Chapter 370 – Part 2 – Dual Wielding Test

“Let’s equip our gear.”

Before entering the dungeon, Choi Seong-min held two daggers.

In his right hand was the Assassin’s Blood Dagger he had been using.

In his left hand was the Doppelganger’s Replica Sword.

Then the replica sword wiggled and changed its appearance.

Into the Assassin’s Blood Dagger.

‘It’s not just the appearance. Even the options are completely identical.’

Since it completely copied the attack power and options, his agility also increased additionally.

‘The advantage of dual wielding is that having two weapons means you can receive additional stat options.’

However, the disadvantages were slow attack speed and difficulty in handling, but there was no problem.

‘Because I have the Dual Wielding trait.’

Choi Seong-min’s eyes gleamed with killing intent as he entered the dungeon.

Unaware of this, the hunters were giggling and mocking him for using dual wielding.

Complete carelessness.

Probably in their minds, there wasn’t even the assumption that Choi Seong-min would ambush them first.

Swish-!

A head floated up into the air.

To test the performance of the replicated dagger, he had only swung his left hand.

Yet the hunter died without any response at all.

“No reaction at all… How disappointing.”

The body of the headless hunter crashed to the ground.

‘Seeing that I cut it in one stroke, the performance is definitely real.’

The attack power of the replicated dagger was genuine.

Choi Seong-min’s vision caught the two hunters standing there in a daze.

“Hey. Both of you draw your weapons. Be my test opponents.”

At those words, the hunters finally came to their senses and retreated in surprise.

“Hyeon-su is dead!”

“This, this crazy psycho bastard!”

‘Who’s calling who a psycho.’

At their intense reaction, Choi Seong-min couldn’t even laugh.

“Come at me. You should avenge your comrade, right?”

He planned to use this opportunity to test how strong dual wielding was in person-to-person combat.

‘I heard it’s advantageous in one-against-many situations.’

The opponents were A-rank hunters.

He could tell with his discerning eye that both had combat power over 500,000.

He even knew each of their names.

‘They’re not going to cower and not attack, are they?’

That worry was brief.

“This fucking bastard…”

“Say you’re dead, you son of a bitch.”

Fortunately, the guys showed a belligerent attitude, seemingly thinking their comrade died because he let his guard down.

Their eyes were also full of killing intent.

But reading their thoughts, they didn’t plan to kill him immediately.

-Fuck, I want to tear him apart, but the items would be a waste, so I can’t kill him.

-I’ll cut off both his legs and make him crawl on the ground, then strip everything I can strip before killing him.

He had hoped they would give their best effort, but…

‘Still, they have the will to fight, so I can do some testing at least.’

When Choi Seong-min smirked provocatively, the guys got angry.

“You bastard!”

Both hunters charged simultaneously.

Since both were holding swords, Choi Seong-min would inevitably be at a disadvantage in reach.

Moreover, the opponents were two people.

To block two swords with one dagger would require moving twice as much.

But Choi Seong-min’s dagger wasn’t just one.

Clang clang clang clang-!

Both hands moved dazzlingly, parrying the opponents’ swords.

The daggers’ characteristic red light moved like snakes, interfering with the sword paths.

Bewilderment appeared on the hunters’ faces.

-Wh, why? Why are they all being blocked?

-Wh, what is this bastard, fuck!

They couldn’t believe that their swords could be parried by mere daggers.

-Damn it, why can’t we reach him!

-Just how high is that bastard’s agility?

The guys’ confused thoughts were transmitted, but regardless, Choi Seong-min focused only on defense.

Clang clang clang clang-!

As time passed, the hunters’ expressions became increasingly ugly.

-Fucking bastard! Since it’s come to this, I’ll kill him!

Vertically, horizontally, diagonally.

They tried slashing and thrusting, moving their swords in various ways, but the result was always the same.

Clang clang clang clang clang-!

-Crazy, he’s parrying all of this?

-Even with both of us attacking?

They were attacking together, but their opponent’s defense was solid.

