Author: Xerenity

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212. If You Grow, So Do I

About 60 members were guarding each of their positions in the underground training center.

All of them had taken a pledge willingly to become slaves.

They were people who carried an ambition to seize wealth, fame, and political power through the Festival of Blood.

Amongst them was Raol, who had approached Min-Cheol with friendly intentions before.

Perhaps already annoyed with trying to move his large body around, he had already leaned up against a pile of hay that served as a bed while trying to strike up a conversation with the nearby Protectors nonstop.

After saying that he would serve Millions, he had succeeded in partaking in the Festival of Blood.

The number of rounds a day for the Festival of Blood was already set.

The number of rounds did increase by a fair amount due to the number of nobles nurturing their own warriors to fight increasing, but it wasn’t even close to the amount of volunteers.

That was why those currently gathered in the underground training center had never been able to enter a single round in the Festival of Blood yet.

After all, if they obtained total victory in the festival after jumping into the rounds, while they would not get the exact same treatment that Demon would get because they were slaves, it would still be pretty similar.

You could say that this center was a place where each of them awaited the day they would partake in the rounds while training with those of similar strength.

The training had ended and it had been quite some time since the manager that oversaw them had disappeared.

“Whew… I wonder when I’ll be able to show off my strength in the festival.”

“You’re going on that spiel again? It won’t be long. The people want a new champion already. There needs to be a difference between us and those who have gone into battle so far. That’s why we’re going through so much hardship right now.”

“I’ve already finished preparing. I want to hurry and show off my strength to the nobles.”

“Yes, of course. You and I will both be able to do so.”

“This probably won’t happen, but what will you do if two people that serve the same master have to go against each other?“

“Pfft! Are you up to your useless daydreaming again? Of course we have to fight! Are there any warriors who will break the rules of the festival? Until one falls!”

“You’re a heartless person.”

“Eh. Hey… Hey Raol. Did you wash yourself today?”

“I don’t sweat much due to my constitution…”

“Shut up and go wash yourself quickly! I thought that someone had taken a shit in our room or something.”

“Heh, you’re a real jokester.”

“Huh? I’m not joking! Do you not see everyone else’s faces? Hurry up!”

“It’s quite empty right now because there’s no one there at this hour, so will you come with me?”

“Jeez. Sometimes you act like a child. Since I’ve already washed myself, go by yourself.”

Raol grumbled before leaving the place to wash himself.

The moment that he had left the hallway and all traces of him had disappeared from the training center, it happened.

The ears of the Protectors who were sleeping or having a casual conversation picked up the sound of the door opening and footsteps that accompanied it.

If there were footsteps after training hours, then it was obvious that someone had come down to choose who would partake in the rounds of the Festival of Blood that would occur tomorrow.

All of them were filled with high expectations.

The man who had been talking with Raol was about to go after Raol because he was worried that his buddy would miss out.

Dashing swiftly out into the hallway and turning his body around, the person that came into view wasn’t the manager, but Demon.

“Huh… D… Demon…”

“What? Demon?”

“What kind of nonsense is th… What!”

“Isn’t that the real deal? Wow!”

Each of the Protectors that were waiting with proper postures with hopes of being selected peaked their heads out into the hallway to confirm for themselves.

Their eyes did not lie.

The grey haired elder Demon, with his deep wrinkles, was coming closer with a sinister smile.

Almost if the start signal for a race was given, all 60 of the slaves poured out into the hallway.

It seemed that no one was even remotely concerned why Demon had come down all the way to the underground training center.

All of them instead looked up at the current king of the festival with eyes filled with respect, almost as if Demon was a god.

It was then. One of the slaves spoke up to Demon.

“Great Demon. What brings you all the way to this squalid place?”

“It’s to give you all a chance.”

“By chance… As expected, are you here to select those who will participate in the festival?”

“With that method, won’t it be too many years before you obtain the title of king? Don’t you think so?”

“Then what chance are you talking about that you will be giving us…”

“I will be giving all of you a chance to become king in a single go.”

“Huh?”

In a single moment, Demon’s expression became cold and hardened, and the slaves that saw the change had an ominous feeling as expected.

With an expression of being lost, the slaves continued asking questions.

“What do you mean by that? To become a king in one go…”

“I am holding a festival here. A festival between everyone here and I. Hahaha!”

“…”

“What are you all doing? Do you plan to fight against me with just your bare bodies?”

“Great Demon, your jokes are going too far. How dare we…”

-crack

“Urk!”

“Seems that you’re looking down on me because I spoke with you lower creatures a couple times.”

“…”

The person who was asking the question had their head smashed and their body fell to the floor in an instant.

Only a split moment had passed.

The other slaves who witnessed their colleague perish backed away.

It was to be expected since it was a speed that was not only impossible to defend against, but difficult to avoid, and Demon had smashed the Protector’s head as if it was dough.

Blood sprayed all over the place, and the smell of sulfur filled the air.

To the shocked group that could not even respond, Demon spoke.

“Will the rest of you also die like this?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Then I guess it can’t be helped. Since it is the choice of you pathetic creatures.”

“This bastard isn’t kidding! Demon is seriously trying to kill us all!”

“Damn it!”

“Hurry up and prepare for battle!”

“Ha! You all finally understand now. Hurry up and try. Hurry to struggle and flail about. At least then I would feel a little excited!”

“Crazy bastard!”

Demon put their bloodied hand behind them and kept talking with their hands behind their back.

It was as if Demon was trying to give them time to get prepared for battle.

As with how Demon wanted it to be, each of the slaves put on their armors and took out their weapons, then ran out into the hallway.

They knew how strong Demon was.

However, they also knew that they had a chance if they all attacked together.

This was true. After all, each of those who were currently gathered in the underground training center possessed quite a fair amount of power.

Individually speaking, each of them held about a third of Barub’s combat capabilities, but this wasn’t a 1v1 fight.

This meant that in the chaotic battle that was to come, one could rise to the position of king the moment that they struck Demon’s neck.

No one spoke it out loud but since everyone knew it well, everyone was in a frenzy to charge in.

Demon was standing in the center of quite the broad hallway, so the slaves had surrounded Demon in a ring with them in the center.

It was a perfect formation that would disperse Demon’s attack while allowing the slaves the chance to succeed with their attacks from various angles.

“Who will become king? Who will grasp onto riches and fame?”

“Shut up! You arrogant fool. You’ve walked into your own grave.”

“No matter how strong you are, you won’t be able to return alive!”

“Ha! Good. I’ll reduce you all to dust. Allow me to fill the air with red and thick blood as much as I desire!”

“I will be the king of the festival!”

“Die!”

All 60 of them attacked the same target at the same time.

Spears, swords, axes, maces, and even the most effective single target spells.

The offense was filled with attacks to the point where there wasn’t anywhere to dodge.

The attacks of each of the slaves accurately struck Demon’s form.

However, it wasn’t that Demon could not avoid those attacks, but that Demon chose to not avoid them.

Just like how Demon had done so in the battle against Jurassic, they strengthened their body with a silver light that dyed their entire body.

The rain of attacks were rendered useless with a shockwave that seemed to tear the air apart.

The offense was in vain and was stopped with ease.

“Do not stop the attacks! Demon is not invincible. Eventually we’ll break through!”

“Argh!”

Demon, who was taking on all the attacks with ease, spread their arms out to each side.

Comparatively thinner and thus easier to take damage from, the arms were laid bare just like that.

The slaves who were more experienced in battle noticed that and focused their attacks to cut those arms off.

However.

There were vortexes in each tip of the hands.

The weapons that were swung around mercilessly were sucked into the tips of Demon’s hands.

