Demon (2)

After staring at him, Andromalius nodded.

“Very well. Here you are.”

[Your reward is being granted!]

[You have obtained a Masquerade Invitation!]

'An invitation?'

He looked at the paper resting on his palm.

[Masquerade Invitation]

[Grade: Special]

[An invitation that grants entry to a banquet of demon lords. A special event may occur upon entry.]

[Banquet Date: August 1]

There was something unusual about the item description.

'A banquet of demon lords.'

In other words, he was being invited somewhere teeming with bastards like Andromalius.

“Do all the lords attend?”

“Usually. Masquerades aren't held very often.”

He watched the demon nod.

'He said he ranked seventy-second.'

As befitted a demon lord, even his appearance suggested he was no pushover. If Minwoo had to rate him...

'A little weaker than Balkan?'

That meant the higher-ranking lords could be stronger than Balkan.

An invitation to a place crawling with monsters like that.

'Interesting.'

Risk came with rewards.

He put the invitation in his inventory. It was late February now, so he had roughly five months left. He could grow stronger before going.

He looked at Mr. Andro, who was still hanging around.

“What are you doing? Aren't you leaving?”

“Oh dear. Is that a rejection? How decisive. Well, I understand. We don't yet have enough trust between us.”

“If you understand, why not leave?”

“Haha. I'll be going shortly.”

The demon snapped his fingers. At that moment, messages appeared.

[You have been granted a portion of the power of Andromalius, one of the seventy-two lords!]

[This power is temporary!]

“This is a modest gift from me. One of my powers will activate automatically when the opportunity arises, just once.”

A power, huh.

Finding culprits, recovering stolen property, and locating treasure. Did that mean it would activate when he needed one of those three things?

In any case, there was no reason to turn down a freebie.

“I'll put it to good use. Thanks.”

“I look forward to seeing you again at the ball.”

Mr. Andro's figure faded. Soon afterward, another message appeared.

[The gate is returning to its original state!]

Along with the message, Minwoo returned to the Demon's Castle.

'Offering me a contract before giving me the invitation, huh.'

The masquerade was a major stage where he could drive up his asking price. He'd almost been ripped off right under his nose.

'This is why you can't believe everything a demon says.'

He could more or less guess why the demon had given him that power. He wanted to tempt Minwoo with a taste of what he could offer.

If it really paid off...

'Well, I might consider it.'

Whatever the case, he had learned one thing.

Mr. Andro wanted him. Badly enough to offer a loss-making freebie like this.

If the seventy-second-ranked lord felt that way, seventy-first or seventieth probably wouldn't be much different. Even higher-ranking lords might take an interest in him. They would benefit from finding an excellent representative, too.

He checked his level.

'Level 215.'

Isabella, reputed to have leveled up faster than anyone else in the world, had reached level 100 in about four months.

And him?

He'd blown past level 200 in less than three months. His speed was truly absurd.

'I've risked my life plenty to get here, though.'

He'd nearly died more than a few times. This was the result of throwing himself into danger so recklessly.

'One sweep through this place should get me to 220.'

B-rank awakeners started at level 251. Taking that into account...

'I'll be B-rank in no time.'

B-rank was just around the corner now.

'The B-rank skill was Summon Dullahan, right?'

Dullahans. Headless undead knights, they were among the summons considered the crown jewels of a necromancer's arsenal.

'They're pretty intelligent.'

Starting with dullahans, summons could think properly. They might be called undead summons, but their ability to reason wasn't much worse than a human's.

And that wasn't all. Their swordsmanship was also impressive, as befitted knights.

'They buff lower undead, too.'

Knights commanded soldiers. True to their status, dullahans had buff skills. To put it bluntly, there was a world of difference in strength between an undead horde with a dullahan and one without.

Best of all, this summoning skill was actually a basic skill. For necromancers, it was like rain after a drought.

'This is where the gap in fighting strength really starts to show.'

After struggling endlessly alongside their skeleton meat shields and painstakingly leveling up, necromancers finally began to come into their own once they could summon dullahans. It was the point where they could pull their weight even without investing a fortune.

'Of course...'

