Chapter 9

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***

Waking up in the arms of a beautiful girl, isn't it wonderful?

We didn't have fun all night though, just a couple of hours. But not because we were tired or exhausted from lovemaking, just the sexual desire was quenched. And with a feeling of complete satisfaction, we just settled comfortably in the same bed.

After taking a break, we could have done it a couple more times, but....

The girl was already very tired by then, and I could use some sleep. So now I wake up with Ju Hee at my side. Life is great. But I have to get ready. While I'm asleep, the enemy is swinging. That means no time to rest!

- Mmm.. Jin Woo? Where are you going? - The girl woke up when I stirred.

- I'm sorry I woke you up. - I sighed.

And getting close to her, I leaned down to kiss her.

- Mmhhh.

- You're so sweet... I wish I could still stay with you for a while... but I have to go.

- Where to? The girl was surprised.

- Hmm, well, I guess I can tell you if you promise not to tell my secret.

The girl nodded in agreement.

- My strength as a hunter grows through battles. The more I fight, the stronger I become. Not long ago, my strength was at the C-rank level, but now it's already above A-rank. I'm going to start mopping up dungeons to become even stronger.

- Ahh... - Ju Hee's mouth gaped open.

Yeah, I didn't hide that detail, figuring it would be easier than making up some excuse as to why I should waste a lot of time on dungeons. It's unlikely that this girl will tell anyone about this peculiarity of mine. But even if she does, it won't be a problem.

- Don't worry about me. Just because my strength grows in battles doesn't mean it has to be hard fights. I can easily mop up the S-rank dungeon alone without taking any risks at all.

The girl nodded excitedly.

- ''Jin Wu... I... can I help you?

- Hmm... you wanted to return to your hometown, right?

- Yes... - The healer hesitated. - It's just... I'm not sure anymore.

- I understand that you're finally captivated by my charms, and you don't want to leave. - I said playfully.

Puffing up her cheeks, she slapped me lightly on the shoulder with the palm of her hand.

- Fool. - The girl muttered.

- Don't worry, I'll be fine. I don't need any help in the dungeon. But if you just want to stay, it's up to you.

- Would you... would you like that?

As I got closer, I kissed her again.

- What do you think?

And yet, it's so addictive. While talking to Ju Hee, I started stroking her waist affectionately. I was also not at all against this outcome if she decided to stay here. I really like that girl. And, after all, I could just have a good time with her between my raids. If I'm just bogged down in endless leveling, I'll go crazy.

- Okay...

Sighing, I kissed her again, only touching her sweet lips for a few seconds. Just a show of tenderness, not passion.

- I'd be happy to have you stay with me. But think about it well. And now I must go...

It's a good thing she doesn't have to explain why I need to get stronger. As a hunter, she knows what strength means in this world.

Leaving Ju Hee behind, I went to the city to re-enter that marvellous dungeon that provides me with a huge resource of power. Namely, the Demon Castle. A whole hundred floors full of running bags of experience. As well as a quest to collect demonic souls. At this point, this dungeon is better suited for pumping than any normal dungeon.

Here I go in again...

And I'm going straight up to the third floor.

- Show yourselves. - I said.

My shadow shook, stretching a massive cover around me, from which shadow warriors began to rise. Immediately behind me, Igris rose from my right shoulder.

- Time to begin the hunt.

With a metallic clang, the shadow warriors stepped forward.

A whole crowd of demons are already coming at us. Devoid of intelligence, but filled with viciousness and ferocity. Growling, the monsters rushed forward to attack. And the first to meet them was an elite shadow warrior in the form of a powerful golem. He took the first blow, but the demon attacks couldn't even harm him. And after that, Igris led his attack, instantly mowing down almost half of the enemy group.

The shadow knight swept through the horde of monsters. His blows were so fast that the eye did not have time to follow the movements of the sword, only noticed a residual trace of mysterious energy that left behind the blade Igris. Dozens of demons were immediately chopped to pieces.

And finally, the simple shadow warriors entered the battle, displaying their pikes and advancing on the monsters.

Although, in my opinion, they lacked some organisation. But still, the warriors went in front, while the archers and mages stayed behind.

But, while the titan and Igris didn't even take damage from the demons, the regular shadow warriors were vulnerable. And a few of them, having missed the monsters' blows, began to regenerate, which began to drain my mana. Though, so far the losses were just laughable. But I guess in a heavy battle with a dangerous opponent, I'll start to run out of mana. At the same time, I also need to pump up my cloaking skill. That's another reason to start increasing the intelligence characteristic. The second reason is that the higher this characteristic is, the more shadow warriors I can create and keep.

