Only My Skill Tooltip Is Strange

Chapter 98

A martial artist whose identity I did not know arrived at the inn.
Although we had never met before, I could tell why he had come.

His eyes were glaring, filled with hostility—it was clear to anyone who wasn't a fool.

The men dressed in black asked immediately upon seeing me, their voices harsh and threatening.

“Are you the one who touched our Heukammun?”
“Heukammun?”

I had never heard of a sect named Heukammun.
The only factions I knew of were the Gupeilbang and the Five Great Families.
Even those, I wasn’t well-versed in.

The names were all I had heard.
Hwasa, Jeomchang, something like that.

But Heukammun?
I had no idea.

It was Namgung Hyuk who responded to the mention of Heukammun.
And the guests dining at Sooun Inn.

“Great Hero. Heukammun is one of the sects that dominates the 7th floor.”
“From the name with ‘heuk’ (black), they’re probably from the dark factions?”
“…In the Tower of Struggle, there’s no real distinction between factions.”

Namgung Hyuk whispered from behind me, adding that they hated being called dark factions, just to clarify.

But it was too late.

“How dare you draw your sword against Heukammun on the 7th floor? I’ll kill you!”

Their dissatisfaction was palpable. The fact that I treated them like a dark faction seemed to have greatly offended them, and without hesitation, one of the men drew his sword.

“It’s still broad daylight, and you’re causing a scene at an inn? What’s wrong with the security on the 7th floor?”
“Such things happen often in Zhongyuan. Martial artists tend to draw their swords at the slightest provocation. If the Namgung Family had been intact, this wouldn’t have happened…”

Namgung Hyuk trailed off, his words clearly not directed at me but whispered for the Heukammun man to hear.

The man from Heukammun reacted. His black sleeve trembled with anger.

“What’s the point of being a swordmaster from Zhongyuan? In the Tower of Struggle, you’re just another worthless martial artist!”
“The nonsense about being from the Namgung Family ends today. Gok Gyeom is dead, and now there’s no one left to stop me. I’ll kill you!”

Namgung Hyuk took out his sword in terror.
Despite his resolute action, his face showed no confidence at all.

It seemed like Namgung Hyuk could feel deep down that he was weaker than his opponent.

“I don’t care what your connection is… but that stance is a bit uncomfortable.”

Was it annoyance?
The fact that the Heukammun martial artists were so sure of their victory was unsettling.

“Heh. Just because you defeated Gok Gyeom and his elite guard, don’t think you can easily take us down. We’re different from him. We know how to properly utilize the Soul System.”
“Gok Gyeom was the same.”

Who doesn’t use the Soul System?
Maybe someone like Swordmaster might not, but still.

“Yeah, keep talking.”

The man from Heukammun activated his skill.

I didn’t know what skill it was.
Just because I was in the Soul System didn’t mean I knew every skill it had.

That’s why agility and health are important.
To evade or survive and counterattack, even when skills with hit-rate modifiers come my way.

“Vines, huh.”

The skill he activated was a crowd control skill.
I had expected something like this.

Against a strong opponent, there’s no better method than restricting their movement with crowd control skills.

Vines burst through the floor of the inn, grabbing my legs.
Though I had raised my agility considerably, the “Dodge” didn’t trigger.

“Without survival instinct, it’s not invincibility.”

With an agility stat of 50.
Technically, just below the peak.

With stats not even reaching the peak martial artists, I couldn’t perfectly dodge a Soul System skill.

“But.”

I didn’t rely solely on my stats.
I had an artifact prepared for situations like this.

[‘Messenger’s Step Lv.1’ offsets ‘Binding’.]

The tooltip error had drastically buffed the Messenger’s Step effect.
It reduced the crowd control skill’s effectiveness by about 50%.

A 2-second bind became 1 second.
A 1-second bind became 0.5 seconds.

“At the strongest level, this is still useful. Against guys who aren’t even peak martial artists, it’s nothing.”

I tore the vines apart immediately.
The binding effect was released, and I regained my freedom.

I rushed toward the man and slapped him.
Just like this morning, I covered my right hand with a Ground Strike, but the power was completely different.

Why? Because I had a golden dagger in my left hand.

Crack-!

The added 40 attack power made the Ground Strike’s damage nearly triple.

Around 500 HP was a one-shot kill.

[Absorbing the soul of Bang Sangwoon (Martial Artist).]
[Strength increases by 0.02.]

The Heukammun martial artist who had been talking earlier collapsed.
He couldn’t withstand my Ground Strike.

His comrades from Heukammun, following suit, glared at the corpse of Bang Sangwoon.
I could see the crazy look in their eyes, and it made me laugh.

“D-Daehobop-nim!”
“Who the hell do these insignificant scumbags think they are, talking about being sect leaders and whatnot? Pathetic!”

Namgung Hyuk shouted at the dumbfounded Heukammun men.
He drew his sword proudly, raising his momentum.

“Great Hero, we can’t just let these guys go. Do you know how much suffering the righteous martial artists on the 7th floor have endured because of them…!”
“Honestly, I don’t care.”
“…What?”

