Chapter 284: Chapter 284
Su-ho quickly checked the quest details after receiving the notification.
The princess has chosen to fully trust you as her last hope.
You must safely escort the last surviving princess to the royal family’s secret location.
If the princess dies, the quest will fail and the gate will automatically close.
Reading the quest, Su-ho couldn’t help but smirk.
As expected, the key to the quest was the princess’s survival.
Sure enough, the message stated that the gate would automatically close if the princess died.
And with that, it was confirmed.
This gate was clearly the highlight of Gaeseong—the jackpot of jackpots.
“Even the quest rank has been upgraded.”
There had already been more than enough clues pointing to the Forest of the Full Moon gate being a jackpot.
But the chain quest that had just triggered drove that certainty home even further.
Grinning, Su-ho turned to escort the princess.
[Clone Soldier has been dismissed.]
Just as he was about to leave the room, one of the clone soldiers was forcefully unsummoned.
Which meant it had been killed.
[Clone Soldier has been dismissed.]
[Clone Soldier has been dismissed.]
[Clone Soldier has been dismissed.]
One after another, the clone soldiers were disappearing.
Then, from far off in the distance, a thunderous noise echoed through the corridor.
It was approaching fast. For more chapters visıt 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
And finally, stepping into view at the entrance, was a massive knight—far beyond the limits of a normal human body.
A named-level monster.
This one was on a completely different level than Bahram, whom he had killed earlier.
The moment Ablain spotted Su-ho and the princess, he roared,
[Ablain uses Night Fear.]
The princess screamed and collapsed the moment he roared.
Blood flowed from both her ears.
Su-ho stood speechless, staring at the collapsed princess.
He had just received the quest to protect her.
And yet, barely moments later, this had happened.
The only relief was that she wasn’t dead—just unconscious.
But if attacks like that kept coming, she would die soon enough.
“How curious. No matter how many I kill, the same bastards just keep coming.”
Su-ho didn’t answer. Instead, he rushed to the princess and used pressure point manipulation.
He targeted several key meridians—starting with her hearing—and blocked all pain receptors throughout her body.
Based on what she had shared earlier, she didn’t seem like a warrior-type knight, but rather a mage.
Mages tend to have low physical endurance.
Even without making that assumption, the fact she had already fainted twice was proof enough—she was clearly fragile.
So Su-ho blocked her hearing and pain response entirely.
That way, she wouldn’t take additional damage from similar attacks.
Just then, Ablain—who had been watching—scowled and swung his massive weapon, which could’ve been either a pillar or a sword.
The blow struck Su-ho, kicking up a shockwave that sent a massive blast of air and dust rippling through the corridor.
As the dust cloud thickened, Ablain puckered his lips in admiration.
He was impressed because Su-ho had raised his sword and blocked the strike.
With one hand, no less.
Su-ho glared at Ablain, then summoned the Guiyeong Spear in his off-hand.
And he stabbed it straight into Ablain’s shadow right in front of him.
[Shadow Binding has been activated.]
[Shadow Bleeding has been activated.]
Ablain’s eyes widened.
His body wouldn’t move.
Now immobilized, Su-ho finally opened his mouth.
But instead of responding, Su-ho turned back to the princess and resumed his work.
[Heal has been activated.]
[Recovery has been activated.]
Judging by the blood coming from her ears, her eardrums had ruptured.
Just one Night Fear and her eardrums burst.
Fortunately, Heal and Recovery were enough to mend ruptured eardrums and revive unconsciousness.
As expected, the princess quickly stirred.
But before she could fully open her eyes, Su-ho struck another meridian point.
The princess collapsed again into a deep sleep.
An escort mission is harder than repelling or slaughtering enemies.
Especially when you have to carry the person alive.
And judging by the monster in front of him, there were bound to be more like Ablain on the way to the royal family’s secret location.
So it was better for her to stay asleep.
The problem was what came next.
“How do I carry her?”
Ideally, he’d throw her into his subspace house and move on.
There’s no safer place than that.
But the moment she entered the subspace, the quest would pause.
