The Duke's Son :Re-Chapter 23

Glancing at Jae-Hyeok, Kim Jin-Myeong and Class C's homeroom teacher felt their hair stand on end.

Fast!

They were both magicians, so their physical abilities were weak. But that was only when compared to players of the same class. They were B-class players with levels over 60, so their Agility stat was well over 60 points.

Even so, Jae-Hyeok was gradually catching up with them.

He’s level 1 but has stats similar to ours?

Of course, stats and physical ability weren’t directly proportional. Between two men of similar strength, the one with the correct posture lifted the heavier weight. Players were similar; through proper form and technique, players could draw more efficiently on their stats to achieve a greater effect. Even so, when one player’s stats were greater by several times, then proper form and technique wouldn’t be enough to close the gap.

Only high stats could.

How hard has he been training, Kim Jin-Myeong thought in a shocked manner when he realized that Jae-Hyeok’s stats were higher than expected.

He felt pity when he imagined the young Jae-Hyeok silently swinging a sword next to his father, who never opened his eyes.

On the other hand, the teacher of Class C quickly regained his composure.

He assumed that Jae-Hyeok had a movement-type Skill. Looking at the endurance, is it the Sprint Skill?

Trailing at the back of the group, the two Class A students’ reaction was the same.

They believed Jae-Hyeok was only faster than them because of his Skill, so his actions dumbfounded them. Why follow their group, and why try to arrive first?

He couldn’t even help.

The two Class A students were snorting when their expressions suddenly hardened. They encountered dozens of their classmates who were fleeing from the raid site. They were all a complete mess and had the unmistakable look of defeated soldiers.

“What? Where are the others? Why are you...”

“W-we ran away. The teacher told us to run!”

“Shinra Kyeong and Loren didn’t participate, and we couldn’t help!”

“This!”

The two Class A students started rushing. Using their skills, they sprinted through the forest in the direction of the battle.

Then they saw it.

Jae-Hyeok had arrived at the scene one step ahead of them.

It’s that bastard?

Ha Kyeong-Su frowned.

He had received demerit points due to Jae-Hyeok, and Jae-Hyeok continued to annoy him. Why does he keep acting out when he is only Class B? Huh?

But then, Ha Kyeong-Su’s mouth suddenly fell open.

Jae-Hyeok’s hand seemed to blur before a flash of light struck the Leech King’s head.

How many times did it happen in a split second?

[You have succeeded in attacking the weak point five times in a row!]

[The defense of the target’s weak point has weakened further.]

“Fireball!”

“Chain Lightning!”

“Nine Heavenly Swords.”

The Class B and -C teachers had joined Class A’s homeroom teacher, and they didn’t miss the gap that Jae-Hyeok had created.

They poured out Skills the moment the Leech King faltered.

Thanks to this, the Leech King’s body, which had swelled to the point of bursting, shrank like a deflated balloon.

[You have prevented the Leech King’s explosion.]

[The Leech King’s health and defense has decreased after failing to explode.]

The acidic fluid that should’ve rained down was digested within the Leech King’s body.

The size of the poisonous swamp also didn’t increase.

I’m glad. There’s no need for me to awaken. Jae-Hyeok was relieved after extinguishing the urgent fire and smiled at Da-Hee. “So you are the runner-up? You aren’t bad.” freёwebnoѵel.com

The Leech King’s only organ was the mouth attached to the sucker on the head.

There wasn’t anything else that could be called a weak point.

However, the Leech King now exposed an artificial weakness.

“You did a good job creating a weak point.”

Jae-Hyeok knew from the shape of the wound that it had been Da-Hee’s work.

She was the only one here who used a rapier.

“Huh? Yes?”

Da-Hee was in a daze. She was so fascinated by Jae-Hyeok’s sword-drawing technique that she didn’t even realize she had escaped from the brink of death. She couldn’t get the beautiful sight out of her mind.

He saw the weak point the moment he entered the battle and targeted it? There was also no time delay between his attacks—so fast were they that they seemed to overlap in the same instant.

