Chapter 101
Jin-Woo quickly arrived near where Tank’s group was.
In the not too far distance, he spotted the Shadow Beast Soldier squad half made up of black bears with black steam rising up from their bodies, and High Orcs covered in armour from head to toe.
Right in front of the pack, Tank was walking slowly but steadily forward.
‘I’m pretty sure the next target will be this group.’
Tank was originally the pack leader of the Ice Bears. When it was still alive, he was strong enough to easily overwhelm the Shadow Soldiers. Even as a shadow, not many soldiers could defeat him in terms of sheer physical strength.
Unfortunately, the comparison didn’t favour him this time.
First of all, the captains of the other groups, Iron, Igrit, and Fangs were different ‘grades’ to begin with. Even though Tank’s level was high, at the end of the day, he was still an elite soldier grade.
But, both Igrit and Iron were knight grades, while Fangs enjoyed the prefix of ‘elite’ tacked onto his knight grade, too. Meaning, there was no comparison here.
Since the enemy seemed to possess enough intelligence to detect weaker opponents, as well as to identify the movements of the soldiers, their next target had to be here.
‘Let’s observe for a little while.’
Jin-Woo hid his presence to the best of his abilities and, while maintaining a fixed distance, he followed after his Shadow Beast Soldiers. His own soldiers didn’t even realise that he was following them.
And so, just how much time passed them by?
Even after a long period of waiting, no enemies showed themselves, and Jin-Woo began tilting his head.
‘Was I wrong about this whole thing?’
He began suspecting that, rather than powerful enemies, there just so happened to be a big concentration of enemies in the location of his soldiers getting annihilated – but, then….
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘…..Here they come.’
Maybe the enemies were also concealing their presence until the soldiers got closer to them, Jin-Woo had discovered them a bit later than usual. He closed his eyes and focused his Perception.
His shockingly enhanced Perception began sweeping over all the presences found within the vicinity like a radar.
‘Four presences approaching. My soldiers, 20. Demons hiding underground, five.’
Jin-Woo opened his eyes. He decided to get rid of the five demons playing possum underground a bit later, and then….
‘Stealth.’
Shururuk….
Jin-Woo activated the Stealth skill to become invisible and approached his soldiers. And soon enough, he got to confirm the enemies’ appearance with his own eyes.
‘….They are riding on horseback??’
Rumble, rumble….
‘Not only that, they are armed, too?’
Not just the riders, but even the horses they were riding on were armoured.
When the enemies came close enough, their names became visible.
He was thinking that these guys were way too different from the regular demons that walked around ‘naked’, whether they be low or high demons, and now he could even see that their names were different from the rest, as well.
‘….A Demon Aristocrat, and three Demon Knights?’
The names he saw for the first time were written in black and very clear to see. He sensed strong hostility from all four of them.
‘It must be those four that attacked my boys.’
They all possessed powerful auras and strong hostility. Jin-Woo decided to maintain ‘Stealth’ and observe the situation for a little while longer.
‘Let’s see what happens next.’
Since these monsters were new, he wanted to check out their skills and battle styles with his own eyes first.
‘Monsters capable of massacring Shadow Soldiers, is it….’
He was also feeling a bit expectant, too.
Jin-Woo stopped at a suitable position where he wouldn’t get in the way of the battle between the Shadow Beast Soldiers and the new types of demons that was about to get underway.
Growl?
Tank finally discovered the demons.
Once the demons got close enough, they dismounted from the horses.
‘Huh. So, those rides were simply a means of transportation.’
Jin-Woo continued to stare at the demons with a great deal of interest.
Soon afterwards, the Beast Soldiers became excited by the entrance of enemies, roared out, and attacked first, signalling the beginning of the bitter, violent battle between these two groups.
Rooooaaaar!!
Tank took to the front.
He shot forward with every ounce of power provided with his four limbs, and when he arrived in front of the enemies, he reared up on his hind legs.
A regular person would’ve fainted from the enormous pressure alone. However, the four demons remained steadfast. Even when Tank swung his massive front leg like a baseball bat, they didn’t even blink.
Whooooosh!
Tank’s front paw scythed the air. It was an agile attack that belied his massive frame.
However….
Tank’s target, the Demon Aristocrat, easily jumped over the swung front paw with a light but quick movement.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up.
That wasn’t the end of the surprising spectacle, either. The Demon Aristocrat then spun in the air and thrust forward the spear held in its hand at Tank’s chest.
Kaboom-!!
The fierce attack containing magic energy put a watermelon-sized hole in Tank’s torso.
From that small-ish frame, an explosive aura could be felt rather clearly. And on top of that, it also possessed beautifully simple and clean movements, too. Jin-Woo grew even more interested by then.
‘Yup, not a regular monster, alright.’
It wasn’t just the Demon Aristocrat either, but the three Demon Knights were also eye-wideningly strong, as well.
The battle was one-sided. In short, the Beast Soldiers were no match for the demons.
Quite unlike the Superior Demons, which were only big in size but rather easy to hunt, these so-called Demon ‘Aristocrats’ or whatever and their humanoid appearances simply toyed around with the Beast Soldiers.
‘This was why the rate of regeneration couldn’t keep up.’
Jin-Woo’s expression gradually hardened.
“Roar!!”
“Keuahahk!”
Even before the Beast Soldiers could regenerate, they were cut and sliced apart and stabbed through by spears and swords.
By then, Jin-Woo was carrying a crumpled expression. He knew very well that, as long as his MP supply held up, his Beast Soldiers were practically immortals. Even if his MP did run out, they would simply return to him as shadows.
“Kuwaak!!”
However, he sure as hell didn’t feel pleased watching his own boys getting pummelled like that. Was this how an older brother would feel when his younger sibling came home all beaten up black and blue?
‘That is enough.’
Jin-Woo couldn’t stand it anymore and recalled his Beast Soldiers. They reverted back to their shadow forms and quickly moved below his feet, and absorbed back into his own shadow.
As soon as the Beast Soldiers disappeared after seemingly failing to endure the attacks, the demons gazed at each other and nodded their heads.
It was as if they were celebrating their third victory on the trot.
However, it happened then.
Shururuk.
Jin-Woo undid his Stealth in the midst of the demons.
Flinch!!
The demons were greatly taken by surprise, but as expected of ‘pros’, they immediately sensed Jin-Woo’s hostility and attacked him right away.
Slam!! Kwang!!
Jin-Woo punched down bare-fisted on the two knights beside him, and then, grabbed the last one rushing at him and slammed the sucker down hard on the ground.
CRACK!
The spiderweb-like cracks formed on the ground and a message popped up in his view.
[You killed a Demon Knight.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
The exact same messages repeated three times.
Each of his attacks killed one of his enemies. In less than one second, he cut short the lives of three monsters.
‘These guys were side distractions, anyway. The real deal is that guy.’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Demon Aristocrat. After their eyes met, the Aristocrat flinched rather grandly and pointed at him with its spear.
‘I always wondered whether monsters could feel fear or not….’
But now, he was pretty certain of it.
Different from back when the Demon Aristocrat was pointing the spear at the Beast Soldier group, the tip of the weapon was trembling ever so slightly. Well, being able to sense the opponent’s strength was also a part of one’s skills, after all.
‘I ain’t going to go easy on you because of that, though.’
Jin-Woo dashed forward. At the same time, the Demon Aristocrat thrust the spear forward.
Jin-Woo evaded the attack by tilting his head out of the way.
Surprisingly, though – the spear changed directions multiple times and continued to harass him slightly.
First, it was his face, Next, his neck. And right after that, his heart. As if this wasn’t something learned overnight, the demon’s movement was smooth like flowing water.
However, the spear was constantly blocked by Jin-Woo’s weapon, ‘Baruka’s Dagger’.
And when the final attack aiming for his heart was parried off, ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ sliced the spear’s shaft in two.
“….!!”
The Demon Aristocrat froze up after seeing its broken spear.
With that, this battle was over.
‘Well, not even three, or four, rank A Hunters would be able to win against you, but….’
Jin-Woo rated the demon’s abilities pretty highly. Too bad, today’s match-up was all wrong for the monster.
Jin-Woo reached out and grabbed the enemy’s helmet with his left hand.
“Keuk!”
The shocked enemy immediately went into panic mode. It tried to pull its head back, but couldn’t do anything from Jin-Woo’s powerful grip. He was thinking of yanking the helmet loose and cut the head off, so he strengthened his left hand some more.
As expected, the helmet came off rather easily. And, Jin-Woo raised the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ high up.
“I surrender!! I will surrender!!”
Jin-Woo frowned and stopped moving.