The warrior class slaves could not fight against immense pull and lost their grips on their weapons, and the weapons that were taken from them were completely shattered apart while letting out a stupid amount of noise.

Like the ingredients inside a mixer, the weapons were helplessly being ground to dust.

“Huh? Ugh!”

“C… Cut the arms! You cannot get pulled in at any cost!”

“Everyone, focus your attacks on the arms!”

“Feel free to struggle all you want. If you even can that is. Hahaha!”

“Aaaaa!”

****

After my first attack on the guards of Swesi, I continued hunting in the unexplored territories.

I wanted to start my hunt of the hunters right away, but I learned from Dan that they meet once a month at a specified place for a very short amount of time.

Because there was a chance that I could not avoid facing off against Swesi’s top 5 if I moved too quickly, I was biding my time.

You could say that this could not compare to having Protectors as my prey, but this current hunt was definitely not a waste of time.

It was because I was able to move about with ease through the unexplored territories as if it was my bedroom due to growing strong enough to the point where my current power could not be compared to my previous self.

To put it in the terms that the Protectors of Larkenta used in order to separate the hunting grounds in tiers, I was defeating monsters that would be considered in between the 18th and 20th tier hunting grounds.

After getting this far in, not only was I not able to sense any presence of people, but I could barely find any tracks of people that had traveled this far.

There were those who traveled in groups to hunt here, but I had only encountered one since I began hunting about a week ago.

Not only that, but jewels did not drop here.

No matter what monsters I defeated, instead of jewels, the much higher ranking material called cores dropped instead.

This was proof of how strong the monsters were.

I did not rest and continuously devoted 20 hours to hunt, and then gave the materials I’ve obtained to Dump.

He was still failing on his attempts at crafting an artifact, but I was the one who believed that he would eventually succeed the most.

Dump was no longer worried.

Without leaving a single part out, I had told him my entire plan.

Ten days. In 10 days, I would finish rescuing Berlette and completely wiping out all of Swesi, and while Swesi’s downfall would cause a greater stir of troubles, at least Dump, his daughter, and I will be returning to a normal life.

Definitely a normal life by anyone’s standards, totally.

It happened as I had finished my hunting and was dropping off the materials after arriving at Dump’s home.

“Hm?”

“Sir Guardian, what’s wrong?”

“Can you hide for a bit? I sensed a presence outside.”

“Yes! I understand.”

I heard the sound of a branch snapping.

It was a sound that came from quite the distance from the house, but I could not afford to lower my guard.

Immediately using Mass Stealth Jutsu to hide my body, I headed for the source of the sound.

It didn’t take long before I heard the sound of labored breathing.

“Huff… Huff…”

“Who is that person?”

---

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210. This Is Only the Beginning

“Swesi is the sole organization that has been allowed to perform illegal acts in Larkenta.”

“Is it the doing of the castellan? Well, it’s obvious that no one else but the castellan can give permission for something like this.”

“That’s correct. However, for what reason drove you to do something crazy as making Swesi your enemy…”

“Did you already forget your role in this? You are to only answer my questions. This is your last warning.”

“Ah… Yes. Sorry.”

This person was obedient to the point of suspicion.

Until just a few minutes ago, this officer was yelling at the guards.

However, after kneeling at the sight over brute strength, the officer was answering any question I asked like a vending machine spilling out its contents.

It seemed that this person was your stereotypical subservient to the strong, but harsh to the weak.

While it was a natural instinct of animals to obey the strong, humans could make the choice.

It was obvious that this officer having this personality would be extremely beneficial to me.

I asked about their numbers and the strength of their generals.

“That place that the guards were protecting is your headquarters, right?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“In total, how many of you are there?”

“Huh? Are you asking about how many people make up the organization? Let’s see. Around 300 or so.”

“You’re telling me that there are 300 besides the guards?”

“No. The number includes 140 guards that I am also a part of. Due to the castle being located in the center of the 7th tier hunting grounds, there are quite a lot of guards needed.”

“So you’re telling me that there are about 140 members left.”

“Huh? Why aren’t you counting the guard group?”

A quick punch.

“Ugh…”

“This time, the control on my output of strength was perfect. I’m slowly getting used to it. Since you’ve paid the price, I’ll answer you. The 140 guard regiment you mentioned. You’re the only one left.”

“Huh… That means…”

“Next question. How strong are the generals inside? My guess is that they cannot be compared to the strength of the guards.”

A blank look appeared unlike before I told this guard captain officer that every guard in his regiment had perished.

And it seemed that this officer finally understood how serious this situation was and that if my questions weren’t answered properly, the fate that befell the guards would also come.

Only after hearing the answer to the question could I finally see desperation and sincerity behind the replies, almost as if begging to be spared.

“That’s correct. When joining the Swesi organization, the first place you’d end up would be to become part of the guards. Only after hunting monsters for 2 to 3 years daily would you be recognized as a member. However, it’s not like you can quit halfway because it is too difficult. Through overseers like me, every action the guards take are reported to the higher ups, and anyone who tries anything disappears without anyone even realizing they are gone.”

“So how strong are the generals? Since you can’t describe them with numerics, make it easily understandable by explaining it in hunting terms.”

“Firstly, I, the guard captain, and the product overseer have very poor combat capabilities. We work using our heads instead of our bodies. However, that is not the case at all if you’re talking about the hunters and the highest ranking generals.”

“Product overseer… The name of that title is revolting. I assume that the products are women and Protectors, right?”

“That’s correct. To explain starting from the bottom, about 40 hunters are present. To be frank, they are the ones who take the goods and bring it back.”

“How strong are they?”

“Their strengths vary even within that grouping, but most of them have enough combat capabilities to hunt easily in the unexplored territories. They can easily gather around 30 to 40 of the monsters and take them down at once with ease.”

“Not bad. Around 1 hour ago, they would’ve been tough to deal with.”

As expected, the man who went in and out of the castle after arriving on a carriage that was made with magic was a hunter in the Swesi organization.

Sensing his presence and delaying the plan for a bit was a fantastic choice.

With how strong I was back then, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid a drawn out fight.

I say back then, but that was less than an hour ago, perhaps minutes.

I already have emphasized this a lot, but annihilating all the guards in one clean sweep was the most solid preparation I could’ve done for the next stage of my plan.

Listening to what this person was telling me, each of the hunters was as strong as me before I had wiped out the guards.

I even had the suspicion that each of them was stronger than I.

However, that was definitely no longer the case.

I had become more than two times stronger than before.

That didn’t mean that I was limited to fighting a hunter 2 versus one.

This meant that if I was able to group them up and pour attacks down on them, I would be able to cleanly wipe them out even if there are 40 or 50 of them.

It was because now I was capable of attacks that would easily shred through their defensive capabilities.

However, I did not know how it would turn out if I gave them the opportunity to retaliate.

“Good. Now how many are in the product overseer group that you mentioned before? Do they also carry a significant amount of power?”

“That is not the case. They are the same as the guards. All they do is oversee the new Protectors who just gained their powers and the maidens.”

“How many of them are there?”

“At least 60.”

“So there are 160 members left. Out of those, the weaker hunters and the product overseers consist of a 100 or so… The remaining are 60-ish. But something seems more off the more you explain though?”

“…”

“Didn’t you say that after 2 to 3 years of guard work, they become recognized and are able to take on a new position?”

“That’s correct.”

“Even if there is an error in calculation in between the process, at least 100 or so should be graduating each year, but you’re telling me that the total number of members only comes up to 300? Isn’t this too much of a difference? From what I know, this group has been doing this for over 10 years now.”

“Ah… That’s simple. It’s because they’re sold to the nobles as well. More accurately, rather than being sold, they are being chosen.”

“Hm?”

