Chapter 311 - End of Round 19
Three hours before the round ended.
When the players saw Black Scythe appear alongside a demon, they became worried.
‘It can't be... has Black Scythe been...?'
‘Controlled by a demon...?'
Otherwise, he wouldn't walk next to a demon like that.
However, the players' expectations were wrong.
“It must have been surprising to see me suddenly appear with a demon, but don't misunderstand. This guy is my subordinate.”
“What?”
“Subordinate?”
A leopard-faced demon as a subordinate.
Ryu Min, as if there was nothing to worry about, gave the demon an order.
“You're scaring the guys. Relax your expression.”
[Yes...]
“First, introduce yourself.”
Being aware that he was a companion of the Demon King, Sitri did not look down on the humans.
He simply introduced himself, shrinking, like a new recruit to the unit.
[I am Sitri, the noble demon of the highest rank. Nice to meet you, companions of the Demon King.]
“Demon King?”
“Who? Black Scythe?”
When the players looked at him incredulously, Ryu Min explained how he became the Demon King.
Of course, omitting any unnecessary story like becoming a God.
“By killing a demonic Archduke named Plunictos, I acquired a skill to teleport to Hell. And by sitting on the throne I found there, a trial to become the Demon King emerged.”
After facing dozens of high demons, he managed to become the Demon King.
That's how he explained it.
Though it sounded incredible to anyone.
“Ha ha... Black Scythe is the Demon King?”
“It’s hard to believe, but with the evidence in front of us, there’s no choice but to accept it...”
Though the players were amazed that a human had become the Demon King, they didn’t know something even more surprising.
That he had also become a God.
‘If I say I’ve become a God, they’ll think I’m crazy.’
Not just in words, but he was now really a God. Ryu Min spoke as if to reassure everyone.
“Since I’ve become the Demon King, you have nothing to worry about. There will be no more demon attacks.”
Though he assured them confidently, people looked at the demon with doubtful eyes, wondering if they would really be safe.
Whether an angel or a demon, humans were not treated well.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I just need to use the demons.’
Ryu Min, with a smile, signaled to Sitri.
“Take out what you brought.”
[Yes.]
Following the Demon King's order, Sitri took something out of a dimensional space.
Suddenly, a rain of food and water bottles fell from the air, leaving the players astonished.
The food they longed for was right before their eyes.
“This is...”
“What is all this?”
“I thought you might be hungry, so I brought some food and drink.”
Despite Ryu Min’s calm words, the players were still dumbfounded.
They were more shocked than when they heard he had become the Demon King.
“Where did he get all this?”
“I brought it from Hell.”
“From Hell?”
“Demons steal food when they attack humans. So you can trust that it’s human-made food. I’ve eaten it too and nothing happened to me.”
"Ah..."
After hearing that it was safe to eat, people's mouths began to water.
“Don't be shy and take what you need to eat.”
"Thank you."
After receiving permission, Ryu Min mentally counted the people who were hurriedly collecting food and water.
‘Curiously, now we are 72, including myself.’
The number of survivors matched exactly.
The maximum number that could survive.
Moreover, seeing their faces, he noticed that all the main members were also alive.
Although some of Jo Yong-ho’s mercenaries had sacrificed their lives.
'And also Heo Taeseok.'
There was no one who didn’t know that the leader of the Church of the Four Gods, Heo Taeseok, had died.
The news of his death had spread through death reports and was revealed by Alex and his team, who were on the scene.
But it was only reported that he had been brainwashed by a demon, without specific details.
‘That’s why people mourn Heo Taeseok's death. Though in reality, it was an accident caused by his desire for revenge.’
Heo Taeseok’s death was self-inflicted.
Knowing that, Ryu Min no longer lamented his death.
And taking advantage of the opportunity, he decided to call the souls trapped in his gauntlet.
-Plunictos.
Why do you... call me like that?
Were you trying to speak to me confidently?
Ah, no! No, no!
You seem to have been comfortable even when I call you.
Ha ha... That’s not it. Anyway, why...?
Moros gave you information about the losers, right?
Yes.
How did you find him?
The losers had Moros’ item.
Now that he thought about it, Heo Taeseok wore Moros’ robe, a newly ascended God.
Thanks to that, Moros began to pay attention to Heo Taeseok and noticed the hatred within him.
And he gave you information because he knew that?
Yes.
Why would that guy help you?
I don’t think it was specifically for me. It seems he was trying to impress his superiors in Artaros.
That guy shouldn’t be underestimated.
Though he expressed his disdain without restraint about a God being involved, Ryu Min asked bluntly.
