Chapter 13
On the other hand,
[Defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]
[Defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]
…
After acquiring the Fang Lord’s sword, Suho continued to hunt the wolves to clear a path out of the dungeon.
With the entire raid wiped out, Suho was the only hunter capable of fighting.
He swung his sword while protecting the miners who followed him cautiously from behind.
[You have leveled up!]
Another level up.
“Aren’t you… tired?”
“No. I’m still okay.”
“Hmm.”
The miners were not only impressed but also astonished by Suho’s strength as he swung his sword tirelessly.
To those who did not know that leveling up also restored health, Suho seemed like a monster with infinite stamina.
“No, that’s impossible. He’s just like us.”
“Is he enduring with his mental strength?”
“He’s clearly trying to hide his exhaustion from us.”
They thought about it.
Suho was a young hero who had rescued people until he collapsed in this very museum a few days ago.
And now, they were the ones being rescued by him.
“How can he be like this when he’s also an E-rank hunter?”
“Even though he’s a summoner.”
It was undeniable that his mental strength and willpower were exceptional, regardless of his
rank or abilities.
Of course, it was just a level up.
“My lord, I see the gate.”
Beruga pointed to the gate visible in the distance at the end of the cave.
“We, we survived!”
The miners, who had been tense and fearful, finally relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Watching them rush out, Suho wiped his sweat even though he was on guard.
“Aren’t you going out too?”
One of them turned around and called Suho.
“Yes, I’ll stay here and bring out any surviving hunters if there are any.”
“Are you sure? You must be at your limit too…”
“I can hold on for now.”
In reality, Suho was in very good condition, but he had to pretend to be pushing himself due to the atmosphere.
[….]
Although Suho felt Beru’s gaze from behind, he pretended not to notice.
The remaining Suho in the dungeon looked at the Lord’s Fang sword and asked, “Guide me to where you were.”
-….
The sword didn’t reply, so Suho casually handed it to Beru.
“Beru, do you want to eat this?”
[Chew chew.]
-Wait.
The sword replied hastily. It was because Beru had been picking up and chewing on the magic stones around him since earlier.
-Why are you trying to go where I was?
“I’m trying to save any surviving people there.”
-I killed everyone… No, there might be someone lucky enough to still be alive.
When Suho handed the sword back to Beru, it changed its answer urgently.
“Go left.”
So Suho followed the sword’s guidance and took his steps.
Although the monsters continued to attack him during the process, he no longer had to protect people, so he had much more freedom of movement.
After a while, an unknown ruin where people were lying dead appeared in front of Suho.
“Here it is.”
Suho checked on each person’s condition.
“They’re all dead.”
-That’s what I said… No, I couldn’t help it either. I had a duty to protect this stronghold, and besides, I have a really good sword….
The sword felt Suho’s and Beru’s gaze and hastily made excuses.
At that moment, information about the sword came to Suho’s mind.
[Item: Rakan’s Fang]
Acquisition Difficulty: ??
Type: Sword
Attack Power +30
A sword made from the fang of Rakan, the king of beasts.
Rakan’s ghost is infused into it, and if someone with low skill possesses it, their body may be taken over.
-Effect ‘Disdain for the Weak’: The designated opponent will be in a state of fear for one minute. (All stats -50%)
-Effect ‘Fatal Wound’: There is a 15% chance to deal more than double damage.
Compared to a goblin’s stone axe, this sword had a significantly high attack power.
Moreover, unfortunately, because it was imbued with the body of a colleague, the hunters here didn’t know what to do and were killed.
[It’s a fairly good sword, but it has a despicable ability. It’s a sword that exhibits even stronger power when facing weaker opponents.]
-Despicable? What’s wrong with the strong eating the weak? What hunter in the world doesn’t aim for prey stronger than themselves?
Suhwa listened to their conversation with his ears and dealt with the hunters’ bodies one by one.
He took out all the materials from the carts that the dead gatherers had been carrying and put their bodies inside.
However, surprisingly, Suhwa saw black smoke rising slowly from their bodies.
It was… their shadows.
[This target can have their shadow extracted.]
[This target can have their shadow extracted.]
[This target can have their shadow extracted.]
A cylindrical scream of the dead hunters echoed in Suhwa’s ears.
[If you wish, these people can also be collected as soldiers for our lord.]
“It’s fine.”
Suhwa silently dealt with their bodies as he listened to their screams.
After he finished, Beruga, who had been looking around, came back to Suhwa.
“I looked around for other artifacts of the Fang Lord besides this sword, but there doesn’t seem to be anything special.”
“What exactly is this Fang Lord?”
Suhwa asked what he had been curious about since earlier when he had some spare time.
Then Beruga took out the black shadows from his hands and made small shadow dolls with only his fingernails.
As the dolls grew one by one, they took on a certain shape.
