Editor: Cherish
The Boer roared out, and everyone turned to him.
The large tiger-like monster with five paws swallowed his drool at the sight of his 'food.'
The Boer had caught a whiff of the appetizing scent of humans, which, in fact, was amplified by Kang Yu using the Power.
The Boer bared his fangs and threw himself at his prey.
— What the hell is this thing?!
— Blo… block his way!
Seon Soo's group, terrified by the sudden appearance of the Boer, drew out their weapons.
But the monster was so strong that he threw the tank aside with one blow.
The group stood no chance in stopping the Boer.
— Aah! Sa… save me!
The Boer bit the Player pointing a sword at his throat.
The Player did his best to free himself from the mouth of the beast with the sword, but the Boer was too strong.
His body snapped in half, and his organs were oozing out bright red blood.
— Aah! Aah…
Seon Soo's group watched the Boer's actions with fear.
It's a monster.
A monster devouring human flesh.
It was the first time these Players had encountered a real monster, and the first time they had experienced such terror that shook them to their bones.
Kang Yu had also experienced this kind of fear once, but with experience, he no longer felt frightened by monsters like this.
Seon Soo's party had raised their levels so quickly that they'd forgotten how terrifying monsters could be.
Their greed had overcome their fear. Monsters were now nothing more than a source to earn money and increase their levels.
But the Boer easily reminded them just how fearful a monster can be.
— What are you doing? Hurry up and attack it!
But Seon Soo had lost his spear. And his teammates could hardly move in their stupor.
Fear overwhelmed their minds more and more.
The Boer, watching his motionless prey, made a joyous cry and dashed towards them.
Each of his five paws had claws as sharp as blades, which he was going to use against the Player carrying the large sword.
The Player raised his sword, trembling, hoping it would somehow give him a better chance at survival.
The Boer grabbed the sword with his claws, and with a characteristic clash, the metal broke into several pieces. He grabbed the Player by the waist.
— Aaaah!
The sharp claws of the monster were digging into the Player's back.
The sound of his ribs breaking could be heard, and scarlet blood began trickling down his body.
The first thing it did was bite off the Player's head.
— Seo… Seok Hyun! — shouted out a Player holding a thin sword. He stepped towards the monster.
But he didn't have time to accumulate Maryok, and his sword broke against the beast's thick skin.
The Boer, using his long tongue like a lasso, caught the Player.
The Player's body easily snapped in half by the Boer's tongue as if he were just a toy.
The girl in the blue dress could only watch this eerie scene, unable to use magic, and unable to even scream.
She turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, screaming: 'Save me!'
As she ran past Seon Soo, her dress, unfurling in the wind, brushed past the guy.
The Boer slowly turned his gaze to the prey that was trying to get away.
Not only did his paws have sharp claws, but they were also quite long, and he easily reached out and sank his claws into the girl's back, tearing her blue dress. He snarled loudly, clutching onto his prey.
She, in disbelief at what was happening, turned her head and looked at the claws stuck in her back. Red blood was flowing out of her mouth.
And then, the Boer's fifth victim disappeared into his mouth.
— What… what's going on?! — Seon Soo, looking at where his teammates were standing just a moment ago, fell to the ground in shock.
There was a wet spot between his legs.
The guy looked up at the Boer with horror.
He knew he was about to be swallowed alive by that monster himself.
— Huh? — Against his expectations, the monster did not attack.
Not only did he not attack, he even yawned, as if the hunt had been successfully completed, and rolling into his own body, he settled down to rest.
— So he's satisfied.
— What the…? — While looking at the tranquil image of the creature who had just been rampaging around, he noticed Kang Yu approaching it.
Seon Soo didn't understand why he was doing that.
Kang Yu looked at the Boer lying on the ground, smiled, and brought forth his right hand.
'Once he's full, he won't attack. He'll just lie still.'
It's very easy to defeat a sated Boer.
It only takes one blow.
Still, the blow must be strong enough to take his life in one go.
Kang Yu concentrated powerful Magi in his outstretched hand.
'I'll use a double forked spear.'
It was necessary to use a magi spear, as mentioned in the legends.
Using the Power of the Dark Spear and the Power of Hellfire at the same time, he could achieve the effect needed.
At both prongs of the spear was a Hellfire flame.
Using the two Powers at full potential simultaneously required time, but with the Boer's hunger satisfied, time was not an important factor.
Kang Yu received a notice.
[You've improved your skills in using Dual Powers (Rank: S)]
[Your skills have been honed, the use of this technique will be easier in the future].
