Chapter 239
Summon Flame Demon.
It was a Unique-rank skill, but when various conditions were met, it showed power beyond Unique rank.
The stronger and more widespread the flames were, the more powerful the summoned flame demon would be.
However, where there are advantages, there are disadvantages.
A skill of Unique rank that offers this much utility naturally has considerable demerits.
This skill allows the temporary summoning of a powerful demon, but the summoner has no control over it.
In other words, there is no master-servant relationship.
Especially when all enemies nearby are already dead,
The summoned demon prioritizes recognizing the summoner as its enemy.
Just like now.
- Kuhahaha! Summoning me, Zrak, so recklessly without any enemies around!
However, the flame demon named Zrak sensed something strange.
First, this wasn’t the high-level summoning circle he was supposed to be called from.
Second, the summoner standing before him seemed to possess a very mysterious power, unlike the summoning circle that Zrak felt.
Was the summoner trying to test him?
That was the impression Zrak had.
Still, he was a demon, and a flame demon at that.
Although not a noble-ranking demon,
He was still a high-ranking demon species.
So while he could sense mysterious power, Seonghyun’s sheer size and presence threatened him.
But at that moment,
“Hmm, looks like a raid boss... and there’s less than five minutes left.”
Zrak muttered something incomprehensible.
Just as he tried to ignite the flames,
Many teal-blue portals started opening in the air.
Up till then, Zrak thought it was some trivial dark magician’s play.
He had enough power to think that.
But then,
- Hmph! Just summoning lowly undead... huh?
Just as he was about to say so,
From the teal-blue portals came a familiar hellish energy.
A demon with dark red skin wielding a greatsword appeared.
It was definitely a demon knight.
- Oh, huh?
Blinking in surprise, Zrak noticed the demon knight Balthar smiling wickedly at him.
- You’re bored. Perfect timing.
Startled by Balthar’s eerie and threatening words,
Just as Zrak tried to retreat,
Drakhanos suddenly appeared too, flooding Zrak’s mind with countless question marks.
- ???????
Even Balthar, looking like a demon knight, was strange.
And now, even a primordial demon, Drakhanos, appeared.
Each of his followers emitted an extraordinary aura.
Zrak swallowed hard as he saw them.
Seonghyun quietly said,
"There’s no time, so let’s finish this quickly."
At Seonghyun’s words, all the followers simultaneously answered and charged toward Zrak.
Seeing this, Zrak realized he had no chance of winning.
He smiled faintly and closed his eyes.
He understood surviving here was impossible regardless of what he did.
He figured it was simply bad luck, and dying here was acceptable.
Death here wouldn't erase the existence in hell anyway.
After all, this was how the summoning circle was set.
He died without worry.
- Ugh! Grrrp! Kweeeek!!!
Though the pain was tremendous,
He died peacefully without resistance.
At least that was better.
Also, Zrak could be considered wise for that.
Upon dying without resistance,
[You have gained enormous experience points.]
"Oh?"
It was more experience than expected.
Though treated like a monster, he was surprised they actually gave experience.
However, since it wasn’t a true raid boss,
The reward was stingy.
An epic-rank crafting material called Flame Demon’s Tear.
Since it was a material unlikely to be used, he just stored it in his inventory.
Checking the remaining cooldown,
Since the original cooldown was about an hour,
Around 54 minutes remained.
The cooldown seemed a bit long,
But still, summoning a flame demon giving decent experience once an hour was great.
“I got an awesome skill, didn’t I?”
If he used the Hourglass of Reversal to reduce cooldown,
It recharged up to five times daily.
Using it five times could yield meaningful experience gain.
If that wasn’t enough, he could hunt the remaining Hexia region raid bosses.
Thinking so, Seonghyun spread wide hellfire again by using skills.
Then using the Hourglass of Reversal, he summoned the flame demon.
- “W-What? Why, why again?”
Zrak was summoned again, looking incredulous.
Seonghyun smiled slightly and greeted him,
“Hello. We meet again?”
- Ah, ah!
“It’s not Zrak’s fault he got caught by Seonghyun.”
“One, Helena-sama, this ignorant flame demon dared to insult the Lord.”
“Hm? That cannot be forgiven.”
- Kuhahahaha! I will show you a lesson!
- Whew, I’m glad to escape Noya’s training, even if just like this!
- If the Lord was insulted, th-that is unforgivable……
- Pieeeee!!!
- Hehe, this old man will lend a hand too.
- Mutter mutter mutter.
As all the followers' killing intent pierced like needles, Zrak, who had turned pale, cried out:
- P-Please spare meeee!!!
That was Zrak's second dying words.
6.
- Grrrrk!
What should have been a miserable death rattle felt strangely peaceful.
At the same time, Helena laughed heartily and said,
"Wow! Turns out he's really a good boy, isn't he? To help us by stabbing himself in the neck!"
After Seonghyun summoned him repeatedly, starting from the third summoning, Zrak not only stopped resisting but actively helped by stabbing his own neck to die quickly.
At that point, Seonghyun felt a bit sorry for him, but this was the end.
The Hourglass of Reversal could only be used 10 times per day, and if all uses were exhausted, there was a low probability it could be destroyed.