It felt like two people were kicking a ball randomly while a goalkeeper alone blocked everything.

-No, it’s not alone. This feels like…

-Fighting against two people.

They had poured attacks for about a minute but couldn’t inflict a single wound.

They had tried using skills long ago.

But even those were all deflected with daggers.

It was impossible without overwhelming strength and agility.

“Boring. Let’s end the test here.”

As soon as Choi Seong-min finished speaking, the hunters’ wrists were cut.

“Urgh…!”

“Ahh…!”

They wanted to scream but didn’t have time.

Slash slash-!

The hunters’ necks were cut simultaneously.

Thud- Thud-

Only Choi Seong-min remained standing in the silence.

‘Dual wielding is incredibly strong.’

Dual wielding was definitely strong in person-to-person combat.

Rather than 1 vs 2, it was like 2 vs 2, allowing him to control both hands freely.

There were no accidents where the daggers collided with each other.

‘Since I assigned one hand to each person, I had plenty of leeway even when both attacked.’

If the opponents had two swords, this side also had two daggers.

By dividing left and right hands to handle one-on-one marking, he could block relatively leisurely.

‘Of course, it’s control that ordinary people could never imitate.’

It was only possible because he had the Dual Wielding trait.

[You have killed Hunter Kim Hyeon-su.]

[You have killed Hunter Go Dong-myeong.]

[You have killed Hunter Jang Pil-seong.]

……

[Synchronization rate 17.6%]

Choi Seong-min, who had been looking at the messages with indifferent eyes, checked the traits and items.

‘Nothing special.’

The traits were also unremarkable D-grades, and the items were inferior to his own.

‘Still, I gained traits so it’s some growth. The synchronization rate also increased slightly.’

It wasn’t bad, but compared to killing Song Chi-hyeon’s direct subordinates and acquiring numerous S-grade traits, the cost-effectiveness was poor.

‘It would be better to kill quality guys if possible…’

A target suddenly came to mind.

‘Kwak Min-cheol. If I kill him and his direct subordinates, I could achieve another major growth.’

Kwak Min-cheol had a hobby of collecting B-rank and higher hunters.

Not just anybody, but only elites who showed outstanding skills.

If he killed and absorbed all such subordinates, another rapid growth would be possible.

‘But first I need to acquire Kwak Min-cheol’s trait.’

Kwak Min-cheol’s trait was similar to Choi Seong-min’s Hunter Slayer.

‘It’s a trait where stats increase when you kill hunters.’

This was also why Kwak Min-cheol gathered talented individuals.

‘He plans to raise them and then devour them.’

That’s why Kwak Min-cheol absolutely had to be dealt with.

Preferably as soon as possible to take advantage of the trait’s benefits.

‘He’s probably eyeing me.’

Even when they talked before, Kwak Min-cheol seemed surprised by his combat power.

‘There has never been a hunter who grew as much as me in history.’

So now that the obstacle called Song Chi-hyeon was gone, there was a high probability that Kwak Min-cheol would make contact.

In his eyes, Choi Seong-min was a dog without an owner.

‘I’ll go under Kwak Min-cheol and completely wipe out him, his subordinates, and the human trafficking organization.’

It was possible.

With his current combat power after killing Kogo.

With his current strength enhanced by the Dual Wielding trait.

And…

‘If I even rank up to S-grade.’

He could crush someone like Kwak Min-cheol like cookie crumbs.

* * *

Whooosh whooosh whooosh whooosh whooosh-!

Dozens of daggers were embedded in the head of a black-winged dragonfly.

Hisss-

The creature’s head couldn’t withstand it and decomposed.

‘To embed ten strikes in just 1 second…’

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

With his already high attack speed plus one more dagger, he could embed dozens of strikes in a short time.

‘Since I have two weapons, I can quickly stack 10 layers of the Fierce Attack trait too.’

Because his attack speed was fast, the 10% probability of defense ignore seemed to trigger frequently.

‘The hunting speed has definitely increased.’

It felt about twice as fast.

