Remedy stood beside the fallen pillar, the broken remains of his two daggers gripped tightly in his hands.
He was in a natural arena, with three other stone pillars still standing in the corners. Before him stood the monster horde.
He scanned the crowd. Two goblins were carrying the massive club that had struck him earlier.
"So it was them?" he muttered.
The attack itself hadn't been that strong. But because of his curse, its damage output had been multiplied by two. He pressed a hand to his side.
Looks like I have a few broken ribs.
He sat down on the fallen pillar to catch his breath. Immediately, cackling erupted from the crowd. One after another, the monsters began to laugh. They were literally mocking him. Seeing their opponent in such a state, they had already proclaimed their victory.
Six goblins stepped forward in a crescent formation, grinning.
"Why are you smiling as if you've already won?"
He opened both hands. The two broken daggers dissolved into blue pixels, stored away. The six goblins lunged at him, winding up their clubs. As they closed the distance, Remedy began to stand up.
To their utter shock, he suddenly hoisted the massive concrete pillar with a single hand—as if it were made of paper.
He had manifested the "Law of a Feather" into the massive pillar and bound it to his own strength.
The monsters didn't have time to dodge. The pillar came crashing down on them with a striking speed that defied the object's mass. The impact was unfathomably violent. The concrete literally exploded, catapulting the six monsters away.
Six instant kills.
[DING! PILLAR LEVEL ESTIMATED AT 4. 70% MANA CONSUMED. MANIFESTATION SUCCESSFUL. DURATION: 10 SECONDS.]
Remedy's body glowed. He leveled up to Level 7, recovering a bit of health (65% ➔ 70%) and a bit of mana (10% ➔ 22%).
That cost me more mana than I expected. Looks like I'll have to rely on MP from now on.
The remaining monsters stood frozen, mouths agape. Pure incomprehension painted their faces.
Then came a shadow. The rest of the shattered pillar, hurled by their opponent, was falling upon them at a terrifying velocity.
They scrambled out of the way, piling on top of one another, splitting into two disorganized groups flanking the crashed pillar. While the smaller group struggled to get back to their feet, a silhouette materialized in their midst, flanked by two giant stone columns.
The third monster—the one who had fled and lured Remedy into this trap—looked up: Remedy was already there, holding two more concrete pillars.
What followed was a whirlwind of concrete crashing down on the running goblin's head first, exploding its skull, and then crushing the others. Eight monsters wiped out in a single sweep.
The two pillars shattered under the force of the impact.
The survivors, grievously wounded, began to flee. Remedy noticed immediately.
Time to use the Action Zone.
He opened his hand. A broken dagger appeared in a pixelated flash. He threw it while the second blade appeared in his other hand.
The first dagger—already buried in the corpse of a slain monster—vanished. Long-distance storage.
It reappeared in his hand as he threw the second dagger. He threw it again while the second blade returned to him in turn. It was like a continuous rain of steel raining down on the fleeing monsters. In a seamless, non-stop ballet, he eliminated the nine other escapees.
Not a single monster remained in that group.
Level: 8 Health: 74% Mana: 32% Remedy pivoted toward the other side.
Devour.
MP: 17,880
He broke into a run, leaped over the debris of the pillar wedged in the earth, and headed toward the second group.
Nearly half the horde had been eliminated. Only twenty-four goblins remained.
Both sides charged at each other in a final, decisive clash.
Remedy, now Level 8, felt that the speed and durability of the monsters—even multiplied by two—were no longer as overwhelming. He threw himself into this final assault honestly, wielding his broken daggers.
Despite having equalized stats now, he refused to spam his broken Reality Hacking skills. Because even if it meant taking risks, he could not neglect the value of real combat experience. After all, it was raw experience that had allowed him to survive this long.
At the first engagement, a monster attacked. A horizontal sweep.
Remedy closed the distance with a swift step, ducked, and placed his angled dagger directly in the trajectory of the enemy's arm. The swing passed over him. The monster's arm impaled itself on the blade, driven by its own momentum.
Remedy, now flanking it, drove his dagger into the creature's ribs and yanked upward in a sharp motion. The blade carved its way up from the ribs to the chest, splitting open the flesh.
Another goblin arrived as backup. Remedy seized the dead monster's arm and hurled the corpse at it.
The flying body blocked the attacker's vision. The goblin parried the dead weight with its club before shoving it aside. But when its field of view cleared, Remedy had vanished.
The goblin felt a presence at its feet and looked down.
Remedy, using the falling corpse to slip out of sight, was already rising, dagger in hand. The blade buried itself under the monster's chin.
Before he could pull his dagger out, a third monster appeared. A vertical strike came crashing down on his arm. He yanked his hand back, leaving the dagger impaled in the chin of the first monster. But the tip of the club grazed his arm, leaving a shallow gash due to the angle of the blow.
Then, another horizontal swing came flying toward his head.
Remedy let go of his second dagger, which began to fall toward his feet, and executed a backflip.
Tipping his head back, he dodged the horizontal strike by a hair's breadth. And mid-flip, his foot snapped out and kicked the falling dagger.
The blade shot upward and buried itself straight under the chin of the third attacker.
Remedy didn't just strike. He calculated, he bluffed, and he hit his targets with breathtaking technical mastery.
Because before he was an Anomaly, before he was the Scourge of Reality, he was first and foremost The Technician.
The one who calculates. Who analyzes. Who dodges while minimizing damage. Who strikes at the perfect moment, in the perfect place.
The one who has honed his techniques to perfection through sheer grit. That was him.
Remedy.
The Technician Assistant.
He stood back up. The broken daggers reappeared in his hands.
Three monsters had just fallen.
Only twenty-one remained. But they had already surrounded him.
He panted, fatigue written clearly across his face. The monsters tightened the perimeter. They weren't going to let this opening slip by.
The situation was getting precarious. A question echoed in Remedy's mind: should he continue his quest for pure experience? Or should he cheat and use his stolen powers?
His eyes swept the arena, landing on the concrete debris on the ground. The temptation flared inside him.
Instantly, a memory flashed through his mind: him, wielding his daggers, standing behind the others as they learned and tested their flashy powers. Him, on the roof of the house every morning before dawn, drilling the same movements over and over again.
His gaze drifted to his hands, to the scars left by his countless failures, to those familiar daggers.
The temptation evaporated in a breath that escaped his mouth, followed by a smile of deep gratitude.
He had received an insanely powerful cheat, and he was aware of it. But that was a given power, and he didn't know what tomorrow would bring.
But if there was one thing that had never let him down, one thing that always followed him, one thing he could count on anytime, anywhere—it was his own hands. His own techniques.
So he tightened his grip on his daggers.
Yes... I am not just a Scourge.
He reset into a combat stance, both daggers pointing forward, one slightly staggered behind the other.
"I am Remedy... Remedy the Technician."
He exhaled.
Let's go...
End of chapter 6