Duel (2)

Duels.

One of the special functions administered by the system, they had a simple advantage: anything that happened during a duel, up to and including killing, was exempt from criminal punishment.

The reason this was possible was simple. The moment a nation imposed penalties for the outcome of a duel, the system would impose sanctions on that nation in turn.

After getting their fingers thoroughly burned, nations around the world had finally reached an agreement: no legal penalties would be imposed for the outcome of a duel.

There was a condition, however.

What if someone forced another person into a duel at knifepoint?

Since it could be abused as a means of legal murder, every duel required at least five verified guarantors. Without them, the government could impose all manner of legal penalties, including charges of assault or murder, and the system would not retaliate.

The government and the system had found a compromise of sorts.

As for what usually qualified someone as a verified guarantor...

'An impartial third-party awakener, B-rank or higher.'

A third party. In simple terms, someone with little vested interest in either participant. Otherwise, six friends could go around forcing people into duels and killing them.

The system generally judged those relationships. Unlike the bodyguards here, people merely using the training center's facilities for free weren't considered interested parties.

“Oh, guarantors?”

Several awakeners soon emerged from the training center. Despite being free, the center boasted top-of-the-line facilities, so quite a few high-ranking awakeners used it. Some belonged to famous guilds.

“Our little Piluk here says we need them. You wouldn't mind acting as guarantors, would you?”

The awakeners nodded. They stood to lose nothing by serving as guarantors, and a favor like this was easy enough to grant.

Besides, they were just as curious. How good was Kim Minwoo, whose abilities had inspired so many rumors? Acting as guarantors gave them the perfect excuse to see his skills up close.

The group headed for the center's sparring grounds.

Once they arrived at the vast arena, Minwoo declared, “I, Kim Minwoo, challenge Jo Piluk here to a duel.”

—Hell yeah, lmao.

—This matchup's gonna be fucking amazing lol.

—Is this Conqueror's Haki? Is this Conqueror's Haki? Is this Conqueror's Haki?

—If they set brutal conditions, I think the stream's getting banned.

—Yeah... It'll probably cut out halfway through. Can't really do anything about that.

[Duel activated!]

[Please set the detailed conditions!]

“Piluk, what conditions do you want?”

“...”

Jo Piluk stared at Minwoo, his expression twisting. He'd expected him to chicken out, but he'd accepted the duel without hesitation. Judging by that confidence, he clearly had something to rely on.

'... Whatever.'

It didn't matter. Piluk was confident in his own abilities, too. And even if Minwoo had cleared an A+-rank gate, nobody knew exactly what he'd done in there.

Finding a good escape route. Figuring out the mechanics. Drawing the enemy's attention. And so on.

There were plenty of ways to earn a high contribution share without fighting.

Besides, he'd proposed the duel himself in front of millions of viewers. Back out now? What could possibly look more pathetic?

Piluk's gaze turned cold. All he had to do was win.

'Even if killing him would be too much trouble...'

Crippling him ought to be fine.

If he cut off an arm and destroyed it, it couldn't be reattached. Even the world's greatest healer couldn't regenerate a missing limb.

Chairman Jo would secretly relish seeing the bastard reduced to one arm. He'd been grinding his teeth ever since Minwoo had spouted all those conspiracy theories in his interview.

“I'll have to wreck one of your limbs. That all right with you?”

“Sure. Perfectly fine. I bet you'll keep your spirits up even on crutches, Piluk.”

[Victory condition set to: Destroy one of the opponent's limbs!]

[The dueling arena encompasses these sparring grounds!]

[No one may enter or leave the dueling arena until the victory condition has been met.]

[At least five guarantors are present!]

[The duel is established!]

At that moment, pure white energy spread across the sparring grounds, and Minwoo and Piluk were moved to opposite ends.

Once a duel was established, the participants could no longer stop it of their own accord. That was another reason people rarely used the function. Once you started, you had to see it through to the bitter end.

When people insisted on dueling, they usually played it safe with conditions like losing after taking a certain amount of damage.

But dear Jo Piluk was as simpleminded as a charging tank. He'd boldly chosen destroying a limb as the condition. Losing an arm would still leave him able to enter gates, so that was too generous.

Crutches it was, then.

[The duel will begin in 10 seconds!]

