STGB Episode 547

Ghost 5

[Scales of Greed]

If your magic‑resistance is high enough, this top‑tier active skill even gives you“Magic Immunity” status.

And that’s not all.

[In proportion to the magic damage reduced by Bellarios, physical resistance increases]

This skill doesn’t just block magic—it also boosts your physical resistance.

In short, the more magic damage you take, the tougher you become. It’s like having an all-purpose scale that grows stronger the more you’re hit.

They are, quite literally, the scales of greed..

Unfortunately for Bellarios, he met the wrong opponent today.

‘The greedier an explorer is, the stronger he becomes.’

There’s even a saying that what explorers desire most is greed itself…

(Oh, by the way, I just made that up.)

And in that sense…

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

I charged forward, unleashing the greed burning inside me.

Essence, essence, essence, essence.

I will get that essence!

If I looked in a mirror right now, I’d probably see the crazed eyes of a madman.

It had been a long time since I’d felt my body burn this hot in front of a monster.

But how could I hold back?

I’d suffered so many setbacks from magic damage, my only weakness.

This skill would fix all of that.

So then…

“First, this bastard.”

The blacksmith with the goat’s head blocking my path.

I swung my hammer down at Helsmith’s skull.

KWAANG—!

The impact twisted his jaw slightly, but as expected of a Level 3 monster, he barely flinched.

No—he immediately counterattacked.

[Helsmith has cast[Strike]

[The flames buried in the earth awaken]

The ground split open, and pillars of fire erupted.

When our tribe chief used it, it was a time-limited ultimate buff —but this guy seemed able to keep it active all the time.

The skills you get from essences are weaker than their original versions, after all.

[All fire‑type skill damage is greatly increased]

[Helsmith’s physical stats are increased in proportion to its fire sensitivity level]

[The surroundings will continuously burn]

Blue-tinged flames flickered over his body, but the damage was manageable. After all, explorers live and die by their gear, right?.

(Yeah, that’s a real saying.I didn’t made it up)

[You have activated the Orb of Fire]

[All fire-based damage within 15 meters is reduced by 50%]

After I activated the Orb of Fire, the damage I was taking was significantly reduced. Its effect also shielded the melee fighters behind me.

[Versil Gowland has cast Level 8 support magic [Cold Blood]

[Fire resistance is greatly increased]

Once [Cold Blood] was added, the fire damage became almost negligible.

So…

“Attack!”

Amelia drew her aura blade, and Misha swung her frost-covered longsword.

Aynar—

[Aynar Pheneline has activated [Trident]

Aynar used her newly acquired skill for the first time in battle.

WHOOSH—!

A spear shot forward with the speed of an arrow.

Two translucent spears appeared on the either side of Helsmith.

By default, [Trident] splits into two spears to attack two adjacent enemies besides the main target.

But it would be a shame if a level 3 essence could only do that.

Though [Trident] is an Area of effect skill, its true strength lies in single-target attacks.

[No enemies are near the target]

[All attacks land on the target]

Three spears impaled the goat-headed bastard.

Unlike [Repeated Strikes], they didn’t strike the same spot, so her other skills didn’t activate—but that didn’t mean the attack was weak.

[Piercing damage increased by 1,200%]

That one line of text let her deal more damage than any of her Level 4 or lower essence combinations ever had.

THUD—!

The moment the deeply‑lodged spears ripped back out, blood sprayed from three fist‑sized holes.

But it was only for a short moment..

Hellsmith has cast [Patch]

His wounds glowed like molten lava, then a silvery film sealed them over like a filled cavity.

Healed in an instant, Hellsmith roared and cast another one of his main skills.

[Hellsmith casts [Hellfire]

[Hellfire].

An attack so powerful that I had once built a character around it.

BOOM—! CRACK! KWA-BOOM—!

Like a volcano, the lava pouch on his back ruptured, hurling flaming red liquid everywhere.

And with that blast—

[Belarios has cast [Calamity]

Belarios dived into the fight, and the real raid began.

***

[Calamity] is a very unique skill, because it altered the very nature of the battlefield itself.

[Field Effect – Typhoon has been applied]
When used, a random field effect applies within range.
WHOOSH—!

A fierce wind blew, and gray whirlwinds raged.

