Tag: I Never Run Out of Mana

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105. Nibble (2)

The rift that the Puppet Goblin jumped out of disappeared.

With its hoarse cackling voice, it began to speak again.

“Ah, my introduction was late!”

“I don’t care who you are, so just tell me why you’re here…..”

“I am one of the 4 demonic races in the demon realm called the Keruoh! I am a servant of Sir Berdan, who is ranked second highest of the demon realm and equal in power to the demon king.”

“Just shut up and get to the point….”

“My name is Sir Karin! Kerururu! You, oafish human, should consider it an honor for to have met me, who is of pure demonic blood!”

“Eh? This guys isn’t listening in the slightest……”

“This is the first time I’ve met a human! Just like the rumors, humans have ugly twisted faces! Keruru.”

-SLICE!

I swung at the goblin’s arm for interrupting me repeatedly and for his arrogance.

However, as if his form was projected from a hologram, the sword went through without much effect.

This meant that I couldn’t deal any damage to him.

Well, it wouldn’t be easy for someone to cross over here from the demonic realm.

The goblin I saw was probably nothing more than a shell.

And even this shell seemed to be unstable, barely showing his form.

Seeing my attack, the goblin spoke.

“Kell kell kell! It’s 100 years too early for you to reach me! Kell kell.”

“Wow…….. You’re really pushing your luck with me.”

“Listen well, twisted and ugly human!”

“Whew……”

“Sir Berdan has selected you as a worthy sacrifice! That idiot Zekill didn’t know this, but Sir Berdan had known all of Zekill’s plans from the moment he headed here. He knew that Zekill was trying to gain magical energy to increase his powers. If Zekill had taken over this world, he would’ve taken him down immediately and taken all the magic power for himself. Kell kell. Funnily enough, he lost his life to a human though.”

“Sacrifice? Why is it me again? It’s really bothersome.”

“It’s because you have the strongest magical energy in this world.”

“Magical energy? Then you picked the wrong person. I’m not part of the demonic races nor am I monster. There’s no way that magical energy would be flowing through my body. I’m just a human, like you said.”

“Kerukeru. As expected of a lesser lifeform. You don’t even know how to wield magical energy. The fact that you’re even speaking to me makes me want to hurl, but I, Sir Karin, shall forgive you, for I am very compassionate!”

“Thanks to you, I think I can relate to Buddha a little more. So what’s the message….”

“Shut up! My fellow demons were taken by a lowlife such as yourself! Their magical energy is condensed within your body. Despite being just a human, you seemed to have killed a lot of monsters. So many in fact, that it’s enough for even Sir Berdan to take notice of you. Keruru. Surrender your magical energy to Sir Berdan.”

“……..”

“Sir Berdan’s demand is as follows. 100 days! Wait, no. I guess it’s 88 days from now. 88 days from now, head to the demonic realm and become a sacrifice for Sir Berdan. If you do so, we shall remove the portals connected with the demonic realm and spare the rest of you humans!”

“If I go to the demonic realm, can I meet you with you? Berdan or whatever his name is, I’ll let him have a painless death. You shriveled green skin on the other hand, I don’t have any plans on letting you have an easy death!”

“Pathetic human who cannot even use magical energy. You’re even arrogant to boot! If you do not become a sacrifice and come to the demonic realm in the next 88 days, he has told me to that he shall annihilate this world.”

“Oh, is that the plan. If he’s to come here, he’ll have to spend all of his magical energy. Wouldn’t it take 40 years plus 88 days, not 88 days?”

That’s right. It was like that with Zekill before.

To come to this world from the demonic realm, one would probably have to use up all their magical energy.

That was why Zekill had bided for 40 years in order to recharge his magical energy.

It wasn’t an imminent crisis, but one that would occur a very long time from now.

“40 years from now…… It seems I’ll be nearly 60 years old. I would’ve married by then…. I wonder if my wife is pretty? Well, enough of that. Hey, shrivel skin!”

“Keru? What is it, human!”

“Tell your great king this. Tell him he can come whenever he wants. Get here and spend all his time charging his magical energy, wasting away his years. Just make sure he stays out of my sight, okay?”

“Ke kell kell kell kell! Amusing. Human is amusing!”

“…….”

“You dare compare Sir Berdan with the likes of Zekill!”

“What?”

“One of his abilities is Dimensional Travel! For him, traveling through dimensions into this world can be done with his eyes closed!”

“……”

“What will you do? Will you willingly become a sacrifice and enter the demon realm? Or will you be eliminated along with this world? Ah! Ah! Of course, the moment Sir Berdan arrives here, all the puny humans would become meals for him!”

“Wait…. Something doesn’t add up. There’s plenty of Awakened other than me who have vanquished countless monsters. Wouldn’t he gain a lot more magical energy if he arrives here and wipes out all of humanity? It doesn’t make sense to only have me come over. Shrivel skin, if you’re selling phony medication, you should at least make a good sales pitch.”

“Keruke!”

He spoke while clapping.

I didn’t know why he was doing that.

It even made me wonder if there was a style of comedy like this in the demon realm.

The goblin continued to speak.

“You can think that far, human? Unlike how you look, you’re quite smart.”

“Just who do you think I am…..”

“Shut up! It’s a piece of cake for Sir Berdan to come over to this world, but he’s very busy! For the advancement of demon society, he agreed to a peace treaty. However, if he leaves his seat, it could destroy the balance in the demonic realm!”

“Then he just shouldn’t come in the first place. The more I hear you talk, the more confused I get.”

“Keru?”

“So what you’re saying is that I should go to the demon realm in 88 days and become a sacrifice. If I do not, he will destroy this world. However, he is busy so he cannot come to Earth.”

“That’s right!”

“Think I’m going insane. So what if I don’t go to the demonic realm? Berdan won’t come to Earth either way. Alright. Let’s say I go over there. Is there any guarantee that he won’t mess with this place?”

“Sir Berdan is busy! He does not have time for those weaklings without much magical energy!”

“Hey…. Listen well, you little green monster. You said that he needs my magical energy, right? He picked me because of my magical energy, correct?”

“That’s right!”

“Is there a hidden camera somewhere! This is frustrating.”

“Enough! Just come to the demon realm, human!”

“Ha…… Alright, alright. I’ll go. But how do I go? Hm?”

“88 days from now, a giant gate will open! You just have to go through it! Those without sufficient magical energy in their bodies will instantly be obliterated without a trace the moment they cross through.”

“So I can go in? Where does it open?”

“88 days from now, a giant gate will open! Go there! That’s all you have to do.”

“….. I knew cancer didn’t just occur without a reason. There’s always a reason.”

“Are you coming, human?”

“I’m coming, you little shit! I’m coming with a nail clipper to destroy you!”

“Keruru. Of course, you fear my presence! Yes, yes. I knew you’d come without resistance!”

“88 days from now, a giant portal, right? If I go through there, I will arrive in the demon realm, correct?”

“That’s right!”

“Alright, Mr. Green Monster. I got it clearly, so can you fuck off, okay?”

“You must come, human!”

“……”

“You must come! I command you!”

“…….”

Look at how that disgusting looking green goblin rants.

I was not just boiling mad, but downright steaming.

Why could he speak properly, or at least explain things completely through?

I was sure that he was testing me.

Ignoring him, I headed home.

Even still, I could hear him shouting behind me.

“Human! Are you scared! Are you listening because you’re scared of me! Keruru.”

“Ah…..”

I immediately dashed to where he was in a instant.

He was dancing in a fashion that I’ve never seen before.

I spoke.

“Oi, monster.”

“Keru?”

“I said I’m going. Just please stop appearing in my dreams. I need to sleep so that I can bring fresh magical energy to the demon realm.”

“Kerurum…. Ok. I, Sir Karin will reward you as such. Be thankful.”

“Whew….. Yeah, thanks. Now just leave. Stop making such a ruckus.”

“I am the only one here who gives commands! Even if you don’t say it, I was already on my way!”

“Ok……”

****

“PHAHAHAHAHAHA! Is it really true that a monster spoke?”

“I’m telling you, it’s the truth.”

“Are you sure you’re not trying to make me laugh? Pfft!”

“His voice is like this too. ‘Kerururu!’ I thought I was going insane.”

“Ah, this is comedy gold.”

Jong Ho was laughing to the point where tears were coming out.

It was due to me trying to mimic what the goblin Karin said to me.

After laughing for awhile, Jong Ho asked.

“Whew….. I can finally calm down a bit. Is that the reason why he was appearing in your dreams this entire time?”

“Yes. From then on, I could sleep in peace.”

“Wow. He’s really tiresome.”

“There’s 86 days left. The gate will open after 86 days. He said that I would arrive in the demon realm if I go through there. He asked me to become a sacrifice by first going to the demon realm.”

“So, you’re really going in?”

“Hyung-nim, do you think I’m crazy?”

“…..”

“I’m not even sure if that gate even leads me to the demon realm. Even if it did, I don’t know the way back.”

“That’s why I asked. I thought you were going in there without much concern.”

“I’d really like to go in and rip apart that goblin immediately. However, I can’t do that. The one thing I know is that the demonic races in the demon realm are looking for a lot of magical energy on Earth. Due to the collateral damage of the fights between demonic races, we’re getting caught in the crossfire.”

“Hmmm… Do you let out some kind of pheromone or something? It looks like all the baddies are coming to you.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I wasn’t sure if what the goblin said was the truth, but it looks like I need to start preparing for the 3 months ahead.”

“Yeah, I hope that isn’t the case, but just in case it’s good to be prepared.”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Forgot to give you these due to laughing too much from the ‘Keruru!’ Pfft!”

Jong Ho’s spittle flew out once more as he laughed.

He pulled out the skill books from his bag that he brought.

It was the Chain Explosion and In Storm spells.

He must have picked them up from the midget’s office on his way back from hunting.

I obtained the two skills on the spot.

To determine their worth, it seemed that I’d have to level up the skills to see.

Since it was a S and S+ ranking spell, it should be quite strong even if the levels are low.

There’s a saying that there’s a mountain over the mountain.

After taking down the radical faction, now the demon realm was harassing me.

If what the goblin said was the truth, this was a crisis that couldn’t be compared to the radical faction.

If the demonic races do bring monsters to Earth, the damage dealt by them would be enormous even if we could defeat them.

If I had a bit more information, I wanted to immediately head through the gate and suppress them all.

Instead of fighting on our own turf and causing collateral damage, I’d rather fight on their lands and cause chaos.

I was surrounded in a wild storm.

I wasn’t sure how it would end, but I was suffering in a lot of ways due to it.

The only thing I could do was quietly complain to myself.

“Ha……. I’m not sure what sins I’ve committed in my past life, but this is difficult. So difficult.”

---

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104. Nibble

“Doesn’t the skill look a little brutal-ish?”

“Why? I think it looks pretty cool.”

“This is? Really…..?”

“Hohoho. The skill’s effect isn’t that important. All it needs to have is to carry a powerful destructive force. Isn’t that right?”

“I guess so. Right?”

The skill that was shown on the screen of Jong Ho’s phone was called “Chained Explosions”.

It was the only AoE attack skill that a tank class had, which consisted of the user charging around while causing explosions around their body.

However, the explosions would damage the user as well, so unless you had a high stamina stat like that of a tank, you wouldn’t be able to use it.

Of course, the mana cost would be tenfold if it was used by other classes.

Also, as the skill level rose, if one did not have the stamina stat to match the damage it inflicts on the user, it would destroy the user’s body.

The destructive power of the skills was insane, but because of that, one couldn’t just level it as they pleased.

It really was a double edged sword.

The good thing about this skill was that as long as one had the mana for it, they could continue casting it nonstop.

Also, just because the skill caused explosions didn’t mean that it would only do fire damage.

The skill’s damage would be random with each explosion in a variety excluding physical damage, including damage types such as frost, fire, lightning, holy, and more.

I didn’t have a finite mana pool.

On top of that, if I charged at the enemy with my Mana Shield, I would become an unstoppable explosive locomotive.

“I think it’ll be pretty good if I use it in conjunction with a physical damage skill?”

“Oho. True. You don’t have limits to your mana and no one could stop you no matter what resistances they may carry.”

“With Mr. Min-Cheol’s strength stat alone, it would be already be devastating for him to just point a sword at his enemies. Most monsters would turn to dust as if a bulldozer went through them.”

“This skills great! The effect is cool too! I didn’t pick it just because I’m easily swayed by compliments!”

“Hoho! Of course. It’s a decent skill for sure.”