“They cannot stand a chance against you, Sir Protector, but don’t you think that the guards still carry quite a lot of power? They can defeat monsters from the 7th tier hunting grounds with ease after all. That means that they really don’t need to join Swesi and can hunt in order to live a life that is more than luxurious. But why do you think people like that are trying to enter Swesi? It’s because they want to be bodyguards for the nobles or knights for the castle.”

“It sounds like Swesi serves as some kind of a training facility as well.”

“That’s correct. As you’ve mentioned before, do you think that the number of Protectors produced in over the last decade is but a few? Most of the bodyguards of the nobles are those who’ve entered Swesi at some point. It is all to obtain wealth, fame, and political power.”

“Damned bastards hailing from a damned organization into a more damned world… Enough of that. Explain to me about the remaining 60.”

“Yes. I’ve noticed that you are curious about the number of strong members in the Swesi organization…”

“Continue.”

“If my presumption is correct, the only members you have to watch out for are five of them. I do not know how much growth they’ve achieved after being chosen by the nobles, but if you disregard the castellan and any nobles above the rank of count that has ties to Swesi, then you only have to worry about the five of them currently inside the main headquarters of Swesi.”

“One must be the head of the organization, and I assume the rest must be pretty high ranking officers as well?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“How strong are they?”

“I dare not try explaining it in terms of hunting… To put it as simply as possible, I believe they are at least as strong as a marquis.”

“The strength of all five of them combined is that of a marquis… I won’t know how strong that is unless I know how strong a marquis is. Can’t you explain it in more simple terms?”

“I do not know how strong you are, Protector sir…”

“Enough to group up about 40 hunters and kill them all. Is this enough for you to get an idea?”

“Yes. Even with that much, it still won’t be enough. Maybe if you’re able to fight the 5 of them one by one.”

“This organization is a lot stronger than I had expected.”

“The castellan didn’t recognize this place just for show.”

I was able to get a rough estimate of how strong they were.

I’ve learned that the organization was huge and they were strong, but also that beating these opponents wasn’t impossible.

As long as I didn’t charge in headfirst, there was a chance that I could win.

However, I didn’t know how Swesi would react to losing more than half their members consisting of the guards.

My next question addressed the reason why I targeted Swesi in the first place, and it was about the Dump’s captured daughter, Berlette.

I asked about what they do to the people they’ve kidnapped that they refer to as products.

“Next question. What happens to all the people that are kidnapped? The people you refer to as products.”

“The young maidens and Protectors are treated differently. Firstly, the maidens…”

“Stop. I’ll change the question. Let’s keep this simple.”

“Yes, yes…”

“I have two people I need to rescue. Both of them have been captured by Swesi, with one being captured 10 years ago, and the other only 3 days ago. Tell me a way.”

“Sigh… It’s quite the difficult question.”

“Right? Don’t you think that I’ve been too nice to you this whole time?”

“Eek!”

I showed my first to this guard captain who was avoiding answering me with an expression of ‘Please not that.’

It was almost funny how this person who had even understood the intentions behind my questions and was answering well suddenly now behaving like this.

At the start, it was almost as if this guard captain was going to give everything up.

The officer took a defense stance with arms and legs raised to block any attacks, and continued to speak.

“That’s not it… Every bit of information I have told you so far is the complete truth without any falsehoods. Anything you ask from me from here on will also be answered the same. However…”

“You’re curious if I’ll let you live?”

“Yes…”

“It’ll depend on your actions, don’t you think? Listen well. My only target isn’t just Swesi. The count, marquis, and even the castellan are all Protectors that have benefited from Swesi, correct?”

“T… That’s correct.”

“My goal is that. Because my dream is so grand, don’t you think I’ll need a large amount of information to match it? I’m going to need a strategist who is talented in both intel gathering and combat tactics. So it really depends on how you.”

“I understand.”

“I’m not the type to play around with lives. If I plan to kill someone, I tell them straightforward before doing so. I’ve done so till now. So think it over carefully.”

“I understand!”

I wasn’t lying.

I’ve done so to those I’ve captured for intel, and to those who fought against me using their might.

I do not give false hope. No matter how much my enemies pleaded and begged, I still remained rooted in my principles.

With that as proof, I am stating that what I’ve said to this person is true.

Also, stating that I will be taking down the nobles wasn’t an empty statement either.

Those who stayed at the castle and held political power were also Protectors as well. That meant that I could take their lives and receive power.

Perhaps understanding what I’ve said, the expression of the guard captain’s face was calmer than before.

“First, there is no way to track down the person who had been kidnapped 10 years ago. No matter what the method is, after being sold to a noble, there is no way to even find out if they are still alive.”

“…”

“They could be living as a completely different person in both mind and identity, or are already dead.”

“Then what about the person who was kidnapped 3 days ago?”

“That person is still inside the castle. At the request of the overseers for the products, at least a span of 4 months are needed to change the products.”

“Revolting bastards. That means that we still have time for now.”

“Yes. Rarely do nobles come in person to take their products, so unless that happens, I am positive.”

“Berlette has roughly 4 months… But the time remaining for me isn’t that long…”

“Do you need more information?”

“That’s enough for now. Now, you will be planning ahead with me.”

“Yes! I’ll do everything in my power to assist you.”

“It seems that there isn’t a speck of loyalty for the organization 쉐시 that you served.”

“Ahem…”

---

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211. When You Have to Hold Your Breath for a Bit

“I think this is enough.”

“Then what shall happen to me now?”

“I think that you will be useful in the future.”

“Thank you!”

“You said your name is Dan?” ¹

“Yes, that’s correct. My name is Dan. Please call me as you will.”

“Alright. Head on in for now.”

“Huh?”

“I said get in.”

“Are you telling me to return to Swesi? Then…”

“Ha… Where are you going? I said get back in. Back in the storage.”

“…”

“Do you really think that I will just trust you and let you go like that? But don’t be too disappointed. This also means that I think I will need you as an informant in the future. For now, stay in there. If it is water, food, or alcohol, I’ll put in plenty.”

“Sure sure…”

“I’ll seek you soon, so no need to frown.”

“Yes. I’ll be going then…”

With an expression that befit someone who had stepped in shit, Dan turned around and headed back into the Mobile Storage.

Perhaps realizing how precious living was, Dan was someone who was very compliant to my orders.

Swesi’s destruction. I was positive that Dan would be very useful in the plans ahead.

I had learned basic knowledge and information of Hell from Dump, but now I would be able to hear far more important information than how a Protector grows stronger from Dan.

After the doors of the storage that Dan went through closed, I walked out of the inn room.

It was to head to Swesi’s headquarters immediately.

Heading to their main base after only an hour passing since the ambush could be considered risky.

However, the reason why I was heading there was to check on their current condition.

It was also to see if what Dan, who had been a guard captain for Swesi for 7 years, had predicted correctly would happen.

Their organization was not to be taken lightly.

Those who had lost their families had previously been able to reach Swesi’s headquarters, but I was told that they were eradicated before the might of the organization.

However, apparently they never had taken such a huge casualty like this before.

When I returned back to Swesi’s headquarters, the security had been increased by a lot.

After the guard regiment of 140 were butchered, only 10 were guarding this place.

But the reason why I still said that the security had been raised was because the speed at which those who were guarding the place hunted the 7th tier monsters could not be compared to the previous speed of how quickly the guards hunted.

As Dan had predicted, I also assumed that part of the hunters had taken on the guard role.

Each hunter seemed to carry the same amount of strength I had before my powers were split in half at the start.

I had obtained the power of 5 gods, though they were mere puppets.

Not only that. I was the strongest person on Earth, and had conquered all of the demonic realm.

