The Return of the Legendary All-Master

Gathering that will required a much higher level of difficulty than Laplanta.

Laplanta was a plant-type monster with fixed attack patterns, so he could instantly cut it down with Leviathan using memorized routes. However, to defeat Harmaind, he had to break through a kind of pattern.

If he didn’t break the pattern, it would activate an instant death skill, and even Jeong-Hoon, as strong as he was, could be killed instantly.

‘It’s an absurd ability.’

An instant death skill from a mere boss monster.

The only way to neutralize that instant death skill was to overwhelm it with levels.

If the level difference was more than 30, it would only take away 20% of his health instead of 100%.

However, Jeong-Hoon’s level was 226.

He couldn’t neutralize the instant death skill, so breaking the pattern was the only way to conquer it.

[Wow… So we have to wait until it curls up?]

Mukho clicked his tongue.

It curled up every 5 minutes.

At that time, it would expose its weak point, and they had to aim for that weak point to deal effective damage.

Until then, it was invincible, as they commonly called it.

If it received a certain amount of damage while in that invincible state, it would activate the instant death skill.

As a result, it took longer to defeat it than Laplanta.

[You have acquired Harmaind’s Will.]

However, Jeong-Hoon defeated Harmaind without rest.

And after a total of 163 attempts, he succeeded in gathering 10 Wills.

“Phew, now all that’s left is the axe.”

King Laust’s Axe.

Now it was a race against time.

10 times 0.05% was only 0.5%.

In terms of probability, it meant it would drop once every 5,000 hunts.

[The next one is only 1, huh?]

‘…It seems like the conditions will be even worse.’

Anima was quite perceptive.

“Yes. The drop rate is a whopping 0.5%.”

[0.5%? That’s a terrible drop rate.]

‘Doesn’t the drop rate go up to 5% if you take the Drop Rate Explosion Potion? Then it’s a 1 in 20 chance, which isn’t bad?’

Jeong-Hoon chuckled at Anima’s words.

“It’s 0.5% after taking the potion. Without it, it’s 0.05%.”

‘…That’s really fucked up.’

***

The NPC guarding the Heavenly Hall was looking up at the sky with a bored expression.

A human had arrived here for the first time, but he had headed to the dungeon for the quest she had given him.

Since the drop rate was so low, he wouldn’t be back soon.

‘The operation will start before then.’

If that happened, the stranger doing the quest would be forcibly expelled.

‘That’s too bad.’

She didn’t know how he got in, but he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on Heavenly Power.

Because time wouldn’t allow it.

‘Wasn’t the drop rate 1%, and the last material 0.05%?’

If he was unlucky, it was a task that couldn’t be completed even in a week, let alone a month.

But the stranger who had left for the quest appeared after only two days.

The corners of the NPC’s mouth curled up slightly.

‘He’s giving up, huh.’

Well, the monsters were not easy to defeat, and the drop rate for the materials was abysmal, so it would be strange if he succeeded.

“I’ve gathered everything.”

“Failure… What?!”

The NPC’s eyes widened at his words that he had gathered all the materials.

He had definitely left two days ago.

Aside from gathering the materials, the monsters deployed were all of high difficulty.

Therefore, it should have taken a considerable amount of time just to defeat them, but he had not only defeated them but also gathered all the materials in just two days?

That was impossible!

However, the stranger took out all the materials he had gathered.

“I’ve gathered everything.”

“No… How…?”

“I just hunted diligently, and they were gathered.”

“That’s impossible… Just how many monsters did you kill?”

“Well, in the case of Laplanta, I defeated it 178 times, Harmaind 163 times, and King Laust dropped it after only 8 attempts.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

The NPC shouted angrily.

The probability of Laplanta dropping its seed was 1%, and the probability of Harmaind dropping its crystallized will was also 1%.

Finally, King Laust dropped his cherished axe with a probability of 0.05%.

