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The black gem that Oh Kang-Woo had found—the item that might be able to help them find out more about the Demon Cult—had suddenly disappeared.

"... It melted down the moment I grabbed it," Kang-Woo said.

He looked down at his hand while pretending to be shocked.

In reality, the black gem had disappeared because he\'d used the Authority of Predation, but he couldn\'t say that.

He had to hide that he wasn\'t a human but a demon—the pinnacle of all demons, the demon king.

Yeon-Joo looked disappointed.

"... Is this a characteristic of demonic energy?" she asked.

"Now that I think about it, Oriax’s corpse also turned to dust and disappeared," Goo Hyun-Mo commented.

‘Good job,\' Kang-Woo thought with bright eyes after he received the perfect assistance from Hyun-Mo.

Yeon-Joo nodded and muttered, "Hmm... I guess that\'s it, then."

"In any case, have your guild members investigate whether this item comes only from El Cuero or if other monsters have it too. And if they find a gem inside a monster’s brain, have them bring it over right away," Kang-Woo said.

If the Demon Cult were the ones that had implanted the gem inside El Cuero, there was no way that it would be the only one with it. Other monsters had also probably been implanted with that gem.

\'If I get more demonic crystals...\'

Kang-Woo could get a massive profit and interfere with the Demon Cult’s plans at the same time. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.

"But the black gem disappears once you touch it. Would we be able to bring them here even if we find them?" Yeon-Joo asked.

It was a perceptive question, but Kang-Woo did not get flustered by it.

He answered smoothly, "Since it only disappeared after I touched it, it’ll probably be okay if they use something like a vacuum pack."

"Hmm. Okay. I\'ll have my guild members investigate it."

"I will also have the Hwarang Corps members investigate it. Did you find it inside the monster\'s head?" Hwa-Yeon asked.

"Yes. They’ll see traces of it having been shoved in there," Kang-Woo replied.

"Understood."

If his hypothesis was correct, then he would be able to collect a large number of demonic crystals by using the manpower of the Red Rose Guild and Hwarang Corps.

Kang-Woo tried his best to refrain from smiling while he thought about that.

Echidna, who had returned to her human form, tilted her head while looking at Kang-Woo.

She commented, "Kang-Woo, you look like you’re having fun."

"I’m not. How could I be having fun in the middle of a crisis like this?"

"...?"

Echidna was confused. Their souls were connected, so she could more or less tell what he was feeling. She was sure that Kang-Woo was full of anticipation and joy.

Seeing Echidna\'s confused expression, Kang-Woo quickly said, "More importantly, you were of great help earlier."

"Really? Was I of help to you, Kang-Woo?"

"Yup. That’s my Echidna. I\'ll reward you as much as you want once we get back home."

"Hm! Hm!" Echidna snorted triumphantly.

Her mind was full of thoughts about what reward she should ask for from Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo smiled and patted Echidna\'s head.

\'I should look around too,\' he thought.

Absorbing one demonic crystal was far more effective in raising his demonic energy than killing hundreds of Giant Ogres. His level was capped at the moment, so gaining experience points was meaningless. Instead of hunting, looking for demonic crystals was a far more effective use of his time.

\'Thanks to them, I\'ll be able to sleep soundly at night.\'

Kang-Woo\'s leveling up had been capped, and he didn\'t know what the last condition was for achieving the Ultimate Demonic Body. Additionally, his Demonic Energy stat was not going up even though he used the Authority of Predation. He had reached a plateau in his growth.

Then the Demon Cult appeared. The timing was so perfect that he almost felt grateful to them.

Kang-Woo felt full just from thinking of all the demonic crystals he would take from the Demon Cult.

"Buuuuurp."

He let out a foul burp.

* * *

"El Cuero... has been killed."

"What?"

Inside a dark room, the man in the red demon mask asked quietly, "... What happened?"

"W-We are not sure either. We went to check the demonic crystal’s degree of erosion, but all we found were traces of battle and blood stains that we assume belong to El Cuero."

Slam! Crack!

The red-masked man slammed his fist onto the table. The solid wooden table was smashed to smithereens.

"What about the other monsters?"

"We are checking them right now, but... it seemed like the hunters had been completely unaware of our plan when they hunted."

"Shit."

El Cuero was a monster that hadn\'t been killed even once since the Gate appeared five years ago. Yet, right after they implanted a demonic crystal in it in accordance with their plan, El Cuero was hunted and killed.

The red-masked man was so furious that he had no energy to rage and just felt sad instead.

"How\'s the plan progressing?" he asked.

"It… has been greatly delayed due to this setback."

"..."

The red-masked man\'s eyes narrowed, taking on a chilling gaze.

"What if we use the other method?" he questioned.

"Y-Your Eminence, that’s—!"

"I am not saying that we should use it immediately. I just want to check its viability."

"If… we use that method, we could execute our plan immediately."

"Hmm."

"B-But Your Eminence, we won\'t be able to handle the repercussions if we do that. Now that the World Rankers have started to take action, it is far too risky."

"I know," the red-masked man answered. "What of the demonic crystals?"

"We still have some left."

"Plant them in other monsters. Proceed with the plan as quickly as possible. If it gets delayed any further..." the red-masked man said, looking angrily at the priest. "None of you will be safe either."

The priests bowed their heads and replied fearfully, "Y-Yes, Your Eminence!"

