The Stinking Triumph
The evil spirit’s rage burned fiercely.
Snakes poured in from every direction without end.
The bandits formed a circle around Kim Hwang-je.
The hunter climbed onto the nearest building, took position, and fired at the snakes.
With the twang of a stringed instrument, arrows flew and detonated inside the swarm, sending shockwaves through the horde.
“Killing them…!”
The arrow blasts kicked up clouds of dust.
“Kyaaah!”
The snakes shoved the dust aside with their bodies and charged.
The bandits roared and swung their axes at the serpents’ necks.
Chaos erupted on all sides, but these bandits were masters of close-quarters brawls. They could handle the incoming swarm with ease.
Kim Hwang-je stood at the rear like a true Emperor, pointing at the scattered wraiths and snakes.
Manpower Deployment (Lv.3)
“Come on in.”
“Come on in.”
“Come on in…!”
Kim Hwang-je kept casting Manpower Deployment. Each bulldozer seemed to swallow at least ten people.
The more wraiths piled up, the deeper the green glow became until it finally turned pitch black.
Transmutation Successful
Wraith Bulldozer Exuding an Aura of Black Darkness.
The pressure it radiated was immense.
Park Jo-woon looked like he had given up on standing after falling on his rear. Gemini, carrying out Kim Hwang-je’s secret orders, stood on the castle wall with wide eyes and a hand over her mouth.
A bulldozer half the size of the wall?
The problem was the overwhelming demonic energy inside it.
“Come on, quickly…!”
He had to transmute—rescue—as many people as possible before the snake could burst out of the green flames and interfere.
Right. Rescue.
He could make bodies for them later…!
And what he was doing now was manpower abduction.
Kim Hwang-je immediately cast Manpower Deployment (Lv.3) on a snake whose head had been rattled by an axe.
The category of “incapacitation” was quite broad. As long as its head was spinning, he could steal ownership.
As expected of an Emperor. A born conqueror!
In the end, every snake that took a solid hit from the bandits vanished straight into a nameless tree inside the stomach kingdom.
How many hundreds had he rescued and abducted?
Finally, unable to endure any longer, the snake’s head burst out of the green flames.
It was far larger than any snake he had seen before. Strangely, a human face was embedded in a jewel on its forehead.
It was the corrupted soul of the Disaster-gradeManta that had once been killed by a tactical nuke, now reborn as an evil spirit.
“How dare you interfere with my ascension! Pathetic, pitiful insect. Tremble in terror upon hearing my true name—”
“Drop dead!”
Best to strike during a speech.
Using The Castle Becomes Me, Kim Hwang-je loaded gold coins into a catapult inside the royal castle and fired.
◈ 1,000 Gold Coins: 1.2 billion won
◈ Catapult Cost: 1 million won
◈ Total Military Funds: 1.201 billion won
Dave stared in disbelief at the mountain of gold coins flying beyond the walls.
The kingdom’s shining wealth…!
“Aaaaaagh!”
The king clutched his cheeks and let out a thunderous scream, his handsome face twisting as the scar on it shook.
Gemini laughed from the ramparts, hands on her hips.
Anyway, the castle world was the castle world, and reality was reality.
“What the—gold?”
While Manta blinked against the blinding light, hundreds of demon-slaying gold coins slammed into its face.
Tatatatatatack—!
Who could have ever imagined such a thing?
The demon-slaying gold filled the sky like a brilliant galaxy unfolding before its eyes.
The galaxy smashed Manta’s face apart.
Manta screamed and collapsed.
“Nice! Did we finish it in one shot? Everyone, strip it! Hunter, Hotdog!”
“Yes sir! Come out, Hot-dog!”
Kim Hwang-je mounted the bulldog, gripped the demon-slaying gold bat tightly, and charged at the evil spirit.
The bandits rushed in from all sides.
“We’ll avenge the people too, you snake bastard!”
“Krrraaah!”
But Manta’s counterattack was no joke.
1.2 billion won worth of demon-slaying gold wasn’t enough to kill it!
A snake was a pitiful creature without limbs.
Unable to touch its wounds, it thrashed even more violently against the ground.
