Demon Jeongdan Saja
The raid that erupted from the demon’s dagger driven into Yang Guild Leader’s heart.
When Silvio saw the countless orcs pouring out of that raid, he could not hold back a snort of laughter.
“How ironic that a human locked away for failing to clear an orc dungeon would trigger an orc raid.”
Judging by the rules of bodily reconstruction that followed the absorption of monsters, Yang Guild Leader would almost certainly become a demon bearing the distinctive pig-like traits of orcs.
Amused by the thought, Silvio moved with brisk efficiency.
A-class or not, he had not come to recruit the likes of Yang Guild Leader.
The man was an Awakened who had already hit the ceiling of his growth.
Demonization might push him as high as SSS-class like Anubis, yet that was not the caliber of strength the Organization sought. Nor was he an important enough figure to be drawn into the Organization’s lofty purpose.
At best he was bait—something to buy time while they spirited the other Awakened out of this prison.
“Insolent for mere orcs…”
The Organization members Silvio had brought with him were racing about just as busily when the orcs appeared and began attacking at random.
To the orcs it did not matter who had caused the raid that set them free. Humans stood before them; that was reason enough to attack.
Silvio himself blasted orc heads from their shoulders, scowling, then raised a hand to the radio at his ear.
“If the orcs come at you, eliminate them with full force. The survival of mere orcs is irrelevant to the creation of a demon.”
The kobolds that had emerged from a raid in Italy had all been slain by Jeong-Hoon and Butler Ju, yet a demon had still been born. With that precedent in mind, Silvio ordered them to attack without hesitation. While cutting down orcs he personally smashed open cell doors and hauled the Awakened out.
Before assaulting the prison, the Organization led by Silvio had already made thorough preparations.
They had layered powerful magic around the facility and severed all communications so that no word could leak outside. Even though a raid had broken out within the walls, the outside world remained none the wiser, allowing them to carry out the operation at their leisure.
After forcibly dragging out even those Awakened who refused to escape, Silvio watched a massive sphere coalesce in the sky above the ruined prison and wore an expression of genuine interest.
Last time there had been only corpses. Now living orcs were being disassembled and drawn upward as well, and the sphere looked far more vivid than the one that had birthed Anubis.
“Don Rosso, you should withdraw soon.”
“Wait. Let me watch just this. There’s still time until the demon is born anyway.”
Silvio shook his head and held out his hand. A subordinate produced a cigar, placed it between his fingers, and lit it.
“We’ll have to research how the proportion of living monsters affects demon generation as well.”
When Silvio murmured about the more lively clump of ash, the researchers among the Organization members nodded.
“Ah, and evacuate our newly welcomed comrades in advance. We ought to let their weary bodies and minds rest.”
Taking a deep drag on the cigar, Silvio spoke. In contrast to his unhurried manner, the fretting Organization members hurriedly fled with the prisoners in tow.
Silvio merely snorted at the sight and felt no anger. He fully understood their fear of the family. Honestly, he feared the family himself. He simply had enough leeway in the current operation to afford composure.
If he had been some two-bit mafia boss, he could never have shown such ease even while afraid. But he was a man the Organization’s leader, Yong-Ha, had personally marked and recruited as an executive. He had not even been mafia originally—just a fellow with guts. Yong-Ha had taken that Silvio and molded him into a mafia capable of blending into society on the Organization’s behalf.
“The other executives?”
“We received word that they had begun their operations. Progress is unknown because contact is currently impossible.”
“Well, even half success would still be a resounding triumph.”
Silvio’s force was not the only part of the Organization that had come to Korea. Every cell across the world had flocked here. With their leader Yong-Ha lost, maintaining the far-flung network of cells was no longer feasible. Silvio had therefore persuaded the other executives and concentrated them all in Korea.
It was not for an all-out war with the family. Concentrating the Organization’s strength in one place for any contingency was simply safer than leaving it scattered. Considering how the Korean leadership—once the Organization’s strongest force—had been annihilated by a single misstep, trying to check the family with only a handful of powerhouses would be reckless.
“It was worth risking danger to face the Gaju.”
It had only been a video call, yet that single act had elevated Silvio to a core figure succeeding Yong-Ha. That was why his persuasion had worked.
“Oh? Is it finished?”
The clump of ash writhed, took on human form, and slowly descended from the sky. Silvio’s eyes lit up. It was exactly the phenomenon reported by the members who had witnessed Anubis’s birth.
“Kueeeek!!!”
A flash erupted.
From the human shape that landed on the ground came the roar of a massive pig, accompanied by a blinding light that paralyzed the eyes. When the light faded, a giant over two meters tall with a pig’s head stood atop the ruined prison.
“W-what is this!? I-I was clearly dead!”
Yang Guild Leader, now a pig demon who still remembered the dagger piercing his heart, shouted in panic. Silvio smirked, tossed the still half-smoked cigar aside, and kicked off the ground.
“Congratulations, comrade.”
“Y-you!!!”
The pig-demon Yang Guild Leader recoiled at the sight of the approaching Silvio. The man wore a mask, so the face was hidden, but the voice belonged to the one who had killed him.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Calm yourself. You have transcended humanity and obtained the power of a god. You have become a true new human!”