“Okay. I’ll pick this one for now. Hyung-nim, pick me one more skill.”

“Since there are many S to S+ ranking offensive skill books in the association, I’ll provide the rest.”

“Thank you. Still, just one more….”

“We’ll see. We’ll see.”

Muttering to himself, Jong Ho fumbled with his phone for awhile.

It seemed that he was earnestly and carefully deciding on a skill.

It was to be expected, since the skills I’ll be obtaining would be stored in Balrock’s ring as well for him to use.

He probably couldn’t use Chain Explosion because he didn’t have enough stamina stat points though.

Sitting next to him, I was looking up Chain Explosion on my phone.

Mr. Midget would probably get it for me no problem, but I felt like I should at least know the estimated cost since I didn’t have many on hand right now.

“Woah….. 12 essences? Are there any tank class rankers who even use this skill?”

“Not really? At the most, less than ten.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a skill that deals damage to oneself and wouldn’t be used as one’s main bread and butter skill either. The average person can’t cast it indefinitely either, so of course there would be too much to use it constantly. On top of that, the skill would be discarded once the level of the skill becomes too high.”

“But why is the cost so high?”

“Dunno. Isn’t it too much to expect me know that as well?”

That’s when Ho Jin spoke up.

“There’s a reason for that.”

“What’s that? People pay such an exorbitant amount to buy a skill they can’t use?”

“Most of them are beginner Awakeneds. As you know, warrior and tanker class attack skills use up a certain % of the user’s mana.”

“That’s right. Most of them do.”

“Yes. Chain Explosion also uses up 5% of one’s mana per cast.”

“…..”

“That means that even a level 1 tanker class can cast it 20 times, meaning that they can keep it up for 20 seconds.”

“Yes. That’s the reason for it being expensive? Their bodies wouldn’t last even 20 seconds.”

“Hohoho. Simply put, the skill is for rich.”

“…….”

“By wearing defensive gear that’s enough to absorb the recoil from the spell and lasting through it with the massive amount of stamina attached to the gear, they can do it.”

“Ah…… So to level up quickly in the early stages, they would wear the defensive gear with high amounts of stamina stats and use the skill as much as the gear could cover for them. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. That’s why the cost is so high.”

“I didn’t even think of that. These guys are too smart….”

Jong Ho, who had been deep in thought for awhile, finally spoke.

“Ha…. I’m not sure what’s the best between these two.”

“What are they?”

“Give them a look. It’s called In Storm and Blizzard, I think? An AoE lightning and AoE frost spell.”

“What are their rankings?”

“Both are S+. It’s such a hard decision to make, like picking between Jajangmyeon or Champon.”

“Hyung-nim.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t hesitate.”

“What?”

“I’ll be taking them both.”

“Jjamjjamyeon cool?” ¹

“Cool. But is the skill Blizzard a S+ ranking skill in terms of crowd control similar to Glacial Field?”

“No. Both are S+ ranking only in terms of damage.”

“Then let us go with Jjamjjamyeon.”

“Hohoho. A decisive choice. The books might be already with the association, so please wait instead of trying to buy them right away.”

“Yes. Please contact us when you do, Mister.”

“Yes, will do.”

“That’s enough, right? Whew…. Just go back home and lay down to rest. You’re not a dead person yet you got the eyes of one.”

“Yeah, I’m about to already.”

“Let us meet again often like this, Mr. Min-Cheol.”

“Yes Mister. Thank you for your time. See you later hyung-nim.”

“Yep.”

“Yes. See you then.”

****

Two days later, Ho Jin called me.

It was to let me know that one of the three skills I planned to obtain, Blizzard, was with the association.

It was the most expensive skill book out of the three.

The president of the association “passed away” and now commander Yoon Jong-sun, who was the acting president, gave permission for this to happen.

It was probably the reward for taking care of the radical faction.

I did also give a huge donation of Awakened essences too, after all.

After obtaining Blizzard, I began to farm the essences needed to purchase the other skill books.

I went to the level 34 dungeon to do so along with raising my skill level.

It had been awhile since I hunted for monetary goods rather than to grow stronger.

I guess you could say that this is for growth, since I’m using the material goods from this to purchase skill books.

Since I already asked the midget and his subordinates to obtain the books for me, I couldn’t stand by idly.

I had no idea when they would contact me.

S+ ranking skill books are rare in the market, so there was no way I’m going to miss my chance due to a lack of Awakened essences.

The Blizzard’s skill effect cause quite a ruckus yet was beautiful.

To explain it simply, it was same as the Iceberg spell but the icebergs would rained down from above.

Each of the icebergs weren’t as big as the Iceberg skill, but by no means did it fall behind in destructive force.

Like sapphire, the ice that rained down from Blizzard was of a deep blue.

They flew towards the ground and whatever they came to contact with, whether it be monster or the terrain, exploded and sprayed out all over the place.

The shattered shards of ice were small, but they embedded into their targets like that of a frag grenade, doing serious damage.

The explosions caused auroras, which would look beautiful to the onlookers, but to those that were being hit by them, it would look like the glow of hellfire.

It was enough to destroy the level 34 dungeon’s monsters that reflected attacks back in one go.

Perhaps it was possible due to my 20% increase in magic power stat bonus I gained.

As a bonus, I got see something interesting while I was hunting.

Since I dealt over 70% of the enemy’s health in one attack, the Drain Monarch ring’s special effect “Monarch’s Authority” proc’d.

The effect was said to summon a mysterious servant.

When I fought with Dark Lady and Zekill before, it had activated then, but I didn’t have the time to look at the effect closely.

Black silhouettes the size of a child’s hand rose from the ground, charging at the monsters that were left and attaching themselves to them.

Surprisingly, the monsters didn’t appear to recognize them as enemies and didn’t react in the slightest.

After a certain amount of time, the black silhouettes that attached themselves to the monsters came back to me.

Their sizes grew to roughly a size of a head.

The health they drained from the monsters were given to me as they came back.

Not only did the ring’s special effect return 1% of the damage my enemies take into health for me, but it also stole health from them.

The recovery rate was quite high, almost to the point of making the healing skills I learned obsolete.

****

Like that, I hunted on 2 or 3 hours of restless sleep.

The nightmares continued to disturb my daily life.

No matter how tired I was from hunting, it was difficult to fall asleep.

Ending the hunting, I fiddled with the Awakened essences in my pocket as I headed home.

I was going through a deserted alleyway near the market.

As I was crossing an area without light…

I heard a sound that resembled something being ripped apart by brute force.

However, no matter how much I searched my surroundings with Eye of Insight, I could not sense anything.

“Am I being hypersensitive because I haven’t slept?”

It was then that the source of the sound appeared before my eyes.

“Kerururururu.”

“…….”

The body was shriveled up as if it had too long of a soak in water.

Only 50 cm high, a ragged cloth was all that covered the body.

The Eye of Insight revealed to me that this creature was called Puppet Goblin.

Pushing through the ripple in space, the creature dusted off the ragged cloth it wore.

It even put its hands behind its back and stood up straight.

“……”

Looking at it, I had no words.

This wasn’t a dungeon.

It didn’t seem strong enough to rip open tears in space and summon monsters like Zekill did.

It was a goblin that was present in level 3 dungeons.

The name was different, but it looked exactly the same.

Looking at me, it opened its mouth.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“……”

“Foolish human!”

“You…. You can talk?”

It’s voice was shrill enough to make me never want to hear it again.

Thin and raspy, the voice was mixed in what sounded like wheezing.

Ignoring my surprise, he continued.

“Ahem! Are you the one who took down Purian Zekill?!”

“…….”

“Hey! Despite being a pathetic human, you dare ignore the words of a goblin!”

“The monster can speak…..”

“Tsk tsk. Aren’t you slow! I looked for you multiple times!”

“You visited me? Ah…. In my dreams perhaps? You little shit! It was you?”

“Heh heh. This goblin is here to tell you in person, pathetic human! I’ve come to deliver the message from him!”

“Whew…. Go ahead and rant your message. I’ll rip you apart after.”

“Keruru……”

---

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103. Shadow Boxing

How could each day be this exhausting?

I had no idea who the enemy was and I was being suppressed into subjugation through my dreams.

At least if they appeared before me like the radical faction, I could destroy them into pieces.

I could never clearly hear what he was saying despite appearing in my dream every day.

At the most, I could only guess that he was someone from the demonic realm from what Zekill said combined with the dreams.

Since it turned out this way, I could not continue my relaxing daily routine, even if I did not know how strong my enemy was.

Currently I had 5 transcendence essences.

Some were from the unknown dungeon, while the rest were from Zekill.

It was another factor that added weight to the theory of Zekill coming from the demonic realm.

To think that he would drop a transcendence essence like the monsters.

The amount of essence mentioned was after having Meteor, Formless Sword Aura, and Mana Shield being transcended.

No matter what skill I transcend, the results would be more than satisfactory.

However, it would be better to transcend skills that are of the highest rank.

Meteor Call is an A+ ranking skill.

Of course, the amount and damage of the skill increase noticeably, but imagine this type of increase on an S or S+ ranking attack skill?

The destructive power would be beyond what one could imagine.

On top of that, I obtained the 20% magic power stat bonus.

The stat that no one in the world has.

Imagine transcendence of a skill with this magic power bonus.

Demonic realm or demon king, I would be able to consume them all.

It’s not like I didn’t have money or have Awakened Essences that were unobtainable by money.

Any skill book could be obtained if I just want to.

The reason why I wasn’t doing so before was because there were many annoyances in the way, such as the radical faction.

It seemed that the time has come to change these peaceful days back into tension filled ones instead.

It could be just a repetitive nightmare.

Not a prophetic dream, but the result of all the stress I’ve accumulated up till now.

However, my intuition didn’t agree.

It felt as though something from the demonic realm was visiting me to purposefully show this visage in my dreams.

Dark circles went down to my cheeks and my eyes were bloodshot.

Despite the weather becoming nicer so that I had to wear less clothing, fatigue on both my heart and body was ever encompassing.

I opened the door to my room so that I could wash myself and eat breakfast.

“Where are you going, young master.”

“Woah. You surprised me.”

It wasn’t easy getting used to the role of a young master, even if a whole month had passed.

After deactivating the magic I readied on reflex, I spoke.

“Yes. Good morning, butler.”

“I was worried since you’ve been holed up in your room and not eating properly for days.”

“Hahaha…. Sorry.”

“Has your health gotten better?”

“Yes. It’s gotten a lot better.”

“Looking at your appearance, it seems you should rest a bit more…..”

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

“I’ll ask chauffeur Mr. Hwang to prepare the car. Please wait just a moment….”

“Ah… No. I’ll go for a walk alone.”

“Hm…. Is that so? Then I shall prepare a meal instead.”

“Yes, thank you. Do you know where mother is….”

“Ah. The mistress has gone to a meeting. She has informed me that she will be returning after lunch.”

“Yes….. Has Jong Ho hyung gone out hunting?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Is there any issues with living with my family members?”

“Not at all. Thanks to the young master and the mistress, I’m quite comfortable.”

“Glad to hear that. If there is anything you’d like to bring up to my attention, please do without any reservations.”

“Thank you. Let us head to the dining area.”

“Yes.”

Perhaps it was because I wasn’t used to it yet, but I felt very uncomfortable.

‘Wonder how the kings of old lived like this. I heard that the servants even watched you as you used the bathroom.’

Finishing my meal, I left the house.

Since there wasn’t a place I planned to head after this one, I used Warp to get there.

“Ha… It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. Huh? Was the sign always like this?”

The place I haven’t visited in awhile was the office of the midget.

It had become the base for Ho Jin, Jong Ho, and me.

Since it’s been awhile since I visited, I didn’t Warp into the storage room of the office.

Instead, I Warped to an alleyway out of view, then headed for the office.

“Have you been well?”

“Waaaaa!”

The midget looked at me and made a very odd sound.

It sounded like wailing, but it was probably was just my imagination.

Tossing the wooden chopsticks he was eating Jajangmyeon with, he rushed towards me.

It was the same with the other two employees.

“I thought something terrible happened!”

“Nothing happened, right?”

“Of course. Thanks to you, we’ve been doing well as usual.”

“When I saw the sign outside, I think it was changed…..”

“Ahem! Did you see? You did mention it before and we also thought we couldn’t live on like this, so we stopped loaning money as a business.”

The midget spoke with pride, pulling out a calling card from his wallet.

Finding this scene amusing, I looked at the card.

“Whatever item you’re searching for, we’ll find it. Call Me, Call Me, Call Me Up?”

