Chapter 10
“Who dares to covet the Monarch of Fang’s sword?”
“Yongjun? What are you talking about?”
Strange words flew out of Yongjun’s mouth as he grabbed the handle of the sword. His captain tried to stop him but he suddenly felt a sense of unease.
Whoosh! Yongjun drew the sword, and held it in his hand. “Who dares to covet the Monarch of Fang’s sword?” Repeating the same words, his eyes tinged with red.
“Hey, are you all ri—” Swish! A single strike severed the captain’s throat, a fountain of blood gushed forth. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as an eerie silence enveloped the unbelievable scene. Then, the yelling began.
“Wh-what is this?!”
“Captain!”
Startled, the hunters behind the fallen captain rushed forward.
“Yongjun! What are you...!” Swoosh! Another person’s head went flying.
“No!”
Only then did they realize that Yongjun was on a rampage, tears of blood streaming from his eyes. He pointed the sword at his comrades. “Who dares to covet the Monarch of Fang’s sword?” Amid the bloody chaos, he laughed wickedly. The eerie howling of wolves began to spread from the center of the ruins.
***
Shudder. Beru’s gaze shifted instantly, he turned his head to pierce through the darkness of the dungeon. “What’s going on?”
“Is something wrong?” Suho asked.
Beru answered, keeping his gaze fixed in place, “I felt something... I sensed the presence of a Monarch.”
“A Monarch? Do you mean my father?”
“No. There is more than one Monarch,” Beru explained.
In this universe, several other Monarchs also existed. However, they had invaded Earth, the home of Sung Jinwoo. In the end, every one of them met their destruction at the hands of the Monarch of Shadows.
“Then surely it’s my father?”
“If that was the case, my power would have replenished in an instant. But my mana remains the same, and this energy... it’s another sensation I’m familiar with.”
Howl! Right at that moment, in the depths of the dungeon, the howling of wolves echoed. Soon, the fierce cries of beasts could be heard from all directions, erupting into a chorus.
“What’s that sound?”
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
The miners’ faces turned pale as they anxiously looked around.
“Ahhh!”
Suddenly, screams could be heard. It was the voices of those who had gone deeper into the mine to excavate.
“Argh! S-save me...!”
The screams approached closer with every second, and increased in frequency. Suddenly, a wolf-type magic beast lunged at Suho from behind.
“Young Monarch!” Beru cried.
“I see it!” Suho thrust his pickaxe into the attacking wolf’s mouth. “This is crazy!” The wolf’s teeth crushed the pickaxe as if it were tofu, but he managed to buy some time. As the wolf spat out the pickaxe, Suho gave an order to the shadow goblins. “Attack!”
The three shadow goblins simultaneously attacked the wolf beast. However, it wasn’t enough. The goblins held the same pickaxes their master had used for mining, and the wolf beast easily crushed them with its jaws. Just like before, the bodies of the shadow goblins were torn apart. But as they fell, the mana that had flowed from Suho’s body restored the shadow goblins to their original state.
“Kieeek! We are shadow soldiers of the immortal army! We can regenerate with the Young Monarch’s mana!”
As the battle began, Beru seemed to enjoy it. The resurrected shadow goblins clung to the wolf. Then, without mercy, they thrust the broken pickaxe pieces into its body. The wolf, which had been attacking vigorously, screamed in pain and rolled on the ground.
[Steel-Fanged Lycan has been defeated.]
“Somehow, it was chewing on the pickaxes.” However, there was no room for relief after just killing a single wolf. Dozens of wolves had appeared, and the miners were being relentlessly torn apart by their steel teeth.
“Ahh! Their teeth...!”
Their pickaxes were of no use in this battle. Inventory! Desperately, Suho retrieved the goblins’ stone axes that he had stored, and handed them out to the shadow goblins one by one.
“Young Monarch! Even those stone axes will shatter against the wolves’ fangs!”
“We have plenty of axes!” Suho shouted, and hurled the stone ax toward a wolf pouncing on a miner. The stone ax flew straight and struck the wolf’s flank.
“It’s not dead yet!”
“Ruler’s Authority!” Suddenly, an invisible hand extended from Suho’s hand. The transparent hand picked up the fallen stone ax from the ground and struck the wolf’s head again. As it died, the beast gave out one last howl.
[Steel-Fanged Lycan has been defeated.]
It was just the beginning of the rush. “Everyone, gather over here!” Suho yelled loudly enough for the bewildered miners to hear. He leaped fearlessly into the sea of wolves to rescue them, wielding dual axes.
The three shadow goblins, following behind him, fiercely swung their axes. However, their master’s next command demanded another tactic. “You guys, don’t attack, just keep dodging!” The shadow goblins were surprised. “And continue to flee. Lead all the wolves towards the other corridor!”
