Chapter 10

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***

I had to pause the sweep for a while to talk to the guild representative. Though it was already clear what he wanted. And, in fact, he didn't beat around the bush. Starting off by doing a little investigation and noticing me in the recent incidents, he gave out what he was going to.

- Undoubtedly, you have undergone a re-awakening and obtained a high rank! Our guild needs recruits like that. Therefore, I'm willing to offer you twice as much as Yu Jin Construction Company!

- Ahem... you mean six billion?

- А?

The manager almost choked from shock.

- W-what? Six... that means...

I was thinking that, there's another reason why joining an existing guild would be more profitable than starting my own. When my S-rank is confirmed, all of these guilds will be willing to give me mountains of gold and everything I ask for. That being said, I'm still not going to run a guild. I'm not interested in controlling such a structure. It's much more convenient if I have those who will make an agreement with the association themselves and simply provide me with a gate to mop up. But, in this respect, co-operating directly with the association is even more convenient than joining a guild.

Yes, the guilds control the best gates. But they don't shut them down, they extract resources from them for as long as they can, until the gate itself is on the verge of breaking through.

On the other hand, that's why the guilds are very rich and can provide me with more resources than the association. But, even with all the money in the world, it's really not that significant. I already have excellent equipment from the dungeons. I can still add regular equipment, but I've already made arrangements with the association to do something like that. And I have enough money for purchases.

After all, I can remain a free hunter at all, just by negotiating with the association for the perks I need.

As for the White Tiger....

- All right. I'll think about your offer. I have a temporary contract with Yu Jin's company and will continue to fulfil it for the time being.

- P-I see... um, Jin Wu-san, if it's not a secret... can I ask what your real rank is now?

- You'll find out later I won't be joining any guilds until my rank is officially confirmed.

That was the end of it.

I didn't immediately refuse since this contact could still be used. I remember that in the comic, this particular guild had a training mission where the normal gate turned red. That kind of thing happens sometimes. And basically, I wanted to get into that gate. In order to do so, I even found Kim Chul's tank in the official list of A-rank hunters. I didn't remember his human name, but after seeing a picture of a guy with a scar on the right side of his face and checking his class and rank, I immediately knew who it was. If it works out, I'll try to replicate Jin Wu's actions with this dungeon to get him as a shadow.

There also seemed to be some strong ice elves there. Jin Woo tried to raise them, but it didn't work. Maybe I'll get lucky? I'll try to talk to the dead a bit beforehand, see if it works like it did with Igris.

But perhaps the most important advantage of this gate will be time.

While one hour passes in this world, a full twenty-four hours passes in the red gate. So just by spending a few hours there, I'll be able to complete several daily tasks at once before a day passes in this world. Which means I'll already be stronger when it's time to face other Monarchs or the Architect. Right now I'm gaining levels quickly, but I'm also getting quite a few characterisation points for these day quests.

In the meantime...

I'm back to mopping up dungeons with Eugene.

However, this time, after working with him, I didn't go to the Demon Castle in the evening, but decided to check on Ju Hee.

- So, you haven't left yet.

Although, I asked to visit her myself, but when I arrived, she had already made me a meal by herself.

- Yeah... I thought about it... and decided to stick around for a while. By the way, do you like kimchi?

As I looked at the table, I involuntarily swallowed my saliva.

- I think I do now. - I nod excitedly to the girl. - You're just... marry me here!

- А?

Seriously, she cooked fried potatoes in honey sauce, the mere sight of which only made me hungrier. Next to that was a plate of spicy chicken kimchi.

- I'm sorry, I'm just so impressed. - I hesitated. - Not only are you a nice, kind, and hot as hell girl, but your cooking is amazing!

- You haven't even tried it yet..." Ju Hee muttered embarrassedly.

- I'm going to try it. But it looks really good...

And, anyway...

Having had my fill of home-cooked dinner, I seriously wondered if I should kill this girl. You know, to make her my shadow who could cook for me. No, that would probably be very rude of me.

- What a conniving Ju Hee you are... - I shook my head.

- W-what? Why?

