SWNOVELS
Chapter 37
“Just who is this guy? What is he up to now?!” Lee Minsung, the vice guild master of the Fiend Guild, slammed the table in anger. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸𝘦𝒷𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝘮
- (Hot News) The Crow: The new beast king!
- The mysterious Hunter who obtained the power of a king, Crow!
- Why did the new beast king wear a crow mask?
The source of his fury was the articles circulating online covering the events of the Magok Field.
“Vice Guild Master.” Secretary Kim entered after knocking and delivered his report. “All the members of the Hyena Guild who entered the Magok Field have been found dead. We’ve just completed the retrieval of the last corpse.” contemporary romance
Minsung clenched his fists and shattered the armrest of his chair. “I knew it would come to this.” He sharpened his gaze with a menacing expression. “Now all the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place.”
He had taken the remaining goons of the Hyena Guild under his wing. The werewolves requested a sudden visit to the Magok Field just two days ago and have been AWOL since.
“We’ll investigate if there is a factory in Magok.”
The excuse seemed plausible at the time since Minsung had urged them to find a new Stardust factory at any cost. However, the vice guild master had little to no trust in his devious recruits and assigned a few stealthy hunters to follow them. The hunters were told that the werewolves had an excellent sense of smell, and were to be watched from as far as possible.
As expected, their deceit was soon exposed. The werewolves weren’t alone as numerous hunters in their beast forms swarmed to Magok, all vying to prove they were worthy of becoming the new beast king.
“Sir, they were never there to search for a factory. It seems that they wanted to obtain the power of some beast-like king.”
Minsung wondered if they had planned to free themselves of their servitude once they possessed the mysterious power. He was amused by their cruel twist of fate as their ultimate goal of freedom had come in the form of death.
Secretary Kim continued with his report, “After examining some of their corpses, we found that they were not killed by magic beasts but by hunters.”
“No, they weren’t killed by hunters.”
“Pardon?”
Minsung chewed on his lip and stared at the internet articles with a confident gleam in his eyes.
- Why did the new beast king wear a crow mask?
“I’d wager that a demon killed those fools. The crow mask is like a symbol for demons.”
The first thing that came to his mind when he read about the crow mask was the demons in the factory. The reason was beyond him, but he knew for certain that the devils there had always worn crow masks.
“This Crow... He’s definitely a demon. Demons must have killed the Hyena members and stolen the power of this king.”
“C-could that be the case?”
“I’m certain. I was told that only those capable of beast transformation were deemed worthy of the trial. Then, what must a demon do to gain that power?” Minsung asked. His secretary’s silence was like fuel for his boiling anger. “Are you kidding me? Did you take your stupid pills again?” He clicked his tongue at his secretary’s bewildered expression. “No, it’s my fault for hiring an idiot like you. Do you at least remember how those Hyena goons were able to turn into werewolves?”
“They awakened by drinking the blood of a magic wolf... Ah, yes! The blood!” The secretary’s mumbling ended with a resounding realization, but the fact left him shivering in shock.
Minsung’s eyes widened as he nodded. “That’s right, the blood. Humans can turn into beasts by drinking blood, so why not demons? The demons likely killed the Hyena guild members and drank their blood. Thus, they became worthy candidates for the trial and took the king’s power.”
“Wow...” Secretary Kim listened with amazement, his face filled with admiration for Minsung. “Your acute insight has struck again! The all-seeing vice guild master! I would have never been able to come to the same conclusion with the same information.”
“Tsk, it’s not a big deal. It was a simple deduction.” Minsung’s expression softened at his secretary’s sincere flattery. “Anyway, now that we’ve completely grasped the situation, the important thing is to make good use of this information. Since the Hyena members are all dead, we need to step forward and initiate dealings with the demons for Stardust. Understood?”
“Yes, I understand. We need to locate the factory first, and our clue is...”
“Magok.” Minsung’s eyes looked sharper than ever as he pointed at the articles. “How do you think a bunch of demons without transformation skills stumbled upon this trial in the Magok Field? There is no such thing as coincidence. Logic dictates that the demons must have been there from the beginning.”
“Oh, I see! Then, the werewolves weren’t completely lying about their search for a factory there.”
“It seems that way.”
“Understood. I’ll leave no stone unturned in my search for the demons in the Magok Field.”
“Good. Also, if we want to negotiate with the demons with the power of the beast king, we should prepare plenty of meat.”
“Ah! Of course. The werewolves were big meat eaters too. You’re truly wise, Vice Guild Master!” Kim, deeply impressed once again by Minsung’s wisdom, bowed.
Unfortunately, the former celebrity’s incorrect reading of the situation was lost on both of them.
“Oh, by the way, what happened with that doctor?” Minsung asked. He had given the secretary another task, and it was the last item to check off.
“My apologies, sir. I haven’t been able to convince him yet. He is more stubborn than I thought.”
“Don’t give me excuses! Why do you think I’m paying you so much? If money doesn’t work, drag him here by force!”
“Yes, understood. I’ll make it happen before the end of today...” After giving his answer, Secretary Kim quickly left the vice guild master’s office.
