Chapter 137 : Puppeteer Art
Chapter 137: Puppeteer Art
“Didn’t you say the Hackphysical’s constraints were minor, Nayeon-ssi? Are those really minor?”
“By Woohyun’s standards, they probably are.”
All equipment removed. Plus an additional -17% correction.
There were only two constraints, but they were by no means as minor as Baek Woohyun had made them sound.
With the enemy’s stats boosted due to the 5-person party penalty, they wouldn’t be able to keep up without equipment, and the already paltry 50% correction being reduced further was just salt in the wound.
In short, the Beau-tiful Twins were now in a situation where they had to fight enemies stronger than themselves with a supernatural ability that wouldn’t even work properly.
“Even putting the equipment aside…””The correction too?”
The Beau-tiful Twins asked again with stunned faces.
It was less that they hadn’t heard and more that their expressions showed they desperately wished what they’d heard wasn’t true.
Hadn’t he clearly said ‘minor constraints’?
“Well, wouldn’t this make it—a sort of extreme situation in its own way?”
-There it is, ‘that situation’!
-From a viewer’s perspective, it’s pure entertainment lol
-I knew this would happen when I saw them gleefully slicing everything up the first time they fought lololol
-Something about a lion pushing its cub off a cliff or whatever…
But Baek Woohyun’s answer was utterly cold.
Even though he wore a faint smile, one could feel he had not the slightest intention of changing his mind.
In front of him, who seemed to leave no room for a single needle, the only action the Beau-tiful Twins could take was to comply.
After all, all the teachings he gave were for their sake.
“Ugh…””My ability feels so heavy…”
“Ah, perfect timing. The next opponents have arrived.”
Growl!
Grrr!
Just as the Beau-tiful Twins, who had accepted all the constraints Baek Woohyun imposed, were groaning under their heavier bodies, werewolves appeared as if they’d been waiting.
Baring their fangs as they approached, the creatures eyed the Beau-tiful Twins with their yellowish eyes. As if gauging how much their prey would resist.
Then, wicked grins spread across their maws. Sharp teeth showed between their parted jaws, and thin drool dripped down.
They had clearly judged the Beau-tiful Twins to be weaker than themselves.
Thud!
Grrroar!
Grr!
The werewolves, their eyes wide, immediately leaped toward the Beau-tiful Twins, thrusting out their claws.
Faced with slashes containing enough force to tear human flesh like paper, the Beau-tiful Twins’ response was pitifully weak compared to before.
Before the constraints, they would have jumped up and sliced them to pieces before even landing. Now, they could barely raise their swords to block.
Clang!
“Yaaah!””Kyaaah!”
The metallic sound of sword and claw clashing echoed!
Of course, blocking didn’t mean the force contained within vanished, so the Beau-tiful Twins were helplessly pushed back by the werewolves’ charge.
The same went for the subsequent, almost wild, flurry of slashes. They were too busy screaming and desperately defending.
With their stats reduced and their ability not responding as they wished, it was a natural result.
Cough!
Hack! Keh!
-Look at the werewolves laughing lololol
-Their grinning faces are so annoying lololol
-Remastered laughing werewolf meme lolololol
-They’d be one-hit kills normally, damn lol
“You bastards!””So annoying!”
Perhaps because they realized their overwhelming superiority.
The werewolves openly laughed and toyed with the Beau-tiful Twins.
The fact that mere invading entities were mocking them made the Beau-tiful Twins furious, but unfortunately, they currently lacked the power to retaliate.
They were barely holding on, and wounds were steadily accumulating all the while.
“Is it really okay to just watch like this, Woohyun?”
“It seems the Beau-tiful Twins might actually die.”
-Just gonna let them die, huh?
-Eh~ They can just reset if they do~
-He’s killed them himself before, why act surprised now
-The advantage of RePla = Doesn’t matter if you die (something he actually said)
“…No.”
