Chapter 156: Chapter 155: First? Part II
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
-So that’s what the Duke really looks like?-
I was probably more shocked than anyone else here. The Predator Duke I was more familiar with was the one from past, who was over ten meters tall. It was already weird enough seeing the shorter Duke of this timeline, but seeing this dwarf in front of me really took the cake. I really didn’t see that one coming.
The Duke’s small, ugly face scrunched and his tiny fists trembled in anger. He swore like he did for the past two hours, but he wasn’t intimidating at all. In fact, it was almost laughably cute.
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You’ve forced my hand!” the Duke squeaked, full of rage.
It was easy enough to understand why he was mad. Obviously, he had a complex about his appearance and wished to keep it hidden away from the rest of the world. I wasn’t going to make fun of his appearance, either. I knew enough that it was a condition that he was unlucky enough to be born with, but there was just one problem. To me, it wasn’t a good enough motive to justify all of the inhumane acts he committed so far.
I glared at him in contempt and uttered a single sentence. “What a load of bulls.h.i.t.” Wounds? Secrets that no one could know about? It was all part of a normal life. Everyone went through hardships and had dark secrets that not even their closest companions could know.
He consumed mortals, d.a.m.n it. He killed countless mortals even though they didn’t yield anything compared to devas. He killed them just because they got in his way. He was the sc.u.m of the earth. He had no right to be that angry over a f.u.c.king midget complex. He should be angrier that I flushed five years’ of his work down the drain, not over his f.u.c.king dwarfism. Who the f.u.c.k cared about that? He was reborn as a f.u.c.king deity. If he wasn’t, then maybe I wouldn’t be so angry, maybe I wouldn’t be thinking about all those who died by his stupidity, in this timeline and in the past.
I placed my Harrier back into my inventory and took out my enchanted spear. Now that he was completely free of his fatty armor, Absolute Destruction should work on him now. I didn’t care about torturing him or making him hurt. The greatest punishment for him was death. He’d lose everything since he was a deity and that meant he would have to live the rest of his sorry life as a dwarf. I would show no mercy for him.
“Oy, shorty.”
“What did you call me, you son of a b.i.t.c.h?”
“That’s a good look on you. You should stay that way for the rest of your life.”
“Shut your trap! How dare you look down at me? I am the Predator Duke, d.a.m.n it! I won’t take any s.h.i.t from someone like you!”
“Blink 1.” Tired of hearing the same c.r.a.p from the Duke, I Blinked over to his side.
At the same moment, however, the Duke pointed his finger at me and sputtered in rage. “I’m going to eat you whole and not leave a single bone behind! Absolute Predation!”
==[You have been affected by the Predator Duke’s exclusive skill, Absolute Predation.
You are now an unconditional target for Predation.]==
I felt a wave of anger rush over me as I read through the message. The battle was just about over. I was so close to killing him. I spent over two hours trying to set up the perfect situation for Absolute Destruction to activate.
“Blink 2.” I decided to put some distance between us for now. When he activated his skill, a white, string-like substance was emerging from his finger and it seemed that it was going to touch me before I could attack him.
==[You have been affected by the Predator Duke’s exclusive skill, Absolute Predation.
You are now an unconditional target for Predation.
You are now an unconditional target for Predation.]==
“Hah…” I couldn’t believe what just happened. The white string had homed in on me even as I Blinked away. I swung my spear at it but as soon as it made contact, the string wrapped itself around me and started to pull me back towards the Duke. At that moment, the Duke opened his mouth, which gaped a meter wide.
“f.u.c.k!” I struggled as hard as I could, but I couldn’t free myself. As I was being quickly dragged across the ground towards the Duke’s gaping maw, I realized there was nothing I could do.
-s.h.i.t! This is too much! Is there no such thing as balance in this world?-
“Gahaha!” The Predator Duke couldn’t help but laugh. He was laughing so hard that he fell to the ground and rolled around, cackling. He even forgot that his remaining army knew about his true form.
