Chapter 233: Bbookbbook and Kaka (1)
“Whew! That was difficult.”
Ian stared at the giant magical beast that was collapsing in front of his eyes as he calmed down his rough breathing.
‘I feel like this is my first time meeting one that is immune to all status conditions. Would there be no way to trans.m.u.te a magical beast that’s similar to that one?’
The gateway of Zone 100.
The opponent that Ian met inside there was a Heroic-rank Magical Beast that had the outer appearance of a giant golem.
It was fundamentally a tanker-type magical beast, but its Offensive Power was not weak by a long shot either, and on top of having complete immunity to all status conditions, it was a picky opponent that could even recover its Vitality on its own.
‘Bbakbbak is also an amazing tanker, but if I had one more tanker like that, it would become much easier to manage the party…’
Usually when Ian raided a boss-type monster, the first task he did was to use the status condition effects of the Familiars he had and tie down the feet of his opponents as much as possible.
And after he had buffed his reflexes and maximized the difference in reflexivity, he was the type that preferred to progress through a battle with that as the base.
However, as not a single crowd controlling skill worked on his opponent, his struggle certainly made sense.
“Well, it’s fine since I’ve won anyways.”
While thinking that he should ask Cervian about the alchemy information of that golem the next time he had something to meet with him for, Ian slowly stepped forward.
This was because the gate had opened up above the corpse of the golem that had collapsed.
Juh-buk- Juh-buk-.
And as Ian went into the gate, his surroundings became pitch black again.
Ring-.
• You have successfully cleared the gateway of Zone 100.
• You will be transported to ‘Zone 99 of the Devildom’.
In front of the eyes of Ian, which had turned completely black, two system messages popped up in white lettering, as the dark world brightened up again shortly afterwards.
And new messages popped up.
Ring-.
• You have entered ‘Zone 99 of the Devildom’.
• You are the first to have pa.s.sed through the gateway of Zone 100.
• You have obtained 150 thousand Fame.
• Powerful Devil Energy can be felt everywhere.
• Your movement speed has slowed down by 5%.
The place that Ian was transported to through the gateway was on top of a steep, tall cliff.
The wide Devildom plains that spread out below were so open to the point that it could be all be seen from his view.
After slightly looking around at his surroundings, the corners of Ian’s mouth slightly curled upwards.
“This place… It’s totally my style.”
The reason that Ian’s mood brightened was simple.
This was because plains were teeming with an incredibly large amount of magical beasts.
He liked that there were magical beasts that had appeared back in Zone 100 as well as other kinds of magical beasts, and that he could just see magical beasts that weren’t a higher stage, but ones of a similar rank.
‘It’s the perfect map to raise the proficiency of Magical Beast Alchemy.’
On top of that, the thing that Ian liked most was group hunting.
The footsteps of Ian, which headed downwards of the cliff, began to grow faster and faster.
* * *
Hoonie swallowed audibly.
‘What, what the h.e.l.l? Why is there no reaction?’
Hoonie’s mind began to race rapidly.
‘He isn’t the type of hyung to stay still if he saw the message that the hidden quest has been shared, though…’
Characteristically of Ian, it would have been normal for him to have sent Hoonie a personal message as soon as he saw the system message.
However, although a whopping 30 seconds had pa.s.sed, there was no reaction from Ian.
‘What the h.e.l.l? By any chance, is he not logged on?’
If that was the case, this would be incredible luck.
The sun was up in the middle of the sky at this time.
This was because there was a lower chance of Ian not being logged onto Kailan than the chance to succeed in fortifying a weapon five times in a row.
‘The G.o.ds have helped me!’
Hoonie wanted to send a message to Ian and check whether he was logged on or not.
However, if Ian ended up seeing the message that he had been missing by doing that… He felt like he would cry out of sorrow.
‘Alright, before Ian hyung sees the message, I’m going to finish this quest!’
To be honest, Hoonie’s prediction was only about half right.
Ian was logged on, but he was not able to see Hoonie’s message.
Hoonie’s message that the quest was shared with him had flown over to Ian while he was in the middle of a b.l.o.o.d.y battle in the gateway of Zone 100.
However, whenever Ian had to partic.i.p.ate in an important battle with a high difficulty level, he turned off all of the different kinds of system messages that weren’t related to the battle.
This was because he wanted to prevent himself from being distracted while in battle.
