Chapter 18: Rank 3 (2)

[You've reached level 20]

[You've reached level 20 and unlocked the third awakening.]

[You've unlocked the third awakening attribute.]

"It seems like there really was a little bit of EXP needed to level up."

KangWoo smirked after seeing that he had leveled up after killing three lizardmen.

If he knew that things would turn out like that, he would have hunted a bit more the previous day.

'Too bad there's no way to know how much EXP is required to level up.'

Anyway, it was good that he had achieved his goal faster than expected.

Before checking out his attribute, KangWoo closed his eyes and let the demonic energy inside his body flow.

It was time to check if his hypothesis was right or not.

Whir-!

A demonic energy that was on another level compared to before lashed through his body.

KangWoo extended his hand and created hellfire by using Andras's Authority.

Fwoosh-!

A black fire the size of a human being appeared on top of his hand—a hellfire that lusted over the life of others twisted its body.

KangWoo smiled while looking at the fire that was almost two meters around.

"As expected."

He was right.

After he reached the third awakening, the seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core had gotten weaker, and demonic energy from it began flowing to his body.

He felt a sensation that couldn't be compared to when his demonic energy stat went from 25 to 30.

"Good."

He had a wider variety of different Authorities than any other demon. He needed demonic energy to use all those Authorities, so for someone like him, his demonic energy increasing was like becoming free from chains.

'Although it's still lacking a lot.'

Even though he had reached the third awakening, the amount of Authorities he couldn't use was overwhelmingly superior.

But compared to when he had first arrived on Earth, he had become a lot freer.

'If I keep leveling up at this pace, I'll soon be able to release the seal on the Ten Thousand Demon Core completely.'

Of course, leveling up would get harder as time passed.

But he was happy knowing there was a way to recover his old strength.

"Although, if gates like this hadn't appeared on Earth, I wouldn't need to do things like this."

He wouldn't need to recover his old strength if there weren't gates, monsters, and players.

What he wanted wasn't something like world domination—he just wanted to live a comfortable life on Earth while enjoying stuff he hadn't been able to.

But after learning about Earth's situation, his thoughts had changed.

'I need strength.'

To be able to enjoy everything he wanted without having to worry about anything, he needed strength.

Over the last ten thousand years he had learned that the rights of the weak were trampled on and the only thing they were left with was pain.

He probably wouldn't need to aim to become the overwhelmingly strongest being like in Hell, but he needed to get more strength just in case.

"Then should I check the attribute?"

He had already confirmed that the seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core became weaker each time he awakened.

It was time to see what new attribute he had gained.

KangWoo opened his status window to read the new attribute.

[3rd Awakening Attribute: Mana-craving Demon (Rank: A)]

Effect: Convert the Mana inside mana stones into Demonic Energy and absorb it.

"Interesting..."

KangWoo's eyes shone after he read his status window.

He had gained another way to increase his demonic energy.

'Mana stones, huh?'

* * *

Mana stones were like the cores of monsters.

On Earth, those mana stones were used by numerous industries.

The reason why players earned so much money was that they sold mana stones they obtained from monsters to the government.

"Should I test it?"

KangWoo took the mana stones out of the lizardmen and used the power of his attribute.

He could feel the mana inside the stone becoming demonic energy and flowing into his body.

'Not bad.'

Absorbing a D-rank mana stone gave him demonic energy comparable to the amount he got by using the Authority of Predation on the body of lizardmen.

Basically, by using that attribute, he could get double the amount of demonic energy.

The effect was better than the 'Unfulfilled Hunger' he had gained after the second awakening.

'The only problem is that I won't be able to earn money.'

If he absorbed all the mana inside the mana stones, he wouldn't be able to sell them.

'I guess it will be okay if I control the quantity.'

From the perspective of a normal person, the amount of money players earned was a lot.

Not only that, but as the rank of the mana-stones increased, their price did too, so he'd probably be able to live comfortable just by selling a few of them.

'In the last three days, I earned 90K USD.'

Even if the money decreased, it was worth it if he could get twice the amount of demonic energy.

'It seems like I won't go to the mana stone exchange center today.'

After absorbing the mana stone and the corpse of the lizardmen, KangWoo moved in search of the next target.

