Chapter 172

[Congratulations on completing this quest.]

Suho's whole body was filled with strength. He had just leveled up five times. It seemed that even the vast amount of mana that Javier had absorbed from others had been restored and the experience gained.

[Your quest reward has arrived.]

[Do you wish to check your reward?] (Y/N)

Instead of accepting the reward, Suho hurriedly looked for his father's illusion.

"Father… … !"

Shuaaaaa…

When Javier died, all the illusions he created, including the sandstorm that covered the area, were turned into light powder and scattered. Sung Jin-Woo's illusion was not much different. However, even as his body scattered and disappeared he seemed relaxed.

-There's no need to make a fuss about it. I'm just an illusion right now.

Then, he raised his head and looked up at the sky.

- I'm actually doing well up there. Oh, although I've been a little busy since someone has been away lately.

[Kiehehehehe! My Liege! Here is this disloyal sinner! please forgive me!!!]

At those words, Beru fell on his knees in front of him and began to weep.

[I also have a strong desire to go back, but I don't have enough magic power, so there's no way for me to go back!]

-That's alright. If that's why you can't come back, I'm less worried.

Although Sung Jin-Woo is now an illusion, he was in a state of sharing consciousness with the real Sung Jin-Woo by interlocking his soul. By using Javier's witchcraft against him, he turned himself, who was only an illusion, into a kind of avatar, the incarnation of the real Sung Jin-Woo. Thanks to this incident, the real Sung Jin-Woo in space can also know that Beru, who was sent to Earth, safely released the seal of Suho.

He was worried that Beru could still not reach Suho due to some kind of obstruction, but this time, that worry was resolved.

-Rather…

Seong Jin-Woo's gaze looked at the little Beru lying flat on the floor and said.

-I think it would be better for you to remain on Earth for a while.

[Kieek?! Is that okay?]

Beru's eyes widened. The war with outer space was indeed fierce and in a tight balance. That's why the vacancy of his corps' commander had been a huge burden to Sung Jin-Woo. [But what about the balance of the war!]

-Ah, it's okay. I recently acquired a useful soldier.

[…?!]

How shocking Sung Jin-Woo's answer was, Beru froze on the spot with his mouth wide open.

-Of course, the sooner you return the better, but it seems that Earth isn't as relaxed as I thought.

While he was saying this, Sung Jin-Woo's body was already half scattered.

-I don't have much time. Sung Jin-woo immediately turned his head and looked at the remains of Javier, whom Suho had just killed. A skeleton with broken ribs. A message floated above the shadow.

[The mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]

Looking at the message, Sung Jin-Woo calmly explained to Suho to listen.

-Among the magic beasts(1), there are sometimes those that are impossible to extract, like demons.

At those words, Suho put on a sad expression. As Sung Jin-Woo said, Javier's soul was impossible to extract like the souls of demons. It was said that he could not be made into a shadow soldier like Harmakhan.

-Either way, you won't be able to use this guy.

Sung Jin-Woo stretched out his scattered hands and grabbed Javier's soul.

-So I'll use him instead.

Shuaak!

Javier's mana-tainted soul was caught in his hand and forcibly lifted up. Then, as if he had noticed the fate that was about to come upon him, Javier's soul began to let out a horrifying scream.

¡Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

How dare you do that! This is impossible!

–I've already said, nothing is impossible.

Sung Jin-Woo raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at the black shadow struggling to get out of his hand. Javier's soul trembled at the terrible sense of contempt. The illusion created by one's magic has, on the contrary, taken one's own soul!

–I'm sure you know. Magicians who have been accumulating magic for a long time like you, on the contrary, can also be very good materials for magic.

Seong Jin-Woo said that and performed the final spell using Javier's soul.

Ching!

Suddenly, a net-like shaman's circle unfolded from his hand and tied up Javier's struggling soul.

Aaaaaaaaaa!

The shamanic formations began to become denser and compressed into smaller ones. Javier's screams grew quieter and quieter until finally they stopped being heard at all. In Sung Jin-Woo's hand, a jewel the size of a fist was being held.

-Now, here's your gift.

swish

[You have obtained 'Item: Javier's Soul Stone'.]

Suho looked at the jewel Sung Jin-Woo gave him and made a puzzled expression.

"This…"

[Item: Xavier's Soul Stone]

[Difficulty to obtain: ??]

[Type: Jewelry]

[A jewel made by compressing a demonic soul.]

-It's a safety measure just in case, so put it in your inventory.

"Safety measure?"

-Yes. Seeing how you fight… There is something I'm concerned about.

Sung Jin-Woo smiled bitterly and looked at Suho's face. He felt like he wanted to explain something more, but nothing came out of his mouth. No one knows the future. The son walks in the footsteps of his father, but the road was never the same to begin with. Because the son's future was to be chosen and determined by the son himself...

'Rather than pointlessly nagging them, it's probably better to cheer them on.'

Sung Jin-Woo brushed off all the countless words that popped into his head.

-So, Suho.

Then, holding Suho's shoulder with his scattered hand, he said.

-I leave this place to you.

"Yes, Father."

Suho's eyes were burning quietly as he nodded heavily. Sung Jin-Woo had a satisfied look on his eyes as his body dissipated into the air.

