Chapter 86
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Completed Summons (1)
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Dark night sky, untouched even by moonlight.
Beneath it, the ruins cradling a massive crater like a meteor hole were barren, as if denying life to any creature.
Only the yellow gate floating alone at the center illuminated the drifting dust around it, glowing in solitude.
Then, from a corner of the ruins, a cough shattered the oppressively heavy silence.
"Cough...!"
As Kang Sa-hu regained consciousness and coughed, the dust piled atop him erupted like a volcano, scattering everywhere.
He inhaled some of that dust with his breath and hacked violently for a while before finally opening his eyes and scanning his surroundings.
After quickly checking around while holding his breath, he spotted the lonely yellow gate floating at the center of the desolate space. Only then did he slightly relax his razor-sharp tension, his body easing just a fraction.
"Urgh...!"
But as the muscles tensed throughout his blackout suddenly loosened, they cramped up, sending waves of muscle pain crashing through him. Cramps began seizing his limbs.
The agony of his thigh ligaments twisting as if to snap and his soles arching like bows was hard to endure, even for a body enhanced by awakening.
'Can't move like this.'
Kang Sa-hu would have forced himself up if he could bear the pain, but the torment was too severe to even attempt it.
Unable to withstand it, he gently lay back on the ground, only to grit his teeth against a back pain like his spine was breaking.
'What do I do?'
If he was certain lying there would heal him, he could wait it out, no matter how long.
But even as he endured, with consciousness returning, new pains emerged one by one across his body.
His head throbbed as if crushed in a press—likely injured from the fall—accompanied by nausea, vomiting urges. His body wasn't recovering; it was slowly breaking down.
'Stay calm. Think of what I can do right now.'
Holding his breath to limit oxygen to his pounding head, Kang Sa-hu ignored the pain and sought possibilities.
Summon a familiar to carry me?
Possible.
Ordering it to take him out of the gate would at least escape this place.
But even outside, without treating this pain, his body would steadily crumble.
More importantly, he'd have to abandon all the secrets hidden in this hard-cleared gate.
Having barely survived a near-death ordeal, leaving empty-handed felt like a massive loss.
As he pondered deeply, Kang Sa-hu suddenly recalled his Hell Hound familiar, then the Monolith core used in its evolution from Giant Hound.
One of the Monolith's three core functions: the shop.
Seeing potential, he activated his Subspace skill and pulled out Mana Stones from the gate where he'd fought the trolls.
User's mana has been restored.
Gripping a Mana Stone tightly, Kang Sa-hu felt his depleted mana rapidly refilling.
Clutching a handful in one hand to recover mana, he reached into his Subspace with the other and withdrew the Monolith core.
Mana flowed from the Mana Stone to him, then from him to the core, soon displaying the system window he sought.
Shop system has been activated.
Scanning the array of items, Kang Sa-hu quickly found what he wanted.
Stamina Potion – 100 points
Spotting the Stamina Potion, he bought five without hesitation. Red liquid-filled flasks appeared beside him.
Releasing the Mana Stone, he grabbed a potion, bit out the cork with his teeth, and chugged it like beer.
Shoooo—
As the potion flowed into his stomach, the ringing in his ears began to fade.
His cramped muscles loosened, and bruised skin started healing bit by bit. He cracked open and downed more.
Moments later.
After drinking twelve in total, including extras, Kang Sa-hu cautiously rose.
Crack, pop.
Stretching, his bones realigned with satisfying sounds.
Confirming even his skin fully restored, he raised a ragged-clothed hand.
Woooong.
Nearby, his great scythe responded to his will with a low hum.
Using Psychokinesis, it spun from the debris straight to his hand.
-Woof! Woof! Woof!
-Ook!
-Chiiiik!
-Kueh—!
Calling all his summons, Kang Sa-hu issued a command.
"Find the path underground and dig it open."
The familiars scattered without question.
Soon, they began excavating where the elevator he'd ridden had been.
Kang Sa-hu called one Hell Hound, mounted it, and headed to the crater's center, where Patametos had been.
Riding, eyes blazing like horns, he swept his hands around. The ground heaved, Soul Cores buried beneath flying to him.
He collected the gargoyles' cores and the apparent boss gargoyle's.
But Patametos's was absent.
As expected, he didn't waste time searching.
