With the magic power I possessed, I couldn’t steal all of these fates.

If so, I simply needed to steal their magic power first.

[Confirming stealable fortunes!]

[Acquiring a portion of magic power. Magic power increases!]

[Acquiring a portion of magic power. Magic power increases!]

A powerful aura of magic, unlike anything I had ever felt before, began to swirl around me.

Even as I rapidly siphoned their magic power, I was simultaneously plundering their other fates.

[Acquired Special Ability ‘Riot of a Hundred Flowers’!]

[Acquired Special Ability ‘Concealment Art’!]

[Water attribute resistance increases!]

[Acquiring a portion of Senses…]

An overwhelming flood of messages poured in, enough to make my head split open.

It felt as though hundreds of voices were echoing inside my mind.

Nausea surged up my throat as blood burst from my nose and mouth.

Feeling my consciousness about to slip away, I bit down hard on my tongue.

I absolutely could not pass out.

Hundreds of messages frantically rang in my ears before silence barely descended.

[Plundered the fates of 421 individuals!]

I could sense the thick stench of blood and overwhelming power radiating from myself.

With this level of power, could I kill Baekyoung?

I didn’t know, but I couldn’t afford to back down.

As I staggered to my feet, Baekyoung turned to look at me.

“Are you Seo Kangrim?”

I didn’t answer.

Baekyoung likely didn’t need an answer either.

The moment our eyes met, she lunged at me.

-Chaeng!

The clash of sword against sword echoed through the cave.

Gathering my wits, I realized I had instinctively raised my sword to block her attack in the blink of an eye.

[Special Ability ‘Great Shift of Heaven and Earth1‘ is active!]

[Special Ability ‘Sword Master’ is active!]

[Special Ability ‘Reflexes’ is active!]

Baekyoung’s eyes widened slightly, but her second attack followed immediately.

She thrust at my neck once more, but this time, I could read the trajectory of her strike.

[Special Ability ‘Hawk’s Eye’ is active!]

It felt less like I was wielding the abilities and more like they were controlling my body.

All I had to do was surrender myself to their flow.

-Kagakang!

The grating screech of steel against steel rang out once more.

Yet, I still couldn’t fully block her sword.

Every time Baekyoung’s blade narrowly grazed my body, a flurry of ability notifications echoed in my ears.

[Special Ability ‘Thousand-Pound Drop2‘ is active!]

[Special Ability ‘Indestructible Diamond Body3‘ is active!]

[Special Ability ‘Hardening’ is active!]

Each time her blade traced its path across my flesh, fresh wounds opened and blood spilled.

I was only barely holding on thanks to the abilities activating automatically.

I now possessed hundreds of abilities, but I had no time to understand or utilize them all.

It was a small mercy that our swordsmanship was evenly matched.

-Kang, kaang!

I could feel her sword strikes gradually losing their edge.

At this rate, I might actually be able to kill Baekyoung.

[Special Ability ‘Void Stepping’ is activating!]

I stepped onto the empty air and leaped into Baekyoung’s blind spot.

Her back was exposed.

If I thrust now, I could end her.

But in that instant, Baekyoung swiftly twisted her body and deflected my attack.

-Jjaenggang!

The moment her sword collided with mine, my blade snapped weakly in half.

The shattered sword scattered into fragments like broken ice.

Through the falling debris, I met Baekyoung’s icy gaze.

And then, like a massive iron weight slamming into me, Baekyoung’s fist drove deep into my abdomen.

“Keugh…!”

As I collapsed, vomiting blood, countless physical enhancement abilities screamed in protest.

It was a destructive force hard to believe could come from a bare fist.

Under normal circumstances, I would have died.

I had only taken a single punch, yet it felt like my internal organs were half-destroyed.

I was only still alive thanks to the fortune I had stolen from others.

[Pain Resistance is active!]

[Fear Resistance is active!]

But that alone wasn’t enough to offset all the pain.

Even as I commanded my body to move, I remained face-down on the floor.

Amidst it all, the sound of Baekyoung’s footsteps reached me.

“Your weapon is of a lower grade than your skills.”

I hadn’t noticed while frantically blocking her attacks, but my sword had been reduced to a battered mess.

Of course, the grade of a weapon owned by someone of the Third Insect Grade like me was obvious.

It was nothing short of a miracle that my weapon had withstood Baekyoung’s sword strikes this long.

But I couldn’t die like this.

Not until I had killed Baekyoung, at the very least.

I clenched my teeth and forced myself up.

If swordsmanship wouldn’t work, I had no choice but to use curse-type abilities.

“Why are you trying to kill me?”

I asked the question simply to buy time.

In response, Baekyoung merely stared at me blankly.

For someone who had just massacred so many people, she showed no signs of disturbance.

Nor did she display any anger toward me or seem pleased about being able to kill me.

She simply looked indifferent, like someone going about routine business.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

The moment those words left her mouth, a sudden chill filled the air.

I looked up to see countless ice blades materializing overhead.

