Worthless Skill Escape (WN)

Chapter 122

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TL: ALT

Chapter 122 – Usurper

‘Enemy annihilated!’

‘You have gained zero experience.’

‘You have earned 12,258,070 yen.’

‘You have received the Strength Potion.’

After defeating multiple enemy formations,

“Earning without worrying about experience feels so good!”

I was like that.

The mana coins I earned were also very high, thanks to the level of the enemies.

The downside of the five-job system is that I can earn as much as I want without worrying about experience.

What would I say if I didn’t say that this was a great feeling?

…or so I thought, but then I thought,

“No, why? You don’t normally care about things like that, do you?”

It’s normal to care about how efficiently you can gain experience.

I’ve been doing that all my life.

So why do I feel a sense of freedom, like the shackles that have held me back for so long have been lifted?

I mean, even when I talk about “earning,” the only thing I’m earning is money.

I’m sure I’m accumulating job skills, but I can’t see it.

It’s a strange feeling to be “happy” about not getting experience in this situation.

Of course, I have to suppress my level to reach special conditions…

Apart from that, I was able to confirm the first thing I needed to check.

The monster levels.

“Arc Sahagin is 9536, Dark Gazer is 9540, and King Roper is 9542… so I’ve met the requirements.”

Monster levels are known to increase by about 3% with each successive level.

According to the spreadsheet calculations, if a monster’s level is 9518 or higher on the first floor, the same monster’s level will exceed 10,400 on the fourth floor.

If I continue on this path, I will be able to fulfill the special condition of “soloing a dungeon boss whose level is 400 or higher.

But this is already a cause for concern.

If I go to the fourth floor, even Arc Sahagin, the weakest (in this dungeon), will reach a level of 10420.

That’s an 844 level increase.

“I’ve heard about it, but… it’s difficult.”

If the monster’s level is 100, even if its level increases by 3% per level, the absolute level increase is only 3.

However, when it comes to S-rank dungeons with high monster levels, this 3% increase becomes quite a barrier.

If the monster level on the first floor is 1000, the monster level on the second floor is 1030.

That’s a 30% increase in absolute terms.

On the other hand, the level of the explorer will probably increase by one during the first floor.

In fact, it is not uncommon for it to take several months to gain a level, as the explorer often explores with a level gap (i.e., at a higher level than the monster).

Now, if you’re already at a high level, you don’t have to bother leveling up; just getting out of the dungeon is enough.

There is little motivation to take the risk of leveling up.

There are, of course, explorers who are determined to conquer high-level dungeons and increase their level.

They face the “3% wall.

Even in the lowest level S dungeons, where the monsters start at level 1000, you need to level up by 30 to get to the second floor.

How many monsters would I have to fight?

There are many reasons why all S-rank dungeons are unexplored, and one of them is this “3% barrier”.

Anyway, now that I was guaranteed to be level 10,400 or higher on the fourth floor, I no longer had to worry about the special conditions.

“Well, there’s the question of whether I can even get there safely…”

Normally, it is impossible.

Even a full party can’t do it, and it’s even more impossible to do it alone.

But I have to do it somehow.

I’ve already got some keys, but there are still too many missing pieces.

Let’s take a look at one of those keys: The Usurper.

Job────────────────────

Usurper Rank C

“I will take all and subdue all. Whether it be a king or a god.”

～The usurper is possessed by hatred and scoffs at the power of others or is a lowly child who only envies the children of others.

Usurper, a higher-level job in the Thief line, is a special job that specializes in robbing others.

The Usurper uses the skills taken from others, including monsters, as his own and uses the others he has taken as his servants. The other person who has been turned into a servant cannot be freed from their control, even after they die and become a ghost.

Although they have an abundance of cards in their hands, their own abilities tend to be extremely low.

In addition, the way they fight varies greatly depending on the abilities they have taken.

It is important to combine the abilities you have collected to formulate a strategy.

◇Ability

Usurpation of Authority

Items, abilities, and sometimes an opponent’s very existence can be “taken” from them. The usurped ability or existence is turned into a card, and by using the card, you can use the ability or existence. There are two types of cards: reusable and expired.