Either way, to Hoonie, it could be considered a situation where luck was indeed on his side.
‘I can only hope that Ian hyung opens his quest information window as late as possible…’
Canoel nudged Hoonie, who was diligently putting his brain to work.
“Hoonie, what are you doing? Ceilron is waiting.”
Hoonie, who only then came back to reality from his thoughts, wore a bashful expression as he turned his head.
“Ah, there was something that I needed to think a little about… My apologies, Ceilron.”
Ceilron wore an indulgent smile as he nodded his head.
“Not a problem.”
After slightly staring at Canoel, Hoonie turned his head towards Ceilron again.
“But, Ceilron.”
“Please continue.”
“By any chance, if you do not have an exceptional Summoner, would it be alright if Canoel hyung here also came with us in the party?”
At Hoonie’s words, Canoel was slightly surprised, and Ceilron’s gaze moved towards Canoel.
“Hmm…”
Hoonie’s words continued.
“This hyung’s level isn’t on the high side at about 150, but he’s quite talented. He’s also strong as he has one of the hidden cla.s.ses that had appeared as the Devildom content opened up this time.”
At those words, Ceilron’s complexion brightened.
If he was at lv 150, it was a normal standard where there were no differences with him and the other Summoners of the guild, but if he was the owner of one of the new hidden cla.s.s that had formed along with the 3rd update, it was a different story.
“Oh, is that so? If that’s the case then, we’ll welcome him warmly.”
Canoel stared at Hoonie as if he was portraying his grat.i.tude, and Hoonie grinned.
Canoel’s gaze turned towards Ceilron again.
“Then, I look forward to your kind cooperation, Ceilron.”
Ceilron shook Canoel’s hand as he nodded his head.
“It is us who look forward to your kind cooperation instead, Canoel.”
* * *
The ‘True Devil’ literally meant that they were not half, but a true devil.
The ‘Combat Devil’ Cla.s.s that Ilahan obtained was one of the dual cla.s.ses that users could obtain in the Devildom, but for Ilahan, it was no longer a dual cla.s.s, but it had become his main cla.s.s.
And he had even obtained it as a hidden cla.s.s called the ‘Berserker’.
‘Huhu, because of the cla.s.s proficiency, I may have become much weaker compared to the other rankers for now, but since my growth rate will be different from now on, I should be able to catch up to them in an instant.’
While looking at the Devil Energy that had piled up due to several hours of hunting, Ilahan wore a satisfied expression.
At this speed, although he was unsure about a n.o.blesse rank, but he felt that he would at least be able to be promoted to a High-rank Devil without difficulty.
‘The Evil Dragon Khalifa has also awoken now… So, while the destructive devils are invading the mortal world, do I just need to quietly raise my strength in the Devildom?’
Releasing the seal of Evil Dragon Khalifa was one of the conditions in order to cla.s.s-change into the ‘Berserker’ Cla.s.s.
However, even if it wasn’t a cla.s.s-changing condition of the hidden cla.s.s, Ilahan would have still done this quest.
That’s because he wanted the mortal world to be consumed by the Devildom.
‘Huhu, if only that were to happen, it would completely become my world.’
The reason for that was simple.
Ilahan was a devil, and as it was a situation where his growth in the Devildom was much faster, he couldn’t help but want the mortal world to be absorbed by the Devildom.
However, it wasn’t like Ilahan selected the path of a True Devil from the beginning.
At first, he was extremely hesitant about proceeding with the quest.
He was uncertain because, of course, there was the penalty that he would lose the Magic Swordsman cla.s.s, but also the fact that all advantages that he could obtain after becoming a True Devil were just effective within the ‘Devildom’.
However, there was a powerful opportunity that made him have a change of heart.
• The mortal world will eventually be absorbed by the Devildom in any case. That’s because I’ll make that the case.
That was because of the persuasion of powerful destructive devil ‘Mahamyu’, who was ranked 10th place of the Devil King rankings.
Mahamyu explained the detailed plan on the invasion of the human world to Ilahan, and if Ilahan was to carry out the role he was given here magnificently, he promised that he would even give him an enormous reward.
And from what he felt, it was a perfect opportunity where he couldn’t ask for more.
‘It’s a perfect chance to prevail over other guys and leap forward.’
To normal users, they still knew Ilahan as the unofficial 1st place ranker in the Korean Kailan server.