How could such a dimension created from Karupedan’s mind be filled with people holding absolute power, and how could there be 40 of them within a single organization to boot?

It was enough to thank my lucky stars that I hadn’t faced them when I didn’t know at the start how strong everyone was in Hell.

However, that wasn’t the case anymore. Their growth in power only made me eager.

Think about it. Just by taking out those 40 hunters, the amount of power I’d obtain.

It would be 40 times the amount of power I had worked myself to the bone in order to obtain from Earth, the demonic realm, and the celestial plane.

If my plan worked properly, then I was positive that I would be the winner on this bet with Barub.

If my hypothesis that the wild beast is Barub was true that is, because there was no way anyone could obtain such a growth that I would be achieving from the Festival of Blood.

“Why am I suddenly under such hardship?”

“It’s the master’s command so it can’t be helped. But I wonder who it is this time…”

“There’s really no way to find out. Was there ever a time where not even a single witness survived before?”

“True…”

“Don’t grumble so much. Do you think there’s any job easier in Swesi than this? Cut the complaints and hunt more monsters. Unless you want to be blamed when the situation is this strained.”

“But I wonder. Don’t you think that we’d be done in by the person who did this?”

“My friend. Do you still think that after seeing that person over there? Don’t talk nonsense.”

“That’s right… Sir Bernard made the time to come out here, so there’s no way that could happen.”

“Ugh! It feels like only an hour has passed, yet I already feel extremely bored of it…”

“I don’t know how I was able to do this for 3 years in the past.”

Hiding far away, I eavesdropped on their conversation.

After that, I opened the Mobile Storage and called for Dan.

“Send out Dan.”

The storage opened with a thud.

“Looks like the storage is pretty comfy?”

“N… No, that’s not the case.”

“At least wipe your drool before saying lies like that.”

“But where is this place…”

“Aren’t you happy that you’ve returned?”

“As expected, the hunters are on guard.”

“Who is Bernard?”

“Huh! Is Sir Bernard here as well? As I told you before, that person is one of the five in Swesi that I’ve told you about before.”

“So you mean to say that I cannot fight them right now.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Seeing Dan talk with a lowered posture was quite amusing.

It even made me wonder just what kind of a person Dan was.

Did Dan become my ally in a single hour?

Is it an enemy pretending to be an ally in front of me?

I could not tell what this person really was up to.

“Dan.”

“Yes, master.”

“Master?”

“Ah… Because you didn’t inform me of your name…”

“Call me as you see fit. But what’s your deal exactly?”

“Huh?”

“If I were you, I would’ve yelled or ran towards them right now. Not only me, but the majority of those kidnapped would do the same.”

“…”

“But you on the other hand…”

“I am someone who managed to survive this far by reading the situation. For some odd reason, my intuition is pointing towards you. Despite being an implausible chance of success, it really is surprising.”

“So you’ll be betting all your chips on me?”

“I don’t hope for a lot, but… Maybe a somewhat useful position…”

“Despite not knowing when and if you’ll be discarded, you’ve thought quite ahead. What an odd character you are.”

“Heh heh…”

“Enough small talk. Now listen well.”

“Yes! Master!”

“Going to kill 10 of the hunters currently on guard duty to obtain their power. And then go for Bernard. Is it possible?”

“It is impossible. You’ll at least need the power of 20 hunters in order to face against Sir Bernard. Not only that, but due to the ambush having occurred recently, there’s a high chance the other 4 are near the headquarters. I believe that not doing anything for some time is a good idea.”

“Damn it. After getting a taste, I’m getting more greedy.”

“To accomplish greater things, one must know when to back off and keep themselves safe.”

“You sure are fast at adapting. So that means that I have no choice but to hunt…”

“Hm… Aren’t you only afraid of the 5 top members of Swesi, and not the hunters, right?”

“…”

“Then you just have to fight the other members of Swesi elsewhere instead of the headquarters.”

“Do you know where they gather often or something?”

“Of course. Despite all the contempt and persecution, I tried my hardest to play in the same field as the hunters.”

“You really are something else…”

“I shall guide you. Let’s go to the castle entrance first. Hurry with the storage!”

“Wew…”

****

“Marquis Millions, sir, Demon has arrived.”

“Let Demon in.”

“Yes!”

For some reason, Demon had wanted to meet Millions.

This hadn’t happened before.

The two of them only looked at each other at the battlefield of the festival.

Millions was quite amused at this unprecedented outcome.

Millions lifted up both his arms and welcomed Demon that stood in front of him.

“Welcome, king of the festival.”

“…”

“Your expression tells me that you’re miffed that you did not meet any opponents for some time.”

“A couple days ago. After the battle with Jurassic, I was not given any opportunities to bathe in blood.”

“That’s right. The king’s mantle is a lonely one. It must be the punishment of a god for having power that is beyond comparison with others.”

“A god… Ha! Perhaps that is the case.”

“But it is a bit odd. For you to suddenly act like this despite not having any issues with the current number of rounds.”

“I am aware that I am obtaining power at an insane pace. To the point where others wouldn’t be even able to imagine such a pace.”

“Continue.”

“However, when I fought against Jurassic, I felt suppressed by someone’s presence. It was a power that was too weak to reach the amount I had, but I was still overwhelmed by it.”

“Hm? I was not able to sense it. If you felt it, then I should’ve been able to feel it as well. However, during that day’s festival, I only sensed two predators at each other’s throats. I am referring to you and Jurassic’s killing intent.”

“I also thought that it was Jurassic’s killing intent he was giving off. However, after his limbs were torn apart and his powers were transferred to me, that presence did not disappear.”

“Is there someone you are suspecting?”

“…”

“It seems that you don’t want to talk about it. I do not know why you must become stronger. Nor do I want to ask or even hear the answer. The reason why you sought me out is to obtain greater growth, right?”

“That’s right. I want you to increase the number of rounds in the festival. Or if there is another way… It looks like I need to pick up the pace.”

Demon looked at Millions as if looking up from below.

And then a vile smile on a wrinkled face followed.

Millions burst out laughing at Demon’s behavior.

It was almost as if the dog he was raising had learned and showed him an amazing trick.

Millions was acting as if he had been struck by something he had never expected.

“Kuhaha! To think I’d see the slyness of a fox in a bear!”

“…”

“It seems that the wild nature I saw in you that satisfied me so much when I first met you wasn’t everything. Right. You must’ve asked me because you know something, right?”

“Kuhu. I shall be straightforward then. I want access to the underground training center.”

“I like how you are brutally honest and even the aggressiveness you carry as well. Very well. You are the main character of the festival. They are but extras.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course. Don’t you think the king of the festival at least deserves this much? There are countless willing to be my slave on their own volition. And there are even more coming to my side because I am the owner of you, wild beast Demon.”

“…”

“They have already signed up to be my slaves. That means that whether they live or die is completely up to me. Unfortunately it seems that lady luck does not favor them.”

“Kuhuhu.”

“Guard!”

“Have you called, Sir Millions!”

“Lock this beast inside the underground training center at once. Until I give order, no one is to enter, and all guards will be recalled out of there. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir Millions!”

“Kuhu. It’ll be over before the bloody sunset turns dark.”

“Show them. Show them the majesty of the king of the festival of blood that they covet.”

Demon gave a smile filled with intent and willingly followed the bodyguard down the spiraling staircase.

Only after going down for a long time were they able to arrive at the lowest floor.

As commanded by Millions, the bodyguards immediately left, and the guard left too after locking the door.

Because most of the people down underground were Protectors, the lock was essentially useless, but it was more of a formality.

With the closed door behind, Demon walked forward.

“Kuhuhuhu!”

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209. Appearing All Over the Place ²

“Heh heh.. So you’re going?”

