Friction

Americano opened the box.

Cappuccino was listless, as if suffering from motion sickness.

Americano gently held Cappuccino, who had crawled up her index finger, in her hand and left the lord’s castle.

There was no one in the room she looked back at.

There was no evidence at the scene of the murder.

‘They must be in soul form, right?’

‘(But are you okay?)’

“Huh? About what?”

‘(They seemed like pretty high-ranking people. What if they retaliate because of this?)’

“….”

Americano, who had used [Leap].

Thought hard.

She landed on the inner wall.

“I’ll just annihilate them.”

‘(They’re level 79.)’

“I know. I heard.”

‘(How are you going to win against guys like that? They even use Awakened Abilities.)’

“So what if they do? It’s not like I can die anyway.”

Cappuccino felt like she wasn’t getting through and then understood.

‘(Are you angry?)’

“….”

‘(Because they took me hostage?)’

“….”

That was the correct answer.

Cappuccino forgot her motion sickness and was overjoyed.

“…It’s just that they’re so petty. They could have just understood that I captured a dangerous monster and let it go, or they could have just told me to fight them! I would have agreed.”

Americano pouted and complained about the Heroes.

She didn’t like their response.

She didn’t hate that they captured the monster Cappuccino. They’re Heroes, they can’t just leave a monster that invaded the village alone.

She was even grateful that they didn’t kill her.

But it turned out that it was bait and a hostage to capture Anonymous.

She didn’t expect them to do something so pathetic, and it just made her angry.

So she slashed them.

“They couldn’t even react? Are they noobs?”

‘(I told you, they’re level 79.)’

“…79?”

‘(I just said that.)’

“Wasn’t that the highest floor their clan cleared?”

‘(They must have cleared it too.)’

“That’s…?”

Level 79?

She was surprised.

No, really.

“Really?”

She was so surprised that she almost failed her landing.

She landed lightly on the roof.

She imitated [Death Knight], who reduced his kinetic energy by distributing Magical Power to land lightly, but she almost broke through the roof by mistake.

‘(Really.)’

“That’s all it takes to be level 79?”

‘(That’s what I’m saying.)’

“Didn’t I hear wrong? There’s no way that’s all it takes to be level 79.”

‘(Can’t you just trust me? It’s just that you’ve gotten too strong this time. How do you get stronger every time you fight a strong opponent?)’

“….”

It was shocking.

Even at their best, they were on par with [High Knight Evga].

She hadn’t crossed swords with them directly, so there would be a big margin of error, but considering the Awakened Ability the clan member was about to use, she got the impression that they were similar to [High Knight Evga].

She had a feeling that she could put up a good fight against [High Knight Evga].

It would depend on what the clan member’s Awakened Ability was, but it’s not like [Evga] was weak either.

The [Evga] she was using as a standard was the [Evga] she fought in the Tower, without any equipment buffs.

If she had all the equipment buffs and could go all out… Honestly, she couldn’t really imagine [Evga] going all out. She would have had to meet a swordsman of [Evga]’s level in the first place.

[Death Knight] was clearly stronger than [Evga], so there was no comparison.

In short, she lacked experience, and based on her limited experience, they were similar to [High Knight Evga] she met on the [30th floor].

That’s the impression they gave.

But that’s the strength of floor 79?

‘No way.’

But there was no lie in Cappuccino’s words.

She could easily distinguish lies with the [Ring of Contract]’s telepathy, so she knew that Cappuccino didn’t lie as a joke.

“Floor 79, huh.”

‘(Your skills are at floor 79.)’

A smile bloomed on Americano’s lips.

“If that’s really the case, that’s awesome.”

But there was something Cappuccino overlooked.

She knew they went to floor 79.

But what about the difficulty?

‘Well, judging by their skills, it’s obvious.’

It’s definitely not Master difficulty or higher.

The siren went off in the lord’s castle.

When Americano came out into the street, the siren went off in the lord’s castle. Who the hell is setting off a siren in a medieval setting? It doesn’t fit the atmosphere.

