An Ability-Exclusive Item

A necklace had dropped. A red crystal hung from a black chain, and inside it a flame throbbed like a pulse. The moment he put it on, a faint heat bled into his skin.

Oh. This is nice.

Two lines of options, and that was all. For a start, his maximum mana had gone up.

Stack what the Slaughterer's Seal already added with the necklace, and I should be able to cast Fire Rain twice.

That was the part that mattered. The Slaughterer raised his stats. The necklace raised his max mana. Twenty percent mana efficiency on top of both, and he had just enough for two casts.

Two in a row, and I don't even have to drink a mana potion.

A disaster-grade skill, no less. To anyone else it might have been a trivial thing. To him, the weight of those two casts was considerable.

The next day. A weekend, and he wasn't going in to work.

"Doyuni's so excited! The supermarket's the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠best!"

"Ayuni wants to go to the kids' café..."

Doyun wanted the supermarket. Ayun wanted the kids' café. Twins, and still this different.

"Then we hit the supermarket, and the kids' café after that!"

Why not? If they both wanted something, he could give them both. Heh heh heh.

"Honey. Are you sure you'll be all right?"

Of course it wasn't that simple. The twins' stamina was no joke, and it got worse when both of them were tearing around at once.

But what did it matter, this way or that? He'd been in such a good mood lately that the hard parts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't even register.

"And one more thing! Today Daddy's buying Doyun and Ayun one toy each, whatever you want! Pick anything!"

"Yaaaay! So exciting! Doyuni's gonna buy a beep-beep! Gonna buy a beep-beep!"

"Ayuni's gonna buy a dolly! A dolly!"

"Mommy, Mommy! The Poli song! Play the Poli song!"

Overjoyed, Doyun picked the track himself—the police robot he'd been glued to lately.

"Robocar! Poliiii!"

"An! Y! Where! We'll ruuuuun!"

The pronunciation was all over the place, but they hit the pitch and the beat. A concert unfolded from the back seat.

"They're really loving this."

"Haha. Then we're happy too. I've always wanted to buy them whatever toys they asked for, you know that. It just felt like too much."

"I know. We can't live in this little villa forever."

"Right. From now on we buy the toys without worrying about it. The house will sort itself out soon enough."

How much had he made in a single week? A hundred and fifty thousand dollars had landed from the government contract. Even before that, he'd already earned a full year's salary. And the government was still waiting in line for the fourth-floor materials.

Those ought to bring in a few hundred thousand on their own.

The second- and third-floor materials had come to a hundred and fifty thousand, and on the fourth floor he'd gotten even more. Higher floor, better quality. He'd have to sort through it once they got home.

At a red light, he glanced back. The car was a compact sedan, a little tight for a family of four.

"Should we get a new car, too?"

If they were going to, then a roomy SUV.

"Wooow!"

They'd reached the toy aisle, and Doyun went straight for the cars.

"This one's a Benz! This one's a Bee-Em-Double-You! This one's a Genesis! This one's Daddy's car! This one's Grandma's car! This one's Grandpa's car! This one's Uncle's car!"

He could tell every one of them from the shape alone. Maybe because he was a boy, cars had him hooked, and every time they passed one he wanted to know what it was.

"Oh! Whoa! D-Daddy! Look at this! It's huuuge!"

Something had hooked Doyun hard. A giant excavator toy. Lately he'd fallen headfirst into heavy machinery.

"You want it, Doyun?"

"Yeah! I want it so, so bad!"

He slid a look at the price. ...Huh? What? How much was that?

A hundred and fifty dollars?

Ah. So it's one of those. Luxury goods, toy edition? The kind that even comes with a warranty?

"Okay. If Doyun wants it, Daddy'll buy it!"

"Yahoo! So exciting!"

Boing, boing—Doyun hopped in place, too happy to hold still, and the sight pulled a smile out of him before he knew it.

Once upon a time, that price would've been a real burden.

Now, though. This much is...

So they bought the kids their toys, and piled the cart with snacks from the grocery aisle. His own snacks included, of course.

I could go for some wine.

He'd always been a beer man. Well—he'd always liked drinking in general. Beer was just the cheap option. Ahem. One bottle of wine couldn't hurt, could it?

He flexed a little, in his own way, trading beer for wine. His wife did the same, picking up a bit of beef on the grounds that it was for the kids.

That evening they came home dragging tired bodies.

"The kids?"

"Out cold. I changed their clothes and they didn't even stir."

They'd run them ragged at the supermarket, then run them ragged at the kids' café. The effort had paid off. The two of them had been asleep since the car.

"Didn't you overdo it today? The toys, the food, all of it."

"It's fine. This much is nothing. I told you how much I made."

"Even so. Are you really all right? You're working your job and hunting on top of it. I'm worried you'll burn yourself out."

