Chapter 13

Meanwhile.

[You have defeated a Steel-Fanged Lycan.]

[You have defeated a Steel-Fanged Lycan.]

...

Immediately after acquiring the Monarch of Fangs’ sword, Suho had continued advancing and hunting wolves to clear an escape route out of the dungeon. With the raid party wiped out, he was the only hunter left capable of fighting. He kept swinging his sword, protecting the miners following cautiously behind him.

[You have leveled up!]

Another level gained.

“Don’t you... ever get tired?”

“No. I think I’m still doing all right.”

“Hah.”

The miners’ admiration for Suho’s endurance as he swung his sword without rest had given way to astonishment. Unaware that leveling up restored his stamina, they saw him as an incredible monster with limitless endurance.

‘No, that can’t be. He’s human, just like us.’

‘Is he forcing himself to keep going through sheer willpower?’

‘Ugh. He must be hiding how exhausted he is so we won’t worry.’

They remembered. Only a few days earlier, this young hero had rescued people until he passed out, right here in this very art museum. And now they were the ones he was rescuing.

‘How can he do this when he’s an E-rank hunter like us?’

‘And a summoner, at that.’

Regardless of rank or ability, the only explanation was his extraordinary mental fortitude and willpower.

Of course, it was really just leveling up.

[Young Monarch, I can see the Gate.]

Beru pointed at the Gate visible at the far end of the cave.

“W-we’re saved!”

The miners’ faces, etched with tension and fear, finally brightened. Watching them rush out together, Suho wiped away his sweat.

“Aren’t you coming out?”

One of them turned and called to him.

“Oh, I’m going to stay here and bring out any other hunters who might have survived.”

“Will you be all right? You must be at your limit already...”

“I can still keep going.”

In truth, he felt fantastic, but given the mood, he had no choice but to pretend he was pushing himself.

[...]

He could feel Beru staring at him from behind, but pretended not to notice.

* * *

Remaining in the dungeon, Suho looked at the Monarch of Fangs’ sword.

“Take me to where you were.”

—...

When the sword gave no answer, Suho made as if to hand it to Beru.

“Beru, want to just eat this?”

[Slurp.]

—Wait.

The sword answered hastily. It had been watching Beru pick up and chew on nearby mana crystals for some time now.

—Why do you want to go where I was?

“To save anyone who’s still alive there.”

—I killed them all—no, perhaps someone was lucky enough to survive.

The sword hastily changed its tune as Suho once again held it out to Beru.

—Go left.

And so Suho set off with the sword guiding him. Magic beasts continued attacking along the way, but without people to protect, he had far more freedom to act.

A short while later, mysterious ruins came into view, strewn with bloodied human corpses.

“So this is the place.”

Suho checked each person for signs of life.

[They are all dead.]

—See? What did I tell—no, I had no choice. My mission was to protect this sanctuary. Besides, being such an excellent sword...

Feeling Suho’s and Beru’s eyes on it, the sword hurried to make excuses.

Just then, information about the sword appeared before Suho’s eyes.

[Item: Rakan’s Fang]

Acquisition Difficulty: ??

Type: Sword

Attack +30

A sword made from a fang of Rakan, King of Beasts.

Rakan’s specter dwells within it. A wielder of lesser standing may have their body taken over.

-Effect ‘Contempt for the Weak’: Inflicts Fear on a designated target for 1 minute. (All stats –50%)

-Effect ‘Critical Wound’: Has a 15% chance of dealing critical damage of at least twice the normal amount.

Its attack power was considerably higher than that of the Goblin’s Stone Axe. And since it had possessed one of their own comrades, the hunters here must have panicked, unsure what to do, before being slaughtered.

[It is a fairly good sword, but what a despicable ability. It grows even stronger against those weaker than itself.]

—Despicable? What is wrong with the strong devouring the weak? What hunter in this world goes after prey stronger than themselves?

Only half listening to their exchange, Suho gathered the hunters’ bodies one by one. He emptied all the magic-beast materials from the carts the dead collection workers had been pulling and laid the bodies inside.

But to his surprise, he could see black smoke slowly rising from the corpses.

Those were... their shadows.

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

“Aaaaaaah!”

The dead hunters’ anguished screams reached Suho’s ears.

[If you wish, Young Monarch, you may take these people as your soldiers as well.]

“No.”

Listening to their cries, Suho silently continued gathering their bodies.

Once he was finished, Beru returned from looking around the area.

[I searched to see whether there were any other relics of the Monarch of Fangs besides this sword, but there appears to be nothing of note.]

“Just what is this Monarch of Fangs, anyway?”

With a little breathing room at last, Suho asked the question that had been on his mind.

Beru drew black shadows from his hand, fashioning tiny figures no larger than fingernails. The figures multiplied one by one, taking shape.

