Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 169

“Hey, Mr. Spider. Can we just call it a truce here? I’ll give you money, can’t you just walk away?” Ji-Cheok said.

Kieeek!

The spider monster spat out venom right at Ji-Cheok’s face. The latter dodged, and the venom spurt passed by its cheek and splattered on the floor, where it started bubbling. Mere moments later, the puddle had turned into a hole.

“Hm… It seems that I can’t bribe this guy with money.”

He showed his fake smile to the camera. He was more than a little scared, but from the outside, he looked confident.

‘I hope the video comes out good after some editing.’

[You mortals! Are you not afraid of me?!]

‘I guess my fake smile fooled the spider monster too.’

Ji-CHeok put all his strength into the [Soul Telekinesis] to put pressure on the monster. However, even in the middle of the transformation, the monster continued to maintain its telekinesis skill active. Not only that, but its power was actually increasing and even starting to push Ji-Cheok back!

‘God damn it!’

Ji-Cheok wasn’t the only one who was getting pushed back—Cheok-Liang and the knights were in the same situation.

‘My Mana and Cultivation stats are S-Rank, how can this guy push us all away like this? Fine. I’ll just have to use my Likes to—’

[Kiieeeak!]

The spider let out a ghastly scream, and the connection between its telekinetic power and Ji-Cheok’s telekinetic power was abruptly cut by an explosion.

Boom!

The knights were blown back by the explosion and fell to the ground. Thankfully, Ji-Cheok used his [Thousand Pound Weight] technique to fix his feet onto the floor.

‘Wh… What was that scream…’

“You can counter telekinetic power by using the power of resentment. Did you not know this?”

Although he was far away, Ji-Cheok could vividly hear Reable’s voice.

‘Is that also a skill?’

When Ji-Cheok looked at Reable, there were already four corpses standing next to him. It appeared that Reable had taken advantage of the mayhem and made some of those that were already dead and some of those that he had killed himself into his underlings.

“Telekinesis is a mental phenomenon, and it ultimately stems from thoughts. The resentment of the dead is similarly a kind of mental phenomenon, so it makes sense that they can neutralize each other. Of course, it’s not easy, but I can do it too!”

Ji-Cheok hadn’t even asked anything, but Reable had replied as if he knew what Ji-Cheok was thinking.

‘Wow, so they can counter my telekinesis with just their thoughts.’

“There’s no way the average Hunter can do something like that.” Ji-Cheok said.

“That’s because the average Hunter is entirely dependent on their skills. You have to look at the entire world that lies beyond the mere System skill level. I’m sure Mr. Um Ji-Cheok has already felt it.”

‘What the hell are you talking about? Damn it.’

[Filthy necromancer! How dare you insult my brothers!]

The spider boss in front of Ji-Cheok seemed to hate Reable, who had turned its teammates into his underlings.

“We’re in a DIY era even for the Undead! Do it yourself! Haven’t you heard? That’s the slogan for that Swedish furniture company that gives away free pencils!”

‘Uh…you know…even EKIA has an assembly service these days.’

Woong~

Ji-Cheok could feel the spider boss using telekinesis once more. Its target was Reable! However, he hadn’t even managed to move a finger when one of the corpses cracked open its mouth and shrieked.

[Kieaaaak!]

The enemy’s telekinetic power was dissipated instantly.

‘What? That was possible?’

“Not enough will? Need to put in some effort? Do not worry, brother! You’re in the right place! Just DIY a corpse and make it explode!”

‘I… I cannot put that on my video. That needs to be edited out. I can’t use that line.’

Even as he was shaking his head internally, Ji-Cheok’s legs didn’t stop moving as he rushed straight at the spider boss!

‘If my {Soul Telekinesis] doesn’t work, I’ll just have to cut that thing to pieces!’

[I will tear apart your filthy body and offer it as a sacrifice!]

It seemed that anger was blinding the spider boss. It left Ji-Cheok alone and flew toward Reable, who was on the other side of the hall.

‘Should I just stay behind Reable and help him fight the monster?’

