Chapter 90
A gust momentarily whistled past.
Dogyoon had discovered a totem left behind by the demons.
Esil instantly recognized the totem’s significance. “It’s like a signpost used by demons.”
“Did they make it to avoid getting lost in this jungle?” Suho asked.
“It seems that way. This means that their hideout is somewhere at the end of the trail.”
“W-wait... Guys? I mean, Guild Master?” Dogyoon, overhearing Esil and Suho’s conversation, grew increasingly pale. “You’re not planning to go there, right?”
Although he wasn’t directly involved, the gang had just survived a ferocious attack from a giant demon and its horde. The idea of entering a demon’s lair straight after sounded like a death sentence to Dogyoon.
“Right, you will be in danger. Do you want to stay in my shadow for a bit?” Suho asked.
“Huh? Hold on. I thought entering there wasn’t good for my health!” Dogyoon said.
“That was a joke. Besides, following us down the path would be much worse for your health,” Beru added.
Dogyoon’s body stiffened like a corpse.
“We won’t take long. Just hop in.” Suho chuckled softly as he took out the key to the Shadow Dungeon.
[You will enter the Shadow Dungeon.]
Suho’s shadow suddenly surged up and enveloped Dogyoon.
“Don’t worry too much. Just think of it as a dark apartment.”
“W-wait...!”
At that moment, Dogyoon’s vision turned pitch black, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in front of...
“Grrr? And you are?” Ammut, the humanoid crocodile, looked down at the new arrival with an expression of interest.
Overwhelmed, Dogyoon slumped to the ground.
“You must be the human my student mentioned. You remind me of Tarnak in his younger days.” Ammut found Dogyoon’s weak posture and cowardice to be amusing. The corners of the monster’s mouth curled up into a smile. The crocodile whispered insidiously, “Oh weak human, don’t you wish to become stronger than you are now?”
“No.” Dogyoon’s response was unexpectedly resolute. He walked to a corner of the pyramid and sat down. “I’m happy to stay here quietly. .”
A look of disappointment crossed Ammut’s face.
***
After sending Dogyoon away, Suho and Esil immediately used the totem to find their way to the factory. They encountered a few demons on the way, but they were easy to deal with. With Suho’s new title—Demon Slayer—lesser demons were even easier to handle than before.
But something stopped them in their tracks.
“Something doesn’t feel right.” Esil, noticing a new totem, scanned the area.
“What’s wrong?”
“This totem isn’t a directional sign. The trail ends here.”
“This is the end of the trail? Hmm.” Suho tapped into his senses to detect any nearby presence. However, there were no signs of demons or magic beasts anywhere. I can’t feel a thing.
The still and silent air created a frightening atmosphere.
“Young Monarch.”
“Master.”
Suddenly, Beru and Que both called out to Suho, and they pointed to something under his feet.
“There’s a dimensional breach, right there,” Beru pointed out.
“There’s a gate here?”
“Yes. It seems so, Master.”
Suho’s gaze shifted downwards. “Beru, find a way to get underground.”
“As you wish.” Beru swiftly flew off.
Instead of following the ant, Que calmly scanned the surroundings with a sharp gaze. “Master, if the traces of demons have disappeared here, they might have used some magic or skill to hide the entrance.”
“That also makes sense.” Suho nodded and raised his swords.
[Skill: “Storm Slash” has activated.]
“If we destroy everything, something will surely appear.” Suho unleashed the energy of his swords toward the empty space around the last totem they found.
Suddenly, the ground and sky split apart, revealing a dimensional breach.
Esil’s eyes widened in shock at this sight. “This energy...” The force flowing from the breach was all too familiar to her. “It’s a gate connected to the demon realm!”
“The demon realm? The dimension you lived in?”
“That’s right! This gate is connected to the dimension I escaped from!”
“I think I get it now.” Suho nodded.
The Pyeongtaek’s Third Dungeon was designated as a D-grade dungeon because the magic beasts present were few and weak, but the discovery meant that the creatures were actually demons that had emerged from this gate.
