Chapter 28: Stronger than Expected (2)

"Huh? You died in just one hit?"

KangWoo laughed. He really didn't have the intention of killing the chief.

He'd been trying to catch the attention of the troll chief and then lure the monsters to the place where the players were.

He thought it was still too early for him to be able to deal with the troll chief and tens of trolls and orcs simultaneously.

But he ended up killing the troll chief with the attack he'd used to grab his attention.

'Is this really the boss monster?'

KangWoo still couldn't believe that he had killed the boss monster, so he checked his message window again.

'Are B-rank monsters weaker than I thought?'

KangWoo tilted his head and thought about the energy he had felt from the troll chief and the monsters around it.

'No...'

The troll chief had a strength that couldn't be compared to the other monsters.

Then there was only one possible answer:

'I became stronger than expected.'

After meeting the red-haired woman, he'd thought that he hadn't become that strong since a player he had met at an internet cafe was stronger than him.

'That wasn't the case...'

After completing the third awakening and receiving the Andras guild's ceremony, he obtained an explosive strength.

It was just that the woman he'd met was on another level.

'Just who is she?'

KangWoo thought about the red-haired woman he'd met and walked out of his hiding place.

"GRRRR!"

"KUOO!'

After losing their chief, the monsters angrily looked at KangWoo.

KangWoo used the Authority of the Blade and approached them slowly.

"I'll have to change plans."

After killing the boss monster in one hit, he realized how strong he had become.

A tiger did not need to hide itself while facing cats.

KangWoo changed his plans.

"I'm going to deal with y'all alone."

It wasn't his style to fight against multiple opponents without thinking about it carefully.

He liked to fight so safely that other people might find his style a bit tiresome.

But if there was a huge difference in their abilities, it didn't make sense to fight like that.

"KAAHHGG!"

He stabbed the troll's stomach with a blade made of demonic energy, and the demonic energy of the blade entered the troll's body.

Slash-! Crack-!

The demonic energy that flowed into the troll's body became another blade inside of it.

Blades sprouted from the troll's body and tore it apart from the inside.

It was an attack that used the Authority of the Blade.

Now that he had obtained quite a bit of demonic energy, he could use that technique comfortably.

'Good.'

KangWoo smiled after feeling how light his movements had become compared to when he had faced the lizardmen.

Feeling that he was recovering his old strength made him feel good.

He felt like he was throwing off the heavy burdens that had been weighing on his body one by one.

KangWoo went right into the middle of the group of angry monsters and began to run wild.

"Kiieekk!"

"Krrr!"

The screams of monsters spread through the forest.

They were usually the predators who devoured humans, but after a human who devoured them suddenly appeared out of nowhere, they entered in panic.

After he'd killed almost half of them, trolls and orcs began to run away from KangWoo.

'Do they have enough intelligence to know when to run away?'

Maybe this wasn't about their intelligence but their survival instinct.

The monsters had probably concluded that they wouldn't be able to defeat KangWoo and become frightened.

KangWoo extended his hands toward the monsters that were trying to escape.

'This is a good chance.'

It was the perfect chance to see what and how much he could do.

After concentrating, he took his demonic energy to the limit.

A cut appeared on the palms of his hands, and a drop of blood fell to the ground.

"Earth Blades."

Slash-! Slash-! Slash-!

Black blades started to rise from the ground from the point where his blood fell.

A wave of black blades covered the monsters that were escaping.

They looked too pathetic and miserable to be called monsters.

The monsters who barely escaped the knives kept running without looking back.

Ting-

[You've successfully killed a group of C-ranked Trolls.]

[You've successfully killed a group of D-ranked orcs.]

[Your level has increased by 2.]

"Oof, oof.'

KangWoo breathed roughly after using Earth Blades.

His entire body was covered by sweat.

"I was somehow able to actually use Earth Blades..."

* * *

He looked around while wiping his sweat.

The floor of the forest was full of black blades that were covered with the black blood that had come from the monsters.

Earth Blades...

It was a technique he had created by using Sabnac's Authority.

'Demons lack imagination.'

They used the Authority they had in only a basic way.

Of course, there were a few exceptions, but Sabnac wasn't one of them.

Ting-

[You've learned the skill 'Earth Blades (Rank: A).']

[You can use the techniques registered as skills more easily.]