◇Support Ability

Deprivation Disable

All items belonging to the user cannot be taken by others. It has no effect on forced transfers by indirect means such as threats.

◇Unique Bonus

Compared to the normal Usurper,

・Able to use all types of weapons at once.

・Can change equipment in an instant.

・The hit rate of all attacks is exceptionally high.

・Critical hits rarely cause instant death.

・The power of the attack increases as it accumulates.

・Damage is increased by surprise, preemptive attack, and attack from behind.

・Assassin and Ninja skills can be used at the same time.

・Can survive once with 1 HP, even if you are damaged to death.

・Can detect any danger approaching to a certain degree.

・Possesses exceptional ability to conceal presence.

・Can detect the presence of others.

・Able to detect and disarm dungeon traps with near certainty.

・Able to read the status of others to an unprecedented depth and detect status disguises with near certainty.

・Can disguise own status with reasonable strength.

・Slightly higher chance of getting better items from monsters

There is a tendency for this.

◇Level-up Bonus

The following bonuses are added to Usurper’s stats when leveling up.

DEX +3, AGI +3, LCK +3

────────────────────

And, well, this is what the job looks like.

It seems that this job specializes in plundering while maintaining the skills of the Scouting system.

It seems that the “Plundery” skills acquired in the Skill World have been joined by offensive skills such as “Ninjutsu” and “Assassination Techniques,” skills related to detecting and hiding clues such as “Presence Detection” and “Covert,” and skills related to gathering status information such as “Appraisal,” “Fathom,” and “Disguise.”

It seems that skills in this line have been absorbed into unique bonuses across the board.

I also appreciate the new support ability, “Disable Deprivation,” in case I run into explorers with skills like “Steal” and “Plunder” or thieves’ jobs in the future.

In the skill world, Steal was an almost unknown skill, but there are quite a few thieves in the job world.

What is a little different is the usurpation of authority skills.

It is a kind of upper compatible with “Steal” and “Plunder” in the skill world, but the target of stealing is not limited to drop items and equipment.

It is said to be able to “steal” items, abilities, and sometimes even the existence of the other person.

In addition, the stolen ability or existence is turned into a card, and by using the card, you can use the ability or existence.

Draw! Monster Card! Draw! Magic Cards! …That’s how you can play.

…I’m probably the only person in the world with this ability, so I don’t have anyone to duel with.

“I guess I need a friend to play with…”

Not exactly friends, but when I switched jobs to Usurper, I got some cards.

Hobijinkai Lv 9999, Hotei Lv 9999, Gennai Lv 9999 …and the Ghost of Junko Tozaki Lv 2941, who burns herself in the flames of hell, the Ghost of Clovis Ertland Lv 5079, who regrets his deeds in the space between worlds.

It looks like some of the skills from Summon Secret Monsters and Summon Heroic Spirits are reflected in the job Usurper.

The reason why the level of Summon Secret Monsters is higher is probably because Summon Secret Monsters is based on the specification “The level of the summoned monster is the maximum of the level of the summoner, the level of the monster at the time of defeat, and the level of any other monsters that can be summoned.” The reason for this might be the summoner level setting.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to raise the level of the summoned monster to my current level since “Summon Heroic Spirits” was summoned based on the level of the target at the time of death.

…Well, even if the level had been raised, they’re not the kind of people I’d actively want to summon.

Before I knew it, even Clovis could be summoned…

From the way the ghost of Junko Tozaki was summoned to the Skill World, it seems that it would be difficult to extract information from his mouth that he knew before he died.

“I mean, in this world, Junko Tozaki… no, Junko Himuro should still be alive, right?”

In the skill world, after Sayuki committed suicide due to bullying, Junko Himuro was forced to change schools, partly because her suicide note was circulated on SNS.

No, even in the skill world, Junko Himuro disappeared from our high school after I stopped bullying Sayuki.

In the skill world, Junko Himuro was adopted by Seiji Tozaki, and her family name was changed to Tozaki.