‘Hyung! Take care of the seal first!’

?Master! The Heirloom Seal of the Realm should be your top priority. In order to overthrow your enemy, you must strike where it hurts most!?

‘Right! The seal!’

Hearing the words of Mu-Cheok and Cheok-Liang, he immediately corrected his course and ran straight to the seal. He could feel Cheok-Liang chasing after the spider boss instead of him, and Mu-Cheok quietly gathering strength from behind.

[How dare you try and put your hands on something dedicated to Him!]

The spider boss that was now attacking Reable saw Ji-Cheok out of the corner of its eye. A purple light flashed in the boss’s eyes, and at the same instant, the Guardian of Hope flew in between it and Ji-Cheok.

Pshhhh.

Ji-Cheok had no idea what kind of attack the monster had just used, but the Guardian of Hope had nevertheless blocked it. The shield really was absolutely indestructible!

[Hope! How dare a mere relic of a pitiful God block my attack!]

“Oh no! That line is usually said by a character that’s about to die. You just wrote your destiny with your own hand, friend~”

The spider boss was enraged at Reable’s taunt.

[W-what?! How dare you, you dirty corpse handler!]

Ji-Cheok heard a bang and saw the bright flash of an explosion illuminating the hall. He couldn’t see exactly what was happening because his vision was blocked by the shield, but he knew that Reable wasn’t the type to be killed in a single blow.

In the meantime, he had already arrived at the broken podium, and he stretched his shadow toward the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.

“This is mine now.”

He had really wanted to say that line.

Boom!

He heard the air ripping. When he looked back, he saw that Mu-Cheok was holding the long-barrel sniper rifle that he created by merging his two pistols into one. Smoke came out from the muzzle, indicating that it had already been fired.

‘I don’t even know if I can call that thing a gun. It’s more like a small caliber cannon!’

Ji-Cheok took a quick look to assess the damage it had done, and he saw that two of the spider boss’s legs were missing.

“Wow, you tore off two legs in one shot?”

The destructive power of the rifle was truly amazing.

Ji-Cheok also saw corpses clinging to the spider boss. They were all corpses of the terrorists.

?Master, I believe that we have killed all the terrorists except for the boss monster.?

Cheok-Liang was right. All of the attackers were now Reable’s best buddies.

‘That’s one of the scary things about Necromancers.’

Reable was merrily putting the corpses back together like the DIY expert he was, and in the meantime, he was also sipping on yet another glass of champagne. Maybe it was because he was an evil God, but his appearance in the expensive suit reminded Ji-Cheok of the Demon King from a childhood fairy tale. Reable sure knew how to stimulate the fundamental fears in humans.

“Kekekehehehekeheke”

‘Uh… except for that quirky laugh, I guess.’

The Undead terrorists empowered by Reable’s magic clung to the spider boss for dear life and attacked it like crazy. They cracked the carapace protecting its abdomen and injured its unarmored torso. Even though the Undead terrorists were being crushed one by one, they also clearly inflicted some damage to the spider boss.

“Brilliance, heed my call! Army, advance!”

The voice of a charismatic female Hunter suddenly resonated in the banquet hall. The brilliance shined from the bodies of the summoned knights, and the wizards and priests used their skills.

‘Those priests and wizards have to be summoned entities, right? That’s some munchkin-level job!’

Slash!

Cheok-Liang ran around the boss monster and created a [Soul Telekinesis] ectoplasm chain in order to bind and restrain the spider boss.

‘Should I help him out? Or…’

“Hyung.”

Mu-Cheok jumped down beside him.

Even though he was built like a titan, the sound of his landing was as quiet as that of a cat.

“What is all this… Really…”

Ji-Cheok handed him a mana potion. Mu-Cheok quickly gulped down the potion and began to forcibly gather the mana to use for his next skill. However, it would take some time for his next sniper shot. He was in what the Hunters called the “cooldown state.”

