Chapter 16 Gate Break

As memories that were not his own cascaded through his mind...

He experienced snippets of Azaroth's childhood - lonely days looking out the window wishing for his parents' affection, birthday after birthday spent hoping his powers would emerge to gain his father's approval.

His father was always busy managing the hunters under him in his guild. He always wanted to become a hunter when he grew up so his father would also pay attention to him...

But the powers never came.

His mother grew more and more distant, finding escape from her own emptiness through parties and shopping.

His father spoke to him only to express disappointment in his lack of talent.

MC saw how badly Azaroth had wanted to join his father's guild like the numerous Hunters. But he was deemed unsuitable.

All the lavish wealth couldn't fill the hole inside him left by his parents' neglect.

Sifting through Azaroth's memories, he felt a tightness in his chest. One moment, in particular, stood out - Azaroth's twelfth birthday, 

Waiting alone by the window all day with a single cupcake, vainly hoping his father might finally wish him a happy birthday. But neither of his parents returned home.

"Haah...Huff..."

Azaroth jolted awake, placing a hand on his sweaty forehead. The memories had been so vivid - he could feel the loneliness and sadness of his body's past with painful clarity.

"Haa... what the..." His heart was still racing from the intense emotions experienced in his dreams.

"I guess some emotions are still lingering... " He noticed that, whenever he thought of killing his parents, his heart ached.

".... Do you want to show them what they lost?" He asked himself.

As he wiped away the small tears on his face, he reflected on all he had seen.

"Haa, it seems that's the case" He chuckled.

"Kekeke.... Then let's give Korea a new S rank, shall we?"

At first, Azaroth had considered staying in the shadows and gaining more strength before attempting his Rank evaluation. That was the safe route - He was sure the Architect would notice him as an anomaly.

According to Architect, the difference between the previous rounds and this round should only be Sung Jin Woo's powers which were because of the system he designed,

But seeing Azaroth being another S ranker in Korea may cause suspicions....

"Should I act as a Wolf in sheep's clothing..?"

'Pfft..'

Azaroth scoffed at the idea of hiding away and slowly gaining strength. Sneaking around like a coward wasn't his style. 

Rather than hiding away, he decided to take the boldest path - challenging the spectators if he had any...

'And they can't interfere too much in the initial plot'

With those thoughts, he called for his beautiful maid to give him a regular morning blowjob.

Yup, he had hired that receptionist lady to be his personal maid.

He had also doubled her previous salary, which only cost him 1/5th of his monthly allowance.

He took his phone and dialed to his personal henchman...

♪Tru..Tru♪ "Hello, Mike, prepare me an appointment with the guild association..."

"Guild Association..? If I may ask, what reason should I give—"

"Heh, Tell them, I want to evaluate my rank."

"S-Sir.. you have Awakened!!?"

"Yes, it seems so.... And yeah, tell Gramps, I said hi~"

"Waa..what do you mean sir?"

"I know you, like a good puppy, will go to him to tell everything I have said Mike, I just know... Just say hi when you do, OK?"

Cold sweat appeared on Mike's forehead, "....Yes Sir."

*beep*

Hmm, he remembered it was the first Saturday of the month - which meant school would be held for only half a day.

his phone lit up with multiple notifications from various girls in his class, eager to finalize plans for an outing after school. He had suggested going to catch a new action movie release together.

He dialed her number and she picked up after a few rings.

"..... A..Azaroth Oppa?" Song Yi hesitantly spoke.

"Oh! Who else if not me?" Azaroth said in a cold tone.

"I-I was just—" SongYi tried saying something but Azaroth spoke again.

"Pfft.... why are you so tensed all of a sudden?" He remembered her yesterdays conversation with Jin-ah, the way she had defended him made her gain some points in Azaroth's mind.

"I have an order for my little pet.. Show up in school today, we are going to watch a movie.... and convince Jin-ah also, is that clear?" 

"...Yes..." SongYi said. 

After their half-day of classes ended, Azaroth's group made their way to the spacious Seol City Centre Mall. In addition to the usual flock of giggly girls from class, Song Yi had persuaded Jin-Ah to tag along as well.

Though reluctant at first, Jin-Ah felt guilty and didn't want to ditch SongYi's invitation again and said yes but not before calling the hospital's landline and telling her Oppa that she was going out with friends and he should instead of running again give their mom company today on behalf of her.

