Egypt (3)
For starters, the two men were in terrible shape.
Even setting aside the fact that Han Minwoo had only injured his lower legs, the giant's condition was dire.
"Hold on! Just bear with it a little longer!"
Yoo Seon-ah rushed over with a worried expression and began treatment.
Vwoooong!
1st Circle Low Heal and 2nd Circle Healing Light. Perhaps because she was an Orthodox Mage specialized in every attribute, the healing was actually taking hold.
"Khh—so you had healing magic. Thank you," Han Minwoo managed.
"Thank me later... You should be thanking him for being here," Yoo Seon-ah said, pointing at Seo Hwarang with her eyes.
She's right.
Even if Yoo Seon-ah's healing was good, it was still below 2nd Circle. At best, it would maintain their condition—or improve it slightly.
But Seo Hwarang?
Seo Hwarang had Mastery.
"Excuse me for a moment. Step aside."
First things first—he needed to dispel the burn status ailment.
2nd Circle.
Master Cleanse.
The thing that made Master Cleanse so broken wasn't just that it made you spotless—it also carried a 'purification' effect.
He cleansed both men's bodies first. Then, mixing Aqua Splash with Ice Needles, he drew the heat out of their flesh. That alone would be enough to kill the searing pain.
"Haa—haa! Thank you! I appreciate it!"
Jackson Steel, whose breathing had nearly stopped, now gasped for air, visibly more comfortable, and poured out his gratitude.
"We... we really have met our saviors."
Han Minwoo was just as stunned. He'd known the man was no ordinary person—after all, he had erased that horrifying lizard with a single wave of his staff. It went without saying.
Definitely S-rank.
But had Korea ever had an S-rank like this?
Not at all.
There were only ten S-rank awakened in the country. Their faces were known nationwide.
Which means...
An unregistered awakened. Someone concealing their status from the government. Some did it simply because registration was a hassle, but most were tied up with criminal circles.
Gulp.
Han Minwoo swallowed nervously. Seo Hwarang, for his part, simply focused on the treatment.
"Now, let's restore you properly."
Twooong!
2nd Circle.
Master Healing Light.
Healing Light. The energy of light pouring from his staff mended the targets' wounds and restored their vitality. It was originally a spell used for light injuries or recovering from fatigue...
But Mastery is a different beast.
Kwaaah!
As if a saint were pouring out divine power, the waves of light gently wrapped around the two men's bodies. It went without saying that it existed on a completely different plane from anything Yoo Seon-ah could cast.
What's more, the healing output of a restoration spell was directly influenced by its damage stat. Thanks to the power of the Legendary staff, the torn flesh knitted back together, and the swollen, blistered burns began subsiding in an instant.
"A-aaah..."
"Holy shit...!"
Everyone's jaws hung open in awe. Strength was returning to legs that had lost all feeling—and the pain, too, seemed to have vanished entirely.
"You truly are an incredible man."
"Kamsa! Thank you! I am Jackson Steel. I pay my respects to you!"
Well then. He'd saved them, more or less by accident, but he was a little curious. There was a fellow Korean among them, after all—and he wondered how they'd ended up in a place like this, and how they managed to hunt here.
Still. He was these men's savior. It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?
The first surprise: both of them were only twenty-five.
With those faces?
The foreigner and Han Minwoo both looked at least ten years older than them...
"I suppose it's all the experience. I can feel the veteranship even compared to myself," Seo Hwarang said.
"Hahaha, I get that a lot, Hyung-nim!"
Ugh.
It felt strange being called 'Hyung-nim' by a guy who looked like a middle-aged uncle.
"And please, speak casually with us! Running into fellow countrymen in a foreign land like this—it's a treat! You ladies too, feel free to speak comfortably!"
Yoo Seon-ah was thirty. Park Juhee was twenty-seven. Seo Hwarang was twenty-eight. All of them older than Han Minwoo.
"Alright, first things first," Yoo Seon-ah said, asking the first question. "How do we sleep around here? Do we just pick a building we're passing by and move in? Somewhere like a hotel?"
Tonight they could rough it, but from tomorrow they'd have to manage their condition. They couldn't hunt without sleeping.
"Hmm, well..." Han Minwoo scratched his head. "Honestly, there's a group that came down from Cairo recently, and they've been a real headache."
Those guys?
Some kind of criminal organization, then?
"They're criminals who roam this area plundering, and the problem is that an S-rank awakened is leading them... I wouldn't recommend finding lodging in this city. If it weren't for that Calamity Beast, we'd have left the city ourselves by now."
Ah. Just like Park Juhee had said—it being a lawless zone, the various factions were probably fighting over territory and control.
"Then what should we do?" Park Juhee asked. "There are plenty of dungeons besides this city anyway. Should we just follow the road north?"
"Mm." Seo Hwarang nodded. "That sounds fine. No sense clashing with anyone we don't have to."
Their goal was coin farming, not people farming. They'd camped plenty of times before—build a rough fire, sleep, and wash themselves and their clothes with Cleanse. As for food... they could probably grab some ingredients from the city and make do.
Then what about these two?
What else? They'd go their separate ways, each on their own path.
But the two men clearly didn't see it that way.