'Huh?'

KangWoo tilted his head at the sudden message window that popped up.

'Ah, so these are those things called skills.'

Players obtained them by using their attributes.

Usually, people had to try numerous times to register something as a skill, but since KangWoo was so used to it, he could register it at once.

"Hmm... So Authority and Attributes have many things in common after all."

Each Authority and Attributes were different, and you could use both in numerous ways.

KangWoo thought that it would be worth investigating a bit more about this hypothesis. While thinking that, he walked toward the corpse of the troll chief.

"Then it's time to enjoy the rewards."

KangWoo used the Authority of Predation while smiling.

The Authority of Predation spread and began eating all the corpses of the monsters around him.

Crunch-! Crack!

Was it because his demonic energy had increased?

The Authority of Predation ate the monster faster than before.

While feeling the demonic energy inside him increasing, he fell into his thoughts.

'Should I also eat all the mana stones?'

After completing the third awakening, he had become able to convert the mana inside the mana stones into demonic energy.

KangWoo doubted whether he should choose strength or money.

'Strength comes first.'

After thinking about it for a while, KangWoo decided to leave 10 C-rank stones and devour the rest.

It wasn't like he was desperate for money at the moment, and he could earn a lot more than that after he became stronger.

'Devour everything.'

KangWoo gave an order to the black fog that had sprouted out of his hands.

The Authority of Predation started to devour every monster he had just annihilated with a chilling sound.

Ting-

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased by 2.]

"Only two?"

KangWoo frowned after reading the message window.

Was it because his demonic energy stat had already reached 50?

Even though he had devoured the boss monster and all the trolls around him, his demonic energy stat had only increased by two.

"So this is what they meant when they said that the higher your stat becomes, the harder it becomes to increase your stats."

KangWoo turned around while clicking his tongue.

He had another reason for why he should go to a higher-ranking gate.

'But the leveling up speed is still okay.'

He had become too strong compared to his level, but the speed at which he leveled up was fast.

Just by killing a boss monster, his level had increased by four, and after clearing up the rest of the monsters, it had increased again by two.

He was about to reach the fourth awakening.

"Should I hunt a bit more before returning?"

He had to wait for the big party to exit the gate and make the soldiers outside confused so he could take that opportunity to walk away.

KangWoo checked out where they were with his Authority, and then he kept hunting alone.

"So where is the boss monster?!"

"Didn't the government make a mistake?"

"Damn it!"

The players shouted angrily after wandering around for a few hours without being able to find anything.

To hunt the boss faster, ranger-type players had scattered away to search, but they couldn't see the boss monster anywhere.

"We only saw a group of trolls scatter away for unknown reasons."

"You also couldn't find the body of the troll chief?"

"Yes. Some remnants showed that a fight had taken place, but we couldn't find a corpse."

You could feel the disappointment in their expressions.

"Oof, let's go back."

"Ah! A... a bit more..."

"Let's go. We just wasted an entire day."

The excitement cooled down as quickly as it had heated up.

As a few party members mentioned that they should return, everyone began walking toward the entrance.

KangWoo followed them stealthily.

'I just have to wait for them to make some noise and sneak out once that happens.'

KangWoo, who had obtained good rewards from hunting, smiled with satisfaction and followed them outside of the gate.

"There wasn't any boss monster!"

"Do you know how much we looked for it in vain?!"

The first players that walked out of the gate began complaining to the soldiers and creating a fuss.

'Good.'

KangWoo took that opportunity and jumped over the fence.

After he landed on the ground, he was about to walk off.

"Everyone, silence!"

A group of people that were wearing red uniforms approached the entrance of the gate.

"H-Hwarang Squad?"

"Hey, isn't she Baek HwaYeon, leader of the Hwarang Squad III corps?"

"Woah, you're right."

The one at the forefront was a beautiful girl who looked very dignified—she had silver hair tied in a ponytail.

She overwhelmed everyone with her charismatic eyes and opened her mouth.

"We've recently received reports of chaos players appearing in D-rank gates, so we're inspecting the players who have completed the third awakening. We hope you cooperate with us."

After she finished talking, they were surrounded by a squadron of players.

KangWoo's expression stiffened.

'Don't tell me...'

He bit his lips a little bit and looked around.

'Have I been found out?'