CH 26

It wasn’t until some time after the battle had started that I realised that a new elite monster had appeared.

After emptying out my bowl of ramen noodles, I leisurely looked at my phone and saw the image of someone fighting Euthenia.

A male character was fighting with a shining sword.

He used his sword skills to block out the shadows and deliver a blow to Euthenia’s barrier.

Of course, Euthenia’s barrier prevented him from doing any damage, and he retreated.

“An elite monster?”

I think back to the elite monster that attacked Euthenia last time.

The previous one had also swung its sword at Euthenia to take her down.

Compared to the situation now, it didn’t feel much different.

Seeing this, I wondered if it was a common trait of elite monsters to target my characters.

“It certainly looks stronger than last time.”

The sword movements were different.

With a swift swing of his sword, he blocked Euthenia’s shadows several times.

A bright light emanated from his sword.

It seemed to be a talent that gave him additional buffs to his attack or defense.

It was definitely stronger than the elite monsters I had defeated before.

Of course, if they fought to the end, Euthenia would win easily.

– “Release!”

Roan shouted, taking advantage of the opening in Euthenia’s opponent’s defense.

Roan used the [Magic Sword: Ednos] that he had given him earlier to blast the opponent away.

Boom!

With a heavy impact sound, the elite monster flew backwards into the distance.

He had used <Lightning Arrow>, which deals up to 30 damage and causes electric shocks.

Roan’s demonstration of the [Magic Sword: Ednos] gave me a feeling of satisfaction in my heart.

It was well worth the $80,000 price tag.

“Dang. Just keep attacking.”

The opponent hit by <Lightning Arrow> took 8 damage and was slammed into a tree.

He staggers for a moment as he hits the tree, but then regains his grip on his sword and rises to his feet.

Even after being hit by Lightning Arrow, which dealt a lot of damage and stunned him, he was still able to move.

It was a far cry from the previous opponent who was simply stunned by the <Lightning> magic.

In terms of defence and durability, he seemed to be tougher than previous enemies.

It was definitely an opponent that made me feel like the difficulty of the game had increased from before.

“But it still seems easy.”

If one <Lightning Arrow> wasn’t enough, I could use <Lightning Arrow> until he died.

I pressed the skill button to activate Lightning Arrow’s targeting.

I found out after playing the game for a long time that if you hold the touch while the target is set, it will fire.

Once I activated the fire button, the skill would continue to fire without me having to press it again.

Of course, the downside was that it took a bit longer than using a skill normally.

– “Goddess!”

As I aimed my activated target at the character in front of me, he raised his sword, looking for the goddess.

A sudden search for the goddess.

From his glowing sword to his combat style, this character seemed to have a Holy Knight setting.

With the sound of electricity flowing, the <Lightning Arrow> skill was ready.

I began to fire my ready <Lightning Arrow> at my opponent.

– “Lead the way!”

After uttering those moving words, the character swung his sword at the incoming magic.

Wham!

The <Lightning Arrow> that was deflected by the glowing sword fell in a different direction.

He had used the sword to deflect the magic in a different direction.

I couldn’t help but admire the character’s ability to twist the direction of the magic.

My opponent’s ability was greater than I had expected.

“Wow, this guy can deflect magic.”

Of course, as strong as the elite monsters were, they weren’t strong enough to block all magic.

Boom! Boom! Kwaaaaaaang!

One after another, the characters who couldn’t block the <Lightning Arrow> took a hit.

The opponent directly hit by <Lightning Arrow> staggered back with 9 damage.

His defence was lower than before due to the continuous attacks.

The electrocuted character groaned and raised his sword again.

– “Ugh…….”

The more I looked at it, the more I admired it.

It has a strong defence that greatly reduces magic damage.

On top of that, he had the sword skills to block magic.

The strength of the character in front of me naturally drew my gaze to the skill icons in the corner.

The corner of the screen where the skill icons are located.

There, the button for the <Select Apostle> skill was activated, having met the trigger condition.

“Can’t I turn an Elite monster into an Apostle?”

The previous opponents I’d faced had simply used Lightning to take them down.

However, the elite monster in front of me still had options.

There are countless games out there that allow you to tame monsters.

So what happens when you choose to make an elite monster an Apostle?

Greed began to bloom in my heart as I looked at the <Apostle> skill.

Your opponent was a magic-repelling elite monster.

If he could make it his own apostle and strengthen it, it was likely to be superior to other characters.

“Ha……. How do I do this?”

There is no clear difference between elite monsters and regular characters.

Perhaps it was possible to influence elite monsters in the same way as characters.

If successful, this could potentially give me access to a powerful new character.

However, I wonder if the developers of this game would have made such a loophole.

It Would be possible. Or would it be impossible.

After some deliberation, I clicked on the skill icon to activate the target.

“What could I possibly lose?”

