Chapter 48
Duplicator, a person who analyzed the skills of others, duplicated them and then could use the skills with no conditions. Duplicators could enjoy all types of benefits depending on the skills they duplicated. It could be anything they wanted. It could be called the most effective of all classes in Satisfy.
They were also a specialist in combat. Depending on the skill combination, it was possible to take on a boss raid alone, become the strongest assassin or even fight alone against an army. A Duplicator was the closest class to being called the ‘strongest’.
However, a Duplicator also had fatal disadvantages.
Firstly, it could only duplicate a skill three times a day. Secondly, the duplicated skill only had a single use. Thirdly, she only nine basic skills, none of which were combat skills. Fourthly, the basic physical abilities of a magician were poor.
In other words, it meant Euphemina was the strongest when she duplicated a lot of skills, but the weakest when she had few skills. And right now, Euphemina was in her weakest mode.
“It’s ruined,” said Euphemina, her complexion pale.
Grid headed to the fourth floor, leaving her alone on the third floor. While she had defeated hundreds of soldiers that kept appearing, she had used most of her skills in exchange. To be precise, there were three fire magic spells left. However, it wasn’t possible to use them because fire magic was likely to cause an explosion.
In such a situation, four knights appeared as if they had been waiting and surrounded her.
“I’m screwed…”
There were no signs of Grid coming back. There was a massive explosion on the fourth floor, so maybe the worst had happened and Grid died.
‘If he survived and rescued Huroi, can I guarantee that he will come back here to rescue me?’
Maybe Grid had already escaped alone from the prison? The knights aimed their swords at Euphemina, who stood idly like her soul had escaped.
“You are a ridiculously strong woman who killed more than 500 soldiers alone. Do you have the title of great magician?”
Fortunately, the knights didn’t dare attack Euphemina. She had killed hundreds of soldiers, so it was natural for the knights to be afraid of her. However, the pointless confrontation didn’t last long.
“Now the only troops left in the castle are the lord’s bodyguards. Since there are no forces left to block the exit, Grid might escape while we are tied up here.”
“Is there even a chance? Didn’t Leo go down to the fourth floor? Leo has probably already caught up and will happily kill Grid.”
“The lord’s comfort is at stake. We have to consider and guard against the worst possibility.”
“Yes… Then let’s hurry. It isn’t honorable, but I am afraid we will have to fight four against one.”
The four knights made a decision and rushed at Euphemina at the same time. Now Euphemina was forced to make a decision.
‘I can’t be still.’
Euphemina took out a gold dice. It was the Rolling Dice skill that she got for winning the item making game against Grid.
[Rolling Dice]
Roll a dice and a phenomenon will occur, depending on the number that is rolled.
* If the target is yourself or an ally: There will be a beneficial effect if the number 4 or higher is rolled. There will be a harmful effect if the number rolled is 3 or lower.
* If the target is an enemy: There will be a beneficial effect if the number 3 or lower is rolled. There will be a harmful effect if the number rolled is 4 or higher.
Skill Mana Cost: 1,000
Skill Cooldown Time: 3,000 seconds
What if she rolled the dice and the situation became worse?
‘If the situation becomes too bad, I will use the fire magic.’
Euphemina didn’t intend to die alone. She grumbled but there were still no signs of Grid returning. She couldn’t imagine how but she would later get revenge on Grid in a terrible way.
At that moment!
“These knights ganging up on a weak… no, this woman isn’t weak but still… There is no difference between being gangsters.”
“G…rid?”
Euphemina and the knights gazed in the direction of the voice. Grid and Huroi were standing next to each other.
“Ah…!”
Euphemina’s face brightened at Grid’s emergence. She thought that Grid was human trash without any loyalty, but he actually wasn’t the worst person. He came back as promised.
‘Really pretty.’
Euphemina’s smile was as beautiful as a flower in full bloom, so Grid’s heart couldn’t help pounding.
‘Let’s not be deceived by outward appearances. She just has a beautiful outside that is covering the dirty inside! So don’t run wild, my damn heart!’