Because dullahans were intelligent, bringing them to heel wasn't always easy. Ordinary necromancers had to pamper their knights, lavish things on them, and flatter them before they could raise their loyalty.

'I don't need to do that, though.'

A loving beating was one of the best ways to raise loyalty. Why take the long way around when there was a shortcut?

Anyway...

'I'll need to learn it soon...'

One thing was certain. He would never reach +9 using only Korean auction houses. There weren't enough B-rank skill books for sale. He would have to buy out the listings in other countries, too.

'Five hundred million won per book for off-meta classes. A billion for mainstream ones.'

There weren't many high-ranking awakeners. On top of that, drop rates gradually fell as skill books rose in rank. That was why their prices skyrocketed with each tier, a trend that only grew more pronounced at higher levels.

From B-rank onward, awakeners were no longer considered small fry, but members of the upper ranks. The corresponding jump in prices was brutal.

'It'll cost at least ten trillion won.'

And that assumed a straight run to +9. What if a skill book blew up at +7 or +8?

'Twenty trillion.'

It would cost about that much.

'I need to start preparing to buy top-grade elixirs, too...'

Christine the Witch.

The elixirs she sold could be consumed from level 300 onward. The problem was that, starting at this tier, there was no telling what the price would be.

Lowest-grade, low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade elixirs could still be made by alchemists in every country. They weren't exceptionally rare.

'But top-grade is different.'

Only Christine—no, only America—could supply them. Their price was confidential.

'Well, I do have a rough idea.'

When playing characters other than Kim Minwoo, he'd gone to America and bought some. Even though he'd done America a considerable favor at the time...

'They quoted thirty billion won each.'

Elixir prices roughly tripled with every tier. High-grade elixirs cost about three billion won each, so a fair price for top-grade ones would be ten billion at most.

Instead, they'd quoted ten times the high-grade price. Insane profiteering.

They could get away with it because America was not only the strongest nation in terms of awakeners, but also the sole supplier of those elixirs.

Don't like it? Pissed off?

Then don't buy them.

We didn't want to sell them to you anyway.

That was their stance.

And what if Kim Minwoo, Korea's Super Rookie, came to buy elixirs?

'They'd charge even more, wouldn't they?'

He'd already shown quite a lot. Moreover, he had a wealthy benefactor called Ilseong backing him.

They could keep him in check while making money. It wouldn't be at all surprising if they demanded more than thirty billion won apiece.

America wouldn't lose much by refusing to sell, after all. The same went for Christine the Witch. What could she possibly dislike about the government securing a high price for her?

'This will be rough.'

They might even go nuts and ask for fifty billion each.

Even so, he had to buy them somehow. How could he pass up 600 stat points? That was probably why France had struck a secret deal with America, too.

'Six hundred stat points...'

An ordinary awakener would probably gain all of them after consuming about six hundred elixirs. Even at thirty billion apiece, that came to eighteen trillion won.

But Kim Minwoo's body was a little unusual. His elixir consumption was three or four times that of other people. Factoring that in...

'Between fifty-four and seventy-two trillion.'

And if they cost fifty billion instead of thirty billion?

He didn't even want to think about it.

Was that all?

'I have to account for the Sky Auction House, too.'

The Sky Auction House would open around May. There would be good items on offer, and of course he intended to snap up as many as possible. He would probably spend tens of trillions there, too.

The spending was enough to take his breath away.

'Money really...'

He needed so much of it.

Of course, he had already thought of some solutions.

First, investment from Ilseong Group. He planned to secure sixty trillion won.

However, he'd heard there was some opposition at the moment. The loudest protests were coming from Ilseong Guild.

'Understandable.'

If all the group's available funds went into the Money-Blowing Guild, that inevitably meant less investment for Ilseong Guild. Faced with being cast aside, of course they would kick up a fuss. That was why he'd hurriedly funded his C-rank skill books with the money from selling equipment.

'I'll have to put those bastards in line.'

That would secure him sixty trillion for now.

He had also thought of a few other sources of money. If everything went according to plan, he should be able to make over a hundred trillion won.

'I'll have to keep busy for that to happen.'

The undead army began exploring every corner of the castle.