- First you dulled my guard with your kindness and affection, and then you seduced me with your body. Now you're seducing me with your cooking to be sure.

- Are you staying tonight? - She asked hopefully.

- Mmm... I guess... I've already cleared so many dungeons under contract, so much tension... you'll help me relax, won't you?

The girl pressed her lips together in embarrassment. Her whole appearance said that she was very much okay with it, but she was embarrassed to say it out loud.

- If you want, you could move in with me...

- Ohhh, maybe... but I still have to take care of my sister for now. - I sighed.

- Right, you have a little sister... - Ju Hee remembered.

- Maybe later, when she finishes school. And I'll probably buy a new house, a bigger one... if you want, I'd be happy to live with you.

- Y-yes!" the girl exhaled happily. - Um... Jin Wu, are you sure you don't need my help? I... can apply reinforcement....

- You'll help a lot more if you just stay this nice to me. When you're around, I feel better and rest my soul...''

The girl blushed again.

Be careful Jin Wu, you might fall in love like this. But, this girl is really very pretty. And it's impressive that she's willing to go out against her fears again to support me. But like I said, that's not what I need from her.

And right now, she's just helped me relax by taking a little break from raiding.

All in all, I had a good time with her. The next day, though, I went back to raiding. But before that.

- Oh, you're back already.

When I was left alone, an assassin appeared nearby from the void, incarnating from a burst of black smoke. Bowing silently, the shadow handed me a weighty bag of money. The very money that Dae Shik had received for killing the prisoners. In fact, I didn't even remember it right away, and when I did, I ordered the shadow to secretly take the dirty money! Well, dirty, clean, what's the difference?

In any case, the money will be useful.

Afterwards, I finally went to work.

The remaining dungeons for Eugene's statistics were closed within a day, after which I received my payment from our contract. And, together with Dae Shik's money, it was quite a lot.

- Wu-san... have you... thought of joining any guilds?

- Not yet. - I shook my head - I might join an association, or I might stay on my own. We'll see.

- I see...

He clearly wanted me to join his group, but he realised that I didn't really need it.

Also, back home, my sister informed me about the parent-teacher meeting, but it was still a whole week away, which I decided to devote to the Demon Castle.

I remember that it was after that meeting that the red gate event happened, so, until then, I could swing in peace. But, before returning to the dungeon, I wanted to check something out and replenish my shadow army.

At the same time, I also handed in a bunch of junk from the dungeon that had been collected along with the mana crystals to the administration office. Thanks to this, my wealth increased by another two billion, plus another three for the contract. So, I was now a very wealthy person. I just wasn't very clear on where to spend that much money yet. Unless it was for equipment and hunter artefacts. But, I can definitely find better quality items in the Demon Castle. The only thing I need is fire protection equipment, but Jin Chul from the hunter's association has already promised to help me with that.

So here it is.

- Disguise.

After waiting for the right moment, I used the stealth skill to disappear. That way, I was able to pass by the association's observers unnoticed. The energy of the gate distorted to accept me. And already inside the dungeon, I took off my disguise and then pulled the hood over my head.

- Great. - A devilish grin crept over my face. - Rise...

An army of shadows stepped into the light, dozens of warriors in palm armour, monsters, and a hunter ghost ready to sweep the dungeon.

- Begin.

The shadows rushed forward, while I decided to keep up as well.

This was a recent B-rank dungeon that would most likely just be closed down in the near future. But until the association gathered the hunters, I could clear this place myself and gain experience and new shadows. The main monsters here were rather large wolves covered in shiny steel fur. These guys are much stronger than the Reikans from my first dungeon. And even the regular monsters here were on par with my shadow warriors after being revived.

The boss, on the other hand, was strong enough to immediately regenerate as an elite shadow warrior.

- Awww...

A shadow wolf with glowing blue eyes was jumping around me and wagging its tail. And I couldn't help myself...

- Sit.

The monster obeyed the command, and clucked his jaw as if he wanted to bark merrily. But being a shadow, he remained silent. I scratched his ear.

