Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Four Rabbits (1)
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“Undo your transformation. It'll be less painful that way.”
After glaring at me for a long while, Kwon Seong-shin slowly reverted to his human form.
The force suppressing his regeneration must have vanished, so the pain should have subsided considerably.
Just enough for him to endure, though.
I grabbed Kwon Seong-shin by the collar and hauled him up.
“Why did you put a dimension stone in the gate to deliberately make it harder?”
“...Keh. Like I care. I was just following orders.”
“Orders? So there really is someone behind this?”
“Of course. I may be the master here, but our guild itself is just a subsidiary. I don't know much either.”
That was surprising news.
To think that the Geumeumdal Guild, one of the major players among the unofficial guilds, was merely a subordinate group of another organization.
The Geumeumdal Guild was annihilated before much information about them was revealed in the story, so it was never uncovered to this extent.
This could be a clue to easily resolving many of the major events to come.
I tightened my grip on Kwon Seong-shin’s collar.
“Then who’s behind you?”
“You think I’d tell you, you idiot?”
*Thwack!*
I slammed my fist into the solar plexus of the bastard who was sneering with his tongue out.
He must have bitten his tongue hard because of it, as blood trickled from his mouth.
Kwon Seong-shin glared at me, his eyes bloodshot.
“My tongue… I bit it… you basthard…!”
“Answer.”
“How am I s’pposed to… with my tongue like this…”
*Thwack!*
I struck him again in the same spot.
For a moment, Kwon Seong-shin’s mouth fell open as if he couldn’t breathe, his body trembling as he drooled.
“Answer.”
“So I’m tellin’ you…”
*Thwack!*
“Answer.”
The limp Kwon Seong-shin said no more.
Then, a few seconds later, he suddenly burst into laughter.
Perhaps the pain from his bitten tongue had subsided, as his pronunciation was somewhat clearer.
“You're one crazy bastard yourself. Keekik…”
I clenched my fist.
He clearly didn’t want to be hit again. Kwon Seong-shin flinched, his body trembling, and quickly continued speaking.
“The objective of the directive I received is already about halfway complete. The virus was for my own personal means and purpose.”
“Get to the point.”
“...‘The Order’ is on the move.”
For a moment, the strength in my clenched fist loosened.
*So it was them.*
All the way into the latter half of the game's story.
They were a massive, worldwide organization that continuously acted as one of the main villains.
In a world gone mad, it was natural for some to seek solace in religion when they felt they couldn't maintain their sanity.
The problem was that the religion they came to believe in was a cult that worshipped demonic beasts.
“So they’re already making their move…”
“What the hell? You’ve already half-killed him?”
Choi Seo-hee appeared from behind, accompanied by the thick scent of blood.
Unsightly spatters of blood remained all over her body.
As if enjoying it, Choi Seo-hee licked a drop of blood that had splattered near her lips.
“You were supposed to leave some for me. Beating him to a pulp like this ruins the fun.”
“With Kwon Seong-shin’s abilities, he’ll be back to normal if you give him even a moment to recover. He's staying still for now, probably trying to make me let my guard down so he can stab me in the back.”
Kwon Seong-shin flinched.
I had deliberately removed the Encroachment when he undid his transformation.
If I had maintained it any longer, Kwon Seong-shin, with his regenerative abilities paralyzed, could have died.
If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to achieve my other objective.
“Hey, Kwon Seong-shin, you son of a bitch. You have to undo my seal before you die. You’re the one who did this to me. If you die without releasing it, am I supposed to live like this forever?”
Choi Seo-hee slowly approached, grinding her teeth.
She was in a straight line, with me positioned between her and Kwon Seong-shin.
Kwon Seong-shin’s lips twitched.
“The seal… Right. There was that. You want me to release the seal, is that it?”
A sinister glint appeared in Kwon Seong-shin’s eyes.
“I’ll release that damn seal, so do what you want!”
