Quest Pulling

"...name." As the demons spoke, they realized something was off. It was a name far too wicked, even for a demon!

"...Surely it's just another demon with the same name? Maybe his parents named him that hoping he'd grow up to be as wicked as Akisus..."

"What grand ambitions. Haha."

"Isn't that name a bit too dangerous, though? People might get the wrong idea. Hahaha."

Despite their lighthearted words, the demons were instinctively backing away! Tae-hyun immediately unleashed his skills.

The retreating demons froze instantly, as if nailed to the spot. The magic Gusion had taught him was incredibly effective against demons. On top of that, it barely consumed any MP.

Low MP cost, fast casting speed, and a short cooldown—it was the ultimate cost-effective spell! Skills like this were wildly popular among players. The only downside was that it only worked on demons, which average players rarely had any reason to fight...

Right? Gusion isn't a Demon Duke's son for nothing. Tae-hyun nodded with a satisfied expression. He had underestimated Gusion a bit, but actually using the magic proved its incredible efficacy. Everything from the casting speed to the MP consumption was perfect. Just look at them! The demons were flustered and scrambling in panic.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Just because your name is Akisus, did you think you could act exactly like him too?!"

The demons pointed their fingers in outrage. As expected, one should never associate with a demon bearing a name like Akisus! They had absolutely no basic business ethics!

Seeing the demons' reaction, Jukenen smirked wickedly and declared, "This esteemed individual is the Avatar of Archisus."

"..."

"..."

"You crazy bastard! Who on earth did you bring here?!"

The demons lunged forward in a rage, trying to attack Jukenen. But Tae-hyun's party was faster.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, bam!

"Aaargh! Jukenen! You absolute lunatic! Do you even know who you've brought to us?! You've lost your mind, Jukenen!"

Even as they were being pummeled, the demons cursed Jukenen. No matter how greedy or pathetic a demon was, bringing the Avatar of Archisus to their doorstep was a line no demon would ever cross.

Of course, they didn't know the truth. Jukenen hadn't brought him willingly; Tae-hyun had threatened Jukenen into leading him here!

"Lord Gusion! Please open your eyes! I don't know what that bastard Jukenen told you, but it's all lies! You know the legends passed down in the Demon Realm! No demon has ever met a good end after getting involved with Akisus!"

"..."

Tae-hyun's companions stared blankly at him. Tae-hyun subtly averted his gaze. Gusion cleared his throat and muttered, "...I was captured too."

"..."

"..."

At those words, a heavy silence fell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over the demons.

"You miserable wretch, may you be struck by Archisus's Curse! May you be scammed by Akisus even if you're reborn! May your parents and your children all be dragged away by Akisus!"

The demons cursed Jukenen in voices dripping with resentment. Jukenen looked incredibly uncomfortable and avoided their eyes. He knew he had done wrong, but this curse was simply too harsh.

Naturally, Tae-hyun's mood soured as well.

"These bastards keep using Akisus's name as an insult."

"Hieeeek! I'm sorry! Please, anything but the Akisus punishment!"

"I'll tell you everything I know, so please, just not Akisus!"

"..."

As Tae-hyun glared at them, the demons shrieked and tried to flee. Tae-hyun figured this was actually for the best. It saved him the trouble of wasting time trying to persuade them.

"Fine. I won't subject you to the Akisus punishment, so summon every other demon currently in Illeni County here right now."

"?"

[?]

Both Tae-hyun and Carbanog were dumbfounded! No, seriously, was this really something worth spreading rumors about?

"Mmm..."

Tae-hyun hesitated. The quest was basically telling him to go to the Demon Realm and shout, "I am Akisus!" The rewards were great, though. It was a golden opportunity to easily snag another Authority quest. The problem was the difficulty!

Honestly, if I go to the Demon Realm and claim to be Akisus, won't every single demon dogpile me?

He might as well just shout, "Please kill me!"

Well, I'll do this later. I have other things to take care of right now.

He would take this opportunity to shove all these demons into a cage and drag them around! Tae-hyun smiled warmly.

The trembling demons quickly penned a letter.

Come here right now! Lord Gusion is here! Wow, this is so great!

"Nicely written."

Five minutes later.

"Is Lord Gusion really here? But who are those guys... Aaargh! Akisus!"

Tae-hyun bound the demons one after another, stringing them up like a catch of dried yellow croaker.

Tae-hyun had just cleared half of the quests in the entire territory in one fell swoop! Outside, players who had been running around searching for traces of demons were left utterly bewildered, wondering, Huh? What just happened? Thanks to him, only his party was celebrating.

"Clearing quests like this...!"

"It's not mob pulling, it's quest pulling!"

A method that swept up massive amounts of experience points all at once! As always, Tae-hyun's playstyle left everyone in awe.

"Should be enough, right?"

Looking at the dozen or so bound demons, Tae-hyun nodded with a pleased expression. At that, Gusion spoke up hesitantly.

"Lord Akisus..."

"?"

"But... I fear these fellows are all so weak that they won't be able to hold out."

"Even Jukenen is holding out, though?"

"Jukenen may look like that, but he is a trusted subordinate recognized by Edaor. His base mana pool is on a completely different level."

"...Then what about these guys?"

"...I suspect they are... duds."