“….A female?”
The face underneath the helmet definitely belonged to a female.
Actually, Jin-Woo didn’t really care whether a monster was a male or female. But the thing was, the monster quickly lifted its hands high up in the air and declared its intentions to surrender, making him realise that he could initiate conversation with it. And right after that, ‘she’ even fell to the ground in a kowtow, too.
‘……’
So, naturally, he felt a bit put off by the idea of stabbing ‘her’ with his dagger for the time being.
“P-p-please accept my apologies! We were in the wrong! P-p-please spare my life!”
Not only had she changed her stance in the blink of an eye, but she was also now even begging for her life?
A monster was doing what now???
“Hah…..??”
With a disbelieving expression etched on his face, Jin-Woo stared at the petite back of the ‘monster’ still prostrating before his feet.
Since intelligent monsters could be found in regular dungeons, it wasn’t so strange for intelligent monsters to appear in these instant dungeons, as well.
Even then, this creature… was a strange one.
‘…….’
Left feeling a bit speechless, Jin-Woo pondered what he should say here for a while, and eventually, he opened his mouth with some difficulty.
“You attacked my soldiers, yet you want my forgiveness?”
“W-we have committed a grave sin.”
The Demon Aristocrat planted her forehead on the ground and continued on.
“However, as our clan is tasked with protecting this place, we couldn’t simply let some basta…. Heok! I, I mean, we couldn’t let any great beings go on a demon hunting spree without doing anything. I’d be eternally grateful if you forgive us.”
Oh, well.
From the demons’ perspective, it was reasonable for them to think of this whole thing as a bit unfair. After all, it was he who just barged in here totally unannounced to hunt and massacre demons one-sidedly, right?
So, Jin-Woo changed his question slightly.
“Is it alright for you to beg for your life from someone who killed your own soldiers?”
“The main role of the knights are to protect their lord. As long as I’m safe, they should be happy with the results.”
Jin-Woo scratched his temple for a little. He was even more speechless now.
‘I can’t tell whether she’s thick-skinned, or just way too optimistic.’
The Demon Aristocrat slightly raised her head and tried to read Jin-Woo’s reactions.
‘Heok!!’
She couldn’t help but feel that the situation was getting gradually worse for her. She kowtowed even harder than before and spoke in an urgent voice.
“If you spare my measly life, I shall give you anything you want.”
Jin-Woo placed his hands on his waist.
This Demon Aristocrat was a powerful monster, yes, but what with her armament now stripped from her, killing her was now easier than drinking cold soup for Jin-Woo.
‘So, what should I do with this one, then?’
Jin-Woo was in a dilemma.
And that wasn’t to do with letting her go or not – no, he was simply trying to think of something more valuable than the experience points and possible loot he could get his hands on after killing her.
‘….Ah.’
There indeed was one such item.
“I want the Entry Permit.”
“Excuse me??”
Swish.
The Demon Aristocrat raised her head and stared at him with a surprised expression. Her face was shaped completely like a human’s, excluding a pair of sharp incisors he saw when she opened her mouth just now, of course.
Jin-Woo disinterestedly asked her.
“Can you get it for me?”
“…”
When her gaze met Jin-Woo’s, her complexion paled even more and she planted her forehead back on the ground.
‘Oh well. I should’ve known that monsters weren’t aware of what items are.’
The negotiation was over with that.
Jin-Woo recalled ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ back from his Inventory.
He didn’t know why monsters possessed intelligence, and were able to use that intelligence to beg for her life like this, but he had not one thought of giving up on the potential experience points.
‘A Demon Knight gave three thousand points, so how much will she give me?’
Who knows, the Entry Permit might appear after killing her, too.
However….
“I, I shall give it to you.”
“Give me what, exactly?”
“The… the Entry Permit.”
The ‘monster’ raised her head and immediately began shedding cold sweat drops after spotting the deadly-looking dagger in Jin-Woo’s hand.
“You can give me the Entry Permit? Really?”
The Demon Aristocrat hurriedly nodded her head.
“It’s in safekeeping by our clan. If you allow me to safely return, I shall hand over the permit.”
Demons were guarding the entry permit?
Jin-Woo slowly scratched his chin.
For sure, it had been a long time since he arrived on the 80th floor. And not to forget, lots of demons were hunted down so far, too. Yet, there hadn’t been a peep about the news of the entry permit.
‘I thought the drop rate had worsened because I’m in the upper floors, or that a mid-boss was carrying it around, but now….’
If she was telling the truth about monsters hiding the permit, then, well, the current situation made a bit more sense.
Seeing that Jin-Woo was silently pondering his options, the Demon Aristocrat felt even more desperate than ever before and quickly added some more ‘encouragement’.
“I also know where you can locate the Entry Permits on the upper floors as well. If you guarantee my, and my clan’s, safety, then I shall safely escort you to where they are.”
The light shining in Jin-Woo’s eyes changed a little bit. Now that offer was a bit more enticing.
To Jin-Woo’s ears, who wanted to get to the top floor as soon as possible, her suggestion of guiding him to where each floor’s Entry Permit sounded rather attractive.
However….
‘The question is, can I really trust her?’
Jin-Woo reached down and lifted the demon’s chin. She was clearly panicking, but he didn’t lessen his strength. He then looked straight into her eyes.
‘Intimidation.’
[You have activated ‘Skill: Intimidation’.]
Swwwoooosh….
A chill-inducing aura emanated from Jin-Woo’s eyes. The Demon Aristocrat was so terrified that her lips were trembling involuntarily.
“Can I trust you?”
“I, I, I am not l-l-lying.”
He made a pledge to himself back when he received the power of the System.
‘Give and take.’
Even if his opponent was a monster, his principals wouldn’t change. If a monster kept her side of the bargain, so would he.
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo withdrew the ‘Intimidation’.
“You hand over the Entry Permit, and I’ll quietly leave.”
“T-truthfully?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
It was a bit of a waste to give up on the potential experience points gained from this demon, as well as those monsters supposedly guarding the Entry Permit. But then again, he found it even more of a waste to spend time searching for the permit himself.
He had been delayed for much longer than expected on this 80th floor already.
Besides, if this female demon was thinking of tricking him, well, he wouldn’t be too unhappy about that, either. Because, if she did, then he’d get to go all out in the monsters’ main camp, now wouldn’t he?
“Thank you very much!!”
The complexion of the Demon Aristocrat brightened so much that he couldn’t help but notice it.
Was she just honest with her emotions, or was she just a simpleton?
Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue, but still, didn’t forget to ask her something he was curious about for a while.
Chapter 102
“I am Esil, the first-born daughter of House Radiru. And my clan is…”
“No, not that.”
Jin-Woo cut Esil off.
He didn’t really care about the finer details of a monster family’s history. What he wanted to know was the reason why monsters and instant dungeons existed.
How should he go about asking this question, so he’d get himself a satisfying enough answer?
No, he would still be okay if there was no concrete answer. He’d be happy enough to get a single clue, a lead of some kind.
He tried asking the same thing to monsters in the regular dungeons, but the only thing he got to learn was that they could only hear the order of ‘Kill the humans’ inside their heads.
‘In that case, do these guys receive the exact same order, too?’
In order to help him compare the current situation with the monsters of the regular dungeons, he simplified the question a bit.
“Hey, do you also hear a voice telling you to kill humans?”
“Pardon me?”
Esil looked at him with a pair of confused eyes.
Because she was still kowtowing on the ground, he had to continue staring down at her if he wanted to talk to her face to face, and he kinda felt a bit uncomfortable about this arrangement.
‘Tsk.’
Jin-Woo lightly clicked his tongue, and as if Esil was a little kid, picked her up and made her stand straight. And then, he stared at her face again.
Maybe she got scared of the unannounced physical contact, he heard her heart rate quicken noticeably. Not minding that, Jin-Woo asked her again.
“I’m asking you if you hear a whisper of someone busy telling you to kill humans.”
“Oh….”
Esil hesitated and pondered for a moment, before opening her mouth.
“No. But, we do hear a different voice all the time.”
“Okay. What does it say?”
“It tells us to… protect the space we’re residing in.”
Esil spoke cautiously while being extra mindful of Jin-Woo’s reactions.
‘The purpose of the instant dungeon’s monsters is different from monsters of the regular dungeons?’
The sole purpose of the monsters from the regular dungeons was to kill humans, while the monsters of the instant dungeons were to guard where they were. The nature of the two camps’ aim was quite different from each other.
‘Wait a minute….’
Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Jin-Woo a monster-like existence to these monsters of the instant dungeons??