The knights struggled to maintain their composure as they stared at Grid.
“How is that guy here…? Leo, who was called Northern Nova, was killed by a person like you?”
“I don’t know who the Northern Nova is, but that young brat called Leo was easy to handle. One against one. One. Against. One. I killed him. Huhuhut!”
“You!”
The faces of the knights distorted after hearing that their colleague was killed. Grid didn’t feel fear as he faced them. It was because he believed in something.
“Yes, you are angry so what are you going to do? Do you think any of you can touch me?”
“Ugh!”
The knights flinched. Listening to this, wasn’t Grid good enough to destroy Leo? They were briefly off guard because Grid looked like trash, but he wasn’t easy to deal with.
Euphemina felt admiration as she watched the knights stepping back from Grid.
‘Making the knights back off with just a few words… How high is his level?’
Monsters and NPCs tended to shrink back from opponents more than 30 levels higher than them. Therefore, Euphemina misunderstood and thought that Grid’s level was much higher than the knights.
Meanwhile, Grid kept talking while approaching the knights. “Hey guys, if you don’t want to die a dog like death like Leo, get out of the way. This is your only chance to get away.”
“This guy…!” A knight was filled with anger and tried to rush forward. But the other knights stopped him
“Don’t fall for his provocation. I know your skills but you shouldn’t face him alone. It is probably a trap.”
“Aren’t you overreacting? Think about it calmly. That bastard’s class is a blacksmith! Blacksmiths can’t be that strong!”
“But Leo hasn’t come back. I can’t tell if he is a good actor or not, but he is clearly someone to be wary of.”
“Kuoh…!”
The knights were tense because they were thinking too much, while Grid continued walking forward. The knights backed away with every step Grid took.
Huroi was thrilled when he witnessed the tremendous sight of Grid overwhelming the four knights alone.
‘Truly amazing… Grid’s outward appearance might seem insignificant but he is actually a tremendous high-level user who made the knights tremble in fear. The other day I saw him in the smithy and treated him as a comedian. I am ashamed of my eyes.’
From Euphemina, to Huroi, to the knights! At a time when all of them were greatly mistaken about Grid, Grid was smiling with satisfaction.
‘With Euphemina’s skills, can’t she get rid of these knights at any time?’
That’s right. In fact, the reason Grid was so confident right now was because there was the existence called Euphemina. Grid had no doubts that Euphemina could handle all of them.
Thump, thump.
Grid kept moving forward, while the knights backing up became increasingly anxious. Then they reached the stairs leading up to the second floor. At this point, the knights made up their minds.
‘What are we doing? We are honorable knights, so why are we scared of a person who escaped from jail? This is the shame of a lifetime!’
‘This might cause harm to the lord. I have to defend this place, for the lord.’
‘He isn’t a simple blacksmith if he managed to kill Leo. It is a matter of pride now. I won’t back up anymore.’
‘Leo was alone, but there are four of us. We can’t lose.’
The knights decided to no longer back off. This caused Grid to stop moving as well.
“What? Do you want to fight? Won’t you regret this?”
The knights gripped their swords and yelled. “We will fight! I can’t tolerate letting a criminal like you escape!”
“…I’m not a criminal. Crazy bastards.”
Grid became really irritated. In the first place, wasn’t he unfairly framed? Originally, he should’ve won the prize for winning the blacksmith game. Then he was taken to prison and unfairly suffered!
Grid angrily shouted. “Euphemina! Show these guys! Use your magic. Take it away!”
Euphemina made a surprised expression. “Right now… it is a little… Can’t you handle it directly?”
“What? It is impossible.”
“Stop joking. Can’t you beat them with your skills?”
“What are you saying? You should be the one fighting, not me.”
“No, why are you refusing to fight now?”
Grid explained to Euphemina, “I can’t win against them.”
“Don’t lie. You were able to get rid of the Northern Nova by yourself!”
“No, that isn’t…”
Somehow, the conversation was strange. The faces of Grid and Euphemina gradually stiffened, while the knights completely lost their hesitation and attacked.
“…Dammit!”