Is that Moros strong?
Well... I don't know.
Is he stronger than Artaros?
That's not it. Artaros is a genius out of nowhere who is treated as a God of martial arts. Moros couldn’t match him.
You seem to know quite a bit about Moros.
Ryu Min smiled sideways and spoke.
Tell me more about that guy.
-----------------
With the food resolved, people lay back showing relief.
“Whew, I thought I was going to starve to death, but here I am, alive.”
“Who would have thought that water would be so delicious?”
“Will nothing really happen to us if we eat?”
“Of course. Black Scythe ate it too, right?”
Now that the food was resolved, they just had to pass the free time.
But Ryu Min didn’t intend to stay still.
‘I will continue with the hunt I left pending while the demons were looking for food.’
With that thought, Ryu Min went back into the forest to hunt.
The result.
[The Predation Rune stack has reached 300.]
[As an additional effect, intelligence increases by 20%.]
[The Predation Rune stack has reached 1000.]
[As an additional effect, luck and drop rate increase by 20%.]
[The Predation Rune stack has reached 3000.]
[As an additional effect, agility increases by 30%.]
Additional effects were added upon surpassing 3000 stacks of the Predation Rune.
And in less than an hour, he reached 10,000 accumulated.
[The Predation Rune stack has reached 10,000.]
[As an additional effect, all attributes increase by 20%.]
After killing around two thousand monsters, the Predation Rune stack was maximized.
“Good. The attributes I’ve gained aren’t bad.”
Besides obtaining attributes through the Predation Rune, he also gained more by exchanging experience for attributes.
In total, he had accumulated around 3,000 attributes.
This result was achieved in just two hours since his return to the original world.
“I still have plenty of time to hunt.”
Grateful for the time he had, Ryu Min continued hunting.
It was then, while desperately accumulating attributes as if he were draining the sap of all the monsters in the world, that something happened.
[The 41st death has occurred.]
Death notifications that had been silent for a while began to appear.
“It seems the players have started fighting.”
Though he wanted to watch, hunting was his priority at this moment.
This round was an opportunity to gain a large amount of attributes, so he couldn't afford to be lazy.
“Besides, I can also collect some materials for Victor.”
Since he realized that he didn’t have enough materials to make life potions after returning from the other world, Ryu Min decided to gather as many materials as possible.
As the ingredients for life potions could only be obtained by defeating powerful monsters, it was the best way to get them.
After hunting to the maximum in the other world, he was able to accumulate up to 60,000 attribute points.
“Not a bad result. Though it’s an insignificant number compared to killing angels.”
Even so, he felt considerably stronger thanks to the abundant rewards he received.
“If I meet Artaros again, I’ll be able to defeat him easily.”
But the problem was that he had the curse of immortality.
He was worried about how to stop someone like that.
“What can I do?”
While pondering it, he decided to return to his companions first.
“But first, I need to go to the other world and bring some food.”
That's how Ryu Min, who had returned to the original world with the demons to bring food, initiated a transaction with Victor.
“Mr. Victor.”
“Oh, Black Scythe.”
“Allow me to make a transaction for a moment.”
“Yes?”
Ryu Min activated the transaction function without warning and uploaded hundreds of ingredients he had gathered.
“This... This is...!”
Victor, who recognized the ingredients, looked at the transaction window with wide eyes.
“I collected them thinking they might be useful. Use them well.”
"Ah..."
Though he was told to use them, Victor hesitated to press the accept button.
He was worried whether he should accept all those materials for free.
“Take it. The more life potions made, the better.”
“Thank you. Black Scythe.”
After pressing accept, Victor sincerely bowed his head.
Now he wouldn’t have to see his sister, Sophia, die in front of him.
Because now he had many life potions.
“Yamti.”
“Yes.”
Ryu Min, who had called Yamti separately, glanced at Min Juri and Seo Arin.
“Were there any problems between you two?”
“Problems, what problems? Actually, we’re getting along very well now.”
“Really?”
Ryu Min felt satisfied to hear that they had become friends, something unexpected.
“How many monsters have you tamed?”
“Well... not many. Last time, I used them all facing the demons...”
“Then let’s go together. There are still 3 hours left until it ends. If we want to tame more, we must gather monsters to be prepared for the battle.”
“Ah! Understood.”
Ryu Min headed out with Yamti to tame monsters.
Though he was worried that Artaros might suddenly appear recovered, nothing concerning happened until the round ended.
[Time limit reached.]
[Round 19 has concluded.]
[The number of survivors is 72 people.]
Thus, Round 19 came to an end without any issues.