Became a Munchkin Skill Thief

Episode 1 The World That Was Ruined

“Damn it.”

A man spat out a curse.

It was a situation where he couldn’t help but swear.

Cursed markings were visible all over his body.

His right eye had lost its function long ago due to the curse.

Furthermore, he could barely feel anything in half of his body.

His name was Krash Valheim.

He was once known as the disgrace of the Valheim family.

‘Disgrace my ass.’

However, that notion of disgrace was a thing of the past.

After all, he was one of the generation of the Skybound who fought against the destruction known as the World Erosion.

Even in his family, which always treated him as a half-wit, he was acknowledged to some extent.

Therefore, due to his insatiable desire for recognition, he struggled even more desperately.

But the result was cruel.

Meteor showers poured down before his eyes as the world was being destroyed.

The ultimate evil, which had grown beyond control, swallowed everything.

Krash watched the destruction with a sense of futility.

Then, he turned to the person beside him.

“What do we do now, huh…?”

Krash’s voice was barely audible due to the curse.

But the reproach in his words was clearly felt.

“What to do, indeed.”

With that, a blond man with hair as radiant as the sun lifted his head.

Despite the ongoing destruction of the world, his handsome face, filled with superiority, seemed almost like cheating.

He was Arthur Gramalte, the most outstanding among the Skybound generation and known as the Hero King.

The Hero King, the pride of the empire, was a laughable sight.

It was because he was surrounded by three women, each comforting him in their own way.

He wasn’t a Hero King; he was a Harem King.

“The world has been destroyed. It’s the end.”

Arthur replied very calmly.

Despite countless people dying to bring him this far, his tone was like that.

As if the destruction had nothing to do with him.

“Are you serious? How many people have trusted you…!”

“Krash, shut up! Arthur did his best!”

At that moment, a woman with hair the color of the sea shouted.

Krash furrowed his brows.

Her name was Sigrid Euphania.

The third princess of the Euphania Empire and the person who promoted Arthur to the position of Emperor candidate in Euphania.

The princess who was blindly infatuated with Arthur.

However, she was an incredibly skilled swordsman who could compete with Arthur.

“Damn it, *cough cough*! Sigrid, I managed to open both of my eyes after crying that I couldn’t see out of one. And now you’re telling me to shut up? Is that what you’re saying?”

Krash, unlike usual, spat out sharp words.

At that, Sigrid gave Krash a disdainful look.

“How dare you use such language in front of me, Sigrid? Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”

“Consequences? Consequences!”

Krash spat blood from his mouth and raised both of his hands to the sky.

“The world has been destroyed, and you’re talking about consequences?! Damn it, girl! The Euphania that cherished you was destroyed long ago!”

Upon hearing those words, Sigrid’s eyes widened.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

However, seeing her like that, Krash showed a mixed expression of contempt.

She, who believed in her royalty, wielded great power over everyone except Arthur.

Among them, Krash was treated especially poorly.

The main reason was that Krash belonged to the most powerful family in the Starlon Kingdom.

“Ah, since the academy days, you’ve been a nuisance!”

Their bitter relationship began at the Rahelrun Academy.

Sigrid, with her natural talent for swordsmanship, was the center of expectations for everyone.

On the other hand, despite being from the Balheim family, which the Starlon Kingdom took pride in,

Krash, the good-for-nothing youngest son, had nothing going for him.

If it were just about comparisons, he wouldn’t have cared.

Sigrid had been the leader of the Empire faction within the Academy.

For that reason, she relentlessly tormented Krash, hoping to crush the Kingdom faction.

Thanks to her, Krash was not only ignored by the Empire faction but also shunned by his own Kingdom faction, who considered him a disgrace.

By now, the phrase “disgrace of the family and the Kingdom” had become unbearably tiresome to hear.

Yet Krash endured it all.

He knew he was a talentless half-wit.

But she was essential to the generation of the skies that would save the world.