“Yes! That’s right. Obtaining things that you can’t get with money, items that are lost, or even rare items that are few in existence in this world. We’ll obtain them all for the customer.”

“Ah. So stealing or black market deals?”

“Uhahahaha. Is that how it goes?”

“Well, it’s not bad. I’ve witnessed firsthand of you obtaining skill books for me, and I find it that it fits your skills perfectly.”

“Of course. It’s not completely legal work, but at least we won’t be causing harm to others.”

“Yes. When there was chaos a couple months ago, there wasn’t any damage done to this area, right?”

“That’s right. Most areas were engulfed in chaos. We were quite worried since you haven’t visited or contacted us since.”

“That’s a relief. I am also safe and sound.”

“Now, what skill book are you looking for today?”

“Haha. Jong Ho hyung and Mr. Ho Jin should be arriving soon, so we’ll talk then.”

“Will do. What are you two doing? Why aren’t you getting tea at the least?”

“Yes!”

“Thank you.”

****

It didn’t take long for Jong Ho and Ho Jin to arrive.

Since Jong Ho lived in the same house, I saw him every day, but that wasn’t the case with Ho Jin.

Just like before, he was passionately invested deep into his work at the association.

I heard that the workload has severely increased recently due to the portals changing color.

It was then that I heard Ho Jin’s jolly laughter.

“Hohoho! It’s been quite awhile since we’ve all gathered like this.”

Next to him, Jong Ho spoke with a mischievous expression.

“Hohoho! Talk about how short it has been since we saw each other at home. It’s getting repetitive!”

“Have you been well, mister? Hyung-nim…. You can just go hunting instead!”

“Yes. Every day I’m spending is a wonderful day.”

“Hey! You’re the one who called me here, so why are you saying that!”

“Whatever. Mister, is the commander doing well?”

“Of course. The commander is always filled with a sense of duty.”

“I heard that all of the Awakened deployed returned home safely. Thank goodness.”

“Yes. He was very worried about his subordinates. Only Lee Sang-Ho was severely injured, but thank goodness that it stopped there. Of course, he has completely recovered with Status Negation.”

“Is that so. I’m just glad we’re able to see each other after such a long time. Thank you for coming despite being busy and all.”

“Hohoho! No worries.”

“Please have a seat. Hyung-nim can sit over there.”

“Hohoho!”

“It seems we have to get going due to how busy we are with our jobs, so please take your time.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you again. Hoho.”

The midget and the two employees left the office.

Almost as if owning the place, we relaxed our posture.

I spoke up.

“Well… I’ll be frank, I’d been suffering from nightmares every day.”

“Hm. Just from looking at your face, I can tell that you haven’t had much sleep.”

“Yeah. Even before we left the house, you were sleeptalking and sweating as if rain was falling on you.”

“Yes. That’s right. It seemed to be a simple nightmare that keeps on repeating…….”

“What’s the nightmare about?”

I explained about the nightmare that’s been repeating.

“The dream seemed too detailed to be simply concluded as a result of all the stress you’ve accumulated so far.”

“A barren field and monsters. On top of that, enough power to suppress even you. What could it be?”

“That’s…. The truth is….. I did hear a few things from Zekill.”

“Huh?”

“…….”

I explained how Zekill told me about the demon realm and how the monsters crossed the realm to this side.

This included the reasons why the portals were summoned in the first place and their ultimate goal.

“What…. What do you mean……”

“It’s the truth. We finally found peace after such a long struggle, so I didn’t want to cause panic by telling you all.”

“Does that mean the dreams you’re having…..?”

“Yes. It could be one of the 3 demonic races in the demon world still left or the demon king he was talking about.”

“If that’s true, it’d be a huge disaster. We barely found this peace, but it’ll be chaos again…..”

“We’re not absolutely sure of this yet, right? It could be from what you heard from Zekill and the bloody fights you’ve been taking on combining together as a dream. Your mental state has become weaker too.”

“Yes. I’m also hoping that’s the case as well. But….”

“……”

“Is there anyone the association having these dreams as well?”

“No. I’ve never received such a report.”

“I’ve recently been meeting with most rankers and I have not heard such things.”

“As expected……. Just in case, please check the association for anyone who might be also having these dreams.”

“Yes, will do.”

“Hyung-nim, could you also look around as well?”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Well, since it turned out this way, I guess I can’t just sit idly at home.”

“Makes sense, since you have no idea what’s to come……”

“That’s why I plan to grow stronger!”

“Hey. How are you going to become stronger than you already are!”

“There’s skills for me to obtain. I have only one attack skill that’s a S rank, Formless Sword Aura. On top of that, I have 5 transcendence essences leftover.”

“So you will be purchasing a S ranking attack skill?”

“Yes. Stuff beyond that is ok too. Since I’ve given all the essences to the commander, I better start getting some more to gain back some purchasing power.”

“S ranking skill……”

“The class and mana cost doesn’t matter, right?”

“Hey, hyung nim. It’s not the first time you’re meeting me, you know?”

“I’m asking just in case! A S ranking attack skill…..”

“There are quite a lot of skill books in storage in the association. There are probably offensive skill books either S ranking or above in there. I’ll speak to the commander about it. If it’s Mr. Min-Cheol’s request, he probably would grant it without delay.”

“Thank you. You know you’re the only reliable source I can get information about skill books, right hyung-nim? Is there anything decent?”

“What about this one?”

Jong Ho showed his phone’s screen.

“Oho…..”

“Looks pretty good from the description, right?”

“It looks like it could cause some serious damage.”

---

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102. Nightmare

“Is it because I didn’t work?”

Not long after the portals changed color, I was tossing and turning in my sleep every night.

I was experiencing insomnia for the first time in my life.

It was probably due to the dreams I had.

However, I could not remember it.

I kept waking up feeling suffocated and angry, heavily panting.

The pillow and blankets would be soaked with sweat.

To top it all off, a feeling that I had forgotten something important would wash over me.

It’s already been a week since I’ve started to suffer from insomnia.

I felt that it cannot go on like this.

I thought that I should at least try to sleep by tiring out my body first.

For that reason, I finally visited a dungeon.

The location I arrived was that level 34 dungeon in Gapyeong, which was the place I visited every day until the fight with the radical faction was over.

Since it wasn’t a dungeon that was officially registered with the association, the surrounding area was desolate.

Of course, even if this dungeon was officially registered, no one would be insane enough to go.

This was the place where I fought with Ghost.

The memory of that time briefly passed me by.

Even though 3 months had passed, it felt like it happened yesterday.

The monsters of this dungeon would also be 1.5 times stronger than before.

However, the experience and the loot they drop did not increase.

Without a doubt, mankind was at a greater disadvantage than before.

“Coming to the level 34 dungeon for a workout. If anyone heard this, they would be shocked beyond belief.”

I entered the snow white interior of the dungeon.

****

Just like when I used to hunt nonstop, I hunted for 12 hours long.

Was it due to my abnormally high stamina stat?

Instead of swinging my sword, I used only magic to hunt in this dungeon.

My body wasn’t tired in the slightest.

I didn’t need to use Mega Cure, a spell known for its high healing power. Heck, I didn’t need to use almost any for of heal at this rate.

“I can’t drink alcohol or medication for this either. Think I’m going crazy. I wonder if I can sleep tonight….”

As I muttered complaints, I headed to the market to sell the bloodstones.

The owner of the market was quite pleased after looking at the A ranking bloodstones I brought.

Due to the increased difficulty of the dungeons, it must be difficult to even see B or A ranking stones.

Our current society operated on bloodstones as an energy source.

The rate of consumption was the same as before, but the supply was beginning to dwindle.

Due to that, the price of the stones rose.

From Ho Jin, who returned to the the association, I received Awakened credit.

Since I did not go to school, my activities as an Awakened was on an indefinite halt.

Thanks to that, I could no longer obtain the credit worth the value of the stones under my name.

It was illegal to use fake credit, but for someone like me who was an integral part to the fight that decided on the fate the nation, should they let this much slide?

Ho Jin had the same idea as me and gave this for me to use.

This was technically illegal, but this was common sense of the world.

As I said before, a lot more money was put onto the fake card than before due to the rise in prices for the stones.

“Since the monsters became 1.5 times stronger, the price also rose by 1.5 times. What an amusing world.”

Even after seeing the amount of money deposited to the credit, I didn’t feel anything.

After all, I had more than enough money.

It was just that I found this situation to be ironic.

Humanity suffered greatly at the appearance of the monsters.

For 41 years, many lost their lives and their homes.

But now humanity could no longer live without the drops the monsters gave out.

I knew that humankind was known for their ability to adapt, but I couldn’t help letting out a sigh.

The money earned here would be donated to the efforts of repairing the areas that were destroyed by the monsters.

The first time is always difficult, but the second time and onward are easier.

Mother’s generosity was big enough already, but I was continuing to support the effort myself.

I knew that it this was to help others in need, but it felt like I was consoling myself.

Charity.

Well, money doesn’t change a person’s morals.

I returned home after.

The estate was like the one you’d find in movies or drama, about twice the size of your average school.

The metal gates the size of a house opened, leading into a road that headed straight for the estate.

The garden was well taken care of with flowers blooming all over.

Statues were found sparsely in the tranquil garden.

The center was a fountain that was frozen until recently, thawing out as if announcing the arrival of spring.

It had already been a month since I’ve arrived at this home, yet I still found myself doubting if this really was my house.

The structure was composed completely out of nanomaterial.

Even amongst nanomaterials, it was of the highest grade.

It was the same material used when crafting S ranking weapons and armor.

That level was enough to withstand a level 200 Holy Missile, and on top of that, the structure was double layered to further increase durability.

The portal explosions started to decrease, but one could never be fully prepared.

I immediately prepared to sleep.

Physically I wasn’t tired in the slightest, but my urge to sleep had reached its peak.

This was something that no amount of magic could solve.

It was never like this before though.

I had to worry about if I could sleep at all or not.

Just like that, I laid down and unlike my worries, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

****

“Those who died at your hands…”

“……”

“The screams of my brethren….”

“…..”

“I’ll rip you to shreds and spread your remains all over the demon realm…..”
“……”

“99 days…. Sacrifice…. Destruction……”

“…… Ah. So annoying! I finally fell into deep sleep after so long.”

It felt like I was still in a dream.

No. It could be reality.

I felt as though I was in between sleep and consciousness.

I wasn’t completely asleep nor was I completely awake.

Almost as if someone was giving a speech in an empty lecture hall, that voice kept ringing in my head.

I couldn’t hear it clearly, but I could tell that it was directed towards me.

Who was it?

Was this the dream that kept interrupting my sleep each day?

I attempted to locate the source of the sound.

It was then.

The darkness that blocked my view began to dissipate, allowing me to see in front of me.

I was standing alone.

From a third person’s view, I could see myself from afar, looking off somewhere in a lonely expression.

The self that I saw was standing on a plain that didn’t seem to end.

In front of myself stood a wall as red as blood.

The wall was insanely high, enough to make me appear like a dot.

I couldn’t be absolutely sure, but the terrain looked desolate and ruined.

The soil looked so lifeless that not even weed seemed to be able to grow on it.

Almost as if I had fallen off a cliff, the self that I saw was staring at the ground hopelessly.

I appeared as if given into despair with my shoulders loosened.

I wanted to ask myself what happened and why I was here, as well as who was it that was talking to me up to a moment ago.

However, almost as if my body was bound and silenced, I could not move or make a sound.

I could only look at myself from far away instead.

It was then.

Something began to approach the self that I saw from all directions from the edges of the plain.

They were monsters.

It didn’t take long before monsters poured in like the tidewaters coming in, surrounding me completely.

There were so many that it didn’t seem plausible.

After they came near me, the self that I saw kneeled before the blood colored cliff. ¹

‘Damn! What are you doing! Kill them all!’

‘You know this isn’t the time to do that!’

‘Hurry up and use your skill!’

I couldn’t talk, but I continued to scream inside my head.

I would be busy enough handling the mob of monsters surrounding me, but I could see that the self I saw was kneeling down as if given up on everything.

This couldn’t be reality.

However, the emotion I felt made me feel rage beyond possibility.

That only lasted a moment though.

What I originally thought to be a cliff began to move.

The wall suddenly rose up straight into the air.

Calming my anger, I looked at it.

However….

“O….Oh……”

I couldn’t help but be in disbelief at what I saw.

The scene before me didn’t make any sense.

What I thought to be a wall that was raised into the air was actually a giant sword.