With such absurd probabilities, he succeeded in gathering the materials after only that many attempts?

“I was lucky.”

“Don’t bullshit me. Are you trying to pass everything off as luck?”

“I was lucky, so I was able to gather all the materials in two days, wasn’t I?”

“…”

She was speechless.

The materials the stranger had gathered were definitely obtained by hunting monsters.

There were no traces of any tricks.

“So, what’s the second quest?”

Damn, at this rate, isn’t he going to take the Heavenly Power before the countdown ends?

Anxiety crept up on her.

The NPC pondered for a moment.

Unlike the first quest, the second quest wasn’t a race against time.

Its completion depended on one’s inherent physical capabilities.

‘Let’s increase the difficulty.’

She couldn’t just hand over the Heavenly Power.

The NPC grinned and snapped her fingers.

***

‘She’s trying to prevent me from getting it no matter what.’

Jeong-Hoon could clearly see what the NPC was thinking.

If the first quest took five days, the number in the sky would become zero.

If that happened, Jeong-Hoon, who was in the capsule, would be forcibly logged out, and he would have to challenge for Heavenly Power again after the reality merge.

‘Challenging again isn’t a problem, but the problem is that my Heavenly Energy will become 0%.’

The Heavenly Power that could be challenged for when Heavenly Energy reached 100%.

However, if he failed the challenge, a penalty would be imposed, and his energy would become 0%.

It wasn’t an easy process to gather 100% Heavenly Energy again.

Therefore, he had to succeed in the quest.

[Prove your worth.]

– Defeat the Frigid Lycanthrope 0/30

The next quest was to defeat 30 Frigid Lycanthropes.

‘This is harsh.’

The corner of Jeong-Hoon’s mouth twisted.

If it were the original quest, he would have only had to defeat 5 of these monsters.

That’s what the quest Jeong-Hoon received in his second playthrough before regression was like.

Although the number was very small compared to the first quest, there was a reason for that.

The Frigid Lycanthrope that appeared in the second quest was very difficult to defeat.

It was a similar type of monster to Harmaind, where you had to break through its patterns to defeat it.

However, it boasted even more difficult patterns, and if you couldn’t break through them, it was impossible to defeat it by any means.

Moreover, its level was 310.

It would be a tough battle.

“So I just need to defeat 30 of them and come back?”

“Yes. It’s simpler than the first one, isn’t it?”

The NPC smiled faintly.

It was a smile that seemed to say, “Appreciate my mercy.”

[I want to spit on that face.]

‘How about threatening her to hand over the power?’

Mukho and Anima also didn’t like her.

There was no way someone who gave such insanely difficult quests from the first one would let him off easily.

“Well… It seems difficult just by looking at it.”

“Hmm? Why do you think so? It’s not about gathering materials, it’s just about defeating the boss 30 times.”

“That also means the difficulty level is that high, right?”

“…You’re quite perceptive.”

The corner of the NPC’s mouth, which had been feigning a benevolent expression, twitched.

Jeong-Hoon chuckled and turned around.

“I’ll be back soon.”

There was no time to complain.

If she had increased the difficulty, he would just finish it quickly.

Jeong-Hoon hurriedly left the hall.

***

Frigid Lycanthrope.

To go to that dungeon, he had to move to the portal located next to King Laust.

[Would you like to enter the Lv. 310 Frigid Lycanthrope Dungeon?]

‘Enter.’

As he accepted, his vision went dark, and the scenery changed to a frigid land.

A place boasting a temperature of minus 47 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to Jeong-Hoon’s stats and Legendary grade armor, he hardly felt the cold, but if a pure level 226 user stepped on this land, it would be difficult to endure the environment.

‘This is practically like entering Antarctica.’

Jeong-Hoon moved forward, taking steps.

The ground was frozen solid, so slippery that he could easily fall if he didn’t maintain his balance properly.

[Where is it?]

‘This place is also huge. Are there any normal monsters lurking around?’