As a result, Manta’s massive body swept through mid-sized buildings two or three stories tall.
Concrete and rebar churned the earth as they were dragged forward.
A tsunami of dust, dirt, and rubble surged toward them.
Kim Hwang-je’s pupils reflected the clear image of a building the size of a house crashing down.
“My lord! Close combat will be difficult!”
“Run!”
Kim Hwang-je snapped back to his senses.
The bulldog bolted in the opposite direction.
“Krrraaaaaah!”
Behind them, the serpent’s colossal head rose like an ascending dragon, soaring all the way to the clouds.
“Whoa. Bigger than I thought.”
Kim Hwang-je tucked the demon-slaying gold bat into his arms.
Getting close enough to swing it wouldn’t be easy.
“It must have been stuffing its face for the past few years.”
“Your Majesty!”
The bandits scrambled through the collapsing buildings as the tail whipped around in a frenzy.
Manta’s voice boomed across the land.
“Foolish insect!”
“My name is Mantraerasio! Tremble in terror upon hearing it!”
“What kind of name is that.”
Kim Jeon-il or Shin-chan would have been scarier.
Compared to the names of death gods and world-ending entities, this one felt ridiculously lame.
But the magical effect was undeniable.
Numbers rapidly appeared above Kim Hwang-je, the bandits, and the hunter.
“Numbers?”
“Indeed. It shows how many souls inside your head know the name!”
“What does mine say?”
“It says 1, Your Majesty.”
“Puhahaha—!”
Just as planned!
As expected, the castle residents had never heard the name.
Something that wasn’t a dragon couldn’t use Dragon Speech, and even if it tried, only Gemini would be able to hear it!
Kim Hwang-je grinned.
“Perfect! Bandits, get inside!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The bandits vanished on the spot.
“Ooooooh!”
The evil spirit roared and raised its head. Terrifying flames erupted, triggering a chain of explosions.
Shockwave halos spread outward in every direction.
“Think we can dodge?”
“Of course. This bulldog is skilled at hunting large prey.”
“Uncle Emperor, I’ll help!”
Poyu cast Acceleration Spell.
The bulldog’s speed increased.
It danced between falling rocks and explosions like it was playing a rhythm game.
The hunter fired his longbow from its back.
But the arrows struck Manta’s magical barrier and fell away.
“Fire the catapult!”
The kingdom’s catapult was no different.
Huge boulders slammed into Manta’s body but failed to break the barrier.
“Right, they said it could tank high explosives too.”
This time Poyu breathed from its mouth.
“Poaaang!”
Though it didn’t pierce the barrier, Manta’s eyes widened.
The impact had been strong enough to lift its body.
“A baby fairy dragon is here! The offering for my ascension has come of its own accord!”
“Like hell I’m giving it to you.”
Kim Hwang-je hugged Poyu tightly and stuffed it inside his clothes.
“Stay inside, Poyu.”
“Ung, Ahjussi!”
Poyu wriggled in his stomach.
Without the Korean military’s firepower, this was a monster the catapult alone could never have defeated.
Even the castle’s Dispel Magic couldn’t remove the barrier itself.
Still, the catapult was useful. It bought time.
The only way to deflect a tail of that mass was with catapult fire.
Kwaang!
A catapult shot struck the falling tail.
Manta’s tail lurched and struck the wrong spot.
“You little—!”
Manta glared and kept swinging its tail, but catapult shots kept exploding against the descending limbs.
Kuuung—
The tail, struck by boulders, veered off course. Only this level of mass could stop it!
Dirt and stone fragments became a dust wave that rained down like a storm.
But the bulldog charged forward without fear.
“A hundred million is too much to waste…”
Kim Hwang-je crossed his arms atop the bulldog.
The status window had been flashing for a while.
Automatic Combat Cost
11.7 billion
“Hmm. Expensive!”
He had too many mouths to feed to waste money here.
Besides, he had noticed before that the war expense calculations weren’t always accurate.
Perhaps because The Castle Becomes Me was still low level, the cost-performance ratio wasn’t great.
In that case, there was only one option.
