Escalron's Demise
The succubus's brow twitched.
He's gone...?
The presence of Kalancerber, the lowest-grade demon assigned to patrol F11, had vanished.
The demon king, lounging obliquely on his bed surrounded by stunningly beautiful demon women, seemed to notice it as well.
But he didn't bother saying anything. He already knew his aide would handle it without needing to be told.
"I'll be right back."
"See to it."
The succubus stepped outside and called for Escalron.
"You summoned me."
"Yes, it seems there's a problem in F11."
"I'll go check immediately."
"Report back the moment you return."
"Understood."
Escalron, the lowest-grade demon, rose and started walking.
Once he was a short distance from the succubus, he kicked off the ground hard.
Whoosh, whoosh-whoosh.
Dust billowed as acceleration kicked in.
Over there.
Arriving at F11 in an instant, Escalron furrowed his brow.
Traces of battle.
After a thorough inspection, he found Kalancerber's traces amid the remnants.
Kalancerber had fought here—and ultimately died.
He followed the post-battle tracks. In the distance, he spotted around thirty skeleton monsters battling demons.
"Tch."
A chuckle escaped him.
So he really got done in by mere monsters.
Pathetic.
Clicking his tongue, he drew his sword from his waist.
Swish.
The energy shot from the blade warped space itself.
Everything shattered.
Silence naturally descended.
Boring.
He hurried back to the northern demon realm area to wait for the succubus. He'd made enough noise on his return that she'd show up soon.
As expected, the succubus appeared, gazing at him with a haughty expression. Escalron dropped to one knee and reported.
"I found traces of Kalancerber."
"Oh?"
"Yes, it looks like he was killed by monsters."
"What? Is that true?"
"Yes."
"And the monsters?"
"I took care of the rest."
"Hmm."
The succubus pondered for a moment.
She seemed to reach a decision.
"Escalron."
"Yes."
"From now on, you're in charge of F11."
"......"
"Your answer?"
"Ah, understood."
It annoyed him, but he couldn't refuse a direct order from above.
"Go check it out right now."
"Yes......"
After responding, he headed back to F11.
How much time passed?
Monster skeletons appeared, and he swung his sword, crushing them.
"Get lost!"
Of course, he couldn't one-shot them, but Escalron's true power came from speed anyway, so he didn't mind much.
He could make up for lacking destructive force with velocity.
Just like now.
Swish.
One more attack would do it.
Boom-crash.
Most of the skeleton monsters shattered.
But about five still held out. As he raised his sword again, two oddly shaped ones charged forward.
A last-ditch struggle?
The moment the question crossed his mind, energy waves fired.
Gasp...!
It was too wide to dodge.
He staggered.
Luckily, the distance was sufficient, and no ranged attackers remained, so he took no damage.
But his pride stung. Grimacing fiercely, he swung his sword with full power.
Finally, he wiped out the rest perfectly.
Really annoying.
He sat and passed the time.
How much longer?
As boredom became unbearable.
They appeared again.
Hup!
He swung twice in succession and retreated.
Dodging the energy waves, he slashed again.
This should work from now on.
He'd been caught off-guard by the waves at first, but now he had it down. Which made it even harder to understand. No matter how he thought about it, Kalancerber shouldn't have fallen to this level. How careless did you have to be to lose to these monsters?
What an idiot.
He'd never comprehend that fool.
Shatter, explode, pulverize.
Whenever they appeared, he dealt with them the same way.
Today, they showed up again.
Die.
Escalron engaged them as usual. One sword swing unleashed a powerful surge, triggering an explosion. He swung once more.
Kaboom!
He immediately widened the distance from the monster skeletons.
About five left.
Staying wary of the two that used energy waves, he whipped up a gale.
Whoosh.
As dust cleared and the situation revealed itself, Escalron's eyes widened.
"......!"
It was utterly different from what he'd expected.
"Y-You bastards!"
His pride cracked.
Most of the mere monster skeletons had survived.