[Once upon a time, in this universe, there were several lords in addition to the Shadow Lord, Seong Jin-woo, who is your father, my lord. The Lord of the Fangs, Rakan, the king of beasts, was one of them.]
“All the lords of the plagues, including the king of the insects, gathered on this earth. And in the midst of them, a doll with only sharp nails emitting a uniquely strong energy mercilessly cut down the other dolls. And our lord killed all of them.
Ugh, how dare you do that to my master…
“Lacan’s Fang,” who was listening, trembled in the hands of the guardian.
It’s frustrating. If only I had my full strength, I would have torn you all apart and thrown you to the wolves as food. No, if I had known you were the successor to the Shadow Lord, I wouldn’t have let my guard down from the beginning.
“If you had your full strength?”
Suho looked at Lacan’s Fang.
“You’re not fully powered now?”
“Of course not. I am the strongest weapon made from the fang of Lacan, the king of beasts.”
“But your attack power is only 30, hardly the strongest.”
Verga mocked.
“That’s why I say you’re not fully powered! My mission was originally to protect this fortress. Within this fortress, I could have had almost equal power to Lacan. But… ”
“But?”
“I ultimately couldn’t protect this fortress. When you lose the fortress, you lose your power.”
Lacan’s Fang muttered in a frustrated tone.
“It’s a natural result,” Verga explained.
“A world that loses its focal point of ‘lords’ is torn apart into dimensions and drifts into the rifts. Those are the dungeons. And when the apostles of the Outer God caused cracks in the dimensional walls to invade Earth, those dungeons were connected to Earth.”
Verga’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“And those defeated soldiers in this world bear grudges. They were the ones destroyed by our lord, of course. Of course, they were the ones who attacked us first.”
“In the end, this is just a relic of a defeated world, and there’s nothing to gain here.”
“Don’t worry, my lord. Leave it to me.”
Verga looked greedily at the sword in Suho’s hands.
“Even a dried squid yields water when squeezed. I’ll tear it apart somehow.”
“Hmph. You won’t get anything by threatening me.”
Lacan’s Fang retorted fiercely.
And 10 minutes later, Lacan’s Fang revealed everything it knew. ”
A few days later,
“Your Highness, what are you worried about?” asked Berga, the guardian.
“Is it because you rejected their proposal?” After coming out of the Korean dungeon, there were many things on Suho’s mind. He had received reports from the miners and had met with the Association’s hunter troops who had come to support.
But when they entered the dungeon, all they found were dead animal corpses in Suho’s hands. As a result, Suho received love calls from several guilds. Of course, Suho had no intention of accepting any proposal.
Unlike other hunters, Suho was able to grow through the leveling system. If he were an ordinary E-rank hunter, he would have accepted a contract as a packhorse even from a large guild, but it was an offer that Suho could not find even a little attractive.
“I was thinking about what Rakkan’s Fang told me.” Rakkan’s Fang said that the fortress he was guarding had been torn into pieces and scattered through a dimensional rift.
As a result, his power had weakened significantly. Even when he took Kim Yong-jun’s body, he could control all the wolves around him, but when he stepped out of the fortress, even that ability disappeared.
Nevertheless, there was some progress. There were more fortresses like this dungeon in the dimensional rifts, and relics like Rakkan’s Fang were stored inside them. And eventually, Rakkan’s Fang, who succumbed to Berga’s persuasion(?), blew away one of the fortress’s locations.
The problem was that they had to enter that dungeon as soon as possible. According to Rakkan’s Fang, it was uncertain whether the relics were still preserved in their original form.
At this moment, they were wandering through the dimensional rifts, becoming weaker and weaker with each passing moment.
“But of all places, it had to be…?”
“Because it’s a dungeon occupied by another guild,” Suho replied.
“Right. And it’s none other than the infamous Hyena Guild.”
The Hyena Guild was famous for being formed by gangsters. When the era of hunters began, awakened individuals also emerged among gangsters, and the guild they formed could not hide their nature and only did despicable things, gaining all sorts of infamy.
“Your Highness, you are definitely weak now, so it’s not a good idea to have unnecessary friction with other hunters.”
“If this happens, it could be dangerous for you.”
Vern contemplated.
In any case, the fact that the power of the Fang Lord had flowed into the earth was not a good omen.
Just looking at this time, it had fallen into the hands of a worm and a massacre had unfolded.
When the logic of the law of the jungle, which applied in the world of the Fang Lord, was applied to earth, it was clear that most humans would become prey.
However, it was not appropriate to ask the guardians, who were still at a low level, to take risks.
“My lord, it would be best to level up gradually and strengthen your power first… Hmm? What are you doing?”
The guardian was packing up.
“Oh, getting ready to go into the dungeon?”
“What about the Hyena Guild?”
“Well, we can just sneak in.”