After a brief silence, Baek Woohyun shook his head.
Unnoticed, he was now watching the Beau-tiful Twins struggling desperately to survive with his eyes of layered indigo circles.
To an ordinary person’s eyes, it was a perilous fight where they looked like they’d collapse and die any second, but to him, it seemed entirely different.
Only he could see the Beau-tiful Twins rapidly gaining mastery over their ability.
“Those two will be able to overcome this just fine.”
Whoosh!
“Haaah!””Chaaah!”
As if hearing Baek Woohyun’s assurance, the Beau-tiful Twins launched a counterattack.
Just as Yun Daun parried the claw swung by one werewolf, Yun Areum, who had been waiting for an opening, slashed diagonally across its torso in one motion.
Furthermore, it was over in an instant as the Beau-tiful Twins’ two swords pierced the werewolf’s throat and abdomen for the finish.
“Let’s see you try!””Keep laughing now!”
-Whoa
-That’s insane O.O
-It’s happening just like Hackphysical said
-Dammit, I believed in them!
Having taken down one werewolf with a single counter, the Beau-tiful Twins shouted triumphantly.
Even though their bodies were covered in small wounds and they were breathing heavily, their eyes shone brilliantly.
It was the light of talent that only those who had pushed beyond their limits in a dangerous situation where a single mistake could lead to being torn apart by werewolves could show.
“How on earth…”
“People tend to easily define their own limits, more than you’d think. They assume ‘this is it’ and give up even when they could do more.”
Baek Woohyun said with a faint smile.
“One only learns their true limits when pushed to an extreme situation, and even that line is merely something that can be crossed if you have the talent.”
-So it really is talent, huh
-Looking at what the twins have been doing lately, they are talent monsters;
-VR games are 80% talent anyway, so…
-That’s why he likes extreme situations
The viewers nodded in agreement with Baek Woohyun’s claim.
Watching the Beau-tiful Twins somehow managing after being pushed to an extreme, they couldn’t help but nod along.
Even if failing to overcome meant death, this was, as Baek Woohyun had said, a virtual reality where you’d just revive anyway.
“However.”
Grooowl!
Roooar!
The two remaining werewolves, having suddenly lost a pack member, roared with rage and charged. Their speed was incomparably faster than before.
Even in the onslaught that clearly felt like they hadn’t been going all out before and were just playing, the Beau-tiful Twins didn’t flinch.
They had already stepped beyond their previous limits.
Hadn’t they even gained experience defeating a werewolf in their current state by taking one down first?
Clang!
Thud!
G-gurgle!
This time, Yun Areum deflected the extending claws, and then Yun Daun, plunging into the werewolf’s now exposed chest, thrust her sword upward.
The blade stabbed in from under the jaw and scrambled its brain, causing even the sturdy werewolf to bite its tongue, roll its eyes, and collapse.
The time it took was a mere moment, making it clear that werewolves were no longer a threat to the Beau-tiful Twins.
The last werewolf that charged afterward was merely a sacrifice to prove that fact.
Just like the one they’d taken down before, the Beau-tiful Twins effortlessly slit the werewolf’s throat, not receiving a single scratch in the process.
It was no exaggeration to say that, excluding the initial pushback, they had achieved nothing but overwhelming victories.
“Wheew-“”I’m exhausted-”
-It actually worked lol
-Another win for the Hackphysical training method!
-Anyway, if you push them into an extreme situation, they somehow grow <- Why is this true?
-They got so pissed at being laughed at that they awakened O.O
As the Beau-tiful Twins siblings slumped down, breathing out long sighs after defeating all the werewolves.
Jeong Nayeon, who had quietly approached Baek Woohyun, asked.
“However—what? Why did you stop talking?”
“Because I think this level alone hardly qualifies as a fitting extreme situation for the twins.”
-What
-Gasp
-Damn;
-‘This level alone’
‘Byeolbyeolhaneul’ has donated ‘1000 won’!