Visibility dropped drastically, but that was just a secondary side effect.

[The activation rate of all skills is reduced to 50%.]

One out of every two times you cast a skill in this storm, it will be cancelled halfway through.

‘Starting with a typhoon? This is annoying’

At least this wasn’t the Dragon Mountains, where the field effects are even worse.

“Take out the Hellsmith first!”

At my command, the ranged dealers began unleashing the skills they had prepared.

The joint spell that had the mages had been casting for a while unleashed, and various projectiles flew at perfect angles avoiding the close range warriors..

And at that moment—

[Bellarios has activated [Dragon’s Orb]]

[Resource consumption for all characters within range is increased by 12x]

Amidst the blinding winds of the typhoon, a golden light erupted.

Yeah, I was wondering when he would use it.

If I remember correctly, this skill activates when the user consumes a certain amount of resources.

The [Dragon’s Orb] was just as unusual as Calamity.

A broken skill that increased the enemies resource consumption by 12x—and then refunded the consumed amount as MP to the user.

Of course, that was only on the surface. The skill had a fatal flaw.

[Hellsmith has cast [Patch]

[Resource consumption increased by 12x due to [Dragon’s Orb]

[Skill failed due to Field Effect – Typhoon]

[Dragon’s Orb] steals the wasted resources]

Like [Calamity], [Dragon’s Orb] affects both allies and enemies.

It’s such an unusual mechanic that I even created a build around it.

A solo-carry setup where the user drained their allies’ resources with [Dragon’s Orb] to deal insane damage.

Though, in the end, it was just a worse version of Erwin, so I only played it for fun before dropping it.

Anyway.
.
“Don’t stop!”

Regardless of the typhoon or the resource drain, everyone kept pouring damage into the Hellsmith.

And eventually—

[Field Effect – Earthquake is activated]

[All movement-related effects are sealed]

Bellarios had used [Calamity] again with the MP he recovered, but we still achieved our goal.

[Helsmith has been killed EXP +7.]

The goat bastard met a miserable end—his MP stolen, his skills blocked by his own ally.

WHOOSH—!

His body disintegrated into specks of light, but only one reward dropped.

Clink.

A Level 3 magic stone.

‘I had some hope since it was the first kill, but…’

No essence dropped.

A little disappointing, but I wasn’t too hung up on it.

The main course was still ahead, and…

‘Actually, it’s better this way.’

If [Beginner’s Luck] had triggered here, I’d just feel even more uneasy.

Gacha demands its sacrifices, after all.

“Now, only that bastard remains!”

“Mages, listen up! Only support spells from now on! No offensive magic!”

After killing Helsmith, we focused everything on Bellarios.

The mages switched from damage to support, and the ranged attackers fired skills at the soaring dragon.

And then—

“He’s coming down!”

The moment he descended, the close range fighters swung their weapons.

[Bellarios has cast [Wave Glide]

[Bellarios has cast [Death Breath]

[Bellarios has cast [Shatter]…

As the battle dragged on, the bastard’s scales grew more battered.

[Bellarios has cast [Calamity].”

[Field Effect – Drought has been applied]

[All buffs are removed. All curses are enhanced]

By the time he cast his third [Calamity]—

WHOOSH—!

An arrow fired by Erwin pierced between his eyes, ending the fight.

Total time: about 10 minutes?

As I calculated the battle duration, my eyes remained fixed on Bellarios as he dissolved into light.

[Bellarios has been defeated. EXP +7]

His corpse vanished, and the condensed light in the air transformed into a magic stone before falling to the ground.

Clink.

Not a single explorer cared about the stone.

[No.9999 Beginner’s Luck] has been activated]

An essence had dropped.

But the problem was…

‘…It’s yellow.’

It was not [Scales of Greed]

***

The yellow essence’s active skill was [Shatter].

A ranged attack that becomes much stronger at close range—an unavoidable, instant-cast skill.

“Ugh… too bad. A yellow one, huh? Not what you were hoping for, right, mister?”

“Hmm… What do we do with this one? I bet plenty of people want it…”

 

While everyone debated on who will take the essence, Amelia walked over, shaking blood off her dagger.

“Jandel, you alright? You looked pretty hurt.”

“Ah, I’m fine. My gear’s mostly intact.”

“…….”

