A Suitable Compensation

Thud—!

The moment Jinwoo leapt down, First and Pur halted their advance. Both summons were already terrifyingly strong—and now their master had dropped into the fray. The guild members no longer had any idea how to respond.

Jinwoo landed, closed his hand lightly around his scythe, and started walking forward at a steady pace.

"First. Pur."

Then he summoned one more of his retainers.

"Mortus."

Shaaaaaaaa—.

Dark aura billowed as Mortus manifested as well.

"Spread out. Show them."

At Jinwoo's word, Mortus raised the Sky Stone Orb high. First and Pur unleashed their power just as fiercely. The order had been given. They would have to demonstrate, right here, the limits of the equipment their master had bestowed upon them.

Crack—!

First and Pur shot out to either side like bolts of light.

KWAANG—!

A roar of impact erupted at the same instant.

"I-Insane!"

What they had seen before had only been a taste. At a single word from Jinwoo, the two summons' power surged to a level that was almost impossible to compare.

Jinwoo simply kept walking. The guild member standing directly ahead of him edged backward, step by careful step.

"I've had a problem with that since earlier."

Something had been bothering him the whole time.

"Who made that gear?"

Jinwoo's brow furrowed. The Agent Guild member was wearing rather flashy armor—scaled, by the look of it—and at a glance it seemed finely finished. That was only if you didn't know any better. To Jinwoo's eye, there were far too many points that grated.

"I-It is Master Gremlin's... gear!"

The Agent Guild members found themselves answering in formal speech without meaning to. Gremlin was the Agent Guild's exclusive blacksmith.

"Hmm."

Jinwoo drifted forward and closed the distance on the guild member in a rush. The man panicked and swung his sword.

Whsshk—.

Jinwoo slipped past the cut and tapped the joint of the man's armor with a fingertip. Tap. Tap. Tap. Exactly three times.

The equipment went kwagagak and collapsed in on itself.

"This part is way too weak. One light tap and it falls apart like that. You can't even call this armor."

The Agent Guild members stared in horror. He hadn't used a weapon. He had simply jabbed with his index finger. Of course, with stats that high even a poke would deal serious damage—but the guild member was level three hundred, while Jinwoo was only in the two hundreds. On top of that, Gremlin's gear was what every member of the Agent Guild wore.

"Th-That's impossible."

"You're basically naked right now."

Jinwoo gestured at him.

"Name?"

"Kim Seong-jun."

"Not your real name."

He was so rattled he had given his actual name without thinking.

"I-IceComesOutMyPurifier..."

"Right. Mr. IcePurifier. You've been walking around naked this whole time."

While everyone was still reeling, the exclusive blacksmith Gremlin—arriving with the reinforcements—gaped at the sight. That was armor he had poured care into. To Jinwoo it might have looked slapdash, but it had only been a piece of slightly imperfect workmanship.

"Mithril Scale Steel Armor... that easily...?"

Kwagak—! KWAAAAANG—!

Jinwoo's armor dismantling was the signal. The summons' assault began in earnest.

"Gyaaaaaaah—!"

"I-Insane! My sword broke!"

First, gripping the Valam Thunderstone War Hammer, was starting to get the hang of a war hammer he had never used before.

Kwaak—! KWAAAAANG—!

On top of a UR+ grade hammer of overwhelming force, First now possessed a body state utterly different from before.

"I.will.grow.accustomed.to.the.power."

Hero-rank undead. Just like Pur, First had already reached Hero rank. As a Phantom Knight, First was gradually growing used to his baseline physical stats—and the more he did, the more guild members went down. He was showing the full, unrestrained power of a Hero-rank undead.

"We've got him! Finally!"

Twenty guild members at last locked onto First's movement, encircled him, and unleashed their strongest skills.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAK—!

First was fine. Not that he had taken no damage at all.

"I-Insane!"

"It.is.bearable."

He simply resumed his advance. Nothing could stop him. First punched a path open alone.

"Ah..."

At the very rear, watching from the hill, Guild Master Gold Guide's face was tight. He had known. Seeing it in person was something else entirely.

"We never should have come out...!"

They had brought their full force for a tower raid. Tower clearing was core content that could swing guild rankings hard, and any chance at it could not be wasted. So they had had no choice but to come out—and Jinwoo had timed that exact moment to perfection.

A hundred men went down in an instant.

"Jin isn't even properly fighting..."

After smashing the armor, Jinwoo had not lifted a hand. He was simply watching his summons. Even so, a hundred were already down, and the reserve forces they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had called in were nearly spent. At this rate, tower raids and everything else would be meaningless. This place was the tower—and Jinwoo was its boss.