Tae-hyun's face contorted. He had gone through all the trouble of gathering them, only to find out they were duds! Seeing this, Gusion cried out in a panic, "I wasn't the one who suggested this! It was him! That bastard Jukenen suggested it!"

"Hey!!"

Jukenen yelled, utterly dumbfounded. Gusion was truly showing the absolute rock bottom of his character!

"Lord Akisus! Please hear me out! I clearly said there were superior demons here, I never said their energy levels were all good..."

"Do you honestly think that excuse is going to work right now?"

"...W-Well, no, but! This isn't the end! They said there is a higher-ranking demon who commands them! That one will definitely be useful!"

"You fooled me once, and now you want me to fall for it again?"

"No! Please, just trust me one more time!"

The captured demons watched the exchange between Jukenen and Tae-hyun with dumbfounded expressions. Ah, so Jukenen didn't trick the Avatar of Archisus into coming here. Jukenen was captured first!

Of course, realizing this didn't make them any more sympathetic toward him.

If you got caught, you crazy bastard, you should have died alone! Why did you drag us into this?!

If I ever see you in the Demon Realm again, I'm going to murder you!

Their rage toward Jukenen burned fiercely. They had realized that Jukenen had sold them out just to save his own skin.

"Since he's begging like that, why don't we trust him one more time?"

"Yeah. There might actually be a stronger demon."

The party members took Jukenen's side. The quest rewards were simply too lucrative! They felt like they could easily level up a few more times just by sweeping through the territories of the Erangs Kingdom and wiping out demons like this.

"Tsk, fine."

Tae-hyun smacked his lips and nodded. Then, he turned his gaze to the newly captured demons.

"Hieek!"

Driven by instinctive terror, the demons quickly averted their eyes.

"So, who is this higher-ranking demon commanding you?"

"We can absolutely never tell y..."

"What?"

"...is what we would say if we weren't going to tell you right now!"

"We honestly did nothing wrong, Lord Akisus! That guy made us do it! He brewed the poison and handed it to us! We were only spreading the poison exactly as he ordered..."

The demons spilled everything in a desperate torrent of excuses! From the perspective of the demon who had trusted them with the poison, this would have been an utterly mind-boggling betrayal.

"Poisoning Count Illeni was all his doing too!"

"And the King of the Erangs Kingdom getting poisoned was also because of him..."

"Right, right... Wait, what?"

Tae-hyun, who had been half-listening to their excuses, froze. What did they just say?

"The King of the Erangs Kingdom?"

"Yes! He was incredibly confident that he could poison the King as well!"

"!!"

The sudden mention of the King of the Erangs Kingdom shocked the entire party.

"Is that true?! What's his name?!"

"Where is he, and what kind of demon is he?!"

Choi Sang-yun and Cain grabbed the demon by the collar, their eyes blazing with intensity.

"He... he never told us his name... *cough, wheeze*. But we know where he meets! If you let us go, we'll tell you where he is..."

"..."

"...If you promise not to subject us to the Akisus punishment, we'll tell you where he is..."

"I can promise you that much."

"?"

Along with the notification window, a figure suddenly materialized on the balcony. It was Alcott, wearing an incredibly awkward expression.

"U-Uh... hi?"

"..."

"Hmph. That count doesn't know what he's talking about. Just watch."

"Hey. I get it, so stop talking."

Watching Alcott scale the castle wall using stealth, Crawford couldn't help but feel anxious. To be fair, the stealth skill Alcott used was indeed incredible. It was powerful enough to cover not just himself, but Crawford as well! It was a skill truly worthy of a high-ranking player.

...But why was he so anxious?

"...We'll tell you where he is..."

The sound of voices drifted out from the balcony. Hearing this, Alcott nodded. *If I slip inside, I might be able to get information about the demon hiding in this territory!*

Thud!

Alcott leaped forward and made a magnificent landing. He had absolute faith in his stealth skill. There was no way he would get caught—

"?????"

Along with the notification window, everyone in the room turned their eyes to Alcott. And then, Alcott realized. This group... they looked incredibly familiar.

"U-Uh... hi?"

"I'm not doing very well, actually."

Tae-hyun stared at Alcott with a lukewarm gaze. Why was this guy here?

"I told you I was outside earlier."

"Ah. Right, you did. Are you a stalker? Why are you following us?"

"N-No! I had no idea you guys were here!" Alcott flusteredly made his excuses.

Crawford, who was still hanging onto the balcony behind Alcott, quietly prepared to let go and drop down. Falling would be infinitely better than being stuck here!

"Crawford! Get up here!"

Ah, you piece of shit, Crawford cursed inwardly. What a drag-down-to-hell bastard!

The two rankers stood awkwardly on the balcony. Tae-hyun's party surrounded them like a panel of job interviewers and began firing questions.

"So, Alcott. Why did you say you came here again?"

"Well... that's... I came to clear the quest for the King of the Erangs Kingdom's illness... but I heard rumors that the count here caught a similar disease..."

Cain jumped on the bandwagon and threw in his own question. "What preparations did you make for that quest? What are your specs?"

"Well, to clear the quest, I've been focusing on leveling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up, and I also have a Legendary Quest... Wait, who the hell are you to ask me that?!"

Alcott, who had reflexively started answering in polite honorifics, suddenly snapped. Why was this Cain bastard jumping on the bandwagon and asking him interview questions?!