Chapter 44

Suho reached toward the light seeping from the area around Kwak Dooyoung’s heart.

DING!

[You have discovered ‘Rune Stone: Giant’s Armor.’ Would you like to acquire it?]

‘A Rune Stone?’

Apparently, the skill Kwak Dooyoung had used had materialized as a Rune Stone. This was another first. Of all the villains he had killed today, this had happened only with Kwak Dooyoung.

‘Confirm.’

[Rune Stone: Giant’s Armor]

Break the Rune Stone to absorb the skill.

‘Giant’s Armor, huh.’

It was the skill that had enlarged Kwak Dooyoung’s body moments earlier. Considering the value of Rune Stones, selling this one would earn him at least several billion won.

‘But selling it would be a waste.’

He could make money later. Right now, growing stronger came first. Besides, his earnings had been poor as an E-rank hunter, but hadn’t he received his new C-rank hunter license just today? Given that a C-rank hunter could command several times what an E-rank could, selling the Rune Stone for money would be foolish.

“Excuse me... Mr. Crow?”

Just then, someone called to Suho from behind. The Association hunters had emerged from the cell and approached him hesitantly.

“A-are you all right?”

There was fear in their faces as they looked at him. Understandably so: Suho had single-handedly wiped out more than fifty Reaper Guild members, then even beaten the B-rank tank Kwak Dooyoung to death with sheer strength. Having witnessed that savage battle up close, they couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Suho had helped them, but that wasn’t enough to guarantee he was on their side.

Suho chuckled.

“I have no intention of fighting you, so there’s no need to worry. Why don’t you arrest those people?”

“Oh.”

“Ahem.”

The Association hunters looked away in embarrassment.

Suho shoved the Rune Stone into his pocket and deactivated Spirit Possession first. It consumed one point of mana every second. That was why he’d had to keep drinking mana potions between attacks during the fight.

[Spirit Possession has been deactivated.]

WHOOSH!

The spiritual wind swirling around Suho subsided, and his fluttering, silver-bleached hair turned black again.

Then, out popped something.

“Grrr!”

[The spirit of ‘Pet: Gray’ leaves the shaman’s body.]

A palm-sized puppy—no, a wolf cub—hopped out of Suho’s body. The Association hunters flinched and began whispering. He’d suddenly spat a wolf out of his body!

“J-just as we thought...”

“The Beast King...”

“The king of beasts...”

Gray tilted his head. Standing on the floor, he looked bewildered. These people were looking up to him(?)

Oh!

Had something suddenly occurred to him? Gray abruptly raised his muzzle and began to howl.

“Awooo!”

His eyes shone with boundless pride and valor.

[The King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs, looks fondly upon the dignified bearing of his descendant.]

“...?”

“Hmph. He’s finally starting to look the part.”

“...?”

Even Rakan’s Fang in his hand seemed pleased with Gray. Suho couldn’t help chuckling.

* * *

The reinforcements the Association hunters had called arrived only after everything was over.

“Get moving, you bastards!”

The Reaper Guild members who had thrown down their weapons and surrendered were hauled outside, every last one of them limping.

“Why are they all limping, anyway?”

Meanwhile, Team Leader Han Jaehyuk freed the hostages from the cell and hurriedly sent them to the hospital. If they remained in the field, there was no telling when they might suddenly turn into Mist Burns. Then he and his subordinates immediately began a thorough search of the Stardust laboratory, seizing every piece of evidence.

“Take everything! Don’t miss a single thing! I’m taking Lee Minsung the fuck down with this today!”

Han Jaehyuk ground his teeth with renewed determination as he thought of Vice President Lee Minsung, the mastermind behind it all.

Suho was busy in his own way. There were all those weapons the Reaper Guild members had dropped on the floor. Collecting that loot and selling it to the Shop ought to turn a tidy profit.

‘I have to cover my potion costs.’

Unexpectedly, Gray proved to be a big help here.

“Grrr!”

Realizing what Suho wanted, Gray scampered toward a weapon on his short legs. Then he opened his little jaws and clamped down on it.

DING!

At that moment, a message appeared before Suho.

[You have discovered ‘Item: Flame Longsword.’ Would you like to acquire it?]

“Huh?”

Suho’s eyes widened. Was it thanks to the pet system? Apparently, he could acquire items Gray touched even from a distance.

“Acquire.”

[You have acquired ‘Item: Flame Longsword.’]

Sure enough, the item entered his inventory. Suho grinned.

‘This should make things easier from now on.’

At last, he had found a role for the little pup.

Loot fetcher.

Suho stroked Gray’s head.

“Good job, Gray. Go fetch some more.”

“Awooo?!”

Receiving heartfelt praise from Suho for the first time in his life, Gray was so flustered he didn’t know what to do. For some reason, the corners of his mouth kept twitching upward.

Until finally...

CHOMP!

“Huh?”

“Grrrr...!”

Overcome with excitement, Gray had bitten the hand stroking his head. All the while, his tail kept wagging like mad.

“Let go, you little brat...”

Suho stared speechlessly at Gray, dangling and swaying from his hand with his jaws clamped tight.

[The King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs, nods at his descendant’s valiant display.]

“Heh heh. Young as he is, a lion’s cub is still a lion’s cub.”

Enough, you idiots.

“... Anyway, go fetch.”

