Chapter 30: The Guardian of Hell's Thousandth Circle (1)

'So it was only me that thought we were dating.'

KangWoo slightly staggered with a shocked expression on his face after leaving the cafe.

He had naturally thought they were in a relationship. After all, she was cooking delicious kimchi stew for him every day. Not only that, but she'd let him live in her house.

'Did I get ahead of myself?'

KangWoo had his face bowed with a sad expression.

Han Seol-ah carefully approached him.

"Uhmm, Mr. KangWoo."

"Yes..."

"Did... You think we were dating?"

"I'm ashamed, but I did..."

"I... I see."

She walked back a few steps. Her face was red, but she seemed excited.

She was just staring at the air while moving her body.

"Did something happen?"

"N-not really!"

Han Seol-ah, who was surprised at her words, shouted in surprise.

KangWoo tilted his head after looking at her, acting suspiciously.

After turning around, she once again looked at the air.

"Hehehe."

She smiled bashfully after imagining something in her head.

She even said 'good' and clenched her fist.

KangWoo noticed her acting weirdly and was about to approach her.

But before he could move, Han Seol-ah had turned back around to him with a determined look.

"Mr. K, KangWoo!"

"Ah... Yes?"

"Since it b-became l..."

She was trying to say something while muttering.

But it seemed like she was getting more embarrassed as she talked. Her face became even redder and her voice quieter.

"Ms. Seol-ah?"

"Ugh..."

She was trembling while biting her lower lip; then she suddenly opened her mouth.

She was just staggering without being able to talk—she took a deep breath and finally managed to speak.

"T-talk..."

"Yes?"

"D-don't talk to me so formally. Yes. L-let's start with that."

KangWoo smiled at Han Seol-ah's words.

"Okay. Then I'll talk to you comfortably."

"Th-thank you. Mr. KangWoo."

"You can talk to me comfortably, too."

"N-no! I feel more comfortable talking this way."

Han Seol-ah shook her head.

KangWoo shrugged at her firm answer and replied while shrugging.

"Okay."

"Fufufu, looking good, big bro."

TaeSoo smiled while looking at both of them.

He patted KangWoo on the back with his giant hands and kept talking.

"Brother, let's meet tomorrow at Incheon. I'm going to send you the directions later on."

"Huh? Why did you choose that one instead of the closer one?"

"Remember the incident that happened the other day? That's why I changed the target from lizardmen to orcs."

"Oh."

"Although they're stronger than lizardmen, the landscape isn't a swamp, and you don't need to be silent, Sso it's more comfortable to hunt."

"It's a good idea."

KangWoo looked at TaeSoo, surprised.

'He clearly isn't dumb.'

He was thoughtful and knew how to take action. On top of that, he was loyal to him.

'As an underling, he's perfect.'

KangWoo looked at TaeSoo, satisfied.

He thought he had made the right decision in saving him from the Andras guild's members.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow."

"Understood. Hey, big bro, do you have something to do tonight? Why don't we go out and have a drink?" TaeSoo asked while making the motion of drinking a cup of soju.

"No. I have some stuff to do today."

"What stuff?"

"I need to level up," KangWoo said while thinking about his level.

He was currently at 29.

He was about to reach the fourth awakening.

'I should increase it as much as possible while I can.'

He should try to become as strong as possible before searching for more information on the devil worshippers

For him, leveling up meant the seal on the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

Compared to normal players, who had to worry about whether they would get a high-ranking attribute or not, he was guaranteed to become stronger with each ascension.

'I also want to know what I'll get as my fourth attribute.'

That was a new strength he didn't have even when he used to rule over Hell.

He couldn't help but wonder what kind of new attribute he would gain.

'They said that the higher your level becomes, the higher the chances of unlocking a higher-level attribute...'

KangWoo thought that, maybe this time, he'd be able to get a better one.

"Then I'll go first."

"Good luck on your hunt, brother!"

"Yes, see you tonight, Mr. KangWoo."

After saying goodbye to both of them, KangWoo went to the C-rank gate.

* * *

"Then..."

After completing the checkouts and entering the gate, KangWoo took a deep breath.

'Should I start?'