So he used it exactly 9 times.
Since it recharged 5 times every midnight, it wasn't really a waste.
Rather, leveling up quickly was more beneficial. Get full chapters from N0veI.Fiɾe.net When he told Zrak this fact, Zrak was so moved to tears knowing this was the last time.
With Zrak's sacrifice added,
[You have gained enormous experience points.]
[Level Up!] x2
[Reached level 192.]
Including the one just killed, he gained a total of 2 levels.
'This is better than I thought.'
It would get slower as he progressed, but using it whenever he remembered might be quite effective at his current level.
As hellfire and other skills grew stronger, the summoned demons would become more powerful too.
Though it seemed like Zrak would still appear.
According to Balthar, Zrak wasn't at full power yet, so he'd be summoned for a while longer.
That was probably right.
Just as Seonghyun was casually thinking this and considering finding other quests during the remaining cooldown, something tried to approach by tearing through space.
At that moment, a message appeared:
[The effect of Almighty-rank item, 『Primordial Demon Crest Ring』, delays the teleportation attempting to reach this location.]
So that was its effect.
After realizing this, Seonghyun felt the space tearing proceed more slowly, but he wasn't particularly on guard.
After all, there was only one being who would appear like this at the moment.
As expected, the person who emerged from the crushing space was a beautiful woman with dark blue hair.
She was Karina, the branch manager of Over Palace Hexia.
“Sorry for suddenly appearing and causing confusion.”
“No worries. That happens. So, what’s going on?”
Although Seonghyun asked, he already knew.
Karina was the one who had said she would create a way to dramatically increase experience gain.
He thought that everything must be ready now.
With some anticipation, Seonghyun looked at her.
Just as expected, Karina bowed and said to Seonghyun,
“All the preparations for the successor’s growth that I explained earlier are complete, so I came to escort you.”
“Ohho.”
Even Seonghyun felt quite excited about this.
Smiling with satisfaction, Karina also showed a somewhat happy expression and spoke proudly,
“I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”
Feeling genuinely hopeful, Seonghyun nodded and opened the Netherworld gate to bring in all his followers.
Then Karina returned with Seonghyun to Hexia Castle.
Upon their return,
The senior dark magicians who had been highly attentive bowed deeply,
“Welcome, successor!!!”
“Welcome back, successor!!!”
Though the attention made Seonghyun slightly embarrassed,
At least they weren’t in front of other users.
He thought that was a relief, scratching his cheek.
While waiting,
Karina said to Seonghyun,
“I will guide you to the prepared place.”
Seonghyun nodded and willingly followed Karina’s guidance.
They arrived at the entrance to a basement different from the one accessed previously via Helena’s diary.
Was this the place they had prepared?
What kind of preparations could it be?
As Seonghyun entered the basement,
A considerably large chamber unfolded.
It resembled a boss room in a dungeon.
Seonghyun looked around but found nothing obviously prepared.
Wondering how to take this,
His eyes caught something at last.
The floor.
“Oh?”
Looking down,
He saw the floor fully covered with magic circles.
Not just one simple magic circle,
But an enormous number of them.
He thought this was probably why it had taken some time to prepare.
This was undeniable.
Seonghyun thought so and felt a curiosity inside.
'What kind of magic circles are those? Hmm? But why do they look so familiar?'
They should have been magic circles he had never seen before, yet somehow they felt familiar.
It felt like he had seen them recently.
Tilting his head at the strangeness, Karina smiled pleasantly and murmured,
"You recognize them immediately."
"...?"
He hadn't recognized them at all.
Maybe he would have if he had more time.
As Seonghyun was puzzled, Karina snapped her fingers and emitted her dark blue magic to scatter across the magic circles.
Then all the magic circles lit up.
At the same time, three magic circles glowed brightly.
They soon began to form a shape as if vomiting something out.
As soon as Seonghyun saw it, he realized,
"A demon summoning circle?"
"Indeed, you recognize it."
Karina looked at him with eyes full of admiration.
Seonghyun thought, "So this was the method," but rather felt it was good.
He hadn't expected NPCs would suggest such a method.
Anyway, it was undeniably efficient.
The summoned demons were three.
Among them was
- Oh, huh? Why am I summoned again...?
The flame demon Zrak, who was more than an acquaintance due to familiarity,
Was standing there.
Meanwhile,
Zzzt!
- Who dares summon Brao, the mighty one!
- Who summoned Kaz, the mighty one!!!
Two other demons shouted that.
One was enveloped in lightning and seemed to be a lightning demon.
The other gave off a chill and seemed to be a glacier demon.
Between them,
Zrak, who was quietly present without emitting fierce flames, met Seonghyun’s gaze.
He smiled and without hesitation scratched his own neck with his claw and said,
. - Hehe, please help me die as quickly as possible this time too.
Seeing this, the other two demons looked at Zrak in disbelief.
Karina was applauding him with admiration.
"Truly, successor. You’re already subjugating a demon!"
Seeing Zrak’s self-harm and Karina’s praise simultaneously,
Seonghyun scratched his head and thought,
"So this is why they prefer experienced veterans."
It seemed leveling up to 200 would go smoothly.
Perhaps even beyond might be possible.