NOVEL WEB Chapter 48: New Viewer's Skills
Adam shook his head slightly at the chat's reactions but didn't respond.
There was no point in arguing with them.
To his viewers, this was just entertainment...
An endless stream of numbers, kills, and action.
They didn't understand the weight behind every fight, the reality of taking a life, even if it was just another red-name scumbag.
He exhaled, turning his attention back to the battlefield below.
The undead horde was starting to lose...
With the Radiant Apostle dead, the overwhelming pressure tipping the scales in their favor had vanished.
Adam's illusion was still active, keeping the enemy disoriented.
The skeletal warriors hacked into their own ranks, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
Meanwhile, the orcs, now disguised as the undead, pressed the advantage, cutting down their confused enemies without hesitation.
Further back, the stream hunters allied with the orcs realized what was happening.
Though confused as to where their orc allies had gone, they weren't about to question an advantage.
They charged forward, turning the battlefield into a slaughter.
A new system notification flickered across Adam's vision.
[Orc Settlement 21: 48% Conquered]
Progress...
The conquest rate was finally dropping!
But before he could even take a breath—
A sharp whistle tore through the air.
Adam's instincts screamed.
He twisted to the side just in time—
BOOM!
A massive war axe slammed into the ground where he had been standing.
The stone beneath it cracked apart, sending sharp fragments flying.
His eyes snapped up.
A towering figure loomed ahead.
A giant.
No... not just a giant. An undead giant!
Its massive frame was wrapped in rotting, pale flesh, its bones jutting out unnaturally from torn muscle.
Hollow sockets glowed with eerie blue flames as it slowly turned its skull-like head toward him.
And then...
More appeared!
One, two, five... seven undead giants, stomping toward the battlefield.
Each step sent tremors through the ground.
Adam fell into deep thought
'Reinforcements?'
No.
The timing was too sudden.
It was most likely mages from the undead faction...
Somewhere in the backline, necromancers were adding more pieces to the board.
Even as the orcs and stream hunters pushed forward, these new threats would crush them if left unchecked.
Adam exhaled and activated [Surreal Creation].
His body distorted, fading from view as he turned invisible.
The undead giants, unable to see their target, hesitated.
Their empty eye sockets scanned the battlefield, confused.
'Hm... this would be a good time to test out the skills of my new viewers...'
A new system prompt appeared.
[Select Viewer Skill to Copy]
Disciple of Ice.
[Temporary Copy has been activated…]
[Due to low level and low rank, skill picking will be randomized...]
The system beeped again.
[Temporary Copy is successful!]
[Temporarily Copied: Frost Shackles]
[Reducing Frost Shackles to its F-Tier version…]
[Frost Shackles (Weakened)] : Summon brittle ice chains that can temporarily freeze a target's limbs, each chain lasts for 3 seconds onnly. (30 Second Duration)
Adam frowned.
'Three seconds...'
Against normal enemies, this might have been decent.
But against undead giants? Three seconds of weak freezing wasn't much...
Still… a bad tool was just an opportunity to be creative.
The first undead giant was still scanning for him, its massive head sweeping side to side.
Its decayed jaw creaked open, letting out a deep, rumbling growl.
Adam moved.
A sharp crack sounded through the air as thin, spectral chains of blue ice erupted from the ground, latching onto the giant's ankles.
For three seconds—
The creature froze in place!
And that was all Adam needed.
He dashed forward as he activated [Body Blood Magic] to form a sharp blade in his hands.
Adam leaped onto the frozen limb, climbing up the immobilized monster.
His movements were precise, swift...
In an instant, he was at its neck!
A single stab.
Right into the glowing soul core embedded in the base of its throat!
The moment the dagger pierced through, the light inside the core flickered.
The undead giant shuddered... then collapsed, its massive frame slamming into the ground with a thunderous impact.
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]
[Faction points are increasing...]
One down...
The other giants turned toward him, now aware of his presence.
Adam moved again, dashing past their attacks.
He could only summon one set of Frost Shackles at a time, but that was enough.
Another set of ice chains burst from the ground, latching onto a second giant's arm just as it prepared to swing.
Its attack halted mid-motion...
And Adam was already leaping toward its chest!
This time, he didn't go for the throat.
He landed on its ribcage as he positioned his bloody dagger.
A precise thrust!
Right between its ribs, stabbing into the darkened core buried within.
The core cracked.
