I Am a Hero With A Hundred Abilities-Chapter 72: Ch 71. I Just Did Your Job For You

[Ability Information]

— Ability Name: Withering Verdict

— Ability Type: Extrinsic / Constant / Cursed

— Mastery Level: Peak

— Tier: Uncommon

— Ability Description:

A cursed ability developed to combat beings with high regeneration. Once the user lands exactly 120 confirmed killing blows—defined as strikes that would have resulted in death were it not for external regeneration—the target's regenerative cells begin to decay into necrotic matter. These mutated cells then infect adjacent tissues, effectively corrupting the body's natural healing.

— The effect is irreversible once triggered. It bypasses standard resistance and immunities unless removed by divine-level purification.

---

This ability was utterly useless against normal opponents—because a killing blow would simply end their life. freёnovelkiss.com

But for someone like Guardian Angel?

It was a perfect trap.

****

The battle between Ethan and Guardian Angel reached its crescendo. Lightning flared, wind howled, and the very ground fractured beneath their feet.

Angel lashed out in desperation—his arms twisting grotesquely into black, whip-like tendrils, snapping through the air toward Ethan. But instead of dodging, Ethan caught the tendrils, his fingers crackling with lightning. With a roar, he yanked Angel forward, using his own attack against him.

Before Angel could react, a devastating punch crashed into his face, sending his head whipping back violently. The injury healed instantly, as always—but Ethan was unshaken. He narrowed his eyes and whispered:

"Just ten more..."

Suddenly, lightning exploded from Ethan's body, illuminating the shadows of the Maw. He vanished, reappearing beside Angel mid-air with Lightning Step, and drove a brutal kick into Angel's ribs, the force cracking his spine and neck as the villain was launched skyward.

Before he could even begin to recover, Ethan appeared above him, his body brimming with Wind Essence, and sliced Angel's body into bloody ribbons, severing limbs and carving deep into his core.

But still, he regenerated.

Still, he fled.

But Ethan didn't stop.

He kept striking.

Every hit counted. Every hit planned.

He was not killing Angel—he was delivering the sentence.

Angel tried to escape, leaping, sliding, even crawling—but Ethan was relentless, moving like a phantom of vengeance, delivering each of the remaining blows with surgical precision.

Until—suddenly—it stopped.

Angel, eyes clenched in anticipation of the next blow, slowly opened them when no attack came.

He looked up and saw Ethan—standing at a distance, silent and calm.

Then Angel noticed something.

His injuries weren't healing.

The burnt flesh, the severed muscles, the bleeding wounds—they stayed.

Panic gripped his heart.

"W-what did you do to me…?"

The question came out broken, as his vocal cords began to rot.

Ethan's voice echoed with cold finality:

"I did something about that annoying ability of yours."

Angel's body trembled at the realization of his inevitable situation as he quickly broke down and began to ramble.

"No… no this isn't possible… I can't… fail… not this mission… I can't fail!"

His voice cracked as his regenerative gift became his curse—he was trapped in a dying, mutilated body.

Ethan tilted his head slightly, watching him unravel. A thought danced in his mind:

"Hope I'm not becoming a sadist…"

But then—

Angel, voice ragged and desperate, screamed:

"If I can't complete one mission, at least I'll complete the other!!"

Before Ethan could move, Angel's body exploded in a spray of flesh and blood, the blast pushing Ethan back slightly. His eyes widened in shock—until he saw it:

A blur, racing through the chaos, burning what remained of his body as fuel.

A shriveled, cursed Guardian Angel appeared in front of the restrained Mirveil, his arms morphing into jagged tendrils as he screamed:

"DIE!!"

Mirveil froze. She couldn't move neither could she defend herself.

Death raced toward her.

But in the final instant—

A body shielded her.

The tendrils impaled a chest, not hers.

"Ethan…?"

Angel's eyes widened, shock blooming… before it twisted into a sick smile.

"You're a fool! You'd sacrifice yourself for her?"

But before his grin could settle,

A voice echoed from behind him:

"Who told you I sacrificed myself?"

Angel turned—

But it was too late.

A lightning-coated fist slammed into his face with thunderous force, sending him crashing into a wall, where he finally lost consciousness. His body sagged, defeated and broken.

The Ethan that was impaled flickered, then disintegrated into motes of light—a clone.

Mirveil stared, stunned.

She looked at the real Ethan, standing with lightning crackling around him, his white hair flaring from the static.

She gasped for a split second as she saw her mother's face overlaid on his.

But she shook it away.

Before the moment could settle—a new presence arrived.

In a flash of golden light, Golden Booster stepped into the Maw.

He surveyed the devastation.

The broken corpses of his clan members.

The mangled, unconscious body of Guardian Angel.

And Ethan, standing at the heart of it all.

Golden Booster appeared beside him, voice low but thunderous with fury and suspicion:

"What happened here?"

The golden aura around him flared.

An Overlord had entered the battlefield.

And he wanted answers.

****

Golden Booster arrived at the battlefield deep within the Maw, his boots crunching over shattered stone and splattered blood. His golden aura dimmed slightly—not from exhaustion, but from shock.

He'd expected chaos.

He'd expected casualties.

But He had not expected this.

The scene before him was devastation incarnate. His clan members, some of the most elite warriors of the Golden Emperor's, lay dead—mutilated and dismembered.

And the one responsible, the traitorous Guardian Angel, was already unconscious, crumpled like broken armor.

Golden Booster's brows furrowed.

"How?"

He had alerted the Heroes at the Maw's entrance the moment he felt something was wrong. The Maw was already on lockdown because of the Mirveil incident.

But now, the danger level was soaring again. With Guardian Angel exposed as a traitor, the entire facility was back on high alert. There would be no rest for the Heroes today—they were already on their way down.

But Booster had come first.

And what he saw left him stunned.

"The villain is already down…?"

He scanned the battlefield, trying to find the one responsible. Then his gaze fell upon the young man standing near Angel's unconscious body. Lightning still crackled faintly around him.

Golden Booster narrowed his eyes.

"Isn't that the talent Striker mentioned…? Ethan, was it?"

He remembered reading Striker's report.

A newly awakened talent… barely two months in…

"No way… he couldn't have done this alone."

Still, he appeared uninjured, composed and dangerous.

Golden Booster blinked, then flashed to Ethan's side, appearing without a sound.

"What happened here?" he asked, his voice low but demanding.

Ethan glanced sideways at him and asked bluntly, "Who are you?"

Booster's eye twitched.

His narcissistic pride took a hit.

But he composed himself, standing straighter, golden energy humming around him.

"I'm the clan leader of the Golden Emperor's."

He pointed at the unconscious Striker and the defeated Guardian Angel.

"They are are my clan members."

His voice hardened.

"And since this incident involves our clan directly… I'll ask again. What happened here?"

Suddenly—crackling lightning erupted around Ethan.

Golden Booster instinctively prepared to defend himself.

But the attack never came.

Instead, the lightning faded as Ethan's transformation unraveled.

His radiant white hair faded into a deep black.

His lean physique returned to his original form.

He exhaled slowly and muttered, "That form was difficult to hold."

Golden Booster: "….."

Ethan closed his eyes, sensing the presence of Gray within him. The fusion had ended. He didn't understand how it worked yet, but he could feel Gray resting peacefully.

"You deserve the rest, buddy…" he thought to himself.

Then, turning his eyes to Booster, Ethan finally answered:

"You want to know what happened?"

He pointed briefly at the carnage.

Then, calmly—without arrogance or flourish—he said:

"I just helped you do your job."