Anyway, she expected that they would find out about what she did in the castle.

‘They must have been Resurrected by now.’

There was no Tower, but there was a temple.

They can’t chat in soul form, so they must have been Resurrected.

When a Hero dies, they die without leaving anything behind, so they must have Resurrected and delivered a dying message directly by mouth or in writing.

‘Let’s get out of here quickly.’

Americano’s feet moved busily.

She [Leaped] to the outer wall before the pursuers caught up, and then stepped on the outer wall again to [Leap] even higher.

She headed towards the place marked on the [Map].

The [Marker] was the place the dwarf merchant told her about.

[Knight Chris’s Last Words] only told her about the entire ‘area’ where the ruins were located, so it was different from the [Marker].

The Quest area was much further north than that.

But,

‘(Doesn’t that look like an ambush?)’

Cappuccino, who was sharing her vision, spotted something in Americano’s vision.

A desolate field.

Right in the middle of it.

A carriage was stuck.

Its wheels were broken.

It couldn’t move, but the people trying to fix it were slow. That alone was awkward, but there were people with awkward appearances mixed in with the people. In other words, Avatars.

Just waiting at the location the dwarf merchant mentioned was a dead giveaway.

There was no definite evidence, but Cappuccino had overheard something from the clan members.

‘(What are you going to do?)’

“What should I do.”

She [Leaped] from the outer wall, but the distance didn’t reach the carriage.

There were no obstacles around and no other passersby, so Americano was easily spotted.

‘(They’re waving?)’

“Ignore them.”

More than that, she scanned the surroundings.

The reason she came here was to find the source of the Bronze Golem that was found here.

The swordsmanship used by the Bronze Golem was Northern Empire Swordsmanship.

She had business with that swordsmanship.

Americano had only learned 6 Forms of Northern Empire Swordsmanship.

There were at least five more Forms that she hadn’t learned yet.

She wanted to learn them if possible.

From [Chapter 6, Form 1] to [Chapter 6, Form 4] were so-so, but there might be treasure-like techniques like [Execution Sword].

The dwarf merchant said he found the Bronze Golem here.

But if there was a Bronze Golem in the desolate field, she would have found it quickly. Since she couldn’t see it at a glance, it meant it wasn’t here.

“Hmm…”

Will it appear if I go north?

At that moment, a sword flew towards her.

She tried to grab it, but,

‘It’s moving?’

The sword moved in the air.

It bent at an impossible angle without any devices and rose upwards.

It came down at a slow speed, as if a swordsman was raising his sword high.

‘No.’

That wasn’t it.

This was fast enough.

[Death Knight]’s sword was so fast that her senses were a little strange.

She couldn’t directly spot [Death Knight]’s sword with her eyes until the very end, but her eyesight had improved enough to recognize the movement of the sword.

She grabbed the blade with her index finger and thumb.

If she grabbed the sword, it should stop, but,

“It’s moving.”

‘(Telekinesis? Invisible man?)’

“Telekinesis.”

An invisible force pulled on the sword.

It seemed like they wanted it back, so as they wished,

‘Take this.’

She spun her body around and threw it at the carriage.

Then the people were startled and dodged.

She caught one of them.

The guy who was using telekinesis.

“Telekinesis is basically weak. It’s versatile, but you can’t concentrate because you can do so many things.”

‘(I know that.)’

“Think of it as a review.”

When she was an Unawakened Hunter, she looked at Awakened Abilities and figured out their strengths and weaknesses.

She had to figure them out to support them, and she could figure out her role and position to fit in.

She had to find an empty spot to be a C-rank Hunter even though she was Unawakened.

Thanks to that experience, she was relatively knowledgeable about Awakened Abilities.

Telekinesis is famous enough to be called the synonym of superpowers, but it has many shortcomings to be used as a main ability.

Still, it shows almost the pinnacle in terms of auxiliary aspects.