Esil’s complexion was still quite pale after bearing the full brunt of his skill, ‘Intimidation’, and he couldn’t help but feel a wee bit of pity for her.
Just a tiny bit, though.
“How long have you been hearing that voice?”
“It’s right after we opened our eyes in this place.”
‘After opening their eyes in this place, is it?’
Didn’t that imply that she and others were living in another location before this? Whether that was a genuine or a fake memory, that’s what was left imprinted in her brain.
Jin-Woo continued on with his questioning.
“Okay. Then, where have you been before waking up in this place?”
“We were in the Demon World. We just woke up one day and found ourselves stuck here.”
“And what were you doing back in the Demon World before that?”
“We were…. getting ready for war.”
“War, you say?”
“Yes.”
Did she recall the memories of back then? Esil’s expression no longer had any traces of fear when she was begging for her life, now only filled with grave determination.
“We were in the situation of preparing for war against a horrifyingly powerful foe that necessitated every demon scattered around in the Demon World to unite….”
….And that’s where Esil’s words were cut off.
“…”
No, accurately speaking, Esil was still talking. Her lips were clearly moving up and down even now. However, Jin-Woo couldn’t hear her voice at all. Instead, he was blessed with the monotone mechanical voice spat out by the System.
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold, therefore this conversation has been blocked.]
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold, therefore this conversation has been blocked.]
[You have exceeded the allowed information threshold….]
Right until Esil’s explanations came to an end, that exact same message played over and over again.
Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed suspiciously.
‘Had you left it alone, I wouldn’t have suspected anything, actually.’
Indeed, he might have thought Esil’s explanations as a backstory for the monsters of this place cooked up by the System or some such. Levelling up, instant dungeons, quests, quest rewards, penalties, and even the process of getting his Class…..
He was faced with one situation after another that resembled video games, so if monsters had a game-like backstory as well, it’d not come across as strange at all.
However, the moment the System forcibly intervened, Jin-Woo became sure of one thing.
‘Talking to her might give me a clue to solving everything, in other words.’
The System made a clear and definite mistake here, just now.
“Did…. Did I make a mistake somewhere?”
When Jin-Woo’s expression became graver, even Esil’s own expression darkened.
‘What does the System want to hide? This unknown foe the demons were supposed to fight? Or the reason for the war? Maybe the end result?’
In order to figure this out, he narrowed down the scope of his next question.
“What was the identity of those horrifyingly powerful foes?”
However, at that moment….
Like a toy with a dead battery, Esil froze up on the spot. But, that lasted only for a little while. She suddenly lost consciousness and powerlessly collapsed to the floor.
Jin-Woo quickly snatched her, and carefully laid her down on the ground. Seeing that her breathing was steady, it didn’t look like she was in any danger.
However, there was a frown on her face; perhaps she felt a bit uncomfortable somewhere. She seemed to be having a bit of trouble breathing properly, too.
In order to help her rest more easily, Jin-Woo began ripping her armours off.
Riiiip.
Her armours came off rather easily. He also tore the mantle on the back of the armour, rolled it up and placed it under her head like a pillow. It sure was a lot of work for a monster, but he didn’t think this was him being too nice at all.
Because she ended up in this state, he got himself yet another clue, that’s why.
‘The foes demons fought….’
The System reacted way too sensitively towards the identity of this unknown foe, or foes.
‘Could those beings be related?’
What if those beings possessed some kind of incredible transcendental powers, and for some reason, exerted their influence on Earth and more specifically, him….?
Jin-Woo summoned the Store interface.
He tried to wake Esil up with a potion, but it didn’t seem to work.
‘I guess I don’t have a choice but to wait it out.’
Plop.
Jin-Woo sat down next to Esil.
And until she woke up, he systematically pieced together each tidbit of info she supplied him with.
“….Uh?”
Esil quickly raised her upper body.
Sensing another presence nearby, she looked to her side and found the totally-wordless Jin-Woo sitting there. Her shoulders flinched a little, just then.
‘S-so, I wasn’t dreaming….’
Slowly getting to terms with her new reality, Esil took a look around her. And there were huge piles of dead Superior Demons found nearly everywhere. Her brows shot up immediately.
Demons with little intelligence didn’t treat other demons with intelligence as their kin. So, an unconscious demon like her would’ve been seen as a tasty meal.
However…..
The only reason why she was unscathed like this, was….
“Were you protecting me all this time?”
Rather than answering her, Jin-Woo raised his body up and then, extended his hand out to Esil.
Esil looked as if she was profoundly moved and, after holding onto his hand, cautiously stood up from the spot.
“Thank you.”
“How long will we take to get to where the Entry Permit is?”
“It’s not too far from here. I’ll take you there.”
Esil then presented Jin-Woo with both of her wrists.
“…..?”
“…??”
Jin-Woo and Esil stared at each other in confusion. Feeling a bit frustrated, Esil opened her mouth first.
“I’m your hostage, so aren’t you supposed to bind my hands first before moving out?”
“Don’t wanna.”
He was confident of stopping her from resisting or escaping even without the aid of restraints. Besides, way too much time had been wasted already for him to waste even more on something useless like that.
Jin-Woo spun Esil around and pushed her slightly on her back.
Maybe she was still scared of him, he sensed her heartbeat getting faster, but Jin-Woo didn’t mention it. Instead, his gaze shifted over to the horses the demons rode on.
“What about them?”N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.
“I’ll take them along.”
With a slightly flushed face, Esil took the reins of the horses and took the lead. Jin-Woo quietly followed her from behind.
Just as Esil said, they didn’t have to travel far before arriving at a location where the Entry Permit was likely to be present. And it just so happened to be a large castle.
‘A demon’s castle inside the Demon’s Castle, is it….?’
The Demon’s Castle was only a ‘castle’ in name and was actually a tower, but the one in front of his eyes seemed to have taken quite a lot of inspirations from the ancient castles of the medieval times.
The soldiers guarding the castle gates became tense instantly after seeing Jin-Woo, but….
“He’s a guest.”
Esil spoke disinterestedly and pointed with her chin, causing the guards to quickly open the castle gates. Soon, a group of knights came out from the inside of the castle to greet her.
“Lady Esil. We were waiting for your return.”
“Where is my father?”
“The lord is waiting in the audience chamber.”
“Understood.”
One of the knights glanced at Jin-Woo and asked.
“Lady Esil…. This gentleman is…?”
“He’s an important guest, so do not forget to mind your manners.”
After hearing Esil’s solemn tone of voice, knights quickly parted ways and lowered their heads.
Jin-Woo wordlessly followed after her and entered the deeper part of the castle. After a long walk down a wide corridor, he found himself entering a very large chamber that looked like a boss room in a dungeon.
‘So, this is the audience chamber?’
Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings.
Other than tall stone pillars reaching up to the ceiling situated at a regular interval to either sides of the chamber, it was pretty much wide open and empty. It was as if this whole place had been prepared for potential battles that could break out.
‘If I were to fight my way here, then I guess I was supposed to face the boss in this chamber, huh.’
Which meant, the male Demon Aristocrat sitting on a huge throne atop a rostrum located on the other side of the audience chamber was the boss of this place.
Esil and Jin-Woo stopped before the ‘boss’.
The boss was the first to break the ice.
“Esil.”
“Father, this person is….”
Even before listening to Esil’s explanation, the boss met the gaze of Jin-Woo, and its brows shot up high. The irises of the boss were quaking visibly now.
“Y-you!! Just who did you bring before me?!”
“F-Father, this man is a guest….”
Esil desperately tried to explain, but the boss’s agitation didn’t want to lessen at all.
“A guest?! Just what kind of a guest invades the home of the inviter with an army?!”
“Pardon me?!”
Esil quickly shifted her gaze over to Jin-Woo. Just where was this army her father was speaking of here?
The boss, meanwhile, kept his eyes firmly fixed on Jin-Woo and spoke with a trembling voice.
“Esil, do you not see it with your own eyes? Can you not see the countless soldiers hidden in that man’s darkness?” (TL note at the end)
Jin-Woo’s glare sharpened up a notch.
Flinching from the sudden change in the atmosphere, Esil quickly took a step back. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was somewhat surprised by this development.
‘I guess he’s got pretty good senses.’
It seemed that the boss was able to ‘see’ the soldiers hidden inside Jin-Woo’s shadow.
‘Not sure whether I can call this a good thing or not, though.’
He had recalled all of his Shadow Soldiers and stored them back in his shadow to prepare for battles, just in case, before arriving here.
“How dare you bring soldiers into my house?!”
As soon as the boss roared out, many knights rushed inside the audience chamber.
“Father!”
