The Purifier's Reward

It was there, but now it's gone. 'Hmm... No need to make his death particularly painful.' From what I'd seen, the others didn't seem all that miserable either. 'Still, I'll squeeze every last bit of use out of him before I'm done.'

"Ugh? Mm?!"

I shoved a healing potion into the mouth of the man who looked like he was about to die any second. As I forced the water from Irmana's Lake down his throat from the brown bottle, he glared at me with suspicion before squeezing his eyes shut and gulping it all down at once.

A moment later, the blood that had been steadily dripping from the seven holes began to slow, and his deathly pale face gradually regained some color. It wouldn't heal all the injuries I'd inflicted in one go, but the man who would have surely died otherwise now had a chance to live.

He stared at me with wide eyes, clearly shocked by the potion's effect. I ignored his gaze and took advantage of this rare opportunity to grind my skill levels again.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwaaack! Thwack!

"Wh-what are you— Stop—!"

I struck his head dozens of times with a wooden stick while using Depressed Sneaky Drain. Once again, the skill leveled up.

'Whoa... It leveled up again? Why does this one level so easily? Is it because it was a fused skill? Hmm...'

The level had increased, but the only change was a longer duration. Still, since raising skill levels wasn't easy, I was satisfied.

"Krrgh... Please spare me..."

'How does it feel to be the one suffering from a status ailment? Hurts, doesn't it?'

Nam Yong-seok, now under [Depressed], began licking the floor with his tongue while groaning in pain. After a few prompts from me, the man whose mental strength had hit rock bottom confessed to his crimes.

He had already brainwashed over five hundred people with his ability. Those who became his complete slaves had their life force slowly drained by him, and he explained that if he called, they would run to him no matter how far away they were.

'Hah, what an absurd skill. This has to be near the top tier, right? No wonder he grew so powerful with an ability like this.'

The skill description alone made my mouth water, but since Thievery only worked on monsters, there was nothing I could do about it.

"Clack clack clack..."

"N-no!"

Once I was done, I activated Stealth, drew my dagger, and drove it into his widely exposed neck. Crunch— Crackle— The sound of the blade tearing through flesh and muscle before piercing and shattering his cervical vertebrae filled the silent basement.

"Grrrk...! Kk..."

Thud—

'That was rather anticlimactic. Almost disappointing, really.'

I felt like I'd left something unfinished, but that feeling vanished the moment a message appeared after he collapsed.

The message was completely different from anything I'd seen before.

'Whoa?! What the—? That's completely different. What's this Purifier of the Korean Peninsula? Interesting.'

Unlike achievements such as Novice Miner or Orc Adversary, this one seemed limited to a specific region. It was the first time I'd encountered this type of achievement.

'Well, that's a relief. So it was an independent organization.'

Contrary to my expectations, Nam Yong-seok had no connection to the Blue Eye, nor was he part of any group related to Evolution Stones. He belonged to an entirely separate organization, and I had just eliminated its leader.

'So that's how it is... Makes sense. The organization he would have built later was massive. Still, it probably wasn't on the level of the Blue Eye...'

At least now I knew that the forces identifiable through Mimicry weren't limited to colossal powers like the Blue Eye. Perhaps I didn't need to be overly afraid of organizations connected to Evolution Stones after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all. The thought that there might be another group on the scale of the Blue Eye had been despair-inducing, but now a sliver of hope had appeared.

'Hmm... Villains on the level of the Black Sect... If that's the case, there must be quite a few of them.'

Villains weren't limited to our country either. I didn't know their locations, but they were surely lurking all over the world. If I killed a villain in Japan, would I get something like Purifier of the Japanese Archipelago?

While I was lost in thought, the voices of people waking up in pain began to echo through the basement.

- Krrgh... My head...

- Ugh, mm...? Where am I...?

The people who had been under Nam Yong-seok's control were starting to wake up one by one. Fortunately, they didn't seem to remember what had happened.

I stored Nam Yong-seok's corpse in my inventory first, then scanned the waking people with my sensory wave.

'Hmm... There's still some aphrodisiac energy left, but the other filthy stuff seems to have dissipated. As expected, once the source is gone, the effects disappear too.'

