I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-17

Ch-17. **Untouchable**

—

Slaaaash!

Dragon wings erupted, tearing open the skin of his back.

It was the set effect *“Celestial Dragonkin”* of *Michela*’s set.

It only activated when the sword, armor, and helmet were all gathered—nearly impossible to obtain early on, yet he had acquired them through the Secret Auction House.

*‘Good thing I already had the hardest piece—the Michela Sword.’*

Compared to the sword, the armor and helmet were relatively easier to obtain. Maybe because of that, they were each listed with a 200,000-gold instant-buy price in the Secret Auction House, while the sword was nowhere to be found.

*‘There were plenty of trap items fitted with Twin Talismans, though.’*

The **Twin Talisman**.

A talisman whose option made two talismans share their locations with each other.

Buy one without knowing, and you’d be broadcasting your exact position to the seller.

Some sellers even hid the talisman’s name under *“Secret Scroll”* to trick newbies.

These appeared mostly on items meant for level 1–5 players, priced temptingly low—perfect bait for beginners.

*‘No matter how I think about it, I can’t shake the feeling someone’s trying to find me.’*

He couldn’t dismiss the idea that those “phishing” items were placed deliberately for him.

The Hall of Fame rankers surely realized he had cleared Main Quest 2, and that he would need specific gear to complete Main Quest 3 with exceptional results.

They were putting exactly the needed equipment at an absurdly low price, trying to locate him through phishing items—and then kill him.

Maybe he was overthinking it, but there was no harm in caution.

Still, giving up the Secret Auction House was out of the question—its fruits were too sweet.

*‘…Never thought I’d get this.’*

He looked down at the ground from above and let out a faint smile.

He was lucky. Extremely lucky to get this at this exact timing.

Information floated before his eyes.

—

### 【Hermes’ Shoes (Epic) (1)】

★ Shoes modeled after the feet of *Hermes*, the God of Wind. Said to have originated from the Golden Temple. Wearers can run as swiftly as the wind, but they cannot enter the *Temple of Wind* while wearing these.

★ Equip Requirement: All Stats 40 (50–10)

★ Talisman (Tears of the Fairy Queen): Lowers the equip requirement (all stats) by 20%.

★ Agility +3

★ Skill: *Swift*

—

An ultra-rare epic-grade item with a socket.

It could be socketed with talismans, had stat options, and even a skill attached—an all-purpose piece of equipment. But because of the equip restriction, beginners normally couldn’t use it.

**All stats 50.**

Even players with decent talent and classes would need to be around level 8 to meet that requirement.

Primary stats grew rapidly, but unrelated stats usually only rose slightly.

But every time he leveled up, *all* his stats increased by 12. And with *Tears of the Fairy Queen*, the requirement dropped drastically.

*‘Its performance is a little underwhelming for level 8, but for my current self, nothing beats it.’*

Moreover, *Hermes’ Shoes* synergized perfectly with the Michela set’s *Celestial Dragonkin*.

—

—

*—I will melt you all.*

Chid Mamba spewed a dense cloud of poison. A corrosive acid mist that dissolved anything it touched.

Flap!

Whooosh!

But the acid mist failed to spread—dispersed instantly by powerful winds.

The wings of the Celestial Dragonkin and the *Swift* skill fused to generate small whirlwinds.

Fwooooom!

The whirlwinds blew away not only the poison, but also the Chid Worms in an instant. Chid Mamba frowned under the buffeting wind.

*—Wind magic? Then block this as well!*

Chid Mamba revealed his hidden tail. Like that of a scorpion, its tip dripped with lethal toxin. Fired at incredible speed—far too fast for the eye to track.

But—

*‘Right.’*

As long as he knew *which way* it would be fired, he could dodge it.

Before launching its tail needle, Chid Mamba twisted both hands. There were exactly 26 twisting patterns, each altering the firing direction slightly.

*‘Roll.’*

He rolled, leapt, sprinted—dodging every poison needle Chid Mamba fired.

*—You rat-like bastard!*

Chid Mamba grew furious.

But its poison mist and poison needles were useless. Chid Mamba was powerless.

He rushed in—one clean strike to its neck would finish it.

*‘Stop.’*

Pouring strength into his thighs, he forced his entire body to an abrupt halt.

At that moment—

Shrrrk!

Countless spikes shot up right before him.

Poison needles hidden in the ground.

*—Y-you dodged even that?*

Chid Mamba’s eyes widened in horror.

*‘Charge.’*

After using all its patterns, Chid Mamba fell into temporary *Confusion*.

Very temporary. He had only one chance—if he didn’t finish it now, Chid Mamba would only grow stronger with time.