Esil cried out to her father in a loud voice of her own.
The boss was now standing up from his throne, glaring down with anger-filled eyes. Staring silently at the developing situation until then, Jin-Woo finally opened his mouth.
“We made a promise.”
Failing to sense any form of tension whatsoever from Jin-Woo, the boss’s brows quivered greatly.
“What kind of a promise did you make?”
“The Entry Permit.”
Jin-Woo took a step forward.
“As long as you hand over the floor entry permit, I’ll quietly leave this floor.”
The boss swallowed his saliva nervously.
‘The man who hunted down demons at a frightening pace while climbing up the floors must be him.’
The boss recalled how despondent he felt when the news of the much-trusted Vulcan and Metus falling reached his ears.
Even though the Radiru clan was nominally aristocrats, they were actually ranked 20th, the very last spot on the list of the demon’s hierarchy. Meaning, they were the weakest among the aristocratic clans.
If they were to face off against an enemy that took care of Vulcan and Metus quite easily, the boss knew that he’d have to sacrifice quite a lot of their own. However, such a terrifying enemy was saying that he’d leave on his own volition.
‘Should I believe him….?’
The boss asked, feeling not entirely convinced.
“Is that the only thing you want from us?”
As if he was waiting for that, Jin-Woo spoke up.
“And also….”
‘But, of course….’
The boss’s forehead creased up in a frown as the situation unfolded as he expected. The demands of the strong were always unfair and constant.
Even before hearing the ridiculousness of the demands that would insult the clan’s honour, and ridicule his proud soldiers, the boss could feel his chest tighten in frustration already.
Sure enough….
The man placed his hand on the shoulder of the boss’s daughter and spoke.
“I wish to borrow this kid from you, too.”
“….What did you say??”
The boss and the knights all cried out in astonishment simultaneously. Jin-Woo scanned his vicinity, feeling genuinely puzzled now.
‘Mm?’
Esil told him that she knew where the Entry Permits were at in the higher floors. He only asked to ‘borrow’ her for a little bit so she could guide him to where the permits were, but this was…..
‘Did I say something wrong?’
Jin-Woo could only tilt his head this way and that as he alternated his gaze between the heavily-trembling boss, the knights who couldn’t hide their astonishment, as well as Esil and her deeply-blushing face.
Chapter 103
“My daughter, as a guide??”
Esil’s explanation and Jin-Woo saying the exact same thing finally managed to calm down the boss’s agitation. He settled back down on his throne to think.
‘The floor entry permit, and a guide? Are they truly everything he wants from us?’
From the moment the demons found themselves locked up in here, they had to constantly hear the order to protect this land in their heads.
The order itself was not what one would call forceful. However, just like one would follow their instincts to eat when they were hungry and sleep when they were tired, the demons all thought that they had to carry this order out.
That was why the boss felt his heart fall to the pit of his stomach when he heard the news of black-armoured soldiers suddenly invading this land and hunting down lesser demons. He knew that the thing they were supposed to protect this place from had finally arrived.
The boss gave it a lot of thought, before ordering the subjugation force to move out. And surprisingly, the platoons made up of black soldiers proved easier than expected to defeat.
However, according to the reports made by the advanced scouts, there were enemies on a completely different scale compared to those easy-to-defeat black soldiers present as well.
They said that against platoons led by the robe-wearing giant ‘knight’ that could spit out flames, or a knight with something lengthy attached to its helm, there was no guarantee of victory at all.
And that was why the entirety of the Radiru Clan was getting ready to sortie in order to subjugate those two forces.
Unfortunately, those reports failed to mention the man in front of the boss’s eyes. Not even once. Meaning, the enemies’ true combat force was someone else entirely different.
‘If I knew this monster-like human was the leader of those soldiers, I wouldn’t even have started fighting in the first place.’
The boss could see it.
He rejoiced after hearing the news of those black soldiers suddenly vanishing. But, they were now gathered right in front of his eyes. They were hiding within the man’s darkness, waiting for an order to attack.
Even now, the boss felt a chill from the countless soldiers inside the shadow shooting him cold glares filled with thick, bone-chilling murderous intent.
‘Negotiating with a mere human hurts my pride, but….’
A certain scroll named ‘Entry Permit’ could also be found in the list of things the demons were supposed to protect. However, wasn’t the cost of protecting that single scroll far too high?
No, even if the boss was prepared to sacrifice every single one of his clansmen, he couldn’t be sure of winning against this human and his soldiers.
Not only that, this man….
‘….Is hiding his true abilities.’
It was uncertain what he was aiming for, but there was little doubt that he was hiding almost all of his powers like an iceberg floating on the quiet water’s surface. Fighting against an enemy no one could truly comprehend was a terrifying prospect, indeed.
The boss asked again with a nervous expression.
“Truly… is that all you want?”
If the boss could protect everyone simply by handing out that Entry permit, then there was no reason not to. Also, since he’d be doing that in order to protect this land, he wasn’t exactly going against that order from the unknown source, either.
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
“You will not bring harm upon my daughter?”
Suddenly, Jin-Woo felt Esil’s glance.
‘A monster worrying about his daughter, is it…..’
Jin-Woo was inwardly surprised but didn’t forget to nod his head regardless.
The boss pondered for a short while, before a smile formed on his face.
“We’ll do that, then.”
The moment he agreed to hand it over, the boss felt as if a persistently-annoying aching tooth had finally come loose or some such.
If the event of stopping the prophetised advent of calamity by handing over a scrap of paper didn’t qualify as a matter to rejoice, then what else would?
“No, if you could do that, we’d be very grateful.”
Jin-Woo had been getting ready for the eventuality where things go the other way, but after seeing the boss’s bright smile, he too smirked and let go of all the built-up tension in his body.
‘I guess Esil got her personality from her old man.’
Was this how the System’s setting was like for this place, or what she said was really…..N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter’s release on N0v3l–B1n.
Jin-Woo quickly shook off the distracting thoughts and gave his assurance to the eagerly-waiting boss.
“I keep my promises.”
“Very good.”
The boss snapped his fingers, and a soldier hurriedly brought a large scroll from somewhere to present it before Jin-Woo. He then unfurled the scroll.
‘It is really the Entry permit.’
Confirming the contents of the scroll, a thick smile formed on Jin-Woo’s lips.
[Item: Entry Permit]
Rarity: ??
Type: ??
A permit allowing you to enter the 81st floor of the Demon’s Castle. Can only be used on the 80th floor’s floor-transfer magic circle.
He was suspicious of whether he could get an item from monsters through nothing more than just dialogue, but this was really the Entry Permit he was looking for.
If there was one difference from the permits found on the lower floors, then it’d be the red emblem of the Radiru Clan stamped on the bottom of the permit itself.
‘So, does this mean I’m supposed to take the permits away from different clans from this floor onwards?’
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
He preferred this arrangement a lot more than hunting monsters endlessly and waiting forever for the permit to randomly drop without notice.
Jin-Woo rolled the scroll back up and sent it to his Inventory.
“Hey, is it fine if we get going now?”
Jin-Woo urged Esil and turned towards the exit, but then, the waiting knights suddenly blocked the doorway.
‘……?’
Jin-Woo looked back feeling puzzled, only to find Esil grinning brightly back at him.
So, what was going on now?
The boss quickly walked over and stood before Jin-Woo.
“We’d never let an important guest of the Radiru Clan go like this.”
A certain overbearing aura came off from the boss’s large frame. However, seeing that there was a smile of a friendly neighbourhood uncle etched on his face, it didn’t look like he was trying to intimidate the other party.
The boss spoke with a pleading tone of voice.
“As a celebration of the successful negotiation, would you mind having a feast with us? We also need to prepare my daughter for the long voyage ahead.”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Esil.
She was cautiously waiting for his answer, although he could easily see that she also wanted this.
Well, she did keep her side of the bargain. So, wouldn’t it be only right that he too behave in a gentlemanly manner, too?
Besides, he also needed to eat anyway, and he had grown sick and tired of the stale bread and jerky strip combo being sold in the Store by now.
“….Okay, I will.”
Jin-Woo finally consented after a short bout of hesitation, prompting the boss to break out in a big grin.
“Thank you!”
The complexions of Esil and the knights also brightened considerably. Soon, the boss was yelling at his subordinates.
“What are you all doing? Prepared for a grand feast!”
Since he had spent way too much time on the 80th floor, he wasn’t planning on wasting any more on other floors.
He was worried about whether Esil, coming with him as a guide, could use the floor-transfer magic circles or not, but that worry was put to rest pretty quickly.
[A Demon Aristocrat has requested to accompany you.]
