The Fairy Energy I could feel from Goonto"s Twin Blades became stronger the deeper we went into the Demon"s Cave.
I had thought it was because my skill level was going up little by little. I thought it was going up quickly because it had not been long since I could feel the Fairy Energy.
But it was moving too fast for me to accept that it was just that. How could it be when it improved to two times its original strength in less than half a month?
Now I could tie Demons down for almost five seconds by shooting out Spirit Energy.
This may be related to the Fairy"s...o...b.. The Fairy Energy could be getting stronger as we get closer to the Fairy"s...o...b..
But that"s just my hypothesis.
"Shall we give it a go?"
"I think we"ve rested enough."
"Already? We barely sat down."
"Five minutes is most appropriate for a break. And what have you done to grumble like that? I hunted the most monsters until now."
Was that too much?
But it was true. I tied the Demons down by shooting out Spirit Energy, then I hunted them with combo once the Stone Elves sat on them.
The other team members supported me as well, however, it was just like sprinkles being added onto a cupcake.
"Ugh."
The Dwarves got up and were soon followed by Harrison"s group.
I moved forward while focusing on Goonto"s Twin Blades.
It wasn"t dangerous for me to focus on other things instead of the cave because the Guardian Elemental was about 30 meters in front of us looking around.
"There really is a difference in the feel."
It was faint but I could feel the difference. The Fairy Energy was becoming stronger as we moved.
We walked for about 3 km like that.
"It"s here!"
I could not see the Fairy"s...o...b.. but the Fairy Energy in Goonto"s Twin Blades was telling me this was the place.
I was certain that the Fairy"s...o...b..was around here.
I slowed down and moved forward. I soon stopped walking.
"Is it over there?"
I could see a group of Demons gathered together.
They were different than the Demons we have met along the way. The colors of their skin varied and they even had large horns on their heads.
They seemed to be Demon leaders.
There were normal Demons with them as well. I saw about three Demon leaders and over twenty Demons.
The Demons were looking toward us as well. Their senses are so sharp that they probably noticed us before I noticed them.
However, they did not come charging at us. They were similar to the Demons at the Wall of Grief who seemed to be protecting something.
That gave me even more certainty.
"It must be there!"
My Spirit Energy was full. Everybody was at peak condition because we got plenty of rest along the way.
It was still going to be a difficult battle. The Demon leaders looked extremely dangerous.
"We have to stay alert."
"Looks that way. They look really strong!"
Goonto sounded very nervous as well. Maybe that was why, but the other Dwarves and Harrison"s group curled their bodies forward and looked anxious.
I made sure my preparations were thoroughly completed. I had the Dwarves put up their shield walls and summoned about 50 Stone Elves in advance.
Even after that, I still had 400 Stone Elves that I could summon. We had hunted over 500 Demons on our way here, giving me close to 500 Stone Elf"s Souls.
I lost a good number of Stone Elves in the battles against the Demons, but the number of Stone Elf"s Souls in my possession grew as time went by.
"Are you ready?"
Everybody nodded their heads.
"Then let"s get started! Forward, march!"
I blew the Horn Flute of Darkness as we moved forward.
The Demon leaders were similar to the Demons. They charged at us without maintaining their positions once I used Dragon Fear and the Sand Warrior"s Voices.
Once that happened, it was similar to all of our other battles.
I continued to hara.s.s the Demons with the Horn Flute of Darkness, Dragon Fear, and the Sand Warrior"s Voices before using Spirit Energy and then having the Stone Elves work together to hold them down.
Naturally, I hunted them down with combo afterward.
The Demon leaders were stronger than the regular Demons, but they still could not overcome the shock of Spirit Energy.
I summoned 300 more Stone Elves and the battle ended up in our victory once I had five or six Stone Elves team up against each Demon leader.
"What is our casualty count?"
"Barookoo and Baanto are dead."
"We lost over ten soldiers as well."
I lost 50 Stone Elves as well. This was the most damage we had suffered until now.
However, it could not be helped. That was how strong the Demon leaders were. We should be relieved that we were able to win with just this many casualties.