BOOM!
The second giant crumbled, its body disintegrating as its animating force was severed.
Two down.
The remaining five undead giants roared, now fully locked onto him.
Adam exhaled.
His copied ability was almost expired, but that didn't matter.
The battlefield was still his to control...
Another set of Frost Shackles, this time at a giant's knees.
Three seconds of freezing—
Just enough time for Adam to reposition, running toward a fallen enemy's discarded war axe.
He grabbed it, the weapon far larger than himself, but his strength stat was more than enough.
The moment the freeze ended, the giant tried to move—
CRACK!
Adam swung the war axe, cleaving straight through its kneecap.
The undead toppled over, and before it could recover—
He drove the axe down, shattering the soul core in its chest.
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]
Three down...
[Select Viewer Skill to Copy]
A system prompt flashed before his eyes.
Forest Scarecrow.
[Temporary Copy has been activated…]
[Due to low level and low rank, skill picking will be randomized…]
Another chime.
[Temporary Copy is successful!]
[Temporarily Copied: Totality of Nightmare]
[Reducing Totality of Nightmare to its F-tier version…]
[Totality of Nightmare has been reduced to Fear Compatibility.]
[Temporary Copy: Fear Compatibility (30 Second Duration)]
Adam's breath slowed.
[Fear Compatibility] : The fear of your enemies makes you move faster and boosts your attack damage (Max: 12%).
His fingers tightened around the axe handle.
Fear.
The undead giants weren't mindless.
They could feel something akin to hesitation.
And if they could hesitate...
That means they could feel fear.
Adam activated [Surreal Creation.]
The air around him grew dark as his appearance began to shift.
Where there had once been a lone human standing amidst the battlefield, there was now a monstrosity...
A towering, eldritch nightmare!
Blackened tendrils sprouted from his back, curling and writhing like living shadows.
A grotesque maw split open across his chest, dripping with a thick, blood-like substance.
His eyes... no, the many eyes scattered across his shifting body. glowed with an unnatural, hungry red light.
The atmosphere around him grew dark, creating the illusion of an unspeakable creature coming alive!
The undead giants stepped back as they hesitated to press forward...
Adam saw their glowing blue sockets widen slightly.
A flicker of something primal... something ancient.
Fear!
And as that fear took root, boosting Adam's stats!
Adam moved.
The boost activated.
His speed increased.
The axe in his hands felt lighter, his muscles surging with newfound power.
The undead giants tried to retreat, but it was too late!
Adam exhaled.
His body surged forward in an instant.
One swing.
The war axe cut cleanly through an undead's thigh, severing its rotten leg from the knee down.
It fell.
Adam leapt onto its falling body and plunged the axe straight into its chest, shattering the soul core within.
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]
Three left.
The next one roared, trying to shake off its hesitation.
It lifted a rusted halberd the size of a small house...
And swung.
Adam dodged, the massive weapon slicing through empty air where he had stood a fraction of a second ago.
His glowing, monstrous form flickered, leaving an afterimage behind.
Another illusion.
Before the giant could adjust...
Adam extended his hand.
His own blood stirred.
[Body Blood Magic]!
Thin, razor-sharp tendrils of blood erupted from his fingertips, lashing out like whips.
The crimson wires coiled around the giant's arms and neck, tightening like noose-like restraints.
Adam clenched his fist.
The tendrils yanked.
The undead giant stumbled forward, its balance thrown off...
And Adam struck!
Using the momentum, he twisted his body mid-air, driving his axe down onto its skull.
The blade split bone and rotted flesh apart, sinking into the creature's cranium.
A deep, gurgling groan escaped its throat before...
CRACK!
The soul core inside its head shattered.
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]
Two left...
By now, the final undead giants were panicking.
Their bodies trembled which made them stiff and hesitant.
Adam grinned.
The illusion of his monstrous form intensified.
The tendrils from his back extended, reaching toward the final two undead like the grasping hands of some forgotten deity.
They tried to back away.
Too late.
Adam vanished.
In a single blur of motion, he dashed between them, his axe swinging in a crescent arc.
One strike... a decapitating blow!
The first undead's head flew off, its soul core cracking apart the moment it hit the ground.
The second undead barely had time to react before Adam lunged forward, planting his dagger directly into its exposed chest.
A sickening shatter.
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]
[+101 EXP, +0.04 Basic Soul Core]
[+8 coins]