The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All

Chapter 131: Buff (3)

There are three main features to Roshe’s abilities.

Once a battle starts, he always applies buffs to both himself and his opponent.

His body emits red, yellow, and green auras, commonly referred to as “traffic light buffs.”

Each buff has its own characteristic, which can be interpreted as either a buff or a debuff.

The red one doubles the attack damage but also doubles the damage received from the opponent.

The yellow increases mana consumption by two-fold, while halving the skill cooldown time.

The green activates a lethal point, creating spots where damage enters abnormally.

This is more of an automatically activated buff, so it cannot be plundered.

Still, it definitely introduces significant variables into combat.

When combined with the traffic light buffs, it truly creates a hellish situation.

Then, Park Dong-jae said,

“Hyung, which way should we adjust the buffs?”

“Go at your own pace!”

Kang-hoo gave the decision to Park Dong-jae. A buffer needs to be proactive.

In the intense battlefield, it’s not possible for a combatant and a buffer to continually synchronize the desired form of buffs.

“Being spot on” is crucial for a buffer.

However, it seemed Park Dong-jae had been overly passive, likely more due to his team’s handling than his own fault.

Kang-hoo trusted him.

He is a thinking buffer who enjoys wrestling with complex considerations.

“Ha ha! Ha!”

Seeing Kang-hoo, Roshe pretended to throw a one-two punch, catching his breath.

Kang-hoo put a Mad Solarkium in his mouth as a precaution; he didn’t eat it but was ready to at any moment.

“Just hold out until the green buff appears.”

He had clearly set his direction.

Roshe was definitely a stronger and more durable monster, making a head-on fight unwise.

The red buff wouldn’t work out equivalently, and the yellow buff wasn’t particularly appealing.

Sensing Kang-hoo’s cautious approach, Roshe kicked off the ground and charged aggressively.

He planned to maximize the damage effect by applying Selfish Indulgence to the red buff.

【Illusion Technique】

【Clone Technique】

He used both skills simultaneously.

Illusions spread out in a spiral around Kang-hoo, naturally mixing in with the clones.

Kang-hoo, aware of even the smallest speck on his body, made the clones and illusions look identical.

“Ha ha!”

But Roshe, unconcerned, punched hard at the Kang-hoo visible on his right side.

Shhh! Whack!

He threw a full-powered uppercut.

It was a confident, decisive blow.

There was a reason for his confidence.

The only Kang-hoo on the right side was holding a dagger.

Boom!

The uppercut landed precisely under the chin, crushing bones and sending Kang-hoo flying into the air.

And as Kang-hoo fell from the sky, Roshe’s right punch was already exploding forward.

Then.

“Kuh!”

Suddenly, as if sprung back by a spring, Roshe’s body was pulled sharply backward.

It was a kidnapping.

What Roshe had just fiercely attacked was Kang-hoo’s clone.

Whooosh!

“Arghh!”

A heavy stab from behind by Kang-hoo’s dagger inflicted a deep wound on Roshe.

As he stabbed with the dagger, he immediately followed with a beheading strike, leaving Roshe no chance to withstand.

“Kuh! Uh!”

Roshe wildly threw punches in all directions, trying to get as far away from Kang-hoo as possible.

Despite landing a hit, Kang-hoo didn’t take another turn, knowing how dangerous Roshe still was.

Getting too close could lead to a counterattack he wouldn’t be able to recover from.

Roshe wasn’t too dumb nor too smart; he was ‘just right’ in terms of intelligence. That’s why Kang-hoo didn’t underestimate his intellect.

At that moment.

“Wow. I was fooled too.”

From a distance, Park Dong-jae, who had been observing the fight and applying speed buffs to Kang-hoo, was surprised.

He, too, had thought that the Kang-hoo holding the dagger was the real body.

That made sense since the other illusions, and what he thought was the real Kang-hoo (but was actually a clone), weren’t holding daggers.

“Ah, on purpose?”

Smart Park Dong-jae quickly figured out Kang-hoo’s strategy.

It was deliberately made to look fake, so obviously fake that it wouldn’t even be questioned.

“…”

Having realized Kang-hoo’s strategy, Park Dong-jae felt a chill run down the back of his hand.

Thinking one step ahead and presenting unexpected choices is perfect for trapping those who are only moderately smart.

“Tsk!”

Roshe bit his lip when he realized that the short-range teleportation skill he tried to use didn’t work.

If it were any other hunter, they would have used a blink skill to close the distance immediately.

However, due to the suppressive effect of Kang-hoo’s fifth constellation, the skill didn’t manifest at all.

“Woohoo!”

Roshe chose to confront head-on.

This time, he emitted a powerful shockwave in all directions, aggressively overwhelming Kang-hoo.

“Hmm.”

Kang-hoo hesitated to use his illusion technique. It wasn’t just a simple shockwave but one that disrupted magical flows.

Meaning, even if he used his illusion technique now, the illusions could be neutralized instantly.

Recklessly engaging could drastically limit his options.

Roshe’s assault was fierce.

It seemed he had combined the buff amplification from Selfish Indulgence with acceleration, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

【Shadow Step】

This time, Kang-hoo sent five shadows stretching back from his rear.

