Turns Out To Be a Genius Duelist

“Bracelet and necklace…?”

“Are you going to keep pretending to distract me? Maybe it would have worked on me in the past. But it doesn’t work on me right now…!”

Yoon-seok didn’t know what was happening, but Carpbenny narrowed the distance after gaining enlightenment (?) and awakening.

“Fire Dragon Body.”

Was it a skill or a power? It didn’t matter. Flames burned across his palms, but that wasn’t the end.

“Spirit of the Armorer.”

Swaaaaaaaaaa-!

’Is that the equipment activation effect?’

It was highly likely, but Yoon-seok couldn’t figure out what kind of ability it was. However, as he was observing the light, he received a spoiler.

“Nothing that contains magic will work on me for three minutes!”

Oh, I see. Yoon-seok needed to wait for three minutes. Why did Carpbenny tell him?

’Well, is it working…’

Yoon-seok gave up on thinking. Rather, he was growing tired of being surprised.

Whoosh.

Yoon-seok was able to easily evade his foe. Honestly, even if he was hit for three minutes straight, he didn’t think Carpbenny would be enough to challenge his durability stats…

But for some reason, Yoon-seok felt more nonsense would be muttered if he got hit. Well, although avoiding it didn’t change much.

“As expected, you move fast!”

Tick tock, tick-tock.

Yoon-seok didn’t make a sound as time gradually passed.

Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

He failed to lay a single effective blow. Nevertheless, Carpbenny was chattier than ever.

“Huhu! I can see how flustered you are!”

It looked like he thought Yoon-seok was forced to avoid it because he couldn’t use magic… well, he couldn’t use magic. Because his magic stats were fixed at F- for 20 minutes due to the self-sabotage effect of Vajra Step, most of his magic-based skills and powers were sealed, including b Divine Ultimatum}, which reduced his force by more than 90%. However…

’No matter what, this guy thinks he’s going to win.’

With the disappearance of his magic, it had become impossible to strengthen his body. Therefore, Carpbenny, who had magic, was almost balanced regarding stats. Well, he still missed out on the most important thing.

“You’re avoiding like a cockroach, but it’ll be different from now on!”

’You’re just too easy to read. I don’t see the point to moving so much.’

It would be different from now on. This sounded like a habit. Yoon-seok prepared himself, but there was no big change right away despite the bragging.

Whoosh-!

His fist was as slow as usual. The trajectory was so honest that it was super obvious. However, was he not a fighter?

“Sea God’s Judgment.”

As soon as he recited the command, the sky turned dark. Dark clouds covered the sky, and thunder rumbled, shaking the ground. Yoon-seok felt an unknown existence beyond the dark clouds.

“Summoned creature…?”

Did he feel lonely because Yoon-seok didn’t answer back much? Carpbenny shrugged.

“No way. This is a new treasure that I recently acquired. Rank is SS…”

Yoon-seok stopped listening and turned to thoughts of ending this absurdity.

Swaaaaaaaaaa-!

A chilly gust of wind blew from the sky. At the same time, the dark clouds split, and something huge revealed itself from beyond. But unfortunately, they couldn’t see its face.

Boooooooooom-!

The moment Yoon-seok swung his sword toward the sky.

Swaaaaaaaaaa-!

The sky was divided, and nothing could be seen above except the bright sky.

‘But it was pretty fun at the end.’

Yoon-seok, who made the Sea God or whatever leave the stage in a snap, stretched. Unlike Carpbenny, he felt very relieved because he didn’t have to worry about dying. Above all, he was satisfied with the impact even if he only used the muscle principle from Dimension Muscle.

Of course, it was different for Carpbenny.

“…”

Carpbenny silently raised his head and looked up at the sky. Warm sunlight was shining through the dark clouds.

“H-How…?”

Sea God’s bracelet. Rank SS. This high-ranking bracelet could summon the Sea God, and the summoned Sea God was strong enough to face off against many rankers one on one. Carpbenny thought using all his saved tricks would incapacitate his opponent before that. But…

「The summoned creature was forcibly removed due to a fatal blow.」

The Sea God disappeared. It was the first time this had happened. There were times when it disappeared as time ran out, but he’d never experienced this before.

“What did you do…!”

Carpbenny took a step back without realizing it.

“Aren’t you weaker than me…?”

“I thought the misunderstanding had been resolved. Is it not yet…?”

“M-Misunderstanding…?”

Misunderstanding? He still couldn’t understand. Wasn’t his opponent just now on the defensive?

“…Bracelet. Yes, you’re wearing that bracelet.”

‘Even if it’s not expendable, at least it will have a waiting time.’