At this point, it seemed fine to leave them to handle things themselves. No need for me to get involved any further.

Whoosh—

I immediately left the basement and headed home. This was an unexpected harvest. I'd thought of it as a way to raise one stat point per day at best if I got lucky, but the reward was far greater. Of course, opportunities to catch promising future villains weren't common, but you never knew.

'Looks like I have one more reason to use Mimicry regularly from now on.'

I needed to use it whenever the twenty-four-hour cooldown ended to squeeze out every possible benefit. The reward message floating in my mind only strengthened that resolve.

'The stat gain from the kill isn't just one point—it's a whopping sixty?! And my level went up too. Whoa... Is this what hitting the lottery feels like?'

I quickly calmed my excitement and checked the achievement I'd obtained from defeating Nam Yong-seok first.

'...... Whoa! Holy—!'

It was an achievement so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impressive that curses almost slipped out. I hadn't received the skill yet, but if I eliminated just one more 'Great Villain,' I could obtain Nam Yong-seok's skill.

'The description doesn't look like much, but once the level rises, it'll probably show the same overwhelming power Nam Yong-seok had.'

The ability to create subordinates who would absolutely obey my commands. Heh heh heh, I couldn't resist this. To obtain such a power, I'd used Sneaky Drain on Nam Yong-seok until my mana was depleted. If I could get it through an achievement, there was no need to waste time doing that again.

Of course, it required catching another villain on the level of a 'Great Villain.'

'Once I get it, it might even fuse with the leveled-up Sneaky Drain. No matter how I look at it, this is good. I really want this.'

Nam Yong-seok, Nam Yong-seok. Who else was there like him? Argh... My memory's fuzzy. I definitely needed to transform into my own appearance when using Mimicry tomorrow. That way, I could focus and recall the information properly.

The skill Succubus Domain. The name alone suggested it wasn't an ordinary ability. The fortunate part was that, unlike Nam Yong-seok, I didn't need to form relationships to create Yin Demon subordinates. The tangled mess of people I'd seen earlier must have been due to his personal preferences rather than a requirement of the skill.

'If it had required forming relationships to work, it would've been all show and no substance. Since I can't do that sort of thing with people...'

With this body and a woman...? Yeah, that definitely wasn't happening.

Then a sudden doubt crossed my mind. Could I really not do it?

Swish—

I looked down. There was nothing symbolizing masculinity inside the bone armor—only the Big Boar's hide filled the space.

'... So I'm impotent...'

The part I'd been somewhat confident about in my past life was now nothing more than a distant memory in my head.

'... Still, while using Mimicry, mimicking it might be possible. Ahem— It's a crazy thought, but...'

Anyway, the condition for Succubus Domain was simply keeping the targets from leaving the space, so depending on how you looked at it, it wasn't that difficult. However, to do that, I'd either need to be overwhelmingly stronger than the targets or possess an ability to immobilize them for a certain period of time—which wasn't easy.

With [Depressed], there was at least some possibility.

'Well, still. Having a way to increase my subordinates is a good thing. Especially since the more subordinates I have, the more my own stats rise. Hah... This is seriously overpowered.'

My level had risen for the first time in a while. I'd been stuck at level 50, but now I'd finally taken a step forward. I invested the stat points from the level-up into Perception, Agility, and Wisdom, as planned.

I added to Wisdom because the attack power of the bombs I'd used for initiation had felt slightly lacking.

With the previously low Health and Resistance stats now significantly increased, my overall stats had become well-balanced. Quite satisfying. It was a bit disappointing that Resistance—the stat with the lowest utility—had risen after catching such a big fish, but considering I'd gained sixty stats from defeating a C-rank boss, it was an absolute win.

As I slowly glided back toward home, various thoughts crossed my mind.

'The part about "would have surely caused great chaos in this country"... It's a bit chilling.'

I didn't want to attach too much meaning to the message, but perhaps the System already had records of everything that would happen in the future? Or maybe it could predict future events based on current occurrences at a prophetic level. Either way, it was a spine-chilling thought.

'Well... There are guys like Jo Giman who have lived seven lives. It's a world where nothing is impossible.'

Creak—

When I entered the house, Yeonhee and the summons waiting in the living room greeted me. Why isn't she asleep yet?