Which made it pointless.
Su-ho considered using a clone soldier.
He could command it to carry the princess on its back and follow him closely.
But he shook his head.
“No. They’re not safe anymore.”
Ablain had just wiped out all his clone soldiers.
They weren’t invincible.
Although created from Su-ho’s stats, clone soldiers only operated based on his intent.
Without fine control, they couldn’t match Su-ho’s own combat abilities.
That’s why Ablain—tailor-made to fight them—had slaughtered them with ease.
In the end, there was only one answer.
He would have to carry her himself.
Su-ho pondered how to do it.
Should I use Bone-Crushing Art to fold her body small like I did with that Yakuza guy?
Shrink her down, then mold a backpack or carrier out of Blood Weapon to carry her?
“...No. She’s a princess. I can’t do that.”
So Su-ho chose the most classic method.
He slung the sleeping princess over his back.
He crossed her legs over his shoulders and fixed them in place with Paralysis Points.
Her arms were slung over his shoulders like backpack straps, and her head was secured next to his own.
A few more adjustments, and she was completely locked into place—like she was glued to him.
That was the power of high-level Paralysis Points.
“...Didn’t think I’d use this .”
Su-ho activated one more skill.
[Sacrifice has been activated.]
[All damage will be taken in place of the designated target.]
It was the Sacrifice skill.
The sixth skill of the Crusader class, obtained at Level 190.
Su-ho recalled the initial info.
Takes all damage and pain in place of the designated target.
Uses 5% of total mana to absorb 400% of damage and pain dealt to the target.
It was one of the best tanking skills a Crusader could have.
After all, tanking is about taking hits in someone else’s place.
Meaning: as long as the Crusader could hold on physically and mentally, the protected target wouldn’t die.
“Problem is, the risk is insane.”
Because the damage and pain were multiplied fourfold.
That’s why the First Crusader Su-ho met in his previous life almost never used it.
He remembered the guy’s words:
"Four times? That’s not a stat—that’s the name of a rabid dog. Imagine the worst pain you’ve ever felt. Now quadruple it. A normal person would pass out instantly.”
But Su-ho wasn’t normal.
He was humanity’s top Player—and the only returnee.
He knew he’d get Sacrifice at Level 190, so he’d prepared ahead of time.
Prepared with Gi Seung-hwan, a martial arts resource.
Now, he recalled the current state of Sacrifice.
Takes all damage and pain in place of the designated target.
Uses 15% of total mana to absorb 100% of damage and pain.
Your sacrificial spirit has reached its peak. You may now designate one additional target.
He had spent almost all his Gi Seung-hwan reserves to upgrade it.
Now the damage and pain were no longer quadrupled—just taken at full value.
“Would’ve been better if it reduced it, but still. I’ll take it.”
Naturally, skill enhancements didn’t apply here.
Enhancements usually affected burst skills, not sustained buffs .
Su-ho activated one more skill.
[Endurance has been activated.]
Endurance had auto-leveled to C-rank as he leveled up.
He recalled its effect:
While active, incoming damage is reduced by 19%, and pain is reduced by 35%.
Automatically ends when all mana is depleted.
A 19% damage reduction and 35% pain reduction.
Perfect synergy with Sacrifice.
He usually avoided it due to mana consumption—but now he had no choice.
If the princess died, it was over.
Something unexpected happened.
Ablain began moving—even with the Guiyeong Spear still embedded.
Truly a named-class knight.
With brute force, he shattered the shadow binding.
Free of the Guiyeong Spear, he cracked his neck and spoke.
“You looked like a regular soldier, but you’ve got some fun tricks.”
“I do have a few tricks. You’re impressive too. Not many humanoid enemies have broken free from Guiyeong Spear.”
“Humanoid?! I’m a human, you little bastard! Maybe I seem like a monster or god to you, but ha!”
Ablain, clearly in a good mood, slung his pillar-like weapon over his shoulder and smirked.
“So... you’re seriously going to fight me like that?”
“This is how I’m fighting.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Ablain swung again, and the fight resumed.