Chapter 172: Chapter 172
[You have completed the quest.]
Power filled Suho's whole body.
Level up five times.
It seemed that the experience points were gained by returning the vast amount of magical energy that Xavier had absorbed from others.
[Quest completion reward has arrived.]
[Do you want to check your reward?] (Y/N)
Rather than checking the reward, Suho quickly turned his gaze to find a vision of his father.
"father...!"
Shaaaaaaa-
When Xavier died, all the illusions he created, including the sandstorm that was covering the area, turned into powder of light and dispersed.
Sung Jin-woo's reception was not much different.
However, he looked relaxed even as his body disappeared.
-There is no need to make such a fuss. Because the person I am now is just an illusion.
Then he slowly raised his head, looked up at the sky, and spoke.
– Really, I'm doing well up there. Oh, it's been a little busy these days since someone is away.
[Keeeeeeek! O king! Here is this unfaithful sinner! Please forgive me... ...!]
At those words, Ver quickly fell down in front of him and began to wail.
[I really want to go back, but I don't have enough magic power, so there's no way to go back!]
-it's okay. If I couldn't come back for that reason, I wouldn't have to worry too much.
Although the current Seong Jin-woo is an illusion, his soul is linked and his consciousness is shared with the real Seong Jin-woo.
He used Xavier's magic to turn himself, who was merely an illusion, into a kind of avatar, the incarnation of the real Seong Jin-woo.
Thanks to this, the real Seong Jin-woo in space was able to know that Ver, who had been sent to Earth for this incident, had safely released Su-ho's seal.
I was worried that Ber might have been interrupted by some kind of interference and still not be able to reach Suho, but that worry was resolved this time.
-More than that.
Seong Jin-woo said, looking at little Ver, who was lying flat on the floor.
-I think it would be better for you to remain on Earth for the time being.
[Kiek?! Well, is that okay?]
Ber's eyes widened.
The war with outer space was indeed fierce and tightly balanced.
Therefore, the vacant position of his corps commander was bound to be an enormous burden to Seong Jin-woo.
[If there are no small people, the balance of war will be...!]
-Ah, it's okay. I recently recruited some useful soldiers.
[...] ...?!]
Rattling.
Seong Jin-woo's answer was so shocking that Ber froze on the spot with his mouth hanging open.
-Of course, the sooner you return, the better, but it seems that Earth is not as relaxed as I thought.
Even as he said this, half of Seong Jin-woo's body was already scattered.
-I don't have much time.
Seong Jin-woo immediately turned his head and looked at the remains of Xavier, who had just been killed by Su-ho.
A skeleton with his ribs shattered.
A message floated above the shadow.
[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]
Seong Jin-woo looked at the message and calmly explained it for Su-ho to listen.
-Among the Demon Race, there are sometimes people like the Demon Race that cannot be extracted.
Suho looked regretful at those words.
As Seong Jin-woo said, Xavier's soul was said to be impossible to extract, like the souls of demons.
It was said that it was impossible to make it into a shadow soldier like Harmakan.
-Anyway, you won't be able to use this guy.
Seong Jin-woo stretched out his scattered hand and grabbed Xavier's soul.
-I'll use some.
Wow!
Xavier's mana-contaminated soul was caught in his hands and forcibly pulled up.
Then he began to let out a bloodcurdling scream, as if he had sensed the fate that was about to befall him.
Kaaaaaa-!
How dare you!
This is impossible... ...!
-They say nothing is impossible.
Seong Jin-Woo raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at the black shadow struggling to get out of his hands.
Xavier's soul trembled with extreme humiliation.
The illusion created by his own magic had, on the contrary, taken possession of his own soul!
-You know it well. On the other hand, demonic spirits who have accumulated spells over a long period of time like you can become ingredients for very good spells.
Seong Jin-woo said so and performed the final spell using Xavier's soul.
Sigh!
Suddenly, a net-like magic circle spread out from his hand and tightly bound Xavier's struggling soul.
Wow... ...!
The magic circle began to become increasingly denser and smaller.
And when Xavier's screams became quieter and quieter, they eventually stopped being heard at all.
Seong Jin-woo held a fist-sized jewel in his hand.
-Now, it's a gift.
Swish.
[You have acquired 'Item: Xavier's Soul Stone'.]
Suho looked at the jewelry that Seong Jin-woo gave him and made a puzzled expression.
"This...."
[Item: Xavier's Soul Stone]
Difficulty of acquisition: ??
Type: Jewelry
This is a gem made by compressing demonic spirits.
-This is insurance just in case, so keep it in your inventory.
"Insurance?"
-okay. Watching you fight makes me feel a little...I have something to worry about.
Seong Jin-woo looked at Su-ho's face with a bitter smile.
Part of me wanted to explain something more, but no words came out of his mouth.
No one knows the future.
His son followed in his father's footsteps, but the path was never the same.
Because my son's future was his to choose and decide... ....
'It would be better to support them now rather than nag them pointlessly.'
Seong Jin-woo typed out all the countless words that came into his head.
-So, it's Suho.
And he said, holding on to Su-ho's shoulder with his hand that was falling apart.
