Third Liberation (7)

-Shaaa!

-Shaahaaak!

Thousands of shadow predators flocked toward Kang Shin-hyuk, who landed on the ground after jumping over the wall.

‘Should I use threads? No…’ Apart from the fact that using it could reveal his hidden identity, relying too much on one weapon went against his trait and skills, which let him master all weapons. Besides, he had left the Godslayer alone for too long and just fed it Excalibur, so it would be a good chance to have it work off that meal. The scene that had played in his mind yesterday ran through his thoughts, that image of Oh Joo-young skillfully handling his sword against that woman. The idea of that woman still bothered him. Something about her presence, or maybe the blade she wielded, remained in his mind. Somewhere….

“If I do it myself, I’ll see it.” With his Golden Dragon, he realized and reflected the essence of the movements he had seen. Now with the artifacts backing his physical status into the realm of SS-rank, it would be possible actually to translate it into movement. He could do it now; he was confident of that fact. As the shadow predators began to stick to his body and eat his spiritual power, Kang Shin-hyuk brandished the Godslayer with his left hand and breathed lightly. A golden glow ran through his veins as spiritual power flowed through him and ignited the tip of his sword. His eyes had an eerie golden scratch running through them.

“Break!” He swung his sword, cutting down the enemies in front of him.

-What?!

-It’s poisonous…

Kang Shin-hyuk’s spiritual power flowed through the sword, turning into soul poison. Shadow predators were poorly matched against it, being creatures made out of spirit. If the blade even grazed them, they would fall away with a terrible scream.

“Kh…!” Having removed the ones sticking to him, Kang Shin-hyuk focused on drawing the same movements with his sword that he had seen the other day. Those concise movements that blocked Oh Joo-young’s sword, followed by a neat horizontal cut that would stop all movements. The moment it was put into action with the Godslayer sword, the shadow predators flocking around him were cut down at once. The pieces left behind by them were automatically recovered into his inventory.

-Kii, kiiii…

-A sword that touches our existence. This swordsman is dangerous.

-Our father is in danger…

The shadow predators realized that Kang Shin-hyuk was an enemy they couldn’t dare touch and began to retreat. Having made all his enemies retreat with those simple cuts, he felt half-way successful in reaching the essence of her movements.

“Okay, I can feel it a little.” With that satisfied mumbling, an unexpected message appeared before him.

-By increasing your understanding of Excalibur, the digestion of the Godslayer has sped up.

-Synchronization has slightly accelerated- current rate of 48.7%.

“Huh?” It made sense that touching the source of Excalibur had sped up the digestion speed, but his synchronization has increased too? Was it because he was analyzing the sword?

‘Let’s aim to complete the digestion here.’ It would be nice to achieve 50% synchronization too, but that might be too much to ask for. Kang Shin-hyuk smiled ferociously as he watched the shadow predators flee from him.

-Run away!

-It’s a human that will melt our souls!

“Where can you run away?!”

-A 15,000 HP bonus for beastlike members!

-By increasing your understanding of Excalibur, the digestion of the Godslayer has sped up.

-Synchronization has slightly accelerated- current rate of 48.8%.

With the administrator’s message lingering in the background, Kang Shin-hyuk started massacring the shadow predators. Of course, his real purpose was to provoke them into revealing where the source was. Going beyond the wall, what awaited him was a forest full of conifers which hid the shadow predators.

-By increasing your understanding of Excalibur, the digestion of the Godslayer has sped up.

-Synchronization has slightly accelerated- current rate of 49.1%.

“They move quickly… it can’t be helped.” Now he needed a skill to maximize his sword’s range rather than its power. Kang Shin-hyuk had no such talent, but he did have a treasure that was suitable. That was the Shinfeng Orb.

-Due to fusing with the [Shinfeng Orb], some of the original power of the Godslayer sword has been temporarily restored. The blade has become SS-rank. The sword’s strength and special abilities will be amplified.

-You can now use the special abilities [Restoration] and [Regeneration] of the Shinfeng Orb.

-The special ability [Wind Blade] has been temporarily unlocked.