Trust the plan and go for it!
“Alright, stick to the original plan! Abduct all the wraiths and subordinates!”
The method was simple.
If he eliminated all the wraiths, the evil spirit would be left facing him alone.
Moreover, Manta was helping him.
Every time the creature swung its body, wraiths and subordinates were sent flying in all directions.
Kim Hwang-je and the hunter rode the bulldog around, scooping up everything that fell and feeding it into the castle.
“Wahaha, jackpot!”
“How dare this tiny thing—!”
Manta was seething with rage.
Two small bulldogs were running around, but its body was too massive to chase them.
Even when it tried to scrape the ground like it usually did with small prey, boulders flew in to block its trajectory.
And every time it swung its body, it was its own wraiths and subordinates that died.
“Subordinates! Come to me!”
Finally, Manta decided to swallow all the wraiths and snake subordinates into its mouth, like a fish raising its young in its jaws.
Wraiths and snakes from every direction were pulled toward Manta’s mouth, as if time were reversing on a waterfall.
“Now, we can’t have that.”
Kim Hwang-je cast Resident Summon.
▷ Dirty Cook
“Does it avoid filth because it’s dirty? Or because it’s scared?” — Sewer Manager
The Stone Golem is made of stone, the Blood Golem of blood, the Fire Golem of fire, the Iron Golem of iron.
The Sewer Golem is made of the sewer!
How adorable is the sight of this golem cooking with sewage?
Feeding them filth until they die is the kingdom’s method of execution.
No matter what, the one who flinches first loses. They become the coward.
Win the game of chicken.
Never back down, even in the filthiest place!
“Kuuuueeeeer—!”
Unlike the Illiterate Mage, the Dirty Cook was not human.
This creature was a golem that handled the sewer cleaning no one else wanted.
Its entire body was composed of filth, wastewater, and food waste.
Bubbling, disgusting gas and a horrendous stench poured from it.
“U-urp!”
The stench reached even Kim Hwang-je.
The man who hadn’t gotten drunk on cognac was now dry-heaving.
“G-go!”
“Grrreeeer— Cleaning— time—!”
The sewer golem leapt.
While Manta was in the middle of swallowing its wraiths and snake subordinates, the stench hitting its tongue made it shudder as if struck by lightning.
That split second was all it took.
The sewer golem fell straight down Manta’s throat.
And then it exploded.
“Urrgh…!”
It was like a thousand-year-old fermented food bursting inside its nose.
Eating seolleongtang through the nose was already unpleasant, but swallowing sewage full of chunks through the nose? The result was catastrophic.
The wraiths it had been sucking in mixed with the filth and poured into Manta’s stomach.
The stench, the taste, and the deadly toxicity made its entire insides burn.
“Uweeeeeegh!”
Manta began vomiting as if it were exploding.
Its abdomen contracted and relaxed repeatedly, expelling everything it had eaten over the years.
“Urp!”
Watching the sight, Kim Hwang-je started vomiting too.
Wraiths and snake subordinates that had been lodged deep in its stomach were swept away by the sewage and vomit, fleeing in all directions.
Chaos, destruction, shock, and terror filled the area!
The sound of wraiths fleeing sounded like boiling water.
Above it all, the massive snake rolled on the ground, spewing sewage, shaking heaven and earth.
It was a sight worthy of a creation myth.
“Your Majesty. I have hunted for many years, but…”
The hunter pinched his nose and spoke with admiration.
“This is the first time I have seen someone hunt so cruelly. To shove filth down its throat…”
“A-anyway, run! We have to send those wraiths to the castle right now!”
Kim Hwang-je brushed aside the eunuch’s words.
Wearing the Emperor’s Robes, he covered his nose and spoke.
Thank goodness for the mental protection and immunity to cold; otherwise, even he would have fainted from the stench.
Kim Hwang-je ran toward the wraiths and cast Manpower Deployment again.
Since he could designate targets, it was simple.
He left the filth behind and sent only the wraiths to the castle through the tribute trade.
Most of the now-powerless wraiths were sucked straight into Kim Hwang-je’s stomach.
Manta could only watch in horror.
