The Demon Summoning Bracelet (2)
"Kraaaagh!"
"Grrrrrnn!"
The monsters that heard Leo's wide-area taunt roar came pouring in from every side.
"Nyaaang!"
Leo was the first to sprint ahead. A rapid flurry of blows landed, and he gleefully beat the monsters down until they could no longer fight.
Flame Barrier. Flame Hell. Flame Explosion.
Fire roared outward. Jin-soo sprayed magic attack skills without holding back. When it came to clearing a swarm of trash mobs, a mage's skills were still the best tool for the job.
No need to even draw a sword.
Leo swept the first wave, and the magic attack skills mowed down the second. Anything that charged through the gaps in between was trampled flat beneath Shin Sua's stone golem.
Then let's try the Demon Summoning Bracelet.
Jin-soo poured mana into the Demon Summoning Bracelet. With a rushing hiss, the monsters' souls streamed into it.
Oh?
To Jin-soo, who held a necromancer class, the presence of the souls stored inside the Demon Summoning Bracelet came through with perfect clarity.
It works.
The souls kept in the bracelet responded to Army Summons.
But will I ever actually have a reason to use them?
Army Summons currently had twelve slots. A Bone Dragon, a demon, the Basilisk, a demilich, an orc shaman, a Sand Worm, Han Man-ok, So Chanseong, and a variant lycanthrope — nine of those slots were already filled. The remaining three were occupied by boss monsters. The moment a better replacement appeared, he meant to swap out So Chanseong and the variant lycanthrope at once. And once his blessing grew, the number of slots would grow with it.
The highest skill level he could currently lock in place was 1,222. With Army Summons, the roster gained one slot for every hundred levels.
It'll be useful someday.
The Demon Summoning Bracelet had meaning enough simply in the slow gathering of souls. The more souls it held, the stronger the demon he could summon and put to work when the time came.
I won't have any cause to use it in an ordinary situation.
If he had to hunt an Out-of-Spec Monster, though, or face something like the clear mission on the Tower's 2,222nd floor — the one he had failed to break before the regression — he might have no choice but to spend a demon.
For now, keep collecting.
Even the souls of ordinary monsters, stacked up without end, might prove worth using one day.
And if I raise its level, do the remaining uses increase as well?
The Demon Summoning Bracelet was currently level 1,569, with a single use left.
Can't confirm that yet.
Once the blessing grew further, however, he would be able to raise the bracelet's level. There was a real chance the number of uses would rise with it.
Too good an item to burn as a one-shot.
There was also a high probability that the bracelet had a ceiling on both the number of souls it could store and how powerful those souls could be.
The level isn't there for nothing.
Past a certain number, souls likely couldn't be stored at all.
Souls with power beyond a threshold would be the same.
Army Summons was no different. Back when the skill was only level 2, he had tried to set the boss monster Giant Thorn Boar as its target, and the activation had failed. There was no need to worry, though. Raising the level through the blessing would be enough.
Picked up a card worth playing.
Jin-soo smiled and went on with the hunt. Since he was already out, he meant to fill the day's quota and then return to the Starting City.
The battle between the Blood White Sword Demon and Sahyeol Gate in the Starting City sent out tremendous shockwaves. Had Sahyeol Gate won, it would have ended as nothing more than a small disturbance. A newly risen powerhouse falling to an established one was an utterly common thing.
This time, the circumstances were different.
Sahyeol Gate, one of the highest guilds on the Tower's 200th Floor, had been brought down in turn by a single player.
The sect was not utterly destroyed. Its main headquarters still stood in the Final City of the 200th floor, and the Sahyeol Gate branches in each city remained intact. But its core fighting force had been slaughtered to the last, so it might as well have fallen.
Han Man-ok, sect leader of Sahyeol Gate and the Blood Saber Emperor, a master famed throughout the Transcendent realm, had fled and then gone missing. All thirteen of Sahyeol Gate's supreme-peak experts were dead.
