The Baron Comes Calling
DONG! DONG! DONG!
The bell at the very top of the lord's manor tolled through the city.
At the sound, everyone still outside hurried back into their homes. That bell carried only one meaning: a demon had appeared.
"Well, well. Didn't expect him to move personally."
I was the one who had rung it. Barely five minutes had passed since a demon force invaded Territory 15, the last land I'd claimed.
After sending everyone home, I left the city with Won-ae and Baek-rim at my side.
"What kind of demon is it this time?"
"We won't get caught off guard like last time."
The two of them squared their shoulders with confidence. I couldn't quite manage the same.
From what I can sense, it's at least a Baron!
And if it was a Baron, there was exactly one such creature in all of North Korea. The effective ruler of the occupied north. And that being had come in person — leading tens of thousands of monsters, no less. This was no laughing matter.
I hurried toward the territory's border. And there, standing alone at the boundary, was a single demon.
"Th-that's—!"
The moment Baek-rim laid eyes on the Baron, the color drained from his face. As a survivor of northern Korea, no one knew better what that creature truly was.
"The Poison Baron…."
"Indeed. This body is the Poison Baron."
As he spoke, the Baron flared his aura wide. I could tell from the demonic energy alone: this demon existed on a completely different plane from Envy.
"And what business does a Baron have with the likes of me?"
"Hoh? You keep your mouth open even while bathed in my demonic energy… So you are the human called Han Jin."
It was a wonder Baek-rim and Won-ae were still standing. Maintaining your sanity under this demonic pressure was beyond most people.
"Two demonslaying Ma-in, and the human who killed two of the Demon race itself — you've piqued my interest."
The Demon race was the strongest of all demonkind. He'd taken notice of me because I'd killed two of them.
Am I supposed to be flattered or terrified?
My original plan had been to grind experience all the way to Pyongyang, raise my level, bolster my mana, and only then fight him. Instead, the Baron had come looking for me first, upending every expectation I had.
"So. What is this business of yours?"
"To speak bluntly — would you not form a contract with me?"
"You're telling me to become a Ma-in."
"Quick to understand. Very well, I shall grant you the chance to contract with this Baron."
For an ordinary awakener, it would have been an irresistible offer. Even a common Ma-in landing a contract with a high-ranking demon was like plucking a star from the sky. But this was a demon above even a Baron, offering directly? Any normal person would have said yes on the spot.
That is, if I were anyone else.
Right on cue, my skills activated.
The Great Adversary is activated.
The Fight of Warriors is activated.
Fighting Spirit is activated.
As the skills kicked in and my stats surged, the crushing pressure from moments ago simply vanished.
"Out of curiosity — what happens if I refuse your contract?"
"Hmm… I hadn't given it thought, but if you were to refuse this…"
The heavens split open, and I surged toward the Poison Baron.
CRASH!
I broke into footwork mid-sentence and closed the distance as the sky itself seemed to tear apart.
"So this alone was never going to be enough…."
"Hmm… A powerful technique, certainly. But if that's all you have, I confess I'm rather disappointed."
The Baron stood there without a single scratch. The only difference was that the spear he'd been carrying on his back was now in his hand.
I couldn't see it.
Not the Baron drawing his spear, not the swing — nothing. If my current stats still couldn't track him, I'd need to call in a World Ranker.
I hate that I have to go all-out from the very start….
Just then, a system message bloomed before my eyes.
A bonded one moves to aid their benefactor.
All stats increased by 300%.
Natural regeneration increased by 100%.
Won-ae had buffed me with a skill of her own. It hadn't been there the last time I checked — she must have picked it up in the meantime.
The Knight has taken up arms.
The Knight fighting alongside the Lord receives a stat increase.
The Lord fighting alongside the Knight receives a stat increase.
All stats increased by 200%.
This time the boost came through Baek-rim. The man who'd been sweating buckets a moment ago had hardened his resolve, gripping his spear shaft with a grim, determined expression.
Three hundred percent from the bond. Another two hundred from fighting beside his knight.
That should be enough to go a few rounds.
If the monsters piled in, all bets were off — but the two behind me would manage them somehow.
"The monsters are yours."
With those words, I launched myself forward.
Basic Footwork — Swift.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Three exchanges flashed past in an instant, and I was the first to give ground.
"You've grown stronger so suddenly. Your body can't keep up."
"None of your business."
CLANG!
He was right, damn him. My body hadn't adapted to the sudden spike in stats, and I was papering over the gap with technique alone.
"Then entertain me a little more!"
"Ghk!"
The Poison Baron's spear came hurtling at me; I deflected it with my dagger and fired back a counter.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
And so I fought the Poison Baron to a near standstill, my body slowly growing accustomed to its buffed stats.