"Ah...!"

An old memory surfaced. The sight of his own guild members being carved up by rankers wearing Jin's gear. It was replaying itself in New Generation.

"Guild Master! Guild Master—!"

The vice guild master shouted at the dazed leader.

"Orders."

Only the guild master could answer a situation like this. Fighting was impossible. They had to retreat. That was the only answer—or they had to negotiate with Jinwoo. Otherwise the reserves would be cut down to the last man as well. Die in the field and, of course, stats and experience dropped. Bad luck could even shatter equipment. Then, far from climbing the rankings, they could be pushed out of the top hundred altogether. Jinwoo alone could smash the guild to pieces. So he had to choose fast. He had to find a way out of this nightmare.

"Negotiate."

The guild master muttered it almost to himself.

"We have to negotiate."

If not—

"We'll fall out of the top hundred."

Breaking into the top hundred was murderously hard. Getting shoved out was all too easy. Once you were bounced, that was the end.

KWAANG—! KWAAAAANG—!

In the sky, the Bone Dragon. On the ground, the three summons under Jinwoo. And at the center of it all, Jinwoo himself. Run? Of course they could. Then the story would spread—that one man named Jinwoo had completely wrecked their guild.

"The rumor spreads either way..."

In the end, negotiation was the only option. Running was already off the table.

"I'm going."

Gold Guide snapped fully alert.

Shaaaaa—.

Jinwoo's Sanctuary Declaration blanketed the entire field, so he piled every buff he had on himself. That was the only way he would even be able to approach.

Gold Guide slammed hard off the ground.

"Ugh—."

"It's over. We're done."

"There's no stopping this."

If they couldn't stop First and Pur, how were they supposed to stop Mortus? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Trying to move through the air was sharply restricted by the Bone Dragon. The reinforcements were already down to half.

"What do we do..."

That was when Gold Guide appeared.

"Guild Master!"

"Guild Master—!"

"Fall back!"

Arriving like a hero, Gold Guide turned toward Jinwoo and charged. First and Pur, of course, moved to intercept.

Whssssssssshk—!

He could block one hit. That was what Gold Guide believed as he activated his skill.

The thought itself was arrogance.

"Ghk...!"

Part of him had wanted to feel, firsthand, the difference between the Jin of those days and the Jinwoo of now. He should not have. Absolute Defense shattered outright. It was not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only the defense that broke. That single blow nearly killed him. If he had died, everything would have been over.

"I-I'm sorry! I did not come to fight!"

Gold Guide flung himself back and shouted.

"Jinwoo-nim! I am Gold Guide of the Agent Guild! The guild master! I came first and foremost to apologize!"

Gold Guide apologized at once. First and Pur ceased their attack posture and stepped back. Then, slowly, Jinwoo appeared in front of them.

"You're a little late."

Jinwoo smiled and sat down right there.

"Shall we talk?"

Once Jinwoo sat, Gold Guide had no choice but to sit as well.

"...It stopped."

Watching from a distance, the Agent Guild officers finally managed a breath. When Jinwoo stopped, the battlefield stopped. This battlefield belonged wholly to him.

Shaaaaaaaa—.

The dark energy pouring off Jinwoo proved it. Under the crushing force of Sanctuary Declaration, the summons' blue eyes glowed as they kept the Agent Guild members under endless watch.

"First of all..."

Gold Guide bowed past ninety degrees.

"Our side committed a grave mistake."

"A grave mistake?"

Jinwoo clicked his tongue.

"This isn't the kind of thing that ends as a 'grave mistake.'"

"..."

Gold Guide clenched his teeth. He could feel the anger in those words.

I went overboard on purpose.

JinTube, and the JBS channel. From now on Jinwoo's name would spread far and wide, and for every person who liked him there would inevitably be people who hated him.

I need to put those types on notice.

That was why he had acted even more excessively—to show them exactly what would happen if they picked a fight.

PvP has its own kind of fun, but...

What Jinwoo wanted was not PvP.

A fight between crafters is more interesting.

"What would you have us do?"

"To properly settle a mistake this large..."

Jinwoo folded his arms and waited in silence.

"...appropriate compensation will be necessary."

Gold Guide answered. The initiative in the conversation was already entirely Jinwoo's.

"Understood. We cannot gather everything back up, but we will compensate to the fullest extent we can."

Pushing any harder wouldn't help.

In the end, finishing as a win-win was best.

"The compensation I want is—"

At Jinwoo's words, Gold Guide's eyes went wide.