Knight Guild (3)
I stepped out through the eastern gate.
The red-haired mercenaries were here because the gate was close to the eastern gate.
Players were already heading out for hunting from early morning.
To earn coins, they were rushing toward the underground dungeon.
Even though economic activity was possible in the Kingdom, hunting was far more efficient.
Players capable of hunting were almost always earning coins through it.
"The banshee spawns on the second floor of the underground dungeon."
Most of the first floor underground was slimes.
Not 100%, but about 90% slimes.
The multi-colored slimes had various attributes, making them slippery, while the ethereal monsters were easy to deal with if you knew how to handle mana.
That was why the second floor underground was more popular.
I descended into the entrance of the underground dungeon.
The deeper we went down the stairs, the darker it got.
I focused mana on my vision.
In an instant, it brightened, and the place was as clear as broad daylight.
We walked along the corridors of the underground dungeon.
The underground dungeon had a tunnel-like structure, with dirt walls all around.
I hadn't visited a mine before, but it felt like that.
Squish, squish—
Slimes generated from the dirt walls.
The size of a single adult, curled up.
It was a red slime.
"Flame attribute. Dodge!"
Ally shouted from behind.
The flame slime opened its mouth like a muzzle.
It resembled a cannon, in a way.
Fwoosh—
Flames bloomed and shot out.
**Pluto's Hand activated.**
I summoned the black hand to block the front.
The head-sized flame was stopped by the black hand and vanished in vain.
"Not bad."
I wrapped mana around my sword and swung it at the flame slime.
It tried to flee with a bounce, but I couldn't dodge it.
[1,000 coins acquired.]
I cut it easily.
And I got coins close to pocket change.
"It means nothing, though."
After Elena started regressing, we no longer needed to earn coins.
Even if Yu Dahui and I saved for years, we wouldn't reach even 10% of Elena's fortune.
Clearing the Tower of Struggle would be faster.
That's why the meaning of hunting itself had become quite faint.
"...Stronger than I expected, huh, you."
"Even after seeing it during the territory war, how did you not know?"
"I saw it, I saw it..."
Ally looked at me with eyes full of new surprise.
"Knowing you can handle mana doesn't mean you can catch slimes as easily as me. Mana stats matter too."
"Is that so?"
I knew that.
"Way beyond my expectations."
Even the boss monster of the third floor, the Great Magic King Slime, needed to exceed a certain mana level to deal damage.
Otherwise, you couldn't inflict damage at all.
Most beastmen unskilled in mana suffered greatly on the third floor.
Of course, it didn't matter much since they could be carried up by other parties.
While hunting, I looked for the stairs leading down.
There were several entrances to the second floor underground, placed here and there on the first floor underground.
Getting lost while wandering made the guide role extremely important.
"This way."
Titania naturally found the path.
Titania was the succubus queen; she could see the invisible.
Through her instincts, she led us along the paths that players frequently traveled.
"Found it quickly. Unexpected?"
We reached the descending stairs.
The atmosphere felt even more eerie than the first floor underground.
We descended to the second floor underground without a word.
To catch the banshee.
"The mood is weird. Creepy."
"If your level is this high, it'll be easier than slimes. No need to worry much."
Ally sounded utterly calm.
She was probably familiar with it.
"Titania."
"Why?"
"Can I touch your breasts?"
"...This isn't just some crazy bastard, is he?"
Titania's footsteps quickened.
She made a disgusted face and wrinkled her brows.
"After all, you're following me because you want to drink my semen, right? We're helping each other out."
"I don't need your semen? Stop having the delusion that you'll need it yourself."
"Need it? Not at all?"
"...I feel like I'm going to vomit, so don't come close."
Titania pushed me away.
It wasn't that strong of a push, but I had no intention of getting closer.
We arrived at the second floor underground.
I felt like someone was watching me.
"Let's move."
The second floor underground was covered with magic stones embedded in the walls.
They emitted light, making movement easy.
Uhhhhhh—
But every time an ethereal monster spawned, the magic stones flickered annoyingly.
"Ghost!"
A plain ghost appeared, flickering.
It wasn't even worth calling it an ethereal monster except for the oozing movement.
I raised my sword aura and cut it down in one breath.
[700 coins acquired.]
[700 coins acquired.]
Two of them were more than enough in five seconds.
"You don't know anything, do you? No fear at all. If you rush in like that against a ghost..."
I ignored Ally's complaining from behind and kept moving.
Our goal was the banshee. We didn't have time to stop.
"How many of these pranks do I have to do..."
Sodahui had caught nearly a thousand banshees.
And only barely obtained their essence.
It should have been resolved with just one regression, yet I'd suffered for nothing.
Of course, we also got stronger and did various investigations, but...
"Even if I regress this time, it'll end."
It was just killing time.
I needed to find a way to spend that time more fun and fulfilling...
"Rebecca! Wake up, Belka!"
"Ugh, ugh... my body...! Don't listen to me!"
At that moment, the magic stones flickered.
Several players collapsed, vomiting blood, and a pair of male and female were confronting each other.
The female succubus and the male nymph.
Ally gripped her staff with the red gem tightly and pointed it at them.
"Ghosts look like weak ethereal monsters on the surface, but if you're not careful, you can get possessed like this. If you get possessed, you become more cautious than with banshees or specters. From what we've seen..."
And while saying that, she created flames as if ready to fire at any moment.
"P-please help! Belka, Belka..."
The male turned his head toward us.
With desperate eyes, he asked for help.
Beastmen looked different depending on their blood concentration.
The purer they were, the more they resembled beasts.
Belka was the female succubus.
Her face was literally a dog...
"I don't feel like helping anymore..."
"Just this once, please help!"
The male who had been holding out alone shouted.