The woman who became Junko Tozaki led the ultra-black explorer guild “Rakan” in a series of impossible dungeon attacks, and in the end, she died in front of my eyes after being rebelled against by her subordinates.

But in this world, things have not progressed that far yet.

First of all, I don’t even know if Junko Himuro will be Seiji Tozaki’s daughter in this world.

However, at least at this point in time, she must still be alive.

I wonder what would happen if this “Ghost of Junko Tozaki Burning in the Flames of Hell, Lv. 2941” was brought face to face with the still-living Junko Himuro of the Job world?

…No, I don’t want to be so tasteful, but I’m curious in the sense of a parallel world paradox.

It’s not a time paradox, so maybe nothing would happen if they existed at the same time, or maybe one of them would disappear through some mechanism.

If that’s the case, what about me?

But I digress.

I was talking about the usurper’s ability to usurp authority.

As I said, when you become a usurper, you get a card.

And, of course, I had already tried to see if I could actually turn a monster into a card.

As a result, I have 12 copies of Rock Golem Lv 24, which I carded before I came here, two copies of Arc Sahagin Lv 9536, which I carded after I came here, and one copy of King Roper Lv 9542.

The Dark Gazer prioritized extermination over capture because of the fear of instant death from the gaze.

Unlike the Hobijinkai and other secret monsters, these monsters cannot be named.

Rock Golem Lv. 24 could be made into a card easily, but Arc Sahagin Lv. 9536 and King Roper Lv. 9542 could only be made into cards after their HP was greatly reduced.

I don’t even know how to card the “ability” in the ability description at this point.

By the way, did anyone else think that after hearing the current explanation?

If monsters can be carded, then it should be easy to card monsters along the way and hit the next monster.

That’s what I thought at first, but it doesn’t seem to be possible.

Specifically, there seems to be a restriction that a carded monster cannot be summoned if its opponents include monsters of the same type.

After thinking about the reason for this, I came up with a theory.

The Usurpation ability does not encapsulate the monster in the card; rather, the “authority” to create the monster is made into the card.

In other words, it is possible that what Usurpation of Authority usurps is not individual monsters, but the “authority” that creates monsters in the dungeon.

Therefore, if the monster created by the Dungeon is placed in front of the Usurped Card, the Usurped Card’s Authority may not be able to show its effect.

However, even with this limitation, it is possible to cut the King Roper card against an enemy formation of, say, two Arc Sahagin and one Dark Gazer.

The point is that you can use cards from monsters that are not in your opponent’s deck.

And, of course, you can call secret monsters that do not appear in that dungeon.

However, the Golden Treasure Hobbit’s “Hotei” and the Karakuri Doctor’s “Gennai” are not suitable for combat.

The only one who can play vanguard is Hobiinkai, but he would not be a good match for Arc Sahagin, who has a spear.

Especially the instant death of Dark Gazer is scary.

All cards in Secret Monsters are reusable types.

However, if a summoned Secret Monster is killed, it may not be able to be summoned again.

In terms of ease of use, regular monster cards seem to be easier to use.

So, what is the best use for Monster Cards right now?

“…They’re coming.”

There are several giant eyeballs floating in the depths of an unidentifiable limestone cave.

Needless to say, they are Dark Gazers.

The Dark Gazer formation in the background is… 5 Dark Gazers.

This is the most disturbing formation I have ever seen on the first floor.

However, if it is a genuine Dark Gazer formation and not a mixture of the two, there is a way to defeat it.

“Go, Arc Sahagin!”

I draw two Arc Sahagin Lv 9536 cards from my hand and throw them in front of me like a deck of cards.

The two cards arc into the depths of the stalactite cave, glowing blue-white.

As intended, the two Arc Sahagin materialize near the Dark Gazers.

While the Dark Gazers’ gazes are focused on the two bodies, I take my bow from my magic bag and set it up.

Usurper,

Job──────────────────

◇Unique Bonus

Compared to the normal Usurper,

・Able to use all types of weapons at once.

・Can change equipment in an instant.

・The hit rate of all attacks is exceptionally high.

・Critical hits rarely cause instant death.

