Shadow King’s dagger as he swiftly approached the Puppet.

"No Heavenly Demon Martial Arts. Not yet."

With a limit of only five skills, every choice had to be deliberate.

Jeong-hoon’s dagger surged toward the Puppet’s neck.

However, the Puppet smoothly slid its right foot back, twisting its body to evade the attack.

In the same motion, it thrust its left hand toward Jeong-hoon’s chest.

Reacting instantly, Jeong-hoon executed another step of Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion, retreating to avoid the strike.

Whoosh—

Crash—

The Puppet’s left hand cleaved through the empty air, unleashing a shockwave that swept across the surroundings.

[Wow… what the…?]

‘It didn’t even use a special ability, yet it has this level of destructive power?’

Jeong-hoon’s lips twitched in disbelief.

He knew the difficulty was set to the maximum, but he hadn’t expected an opponent of this caliber to appear.

"This won’t be easy."

Time continued to tick away.

To defeat it within 30 minutes, he needed to quickly identify its weaknesses.

But the Puppet, slowly settling into a combat stance, showed no openings.

Who could it possibly be based on?

As he pondered, the Puppet charged at Jeong-hoon.

Even without employing any discernible footwork, its movements were so fast that they were nearly impossible to track.

In the blink of an eye, the Puppet was in front of him, a sword gripped in its hand.

It swung the blade diagonally from its upper left to its lower right in a massive arc.

‘This one, I can’t dodge.’

Even if he evaded, the next attack would surely follow.

If that was the case, he might as well confront it head-on.

Having made his decision, Jeong-hoon raised his dagger to block.

Clang!

[Hit count has increased by 1.]

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

Crack—

Jeong-hoon’s wrist twisted painfully under the force of the clash.

The difference in their stats was glaringly apparent.

[Divine Healing is activated.]

[Skill (2/5)]

He quickly used Divine Healing to restore his wrist.

Now, with two skills already used, he had only three remaining.

‘At least passives aren’t counted, which is a relief.’

If passives had been included, the limit of five skills would have been breached long ago, making the conditions impossible to fulfill.

Still, three skills weren’t much to work with.

How should I allocate the remaining three?

‘First, I’ll boost my stats.’

Jeong-hoon began activating buff-type skills one by one.

[Black Field is activated.]

[All stats are amplified by 1.8x.]

[Due to Black Field, all stats of monsters within the field are reduced by 15%.]

[Skill (3/5)]

With the activation of Black Field, his remaining skills were reduced to two.

[All stats are increased by 15%.]

[Damage taken is reduced by 20%.]

[Duration: 1 hour.]

Fortunately, the stat-enhancing ring he was wearing didn’t count as a skill, so it didn’t decrease his remaining uses.

[The special ability of Dominator’s Grip is activated.]

[All stats increase by 10%.]

[Attack power and mastery of all weapons increase by 10%.]

The Dominator’s Grip lived up to its name.

[The special ability of the Head Ornament infused with the Spirit of the Sacred Beast is activated.]

[Attack power and defense increase by 40%.]

The head ornament imbued with the spirit of the sacred beast wasn’t to be outdone.

[Celestial Aura is activated.]

[Skill (4/5)]

A starlit aura emanated from Jeong-hoon’s body, gently enveloping him.

[Attack power and defense increase by 20%.]

[The Puppet’s attack power and defense decrease by 10%.]

The accumulation of titles, transcendental passive skills, and buffs made a significant difference.

The Puppet was now heavily restricted under Jeong-hoon’s debuffs.

Jeong-hoon smirked.

“Alright, let’s get serious.”

With his amplified stats, Jeong-hoon swiftly surpassed the Puppet’s abilities.

[Absorbing shadow.]

Jeong-hoon activated the shadow absorption option of his dagger, targeting the Puppet’s shadow.

A surprising transformation occurred.

‘The dagger is glowing?’

The dagger began to emit a black luminescence.

[All stats of the dagger increase.]

‘So that’s what this option does.’

At first, the term "shadow absorption" sounded grandiose, but it simply allowed the weapon to absorb the stats of the source.

But that wasn’t all.

Using the Puppet’s essence as a base, he could even create replicas.

When Jeong-hoon triggered the shadow option again, a shadow replica of the Puppet materialized at his side.

“Now, let’s begin.”

Utilizing the Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion, Jeong-hoon closed the gap to the Puppet in an instant.

As he swung his dagger, the Puppet countered with a spinning slash of its sword.

[Hit count has increased by 1.]

Even the clash of weapons counted as a hit.

Nevertheless, Jeong-hoon remained undeterred, pressing on with relentless slashes.

Suddenly, a sharp wind formed the shape of a blade above Jeong-hoon and surged toward him.

[The Puppet uses ‘Phantom Blade.’]

Phantom Blade.

An invisible yet tangible blade.

Trusting his instincts, Jeong-hoon swung his dagger.

Clang! Clang!

Sharp metallic echoes reverberated as he parried the Phantom Blade.

[Hit count has increased by 1.]@@novelbin@@

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

[Hit count has increased by 1.]

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

...

The hit count began to rise sharply.

Each time the sword collided, Jeong-hoon felt a heavy sensation in his hand, signifying that damage had been dealt.