Behind that was the darkness that I thought was the limit of vision’s distance.

However, it was the owner of the sword.

Raising the sword without much effort, blood began pour down like rain from it.

I looked at the owner’s form carefully.

Other than his or her massive size, the form looked exactly like that of human.

As he or she raised their form, more of the form came into view out of the darkness.

Not a single thread covered his or her body.

However, I could not tell if the form was that of a male or female.

He or she did not have any of the characteristics that were unique to each gender.

Countless wounds covered the giant body.

Since the sizes and locations of the wounds all differed, I could tell that the wounds weren’t all from a single battle.

A purple aura was emanating from the body.

The heavy feeling that accompanied the aura was more than enough to threaten most opponents.

On top of that, something was sticking out above the shoulder blades of the body.

‘No!’

-SLASH!

“…….”

I woke up from my dream with that.

Calming down my ragged breath, I had sweated enough to soak the bed sheets.

The last thing I remembered from my dream was being sliced apart by that giant blade until I could no longer recognize my own form.

I was enraged as if it had actually happened, and it was difficult to control my anger.

Was it just a simple dream?

It was then that I heard Jong Ho’s voice.

“Yo. Are you okay, Min-Cheol?”

“Ha….. Ha……”

“What kind of a dream did you have to sleep talk that violently?”

“Ha..… Ha…..”

I did hear Jong Ho’s voice, but I hadn’t snapped out of it enough to reply back.

Normally, I did not remember my dreams, and it was my first time having a dream this vivid, so it was difficult to snap out of it.

“Whew…. Who….”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“Whew……”

“…….”

Things turned out in a way where Jong Ho hyung was now living here.

He did not have a family.

Since he wasn’t that attached to his previous residence, he eagerly accepted my offer.

On the other hand, I felt reassured that I had a powerful Awakened at my side.

A brief moment later…

“I had such a vivid dream.”

“Oh boy. Look at all that sweat. You haven’t been sleeping much for the past few days. Isn’t because you’re tired from that?”

“I’m not sure…. but….. even the pain I felt was so realistic. What time is it?”

Jong Ho spoke as he wiped my sweat with a dry towel.

“23:30.”

“……”

“Guess you went to sleep early because you were tired.”

“No. The last time I checked the time, it was at 23:20.”

“…….”

“It was too long and vivid of a dream to believe that it was only 10 minutes long…..”

After that, Jong Ho brought sleeping medication and water, then left the room.

Even for a long time after that, I blankly stared into an empty space and muttered to myself.

“Who subjugated me into such a helpless state…..”

---

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101. Spring Dream ¹

“Ah….. So bored…..”

“What the? What nonsense are you talking about.”

“Hyung. Are there any portals that exploded today?”

“Yeah. The frequency of the explosions are dying down, so it seems that things are going back to normal like before.”

“I’m glad but something feels off. It’s odd…..”

“I noticed you aren’t going out to hunt much now.”

“Yes….. There isn’t anyone bothering me and the only thing I thought about when I first became Awakened was to earn lots of money so that I can live in peace with my mother. But you already know, right? That I’m known as the boy who sells Awakened essences.”

As I said that, I pointed at the corner of the room.

There was enough Awakened essences to fill an entire burlap bag stacked up against the wall.

The worth of these essences couldn’t be compared to things like gold or diamond.

“To be fair, you’ve been through a lot. It’s not like anyone is giving you recognition for it either.”

“If news of me spreads, it’ll only get tiresome for me. That’s why I asked the commander to keep me a secret.”

“That’s true. Just think of it as a special vacation.”

“Wonder if I should go to school…..”

At my words, Jong Ho bit down his on his lip and spoke as if lecturing me.

I knew he was joking around, but he had a rather serious expression.

“Tsk! Why would you do something pointless like that. If you can avoid death, marriage, and school, you make sure to avoid it. And if you can’t avoid it, you delay it as long as possible.”

“Right? This isn’t the right way to go about things.”

“Of course.”

“What about Mr. Ho Jin? How is he doing? We do talk over the phone from time to time, but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve seen him in person.”

“You know that hyung-nim got back out of retirement into the association again. You were right on the mark that the president of the association Choi Man Seo or whatever being a subordinate working for the radical faction.”

“Is that the person who caused mister to quit the association?”

“Yeah, that’s right. He straight up said that the president of the association was a dog doing the work of the association and got into a massive fight before leaving.”

“I’m glad it all worked out in the end. Hyung-nim has grown strong enough to stand amongst one of the rankers. Mr. Ho Jin is able to return back to his work, and the radical faction is no more.”

“Hey. Without Balrock’s ring, I’m still useless.”

“You can use the stats you get from the armor to make up the difference then. Ha…. Looks like it’s a happy ending for everyone.”

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“Argh! But why do I feel so bored and hollow on the inside! Huh?”

“Pfft. Hey. Just hunt like you normally do. What are you doing lounging up at home? You’re still too young for that.”

“It looks like I should be doing that.”

“You seem like someone waiting for another incident to occur. That’s bad luck.”

“Is that how it looks like?”

“Yeah. The current look you have is comparable to the level Conan or Kim Jeon-il. ² And right now, this room! It’s completely closed off. It’s almost like the room is giving off the scent of a dead corpse. It feels like even incidents that would never happen would suddenly occur or something.”

“Pfft! Even if I don’t have the tranquilizer watch, I can knock you out if you’d like.”

“Your jokes are so intense. All right!”

Jong Ho stood up.

Recently, he seemed to be having fun while hunting, not missing a single day.

That’s to be expected, since he was growing at a rate where it was noticeable, so without a doubt he must be enjoying himself.

Taking the armor and sword he neatly set down in my room, he put it on.

-clink

-zip

It seemed as if he was going out to hunt once more.

Jong Ho spoke.

“I’ll be leaving to go hunting, young Awakened-essence-seller boy.”

“Hang out with me today.”

“When did you become so lazy?”

“Seems so. I’ve already achieved my goal and further growth is pointless.”

“Hmm…. There is one thing you could do.”

“Huh? What would that be?”

“Ah…… I’m not sure if I should be teaching you this.”

“Meteor Call?”

“…..”

“Formless Sword Aura?”

“Oho! It’s….. a spending spree!”

“Huh?”

“I’m telling you to go on a spending spree at least once. You’ve only earned money and fought this entire time, but have you ever used it yet?”

“No.”

“Even if you sell just the Awakened essences, you’re at the level of a major corporation walking around.”

“…….”

“Oh lord. Do you I have to teach you everything from start to finish? Mr. Kim Min-Cheol?”

“What kind of a spending spree?”

“You have things you’ve never done before, such as traveling and shopping with your mother. You can go out to make friends and even get a girlfriend. Hm? Should I continue?”

“No, just hurry up and go hunting. I’ll think about this spending spree you talked about.”

“All right. I’ll be going. Fighting!”

“No need to go far as to say that. Go, hyung.”

Jong Ho left the house.

A spending spree….

That would be for someone who had spent money before, not fit for a highschooler such as myself.

Other than moving out from the old house that no one would find surprising if it collapsed one day, I really hadn’t spent much.

The skill books I purchased in between could be chalked up as an investment to earn more money.

When I signed the contract for this house, I thought that we would stay here temporarily.

After all, it was when I was raking in some serious cash.

What if I spend the money to build myself a palace, just like I had planned from the start.

I went towards my mother, who was in the living room.

She had been studying Korean for awhile, and now could write and read almost perfectly.

I asked my mother.

“Mom, do you think we should move?”

“Move?”

“Yeah.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Just wanted to see how it’s like to live in a palace like estate. A maid! A butler! Even a gardener and a chauffeur!”

“Hm…..”

“You saw the burlap sack in the corner of my room, right?”

“The sack containing a bunch of pebble like things?”

“Yep. With just a fistful of that, we could probably easily build a palace like estate?”

“Oh! Is that true, son?”

“Have you ever seen me lie to you? Seems I’ve forgotten to tell you.”

“My goodness. I’m already so well off thanks to you, but now you look even more handsome.”

“Thank you.”

“You can continue to earn more, right?”

“Yep. I could as long as I want to?”

“Then could you bring roughly two fistful over here?”

“Huh? Well, okay.”

I was quite pleased.

This meant that mother finally found something she wanted to do.

However, I was confused as to what she wanted to do with such a huge sum of money.

I immediately headed to my room and brought two fistfuls and even the whole bag, just as mother had told me to.

Putting them down at the center of the living room, I asked.

“Did you have something in mind to spend this huge sum?”

“Of course! There it is. Son, do you see the news over there?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t they say that it’s chaos out there?”

“They do say that.”

“Then what do you think we should do?”

“Hm….. Feel bad for them?”

“With just two fistful of these, we can live without any worry for a lack of things, right?”

“Of course. Not only could we be well off, but live in luxury….. Huh? No way. Are you…. All of this… All of it?”

“Oh my. My son is so kind.”

“What! What do you mean kind! It seems like you’ve already decided?”

“As expected of my son! How happy do you think I’d be if you donated it in your name?”

“Ha…”

Even when I attended school, I did not ever donate to the poor even once.

To be fair, I was part of the poor I’d be donating to.

Giving to others?

I did show appreciation towards a few around me who’ve helped, such as Jong Ho or Ho Jin.

But this was a pointless and awkward task for me.

Wait. I would be donating this in my name?

“Of course. But while I will donate, it’ll be done anonymously.”

“Oh my! Your heart is deep like the ocean. You’re all grown up.”

The real reason wasn’t what my mother was thinking of, but I saw no need to clarify.

I muttered to myself, almost as if whispering.

“Oh boy…. Guess I won’t be going on a spending spree. I should’ve pulled out more from the sack instead of bringing the entire sack over……”

“Hm?”

“Nothing. For now, we’re moving to the palace first, right? My queen?”

“Pfft. Ok, I get it.”

****

3 months had passed.

The cold winds that blew had become a nice warm breeze of spring.

The areas that were destroyed by monsters were being quickly repaired.

For awhile, the news was going on about the mysterious nameless Awakened essence donator for awhile.

Since I had donated an insane amount of essences, it was no surprise that they would be shocked.

I asked the essences to be delivered via the commander.

With how tight lipped he was, I could trust him without a doubt.

Thankfully, South Korea had avoided being expelled from the international organization.

The rotten government and top members of the association were all brought to justice.

The nation had reported everything about the incident to the international organization without missing a single detail, and helped confirm the complete elimination of the radical faction.

With only a 3 vote difference from the voters from each nation, the attempt at expelling Korea from the international organization was halted.

If the nation was expelled, there would have been no way for the government to exchange the massive amount of essences I donated into capital.

A new market had been formed, allowing essences to be exported.

Just like that, everything was going back to normal.

The citizens found peace once more, and I was coming to terms with freedom that I’ve never had before in my life.

My mother, Jong Ho, and Ho Jin had gone on a vacation with me as promised before.

I wondered if I’ve ever had such a long peaceful break in my entire life.

Only 8 months ago, I was pretty much a slave to money, doing part time jobs whenever school break would hit.

It was peaceful enough to make me hope that every day would be like now.

However, my simple wish didn’t last long.

2017, March 3rd. Today.

An ominous event occurred around the world.

The color of the portals changed.

The only change was that the simple purple glow they had turned red.

If only it was that simple though.

Portals are discovered all around the world.

To destroy the portal and turn it into dungeons, you’d either have to kill all the monsters that pour out of the portal when it detonates or you have to go in and clear the portal.

However, portals that changed to a red glow could not be entered.

Almost as if protected by a powerful barrier, you could not enter at all.

That meant that until the portal exploded, no one do could anything about any of the portals, whether it would be a newly formed level 1 portal, or a portal that was hidden away deep in the woods or in underground caves.

It was as if ticking timebombs were spread all around.

On top of that, all the monsters would become stronger.

The exact measurements were unknown, but it was estimated that monsters after the explosion would be 1.5 times stronger.

This meant that the Awakeneds would have to attempt to clear dungeons one to two levels below what they could’ve cleared before.

On top of that, due to how the monsters had either magical or physical immunity depending on the level of the dungeon that went in an alternating pattern every couple levels, some had to hunt in dungeons four levels below what they could have cleared before.

For example, dungeons level 13 to 15 had monsters that were immune to magic attacks.

Previously, that would’ve meant that the mages would head for the level 16 dungeons.

However, if they couldn’t clear the monsters that grew 1.5 times stronger because the mages were too weak, that would mean that they would have to head for the level 12 manticore dungeon instead.