Woosh…

Eventually, even the hand that had patted Suho's shoulder turned into powder of light and scattered and disappeared. At that moment, the whole sky collapsed.

[The instant dungeon is unlocked.]

Pachangchang!

Harmakan's barrier disappeared. The boundary between the inside and outside of the barrier collapsed and the civilians outside the barrier finally appeared. At the same time, the hunters who were swallowed up by the sandstorm appeared in the field of vision of the civilians.

"¡Whoaaaa!"

A moment later, cheers erupted from people's mouths.

"All the monsters have disappeared!"

Hearing that strong shout, the hunters finally realized the situation.

The fact that today's terrible battle is over. However, the reason why their expressions show a sense of relief and a terrible sense of exhaustion at the same time was because they knew very well that they did nothing here today.

While they were drowning inside an illusion, only one stood out.

'Sung Suho...'

The fact that that young hunter fought against the mob boss alone and finally won. Everyone saw it with their own two eyes.

'Sung Suho Hunter.'

'The Woojin Guild.'

When the eyes of the hunters all looked at Suho standing tall in the center, the eyes of the civilians outside naturally had no choice but to turn in that direction. Beru, who was very satisfied with those awe-filled gazes, turned to Suho.

[Little lord, at least wave your hand. Everyone is looking up to the little lord.]

"...This is fine." Suho looked a little lost in thought. He couldn't feel good when he saw his father disappearing again in front of my eyes after not seeing him for so long.

However, he didn't intend to stay in this mood forever.

Doesn't he still have more work he needs to do?

"Esil!" Esil, who had not been seen for a while after Suho's call, waved her hand from somewhere on the shore.

"Suho! I found it!" What everyone forgot about due to the sudden appearance of the mob boss. The Woojin Guild led by Suho, however, still did not forget the purpose of coming here. "I found the gate!"

…!

At Esil's cry, everyone looked at him with startled expressions.

'Ah!'

'Come to think of it!'

'We were looking for the gate!'

They somehow caught the boss mob, but the Suho's guild was a gate search group from the beginning. And while everyone is dealing with that boss mob, Esil was the only one who managed to find a gate that was hidden somewhere on this beach far away.

"Good job." It was only then that Suho grinned when he saw Esil waving from afar and then turned his gaze to find the other guild member besides Esil.

"Are you all right!"

"Healers this way!"

"Medical staff! Medical staff!"

Already in the vicinity, healers and medical staff from the Hunter Association rushed in unison and were treating the injured. In particular, Lim Tae-Gyu, an S-class hunter, suffered visibly severe burns. However, Lim Tae-Gyu himself did not care about such burns.

Instead…

"Please treat my son first rather than me."

"This is the son of Hunter Lim Tae-Gyu?!"

The medical staff looked surprised at Lim Tae-Gyu's words. At their words, Lim Tae-Gyu responded by patting the back of Lim Do-Gyun, who was lying exhausted next to him, with warm eyes.

"...Yes. He is my pride and joy."

It was fortunate indeed. Because he was able to rescue his son from such a terrible disaster. But today was different from 'then'.

-Aaaaaaah!

The son did not look at his father with a fearful expression as he did back then. And he no longer ran away from himself.

"Hyung, are you okay?"

"No. It's not okay." Lim Do-Gyun stood up holding Suho's hand with an expression that he was just glad he was alive. At the same time, he held out his other hand to his father, Lim Tae-Gyu, and said,

"What about you dad? Are you alright?"

"…This kid." Who cares about who? Lim Tae-Gyu laughed at his son's worry while looking at his burns and stood up holding his hand.

* * *

The inside of the gate that Esil found was already empty. Suho wondered if Javier had eaten all the life in it. Still, the amount of dungeon minerals present in it was significant and the ownership of all the minerals went back to Woojin Guild led by Suho. Of course, these details did not exist in the contract, but it was because Lim Tae-Gyu gave up all the rights he was supposed to receive to Su-ho. However, there was one problem.

Time.

When all monsters disappeared and even the boss mob died, the time a gate was maintained was extremely short. To mine ore in such a short time, an enormous number of miners had to be put in at once.

But that didn't matter to Woojin's guild.

"Arise."

Numerous shadow miners raised their bodies all at once from inside the shadow of Suho. They rushed into the dungeon with pickaxes and shovels and started mining ore at breakneck speed.

"Unbelievable…" Lim Tae-Gyu, who witnessed the wonderful appearance, opened his mouth wide. He knew that Sung Suho was a summoner, but he never imagined that he could summon this amount at once. Suho approached him and tried to negotiate in earnest.

"Are there any dungeons left in the guild you bought? The riskier the better."

"…Now I know why Do-Gyun has learned to run so fast."

"I think there must be a misunderstanding."

A real misunderstanding.

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T/N:

1: Apparently there are two kinds of demons out here, those whose souls are contaminated with mana and those that can be extracted like Harmakan. This has to do with the fact that there are two Demon(?) Monarchs, One is Baran Monarch of white flames and King of Demons, the other is Yogumunt, Monnarch of transfiguration and King of Demonic Spectres, which is what Jin-Woo is referring to here.

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