A purple light flashed from Kwon Seong-shin's hand.
Simultaneously, the presence I felt behind me amplified in an instant.
Choi Seo-hee, an S-rank player, had her original power restored.
“Kill this bastard!!”
Kwon Seong-shin grabbed my arm.
Not content with just that, he wrapped his legs around my waist, pinning me down so I couldn't escape.
Choi Seo-hee was originally a member of Geumeumdal.
His judgment was that she wouldn't have willingly cooperated with me, so once her seal was released, her first priority would be to kill me.
But Choi Seo-hee remained silent and didn't move.
“Choi Seo-hee? What are you doing? Now, this guy…”
“She and I made a contract. Choi Seo-hee cannot attack me with malicious intent. In fact, it seems her resentment toward you has grown even stronger from being suppressed by the seal all this time.”
“He’s right about that.”
The sound of blood dripping from her claws echoed.
*Drip, drop.* She drew closer, little by little.
“You son of a bitch. I’ve been grinding my teeth all this time. How nice of you to release it.”
“Wa-wait. This isn’t the time for us to be fighting. First, this guy…”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
Choi Seo-hee bared her teeth and smiled.
“Either way, the fact that you’re going to die doesn’t change!”
She charged forward with explosive speed.
Even though Kwon Seong-shin was shielding me, if she couldn't control her attack enough to avoid him, she wouldn't deserve to be called S-rank.
Besides, if she attacked me, it would be a breach of contract, her attack would be automatically canceled, and she herself would be in grave danger.
Therefore, Choi Seo-hee used a clever tactic.
“Whoops?”
She stepped in a puddle on the floor and lost her balance.
Her claws, which had been aimed precisely at Kwon Seong-shin, lost their direction and changed their trajectory to target both me and him.
On her face, which feigned a mistake, the strangely upturned corners of her lips caught my eye.
My own mouth twisted.
Right. I figured the Choi Seo-hee I knew would pull something like this.
With contracts, the meaning can change with even a single altered word.
*She cannot attack with malicious intent.*
A direct attack with clear hostility was forbidden, but anything else was fair game.
For example, ‘accidentally’ getting me caught in the crossfire, just like now.
Her slipping might have been intentional, but the resulting attack was not.
This was how she could cleverly circumvent the rules.
Choi Seo-hee had screamed when she saw the contract, but at some point, she accepted its terms and stopped arguing.
That was right after she saw that particular clause.
Considering her personality and the circumstances, it was easy to figure out what she was plotting.
*Slash!*
“Keoheok!!”
Kwon Seong-shin, with three massive gashes across his chest, coughed up blood and collapsed to the floor.
Choi Seo-hee’s triumphant, madness-tinged laughter was short-lived.
Her expression changed completely when she realized I wasn't down.
“But he was completely held down by Kwon Seong-shin…!?”
“I wasn't caught. I just pretended to be. To see your true colors.”
“There you are!!”
Choi Seo-hee swung her claws toward the source of the sound.
The wall was torn apart like paper, but all that was there was a dark soldier disguised in my form.
She had lost her composure in her panic. If that had been the real me, it would have been an immediate breach of contract.
Realizing it was a trap, Choi Seo-hee tried to turn around, but…
“I have no need for a dog that bites its master.”
*Stab!*
Before she could, a spike shot up from behind her and pierced through her stomach.
Frozen in the middle of her movement, Choi Seo-hee managed to stammer.
“You, you son of a… Don’t tell me, from the very beginning…”
*Schwing!*
I finished her off before she could say anything more.
I flicked my sword lightly to shake off the blood.
It wouldn't do for the angels to ascertain the truth if she said anything unnecessary.
I turned my gaze to Prau, which was still intact.
Prau naturally dissipates when the King of Disease is defeated.
This meant the team that entered the Ark Gate hadn't succeeded in their raid yet.