Watching his hasty departure, Minsung put down the phone he had picked up to throw it at him. “I only have myself to blame for hiring that idiot as my secretary.” This is the problem with hunters. Combat prowess comes before intelligence when it comes to hunter rankings.
Since he had established himself as an elite businessman long before becoming a hunter, his new reality was at odds with his worldview.
“I’m different from other hunters. I was born different.” His perceived arrogance of hunters stronger than him made him grit his teeth.
***
[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]
Meanwhile, Suho returned to the Shadow Dungeon with ten packs of fried chicken. His world of shadows was quiet as no goblins had appeared for the daily quest. He realized that he had been gone for less than a day.
“Wow! What’s that delicious smell?”
“Woof?”
Lured by the smell of fried chicken, Esil and Gray eagerly approached Suho.
The Young Monarch handed over all the chicken he had brought to the lavender-haired demon. “Go ahead, eat up.”
“Thanks for the meal!”
The young fang wolf growled, tilting his head.
“That look is adorable, but you’re not getting any,” Suho said.
Gray lowered his head in disappointment as he was given nothing yet again.
At that moment, Suho received a message from Rakan.
[Rakan said you are being cheap.]
Suho defended himself, feeling unjustly accused. “Who’s being cheap? Rakan’s Fang said that Gray needed to eat what he hunted to grow stronger. He can’t become strong if I spoon-feed everything.”
He felt further emboldened by the fact that a mountain of dead goblins had piled up in the dungeon. The vast quantity of food meant that Gray didn’t need to worry about his next meal even if he had to share the goblin meat with Esil.
[Rakan understands your point. But he asked if you don’t pity Gray since he’s never eaten fried chicken in his life.]
“Hmm.” The question made him feel like he was a terrible person, and eventually, he conceded. “Esil, give Gray a piece of chicken.”
“Ah...” The demon looked at Suho like an orphan without a home. Her trembling hands reluctantly passed the lightest pack of fried chicken to Gray, a pitiful sight given she still had nine packs left.
With the chicken pack in front of him, Gray lowered his body and revealed his feral eyes and vicious teeth. “Grrrr!”
“No, it’s not something you hunt. There’s no need to fight fried chicken.” Beru observed the pup’s naivety with a disdainful look.
A message had arrived from the former Monarch, who seemed pleased by the scene.
[Rakan nodded with approval and said that Gray is his exceptionally courageous heir.]
“Geez. I don’t remember asking,” Suho chuckled.
As Esil and Gray sat amicably and shared some fried chicken, Suho decided to check his leveled-up stats and abilities.
“Status window.”
[Status Window]
[Name: Sung Suho
Level: 25
Job: None
Title: Wolf Slayer
HP: 5,860/5,860
MP: 586/586]
[Stats]
[Strength: 53
Stamina: 34
Agility: 34
Intelligence: 34
Sense : 34(+5)
(Available Ability Points: 0)]
[Skills]
[Passive Skills :
Pain Tolerance - Level 2,
Dual Sword Mastery - Level 2]
[Active Skills :
Ruler’s Authority - Level 1,
Shadow Extraction - Level 1,
Storm Slash - Level 1,
Smash - Level 1]
[Items:
Rakan’s Fang
Vulcan’s Horn
Ashen Ring]
“Wow...” Suho whispered, satisfied. His level and stats had grown tremendously, and he also boasted a growing list of new skills. “All the hard work has paid off.”
He checked his most newly acquired skill.
[Skill: Smash - Level 1
Active Skills :
Required Mana: 300
Applying “Ruler’s Authority” to one’s body enhances attack power.]
He had acquired the skill by delivering the final blow to the Giant Tomb Spider. This skill requires 300 mana points? No wonder it’s so strong. It was a skill he couldn’t use consecutively at his current mana level.
Ruler’s Authority. Suho decided to experiment with the skill.
First, he summoned Ruler’s Authority. The invisible hand hovered in the air, and then he let it drop and cover his hand, shrouding it in a dark aura. He looked down at the hand, which now appeared to be wearing a large, semi-transparent black gauntlet. The Ruler’s hand and mine combined as one. Two hands are better than one, after all. This will triple, no, quadruple my attack power.
Suho glanced at his mana level.
[MP: 586]
It was an astonishing amount of mana considering the stat was only 10 at level 1.
If I level up one more time, my mana will exceed 600. Then I can use this skill twice in a row. The power he could produce excited him, and he clenched his fist.
His recent adventure had made him certain more than ever. I’ll need to enter more real dungeons to level. His level was far beyond the goblins from the Shadow Dungeon, and it had been that way for some time. He needed to find dungeons with more formidable magic beasts like the Magok Field to become stronger. To do that, he needed to... I need to raise my hunter rank.
Being an E-rank hunter, he could only join dungeon raids as a miner or collector. The Magok Field made him realize that there were potentially more field-type dungeons of its magnitude. Increasing his rank seemed vital as the opportunities to enter higher-level dungeons were sure to increase.
Suho suddenly recalled the association hunter’s suggestion from the Seoul Station Field. He thought that there might have been an error in his initial mana measurement and recommended getting a reassessment.
The reminder cemented his decision to visit the Hunters Association.