[This is Hackphysical-style education O.O]
The viewers’ shock went without saying. Even Jeong Nayeon and Cha Seongcheol looked at Baek Woohyun with expressions asking ‘Are you serious?’, but he remained utterly composed.
To him, who had taught countless disciples ‘over there’, the twins’ limits were not something to be judged at this meager level.
That’s why he had said it when first proposing the constraints. Wouldn’t this be considered an extreme situation ‘in its own way’?
“So what do you plan to do? Impose more constraints?”
“No.”
Baek Woohyun slowly shook his head.
Imposing constraints to balance things was just right for now. Going further wouldn’t be of much help to the Beau-tiful Twins’ growth.
Moreover, the only constraint left to add here would be to lower the correction further, and even for the twins, reaching that point in one go would be too much.
Even now, it was already lowered to an absurd level.
“We’ll use what I prepared.”
“Ah, that thing you told me about? The new build?”
“Correct.”
“…To think you prepared a new build, that’s interesting. What’s the build’s name?”
Cha Seongcheol, who had been listening quietly, interjected to ask.
His expectations rose because Baek Woohyun, who had even handled a first-time build skillfully, had come fully prepared.
“‘Puppeteer’ build. As for the detailed abilities—I’ll show you right now.”
Grrr…
Grr? Groan!
Where Baek Woohyun’s gaze fell, two werewolves that had quietly revealed themselves were present.
Sniffing, perhaps having caught the scent of their packmates’ blood, the creatures’ faces contorted upon confirming the corpses slain by the Beau-tiful Twins.
Wolves, being pack animals, valued their kin, and werewolves were no different. Even if they were invading entities.
Awooo!
Therefore, it wasn’t strange at all for the werewolves to roar ferociously before the bodies of their dead packmates.
After letting out a howl that shook the entire forest once, they immediately charged toward the Beau-tiful Twins, stained with their kin’s blood.
Or rather, they tried to charge. They certainly would have, if not for the indigo threads that had somehow already bound their limbs.
Grrr?!
Grr! Arf!
The werewolves, suddenly deprived of freedom in their limbs, looked down at their bodies in panic. It was an action possible because they still had control over their heads.
When the silently approaching indigo threads pierced between their brows, even that control was stolen.
“Um…””Master?”
“I’m listening. Go ahead.”
“The threads bound to the werewolves…””You’re holding them, right?”
“Correct. You have sharp eyes.”
“Don’t tell me you’re using those to…””Directly control the werewolves?”
“Haha.”
-He just laughs lololololol
-??? : This is why I hate perceptive brats
-So instead of nerfing the twins, he’s buffing the werewolves
-The twins probably wish they were the ones nerfed instead lololol
Ssss—
The indigo circles within Baek Woohyun’s eyes, who had laughed, rotated smoothly.
It was clear evidence he was manifesting his ability, and indeed, the two werewolves bound by the indigo threads moved to block the Beau-tiful Twins head-on.
The creatures’ eyes, which had gleamed with killing intent, were now empty as if their souls had fled, but their claws and fangs still gleamed sharply.
“Since you already know, there’s no need for explanation. Let’s begin right away.”
“W-wait a second!””This is cheating!”
Thud!
Ignoring the Beau-tiful Twins’ frantic shouts, Baek Woohyun paid no heed. The two werewolves he controlled were the same.
They merely surged forward at a speed far surpassing that of the packmates the twins had just faced. It was a charge that seemed not to care if their muscles tore.
By the time the twins thought ‘Oh no!’, the enemies were already upon them, leaving them few options.
Driven by the instinct not to die, all they could do was raise their swords and take a defensive stance. Of course, that alone was praiseworthy of their skill.
Cr-Clang!
“Ugh!””Kyaah!”
Anyway, they survived the first attack splendidly.
Even though both received sizable wounds on their shoulders, they kept their lives.