The Demon's End

A pure-white sword aura flared from Baekcheonsingeom and sheared away nearly half of one of the demon's wings.

"Graaah!"

The demon spat its rage and swung a spear wrapped in a blood-red heat haze straight at Jin-soo. Steel rang as he flicked the spear aside with the Blood-Sucking Sword and, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the same motion, brought Baekcheonsingeom around. A long sword-scar opened across the demon's chest.

"Graaaaaah!"

Flame erupted from the demon's mouth. Jin-soo did not bother to dodge. He triggered Guardian and Protective Aura, and the fire broke uselessly against both. Cut after cut landed. Wounds, large and small, began to multiply across the demon's body.

I meant to finish the skill conversion with this thing.

It looked ready to die before he could.

I'll carve you up nice and slow. Thrash all you like.

The longer it lasted, the more of the conversion he could lock in.

"Contractor! Reverse-summon me! Now!"

The demon no longer seemed to have any intention of fighting him.

A living summon doesn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get sent back to the dimension that called it if it dies while summoned. It actually dies.

Death was the end. There was no forced recall and resummon, the way there was with inanimate summons.

So this demon can't return to its own dimension by its own will?

A living summon, once called, could go home of its own accord regardless of the summoner's wishes.

Because this isn't a normal summoning contract.

Returning under its own power looked impossible.

"Don't talk nonsense! I offered you a proper sacrifice! So kill that bastard!"

Han Man-ok refused to permit the reverse summon. Of course he did.

If the demon goes back, he dies. No chance he'd allow it.

Jin-soo pressed the attack at a leisurely pace and granted the demon a measure of room.

"You damned human! I deigned to answer a summons bought with a crude offering, and you refuse my command!"

"The one giving orders is me, not you! Kill him!"

The demon and Han Man-ok fell into a vicious argument.

This thing's changed its tune completely.

It no longer attacked Jin-soo in earnest. If anything, it guarded itself and devoted its effort to defense, edging, little by little, toward Han Man-ok.

It wants me to kill him.

Han Man-ok was the one who had summoned the demon and bound it by contract.

It can't harm Han Man-ok directly. He's the summoner, and he owns the Demon Summoning Bracelet.

Han Man-ok was no fool. However desperate the moment, he would never have signed a contract that sloppy.

If Han Man-ok dies, does the demon get forcibly sent back?

It was entirely possible. Everyone knew a summon's weakness was its summoner.

A summon trying to kill its summoner with a borrowed knife.

Whether because it was a demon or because the contract was a one-time pact, there seemed to be no rapport between them at all, and not a shred of loyalty.

I can't let this demon slip away.

He needed to kill it and see whether it could be made into an Army Summon.

If it works, that's a jackpot.

Short of an Out-of-Spec Monster, there would be no other chance on the Tower's 200th Floor to turn something of this combat power into a summon.

And I want the loot.

Summoned or not, so long as it belonged to the System, hunting it was certain to cough up a fitting reward.

Demon first.

Jin-soo intensified the assault. The skill conversion had clearly fallen through, so he needed to finish the demon as quickly as possible and seal off any chance of a reverse summon at the source.

"That I should be reduced to this by a mere human……"

Under the pressure, the demon was driven miserably backward, straight toward Han Man-ok. Its borrowed-knife scheme failed completely. As Jin-soo and the demon drew nearer, Han Man-ok hurled himself the other way and opened the distance. He did not flee into a no-PK zone, though, which suggested he still had not abandoned hope that the demon might win.

The sunk cost is too big. He can't bring himself to quit.

Han Man-ok probably knew, at least, that Jin-soo was going to win. Even so, he had already spent thirteen peak experts of Sahyeol Gate, and on top of them the Demon Summoning Bracelet he had been saving. After an investment like that, walking away with nothing would be too great a loss.

Spinning hopeful fantasies doesn't solve the problem.

Jin-soo cooked the demon slowly, waiting for a single blow that would end it. He needed to keep Han Man-ok from bolting into a no-PK zone.

Then something changed.

"Ghk! I will not die to some worthless human!"

The demon shot into the sky and began to flee.

"And where do you think you're running?"

Jin-soo swung Baekcheonsingeom and the Blood-Sucking Sword after it. A ring of pure-white aura and a ring of blood-red aura tore through the air. Compressed aura detonated, and the demon's left arm was ripped to shreds. Even so, it refused to give up the escape and kept climbing.

Half of one wing is torn, and it's still flying.

Jin-soo scowled. He could not lose it here. He swapped his items to a mage loadout and hurled a Bind. Flames roared up from the demon's body and shattered the skill. He cast an offensive spell next. A massive explosion burst outward and left the demon's flesh hanging in tatters, but it did not stop rising.

With a sharp creak of gear, he swapped to a bow and sent arrows after it. Shafts carrying an explosive attribute screamed out like a machine gun. The demon's right leg and tail blew apart. Even then it somehow blocked the killing shots with the spear in its right hand and kept widening the gap.