“Just focus on managing them so you can see if any of them are slacking.”

“Of course. Your wish is my command. Ah right. Count Paraol requested me to give you his thanks. It seems that the castellan was quite pleased at the last young maiden he had offered him…”

“Hm? Who are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember her? The child of the astrologer you kidnapped about half a year ago.”

“She really was quite the pretty gift. However, the aftercare would’ve been more important. Of course, don’t forget the due credit for your part as well.”

“Aha. Thank you for saying that.”

“Enough useless banter. Ah. You said that you are acquainted with the caretaker of the goods?”

“Yes, that is the case.”

“I heard that the caretaker has been replaced recently, and thus rumors say that the quality of goods have increased as a result. Arrange a meeting between us soon.”

“Yes, yes. Will do. As soon as tomorrow…”

“…”

“Tsk. Living off of narcissism. What are you goons doing! Why aren’t all of you hurrying to gather up the jewels!”

The man who had carried a person finished his short conversation and left the castle.

As expected, the carriage he had ridden to come here was moving at a speed that was hard to believe.

It had disappeared from view within a split second, and even weaved between rugged terrain and monsters at a speed that didn’t match how well it was evading.

With this much speed, my guess was that even if it had gone around the entire rocky mountain, it would’ve arrived at the tier 3 hunting grounds by now.

I did make a plan after hearing what Herb had said, but I did not have information on them.

Before talking to Herb, I didn’t even know who were part of the organization called Swesi that kidnapped maidens and young Protectors.

However, I was able to identify them with full confidence after eavesdropping just a little bit of their conversation.

The suspicion I had before had now become certainty, and it’d be great now if things went according to plan.

Thinking through a few thoughts and after waiting until he was further away, I sprung into action.

I casted Mass Stealth Jutsu and Silent over quite a large area.

I had taken account of the monsters that would pour out when initially opening the storage and the amount of space they would take.

I headed towards the guards patrolling in a large circle around the castle.

Letting those who guarded the innermost area go, I went quickly behind them and opened the storage.

“Keruruk!”

“Kuwoh!”

The entire area was filled to the brim with monsters that flooded out of storage in a split second.

Due to the tremors they caused on the ground from landing on the ground, all the guards heads turned at once.

However, since the monsters, me, and even the dust they’ve kicked up had been hidden, so they didn’t take any action right away.

All they did was to become slightly tense and look at each other for suggestions on what just happened.

“Did an earthquake occur?”

“It did feel like something shook right in front of us…”

“You goons! What are you being distracted by!”

“It’s nothing.”

Due to the yelling of the officer, they stopped looking.

Despite only a day passing, the monsters had recovered fully.

I dismissed the storage and removed the stealth and Silent from everything but my own form.

Hundreds of monsters appeared, and they directed their rage at the Swesi guards with a charge instead of me, who was hidden due to stealth.

There were many, but due to how they were completely clumped up in a single area, there was a chance that they would be easily defeated by an area of effect spell.

“Kueh!”

“Keru!”

Using my sword like a bat, I hit the monsters to get them to spread out.

They needed to hold out to get as many guards gathered here as possible.

Only then would my plan of having the cake and eating it too be possible.

There were hundreds of monsters spread out here.

And all the guards of Swesi that will stop them.

And all their powers will soon come to me.

After seeing the massive number of monsters, they began yelling in all directions.

“It’s a monster wave!”

“Group! Group up! It’s a monster wave!”

“What is this sudden chaos!”

“At least it looks like we can fill our daily quota quickly today.”

“Cut the crap and charge them already!”

“Looks like it’s a lucky day. Let’s fill our daily quota and then relax in leisure for the rest of the day.”

They gathered at where the storage had opened in an instant.

Since the monsters were from the 7th tier hunting grounds that they could handle with ease, they were running in without any suspicion.

If I had gathered any stronger monsters, I was positive they would’ve reported to the higher ups.

I even saw some of them carry eager smiles.

As expected of Protectors that have been fighting monsters for a long time, even the way they gathered into a formation was different.

“Hey. They’re only 7th tier monsters, so do we really have to go all out like this?”

“Did you already forget about the older know-it-all person who has surveillance on us all day from over there? That’s the person who reports every single move of all us 140 guards. There’s no benefit to us to earn his dislike.”

“Ugh. Well. What a stickler. Let’s get this over with already.”

The tanks from the warrior class blocked the charge of the monsters from the frontlines, and those at the edges on each side of the frontline kept pressing forward to prevent the monsters from surrounding them.

Fierce attacks were directed at the guards, but were easily blocked by their shields.

On top of that, the mage class Protectors were casting area of effect damage spells like Normal Breath.

The monsters and guards were split into the east side and the west side, pushing at each that formed a line of contact.

If the battle continued, it would swing in the favor to Swesi’s guards, but that wasn’t a big issue.

Leaving them to fight, I shifted my focus for a bit.

“They’re completely focused on the battle. I think that person will fit the bill.”

“Ugh…”

“You’re coming with me for a bit.”

“Urk…”

Leaving the guards who were completely distracted with fighting the monsters, I punched this officer known as the older know-it-all right in the gut.

As expected, this Protector was weaker than the guards.

I had seen this officer quickly retreat when the monsters appeared.

This person had casted a shield spell only on themselves and fled without even looking back once.

I opened up the Mobile Storage and tossed this officer who couldn’t even breathe due to the shock into the corner of it.

This person would be an important informant when I would be forming a plan after all this.

“Keep this person in this general area by the corner. Rough them up just enough so they don’t die.”

Positioned at a blindspot where those within the castle could not see, I prepared to wipe out both the monsters and the guards in a single hit.

Perhaps due to how hunting monsters was an everyday event here, no one came outside the castle despite all the ruckus.

I was going to put everything I had into this attack.

On top of that, I wasn’t going to pretend by imitating the appearance of the Protector skills or worry about how it would look for others.

It was because this single attack would be that important.

“Hey. Was there a ranged attack monster in the 7th tier that fired projectiles like that?”

“Hm… I don’t know? Looks like meteors. Probably just a few 8th their monsters got mixed in. Don’t worry about and keep attacking.”

“The size is an issue and there are nine of them though?”

“Eh. This isn’t the first or second time we’ve seen attacks like that, right? It just looks like that in appearance without substa…”

The guard wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

It was because an attack that would cover the hundreds of monsters and 140 Protectors was pouring from the sky.

The transcended Meteor with all my powers infused into it fell on top of their heads, and a massive explosion and flames consumed them all.

The monsters were wiped out on the spot.

Since this was an attack with full force behind it instead of the moderate attack, their forms disappeared as if they had been evaporated.

It was a similar case with Swesi’s guards.

Only a few tank class Protectors were barely breathing.

After the Meteor, I continued casting In Storm and Iceberg nonstop without pause.

The shockwave and tremors from the attacks filled the entire area of Swesi’s headquarters.

Not only was that giant castle shaking, but it was intense enough to the point where the area around it was shaking as well.

At the same time, I felt that there was a change within my body.

The growth I’ve obtained was on another level compared to hunting down monsters, and I didn’t just feel it with my body, but it was such a large amount of strength that it ended up being almost more than I could handle.

“Ugh… This isn’t a good feeling…”

Due to the massive amount of strength suddenly flowing in, my body was shaking so much that it was near freezing up.

The surprise was one thing, but it was because I had obtained such a massive amount of strength I’ve never had before.

Like how Karupedan and Barub had spoken about before, it was as if more strength than what I could handle had poured into me.

My sight that had gone blurry for a bit had returned, but my consciousness wasn’t coming back fully.

If I stayed this way, I was positive that an unwelcome guest from the castle would show.