Szzzzk!

He raised his greatsword, every muscle in his body swelling as he charged.

Closing the distance to the confused Chid Mamba—

*‘Swift.’*

His thrusting speed accelerated sharply.

Slice!

Like cutting water, he cleanly severed Chid Mamba’s neck.

The moment the despair-filled eyes hit the ground—

—

《You have slain the Elite Monster ‘Chid Mamba’!》
《Contribution: 100%》
《Absorbing Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale (10 minutes).》
《Remaining time for Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale: 47 hours 56 minutes 39 seconds.》
《Darkness recedes briefly.》
《Pangeania Collapse: 9.1%》
《You acquired the Lucky Dice.》

—

—

“KyAAAAH!”

Hearing Kim Seoyeon’s scream, Kim Hana barely snapped back to her senses.

Blood pooled across the floor.

Jeong Jinwoo’s severed arms.

And…

*‘That man from back then.’*

The man who had saved her from the Giant Mantis—stood right there.

Wearing armor and a helmet she’d never seen before.

With reddish-brown wings rising from his back.

He looked a little different, but she recognized him instantly.

“A-ah… aaah…”

Kim Seoyeon collapsed to the floor, trembling violently.

A formless terror. She couldn’t move.

Smack!

“Get a hold of yourself!”

Kim Hana slapped her across the face and shouted.

Staying here was dangerous.

Those who could live had to live.

Hoisting the collapsed Seoyeon onto her shoulder, Kim Hana scanned the surroundings.

*‘Come to think of it—where’s Hyunmyung?’*

Park Hyunmyung.

He was nowhere in sight.

*‘Don’t tell me he ran away…?’*

A deep crease formed between Kim Hana’s brows.

She hadn’t sensed any sign of him fleeing. He’d certainly been beside them when the bugs appeared, yet vanished without a trace once that female-type monster appeared.

Running away was better than standing still and dying, but still—running off alone like that?

Grunting, Kim Hana dragged Seoyeon along.

Getting as far from here as possible was the priority.

“The back door is crawling with monsters! Come up to the second floor!”

A staff member on the second floor shouted as she moved toward the back exit.

The building’s exterior had already been overrun by the giant insects.

“Please help us!”

When Kim Hana shouted, several people from the second floor came down.

FWOOM!

Rattle! Rattle!

A storm blasted through.

The man had instantly blown away the monster’s poisonous mist.

Barely holding onto the railing, Kim Hana looked down.

*‘Ah…!’*

The monster was firing poison needles.

So fast they could barely be seen.

If the man failed to take it down, the monsters would massacre everyone within moments.

There was no escape route.

All they could do was bring their hands together and pray.

“Please… please…”

“That guy’s a Dimension Warrior, right?”

“B-but the other Dimension Warrior attacked people! We can’t relax yet!”

People held their breath in terror, watching the scene unfold below.

That man was their last hope.

But another Dimension Warrior—Jeong Jinwoo—had suddenly gone mad and attacked civilians.

They couldn’t blindly trust him either.

“It’s okay. He’s on our side.”

Kim Hana reassured them.

Chaos in a moment like this would only worsen things.

Each time a poison needle fired, people flinched.

They feared the man might be hit and fall.

Slaaash!

But he effortlessly dodged each needle and, with a single strike, severed the monster’s head.

The moment it hit the ground, another change occurred.

“D-did he win?”

“The monsters are melting!”

“We… we’re saved!”

People erupted in cheers.

When the queen monster died, all the other bug monsters melted and vanished.

“…”

The man looked up at the people clinging to the second-floor railing.

Then—

Flap!

He pulled his cloak around himself, and his figure vanished completely.

“Where’d he go?”

“He just disappeared?”

It felt like witnessing a ghost.

Could a person disappear like that?

Before the thought lingered—

“Are you all right?”

At the familiar voice beside her, Kim Hana turned—and frowned.

“…Hyunmyung-ssi? Where were you?”

“I was in the restroom.”

In the restroom?

*‘Blood…?’*

Kim Hana’s sharp eyes caught it.

On the skin between Park Hyunmyung’s ankle and the top of his foot—visible where his sock had slipped—a tiny bead of blood clung.

Of course, in this situation, having a bit of blood on you wasn’t strange.

But the only person who had bled heavily… was Jeong Jinwoo.

And Park Hyunmyung had gone into hiding *before* Jinwoo ended up like that.

If he was in the restroom, he wouldn’t have contacted anyone else.

So whose blood was it?

*‘No way…?’*

The timing of the “man’s” appearance and Hyunmyung’s disappearance…

It nagged at her.