Since he had obtained a new attribute, KangWoo began searching for a place where he could horde-hunt lizardmen.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a lizardman boss monster."

He had gotten a C-rank mana stone after hunting a hobgoblin in an E-rank gate, so he thought that he'd be able to get a higher-ranking mana stone after hunting the boss monster there in a D-rank gate.

KangWoo used the Authority of Sky and made his body levitate into the air.

His demonic energy had increased after reaching the third awakening, so he'd become able to use the Authority of Sky to some extent.

'I can't see very well because of the vines.'

KangWoo clicked his tongue after he failed to find the boss monster.

'I may have been able to find it if I were able to use the Authority of Observation.'

It was the Authority of the demon Astaroth, but with his current demonic energy, he wouldn't be able to search through such a big swamp.

While feeling disappointed, KangWoo came down.

Clang-!

"Hey, Misters! What're you doing?!"

At that moment, KangWoo heard a familiar voice.

"TaeSoo?"

It was the voice of TaeSoo, who had been trying to gather party members in front of the gate. His voice had a sense of urgency and anger.

'What's happening?'

He would've ignored it if it were the voice of someone he didn't know, but since it was someone he knew, he became interested.

KangWoo went to where the screams were coming from.

Stomp-!

"Ugh!!"

"Ha, this muscle pig is too resistant."

"Ugh, why..."

KangWoo saw two people wielding a sword and an axe facing TaeSoo.

Next to TaeSoo was a young man who looked like a rogue on the ground, losing blood.

"Why are you attacking the same party members?!"

"Why are you so noisy? What if you end up grabbing the attention of lizardmen?"

"Just answer my question!" TaeSoo angrily shouted while raising a shield that covered his whole body.

'Was he betrayed by his party members?'

KangWoo frowned after hearing their conversation.

Just hearing their short conversation was enough to know what had happened.

Even though they were from the same party, they had suddenly turned against them.

'Are they the so-called chaos players?'

They were assassins who, instead of monsters, killed players and took their belongings.

Those were people who took advantage of the fact that it wasn't weird for people to die inside gates. The government actively tried to stop those kinds of people.

"Shut up, and don't move."

Clang-!

"Ugh!"

TaeSoo was pushed back after being hit with the man's ax.

Even while being pushed back, TaeSoo didn't let his shield go and looked back at them.

"Ha, this is a persistent one. Huh?"

"Is he really just at the second awakening? Why is he so resistant?"

They couldn't believe how absurdly resistant TaeSoo was.

TaeSoo gritted his teeth and added strength to his hands holding the shield, which began to glow blue.

"Just like you said, I won't go down easily."

"Well... It seems like he unlocked a high-ranking attribute."

"Even if he did, someone who hasn't unlocked the third attribute won't be able to defeat us."

With a smile on their faces, the two men approached TaeSoo.

Although TaeSoo had been able to resist quite a lot, those two were players had already finished the fourth awakening.

The difference between their levels couldn't be narrowed with the attribute's rank.

"We should finish things."

"You know that we mustn't kill him. Right?"

"Of course."

Each of them raised their weapons while smiling.

KangWoo frowned a bit after hearing what they were saying while hidden behind the vines.

'Don't kill him?'

What they were talking about didn't match what he'd read about chaos players.

KangWoo looked at the shield-wielding TaeSoo, who had a nervous expression on his face.

'Should I help him?'

He would've ignored the situation if he had never exchanged any words with him.

He didn't like getting involved in bothersome things.

But even if they'd only exchanged a few words, he had been really kind to him, so he felt bad ignoring him in such a situation.

Whir-

"Raise your shield more, muscle pig. This is going to hurt quite a lot."

The man wielding the axe spoke with a voice full of confidence; then he began gathering strength. A black energy covered his axe.

"...!"

KangWoo widened his eyes.

'Demonic energy?'

The energy coming out from the man was definitely demonic energy.

It was a force that was fundamentally different from mana.

And...

It was an energy that an ordinary human being shouldn't have.

KangWoo walked out from behind the vines while frowning.

It wasn't about whether he should help TaeSoo or not anymore.

'Who are these guys?'

He had to know more about the humans who had demonic energy.