I did not fill my vault completely with these monsters, I kept only the leader and a couple of the strongest wolves, ready to go to the elite rank. After that, I immediately left the dungeon, I didn't even linger to collect crystals, I only collected more or less valuable items dropped from monsters, and only that.

But, after that, I still still didn't head straight to the Demon Castle.

No...

I chose another gate to replenish my army. A powerful A-rank gate where I could find really strong monsters. Alas, all such gates were now under the control of the guild. However, with the cloaking, it wasn't a problem. Although, I was a bit worried that a nearby S-rank hunter would be able to spot me, so I watched from the sidelines for a while, waiting for the right moment.

When the group completed another raid, destroying the usual monsters, squads of workers were sent inside to collect crystals. I had to leave and return later and waited for a few more hours before the second shift of workers left the dungeon. This was the perfect moment! Soon enough the monsters inside would be revived, but the guild just can't mop them up immediately on respawn, the hunters need to recover and prepare for a new raid.

- Here we go.

Walking through the invisible ghost, I bypassed the workers, and entered the gate.

I made it some distance inland, closer to the centre of the dungeon and its boss, before monsters began to revive in the branching tunnels. And that's when...

- The hunt begins.

But, I was more careful this time.

They were earth golems, high ranked monsters, even the weakest of them were stronger than all the demons I had fought in Demon Castle so far. It was breathtaking! But, with my army, I could easily handle a few local monsters. And after my first victory, my squad was augmented by these monsters.

They were quite slow for their rank, but very strong, and their natural armour was at such a level that even Igris had to try his best to penetrate these guys. That said, even with their seeming clumsiness, they could grab an opponent lightning fast if they got close enough.

And for the sake of these monsters, I sent several of my shadow warriors into oblivion to make room in the vault. As for the golems...

Their shadows immediately rose as shadow knights. Only a couple of them rose as shadow warriors, but I just sent them into oblivion, deciding to take more powerful guys in their place. And in the meantime, destroying such powerful opponents contributed to a more rapid increase in levels. Both for me and my servants. Some warriors have risen to elite warriors.

But most importantly...

Igris' power has finally reached its limit. No, that doesn't mean he's fully regained his full power. It was just that he had reached the limit of his rank.

Request for promotion has been received

Igris

A shadow knight can be promoted to an elite shadow knight

With a satisfied nod, I confirmed the request, after which a powerful dark aura reverberated from the knight. He made a sudden leap in strength and another level of shackles fell from my strongest servant. I could directly feel the power hidden within him breaking through the rank boundary and surging forward. Whereas a normal shadow, upon receiving a new rank, would gradually build up strength from its lowest level to the next boundary, Igris immediately broke out somewhere around a quarter towards the next rank.

Bloody's shadow aura rustled ominously, flowing streams of gloom across his armour. The mystical light in his eye sockets began to shine even brighter and, now, a very different feeling emanated from him.

- Stand up, Igris..." I said.

During the promotion, this guy so habitually dropped to his knee, and bowed his head...

- It's time to close this dungeon.

Of course, it's a pity for the hunters guild, after I take the boss, their resource base in the form of a powerful dungeon will close. But to be honest, I was more concerned about the possibility of replenishing my retinue with an extremely powerful servant. And by this point, I already had more than fifty strong shadow golems. For their sake, I also got rid of the weak shadow monsters created from the bosses of the C-rank dungeons.

But actually, I'll only keep thirty of them later, the rest will have to be scattered. The number of shadows in formation now exceeded the capacity of my storage. That is to say, only a fraction of these golems will I be able to keep.

- Hmm....

And so, we finally arrived at the boss hall.The huge Earth Giant was seemingly embedded in the wall of the cave. His colossal body was fused to the stone and earth, but even so, one could see the marks of injuries. He barely sighed and looked at me with a single scarlet eye that was filled with fatigue and pain.

Sometimes hunters just leave the boss alone if he's passive and doesn't leave his territory. Sometimes, if they want to save the dungeon, they can try to cripple the monster and at the threshold of death it will be forced to recover for a while. This monster seemed to have become much weaker due to its wounds and did not dare to attack. But still, it could still give it some heat.