[10 seconds remaining.]

[9 seconds remaining.]

.

.

[The duel begins!]

At that moment, Minwoo thrust out a hand.

[Summoning 2,000 skeletons!]

Nearly two thousand skeletons appeared. And the summoning didn't end there.

GROOOAR!

A gigantic golem rose among the skeletal soldiers. And then there was Cedric.

“...?”

Piluk tilted his head.

'What... is this?'

How many were there?

After setting the gate record, Minwoo had only summoned around three hundred skeletons. Piluk had figured that even with his increased level, a thousand would be a lot.

This was far beyond that. There were far, far too many summons. Enough to make his skin crawl.

The stream chat was going wild, too.

—Holy shit. How many are there?

—Can necros normally summon that many?

—Who wouldn't play necro if they could do that? LMAO.

—I'm a level 100 necromancer. At this level, you're doing well if you can summon 200 skeletons...

—Then why does his number have an extra zero? LOL.

—And what's that golem? Necros get summons like that?

—Looking like a real strong chance Piluk's leaving on crutches today lmao.

Minwoo calmly pointed at Piluk.

“Cut off one of his legs. Don't forget to destroy it so they can't reattach it.”

GROAR!

The golem and the other summons charged forward. From a safe distance, Minwoo used his spare mana to cast a curse.

[Curse of Aging (D) +9 activates...]

After a few failures due to the level difference, the curse finally took hold of Piluk.

[The target's level is high!]

[Ring of Ascension amplifies the curse's effects by 50%!]

[Jo Piluk's Defense and Speed decrease by a total of 17%!]

Slowed considerably, Piluk began breaking into a cold sweat.

'What the fuck!'

With the difference in their levels, the reduction should have been less than eight percent, even accounting for the +9 enhancement.

Seventeen percent?

The skeletons began thrusting their weapons at him.

Piluk's class was warrior. It had naturally high Defense, and with his equipment and level advantage, the blows didn't do much damage...

But that didn't mean they did none.

He was cursed. There were too many enemies. Like a drizzle slowly soaking his clothes, they would gradually wear him down.

His gaze sharpened.

'I have to break through. No matter what.'

The duel had already begun. There was no stopping it now.

If he kept fighting the summons, he'd exhaust himself and collapse first. Warriors didn't have much in the way of area attacks. In the end, he had to fuck up the summoner, Kim Minwoo.

Mana enveloped Piluk's body.

[Jo Piluk uses Skeletal Armor (B)!]

[Jo Piluk uses Iron Charge (A)!]

Shield raised, Piluk charged as though he intended to bulldoze everything in his path.

CRASH!

The skeletons he struck went flying in every direction.

But his valiant charge was short-lived.

ROOOAR!

WHOOSH!

Dolsoe swung with all his might, like a troll swinging a club. The impact brought Piluk's charge to an abrupt halt.

The golem was far stronger than he'd expected.

“Get the hell out of my way!”

Piluk swung his mace.

[Dolsoe uses Defensive Stance (B)!]

But Dolsoe was no slouch when it came to toughness, either. While the golem kept Piluk tied up, Cedric closed in and began attacking him.

'What the hell is this one?!'

Piluk recoiled in horror. He'd thought the golem would be the most troublesome summon. He'd been wrong.

This skeleton called Cedric was absurdly powerful. He kept stabbing into every opening, making Piluk feel like a turtle being devoured by a predator.

The stream chat erupted again.

—Isn't Jo Piluk a pretty strong awakener?

—Yeah. B-rank level and an A-rank Awakening Achievement? That's upper-tier in Korea.

—Then why does it look like the summons alone are gonna finish him?

—Minwoo's summons are way stronger than I thought. Cedric especially. He's ridiculously strong. Is this what an S-rank skill looks like?

—... Could it be higher than S-rank?

—Quit glazing him lol. There's nothing above S.

—Yeah. Another awakener with an S-rank achievement wouldn't lose easily to Piluk either. But... pushing him this hard is pretty ridiculous...

—He's spent a ton of money. There are rumors he cleared a hidden gate, too. Makes sense to me.

—Yeah, think about it. Would Sword Phoenix have given him half the contribution for no reason? He earned it lol.

