NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84: Precursor (3)
The hooded man realized a clear fact upon seeing that over a dozen villages had been devastated.
‘Someone is deliberately destroying the summoning circles I’ve created.’
Had only one location with a summoning circle been attacked, the man would have let it slide.
After all, the places where he had hidden the summoning circles were mostly slash-and-burn villages or territories, which could easily be discovered and affected by external factors.
However, once the number of attacked villages and territories exceeded ten, it could no longer be considered a coincidence, so the man began to investigate quickly.
It didn’t take long before the hooded man actually found the beings who were ravaging the villages.
“Don’t interfere!”
“Rather, aren’t you the one interfering!?”
Boom!
In the middle of the sixteenth slash-and-burn village he found, two heroes were rampaging.‘Those guys, what exactly are they?’
The man gazed indifferently at the two heroes.
‘…I’m not sure about the black hero, but the one rampaging with that hero has red eyes.’
The man, who had identified the presence of the two heroes moving too fast for even his eyes to easily follow and devastating the village, soon wore a puzzled expression.
At least, he had no clue why the hero with red eyes and the other, whose identity he couldn’t fully grasp, were interfering with his plan for some reason.
But, of course, the man had no intention of letting those two heroes interfere with his plan.
This plan was very important not only to him, but it was also crucial for the demons.
“If you can’t keep up properly with your short legs, stay away, you leech!”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
The man, upon seeing the two heroes who had either come to destroy the village or were fighting each other, devastate the slash-and-burn village and disappear in moments, immediately harnessed his magic power.
Swoosh-!
As soon as the man harnessed his magic power, black magic spurted out.
The black magic, even more viscous and scattering than what the Absolute Ruler of Darkness emitted, seemed to contaminate the surrounding land and quickly coalesced into a sphere around the man.
“……”
As an incomprehensible voice came from the man’s mouth simultaneously-
“Can you hear me?”
The man spoke while looking at a giant shadowed figure appearing on the surface within the black sphere.
“Hm? What’s this, Kelva?”
“Yes. Can you hear me properly, Merba?”
After the man called Kelva’s brief reply, the giant figure quickly lowered its gaze and answered with a laugh as if amused.
“Yes, I can hear you well, but why did you contact me? Didn’t you dislike sending direct connections from the middle realm to the demon realm?”
“You’re right, but it’s an unavoidable situation, so I had to contact you.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t have the luxury to explain at length, so I’ll get straight to the point. I will summon you shortly.”
“Me? But the preparations aren’t complete yet.”
“Even if the summoning is somewhat unstable, there’s something you need to take care of.”
“Me?”
Merba replied with an overtly annoyed tone, but soon sighed as if resigned and spoke.
“Are these the vermin I have to stop, even if it means being summoned unstably?”
“Yes, those creatures are sabotaging our plan.”
“Tsk, we have no choice then.”
At the man’s words, Merba murmured as if without a choice, and then,
“Understood.”
With those words, he disappeared.
Swoosh-!
The man, after looking at the completely vanished black magic sphere, smiled as he saw Merilda and the Absolute Ruler of Darkness running into the distance.
Kelva couldn’t assess the heroes’ exact strength immediately, but he was sure they would not get past the next village.
After all, the being Kelva had gone out of his way to contact, ‘Merba the Slaughterer’, was considered quite powerful even within the demon realm, effectively stronger than a grand hero.
‘Even if he hasn’t reached the rank of a legion commander and manifests in an incomplete form, capturing a couple of rampaging heroes should be easy.’
With this thought, Kelva began to murmur a spell, recalling the summoning circle in the village towards which the two heroes were heading.
Several days had passed since Kim Hyunwoo started speaking informally with Elena.
Territory: Lartania
Territory Development Level:
1499
Territory Residents:
[Humans: 8,156]
-Owned Buildings-
[Lord's Castle LV1 >>> Upgrading 99% (Paused)]
[Walls LV3]
[Residential Area LV4↑]
[Blacksmith LV4]
[Barracks LV4↑]
[Tavern LV2 >>> Upgrading 60%]
[Market LV2]
[Wood Processing Plant LV1]
[Restaurant LV2 >>> Upgrading 55%]
[Leather Processing Plant LV1]
[Stone Processing Plant LV1]
[Trading Post LV1]
[Secondary Walls LV3]
[Inn LV2↑]
[Administrative District LV2↑]
-External Buildings-
[Mercenary Guild Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]
[Mage Tower Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]
[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV0 (Under Construction)]
-Owned Troops-
–Regular Soldiers: 200
–Apprentice Soldiers: 200
“Hmm.”