He didn't need to make a strategy to fight opponents like trolls or orcs.

KangWoo just had to worry about how he could kill more orcs faster.

'It seems like leveling up does get progressively harder.'

Even though he'd killed many monsters, he still hadn't leveled up.

He wanted to move to a B-rank gate, but that wasn't an option.

To become a B-rank player, you not only needed receipts that proved you'd sold many mana stones, but you also needed a certificate that proved that you had reached level 30 and completed the fourth ascension.

'This is why they say that having contacts is important.'

Players who belonged to big guilds could enter high-ranking gates freely and bypass the rank restriction.

But the only guild KangWoo knew was the Andras guild, whose members were on the watchlist of the Hwarang Squad, so he couldn't hope to get benefits like that.

"I should try to make a connection."

He had no intentions of entering a big guild, but maybe making connections with one wouldn't be a bad idea.

'And I don't think it will be that hard...'

He had a strength that couldn't be compared to other players of his level.

He hadn't compared himself with other players in great detail, but he was sure that no one could dismiss him.

In the player world, people valued strength and talent the most, so he was probably like a gem that everyone wanted.

With those thoughts, KangWoo used the Authority of Observation.

Black demonic energy came out from his body and spread out, and information from his surroundings came to his mind.

'First, there's eight over there.'

After finding a group of trolls, KangWoo hit the ground and leaped toward where they were.

Thanks to the Authority of Speed, he ran incredibly fast through the forest.

Slash-!

"Kiieekk?"

He immediately charged toward the group of trolls with the weapon created by the Authority of the Blade without even a moment of doubt.

He cut the troll's head.

The troll made a confused scream and died without even realizing it had been ambushed.

"GRRRR!!"

Only then did other trolls realize they were being ambushed.

Even a troll who was over three meters tall didn't scare KangWoo.

They were trash compared to the demons he'd fought against while in Hell.

Clash-! Crack-!

"Kiieekk."

All eight remaining trolls were annihilated in less than a minute.

If someone else had seen that fight, they would've probably felt bad for the trolls.

KangWoo quickly searched for the next target after catching his breath.

At that moment, reaching level 30 and completing the fourth awakening was more important than using the Authority of Predation.

KangWoo left the corpses of the monsters behind and began moving at a frightening speed in search of the next target.

"Huh?"

It was at that moment when he smelled blood.

It was obvious that he would smell blood when he was running around killing monsters.

But what he was smelling was different from the blood of monsters.

'It's the smell of human blood.'

And it wasn't a smell coming from a light wound—they were probably in critical condition.

KangWoo's eyes sank.

He slowly moved toward where the smell of blood was coming from.

'Did they die while hunting?'

The most likely answer was that they had died while hunting.

It was quite common for players to die while hunting.

'Authority of Silence.'

But there was also a chance they had been attacked by a chaos player or a demon worshipper.

KangWoo silently walked toward where the smell of blood was coming from.

There, he saw the corpses of five people on the ground.

"This..."

KangWoo looked at the corpses of the players.

They were torn apart in such a way that it was even hard to tell their genders.

"It was definitely done by a monster..." KangWoo mumbled while looking at the marks on the corpses.

"Hmm..."

While checking out the corpses, KangWoo noticed something strange and frowned.

'There isn't any monster blood around here.'

Even if other monsters had taken care of the corpse of a monster, it was weird that there wasn't even a single drop of monster blood on the ground.

There was no way that a party of five that could enter a C-rank gate had died at the hands of trolls without damaging them at all.

'There's no way...'

Because a boss monster hadn't appeared inside the gate, the chances of that happening were slim.

No, even if it were against a boss monster, there was no way they would've all died without being able to damage the boss at all.

'Just what happened here?'

KangWoo was looking at the corpses, frowning, when suddenly...

Rustle-

"GRRRRR."

It was a low cry that seeped into your soul.

KangWoo's eyes widened.

"No way..."

The thing that emerged from the bushes was a giant beast with fur mixed with black and red colors.

A monster that was over five meters tall.

And...

A monster that KangWoo was very used to.

"Why is a hellhound here?"

What emerged from the bushes was a monster that belonged to the 1st Hell.