Along with the message, the Hellfire burst into larger flames as it consumed more of his Magi, and Kang Yu felt a slight dizziness.
He threw the spear filled with Magi into the creature.
The Boer, being in a state of satiation, did not react in any way to the spear headed at him and allowed it to pierce himself.
The two sharp ends of the spear passed through Boer's thick skin, and the flames of Hellfire burned inside him.
Even though the Boer was the strongest creature of the Second Thousandth Circle of Hell, he could not resist such a powerful blow.
A warning sound was heard.
[You have successfully killed a Level B splinter of the rift]
[Level up by 6 units]
[When you reach level 40, you get Rank 5.]
[Bonus point limit raised, you get 7 Magi units]
[Reaching 60 units of the Magi, you open the first stage of the Devil's Blessing.]
— What kind of Devil's Blessing is this? — There was one thing among the notifications that Kang Yu could not understand, and he turned his side to the side.
'Sounds like the title of a novel.' It was an unusual word combination, so Kang Yu expanded the status window to learn more about it.
[Information]
Devil's Blessing: The first stage of becoming the devil.
Stage One: Getting 60 units of Magi
Stage Two: ????
Stage Three: ????
'What a vague description.' Kang Yu frowned when he read the information provided in the status window.
It wasn't specified what it was, and it wasn't clear how it would benefit him.I
Not only that, the next two steps to achieve this Devil's Blessing weren't even indicated.
'The first stage of becoming the devil…' Doesn't sound like something too bad.
Moreover, Kang Yu thought that achieving this Devil's Blessing could help to gain great power.
'I don't think that's what happened back in Hell.'
When he was the master of the Ninth Thousandth Circle of Hell, he never received a Power called 'Devil's Blessing' or anything like that.
Kang Yu gazed at the information about the Devil's Blessing with interest.
'I think my expectations are being met.' He'd thought that by becoming a Player and continuing to grind for power, he could become even stronger than when he was in Hell. Much stronger. 'Perhaps I will become God myself.'
This time he had a chance to obtain an even higher position than before.
He certainly didn't know the opportunities this Devil's Blessing would open up for him, but his heart was beating faster for some reason.
— I thought my thirst for power had subsided, but I guess it didn't.
His demonic part kept craving power.
Kang Yu had believed that as he gradually got stronger, his thirst would begin to fade with time, but each time there was a new opportunity to get stronger, he was enveloped in a suffocating desire to get it.
'I guess I'll start by eating the Boer's body.' Kang Yu needed the Magi from the Boer's body to quench his thirst at least a little.
Since he'd entered the Gate under the guise of a researcher, he should have left the Boer's body intact, but Kang Yu was not prepared to sacrifice an instantaneous gain of power for the government.
'I'll leave the head for them. If I tell them that the rest of the body was lost in battle, there should be no problem.'
Kang Yu, activating the Devourer's Power, approached the Boer's dead body.
Magi wrapped around it in black smoke.
Magi began to move from the monster's corpse to Kang Yu's body, with the faint sound of drying flesh.
[Magi elevated by 4 units]
'As expected, killing creatures from Hell gives much more Magi.'
He'd just reached 60 units of Magi, and now he had 4 more. That was proof that the Boer was truly strong and possessed a lot of Magi.
'Ah, I forgot to test my new special ability.' He'd been distracted by the Devil's Blessing and completely forgot that he received a new ability when he reached Rank 5.
Kang Yu again opened the status window to learn more about the ability.
— You… who are you…? — Seon Soo's frightened voice came to him.
He was shaking, and he looked at Kang Yu with the exact same look he had given to the monster before.
Of course he was in a state of shock. Only moments ago, that terrifying creature had destroyed his entire team, and then Kang Yu killed that same monster in one blow.
The corner of Kang Yu's lips raised as he strode towards Seon Soo.
— Ah! Stay back! — He didn't have the strength to stand, and desperately shuffled backwards with his hands.
Kang Yu was approaching him slowly.
— I thought you'd be the first to die. Your survival wasn't part of my plan.
— Don't go near me, I'm warning you!
— You're upsetting me. We're from the same party. — Kang Yu squatted next to Seon Soo and put a hand on his shoulder.
Seon Soo shouted in terror:
— Are you going to kill me?!
Kang Yu made his eyes wide, as if to say 'what nonsense.'
— What are you talking about? How could I kill a member of my own team?
Seon Soo didn't say anything.
— You seem to have the wrong idea about me. I'm not that bad, Seon Soo. — Kang Yu put his hand on the guy's head and cracked a smile. — There's still work for you, you can't die now. —