Chapter 9

“Of course!” After responding to Suho’s command, Beru, looking puzzled, asked, “But to kill those wretched fools, shouldn’t we attack them from behind?”

“What are you talking about? We’re going to mine.”

Frothing at the mouth, the ant king jumped up and shouted, “You can’t be serious!” He couldn’t believe it. What on earth was this all about? To him, Suho had just been given the power of the mighty and invincible Monarch of Shadows, a truly imaginable power. He lamented the fact that such an awesome force was going to be used for mining when a battle was raging in the vast cosmos between armies that numbered in the millions. What use was mining in such a situation?

“I understand that but my powers are currently limited to just three weakened goblins. We need to be realistic. I imagine my father was like this when he was weak, right?”

“But...”

“And you said it last night too,” Suho recalled the conversation he had with Beru the day before.

***

On the day Suho was on his way back home from the hospital, the ant had spoken with a serious expression. “Young Monarch, our mission can be summarized into three main tasks,” Beru, no larger than a fist, continued with much grandeur, “First, we must protect Earth from threats from outer universes.”

“Is this about entering dungeons and hunting magic beasts?”

“Yes. As you hunt magic beasts, your level will gradually increase and you’ll become stronger, meaning that the Earth will become safer. And second, we must find a way to locate and rescue the missing Lady Haein.”

“That’s right. Do you know a way we can find her whereabouts?”

“Unfortunately, I have no clue. However, if we continue to capture beings from outer universes, we may come across some clues eventually, don’t you think?” Beru suggested, hinting that Suho spent more time in dungeons to grow necessary strength. “And thirdly. This is the most important.” Beru blinked his eyes and pointed at himself. “I need to recover my strength as soon as possible and return to the battlefield where the Monarch of Shadows awaits. The balance of the war, which was already tense, must have become precarious in my absence as a key force.”

At this point, Suho was also curious. Beru’s reduced size was merely a means to conserve strength, as his original form and power were a living nightmare. With such immense power taken out of the equation, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how the course of the war might be unfolding.

“How can you regain your strength?”

Suho’s question made the ant’s lips stretch into a wide smile. “Of course, I have to eat.” It was an incredibly wicked and sardonic smile.

Long ago, amid the fragments of a world long forgotten, the ant queen arose and declared, “Let’s create the ultimate soldier.”

The queen needed the strongest soldiers to rebuild the kingdom, which was crumbling under the hands of humans, to lead her subjects. Half a year passed, and the queen was able to combine every ounce of her magical power and nourishment to conceive. The queen’s determination to create a powerful soldier, combined with the ancient command to exterminate all humans, resulted in the birth of a horrifying monster that defied common sense. The skill inherent to that monster was “Devour.” The creature absorbed some of the target’s mana and knowledge simply by consuming them.

While reminiscing about that distant memory, Beru spoke. “My innate skill is “Devour.” Whether it’s a human or a magic beast, my strength will increase the more I consume. Admittedly, it was an inefficient method that I used in the past, but we don’t have much of a choice now.”

A human or a magic beast... Suho reminded himself that Beru lacked humanity since he was never human to begin with. Seeing the monster drool at the mention of eating humans, it was clear that he was the perfect monster incarnate.

Suho stated firmly, “Still, don’t just eat any human.”

“Hm?”

“If you’re going to, at least eat only bad people.”

Upon hearing those words, the magic beast narrowed his eyes. “As expected. Like father, like son. He gave me the same command. A long time ago, he said that if I’m going to eat, eat only the wicked.”

“Father said the same thing? What’s the criteria for wickedness?”

“Well, obviously...” Beru smiled faintly. “People that harm the Young Monarch.”

***

They were back to the task at hand.

“Remember, that’s what you said.” Suho was quick to remind the ant king about his words.

Beru countered, “So naturally, isn’t it obvious that we should enter the dungeon now and level up?”

“No, how can an E-rank hunter enter a dungeon alone? E-rank hunters can’t join assault teams, you know?”

Suho was highly realistic. As Dogyoon explained, the only role an E-rank hunter could play in a dungeon was strictly a labor-intensive, non-combat role. Suho was thinking of going for a re-evaluation once his mana was high enough to be at least a D-rank after leveling up. The system of dividing hunter grades was recently established, so there are still many errors reported with the measurement devices.

“To start, we should focus on doing what we can for now.” Suho chuckled.

His laughter made Beru suddenly feel a sense of foreboding. “Why are you laughing like that while looking at me?”

“Our third task,” Suho recalled the ant king’s words with a meaningful expression. “You have to recharge your mana as soon as possible by eating, right?”

“That’s right. Whether it’s a human or a magic beast...”

“What about mana crystals, then? If your ability is devouring, wouldn’t consuming magic stones charge your mana?”