She didn't want her unconscious mom to feel lonely in her absence. 

Jin Woo on the other hand felt happy that his sister was going out with her friends.

He remembered he also had to go, lately, he had received an instant dungeon key from a random loot box, and he was going to test it out today.

♣♣♣

It was already noon now,

The crowd chatted excitedly as they bought tickets for the new Final Destination 6. As the previews started, they noisily filed into the theater with arms full of snacks.

Azaroth was sitting between the class rep, Chaewon, and his cute pet SongYi, while Jin-ah set beside SongYi.

The movie was as gory and thrilling as promised. During a particularly intense scene, Chaewon even screamed and grabbed onto Azaroth's arm instinctively. He glanced down in amusement but didn't shake her off.

By the end, everyone emerged buzzing about the film. Jin-Ah was glad she came, feeling surprisingly lighter after the carefree afternoon. Maybe getting outside her routine wasn't so bad after all.

After coming out of the mall theater, the group of students sat down at one of the food court restaurants.

The sun had long been set, and it was evening....

Azaroth declared that he would treat them all, to the delight of the eager girls from his class. They happily settled in to eat and continued chatting excitedly about the movie.

While taking selfies together and enjoying their meals, they suddenly heard a commotion outside.

Many people began running past in a panic.

Curious, some students stood up and walked over to the large glass windows overlooking the mall common area.

Through the glass, they saw masses of shoppers fleeing in terror.

The lively atmosphere of the City Centre had quickly transformed into chaos as panic-inducing noises echoed through the air. 

But from what?

They strained to see what could have caused such a drastic reaction and turned their attention towards the source of the disturbance, their eyes widening as they witnessed the unfolding nightmare.

They were currently on the 3rd floor and near the escalator of the 2nd floor, a gate to another dimension had ripped open.

"!!!"

"Ahh! What the hell is that!?"

"And t-those.... are.."

From the dark abyss beyond the gate, a horde of grotesque spider monsters emerged.

"Ek!! w...what should we do!?!"

The Spiders had swarmed the 2rd floor as well as the lower floors.

'What the fuck is happening... heh, I think my debut date came before I thought...'

Azaroth thought as he quickly stood up and tried to comfort the precious flowers of his class.

"Everyone calm down, panicking in a situation like this won't help, will it."

He spoke in a calming tone.

"You guys stay inside... I think I should go and check out the situation," He said.

All the girls were shocked, listening to him,

"Wait! A...Azaroth, don't go out, what if you—"

"Yeah! let's stay h..here and wait for the Hunters to settle the situation,"

"T..That's right!"

All the girls shouted in panic.

 Jin-Ah, Chaewon, and SongYi were shaking due to fear,

He noticed Song Yi, clutching his sleeves tightly with a pleading look on her face which conveyed "Not to go."

Mustering her courage Jin-ah spoke, "T...T..Those are dungeon monsters. Y..you should n... T..they are out of your l..league, s..stay here.."

He looked out of the glass and saw the Spiders were killing all the civilians and few had started to come their way.

"You think we would be safe here? Look at them Jin-ah... You really think we are safe inside the glass..?" He said in a mocking tone.

Jin-ah finally realized, but what could they do instead of waiting..?

He placed his hands on her shoulder gently, "Don't worry... I'd Win."

While all that talking happened, Song Yi was engulfed in her own thoughts....

What is happening? 

And why was Azaroth insisting on going out?

Does he want to fight those horrifying monsters?

But then another thought emerged,

What if gets killed by them? Will she be finally free from his clutches?

He...hehe, W...Will I be finally free? 

But—

But, t..then why am I clutching his clothes so tightly?

Why do I don't wanna let him go and do what he wants?

What is this feeling? Why? Why? Why, is this happening to me—

Suddenly she felt a warm hand grasp her gently, Eh? She looked at it and it was Azaroth's.

He gave her a reassuring smile, which made her all worries disappear and her stomach felt like butterflies.

"While I go and deal with that, you try to guard the gates, ok?" He said to which she instinctively nodded.

"Good girl" He whispered in her ear making her face go red.

And in between his classmate's fearful gazes, he opened the glass gate and left with a smile,

But not before telling them to record everything on their phones...smirk.

♦♦♦♦

Author Note: Don't forget my Power Stones, aye?

And Buckle up friends, the next few chapters are gonna be wild, kekeke

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