There was no time to defeat every single wolf beast. The priority was to save everyone. In response to Suho’s command, the shadow goblins began shouting and luring the wolves away. During this process, they were constantly bitten and torn apart, but they kept reviving and weakening the wolves.
In the end, most of the wolves became obsessed with chasing the three shadow goblins. As a result, they all entered the other corridor in a corner of the dungeon.
“Quickly seal the hole!”
In response to Suho’s shout, the injured miners, who had been crouching on the floor, hurriedly got up. They brought all the mana stones they had gathered so far, and piled them up in front of the passage that the wolves had entered from. After partially blocking the passage, the exhausted miners sat on the ground to catch their breath.
“What’s going on? How did these beasts get here?”
“What happened to the assault team in front?”
The miners’ anxiety began to show on their faces. Monsters had rarely advanced far enough to reach the mining site, which was well behind the assault team. There was only one explanation.
“Do you think that the assault team has been completely wiped out?” one of the miners asked.
“No, when we entered, we were confident that there were only wolves.”
“After all, this is just a D-rank dungeon.”
Their brief discussion was interrupted by the cries of wolves behind the blocked passage.
“What do we do now?”
There was no guarantee that the way out would be safe.
“Beru?” Suho called out to the ant, who had been staring deep into the dungeon.
The beast had a serious expression. “Young Monarch, I think we’re in big trouble. This is undoubtedly the aura of the Monarch of Fangs.”
“The Monarch of Fangs?”
“He was the king of the beasts, and was killed by my master. It seems that there is someone controlling those wolves from behind the scenes.”
“Is it possible for someone who died to come back to life?”
“I’m not entirely sure. The power to resurrect the dead is an ability that only the Monarch of Shadows possesses in this universe. However, even with the power of shadows, a monarch-level being can’t be resurrected. They didn’t just die, their very existence was annihilated.”
The idea of a vanished Monarch coming back to life was simply implausible. At most, it was likely that this energy was remnants of the Monarch of Fangs, trickling through dimensional rifts.
Having finished explaining, Beru looked firmly at Suho. “Young Monarch, we must escape.”
“Escape?” Suho wore a puzzled expression.
Beru had gladly taken any opportunity to fight and kill, but now he was taking the opposite stance. “I’ll say it again, your power is weaker than that of an ant larva right now. You’re so weak that if a monarch-class simply flicked you, you’d die instantly. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
“You’re not overreacting just because I fed you some mana stones, are you?” Suho remembered it clearly. As of this morning, he was an ant larva to the shadow beast, but now he had regressed to a level even lower than a larva.
Suddenly, the carefully blocked passage exploded.
“Oh no! The passage is open!”
The miners thought that they had managed to isolate the wolves with great difficulty, but their relief was short-lived. They became wary and gripped their pickaxes. However, contrary to their expectations that the wolves would all burst out from inside, a familiar face emerged from within.
“Kim Yongjun!” A miner who recognized his face called out to him with a bright expression. It was the face of an acquaintance that was a part of the expedition. “What on earth happened inside? We almost died, you know?” He approached with relief, but Yongjun stared back at him without expression. Suddenly, the sword in his hand moved. Swoosh!
“You’re in danger!” Suho pulled him back using the Ruler’s Authority skill, and Yongjun’s sword narrowly missed the miner’s throat. A faint red line appeared on his neck, and the miner paled, stumbling backward.
The attacker’s arrogant, red eyes gazed down at him, and he spoke. “Who dares to invade the lair of the Monarch of Fangs? This is the sacred sanctuary where the great King of Beasts resides.” At that moment, a horrifying aura erupted from his entire body. An oppressive, suffocating aura filled the chamber, leaving no room for even a gasp of air.
[Effect : “Fear” has been activated.]
[All of the player’s stats are reduced by 50% for 1 minute.]
Suho’s body suddenly felt heavy.
“We need to run right now,” Beru urgently whispered. “Ugh. If only I was at my full strength, this wouldn’t have been a problem...” With a frustrated expression, he glanced at Suho and paused for a moment. The Young Monarch’s gaze toward Yongjun was burning with intensity.
[A quest has arrived.]
The quest window suddenly unfolded before Suho.
[Emergency Quest : Defeat the Enemy!
There is a hostile entity nearby with murderous intent toward the player. Eliminate them to secure safety.
Enemies to Eliminate : 1
Enemies Eliminated : 0]
Beru urgently spoke. “Young Monarch, ignore this quest! The weak have their own way of fighting. Let’s use the shadow goblins as shields and run away like before.”
“Okay…” Suho whispered softly.
Beru’s eyes brightened. “I will guide the way out!”
“I will fight.”
“Huh?!”
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