Rumor even had it that Han Man-ok had used some wicked art to summon a demon, only for that demon to die at the hands of the newly risen powerhouse, the Blood White Sword Demon, as well.
The eyes of every great guild on the Tower's 200th Floor turned as one toward the Starting City. Even so, none of them dared to act rashly.
Sahyeol Gate's fall had made it known that the Blood White Sword Demon's might, all by itself, was strong enough to smash a great guild to pieces. They could not simply sit still, either, and so the guild masters sent orders down to their branches in the Starting City: uncover the Blood White Sword Demon's identity by any means, and bring him into the fold.
The Daehan Guild's branch in the Starting City had, by good fortune, slipped past the brink of total annihilation this time. There was no room to relax. Headquarters had ordered them to identify the Blood White Sword Demon and recruit him.
"Speaking Korean doesn't make someone Korean. How are we supposed to figure out who the Blood White Sword Demon is?"
"You're telling me."
"And on top of that, the number of eyes watching us — openly and otherwise — has shot up."
That was because the Blood White Sword Demon had shown himself when the Daehan Guild's branch in the Starting City came under threat from Sahyeol Gate. The other guilds suspected he might be connected to Daehan.
"Maybe he's decided the Blood White Sword Demon isn't a villain. They're moving right out in the open."
"He's never killed an innocent. He also stepped in when we and Changseong Gate were framed and pushed to the brink."
It was not only the great guilds of the 200th floor that wanted to recruit the Blood White Sword Demon. Mid-sized and small guilds were just as desperate to learn who he was and form a tie with him. The theory that he leaned toward the nature of an orthodox martial artist only made them bolder.
Had they thought him a villain or a madman, they would never have tried so openly to uncover his identity.
"But does anyone have even a guess who the Blood White Sword Demon might be? We contacted every Korean player who arrived on the 200th floor recently and tried to recruit them."
"There isn't a Korean player we failed to recruit in the first place, is there? Even the ones who belonged to other guilds on the 150th floor — if they were above a certain level, we brought in every last one of them."
More than eighty percent of the Korean players on the Tower's 200th Floor belonged to the Daehan Guild. Those who had not joined were either fiercely attached to an existing guild or party, or so lacking in skill that there had been no reason to take them.
"Do we even think the Blood White Sword Demon is a player who arrived on the 200th floor recently? His skill is far too outstanding for that."
"Headquarters has been hounding me so hard that I'm asking just in case."
"Headquarters didn't lift a finger when we were about to die, and now all they do is make demands. Isn't that right?"
"Don't look at them so bitterly. There were physical limits."
"You really believe that?"
After this incident, the Daehan Guild players in the Starting City felt their sense of belonging to the guild drop sharply.
"I don't think so."
"If they'd truly meant to protect us, they should have at least staged a show of force in front of Sahyeol Gate's headquarters in the Final City."
And so the gathering of Daehan Guild players in the Starting City turned into a venue for airing grievances against the higher-ups. Once the mood flowed that way, the order from above to find the Blood White Sword Demon was naturally ignored.
Not everyone ignored it.
"Seung-woo, what are you doing here?"
Kang Seung-woo, a player of the Daehan Guild, had come to the branch manager's office.
"Um... well, that is..."
Kang Seung-woo hesitated, unable to get the words out.
"Seung-woo, why are you dragging it out like that? If you've got something to say, say it."
"There's one player I suspect might be the Blood White Sword Demon."
Kang Seung-woo squeezed his eyes shut as he spoke. He was one of those charged with recruiting Korean players who had only just arrived on the Tower's 200th Floor.
"What? Is that true?"
"Yes. I was too ashamed to report it, but not long ago..."
He spilled the story of how he had tried to scout Jin-soo and been humiliated for it.
"He went to Changseong Gate with Ak Chanseo?"
"Yes."
"A rookie lightly blocked Ak Chanseo's attack, then went off to Changseong Gate talking about having a spar."
"That's correct."
Hearing the report, Choi Woohyeong, branch manager of the Daehan Guild in the Starting City, hardened his expression.