*It’s a time-consuming task, so that’s to be expected.*
*Kieeeek!!*
After immobilizing it with a dimension stone, I enveloped its entire body in darkness.
Although it possessed S-rank regeneration, it couldn't even regenerate against the power of annihilation and simply vanished.
No recovery-type trait could exert its power before me.
Especially not as long as I possessed the Sa-in Sword.
[You have become the first to defeat ‘Disease Amalgam Prau’!]
[You have achieved the accomplishment, ‘Pest Extermination’.]
[You have acquired 1500 coins as a reward.]
Kwon Seong-shin’s corpse had already melted away.
He could withstand the toxic fumes while alive, but not after death.
I pulled the dimension stone from the rod that was rolling around near Kwon Seong-shin.
That made two.
There were no more dimension stones left here.
I returned to where Choi Seo-hee had fallen.
*The conditions are met.*
‘Army of Darkness’ was divided into three ranks.
Soldier, Knight, and Captain.
The entities normally summoned were of the Soldier grade.
To summon a Knight-grade entity, one’s mana stat needed to be at least 80, and that entity possessed power between A-rank and S-rank.
The problem was the Captain grade.
An entity with combat power comparable to an upper-tier S-rank player could only be summoned through a special ritual.
It required a pure mana stat of 70 or higher, raised solely through investment, and one had to ‘permanently’ consume mana stats.
It was a significant drawback, but one of the things that could substitute for it was a sacrifice.
The sacrifice had to be an S-rank player who swore unconditional loyalty to me—a tricky condition, but one Choi Seo-hee now satisfied thanks to our contract.
“Even then, it's not a guaranteed success…”
I reached my hand out to Choi Seo-hee.
What comes out of this ‘special summoning’ can be stored and recalled at any time.
However, with my pure mana stat at exactly 70, I could only store one entity, and trying again was impossible.
Even if I maximized the probability as much as possible, it ultimately came down to luck.
*Swoosh…*
Darkness gathered and covered Choi Seo-hee’s body.
The amount of mana needed to be permanently consumed to maximize the probability of a Captain-grade summon was 15.
A sacrifice that met the conditions could substitute for 10 mana stats.
[The ‘Cunning Hypocrite’ applauds your scheme.]
[You have been sponsored 200 coins.]
“I will pay 5 mana stats.”
[A sacrifice meeting the conditions will substitute for 10 mana stats.]
[Performing the ‘Summoning Ritual’.]
A darkly glowing magic circle began to form in the blink of an eye.
Complex strings of characters and images that I couldn't decipher intertwined, and the moment the lines connected to complete the circle—
*Ruuuumble!*
A wave of immense energy, powerful enough to shake the surroundings, began to pour out from the magic circle.
*This is it.*
I could sense the grade from the mana ripple.
It was like seeing a rainbow flash in a gacha game when you pull the highest rarity.
It was the highest grade, Captain.
I rejoiced inwardly.
To succeed on the first try when the probability was only about 15% with a mana stat of 70, even after maximizing the chances.
[The ‘One Who Wears a Black Cow Mask’ is excited, saying that’s a great deal.]
Now for the next problem.
Even among the highest grade, entities were divided into tiers.
Since it was impossible to obtain all of them, I needed to get the best ones possible.
This one feels like it's at least above average.
What's coming out?
Dead Eye? Abyss Watcher? Death Walker?
Or something like ‘Disaster’ would be good too.
As long as it was one of the upper-tier entities, it would be a gain for me right now.
I stared at the magic circle, a mass of darkness, forgetting even to breathe.
What would emerge when that darkness finally unraveled?
*Swaaah!*
The energy that had been seething around me just a moment ago vanished as if it had evaporated.
In the spot where the darkness had disappeared, a figure stood, exuding the very majesty of a supreme knight.
“...Pfft.”
The moment I saw it, I finally let out the laugh I had been holding back.
I never imagined this would come out.
Tenebris One.
One of the top three strongest entities among the Captain-grade summons.