The very same attack that had annihilated so many people moments ago.

As the ice blades rained down, I tried to kick off the ground and move, but the aftereffects of her punch still lingered.

-Puuk!

Just before I could escape, an ice blade pierced through my left leg and pinned it to the floor.

My leg wouldn’t move, as if a massive iron nail had been driven through it.

With trembling hands, I barely managed to pull the ice blade free, and blood gushed out, soaking the floor.

I lay sprawled on the ground like a bug, doing nothing but gasping for breath.

She approached me slowly, raising a sword still slick with fresh blood.

“Your Eight Characters are quite tragic.”

Baekyoung said as she looked down at me quietly.

Her gaze seemed almost pitying.

If I were her, I would pity and mock myself too.

Even after stealing the fortunes of 421 people, I didn’t know how to use them properly.

Even with so many weapons at my disposal, I couldn’t kill Baekyoung.

I didn’t truly know anything.

But there was exactly one thing.

There was one ability I knew perfectly well.

[Special Ability ‘Tree Leaf Seed Technique’ is activating!]

-Chwaak!

Countless thorny vines sprouted from the ground soaked with my blood.

The ability of Sect Leader Shin Sooa.

Having watched her use it for so long, I knew at least how to wield this one.

“……!”

Hundreds of vines whipped through the air toward her.

It was a far greater amount than when Shin Sooa had used it moments ago.

[Magic power is being consumed rapidly!]

The volume of vines had increased in proportion to the magic power I had absorbed from so many people.

A flicker of panic flashed across Baekyoung’s face.

When she swung her sword to sever the vines, another immediately filled the gap.

The vines crashed over her like a massive wall, like a tidal wave.

However, Baekyoung’s dazzling swordsmanship was capable of cleaving even the tide.

The relentless barrage of vines that had seemed endless began to thin out.

And the moment a faint look of relief began to dawn on her face.

I lunged at Baekyoung.

-Puuk!

A blade embedded itself in Baekyoung’s neck.

Baekyoung stared at me in disbelief.

The very ice blade that had pierced my leg moments ago was now buried in her throat.

[Special Ability ‘One Strike, Certain Kill’ is activating!]

[Special Ability ‘Blessing of the Blade’ is activating!]

[Special Ability ‘Mortal Wound’ is activating!]

The cold blade tore through her artery, and blood gushed out.

I swept the blade horizontally.

-Chwaak!

Warm blood splattered in all directions.

Even for someone as mechanical as her, hot blood still flowed.

Baekyoung stared at me with those unreadable eyes until the very end, and then she collapsed.

“Haa, haa…”

Ragged breaths exploded from my lungs. The stench of blood laced every exhale.

I looked down at the stream of blood pouring from my stomach.

When I drove the ice blade into Baekyoung’s neck, she had swung her sword at me as well.

I couldn’t possibly dodge that.

I had barely managed to take down Baekyoung, but my body was a wreck.

There were likely recovery-type abilities among the ones I had stolen, but I couldn’t muster the will to use them.

My magic power was nearly depleted as well.

I simply pitched forward, gasping for breath.

Everyone was dead.

The sect members, Shin Sooa, and even Baekyoung.

“…That’s why I told you not to recruit me.”

When I had my fortune read as a child, the shaman had told me.

[Your Eight Characters are destined for misfortune, riddled with Sal. It is a fate where you will lose your parents early and live a life plagued by bad luck.]

Just as she said, I lost my parents before I came of age, got tangled in all sorts of incidents and accidents, and the people around me suffered great and small misfortunes.

That was why I had tried to leave the Flying Tiger Sect.

A weak fortune that only brought misfortune.

Despite that, they had taken me in, and now they were dead because of me.

I should have stepped forward the moment Baekyoung came looking for me.

If I had, no one would have died.

If I had died first, everyone else would have been safe.

Only regret washed over me.

If only I could turn back time, I would have stepped forward the moment Baekyoung came looking for me…

As I swallowed nothing but regret.

My eyes snapped open amidst the corpses.

No. There was a way. And it was right in front of me.

As my consciousness faded, I forced my body upright.

Lacking the strength to walk, I dragged myself across the floor toward Baekyoung.

I activated my ability toward her corpse.

[Special Ability ‘Fortune Stealing’ is activating!]

[Stealing the fortune of target ‘Baekyoung’!]

There was only one thing I needed right now.

[Acquired Special Ability ‘Regression’!]

Regression.

That alone was my hope.

I didn’t know what point in time I would return to, but I had no other choice.

[Special Ability ‘Regression’ is activating!]

The moment I confirmed the activation of Regression, my vision darkened.

I couldn’t see anything around me.

The countless corpses, the Demon Realm, the carcasses of the Demon Beasts—nothing.

[Tar… …ing.]

[…hand… … …ing.]

[… … … …]

It sounded like something was speaking, but I couldn’t understand it.

Like falling asleep, my consciousness was slipping further and further away.

I closed my eyes in the darkness.