Yet, he didn’t falter and continued to press on with the standoff.

In a sudden move, Jeong-hoon struck the Puppet’s side with his left hand.

Since his stats had surpassed the Puppet’s, he was able to maintain the confrontation with just one dagger in his right hand. Seizing an opening, he took advantage of the situation to land a blow with his left hand.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

The Puppet’s waist bent sideways from the blow, but Jeong-hoon didn’t miss a beat. He reversed his dagger and drove it straight into the Puppet’s neck.

Fwooosh—

The dagger was lodged deep.

However, the Puppet, unfazed, immediately swung its sword toward Jeong-hoon.

‘What is this?’

Jeong-hoon furrowed his brow.

The area pierced by the dagger had turned a deep red, signaling damage had indeed been dealt.

So, the Puppet must have activated a special ability.

[The Puppet uses ‘Indomitable’.]

As expected.

Jeong-hoon quickly jabbed the dagger into the Puppet’s side again, then used Heavenly Demon Lord’s Dominion to increase the distance between them.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

It seemed that was some sort of invulnerability skill.

To avoid increasing his hit and damage count unnecessarily, Jeong-hoon carefully kept his distance, using his skill to evade when the Puppet closed in.

When cornered, he would roll and escape, then expand the distance again.

After a short while, the red discoloration where the Puppet had been struck faded, returning to normal.

‘It’s over.’

The duration of the Indomitable skill had ended.

With his momentum shifting, Jeong-hoon once again closed in on the Puppet and resumed their confrontation.

Clang!

[Hit count has increased by 1.]

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

Jeong-hoon’s dagger collided with the Puppet’s sword.

The Puppet’s wrist trembled as its weapon shook, unable to match Jeong-hoon’s superior stats, especially with his dagger now enhanced from absorbing the Puppet’s shadow.

‘Let’s end this quickly.’

Jeong-hoon swiftly unleashed a powerful left-hand strike to the Puppet’s face.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

The Puppet’s face turned as the blow sent it off balance.

Seizing the opening, Jeong-hoon pivoted on his left foot and drove his right knee into the Puppet’s abdomen with a fierce kick.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

The Puppet’s waist buckled and it was momentarily lifted off the ground.

Jeong-hoon followed up with a punch, then drove the dagger deep into the Puppet’s heart.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

This time, the damage was significant enough that the Puppet staggered.

‘It’s working.’

Jeong-hoon continued to thrust his dagger into the Puppet’s vital points.

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

[Strike count has increased by 1.]

The strike count quickly increased, but Jeong-hoon didn’t care.

‘I’ll suppress it before it can use another ability.’

[Additional option activated due to Shadow Absorption.]

Shadow Absorption wasn’t just for enhancing weapons.

It triggered additional options, one of which was skill sealing.

It was a low-probability option, but with Jeong-hoon repeatedly attacking, it triggered on its own.

[The Puppet uses ‘Incapacitation’.]

However, the Puppet didn’t go down easily.

After using Incapacitation, it quickly removed the debuff on itself.

That wasn’t all.

[The Puppet uses ‘Solidification’.]

With the consecutive use of abilities, Jeong-hoon’s body suddenly stiffened.

Shwaak—

Taking advantage of the opening, the Ghost Sword swiftly sliced through Jeong-hoon’s chest and lower body.

Though his body wasn’t severed, the pain was unbearable.

[Kyaaah! Master!]

Mukho screamed.

‘Ugh...’

Jeong-hoon gritted his teeth and activated Divine Healing.

[The Puppet uses ‘Target Seal’.]

[Target: ‘Divine Healing’.]

[‘Divine Healing’ cannot be used.]

But as the Puppet activated another ability, Divine Healing failed to trigger.

‘Ha, it really has a lot of abilities.’

His body wasn’t responding as he wished.

However, there was a way.

Jeong-hoon’s summoned shadow clone aimed for the Puppet’s neck and delivered a powerful slash.

Clang!

The Puppet, attempting to strike Jeong-hoon, raised its sword to block the attack.

In that brief moment, the Solidification effect on Jeong-hoon was broken, and he drove his dagger straight into the Puppet’s neck.

Then, a powerful will responded.

[The fighter’s exclusive skill, ‘Steadfast Will’, activates.]

[You have acquired the skill, ‘Death Blade (Legendary)’.]

Jeong-hoon smirked.

The dagger skill he had used most often before his return.

He had acquired Death Blade.

Death Blade was a powerful skill that could instantly kill an enemy with a 0.1% chance if their stats weren’t vastly superior.

Of course, it took 15 seconds to activate, and if it didn’t activate, it dealt 200% damage instead.

‘That’s enough.’

Jeong-hoon’s eyes gleamed.

Death Blade.

With the dagger still embedded, Jeong-hoon activated Death Blade and twisted it.

[Skill (5/5)]

[Additional option activated due to Shadow Absorption.]

Once again, an additional option triggered, similar to skill sealing.

This one increased the effect of attack skills by a factor of 10.

[Temporarily, ‘Death Blade’ is changed to ‘Shadow Blade’.]

As Death Blade upgraded to Shadow Blade, the Puppet’s body trembled.

[‘Instant Kill’ activates!]

Fortunately, the 1% chance triggered almost immediately.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]