A Devilish Bargain

The demon warrior lowered his spear. His expression showed he had completely lost any will to fight.

"If you're a human acquainted with the Great Demon Edaor, it's a bit awkward for me to touch you. Human, what brings you here?"

"Anything is fine. Supplies would be nice... I came to the Demon Realm looking for something, but I accidentally fell down here. Edaor would be terribly sad if he knew about this."

"Oh dear. As far as I know, there's no direct path from here to Edaor's floor. You'll have to cross through several layers. And it's a long journey."

"Oh no... and here I was, so eager to see Edaor!"

Tae-hyun's acting was reaching its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠peak. But internally, he was sighing with relief.

So Edaor is far away, huh?

Gathering information piece by piece through casual conversation! Tae-hyun's cunning was devilish—no, it surpassed that of any demon.

"So, it's fine for us to enter the village for now, right?"

"Yes. I shall permit that."

"However, I doubt you'll be able to buy anything here. Human currency doesn't work in this place."

"Then what do you use?"

"We use Soul Stones."

The demon pulled out a glowing pebble and shook it.

The message window popped up immediately. It seemed he needed a higher magic skill level to craft anything using Soul Stones.

"Is there any way to obtain Soul Stones? Perhaps some work you need done..."

"Bwahaha! What could a demon possibly ask of a human... is what I would normally say, but a human acquainted with Edaor must possess extraordinary abilities."

The demon scratched his chin and continued.

"Lately, those bastards from the village down by the valley have been acting up. That lava river is our territory. Could you take care of those troublemakers running wild over there?"

On the continent, this would have been an ordinary quest, but here, the significance was entirely different. He had successfully received a quest from a demon, in the Demon Realm itself!

"Of course I can do that!"

"From a demon..."

"You received a quest?"

The guild members stared at Tae-hyun with highly conflicted expressions. Their eyes held a complex mixture of emotions.

Half of it was awe: How on earth did he get a quest from a demon? That's amazing!

The other half was resignation: Of course, it's Kim Tae-hyun. Now he's even shaking down demons for quests!

"Yeah. Let's head to the lava river and hunt some demons. Judging by our fight earlier, even a basic demon warrior is no joke."

"Are they really that strong?"

"If possible, let's have everyone focus fire on one target at a time to finish them off quickly. That's the cleanest way. It would be troublesome if the Demer paladins died."

"Count Kim Tae-hyun...!"

Haron looked at Tae-hyun with deeply moved eyes. To think he would worry so much about the forces of another order.

If those paladins die, my contribution points will get docked.

Of course, Tae-hyun's inner thoughts were driven by an entirely different motive...

Gu Sung-wook raised his hand and asked, "By the way, did you find the location of the dimensional portal?"

"I plan to ask after we finish this quest. Have you ever dealt with demons before? They absolutely despise humans."

"Well, yes... they are demons, after all... But how did you manage to talk to him?"

"I spoke to him with absolute sincerity."

"..."

"Anyway, let's move fast! We need to hunt these demons and get back!"

The guild members were letting their guard down slightly. They were high-level players, and with a party of this size, they weren't a force that would easily be pushed back by ordinary monsters.

However...

Boom!

"Where do you insolent humans think you are?!"

They had underestimated them because there were only a few, but these demons possessed incredible power! Swimming in the lava river and immediately launching a counterattack, they were extraordinarily strong.

The guild members staggered, making their initial confident charge feel like a distant lie. They scrambled to huddle behind their shields to endure the onslaught!

"Whoa, they're amazing."

"Is this really the time to be admiring them?!"

Gu Sung-wook drew his dual swords and rushed toward a demon warrior. The demon swung a heavy mace, sending a chill down Sung-wook's spine with every evasion. Even with the gear they had painstakingly acquired, the demons' combat power was terrifyingly high.

If we hadn't gotten this gear, we would have been in serious trouble!

Weapon Deflection!

"Sung-wook!"

"I've got this! Everyone, watch out—"

Aki-sus's Divine Territory!

Tae-hyun quickly activated his skill. It was a waste of resources, but now was the time to use everything he had.

If we drag this fight out, their allies might show up.

Since this was a feud between neighboring demon villages, there were bound to be other demons nearby!

In an instant, a domain infused with the power of Akisus expanded around them. A divine territory that rained curses down upon any enemy who failed their Luck resistance!

"Akisus?!"

"Who dared to use the power of Akisus?!"

Even as the curses rained down on them, the demons rolled their bloodshot eyes, frantically searching for the source of Akisus's power! Their hatred for Akisus was palpable and deeply genuine.

What on earth did Akisus do to make them hate him this much?

And in situations like this, the one who always ended up suffering was the one lacking situational awareness. Namely, Cain!

"Akisus's Iron Wall! Faith as unyielding as steel!"

Seeing an opportunity, Cain chained his skills together. However, doing so was tantamount to drawing the aggro of every single demon in the vicinity.

"It's that bastard!"

"Kill him! Devour his very soul!"

Their previous attacks had been restrained. Now, the demons abandoned all defense, throwing themselves at Cain with everything they had.

