Chapter 122
Chapter 122
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: The First Gift (4)
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I wanted to deny it.
‘But it’s not wrong. Demons are superior beings to humans. Their intelligence surpasses ours too. So it’s entirely possible for power struggles to break out among them.’
But if that assumption was true?
Things would get messy.
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong had made a pact with a demon.
Because he wanted to become the absolute ruler of the Atlantis dimension.
Not because he wanted to be sacrificed in some power struggle between demons.
“I’ll ask him myself.”
To converse with the demon he’d contracted with, he needed to offer mountain sacrifices.
But he could endure that much.
“Understood. However, we have so little information on the culprit that I was planning to commission the Goldroad Merchant Guild, known for their rumors, and the Shadow Dark Guild. It’ll cost a pretty penny—shall I proceed?”
“The Goldroad Merchant Guild and Shadow Dark Guild? Can we trust them?”
“They have branches across all of Atlantis, and the Shadow Dark Guild is the unified intelligence network of the Locke Empire and its vassal states. Their fees are steep, but their intel is the most reliable.”
“Then proceed, no matter the cost.”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong had been thoroughly humiliated this time.
If it meant catching the culprit.
‘Money’s nothing—no amount is too much to spend.’
“Very well, I’ll get it underway.”
“See to it.”
With Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s approval, executive Park Ji-hoon turned and left the guild master’s office.
-Kuhuhu!
As executive Park Ji-hoon exited the guild master’s office, Kang Hyun-soo’s laughter echoed in his mind.
-Well done. I was about to step in, but you handled it perfectly on your own. Excellent.
-Thank you for the praise, my lord.
Executive Park Ji-hoon, now the lead investigator on this incident.
He wasn’t a Named Player or a Ranker.
But he was a master strategist, nicknamed the brains of Dragon Tiger Guild, and one of Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s most trusted lieutenants.
However.
The real Park Ji-hoon had died the day Kang Hyun-soo raided Dragon Tiger Guild.
And Doppelganger No. 1 had taken his place.
-You’ve exceeded expectations.
He’d made Dragon King Lee Ji-yong, the human traitor contracted to a demon, suspicious of his own demonic ally.
And that was just the start.
He’d also funneled Dragon Tiger Guild’s funds straight to Golden Lord Saemaal’s Goldroad Merchant Guild and Dark King Cecilia’s intelligence network, Shadow Dark Guild, without a hitch.
-Now, move on to the next phase of the plan.
-Yes, my lord.
The gift Kang Hyun-soo had prepared for Dragon Tiger Guild was barely past the wrapping stage.
Once the wrapping was fully peeled away?
The real present would emerge.
* * *
‘Better than I expected.’
Kang Hyun-soo had given the orders himself.
‘Wasn’t sure about him because of his low intelligence.’
But he’d carried out the mission flawlessly.
‘Maybe because he’s based on a doppelganger?’
His acting skills were on another level compared to the other summons.
Kang Hyun-soo didn’t know which demon Dragon King Lee Ji-yong had contracted with.
Doppelganger No. 1 had absorbed the real Park Ji-hoon’s memories.
But Park Ji-hoon’s contract was with a low-rank demon without even a title.
And Park Ji-hoon had no intel on which demonic noble that low-rank demon served.
Still, probabilistically speaking.
‘It’s probably a Demon Dragon.’
If it wasn’t a Demon Dragon but some other demon?
It would’ve granted the contractor the ability to summon and control dragonkin monsters, not something else.
‘It’s not impossible, but...’
It would be a huge hassle.
All dragonkin monsters in the Demon World fell under Demon Dragon rule.
The Demon Dragons held command authority over them.
In other words, if Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s contractor wasn’t a Demon Dragon?
‘He’d have to beg a Demon Dragon for the skill to give his contractor.’
Few demons would bother with such a pain for their contractor.
‘And Demon Dragons hold pretty high status among demons.’