[Will you allow it?]
[Once allowed, the companion will be able to use the magic circles, and depending on the rate of contribution, experience points earned will be shared as well.]
‘….Wait, I’ll be sharing my experience points with my companion??’
The thing about sharing experience points got on his nerves slightly, but thankfully, there was the clause about ‘rate of contribution’. Which meant that, as long as he didn’t give his companion a chance to fight, the experience points wouldn’t be divided at all.
So, Jin-Woo made sure to drill this point into Esil.
“Even if battles break out, you must not interfere. I shall take care of everything. Understood?”
“…..Y-yes.”
Esil replied rather shyly.
‘….??’
In any case, Jin-Woo agreed to her accompanying him and hurried with his steps. A few steps behind him, Esil did her best to chase after Jin-Woo while carrying luggage several times the size of her actual body.
The luggage itself wasn’t heavy, but keeping up with Jin-Woo’s walking speed was proving to be somewhat challenging to her. Jin-Woo had no choice but to stop and wait now and then so she could catch up to him.
“We can see it now over there.”
After arriving on the 81st floor, Esil began checking out the map of this very floor, and then, pointed at the faint outline of a castle far away from them. Jin-Woo nodded his head, having already thought as much.
“Please wait.”
Esil put down the large luggage, and began rummaging through it. Soon, a ceramic liquor bottle rested in her hands. Jin-Woo had to ask her about that.
“What are you planning to do with that now?”
“This is a bottle of the finest liquor that the Clan Head of the Garuche Clan enjoys. If we go and speak to him with it, the negotiation will be…..”
“Negotiation?”
Jin-Woo smirked and summoned his Shadow Soldiers out.
‘Come out.’
As soon as he called, the soldiers instantly revealed themselves.
Shururu….
‘How can this be….?!’
Esil doubted her own sight, then.
There were three ‘soldiers’ with similar levels to that of an upper Demon Aristocrat. And then, two deadly-looking daggers suddenly appeared out of nowhere to rest in the hands of the very person who summoned these soldiers.
After being subjected to an aura that was sharp enough to almost slice her flesh simply by standing near him, Esil had to do a double take to make sure that the man in front of her eyes was the same person she had been conversing with until just now.
“Y-you’re not going to negotiate with them??”
Rather than an answer, Jin-Woo asked back, instead.
“By any chance, is your clan friendly with this Garuche or whatever clan?”
“N-no, not at all. We the aristocrats always competed bitterly against each other for a place in the Demon World’s nobility ranking, so…. Still, they are a group we can hold civilised meetings with.”
Hearing that, Jin-Woo simply grinned.
“In that case, it’s fine.”
Making one exception was enough. Just as important as finding the Entry Permit, he needed to raise his level, too.
“You, wait here.”
Jin-Woo told her as so, and while leading his soldiers forward, headed towards the distant castle.
“P-please, wait!!”
Esil stood there in stunned silence for a moment, before she belatedly stared in the direction of Jin-Woo’s travel.
“Heok!!”
In that short amount of time, the castle belonging to the Garuche Clan was burning in flames.
Rumble…..
A monster as tall as a giant spat out a pillar of flames, and the castle’s gate and walls melted down without offering any resistance whatsoever. Garuche knights rushing out in confusion were cut down by the black soldiers one by one.
“Oh, my dear lord….’
Esil was so shocked that she spat out something that could either be a gasp or a moan.
“Kuwaahhhk!!”
“Uwaaah!!”
The castle of Garuche that looked several times more impregnable than Radiru Clan’s own castle, was powerlessly crumbling down. Esil could only swallow down her nervous saliva.
‘If father didn’t hand over the permit willingly, then…..’
The Radiru castle might have been burning down to cinders just like the Garuche castle right about now.
Just imagining it made her dizzy. At the same time, she thought that her clan got a really lucky break after their negotiation went down so well.
Kaboom!!!
Another tower beyond the castle walls crumbled back down to earth with a loud explosion.
‘How can anyone fight against a monster like him….?’
Esil wiped the sweat drops trickling down to her chin, and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her clan had managed to skirt past a calamity.
The higher-ups of the Japanese Hunter Association and the ministerial members of the Japanese government had gathered today for an urgent meeting.
As the heavy, gloomy atmosphere descended on the conference chamber, the Association President quietly opened his mouth.
“I hear that recently, the mood in South Korea is boisterous due to the entrance of their tenth rank S Hunter.”
The high ranking officials present smirked slightly.
There were already more than twenty rank S Hunters in Japan. Yet, the Koreans were celebrating their tenth rank S?
Well, that did make some sense considering that, after excluding the two they lost to an accident as well as to emigration, there were only eight rank S Hunters found in Korea, to begin with.
Whatever the case may be, today’s meeting wasn’t held to ridicule South Korea. If that were the case, then the atmosphere of this place wouldn’t be this grave.
Sitting in his chair with a deep frown on his face, the ‘Boei Daijin’ of Japan – the Minister of Defense – testily opened his mouth.
“What does that have to do with today’s meeting?”
His voice accurately conveyed how deeply troubled he was.
The island at the southern end of the Korean peninsula, Jeju Island, had been completely overrun by monsters after the Koreans failed to clear a dungeon there.
On top of that, these weren’t any other regular monsters, but ant-types that boasted a rigid hierarchy system as well as an incredibly rapid reproduction rate.
If that was all, the Japanese government would simply ridicule their Korean counterpart and laugh at their misfortune, but now, the Japanese mainland was bearing the cost of that mishap as well.
Only yesterday, an ant they suspected to have flown in from the Jeju Island completely wiped a small village off the Japanese map.
They could no longer ignore the fallout from that event anymore. Most of all, their urgent priority had to be with calming down the irate Prime Minister and his orders of finding a speedy resolution to this crisis.
Which meant, the job security of several important people gathered here was hanging in the balance, yet to start such an important meeting off with some useless banter?
It was only natural that the Defense Minister would frown unhappily.
However, the Association President carried on regardless.
“People are more prone to making mistakes when they are in an agitated state.”
The snow-white hair and wrinkles filling up the entirety of his face spoke of how old he was already.
“And I believe this is the best chance for us.”
His declaration managed to gather the eyes of everyone present within this noisy conference chamber. Unlike just now, when he raised his voice in unhappiness, the Minister of Defense was speaking with a lot more nervousness.
“Do…. you have a good plan in mind?”
“Rather than calling it ‘good’, I’d say ‘appropriate’ is a more suitable description, instead.”
Everyone present, including the Minister of Defense, as well as various ministers and Association’s own upper management, all focused their attention on the Association President’s words.
As if he was taking his time for precisely this moment, the President opened his mouth.
“If you insist that a piece of land is yours when you don’t even have enough strength to defend it, will anyone acknowledge you as the owner?”
“…..”
A bout of silence fell on the conference room.
Just what was the Association President trying to say here?
Considering the relationship between South Korea and Japan, that declaration would never be glossed over as a senile old man’s ramblings if the general public got wind of that.
Not to forget, this old man was none other than the current President of the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
“…So, what is it that you wish to say?”
Minister of State cautiously asked.
The Association President scanned the men sitting to his left and right side, before confidently declaring out loudly.
“We shall get rid of the monsters in the Jeju island.”
Noisy, noisy….
“And then….”
The chamber had gotten noisy for a brief moment, but it was silenced immediately by the Association President’s voice.
He carried on.
“….We will take Jeju island from them.”
Chapter 104
Taking Jeju Island away?
The higher-ups of the Japanese Hunter’s Association remained calm as if they had heard the story from the Association President prior to the meeting. However, the same couldn’t be said about the government officials.
“What on earth are you even talking about?!”
“Are you suggesting that we should wage a war with the Koreans?”
“They have been getting ready for war for the last 60 years!”
“Say something that makes sense, will you?!”
The voices of the government representatives quickly got heated up.
Right now, the proverbial flames from the ant monster incident that fell on their feet were in the process of spreading to their ankles. If they failed to present an acceptable solution to the Prime Minister and to the mass media, just who knows how many sitting here today would lose their posts?
That was why they had summoned the Association President for this meeting, so he could suggest a tangible solution, yet what was he saying now?
The Jeju Island this and that?!
How could they not be incensed when the Association President was yapping on about sheer nonsense in front of these busy people?
If it weren’t for the Hunters guarding the sides of the Association President Matsumoto Shigeo, the government officials would’ve already started their expletive-laden tirades.
‘How can my expectation be on the money this wonderfully?’
Matsumoto Shigeo looked at the barrage of ugly criticism flying in his way and smirked inwardly. Their furious reactions were well within his calculations.