-I leave this place to you.
"Yes, father."
Suho's eyes were burning quietly as he nodded heavily.
Seong Jin-woo looked at those eyes and made a somewhat satisfied expression.
At that moment, his body completely collapsed.
Passyuk.
Eventually, even the hand that patted Suho's shoulder turned into powder of light and scattered and disappeared.
At that moment, the whole sky collapsed.
[The instance dungeon is unlocked.]
Pachangchang!
Harmakan's barrier has disappeared.
Then, the boundary between inside and outside the barrier collapsed, and the civilians outside the barrier finally appeared.
At the same time, the sight of the hunters who had been swallowed up by the sandstorm appeared in the civilians' field of vision.
"...Wow!"
One step later, cheers erupted from people's mouths.
"All the demonic beasts have disappeared!"
When the hunters heard that loud shout, they finally realized the situation.
The fact that today's terrible battle is over.
However, the reason why there is a feeling of relief and extreme helplessness on their faces at the same time.
That was because they knew very well that they had done nothing here today.
and...While they were struggling in their illusions.
Only one person.
'Seong Su-ho....'
The fact that that young hunter fought against the boss mob alone and achieved victory.
Because everyone saw it clearly with their own eyes.
'Seong Su-ho Hunter.'
'Woojin Guild.'
As the hunters' eyes all looked at Suho, who stood tall in the center, the gazes of the civilians outside naturally had no choice but to turn in that direction.
And Ber was very satisfied with those awe-filled gazes.
[Solord, please at least wave your hand. Everyone looks up to the Solord.]
"...it's okay."
Suho looked a little lost in thought.
When I saw his father, whom I hadn't seen in a long time, disappear before my eyes, I couldn't help but feel good.
But I had no intention of staying in this mood forever.
Shouldn't you do what you have to do?
"Esil!"
Esil, who had not been seen for a while, responded to Suho's call and waved his hand from somewhere on the shore.
"Suho! I found it!"
Everyone forgot due to the sudden appearance of the boss mob.
The Woojin guild led by Suho still had not forgotten the purpose of coming here.
"I found the gate!"
...!
It was only when Eshil shouted that everyone looked at him with surprised expressions.
'Oops!'
'Come to think of it!'
'We were looking for the gate?!'
Although we happened to catch the boss mob, Suho's guild was a gate search team from the beginning.
And while everyone is dealing with that boss mob.
Esil was the only one who managed to find a gate hidden somewhere on this beach from far away.
"good job."
It was only then that Suho smiled at the sight of Esil waving his hand from afar.
He then turned his gaze to find other guild members besides Esil.
"Are you okay!"
"Healers this way!"
"Medical staff! Medical staff!"
Healers and medical staff from the Hunter Association were already rushing around to treat the injured.
In particular, Lim Tae-gyu, an S-class hunter, suffered visibly serious burns.
However, Lim Tae-gyu himself did not care about these burns.
Rather....
"Please treat my son first, rather than me."
"Was this the son of Hunter Lim Tae-gyu?!"
The medical staff looked surprised at Lim Tae-gyu's words.
Lim Tae-gyu responded to their words with a warm look and patted the back of Lim Do-gyun, who was lying exhausted next to him.
"...yes. "He is my proud son."
It was truly fortunate.
Because he was able to save his son even in such a terrible disaster.
But today was different from 'then'.
-Ugh!
The son did not look at his father with the fearful expression he did then.
And he no longer ran away from himself.
"Brother, are you okay?"
"no. "It's not okay."
Lim Do-gyun stood up holding Su-ho's hand with an expression of happiness that he was alive.
Then he extended his other hand to his father, Lim Tae-gyu, and said,
"Is your father okay? "It hurts a lot, right?"
"..."This guy."
Who cares about whom?
Lim Tae-gyu chuckled at the sight of his son worrying about his own burns, held his hand, and stood up.
* * *
The gate that Esil discovered was already empty.
I wondered if Xavier had eaten all the living things inside.
Still, the amount of dungeon minerals that existed within it was significant.
And the ownership of all those minerals returned to the Woojin Guild led by Suho.
Of course, this matter did not exist in the contract, but it was thanks to Lim Tae-gyu giving up all the authority he was supposed to receive to Su-ho.
However, there was one problem.
Right time.
At the point where all the demons disappeared and even the boss mob died, the time this gate was maintained was extremely short.
To mine ore in such a short period of time, a huge number of miners had to be deployed at once.
But that was no problem for Woojin Guild.
"Get up."
Numerous shadow miners rose up from the guardian's shadow all at once.
They ran into the dungeon with pickaxes and shovels and began mining ore at incredible speed.
"Unbelievable...."
Lim Tae-gyu, who witnessed the wondrous sight, opened his mouth wide.
Although he knew that Seong Su-ho was a summoner, he never imagined that he would be able to summon this much at once.
Suho approached him and attempted to negotiate in earnest.
"Do you have any dungeons left in your guild? "The more dangerous the better."
"..."I was wondering why Do-gyun was so good at running away."
"Oh, that's a misunderstanding."
It was a real misunderstanding.
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