"Choi Seunghyuk!!" Kim Seongwon yelled out furiously and dashed forward, eyeing Seunghyuk with crazed eyes, "Stop and I'll give you a quick one!"
Seunghyuk was partially surprised that Kim Seongwon knew his name, his suspicions were that Kim Seongwon had a detection skill like he himself had but he was not sure. All Seunghyuk did was continue running down the Obelisk, seemingly endless, even after a few minutes, he was not seeing an end. Kim Seongwon had left his company to fend off against the skeletons and started chasing Seunghyuk on his own. Every single step Seunghyuk took, Kim Seongwon seemed to take a step more, so even with the long distance, Kim Seongwon was able to come close enough to grab onto Seunghyuk's shirt from the back and pulled him violently, amazingly, without even needing to contact Seunghyuk.
"Ah! Let go!" Seunghyuk thrashed wildly even when he was held by Kim Seongwon, and finally he realised that Kim Seongwon used his skill on the poor Conqueror that called him a 'baldy', "You should be ashamed of yourself for taking out your frustration on a newly-awakened Conqueror!"
Seunghyuk provoked Kim Seongwon, but it did not seem to work like he wanted it to. Seunghyuk had to get away somehow but he could not do much in Kim Seongwon's grip, and suddenly, a sharp pain coursed through his body and the pain passed his endurance level, making him scream loudly.
"AHH! LET GO!" Seunghyuk swung his body using Kim Seongwon's big hands as a pivot and kicked Kim Seongwon in the stomach, but his kick was like blowing wind to Kim Seongwon, "There's no way..."
Kim Seongwon was silent this whole time, and he just watched Seunghyuk shout and scream in absolute pain like it was a movie screened in a theatre. Kim Seongwon headbutted Seunghyuk, leaving Seunghyuk's head vibrating painfully internally in dizziness. Then, Seunghyuk was thrown hard to the ground, the hard ground of the Obelisk didn't help with the fall and instead worsened it. Seunghyuk rolled around holding his head in pain while he breathed in and out with difficulty. Seunghyuk's Eye of Detection then quickly activated and in between his overwhelming pain, he took a close look at Kim Seongwon's stats, yet trying hard not to seem shocked on the surface.
Conqueror's Name: Kim Seongwon (Leader of ConcCube Company) (Male)
Conqueror's Level: 4
Strength: 13
Agility: 10
Defense: 12
MP: 12
Skills: Bat's Ears (2 out of 5 stars)
Aggressive Circle (2 out of 5 stars)
Force Pull (2 out of 5 stars)
Horned Charge (2 out of 5 stars)
Seunghyuk still laid on the floor growling in pain as he looked at Kim Seongwon's insanely high-level stats and skills. Kim Seongwon walked past Seunghyuk's System screen unfazed, like he did not see it, hence Seunghyuk concluded that no one could see it except for him.
"Look at you, " Kim Seongwon clicked his tongue and shook his head, a distinct act of mockery, pulling Seunghyuk's limp body up with his Force Pull skill, "You're such a disgrace for thinking you could conquer an Obelisk all by yourself, even when ConcCube is here."
Seunghyuk felt weak all over, like he was experiencing his first mission all over again with Taekwoon. The world started to fade in his eyes again, this time, it seemed like the weird voice sounding like System did not bother him, and let him sink in into...
Into...
Into dark...ness...?
"No!" Seunghyuk woke up abruptly and used his skill Short-Fused Explosion in an instant to increase his stats up by 4, "You are not going to stop me!"
Conqueror's Name: Choi Seunghyuk (male)
Conqueror's Level: 2
Strength: 8 (raised by 4)
Agility: 8 (raised by 4)
Defense: 8 (raised by 4)
MP: 8 (raised by 4)
Skills: Short-Fused Explosion (0 out of 5 stars)
Eye of Detection (1 out of 5 stars)
Heart of Cold Steel (1 out of 5 stars)
Ancient Language Comprehension (0 out of 5 stars)
Seunghyuk, his stats although still much lower than Kim Seongwon's, with the element of surprise, he was able to throw Kim Seongwon off guard and punched him hard in the jaw, the ring added some taste of metal into the punch.
