Ch 10

“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.

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

Kim Chulho repeated the same words with his eyes turning red.

“Ch-Chulho, are you okay?”

Slash!

The commander’s neck was cut in an instant.

Blood spurted out.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still at this unbelievable scene.

And then…

“What, what is going on?!”

“Ahh! Commander!”

The hunters behind them rushed over in shock.

“Chulho, why did you…!”

Slash!

Another neck was severed.

“Chulho!”

It was then that they realized.

Kim Chulho was rampaging with tears of blood streaming down his face.

And his sword was aimed at them.

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

In a surreal purple haze, Kim Chulho laughed wickedly.

Creak!

A mournful wolf’s howl spread from the ruins.

***

Creepy.

Suddenly, Ver’s expression changed.

And he turned his head, peering through the darkness of the dungeon.

[…What is this?]

“Why?”

In response to Suho’s question, Ver opened his mouth while keeping his gaze fixed.

“I suddenly felt the presence of a lord.”

“Lord? Could it be my father?”

“No. Originally, there were not only Shadow Lords but also several lords in this universe. But they invaded the world where Shadow Lord Sung Jin-woo lived, and ultimately faced extinction at his hands.”

“Then it’s not my father after all?”

“If that were the case, my power would have been instantly replenished. But my mana is still the same, and this energy…I also recognize it well.”

That’s when it happened.

Awooooo!

Somewhere, the howling of a wolf echoed through the area.

Starting with that, the fierce cries of animals could be heard from all directions at the same time.

Crack!

Kyaaoooh!

“What, what’s going on?”

“Why is all this commotion happening all of a sudden?”

The miners’ faces turned pale, and they looked around anxiously.

“Kyaaah!”

Suddenly, a scream was heard from the miners who were working deeper inside the mine.

“Ugh! There are… there are people!”

The screams became more frequent and closer.

And then, a wolf-like creature suddenly leaped at Suho from behind.

“My Lady!”

“I saw it too!”

Suho pushed the wolf back with the pickaxe he was carrying.

“Are you crazy?”

The pickaxe broke like tofu against the creature’s teeth.

But Suho had bought some time.

In the wolf’s moment of hesitation, Suho ordered the shadow goblins to attack.

“Attack them all!”

The three shadow goblins leaped at the wolf creature simultaneously.

But they were no match for it.

The shadow goblins were wielding the same pickaxes that Suho had been using, but the wolf creature easily bit them in half.

And then, the wolf creature tore apart the shadow goblins’ bodies.

But suddenly, the magic power that had been released from Suho’s body restored the shadow goblins’ bodies back to their original state.

[Keek! Shadow soldiers are an immortal legion. We can restore them with the power of our lord!]

As the battle began, Berth looked excited for some reason.

[Keurk!]

The shadow goblins that had been resurrected in an instant stuck to the wolf’s body.

And they mercilessly jammed the broken pickaxe pieces into the wolf’s body.

Crunch, crunch, snap!

“Kkaegang, kkaeng!”

The wolf, who was fighting with enthusiasm, screamed horribly and writhed on the ground.

[Defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

“No wonder they were chewing on pickaxes.”

But the situation was far from relieved by killing just one.

There were dozens of wolves that appeared, and they were relentlessly tearing apart the miners with their steel fangs.

“Aaah!”

“These fangs…!”

Their pickaxes were of no help in battle.

‘Inventory!’

Suhoh quickly pulled out the goblin’s stone axe that he had packed in his inventory and gave one to each of the shadow goblins.

[My lord! These axes will break if they are bitten by the wolves’ fangs!]

“If it’s an axe, I’ve got plenty of them!”

Suhoh shouted, throwing the stone axe at a wolf that was attacking an old miner.

Ssweaaak- thump!

The stone axe flew straight and hit the wolf’s flank.

“Kkaegang!”

[It’s not dead yet!]

‘Power of the Dominator!’

A transparent hand reached out from the hand of protection in a moment.

The transparent hand picked up the stone axe that had fallen to the ground and struck down the head of the wolf.

Crack!

The beast was killed with a final blow.

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

That was just the beginning.

“Everyone, gather here!”

The hand of protection shouted loudly so that the miners scrambling around could hear him.

Then he ran fearlessly through the wolves with a stone axe in each hand to save them.

[Clang! Clang!]

Three shadow goblins following behind him swung their axes with enthusiasm.

But the command that the hand of protection gave them was different.

“Don’t attack, just keep pushing them back!”

[What?!]

The shadow goblins were surprised.

“And keep leading the wolves to the other passage by running away!”

[Clang! Clang!]

There was no time to catch each wolf to save the people.

The shadow goblins yelled and started luring the wolves.

In the process, they were constantly thrown and torn apart, but they kept getting up and weakening the wolves.