[Once, this universe held many Monarchs besides your father, Sung Jinwoo, the Shadow Monarch. The Monarch of Fangs, King of Beasts; the Monarch of Plagues, Queen of Insects... All those Monarchs descended upon Earth.]

One fingernail-sized figure among them, radiating a particularly intense aura, mercilessly cut down the others.

[And my liege killed every last one of them.]

—Grr. How dare you speak of my master...

Rakan’s Fang trembled in Suho’s hand as it listened.

—How infuriating. Had my power been whole, I would have torn you all to pieces and fed you to the wolves. No, had I known you were the Shadow Monarch’s successor in the first place, I would never have let my guard down.

“Had your power been whole?”

Suho looked at Rakan’s Fang.

“You mean it isn’t now?”

—Of course not. I am the mightiest weapon, forged by Lord Rakan, King of Beasts, from his own extracted fang.

[The mightiest? With a mere thirty attack power?]

Beru sneered.

—That is precisely why I said my power is incomplete! My original mission was to guard this sanctuary. Within its bounds, I could wield power almost equal to Lord Rakan himself. But...

“But?”

—In the end, I failed to protect it. A divine weapon that loses its sanctuary loses its power.

Rakan’s Fang murmured despondently.

[An inevitable outcome.]

Beru explained. A world that lost its central pillar, its Monarch, would be torn to pieces and drift through the gaps between dimensions.

The defeated remnants of a war.

That was what dungeons were.

[And when the apostles of the outer universe cracked the dimensional barrier to invade Earth, those dungeons became connected to it.]

Beru’s eyes gleamed sharply.

[Those defeated remnants all bear a grudge against this world. They were destroyed by my liege, after all. Though they were the ones who attacked first.]

“So these are the ruins of a defeated world, and there’s nothing else to get here.”

[Do not worry, Young Monarch. Leave it to me.]

At Suho’s words, Beru eyed the sword greedily.

[Even dried squid yields water if you squeeze hard enough. I shall wring something out of it somehow.]

—Hmph. Threaten me all you like. You will get nothing.

Rakan’s Fang answered defiantly.

Ten minutes later, it had spilled everything it knew.

* * *

A few days later.

[Young Monarch, what troubles you?]

Beru questioned Suho.

[Is it because you turned down their offers?]

A number of things had happened since Suho emerged alive from the Hankuk University dungeon. Outside, he had encountered Association hunters who had come as reinforcements after receiving the miners’ report. When they entered the dungeon, they had found it littered with nothing but the corpses of magic beasts Suho had slain.

As a result, several guilds had approached him. Of course, every recruitment offer was for a contract as a collection worker or porter.

“No. That’s not it.”

Naturally, Suho had never had the slightest intention of accepting any of them. Unlike other hunters, he could grow stronger through the leveling system. An ordinary E-rank hunter would have jumped at an offer from a major guild, even for a porter’s contract, but it held no appeal whatsoever for Suho.

“I was thinking about what Rakan’s Fang told us.”

Rakan’s Fang had said that the sanctuary it guarded had been torn into several pieces and scattered through the gaps between dimensions. That had weakened it tremendously. Even when it took over Kim Yongjun’s body, it had still been able to command all the nearby wolves, but the moment it left the sanctuary, even that ability had vanished.

Still, their efforts had not been entirely fruitless. More sanctuaries like this dungeon existed in the gaps between dimensions, holding relics like Rakan’s Fang. And after yielding to Beru’s persuasion(?), Rakan’s Fang had finally revealed the location of one such sanctuary.

The problem was that they needed to enter that dungeon as soon as possible. Rakan’s Fang could not guarantee that the relics would still be intact. Even now, they would be drifting aimlessly through the gaps between dimensions, their power gradually fading.

“But of all places, it had to be...”

[A dungeon claimed by another guild. That is what concerns you.]

“Right. And not just any guild. The infamous Hyena Guild.”

The Hyena Guild was famous for having been founded by a group of former gangsters. With the advent of the hunters’ era, some gangsters had awakened too. The guild they formed had failed to conceal its true nature, indulging in every sort of dirty business and earning a thoroughly unsavory reputation.

[Indeed, you are still terribly weak, Young Monarch. Unnecessary friction with other hunters could put you in danger.]

Beru pondered the matter.

In any case, the Monarch of Fangs’ power finding its way to Earth was by no means a good sign. Hadn’t it fallen into an ignorant fool’s hands and caused a massacre just this time? The moment the law of the strong devouring the weak that governed the Monarch of Fangs’ world was applied to Earth, most humans would surely become prey.

Even so, he could hardly ask Suho to take that risk while his level was still low.

[Young Monarch, it would be best to build your strength first by leveling up steadily, and then... Hmm? What are you doing?]

Suho was gathering his things.

“Oh, getting ready to enter the dungeon.”

[What about the Hyena Guild?]

“I’ll just sneak in, obviously.”