It was like a teleportation move. The knight Rupert used his patented ‘Dash’ skill and immediately reached Grid’s side, aiming a sword at him. Grid was completely caught off guard and it seemed like he would be pierced by the sword. Just before Rupert’s sword hit Grid, Huroi pushed him to the side and was stabbed instead.
“……!”
Everyone thought that Huroi would die. Huroi was already in a bad condition and he wasn’t wearing any armor. At that moment, a strange thing happened.
“What is this…? Urghh!”
Rupert was astonished. This was because his sword, which should’ve pierced Huroi’s abdomen, was blocked by it. It was like stabbing at steel. His wrist was broken. On the other hand, Huroi was fine. The person who attacked was injured, while the person who was attacked was fine.
Euphemina asked with confusion. “What is with that guy? Why can’t the knight’s sword pierce him?”
Grid couldn’t reply. “Well… I don’t know…”
“Why are you answering so half-heartedly? Why are you running around to save someone you don’t know? Stop joking around and just tell me the truth for once!”
“No… I really don’t know…”
High-level martial artists had a defense skill called Impenetrable Skin. But even Impenetrable Skin wasn’t able to block the sword of a knight with just the body. It was clear that Huroi had some defensive ability that went beyond Impenetrable Skin.
Huroi spoke during the silence. “I will tie up their feet. You two should use this gap to run away.”
The reason why Huroi was able to block the knight’s attack with his body. It was thanks to the skill given by the title ‘One who Overcomes Hardships.’
[Strong Will]
Resists any attack for 10 seconds after using the skill.
Skill Mana Cost: 200
Skill Cooldown Time: 9,000 seconds
The waiting time to reuse it was around 2.5 hours, but its performance was clearly great. It was a priceless skill acquired after enduring and overcoming a hellish trial. And Grid was the one who saved him from hell. Huroi already vowed to pay back this favor for the rest of my life.
After that, Huroi determined that he would sacrifice himself for Grid. He wanted Grid to escape safely through the gap while the knights were unharmed.
“Huroi…” An ordinary person would hesitate to leave a fellow colleague but… “Buy as much time as possible so that we can escape safely.”
“I’ll see you next time.”
Grid and Euphemina weren’t emotional people. They immediately left this place and Huroi was left alone.
“This…!”
The knights tried to chase Grid but Huroi blocked the way. He opened his mouth with an expression of determination to protect Grid.
“I have no thoughts of letting you leave, you #*&!($#@. This damn !@$#.”
“……?”
Huroi was an orator so words that couldn’t be repeated emerged from his mouth. The knights suffered a profound psychological blow because of Huroi’s words, which were more abusive than anything they’ve heard before.
This was Huroi’s Spiteful Tongue skill. Huroi attacked the knights while they were confused and their stats were down.
“Unbreakable Justice!”
It was one of the two skills acquired from his second class, Apostle of Justice’s Partner. It was his ultimate attack skill that dealt damage that was 300% of his attack power.
Peeeong!
After Huroi’s fist struck Rupert’s face, the shock wave reached the knights standing around Rupert. The sound of a huge blow echoed through the underground prison, causing the knights to reflexively scream in pain.
“Kkack!”
But it was just a reflexive reaction.
“…Huh?”
The knights strangely couldn’t feel any pain. It was a natural phenomenon. In the first place, an orator had poor physical abilities and he currently wasn’t equipped with any weapons. A 300% increase in an orator’s damage still wasn’t enough to deal a blow to armored knights. The difference was too big.
Huroi accepted it calmly. “It is as I expected. This is a useless skill to the current me.”
“……”
It only took a few minutes for Huroi to be captured by the knights and locked in solitary confinement again. But Huroi didn’t care. He hadn’t been able to log out for 50 hours in reality. Therefore, he was exhausted and wanted to log out and rest.
Since the quest was clear, there was no penalty for logging out.
‘Based on this situation, it will soon be over for Winston’s lord… I can easily escape from the prison after I get some sleep and log in again. Then Grid, I wish you good fortune.’
So, Huroi logged out.