“Grrrr!”

“Roarrr!”

Eventually, most of the wolves became frenzied chasing after the three shadow goblins.

And when they all went into the passage that was in the corner.

“Quick, block the hole!”

At the shout of Suho, the miners who were sitting on the ground, covered in wounds, quickly stood up. They brought all the wagons of gathered magic stones and piled them up in front of the passage where the wolves had entered.

“Huff, huff.”

Once they had blocked the passage to some extent, the miners collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

“What the hell? How did the monsters get here?”

“What happened to the attack team in front of us?”

Anxiety showed on their faces.

Monsters had never approached the mining site that was far behind the attack team before. There was only one case where it had happened.

“Could it be that the attack team was wiped out?”

“No, when we went in, there were only wolves, so we were confident.”

“After all, this is only a D-rank dungeon.”

Just then, the sound of wolves growling was heard from behind the blocked passage.

“Now what do we do?”

There was no guarantee that the way out would be safe.

“Ver?”

Suho called Ver, who had been staring deep into the dungeon.

Ver had a serious expression.

“My lord, something big seems to have happened. This must be the energy of the Fang Lord.”

“The Fang Lord?”

“He is the king of beasts that were killed by your hand. There seems to be someone controlling the wolves from behind.”

“Did the dead come back to life?”

“I don’t know for sure. The ability to revive from death is a power that only the Shadow Lord can possess in this universe. However, even with the power of the Shadow Lord, it was impossible to resurrect a lord-level existence. They didn’t just die, their very existence disappeared.”

“So it was absurd to think that the vanished lord would come back to life.”

“So, at best, it’s highly likely that this energy is the remnant of the fang lord flowing through a dimensional crevice.”

Having finished his explanation, Ber looked firmly at Suho.

“My lord, let’s run away from here.”

“Run away?”

Suho looked confused.

Ber, who had always shouted to fight and kill at the drop of a hat, was now showing the opposite attitude.

“As I’ve said before, your power is weaker than that of an ant larva now. You’re too weak and if a lord-class enemy appears, you’ll die instantly. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“…Are you still upset because I gave you some mana crystals to eat earlier?”

Suho remembered it clearly.

Until this morning, he was just an ant larva, but now he was even weaker than that.

But that’s when it happened.

Kurrrrung!

The hole they had been struggling to block suddenly exploded.

“Ah! The passage is open!”

The miners, who had been relieved that they had barely managed to isolate the wolves, grabbed their pickaxes again.

But instead of wolves pouring out as expected, a familiar face emerged from the hole.

“Mr. Kim Cheol-ho!”

One of the miners recognized him and called out with a bright expression.

He turned out to be an acquaintance who was part of the attack force.

“What happened in there? We almost died!”

“….”

He approached with a smile, but Kim Cheol-ho just stared back at him with a blank expression.

And then the sword in his hand moved.

Swoosh!

“It’s dangerous!”

Thud!

At that moment, the power of the Guardian’s dominion grabbed the miner’s back.

Then, by a hair’s breadth, Kim Cheol-ho’s sword grazed past his neck.

Sssh.

A shallow red line appeared on his neck, and his complexion turned pale as he stumbled backwards.

“Uhh?”

Red eyes looked down on him arrogantly.

Kim Cheol-ho opened his mouth.

“Who dares to invade the domain of the Fang Lord? This is a fortress where the great beasts once lived.”

Kwang!

“….!”

At that moment, a terrible aura exploded from his entire body.

“Silence.”

An ominous energy so overwhelming that he couldn’t even breathe filled the room.

[The effect ‘Fear’ has been triggered.]

[The player’s stats will decrease by 50% for 1 minute.]

At that moment, the Guardian felt his body become heavy.

“You need to run now.”

Verga whispered urgently.

“Ugh. If only I had my full power, this wouldn’t have been a problem….”

It wasn’t an exaggeration; Verga’s power was completely drained from unlocking the Guardian’s seal.

Muttering with frustration, Verga looked at the Guardian’s face and suddenly stopped.

The look in Suho’s eyes as he gazed at Kim Cheol-ho was burning hot.

That was when it happened.

[A quest has arrived.]

A quest window opened in front of Suho.

[Emergency Quest: Defeat the Enemy!]

There is a creature with flesh near the ‘Player’. Eliminate him to secure safety.

Number of enemies to be eliminated: 1

Number of enemies eliminated: 0

Beru urgently spoke.

[My lord! Please ignore this quest. There is a way for the weak to fight among themselves. Let’s use the goblin shadows as shields and escape like before.]

“I got it.”

Suho whispered quietly.

Beru’s eyes brightened.

[I will guide you to the escape route!]

“…… We’ll fight.”

[What? Why!]