The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All-Chapter 257: Versatile (2)

Versatile (2)

‘Hm?’

Suddenly, something appeared in the status window under Unique Talents, and it started blinking.

Unique Talent Added.

This was something that had never happened to Shin Kang-hoo in the original story. Of course, it was a common occurrence for the protagonist, Jang Si-hwan.

If the system deemed a hunter’s characteristics fitting, it would sometimes grant an additional unique talent.

Judging by the blinking notification, it seemed that Kang-hoo’s performance in this dungeon raid had been the decisive factor.

【Unique Talents: Moderately Outstanding Main Force / Exceptionally Keen Dynamic Vision / Versatile】

‘Versatile?’

A short and intuitive word.

It symbolized having many talents and abundant abilities—naturally, it was a term that anyone would feel good hearing.

Whenever a new unique talent was added beyond the existing two, the system provided a special privilege to the recipient. Each unique talent came with a different perk.

‘Yeah. If someone like me doesn’t deserve the title of “Versatile,” then who does?’

It might have sounded self-congratulatory, but Kang-hoo knew it wasn’t wrong in the slightest.

People around him often joked that he did everything by himself. The phrase aligned perfectly with the concept of versatility.

【Due to the addition of a new unique talent, you may choose one of the following three privileges.】

It was a three-way selection.

Kang-hoo scrolled down to see his options.

【First Option: When learning skills from other job categories, the penalty efficiency increases from 10% to 25%.】

‘Completely useless.’

For Kang-hoo, who had a method to bypass the penalty and learn skills at 100% efficiency, this was the worst choice. Rejected.

【Second Option: All stats increase by 50.】

‘If my magic power surpasses 50, Barbaric Era will become ineffective. Trading that off for 50 stat points? Not worth it.’

The Barbaric Era skill halved the magic consumption of all abilities, making it hard to justify giving it up.

【Third Option: Gain the passive skill "Intuition." Predicts the trajectory of ranged attacks from enemies whose level is less than 50% of the user’s.】

‘This is it.’

Kang-hoo chose the third option.

His current level was 257.

This meant it applied to enemies at level 128 and below, whether monsters or hunters.

Predicting the trajectory of their ranged attacks meant their attack paths would be displayed intuitively.

Considering how often ranged attacks from long-distance dealers in group battles ended up hitting unintended targets, this skill was nothing but beneficial—no drawbacks whatsoever.

【"Intuition" has been acquired.】

‘As expected.’

As he learned the skill, Kang-hoo also understood how it was implemented.

Ranged attacks from applicable enemies would appear as a dotted line indicating their travel path.

The color of the dotted line could be customized in the detailed tooltip, but the default setting was ash-gray.

In one-on-one combat, the skill was almost useless—after all, he had no reason to lose to someone half his level.

But in large-scale battles, it would prove incredibly useful, making Kang-hoo grin. A great privilege.

Thanks to Kang-hoo’s ultimate-class Decapitating Slash skill, the raid progressed smoothly without any problems.

Since the dungeon didn’t have a mid-boss, there were hardly any obstacles in the way.

With Kang-hoo resolving the bleeding issue completely, even a small team could push forward at high speed.

In just half a day, most of the raid was completed. The only enemy left was the dungeon’s final boss monster.

His level had now reached 260.

It felt almost unfair how quickly his level was rising.

The reason was simple.

This dungeon was far beyond the recommended level for an assassin like Kang-hoo, who had come here at level 260.

Due to its high difficulty, the experience points granted were significantly higher than usual, giving Kang-hoo far more than he expected.

“Nudder Golem King. If we just maintain the bleeding effect, this guy is basically a walking blood bag, right?”

“That’s right.”

“In fact, it’s the easiest enemy in this dungeon. It’s more of a damage tester. As long as bleeding is sustained?”

At Kang-hoo’s question, Oh Yoo-jin chuckled and answered.

In other words, if they struggled to maintain the bleeding effect, the fight would drag on endlessly. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

In past strategies where they had trouble maintaining it, this monster had taken a staggering eight hours to defeat.

An overwhelming amount of health.

Since its health was drained only through damage, without bleeding, it would recover over 90% of its lost HP—making it practically unbeatable.

But this time was different.

Two hours later.

Kang-hoo, Park Dong-jae, and the rest of the raid party had returned not to the dungeon, but to the Groo Guild’s hideout.

After finishing the raid and wrapping up all necessary matters, they had taken a car back to their original location.

As agreed beforehand, all loot from the dungeon belonged to the Groo Guild.

For Kang-hoo, the important part was what skills he could acquire from the Nudder Golem King—and he had gained something valuable.

【Toxic Blood】

【Skill Proficiency: Lv. Max】

【By coating your weapon with your own blood, you grant it toxic properties.

If an enemy is injured by an attack, they may suffer paralysis, sleep, or poison status.

The absolute success rate, determined by skill proficiency, is 22.2%.】

The Nudder Golem King’s blood was known for its strong stench, and consuming it or getting it into a wound caused status effects—Kang-hoo had suspected as much.

It turned out to be an actual skill. Thanks to his Skill Plunder, he was able to steal Toxic Blood for himself.

The absolute success rate wasn’t particularly high, and it could be lowered further depending on the opponent’s resistance to debuffs.

But since the only resource the skill required was ‘one’s own blood’—

There would likely be many opportunities to use it. If the enemy ended up paralyzed, asleep, or poisoned, it could create unexpected variables.