Tearing the scroll I had held in my hand since casting stealth, I left that place as if running away.

****

“Huff… Huff…”

As if I had been hit with a fever, my body was burning up, and my breathing was ragged.

My focus was all murky, but thankfully I had arrived safely at that inn room that no one would be present at.

After I had Awakened back on Earth, other than being injured by others, I had never had the cold or even a fever.

I was in a situation where I was far from the concept of disease.

That was why this sudden change in my body felt far more awkward and embarrassing.

“It’s a bit of a waste to use it like this, but…”

I pulled out a King’s Marble from the breast pocket on the inside of my armor.

Not even 10 remained now.

I didn’t know when I would need them in the next two remaining months, so I had been saving them.

However, I had a strong feeling that I wouldn’t recover from this haziness until I used one of these marbles.

I swallowed one, which made me recover with a clear mind as if I was never affected by that haziness in the first place, and then I checked my newfound strength.

“Good… This amount of strength is far beyond anything those who fought against Demon had.”

I didn’t see numbers like stats, but I could definitely feel it.

Right now, I was stronger than Demon.

I had obtained far more power than I had expected on my first day of eradicating Swesi.

I had only taken down the guards, but they were 140 Protectors who could take down 7th tier monsters with ease.

While Demon had obtained a high amount of compressed power all at once, I had obtained a lower grade power in mass quantity instead.

There was no way I could not be satisfied by such an outcome.

“Now I’ve got an appetite for those who remained inside the castle.”

“Let the officer out.”

“Ugh… Ugh.. Who are you!”

“A god.”

“What… What do you mean? A god? You’re insane!”

“The fate of if you’ll live or die… It’s in my hands. A person you can consider a god.”

“Are you doing this while knowing who I am?”

A punch.

“Ah. Sorry. I forgot that I had become a lot stronger than before, right?”

“Urgh!”

“I’ll be the one asking the questions. The only thing you have to do is to give honest answers. Remember this.”

“Eep!”

“Explain in detail how this organization operates. Also just how many monsters are inside that huge castle as well.”

“Urk…”

“Did you not get punished enough?”

“Ah! That’s not the case!”

“Then you should be starting, right?”

“O… Our group, the Swesi is…”

---

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208. Lunch Box Bomb

The function of the Mobile Storage is amazing.

After all, it allowed me to store a near infinite amount of artifacts I harvest.

Due to all the investing I put into the skill until it was as powerful as it could be, the amount of storage space and even the weight limit had been removed quite some ago.

There was a reason why I was suddenly praising the Mobile Storage out of the blue.

It was because the skill’s usage was so versatile that it would even be useful in the strategy to wipe out Swesi.

*Living beings can enter, but cannot leave the storage without the permission of the caster.

Just as the explanation says, I could store living creatures into storage.

For some reason however, the monsters resist entering the storage at 100% health.

I don’t mean that they crawl out by thrashing around madly, but they repel each other like the same ends of a magnet.

It was almost as someone had set a rule.

Most would think that storing monsters into storage was useless.

What kind of a Protector in this world would store monsters into storage when they don’t even have enough space to store all of their artifacts.

Unless they had some twisted desire to raise these demonic beasts as pets, it was highly unlikely.

That’s why the method to store monsters into the storage wasn’t well known in this world.

Even if someone did know, they would keep it hush hush.

After all, it’d kick up a huge ruckus if some crazy Protector stored monsters into their storage and released them in a populated location.

However, the method to do it was so much simpler than I thought that I wouldn’t have been shocked if that did happen time to time.

It was to reduce the monster’s health to below 10%.

The 10% was just an estimate that I came up with, as it was more akin to the monster being injured enough to not have the strength to move and had enough hp left to breathe with great difficulty.

To put it simply, the monster would have to be unable to battle.

I was able to store the monsters like objects into storage if they lost their strength and will to resist.

Just like how they were back on Earth and the demonic realm, these monsters had incredibly powerful regeneration in Hell as well.

There were quite the gaps between each ranks of the monsters, but all of them were tenacious by default.

Some of them even had the ability to regrow their limbs if they were cut off.

However, it would be impossible for them to recover after receiving my attacks.

This was due to the ability that I had obtained from Karupedan.

All attacks succeed and those who get hit by the attacks cannot recover from the resulting wounds.

Unfortunately, that ability was a huge hurdle that was in the way of the plan I had come with.

“Please take out the attack magic marble. If possible, ones that deal area of effect damage.”

With all the monsters bound down and unable to move, I opened the storage and spoke.

The storage was an existence that seemed to possess some form of intelligence.

Not only did it sort the items by rank and size, but even brought me the items I wanted.

While it didn’t reply, it made me wonder if there was a servant more trustworthy.

Well, the fact that it didn’t reply could be a bonus.

Within seconds, there were magic marbles organized neatly at the entrance of the storage.

And it didn’t just organize them haphazardly, but had done so while considering the level and ranks of the skills.

It almost made me want to call it ‘Mr. Kind Storage.’

There are several consumable items that exist in Hell that do not exist back on Earth.

Examples are the Return Scroll I keep using frequently and the magic marbles I plan to use.

As explained before, the Return Scroll allows me to warp to a location that I wish to go to. [/note] I wonder why the author didn’t name them Teleportation Scroll. [/note]

And these magic marbles I’ve pulled out from can be explained as items that hold skills.

While the drop chance for this item to drop is low, a lot had piled up in storage due to me killing quite a lot of monsters.

Simply break the marble and the item activates.

Each marble’s ability is set the moment it drops from the monster.

The skill’s type and level are set randomly.

My plan was to bind down the monsters using my power, then deal damage using the magic marbles.

Since the marble was independent from my powers, it wouldn’t apply the anti-healing debuff.

Just like that, the monsters that have lost most of their health would end up transported into my storage, and it wouldn’t take even a full day for the monsters to recover to full, making it so that my storage is filled with fully recovered monsters.

The one thing that I had to be careful about was that I could not open the storage until I arrived at Swesi’s headquarters.

As I mentioned before, monsters with high health will be repelled by the storage like the same poles of the magnet.

Thankfully no living creature that enters the storage can leave without the permission of the caster, but if I accidentally open the storage, it would cause hundreds of monsters that I had caught to burst forth and spill out in an instant.

“Will this be enough?”

“Kuwuh…”

“Kuhuk. Kuhuk…”

Since these monsters were drawn from the border of the 7th tier and 8th tier hunting grounds, it was obvious that they wouldn’t budge at most attacks.

However, thanks to the number, rank, and level of the spells held by the magic marbles, I was able to easily chip down their health.

I opened the Mobile Storage right next to the panting monsters.

Throwing them in one at a time would be inefficient.

Using my head, I thought of and started casting Bind continuously to move them bit by bit.

The scene reminded of an automated slaughterhouse.

After all, the monsters had become like pacified sheep, waiting in line to enter the storage.

To the monsters that kept healing midway through the transporting process and were repelled out, I broke the single target magic marbles to deal enough damage to the point where the monsters were weak enough to be stored.

This complex process only took about 10 minutes to finish.

This was possible because I had infinite mana and could use all the powers I possessed.

“Kueheh!”

“Kurung!”

“To think that all of them went in. This is a lot more amazing than I had thought.”

The roar of the weakened monsters were sealed away inside the storage.

The storage had disappeared from view, but would pour out hundreds of monsters at my beckoning.

I could’ve captured monsters from a higher tier hunting ground.

After all, I was strong enough to capture even the monsters from the unexplored territories.

However, since my objective was to get the members of Swesi to gather in one spot, this would suffice.

Let’s say that I had captured and released a stronger monster in order to get all the guards more effectively gathered in one spot.