Instead, he approached a quietly fallen "lost item" at its spot—a Spirit radiating intense energy.
Gazing silently, he chanted a spell, completing the magic to harvest it.
Looking down, he knew this Spirit was incomplete.
Yet, far stronger than the hunter's Spirit that once shocked him. Kang Sa-hu muttered.
"So this is a fragment of a Spirit."
Fragment.
Just a piece of a whole Spirit.
But its irrational power made his blazing gaze flicker fiercely upward.
Sensing his summons waiting quietly after opening the underground path, he carefully levitated the baseball-sized fragment of Patametos's Spirit.
Skill: Subspace activated.
Storing the fragment, he spurred the Hell Hound into the sinkhole-like tunnel his summons had dug.
Plummeting in freefall, his horn-shaped gaze pierced the pitch-black depths. He recalled Patametos's final words before his memory cut off.
[I'll end it here. Don't leave—search deeper.]
With that, it had self-destructed wildly, slamming the ground, clearing the gate.
So the follow-up—don't leave, search deeper—meant probe beyond the underground where they'd fought, not exit immediately.
Though nearly fatal, its post-gigantification behavior suggested it wanted him to confirm something.
And since that's what Kang Sa-hu desired too, he decided to verify its advice.
Descending the deep sinkhole, sparkling items caught his eye amid debris.
Fifty uniformly crafted armors and weapons.
Some intact despite the massive explosion, material unknown.
Most dented or shattered but usable. He ordered his orc and ape summons to collect them.
He scanned the surroundings with gloomy eyes, not even dreaming of digging it all.
Even with summons, combing this would be like finding a needle in a desert.
His heightened gaze found nothing unusual. He retrieved the Spirit fragment from Subspace.
Gazing briefly, he chanted.
Powerful energy flowed from the fragment, fueling his necromancer magic.
Wuuung, wuuuung—
The ring on his finger resonated, vibrating to amplify the spell.
Recognizing it as the magic-boosting ring from NIS Meister Park Joo-hee—which he'd forgotten—he wore a subtle expression.
It had been silent through countless spells before; now it reacted.
Pondering its meaning briefly, he shook off distractions and focused.
Soon, the necromancer spell using the Spirit—Footsteps of Darkness—completed, revealing new sights.
Footsteps of Darkness traced all entities' paths in dark spaces as ghostly footprints.
Pale, ghost-like prints appeared. He followed them quietly.
He traced to when he'd met it, hidden in darkness, speaking. Then earlier paths.
There, untouched by Patametos's attacks, lay a metal cube the size of a treasure chest—same material as the elevator.
Confirming, he tapped it with his great scythe.
Click—
Over five layered spells解除 instantly. Kang Sa-hu eyed his weapon anew: [Hell Duke Demadr's Blood-Drinking Scythe].
He'd nearly died to Hell Viscount Patametos moments ago.
And it seemed to know this scythe's Hell Duke.
Meaning...
"Demadr..."
Murmuring the name of an inevitable future foe, he turned to the cube.
Shh.
Covered in magic arrays like patterns, coated to prevent tampering, it opened silently.
Peering warily inside...
A massive heart thumped and flopped in empty space, as if pumping air.
Swoooong—
Finishing exploration, Kang Sa-hu exited the gate. Countless red eyes fixed on him.
Fifty Death Knights, and behind them, Myeongwang staring tensely at the gate he'd entered and vanished from.
Brief silence, then Myeongwang slithered through the knights like a snake, rushing to him.
"Waaaaaah, Sa-hu!"
Kang Sa-hu steadily supported the charging Myeongwang, embracing her without falling.
Having changed into spare clothes stashed in the King Forest Lizard before exiting, he looked impeccably neat as usual.
"I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried when you didn't come out for five days!"
Five days.
More than he'd guessed. Kang Sa-hu nodded calmly, accepting it.
"The gate interior was vast; things got hectic. But, Myeongwang."
Sensing through intent and his Spirit a mighty presence linked to him, he gazed at her.
"Is it complete?"
"Huh? Oh!"
Catching on after a moment, Myeongwang beamed.
"Yeah! It's done, Sa-hu."
Her words made his heart race.
A first-time sensation: thinly silken yet unbreakable bond to a mighty being.
It meant one thing.
Kang Sa-hu's Death Knight.
Kataku was complete.