Too fast. Endurance is too high. The bow won't finish it.

Only one option remained.

I didn't want to reveal the Bone Dragon.

If he meant to keep the demon from escaping, he had no choice. He was on the verge of recalling the Bone Dragon and summoning it again when chains of pure-white light unfurled from empty air and locked around the demon's body. Wherever the chains touched, white flame crawled over its flesh. The caster was Shin Sua. She had been watching the duel, and her Bind landed at the perfect moment.

Well done, Shin Sua.

The demon, which had been darting this way and that, locked in place. Every arrow Jin-soo had loosed struck home. Explosion after explosion tore through it, and the already ruined body was reduced to rags. It plummeted. Jin-soo swapped his items once more and drew Baekcheonsingeom and the Blood-Sucking Sword.

"Krgh!"

Wings, tail, and most of its limbs had been torn away. With nothing left but its right arm, the demon thrust its spear at him. He swept the Blood-Sucking Sword through a light deflection, then brought Baekcheonsingeom down. The divine sword sheared the demon clean from crown to groin and split it in two. Red blood burst free. The halved corpse tumbled across the ground, and the Blood-Sucking Sword drank with ravenous greed.

"Oho!"

For the first time in a very long while, the Blood-Sucking Sword's level climbed again and again. Jin-soo's items were currently fixed at level 1,022.

Past level 1,000, I thought growth from drinking blood was hopeless.

The demon's level must have been absurdly high. And the rewards were not finished.

"Whoa!"

Jin-soo's mouth fell open. This was a proper jackpot.

I never expected it to hand out an Impossible Feat.

The demon had been strong. It had not, however, been anywhere near an Out-of-Spec Monster, so he had not hoped for an Impossible Feat.

I thought it would be something like the first clear of an unbelievable achievement.

Astonishingly, killing a single demon had been enough.

A demon is something that simply cannot be killed on the Tower's 200th Floor, so they must have tacked on a bonus.

An Out-of-Spec Monster, whatever else it was, still appeared on the Tower's 200th Floor and existed there. A demon, by nature, could never appear on a floor this low.

Killing something that exists and killing something that doesn't are not the same.

He had slain a demon that did not exist on the Tower's 200th Floor. An Impossible Feat was fair enough.

I should take the spear it was using, too.

Just as with a player, the spear the demon had wielded remained intact. Jin-soo placed it in his inventory.

Good. The demon has a soul as well.

The slain demon's soul was visible to his eyes.

Army Summon. Army Summon.

He brought the demon back as an Army Summon. Light burst outward, and a jet-black demon and a pure-white demon revealed themselves before him.

That thing was a walking fortune.

Through the sight he shared with Kkami, Jin-soo watched Han Man-ok fleeing for all he was worth, and the look in his eyes was thoroughly pleased.

Even a madman comes in handy sometimes.

From the instant the demon took to the sky, Han Man-ok had chosen flight. He had thrown away any hope that the demon might win and moved solely to survive.

I thought he might burrow into a no-PK zone. He left the city.

It was not a foolish choice. Holing up in an inn room, a no-PK zone inside the city, would only make him a rat in a jar. Sooner or later he would have to come out, and then he would die without question. Slip beyond the city walls, and a hope of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠living appeared.

If he shakes my pursuit and reaches the Final City, he lives.

Simply resolve to climb to the 201st floor and challenge the guardian waiting in the Final City, and he could throw off Jin-soo's hunt.

Before he goes up, he might even suck Sahyeol Gate dry and run.

Even in flight, Han Man-ok moved so as to leave as little trace as possible.

Treading snow without leaving a trace.

He poured everything into his lightness art and still did not leave a single footprint. He avoided even trifles, a fallen leaf or a strand of spider silk, and he throttled the mana feeding the art so that any residual aura would fade almost at once.

He means to leave not even a scrap a tracking skill could seize on.

The movements were so practiced that it seemed he must once have been branded a public enemy of the martial world back in the Museong Dimension.

The best judgment he could have made.

Had Jin-soo not had Kkami, catching Han Man-ok would have cost him no small amount of trouble. But he did have Kkami.

Erase every trace and creep along as carefully as you like. You still can't hide from Kkami's eyes while it flies overhead.

Speed was the same. However frantically he worked his feet, a man on the ground could never outrun one in the sky.

Jin-soo swung onto the back of the jet-black demon summon.

"Nyaaaang!"

Leo, who had appeared at some point, scrambled nimbly up the summon and settled on his shoulder. Jin-soo stroked the kitten's head and sent the pure-white demon over to Shin Sua.

"Get on!"

"Yeah, got it."

Astride the demon summons they had just obtained, Jin-soo and Shin Sua set off at an unhurried pace after Han Man-ok, who was sprinting hard enough to sweat through the soles of his feet.