The Frigid Land was much wider than the dungeons of Laplanta, Harmaind, and King Laust.

Of course, there were no ordinary monsters in this dungeon either.

However, the closer he got to the boss, the lower the temperature dropped, quickly exceeding minus 60 degrees Celsius.

It was a temperature where it wouldn’t be strange for a person to freeze to death.

Nevertheless, Jeong-Hoon didn’t even blink and headed straight for the boss.

“Grrrr.”

And so he faced Lycanthrope.

It was a beast covered in white fur.

It was difficult to compare it to any single animal, as it looked like a combination of several animals.

Its face resembled a tiger’s, and it had a mane.

It also stood upright on two legs, and those legs looked like those of a restored Tyrannosaurus.

Even more horrifying was that it had a whopping 12 arms.

The shapes of those arms were also quite diverse.

Some were elongated bear paws, others were eagle wings… Simply put, it was a monster made by attaching all sorts of things.

The fact that it was so crudely put together meant that it had that many abilities.

[Lycanthrope uses Space Domination.]

[Abilities cannot be neutralized.]

[Item special abilities are sealed.]

It launched a preemptive attack.

It sealed the special abilities of the items Jeong-Hoon possessed.

‘That’s quite an interesting trick.’

Jeong-Hoon chuckled.

Restriction on the use of item special abilities.

Although he couldn’t use the special abilities of the items he was currently equipped with, he could still use the skills he had originally learned.

[Blackfield activated.]

[All stats are increased by 1.5 times.]

[Due to the effect of Blackfield, all stats of monsters that invade the area are decreased by 10%.]

After activating Blackfield, Jeong-Hoon pulled Anima’s bowstring.

‘Ultimate Arrow.’

He released the drawn bowstring, and an arrow with 1700% damage shot out.

However, the arrow passed by Lycanthrope.

[Hey! What are you doing at such a crucial moment!]

‘You’re usually perfect… Why did you miss all of a sudden?’

Mukho and Anima were shocked when the arrow missed.

“I did it on purpose.”

[On purpose?]

‘As expected, there was a reason.’

The fired arrow pierced the wall behind Lycanthrope.

The wall crumbled, and the hidden energy source inside was shattered.

As the energy supply disappeared, Lycanthrope looked at the wall with a bewildered expression.

He had succeeded in skipping the first pattern.

‘The patterns are similar.’

Jeong-Hoon had challenged the Heavenly Power before his regression.

In that process, he had defeated the Frigid Kaleos, a level 620 monster.

It took him a whole month to learn its patterns.

Since dying once meant everything was over, he had to be even more careful in his strategy, which took a considerable amount of time.

‘But it doesn’t seem as tricky as Kaleos.’

In the case of Kaleos, to skip the first pattern, he had to destroy two energy sources hidden within the walls.

However, Lycanthrope only had one energy source.

Its first pattern was to unleash a chain of attacks using the energy supplied from the energy source.

The straightforward way to break the pattern was to endure all those attacks and then strike when it was replenishing its energy.

By repeating the first pattern and reducing its health by 30%, it would move on to the second pattern.

Jeong-Hoon had skipped that process by destroying the energy source from the start.

‘Now.’

Jeong-Hoon pulled the bowstring again and released it.

The arrow accurately pierced Lycanthrope’s neck.

[Heavenly Strike activated.]

Then, a rain of arrows poured down on its head.

“Kraaa!”

It screamed at the powerful rain of arrows.

Jeong-Hoon continued to shoot arrows, attacking it.

Lycanthrope’s health quickly dropped by 30%, leaving it with 70% remaining.

[Lycanthrope enters 1st Berserk.]

Along with the notification that the second pattern had begun, Lycanthrope’s body started to turn bright red.

“It’s started.”

The second pattern couldn’t be skipped.

From now on, he had to endure its patterns with pure physical ability.

Jeong-Hoon switched his weapon from Anima to Leviathan.

———-