Suho pried Gray off and sent him on his way. Gray proudly raised his tail and roamed about, biting down on one piece of loot after another.

DING! DING! DING!

[You have discovered ‘Item: Sharp Eye Crossbow.’ Would you like to acquire it?]

[You have discovered ‘Item: Black Battle Axe.’ Would you like to acquire it?]

[You have discovered ‘Item: Carbon Gauntlet.’ Would you like to acquire it?]

...

“Acquire. Acquire. Acquire...”

Suho stood where he was, immediately selling each item through the Shop window as it flew into his inventory from afar.

CLINK!

CLINK!

[You have acquired 750 gold.]

[You have acquired 1300 gold.]

[You have acquired 900 gold.]

...

Wait, this was quite profitable!

‘Great. This should cover potions for a while.’

The days of scraping together gold and rationing potions down to the last lick were over.

With his purse newly filled, Suho scrolled through the Shop window, wondering whether to celebrate with a new item. Then he remembered something he’d forgotten.

‘I almost forgot about this.’

[The following reward is available.]

Reward: Stat Points +5

Without hesitation, Suho invested all the stat points in Strength. Strength really was best. As this battle had shown him yet again, subduing enemies with overwhelming strength and speed would continue to affect how quickly he leveled up. Couldn’t he simply boost his other stats with items?

Just as Suho was so busy(?), Team Leader Han Jaehyuk approached.

“Excuse me, Mr. Crow. Could I speak with you for a moment?”

“...”

Such impeccable courtesy, paired with such a cringeworthy name. Suho looked at him awkwardly and replied.

“Of course.”

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Shadow Dungeon Gray had left behind...

“... Huh?”

Esil, who had been left there all alone, suddenly stiffened.

‘It can’t be...’

She narrowed her eyes and stared into the distance. She had suddenly sensed something strange somewhere. Immediately, she kicked off the ground and raced toward its source.

This monochrome world was utterly quiet and still. Now that even the goblins hiding throughout it had been cleared out, that eerie silence had grown all the more profound. Yet something unusual was happening in this silent world.

At last, Esil stopped short and stared ahead.

CRACK! CRACK!

A dimensional rift seethed with ominous energy.

“A Gate...!”

Realizing the source of the disturbance, Esil hastily raised her head and shouted to Suho in the outside world.

“Sung Suho! Get back here, now! This is no time to be out there doing whatever you’re doing!”

Miraculously, her voice traveled through Suho’s shadow and reached his ears.

“Sung Suho! A hole has opened up in your world!”

“...!”

Suho, who was in the middle of speaking with Han Jaehyuk, shuddered at her voice.

“Mr. Crow?”

Han Jaehyuk gave him a puzzled look. Suho glanced at him, his expression grim.

“Something urgent has come up. We’ll have to talk later.”

“What? Just like that? What could possibly be so urgent...?”

There was no time to explain. Suho immediately turned and rushed out of the laboratory.

“W-wait! At least leave your contact information...!”

Flustered, Han Jaehyuk called after him, but he had no grounds to forcibly detain him. Suho wasn’t a criminal or a villain. Quite the opposite—he was the hero who had helped them.

“We could give you a reward...”

He murmured toward Suho, who had already vanished from sight. But at those final words, someone abruptly popped up.

[“A reward? I cannot possibly let that pass.”]

“Gah?!”

Beru thrust his face forward and grabbed Han Jaehyuk by the collar.

[“What are you waiting for? Hand over the reward at once.”]

* * *

[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]

WHOOOSH!

Suho appeared before Esil. She immediately showed him what she had found.

“What the...?”

His face hardened at the Gate before him.

ROOOAR!

Red sand poured endlessly from a dimensional tear in midair, threatening to swallow this entire world!

DING!

[An Emergency Quest has arrived.]

A quest had appeared just in time.

[Emergency Quest: Dimensional Rift]

A dimensional rift has been detected.

Travel through the connected Gate and eliminate the cause of the dimensional rift.

“Seriously? You want me to go in there?”

Suho stared incredulously at the waterfall of sand gushing through the Gate.

“What? You have to go in there now?”

Esil turned to him in shock.

“Are you planning to swim through all that sand? The moment you step inside, it could become your grave!”

But after a moment’s thought, Suho nodded.

‘If a quest appeared, there must be some way to solve it, right?’

Since he had to carry out the quest, avoiding it wouldn’t solve anything.

“Arise.”

THUD!

At his call, a gigantic shadow—Arachne, the Grave Spider—landed beside him.

“Are you any good at digging?”

[“Kraaah!”]

In answer, Arachne raised its enormous pincers and let out a resounding cry.

Suho grinned at the reassuring sight.

‘Maybe this is doable.’

Having made his decision, he turned to Esil.

She flinched. Seeing Suho’s bright smile directed at her, Esil instinctively backed away, shaking her head.

“No, I’ll wait here—”

“Don’t you want meat?”

“Ugh.”

“You don’t?”

“... Ghh.”

Esil, the only demon noble in the Demon Realm and the eldest daughter of the great Radir Clan, learned today what it meant to be on the receiving end of an abuse of power.

“Fine! I’ll go, all right!”

Finally resigning herself, Esil squeezed her eyes shut. Suho grinned and turned back.

ROOOAR!

Toward the Gate spewing a waterfall of sand.

“Then let’s go in.”