- Hnn... - I abruptly stepped aside, hiding under my disguise.

At the same time, the giant's eye abruptly flashed with fire, and a beam of energy drew a line across the cavern, striking the wall and shattering the stone. He seemed to have realised that I had come for his head...

But alas...

The hunters had already seriously exhausted him.

While the giant was climbing out of the wall that fed him, allowing him to recover faster, my shadows had already gone on the attack. The monsters that had previously obeyed the giant went against their leader. The assassin's shadow suddenly appeared in front of the monster's face and struck a double blow right at its eye....

- Ghraaaa... - The monster roared in pain.

His cry was so desperate that I even felt sorry for the giant for a moment. It wasn't even a fair fight, I was just killing a weakened enemy....

And, to appease my conscience, I personally went on the attack.

Although, by this point, Igris had already managed to do some damage to him by forging the monster with his blade.

- I will end your suffering...

Hearing me right in front of him, the giant didn't even fight back anymore, realising that this was the end. The brutal chopping with the shadow blade crashed into the monster's throat. On top of that, I further strengthened the blow by concentrating the Monarch Power skill in my hands. This almost doubled the base power of my attack. And, the giant's stone body shattered and his head was severed.

Your level has been raised.

Your level has been raised.

For such a monster, I could have been given more experience if it was healthy and full of strength. But even so, the result wasn't bad.

- Huh... that's not all. I'm sorry that your end was like this... but you don't have to disappear now, rise up and join my army!

...

The attempt to extract the shadow failed

Failure.

True, I didn't feel any resistance from the monster. Rather, I simply lacked the strength to lift it.

- Rise.

Fail again.

But, as I tried again, I could feel the remains of the monster becoming more and more filled with some mystical power. Not mana, but something else, the power of the Shadow Monarch that makes the dead rise. So, it turns out, each subsequent attempt has a slightly better chance of retrieval...

- Rise!

This time, I tried to put more power into my order myself.

And finally...

- Grrr...

With a stone rumble, a tall shadow rose from the remains of the dungeon boss, towering over me, a good five metres above me. What distinguished this monster from my other servants was that its eye was burning with an otherworldly scarlet light. While the energy that flowed in my other shadows had a bright blue hue.

Also...

- I name you... um... well, you shall be Cyclops.

And, along with the name, the new shadow knight received a power boost as a piece of the Monarch's will was transferred to him.

Cyclops

Elite Shadow Knight

He was revived with the same rank as Bloody, but his progression in that rank was even higher. Although, Igris still progressed faster due to the fact that he hadn't reached his potential yet.

This was definitely a great acquisition!

- Hmm...

Feeling the pulse of power in the dungeon, I realised that I couldn't stay here any longer. Obeying my will, the servants hid in my shadow. After that, I raised my shadow blade and those who could no longer hide in the shadows due to the fullness of the vault were absorbed by the vestment.

And I hurriedly left the dungeon after drinking a mana potion beforehand so that my disguise wouldn't suddenly fall off.

It seems that the hunters sensed that there was a battle going on in the dungeon. A scouting team was quickly sent here and spotted the bodies of the golems. And already at the very exit, I froze motionless, even stopping to breathe.

- Were they fighting each other? What happened here? Why is the dungeon closing?

The guy in lats looked around dazedly. His same question was directed towards the leader of this group that was frowning as he walked forward. A young guy with fiery red hair, wearing a mage's robe. On each finger of his hands he wore a magic ring. And, he had a powerful aura about him. He was stronger than me. An S-class hunter. And, with such strength, his senses could also be developed enough to spot me under my disguise. But, this time, I also had the factor that the energy flow of the dungeon was in a chaotic state before closing, which interfered with my senses as well.

Here was an S-class mage, the head of the hunters' guild, just passing by.

It was only when that group disappeared behind the branch of the cave that I dashed through the gate to the outside.And afterwards, I also hurried to get away from here. And the further I was from the guild gate, the better I felt. My heart felt triumphant, and a happy smile appeared on my face.