—Exactly. Just look at his 50% contribution to the first A+-rank clear. Of course Piluk's getting stomped lmao.

—For real. Could Piluk even get 5% in an A+-rank gate? LOL. Even that sounds tough.

—Piluk probably assumed he'd earned his contribution doing something other than fighting. That's why he wanted the duel lol. He's fucked lmao.

Just then...

“Aaaargh!”

With a furious roar, Piluk activated another skill. Despite taking blows all over his body, he charged toward Minwoo. Apparently he'd decided to ignore the summons entirely.

Well, Cedric could probably stop him outright if he used all the new skills he'd gained at level 151.

'I've shown enough.'

There was no need to reveal every card in his hand. That was why the skeletons were fighting in dumb meat-shield mode, and why Cedric wasn't using his breath attack or his various other skills.

Did he really need to strip down and wave his underwear around just to deal with Jo Piluk?

He'd already shown more than enough to send his market value soaring.

Besides...

'I can handle the rest myself.'

The Death Spirit Sword.

He drew the Legend-grade blade.

Piluk charged toward him, drenched in blood. Still, true to his tough warrior class, he hadn't suffered any critical injuries yet.

'Cutting off a leg will be easy enough.'

Sturdy armor? Stacking attacks worked just fine on that, too. A few slashes in the same place, and the Death Spirit Sword would slice clean through.

They fought for thirty seconds.

—Whoa, what? Why's Minwoo so good with a sword? He's deflecting every attack.

—Damn... Piluk's seriously fucked. He must've charged in thinking he only needed to get the necro. Now what? LOL.

—That Time I Was a Necromancer but Actually a Genius Swordsman. Holy shit.

—Instant light novel lmao.

—Forget the sword. He's getting completely destroyed in the Taunt mind games. Minwoo's timing all his movements to Taunt. A warrior's got no answer to that lol.

—Is he really getting his leg cut off?

—Yeah. Nobody can stop it now that the duel's started. But I don't think that'll be enough to end it.

—Probably not... They both said they wanted to cripple each other. It'll probably only end when there's no way to reattach it.

—Who's he gonna blame? LOL. He was the one who proposed it, all wild-eyed lmao.

—Look at Piluk's steel leg armor getting shredded lol. One more hit and that leg's coming off.

—That's already the fourth stacked attack. The damage is boosted now. Next one's definitely cutting through.

—Are those really stacking attacks? I've only heard rumors...

—The first hit barely scratched it, but the fourth made the armor split open lol. Definitely stacking attacks.

At that moment, the camera suddenly tilted a little higher.

SHLICE!

Something was severed, and Piluk crumpled to the ground. With the camera aimed upward, his lower body was out of view.

Minwoo looked at the camera and shrugged.

“Whoops. The duel isn't ending. You can see it, right? The arena's still active.”

As he'd said, the pure white energy surrounding the sparring grounds remained unchanged. A sign that the duel wasn't over. No one could escape until the condition was fulfilled.

“Looks like the system wants a more definitive result. Anything beyond this will probably violate the content rules, so I'll see you later.”

Then...

[The livestream is being forcibly terminated.]

The stream ended.

—Wow... Piluk's life is ruined. He really got the crutches ending lmao.

—But why is Minwoo so good with a sword? Piluk couldn't do a thing.

—Yeah... Deflecting every attack and hitting the same spot over and over... I think he'd have stomped Piluk with just a sword, no summons.

—For real... Sword Phoenix wasn't kidding when she said he was good with a sword. That's insane...

Minwoo stared down at the fallen Piluk.

Destroy one of the opponent's limbs to win.

Here, “destroy” included rendering the limb impossible to reattach ever again. Because that was precisely what both participants—Kim Minwoo and Jo Piluk—had wanted.

He stared at Piluk's severed leg.

With tears and snot streaming down his face, Piluk looked up at him, his eyes trembling.

“Piluk. I have to do this to end the duel. You know that, right?”

“N-no... Please...!”

“Take care on those crutches.”

Dolsoe stomped on the severed leg with a heavy thud. As if that weren't enough, the skeletons hacked it to pieces.

Until not even Hua Tuo himself, returned from the dead, could have reattached it.

[Victory condition fulfilled!]

[You have won the duel!]

Only then did the satisfying messages appear before his eyes.