Chapter 9
[At once!]
Beru immediately acknowledged Suho’s command.
Then he tilted his head in confusion.
[…But if we’re going to kill those insolent fools, shouldn’t we strike them from behind?]
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re going mining.”
[…!]
Beru nearly leaped into the air.
Foam practically formed at the corners of his mouth.
[W-What are you saying?!]
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
How could this be?!
The authority of the great and almighty Shadow Monarch…
was an incomparably magnificent power.
And yet…
its wielder wanted to use it for nothing more than mining?
[At this very moment, billions of soldiers are fighting a war across the outer universe… and you wish to mine?!]
“I know that.”
“But right now my entire army consists of three weak goblins.”
“I have to face reality.”
“I’m sure my dad was the same when he was weak.”
[B-But…]
“And besides…”
“You were the one who said it last night.”
Suho recalled the conversation they had after leaving the hospital.
* * *
On the way home after being discharged…
Beru had spoken with unusual seriousness.
[Young Master, our mission can be summarized in three objectives.]
The speaker was barely the size of a fist…
yet his words carried overwhelming weight.
[First: Protect Earth from the magical beasts of the outer universe.]
“So…”
“You mean I should keep entering Dungeons and killing monsters?”
[Precisely.]
[As you hunt magical beasts, your level will naturally increase.]
[And the stronger you become, the safer Earth will be.]
[Second… we must find Lady Hae-In, no matter what.]
“Yeah…”
“I still have no clue where Mom is.”
[Regrettably, neither do I.]
[However, if we continue eliminating those outer-universe creatures, surely we will uncover some kind of lead.]
Which…
once again…
basically meant entering Dungeons.
[Third…]
[This is the most important objective of all.]
Beru pointed proudly at himself.
[I must recover my strength as quickly as possible and return to the battlefield where my liege fights.]
[With one of the core forces absent, the balance of that war has surely become unstable.]
At this point…
Suho became curious.
Beru’s tiny appearance now…
was merely the result of conserving every last bit of his power.
His true form…
and true strength…
were nightmares made flesh.
If someone like Beru had disappeared from the battlefield…
Suho couldn’t even imagine how the war was unfolding.
“So…”
“How do you recover your strength?”
At that question…
Beru’s lips slowly split into a sinister grin.
[By eating, of course.]
It was a smile overflowing with malice.
Long ago…
within a forgotten fragment of a long-lost world…
the Ant Queen remembered.
Create the strongest soldier.
Her kingdom had been collapsing beneath humanity’s assault.
She needed an ultimate warrior—
one powerful enough to rebuild her empire…
and lead her people.
For six months…
the Queen gathered every drop of her mana…
and every ounce of nourishment…
to give birth to a single life.
Her desperate wish to create the strongest soldier…
combined with the ancient instinct to exterminate humanity…
produced a monster that defied all reason.
That monster had been born with one innate skill.
Gluttony.
By consuming another being…
the creature could absorb part of its mana…
and even fragments of its knowledge.
Remembering that ancient memory…
Beru explained,
[My innate talent is Gluttony.]
[Whether human or magical beast…]
[The more I consume, the more my strength will slowly recover.]
[It is an inefficient method from ages past…]
[But it is my only option for now.]
Humans or magical beasts…
Suho was reminded once again…
that Beru possessed almost no human morality.
Well…
He isn’t human.
As Beru spoke about eating people…
drool literally dripped from his mouth.
He looked every bit the terrifying magical beast he truly was.
Suho answered firmly.
“Even so…”
“Don’t go around eating random people.”
[Oh?]
“If you’re going to eat anyone…”
“Only eat bad people.”
Beru’s eyes narrowed.
[Like father, like son.]
[My liege once gave me the exact same order.]
[If I was going to eat humans… it was to be only the wicked.]
“My dad too?”
“So what counts as a bad person?”
Beru smiled faintly.
[Anyone who harms our Young Master.]
* * *
Back in the present—
“You said that yourself.”
Beru immediately protested.
[Exactly!]
[Which is why we should now enter a Dungeon and level up!]
“No.”
“How is an E-Rank Hunter supposed to enter a Dungeon alone?”
“E-Ranks aren’t even allowed to join raid parties.”
Suho remained painfully realistic.
As Lim Do-gyun had explained…
the only work available to E-Rank Hunters inside Dungeons was support labor.
Once I level up enough that my mana reaches D-Rank…
I’ll go get re-evaluated.
After all…
the Hunter ranking system had only been standardized fairly recently.
Mana measuring devices were still known to produce inaccurate results.
“So first…”
“I’m going to do what I actually can.”
Suho grinned.
Seeing that smile…
Beru suddenly felt uneasy.
[…Why are you smiling at me like that?]
“Our third mission.”
Suho repeated Beru’s own words.
“Restore your mana as quickly as possible.”
“By eating.”
“Right?”
[T-That is correct.]
[Whether humans or magical beasts—]
“What about mana crystals?”
Beru froze.
“What if you eat mana crystals?”
“If your ability is Gluttony…”
“Shouldn’t they restore your mana too?”
[W-Well… yes…]
[But mana crystals contain very little mana.]
[They fill the stomach more than they restore strength…]
[They’re terribly inefficient.]