Even using only basic attacks, monsters died without lasting more than 2 seconds.

‘This is the first time I’ve caught them this fast with just basic attacks.’

It wasn’t just basic attacks that became stronger.

Swish-!

With the Shadow Step and Throat Slash combo, the monster’s neck was sliced like tofu.

Throat Slash, which dealt double damage when attacking from behind, was like a killing skill.

‘Slash.’

Even without attacking from behind, monsters couldn’t withstand his skills when used from the front.

‘With agility exceeding 20,000, the damage is no joke.’

Whoosh- Thud!

Even throwing the weakest dagger throw resulted in one-hit kills.

‘No matter which skill I use, they all die in one hit.’

The Dual Wielding trait increased skill damage by 25%, so he could definitely achieve one-hit kills.

‘They were one-hits before too.’

While easily dealing with monsters like this and advancing.

Splash-

As soon as he killed one water strider, a joyful message appeared.

[You have been promoted to S-rank!]

[Two skill slots are added.]

‘Did my combat power increase?’

When he checked his status window, sure enough.

His combat power had reached 1 million.

‘The goal is achieved.’

Now if he changed items and learned new skills, he would become even stronger than now.

[Growing Agility trait effect adds 800 agility.]

The first message that appeared was bonus stats from the trait.

‘800. That’s incredible.’

Moreover, since he became S-rank, the Demonic Aura possession effect would also apply.

‘This will increase skill damage by another 25%.’

Combining the 10% from the trait obtained by killing Park Gwang-jin, Dual Wielding’s 25%, and Demonic Aura’s 25%…

Skill damage increased by a total of 60%.

‘Since I became S-rank, I can use the Legendary Weapon Exchange Ticket and the Transcendent Random Box too.’

Add to this the Angel’s Protection necklace that saves lives and Balzark’s Ring that increases health regeneration by 3,000%.

He would achieve tremendous growth the moment he became S-rank.

‘Even if there are many S-ranks worldwide, there probably isn’t an S-rank who grows as fast as me.’

Choi Seong-min’s current ranking was 207th.

That meant there were 200 S-rank hunters worldwide.

‘If you consider 200 out of 1 million hunters, you could say it’s few…’

By Choi Seong-min’s standards, it was somewhat many.

Of course, among them, there definitely wouldn’t be a hunter showing growth like Choi Seong-min.

‘If it’s revealed next month that I became S-rank…’

He couldn’t even imagine what the aftermath would be like.

Probably Kwak Min-cheol’s treatment would change overnight?

‘Though I don’t know if Kwak Min-cheol will be alive until then.’

While thinking such thoughts, Choi Seong-min’s dagger emitted a red light.

It had entered the final stage.

[Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Growth Type)]

-Classification: Weapon

-Grade: S (Owner’s Grade)

-Attack Power: 5,600~6,400

-Effect: Agility +450, Additional attack power +3,000 for 10 seconds when ambushing, Additional attack power +6,000 when ambushing after stealth

-Durability: Infinite

-Usage Restriction: S-rank or higher (Bound)

-Description: A dagger that grows according to the owner’s grade. Currently reached the final stage. A Core of Magic Power is needed for the final evolution.

‘This ends the dagger’s growth.’

Since he reached S-rank, the maximum grade humans can achieve, growth would have stopped.

‘Wait.’

But while reading the description, Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened.

‘A Core of Magic Power is needed for the final evolution?’

In other words, it could grow even more from here.

Choi Seong-min took out the Core of Magic Power and looked at it.

‘Originally I was going to combine it with legendary armament…’

Since he could enhance his main weapon dagger, there was no reason to hesitate.

Choi Seong-min opened the combination window and placed the items.

[Assassin’s Blood Dagger] + [Core of Magic Power]

He pressed the combination button without hesitation.

[Attempting combination.]

[Using the Core of Magic Power to awaken the power of the Assassin’s Blood Dagger.]

[Combination successful!]

[The true power of the Assassin’s Blood Dagger has been awakened.]

[The dagger has evolved to its final form!]