This meant that the speed of one’s growth was delayed, while the danger only increased.

No one knew what to make of these changes.

The international organization speculated that the portals were evolving, because 40 years had passed since the appearances of the monsters started.

On top of that, Korea was on the chopping block due to all the bad events that occurred there recently.

However, my guess was different.

Since I was feeling bothered, I knew something was up, and I was convinced that the theory was incorrect.

It was due to what Zekill told me.

His theory was that someone else from the demonic realm could have infiltrated Earth.

Even though I wished it wasn’t true, I couldn’t clear away my doubts.

I prayed that this sweet peace wouldn’t become just a spring dream.

“My intuition for tragedies was never wrong….. I sincerely hope I am wrong this time.”

---

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100. Explanation Freak’s Explanation Time

I defeated Zekill, along with all the monsters he summoned forth.

It seemed that they didn’t carry any stats with them.

Other than the stats I’ve gained from Dark Lady and her underlings, there weren’t any stat gains after killing Zekill.

It was possible that what Zekill said about the demonic race was the truth, since if he was human, his stats would have been stolen by me.

I was able to obtain a lot of information from him before he perished.

Zekill was responsible for the portals that were created from 40 years ago and the new portals that formed after each year.

A ceasefire had been called between the demonic races.

During that time, Zekill had tried to gather even greater magical energy.

For that goal to come to fruition, he had used up all his magical energy to form portals.

It was likely that new magical energy couldn’t be made in the demonic realm due to its limited capacity.

You could say that it was already too saturated with magical energy.

The magical energy would only continue to circulate, so there was no way one could obtain new powers.

He infused magical energy of the demonic realm onto Earth so that he could increase his strength.

To Zekill, this was his secret storage of power.

Of course, that plan was stopped single-handedly by a single human in a very anticlimactic fashion.

After taking down Zekill, I wondered if all the portals and dungeons would disappear or not.

However, he said that the gate between dimensions that connected the demonic realm with Earth was already formed. Until all of the magical monsters are defeated so that the magical energy is completely removed, the portals would not disappear.

I also asked about the portal explosions in Incheon and Gapyeong since those weren’t planned by Zekill and Dark Lady.

Zekill was kind enough to give out two different theories.

First theory was that the dormant portals were disturbed due to all the high level portals in Korea being purposefully detonated.

The second theory was that another demonic race from the demon realm have infiltrated Earth.

In this situation where all of the 10 artificial portal explosions weren’t taken care of yet, 3 more explosions occurred in three separate locations.

It happened after I defeated three thousand monsters that protected Zekill.

I had a hunch that their magical energy they released had cause the portals to explode.

Hence, out of the two theories that Zekill proposed, the first one had a lot more weight to it.

Perhaps the reason why the portal explosions stopped after level 28 ones was that there wasn’t enough magical energy present on Earth.

Let’s say that the portals that pour out monsters were made by Zekill.

Then why did the Awakened come into existence.

Zekill said that he did not know.

All he could say was that the humans were exposed to the magical energy that was released on Earth, becoming this mutant known as the Awakened.

He told me that the special abilities and classes had nothing to do with the demonic races.

His best guess was that a slow evolution that should have taken an eternity was suddenly hastened by the magical energy.

There was no such thing as classes or special abilities for the demonic races.

However, a similar system existed. The demonic races were assigned a rank from birth instead of earning one like the humans.

The higher the rank, the greater power and ability that the demon would receive.

With that power, the demons could become stronger by absorbing the magical energy from slain magical monsters.

One example was about the demon king that ruled over the demonic realm.

Zekill said that he had enough strength to unite the 4 demonic races into a single one if he just felt like doing so.

He was born in the midst of the war between the demonic races.

Countless demons had lost their lives, covering the battlefield with all their magical energies.

That was where the highest ranking demon king appeared.

Even though he was strong beyond compare, there was a reason why he suggested a peaceful resolution.

It was to store up power to invade beyond their homeland into this world.

The demonic king was already top of the food chain.

Simply put, he could use his absolute power to take all of the magical energies in the demonic realm for himself.

However, instead of choosing that path, he decided to grow the numbers of his subjects and set his sights on moving to a bigger world.

I thought his greed knew no end.

He wasn’t just satisfied with the demonic realm, but instead allowed his ambitions to grow further.

****

“Min-Cheol. What about Zekill? What happened to him?”

“He’s dead. Over there.”

Where I pointed lay the the corpse of Zekill, gone cold.

There was purple blood that he spilled all over, as well as the three thousand corpses of monsters laying about.

Everyone here, including the commander himself, didn’t think much about the purple blood that was spilled.

They must’ve thought that it was the blood of the monsters that was spilled.

I decided to not reveal his identity either.

Enough was enough.

There was no need for additional chaos with things such as demonic realm or demonic races to worry about.

I looked at Jong Ho and spoke.

“Have all the monsters nearby been taken care of?”

“Yes. We were on our way way here after checking that the portal in Gamman-Dong has been taken care of.”

“Is that so. Thank you for your hard work. Is there still portals that haven’t been taken care of though?”

“Yeah. Since that leader you mentioned is at Gapyeong, we’re in a bind as we can’t approach him. There are a few other locations too that need to be taken care of.”

“Hm. Where did the commander go? I can’t find him……”

“Ah. After he personally confirmed that the portal in Gamman-Dong was taken care of, he immediately headed for Yangpyeong.”

“Yes, that’s right. Apparently the magician classes that were deployed from the association are fighting against the monsters with their lives on the line. Even as he was heading here to Busan, I noticed that he was worrying about them the entire time.”

Ho Jin explained the reasoning behind the commander’s absence here.

The commander was a well known hero of his people with just his righteousness.

On top of that, he was skilled at commanding his platoons and cared for his subordinates.

I was relieved after I heard their words.

It was because I thought the commander was done in by a monster.

“I thought something bad happened.”

“Hey. Did you really think that something happened to him while we’re safe and sound?”

“That’s true.”

“…..”

While I was talking with Jong Ho and Ho Jin, Choi So-Hyeon was looking at us without a word, as well as the butchered corpses of monsters and Zekill.

It seemed that she was trying her best to hide an expression of shock.

She knew most rankers.

However, my name wasn’t spread nor was I given much coverage by the press.

If I put on my backpack, I would appear to be nothing more than just a regular high schooler.

It made sense that she was shocked.

The chaos wasn’t mopped up completely yet.

I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

I spoke to everyone present.

“I’ll be going to Gapyeong then.”

“Is that so? We’ll contact the commander before moving out then.”

Jong Ho playfully whispered into my ear.

“Hey. Are you going there to grab more stats?”

“Oho. I’m going there for world peace and for the safety of our citizens!”

“Pfft. I wonder why you’re going to Gapyeong of all places.”

“That’s because there is where the last leader of the radical faction remains. Don’t doubt my patriotism!”

“My my. Either way, thank you for your hard work. Take care of yourself in Gapyeong.”

“Yes. I’ll contact you once I’m done cleaning up the place.”

“Yep.”

****

I headed as fast as I could to to Gapyeong while in deep thought.

Soon, I would arrive in Gapyeong where Pierro would be waiting.

His subordinates would be there too, as well as the unregistered Awakened that served the radical faction, whom were gathered in Incheon before.

If I can take care of them, there shouldn’t be any more chaos.

The demon Zekill, who could control the demonic monsters, was dead already after all.

For a while longer, portals would continue to explode.

Just as Zekill said, the world would be filled to the brim with magical energy.

The 3 thousand monsters that he had summoned should have caused a massive increase in the magical energy present on Earth.

But that should be temporary.

Just like how the portal explosions stopped at the level 28 portals, as long as the magical energy doesn’t increase, the explosions should stop.

I had no idea how high the levels of the new portals would go up to, but at least stability that we are used to should return.

Of course, that’s assuming if Zekill’s secondary theory doesn’t come true.

It didn’t take long to arrive at Gapyeong.

It was to be expected, as a single step would fling me forward with the force of a rocket.

It was the same pattern as the company of Dark Lady.

All of them were stealthed, waiting for prey to arrive.

If they could avoid my Eye of Insight, they probably would have escaped with their lives.

That was impossible to even consider as possibility though.

There wasn’t even a need for introductions at this point.

I already had obtained all the information I needed from Zekill.

They were nothing more than mere stats to me.

Just stats, nothing more or less.

They were clueless as to the death of their leader, and were following his order to guard this place.

It was foolishness itself.

No one was deployed here though.

Not even the drones were to be found.

I didn’t bother even using stealth as I approached them.

Confirming my presence, the 500 of them quietly gripped tightly to their weapons.

‘How cute.’

Pretending as if I didn’t see them, I pulled the aggro of the monsters near the portal.

Looking at this, they must’ve thought that I’d lose my life to the monsters, since they didn’t make a single move after gripping their weapons tightly.

They must’ve thought so since the monsters were quite high leveled.

However, unlike what they expected, the reason why I was gathering them all was to annihilate everyone in one go.

Two birds, one stone.

All the monsters were heading in a single direction towards me.

Following the red dots that Eye of Insight revealed, I pulled quite a lot of monsters.

Absorbing their attacks with Mana Shield, I began to head towards where Pierro was.

Displaying their giant form, the monsters spewed acid as they followed me.

As if finding this amusing, they watched in silence.

Even though they did not make a sound, I could tell from their expressions.

It was then that I yelled towards them.

“Delivery!”

“…….”

“…….”

-CRASH!

Those that received my attack were revealed from their stealth.

In less than a second, the battlefield became chaos itself.

-BOOOM!

“AHHHHHH!”

“Formation! Keep the formation!”

“You can pay for the service with your lives!”

“You’re insane! R…. RUN!”

“I’m not sure who Pierro is. Just die together with them. It costs more for delivery if you have them done separately, right?”

-CRACK!

“I’ve been successfully paid with stats.”

I had grown stronger to the point where this situation was completely different with the time I faced Joker.

I obtained the stats from Ghost and Dark Lady, as well as all of the Awakened that were a part of the radical faction.

I wanted to invade the demonic realm, dog realm, or whatever it was called right away and rip apart the demon king.

I had no idea how strong he was but still.

If there only was a way there to get there.

It was disappointing that the method Zekill used to get here wasn’t a skill or some power given through authority, but by chance.

The portals were formed by him, but the rift in dimensions wasn’t.

The monsters and the radical faction could be compared to two rabbits, both of which I took care of before leaving the scene.

Due to the intense flames, the live trees burned as if they were dry firewood.

“Adding in forest fire prevention Glacial Field as a bonus!”

Just like that, the headache that was the radical faction disappeared completely.

---

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99. Should Have Not Met (3)

“Kuhahaha!”

“…..”

The crack that was formed by his fists weren’t filled with swords.

His subordinates that he hid were filled to the brim there.

I immediately banished Iceberg.

It was supposed to block his attack, but there was no point in using it anymore.

They were all emitting a red glow.

The tear in the air wasn’t big enough for me to confirm their forms properly.

It was then.

The tear suddenly grew big enough to cover the ruins of the city.

Almost as if opening a bag of chips, the tear had grown big in an instant.

When the background behind him was completely enveloped in darkness, I could clearly see their forms and numbers.

It seemed that there were roughly three thousand there.

They resembled dolls, but didn’t appear to be human.

Pale blue mist were escaping their mouths.

With their forms hunched over, they fidgeted around with their sharp fingers.

Were they monsters?

As I cleared dungeons and defended monsters against portals, I had defeated a vast variety of monsters with different levels.

However, I had never encountered these monsters before.

These monsters weren’t from the Unknown Dungeon either.

Zekill opened his mouth.

“Seems you’re quite surprised.”

“…..”

“Try to jeer at me once more! You say that the portal explosions failed? You claimed that I did not have many subordinates left!”

“……”

“I’ve waited for 20 years! For this day!”

“What are they? Those monsters?”

“Kuha! Did you really think that the portals were blown up just to cause superficial harm with the monsters inside of them! Massive amounts of magical energy are already present in this world. The monsters that escaped through portals connecting to the world of monsters died here, adding on to the flow of mana. All for this day!”

Zekill was saying things I could not comprehend.

Monsters had appeared here on this planet through the portals explosions.

When they died, they left behind magical energy behind, and it seemed that he summoned these creatures using that very same energy.

This would mean that Zekill could control these beings.

My confusion only intensified.

At the same time, I thought of the portal explosions in Gapyeong and Incheon.

It was revealed to me that the portal explosions in these two areas weren’t prepared by the radical faction.