Thanks to turning Demon Dragon Karas into a summon, Kang Hyun-soo had gathered a ton of demon intel.
Especially on Demon Dragons, Karas’s own kind.
‘Most Demon Dragons receive noble titles upon reaching adulthood.’
They were born with silver spoons in their mouths, demon-style.
Their only flaw?
‘Low numbers.’
Typical demons numbered in the tens of millions per species, at least tens of thousands at minimum.
But Demon Dragons?
‘Scrape ’em all together, and you get about a hundred.’
A hundred Karas-level threats was a catastrophe.
‘But for a single species, it’s pathetically sparse.’
Their gene pool was so shallow it was a miracle they hadn’t gone extinct naturally.
‘Demons have factions and power struggles between species.’
Some demons were tight with Demon Dragons.
Others hated their guts.
In simple terms.
‘It’s not just sowing discord between Dragon King Lee Ji-yong and his demon—it could make the Demon Dragons suspect rival demon factions.’
If infighting broke out among demons?
Kang Hyun-soo would reap massive gains for minimal effort.
‘Demon Dragons have plenty of enemies.’
Born with privilege, most Demon Dragons were arrogant and high-handed.
They especially treated lower-born demons like doppelgangers as vermin.
‘And treating them like vermin doesn’t usually cause issues.’
But this doppelganger legion invasion was under the Demon King’s orders.
‘And the doppelganger legion itself belongs to one of the Demon World’s dukes.’
Play it right, and he could.
‘Pit that duke against the Demon Dragons head-on.’
Combining intel from Doppelganger No. 1 and Demon Dragon Karas.
‘Plans are flowing like water.’
Kang Hyun-soo had spent his entire previous life fighting demons.
Climaxing in a battle with the Demon King himself.
But.
‘We got almost no intel on the Demon World or demons.’
Not just him—other Players too.
One reason.
‘Demons had restrictions sealing their info.’
Standard procedure for the Demon King’s forces to block enemy intel.
But.
‘Turn ’em into summons, and every problem vanishes.’
Dead, so no restrictions trigger.
No need to doubt if a demon summon’s info is true or false.
‘The doppelganger legion’s leader is a Demon World noble.’
Catch that one.
‘And I’ll get even more intel.’
Dimensional gates were one-way.
Players like Kang Hyun-soo couldn’t invade the Demon World through them.
But.
‘Keep gathering intel, exploit demons and Demon King minions who cross into Atlantis...’
No need to invade the Demon World.
‘I can provoke demonic infighting.’
If the plan worked and war erupted in the Demon World?
‘We weaken their forces without expending ours.’
Plus, it’d be payback for what humanity suffered pre-regression.
‘Hope it works.’
He’d planted the seed.
Now, Kang Hyun-soo just had to water it so it could sprout and grow.
* * *
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong offered mountain sacrifices and spoke with the Demon World noble he served.
But all he got was a barrage of reprimands for the damage incurred.
‘No clear answers.’
Just told to wait while they looked into it.
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong felt a nagging unease.
‘“Look into it,” huh.’
That implied his Demon World noble had rivals.
‘Hope I didn’t back the wrong horse.’
If his noble lost the power struggle?
‘Might leave me high and dry.’
He’d betrayed humanity for his own survival and future, allying with the Demon King’s forces.
Naturally.
‘I deserve compensation.’
He’d planned to claim his first reward via doppelganger legion support.
But it’d gone wrong from the start.
Then.
“I’ll send word. Please wait a moment.”
“Out of my way!”
A commotion erupted outside.
Bang!
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s office door flew open violently.
“What the hell is—!”
As Dragon King Lee Ji-yong started to rage.
“I heard you got thoroughly humiliated this time, human. They said you had some skill, but I guess I was misinformed.”
The intruder barged in without knocking and mocked Dragon King Lee Ji-yong outright.
“Baron Taliman, what brings you here so suddenly?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong scowled.