"Please gather their bodies."
Dwarves don"t gather the bodies of the dead. It was because they believed that the bodies were just a sh.e.l.l and that their souls would go to Valhalla.
That was why only Harrison"s group gathered the bodies of the dead and gave them a short funeral.
I looked around while they did that. I tightly clenched onto Goonto"s Twin Blades to feel the Fairy Energy.
I was certain that it was in this area. It was because the strength of the Fairy Energy was changing every time I moved.
I continued to move around while feeling the Fairy Energy.
I then stopped.
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"Here?"There was a large boulder in front of me. It looked so big that I thought I wouldn"t be able to move it even with the Dwarves" help.
I had a feeling that the Fairy"s...o...b..would be under this boulder.
"Can you move this?"
Goonto and the Dwarves stepped up once I asked.
"Ugh!"
"Urachacha!"
It really didn"t move. They would feel motivated if it even showed signs of moving.
Goonto started to shake his head.
"I don"t think we can move this even if we had 100 Dwarves!"
"Then what should we do?"
"Should we break it?"
Goonto picked up his Solar Blade. The Dwarves thought that was a good idea and picked up their weapons as well.
It didn"t seem like a bad idea.
But hearing them say we could destroy the boulder made me think of a better idea. This method needed no one to put in any effort.
"Step back a bit! Stone Elf, come forth!"
I looked toward the large boulder.
Then, the large boulder started to move as I expected. It then turned into a Stone Elf and started to move.
The body truly suffers if the head is dumb.
"It was so easy!"
The boulder was so large that one Stone Elf was not enough.
I summoned five more Stone Elves. The boulder became smaller with each Stone Elf until there were no traces left.
But I did not stop there. I continued to summon Stone Elves such that I was now creating a pit in the ground.
Goonto shouted in shock after a bit.
"Ah! What is that?"
It was closer to a jewel than an orb. It was the size of a handball and shining brightly as if a magic light spell was cast on it.
He wants to know what it is? It"s the Fairy"s...o...b..of course.
The Fairy Energy in Goonto"s Twin Blades was telling me that this was it. It was running wild.
I walked into the large pit. I then carefully picked the Fairy"s...o...b..up with both hands.
Brrrrrr-
Goonto"s Twin Blades were shaking. To be more specific, the Fairy Energy inside of them was reacting to the Fairy"s...o...b..
That was how strong the energy inside the Fairy"s...o...b..was.
I looked up to see the others looking at me with gazes full of antic.i.p.ation.
I smiled brightly at them and started to speak.
"Let"s go home!"
"Wow! How many years has it been?"
"My child must have grown up so much!"
"I"ve been missing my wife so much. I started this journey two months after getting married."
I was longing for home as well. I was more of a wanderer in this world but I still wanted to go back to t.i.tan Valley, the home of my heart.
Most importantly, I was tired of this place where the sun did not move. I wanted to return to a normal place that had days and nights and mornings and evenings.
But there was someone who could not go with us.
"I guess it is time to say goodbye. Thank you. I can obtain eternal rest thanks to you."
It was Akto.
"Is there no way for you to go with us?"
"Akto-nim. Please come with us to the Dwarves village. All of our Dwarven brethren would cheer for the return of the hero."
Goonto and the Dwarves gathered around Akto in shock.
But Akto did not respond to them. He just smiled at them.
He then looked back toward me.
"I have nothing to give you, but I guess I can leave you these words as a gift. Don"t get too excited about small achievements. It is your turn now."
"My turn? I"m not sure what you mean…….?"
"You"ll find out soon enough. I hope that you do not end up like I did when the time comes."
"End up like Akto?"
I could now tell what he was talking about.
I would be fated to fight against the Demon Lord. Achieving victory will bring me true power while defeat would make me trapped under the Demons" strength like Akto.
I will not become like that. I plan on fighting directly with the Demon Lord in the future.
But only once I have the necessary strength for it.
“Thank you for your advice. I will keep it in mind."