Playing the part of a Nova extremist to perfection, Silvio clapped Yang Guild Leader on the shoulder. Question flickered across the pig’s face.
“The power of a god?”
“Yes, the power of a god. Don’t you feel it? The abundant power overflowing all around you.”
Yang Guild Leader’s eyes flew wide. After his body had changed, he truly could feel something tingling—mana.
“That is the power of omnipotence. With it, achieve whatever you desire, comrade.”
“Whatever I desire…?”
At those words the pig head fell into thought. Madness gradually flooded both eyes. A mind shattered by the experience of death fused with mana and collapsed.
What he desired.
As the leader of a mid-tier guild he had dreamed of growing until one day he commanded a great guild that could rival the top ten and live large. That dream had already vanished like foam. Marked by Lumen, his guild had crumbled under internal whistleblowing, and he himself had been sentenced to life imprisonment. No dreams or hopes remained.
Only one thing was left to him.
Revenge!
“Kueeeeeek!!!”
As Yang Guild Leader howled his vow of vengeance, the surrounding mana surged and began dismantling the ruins of the prison. The disassembled debris gathered in his hand and transformed into a single massive single-edged saw.
Thud!
Grasping the saw taller than himself, Yang Guild Leader charged toward his enemies without a backward glance. Silvio scratched his head.
“I thought some reason remained, but it was only for a moment? Even with the improved success rate, still a defective product.”
Watching the pig-headed figure smash the ground as he charged mindlessly, Silvio smiled.
“A pig-headed demon… Last time that fellow called himself Anubis, didn’t he? Then this one…”
Even a failure was still the Organization’s creation and needed a suitably impressive name. Silvio pondered. Since it had been built on orcs, he wanted something orc-related, yet nothing quite sounded right.
“There was a story the master told long ago… what was it? The one about a monk traveling with a monkey, a pig, and a water ghost.”
“Journey to the West, sir?”
A lagging Organization member panted the question. Silvio nodded.
“Yes, that one. In it the pig monster became a god and received the name Jeongdan Saja, didn’t he? Yes! Jeongdan Saja will do nicely.”
He had failed to recall the names Journey to the West or Zhu Bajie, yet somehow Jeongdan Saja had come to him with ease. Thus Silvio decided the name of the demon Yang Guild Leader had become.
Having promised to support Si-eun’s friend Yun-a until she reached S-class, Jeong-Hoon was sunk in deep sleep.
He had been unconscious for three full days, yet even that could not erase the fatigue of a single day spent running here and there. He had been enjoying a dreamless slumber when Fernandez’s voice forced his eyes open.
“I apologize for disturbing your rest, Gaju.”
“…Huh, is it morning already?”
“It is four o’clock in the morning.”
At the urgent tone of the man who had woken him, half-asleep Jeong-Hoon shook his head, trying to drive the drowsiness away. Being forcibly pulled from good sleep left him still hazy.
“What is it, Butler Ju?”
“Gaju, I am Fernandez. Head Butler Joo Yeong-Cheol is currently recuperating.”
“…Ah, that’s right. Sorry, Sir Fernandez.”
Still not fully awake and far from clear-headed, Jeong-Hoon shook his head again and forced himself upright. He was so sleepy that lying back down would have sent him under at once.
Most of the fatigue was hangover from the drinks he had shared while watching the chatter of Si-eun, Yun-a, and Min-ha. Heading for the refrigerator to sober up, he reached for a hangover remedy only for Lee Young to appear suddenly and offer one. He accepted it on reflex.
“Thanks, Head Maid. …No. How big a crisis is this that even the Head Maid is here?”
He downed the drink in one go. Lee Young shook her head.
“It is not only Sir Fernandez and myself.”
“Every force currently able to move has been mobilized.”
Under normal circumstances they would have reported to Jeong-Hoon first and then acted, but the situation was far too grave; they had begun moving while simultaneously waking him.
“What happened?”
“These are photographs captured by the family’s artificial satellites.”
Wondering what on earth required satellites, Jeong-Hoon took the pictures Fernandez held out and rubbed his eyes.
“Head Maid, sorry, but could you pinch my cheek once?”
“…Though it may be hard to believe, this is not a dream.”
At Lee Young’s words Jeong-Hoon shook his head and looked at the photographs again.
Three separate images: a monkey-headed demon gripping a staff, a pig-headed demon brandishing a saw, and a fish-headed demon holding a trident. Beyond them stood a cow-headed demon with a giant axe, plus shark, bird, and snake—demons everywhere.
“Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and even some of the Seven Great Sages? Where’s Tang Sanzang?”
Waking up to find Journey to the West unfolding across the entire country, Jeong-Hoon shook his head and grumbled.
“I cannot speak for Tang Sanzang, but the high monk the monsters covet is right here.”
“…Sir Fernandez? I know it’s a joke, but please don’t. It’s horrifying.”
Fernandez had smoothly answered the grumbling by continuing the Journey to the West comparison. Jeong-Hoon shook his head. The implication was clear: the suddenly appearing demons were targeting him.