*‘No way…’*

She shook her head. Impossible.

There was no way Park Hyunmyung was a Dimension Warrior.

But if—by the smallest chance, one in ten million—Park Hyunmyung *was* a Dimension Warrior?

If he was the man in the photo she treated like a talisman?

Kim Hana’s eyes tangled with complicated emotions as she stared at him.

—

—

Next day.

The world plunged into chaos once more.

Another attack from a different dimension—now the second one.

Dimension Warriors had fought back and repelled it again, but the intensity was increasing.

Some warned that such attacks would continue and argued that cooperation with the government was needed.

But not all Dimension Warriors—players—shared that opinion.

—

 

“**Isn’t that guy Randolph?**”

Inside a dark, sealed room.

Roughly ten people were gathered—people who were hunting Randolph.

More precisely, people searching for **“Phantom.”**

They scoured every single video uploaded on SNS and YouTube, cross-examining and analyzing all footage.

There were exactly **178 videos** uploaded in Korea that featured “players.”
An increase of more than 1.5 times from the previous hundred or so.
It meant that those who had been hiding were finally beginning to reveal themselves.

Randolph could very well be among them.

And now, on the computer screen, a steakhouse in Cheongdam was being displayed.

“**The Shoes of Hermes.** Those have a pretty strict wear requirement, don’t they?”

“If he’s already cleared **Main Quest 2**, then he *shouldn’t* be able to wear the Hermes Shoes anymore.”

Correct.

The wear requirement for the Shoes of Hermes was so high that no beginner could possibly equip them.

If he had only just cleared Main Quest 2, his level would be around **4 or 5 at best**.

It was far too early for Randolph to be wearing those shoes.

“But hold on—those wings… aren’t they from the **Celestial Dragonkin**?”

“Let’s say he bought the helmet or armor at an auction. But how the hell did he get **Michela’s Sword**?”

“That character looks like the same one who had the **Hydragon** last time.”

Even if he wasn’t Randolph, the questions remained.

**Michela’s Sword**, with its abysmally low drop rate—
barely **ten or so** existed in the entire game. An ultra-ultra-ultra-rare item.

And what about **Hydragon’s Soul**?

A unique soul item that **only one person per server** was believed to possess.

No one knew who owned it, but rumors spread endlessly that the owner was actually a **GM**.

“So you’re saying that guy is… the *administrator*?”

“Look at how he fights the **Chid Mamba**. He’s dodging every pattern with a margin no thicker than a sheet of paper.”

“…You’re right. Is there *anyone* who can dodge with such precision? Who can do it exactly like that?”

“……”

All ten of them in the room had the power to kill a Chid Mamba.
But none of them could clear it by reading **every pattern**, dodging with razor-thin margins like that.

Chid Mamba’s patterns were infamous for their difficulty.

Not even comparable to Hydragon or Giant Mantis.

No one cleared it by perfectly reading and countering every move.
You’d normally just raise your level and come back later.

But the man in the video was flawlessly executing all of it.

“**Wow.**”

Seeing it again was still unbelievable.

The dodges were truly paper-thin.

He lured patterns, avoided them, forced confusion, then after charging—landed a perfect finisher.
Every movement flowed seamlessly, with no excess and no waste.

*“That’s real art.”*

It was a level of mastery that could only be called art.

Just watching it made their jaws drop.
If they hadn’t known better, they would have thought the man could read the future.

**Clap, clap, clap.**

The man in front of the computer applauded lightly.

“**He’s still our number-one recruitment priority.**”

“Number zero is ‘MintChocoIsTasty.’”

“Mm. Regardless of ranking, the two of them are definitely talents our **Alliance** needs.”

“In any case, the others are starting to move too. We need to make a statement before the first rift begins.”

They were the **Player ‘Hero’ Alliance**.

The difference between them and other alliances was that they genuinely intended to prepare for the upcoming rifts.

When no one knew what would come out of those rifts,
the most crucial factor was the existence of **Phantom**.

If they had him, they could handle anything.

But other alliances were starting to move quietly beneath the surface.

If Phantom or MintChocoIsTasty were taken by another group—or lost altogether—
it would be a devastating blow to an alliance that branded itself as “heroes.”

They *had* to find them.

Their only consolation was that both were highly likely to be Korean.

At the center of the group, a man wearing a black mask spoke in a weighty voice.

“**Let’s start by searching the area around that location.**”

*

*

“**Kh-cough!**”

Hudson spewed out the coffee he’d been drinking.

Then he stared at me with desperate eyes, as if praying he had heard wrong.

“S-so… you’re saying you **used the Fairy Queen’s Tear**…?”

 

 

 

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