"Are you crazy?!"

At this point, even Cain couldn't help but panic. What did he even do to warrant them abandoning their defenses just to kill him?!

"Cain, watch out!"

Tae-hyun lunged in front of Cain, swinging his greatsword. No matter how sturdy of a tank Cain was, taking all of those attacks head-on would likely result in instant death.

Boom!

The demon warrior's spear spun as it lunged forward. Tae-hyun immediately activated his counter skill.

Circle of Counterattack!

Even with a perfectly timed Circle of Counterattack, his weapon's durability still took a hit. These enemies were truly formidable.

"Argh!"

Fortunately, the demon warrior also seemed to have taken massive damage. Reeling from the Circle of Counterattack, the demon warrior was struck once more by the curse of the divine territory!

Ignoring the message windows, Tae-hyun moved to find his next target. The demons were so focused on Cain that their backs were completely exposed.

If you're practically begging to be killed, I'll gladly oblige!

Lucky Strike! Lucky Strike! Lucky Strike! Critical Explosion!

"Screeech!"

The struck demon erupted in flames from its back. Caught off guard, Tae-hyun took a direct hit from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the fire.

"..."

The flames coalesced into the shape of an eagle, swooping down to claw at Tae-hyun's arm.

An unavoidable attack—Tae-hyun's ultimate weakness. Though anyone else might have panicked, Tae-hyun remained cool-headed. He reacted instantly.

Royal Family's Blessing! Royal Family's Protection!

The secret armor he had "received" (?) from the Auston Royal Family!

Tae-hyun immediately activated his absurdly overpowered recovery skill.

His HP, which had plummeted below 50%, rapidly began to climb back up. Meanwhile, the demon took to the air to put some distance between them.

"Cain! Grab him!"

Slave's Chain!

With a sharp metallic rattle, a chain shot out from Cain's hand, binding the demon and dragging it straight back down.

"You cursed spawn of Akisus! May you and your master rot in the boiling sulfur for eternity—gah!"

As long as the enemy's attention was locked onto Cain, it was perfect for Tae-hyun. He could rain down attacks, immediately counter with Circle of Counterattack if they tried to strike back, and once his critical stacks built up, unleash devastating burst damage with Critical Explosion!

Boom! Boom! Crash!

Each time a heavy aura erupted from the greatsword Tae-hyun swung, the demon staggered.

"H-he's incredible. Truly..."

Phil stood there, his mouth hanging open. He had seen countless players, but Tae-hyun was on an entirely different level. It wasn't just that his skills were powerful or his stats were high. There were plenty of players like that—grinding experience, leveling up, acquiring great skills, and equipping top-tier gear. That was the conventional path to strength.

But Tae-hyun's strength was of a different nature. He read the demon's rapid, lethal movements in real-time, evaded the Hellfire Eagle swooping in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from behind, and seamlessly chained his skills to maximize his damage output without a single pause.

His combat style was like a precision machine! It was hard to believe anyone could execute multiple complex actions so flawlessly at the same time. Was a player like that really just a blacksmith?

I was completely wrong!

He had been misled because Tae-hyun had shown such impressive feats in engineering. From the deepest depths of Phil's heart, a voice echoed:

There is no way in hell that man is just a blacksmith!

But it didn't stop there. Something was on the verge of clicking in Phil's mind. That combat style... it strongly reminded him of someone from Pan-On 1...

"Whoa!"

Phil cried out, ducking instinctively. The battle was so intense that a black Mana Bullet fired by a demon had strayed all the way to where he was standing.

"Are you alright, Phil?!"

"I'm fine!"

The battle was drawing to a close. There wasn't much a small group of demons could do against an expeditionary force that had come fully prepared. Unfortunately, the sudden distraction caused Phil to lose his train of thought.

"Wow, I leveled up just from killing this?"

"What level are these demons anyway? Are they over level 200?"

"No way, they can't be that high."

Even without trying to listen, the sounds of other players leveling up echoed all around him. Tae-hyun composed himself and focused on gathering the loot. Once they returned to the continent, he would surely miss the items that could only be obtained here.

I want to use these, but I'll probably have to call Su-hyeok once we get back to the continent.

With Tae-hyun's current magic skill level, he couldn't even view their full properties.

"I-I think more demons are coming from down the valley!"

"Let's pull back for now. It's too risky to keep fighting here."

Tae-hyun had used quite a few of his own skills, and both the guild members and the order's NPCs were exhausted and wounded. This amount of hunting should be more than enough to complete the quest given by the demon! With that, the party made their way back to the demon village.

"Impressive. You truly are a human acquainted with Edaor. I didn't think you would actually defeat them. Here are your Soul Stones."

"Thank you. By the way, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Where is the dimensional portal on this floor? The one leading back to the continent."

"Ah, the portal?"

The demon answered casually, as if it were nothing of importance. Seeing his nonchalant reaction, Tae-hyun had a brief, hopeful thought.

Is it somewhere easy to reach?

"It should be inside our master's castle."

"..."