“Since losing my eye, you’ve really been getting on my nerves!”

But that was the end of it.

The world had been destroyed, the Empire had evaporated due to the world’s erosion, and the Kingdom was no different.

Therefore, Krash pressed down on his right eye with a voice mixed with hatred.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have stolen the curse that afflicted that madwoman’s eye.

“You garbage who can only steal!”

At this, Sigrid’s eyes also rolled back.

She drew the white sword called the White Dragon’s Fang.

The coldness that flowed from it seemed like it would freeze Krash in an instant.

But Krash snickered.

Garbage who can only steal.

“Yes, *cough* *cough*, that’s exactly right.”

Krash hated his ability.

Because, as she said, he could only steal, at best.

[ Skill · Black Hood ]

Steal what the target possesses.

＊Conditions

1. The value of what the target possesses is determined by the target.

2. The conditions for stealing are determined by the perceived value of the target.

It was the skill given to him by the god who made the contract with him, a truly thieving ability in every sense of the word.

A strange ability that becomes more difficult to steal the more the target cherishes something.

However, there was one advantage to this ability.

Even the curses arising from the erosion of the world can be stolen.

Stealing curses that even the flying wizards of the world could not untangle.

Because of this tremendous advantage, Krash had been with the Sky Generation.

As a result, the number of curses accumulated in his body was a staggering three digits.

One of the curses prevented him from dying, but instead, he could never sleep again; that’s why he’s still alive.

It was a number that would not be surprising if he had died long ago.

‘I thought I was close to achieving four digits.’

Unfortunately, the world perished before he could achieve that.

Anyway, all the curses in Krash’s body were stolen from the Sky Generation.

The curse of Arthur’s horrifying grasp.

The curse of Sigrid’s darkness.

The curse of the saint’s wickedness.

The curse of the emperor’s evil origins, and so on.

Now, Krash possessed all the curses of those who were dead.

Curses are the most worthless existence to their targets.

As a result, Krash’s Black Hood could be most effectively utilized.

“But without me, you guys couldn’t have made it this far……”

One of Krash’s eyes trembled with anger.

“Isn’t that right? Cough, Abella.”

He looked toward the woman who had been crying in Arthur’s arms since earlier.

The petite woman held a staff engraved with stars in her hand.

Abella, the Red Witch of the Sky Generation and the greatest talent produced by the magic tower.

She was also a comrade who had come this far with Arthur.

“Lord Arthur, Lord Arthur, what should we do?”

However, she didn’t even pretend to listen.

Since the world’s destruction, all she did was cling to Arthur’s side and cry.

‘Well, that’s how she’s always been.’

She was a woman who consistently ignored and did not even pretend to listen to others.

The pain of the curses, as if tearing his body apart, was so unbearable that he went to the magic tower for painkillers.

It was to the extent that he wasn’t even allowed to enter the magic tower, being scolded at the doorstep.

Of course, that wasn’t the only hardship they had endured.

From that moment on, they had already detached all affection from her.

“You can’t use magic because of the curse that makes you lose your voice. But you sure can cry, choking and coughing.”

Nevertheless, the request to steal the curse was so repulsive.

Even now, they could feel the pain as if their vocal cords were being scratched by iron, and the coughing caused by this pain was her curse’s fault.

“Pathetic. Just stop it.”

At that moment, another voice was heard.

A woman silently standing behind Arthur.

She was Mary Diana, the strongest knight protecting Sigrid and the spear of the Epania Empire.

With her long, black hair, tall stature, and glamorous figure, she was a charming woman.

However, to Crass, she was nothing more than a nuisance.

That’s because a considerable number of the curses they had were due to that dim-witted woman.

The strongest spear? What a joke.

Her overinflated ego made her stick her head into the world erosion they should’ve retreated from, bringing back curses. How disgusting!