“So what?”
“Then you’ll just eat more.”
Suho smiled brightly.
“We can pick them up here for free.”
[Kiiiiii…]
* * *
Together with the Mining Team…
Suho passed through the Gate.
The Dungeon beyond looked nothing like the Shadow Dungeon.
The Shadow Dungeon had been an endless ruined metropolis.
This place…
was nothing but winding underground caverns.
With everyone carrying pickaxes…
it truly felt like working inside a mine.
Suho and the other miners slowly advanced deeper underground.
The cave wasn’t completely dark.
Glowing mushrooms…
and luminous moths…
provided just enough light to see.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Pickaxes echoed throughout the tunnels.
The experienced miners all swung with remarkably steady rhythm.
Then—
every single pickaxe stopped at once.
“…Huh?”
“What’s that?”
Every miner turned toward the same place.
There—
stood Suho.
Commanding his three Shadow Goblins.
“Kerruk!”
“Kihihihit!”
The three Shadow Goblins laughed wickedly…
while enthusiastically swinging their pickaxes.
Behind them…
Suho calmly supervised their work.
“…Holy…”
“So that’s what a summoning skill can do?”
The miners’ surprise was understandable.
The summoning skills most Hunters knew…
were things like explosive insects…
or sleep butterflies…
used merely to assist in combat.
Summoners simply followed behind…
like Pokémon Trainers…
giving commands.
“But…”
“It works like that, too?”
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
“Kihik!”
Suho’s Shadow Goblins…
were slightly smaller…
and noticeably weaker…
than ordinary goblins.
But they possessed more than enough strength to swing pickaxes.
Most importantly…
they never became tired.
Whenever their stamina dropped…
mana flowed from Suho into their bodies…
instantly restoring them.
“Whoa…”
“This rookie is incredible!”
“Hahaha!”
The miners burst into excited chatter.
“I guess everyone saying summoning skills are useless was full of crap!”
“That’s an amazing ability!”
“If we keep standing around…”
“That rookie’s going to mine everything by himself!”
“We can’t let that happen!”
“Come on, seniors!”
“Let’s show him what experience looks like!”
Laughing loudly…
the miners resumed swinging their pickaxes.
Watching the little Shadow Goblins happily working alongside them…
created an oddly cheerful atmosphere.
[Simple-minded insects…]
Behind them…
Beru watched with utter contempt…
while crunching mana crystals like cookies.
Crunch.
Crunch.
* * *
Meanwhile…
far deeper inside the Dungeon…
the Raid Team,
composed entirely of D-Rank Hunters and above,
continued their exploration.
“This Dungeon’s pretty disappointing.”
“Seriously.”
“It’s been nothing but wolf-type magical beasts.”
“Wolf pelts don’t sell for much.”
Following behind the Raid Team…
the Recovery Team busily dismantled the wolf carcasses.
Even though they complained…
wolf pelts still brought in decent money.
And occasionally…
a corpse would contain a mana crystal.
“Well…”
“Every little bit helps.”
The cart they had brought gradually filled with neatly stacked wolf hides.
Then—
“Huh?”
“There’s something over here!”
One Hunter at the front called out.
Before him…
stood an enormous ancient ruin.
The Hunters immediately tensed.
Could there be a boss monster…?
Normally…
D-Rank Dungeons had relatively low chances of containing powerful bosses.
However…
finding an artificial structure like this…
meant something unusual awaited them.
And for Hunters…
“unusual” almost never meant anything pleasant.
“What is this place?”
“Why would there be ruins inside a Dungeon?”
“Shouldn’t we leave and call for reinforcements?”
The Hunters murmured nervously.
But the Raid Leader raised a hand,
carefully surveying the surroundings.
“Quiet.”
“I don’t sense any magical beasts with my detection skill.”
“Really?”
“If there aren’t any monsters…”
“Then why is this place here?”
“That’s what we’re about to find out.”
A faint smile crossed the leader’s face.
“Who knows?”
“Maybe instead of a boss…”
“There’s treasure.”
“…Treasure!”
The Hunters’ eyes instantly lit up.
Magical beast corpses…
and mana crystals…
weren’t the only valuables found inside Dungeons.
Occasionally…
extremely rare items appeared.
Unlike Hunters,
whose power never naturally increased after awakening…
equipment was one of the only ways to become stronger.
“Captain!”
“There’s something here!”
Searching the center of the ruins…
one Hunter discovered it.
A single sword…
embedded upright in stone.
An extraordinary aura radiated from the weapon.
“…No way.”
Greed instantly filled every Hunter’s eyes.
“We hit the jackpot!”
“A weapon?!”
They wouldn’t know its exact value until it was appraised outside…
but anyone could tell…
this wasn’t an ordinary sword.
“Captain!”
“I’ll pull it out!”
The strongest Hunter in the group stepped forward.
He spat into both hands…
and confidently grabbed the sword’s hilt.
“Wait, Kim Yong-Jun!”
“Be caref—”
The Raid Leader tried to stop him.
Too late.
Kim Yong-Jun had already seized the sword.
The instant his fingers wrapped around the hilt…
a deep, ancient voice echoed inside his mind.
—Who dares covet the sword of the Monarch of Fangs?