I thought to myself.

With that thought in mind, I used the skill.

Next. I pressed the <Select Apostle> skill and placed the activated target on top of the opponent’s character.

The boundary of the character within range of the target is turned blue.

I tapped the target again to make that character the target of the skill.

– Do you wish to select [Evan Alemia] as an Apostle?

– It costs 400 Karma to select an Apostle.

– Yes/No

After using the skill, the <Select Apostle> skill selection message was displayed.

The character I was currently fighting was named Evan Alemia.

The amount of Karma required to make Evan a new Apostle was 400.

‘I had been hunting relentlessly since acquiring the Lightning Arrow and had barely scraped by.’

I was given a choice, and it looked like I could make Evan an Apostle.

For 400 Karma, I could turn an elite monster into an Apostle of my own.

If the amount of karma I had to pay didn’t bother me, there was no reason left for me to hesitate.

“…… This is real.”

Without hesitation, I pressed the accept button.

Boom.

The screen disappeared, and Evan’s body was engulfed in a pure white flash.

His body was enveloped in light.

Evan straightened up and looked at the sky.

Evan’s face looked very tired as he looked at the sky.

At the same time as Evan was looking up, a message appeared at the bottom of the screen.

– Select [Evan Alemia] as an Apostle.

– Spent 400 Karma to create a new Divine Artifact for the Apostle.

– The [Divine Artifact: Astrape] has been attributed to [Evan Alemia].

– [Evan Alemia] has rejected the path of the Apostle.

– <Select Apostle> has been placed on hold.

Upon activating <Select Apostle>, a new item was created in the inventory.

Up until this point, the process was similar to when I made Euthenia an Apostle.

But then something happened that even I didn’t expect.

Evan refused to become an Apostle, and a message informed me that the Select Apostle skill was temporarily on hold.

The character himself refused to be my apostle.

I felt like I’d been slapped in the face with circumstances I hadn’t even imagined.

“What’s with the hold? Where’s my karma?”

My opponent is an elite monster with outstanding stats among other characters.

As such, I was somewhat prepared for a situation where I couldn’t use <Select Apostle>.

However, the problem was with my Karma.

A message popped up telling me that my Karma had been used to create an item.

My available Karma had already been reduced to zero, and the next cost of the <Select Apostle> skill had increased to 800.

On top of that, there was already a [Divine Artifact: Astrafe] in my inventory that belonged to Evan.

– ‘…… What was that?’

I looked at Evan on the screen in confusion.

Evan, who had put <Select Apostle> on hold, muttered to himself and began to run away.

Evan’s horse stood still in the direction he was running.

As he ran, the icon of a fleeing person appeared several times above his head.

As Evan ran away, I quickly pressed the skill button at the bottom of the screen.

“I just spent 400 karma and he’s running away?”

Activating Lightning Arrow, I shifted the target to Evan and continued to fire away.

Boom! Boom!

Evan ran towards the horse, dodging the lightning bolts that were falling towards him.

It was clear what Evan was trying to do as he ran towards his horse.

As I watched him, I used my skill on Evan’s still horse.

Kaaaaaah!

The horse that was hit by Lightning Arrow fell to the ground as a skeleton.

Upon noticing the fallen horse, Evan changed direction and began to run off into the mountains.

As I watched him flee, a possibility suddenly flashed through my mind.

I had been so focused on using the <Select Apostle> skill that I had forgotten about it.

– (Fleeing)

“If he dies, will my karma disappear?”

My fingers froze in place as they moved to point at Evan.

Karma is only consumed in the process of creating a Divine Artifact.

And the [Divine Artifact: Astrape] was bound to Evan, who was in the midst of the <Select Apostles> process.

So what would happen to [Divine Artifact: Astrape] if Evan died?

Most likely, it would remain locked in my inventory and become unusable.

With this possibility in mind, I had no choice but to try to come up with an amicable solution.

“I think it’ll run away as is, but the fact that it’s on hold suggests that there’s a chance that it can be proceed again.”

<Select Apostle> is only on hold because of Evan’s refusal to become an apostle.

If Evan were to accept to be an apostle again, there was a possibility that the process could resume as normal.

It was only a possibility.

However, this is also the first time that the selection process has been put on hold.

There was still plenty of room to hope for the possibility of finishing it.

I had to convince Evan somehow.

I flicked my finger to activate the conversation with Euthenia.

“Euthenia, I need you to go and get the newcomer.”

I couldn’t persuade my in-game character in the usual way.

There’s only one way to do it.

I had to send a being that could speak to the character directly to Evan.

And the only being I had left who could do that was Euthenia.

Activating the chat window, I sent a message to Euthenia asking her to somehow fetch Evan.

Of course, my message was translated by the speech bubble translator into something plausible.

[Welcome the new apostle. He who has lost his light shall find a new path.]