Reable’s Undead and the summoned knights and wizards were fighting the spider boss. Just like the Undead, these normal summonings were like puppets that followed the orders of their masters, so they fought without the slightest worry about their lives. Behind them, the summoned priests were assisting them, but their fighting style was definitely different from normal priest Hunters.

Generally, when priest-type Hunters healed wounds, they subconsciously thought about how much pain the wounded felt. For example, they subconsciously thought about whether the wounded could move around without pain. However, when these summoned priests healed their knight and wizard teammates, who were also summoned soldiers, they only looked at whether their limbs were usable.

That was why, even if the knights had open fractures, with bones literally popping out, the priests only did the minimum treatment that allowed them to move, and conserved their mana to heal other summoned soldiers. The ones that had been healed like that also had no problem fighting in that state, because they had no souls. There were even some that took the initiative to grab the enemy and self-destruct.

Boom!

The summoned soldiers died, disappearing into a blue light that was absorbed by the female Hunter in heavy armor. The Hunter advanced, now wielding a huge halberd as tall as herself and breaking everything in her path. Ji-Cheok still couldn’t see her face. Reable fought alongside her.

“Ooh~ Skeleton number thirty-two! Do a Zero Two Dance and blow yourself up!”

Boom! Boom!

The skeleton actually ran at the spider boss and blasted itself to pieces while doing the Zero Two Dance. The resulting explosion was enormous.

Cheok-Liang was seething.

?I get that those summoned knights return to their owner, but that Reable guy is just abusing his summoned Undead!?

‘You’re mad at that?’

“Everyone in the second division, come on, use your heads a bit! Let’s go!” Reable impatiently waved his hand.

Immediately, the enemies that had become Undead plucked out their own heads and threw them at their boss.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

‘Cheok-Liang, do you think I can edit this out?’

Rather than Reable’s lackadaisical attitude, what really pissed Ji-Cheok off was that there was no way to edit this piece of shit video into something usable.

Despite the summoned soldiers and the fresh Undead allies attacking the spider boss with all they had, the monster was strong.

[You worms!]

The spider boss’s human upper body summoned a tough sword in each hand and swung them around. The summoned soldiers were blown away like the leaves in the autumn wind. The soldiers screamed in despair.

?Your majesty! Please save yourself!?

?Glory to the kingdom!?

“Okay. leave the rest to me! I’m glad I drank that bottle of whiskey before the fight,” the heavy-armored Hunter said.

Boom!

Her halberd slammed into the spider leg. However, when she realized that the damage was minuscule compared to what the power of the weapon was supposed to be, she cried out, “Change my weapon to a greatsword!”

The nearest summoned soldier shouted in return,

?The princess has requested a change of weapons!?

While swapping weapons, she rolled quickly to dodge the attacks that the spider was launching at her with its legs.

?She is really fast, even though she is wearing heavy armor. Indeed, she must be from a royal family! Her power is enough to smash the enemy’s head.?

‘I know. I’m admiring her power too.’

Ominous energy covered the spider’s swords and legs, and simply brushing against them caused the armor of the summoned knights to crumple like cheap cooking foil. Only the swords and shields reinforced by the Aura Blade endured the attack and collided with the spider boss’s swords.

The sound of the collision was terrifying. The heavy armor Hunter avoided the enemy’s attack by dodging to the left without any sign of fear. In the meantime, Ji-Cheok and Cheok-Liang were suppressing the spider boss’s telekinetic power with their own [Soul Telekinesis]. They knew that if they gave in, even for an instant, the spider boss would slaughter everyone.

“All of my army! Bring me the head of the enemy!” the female Hunter bellowed.

As if she had activated a skill with that roar, all of the summoned soldiers instantly reactivated their Aura Blade.

?Her majesty wants the blood of her enemies! We shall dye the mountains and rivers with their blood!?

?AHHHH!!!!?

‘Hmm…her summoned soldiers are as crazy as Reable’s’

Ji-Cheok knew that the spider boss was overpowered, but this female Hunter who had summoned a whole troop of knights, wizards, and priests was no joke either. The battle was slowly evolving in their favor.