This was something that she was incapable of doing.

Even the teachers couldn’t do it. The traces of their attack on the Leech King were far away from the weak point. It was very difficult to maintain composure and aim for the weak points in this urgent situation.

The Yaksha’s son.

The three teachers gulped as their eyes remained fixed on Jae-Hyeok.

***

My body has become heavy again.

Jae-Hyeok was acutely aware that something was wrong. True, he was tired from running with his full strength and using his mana the entire time. But the symptoms he was currently feeling couldn’t be dismissed as mere exhaustion.

It was like this when he fought the leeches earlier.

He had noticed the abnormality a long time ago.

It was obvious that his stats dropped when he fought the monsters. He had never heard of leeches having this Skill. Could it perhaps be a curse?

Although it had been occupied for two hundred years, Lion’s Castle was still a gate. It wouldn’t be strange if a volcano suddenly erupted in the grassland or if double gates suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Jae-Hyeok had gone through many places to find a place suitable for training. He could only accept it if he was unlucky enough to be cursed.

No, it’s a good sign, he thought.

If something he’d done or someplace he’d gone had triggered a curse, then it was most likely related to a quest.

A quest that no one has found in two hundred years.

Jae-Hyeok’s heart pounded.

He was overcome with a strong enthusiasm as he dodged the Leech King’s headbutt and attacked back.

The hem of his pants was burned by the poison of the swamp, but he didn’t care and kept going.

[You have been breaking through the limits of your mind and body for 2,960 days in a row.]

[Your body and mind are of a high standard after repeatedly enduring and overcoming the limits.]

[You can resist low-level status abnormalities.]

For some reason, Jae-Hyeok wasn’t poisoned.

The students were mesmerized by Jae-Hyeok’s performance and seriously wondered if they were dreaming.

It wasn’t enough for Jae-Hyeok to run around the polluted swamp like it were flat ground. He also had a strong body that could withstand the poison of a C-class boss.

“Is this really happening?” one student said, amazed.

Ha Kyeong-Su interpreted things differently. “Hmph. Although his family has collapsed, he’s still the son of a duke. He must’ve consumed elixirs like they were rice.”

It sounded plausible.

There were only three duke families in South Korea, so precious elixirs might’ve been piled up in their vault.

Meanwhile...

The Leech King became agitated by the continuous attacks from Jae-Hyeok and the teachers. It vomited out a large swarm of leeches from its mouth.

Jae-Hyeok’s dark eyes sank. He focused his concentration to the limit and observed the posture, positioning, and path of the leeches falling toward his head.

Bang!

He jumped up with all his strength, jumping off the leeches and narrowing the distance between him and the Leech King.

It was as if he was climbing a staircase made of leeches.

“Hah... Is that really a freshman?”

“He isn’t even in Class A...”

The trio of teachers were amazed one after another.

They were also attacking non-stop, but the main character of the raid was Jae-Hyeok, no matter what anyone said. The proof was in the Leech King’s aggro, which was firmly fixed on Jae-Hyeok.

***

The sword-drawing technique was just one sword technique, but Jae-Hyeok’s skill with it was no fluke; his level of swordsmanship was high even without it.

Jae-Hyeok perched on the Leech King’s head and swung his sword normally.

Sharp, smooth, fast, and heavy.

His mana was flowing freely, and his irregular sword trajectory continued endlessly, cutting and stabbing the Leech King.

Kyaaaak!

The Leech King went on a rampage, but Jae-Hyeok was persistent. He repeatedly took swift, precise steps to maintain his balance. He never fell off.

[You have struck the exact same spot at least five times. The weak point of the Leech King is exposed.]

[You have struck the exact same spot at least five times...]

[You have struck the exact same...]

Now the Leech King’s weak point wasn’t only in one place. Jae-Hyeok had created obvious weak points all over its head.

“This is ridiculous.”

“Sword Demon-grade?”

Class A was a class with students from all over the country. One by one, they noticed that Jae-Hyeok’s swordsmanship had already reached the level of a master.