Since a monster stronger than what usually appears at the compound appeared, it would get all 150 of the guards to gather at the location of the monsters with great haste.

However, this would mean that members stronger than what counted as guards here would appear as well.

Right now, I didn’t want to welcome any members like that.

It was definitely unnatural for an incredible amount of monsters to suddenly appear all of a sudden.

So suspicious that it would be enough for people to suspect that this was done by a trespasser.

However, strange situations like these happen time to time in Hell.

A phenomenon where an explosive number of monsters all appearing in one spot called Monster Wave is what I’m talking about.

One of the reasons why Protectors did not work alone like how I was doing right now was because of the Monster Waves.

I had finished lightly preparing to launch the first attack.

Before the monsters snapped out of it and began rapidly regenerating, I headed for Dump’s residence.

Since I wouldn’t be able to come here for a while, it was to hand over high tier materials he would be using for his craft.

****

The sound of Dump’s hammering rang loudly.

While I knew he normally worked hard, there seemed to be greater force behind those swings due to the current situation.

I went up to Dump who was focused on his craft and spoke.

“Did you already get started?”

“You’ve come, Sir Guardian. Of course. I must succeed, even if an hour earlier.”

“I’m sure that things will work out as well as the amount of effort you’re putting in.”

“Of course! Berlette will return. I’m sure that she’ll return safe and sound. And because I believe in that, there’s no need for me to be sad.”

“Yes. I am sure that will be the case. Where should I put the materials?”

“It’ll be quite a lot, right?”

“Yes. I think…”

“Then please put them here.”

Dump opened up the entrance to the underground storage space next to his workspace.

Because he had moved recently, the storage had items he did not have time to organize shoved inside.

The size was big enough that I did not believe I’d have a shortage of space.

“Then…”

“KUWEHH!”

“KUHRURU!”

“KUNG! KUNG KUNG KUNG!”

“I forgot to mention ahead of time, but no need to be frightened. They will be playing a very important role in this plan. To put it simply, they are allies.”

“My goodness… I thought my heart would stop.”

Dump had fallen backwards after seeing the swarm of monsters that filled the Mobile Storage.

Since he wasn’t a Protector, this must’ve been the first time he had seen a live monster.

He probably has only learned about them through the encyclopedias, books, and rumors circulating in the marketplace.

Seeing as how their howls were a lot livelier than before, my guess was that their regeneration has finally kicked into full gear.

This probably meant that this was the last time I would be able to open the Mobile Storage until release.

“Bring forth all the materials that are used in the A to S+ ranking artifact crafting here.”

With my command, the Mobile storage poured out enough artifacts to cause a sound that was loud enough to drown out the roars of the monsters.

The shift in items kept going for a while like a waterfall before stopping, and I immediately closed the storage.

“I have placed here all the high ranking materials I have here.”

“I will succeed for sure. I definitely will!”

“Yes you must. After all, the success of crafting an artifact here will directly affect the outcome of success I will have in the battle. Also, I won’t be able to visit you often like I am doing now.”

“…”

“I plan to take them out without as much a squeak, but it is because there is a possibility that either of our identities are exposed.”

“Yes… I understand.”

“I shall keep visiting from time to time while keeping an eye out on the situation. I know it’ll be frustrating, but please bear with me.”

“Sir Guardian. With you already being this considerate, I do not know how I can show my thanks. I know I’ve already told you this frequently, but please understand that I am willing to offer my insignificant life if it is for you.”

“Of course. I am aware.”

“Then I shall go succeed in the crafting of the artifact, even if it is an hour earlier.”

“Yes. Then I shall be heading out now. I plan to start the first plan tonight right away.”

“Oho… Please be careful. If even you, Sir Guardian, becomes harmed… then… “

“Do not worry. Then I’ll be off…”

“Yes! Please and again, be careful!”

“Yes.”

****

The sky slowly became stained in darkness.

Stationing myself at the location where I originally scouted out Swesi’s guards, I waited for the right time.

It was then.

A carriage arrived at their headquarters.

Perhaps due to the location of this compound being in the hunting grounds where monsters appeared, even the appearance of the horses were quite different.

A translucent body with a blue tint. On top of that, there were red flames coming off the mane.

The monster wasn’t tamed, but probably created by the magic of a Protector.

From the carriage that arrived at the entrance of the castle without being stopped at all disembarked a person, and the man who was diligently fiddling around with the ledger bowed his head.

“Ah. You’ve arrived.”

“…”

“You’ve succeeded in getting two today.”

“Open the door. I do not have time to waste on you.”

“Of course! That is how it should be. Open the door! Sir hunter has returned!”

A strong looking man. There were people on each side of his shoulders.

A maiden, or perhaps someone who looked like a Protector were limp on their shoulder.

Just like what Herb had said, those people must’ve been hunted.

‘Seems like a stronger opponent. I will begin the attack after he leaves.’

---

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207. Operation Swesi Annihilation

“Kuhuhum…”

“Herb. So you’ve finally regained your senses?”

“Damn it. So it wasn’t a dream. Kuhu.”

“…”

The man chugged the water in the room to sate his ravenous thirst.

With sleep circles under his eyes and a heavy body due to yesterday night’s inebriation, he came closer.

Blinking his half open eyes slowly, he opened his mouth.

“There are 100 good things about drinking, but there is one negative. Yesterday night was that sole negative. It makes me remember some useless things time to time.”

“I expected a hangover when you mentioned a negative, but I guess I was wrong.”

“My lad. If I’m a proper drunkard, then don’t you think I should be enjoying the hangover as well. Kuhuhu!”

“…”

“Now. I must be heading off. Despite meeting for the first time, it seems I’m quite heavily indebted to you.”

“My name is Guardian. Don’t you remember? Mister Herb.”

“Ahem…”

The man who had turned his back to me and was heading out the door hesitated at my question, letting out a fake cough.

Holding onto the doorknob, he wasn’t able leave nor turn around to face me.

“Didn’t you say that you would wish me the best in the afterlife?”

“It seems that I’ve made a mistake while being drunk. I am sorry for that.”

“Mister Herb. No matter what you do, I will still go to where the Swesi is located. But not only are you giving up, now you’re trying to run away as well?”

“…”

“If you really must, then you can go back down this path. I entrusted the owner of the store with some money, so go ahead and spend the rest of your life finding out the good points of alcohol. However, I know that you won’t be able to live comfortably for even a single moment because of that one single negative point you told me before. How can someone live with such a heavy weight on their heart?”

“Huhu… You’re a real smooth talker. Do you think you can do it? I’m asking if you can change the world with such a small action.”

“Hmm. I dunno. That’s why I’m trying to struggle for a bit. A very minuscule amount, so little that no one will notice.”

“Ahahaha! You’re far more insane than I thought. I’ll wish you a happy afterlife later. I shouldn’t go bothering the reaper with a pointless prayer. And I feel like it’d be a waste of a talent for someone like you to die right now.”

“Then…”

“With the castle door at your back from where we first met, keep going straight. If you do that, you’ll be stopped by a giant rocky mountain. Their headquarters are somewhere on that mountain. Even getting there won’t be easy. I wish you victory in battle, Protector.”

“Thank you. If I find your daughter…”

“Kuhu. Didn’t I tell you that it’s been 10 years since? I have decided not to have any false hope. Decided on forgetting the word hope in a world like this. Thank you for your words at least. Thanks to you, I was able to recall the face of my child in such a long time. Guess that means that I need to raise another glass in her name. I’ll see you again.”

****

After Herb disappeared from view, I immediately tore the return scroll to head for the castle entrance.

I was traveling to do recon on the enemy’s headquarters.

Despite all the light due to it being early in the morning, there was no way that I’d be discovered because I was using Mass Stealth Jutsu and only doing a very general sweeping reconnaissance.

