The Voice Villain

Doyun’s post began to receive reactions from the Mobs one by one.

The content Doyun wrote below was as follows: A group of Hunters had started secretly tailing him at some point, and he didn't know what to do about it.

If something was annoying, you killed it. To the Mobs, the Hunter society was a barbaric group built on such simple structures.

Doyun felt just as frustrated. Explaining this ridiculous situation was more of a headache than dealing with a Parasite Mimic.

"Ugh."

-Twitch!

The Hunters who had been sneakily following Doyun, gauging his reactions, jumped in surprise.

"Why are you following me?"

"W-well... because as long as we're with you, the Demon Hunters won't attack."

"No, but you still need to be active. Are you just going to follow me around and do nothing?"

Hunters had to hunt monsters. They needed to earn rewards and gain experience to build the foundation to advance to the next floor. But this was nothing more or less than stalking.

"...You don't know. How hellish this place is for weaklings like us."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"....."

Silence again. They didn't bother making excuses because they knew Doyun was right.

"W-we will never be hostile toward you. Just. Just let us stay with you until we reach the boss monster..."

Their tone was incredibly pathetic. Their eyes were wavering, and their movements lacked strength, as if they had been wandering this place for days. However.

"Hey."

"...What is it?"

"Honestly, even you guys have to realize this isn't right. Just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go."

"We value our lives too. Please, I beg you. Just until we reach the boss room..."

Doyun couldn't watch their behavior any longer. 'Who knows when or where they might stab me in the back.' Doyun knew exactly how much risk he was taking just by having them follow him. There hadn't been any problems yet because there hadn't been a full-scale battle, but monsters could pop out at any time.

"Even if you follow me to the front like this, can you actually clear it?"

"...."

"You're not farming experience, you're not catching monsters. Do you think you can do it with your stats being that low? You have to clear it individually anyway."

They might be able to survive for now by sticking together, but unfortunately, only one person could enter the boss room.

"Even you guys know this isn't right."

"Damn it! You think we want to be like this?!"

Finally, one of the Hunters couldn't take it anymore and spat out his frustration at Doyun. "Do you know how the weak feel! You might have been lucky enough to get a good skill and can easily break through floors like this, but that's not the case for us!"

"That's right! Just because you got one measly skill, you're acting all arrogant...!"

"...What?"

Hearing that, Doyun was at the point where his sanity was about to leave his body. 'These bastards.' So in the end, they just wanted to ride the bus comfortably, so they were telling him to shut up and drive. "Are you not going to get lost?"

"...."

"Get lost. Or if not, fight me right here."

The hesitant Hunters eventually started moving away from Doyun one by one. Once they were out of sight, Doyun asked Aira, "Are they still there?"

"Mm-hmm. Way over there. But they're far."

"Okay."

The result wasn't entirely satisfying, but he was relieved they had disappeared from his immediate sight. If they hadn't backed down despite his threats, he had been prepared to fight. 'Free-riding is crossing the line.' No matter how much they valued their own lives, he couldn't tolerate the mindset of blatantly trying to leech off someone else. Doyun hadn't worked himself to death for that.

"Hey, are those people behind you your companions?"

"No."

"I see."

He immediately denied it when a Demon Hunter he met in passing asked. However, it seemed the Demon Hunter felt a strange sense of camaraderie between Doyun and them. In the end, it didn't help at all in completely shaking them off.

While continuing the uncomfortable clear, he encountered a figure who looked no different from any other Demon Hunter.

"..."

The moment Doyun made eye contact with him, he instinctively realized something. He could feel an energy similar to Arcein, whom he had faced before.

'A madman.'

It seemed the quest content referred to this. A Demon Hunter who had already been consumed by madness while hunting demons faced Doyun.

"You. I can feel a demonic power similar to that demon."

"I have the badge of a Demon Hunter."

He pointed to the badge on his chest for no reason, but it wouldn't work.

"That kind of trickery doesn't work on me. Come at me. I will purify you."

The other side was already fully prepared.

-Hummm.

Doyun also immediately gathered his magic power, deciding to respond to the insane Demon Hunter.

-Clang!

The weapons clashed in mid-air. 'He's less than Arcein.' Given the status of the previous boss monster, the Demon Hunter in front of him didn't seem that dangerous.

"Ugh!"

When he landed a kick to his exposed abdomen, the Demon Hunter took the attack head-on and rolled on the ground.

'Aira.'

"Yay!"

Not missing the opening, Aira's red chains crawled along the ground like a snake and snatched his ankles.

"....?!"

The adult male's body was lifted helplessly into the air. His target was right in front of Doyun. The Demon Hunter, who had entered Doyun's attack range without a chance to do anything, was...

-Thwack!!

...pierced through by the curved blade Doyun thrust vertically.

"Guh."

A quest window popped up simultaneously with the man's death. However, it wasn't complete.

'Looks like there are more.'

In such a vast area, there wouldn't be just one insane Demon Hunter. Were they hunting Hunters or companions somewhere right now?

"Phew."

Doyun immediately headed toward the next area. No matter how much of a stage it was for monster activity, the background was too gloomy. It was an atmosphere that made his heart feel heavy in a different way.

"Ah."

In the meantime, Doyun turned on the gallery again for something he hadn't asked yet.

That's right. The previous boss monsters all communicated through Doyun's 'Resonance'. And through that, he could awaken fragments of past memories to achieve the conditions for Hidden Pieces.

Another user answered this. In fact, it was a kind of venting. After all, wasn't it too shameless to have let their children loose to cause trouble, only to be laughing and chatting in the gallery themselves?

-Step.

Even in the midst of that, he continued to push through the vast shopping district. "Kee-rick." He caught the Parasite Mimics scattered everywhere. "...Demon follower." He caught three more Demon Hunters who were already beyond communication. 'Four in total.' Wasn't this enough to receive the quest reward?

-Ding!

As he defeated the fifth Demon Hunter, the quest completion window popped up. "This is it." Right. If he had suffered this much, it was about time for it to appear.

"....What."

It was a shame that he couldn't receive the reward immediately, but at least they were giving him something.

He finally found the entrance to the boss room he had been looking for. At the end of the shopping street, Doyun arrived at a suddenly wide-open area, and what caught his eye was...

"So you've come this far."

He encountered a Demon Hunter with a familiar appearance standing silently in the corner.

"We meet again."

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it this far. And you even took care of the Demon Hunters we were supposed to finish off."

The leader, who had a sense of seniority among the Demon Hunters, recognized Doyun and spoke. "It seems I owe you a debt once again."

'If you know that, pay up.' Doyun looked at the Demon Hunter leader, hiding his glistening desire.

"I don't have anything suitable to give you right now, but take this at least."

And the reward he had been waiting for was held out in front of Doyun.