“Pathetic? Don’t you remember when you were cursed to say everything and begged me to steal it from you so that your feelings for Arthur wouldn’t be revealed?”

And the day after the curse was lifted.

It was truly incredible to see Sigrid enter the same room as Arthur.

Because of that, they couldn’t even go on their first date as promised.

Now, dates and such were all useless, as everyone was gone.

“Whenever you open your mouth, you only spew such nonsense.”

“You’re right! I can’t stop! Cough, cough! Because part of your curse is still left in me!”

If the curses hadn’t offset each other, they wouldn’t have known what to say in this situation.

“Couldn’t even save the world, huh?”

Crass looked at Arthur, exhaling a rough breath as if giving up on everything.

The real problem was Arthur, this guy.

Arthur, who had never let them down even once.

He always seemed to know the future, accomplishing everything with ease.

But in the end, he had become flustered, and now he was like this.

And yet, Crass had been with Arthur.

Everyone around Arthur was nothing but fools.

But at the very least, Arthur was someone who had told him that he was necessary for himself.

Of course, Arthur hadn’t particularly stopped those who acted aggressively towards Krash.

But, Arthur had stayed by Krash’s side as this generation of the sky ended because he thought it also helped himself.

“You were a capable guy.”

Arthur recalled the words that Krash had spat out while looking at the world’s destruction.

“It’s over.”

As if a play had just come to an end.

The words that he said indifferently turned all the effort that Krash had made up until now into nothing.

“That’s right, but in the end, we failed again this time.”

During this time, Arthur got up.

Beneath his chest, thick blood was dripping.

That was also the reason why Abella kept clinging to him and crying.

Because Arthur was dying.

After all, he couldn’t stop the world’s destruction either.

“This time, too?”

However, Krash showed doubt as he mulled over the words that Arthur had just uttered.

It was because his reaction seemed as if he had already experienced this situation once before.

“Don’t worry. This time it was different. I obtained the card called Memory Succession.”

The expressions of the three women who were watching him changed.

Their expressions looked as if they had made some kind of promise with him a long time ago.

Krash, who had been watching them strangely, slowly furrowed his brows.

“Arthur, what do you mean? Am I the only one not understanding right now?”

“Krash, this isn’t the first destruction for me. This world has been destroyed many times over.”

Arthur’s calm words only made Krash more confused.

What kind of nonsense was he talking about, that the world had been destroyed many times?

Had Arthur gone crazy at the end?

“But it’s okay. I just need to go back.”

“What, what, what kind of nonsense are you talking about?! Arthur! Sigrid, Abella, Mary, do you guys know something?!”

Despite Krash’s outcry, the three of them only looked at Arthur.

As if only Arthur existed in this world.

“Since we’ve come this far, let me tell you the story.”

Then, at last, Arthur gave the answer.

“It’s regression.”

Regression?

Krash’s one eye twitched violently.

It was because a word that seemed to come from a story had come out of Arthur’s mouth.

Moreover, the other three people seemed to already know about his regression.

“Re, gression?”

Together with that, Krash felt a sensation of all the puzzle pieces fitting together.

It was because all of Arthur’s actions, which seemed like he knew the future, were now understood.

Arthur’s eyes were sincere.

He really was regressing.

“And in this round, I’ve obtained the Memory Inheritance. With this Memory Inheritance, Sigrid, Abella, and Mary’s memories can also be inherited back to the point when I regressed.”

“So, you’re going to start over by regressing?”

If they couldn’t stop the destruction alone, then they could bring others back with them to stop it.

Realizing this fact, one of Krash’s eyes began to widen.

If that was the case, they might actually be able to prevent the destruction.

Even though this round had failed, if they were together with those three, who, despite their rough personalities, were skilled, the possibility would be much higher.

For a moment, light began to appear.

It was the light of a world that had been shrouded in the darkness of destruction.

“Yes, I’ll start over with everyone.”