Kim Hyunwoo smiled as he checked the information window for the first time in a while and saw the newly listed Blacksmith Guild Branch among the external buildings.
‘It really didn’t take long, just as she said it wouldn’t.’
Kim Hyunwoo hadn’t expected it to be quick, even though River had mentioned it wouldn’t take long.
River really brought materials in as soon as Kim Hyunwoo provided the land, building it faster than any other external structure.
It had only been a few days since the work started, and the rough shape of the building could already be seen from the castle’s terrace.
“……”
Kim Hyunwoo, looking at the Blacksmith Guild still being actively constructed, made a curious expression and then glanced at the aging inner walls of the castle visible from the terrace side.
‘Come to think of it, I need to upgrade the castle too.’
Currently, Kim Hyunwoo had upgraded the castle to 99% but had not proceeded to take it to the next level.
Of course, it wasn’t because Kim Hyunwoo liked having a Level 1 castle.
As the level of the castle increases, so too would Kim Hyunwoo’s quality of life.
However, the reason he had been delaying the castle upgrade was that it would be inaccessible for a day during the upgrade.
This was due to the setting that the castle undergoes a magical transformation using the power of the Territory Stone.
…Anyway, despite such settings causing delays, Kim Hyunwoo had been considering upgrading the castle lately.
After all, to start constructing third-level buildings in the territory, the castle needs to be upgraded.
Thus, Kim Hyunwoo, who had been pondering when to stop this tedious Magnifying Glasses manufacturing and start traveling, saw:
[The Territory Development Level has reached 1500]
“Oh.”
He let out a low exclamation as he saw the development level reach 1500 while looking at the information window.
At that moment,
[You have achieved a specific condition of the quest, "Rebuild the fief 'Lartania' and Eliminate the Labyrinth"]
[The quest "Rebuild the fief 'Lartania'" has been completed]
[Congratulations. You have earned the qualification]
“…?”
Before Kim Hyunwoo could fully process his thoughts, he was taken aback by the sudden notification that appeared before his eyes.
The First Clue
You can obtain a clue when the first high-ranking demon who descended into the middle realm is dealt with
“…?”
The notification window, which he had been seeing since he arrived in this world, had changed its text for the first time.
To be honest, Merba the Slaughterer was not particularly pleased with this situation.
‘To be summoned incompletely, of all things.’
Originally, it should have taken more time for Merba to be resurrected.
Although the number of humans sacrificed for Merba’s emergence into this world exceeded several hundred, he could only be summoned unstably.
Simply because Merba the Slaughterer is powerful.
Thus, despite being somewhat irritated, Merba felt satisfied as soon as he was summoned to the middle realm.
Having lived in the demon world for a long time, it was his first visit to the middle realm, and although he descended incompletely, he realized something immediately upon arrival.
That this world did not have many beings stronger than himself.
Therefore, Merba was thrilled.
After all, he was born with the very demonic nature of preferring to torment others over genuinely enjoying a fight with them.
Furthermore.
[Hmm, it seems you are the ones Kelva mentioned]
Merba felt amused because, immediately after being summoned by the summoning circle, he was faced by two heroes who were looking at him with wide eyes.
The wolf beastfolk with crimson eyes and the half-demon hero, whose blood was mixed with that of a demon, were staring blankly at Merba.
“De-demon?”
As soon as he heard the wolf’s trembling voice, a grin spread across his face.
To Merba, the wolf’s trembling voice seemed full of fear towards him.
Merba, about to speak while smiling at the two heroes who looked startled at him, realized something was off.
“…?”
He noticed something strange.
Because, despite the trembling voice, Merba could not feel any fear from the wolf directed at him.
No, rather, Merba-
“This is a demon, right? The very demon that does all sorts of trashy deeds.”
“Can’t you see? It’s obviously a demon.”
“Right? It’s a demon, right? A demon, correct?”
-From them, he could sense a deep delight.
“Yes, I am a demon.”
“Infamous to the core.”
Following those words, Merba realized the wolf had thrown something at him and immediately caught it.
Woooom-!!!!
The stone turned a blood-red hue as soon as the demon caught it.
And then.
“Jackpot-!”
A deep smile formed on Merilda’s lips.