He seemed to be satisfied with my response. He smiled slightly brighter and nodded his head.
That was the end. Akto slowly became blurry before he completely disappeared.
"Ah, ah, Akto-nim."
"He truly did leave us."
The Dwarves stared at the spot where Akto disappeared with sad expressions.
I had never seen Dwarves looking like this before. They seemed extremely emotional and unable to snap out of it for a while.
It looks like I needed to give the Dwarves some time.
There were things for me to do as I waited.
I had wanted to do it earlier, but I had pushed it back because making big changes in the middle of an important task didn"t seem right.
We finished one big task and were about to start another.
This was the perfect time to do it.
I first looked toward Jul Goo.
"Jul Goo."
"Yes, master."
I couldn"t see the old stupid look on my slave Jul Goo"s face anymore. Chief"s influence helped raise his intelligence a bit and he now seemed reliable.
"It is time for me to let you go. You are now free. You don"t need my permission to do anything nor go anywhere once we return to t.i.tan Valley."
Jul Goo"s eyes opened wide.
"Look at this punk pretending to be shocked."
He should have expected it for a while. I promised him that I would let him be free at the right time.
"But don"t get the wrong idea, little guy. I"m not completely letting you go.
No, you will personally choose not to go."
Why? He"ll find out once we go back to t.i.tan Valley. He would soon understand that it was the safest and happiest around me.
I took a coin out of my bag and handed it to Jul Goo. There was 1 billion won in the coin. It was a trivial amount compared to everything Jul Goo had done for me until now.
"This should be enough for a wedding. Find yourself a nice girl as soon as we return to t.i.tan Valley. It is time for a new beginning for you."
Jul Goo started to cry.
"……Master."
"Enough. That"s enough."
Doing anything else would ruin the moment.
I acted cool and turned away.
"Eruni."
"Yes, master?"
Eruni was so shocked at her shoulders flinched.
It was because she had heard my conversation with Jul Goo. She could expect what was coming since I turned to her right after that and called her name.
I did not disappoint her.
I handed Eruni a coin as well.
It was not much. She was not with me as long as Jul Goo.
It was 500 million won.
"You are also free."
"N, no thank you. I like things as they are right now. Please take it back."
Eruni shook her head to say no.
Whatever, it didn"t matter to me.
I freed Jul Goo and Eruni from their positions as slaves.
"Now you both can freely go wherever and do whatever you want. You don"t need to ask for my permission."
But it wasn"t as if they had places to go. In the end, they would choose to stay by my side. However, they would choose to do that not as my slaves but as my trusted subordinates.
That will make them want to do well for their own reasons.
It was fine if they didn"t. If they can"t do that, there was no need for them to stay anyway. I had many people around me now.
I turned away from Eruni and Jul Goo. It was my way of saying I would not influence their decision in any way.
Instead, I started to plan out something else. The next important task that would start now.
"I hope Humbley is taking care of things properly."
The plan should have started by now. Humbley would have lobbied quite a bit to put General Suani in prison and the Jeppi tribe would use that opening to aim for the continent.
I might even be a bit late. The Jeppi tribe"s current strength was enough to take care of the Batoru Kingdom in less than three months.
They have probably taken over the Batoru Kingdom and are deep in the Ameri Kingdom by now.
It is fine if I am a bit late. I don"t want to run into the Jeppi tribe"s full force by returning too early.
I opened up a teleportation portal.
This was the type that would take you to the closest Magician"s Tower no matter where you were, which meant that this would take us to the t.i.tan Valley Magician"s Tower.
You could teleport as many people as you want for one year.
It cost a fortune, but it was worth it thinking about taking control of the Western District.
"Okay, let"s go home now!"
I took the head. It was because I didn"t know how it would be on the other side.
The Jeppi tribe might even be controlling the t.i.tan Valley Magician"s Tower now. The worst-case scenario would be ending up in a fight against the Jeppi tribe as soon as I teleported.
Harrison"s group came next with Goonto and the Dwarves in the rear.
Translator: Miraclerifle
Proofreader: Borderline m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t
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