‘Tsk, tsk.’
Matsumoto tutted lightly in his mind, before opening his mouth he’d been keeping close until then.
“Obviously, I’m not suggesting that we should wage war with the Koreans. And I’m also not suggesting that we take the land away by force, either.”
“What was that?”
“Then, just what is it that you’re trying to say?”
“Can’t you stop beating around the bush?”
A corner of Matsumoto Shigeo’s lips arched up.
“We simply make the Korean give us the land on their own volition.”
The riled up mood of the conference chamber rapidly cooled down from the cold attitude of Matsumoto Shigeo. Judging from the strength of the tone of his voice, or from his attitude when saying these words, anyone hearing him could tell that the Association President was being dead serious.
‘……’
The Vice Prime Minister was famed for his ice-cold demeanour, yet he chose to break his silence precisely at that moment.
“Association President Matsumoto.”
He was the closest aide to the current Prime Minister, not to mention his spokesperson on this occasion.
He was attending this meeting as the proxy of Japan’s current leader, so what he said in this place carried as much weight as the Prime Minister’s own words.
“What you said just now…. How will you achieve that?”
A man who could realistically be called the second most powerful figure in the Japanese government was showing his interest in the Association President Matsumoto Shigeo’s plan.
Was it because someone had finally paid attention?
Matsumoto Shigeo became sombre as he proceeded with his explanations.
“The Koreans currently lack the strength to deal with a rank S Gate. That was the situation four years ago when the ants first appeared, and it’s still the same story even now.”
The Vice Prime Minister nodded his head.
Jeju Island was a large island that equalled around 2% of South Korea’s total land mass. They had lost that much land to the monsters, yet were utterly unable to do anything about it, so was there any further explanation necessary?
After the third subjugation effort ended in failure, the Korean government unofficially gave up on Jeju Island.
That was the unofficial story everyone accepted as of now.
“Under the current circumstances, how would they react when we make a suggestion of the Japanese rank S Hunters aiding with the subjugation of the ants?”
The news of the portion of the mutated ants capable of flight should have reached Korea by now. Meaning, they should’ve also realised that it was only a matter of time before the Korean mainland would be attacked.
Unless the decision makers of the Korean government were mad, there was no way they would reject external help if provided.
However….
“Even if we do lend some aid, do you believe the Koreans would hand over Jeju Island like that?”
Just as the Vice Minister alluded to just now, there were certainly a few holes in the Association President’s words. From here and there, several officials began smirking openly as well. Unlike them, though, the Vice Prime Minister carried on in a calm voice, sounding neither ridiculing nor angry.
“Just as you said, Mister Association President, the ants might be taken care of if we lend aid to the Koreans.”
Out of everyone present today, the person most knowledgable regarding the combined strengths of the Korean and Japanese Hunters was the Association President Matsumoto Shigeo. And he was certain of the total defeat of the ants.
There was no disagreement over that.
“However, even if that happened, what is there for us to gain?”
Even though the Japanese citizens had suffered somewhat, ultimately, the ants of Jeju Island were the Koreans’ problem to solve. There was no way they would sacrifice their own Hunters to help out the Koreans.
‘What a nonsensical notion that is.’
The Vice Prime Minister had always been wise to the potential benefits to be gained. And he was inwardly snorting in derision right now. If you concede on something, you were supposed to gain something back in return. That was one of the basics in politics.
If they were to lend out their Hunters, then they had to get something suitable back as compensation.
‘Receiving Jeju Island would be barely on the acceptable level of compensation.’
The Vice Prime Minister showed some interest because his thoughts had aligned with that of the Association President. However, the reply he got instead sounded like an attempt at catching the floating clouds.
Naturally, the interest of the Vice Prime Minister had cooled down faster than anyone else’s.
It was then, the Association President formed a mysterious smile.
“When did I say we’d be helping the Koreans?”
The Vice Prime Minister frowned deeply.
‘Is he trying sophistry with me?’
Just as he was about to reprimand the Association President in a dignified way with the words of “Stop wasting our time”….
‘Wait….’
The eyes of the Vice Minister widened.
The Association President said he’d ‘suggest’ lending an aid, but not about actually lending it.
“You, perhaps…..?”
“It is as you suspect.”
The Association President willingly acknowledged it. As soon as he discovered the utterly shocked expression of the Vice Prime Minister, the Association President knew that man had arrived at the same conclusion as well.
“You’re planning to….. shove the Korean Hunters inside that ant hole, aren’t you?”
As expected of a seasoned politician.
‘So, there was a reason why he’s rumoured to be a rather ‘smart’ man.’
The Association President sent a satisfied smile to the Vice Prime Minister and his rather quick-witted way of thinking.
“When Korea’s top Hunters enter the ant tunnel to kill the ant queen while placing their faith in our supposed ‘aid’, we’ll simply withdraw our Hunters.”
The Koreans had suffered three failures already. If that losing streak extended to fourth, who’d suspect the betrayal of the Japanese Hunters had anything to do with it? No, it was fine to be suspect. By then, everything would be finished already, anyway.
The voice of the Vice Prime Minister quaked noticeably.
“Are you… Are you planning to annihilate the top Hunters of South Korea?”
“The moment a Gate they couldn’t handle opened up in Jeju Island, their fate has been sealed already.”
The Association President once more voiced his own fatalistic world view.
“No, they only managed to sustain their pathetic lives somehow, until now.”
“But, that is…”
“Once their top Hunters disappear in that manner, the Koreans will definitely not feel secure anymore.”
What would happen when mutated ants capable of flight begin appearing in South Korea one by one, with all of their rank S Hunters dead?
Would the Koreans continue playing dumb when that happens?
If it were one or two ants, their Guilds might be able to kill the invading monsters somehow. However, just as the statistics showed, the number of mutated ants would only increase exponentially, and eventually, the entirety of South Korea would be shaken up sooner or later.
‘When that happens, surely they would request aid from other country’s Hunters.’
However, who would be willing to help the Koreans out by then?
China or Russia, with their great number of Hunters, but also with massive land mass they needed to cover, too?
Or, the Americans, who refused to help when the rank S Gate opened up back then?
Or, the North Koreans, who might invade Seoul by bringing over their own rank S Hunters, instead?
‘No, it’d be only us, the Japanese.’
Because, Japan would also be in trouble when the number of mutated ants increases. The Koreans would have no choice but to cling onto Japan, and when that happened, Japan would be able to demand anything from them in return.
‘Koreans might really be willing to hand over Jeju Island by then….’
It’d be as exactly as the Association President had said.
Suddenly, the Vice Minister felt a chill run down his spine. To think, that man was willing to drive another country’s top Hunters to death just to make his ambition into reality….
Wouldn’t a country fall to ruin because of this man if others weren’t being careful?
‘He’s a truly terrifying man, this Association President Matsumoto Shigeo.’
The Vice Minister shuddered from the horrifying scheme of the Association President. However, that wasn’t the end.
The Association President carried on.
“Jeju Island will just be the beginning.”
One by one….
Whenever the Koreans needed the power of rank S Hunters, they would have no choice but to slowly come under Japan’s influence. It was truly possible to swallow up South Korea without firing a single shot.
“…..And those are my thoughts.”
Only after the Association President ended his lengthy explanation did the various cabinet members take their deeply held-up breaths. Those who previously dismissed the Association President as a crazy fool were now listening closely, strands of cold sweat trickling down their faces.
The Association President quietly inquired.
“What is your decision, Mister Vice Prime Minister?”
The gazes of everyone present focused on the Vice Prime Minister.
“……”
The Vice Prime Minister swallowed his saliva.
Currently, he was speaking for the Prime Minister here. Of course, as long as the Prime Minister trusted him, the decision made in this chamber would not be overturned at a later date.
So, carefully, and even more cautiously than before….
‘……’
After lengthy deliberation, the Vice Prime Minister raised his head.
“How should the government aid you in this venture?”
[You killed a Demon Knight.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
[You killed a Demon Knight.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
[You killed a Demon Aristocrat.]
[You have earned 4,500 experience points.]The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.
Each time the Shadow Soldiers killed a demon found inside the castle, Jin-Woo was inundated with the experience points messages without rest.
Preparing for the final showdown on the top floor, Jin-Woo continued to raise his levels diligently.
When there were good rewards on offer, the accompanying risk would also be high, as well.
‘The Divine Water of Life, bonus Stat points, top-ranked Rune Stones, etc….’
When he thought about the rewards he would get after defeating the king of demons, there was just no way he’d slack off on levelling up himself.
[Level up!]