Although, in the presence of hunters, it's better not to use shadow golems and a giant. Otherwise, they might realise who had closed their dungeon, for which they had paid a lot of money. I, on the other hand, didn't feel any remorse about taking away an entire guild's dungeon. After all, the stronger I became, the better for everyone, including the hunters' guild. Although, my main concern was that it would be better for myself.

Now, then.

- Rise.

And again.

I'm going out to hunt in the Demon Castle.

It was a great pleasure to watch the shadow golems just tear the demons apart. While being shadows, they could now move in my shadow, which allowed them to dive in and out of the darkness in the Monarch's domain, which still surrounded the space around me for several dozen metres. But as skill and intelligence increased, the skill zone grew. It was especially nice that, like other shadow skills, this skill did not require mana expenditure.

The shadows in this space lit up with an ominous purple light, becoming much stronger. Ordinary warriors became equal in strength to elite warriors. Knights began to fight with the strength of elite knights. It was as if my strongest warriors had crossed another rank, becoming true killing machines. And if Igris was like a gloomy thunderstorm, moving lightning fast across the battlefield and chopping demons in packs, then Cyclops almost did not move. His titanic figure measuredly followed me, towering over the city ruins. And only turning his head, he emitted a stream of fierce plasma from his eye, sizzling whole groups of demons.

If any monsters managed to get closer....

Cyclops was even scarier up close. No longer weakened by his injuries, he was now much stronger than when I met him in the dungeon.

- Grrr...

He was still speechless, but with a sudden movement, his body made a rocky rumbling sound.

Bang!

The giant took a step forward and delivered a mighty blow, sweeping away the pack of demons and grabbing one of them in his hand. His body was bulging with tense muscles and simply radiated a sense of overwhelming power. Although he preferred to move slowly and measuredly, he could also attack with astonishing speed. So fast that the demons didn't even realise it before they were swept away by the giant.

- What are you... oh... - I wrinkled my nose.

The giant quickly brought the demon to him and simply bit off half of his body, and then threw his legs aside.

- Nah... well you're rabid, for sure....

- Grrr...

The monster's eye flashed again, sending a deadly beam towards the cluster of demons.

Its height gave it quite an advantage. Towering over the houses, it could safely attack at great distances.

Walking around the Demon Castle became even easier.....

And this time I hung around for a few days, doing daily tasks right in the dungeon. But, while in many ways this place is excellent for pumping, it's a little disappointing that time in the Castle runs the same way it does on Earth. A day here, a day there. However, I had previously managed to get to almost the twentieth floor earlier. So in this raid, I continued to move upwards, gradually filling up the scale of collected demonic souls.

A faint pulse of menace brought me out of my reverie.

My shadow shuddered, and an eerie shadow blade flashed a metre away from me with a grim tentacle. After which a murderous demon with a severed head incarnated. At the moment of death, its disguise fell off, and the monster simply collapsed onto the flaming ground. I didn't even take my hands out of my pockets at this time. This opponent wasn't worth it.

Several more shadowy spades leapt out of the gloom, piercing through the other assassins trying to get close to me.

- Grhayayaa...

The eerie whoosh of impact.

And the surviving monster's head flies off its shoulders and away.

Your level has been raised.

Not bad.

My shadows also continued to pump and bring me experience, destroying monsters. Cyclops no longer walked with me, but led a squad of golems. But he didn't roam freely around the city. I summoned him on the roof of one of the tall buildings, which gave him an even better view. And that thing just sat there and started firing its laser at anything that moved that wasn't me or a shadow warrior.

The golems wandered down below, in the giant's blind spot, and fought demons near the buildings.

We went up floor by floor. We were already somewhere around the fortieth when I decided to call it a day.

- Ohhh... I need to catch my breath... - I rubbed my neck, returning to the human world.

When the connection came back on, my phone beeped, reporting missed calls.

But anyway, I felt much stronger already.

And before heading to the Demon Castle again, I would gather more shadow servants. After raising levels and quest bonuses, I pumped up my intelligence again and expanded my storage reserve.

*** 

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