From the desperate voice, I could feel his heart.
"Krrruung."
"Belka! Wake up! You can't lose..."
She attacked the male nymph with sharp claws.
They were gradually being pushed back.
Because Belka had lost her reason and was pressing harder.
**Pluto's Hand activated.**
I created a black hand and knocked Belka and the male nymph off.
"Kiaaaaargh!"
The female succubus, whose instincts remained, howled and couldn't be beaten by my black hands.
Her pure strength was similar to mine, but her numbers overwhelmed us.
I isolated them against the wall and gave recovery potions to the other players.
As stats increased, lower-quality potions didn't work well, so we had no choice but to use good ones.
Fwooosh—
The players' wounds healed.
It took a long time to recover damage close to critical.
"Do you know how to dispel possession?"
"Her own willpower is the most important. Otherwise, you have to use the 'Ghost Extermination Amulet' sold in the shop..."
"It's insanely expensive?"
"Yeah. You usually don't carry it. That's the best way to see it."
If you pay attention, you can avoid possession.
Instead of buying the amulet, it was better to buy more potions.
It was far more efficient.
But that laziness created situations like this.
"Don't go down if you're not confident..."
Whether they died or not wasn't my concern, but I didn't want to watch this nonsense in front of me.
"Then we have to wait for Belka to wake up on her own, right?"
"If we heal these people, we can go our own way."
Ally said it as if it were nothing.
She was thinking of filming a public service announcement for the Tower of Struggle while helping people.
The players groaning and writhing in pain.
No one stood out.
"We'll take what we can. Strip them of everything they have."
"...Such a thing...!"
The male nymph looked at me with an aggrieved expression, but I had no intention of sparing him.
There wasn't even a pretty woman to steal for myself, let alone a supporting character from a novel.
"Strip their equipment."
I used black hands to strip their equipment.
Most items would be in their inventory anyway.
The only thing we could steal was equipment.
"If you have any banshee essence..."
"Banshee's... essence...?"
The dwarf who had finally woken up muttered.
"I-I'm carrying banshee essence. I'll give it to you."
"Oh my."
"Instead, won't you just let us go? I'll pay the potion price exactly. Please be merciful..."
For a player, equipment was like the bottom line of their life.
Losing equipment made revival nearly impossible.
"If you hand it over quietly, I'll let you go."
I could kill them all, but I didn't want to.
The PK growth expectation was low, so it felt pointless.
Was the Kim Jinwu who went wild on the second floor getting what he deserved?
Was I not being too kind to myself?
Such self-reflection happened.
"What can I do."
Right now, I didn't feel like killing them.
If the one next to me had been Yu Dahui or Elena, I would have stabbed them right through.
Because they were Ally and Titania, I had no desire.
They were women without the Submission Oath.
"After all, they won't remember..."
It was hard to explain.
Did I not harm them?
Because they weren't wearing the mask?
"Here it is..."
The dwarf took out the banshee essence from his inventory.
A small bead flickering with dull gray light.
It matched the description exactly.
"This is the banshee essence...?"
Ally accepted the banshee essence and checked the information.
Ally, staring at the invisible system, a smile spread across her lips.
It was unexpectedly found quickly.
"Now, please spare us. We'll handle Belka ourselves..."
The dwarf turned his plea into a command.
Being beside an overwhelming powerhouse was a huge source of stress no matter what.
"Okay, I'll keep my promise."
I decided to leave them as they were.
I didn't take the potion price.
Elena’s coins would soon be mine anyway, so it was pocket change.
By obtaining the banshee essence, I could restore Fren to his original state.
With that, I was satisfied.
"Was this a reward for doing a good deed?"
Everything worked out well.
"Since we're down here, let's go see the banshees and specters too."
I took Ally and Titania with me on a tour of the ethereal monsters.
Since we would have to return, I figured we should explore while we were here.
The difference between reading a description and actually seeing it was vast.
Uhhhhhh—
We descended a bit deeper, and black-light specters appeared, flickering.
White and black.
Among them, the black had overwhelming power.
There were roughly dozens.
It meant we had gone quite deep into the underground dungeon.
"Each of you hold your minds tight..."
I raised my sword aura.
It was the highest-power sword aura I could create.
Slash!
I swung my sword at the black specter.
One, two, three...
I moved it around to annoy them, but it was no use avoiding my sword.
I handled eight, and Ally and Titania each one.
I thought it would be a normal hunt.
"Kyah. Aah..."
Titania screamed from behind.
Ally stood there stupidly to the side.
"Kruu, ugh!"
Titania, clutching her head and letting out awkward screams.
She was showing symptoms similar to Belka's earlier.
Ally tried to stop Titania.
But Titania's stats were much higher.
"Titania! Get back! Kue, kuel. Kuel..."
Titania knocked Ally over and used her strength to put her to sleep.
Pinkish energy waves rippled.
"U, uhhhh..."
"She's possessed? This crazy bitch..."
"Kiyaaaa!"
Titania let out a grotesque sound and charged at me.
Her eyes looked weirdly trembling.
It felt like our eyes met.
Insight on.
Whether she was possessed or not, insight could tell easily.
If possessed, her thoughts wouldn't be readable.
Ironically, her thoughts were coming through.
"Hahaha, I'm not a genius? Pretending to be possessed and sucking my semen, I can get free mana, right?"
"Let's stuff ourselves and go up. I came to help directly, so I deserve some compensation. That's only fair."
"Just the thought of drinking semen makes my mouth water. Ah, she's looking at me. Pretending to be possessed, acting..."
"Could you read my expression like that? Idiot, bastard, asshole, just hand over your semen quietly!"
Insight off.
She was making a fuss.
She was making a fuss.
Titania pinned me against the wall.
For now, I decided to let her have her way.