"Ah! You son of a—" Seunghyuk did not wait for Kim Seongwon to finish his cursing and dashed off immediately, some might say it was an act of cowardice but he only thought it was being smart, "Choi Seunghyuk! You bastard! Come back and fight!"
Seunghyuk ignored all the shouts and pressed on, leaning his body weight forward to boost himself to run faster. At this point his legs were burning, but he could not bring himself to stop and face Kim Seongwon again, so he kept running and dashing and sprinting until he was breathless, even with the body physique of a Conqueror.
"A wall an...and anot...ther path! Fi...Finally, " Seunghyuk stated in between his short breaths and immediately threw out one leg to the right and swung his whole body madly to the left, throwing the mad chasing bull behind Seunghyuk off guard yet again, "I need to ke...keep running..."
At this point of time, Seunghyuk ceased talking to himself as it wasted too much energy and effort, similarly, Kim Seongwon stopped himself from throwing insults and comments as it also tires him out. Seunghyuk's eyes darted everywhere when he continued to run, even when he's hamstrings started to burn under the intense running pressure, then he spotted a golden arch doorway. Without any hesitation, Seunghyuk took a huge breath and dashed through, releasing the air as he focussed on entering the room. Just when he felt his whole body weakening and heavy with nausea slowly travelling up his chest, he passed the doorway and a huge, metal door dropped down from above and slammed shut.
"What is this! Seunghyuk!" Kim Seongwon screamed like a toy robot that lost control, as his screaming was muffled by the Obelisk's surrounding echoes.
Seunghyuk only kept quiet, walking around slowly and breathed in slowly, trying to regain his composure after a life-burning run. Seunghyuk took almost a minute to regulate his breathing, which is extremely quick for a human, considering he was already not an ordinary human, it was still relatively quick.
"Wait..is this?" Seunghyuk's jaw dropped in shock as he looked at the purple jewel sitting in a glass box and realised that was the treasure of the Obelisk, "System: Scan the purple jewel..."
Item Name: Crystal of Ophiuchus (B-Grade Item)
Item Description: Obtained from a Beginner-level Obelisk and is relatively small, purple in colour. When equipped (only equippable with a gem-holding accessory), it is able to send out pulses of purple energy that poisons target.
Just like usual, even Seunghyuk stopped being too surprised, the System screens started spewing out codes and ancient letters which Seunghyuk was only able to understand less than 5 per cent of the letters. After what seemed like only a few minutes, the System completed its 'update'. Only one thing shocked Seunghyuk, it was the fact that even treasures can be upgraded in a sense.
UPGRADED:
Item Name: Ophiuchus's Snake-calling Jewel (A-Grade Item)
Item Description: Obtained from a Beginner-level Obelisk and is relatively small, purple in colour. When equipped (only equippable with a gem-holding accessory), it is able to send out the magical snake held by Ophiuchus.
"WHAT!" Seunghyuk merely just screamed in shock, almost forgetting the existence of Kim Seongwon outside the sturdy metal door, but just as he thought everything would be fine for him and he could just take the jewel, the door was broken down with Kim Seongwon standing at the doorway with a horn growing from his head, "Give me that gem, Seunghyuk!"
"Why would I give it to you anyway—No! Stop it!" Seunghyuk's jewel was dragged out by force, out from his hands and flew straight into Kim Seongwon's hands, "Give it back!"
Seunghyuk still seemed childish and naive to Kim Seongwon's eyes, like a stubborn toddler that refuses to give up until he could successfully walk.
"Just stay down for a minute, okay?" Kim Seongwon ran forward and pierced his horn on his head through Seunghyuk's thigh, just right under his hips, "Watch as I take your life with this treasure that you've almost gotten..."
Seunghyuk dropped down with blood gushing out from the hole in his thigh and he was about to lose consciousness due to blood loss, but he struggled to stay conscious, only to realise he had already lost the battle.