He had no choice but to use a support skill, 【Limit】 at maximum level Ⅹ.
【Limit】 was a skill that was made so that a beginner and a high level player could play together. If the skill level was raised by one(from level 2 to level 3), the skill would limit the stats to 1/3 of their original value, instead of only halving it. As a result, the players could still play together despite the difference in level and stats.
Even though there was a method to check the changes of physical strength according to the stat rises, he couldn’t take action as it could destroy the surrounding area. Incidentally, the limitation was also executed as a danger-preventative measure for the accomplishment of the request.
Currently, the maximum stats value for Shin’s STR was 223, which was 1/10 of his original STR, because of 【Limit】. The others stats value were still intact. This was the STR stats value of a human without any reincarnation at level 255. (TL note: His original stats for STR is 2225)
By the way, 【Limit • Ⅰ】 didn’t restrict the stats as it was 1/1 from original stats. The lowest level of this skill provides no change, while the highest level restricts a stat to 1/10 of it’s original value.
Why only STR? It’s because he was experimenting on how much damage a monster could deal to an ordinary human. It was also to avoid suspicion from other members if he joined a party.
…To prevent himself from carelessly changing the surrounding terrain by using an all out attack, was also one of the implications.
Since there were numerous monsters, he only fought them while searching for Hillock Herb because it was useless to hunt all of the monsters. While thinking that, he wished he had the skill to search for an item.
As he went further into the depth of the forest, he was able to find more Hillock Herbs.
Currently, the number in possession was 29 pieces. Only one more was needed to complete the request. Alright, just one more! Shin was getting fired up as he walked carefully in the forest. At that time, he detected a marker which made a strange move on the map that progressed to the edge of the map view.
The color was red. And that was the color that indicated a hostile existence.
But, the red marker didn’t move much from the place, instead it was moving in zig-zag line in a range of 10 mels.
“What is this?”
He was drawn to the current movement of the marker which had awakened his curiosity. He started to advance towards the direction of the marker with the help of the map, so that he could take a look at the situation.
The movement of the marker stopped for a few minutes while Shin moved closer. Then he waited and looked from the shadow of a tree.
Shin stood still as he was at a loss for words when he saw the figure.
Before his eyes, there was a figure of Jack • Skull Face. While its big body was only bones, it was twice as big as the Pawn class, its height was about 3 mels or more. It was fully equipped from gauntlet to armor and wore a helmet on its head. In addition, it had a round shield with diameter of 1 mel equipped in its left hand, and held a 2 mels long greatsword in its right.
The equipment it was wearing was all in one color, solid black, except for the greatsword. It couldn’t be compared to the Pawn class which was equipped with a rusted sword and worn-out gauntlets.
A dim purple flame could be seen in each of its bony eye sockets, and its whole body emitted a black smoke which could be called a negative aura.
It had the presence of an undead military commander who had returned from hell. It was a Skull Face of the Jack class.
The dwellers of this world would be frozen in fear if they looked at this existence.
However, that was not the reason why Shin stood still and was at loss for words. To begin with, a Jack • Skull Face was just small fry for Shin. Then why did he look at the enemy without starting to attack?
It was because,
“Why is the Skull Face breakdancing?”
Shin’s words spoke for themselves.
Undead monsters held grudges towards all living things, they were existences that would drag any living things to the dead side. Its appearance made any person who saw it feel fear, its body didn’t feel fatigue so as to lavish death upon its surroundings. There existed a group of undead monsters in THE NEW GATE, and the Skull Face was said to be its representative.
It was never an existence that was meant to breakdance in the depth of the forest.
“It’s surreal…too surreal. Do you like to dance that much? You?”
Around the Skull Face, there were no trees, and if seen from above a big hole opened in the forest. Which was not surprising, as the Skull Face wore armor and the breakdance was done while equipped with both sword and shield. Hence, the grass was mown down by the shield, the big trees were cut down by the greatsword, and the ground was scooped out by the ruggedness of the armor.
In the first place, there was the question of whether it was possible to breakdance while wearing armor, but that question was dismissed as the Skull Face had done it.
Shin revealed a trace of pity on his face.
Somehow he even felt indescribably guilty for having looked at something that he shouldn’t have.
However, such thoughts of Shin’s dissipated instantly after the Skull Face revealed its true color.
The sound of liquid splashing reached Shin’s ears. As he shifted his attention to a big tree there, the trunk of the large tree was stained with red 《・・・》 liquid.
Shin immediately observed the appearance of the Skull Face. The greatsword that resounded while cutting through the air, the armor that covered its skeleton body, the shield that mowed down the grass, all of them were stained in the same colored liquid as the tree-trunks.
As he shifted his line of sight a bit, there were corpses of monsters that were sliced in half lying around. The Skull Face was his opponent after all, no more discussion needed.
The Skull Face that appeared in the northern forest. Attacked adventurers. Dry blood that stuck to the greatsword and blood that was still dripping. There was no need for a conviction. Even so, Shin was not so optimistic as to think that the Skull Face wasn’t attacking the adventurers, so letting it roam free wasn’t possible.
He regained control of his thought process. His blurred face tightened, and the atmosphere changed from slacked to sharp.
“I don’t want to be fooled in this situation.”
He muttered while not neglecting the task of gathering information on the opponent. It was dangerous to think that the world remained unchanged since the game ended.
In fact, 30 cemels wide big trees were slashed – that didn’t seem like a joke. There was no point in lowering his guard either.
“Should I start?”
Shin unsheathed his katana and waited for the right timing. And the moment the Skull Face’s back was facing Shin, he took his stance and decreased the distance between them in a split second.
He drew his katana as the distance between them shrank, and targeted a brandish skill at the Skull Face’s defenseless back.
Moderate damage could be dealt by surprise attacks from behind, though Skull Faces generally had a tolerance for slashing attacks.
However, his expectations failed him.
The moment Shin’s katana swung toward the back of the Skull Face, as if it sensed the danger, the Skull Face flung its left arm against the ground and accelerated its rotation with the force of the recoil. Then the Skull Face began to counter-attack with its greatsword.