The Meeting

The Architect was smirking as he watched the change happen in Hades. But what he did not expect was what came out of this. Hein and Ashborn were gone and only Hades remained. 

"Hm?"

*Inhale* *Exhale*

"It's not as big of a change as I expected. It seems like the further I progress with my divinities, the less additional power does for me. I can already feel myself getting stronger and information about death and shadows is ingrained into me. 

Hm, I need a test subject for this ... ah I have one don't I?"

The Architect is shocked. What is going on? Who is this? The Shadow Monarch would never talk like that.

"Who are you?"

"Me? Well, I'm the honoured one, Hades. And I need a test subject. Good that you're still here."

The Architect tried to act fast and shut down the system ...

"WHAT? Impossible!"

"Hehe. Do you truly believe that my power comes from this system you created? It's mine now, and no one can take anything from me. I do have to commend you and thank you for creating it. It is an ingenious idea to use magic energy that way. I hope you don't mind if I perfect it, do you?

Now be a good test subject and don't struggle too much."

The Architect tried to flee the dimension they were in. Without luck though. The dimension had been blocked from entering and leaving. Barriers were Hades' domain and the Architect was trapped in there with him.

.

~1 hour later. 

A mentally broken Architect was lying on the ground while repeating the same words over and over.

"I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ... sorry ..."

"I know but you understand that it is not every day that I can kill you over and over again to get a feel for these new powers and perfect them, do you? I took my time, that is true, I could have figured it out in the first couple of nanoseconds but it was much more fun this way, no?

Eh, whatever. Now, I know that you said the Shadow Monarch's power would not work on beings such as you, but who decided that?

I am the Shadow Monarch now and I decide what goes."

Hades sliced the Architect's throat and killed him in one go. Now he made sure that the being wouldn't dissolve into dust. He could tell the problem with the former Shadow Monarch's powers. They didn't work on beings without a soul. 

And these beings of the Monarchs or Rulers level didn't have that. They were bound to a concept if you wish. They were rip-off weak gods if you will. The way this creator did it was to have them act as his entertainment. They were never truly alive...

But who cares? Hades made a Shadow out of the Architect anyway, just as he will with the other Monarchs shortly. 

.

2.-3. Year 

Hades had stopped going into dungeons for a while. He didn't have to anymore. His level was irrelevant. He turned the system off as it was useless anyway. He had more potential than any system could grant him. It was interesting to find out how they worked though. 

It was time for Hades to go to South Korea. He had heard rumours about Japan thinking of doing a joint dungeon clearing on Jeju Island. This could only mean that it was about time for him to get himself some ant shadows. 

Therefore Hades took a nice vacation. He let his foundation work and help those who needed it and went to enjoy himself in this world for the final time that he still could. 

He had the feeling that he might be able to accelerate the development of the story. And the perfect time to do that was right after the Jeju Island dungeon clearing. 

He knew that two Monarchs would be there and he was going to wait for them and start with the purge of these little pests. He knew how to enter the dimension where they reside and he would take them out and add them to his army. 

.

Standing at the airport of Seoul Hades was impressed at the size of the city. Another reason for travelling was that Hades wanted to gather some ideas on how to make his Underworld. He took inspiration from anime and his imagination to make a prototype in his head. 

The more he thought about it, the more he felt a pull to go back and start his projects. He wanted to create something cool and interesting. He wanted to go there and spend his time and have it become the single best place there is in existence. 

Before Hades could lose himself in his fantasy, a man in a black suit approached him. He had orange hair and wore glasses which he took off before addressing Hades. 

"Greetings, my name is Woo Jin-Chul, Chief Inspector of the Korean Hunters Association. I have come here to help you Hunter Hein whilst you are in Korea."

"Oh, the Chief Inspector of the Hunters Association is coming personally to show me around? Why though? I don't think I have a particularly bad reputation for making trouble?"

"That's not it hunter-nim. We are trying to make sure that all the international S-ranked hunters are taken care of by us. That is why I will be helping you get wherever you wish."

