NOVEL NEXT Chapter 106: Hierarchy Advancement (1)
The demons had to incarnate themselves without fail to operate in the middle realm.
While lower-ranked demons could traverse the middle realm without incarnating, higher-ranked demons must go through the process of incarnating via sacrifices to materialize their bodies in the middle realm.
Since the demons are said to exist on a dimension above Arteil, they inevitably require sacrifices.
Thus, even when the demons began to act in earnest, only the Third Legion Commander had descended to the present world, and since dying to those two heroes, not a single Legion Commander has descended to the middle realm.
More accurately, it would be correct to say that they were unable to do so.
For the legion commander-level demons to manifest, they need numerous sacrifices and negative energy that can be obtained through war.
However, at the current moment, though they could obtain quite a lot of sacrifices through subjugating territories, they still haven’t obtained enough negative energy.
The reason is that, since a month ago, after Landaron swallowed up the Norba Kingdom, wherever demons were sent, two heroes appeared and killed them.
Therefore, Kelva ultimately made a decision.
Even if it was a bit of a stretch, he decided he had to hunt those two down.“……”
In his eyes, he saw countless demons moving in groups, too numerous to count.
If it was those two heroes moving to eradicate infamy, that number was so great they couldn’t help but to appear.
Furthermore,
“Is everything ready?”
“It’s done.”
Currently, Kelva, with the help of a lord under Duke Landaron, has formed a massive large-scale encirclement near where demons are heavily gathered.
The reason was, of course, to prevent the two heroes, who had sensed something, from escaping.
In addition, Kelva had pushed most of the demons here to capture the two heroes and had even temporarily halted the war elsewhere, just in case the two heroes decided to go somewhere else.
In other words, for Landaron and Kelva, who value time as gold, maintaining this situation itself means they are at a loss.
However, Kelva decided that it was right to unconditionally accept such a loss if it meant capturing the two heroes.
At least, in Kelva’s judgment, the existence of those two heroes proved too harmful for him.
It was a problem that they were hastily disrupting the process of subjugation to eliminate infamy.
It was also a problem that they were certain to interfere when he moved to kill the outsider.
Therefore, he had laid a trap to kill the two heroes, even if it meant suffering a great loss right now.
Currently, he was even in a state of incarnation.
“Huh-”
Kelva let out a low sigh and checked his body.
At a glance, his body was not the humanoid form he had seen before but resembled that of a beast.
Both legs and arms had sharp claws like a beast’s, and there were black wings on his back.
And with horns as long as those of Agares, the Third Legion Commander, atop his head, he showed a satisfied expression at the fulfillment he hadn’t felt in years, yet he also sighed.
While incarnating to kill the two heroes and feeling his original senses after a while was satisfying, due to Kelva’s traits, a limited incarnation and not a perfect one, was quite a loss for him.
Initially, due to his special circumstances, incarnating in such a manner would cause the incarnated body to evaporate due to a lack of magical power in just a few days, and thus, it would be deemed destroyed, resulting in a permanent loss of power.
Moreover, since it takes a certain amount of time to incarnate and they attacked at speeds previously unseen by them, he had to incarnate in advance.
‘The moment they fall into the trap, I will definitely kill them.’
Kelva smiled as he looked at the well-laid trap.
A few days later.
Originally planning to visit after a day or so, Kim Hyunwoo, dealing with selecting administrative personnel and various tasks, decided to visit the Mage Tower branch about three days later.
Before visiting the Mage Tower branch,
“Huh-”
After making all the Magnifying Glasses, Kim Hyunwoo, who had selected administrative personnel on the first day, heard that the soldiers he had mentioned separately had been gathered and opened the troops window.
Regular Soldiers: 1200
Apprentice Knights: 200
Having gathered the originally intended 1,000 soldiers in just a few days, in line with the population, Kim Hyunwoo smiled satisfactorily and soon upgraded the soldiers.
Regular Soldiers: 1000
Guards: 200
Apprentice Knights: 200
As Kim Hyunwoo made the adjustments, a window with rapidly changing text popped up in front of him.
Troop Type: Guard
Leader: Gouka
[Proficiency 0/100]
Number of personnel:
200
[View details]
Combat Efficiency: Average
–Basic Equipment–
Head: Iron helmet
Body: Guard chainmail
Waist: Iron leather belt
Legs: Greaves with added protection
Armed: Steel spear
Secondary weapon: Magic scroll (Fireball, Binding)
※The soldiers' armament is not yet perfect
Troop Type: Apprentice Knight
Leader: Malon
[Proficiency 0/100]
Number of personnel:
200
[View details]
Combat Efficiency: Very High
–Basic Equipment–
Head: Knight's helmet
Body: Chainmail
Waist: Chain belt with leather overlay
Legs: Knight's greaves
Armed: Steel sword
Secondary weapon: None
※The soldiers' armament is not yet perfect.
※The high morale of the soldiers maximizes combat efficiency!
※The soldiers' very high morale boosts their combat power!
※The soldiers' very high morale rapidly increases their proficiency!
As soon as he upgraded the troop types, Kim Hyunwoo saw the notification windows pop up as if they had been waiting for him, and he soon moved towards the Mage Tower branch.
