EP4. Cursed Dungeon
Jae-jun swung his sword relentlessly, slicing through ghoul after ghoul.
As he cut down the endless stream crawling out, his entire body was caked in sticky, dark red blood.
The number of ghouls he'd taken down was still pathetically low.
Ghoul defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 175/1000
Kraaaack!
Kraaaack!
He'd been swinging his sword for nearly an hour, and that was only 175.
In percentage terms, it was barely 17.5% progress.
'Hoo.'
Ghouls were numerous, but not particularly threatening.
Their attacks were limited to charging in and biting with their mouths or clawing with their nails.
Getting swarmed and taking constant wounds could be trouble, but Jae-jun's stats had already reached B-rank. No matter how many ghouls lunged at him, they couldn't win on physical terms alone.
Kraaaaaack!
Kraaaack!
The only issue?
The stench wafting from their bodies.
He didn't know how long they'd been buried underground, but most were rotting away, assaulting his nose with the smell of decay.
It was like the stench of vomit left to fester for days.
Slash.
Jae-jun irritably decapitated a ghoul lunging at him with its mouth wide open.
Kraaaack!
Please, at least close your mouth.
In that brief moment, Jae-jun severed the heads of ten more ghouls.
Ghoul defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 185/1000
The upside was that these monsters occasionally dropped magical cores.
They were only E- and D-grade, but with their sheer numbers, he'd already collected over ten.
Lowest-grade Magical Core moved to inventory.
Jae-jun's face lit up every time he picked one up.
Even if it was one per ten kills, a thousand meant a hundred cores.
He'd thought it was just mindless grinding at first, but it was turning into a gold mine.
Kraaaaaack!
Kraaaack!
Then, at some point, the ghouls started thinning out until the last one stopped coming.
Slash!
Ghoul defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 200/1000
'What?'
The ghouls emerging from the hole under the broken statue had vanished.
But there were still 800 left to go?
Grrrrrr.
The moment Jae-jun felt puzzled, a dragging sound echoed from the cave ceiling.
No way?
His gaze locked onto the small hole pierced in the cave ceiling.
Screeech—
Something moved inside the hole.
A small arm poked out, then retracted, repeating the motion.
It seemed desperate to emerge but was too cramped.
Grrrrrrruk!
Another dragging sound, and suddenly multiple holes appeared in the ceiling.
Tiny arms protruded from every one, twitching frantically.
Thin, membranous wings were visible along their inner sides.
Sure enough, his worst fears were confirmed.
Screeeeech!
Screeech!
Winged monsters burst out from the countless holes amid the flapping sounds.
'Damn it!'
They resembled small gargoyles or winged goblins.
The differences were their long tails and red skin.
Screeech!
Screeeeech!
The monsters flew around chaotically before spotting Jae-jun and hurling fireballs at him.
Fwoosh!
Boom!
Jae-jun swung his sword to slice or dodge the fireballs as best he could.
But with dozens flinging them at once, his body began to smolder bit by bit.
'Why can these things use mana!'
Thud-thud-thud!
Slash!
Jae-jun kicked off the wall, leaped up, and in an instant, decapitated five monsters.
Small Imp defeated.
Small Imp defeated.
Small Imp defeated.
Small Imp defeated.
Small Imp defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 205/1000
Unlike ghouls that mindlessly charged, these small imps were flying types, making each one tricky to catch.
And with their ranged attacks, Jae-jun had no room to relax.
Screeech!
Screeech!
The silver lining was their low durability—one graze from his blade, and they dropped dead.
Thud-thud-thud!
Slash!
Screeech!
Screeeeech!
Once more, the grind of endurance and harvest began.
Jae-jun felt his fatigue building as time wore on.
His stamina stat was B-rank, impressively high, but chasing flying monsters meant constant leaping and pursuit. Exhaustion soaked into him like rain drenching dry cloth.
Slash!
Screeech!
Small Imp defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 475/1000
Lowest-grade Magical Core moved to inventory.
'Hoo.'
If only I could use skills to wipe them out at once.
Screeeeech!
More lesser imps poured out from the ceiling holes.
'Should I summon Hestia?'
Hestia is in her first growth phase.
Unable to summon.
Time remaining: 3 hours
Damn it.
Any other options?
Then Jae-jun recalled the "Demon Vassal" option from killing the vampire.
Should I designate one now?
Better than nothing.
You can designate a Demon Vassal as a reward.
Vassal Designation Slots: 0/1
Designate a vassal?
'Yeah. Give me something useful.'
A list of possible vassals appeared.
Surprisingly, it included monsters Jae-jun had killed before.
And among them were some he thought might be decent.
[Giant Centipede]
[Worker Ant]
[Choi Sung-woo]
[Wanderer Orc Tilke]
[Hobgremblin]
[Queen Ant]
[Gargoyle]
[Twin-Head Ogre Weger]
[Lich]
[Troll]
'No vampire or Bairu. Shame.'
Demons seemed unavailable, unfortunately.
Then a familiar name caught his eye.
'Choi Sung-woo?'
Incredibly, the list included Choi Sung-woo, whom Jae-jun had killed.
He was tempted by the orc Tilke or twin-head ogre Weger, but Choi Sung-woo's human form appealed too—easy to bring around outside.
'What if I designate and don't like it? Can I redesignate?'
As if answering his thought, a new window popped up.
Ding.
Vassals cannot be redesignated.
'Got it.'
After a moment's thought, Jae-jun designated Choi Sung-woo as his first vassal.
'Designate Choi Sung-woo.'
Choi Sung-woo designated as vassal.
Can summon immediately.
Summon?
'Yeah.'
The moment he agreed to summon Choi Sung-woo, something shlooped out of Jae-jun's body.
It was mana—useless here anyway.
The materialized mana gathered before him, slowly forming a human shape.
He was buck naked, without a stitch on.
Choi Sung-woo stood there blankly staring at Jae-jun.
"Can you hear me?"
Choi Sung-woo nodded and knelt.
A posture of perfect submission.
"Can't talk?"
Choi Sung-woo opened his mouth.
"Grrooooaaar—"
"..."
What the hell was that?
He clearly lacked normal intelligence.
Vassal name can be changed.
Change?
Jae-jun thought for a moment, then agreed to change it.
Calling him Choi Sung-woo felt off.
"You go 'grroar,' so how about Gworyeok?"
"Grrooooaaar—"
"Yeah. From now on, your name is Gworyeok."
"Grrooooaaaar—"
Gworyeok looked dissatisfied, but Jae-jun ignored it.
If you don't like it, be the boss yourself.
Vassal name designated.
Gworyeok
You can now view vassal's status window.
Jae-jun immediately checked Gworyeok's status.
It was simpler than his own but neatly organized.
'F-rank?'
So it kept the rank from before death after all.
And it was still listed as a ghoul.
Suddenly, Gworyeok seemed even more pathetic.
But.
'You never know. Maybe he fights well.'
Jae-jun's hopes shattered watching Gworyeok face the small imps.
"Grrooooaaark—"
Gworyeok wildly swung his fists at a small imp.
Screeech!
Screeeeech!
But the imp easily flew to the ceiling, out of reach.
Gworyeok ended up swarmed and burned to death by fireballs.
Slash!
Jae-jun seized the opening to decapitate the clustered imps.
Small Imp defeated.
Monsters Subjugated: 500/1000
Moments later, Gworyeok reformed via Jae-jun's mana and was resummoned.
"Grrooooaaark!"
As if he'd never died, Gworyeok shook his rattle-like limbs and bellowed energetically.
Watching him, Jae-jun realized how to use Gworyeok.
—Afterword—
Thank you.