"That aside... who was it that killed El Cuero?"

"We are not certain, but we believe it was the Red Rose Guild."

"The Red Rose Guild?"

"Yes. We discovered traces of the red chains that Cha Yeon-Joo uses at the scene."

"So, she has interfered once again," the red-masked man commented.

He exuded a ferocious bloodlust, causing the priests to tremble in fear and have goosebumps.

"Prepare the shadows," the red-masked man ordered.

"... Are you planning to eliminate Cha Yeon-Joo?"

"Yes. She must pay for interfering with our plans."

"Cha Yeon-Joo is strong."

Cha Yeon-Joo was one of Korea\'s top Rankers. Furthermore, she was the master of the powerful Red Rose Guild. It would be almost impossible to assassinate her.

The man in the red mask smirked and said, "There\'s a rookie whom Cha Yeon-Joo cares about. He is an impertinent man named Oh Kang-Woo. We will take him hostage."

"I see..."

"He is but a child who knows nothing of worldly affairs. It will not be difficult."

"As you command."

"You must capture him alive no matter what. Oh, and there is a child who follows him around. Capture her alive as well."

"A child... you say?"

The masked man nodded and replied, "I sensed demonic energy from the child. I must examine her in greater detail."

"Yes, Your Eminence!"

The priests left the room.

The masked man took in a deep breath and exhaled, "Fuu."

Then he placed his hand on his face and took off the red demon mask.

"They sure are getting on my nerves."

The man in the red demon mask, Baek Kang-Hyun, put the mask on the table and frowned.

* * *

Hwa-Yeon called Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo over to the Hwarang Corps headquarters and handed each of them a passbook[1].

"Here\'s the money left after deducting the repair cost," Hwa-Yeon told them.

"Ten billion was left after selling the mana stone and the corpse. They gave us a lot of money for them because it\'s the first time that the El Cuero was successfully hunted."

"Hmm. So, you\'re going to give us five billion each?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"Yes."

"What about you, Hwa-Yeon?"

"I don\'t need it. Also, you and Kang-Woo were the ones who did most of the work."

"... You\'re a born soldier," Yeon-Joo remarked with a laugh and accepted the passbook.

Hwa-Yeon said, "I have more good news."

"Good news?"

"Is it about the demonic crystal?" Kang-Woo asked.

Hwa-Yeon shook her head and answered, "No. The Hwarang Corps members are investigating it, but they haven’t been able to find any yet. It\'s about something else."

"What is it?"

"Material suitable for Legendary-grade equipment was found in the El Cuero\'s corpse. Apparently, it\'s possible to forge a sword out of the needle in its tail."

"Whoa."

"Wow, we actually got Legendary-grade material?" Yeon-Joo remarked.

The eyes of both Yeon-Joo and Kang-Woo lit up. Legendary-grade equipment was priceless for high-level players.

Kang-Woo, who had experienced the stat bonus effect of the Black Pearl Coat for himself, showed even greater interest than Yeon-Joo.

‘I don\'t use swords, though.\'

He didn\'t use a particular weapon. He just created weapons with his Authorities depending on the situation. Nevertheless, he could receive the stat bonus benefits just by equipping the sword, so it didn\'t matter.

"Based on the rough estimate... it will probably be legendary-grade equipment that raises strength or dexterity," Hwa-Yeon informed them.

"Oh..."

"It’ll be useless on me, then."

Both Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo clicked their tongues in disappointment.

Kang-Woo mainly used the Demonic Energy stat and Yeon-Joo\'s main stat was the Mana stat, so neither of them needed Legendary-grade equipment that raised their strength or dexterity.

"Can’t you use it, Hwa-Yeon?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"Haha. Unfortunately, the imprint condition is a bit particular. I can\'t use it," Hwa-Yeon answered.

There were some instances when certain conditions needed to be met for the imprinting. It was not decided through the production process but by the material itself, so the conditions could not be bent to the forger’s will.

"What is the condition?"

"You apparently need a unique stat called Qi."

"Qi? The thing that appears in martial arts novels?"

"Yes. Those among the warrior classes rarely possess this stat, but the Players who do are mostly in China... There are extremely few Players in Korea who have it."

"Hmm... Then it\'s basically a fool\'s gold. How about we sell it to China?"

"I wanted to hear your opinions first. After all, you were the ones who made the greatest contributions in killing El Cuero."

Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo nodded.

The person who played the biggest role was Kang-Woo, followed by Yeon-Joo. The others also contributed a lot, but it couldn\'t be compared to those two.

"There isn\'t anyone who has the Qi stat in my guild. You can sell it as long as they pay a high price for it," Yeon-Joo said.

"In that case, I\'ll buy it," Kang-Woo declared.

"... You?"

Kang-Woo nodded.

The unique stat Qi… He knew one person who had that.

\'Kim Si-Hun.\'

It was the kind-hearted young man who, along with Kang Tae-Soo, often followed Kang-Woo around. Kim Si-Hun was very handsome, but his talent was even more incredible than his looks.

\'Although we aren\'t blood-related, you\'re my little brother.\'

Kang-Woo\'s and Si-Hun\'s souls were bound together after all.

‘As your hyung, I will get you this sword as a gift!\'

Kang-Woo clenched his fists.

1. It’s a booklet that contains the deposit and withdrawal records of a bank account. Banks in some countries provide it to their account holders. ☜