As it so happened, almost all the demons in the vicinity had been taken care of, so Jin-Woo summoned his Status Window to confirm his current level.
[Level: 87]
Before he entered the Demon’s Castle for the second time, his level was 80, but it had already reached 87. Seeing the increased Stats, a smile automatically formed on his face.
‘Nice.’
Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fist.
[You killed a Demon Aristocrat.]
[You killed a Demon Aristocrat.]
In the meantime, his Shadow Soldiers killed off the remaining demons. It was a complete victory.
With the battle now over, the soldiers gathered before Jin-Woo as usual. Among them, Iron was the fastest to arrive at his side. As if he was expecting to be praised, Iron puffed out his chest and stood at attention.
Jin-Woo chuckled slightly while looking at the mountainous physique blocking his view.
“You finish with everything?”
Iron nodded his head.
“Are you sure?”
Iron nodded his head even more energetically than before. Jin-Woo smirked and extended out his senses. And then, as he spun around, he also threw the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ behind him.
‘Dagger Throw!’
His dagger flew towards a certain empty wall in the blink of an eye. But, then….
“Keo-heok!!”
The dagger didn’t hit the wall, but instead stabbed deeply into the chest of a demon hiding there quietly while using invisibility. It had been quietly waiting for Jin-Woo to be separated from his soldiers to mount a sneak attack.
“Euh-euhk….”
The demon could only freak out inwardly at the dagger piercing its left chest.
‘How did he find out?!’
If the demon was a human, that’s where the heart would have been. Meaning, that human male had completely seen through the invisibility magic from a high-ranked demon aristocrat.
‘How could a measly human….?’
When the demon raised its shocked gaze away from his wound, Jin-Woo was already standing beside his target. The demon’s eyes quaked violently.
“But, how….?”
Jin-Woo pulled out the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ and activated his only close-quarter combat skill.
‘Vital Point Targetting!’
Stab!
The demon that barely managed to hold on from the damage inflicted by the Dagger Throw, ended up dying in one hit from the maxed-out ‘Vital Point Targetting’ skill.
[You killed a Demon Aristocrat.]
Jin-Woo returned the ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ back to his Inventory, and stood before Iron again.
“So, how will you explain this?”
‘……’
As if he was feeling sheepish, Iron lowered his gaze and scratched the back of his head. Well, rather than the head, it was the back of his helmet, though. Soon, Igrit also made his return, having killed all the demons hiding in the deeper parts of the castle.
Ng?’
However, Jin-Woo sensed something was different about Igrit.
‘What’s this?’
Jin-Woo observed the approaching Igrit and tilted his head.
Igrit quickly approached Jin-Woo and knelt down, before lowering his head. Up until here, it wasn’t such a strange scene. But, quite unlike from before, Jin-Woo heard the mechanical beep of ‘tti-ring’ going off suddenly in his head.
‘There’s a System message?’
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.
Chapter 105
[Knight ‘Igrit’ is requesting your permission to advance his grade.]
[Will you permit the advancement?]
‘Permission to advance?’
Surprised by the never-before-seen System message, Jin-Woo quickly confirmed Igrit’s information to make sure.
[Igrit Lv. Max]
Knight grade.
It’s now possible to advance the grade after the level requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade when the Sovereign gives his permission.
‘Igrit’s level…..??’
The level that previously hovered around the 30 mark had changed to ‘Max’ before he had noticed it. It must’ve been the case that, once the Shadow Soldier’s level cap had been met, he’d be given an opportunity to advance to the next grade.
‘Is the requirement level for advancement somewhere between the late thirties and early forties?’
When taking into account the potential level-ups happening during a single battle, he suspected that the required level had to be around there somewhere.
Considering that the average level of the Shadow Soldiers was still around the early twenties, it sure as heck felt like a cumbersome requirement.
‘Besides all that, it also needs my consent, too.’
That must’ve been the reason why Jin-Woo thought there were hints of unknown but earnest yearning in Igrit’s eyes as he ran over here.
‘……’
Igrit didn’t raise his lowered head at all.
Jin-Woo could even sense a nervous determination emanating from Igrit as he waited for his lord’s decision without budging an inch from his kneeling position.
Jin-Woo was even tempted to pat the dude on the shoulder and praise him for the job well done.
‘This guy….’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted back to the System message.
[Will you permit the advancement?]
The message was blinking slowly as if to urge him for an answer.
Igrit was one of the very first to become his Shadow Soldiers, not to mention one who fought the hardest until now, as well. Was there a reason not to allow the grade advancement here?
Without a shred of hesitation, Jin-Woo replied to the System’s message.
“I allow it.”
[Please designate the command phrase.]
‘I need a command phrase for something like this, too?’
Jin-Woo frowned briefly, but changed his mind just as quick.
‘Oh, well.’
Quite a few became Shadow Soldiers at the same time. For today, it was only Igrit, but if more than a few soldiers requested him for the advancement permission at the same time in the near future, then it might become rather tedious and time consuming to answer their call one by one. Especially so, if it happened during the middle of a fight.
The command phrase would prove to be useful on those occasions, that’s for sure. After a short deliberation, Jin-Woo spoke up.
“Permitted.”
He went with the ‘Simple is best’ mantra.
As soon as the command phrase was set, changes rapidly took place. It began from beneath Igrit’s feet.
Wuuuaaahhh-!!
Accompanied by screams coming from a distant place, countless black hands emerged from Igrit’s shadow and they grabbed onto every part of him.
‘What’s this?’
Jin-Woo observed in great interest the unfolding process of the advancement. At first, he thought that those black hands would drag Igrit back into the shadow, but in reality, the opposite happened, instead.
The hands holding onto Igrit turned into black smoke and spun around him quite ferociously, before getting absorbed by him. It was as if Igrit was absorbing the black smoke voluntarily.
Psuuuuuaaahhk!
Igrit emerged from the dissipating black smoke while emitting a far greater aura than ever before.
Tti-ring.
The System message informed Jin-Woo of the results.
[The current grade of Knight ‘Igrit’ has advanced from ‘Knight grade’ to ‘Elite Knight grade’.]
‘Niiice!’
Jin-Woo did his best to calm his trembling heart and rechecked Igrit’s information window.
[Igrit Lv.1]
Elite Knight grade
‘His level has been reset, but his current grade is the same as Fangs now.’
Before joining Jin-Woo’s army of the Shadow Soldiers recently, Fangs used to be the boss monster of a rank A dungeon. Now that Igrit was on the same grade as a creature that powerful, it could only mean that his abilities had grown by that great a deal now.
Ba-dump…
Jin-Woo’s heart beat faster. The theory he came up with back when he became the Shadow Sovereign turned out to be correct.
‘It wasn’t just me who can get stronger.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze swept over each of his Shadow Soldiers.
‘All these guys are growing stronger alongside me, too.’
After Igrit changed so noticeably through the grade advancement, he was reminded once more of his soldiers’ capability for growth. He was now beset with the desire to urgently raise the levels of other soldiers and have them advance to the next grade as soon as possible.
‘Looks like one more thing has been added to my to-do list, huh?’
And so, as he stood there checking out his soldiers while feeling rather satisfied with himself….
From afar, he spotted Tank quickly approaching closer with a dead body of a demon that escaped a little while ago in his jaw.
‘Uh?’
However, the light shining in Tank’s eyes as he hurriedly ran closer also seemed rather suspicious, too. Those eyes, that aura….
Jin-Woo quietly stared, before asking aloud with a disbelieving expression on his face.
“Even you?!”
Tank finally stopped right in front of Jin-Woo’s nose and quickly discarded the corpse he worked so hard to bring here. He then began prostrating as well, with his front legs gathered together before his head.
“Wuuong.”
And sure enough, another message popped up in Jin-Woo’s view.
Tti-ring.
[Elite ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’ is requesting for permission to advance his grade.]
[Will you permit the advancement?]
‘….Holy cow.’
Jin-Woo facepalmed in surprise. A quick confirmation of Tank’s information revealed that his level had also reached the cap as well.
[Shadow Beast Soldier Lv. Max]
Elite grade
It’s now possible to advance the grade after the level requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade when the Sovereign gives his permission.
‘Wait a minute….’
Jin-Woo found this rather odd.
Unlike the tireless battle machine named Igrit, who started off as a level 7 and maintained his sky-high level until now, Tank was still a far away from meeting the level cap that Jin-Woo suspected to be the advancement requirement.
Yet, both Igrit and Tank were about to advance around the same time?
The difference in these two guys’ levels wasn’t something that could be bridged by this one battle alone.
‘Could it be…. the required level is different for each grade?’