Even against Milayel, a Level 2 rift guardian, I’d barely taken damage. But against Bellarios, I’d gotten pretty banged up.

[Shatter] was unblockable by nature.

It deals damage by compressing space itself, so it’s impossible to defend against it.

WHOOSH—!

Since they were just minor injuries, a simple heal and I was already recovering.

“Glad you’re okay. So, what about the essence?”

“Ah, that…”

Once my body was back to normal, I quickly sorted my thoughts.

‘Why did it have to be [Shatter]?’

Taken alone, the skill wasn’t bad.

Unavoidable, instant-cast, unblockable.

Decent damage, low MP cost, short cooldown.

But

‘It’s hard to scale.’

For all its strengths, it had a fatal flaw—it was hard to synergize with other skills.

No matter how you built around it, its growth potential was limited.

“I’ve decided.”

It didn’t take me long to choose its owner.

“Auyen Roklov.”

Our clan’s sole non-combatant—the sailor.

“…Yes?”

“This is yours.”

“………………Excuse me?”

“Why are you surprised?”

“B-But… this isn’t a sailing-related essence, is it…?”

Ah, so that’s why he didn’t say anything even when a level 3 essence was about to be wasted.

I chuckled and patted his shoulder.

“Even if you’re a sailor, you’re still part of our clan. You should have at least one essence to protect yourself.”

I’d been planning to give him one if a decent one dropped anyway.

And since this was a skill anyone could use effectively, even a non-combatant like Auyen could make the most of it.

‘With his passive [Circle of Circulation], he can even boost his base stats.’

Maybe he still couldn’t believe it.

“Uh, uh…”

Auyen gaped like a fish out of water.

And then, after a while—

“Thank… you. Thank you… Really… Thank you so much…”

For some reason, our sailor started crying.

[Bellarios’s Essence] has seeped into Auyen Lokrov’s soul]

What’s with the sudden tears?

As I stood there bewildered, Amelia approached.

“Looks like all his pent-up emotions came out. From what I heard, he was treated pretty badly as a sailor.”

…Really? I didn’t know that.

“You just gave him something to protect himself. Probably the first time he felt truly recognized.”

Hmm. I guess that makes sense.

Still, I didn’t feel that deeply about it.

Just that he’s had it rough, I guess?

So I moved on.

“Ahem, ahem…”

“Oho! Bjorn’s getting shy!”

N-No, that’s not it.

‘And why’s Amelia smiling like that again?’

Not wanting any more misunderstandings, I quickly changed the subject.

“Everyone, rest up!”

And so, the break time began.

As I lounged around, Erwen suddenly trotted over.

“Mister, are you resting?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’ve got a question.”

A question?

“Go ahead.”

“Why didn’t you let me fight earlier? If I’d taken out one of them from the start, it would’ve been way easier.”

“Oh, that?”

She was right, honestly.

If Erwin had used her ultimate, even two Level 3 monsters would’ve been wiped out instantly.

Dark orb for Helsmith, [Focused Shot] to one-shot Bellarios.

But…

“We’ve still got plenty of time left.”

“Huh?”

After using her ultimate, Erwin would be out of commission for a while.

And the current time was 17:00.

Meaning, if our strongest fighter dropped out now, the number of monsters we could hunt would decrease.

‘Okay, looks like everyone’s had enough rest…’

I got up and called for formation. Once everyone was ready, we summoned monsters and kept grinding until 23:00, then set up camp.

The next morning—

“Chew properly! I didn’t even put that many vegetables in!”

We started the new day with breakfast.

Okay, food’s tasty today too.

“38 people, 60 days’ worth of supplies left.”

No issues with supplies.

“Found some odd stats in Miss Phenelines body. Might be a clue about Hipramagent’s passive.”

The research team was as fruitless as ever.

A perfectly normal morning.

Except for one thing.

“Jandel, got a minute?”

As I was walking around to digest my meal, Amelia—who was on guard duty—called me over.

After hesitating, she spoke.

“Too many people saw the same thing to dismiss it as just hallucination.”

“What did they see?”

“Just so you know, I checked, and there’s nothing in this library.”

“Yeah, but what did they see?”

Amelia glanced around before whispering.

“They say… they saw a ghost last night.”

……A ghost?

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