Startled, the ant’s expression immediately stiffened. “Well... that’s true, but magic stones contain only a minuscule amount of mana, so it’s not very efficient...”

“Is that a problem? Then just eat more of them,” With a bright smile, Suho continued, “The ones you pick up here are free.”

Beru let out a deflated groan.

***

Suho passed through the gate with the other miners. The dungeon they had entered was completely different from the Shadow Dungeon. While the Shadow Dungeon was a vast wasteland city of unimaginable size, this place was a winding cave. Moreover, seeing everyone with a pickaxe in their hands made the mining experiences seem more real.

The miners made their way into the dungeon. The presence of luminescent mushrooms and glowing fireflies scattered throughout ensured that it was not very dark.

Clank! Clank! The sound of pickaxes at work began echoing from various places. Being experienced hands, the pickaxe sounds were uniform and rhythmic. But suddenly, they came to a sudden halt.

“Huh?”

“What’s that?”

The attention of the miners had shifted to Suho and the shadow goblins he was directing. Three shadow goblins, laughing wickedly, were mining with their pickaxes. The eerie creatures were doing their master’s bidding.

“Wow. I didn’t know summoning skills could do that...”

It was natural for people to be surprised. The widely known summoning skills like “Explosive Bug” or “Sleep Butterfly” offered assistance in battles where the summoner directed the summoned creatures like a Pokémon Trainer, only providing instructions and guidance behind them.

“I guess that’s one way to use them.”

The shadow goblins manipulated by Suho appeared to be slightly smaller and seemed to possess less strength compared to regular goblins. But they were still strong enough to swing their pickaxes. Their most important quality was that they never seemed to tire no matter how much they dug. As soon as their stamina even slightly waned, mana flowed from Suho, recharging their strength.

“This is incredible…”

“This new recruit is out of this world!”

The miners excitedly cheered him on.

“All that talk about summoning skills being bad was just nonsense! It’s such an amazing skill!”

“We can’t afford to be idle, or the new recruit will dig up everything on his own!”

“That’s right! Let’s show him what us seasoned miners are made of!”

The inspired miners resumed their mining work with cheerful laughter. The sight of stout goblins working alongside them added a pleasant atmosphere to the scene.

“Scoundrels...” Beru watched the heartwarming scene from behind the crew as he chewed on the mana crystals like cookies.

***

As the E-rank miners happily continued to dig, the other teams consisting of D-rank hunters and above were targeting a location much deeper than the mining site.

“This dungeon is empty.”

“Right. The only thing in here are those wolves that keep popping out.”

“Wolf hides don’t fetch much money.”

The collection team cursed their luck as they followed behind the assault team, dismembering beast corpses. Although disappointed, the wolf skins they obtained weren’t entirely worthless. The odd mana crystal or two could be found in corpses, so they had to work diligently regardless.

“We have to save every penny we can.”

The cart they had brought along was steadily filling up with wolf hides.

“Huh? There’s something here.”

Suddenly, one of the assault team hunters called out to his team. A massive ruin stood ahead of them. The sight made the hunters tense up and forced them to scan their surroundings vigilantly.

“Could there possibly be a boss-level monster here?”

Generally, D-rank dungeons had a low chance of spawning powerful boss monsters. However, the existence of such a structure implied that something unusual could happen—the uniqueness was by no means a pleasant situation for the hunters.

“What is this?”

“What could be inside to have such ruins here?”

“Shouldn’t we go outside and request more support for this?”

The hunters murmured. The leader of the assault team, mediating the discussion, examined the area with a cautious expression as he led them forward.

“Be quiet. For now, there are no signs of magic beasts detected by my tracking skill.”

“Are you sure? Why would there be such a structure when there are no magic beasts?”

“Let’s find out right now.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of the captain’s mouth.

“Who knows? Instead of a boss monster, perhaps there’s a hidden treasure.”

“Treasure...!”

The prospect of treasure excited the hunters. Besides the usual mana crystals and wolf hide, items of different rarities could also be found in a dungeon. Once a hunter’s rank was determined, their power ceased to grow, and these items were the only way to increase their powers.

“Captain! There’s something here!”

The group discovered a sword stuck in the center of the ruins. It was an unusual-looking sword, which radiated an eerie aura.

“What do we have here?”

The eyes of the hunters were simultaneously filled with greed.

“We’ve hit the jackpot!”

“Wow, it’s a weapon!”

While it was hard to tell without taking it outside and testing its properties, by the looks of it, it seemed like they had discovered an impressive weapon.

“Captain! Let me take it out!” The hunter with the most strength stepped forward, spitting on both hands.

“Huh? Wait, Yongjun! Handle it with care...!” The captain tried to stop him, but his hand was already firmly gripping the sword’s hilt. As he tried pulling the sword out, Kim Yongjun suddenly heard a booming voice in his head.

“Who dares covet the Monarch of Fang’s sword?”