Martial artists’ troubles and suffering?
I’m not concerned with that.

“I’m not even from a righteous faction.”

Namgung Hyuk’s eyes twitched in surprise.
He seemed taken aback by my response.

“These bastards…!”

The Heukammun men activated their skills.
Even though their Daehobop had died, they weren’t backing down.

“Because of the Soul System, it’s even worse, isn’t it?”

If this were the Tower of Struggle,
They would’ve already been thinking of running from a stronger opponent.

But in the Tower of Struggle, they could attempt to turn things around with their skills, so they felt the need to resist despite it being pointless.

It was all for nothing.
Their skills could either be avoided or neutralized, and my attacks brought them death.

“Ugh, uuuuuhh…! Aaaahhh!”

I killed a couple more.
Then, a man tried to flee.

Though his back looked pathetic, he was actually the smartest one.

“I won’t let you go.”

I activated Ground Strike on him.

The inn floor shook as I struck the soles of his feet, sending him airborne.
2 seconds.
Airborne for 2 seconds.

At the peak martial artist level, 2 seconds of vulnerability was essentially a death sentence.

“Grr!”
“A bit disappointing there’s no long-range intercept skill?”

I missed the Blind Poison Needle.

I killed all the men in black.
There were only eight of them, so it didn’t take long.

“Any chance they’ll come back from Heukammun?”
“…They’ll keep coming. Unless Heukammun decides to abandon its name on the 7th floor.”
“They probably care a lot about their reputation. It makes sense.”

The most important thing when doing bad things is not to look like an easy target.

“If you’re treated like garbage, it’s over.”

If they hadn’t started this fight, maybe things would’ve been different.
But the moment they initiated the fight, there were only two choices:
Abandon Heukammun or go all the way.

“Thank you, Great Hero.”

Namgung Hyuk bowed to me.
Unlike before, his posture was more respectful.

“Thanks to you, the righteous martial artists can safely ascend the Tower now.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. On the 7th floor, righteous martial artists have been oppressed. Especially the women have suffered a lot.”

As I listened, a question popped up in my mind.

“…Both righteous and dark factions will be summoned to the Tower anyway.”
“In Zhongyuan, the righteous faction was much stronger. But in the Tower of Struggle, the balance of power has collapsed. Because of soul absorption and skills.”

The number of dark faction members had already been large, and the Soul System allowed them to grow stronger easily.

“Well, I’ve seen quite a few of them on my way up.”

Those who freely expressed their desires.
They were everywhere.
It seemed to be a trait of men, or maybe something else...

“Why do they insist on forcibly taking women?”

I couldn’t understand their actions.

“Well, the 7th floor is better off. Dark factions like Heukammun are keeping a low profile.”
“…Is that really keeping a low profile?”
“We’re at Sooun Inn. Sooun Inn is a small inn on the 7th floor, so there are fewer customers. Even if something unpleasant happens, rumors don’t spread quickly.”

But why did they bring me here?

“…That’s why the prices are cheap. Compared to the other inns around… Well, the Earthlings say it’s good value for the money.”
“Tch.”

Namgung Hyuk admitted the truth.

“I guess that makes sense.”

Looking at him, Namgung Hyuk didn’t seem to have much money.
He didn’t have the background of the Namgung Family, after all, so it was understandable.

“I have a question.”
“Ask anything. I’ll answer as best I can.”
“You said Heukammun is laying low. Why are they laying low?”

They came here and caused a ruckus.
But that’s considered laying low?

“…It’s because of Jeomchanggwang. No, Seomgwanggeomhui.”
“Seomgwanggeomhui?”
“Yes. Seomgwanggeomhui challenged a dark martial artist who crossed the line…”

Seomgwanggeomhui was killing dark martial artists.
That’s why they were cautious.

“Then why come all the way here and make a scene? Is Namgung Family more famous than I thought?”
“….”

Namgung Hyuk awkwardly smiled.
He didn’t deny that the Heukammun visit was because of him.

“If Heukammun came during the day, it would’ve been fine. But if they come at night, it’ll be a bit uncomfortable.”

After thinking for a moment, I made my decision.

“It’s better to clear out Heukammun in advance for peace of mind. What do you think?”
“…Huh?”

Just then, a voice came from outside.

“There are bodies of Heukammun members outside. Jeomsoi, what happened?”

A woman walked boldly into the Sooun Inn.

The elf named Jeomsoi hurriedly approached and explained what had happened to the woman.
Namgung Hyuk whispered in my ear in a startled tone.

“It’s Jeomchanggwanggyeon…!”
“Jeomchanggwanggyeon?”

The woman’s sharp gaze met mine, as if she had heard my muttering.
We looked at each other.

“Great Hero Ryu?”
“Yeah. Shanks.”

A one-armed female martial artist.
I recognized her face.

The woman smiled brightly and spoke.

“It’s Eunseoryeong.”
“Ah, I remember now.”

She was the martial artist from the 1st floor who mistook me for a dragon.

“By the way, Great Hero. What did you mean earlier? Jeomchanggwanggyeon…?”

She kept smiling, but her eyes were no joke.