If so, then it made sense.
He thought that since Tank was an ‘Elite’ rank, his level cap would be lower which meant his advancement would be faster; on the other hand, Igrit and his ‘Knight’ grade needed more time to advance.
If that was the case, then indeed it was possible for the timing of their advancements to match so coincidentally like this.
When Jin-Woo’s thoughts reached this point, a certain possibility suddenly entered his mind.
‘Wait, if I reach the right level, could I advance in grade, too?’
It was just that the required level was so high that he hadn’t reached it yet.
‘….Eiii, there’s no way.’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself. At the same time, he allowed the advancement to commence.
“Permitted.”
As soon as his permission left his lips, the same type of process as Igrit took place with Tank as well. Hands emerged from the shadow, changed to smoke, and got absorbed into Tank.
Shuuaahhak….
And just like Igrit, Tank also became a realm stronger than before.
[The current grade of Elite ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’ has advanced from ‘Elite grade’ to ‘Knight grade’.]
However, there were some differences, too.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
The mechanical beep went off continuously and System messages popped up one after another.
[You can bestow a name to a soldier with Knight grade or above.]
[The bestowed name will be maintained until the Shadow Soldier is dismissed.]
[Please assign the soldier’s name.]
Tank was a temporary name Jin-Woo came up with on a whim.
Since a name couldn’t be assigned unless a soldier was a Knight grade, Tank’s official moniker had been stuck as a ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’. If it weren’t for his twice-as-huge frame compared to other bears, there was no way to differentiate Tank from the others.
But now, Jin-Woo could freely assign a name now.
A deep smile formed on his face.
“Tank.”
[Will you assign it as ‘Tank’?]
“I will.”
When Jin-Woo confirmed it, the information on the ‘Shadow Beast Soldier’ changed.
[Tank Lv.1]
Knight grade.
Perhaps he knew that the advancement process had ended, Tank raised his body up. Standing on his hind legs, he was as tall as a regular two-story house now. Jin-Woo wholeheartedly praised him.
“You finally have a name now, Tank.”
Feeling pleased, Tank raised its head up high and roared out loudly.
“You guys all did well.”
So, time to take a well-deserved break until the next floor.Discover, Devour, Delight: N♡vεlB¡n.
Jin-Woo recalled his soldiers back into his shadow, and while doing that, he couldn’t help but spot Iron and his drooping shoulders. The poor guy was the only one out of the ‘old’ members to not get an advancement today.
Shururu….
After his soldiers disappeared as shadows, Jin-Woo left the castle. Esil was waiting for him outside with a rather haggard face.
“E-excuse me, Sir Jin-Woo?”
“I told you, stop calling me a Sir.”
“Y-yes.”
Esil hesitated somewhat after Jin-Woo curtly replied to her, but eventually, she spoke again.
“Excuse me…. Uhm, Jin-Woo… sir.”
The demons were a lot more ‘sensitive’ towards one’s seniority than expected, it seemed.
“….Fine. What now?”
“Do you know…. how many clans have ceased to exist by your hands?”
Currently, they were on the 89th floor.
Esil’s clan was on the 80th, so that would make nine clans?
What with her witnessing a clan being killed off every time they climbed up a floor, Esil had finally grown too anxious to remain silent.
“Clans of superior aristocrats are managing the floors 90 and above. They are on another level compared to the upper aristocrats you’ve encountered so far.”
Jin-Woo didn’t slow down his steps, but still asked her anyway.
“Okay, so what?”
“How about resolving the matters with dialogue from now on? If you talk to them nicely, they might hand over the Entry Permit like my cla….”
Jin-Woo cut her off there.
“If I was weaker than your clan, you think your people would’ve tried talking to me at all?”
Esil quickly shut her mouth up. A measly little human dared to show up uninvited to a castle full of demons, and not only that, proceeded to demand something from said castle, too?
That human wouldn’t have been able to return home alive.
“That’s how it is.”
Jin-Woo smirked deeply.
Whether it was a monster from a regular dungeon, or a monster from instant dungeons, the relationship with humans would go only as far.
‘The strong will devour the weak.’
Jin-Woo agreed with that concept. Besides, he was urgently pressed for both the Entry Permits and the level-ups, so he wasn’t planning to give up on either of those.
‘……’
Jin-Woo glanced at Esil to his side.
He found her continued silence and the expression of dejection strange and asked her about it.
“I thought it’d be a good thing for your people if other clans were destroyed?”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you say that demon clans are bitterly contesting with one another on the hierarchy or whatever?”
“Ah, that…. That is true. However….”
From here onwards, they were stepping into the territories of the superior aristocrats.
If Jin-Woo failed in his conquest for some reason, then the fury of those superior aristocrats would be directed in full towards her and her own clan. Esil was worried about that.
Regardless of her worries, Jin-Woo spoke up confidently.
“I’ll make your Radish Clan as the number one on the pecking order.”
‘….But, our clan is Radiru, you know.’
Esil could only complain meekly in her mind.
Soon, they would be stepping into the upper floor. Could a lone man manage to destroy the superior aristocrats and their clans with nothing but his own powers?
‘…..Eiii, I don’t care anymore.’
She had taken on the task of being his guide, so all she had to do was to do her job properly. Esil decided to give up on sweating over it.
‘Ah, I almost forgot….’
Still, there was this one thing she just had to ask.
“Excuse me, Jin-Woo…. sir”
“Yeah?”
Jin-Woo looked back at her.
Having witnessed Jin-Woo continuously destroy other demon clans so easily, she found it pretty scary to meet his eyes anymore, so Esil quickly lowered her gaze to her feet and asked.
“Why did you spare my clan?”
Without a doubt, the Radiru Clan would never be able to oppose this man’s quest. She knew her clan’s military might the best, and now that she had witnessed Jin-Woo’s true power, she was sure of this fact.
Even then, her Radiru clan emerged relatively unscathed from this merciless man’s onslaught. Why was that? She was really curious.
Jin-Woo entered the floor-transfer magic circle and turned around to face Esil.
“Cuz I find you likeable.”
Even though she was a monster, she knew when to surrender, she knew when to negotiate, and most importantly, offered up quite a bit of useful information, too.
“P-p-pardon me?!”
Esil flinched grandly in surprise, and her neck rapidly dyed in a crimson colour. She stood on the spot hesitating as she fidgeted with her fingers in a clear fluster. Their schedule had been affected by her being rooted to the spot like that, so Jin-Woo asked her to get a move on.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Then, he glanced at the System message asking him which floor he’d like to go.
“If you don’t get in now, we’ll go back to the 80th floor, okay?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Her face still blushing deeply in red, Esil hurriedly entered the magic circle.
‘……’
However, she couldn’t raise her head again even after arriving on the next floor.
The Incheon International Airport.
The representatives from the Japanese Hunter Association arrived in South Korea to discuss the matters of Jeju Island’s ant problem. They already had set up a conference with the Korean counterparts.
Along with the Japanese Hunter Association’s President Matsumoto Shigeo, Japan’s number one Hunter, the rank S Goto Ryuji stepped into the airport. (TL note at the end)
The atmosphere within the airport seemed a bit chaotic, so Matsumoto Shigeo took a look around to see what was what.
“What’s happening here?”
“…..There is a very powerful presence nearby.”
“Stronger than you?”
Goto Ryuji smirked derisively.
Seeing the fully-confident face of Goto Ryuji, Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t bother to ask anymore.
‘There’s no way South Korea can produce someone like that.’
Not too long after that, an employee from the Korean Hunters Association hurriedly ran forward to greet and received them.
“I’m terribly sorry. I was delayed by all the chaos unfolding inside the airport at the moment.”
The employee hurriedly lowered his head in apology. Matsumoto Shigeo hid his dissatisfaction expertly and formed a magnanimous smile.
“It’s fine. However, is there something going on at the airport?”
“Ah, that…. It’s nothing serious, sir. It’s just that a Hunter from the United States has arrived just now.”
“What brings an American Hunter to South Korea?”
“I hear that it’s a personal matter, sir. I’m sure that there’s nothing to worry about.”
The employee thought the Association President Matsumoto Shigeo was worried about a possible dungeon break and did his best to assuage the Japanese group’s fears.
Unfortunately, Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression remained dark.
‘A Hunter from America, is it…. I hope this person won’t interfere with our business here.’
Goto Ryuji’s gaze was fixed in the direction of the noisy crowd of people over yonder. Most likely, that’s where the American Hunter was.
Meanwhile, Matsumoto Shigeo confirmed the time.
If he were to make it to the conference on time, he needed to get going now.
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke.
“Let’s go.”
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