Chapter 36 …
“Is this crazy bastard serious…? So instead of teaming up, you’d rather we all just die together?”
To them, Dohyun didn’t look sane at all.
Sure, to be honest, they had planned to kill him the moment the dungeon was cleared.
A raid would drain HP and stamina anyway, and in that weakened state, their numerical advantage would give them the upper hand.
But that was all in the future.
Right now, shouldn’t they choose the option that lets them survive first—
“Who said we’re all dying?”
“…?”
“Do you even know what your Selfish Defense trait actually blocks?”
“Well, obviously physical attacks—”
Selfish Defense.
The moment it activates, it ignores physical attacks until a certain amount of magic damage is received.
It’s practically useless if there’s a mage in the party—like paper—but when there are only physical dealers, there’s no more broken trait than that.
That was exactly why a mage was mandatory in this dungeon.
It wasn’t about the mage’s firepower. Without a mage, the dungeon simply couldn’t be cleared.
“Then here’s a question.”
At that point, Dohyun asked:
“If damage comes from a status effect, what do you think it’s classified as?”
“…Don’t tell me.”
As if realizing something, BastardSword’s face turned pale.
But he quickly shook his head in denial.
“No. There’s no way a swordsman has a damage-dealing status effect.”
“Right. A swordsman doesn’t.”
He was correct.
Swordsmen didn’t have damage-over-time status effects. There were useful debuffs and crowd control skills, sure—but not ones that directly dealt damage over time.
But Dohyun wasn’t a normal swordsman.
Shing—
Dohyun pulled something from his coat and grinned.
A short dagger, about 80 cm long.
“Th-That’s the Assassin’s Dagger!? How do you have that?!”
“Friend’s, maybe? You recognized it right away.”
“Impossible. You got that as a drop? No, more importantly—how are you even able to use it?”
It was the Rare+ grade dagger he’d taken from AssassinBoy: Assassin’s Dagger.
A dagger with the Bleed effect.
There was no way BastardSword, his friend, didn’t know its options. But since AssassinBoy had kept the drop a secret, he’d never even imagined this scenario.
And even if he had, would he have thought a swordsman could wield a dagger?
His head was spinning.
Then—
“Pfft…! Puhahaha!”
After fully grasping the situation, he burst out laughing.
Kiiik! Kiik!
The elite soldiers immediately thrust their spears when he showed an opening, but instead of defending, he just kept laughing.
Only after rolling across the ground and dropping to 60% HP did he finally stop, sneering.
“All you came up with is Bleed? If Bleed damage was enough to kill it, why would we need a mage? We’d just bring an assassin or thief.”
“……”
“Bleed is only troublesome when it lasts long enough to trigger anemia. It’s not an option you use for damage. Heh.”
His smile turned twisted.
“You idiot. Fine. Let’s all just die together.”
“……”
“Hey! Don’t bother blocking! Just die. That bastard’s dying too anyway.”
“What the—ah, fuck it!”
After hesitating at being told to die, the paladin threw away his shield.
Yeah. It’s not like only we’ll die.
Thinking that way made it feel less unfair.
If anything, that guy had better gear. If items dropped, he’d lose more than they would.
Just being able to make him suffer a loss felt satisfying.
‘We can say we killed him, too.’
It would even give them justification when explaining things to AssassinBoy.
That’s what they thought.
“15 points into Strength. 5 into Sense.”
Stab—
[Stat difference is overwhelming. Assassin’s Dagger effect activates.]
[Target’s Sense is high. Bleed is inflicted.]
[You are afflicted with status effect ‘Bleed.’ Overwhelming stat difference greatly increases damage.]
[You struck the heart precisely. Bleed effect is amplified.]
[HP has fallen below 50%.]
“Huh…?”
Up until the dagger pierced his heart—
The moment it did, Bleed exploded, and his HP began draining at a terrifying speed.
BastardSword’s face went white.
“W-What the hell is this?!”
Overwhelming stat difference?
Like most games, God of All Seasons heavily adjusted skill effects based on stat gaps—either amplifying or negating them.
‘I’m the higher level! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!’
He was level 24. That guy was level 20.
On top of that, his unique ability was active, boosting his vitality and defense to near sub-tank levels.
So how big could the difference possibly be to cause this absurd damage?
[HP has fallen below 30%.]
“Ah… ahh…”
Even as he panicked, his HP kept draining, already dropping past 30%.
Dohyun watched with a bright smile.
“Oh, the damage is better than I expected.”
Demrock was a realistic game.
God of All Seasons, which shared its system, was the same.
The harder you swung, the more damage you dealt. Poor posture meant weaker damage.
Of course, there were corrections—minimum and maximum damage caps.
‘Bleed works the same way.’
If you stab someone in the heart or a major artery, of course they’d bleed more.
Not everything worked realistically—that would make it no longer a game—but small details like this were part of the balance.
That was also why you had to be especially careful of weak points against thieves and assassins.
They were loaded with mechanics like this.
Seeing the damage, Dohyun briefly felt tempted to dump all remaining points into Strength—but he restrained himself.
He’d invested enough into Agility and had speed-boosting options. But many stats were still low; keeping at least 20 points in reserve felt safer.