First of all, its defense against projectiles is insurmountable, but,

‘(Insurmountable? I broke through it?)’

“…They probably didn’t think about defending.”

Telekinesis has an insurmountable defense against projectiles.

No matter how good the tool is, what’s the point if the user who uses it is bad?

It’s the player’s fault for not utilizing Telekinesis.

When the Telekinesis user was defeated, the players around him began to draw out their Awakened Abilities.

Telekinesis.

Pyrokinesis.

Lava Manipulation.

Thought Acceleration.

Body Enhancement.

Laser Manipulation.

As Awakened, they rushed in, showing off their different Awakened Abilities.

But they couldn’t properly utilize their weakened abilities.

“If only I had enough Magical Power..!”

“Oh, is that so?”

Laser Manipulation user.

Her eyes flashed.

The laser passed by Americano.

It carved a large chunk out of the mountain peak behind her and disappeared beyond the sky.

Seeing that, she was dumbfounded.

‘It’s strong after all.’

She had to admit its power.

It was the maximum power she could unleash with all the Magical Power she had left, but,

“….”

“…Shit.”

She dodged it.

Easily.

The intention was too obvious.

She slashed past the Laser Manipulation user. Her corpse disappeared, turning into Polygons with a crackling sound. With the Laser Manipulation user as the last, no one was left where the carriage was.

Only Americano was left in the carriage.

The greatest strength of a Hunter is not only the powerful power of their Awakened Abilities, but also the stamina to fight for a long time even after using their abilities to the fullest.

A Hunter who has lost their stamina.

“How weak.”

She said as if to show off to the Hunters who were still wandering around in soul form.

She defeated the Hunters.

She was pretending to be nonchalant, but she felt great.

She sat on the carriage.

She enjoyed the refreshing feeling for a while and then remembered what she had to do now.

“Bronze, huh.”

Bronze.

Bronze.

Bronze is originally yellow.

Green is the rust of bronze.

The green color of the Bronze Golem is also because its surface is rusted.

‘Or did they just paint it green?’

She took out the Bronze Golem from her Inventory and threw it on the floor.

It seemed like they deliberately rusted it.

It was too clean to have rusted naturally.

She looked down at the Bronze Golem lying on the floor and sat there quietly, racking her brain for any hints.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have asked how they met.”

‘(Whether they found it or encountered it?)’

If the dwarf merchant found the Bronze Golem, there must be something nearby.

If the Bronze Golem encountered the dwarf merchant… what is it? She was terrible at puzzles. She had a feeling that there was something, but she couldn’t bring out the words and knowledge to describe it.

Her head was spinning.

Ugh.

‘(Ah, Win has an opinion.)’

“There was a witch, right?”

Come to think of it, Cappuccino had a reliable advisor.

“What did she say?”

‘(She said to inject Magical Power into the Bronze Golem?)’

“Inject? Magical Power?”

‘(She said it wouldn’t break just because it’s a little broken. Maybe it can’t be restored because its energy is depleted.)’

The Golems she had fought so far.

“The Ultra Iron Golem didn’t do anything like that?”

‘(Golems don’t produce Magical Power on their own. Besides, when its arms and legs fell off, it picked them up and reattached them, right? Did you forget?)’

“Ah…”

‘(More than anything, it has a core, right?)’

It does.

She defeated the [Ultra Iron Golem] and obtained its core as [Loot].

She didn’t know where the core was, so she blindly attacked it and won while preserving the core.

‘(She said that core will also be restored if you inject Magical Power into it.)’

“That’s? That’s a bit of a scam.”

The memory of fighting the [Ultra Iron Golem] was terrifyingly ingrained in her body.

It was almost a trauma.

But it soon disappeared.

She was now confident that she could cut through even steel.

Anyway, she learned something good.

It will be restored.

The Bronze Golem was diagonally split in two near its chest. She grabbed the left hand attached to the upper body and injected Magical Power into it.

A green light turned on in the Bronze Golem’s eyes.