"Hyung-nim!"
"Sirs!"
"If you're heading up toward Cairo, would you allow us to accompany you that far?"
"We need you! Help!"
"......"
They wanted to travel together?
Just as Seo Hwarang was weighing what to do—
Taadadada!
Gunshots rang out from somewhere, and Seo Hwarang instinctively threw up a Master Magic Shield in front of them.
"Who is it?"
At the same time, figures emerged one by one from the shadows. Some carried guns; others wielded swords, bows, and other weapons.
"H-Hyung-nim! It's them! The ones I told you about!"
"...The criminal organization?"
Why were they here? And those guns—had they really just fired at them?
A faint irritation began to rise. He'd been all set to simply walk away. Excuse me?
Shwk.
Should I just take out the trash while I'm at it?
"Did you guys catch that fire lizard earlier?" someone called out, swaggering forward. Park Juhee translated for him.
"They're asking if we caught the Flame Lizard."
"Yeah, we did. What's it to them?"
"They're... demanding we hand over the core and leave. And they want me and Seon-ah unnie to stay behind. They said some other things too, but it was so vile I can barely bring myself to repeat it."
Oh boy.
So they'd finally crossed the line.
After they'd gone this far, there was no way Seo Hwarang was going to sit back and take it.
What's more—
[Ding!]
A new quest has arrived.
Eradicate the Criminal Organization (S-rank)
📖 Objective: Completely wipe out the vicious criminal organization that has taken control of the city.
⚔ Targets:
◈ Eliminate the Organization Leader (0/1)
◈ Eliminate the Organization Executives (0/5)
🎁 Reward:100,000 Coins, Random Summon Ticket (Legendary)
⏳ Time Limit:10 hours
Hold on, though.
S-rank?
Huh?
The highest quest grade he'd received so far was B-rank—the one for winning Gerard's Tournament. And even that had only granted a single Legendary item...
And now it was S-rank? Just how hard was this supposed to be?
But still.
His mouth was watering, he had to admit. Just look at the reward. A Legendary summon ticket, of all things.
But—
"What do we do about this?"
"Sirs! We! Run away! Right now!"
Jackson made a terrified face, and Han Minwoo shook his head back and forth. "Hyung-nim! The one leading that group is an S-rank awakened! He wields a sword, so he's at the very least a Sword Master!"
"......"
A Sword Master. That was the same realm as Duke Grayden Waldheim, whom he'd met back then. The equivalent of 7th Circle in magic.
This might actually be a bit rough.
"Besides, if you die holding the core in your inventory, it drops outside your body. They'll absolutely try to kill you for it," Han Minwoo added.
Hah.
So the core dropped as an item on death, too.
But it was already too late. Quest or no quest—the moment they'd told him to leave two women behind, his mind had been made up.
Focus.
Strangely enough, he didn't feel afraid. He didn't feel anxious, either. How curious—even facing an S-rank awakened, this was all he felt.
"Are you really going to fight? Not running?" Yoo Seon-ah murmured, pressing close to his side with a worried expression.
"Juhee, get behind Jackson over there."
"O-okay."
Dart!
Park Juhee scurried to hide behind Jackson, terrified of catching a stray bullet.
"Whew."
Seo Hwarang let out a short breath and nodded. "From now on, I'm getting serious."
As he raised every spell he had at once—
"Kill!"
"Attack!"
—the enemy began moving in earnest as well.
The Dark Swordsman, Kai.
He was an S-rank awakened, and the leader of an infamous band that roamed the ruins of Egypt, living off plunder and crime.
In truth, he had only recently expanded into the capital city of Cairo—to clear more monsters and more dungeons.
But then.
Kai had been forced to confront a horrifying monster there.
A Calamity Beast?
No. It was on an entirely different level from those. A golden tiger—and it had looked dozens of times stronger than any Calamity Beast. That single existence had razed all of Cairo to the ground. Criminal organizations, awakened, survivors—everyone had been all but forced to abandon the city.
Kai wanted that monster. A beast like that would surely drop a core surpassing even a Calamity Beast's. With it in hand, he might make the world rankings—the tier reserved for the very strongest of S-ranks. At that point, wealth and power of every kind would come flocking to him, no matter where he holed up.
And so Kai had returned to Damietta Governorate. His plan was to gather cores here and rebuild his strength by plundering the awakened.
Swish.
In the pitch-black night, Kai was swinging his sword in perfect silence.
Fwoosh!
Each time his blade carved through the air, a trace of deep darkness lingered in its wake.
"Hoo."
He was focusing on his breathing when—
"Boss!"
"Boss!"
Dumdumdum!
His underlings came sprinting from the distance, faces twisted with terror.
"What is it."
Kai halted his sword and cast them a frigid look.
"Enemies! A group of mages is cutting down our men! We tried to hold them off, but they're too strong! We expected it, seeing as it's the one who took down a Calamity Beast, but... it seems we need your help, Boss."
"......"
Kai fell silent for a moment.
Cores, is it.
Then he would go. The more he gathered, the better the items he could craft—and everything he crafted became power.
"Let's head over there."
"Yes, sir!"
Kai began to walk. His gait was leisurely, but the pressure radiating from him weighed down the very air around them.