* * *

[You have defeated the boss of the B-rank gate, the demon Gelitas!]

[Gate clear rewards are being granted!]

[Your level has increased by 2...]

The enormous, turtle-like demon collapsed to the floor with a thud.

Merhen and Cedric alone were enough to take down the boss. With all the other summons joining in, it was hardly surprising that it hadn't lasted long.

He picked up the monster materials.

'I can use these for crafting later.'

As for the items, well, how good could anything from a B-rank gate be? They were going straight to auction.

'I can sell today's haul overseas later.'

Han Baekgil's assassin equipment might prove useful someday. It was good enough that he could hand it straight over if he acquired an assassin summon.

He would keep that and split up the rest to sell overseas.

'That should keep people from talking.'

Numbers One through Seven were all reasonably famous Korean awakeners. If they vanished overnight and their equipment then appeared on the market, it would be a perfect recipe for an uproar.

So he planned to divide up the equipment and sell it abroad a little at a time. That should let things pass quietly.

He left the gate. Despite Shadow's visit, the clear had taken less than half a day.

Outside, the soldiers and awakeners he'd seen that morning stared at him in surprise.

'Isn't that the awakener we saw earlier?'

'How did he clear it so fast...?'

He'd cleared a B-rank gate alone and come out before their shift had even changed. Even for an A-rank awakener, this was faster than they could have imagined.

It really drove home the saying that the world was vast and full of hidden experts.

He gave the dumbfounded group a polite bow.

“Keep up the good work.”

“Ah, yes.”

Had he said his name was Han Jinuk, an A-rank awakener?

They had a feeling they would be seeing that name a lot in the future.

Regardless of what they thought, Kim Minwoo left the gate at his leisure, got in his car, and returned home. He went straight to Chairman Kim's study and knocked.

“Father, are you in?”

“Come in.”

Opening the door, he found Chairman Kim wearing glasses and reading with Naye. His father soon tilted his head and asked,

“Didn't you say you were visiting a gate today? Did you not go?”

“I cleared it.”

“Hm? You mean that gate?”

Chairman Kim looked astonished.

The B-rank gate, Demon's Castle. It was a gate he knew well.

He hadn't been particularly worried when his son said he was going alone. After all, hadn't Minwoo already cleared an A+ gate and returned alive? Surely a mere B-rank would be easy.

That was what he'd thought, but...

'It hasn't even been half a day, has it?'

Was that speed even possible?

He was a C-rank awakener himself and had once frequented gates, which made it all the harder to believe.

As he tilted his head in puzzlement, Minwoo spoke.

“Naye.”

“Yeah?”

“Go stay with Mom for a little while.”

“Okay.”

After sending Naye out, he looked at Chairman Kim.

“A group of assassins came after me today.”

Chairman Kim sprang to his feet.

“... What? Assassins? Are you hurt? Are you all right?”

“I went in disguise to catch them in the first place.”

“Good heavens... Why didn't you tell me sooner that people like that were after you?”

“Lee Hyeonseong, Choi Cheolmin, Seong Hyerim, Kim Jinwoo, Seo Hyeongsin, Ji Hyeonuk, Park Jihyeon. Could you have caught those people out here in the real world?”

“...!”

Chairman Kim's eyes widened.

Every name Minwoo had listed belonged to a well-known figure, from the Guild Master of a midsize guild to awakeners considered key personnel in major guilds.

“All of them came to assassinate you?”

“Yes. From what I heard, they seem to have belonged to some strange organization. It was called Shadow.”

“Shadow? I've never heard that name...”

“What's even stranger is that they seemed to be duplicating experience.”

“...?”

Minwoo explained: Han Baekgil, who was called a priest, and Shadow, which supposedly had branches not just in Korea but around the world.

“... If that's true, isn't this serious? They level up quickly, and those people were targeting you?”

“Yes. It seems they were wary of my growth. I thought you should know, Father.”

Minwoo's reason for bringing this up was simple. If his conflict with Shadow kept escalating, they might target his family.

Of course, security was already solid, but...

'It can't hurt to prepare more thoroughly.'

Enemies with much higher levels than before might launch a surprise attack. That made strengthening security essential.