Ch 9

[Yep!]

Berga, who was responding to the command of the Guardian, asked again in confusion.

[But don’t we have to attack them from behind to kill those filthy monks?]

“What are you talking about? We’re here to mine.”

[…!]

Berga was shocked and frothed at the mouth.

“No, what are you talking about!”

Berga couldn’t believe it.

What is going on here?

The power of the great and omnipotent Shadow Lord is such an amazing ability, but he’s only going to mine with that power!

[Why mine when there are billions of troops fighting wars in the universe, including the enemy country?]

“I understand that, but my abilities are only three weakened goblins. We have to face reality. Even my dad would have done the same when he was weak.”

[But…]

“And you said so last night.”

The Guardian remembered the conversation he had with Berga last night.

***

On the way home after being discharged from the hospital.

Berga said with a serious expression.

[My Lord, our mission can be summarized into three parts.]

The content of the words spoken by the small-sized guy was too grand.

[First. We must protect the Earth from the demons of outer space.]

“That means we have to go into the dungeon and hunt demons, right?”

[Yes, my Lord. As you hunt demons, your level will gradually increase, and as you become stronger, the Earth will become safer. And secondly, we must find a way to find the missing Sun God.]

“So. You don’t know how to find my mother’s location?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t. But if we keep catching those memorizers, we might find some clues, right?”

In the end, it was another suggestion to go into the dungeon.

“And thirdly, this is the most important thing.”

Vair pointed to himself, his eyes flashing.

“As soon as possible, I need to recover my strength and return to the battlefield where the lord is. The balance of the war must have been jeopardized as much as the key force like me is missing.”

At this point, Suho was curious.

Vair’s shrunken appearance was just a means of conserving energy, and his original form and power were like a living nightmare itself.

With such an enormous force missing from the battle, Suho couldn’t even imagine which way the war was headed.

“How do you regain your strength?”

Suho asked, and Vair’s lips twisted into a sinister and gloomy smile.

“Of course, I have to eat.”

It was a wicked and sinister smile.

Long ago, in a fragment of a world that was now completely forgotten, the Ant Queen remembered.

“Let’s create the strongest soldier.”

The queen needed the strongest soldier to rebuild the kingdom that was crumbling under human influence and lead its people.

After six months, the queen finally gathered all her magic and nutrients to conceive a life.

The queen’s determination to create a strong soldier and the primal command to kill all humans combined, creating a horrific monster that defied all common sense.

The skill that the monster was born with was “predation.”

The monster could make the magic and knowledge of its prey its own simply by consuming it.

As I recall that old memory, Ber spoke.

“My innate talent is ‘predation.’ Whether it’s human or beast, if I keep eating, my power will gradually increase. It may be an inefficient method used in the past, but there is no other choice now.”

Whether it’s human or beast…

Suho felt anew.

Ber was definitely lacking in humanity.

“Well, he’s not human to begin with.”

Ber’s appearance, drooling as he talked about eating humans, was a perfect representation of a beast.

Suho spoke firmly.

“But you can’t just eat any human.”

“Ho?”

“If you’re going to eat, eat only bad people.”

Ber’s eyes narrowed at his words.

“Like the Lord said. He once ordered to only eat the villains if we’re going to eat.”

“Even Father? What’s the standard for a villain?”

“Of course, it’s those who do harm to our lord.”

***

Back to the present.

“You said that.”

Ber retorted at Suho’s words.

“That’s why we’re going to enter the dungeon now to level up, right?”

“No, how can an E-rank hunter enter the dungeon alone? E-rank hunters can’t join raid parties.”

Suho was very practical.

Although Professor Lim explained, the only role an E-rank hunter can perform in the dungeon is production.

If my level goes up later and my magic becomes D-grade, I was thinking of getting a ‘re-measurement.’

‘Even the division of Hunter grades is a recently established system, so there are still many errors in the measuring devices.’

“So let’s start with what we can do now.”

Suho said with a laugh.

Bae felt a sudden uneasiness in Suho’s laughter.

[Why do you laugh like that when you look at me?]

“Our third mission.”

Suho recalled what Bae had said with a meaningful expression.

“You should charge your magic as soon as possible. By eating. Right?”