This was because he was the one that had won the arena PvP event that opened up last right before the central continent opened up.
However, Ilahan knew better than anyone else that he was no longer 1st place in the rankings now.
‘Although the others don’t know… Shyakran and Remir are truly powerful.’
As the strength of the users that were within the top 20 were so similar to the point that it could be said the difference between them was paper-thin anyways, it could be that the t.i.tle of 1st place in the rankings didn’t have a huge meaning.
However, Ilahan hated that.
He wanted to dominate over everybody with an overwhelming 1st place in the rankings.
Juh-buk- Juh-buk-.
Ilahan, who completely wiped through and hunted a dungeon that was in Zone 105 of the Devildom, slowly moved his feet.
If he wanted to reclaim the difference that took place between the other users due to the loss of his Magic Swordsman cla.s.s, there was not even a moment to rest.
‘Keu-keu… Just wait. I will show you an overwhelming difference soon.’
* * *
Zone 95 of the Devildom.
Within a day, Ian completed the whole course from Zone 99 to Zone 96, and had entered into the field of Zone 95.
It was a speed that was only possible because he didn’t hunt all of the magical beasts that were in the field, but rather just hunted the magical beasts that were there on his way as he moved onwards.
‘If it was up to my wishes, I would want to hunt all of the magical beasts that catch my eye as I go, but it would seriously become a ha.s.sle if I was late by doing that.’
He needed to reach the Devil’s Castle that was in Zone 80 and meet Devil King Ricardo within ten days.
In order to do that he definitely had no time to relax.
The time limit of ten days was not short, but even if there was some time remaining, it would be proper for him to hunt after reaching Zone 80.
Ian, who had discovered the portal that led to Zone 94, sat down on a boulder that was in the vacant lot in front of it for a moment.
“Whew, let’s rest for a moment before we continue, guys.”
Ian saying that they should rest before moving onwards was always a sweet proposal for the party, and as soon as he was finished saying those words, his retainers and Familiars began to find spots here and there across the vacant lot as they began to rest.
While he sat, Ian stared at Kaka, who was floating in front of him.
As he did so, an uncontrollable laughter suddenly poured out.
‘Rather than a slave, this one feels more like a pet.’
The more he saw him, the more he thought that he was like Bbookbbook.
And it seemed he felt Ian’s gaze, as Kaka slightly glanced at Ian.
“What’s wrong with you, owner?”
“What?”
“You just sneered at me!”
“How did you know?”
Kaka glared at Ian.
Glare-.
“As expected, you’re smart, Kaka. You’re worthy of your 7 thousand IQ.”
“….”
When he said 7 thousand IQ, he was being sarcastic and making fun of the fact that Kaka’s intellect was 7 thousand.
Ian, who fooled around with Kaka using wordplays, suddenly seemed to remember Bbookbbook, who he hadn’t seen for over two months already.
‘Speaking of which, this Bbookbbook, exactly where is he and what is he doing?’
Ian never forgot about Bbookbbook.
How could he forget about that big-headed, ugly-looking turtle?
It was just that he tried to summon him whenever he had the chance, but Bbookbbook had rejected his summoning.
‘Well, it’s possible that he would have been summoned if I just tried to summon him a little more persistently….’
To be honest, at the fault that he lacked Leaders.h.i.+p, it was one of the reasons why Ian hadn’t even seen Bbookbbook’s face to use him as a s.h.i.+eld.
“Now that I think about it, I feel like I’ll have leftover Leaders.h.i.+p now, too…”
During this time, Ian raised his level up a lot.
Ian’s level was currently at a whopping 195.
Naturally, his Leaders.h.i.+p should have gone up a lot as well.
“Let’s see here…”
And Ian, who checked his information window, grinned.
He had formed exactly enough Leaders.h.i.+p to spare to summon Bbookbbook.
“Alright, shall we see the face of our dear turtle for the first time in a while?”
At Ian’s mumbling, Kaka, who was next to him, asked.
“What is your dear turtle now, owner?”
At that, Ian smirked as he replied.
“I have a friend that’s just a little bit more useful than you.”
“…!”
Both of Kaka’s cheeks blew up out of pettiness, but Ian didn’t care even the least bit.
And he shouted out the summoning spell for the first time in a while that he missed(?).
“Bbookbbook, Summon!”