The pieces lock together too cleanly.
Even a newcomer would know at least this much: the Tower ran on the law of the strong devouring the weak. And there was no way he could fail to understand just how base and vicious a human being could become.
Someone like that wouldn't even have survived to the 200th floor. And yet he walked, alone and unashamed, of his own two feet into the stronghold of people who could become his enemies?
It was true that Changseong Gate walked the righteous path, but how would a newcomer fresh up the Tower know that?
He was certain of his own strength. He acted that way because he figured that if they pulled any dirty tricks, he could just smash Changseong Gate itself and be done with it.
And after Kang Seung-woo met that newcomer, the Blood White Sword Demon had begun to move.
"Do you remember what he looked like?"
"It was only a moment, so I can't recall exactly. But if I saw his face, I would know him."
"Then tell me everything you remember about that player."
"Ah, yes. First, he looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, and he had a female companion who seemed about the same age..."
Kang Seung-woo wrung his memory dry and laid out before Choi Woohyeong everything he could about the player he had seen.
"Keep this information secret for now."
"What? Shouldn't we tell the guild members and have them search?"
"You know how many eyes are on us. We report to the Guild Master first, then move once we've received additional support. So watch your mouth. Completely."
"Understood."
"If we find the Blood White Sword Demon thanks to the information you've provided, there'll be a handsome reward. Look forward to it."
"Is that true?"
"Yes. The Guild Master said so himself."
"Thank you."
"It's not even coming out of my pocket. Anyway."
Around the time the Daehan Guild caught a thread of Jin-soo's identity, there was already a place that had quietly realized who he was.
Changseong Gate.
Our benefactor is the Blood White Sword Hero. Of that, I am certain.
Ak Chanseo, branch manager of Changseong Gate in the Starting City, had experience sparring with Jin-soo. He remembered with perfect clarity the sight of Jin-soo wielding two swords, each in a different art.
Even then, I thought his skill was anything but ordinary...
But he had not imagined it was to this degree.
Ak Chanseo had taken Jin-soo for a supreme-peak expert. He was wrong. At the lowest estimate, the man stood at the extreme of the Transcendent realm. At the highest, he was an absolute master who had reached the Profound Realm.
When the branch was driven into a corner, we received the Blood White Sword Hero's aid. I cannot repay that by becoming a burden to him.
Ak Chanseo did not even pass the sect leader's order — uncover the Blood White Sword Demon's identity and report it — down to the disciples.
And yet the Sect Leader goes too far. How can he call the Blood White Sword Hero a demon?
The Jin-soo Ak Chanseo had seen was a martial artist who walked the righteous path. One could not hang "demon" upon the alias of such a man in place of "hero."
And after receiving his grace, how can they mean to put our benefactor in difficulty? Honestly.
Ak Chanseo clicked his tongue to himself.
Had Jin-soo's help not come that day, every Changseong martial artist in the Starting City would have died.
Ak Chanseo meant to repay that grace by keeping his silence. But not every Changseong martial artist in the Starting City thought as he did.
Nor was Branch Manager Ak Chanseo the only one who could contact the sect leader of Changseong Gate. And so, regardless of his wishes, the information on Jin-soo had already been delivered to the sect leader.
After the war with Sahyeol Gate, Jin-soo spent ordinary days hunting monsters alongside Shin Sua.
Then a guest he had never expected descended upon him.
"Blood White Sword Demon. I formally request a spar with you."
A single old man, his hair gone white with age, challenged Jin-soo to a match in the middle of the hunt.
The old man's appearance was considerably grotesque. He stood over two meters tall, and his long white hair and beard streamed unkempt in the wind. Deep wrinkles were carved into his face, yet the skin itself was white as pure jade, and his body was packed with muscle on the verge of bursting, like a bodybuilder's.
Why did this cranky old geezer suddenly pop out here?
Jin-soo knew who the old man was.
He had no choice but to know. The old man before his eyes had been a member of the party Jin-soo led before the regression.