・Damage increases to a certain degree when you attack by surprise, preemptively, or from behind.

(Omitted)

────────────────────

It comes with these unique bonuses.

“GUI!”

“GYAA!”

“GYAA…?”

Critical hits in quick succession.

One, two, three.

My arrows took out Dark Gazer in a flash.

The Dark Gazer has low HP and low VIT.

Its AGI is low, and its LCK is low, making it vulnerable to critical hits.

And surprisingly, it has no resistance to the instant death status abnormality.

Aside from its gaze, it is like a guy with a weakness floating in the air.

What’s doing the job for me is the Archer job I put in with the numbers.

When multiple jobs are set at the same time, jobs other than the main one are usually not effective enough.

But my Magic Swordsman support job is,

Job──────────────────

◇Support Ability

Strategic Ambiguity.

It can enhance the effect of secondary jobs that are not set as the main job to a certain extent. This support ability is always effective even if Magic Swordsman is not set as the main one.

────────────────────

This seemingly inconspicuous ability brings out the abilities of the non-main job “to a reasonable degree.”

In the job world, I’ve always thought of this ability as a “failure” category.

It is common knowledge in this world that multiple jobs should be avoided.

First of all, being a magic swordsman is a tricky job in itself because you have to balance magic and swordsmanship.

Since they have enough offensive hands, it’s hard to decide what to put on the sub.

If I had to choose one, it would be a healer-type job, but unfortunately, none of the jobs I could find were healers.

I would rather have nothing than a half-assed job.

Even though the support ability would be wasted, I would rather not have the experience gain decrease or the level-up bonus average out.

The archer used to fill the slots this time has a unique bonus that is so substantial that it is hard to believe that it is a C-rank basic job, perhaps due to the skills acquired in the skill world.

In terms of skills, Bow Technique 5 and Archery 5 alone seemed quite effective.

However, as expected, it was not possible to get critical hits with all my arrows.

My arrows failed to kill the fourth Dark Gazer, and the first two Arc Sahagin I summoned fell to their deaths almost simultaneously.

The remaining two Dark Gazers turn their death stare on me.

The usurper has absorbed the Covert skill but not the Stealth skill, which was useful in the skill world.

The effect of the Cloak of the Ethereal Realm I equipped should have made it harder to be seen but not completely invisible.

In other words, it was impossible to lose sight of the Dark Gazer’s gaze.

Then, it was a matter of speed.

“Let’s go!”

I ran as fast as I could towards one of the Dark Gazers.

I kicked a stalactite, jumped up, and returned my equipment to the magic sword in the air.

With the momentum of my jump, I swung the sword from my opposite hand into the sky.

“GGYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

The Dark Gazer’s eyeballs are ripped open, and it falls.

Where is that scream coming from when all you have are your eyeballs?

It doesn’t matter.

I had an answer, so there was no need to see how it ended.

I twisted in the air,

“Blast Nova!”

I unleashed a blast spell on the last Dark Gazer.

It was a choice that was both powerful and blinding.

But it was a moment too late.

Before Dark Gazer’s vision was closed by the explosion, Dark Gazer’s gaze passed through me.

Unfortunately, the status anomaly “instant death” was activated.

My adventure is over.

…Just kidding.

Instead of my life ending, my Substitute Doll shattered.

I had prepared this accessory as a precaution, but it was… very expensive.

I landed on the ground at the same time as the Dark Gazer, engulfed by the explosion, slammed into the wall.

But unlike the one I just sliced with my sword, this one is still alive.

Since I attacked with the sword and then with magic, the Magic Swordsman’s Rondo of Magic Sword ability is activated, but the Dark Gazer is strong against magic to begin with.

But I didn’t fail to finish him off.

I stole an item from the wall-bound Dark Gazer.

I did not steal it with Usurpation of Authority but with the Usurper’s skill, which is a higher-level job of a common thief.

‘You have obtained the Substitute Doll!’

“Good!”

I swung the magic sword I had regained with joy.

The sword->magic->sword switch increased the sword’s power, but even without it, it would have had very little HP left.

“GIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

The Dark Gazer died with a deafening scream.