After a quick decision, Carpbenny again regained his determination and rushed toward Yoon-seok. Since the bracelet he was wearing could no longer be used, there was no need to save up his tricks anymore.

「The duration of Spirit of the Armor has ended.」

「All abilities fall by 2 levels for 10 minutes as a side effect.」

Carpbenny removed the penalty with his Unique Power Neutralization and recited a series of commands.

「Due to Unique Skill b Treasure Hunter}, stat temporarily increases depending on the number of treasures equipped.」

Vitality seeped into his body.

「Due to the Infinity effect, the cognitive domain increases significantly.」

His field of view widened, and time slowed down.

「As an effect of Future Guidance, the enemy’s movement is recognized one second earlier.」

A future afterimage overlapped with reality. As long as he read the enemy’s future, he wouldn’t miss as he did earlier.

「Due to the Black Spot effect, all damage increases by 80 times for 1 minute.」

To save even a little time. Reciting the command while narrowing the distance, Carpbenny ensured he could finish it in one blow. His magic was hemorrhaging out, but it wouldn’t matter.

’My best record was 47 seconds.’

No one had endured more than a minute against him after entering this state. It was going to be the same this time…

Plork-!

The sound came first; then, the shock was transmitted from his abdomen. When he came to his senses, his body was floating.

’…Huh?’

Recognition and understanding were completely different. Although it was only a second ahead, he was reading the opponent’s future until now. So why didn’t he see anything?

“Gasppppp…!”

All his questions disappeared under the pain that came one step later. His mind turned blank, and the only thing he could think was something was wrong. Even though he knew it was already too late, Carpbenny was surprised as he hit the floor.

’…Why is he staying still?’

His foe remained motionless. He was thinking about something while looking at his sword with a dissatisfied expression.

“Can you come at me again?”

“…?”

“I need to experiment with something.”

“Experiment…?”

Carpbenny wanted to ask something after hearing that word.

“What… is your rank?”

The reply came back immediately.

“It’s probably 92nd place. Unless someone else from the top died in the meantime.”

It didn’t sound like a lie. Was that why?

“…”

It was even more unacceptable. He was a high ranker, but he wasn’t at the top. Yet the difference was this big?

’What on earth was I mistaken about…?’

b Treasure Hunter} wasn’t a combat-type Unique Skill. So he misunderstood this man had a lower rating than himself?

But it wasn’t really like that. The reality he faced was different from expectation. The ranking he thoroughly denied was more accurate than anything else.

“If you’re done with your questions, will you charge again?”

Carpbenny realized the fact that just as he treated the lower rankers as trash, he was no different in their eyes.

“Why did you deceive me…”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why didn’t you kill me?”

“Didn’t I mention it? I have something to experiment with.”

“…Are you treating me like a toy?”

Carpbenny felt humiliated.

But that was his last pride. He was able to say this calmly.

“Kill me.”

Carpbenny closed his eyes.

“…In the end, do I have no choice but to train alone?”

However, when he opened his eyes again-

He couldn’t see anything. Carpbenny reached out to the wall blankly.

Wiggle.

The wall writhed under his fingertips.

Muscles are great. Yoon-seok could make anything possible this way.

‘Pretty good, huh?’

Yoon-seok, who built a muscle wall around Carpbenny, nodded.

‘If I’m good, I can even use it as a jail.’

His research was progressing steadily during the battle. However…

’But what if he kills himself inside?’

Yoon-seok narrowed his muscle wall due to this late concern. It conformed to exactly the size of his opponent’s physique, so he wouldn’t have room to move freely.

Clench-!

Then Yoon-seok removed the muscle wall only around his face because they had to breathe. Sadly, the silence broke at the same time…

“W-What a-are you doing… eup, hmph!”

He could still breathe through his nose, at least. Although Carpbenny blinked enthusiastically and mumbled through the covering, it wasn’t that distracting.

“…Eup, hmph!”

Yoon-seok turned his eyes away, pretending he didn’t see it. Even if it was his muscles, the sight of somebody cocooned in muscle was scary.

“Eup, up! Eumph!”

Prodded by a constant muffled scream, Yoon-seok turned his head slightly to check on Carpbenny. For some reason, it sounded like he was asking Yoon-seok to kill him, but…

Unfortunately, Yoon-seok had no intention of doing so. Time didn’t flow in here, so there was no better environment for training.

“…Then, shall we get started?”

Yoon-seok started with an easy warm-up. His body wasn’t stiff, but it was a reflex behavior.

’If he’s 490th place, he’ll be able to endure for at least four months.’

Yoon-seok, roughly estimating the time he could stay in the arena, closed his eyes. His available time was probably four to five months.

’Let’s do it.’

Not the Heavenly Sword.

Wiggle.

But his very own.