From the start, one of the rules in the bet between Barub and I was that we weren’t allowed to use any skills that allowed us to discover the identities of our opponent.

However, it was possible that this rule only categorized Barub and I as opponents.

While I would be using Stealth and Silent, I was planning to observe them from as far away as possible.

As I said before, I couldn’t take them all out by the roots at once.

I planned to take them down bit by bit, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the first attack would determine the outcome of the plan to annihilate all of Swesi.

The Swesi organization isn’t stupid.

Not only that, but they had an incredible amount of fighting force.

They even have connections with many powerful nobles, so there was no way they’d be an easy opponent.

After the first attack, they would shore up their defenses, and their response times against intruders would become more rapid.

That is why during this first attack when they don’t have their guard up, I need to gain as many benefits as possible, which means that I have to achieve the most amount of growth possible.

Just like how it is with most organizations, those with great power tend to not show themselves under the spotlight.

Similar to Park Hyun’s radical faction, those who hung around the entrance are the weak ones in comparison to the rest of the organization.

The truly powerful big bosses don’t usually bother taking action is what I mean.

In today’s reconnaissance, I will be focusing on the number of those acting as guards and the response they have to an attack.

I was going over there to find out who out of them would serve as the first sacrifices.

Just like Herb said, with the castle entrance directly behind me, I continued going forward.

As expected, it didn’t take long for me to find out that I had entered the tier 1 hunting grounds.

I could hear the howls of monsters all over the place, and even saw a few Protectors engrossed in hunting.

Despite whichever direction I headed out towards, I would come in contact with monsters because of how they were spread like tree rings with the castle as the center.

This meant that while I didn’t know what tier of the hunting grounds Swesi’s headquarters was located, I knew that it existed within the hunting zones.

It made me wonder just how Herb managed to get near their headquarters the first time he arrived, since he wasn’t a Protector.

However, he could’ve hired Protectors as guards to slowly travel through the hunting grounds, so that suspicion disappeared quickly.

“Is that it?”

After running for a long time, the rocky mountain finally came into view.

If I climb over that, Swesi’s headquarters should be there.

The rocky mountain was around the 3rd tier hunting grounds.

Since I’ve been looking at the encyclopedia enough to memorize the contents, I was able to tell the gist of where I was just by looking at the monsters around me.

The rocky mountain was very artificial looking compared to what I had seen so far in Hell’s environment, and it was pointlessly tall and had a rough surface.

This type of terrain was the first I’ve encountered in this zone that was composed entirely of low hills and plains.

Since I couldn’t tell how far it stretched on for me to attempt going around it, I casted Silent and Stealth Jutsu to cover myself before jumping up.

If this was my average day, I would’ve jumped up to the peak in one go, but I only jumped up to height where I knew I wouldn’t cause damage to the terrain upon landing.

It was because starting now, I could not afford to be noticed by anyone.

It was a must that I did not leave any evidence of my presence behind.

After leaping up a couple times, I felt as though something was off.

Enough time had passed where I would’ve had more than enough time to climb to the peak two or three times, but I still couldn’t see the peak that was surrounded by clouds.

Not only that, but surprisingly I wasn’t able to see any monsters or even a peek of them.

It was almost as if I was looking at the well developed areas near the castle.

“Damn it. It’s almost as if I’ve come under hypnosis. Should I have tried going around the mountain?”

Finally, I was able to go over the mountain and arrive on the ground.

But something was off.

I thought that the rocky mountain was just really tall, but the monsters by the ground were completely different from the monsters found in the tier 3 zone.

Of course. This was the tier 7 hunting grounds.

I had only climbed over a mountain and come down, but I had somehow gone 4 tiers further out.

Because I hadn’t even a single monster the entire time I traveled, it felt as though I had traveled through a different dimension to get here.

However, since these monsters were still easy for me to take care of, it didn’t worry me that much.

As Herb had informed me, I had ran in a straight line from the castle’s entrance, and I was able to see a building that appeared to be Swesi’s headquarters the moment I descended the mountain.

It was a giant structure that reminded me of the buildings found within the castle that I had to enter through to see the Festival of Blood.

It was a castle that looked like bats would fly out and Dracula would show his face at any moment.

I was not able to hide my surprise that a place like this existed within the hunting grounds.

As with each step I took to get closer to that structure, I was cautious of even the sand and dust.

It was then.

“KUWEHH!”

“…”

I could hear a monster’s howl and the sound of conversations between people from a place not far away from where I was.

At the place where the sound of coming from, many personnel gathered to push back the monster and began the process of taking down the monster.

Perhaps due to the building being built within the hunting grounds, it was normal for monsters to come after it.

However, seeing how their group was taking down the monster made the corners of my lip go up.

It was because there were a vast number of personnel stationed outside the castle.

It must be to guard against monsters and intruders.

It was a shame that they weren’t gathered all in one place, but there were about 100 to 150 of them.

The other reason was that they were defeating a tier 7 monster with ease.

This meant that each of them were at least far stronger than a tier 7 in terms of strength.

If I was able to defeat them all and take their powers, the amount I get would be enormous.

You could say that this was a great start.

After observing them for a bit, it seemed that the personnel stationed outside the building had finished taking care of the monsters nearby.

Groups in 5 to 6 patrolled around the building, and it looked as though the items obtained from defeating the monster were put into someone’s Mobile Storage that was open by the entrance of the building.

Next to the Mobile Storage was a person who seemed to hold some amount of position, and it looked as though they were diligently scribbling on their ledger.

There wasn’t a single person who was moving on their own and apart from the rest of the group.

If that was the case, I would’ve been able to capture one and drag them back to interrogate them for intel.

Pushing aside my regret, I increased our distance.

After confirming this scene, I didn’t do much else.

All I did was to tear the return scroll far away from them.

To take them down effectively and assuredly, I believed that I needed to prepare for it at least a little.

Firstly, I was able to get a general grasp of how strong they were by seeing how fast they defeated the monsters.

They were weak enough that if I managed to gather them up and hit them with everything I had, I would be able to take them out in one attack.

I wasn’t sure of the personnel inside the building, but I was positive that the Protectors outside of it were just about that strong.

I tore open the scroll to warp to the 7th tier hunting grounds.

You would think it strange for me to head to a hunting ground when I should be focusing on coming up with a plan to storm the building.

And on top of that, I headed for the 7th tier hunting grounds instead of the unexplored territories.

But the reason for doing so was simple.

I had a plan to gather them all here.

“Time to run.”

I ran across the 7th tier hunting grounds with an appropriate amount of speed.

Perhaps due to running past the boundaries between the tier zones, I saw a few 8th tier monsters time to time.

An incredible amount of monsters who had been aggroed by me were following me, and as I turned around, I could see them arranged in a wide area in front of me.

“It doesn’t taste good to fry food too much. I think a medium should be fine. First, let’s put them on a skewer.”

“KUWUH!”

“KERUK! KERURUK!”

In an instant, many golem hands rose out of the ground and grounded them.

I had used the Bind skill.

Since it wasn’t a single target skill, I was able to hold down all the monsters in front of me.

With their movements sealed, each of the monsters let out the Fear howling skill and were taking an offense stance.

Monsters with ranged attacks out of the bunch were also launching projectiles towards me already.

“The meat is so fresh that it’s flying and running around.”

I casted Hold and Silent on top of that.

They became living taxidermy, and weren’t even able to let their Fear howl skill go beyond the Silent spell.

I don’t have a hobby of torturing monsters like this in a psychopathic fashion.

However, this was part of the preparation I needed to group up the Swesi guards in one spot.

“Now, shall I roast them up?”

---

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