==[Exclusive skill, Absolute Predation, has been activated. (1/3)
This skill can only be used when you lose the flesh you have gained from Predation.
You can only use this skill three times.]==
This ability of his could only be used three times. No amount of leveling up or skill points could ever increase the counter. It also came with some serious restrictions. The Duke had spent the past five years believing he would never have to resort to using it until this day.
He even believed it was a waste to have to use it on Muskan, as it meant he would have to give up on everything he gathered over the past five years for an ability that he didn’t know everything about. It also meant he would risk attracting unwanted attention from the Behi-Kinant and the Sahtaswhi Guilds.
“But it’ll be worth it if Lee Jiwon is the first target!” The Duke never expected that he would have to resort to using Absolute Predation against Lee Jiwon. He thought Lee Jiwon was just some small fry deva who had an incredible streak of luck. He was wrong. Lee Jiwon had the potential to conquer the world; all the more reason to consume him while he had the chance.
“Kekeke. Let’s see what you have in store for me.” It would all be over once the Duke got Lee Jiwon inside his belly.
(TN: Austin Powers, anyone?)
“What…”
“That’s…just not fair.”
“Absolute Predation…how can something like that exist? We were so close.”
The Werewolf Clan watched on as the last of their hopes vanished. They didn’t, couldn’t have known about this. Even the Duke’s deity guards hadn’t known about Absolute Predation. The Werewolves weren’t mad about the situation they were in; they found it unfair, especially after all they’ve been through.
Then, the sound of someone crying could be heard. “In the end, it’s my fault…if I hadn’t gone…” It was Kylie van Aga.s.si.
The other Werewolves became depressed as well. In the end, they placed all of their burdens onto Lee Jiwon. He wasn’t supposed to take on the Duke on his own in the first place. They were supposed to work together and kill the Duke before focusing on the rest of the Duke’s army. But Lee Jiwon had done most of the work himself and just as they were about to win, Lee Jiwon was going to be the one to lose everything instead of the Werewolves.
“Everyone!” At that moment, Lod broke through the silence. “Let’s go!” He didn’t say anything else; there was no directive or command, but they all knew what he meant.
Lee Jiwon had done his best even though he didn’t need to. The Werewolves had to pay back that favor and fight twice as hard. If they were going to die, they would die with honor.
“Yes, sir!”
“We fight to our dying breaths!”
“Stop them!”
“The battle is ours!”
“They won’t last much longer. Hold out until the end!”
Up until now, the four deities and the remaining two thousand soldiers of the Duke’s army were afraid that the Duke would lose. Before the Duke brought out his final hand, it seemed that the Duke had lost.
“Remember what you all can get if we take over this land. Their dungeons and EXP will be ours!”
The Duke’s army regained their morale and charged while dreaming about the rewards they could get after winning the battle.
At the peak of Húsareyn Mountain, overlooking Tórshavn…
A person was watching the battle below while flipping a coin in his hand. “That doesn’t look good.” It was Dorofei Krutikov, the man known as the Information Hunter and the owner of the Troll Market. He was the first to know about the war between the Predator Duke and the Werewolf Clan while keeping tabs on the Predator Duke. He had also learned about Lee Jiwon’s involvement as soon as the Werewolf Clan made its decision to ask his help.
“Ha…I did expect it to turn out this way; just not in this fashion. Am I losing my touch?”
The painting he drew in his mind consisted mostly of white and black colors, but only Lee Jiwon was different. The colors Dorofei needed for Lee Jiwon were all over the place. One second, he needed red, orange, and yellow at once and in the next second, he needed green, blue and purple.
“Huh…to think his potential is only at level 19…” Dorofei kept flipping his coin as he watched the Duke smile like a crazed lion as Lee Jiwon drew ever closer. Dorofei contemplated on whether or not to use it.
On the last coin flip, Dorofei missed it, and the Coin of Fate fell to the ground. He had never missed that catch in his life, but he couldn’t help himself after what he just witnessed.
The Duke’s potential had dropped to level 19 while Lee Jiwon’s had jumped to level 499!