[That’s right, whether it’s a human or a horse…]

“Then what about a magic stone?”

Bae flinched.

His expression stiffened at Suho’s words.

“If your ability is predation, wouldn’t your magic be charged by eating a magic stone?”

[Well… that’s true, but magic stones have very little magic, and their efficiency is not that great…]

“Is that a problem? Just eat more of them.”

Suho said brightly.

“It’s free if you pick them up here.”

[Kiiii…]

***

Suho passed through the gate with the miners.

The appearance of the dungeon they entered was completely different from that of the Shadow Dungeon.

The Shadow Dungeon was a vast ruined city of which the size could not even be estimated, but this place was a winding cave.

Moreover, with people holding pickaxes in their hands, it really felt like they had come to a mine.

Suho and the miners slowly moved their feet into the dungeon.

The miners laughed and joked as they swung their pickaxes, impressed by the effectiveness of their newly acquired summoning skill.

“Those who say summoning skills are weak are talking nonsense! This skill is so good!”

“If we keep daydreaming like this, the newbies will end up taking everything!”

“We can’t let that happen! Let’s show the rookies what our seniors are capable of!”

The goblin helpers, who were working alongside the miners, added to the cheerful atmosphere.

[Those brutes…]

Meanwhile, Berga was watching from behind, nibbling on a magic stone like a cookie.

***

At that moment, a group of hunters with ranks D and above were exploring deeper into the dungeon, far from the mining site.

“This dungeon is completely barren.”

“Yeah. All we’ve seen are wolves and beast-type monsters.”

“Wolf pelts aren’t even worth that much.”

The salvage team, who were busy dismantling the monster corpses, couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

However, that doesn’t mean wolf pelts are completely worthless. They still need to gather as much as possible, especially when there are occasionally rare pelts with magical properties.

“Sigh. We still need to make every penny count.”

They piled the wolf pelts onto their cart as they spoke.

But then, something caught their attention.

“Huh? What’s that over there?”

One of the hunters leading the group pointed to a massive ruin in the distance.

The hunters became tense, wary of their surroundings.

“Could there be a boss-level monster here?”

Boss-level monsters were rare in D-rank dungeons.

“But the fact that such a structure exists meant that something special could happen.

And that specialness would not be a pleasant situation for the hunters.

“What is this place?”

“What kind of ruins are these that have something in them?”

“Don’t we need to go outside and request more support for this?”

The hunters murmured quietly.

But the leader of their attack group mediated them and carefully surveyed the surroundings with a cautious expression.

“Shh. Try to be quiet. I don’t sense any presence of monsters under my tracking skill.”

“Really? Why does this structure exist when there are no monsters?”

“We’ll find out from now on.”

A faint smile crossed the leader’s lips.

“Do you think we might find treasure instead of a boss monster?”

“Treasure…!”

The hunters’ eyes lit up at those words.

What could be obtained from dungeons was not just the corpses of monsters and magic stones.

Items that were discovered at a low probability.

Those items were the only way for hunters, whose power never increased once their grade was determined, to increase their strength.

“Leader! There’s something here!”

As they surveyed their surroundings, they discovered a black sword in the center of the ruins.

It was a sword with a sinister aura.

“Crazy.”

The hunters’ eyes were all filled with greed at once.

“This is amazing!”

“What, a weapon!”

They would have to take it outside and appraise it to know for sure, but they had found a weapon that looked extremely impressive.

“Leader! I’ll draw it!”

The strongest male among the hunters spat out saliva from both hands and took the lead.

“Huh? Wait, Kim Cheol-ho! Proceed with caution…!”

The commanding officer was trying to object, but Kim Cheol-ho’s hand had already firmly gripped the hilt of his sword.

And then it happened.

A booming voice echoed inside Kim Cheol-ho’s head.

“Who dares to covet the Lord of Fang’s sword?”

“Who dares to covet the fang sovereign’s sword?”

“Chulho, what are you saying all of a sudden?”

Strange words flowed out of Kim Chulho’s mouth as he grabbed the sword handle.

The commander who was trying to stop him suddenly felt an uneasy feeling.

Swish.

At that moment, Kim Chulho pulled out the sword.