And, while initially the number of summoned warriors and those I can retain were equal, that ratio started to change as I increased intelligence. And having invested recent points into this characteristic, I can now already save just under sixty shadow warriors in my shadow, while on the battlefield I can raise an additional almost twenty shadow warriors. Admittedly, there was a slight snag here in the battles with demons. Namely, I couldn't extract the demon's shadow. The system was giving a message that their mana was corrupted and unsuitable for using the skill.

- Hmm, we spend more time squeaking the enemy than destroying him... - I stretched, assessing the effectiveness of my pocket army.

Looking around, I also thought of some options in my head.

- Then, you'll split into three groups.

I appointed Igris, an elite warrior, and Dae Shik as group leaders. Each received a certain number of shadow warriors as their subordinates, and then my battle groups were sent to different sides of the dungeon.

- When any of you find a pass, then immediately bring it to me.

In the end, this decision greatly increased the speed of mopping up the floors. And the experience flowed out.

Your level has been raised!

And then again and again, until the elite warrior returned to me with the pass. After that, I simply went up to the next floor. My warriors spread out again for a more efficient sweep, gaining me experience. I myself didn't stand idle either and occasionally encountered monsters. I was strong enough on my own to take down groups of demons. And, although more powerful demons were starting to appear on the higher floors, they were still significantly behind me. One easy battle after another.

But, it wasn't just my own level that was growing.

I could also feel my shadows getting stronger. It wasn't displayed in their status, but I didn't need those designations. I could just feel their growth. And the fastest to progress was Igris. It seemed like his growth should be slower, since he was already the strongest. But his case was similar to mine. He was gradually unlocking the powers sealed within him, while the other shadows were at their full strength and just gradually building up their power.

Dae Shik was also able to get fat on killing. When I raised him as a shadow, the assassin was on the verge of becoming an elite class. And now, after walking through the dungeon with us, he's reached that limit.

Request for promotion has been received.

A shadow warrior can evolve into an elite shadow warrior.

After giving the go-ahead, I was able to see the transformation process as the ghost reeked of power. Outwardly, he didn't change much, only the mystical light in his eyes became a little brighter. But his aura had clearly become more powerful, he was now noticeably stronger than when he was alive.

- Hmm, take this...

I handed the assassin my two daggers. Basilisk Fang and Knight Killer. And the shadow warrior gladly accepted such a gift, not holding back the satisfied grin of a butcher who was eager to try out his new weapon.

- Try it out, the task remains the same.

And so by evening we had travelled a few more floors, after which I decided to leave the Demon Castle, becoming even a little stronger. The shadows once again hid in my vault, following me wherever I went.

And already outside, when the connection appeared, I checked my phone and finding a missed call, I called Eugene back.

As it turned out, he had already prepared everything for our first raid and even booked a few dungeons. We agreed to meet tomorrow at the first gate.

Then I called Ju Hee, just to talk and let him know that I was fine.

And finally, I came home.

- Brother? You're back? - Jin Ah was happy.

- Yeah... yeah.

I wanted to ask about school, but I couldn't help myself. Sister doesn't really like that kind of questioning. Although she's a good student, she's a lazy girl who doesn't like school. She's quite a clever girl. The topic of the lesson is learnt in a flash, and at home just performs the task and that's it, relaxes, watching TV series, playing games, idle. All in all, she's a cool girl.

- Are you all right? - Asked the girl.

- Yeah, don't worry about me. - I ruffled her hair.

- Hey!

I spent the rest of the day at home, resting and sleeping.

In the morning, I went for a jog, which Jin-A suddenly decided to join.

- I see you've decided to keep in shape?

- Well, it's just boring sitting at home... and I need to keep in shape. - Her sister said cheerfully.

- You have a great body.

- Umm... thank you...

That sounded a little awkward.

And Jin-A looked pretty good in her tracksuit. Still, her looks were not inferior to Ju Hee's. This girl was a beautiful young girl with a trim figure. And, my body still remembers how nice she was to the touch.

- Ha... and you don't even bother. - She said after a while.

We'd been jogging for half an hour. And in that time, I could have already completed the daily quest standard ten times, but I held back as Jin-A could barely keep up with me.