Dragon Tiger Guild had provided hiding spots for the doppelgangers and asked them to avoid going out as much as possible.
Yet here he was, showing up unannounced again.
“You dare rebuke me, human?”
Baron Taliman growled, face twisted in fury.
“No. The regular guild members didn’t spot you, right?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong gave Baron Taliman a curt reply, then asked executive Park Ji-hoon.
“Yes, I used your face on the way in, Guild Master, so the regular members have no idea Baron Taliman entered the guild.”
At executive Park Ji-hoon’s words, Dragon King Lee Ji-yong seethed.
‘Then anyone who knew I was in here will think it’s suspicious.’
He wanted to protest strongly to Baron Taliman.
‘But powerlessness is the real crime.’
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong had contracted with a Demon World count.
But he was just the contractor—not the count himself.
So even if a mere Demon World baron like Taliman was rude.
He couldn’t reprimand or protest.
Just endure it.
“Why the sudden visit?”
“I have orders for you.”
“Pardon?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s temper flared at the abrupt declaration.
‘I’m not even his subordinate—what orders?’
The Demon World count he’d contracted with had only told him to build power alongside Baron Taliman, the doppelganger leader.
‘Never said to take orders from this guy.’
As far as Dragon King Lee Ji-yong saw it, he and Baron Taliman were equals.
But.
From their first meeting to now, Baron Taliman had treated him like a subordinate.
And acted with impunity, using his or guild members’ faces without permission—not just once or twice.
“I hear Dark Knight leaked secrets about our kin through guilds called Balhae and Goryeo.”
“Yes, I heard that too.”
“We need to wipe them out.”
“Pardon?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong was stunned by Baron Taliman’s sudden words.
“I hear Dark Knight played a decisive role in killing Baron Karas.”
“Yes, that’s what I heard.”
“And now he’s meddling in our affairs.”
“That’s true, but...”
“My take? The one who raided you this time was definitely Dark Knight.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t a Named Player of unknown identity show up? Search all of Atlantis—Dark Knight’s the only one who fits.”
Baron Taliman’s words made it seem plausible.
But.
‘Could be wrong, right?’
If Dark Knight knew Dragon Tiger Guild served the Demon King?
No need for a sneaky raid.
Just expose it publicly.
True or not, Dragon Tiger Guild would be in deep trouble.
“This is our chance to eliminate Dark Knight. And while we’re at it, crush Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild protecting him—good for you too, no?”
“It would be, but Dark Knight’s forces are formidable. Balhae and Goryeo aren’t pushovers either. And we lack a casus belli.”
Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild?
He’d have crushed them already if possible.
Dragon Tiger Guild under Dragon King Lee Ji-yong was vastly larger in scale.
‘But high-level Players? Not much difference in numbers.’
Rankers and Nameds?
About even across Dragon Tiger, Balhae, and Goryeo.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll provide the justification. And I plan to join the war personally with my subordinates.”
Baron Taliman’s words muddled Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s thoughts.
‘Taliman’s a doppelganger, but his combat power’s the real deal.’
The Demon World ran on power logic.
Earning a barony meant.
‘He’s got the strength to match.’
Demon Dragon Karas had invaded Mulan Kingdom, massacring countless Nameds and Rankers.
‘And he was a baron too.’
Baron Taliman led the doppelgangers and was a baron as well.
‘Meaning he could take out hundreds of Nameds and Rankers.’
Sure, Karas died in that fight eventually.
But Balhae and Goryeo couldn’t muster hundreds of Nameds and Rankers anyway.
Even if some impossible miracle happened.
‘Whether that arrogant demon bastard lives or dies ain’t my problem.’
The issue was.
“Baron Taliman, you can’t properly use your demonic energy in this situation, can you?”
To wield a demon’s full power, demonic energy was essential.
The restriction grew with the amount of demonic energy held.
For Demon World nobles?
Even suppressing it, they could barely access a tenth of their strength.
* * *