This meant that either the portal explosions occurred naturally or was set off by another party.

The worst case scenario meant that there were those with the same goal as Zekill out there.

“So, you’re saying that you used the magical energy to summon them?”

“For a kid, you catch on pretty quick.”

Zekill pointed at the creatures behind him and continued to speak.

“If they all die… Hue… Huehahahah! A greater magical energy residue will be left behind. And a greater one after that! More! More! More! Far stronger! Do you understand now! Eventually, I will dominate the entire world!”

“Oh boy. Who are you to summon them?”

“Kuhaha! Think about it thoroughly in hell!”

“Right. Seems no one is a pushover until they get hit. Guess I’ll be a little bit patient for now.”

Zekill’s hand pointed towards me and commanded them to attack.

I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not.

To be honest, I had no idea what was happening at all.

I just wanted to pull the radical faction that was being a thorn on my side by its roots.

I didn’t know what magical energy or a demon realm was all about.

There was only one thing I could do now.

Killing Zekill.

“That just means I don’t have to touch them, right? Pretty easy.”

“Do you really think it’ll be easy as you assume! Kuhahah!”

“I’ll just have to confirm it myself then. Now shut up and become an addition to my stats.”

I move at an insane speed.

Using my strength stat that was beyond 20,000, I pushed off the ground to move.

And the very same strength stat would be used to swing this sword to lob off Zekill’s head.

However…

-SLICE!

“Haaa…. Ha…….”

“No way…..”

The impossible had occurred.

The creatures that escaped from the tear leapt to become his meat shields, being cut apart as they tried to defend Zekill.

It was obvious that they would guard Zekill.

On top of that, it was probably to summon even more of these monsters.

However, what I was surprised by was their speed.

Even if they had the advantage of being closer to Zekill than I, they had recognized my movements and reacted against it.

I couldn’t believe it.

They were on a whole different level compared to the monsters that I had faced so far.

-SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!

“…. These bastards….”

To make sure that they couldn’t predict my movements, I kept altering my stance as I moved.

However, the results were the same.

These creatures already saw through my movements perfectly.

Tens of hundreds of them used their bodies to block my sword.

I could hear Zekill’s laughter coming from between the gaps of the creatures, almost as if he had predicted this ahead of time.

“Kuhaha… Ku! KUHAHAHA!”

“These troublesome pricks.”

“Oh my. Looks like you can’t handle this difficult combat, hm? Kuhaha!

“It looks like you summoned them to die? Since they die easily from being cut apart half-assedly. Not sure about their offensive or defensive capabilities, but I’ll give credit to their speed.”

“Credit….. What an arrogant word for someone who will be subjugated. You can’t make progress with your wild flailing. Hurry up and kill more. I require more magical energy. I’ll summon more powerful evil spirits for you!”

“If you wish, I’ll do that. But even though I could supply as much magical energy, it’ll be difficult for you to summon anything.”

“…..”

“Starting from your wrists, your entire body will be cut apart. I’ll start now. Show time.”

“Hm…. Quite persistent you are.”

“Ha. My my. Ridiculous.”

-SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!

“Ugh.”

Even though the numbers decreased as they died as meatshields, there were still an enormous amount of numbers left.

Just with Zekill’s gesture of pointing towards me, packs of them came.

Their sharp nails and incredible speed were used to leave cuts on me.

The injuries only amounted to this only because of my ridiculously high stamina stat.

I had 50k worth of stamina stats after all.

Even for me, it was difficult to see their movements.

Casting all the buffs on me, I casted Meteor.

The number summoned were 6.

If I couldn’t do any damage to Zekill, I planned to annihilate all of the meat shields and kill Zekill while they were respawning.

“Kuru. Kelkeru.”

“Kureh.”

As soon as they saw Meteor, they covered Zekill with their bodies, forming a protective barrier.

Their bodies melted down into one huge half circle.

I thought it as a quite the pesky ability for creatures such as monsters to have.

I poured down Meteor on them.

At the same time, I casted Eye of Insight.

I had to find Zekill as soon as they all perished.

There was no way I could see his form without it, since the massive flames and intense impact from Meteor would make it impossible otherwise.

-CRASH!

“Now.”

-SLICE!

“KUAAAAA!”

“Got you.”

No matter how strong Zekill was, in front of my attack, he was nothing more than an Awakened beginner.

WIth my precise attack, I cut off one of his arms.

Zekill’s eyes that were dark as night became larger.

It seemed that he was rather shocked.

Purple blood spewed forth from his shoulder.

The blood was rather thick, similar to thick mud.

There more I thought about it, the less it made sense.

Purple blood?

What kind of nonsense was this.

“What are you?”

-CRACK.

I grabbed a hold of his neck.

I did have the Eye of Insight, but it would be annoying if he suddenly hid his form and continued to summon more demonic spirits.

In front of my absolute power, all he could do was suffer as he choked.

Without Ghost or Dark Lady, this would have been impossible to even dream of.

The overboss of the radical faction was on his knees from one hit without being able to strike once.

Even his current form looked pathetic.

There were many things I wanted to ask him.

Magical energy, demonic spirits, and even the purple blood that just spewed out were all on the list.

Looking into his pitch black eyes, I spoke.

“Thanks to you cheering me on, it looks like things wrapped up nice and easy.”

-COUGH.

“To think that I would end up like this against a lesser lifeform. This is impossible….”

“Speak. What are you?”

“Kuyaaa!”

Even though he was suppressed completely, he was attacking away.

The reason why he did not carry any weapons came into light.

His hand morphed into a weapon and attacked me.

“Ha. This bastard.”

A pathetic attack aimed perfectly at my heart struck.

It barely pierced the armor, but it was far too weak to go through my body.

It felt as though a needle had pricked me.

“That’s right. It’s not enough with just one arm.”

-Slice!

“KAHHHH!”

“Next is your leg. I asked what you are.”

I stabbed my sword into his abdomen and reduced the strength of my grip on his neck.

He hung powerlessly to the ground.

Letting out labored breathing, he began to speak.

“Did you say something about a lower species? Just how much of a superior species are you to kneel before me like this?”

“Kuh…. Kuh…..”

“…….”

“I am one of the 4 demonic races in the demonic realm.”

“Demonic race? This is quite the news. When are you making your debut as an author? Seems you’re writing a fantasy?”

I turned the sword that was embedded in his abdomen.

I no longer wished to hear anymore bullshit.

His agonizing cries rang even louder.

“KUWAAAA!”

“I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Purian, Lubeta, Keruoh, Dabehneh. These are the four demonic races of the demon world.”

“First talking nonsense about magical energy and demonic spirits, then purple blood, and now talking about monsters that seems to possess some kind of intelligence. To top it all off, you’re telling me about demonic races?”

“Kuhu……”

“Continue.”

“The 4 demonic races are gathering strength to obtain one another’s territory.”

“…..”

“Out of the four, I rule the Purian, which is the weakest out of them all.”

“So.”

“That was why we avoided the eyes of the other demonic races and tried to increase our magic energy here on Earth in an attempt to win the war.”

“Hey. It’s been 40 years since the first portals formed. Didn’t you say that you came here 20 years ago? If you already have conflict in a setting like this… What should I do. It makes me want to cut again. Don’t you agree?”

“Kuhuk! 40 years ago, the devil king who was from the Lubeta declared a ceasefire. It was to reduce the bloodshed between the races and to expand to new territories. However, the other 3 demonic races used that time to grow stronger while keeping up appearances.”

“So the place you selected was here?”

“That’s right. I used all of my magic energy to connect the demonic realm with this world, forming portals. After that, I used the corpses of the monsters that died outside of the portals to recover my magical energy, waiting for this very moment. But I was foiled by a single human, even though your species are so puny…..”

“Quite the amusing story. But you know….”

There was a need for me to obtain more information from him, even if what he spat out were nothing more than lies.

---

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98. Should Have Not Met (2)

In an instant, I defeated the monster with many arms that went by the name of Mutant Ogre.

Starting from their split head, I ripped its body to shreds.

They were a lot sturdier than I expected.

It had 100% physical resistance as well as some magic resistance.

However, they stood no chance against my attacks.

After taking them down, it didn’t take long before the sound of a helicopter filled the air.

It was probably the helicopter that Ho Jin, Jong Ho, and commander Yoon Jong-sun were riding on.

I summoned massive Meteors in the sky so that the helicopter would recognize that it was me and land nearby.

I had finished defeating all the monsters heading from Choe-jeon Bang to downtown.

Due to the start of the Gamman-Dong portal, there was no way to know how many monsters were left.

After covering the nearby area in dust, the helicopter’s propeller stopped.

The members within came out one by one.

“Huh?”

Out of those that stepped out, there was someone that I didn’t expect to see.

It was the Korean magician ranker Choi So-Hyeon.

When the portals exploded previously, she didn’t make any moves.

However, she was here with the commander.

It made me realized once more just how big the impact of the explosions of the portals was this time around.

I had only seen her on TV.

Looking at her in person, I could tell that she had a hidden smile that the cameras could never capture.

It was enough to justify why she had the popularity rivaling that of celebrities.

After looking around the surroundings, the commander came up to me and spoke.

“So, you were already here before us.”

“Yes. The monsters nearby have been mostly taken care of.”

“Right, good work. Have you not found the location of the overboss yet?”

“Yes. I know that Zekill is here for sure, but I haven’t found his exact whereabouts. Despite looking for him while taking care of the monsters, I haven’t seen him at all.”

“I heard as I was coming here that you took care of one of the leaders of the radical faction. Is it true?”

“Yes. Did you hear from Ho Jin?”

“Yeah. Hey! So what I heard wasn’t the screams of a monster! It was the sound of people dying! How can you lie so easily like that?”

“Ah…. I’ve never thought of them as people….”

“Even still!”

“Mr. Min-Cheol, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes. As you can see, I fine.”

“But who is that person in the back….”

“Ah. You already know, right? Ms. Choi So-Hyeon. Met her at the Changwon portal and came together.”

“Is that so. Glad to meet you. I’m Kim Min-Cheol.”

“Yes.”

She had the fear and respect of all the Awakened, as well as being the goal for them to reach.

Against monsters, none could match her combat capability in the entire world.

Only a few months ago, I also had the burning desire to become as strong as her.

The strength, wealth, and title she had, I envied.

But now, the situation was completely flipped over.

She had seen the countless magic pour forth from Jong Ho’s ring.

With just that, she must have realized that she wasn’t the best anymore.

On top of that, I was easily more powerful than Jong Ho and the commander.

I could sense her gaze that was filled with caution from the start.

However, that didn’t matter right now.

“Commander.”

“Please speak.”

“There is an unknown number of Mutant Ogres between here and the portals still alive. I had only taken care of those that were heading to center of the city.”

“I see. From the damage done here, I can see that they shouldn’t be made light of.”

“Yes. Thankfully, as I fought them, I found out that magic does work against them. However, it looks like they have quite a lot of magic resistance.”

“Hmm….. Not only do they have physical resistance, but magical resistance as well? This won’t be easy.”

“That’s why we cannot separate our forces right now. It would be too difficult for a single person to face against one.”

“…..”

“Not only that, we do not know when Zekill will approach.”

“You’re right. If that’s the case….”

“Firstly, I’ll go find Zekill myself. Of course, I’ll take care of any monsters I come across.”

“Min-Cheol, will you be okay alone?”

“Don’t worry about that, hyung-nim.”

To Jong Ho, who had tears in his eyes with worry, I raised three of my fingers at him.

It was a gesture to show that I had gained 30k worth of stats.

He must’ve heard by now that I had taken care of Dark Lady’s forces at Incheon.

Seeing this, he was quietly repeating to himself something about 30k with a blank expression.

The commander, who was clueless as to what was going on between the two, continued on.

“If that’s the case, we’ll hunt the monsters together and rendezvous at the portal. Would that be okay?”

“Yes. Sounds like a good plan.”

“All right.”

“You must have heard from Mr. Ho Jin that Gapyeong Calbongsan has Pierro situated there.”

“Yes. After hearing that, I did not deploy any Awakened there.”

“Yes. From what I found out by questioning Dark Lady, they were only ordered to intercept those who were trying to get to the portal. Even if we head there after taking care of this, there shouldn’t be that much damage there. Of course, this is not accounting the damage from the monsters……”

“I had hoped that it was a portal where physical attacks would work but…. All of the magician class Awakened have headed to Yangpyeong. The damage they took is so severe that it’s difficult to describe it with just words.”

“Guess all we can do is take care of the situation here as fast as possible.”