Demons are intelligent creatures. Maybe they were hiding here and building their strength instead of attacking humans.
It was now clear that the demons had deployed a strategy of releasing weak magic beasts in the jungle they created to prevent hunters from accessing this secret location.
“We were looking for a factory, but it seems like we’ve found their headquarters.”
“Remember, the defeated worlds following the Monarchs War were torn apart. They now drift through the dimensional rift. Beyond here lies a fragment of the devastated demon realm.”
“Is it like a ruin?”
“Yes. The noble families that once ruled the demon realm are all but gone. Only the survivors who hid to escape the war are left there.”
“And the deserters are now stronger because they found the blood of demon nobles?”
“Probably? They must be trying to increase their power and become the new demon nobility.”
“What’s the benefit of becoming demon nobility?”
“That is—”
Before she could respond, a tremendous vacuum suddenly emerged from the gate. Interestingly, the force from the gate was pulling only Esil, and not Suho.
“Ahh!” Esil, floating helplessly in the air, flailed her arms in panic.
Suho quickly grabbed her hand, but the power of the gate’s suction began to pull him in with her.
“Young Monarch!”
“Master! This is dangerous!”
Beru and Que hurriedly grabbed Suho from behind.
Still holding onto Suho’s hand, Esil shouted, “The demon realm is trying to take me! This is just like the last time I came across a rift!”
Worlds without a Monarch naturally sought a new one. The demon realm, sensing the presence of Esil Radiru, the only remaining demon noble, was attempting to forcibly draw her in.
“Is that so?” Understanding the situation, Suho smiled instead of panicking. “Then we have to go in!” Holding Esil’s hand, he willingly let himself be sucked into the gate. A ruined demon realm... There should be many demons. An excellent opportunity to strengthen Vulcan’s Horn.
But the moment he passed through the gate, Suho’s outlook dramatically changed. Landing on the ground, he blinked in surprise as he looked ahead.
Before him was a vast and majestic mine. Countless demons, shackled and holding with pickaxes, were toiling away.
“What is this?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Even Esil was flustered by the unexpected scene.
The loud clanging of pickaxes echoed everywhere. Suddenly, chilling sounds of whipping and screams echoed from afar.
“You lazy devils! Don’t you dare slack off! Work!”
“Gah! Ahh! I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
A huge demon that looked like a supervisor was brutally punishing the enslaved demons, who were screaming in agony under the mana-infused lashes. They then got back on their feet as soon as possible and began pulling carts to avoid further lashing.
Suho and Esil quickly hid behind a stone pillar to avoid the supervisor’s gaze.
“Is this a labor camp?”
“Something’s off.” Esil looked serious. “This level of organization and hierarchy isn’t possible without a demon noble.”
“So what’s going on?”
“The demon realm governed by the survival of the fittest. But this situation can be overturned at any time. We become stronger by preying on each other.”
“By consuming each other’s blood?”
“That’s right. So, without the presence of a demon noble to establish order, the lesser demons would have descended into chaos.”
What she was describing sounded like a dog-eat-dog world to Suho. But instead of the expected chaos, the mine suggested that a class system was present.
“Such an order could only be maintained if a demon noble was ruling here, but I’m the only surviving noble.”
“It’s certainly strange.”
Suho felt that the demons laboring with pickaxes could easily overpower and devour their overseers if they united together, but he could only see defeat and fear in their eyes.
Roar!
At that moment, a huge bull monster, pulling a cart laden with ore, passed right in front of Suho and Esil.
[Domesticated Minotaur]
A minotaur?
True to the label, the colossal monster wore thick iron shackles on its neck and legs. Even a saddle for comfortable seating was fitted on its back.
The minotaur wasn’t the only odd creature pulling the carts. Several other bizarrely-shaped, horse-like magical beasts were also chained and hauling carts filled with ore.
“Huh? That one over there.” Esil’s eyes widened as she spotted a sleek-looking horse among them.
“Do you know that one?”
“That’s my servant.”
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l