Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Hero Slayer (3)
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3장. Hero Slayer (3)
7.
The era of monsters, when every established order and rule in the Maple World crumbled so pathetically.
That era was far beyond what could simply be called hell.
But it wasn't the first time such an age had come.
Hundreds of years prior, there had been a similar one.
The Black Mage!
When that absolute evil appeared, the Maple World had faced an endless despair.
And so, people hoped just as they had back then.
“A hero will save us!”
They longed for heroes to appear once more.
And as if answering their hopes, in this monster-infested era, the heroes of old—the ones who had sealed the Black Mage—returned.
Evan, descendant of Dragon Master Fried; Luminous, the arch-nemesis of fate; Mercedes, the Elf King; the phantom thief Phantom; the polearm warrior Aran; and the cursed, forgotten hero Sung Wol.
All six heroes emerged in the age of monsters, and they lived up to their legendary names.
‘The heroes were magnificent.’
They shone brilliantly, sparing no part of themselves.
‘But the world was far too cruel.’
Yet the era was more vicious than even they could imagine.
To be precise, it wasn't just monsters.
Lurking behind the monsters' emergence were none other than the Black Mage's followers.
Naturally, those followers wouldn't just sit idly by while the six heroes acted.
In the end, catastrophe struck.
‘And in that horror, Aran was the first to die.’
Aran, the polearm warrior, was dead.
And not just any death.
‘By Dibo's polearm.’
She was murdered not by a monster, but by an adventurer.
“You?”
The short, sharp-featured man before him now was that very person.
Hero Slayer Dibo.
“You the one who called me?”
Dibo spoke to El Pam in casual tones the moment he saw him.
And not just any casual speech.
*Ptooey!*
He spat right in front of El Pam, making no effort to hide his foul mood.
This went beyond mere bad personality.
While not as bad as the Gapor Merchant Group, the treatment of non-adventurers in the manpower market was poor.
Especially in front of adventurers, they were utterly subservient.
Yet here he was, acting this way before an adventurer—no, a 2nd Circle adventurer?
It wasn't just rude.
‘A mad dog, as expected.’
He was straight-up insane.
And it wasn't just now.
Dibo rampaged like a lunatic even against monsters. That's why he stood out more than anyone.
‘The mad dog Aran acknowledged. That's how he became her disciple.’
Impressed by his talent, the polearm hero Aran gladly took Dibo as her disciple.
‘Under her, he became the ultimate hunting dog.’
And Dibo followed Aran more loyally than anyone.
In truth, the results those two—Aran and Dibo—produced on the battlefield were astonishing.
In a world overflowing with monsters, they carved paths forward.
But there was one problem.
‘Until they met Zakum.’
The Devil's Tree, Zakum.
That monster from the Elnas Mountains drove everyone it encountered insane.
It drowned them in madness.
Dibo was no exception.
In the end, the maddened Dibo killed Aran.
The details of how it happened were unknown.
People could only speculate.
‘Aran cherished Dibo more than anyone. For her to kill him would have been no easy thing.’
Even before the Black Mage, she never dropped her polearm—but before her own disciple, perhaps she did.
‘After Dibo went alone to hunt Erego, the Skull Demon ruling Victoria Island, her story ends.’
And Dibo, the sole survivor, wandered off alone and vanished from the world.
Leaving behind only his moniker: Hero Slayer.
“Hey, you called me, so say something. What the hell do you want?”
Such was the man standing before him now.
El Pam had never seen him in person before.
Naturally, they'd never spoken.
Yet El Pam knew Dibo well.
‘I was often compared to him.’
El Pam and Dibo—they had many similarities.
For starters, both hailed from the port city of Lith Harbor.
‘Our awakenings happened around the same time too.’
Not long after El Pam awakened, Dibo did as well.
Meaning they became adventurers around the same time.
Dibo grew faster afterward, but post-monster era, their power levels evened out.
“Damn, a mute? Whatever. So, how much you paying? My price ain't cheap.”
“How much do you want?”
“How much? This guy's funny. You gonna pay whatever I ask?”
And the biggest similarity?
‘His little sister had Black Blood Disease.’
Black Blood Disease—that cursed affliction striking his family.
Of course, there were differences.
El Pam's father had died from it.
But Dibo's little sister was still alive.
“One million meso. That's enough for me to run around like a rabid dog for you.”
In short, Dibo needed money.
Desperately so—enough to sell his life for a million meso.
El Pam knew that full well, and he didn't hesitate.
“Huh? You can pay that? Really?”
He pulled it out right in front of the sneering, scoffing Dibo.
“Huh?”
A check.
A one-million-meso check.
“Whoa!”
At that moment, Dibo's face lit up in shock as he spoke.
8.
“Th-this... is it r-real?”
The words barely out, Dibo slapped his own mouth and corrected himself.
“No, I mean... is this the real deal?”
Suddenly polite.
It might have seemed infuriating.
