I Gave Up Being Stronger

Mysteries were much more common in Garbinu’s era than they were in modern times. Players in that era relied more on Mysteries than on Skills and Traits, and Mysteries were also extensively researched.

‘Spilling Wind?’

Spilling Wind was a common and weak Mystery. Garbinu quickly came to his senses. His opponent had to be lying.

‘I need to find out his true Mystery.’ Even if it consumed some of his power, Garbinu needed to know.

“The lord of the Evil Spirit is asking you a question.”

Garbinu used an incantation that called for truth. This was Garbinu’s high-level incantation that bound his opponent with invisible energy, forcing them to speak only the truth. The downside was that the opponent could answer with only yes or no, but that was enough for the current situation.

“Is your evasion Mystery really Spilling Wind?” Garbinu asked.

“I told you it is.”

Garbinu was startled. Jin-Hyeok had expressed his answer in a completely strange format.

‘The incantation worked perfectly,’ Garbinu thought. It seemed that as time changed, new ways of dealing with incantations had emerged. Although the form of expression was different from what Garbinu had expected, he had confirmed that the evasion Mystery was indeed Spilling Wind. ‘If the evasion Mystery is only Spilling Wind, the other Mystery can’t be something like Daemon’s Luck Calling.’

The other Mystery must be of an even higher grade than Imprinted Mysteries. It would need to be at least at the God of Luck level to produce such an effect when combined with Spilling Wind.

“Then your luck Mystery must be the God of Luck,” Garbinu said.

Among all Mysteries, God of XXX was the highest-tier Mystery in its respective category. These were called Transcendent Mysteries.

Jin-Hyeok nodded. “Yes. I have God of Luck.”

“As I thought.” Garbinu grinned. “A combination of Spilling Wind and God of Luck, huh.”

It was truly an unexpected combination—a fusion of a common universal Mystery and a Transcendent Mystery. If Mysteries with such a large gap were combined, the combination was bound to be unstable. Garbinu needed to target that gap to weaken Jin-Hyeok. Then he could take over his body.

‘I need time,’ Garbinu thought.

Fortunately, Jin-Hyeok spoke first. “Wait.”

“What is it?”

“I didn’t use anything.”

“?”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t use any Mysteries.” Jin-Hyeok was also desperate. ‘He’s barking up the wrong tree!’

Jin-Hyeok could understand why Garbinu was acting like this. Garbinu was trying to exploit his weakness. However, Jin-Hyeok wanted him to exploit the weakness properly.

In his first appearance, Garbinu had seemed like a final boss in a game. But things were proceeding too blandly right now. If this went on, Jin-Hyeok’s viewers would be greatly disappointed. Jin-Hyeok realized he needed to craft an appropriate sense of crisis and tension for an appropriate opponent.

However, Garbinu did not believe Jin-Hyeok’s words.

“Sure, you didn’t use anything,” Garbinu sarcastically replied.

Jin-Hyeok’s mind raced. ‘It looks like he’ll try to take over my body again…’

Jin-Hyeok could not fill his content with such meaningless actions. He glanced to the side, at Dragan the Gluttony, who was standing respectfully.

“Why don’t you try devouring Garbinu instead?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“I could certainly try, but that might be exactly what Garbinu wants. That vile creature’s goal is probably to devour all four Demon Lords.”

The fact that the person who had taken over Kadiva was ultimately Garbinu proved Dragan’s assumption.

“I might end up losing my body instead,” Dragan said.

“Then what if I weaken Garbinu’s power a bit?”

“In that case, it might be worth a try.” Even just thinking about devouring Garbinu, who had already consumed three Demon Lords, made Dragan drool. He seemed delighted.

“Sounds good,” Jin-Hyeok said. He then modified his livestream title.

[Eating Garbinu]

They decided to try devouring Garbinu, who was once called the sexiest Demon King in the universe.

***

From the stomach of the Demon Lord Kadiva, who was a giant toad, a handsome man emerged. He had black hair, black eyes, and a white and straight nose. His jawline was smooth and his body impeccable. He possessed all the qualities to be called handsome, looking like a piece of work meticulously crafted by the god of sculpture.

“Prepare yourself, Kim Chul-Soo,” Garbinu said. He slowly walked up and stood before Jin-Hyeok. In his right hand, he held a whip made of black mana.

He swung the whip, and the whip smoothly moved it like a snake, opening its maw toward Jin-Hyeok.

“Activate defensive Mystery Phantom Swordswoman,” Jin-Hyeok muttered.

The Phantom Swordswoman appeared and swung her hammer. Like a batter hitting a pitcher’s ball, she struck the whip. The whip seemed to bend at an odd angle before completely binding the Phantom Swordswoman.

“An offensive Phantom Swordswoman… It’s a fairly well-developed Mystery,” Garbinu said. He clenched his fist. The whip binding the Phantom Swordswoman dug into her skin. The Phantom Swordswoman twisted in pain. “But Chul-Soo, you have made a big mistake.”

Trying to use a combination of three Mysteries was not a good choice. Using three or more Mysteries simultaneously would dramatically weaken their efficiency. It was worse than not combining them at all, especially when the previously combined Mysteries (Spilling Wind and God of Luck) had a large gap.

Due to the excessive use of Mysteries, the connection between them would weaken, which would lead to side effects.

“Not at all. I have not made any mistakes,” Jin-Hyeok retorted.

“You’d like to believe that.”

Jin-Hyeok realized while looking at Mole Woman that seduction techniques were also very useful for attracting viewers. The Phantom Swordswoman was a perfect Mystery for using the seduction technique. Moreover, bound by the whip, the Phantom Swordswoman was creating a strangely decadent atmosphere.

In fact, the number of viewers was increasing.

