A Trash Skill and a Hungry Demon

"You're not even a black mage to begin with, are you?"

"I might not be a black mage, but I do have black magic skills."

"How on earth... No, never mind." Lee Se-yeon waved her hand. Come to think of it, there was nothing strange about Tae-hyun having black magic.

I should stop being surprised by whatever skills Kim Tae-hyun has.

"But you asked me to help you with your singing skill, yet you didn't ask for help with your black magic skill. I guess you just acquired it and didn't bother leveling it up?"

"......"

Tae-hyun paused. Oh? Come to think of it, she was right.

"Don't tell me you forgot about it?"

"Of course not. You're busy, and asking you to help with your main skill would be shameless..."

He totally forgot! Lee Se-yeon fumed. He talked about his singing skill but forgot about black magic?

"Besides, my black magic skill is a bit unusual."

"Did you learn a special skill?" Lee Se-yeon wasn't surprised. A special black magic skill obtained from a specific quest instead of a standard one wasn't common, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but it wasn't unheard of either. For someone like Tae-hyun, it was par for the course.

"If it's a special skill... did you learn Salz Kingdom's black magic, or maybe Nekanet-sal's black magic? I doubt even you could learn Ancient Empire black magic."

"Well."

"Why? You don't have to hide it."

"...I inherited Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic."

"......"

Lee Se-yeon was speechless. Are you actually a black mage?

"Why do you have that?!"

"I was forced to take it as a reward during the last Nebuchadnezzar raid, okay?"

"Ah...!" Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Se-yeon understood immediately. If he participated in the Nebuchadnezzar raid, inheriting it as a reward made sense.

"Wait. If it's Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic, shouldn't it be incredibly good?"

It was a name even Lee Se-yeon would covet. But Tae-hyun shook his head.

"It's not?"

"It's terrible." Tae-hyun explained what kind of skill Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic was. First of all, he lost most of the black magic skills he originally had (though he didn't have many to begin with). What remained was summoning and curses, and even those were randomized.

Why random? Lee Se-yeon tilted her head. It was because of his Avatar of Archisus class, but she had no way of knowing that.

"Ah... that can't be helped. Special skills only level up when you find the corresponding quests or skill books."

To level up Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic, he had to find the various magic skills Nebuchadnezzar had used. For normal black magic, one could visit the Magic Tower or find a black mage NPC to learn new skills, but that wouldn't work for something of Nebuchadnezzar's caliber. It was bound to be difficult.

"Still, it must be a good skill. It's rare, after all."

"Mmm." Tae-hyun hesitated. The Avatar of Archisus was technically categorized as a Legendary Class, but...!

"It's annoying how the undead regain their senses and get buffed whenever I pass by. Is there no way around this?"

"...I don't really know what to say to that." Even Lee Se-yeon was at a loss for words. A passive ability that restored sanity to mindless undead and buffed them? It was too bizarre for her to offer any advice.

"With this, if I turn the King into an undead, can I make him regain his senses?"

"If the King has lost his ego, it might be possible, but..."

First of all, it was unlikely the King would be in a mindless state. Raising a corpse of the King's caliber would yield at least a named undead. And usually, such undead retained their memories and minds from when they were alive.

"He'll probably be sane the moment you summon him anyway. He'll just get buffed."

"If he's sane, maybe I can persuade him..."

"No. Don't make it sound so easy. Undead are naturally eccentric and cranky." Lee Se-yeon spoke firmly. He shouldn't think of Undead Rise while picturing how the NPC looked in life. Death was a massive shock! The moment someone became undead, they changed drastically from their living self.

"How do they change?"

"Well... it's different for everyone, so it's hard to explain. But generally, they become extremely obsessed with something they failed to achieve in life, or the cause of their death, things like that."

"Aha." Tae-hyun understood immediately. Thinking about the undead related to the Archisus Church, it made perfect sense!

"In the King's case, would he obsess over the Erangs Kingdom? Or maybe killing the princes?"

"Who knows. He might obsess over something else entirely. And he might not limit his obsession to the Erangs Kingdom."

"?"

"I'm saying he might try to take the crown of the Atali Kingdom."

"...!"

A chill ran down Tae-hyun's spine. That was highly plausible. Tae-hyun was close to the King of Erance, but you could never truly know what was inside a person's heart. If the revived King ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Erance went, Hehehe, since things turned out like this, I might as well wear the Atali crown! Hand it over!...

"...It's probably best to put that off as long as possible."

"Yeah. It's better to hold off unless it's absolutely necessary." Lee Se-yeon wondered if she should be by Tae-hyun's side when he raised the King. An already powerful king getting buffed on top of that?

"It's a bit late to say this, but this really feels like a trash skill..."

"N-No, it has Nebuchadnezzar's name on it, so there must be more to it." Lee Se-yeon tried to comfort him. Surely, as the skill level rose, it would become incredibly powerful!

"And if you want to learn skills related to Nebuchadnezzar, there are dungeons. You should try raiding them later."

"There are dungeons like that?"

"Yeah. They're dungeons that have been brought up a few times among the rankers..."

"......"

Tae-hyun felt a sudden pang of annoyance toward the rankers. Those jerks, keeping all the good stuff to themselves!

"They're said to be Nebuchadnezzar-related dungeons?"

"And you didn't raid them?"