“That’s is the case.”

“If Zekill heads for the commander…. Jong Ho hyung-nim.”

“Hm?”

“Please detonate a Meteor in the air. I’ll take that as a signal to head there immediately.”

“Alright, I got it. Be careful.”

“Yes. All of you, be careful as well.”

“Understood.”

“Yes. Then I’ll be off.”

****

After Min-Cheol left, the commander spoke while looking towards Jong Ho, Ho Jin, and Choi So-Hyeon.

“Did you say that your name is Jong Ho?”

“Yes, that’s right, commander.”

“Right. I heard your accomplishments from Ho Jin.”

“…..”

“Everyone is probably aware of this already, but this fight won’t be easy.”

“…..”

“…..”

“Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we can only trust in our boy Min-Cheol.”

“Is that person…. that amazing?”

Choi So-Hyeon frowned as she asked.

She didn’t doubt Jong Ho because she had seen his ability firsthand, but that kid seemed barely fit to be a high schooler.

For even the commander to say something like this, this was a situation she could not understand.

At that, the commander continued.

“Thank you for coming out to help, Ms. So-Hyeon.”

“…..”

“It may be difficult for you to acknowledge that, but it’s the truth.”

“But…..”

“I do not know of his ability as well. However, that’s not the important thing now.”

“…..”

“How about hoping that this battle ends with us being safe for now.”

“Yes…..”

“Thank you. As our boy Min-Cheol has said, we need to work together right now.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Monsters will be monsters, but Zekill is probably a bigger threat.”

At his words, everyone nodded.

“Mr. Jong Ho.”

“Yes, commander.”

“Our mana is limited.”

“Huh?”

“Please handle the offensive.”

“Ah… Yes! Understood.”

“Ho Jin, So-Hyeon, and I will use the minimum amount of mana possible to focus on the defense.”

“Yes.”

“So-Hyeon. Please assist the attack with Jong Ho just enough for you to recover mana with your special ability. I believe that you already understand any attacks beyond that would only serve to weaken our defense.”

“Yes, commander. Understood.”

“From where we stand right now, please cast your defensive skill on the personal diagonally to the right of you. I’ll say it again. I’ll cast mine on Jong Ho. Jong Ho will cast it on So-Hyeon. So-Hyeon will cast hers on Ho Jin. Finally, Ho Jin will cast it on me. Even if our formations change, this rule does not change. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

“Then let us go. There cannot be any more losses.”

With the commander in the lead, they tread forwards to subjugate the monsters.

With Jong Ho’s attacks, the monsters shouldn’t be too difficult to handle.

However, when Min-Cheol and the commander’s worry of Zekill approaching near comes true, it would become a difficult fight.

****

-CRASH!

-BOOM!

“KUWEHHH.”

“Where is he?”

With my massive strength stat, I kicked off the ground and rapidly scanned around the area.

I searched everywhere to the point where I returned to the location I started at.

However, Zekill was nowhere to be found.

The buildings from the portal to here were all destroyed, which made it more difficult to find the monsters and him.

From far away, I could hear the sounds of destruction from the spells Jong Ho was spamming down.

Even as I took down the monsters, I continued look towards the direction of the sound to check.

It would be a huge crisis if Zekill appeared there first.

It was then.

An intense gale blew.

It was so intense that without the shield, I wouldn’t have been able to open my eyes due to the dust kicked up.

A cyclone of debris from the buildings and dust came towards me.

I felt it then.

Zekill was in the eye of the storm.

Almost as if to tell me that my instincts were correct, I heard his voice.

“Kuhaha.”

“……”

“Have you come here of your own will!”

“…..”

The sandstorm cleared and I saw his form in front of me.

A giant man roughly 3m.

An equally massive tattered cloak hung from his back, and he was equipped with armor dark as midnight.

His eyes were dark to the point where I found it strange.

As I was inspecting his form, I noticed that nothing was in his hands.

That meant that he had no weapon.

I spoke towards him.

“Are you Zekill?”

Instead of giving an answer to my question, he replied back with a question.

“Joker. Ghost. Dark Lady. You were the one who killed them all.”

“Looks like you know me well, so there won’t be a need for introductions.”

“Pathetic weakling.”

“Looks like the portals that you worked so hard to prepare are nearly cleared up. What shall we do?”

“……”

“The only thing that’s left is you and the discarded small fries in Gapyeong.”

“KUHAHAHAHAHA!”

Instead of being taken back, Zekill was laughing out loudly.

Was he that confident in his strength?

That was the only logical conclusion that I could come up with right now.

After laughing for awhile, he spoke again.

“This is enough.”

“What?”

“With the portals that have exploded so far, it’s already enough.”

“What are you saying?”

After speaking gibberish that I couldn’t understand, he curled both of his hands into fists.

Then he punched the air on each of his sides.

Almost as if there was an invisible wall, the collision caused the earth to buckle.

Just like the skill Joker used before, a crack formed.

It must be the skill that Executioners have, just like Joker did.

I was sure that many sword auras would form and pour out from there.

“Are you also an Executioner?”

“Kuhaha.”

‘Iceberg.’

I casted Iceberg around him, just like the time when I had blocked Joker’s attacks.

However, nothing came out of there for despite a lot of time passing by.

When he punched the air once more…

-CRACK!

“KUHAHAHAHA!”

“…… What the……”

---

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97. Should Have Not Met

After the commander finished talking with Ho Jin, he took up his phone to command Lee Sang-Ho and the other 2 magician rankers to head for the portal in Yangpyeong.

The call reported a dire situation.

The portal explosions affected a massive area.

They were defended against, but it was at the cost of many casualties.

On top of that, most of the Awakened magicians had expended their mana.

There was a way for the healer class to recharge the magicians’ mana by transferring their own.

However, they could only transfer up to their mana pool.

Thus, this meant that there was a limit as to how much mana they could transfer.

Hearing this, the commander’s expression didn’t look well.

That was to be expected, as the monsters they were currently dealing with were on another level altogether.

On top of that, the portal explosions occurred at 11 separate locations.

Most of those from the guild are summoned against their will to the scene.

However, since the nation was in a crisis, they volunteered willingly. Only due to their efforts was the situation contained at this level.

The call ended, but the commander kept staring at the smartphone.

The entire status of the nation was being reported to him, piece by piece.

Letting out a big sigh, he spoke.

“Ha…. What a dire situation…..”

“So the situation over there isn’t so good.”

“That’s right. I think I’ll have to make the call.”

“What do you mean….”

“The forces that headed out to Yangpyeong have taken too many casualties. However, it is true that the damage in Busan is far worse. Many innocent civilians are being butchered.”

“…..”

“I did make the call for them to go….. However, it looks like I could lose the lives that I hold so dear to me.”

“What will you do? After stopping the portal in Changwon, he’s heading to Yangpyeong…..”

“It seems that he’ll have to go to Busan as well.”

“Huh?”

“Look at this. What you predicted wasn’t wrong.”

The commander put the phone screen up to Ho Jin’s face.

The title read ‘Portal Explosion Scene of Gamman-dong Busan’.

Busan was currently a location where drone or Awakened would go missing if they were sent there.

That’s why no one knew of the situation until now.

Scrolling down the screen, Ho Jin saw pictures and data.

The portal exploded at Gamman-dong, moved through Dong-gu, and now was at Jung-gu.

Everything was being destroyed without discrimination by the monsters.

Massive loss of human life followed.

When the screen scrolled to the bottom of the page, there was a single low resolution picture that looked as though it was taken far away that caught Ho Jin’s eyes.

There was a single person’s form.

Looking at that, Ho Jin was surprised as he spoke.

“Is that…. This man is….”

“That’s right. This man is probably the overboss of the radical faction.”

“The one that Mr. Min-Cheol mentioned, Zekill.”

With the portal at his back, he looked upon the monsters.

That was Zekill.

Receiving the phone back from Ho Jin, the commander spoke in a very low raspy voice.

“Aging is a cruel thing. I am still running with heavy burdens on my shoulders because of my greed. But it’s not really a burden because I’m doing it due to my own desires….”

Ho Jin had been looking at him for 20 years, but this was the first time that he saw him open up like this.

He always encouraged and raised the morale of those around him.

However, he had become the symbol of righteousness.

What form did that righteousness take to bring him pain, Ho Jin could only listen in silence.

“When…. I have to make decisions like this…. I feel enough pain and agony to make me regret the path that I have walked. The tale of my life that everyone who hears it considers it to be a shameless life.”

“…..”

“Sacrifices always follow my decisions. Each decision I make, many innocent people lose their lives.”

“Commander, you can’t help it…..”

“Hey Ho Jin….. Everyone says the same thing. That it’s a choice that can’t be helped and it was the best call you could’ve made.”

“…..”

“However, now I’m afraid. Even if I’m consoled like so. Even if I try to make peace with myself. Now, I’m afraid.”

“Commander…..”

With weight in his voice, Yoon Jong-sun spoke.

He was looking at the sky.

The sky was clear and blue without a single speck of cloud, contrasting with the current gruesome situation.

His eyes were wet from the blinding sunlight.

He took a moment to organize his thoughts before speaking to Ho Jin once more.

It would mean that he made his decision.

“Head to Busan.”

“…..”

“Please request Min-Cheol and the man heading to Yangpyeong to head Busan instead.”

“Yes… Understood, commander.”

“Ah… The clear sky seems saddening. Alright, let us go. Time is short.”

“Yes…”

****

-ring ring

“Dark Lady. Did you find something special to report.”

“Is that you? The one called Zekill?”

Zekill, who had picked up the phone was speechless for awhile.

It seemed that he was trying to make sense of what was happening.

“…..”

“Nice to meet you. I should’ve contacted you earlier, but it seems I’m a bit late?”

“Who are you…”

“Me? Well… What should I say… Ah! Joker and Ghost’s friend. A very very close friend.”

“Kuuu….. You!”

“Enough of that. Dark Lady is slowly dying right now. When are you coming?”

“Overconfident bastard. I’ll rip your tongue out.”

“How scary.”

“…..”

“I’ll give you 10 minutes. Pulling tongues or whatever, just hurry up and meet with me.”

“Dark Lady….. Turn the phone over to her.”

“Now I feel like I’m the bad guy in a hostage situation.”

Changing the phone to speaker mode, I brought it near Dark Lady.

Glancing towards me, she cautiously opened her mouth.

“Sir Ze… Zekill.”

“Did you lose to him.”

“I have no excuses.”

“Worthless mongrel.”

“…..”

“I thought of you as a smart little dog…. But for you to end up like this. You’re nothing but trash like the rest.”

“Sir Zekill… What… What do you mean….”

“There is nothing more you can do. Die. Die while suffering pathetically at the hands of the strong!”

“…..”

“That’s the only choice left for the weak who cannot fight any longer. Kuhahaha!”

-click

“Glad to see trash flocking to one another.”

“N….No way… Sir Zekill wouldn’t….”

“What’s his class?”

“D… Don’t know.”

“Are you expecting me to believe that?”

“H-Honest! Please believe me!”

“Where do I have to chop off this time to get you to speak properly?”

“Ah! AHH! It’s the truth. Please stop…. Just kill me!”

“Now, shall we review what we went over so far?”

“Ha….. Ha…….”

“You said the one in Gapyeong is called Pierro? And he’s the replacement for Joker as the leader of Joker’s forces.”

Dark Lady nodded her head weakly as her body had been battered into a mess.

“Zekill is in Busan?”

“T…That’s right.”

“But Zekill doesn’t have any subordinates other than the leaders?”

“That’s right. I’ve never seen or met any of them.”

“You also have no idea how many classes he has, what special ability he possesses, or anything else at all, even though you follow him as he is your master.”

She answered as her body shrank in terror.

“I’ve never seen what skill or weapon he uses. The one thing I’ve seen is that he used his bare hands to beat up 4 leaders before.”

“Hm…. So Zekill is causing a ruckus up there all on his own? He’s overconfident, acting without any subordinates.

“…….”

“Pierro and Zekill. Are they the rest of the radical faction? What about the ones that aren’t Awakened, such as the head of the association Choi Man Seo?”

“All of our associates are at my base, which isn’t far from here.”

“I’m guessing that even many of those in high rank will be present.”

“….. That’s right.”

“Good. You were a lot more cooperative than I thought, so I was able to end it quickly. Thanks for your hard work.”

“……”

“From now on, don’t do bad things and live righteously.”

“What? What you’re saying is…. You’re going to let me live….”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You can’t be left alive. You can reflect in the afterlife.”