But El Pam had no intention of scolding Dibo's prior arrogance or rudeness.
No one knew better than him what that one million meso meant to Dibo.
So he skipped the chit-chat.
“Contract term: one year.”
Short and to the point.
“Profits split 7-3. I get first pick on items from beyond the gate.”
Just the essentials.
And that was enough for El Pam.
‘The Hero Slayer buys time against monsters, and I finish them.’
Few things were more valuable than having the great Hero Slayer at his front.
Moreover, El Pam knew.
‘He'll awaken soon enough.’
Right now, he was little more than a slave, but a circle would soon form on Dibo's left wrist.
A million meso was pocket change in that light.
“Contract here.”
Dibo didn't hesitate at El Pam's offer.
He bit his left thumb with his teeth, then slammed the bloodied print onto the contract.
Leaving a bloody mark.
“One million meso. No take-backs.”
He spoke with utmost courtesy.
But his eyes were anything but.
‘If this is fake, you're dead.’
If anyone tried to block this moment, if anyone denied it, those eyes promised to burn them alive.
Even if it was some terrifying monster.
That gaze convinced El Pam.
‘The Hero Slayer for sure.’
The man before him was indeed the one he knew.
‘No, wait.’
From now on, Dibo wouldn't be called Hero Slayer anymore. The world would use his original moniker.
‘Road Maker.’
The brilliant title of the one who carved paths through monster-filled despair.
‘He's still lacking, of course.’
Dibo now was a far cry from that legend.
It had taken no small amount of time for him to earn such glory.
‘But I can polish him.’
For El Pam, though, time was the most precious resource of all. He had no intention of letting it pass idly.
Even now.
“Contract's done. Time to tackle the Mystic Gate.”
Dibo nodded at El Pam's words.
No complaints.
He'd taken one million meso—enough to save his sister's life. Now he had to pay the price.
He'd said it himself.
“Of course. I'll charge in like a mad dog.”
He'd work harder than anyone.
Of course, Dibo believed something too.
That El Pam would be a reliable leader.
‘Guy with this much cash can't be ordinary.’
After all, wasn't this man casually dropping a million meso on a non-awakened slave?
It meant money was no object.
And in this world, money determined a party's quality.
No matter how great the adventurer, money turned them into meek sheep and loyal hounds.
“So, where are the other party members?”
Dibo had no doubt El Pam's companions were top-tier talents.
Instead of answering, El Pam pointed his index finger at Dibo.
“Huh?”
Dibo tilted his head and glanced behind him.
“That's just the wall.”
He looked back at the wall, then returned his gaze.
But El Pam's finger still pointed at him, and only then did Dibo point at himself.
“Me?”
A wry chuckle escaped Dibo.
“Ah, yeah, I'm a party member too, obviously. I meant the others.”
Deep down, Dibo felt grateful.
To adventurers, the unawakened were slaves—nothing more, nothing less.
Yet this man treated him as a comrade?
‘Nice guy.’
Even if it was just words, for Dibo—who'd never once been called a comrade—it warmed his heart.
To such a Dibo, El Pam said,
“You and me. That's it.”
“Huh?”
“We're tackling the Mystic Gate—just the two of us.”
“Huh?”
Dibo's mind blanked.
Just two people for a Mystic Gate?
One of them a non-awakened slave?
‘Did I hear wrong?’
No matter how he turned it over in his head, it defied common sense. So Dibo asked,
“Boss, you're joking, right? How do two people clear a Mystic Gate?”
El Pam's expression said otherwise.
No joke.
“For real.”
Seeing that, Dibo's irritation flared.
“Boss! Don't you know the basics? Mystic Gates need at least a four-man party! Warrior, mage, archer, thief—or pirate!”
It was infuriating.
“You've got money—why pull this stunt?”
Just hire adventurers with cash. Why dive into hell himself?
To that question, El Pam replied,
“Two million meso.”
“Yeah, two million's enough to hire ten adventurers easy!”
“That's my debt.”
Meaning: no cash to spare.
Dibo's face went slack in disbelief.
El Pam understood. He'd have made the same face in Dibo's shoes.
And he had a way to convince him.
Simple enough.
El Pam just needed to show his own power.
But here, El Pam wanted to run one test.
‘Does he have the guts to stake his life on the contract?’
To gauge Dibo's loyalty.
It mattered.
El Pam wasn't just paying a million meso to clear a few gates and snag some items.
Beyond money, he had too much to do.
Hunting Hontail, uncovering those mysterious beings who brought this world's despair.
Defying Maple World's fated doom.
For that, El Pam needed madmen willing to hurl themselves at this merciless fate.
‘If Dibo's more rational than I thought, no point keeping him.’
Before such an El Pam, Dibo scratched his head irritably.
He looked deeply troubled.
“Boss, no matter how I slice it, this is way too risky.”
Then he spoke up.
“Could you spot me another hundred thousand meso? Or lend it?”