The power of the orb was still recovering. It wasn’t capable of the dramatic change the Great Heavenly Spirit caused yet, but it was enough for now.

“Wind blade!” The sword’s blade, glowing golden with the orb inside of it, suddenly stretched out to ten meters long. The metal itself had not grown, but now a blade of wind sprouted up out of it.

‘It really is an SS-class artifact.’ Kang Shin-hyuk drew the blade horizontally in front of him, splitting through all of the shadow predators within range. The heavy conifers that blocked his view were also swept away, clearing his line of sight.

-By increasing your understanding of Excalibur, the digestion of the Godslayer has sped up.

-Synchronization has slightly accelerated- current rate of 49.3%.

Kang Shin-hyuk let out a laugh as he ran forward.

“I like this one more than the Heavenly Spirit.”

-10,000HP bonus!

Apparently, the administrator agreed.

-Our father is in danger.

-For us to survive…

-Run!

The shadow predators hid in the shadows in their attempt to escape, but in front of Kang Shin-hyuk, it was a pointless resistance. He put the sword into the shadows and let the wind explode out, imbuing it with soul poison as it swept through the shadow predators.

-Synchronization has slightly accelerated- current rate of 49.4%.

“My body’s so light. I fear nothing now!”

-What does that mean, member?

“The boss is being summoned, but I can’t see it yet.” Kang Shin-hyuk went deeper into the dark forest as he continued hacking down monsters and trees alike with the wind blade. In the meantime, he was finally getting a sense of it.

‘Is this it?’ The shadow predators were adept at hiding their energy, so it took a while for him to get used to it. However, by fighting them and hitting them with his own spiritual power, their habits, movements, and even some of their memories gradually began to come to him. Repeating that over and over again, a map of the forest started to form in his mind.

‘Shall we go? We’ve secured enough by-products, and the synchronization rate is now 49.6%. By the time I clear this place, I can expect that not only Excalibur will be fully digested, but I’ll also reach the third liberation.’ Kang Shin-hyuk recovered the Shinfeng orb from the sword. For dealing with the mass of dark energy, it would be better to absorb it rather than use the Shinfeng orb.

-Hmm? The energy coming from the forest is a little different…

“How so?”

-The source of the shadow data and its performance is different than what I know. It isn’t an irregular gate… perhaps, depending on the situation, the goal of the gate will change. That is, a partial change may occur.

“That is good news.” He had been growing bored with only the shadow predators. He wanted the gate to become S+ grade, maybe even SS- with a bit of luck. Kang Shin-hyuk covered his whole body with Golden Dragon and bought intermediate status potions in preparation. However, the max they could raise his rank to was SS, so their effects were limited.

‘I can still raise it by using the soul connector. I should be glad I can achieve that effect without borrowing Claire’s potion.’ After thorough preparation, Kang Shin-hyuk continued forward to the source of the gate as he lightly stabbed at the shadow predators in his vicinity. Cutting down more trees, he could feel a dark mass growing in front of him. It was so dark that he thought his eyes were closed for a moment.

-Father!

-Protect him!

It was what the shadow predators called their father. They swarmed to bite at him in an instant. Even a high-ranker would struggle against such a group; however, Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t resist them. He only covered his body in a strong flow of spiritual power. Against them, that was enough.

-Kyaaak!

-Poisonous!

Only

-Gueeee!

The shadow predators fell away from him and died like flies.

-Proficiency of [Soul Poison (SSS)] has increased.

A brief message appeared, indicating the skill level had increased slightly but had not risen. He figured it would be difficult to raise the second he confirmed it was an SSS-rank skill.

‘I was fortunate to receive S+ as its initial rank.’ Kang Shin-hyuk strode forward and ignored the shadow eaters around him. The huge source of darkness before him was still creating more of them.

-Get ready, member. Things are changing right now.

Kang Shin-hyuk took a stance with his sword aimed forward. He didn’t know how it would change but assumed he would need to meet it with his sword.

The next moment, the source of darkness began to shift, and Kang Shin-hyuk lowered his sword.