“Shadra.”
“Ah, Dad! I was just wondering when you’d come!”
He was soon welcomed by Shadra.
Seeing her bouncing on her toes exaggeratedly and smiling brightly as soon as Kim Hyunwoo arrived, he laughed.
“…?”
Suddenly, he could see a few magicians looking over this way with expressions of astonishment.
“Let’s go!”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
Kim Hyunwoo, who had been looking in that direction, quickly followed Shadra without finishing his thought, and soon they arrived at Shadra’s office.
“This is the place!”
“Oh.”
Shadra’s office was quite large, but the vast amount of books and various experimental tools inside made the large office feel somewhat cramped.
However, perhaps because Shadra had organized it well, Kim Hyunwoo, who was looking around, felt more of a sense of wonder than of crampedness.
Squeeze-!
“Hm?”
“Hee- I’m so happy ♥.”
Kim Hyunwoo felt a little overwhelmed by Shadra’s natural action of hugging him, but he patted her head in response.
Thump-!
“…?”
At the same time, Kim Hyunwoo, who had a slightly puzzled expression due to the distant booming sound he heard, soon saw Shadra naturally take a seat in a chair and sat down in one as well.
“So then, where shall we start our conversation?”
Smiling brightly, Kim Hyunwoo had a genuine conversation with Shadra, learning about how she had been doing all this time.
Starting from when Kim Hyunwoo disappeared, Shadra had been recognized for her exceptional talent as a magician, leading to her entry into the Mage Tower, and eventually becoming the head of the Blue Tower, she explained everything that had happened.
“So, the Blue Mage Tower focuses more on exploration and alchemy rather than offensive magic, right?”
“That’s right. Among them, what I’m good at is alchemy. For example, golem creation?”
“Golem creation?”
“Yeah, it might be difficult to show here since it’s cramped inside, but my golem creation is quite useful, you know?”
“Then, can’t you use other magic?”
“Well~ If I have to say, I can use them, but they’re not my specialty. Though it’s also true that I’m not very good at using them,”
Shadra explained.
Upon hearing this, Kim Hyunwoo hummed thoughtfully and then asked,
“Shadra, how big can the golems get?”
“Size? Hmm… Well, they can be quite large.”
“Can you also make them inside the Labyrinth?”
“The Labyrinth?”
Shadra asked back with a puzzled expression.
But soon,
“Ah.”
Realizing something, Shadra laughed,
“Hee-”
and quickly asked with a bright face,
“You want help with conquering the Labyrinth?”
“Um… Was I too obvious?”
At Kim Hyunwoo’s words, as he glanced away, Shadra laughed and said,
“It’s okay! We’re in this together, Dad!”
“…Really?”
“Of course!”
Seeing Shadra’s confident smile, Kim Hyunwoo felt inwardly relieved.
The truth was, while his purpose for today was indeed to have a conversation with her, he also intended to ask for her help with the Labyrinth.
After all, the way to earn more Magic Stones at this point was to quickly conquer the Labyrinth and summon higher-grade mercenaries to Lartania.
Thus, with a smile, Kim Hyunwoo said,
“Ah, but in exchange! Grant me one wish too!”
“A wish?”
“Yes, a wish!”
At the mention of a wish, Kim Hyunwoo glanced at Shadra, but soon nodded in understanding, seeing her innocently smiling face.
Along with Shadra’s action of hugging Kim Hyunwoo tightly once more, as if she had accomplished something, she beamed a bright smile.
Thump-!
Once again, a tremendous noise was heard.
“…?”
Kim Hyunwoo felt puzzled again, but Shadra, who was hugging him with her arms around his neck, blankly stared out the window behind him.
Grin-!
Seemingly having realized something, she hugged Kim Hyunwoo even tighter, revealing her sharp fangs with a grin.
“…Shadra?”
Startled by the sudden increase in pressure, Kim Hyunwoo asked, and Shadra said,
“Dad, you know…”
“Hmm?”
“You said you don’t particularly like dogs, right?”
“…Dogs?”
“Yes, dogs.”
“…I’m not particularly fond of them. If I had to choose, I’d say I prefer cats.”
“Right? Then, what about breasts?”
“…Huh? Breasts?”
“Yes, women with large breasts or small ones. Which does Dad prefer?”
“Huh? Why do you ask this all of a sudden?”
Kim Hyunwoo clearly looked perplexed, but Shadra, with her characteristically innocent expression, persisted,
“So? How about it? Dad, do you like them big or small?”
She asked as if her face bore the innocence of having not even 1% of impure intentions,
“…Well, I prefer femininity.”
Although Kim Hyunwoo gave Shadra a peculiar look, she giggled at his response.
And at that moment,
Merilda and the Absolute Ruler of Darkness, who had created two large craters on the hill and had been causing a commotion until just a moment ago,
“…Hate dogs…?”
“…I am average, I am average, I am average, I am average-”
Seeing them murmuring with expressions as if they had lost the world, Loriel and Giral turned their gazes blankly towards the Mage Tower branch,
“……”
“……”
and seeing Shadra, who was looking accurately at their location, revealing her fangs and smiling mischievously, Loriel and Giral couldn’t help but think,
‘Isn’t this dangerous?’