"I have plenty of quests to do and dungeons to clear, so why bother?" Lee Se-yeon didn't have much greed for Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic. She already had plenty of other black magic skills anyway.

"Ah. These dungeons haven't been fully cleared yet. A few floors have been cleared, but it seems they couldn't find the way down to the lower floors."

Some dungeons required clearing specific quests to descend to the next floor. If you couldn't find the quest, you couldn't progress at all.

"I see. Then right now..."

"...Where do you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think you're going!" Lee Se-yeon quickly grabbed Tae-hyun's sleeve. "Don't you see our teammates?"

Ryu Tae-su, watching them with sparkling eyes, and Ryu Da-young, waiting with a cold gaze!

"Ah. Right."

"So, what are we going to hunt?"

There were plenty of monsters to hunt. Tae-hyun had unconditional entry to the Atali Kingdom's dungeons (since he was the king), and he had decent access in other regions as well. He also had several accepted but uncleared quests...

Tae-hyun opened his Atali King interface for the first time in a while.

Various quests he could perform as a king! The rewards were small, but they granted buffs to the entire kingdom or increased his Reputation.

"Hmm... There are plenty of monsters, but not many difficult boss monsters. Most of them look like they'll be resolved before we even get there. Should we head outside?"

"Kim Tae-hyun. If possible, it's probably better to stick to monsters within the Atali Kingdom."

With several people eyeing the Atali Kingdom right now, leaving for a distant area felt highly risky.

Wait, why am I the one worrying about the kingdom? Lee Se-yeon thought. Tae-hyun was the king, not her, so why were their roles reversed...?

"Got it. Hmm... Oh. This one looks decent."

"Aaaack! Goladon spawned!"

Players screamed and fled. Recently, a major problem had arisen for players hunting in this peaceful area. The Hungry Demon, Goladon, had started appearing!

When a demon like that showed up in a field where players under level 100 usually hung out, there was simply no answer.

"It's like someone opened a black sack and released a Junior Balrog."

"?"

"??"

"???"

Ryu Tae-su, Ryu Da-young, and Lee Da-bi tilted their heads in confusion. What on earth does that mean?

"...Am I the only one who knows this?"

"Lee Se-yeon. I know it too, so don't cry." Tae-hyun comforted her. It was fine not to know!

"No, how can you guys not know that...?"

"Pressing the issue will only make you sadder, so let's drop it. More importantly, why is that guy even here?"

Tae-hyun's party was watching the plains below from atop their respective flying mounts. The boar-like demon, Goladon, was rampaging in all directions, attacking players. There was no reason for a boss monster like that to appear in such a weak field. It was definitely related to some quest.

"Throw some food!"

"G-Got it!"

The players seemed to have figured out a trick. Even low-level players could use their brains. They threw food on the ground and ran away. Sure enough, Goladon didn't bother chasing them and instead picked up the food to eat.

- Kyao?

"Bul-bul. That is not food," Tae-hyun said firmly. It might look like a roasted whole pig, but it's a demon!

- Is a creature that looks so foolish truly worthy of being our prey?

- Even if you are our Pope, you must not underestimate us.

The Garuda warriors snorted and expressed their dissatisfaction. They liked that it was a demon, but its behavior looked far too foolish! To the Garuda warriors, who valued the prestige of their opponents, such an enemy was hardly satisfying.

"Though he looks like that, he is an extremely powerful foe." Tae-hyun told a slight lie to appease the Garuda warriors. In truth, compared to the enemies Tae-hyun had faced so far, Goladon was on the weaker side. The very fact that he appeared in such a weak field was proof of his low tier! If Tae-hyun had truly wanted a near-impossible challenge, he would have gone to hunt a Demon Duke hiding in the distant mountain ranges. Right now, he just needed a moderate hunt.

"That mane of his deflects all kinds of attacks, and those tusks can even pierce through Archisus's evasion."

- No... is that really true??

- Kyao?

- Is that true, Master?

Why are you guys falling for it too? Tae-hyun sighed inwardly.

"Everyone, get out of the way! We're taking this one!"

While Tae-hyun's party watched from the sky, another party appeared.

"Oh dear. Are we getting it stolen?"

"With your skills, you could easily snatch it first, couldn't you?"

"Hmm. It looks like they've been waiting a long time, so swooping in and stealing it feels a bit..."

Lee Se-yeon was startled by Tae-hyun's words. What...!? You actually have a conscience?

"Why are you looking at me with that face?"

"N-No, nothing. I was just slightly impressed."

Behind them, Ryu Da-young also gave a very slight nod and spoke bluntly.

"...An admirable mindset for a top ranker."

"Right? There's a reason I'm his fa—"

"Be quiet."

"......"

Ryu Tae-su slumped at his sister's sharp words.

"Lee Se-yeon. She told you to be quiet."

"She wasn't talking to me!"

"Everyone, joking around is fine, but please look down there!" Lee Da-bi urgently pointed below.

While they were chatting, the situation below was turning into a complete mess.

"You idiots! How can you not even catch that!"

"Shut up, you chef! Who do you think you're ordering around!"

"We paid you a fortune to come here!"

"Quiet!"

The players who had failed to defeat Goladon and were flung away were now hurling insults at each other.

Watching this, Lee Da-bi tilted her head and said, "Tae-hyun, isn't that... the Restaurant Guild Master?"

"The Restaurant Guild! ...Who were they again?"