-slice!

Dark Lady died on the spot.

The information I’ve obtained from her wasn’t that good.

I had more questions rather than answers regarding Zekill.

After that, as if waiting to see when this event would be over, a call came.

It was Ho Jin.

“Yes, Mister.”

“Sir Min-Cheol. How did it go?”

“It’s been taken care of. The portal has completely become a dungeon.”

“Is that so. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Not really. But I was able to reap quite the unexpected reward.”

“Huh? What would that be?”

“I took down Dark Lady.”

“What? Are you talking about one of the leaders of the radical faction, Dark Lady!”

“Yes. I’ll tell you the details later. Now is not the time.”

“…..”

“Do not send any Awakened to Gapyeong.”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that the replacement for Joker by the name of Pierro is there. I’m not sure about his combat capabilities, but I’m sure it’ll be dangerous.”

“I see. Understood. I’ll relay it to the commander. However….”

“Hm? Is there something wrong?”

“Currently I’m heading to Busan with the commander.”

“I am thinking of going to Busan as well. I heard that Zekill is there. You’re going there with the knowledge that he’s there, right?”

“That’s right. Did you find out through Dark Lady?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I’ll head there right away and call when I get there.”

“I’ll send a helicopter over.”

“No, I’ll just head there with Warp. I’ve been to Busan before.”

“Then we’ll get there as soon as possible after recovering Jong Ho. If you’re worried, should we take your mother before moving?”

“No, mother should be okay. It’s not like there are portal explosions near there. I’ll call you later.”

“Yes, I understand. See you.”

****

“KUWWWEHHH!”

“KYAAAA!”

“KUWAAAA!”

“Damn. It’s chaotic here.”

It almost looked like a scene from a documentary that informed the viewers of the horrors of war.

The city was destroyed and corpses were strewn about everywhere.

Only a few hours ago, this park would have been filled with laughter.

However, only ash and the stench of blood remained now.

A few monsters came into my view.

Destroying everything around them, they were all heading towards a single direction.

It was important to take down Zekill.

However, preventing further damage came first.

The helicopter that everyone was on would be arriving here soon.

Until then, I needed to take care of all the monsters so that I can be completely focused on fighting Zekill.

In one movement, I closed the gap between them and myself.

“KUWEHHHH!”

“……”

Many of its arms spread out it all directions.

Other than that and the head being split in half, it was a monster that looked identical to a person.

I stared at them silently, but there was rage boiling inside of me that I could not suppress.

Each of its many arms held a part of a human body.

Even as they moved rapidly, they were busily shoveling the human corpses into their maws.

Just a moment ago, I had slain 500 radical faction members.

They were human as well.

I know it’s a huge double standard, but I was sure that it was different.

Magic resistance? Physical resistance? I didn’t care for something so trivial.

The only thought that filled my head was that I had to butcher these monsters without refrain.

Holding tightly onto my Butcher’s Sword, I ran towards them.

“Oraaaaa!”

---

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96. 100+500 Event (2)

I couldn’t see any more monsters.

I wasn’t sure if the portal was completely destroyed.

However, I would be able to find out soon.

Those that followed Dark Lady’s orders to jump into the frigid waters of the sea would be returning soon.

When they return to see this scene, they would probably be shocked.

Other than Dark Lady and her personal guards, all of her forces were wiped out.

It wasn’t that surprising.

It was an obvious result.

To think I would be able to meet them while on my way to defend against the portal.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be lucky like this again.

It was almost like a buy one get one free event at a market.

The wavebreakers were devastated due to the explosions from the Rag and the barrage of spells I cast.

Despite that, not a single corpse remained of both the Rag and the radical faction members.

It was because I annihilated them as if they never had existed in the first place.

Their combat capabilities weren’t all the different from Ghost’s forces.

Barrages of Meteor Call with black intense flames came down.

Even a single one would have been enough.

What was left of her forces retreated to where the sea and the deep water marker lay.

Behind them was the ocean, while in front stood an insane man.

At this point, they wanted to die by drowning instead of facing him.

On top of that, I wasn’t even fighting seriously.

I was slowly advancing forward, taking care of them as quickly and cleanly as possible.

I was a human being as well, so how could I be unfazed when kill other humans?

I considered them as those that shouldn’t exist, treating them as monsters with a human form as I fought them.

Dark Lady’s eyes were covered in fear.

She didn’t think even for a second to lower her massive shield.

Steam rose from the Butcher’s Sword I held in my hand.

The fresh blood hadn’t gone cold yet.

Lifting my sword up to my shoulder, I pointed at her.

Noticing how she quivered, I spoke.

“Did you wait long?”

“M…. Monster…..”

“Hey. The monsters are you guys. You’re killing people who’ve done nothing wrong. Isn’t that right?”

“It’s obvious that the weak are ruled by the strong!”

“You said something good for once. Don’t you know that I’m about to apply that law here into practice?”

“…..”

“You’re the weak ones here, so accept your fate peacefully.”

“No matter how strong you are, you are nothing before Zekill….”

“Ah! Zekill? Hurry up and call him here. I’ll let you live until he arrives. Since that’s all the time you have left, make sure to take in all the fresh air while you still can, okay?”

“You little! Uwaaaa!”

It was Dark Lady’s first attack, who had been defending the whole time.

A weak Assassin Weapon Throw that wasn’t even a skill beyond ranking.

Any assassin classes such as Jin would have this kind of skill.

My Mana Shield shook a bit due to the high level of the skill, but it was meaningless against me.

“Assassin Weapon Throw. For a leader, this is too pathetic to be considered an attack you know?”

“You little!”

At Dark Lady’s command, 60 of her personal guards and protectors charged towards me.

There was no willingness to fight in their eyes, and who could blame them.

They had seen my absolute power after all.

Despite that, they charged like moths to a flame at her command, making me question what was going on in their heads.

They knew their fate, yet they still went.

“I acknowledge your loyalty towards your leader. However, do not expect it to earn you anything from me.”

“You dog! Uwaaa!”

“Die!”

I did not use any skills.

I had merely gripped my sword and charged forward with just my strength.

A simple stabbing attack.

However, the speed of it allowed me to pierce all their bodies in a single movement, like an arrow leaving its bow.

Not only that, but the armor that protected their body and their form were popped like a balloon.

Not a single cry or trace of them were left.

Only a mist of blood remained.

My attack continued.

My Mana Shield and body were dyed red as if I had dipped myself in a can of red paint.

The only one left was Dark Lady.

It seemed that she had no plans to fight me.

Joker and Ghost.

Both of them had fought me because they had believed in their own powers.

The ends they met were cruel.

Now, I walked towards her who had no longer a will to fight.

“Ah….AHHH! DON’T COME NEAR ME! PLEASE!”

“If someone else saw this scene, they must think I’m a killer who has killed hundreds of people or something, huh?”

“AHHHHH!”

“You can’t be like this already. The sun shows it’s only midday. It’s still too early for you to meet the reaper.”

A swing of my sword cut the shield in half.

The only things left in her hand was the handle of the shield and a shortsword.

I was going to obtain the information that I was not able to obtain from the other leaders out of her.

When I first faced of Joker, I wasn’t in a situation where I could obtain information from him.

His power was almost enough to overwhelm me after all back then.

If it wasn’t for Reflect Shield, it was possible that I would be the one that was done in rather than him.

For the case with Ghost, I was blinded by the rage that he had tried to harm my mother, and the Transcended Formless Sword Aura’s special skill Wild Beast activated, so I defeated Ghost while I had lost consciousness.

To destroy them at their roots, I needed to use Dark Lady.

“Let me live… PLEASE LET ME LIVE!”

“No. You’ll die.”

“Ah…. AHHHH!”

“But I’ll let you choose how you’ll die.”

“……”

“Will you die painlessly like the subordinates before you, or will you feel hellish pain unlike anything you felt before as you slowly die out, it will depend on your choice. Do you understand?”

“AHHH!”

“You can’t die that easily.”

Dark Lady had tried to stab her throat with her shortsword.

Rather than suffer unimaginable pain as she met a cruel death, she had tried to kill herself.

But did she really think that I’d let her go to hell so easily.

I immediately grabbed her wrist and shattered it.

On top of that, I grabbed her knife and stabbed it in her shoulder.

I did not know how strong the shortsword was.

It didn’t matter though.

Due the the strength stat I possessed, even a toy knife could penetrate her tanker class body with ease if used by me.

“Are you despairing on joining the radical faction, only to end up like this? We’re just getting started. Let’s do this properly. Yeah?”

“Ughh…..”

“Oh. Perfect timing. They’re here.”

I could see 30 radical faction members that had left to check the portals swimming back to shore.

They swam quickly to the ruins of the wavebreakers.

Looking around for a brief moment, they prepared to fight.

These walking stat points of stats dare do such a thing.

“So you’ve arrived? Were the portals sealed properly? They became dungeons, right?”

“Are you okay, leader!”

“You dare do such a thing!”

“They really don’t hold back. Only one of you will survive. I’ll ask again then.”

****

Commander Yoon Jong-sun and Ho Jin were able to destroy the level 35 portal that exploded in Paju successfully.

It was a portal where magic attacks went through.

Ho Jin was a warrior class and he had given the Balrock ring to Jong Ho, so he wasn’t able to do much.

However, thanks to the commander’s orders, he was able to at least draw aggro of the nearby monsters and cast AoE shields on the platoon.

After ending the call with Jong Ho, he was waiting on the commander’s next orders.

It was then that an Awakened of the association was approaching at high speed.

After saluting the commander, he spoke.

“Reporting the current situation!”

“Yes. Please begin.”

“Currently the 3 portals in Incheon and Changwon has stopped vibrating and from the lack of damage to the nearby areas, we can conclude that they have been taken care of.”

“…..”

“On top of that, Paju has been taken care of by you. The areas where Lee Sang-Ho, Kim Hye-won, and Shin Geon headed for have also been taken care of.”

“I see. Thank you for your hard work. Out of the portals left, is Yangpyeong the only one left that would be susceptible to magic attacks?”

“Yes, that’s correct. However, we have received news that the damage in Busan is severe. We lost contact with all the Awakened that were deployed. Even the drones we sent to scout have gone missing as well.”

“Hm…. Is that so…. Alright. Please let me know if anything else comes up.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Finishing his report, he headed down the mountain and out of sight.

Ho Jin, who was listening next to him spoke.

“Commander. The portal in Yangpyeong will be taken care of soon as well.”

“Is that so. Then I guess I’ll have to head for Busan.”

“Something feels off. Even if we discount the drones, it doesn’t explain the loss of contact with the Awakened.”

“I do agree with that as well.”

Leaning towards the commander, Ho Jin whispered.

“It is confirmed that the portal explosions were caused by them.”

“Hm….”

“If it’s of this magnitude, it’s a sign that they’re on the move.”

“I think so as well. Then what you’re trying to say is…”

“Yes, that’s right. I believe that all the Awakened that headed for Busan have been done in by the radical faction.”

“However, since it was an area that the association wasn’t able to deploy their forces to, a massive amount of members of the various guilds headed there. Their levels and the gear they were equipped are nothing to scoff at. Wouldn’t it be a stretch to say that they were all done in?”

“If my guess is correct….”

“….”

“Someone beyond a leader ranking is there. To be precise, the overboss of the organization.”

“If that’s the case, this is extraordinary. We’ll take care of the portals in Yangpyeong. It’s shameful of us to ask this, but could you have Min-Cheol to head for Busan? I shall be going as well, of course.”

“I shall request of him to do so.”

“Yes, thank you.”

They were right.

Dark Lady was deployed to Wolmi-do.

Pierro was deployed to Gapyeong’s Carbongsan.

Finally, the leader of the faction had headed for Busan.

The reason why contact was cut off with the Awakened that were deployed there had been predicted perfectly by Ho Jin.

The portal had exploded at the peak of the mountain of Busan Gamman-dong’s residence.

There stood Zekill, guarding the place.

The portal had already exploded perfectly, pouring out countless monsters.

The area fell into ruin, and the damage to the area was only spreading.

Countless people lost their lives.

On top of that, many Awakened from various guilds lost their lives to Zekill.

Zekill stood next to the portal, overseeing the monsters wrecking havoc.

However, there was something odd.

The monsters weren’t attacking Zekill, even though he wasn’t stealthed.

It was almost as if the monsters thought of him as their own, ignoring him completely.

Zekill looked at the city that was being destroyed, yelling out a line filled with lunacy.

“Destroy! Devour all the trash before you!”

---

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