Just as the horde of 2,000 monsters had been reduced to under a thousand, another massive wave of monsters poured out from the gate. The numbers were staggering enough to turn their entire field of vision black. For any ordinary Awakened, this would have been an understandable point to flee.
This wasn’t just a human wave tactic. Or should he call it a monster wave tactic in this case?
Woof!
Their position weakened slightly as the monsters they’d worked so hard to reduce by half multiplied like cells. The summons that had been fighting valiantly showed signs of fatigue. Even that Fenrir, who had shown the most outstanding performance, increasingly let out groans and periodically whimpered. The fox summon called Shiro even drooped its tails and started acting cute with Jae-hee.
It meant they didn’t want to fight anymore.
How weak.
After briefly admiring summons with ridiculous ranks and skills, Sa-yoon internally criticized them for running out of strength in less than an hour as he assessed the situation. His cold gaze swept across the battlefield. Though no more monsters were emerging from the gate, the situation wasn’t good since the summons had tired more quickly than expected. The monsters were raising each other’s morale, chattering excitedly as if they’d seized the advantage.
This wouldn’t do.
They needed someone to turn this atmosphere around and go wild. However, Jae-hee appeared overwhelmed just handling and supporting his summons, and above all, he didn’t possess skills suited for rampaging.
Sa-yoon, on the other hand, did.
[Blood Sea Mountain Corpse (SS)] As the sword splits the sky, blood becomes the sea and corpses form mountains!
- Attack power increases 20% when facing multiple enemies. Gain one token for each enemy defeated. Upon accumulating 100 tokens, enables use of ‘Mega Explosion’.
Sa-yoon hadn’t just been losing in the field. Just as Han Geon-joo had achieved explosive growth there, Sa-yoon had grown too. After experiencing dozens of monster waves, he’d gained skills perfectly suited for chaotic battles.
This skill was perfect for the current situation. Making a quick decision, Sa-yoon patted Rai’s back a couple times and dismounted from the Fenrir.
“Sa-yoon?”
Jae-hee, who had been checking on his summons, called out at Sa-yoon’s sudden action. Instead of answering, Sa-yoon looked at the quest window occupying part of his vision.
‘Progress to rank increase: 62%’
It had risen from 30% to 62%. Reaching B-rank in this gate was practically guaranteed.
What’s the point of just riding summon carries at a time like this? Gotta farm that experience somehow.
After stretching his stiff body with a long stretch, Sa-yoon switched weapons. Instead of the dagger he’d been using, he took out a wire.
Come to think of it, he knew how to use wires too.
Muttering as he recalled his first meeting with Jae-hee, Sa-yoon placed his hand on the silver wire. When he pressed down with force, the wire cut into his flesh, creating a wound. Red blood dripped down, flowing along the wire. Though Jae-hee called out to Sa-yoon in alarm, Sa-yoon just smiled as he looked at the wire that had hardened after absorbing his blood.
Looking around to test its cutting power, he found something perfect.
Yip?
Sa-yoon grabbed a monster that Rai had been holding down and placed it on the tautly stretched wire. Slash! The monster’s head flew off instantly. Sticky green blood dripped down.
“This’ll do.”
Life really is all about having good items.
Right, who cares about talent or luck? He had item advantage built up from his accumulated wealth. As he snickered about how they’d never seen a C-rank fighting with S-rank items before, someone’s chin touched the top of his head.
It was Rai’s chin.
How fluffy.
With his head half-buried in white fur, Sa-yoon regained his senses and looked up. Jae-hee was looking down at him with an incredulous expression.
“Are you alright? You seem out of your mind.”
“When was I ever in my right mind?”
“Fair point. So, why did you suddenly get down?”
It’s dangerous, please get back up.
Jae-hee added. Sa-yoon snorted and slipped out from under Rai’s chin.
“Jae-hee.”
“Yes?”
“Help.”
“…You want help?”
The man blinked blankly as he asked back. His eyes seemed to say he was already helping plenty, making Sa-yoon click his tongue.
This is why inexperienced ones just don’t get it.
“If you clear everything, how am I supposed to rank up? Watch carefully and help when appropriate. Give those two to me.”