How is this possible...?
He'd attacked twice—how?!
Clack, clack.
At that moment, the monsters moved.
Whoosh!
Until now, his first strike had taken out the low-HP ones, sparing him most magic or arrow attacks. Making cleanup easy.
But not this time. Magic and endless bone arrows scrambled his vision.
Kaboom-boom-boom!
Escalron regained his composure, but he couldn't dodge now.
The arrows and spells blanketed everything. No matter how nimble he was, he couldn't fully escape the AoE.
Damn it...!
No choice—he dashed to the least-damaged spot.
"Kuh...!"
Still, it hurt bad.
Damn, damn...!
Then, something pierced the dust like a charging bull.
He leaped aside urgently, but the range was too vast again.
All the cavalry had charged at max speed.
Launched airborne by the impact, Escalron twisted midair to regain balance.
Landing, he swung his sword swiftly.
The charging armor cavalry flipped from the force—but Burtan poked its head through.
Energy Wave
Shook.
A giant cyclops plunged down on the off-balance Escalron.
Thud-rumble.
Pinned, it smashed a fist down.
"Arrrghhh!"
As Escalron came to and tried to rise.
Thud-boom.
The giant cyclops unleashed an energy wave too.
"Th-This is insane...!"
Escalron's strength drained again.
Armor knights and bone swords successfully surrounded him in layers.
-Now it's our turn.
The skeletons rampaged.
This was the power of skeletons equipped with +6-or-higher weapons and shields, plus three stat-boosting runes each.
Of course, if Escalron had swung three times instead of two in his initial attacks, the outcome might've differed.
They could've endured just one extra hit before melting like before.
Naturally, Escalron never imagined they'd survive even that one more strike. That's why this happened.
-Payback time.
-Kill the bastard.
Thanks to that, the skeletons seized their chance.
They had no intention of letting this one slip.
-No mistakes allowed.
-Follow orders precisely!
Only then did Escalron understand.
Ah, Kalancerber...!
How he'd died.
*
A smile crept across Mu-hyuk's lips.
He'd gained another 100,000 summon experience from the demon realm.
The value of 10 stats.
How could he not be pleased?
So it's confirmed?
It seemed lowest-grade demons were patrolling F11 now.
There wasn't much he could do about it. He couldn't change the assigned zone, so steadily growing his summons was best.
Next time, send revive monsters too.
With that thought, he turned on Illusion TV.
"Sorry, I have a lot of secrets. I don't think I'll be turning off Illusion TV for a while."
Finishing his words, Mu-hyuk checked the gear in his inventory.
Time to sell.
About thirty were for the Black Guild, who'd tipped him off about Paradox Guild's provocations in advance.
The rest? A whopping 106 items.
He'd lent 200 weapons and 100 shields to NPCs, distributing evenly to 200 total.
Then handed them all to skeletons.
Yet still, 118 weapons and 18 shields remained.
Total 136.
Minus thirty, enhance all 106 and list them.
No more use for them anyway.
Hoarding would just waste space.
He'd keep enhancing steadily regardless.
Especially with more piling up ahead.
Instant sale.
At current market price.
The audience watching cheered.
Then someone wondered.
The doubt cleared quickly.
Buyers showed their hype.
He listed ten items.
All +6.
The response was electric.
Hmm, this one...
As he pondered pricing, a message popped up.
◈ Gold Acquired (after fees): 1,417
One already sold.
Prices had dropped, sure.
Inevitable, with more enhancement users.
Still massive.
Alright, next.
He rapidly listed the rest.
20, 30, 40.
Plenty left—no big deal for him.
Viewers felt differently.
More gear went up meanwhile.
Now 80.
Still going.
How many more?
"Alright, last one."
The final item hit the auction house.
Nine had sold so far.
Mu-hyuk grinned, checking his gold.
Now what?
As he pondered, a hologram suddenly appeared.
"Huh......"
His dilemma resolved instantly.