“With the boss monster eliminated and the dungeon reset, we don’t have to worry about instability for a while. Thank you, Kang-hoo-nim. Dong-jae-nim, you also worked hard.”

Oh Yoo-jin expressed her gratitude to Kang-hoo and Park Dong-jae as they finished preparing to leave. Oh Hye-jin, standing beside her, chimed in.

“Our strategy—the tactic, I mean—is well established now, but there’s one problem. Without Kang-hoo-nim, it doesn’t even work from the start.”

“Rather than calling that a tactic, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say it’s just a strategy dependent on a necessary hunter?”

“Kyah!”

At Oh Hye-jin’s comment, Ma Jin-ho playfully tapped her shoulder.

It seemed like a light tap, but she slid far to the side, making it hard to tell if it was a joke or if he actually hit her hard.

“Anyway, if you need me again, just call. An unstable dungeon is a real danger, after all.”

Kang-hoo spoke firmly.

Since this dungeon had never been fully conquered for an extended period, accumulated energy resulted in increased experience points.

Kang-hoo’s level was now 263—he had gained eight levels in this dungeon alone.

If the others knew, they wouldn’t just be surprised—they might even feel a bit resentful.

Oh Yoo-jin said,

“We’d love to handle things on our own, but… in the end, we can’t help but rely on you, Kang-hoo-nim. Thanks for everything.”

“It’s a partnership contract. We both need each other, so let’s continue this relationship.”

For Kang-hoo, this partnership had no downsides and offered only benefits. There was no reason to refuse.

“Yes! Thank you for your hard work. If there’s another dungeon you’re interested in, send me a list. I’ll immediately let you know if something’s impossible, and if not, I’ll reach out right away.”

“Same here. Even if it’s not about maintaining bleeding effects, I can always participate as a main dealer, so don’t hesitate to contact me.”

“Thank you for everything! We’ll be going now!”

At Kang-hoo’s closing remark, Park Dong-jae naturally added his farewell, wrapping up the situation.

Though he didn’t show it outwardly, Park Dong-jae had also significantly raised his level inside the dungeon.

On top of that, he had conducted extensive tests on which buffs worked best for tanking-specialized swordsmen.

Besides gaining experience points, he had also accumulated practical battle knowledge—a direct benefit of working with Kang-hoo.

Just like the debuff skill he had obtained in Norway.

Being around Kang-hoo was like standing under a tree that constantly dropped good fortune and opportunities.

For that reason, Park Dong-jae felt both gratitude and a sense of responsibility.

And so, he resolved to never take this for granted.

“A precious guest.”

Yes, to Park Dong-jae, Kang-hoo was someone he had to treat with the utmost care—someone he was deeply grateful for.

A truly precious guest.

Normally, Kang-hoo’s routine would have been to head straight to the airport after finishing his business in Jeju Island.

But he decided to respect Park Dong-jae’s routine—having a meal with beer as a kind of post-mission ritual.

Thus, Kang-hoo found himself at a well-known haejangguk (hangover soup) restaurant in Jeju with Park Dong-jae.

Kang-hoo wasn’t particularly interested in gourmet food.

Even if he ate something delicious, the highest praise he would typically give was, “Not bad.”

However, the haejangguk he ate with Park Dong-jae was so good that he found himself saying,

“This is really delicious.”

He kept reaching for his spoon, savoring every bite—it was an experience that truly made him understand what it meant to be enticed by food.

“Hyung, how is it?”

“It’s seriously good.”

“Right? This haejangguk place is top-notch. The broth is rich, and there’s plenty of meat. Not to mention how tender it is!”

“You worked hard. Eat up.”

“Of course! Ah, nothing beats having gukbap with beer after a tough job like this.”

Slurp! Gulp! Bwoooop!

“…Just pick one.”

“Ah, my bad… I guess I was enjoying it too much.”

Eating, burping, and farting.

Park Dong-jae had unintentionally achieved the ‘Triple Crown.’ Kang-hoo gave him a look of disapproval, but it was clear he was enjoying the meal a lot.

Halfway through their meal, Park Dong-jae casually changed the topic.

He brought up a subject that had repeatedly come up in recent conversations with Kang-hoo.

“Hyung. About the Myeongga Guild.”

“Yeah?”

“For now, they’re going to focus more on solo play.”

“Because of growth stagnation?”

“Yeah. Since everyone’s level is so high now, even solo or duo runs provide enough firepower.”

“Makes sense.”

“But because they’ve been sticking to a minimum of four people for safety, their growth rate has slowed down significantly.”

“And increasing dungeon difficulty isn’t an option because they don’t own any high-level dungeons?”

“Exactly. They just don’t have dungeons at a high enough level… so they’re running into limitations.”

In the original story, the state of Myeongga Guild before they were attacked by Haeohwa Guild wasn’t depicted.

But based on what he was hearing from Park Dong-jae, Kang-hoo could make an educated guess:

This was the seed of their downfall.

If they reorganized their playstyle around solo or duo runs, they would become easy targets for external forces.

Each member would enter dungeons at different times, causing frequent gaps in communication.

If an enemy exploited those gaps, even an elite guild would struggle to survive.

Kang-hoo couldn’t be sure whether the Myeongga Guild would end up being his ally in the future.

But he was certain of one thing—they would never be Jeonghwa Guild’s ally.

If that was the case, then, just like Lee Hyun-seok, the best course of action would be to help them survive and maintain their guild’s existence.

Yes.

It was time to reveal some classified information.