- I'm in good shape too.

- I noticed. - The girl smiled.

- Oh, considering me?

- W-what? No, of course not! Fool.

- Ha-ha...

But actually, it was a good time.

- All right, let's go home.

Only the exercises were done and it was time to go back. I had a lot to do today.

- But you're not looking at me, I can just see you staring at my arse.

- N-no! I'm nothing..." panic broke out in the girl's voice.

- Hehe... come on, go ahead.

And Jin-A immediately ran ahead, trying to hide the colour of shame on her face.

- Now I'm going to glare at yours.

- Jin Wu! - The latter exclaimed indignantly.

- I'm just kidding. You have such a funny reaction.

- Idiot. - The girl muttered as she walked towards me. - When did you become like that, eh? You villain, teasing your own sister. You'll never get a girlfriend like that!

- Hey, if I get a girlfriend, who'll take care of my cute little sister?

- Grrr.

- Okay, okay, okay. In fact, I have a girlfriend.

- Lies! - Jin-A exclaimed accusingly.

She didn't even believe me. Well, I didn't try to change her mind. She didn't want to believe me. But in general, our conversation was so imbued with a kind of savoury danger. It made me horny. And if I didn't have to go to meet the hunters, I'd probably pay Ju Hee a visit. In the meantime, we finally got home. And I cleaned up and changed my clothes to go to the meeting.

- I left some money on the table in case you need anything. Don't forget to eat on time.

- Get out of here already! - The girl muttered.

- And don't bring boys here.

- I don't have a boyfriend!

- Even if you did, there's no need to get naughty here. If you really want to, you can ask me, I'll give you a helping hand as a brother.

And before the slipper hit me, I hurried to get out of the house as fast as I could.

And on the way I thought about the fact that I could use some transport. With my current opportunities I could easily get my own car. But for now, I can take a taxi, and then I won't need a car when I pass the Demon Castle. At the top of the Demon Monarch, a replica of the Demon Monarch, created by the Architect. And, if you can't get a shadow out of demons, and Monarchs don't seem to have shadows at all, then the demon king's riding beast in the form of a huge wyvern promises to be a great acquisition.

Meanwhile, I finally made it to the meeting point. A suburb in a rather remote area. The gate opened in the middle of the forest and, it's quite dangerous. If a gate opens in a city, it's found almost immediately. But when the dungeon is in the middle of nowhere, it can easily be overlooked until hordes of monsters start climbing out of the gate. That's why the association monitors such backwoods places too.

There were also a few cars here that we'll need later.

- Mr Wu! - Jin Ho greeted me cheerfully.

I cast a glance at the cripples.

I mean, our team for statistics. Eight more people. All in regular clothes, one with a cast, another undrinking boozer, a teenage girl standing off to the side.

Perfect.

- Do you know what your role is? - I asked calmly, glancing at the warriors of fortune.

- Just... wait for you outside? - The young boy hesitantly clarified.

I nodded in agreement.

- Yes, the association requires a minimum of eight people to clear the S-rank dungeon. - Eugene said with a smile. - So that's why we called you.

- We'll really be paid that much...

- Three million won for each of you. - Jin Ho confirmed. - Not a bad deal considering you just have to stay here and wait. But, you have to keep quiet about what you've seen and heard here, or you'll have to return the whole amount and pay ten times the penalty.

Even though these guys knew what they were getting into, but the good-natured Eugene's statement with a disposing smile made them pale.

- All right, let's go. - I said.

I headed for the gate myself.

The guy in full plate armour clumsily followed me, carrying his bag on his shoulders. Whereas I was just walking light. Yes, I have a full suit of armour, but it's integrated into the slots of the system and I don't even feel the weight of it.

Here we go through the gate and...

- And what do we... woah! - Eugene recoiled.

He stared in horror at the multitude of shadow warriors that came out of my shadow.

- Calm down. These are my soldiers.

Igris bowed respectfully.

- Clear this place. - I give the command.

And my servants moved forward, destroying the monsters. The shadow warriors were already too strong for such dungeons, so the mopping up became an easy walk. And only a small portion of the shadow warriors participated in the battles. The rest simply didn't have any opponents left, but they started collecting mana crystals and loot that fell out.

- They're also collecting crystals... - Eugene was stunned. - ''Wu-san, what... what should I do?

I just shrugged my shoulders.

- If you want, you can go back to the rest of the team and play cards with someone.

- Eww...