Because Kang-hoo’s real body served as a shield, blocking the incoming shockwave from the front.

The shadows, using Kang-hoo’s real body as a wall, extended in a line and were unaffected by the shockwave.

‘He’s really fast.’

Thanks to Park Dong-jae maintaining full buff status, Kang-hoo could just about keep up with the movement.

Without the buffer, Kang-hoo would have been reduced to dust long ago.

Increasing the number of attackers could easily capture him.

However, that would reduce the efficiency of growth.

It seemed more comforting to consider this level of difficulty as a constant.

“Uwah!”

This time, Roshe rushed up to Kang-hoo and launched an overhead punch from above.

Kang-hoo had no intention of blocking Roshe’s attacks from the beginning. He was entirely focused on dodging.

Pop, pop.

Kang-hoo easily dodged Roshe’s first attack by using Shadow Step; it was almost too clean.

“Ugh…!”

Roshe, as if provoked, drooled thickly.

It was a well-considered blow, but it only stirred the air.

“Way!”

Roshe, muttering unintelligibly, then forcefully charged his legs.

It was the motion just before a leap.

Since humanoid monsters strictly follow human movements, it was possible to predict this action in advance.

Kuwaang!

The sound was almost like a sonic boom, splitting the space.

Filled with venom, Roshe aimed a straight punch at Kang-hoo’s torso.

Pop, pop!

Another dodge using one of the remaining shadows worked again.

Previously, the shockwave Roshe had emitted had dissipated, and the shadows were now dispersed in all directions.

“Eeeek!”

Bang, bang!

As two consecutive strikes failed, a frustrated Roshe slammed the ground.

He was busy chasing Kang-hoo’s shadows, essentially shoveling the air.

‘Hidden skills won’t work.’

Kang-hoo made a cool assessment.

The temptation for a one-hit kill was stronger than ever, but Roshe was really fast.

Bad timing could mean getting immediately overwhelmed, which would likely be fatal.

Thus, Kang-hoo chose:

【Master of Manipulation】

He used a skill Roshe had employed in his first attack, adapting it through Master of Manipulation.

The chosen skill was the uppercut Roshe had used initially, formally known as an uplift punch.

Just then.

Sssing. Sssing. Sssing.

Along with an eerie sound, a green buff appeared on both Kang-hoo and Roshe.

Activation of lethal points.

One was created under Roshe’s chin, and another was marked at the center of Kang-hoo’s abdomen.

“Kwoh!”

Without a moment to think further, Roshe, seeing the mark on Kang-hoo’s belly, leaped again.

Despite being heavily overloaded from continuous attacks and leaps, his obsession with killing the aggravating human in front of him was incomparable. He ignored it, on purpose.

Kang-hoo, noticing Roshe’s leap, chose another shadow to switch places with.

As there were still shadows to spare, it was a stress-free evasion maneuver.

However, this time.

“Haa!”

Roshe, spotting the shadow Kang-hoo had switched with, quickly changed direction.

The sharp turn made a crunching sound in his knee joint, but that was exactly what Roshe had aimed for.

“……!”

Kang-hoo’s eyes widened uncharacteristically at Roshe’s unexpected move.

He was about to be caught without a chance to react.

But.

【Swift Evasion】

For the first time in a while, Kang-hoo pulled out a basic skill.

It was Swift Evasion.

The reason was clear.

【During evasion maneuvers, a barrier of resistance is activated. Evasion rate against skills increases.】

Timing it right, the barrier of resistance effect significantly boosts the evasion rate.

A higher evasion rate means there’s a much lower chance of being hit squarely by an enemy attack.

Swift Evasion moved Kang-hoo approximately 75 cm.

It was just enough distance to narrowly dodge Roshe’s uplifted punch.

In fact, he could have dodged more comfortably, but Kang-hoo wanted to verify the exact distance he had calculated.

If he was wrong…?

He planned to use a defensive maneuver to survive the turn—a kind of insurance to protect his life, allowing him to take bold actions.

Whooosh!

“Uh!”

Even if it was by merely the width of a thumb, Roshe’s punch grazed past Kang-hoo’s face.

The force was strong enough to seemingly warp Kang-hoo’s face with the wind.

However, Roshe’s attack ultimately failed, whether it was a close miss or not.

【Master of Manipulation – Uplift Punch】

【Decapitating Strike】

Then, it was Kang-hoo’s turn.

Shhhh! Fwoosh!

The Decapitating Strike, linked with the Uplift Punch, instantly pierced beneath Roshe’s chin.

Thanks to the green buff, this spot had been designated as a lethal point.

Even if it hadn’t been a lethal point, any hit there would have devastated the insides of the face.

“Gah!”

Kang-hoo’s dagger shattered the jawbone, slicing through muscle and tongue to damage Roshe’s brain.

It was the moment Kang-hoo’s careful strategy and patience paid off, executed perfectly.

“He’s insane, totally insane…”

From a distance,

Park Dong-jae’s trembling voice faintly echoed.

A picture of victory that was invisible to him. It seemed Kang-hoo had a plan all along.