Sa-yoon pointed at Shiro and Maru. Finally understanding, the man thought for a moment before coaxing and persuading the two summons to accompany Sa-yoon. Of course, they weren’t cooperative.
Having been thrown once already, how could they willingly follow?
Yelp! Yip! Whine!
Even with Jae-hee’s persuasion, their refusal was clear.
‘Current Status: Master is a traitor! He abandoned me! I’m sad!’
‘Current Status: Me Shiro. Only a poor four-year-old, is this labor exploitation okay? Feeling the injustice.’
After checking their status windows, Sa-yoon crossed his arms exasperatedly and stared disapprovingly at the two summons who acted like they had no master before sighing. Well, with their age and rank, they deserved to be treated like masters anywhere else. Even Sa-yoon thought that if he were an ordinary hunter, he’d probably spend his life bowing to these two summons, so they must be treated like precious gems in most places.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t most places.
“Summons should act like summons.”
…Yip?
The two summons perked up their ears at his words as he gently stroked their beautiful fur. Sa-yoon continued speaking with an incredibly kind and benevolent smile.
“Don’t get the wrong idea.”
This wasn’t a place where you got special treatment just for having a high rank.
High rank? Good skills?
Then you better work!
“Go, Summon Number One!”
Yelp!
Just like at the start of the gate saturation, the silver wolf was once again sent flying by Sa-yoon’s hand. As he excitedly asked how it felt to fly through the sky, Jae-hee shook his head. Meanwhile, the silver wolf, paddling through the air like a dog swimming, realized its duty as it neared the ground and fired off Fear.
As Field’s Fear activated, the monsters hesitated.
“Rai!”
When Sa-yoon called the Fenrir’s name, the quick-witted Jae-hee coaxed his summon to use Fear together.
The two summons’ Fears combined. Grinning at the howling that was loud enough to burst eardrums, Sa-yoon turned to look at the remaining fox summon.
Keeng?
Though the fox summon tilted its head as if it didn’t understand anything, it was all an act. Having seen the “save me” message in its status window, Sa-yoon grabbed the fox’s tail with a gentle smile.
“Mind giving me some buffs?”
Though his tone was kind, his actions weren’t. The timid summon trembled as it used Fear.
‘Current Status: To feel fear toward a mere C-rank! I want to dig a fox hole and hide from shame!’
The changed status message was quite satisfying too. A C-rank instilling fear in an A-rank—quite an impressive anecdote. After lightly patting Shiro’s head, Shiro’s Fear enveloped Sa-yoon’s body. He could feel his restrictive C-rank body temporarily rising to nearly B-rank with the buff. Feeling like heavy shackles had been removed, Sa-yoon praised it for a job well done and kicked off the ground.
Whoosh!
Sa-yoon’s body floated up into the air before landing in the dead center of the frozen monster horde.
This should be enough.
With a body around B-rank, possessing S-rank techniques, facing A-rank monsters properly immobilized by two overlapping debuffs—if he couldn’t dominate this situation, he’d have to give up his position as guild master.
Ping!
As he pressed the activation button, the wire made a pleasant resonating sound as it bounced once. Sa-yoon shouted to the silver wolf and fox:
“Follow me!”
Woof!
Whether out of fear or because they’d received separate orders from Jae-hee, their response was immediate this time. The two four-legged beasts kicked off the ground simultaneously and rushed to Sa-yoon’s side, and Sa-yoon attacked the monsters along the path they opened. In an instant, dozens of monster heads flew into the air. There was no mercy in Sa-yoon’s movements as he fought while using the two summons like knight escorts, and seeing Sa-yoon fighting while laughing like a madman, Jae-hee sighed.
Pushing back his fallen brown hair, the man stroked Rai’s fur and spoke.
“Don’t learn from him.”
Woof!
The young Fenrir responded innocently. Jae-hee watched Sa-yoon who had already advanced far ahead, and checked the information window floating above Sa-yoon’s head.
The information window of Sa-yoon that Jae-hee could see since gaining the ability to read heaven’s secrets was as follows:
<Heaven’s secrets pierce through the truth of ‘Kwon Sa-yoon’>
Kwon Sa-yoon. C+ rank (S rank), True Evil of Humanity, The Resister (Pre-awakening), ??? (Pre-awakening)
And.
‘Error Progress: 12.4%’