‘Wait… Did I make a mistake?’ Jin-Hyeok thought. ‘What if I had let the whip hit me? What if my clothes were torn and my upper body was inevitably exposed?’

That would have probably attracted a lot of attention.

Jin-Hyeok gritted his teeth and said, “Phantom Swordswoman. Return.”

After recalling the Phantom Swordswoman, Jin-Hyeok charged toward Garbinu, expecting the whip to fly at him.

‘Come one! Bind me instead!’

However, with his long experience and know-how, Garbinu felt an indescribable sense of crisis.

‘He’s coming in so openly without any defense!’ Garbinu thought that this was likely to be a trap. Instead of swinging the whip, he shot dozens of black spheres. These spheres were concentrated with tainted energy that sucked away their target’s life force.

Jin-Hyeok decided to try getting hit by the spheres for now. With so many of these spheres, he could pretend to dodge some of them and get hit by some.

‘I believe in you, Tainted Priestly Robe!’

He decided to trust this defensive gear with the special ability to break easily.

‘Damn it!’

However, the defensive gear betrayed Jin-Hyeok’s trust. The moment the tainted spheres touched Jin-Hyeok, he absorbed them.

“Hahaha!” Garbinu laughed heartily.

Absorbing the tainted spheres was the worst move Chul-Soo could make. Now, the corruption would consume him from deep within his soul. He would lose vitality and wither away.

“Miri. I believe in you.” Jin-Hyeok swung Miri. Golden beams of light burst forth from Miri, shooting toward Garbinu’s chest.

[The Trait ⌜Persistent and Sticky Desire⌟ has been activated.]

Garbinu smirked and crossed his arms in an X. He could easily block attacks from that angle. It was an attack coming so straightforwardly without aiming for blind spots that he could easily block it regardless of its destructive power.

‘What?’ Garbinu was startled. The beam of light instantly bent at an angle that defied all laws of physics. The light beam split into two and pierced through Garbinu’s temple. Garbinu could have dodged the attack, but had decided not to.

‘I need to sacrifice small things to achieve bigger goals!’

In the end, what mattered to Garbinu was taking over Jin-Hyeok’s body. He planned to find a gap between the two combined Mysteries, wedge in, destroy the Mysteries, and ultimately devour Jin-Hyeok.

***

Dragan the Gluttony knew well that the tainted spheres Garbinu had shot out would be useless against Jin-Hyeok. To him, Jin-Hyeok was pure corruption itself. Normal corruption would only be devoured by more profound corruption.

When Jin-Hyeok’s attack pierced both of Garbinu’s temples, he sensed something.

‘My opportunity will come soon!’ Dragan thought. He had to devour Garbinu the moment the Demon King was weakened. That would be the moment a new Dragan would be born. It would surely be the instant when a new history in the Demon Realm would begin.

‘Huh?’

However, Garbinu fell to his knees and collapsed.

‘Is it a trap?’ Dragan wondered if Garbinu was using deception. ‘No, it has to be a trap.’

Garbinu would lure the opponent in like this and then bite their neck at a crucial moment.

Dragan was ultimately wrong, but something was still a bit strange.

Jin-Hyeok also felt this strangeness. ‘Why isn’t he moving at all?’

Jin-Hyeok kept Broadcaster’s Insight activated just in case, but even with it, he didn’t detect anything. Usually, he would at least see states like [#Pathetic} or [#I am in pain]. However, this time, he saw nothing. It seemed like Garbinu had died.

‘I need to see this closer.’

Jin-Hyeok approached Garbinu and swung Miri again. With a crack, Garbinu, who had exposed the back of his head, fell forward. Soon, he began to disappear into black fragments.

“...”

“...”

An awkward silence swept over the surroundings. Jin-Hyeok watched Garbinu disappear into dust with a disappointed expression.

-Delicious. Hehehe.

Jin-Hyeok felt a slight sense of crisis. He was worried that this could be anticlimactic if he wasn’t careful.

‘Maybe Dragan will betray me.’

Jin-Hyeok thought he could shift his content toward teaching Dragan a lesson. However, he did not see any signs of betrayal from Dragan.

Having witnessed Garbinu’s anticlimactic disappearance firsthand, Dragan did not even dare to think of turning against Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Hyeok gritted his teeth and glared at the sky. “That coward. He ran away.”

***

Prince Deliark Dmak Swedeen of the Swedeen Empire secretly issued an order. “Find Garbinu immediately.”

Garbinu was a powerful card that could challenge Chul-Soo. Deliark wasn’t certain why Garbinu had fled. He guessed that Garbinu had not fully recovered his power, or there was some other reason.

‘I need to find Garbinu and cooperate with him,’ Deliark thought.

In his eyes, Chul-Soo was a dangerous element that he had to eliminate somehow. According to recent polls, Chul-Soo’s favorability had become excessively high. Even many citizens of the Swedeen Empire had developed a liking for Chul-Soo. As a result, even the authority of the imperial family was on the verge of being shaken.

‘He’s becoming too powerful too fast. Chul-Soo is dangerous.’

If things continued like this, Chul-Soo could harbor ambitions to take over the empires. Deliark could no longer wait. He decided to eliminate Chul-Soo by any means necessary. Fortunately, he had a decent justification.

“As we have seen this time, Chul-Soo is pure corruption itself. He’s the same as Demons born from corruption. Arvis has long been threatened by Demons, and Demons are an uncontrollable risk factor. Chul-Soo must immediately obey orders and come to the Swedeen Empire for interrogation.

“I, Deliark Dmak Swedeen, the legitimate heir of the sacred bloodline, will personally oversee his interrogation. The Sword Emperor unit shall visit Earth directly and bring Chul-Soo,” Deliark announced.

The Sword Emperor Unit, the pride of Swedeen, arrived in the Earth Server.