"No you don't have to do that ... you know what ... I appreciate it. Though we can speak in Korean."

(From here imagine that they are speaking Korean with each other.)

"Oh, Sir Hein knows Korean?"

"Indeed Sir Hein does. But let us progress passed the formalities. My name is Hein, a pleasure to meet you, Chief Inspector."

"The pleasure is all mine Hein and please call me Jinchul. Now is there something you wish to do whilst in Korea? Are you here for a particular reason?"

"Not really. Though there was this rumour that I heard about Japan proposing a joint dungeon clearing with Korea."

"Ah, you mean the S-ranked dungeon in Jeju Island? That is indeed impressive that you have heard about it. Are you interested in joining the raid?"

"I would indeed be interested in joining. I'm less interested in the spoils than just helping out. I confess I'm a bit of a battle maniac. I look for new monsters to fight."

"I see. You do have a bit of a reputation for donating a lot of your spoils. I believe Chairman Go Gun-Hee would be more than interested in having someone like you help us. 

Would you like us to go there right now?"

"No no no. The Chairman is a busy man I can imagine. Just tell him to contact me when he is free. In the meantime, I wish to experience Korea a bit. So what do you say you show me the way to a good restaurant?"

"It would be my pleasure."

.

That is how Hades spent his time in Korea. He took a nice hotel room, not too expensive but not too modest either, he went and tried all sorts of Korean cuisine and visited important places that interested him. 

When he was walking through the city of Seol, Hades came across a feeling that told him someone was about to die. He followed that feeling and found himself in front of a young man. 

Now that was quite the coincidence wasn't it? ... No, not really. The 'weakest' hunter was certain to have this smell on him. Hades could see the conviction and dedication in the young man's eyes. It was commendable of him to do this every day just so he could pay for his sister and his mother who was in the hospital.

Hades looked at the man and the young man looked up at him. He still had some wounds that the healer probably wasn't able to fully heal. He'd need a lot of rest.

"Bad day?"

"Pardon?"

"Your wounds ... a hunter?"

"Yeah. A weak one."

"A weak hunter. There are a few of those around. Why did your healer not heal you?"

"She did, but it takes a lot out of her to heal me multiple times a day during a dungeon run. She ran out of mana so I accepted what she was able to heal. She does all she can."

"... Is that so? Well then come here."

"What?"

"Haah."

Hades stepped closer and put his hand on the man's head. He fuelled some of his boundless mana into the man and healed all his wounds instantly. 

"Wow, that feels so good. Thank you very much mister ... ah, what is your name?"

"I'm known as Hein, what about you?"

"My name is Sung Jin-Woo. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hein."

"Likewise Jin-Woo. Well, it was nice to meet you Jin-Woo. When you need something come meet me. I'm sure that I can help you with your weakness. Because believe it or not, I was also once as weak as you are."

Hades gave Jinwoo the number of the hotel he was staying at. He knew that sooner or later, Jinwoo would hopefully call him. He had something special for him and Hades was interested to see whether it would work. It's not every day that you can play R.O.B.

"I don't understand. You were once weak. Like an E-ranker?"

"Indeed. I was so weak that I almost died from each E-rank dungeon I took. But a man's gotta live no?"

"Yeah ..."

"Well see you Jinwoo. And call me when you decide to take me up on that offer. I promise I don't deal with organs or drugs. And I'm also no paedophile."

Hades went to his Hotel room. He had a meeting with the Chairman of the Hunters Association tomorrow. It would finally start the end of his stay in this world. He couldn't wait to get his hands on one of those Monarchs.

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Okay, so ANOTHER chapter today. You can understand how much I want to have Hades go back now. Haha.

But I don't want to just do a time skip and tell you all that he did. I want to do it properly and show some fights that he has. And also his meeting with the Chairman, the Jeju Island raid and then the fights with the Monarchs.

I know I said only two chapters till he leaves but it didn't sit right with me that I just summarized everything.

So he will leave soon but not just without getting the Monarchs as his Shadows. That would be wasting good slaves/soldiers.

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