Still, even considering all the buffs, BastardSword couldn’t accept this.
“This isn’t Bleed… fuck, this is hacking. You filthy bastard. You’re a hacker, aren—”
Stab—
[You have killed player ‘BastardSword.’]
[Player ‘BastardSword’ is confirmed as ‘Evil.’ Recognized as self-defense. Karma does not increase.]
“They all say the same thing…”
He had no obligation to make them understand.
As BastardSword was sent out of the dungeon, a dropped item clattered to the ground. At the same time, the paladin shouted:
“Jaehwan! Damn it…!”
Calling his friend by his real name showed how shaken he was.
Two dead in an instant. Only him left.
‘Where did it go wrong?’
‘Should we have killed him before entering the boss room?’
No—the plan had been perfect.
Using the boss’s aggro was the most efficient method. If only they’d predicted he would notice…
Kiiik! Kik!
[Player ‘BastardSword’ has died. Red Goblin Elite Soldier aggro is reset.]
[Red Goblin Elite Soldier now recognizes ‘Kaiser’ as an enemy.]
Slash— Crunch!
[Red Goblin Elite Soldier defeated.]
[Red Goblin Elite Soldier defeated.]
“Huh? What, why are they dying so fast?”
…That thought died the moment he saw the elite soldiers collapse with bones snapping.
Five seconds.
That was all it took to kill two elite monsters at over 70% HP.
The rage on the paladin’s face drained away, replaced by emptiness.
‘…We shouldn’t have started this.’
Pin him down and kill him? A guy who five-seconded two elites?
Even three-on-one wouldn’t have changed much.
They shouldn’t have accepted AssassinBoy’s request.
They shouldn’t have gotten involved.
They shouldn’t have preyed on weaker players.
They should have just played normally, gotten scouted by a guild, and lived comfortably.
“Let’s see how long you last.”
Step. Step.
As Dohyun approached, the paladin could do nothing.
What could he possibly do against that monster?
In front of him, the Goblin Chieftain raged and swung its fists.
Behind him, something far worse approached.
If it had to end—
‘Better to die to the boss.’
His shield was long gone.
His HP was below 30%.
That seemed smarter.
But—
“Can’t let that happen.”
Dohyun was already right in front of him.
“Ah…”
He wasn’t even given the right to choose who killed him.
Grinding his teeth, the paladin shouted desperately:
“You bastard. Do you even know what guild I’m—”
He couldn’t finish.
Stab—
Dohyun calmly drove the dagger into his neck.
The carotid artery burst. The paladin clutched his throat as system messages appeared:
[Stat difference is overwhelming. Assassin’s Dagger effect activates.]
[Status effect ‘Bleed’ inflicted. Overwhelming stat difference greatly increases damage.]
[Precise strike to a vital point. Bleed effect amplified.]
[HP has fallen below 20%.]
‘What is this…?’
His HP drained at terrifying speed.
Now he understood why BastardSword had screamed about hacks.
Within seconds—
[You have killed player ‘OjinseongGisamnida.’]
[Player ‘OjinseongGisamnida’ is confirmed as ‘Evil.’ Recognized as self-defense. Karma does not increase.]
Clatter— Crash!
His shield hit the ground as his body vanished.
The Goblin Chieftain smashed the floor uselessly.
Dohyun smiled in satisfaction.
‘The damage is better than expected.’
Well, of course it was.
Player: Kaiser
Level: 20
HP: 2,290 / 2,500
MP: 410 / 650
Stamina: 260 / 350
Class: Last Adventurer <Apostle of Kashiar>
Titles (3):
Max Affinity From the Start?
First Slayer
Throne of Time Attack
Stats:
Strength: 50 (+38)
Agility: 35 (+37)
Vitality: 5 (+37)
Sense: 27 (+36)
Mana: 5 (+34)
Remaining Points: 36
By investing 15 more points into Strength, he now had a total of 88 Strength.
That wasn’t something a level 24 player could withstand.
With stats like that, Bleed couldn’t possibly be weak.
But even so, the damage was outrageous—for good reason.
Bleed
Grade: Rare
Restriction: Thief class
Description:
Thieves use all kinds of tools to disrupt their opponents.
Those who fight them inevitably end up bleeding.
Effect:
After using the skill, your next successful attack inflicts ‘Bleed’ for 10 seconds.
If the stat difference is large, the effect may decrease. Duration and damage may be adjusted.
Cooldown: 15 seconds
It was the Rare skill he’d obtained from the random skill ticket: Bleed.
‘So they really do stack.’
Normally, identical status effects don’t stack.
If they did, Curse-users would be the strongest class in the game.
But that only applied to skills from the same class.
If a Warlock’s “Weaken” overlapped with an Earth Mage’s “Slow,” removing one would be unfair.
So God of All Seasons allowed stacking up to a certain limit if they came from different classes.
That was the issue.
‘They never expected someone to use a Thief skill with an Assassin weapon.’
Maybe it was intentionally left as a niche trick for Weapon Master types.
A thief using assassin weapons was still just a thief—probably considered acceptable by the AI.
But for Dohyun?
‘It’s jackpot.’
He was the one and only player who could use every class’s weapons and skills.