The guy groaned at the feeling of his own uselessness.

Here comes the dungeon boss....

- Rise.

I only used the bodies of ordinary monsters to reinforce my attire. And now, I was beginning to feel that this ability had a limit, just like the shadow saving reserve. It's just that I hadn't noticed it before, because the vestment wasn't even half full. And now, it's about half... while the shadow weapon gives a bonus of about five hundred units, which is not bad. More like very good!

And this is despite the fact that the resource of the cloak is also gradually increasing... as I pump up the attribute of intelligence.

It seems that this attribute will be my main attribute in the near future.

In the meantime...

I admired the new shadow warrior in my army. A powerful monstrous figure covered in horny growths. In appearance, it resembled a demon, though I wouldn't have been able to lift it then. It was an embittered ogre. But despite its appearance, it was barely on par with ordinary shadow warriors, and it was far from being an elite warrior. The regular monsters of this dungeon, on the other hand, would just occupy the empty space in my storage room uselessly.

- Oh, looks like they didn't make it, they're already running back. - The alcoholic sarcastically gave out as we exited the gate.

- Quickly...

Now I checked my watch.

- Ten minutes to mop up. Not bad, let's go to the next one, we'll clear as many dungeons as we can today.

- Y-yes, sir! - Eugene exclaimed.

- What? A sweep? - One of the soldiers of fortune staggered back.

And at that moment, the dungeon behind us began to spark with arcs of energy. It wouldn't close for a while yet, but the hunters could already see that the gate's power current was broken. This meant that the boss had been defeated and the dungeon was beginning to close.

- N-impossible...

- Let's go.

So, by evening, we had cleared five more dungeons. We could have done a couple more, but besides the fact that Eugene himself was damn tired, and so were our volunteer helpers who were diligently doing nothing to the best of their ability, the number of gates booked had run out.

- There are a few more C-rank gates, but I'm still negotiating the reservations.

- When there are at least five more gates, contact me and gather volunteers.

- Yes, Mr Wu!

During these six raids, I've also replenished my army a bit. But, even my knights who are shadow warriors are fighting better. Perhaps later on, I'll let these creatures go so that I can raise someone stronger instead. And it's quite convenient that the number of storage cells doesn't depend on the strength of the shadow. One space per soul. Although, I would understand if the same Igris was worth as much as ten common warriors. Well, he's worth a lot more in combat, but in shadow storage he takes up one slot, just like any shadow warrior.

Today, however, there was still some time left and....

I turned in all the collected mana stones I had stored in my inventory. After that, I spent a few more days cleaning up the Demon Castle, climbing up a couple of floors.

The next day was also spent in this dungeon, where I raised my level a little more. During this time, I also learnt a new technique. Although, it's not a game skill, it's just a rather specific use of the skills I already have. Using my vestment, I created several shadow blades at once, and launched them as projectiles with the Monarch's Power. And if the enemy was close, I could fire the blades directly from my shadow. Alternatively, my shadow warriors could attack from the shadow itself, lifting the enemy into spades.

Using such tactics, I began to feel more like a mage rather than a warrior, walking calmly across the battlefield, destroying everything with my spells. Although, they weren't spells, but that's exactly how it felt.

It wasn't until another day later that I was contacted by Eugene. This time he'd booked seven gates, which we did. Given that he needed nineteen in total, we were already about two-thirds of the way through this contract.

- Yeah... you're an army man..." Jin Ho sighed. - Your ability replaces an entire raiding party, and you really can single-handedly mop up a gate, probably even a B-rank.For myself, I noted that even in high-level gates, I'll just be able to pick up local strong monsters with shadows before facing the boss. Thus, even if entering such a gate for the first time, I would still not be strong enough to clear it on my own, as I did so, I would seriously increase the combat capacity of my shadow army.

But I wasn't in a hurry to tell Eugene that. He still assumed that I was just summoning warriors, not raising my enemies.

And we were just coming out of the third gate today.

Only, this time I saw that our volunteers were being harassed by some strange man. But when he saw us, he immediately perked up and headed straight for me, not even paying much attention to Eugene.

- You're Mr Jin Wu! Sorry to bother you, I'm the manager of the White Tiger Guild's management department. - He introduced himself while holding out his business card to me.

Well, no wonder a powerful guild is already interested in me. I had already left quite a few traces. Well, there was a similar moment in the comic book. Though it's not that big of a deal, really.

*** 

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