"Haha."
A dry laugh spilled from Baek-rim's lips.
He had thought he'd closed the gap. He hadn't. That man simply stood on a different plane of existence.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
At least three exchanges flashed by every second, and each one shook the very air. If there existed a rank above S, Baek-rim thought, this was surely what it would look like.
Could I ever fight like that someday?
Until recently, the mere word "battle" had turned his stomach. But now, something had changed.
I want to fight like that too.
That was what Baek-rim was thinking when the monsters and Ma-in emerged at the territory's border.
"Grrraaah!"
He tightened his grip on his spear and faced forward.
"Baek-rim. Can you keep up with me?"
"Of course, my lord."
Jin Won-ae and Jin Baek-rim — an A-Rank and a B-Rank awakener, weapons in hand, threw themselves onto the battlefield.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Basic Footwork — Illusion.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Basic Footwork — Dark.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
No matter which footwork I wove, no matter what attack came at me, neither of us could land a wound on the other.
"Haha! This is fun!"
"Well, it's not fun for me!"
CLANG!
The endless battle bled our stamina dry, but neither of us broke off the exchange. The Baron swung his spear like a madman, drunk on euphoria, and I parried and countered, over and over.
Was he a spearman's ghost in a past life or something?!
The situation had congealed into a stalemate, and an hour had already passed. In all that time, our exchange had never once been interrupted.
Divine power — move, damn you!
I stirred my faint divine power, trying to break the rhythm of the fight. On top of that, I triggered the skills embedded in my armor and gauntlets.
God's Prank begins.
All souls bound to the Gauntlets of Hades are consumed.
In exchange for those souls, the Gauntlets of Hades invoke a Phenomenon.
The invoked Phenomenon is: Instant Death.
The souls of the hundred-thousand-odd monsters I'd hunted and hoarded converted into raw energy — and at last, the Gauntlets of Hades invoked their Phenomenon.
SWISH!
Alongside the system message, my body moved on its own. And the strike that severed toward the Baron's arm carried Instant Death within it.
He should have dropped dead the moment the blow landed. But—
It can't be that easy.
Just as I'd predicted, the Poison Baron was still on his feet.
"Hah-hah! That one stung a little!"
Despite an attack laced with Instant Death itself, the Baron looked perfectly fine.
A Phenomenon is, by definition, an unavoidable certainty. But there are exceptions — above all, beings that possess rank or station. To land a Phenomenon on them, you need station and rank equal to or greater than theirs.
Right now, my station is lower than the Baron's.
He held the rank of Baron of the Demon Realm. I was a commoner. There was no way someone like me could inflict a Phenomenon on a noble.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The Baron resumed his spearwork, attacking with renewed ferocity, and I scrambled to block each thrust with my dagger.
This is going nothing like I planned.
I'd known the Phenomenon wouldn't work. But I'd at least expected it to buy me time — if I hadn't glimpsed the Baron's true power in that fraction of a second.
At the very least, he was Viscount-tier.
The Baron fighting me now was unmistakably Baron-class. But the demonic energy that had flashed from him in that instant had soared far, far above a Baron's. It was possible he'd boosted himself with an artifact for that one moment — but I set that possibility aside for now.
First, I drag out his real strength.
With the thought, I flared my lower dantian wide open. Mana exploded outward and began racing through my entire body.
I shifted into footwork, fast.
Concealing my form within shadow, I slipped behind the Poison Baron and swung my dagger.
CLANG!
But my blade never reached his neck. The instant I swung, a blackish-red barrier flickered into being around the Baron's throat — and vanished just as fast. And in the moment that shield appeared, his demonic energy spiked, just like before.
"There you are!"
His counterattack came screaming in at me the moment my strike failed. I evaded the spear and lashed out with my dagger, and the long exchange ground on.
Then a variable entered the fight.
CLANG! The two of them — until this moment occupied solely with the monsters — had begun supporting me. The monster horde had visibly thinned.
"Hah. So they cleared out a legion in that span of time."
Genuine surprise threaded through the Baron's voice. Honestly, even I hadn't believed they could wipe out that many monsters so quickly.
"Master! We're here to help!"
"My lord!"
Their voices landed harder than I'd expected, steadying something in my chest.
THRUM!
Then the air itself began to shudder as an ocean of demonic energy came pouring out of the Poison Baron.
Before, it had been a flash. This was not.
"You can't be serious…."
I prayed otherwise, but my instincts never missed.
The Poison Baron — Baron of the Demon Realm — cast off every seal that had bound his flesh in North Korea, and liberated his True Body.
BOOM!
With every shackle broken, the demonic energy that burst free from him crashed down over us all.