Then, suddenly, Krash raised his head upon hearing the word “everyone.”

The three people beside him had already known about this fact long ago.

But what about himself?

What about him, who had stubbornly survived even as the generations in the sky died off, stealing everyone’s curses and enduring up to this point?

“Wait, Arthur.”

That’s why Krash decided to ask.

You never acknowledged me, did you?

“…What about me?”

It was the moment when he managed to open his tightly closed lips and ask the question.

At first, Aser stared at Krash just as he had in the beginning, and then he started to laugh for the first time.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Hearing his sudden burst of laughter, Krash was stunned, and Aser slowly lifted his head along with the tears that Abella had wiped away.

Then, his golden eyes shone brightly.

“Krash, what’s the point of passing down your memories if both your body and mind have become ragged like this?”

Aser said, looking down at the blank-faced Krash.

“Don’t worry. I like you quite a bit. Without you, the Sky Generation wouldn’t be able to advance this far. Your ability to steal curses is very useful. But that doesn’t mean I need you as you are now. What I need is you, with a clear mind, to follow me.”

At that moment, his words seemed to treat Krash like a tool.

A disposable tool, used once and then discarded.

A tool that was needed for each regression but nothing more, nothing less.

“See you again, Krash.”

As he spoke, a bright light began to seep out of Aser’s body.

Realizing that Aser had begun to use regression, Krash scrambled up with a flustered expression and fell to the floor.

One of his legs, which had lost its function due to the curse, couldn’t move properly.

Rolling in the mud, Krash spat blood and shouted at Aser.

“Wait, wait! Wait! Aser! Take me with you! You bastard! If you’re going, take me too!”

But still, Aser’s expression remained unchanged.

From the beginning, Krash had no worth in Aser’s life.

The reason he pretended to acknowledge Krash was solely because he thought Krash could be of help.

He had never once acknowledged Krash as a comrade.

But did Krash realize this truth only now?

‘Already.’

Hadn’t he realized this long ago?

When the members of the Sky Generation ignored and humiliated him, Aser simply watched without saying a word.

As if such treatment was only natural.

If Aser had truly considered him a comrade, he would have stopped it long ago and stood together.

He didn’t even acknowledge Krash’s accomplishments and treated him as a tool as well.

‘I am merely.’

He had been consoling himself in his heart.

Filling the void of self-esteem that had been lacking from his family with the idea of helping the Sky Generation and preventing the destruction of the world.

That was all it had been.

Is this really the end?

Really?

It was at that moment that Krash’s mind started to fade.

Krash looked down at his own hand.

A world facing destruction.

Arthur, leaving.

The ability to steal what others possess.

Although it was a part of him that he hadn’t thought about for a long time due to the curse that had already destroyed his body in the early stages.

He had always had a lingering question since a certain point.

Could he really not steal something called a skill?

Of course, a skill would be the most important thing to a person, so it wouldn’t be something that could be easily stolen.

But now was not the time to worry about such things.

Krash raised his hand towards Arthur.

Had he done the same thing in Arthur’s past iterations as well?

If he had succeeded, he would have regressed the same way in this iteration.

If he couldn’t do it, that would mean he had failed.

But it didn’t matter.

If he didn’t do this, everything would become meaningless under the destroyed world anyway.

“Damn it!”

With a single curse, the moment Krash’s outstretched hand shone brightly.

Krash lost consciousness along with the blinding light.

* * *

“Huh?”

After the bright light disappeared, a single question echoed around.

Within the meteor shower pouring down for the sake of destruction, a person slowly raised their head.

As they did so, they began to open their eyes wide, realizing that there was no one beside them.

“What, what is this?”

Why was he, who should have regressed, still in this place?

Around the time he started to question it, his thoughts were interrupted by the meteor shower raining down upon him.

Originally, it should have been the 10th round after regression, but it was the 9th round instead, at the threshold of Asura and Gramalt.

It was the day he truly died.