***
“What the hell is this?”
Lee Min-ah hid on a nearby hill, observing the chaos unfolding in the city through binoculars.
She had thought her Stealth ability would keep her hidden, but she had never imagined witnessing destruction on this scale.
And that wasn’t all—Kim Hwang-je was single-handedly eliminating Manta’s wraiths and subordinates!
“I came to see what he was doing, but I never expected him to actually be fighting an evil spirit-class monster.”
Lee Min-ah’s mouth fell open.
Awakened ones existed precisely to do what the military could not.
That was why the government had legally recognized them.
But even awakened ones were human. There was no way to deal with an evil spirit that grew stronger the more numbers it had.
“But he’s handling it alone… Is he really on his second playthrough?”
In the past, after 9/11, the U.S. government had gathered every scenario writer in the White House.
They locked the doors and said, “Submit every possible scenario in which America could be attacked.”
Similarly, after the gates opened, the UN had asked fantasy novelists worldwide, “Tell us what solutions might exist in the future.”
Only a handful of absurd ideas had been proposed as possible saviors of humanity: reincarnators, second playthroughs, cheat players, sword saints, heroes, saints, and scoundrels (?).
Lee Min-ah had always scoffed at such nonsense.
The recent order to find a recently reformed scoundrel had made her furious.
Hunters were notoriously selfish.
Did anyone seriously believe that people like that, even with such power, would sacrifice themselves for humanity?
Wasn’t that far too naïve?
But… why was this man single-handedly slaying an evil spirit?
“There’s no request, no rift, so why is he eliminating an evil spirit? Is his job Hero or something?”
Lee Min-ah recalled Jung Jin-woo’s confident face.
Jung Jin-woo had said, “Because he is a good person, he won’t commit murder.”
Jung Jin-woo’s ability was useful, but she couldn’t fully trust his judgment of people.
Someone this strong was fighting in an abandoned city with no request, no reward, and no one watching?
Why was he shouldering such a sacrifice alone?
Just like her late father…
Lee Min-ah shook her head.
‘There is no such thing as a Hero job on the Korean Peninsula! He must be doing this for some kind of profit.’
Lee Min-ah lowered her binoculars and took out her phone.
She figured she should report first.
But then something exploded, and a wave of horrendous stench swept over her.
“Oh no!”
Lee Min-ah barely managed to lean against her motorcycle.
The stench made it impossible to stand upright.
She frantically pulled out the protective mask issued with the bike.
It seemed Kim Hwang-je had landed a blow that caused Manta’s stomach to explode.
As expected of an evil being, the stench was intense.
And it was undoubtedly toxic. Kim Hwang-je staggered.
Had the evil snake’s final attack worked on him too?
Kim Hwang-je began vomiting.
But he pushed through to the very end, sending every wraith and subordinate present somewhere.
Lee Min-ah’s eyes trembled at the sight of such noble sacrifice.
“I can’t believe it…! He’s going down with the evil spirit!”
In the end, Manta lost every subordinate that knew its name.
Rapidly shrinking, Manta buried its head in the ground and trembled in its own vomit. Kim Hwang-je also dropped to his knees on the earth.
“No!”
She pulled an atropine injector from her waist pouch.
It was an emergency antidote for acute poisoning issued to agents and soldiers.
Vroom—
Her motorcycle roared to life.
***
“Shit… that filthy golem bastard…”
Kim Hwang-je collapsed on the ground.
The bulldog lay beside him.
Kim Hwang-je pressed his face to the dirt and stroked Hotdog’s back as the dog trembled on the verge of death.
The dog whimpered and shook.
“Sorry, man.”
“Kngh… kngh…”
“Let’s not curse. I said I’m sorry.”
Kim Hwang-je looked up at the sky.
It had been a truly filthy hunt.
But they had won.
Wasn’t that enough?
The hunter knelt beside him, bowing his head to the ground.
“One who is endlessly cruel for the sake of the people…! Our Emperor! Why would you fight inside a cesspool for your subjects!”
The hunter sobbed.
Kim Hwang-je had no strength left to reply.
Another wave of nausea rose in his throat.