Ha Kyeong-Su was also at a loss for words despite all his earlier claims of elixirs.

Putting aside the stats, Jae-Hyeok’s ability had been trained to the limit.

The swordsmen present were in awe.

Meanwhile.

The Leech King is so tough, Jae-Hyeok thought.

The more the Leech King ran wild, the more he felt like he might die of exhaustion. Clinging to the slippery monster’s body consumed a lot of physical and mental strength. The muscles all over his body were twitching. Jae-Hyeok knew he was nearing his limit.

Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and held on.

The risk of losing his grip, falling, and being crushed didn’t scare him.

Every day for the past eight years, he’d swung his sword until exhaustion.

He believed in himself.

In any case, his only choice was to hold on.

Boss monsters had overwhelmingly higher defense and health than regular monsters of the same class. And the Leech King was C-class, meaning its level was between 40 and 60.

Jae-Hyeok hadn’t even awakened, so dealing a significant blow to such a monster was hard for him.

His role now wasn’t to be a damage dealer. It was to be a support tank.

Jae-Hyeok was maintaining the Leech King’s aggro to give his allies the time and space to attack. The difficulty of the raid plummeted purely due to his performance.

The teachers and students poured out their skills without stopping.

Kiyaaaaaah!

Attacks rained down on its weak points, and the Leech King screamed.

The flow of attacks was steady, and there would be more than enough firepower once Da-Hee’s group recovered and joined in.

He just had to hold on until they recovered.

“Kang Jae-Hyeeeeeeeok!”

No, he no longer needed to hold out.

The students of Class B were rushing in.

“Why are you here?”

“What is he doing over there?”

“Wow, this bastard. He’s standing on the boss’ back.”

“I guess he grew tired of standing on Lee Jin-Seong’s back.”

The Class B students were level 1.

Their attack power was still weak, and their mana was low, so they could only use their Skills two- or three times.

Still, it was enough.

It was the all-out attack of forty people.

The Leech King couldn’t withstand the accumulated damage and collapsed with a mournful cry.

[The Leech King has been killed.]

[It is a miraculous achievement!]

[The player “Candidate” is the first-place contributor in the C-grade raid.]

[All stats have increased by 5.]

[You are currently under the lion’s curse.]

[An Amazing achievement! You are the first-place contributor in a C-grade raid despite your stats being decreased by half.]

[All stats have increased by 2.]

[Due to the lion’s curse, you have failed to gain experience.]

[You have failed to gain experience. The awakening requirement has not been met.]

The forest shook as the Leech King’s giant body fell.

"Waaahhhhhhhh!"

Some cheered, and others sat down with weak legs. Some students were even moved to the point of tears.

Da-Hee immediately ran to Jae-Hyeok. She wanted to thank him first.

“Ah... ” Da-Hee came to a halt before him.

Jae-Hyeok was still stepping on the Leech King’s body.

His appearance resembled Duke Kang Dae-Guk, whom she had seen when she was a child.

Come to think of it, she had received the favor of both the duke and his son now.

Was it fate?

No.

This was nothing special for the duke or his son. They simply helped people. That’s all.

As long as the Kang family existed in South Korea, countless Chae Da-Hees would be created.

Her relationship with them wasn’t special at all.

One day, she would be like them too.

Da-Hee quietly reaffirmed her commitment and bowed deeply to Jae-Hyeok. “Thank you, my friends and I are greatly indebted to you. I won’t forget today’s grace and will definitely repay you.”

Before Jae-Hyeok knew it, everyone was looking at him.

As the protagonist of this successful raid, everyone was curious to see what he would say after saving the lives of Da-Hee’s group.

“Huh? Uh, yes,” Jae-Hyeok answered with an awkward expression.

He fully concentrated on the ring that the Leech King had dropped.

“That’s rightfully yours.”

It wasn’t until Kim Jin-Myeong whispered this sentence in his ear that Jae-Hyeok finally relaxed.