His wife meant the worry. But what was there to worry about?

"I'm fine. The hunter work doesn't even take an hour a day."

It was a second job, sure. Just a short one. Anyway.

He was watching TV. A broadcast chatting away about the hunter industry. Today's topic was hidden monsters.

A hidden monster's greatness wasn't only in the materials. Kill one, and a national buff came with it.

That was the power of a national buff. There had been a time when China didn't stand anywhere near this high. Then, all at once, it had surged—and every bit of that surge was thanks to national buffs.

And so the broadcast drifted on.

Hidden monsters.

The thought pulled a hidden item up with it. The Staff of Calamity, especially. That thing had been something else.

With the thirty thousand mana on that, I could cast Fire Rain several times over.

Spam it, literally. He was already this strong. If he could spam on top of that...

"Can't you catch a hidden monster?"

His wife asked it then, eyes bright.

"With those, catching or not catching isn't the issue. Sure, taking one down means dozens of people have to dogpile it, but the real problem is the condition that calls it out. There's no way to know exactly what that is."

"Oh, right. You said every hidden monster has different conditions?"

"Yeah. That's the problem. So... I should probably assume I can't catch one."

The state itself was out looking. Even then, most of them went unfound. What was he supposed to do about something like that on his own?

"You bought wine earlier, though. Why aren't you drinking it? The kids are asleep, so drink in peace. If they wake up, I'll handle them."

"Ah, I'm heading into the Tower in a bit. Today's the day I clear the fifth floor."

"Aigoo, aren't you exhausted? Just rest today. It's the weekend anyway, and it's not like you have to climb right this second."

She had a point. There was no rush. Even so...

"It'll only take a moment. One trip up and back, and our house changes. Our car changes."

Worth the time. And there was one more reason he wanted to go. The next floor was the fifth. Clear the fifth, and...

What'll the second skill turn out to be?

He could learn one more new skill.

Shanghai, China. The air inside the Heavenly Dragon Gate was anything but ordinary.

The guild master's loaded voice rolled through the hall.

"From this moment, every guild member cleared for the fifth floor will enter the Tower as one. Confirm how many of our people share your phase, and if you number at least fifty, each group will proceed to deal with the hidden monster."

The Heavenly Dragon Gate counted a hundred thousand members in all. Of those, roughly a thousand had reached the fifth floor, and even that number had been gathered on purpose—to hunt a hidden monster.

So a thousand of them entered at the same time. Guild members found one another inside their own phases, and the moment the numbers were met, the operation began.

Meet the spawn conditions, and a hidden monster appeared in every phase. Only one place, though, could claim the reward.

Whoever finished first took it. The hidden monsters in every other phase simply disappeared.

"Waaaaaah!"

A vast hall. A thousand voices roared, and they stepped through as one.

The Tower of Trials, fifth floor. The backdrop was yet another ruined city.

"Found them."

"How many?"

"Ten in all. Your side?"

"Five. Let's wait a little longer."

Heavenly Dragon Gate members were meeting there, guild members scattered in every direction drawing together. An hour later—

"Good. With this many, we can take our shot."

Fifty had assembled in all. Enough to attempt it. And so the work began.

"This is the place, right?"

"Certain. Lay the flowers on the grave at the dead center of the cemetery, then topple the headstone immediately."

"...Let's begin."

Flowers were set before the grave. A moment later, they stood in front of the shattered headstone.

The ground groaned and heaved.

The message flared across that phase. A hidden-monster appearance notice.

"Everyone, attack!"

It was never going to be an ordinary attack. Their gear had been tuned for the undead from the start, and they threw themselves in with everything they had.

Booms ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tore the air. Lightning cracked, shattered, and crashed down again.

All fifty of them unleashed their attacks at once. Even so, it wasn't easy.

The hidden monster fought back hard, and those blows wounded several of them. But this was not a fight they could abandon.

"D-don't any of you give up!"

Knocked down, they hurled themselves in again. The wounded piled up. They still had the numbers.

"O-oh!"

"Incredible. Is this the weapon that thing was using?"

"And what are all these materials? There's so many of them!"

"Twice as much as the other hidden bastards drop!"

And that wasn't all. Materials poured out with them. Practically a jackpot.

"That's it! Now we just have to escape with this!"

"Move. We've still got a good twenty of us, so nobody's laying a hand on us easily! Hahaha!"

"I can't wait to see what kind of buff this gets us. Kehehe."

Twenty of them moving as one. Escape was, for all practical purposes, already decided.

The ground rumbled.

And then—

"W-what is this?"

"...A red sky?"

"No way."

The sky had turned red all at once.

...That bastard was here?

A piercing shriek ripped the air. Then another.

"...Damn it."