Chapter 169

Hell? He never wanted to go there.

‘Won’t there be more guys like Hell Gao in hell?’

The demons were too strong. He also didn’t want to fight them again, because the dropped items were too bad.

'No, it was a misunderstanding that the dropped items were bad.’

Grid watched the grinning memphis who was licking his fur with a red tongue.

‘An amazing pet dropped. Hell Gao was the most powerful boss I’ve faced. I might’ve only obtained two fire stones, but I was able to get a tremendous treasure in return for raiding him.’

[Memphis]

The most powerful species among the thousands of demonic beasts inhabiting hell.

As an adult, their fighting abilities are superior to the higher-ranked demonkin, so they are the favorite of the 33 great demons.

But they are a species in danger of extinction, due to their lack of breeding ability.

Their natural habitat is hell.

‘I managed to obtain such a precious pet and I ignored it.’

Grid reprimanded himself and brought up the status window of his pet.

Name: Not Set

Level: 1 (0/200)

Affinity: 0/100

Health: 5,000/5,000

Physical Attack Power: 60 Magic Attack Power: 30

Defense: 50 Magic Resistance: 80

Attribute: Dark

Status: Narcissistic

(As soon as I was born, I ate a human soul with my own strength! I am the best demonic beast of hell! Nyang!)

-Current Skills List-

[Fluidization]

When attacked, the body can become fluid like a slime to minimize damage. However, the damage from some attribute magic might become even greater.

[Soul Ingestion Lv. 1]

Has the ability to take away half of the target’s highest stats and transfer it to your master.

Skill Cooldown Time: Your own decision.

[Scratch Lv. 1]

Your paws will attack and poison the target.

Skill Cooldown Time: Whenever you like.

‘He gained zero experience points from defeating Yoshimura, so is it impossible to gain experience from PK? Anyway, his abilities at level 1 are terrific. The skill called Soul Ingestion is a complete scam.

The fact that the skill cooldown time depended on the memphis was quite annoying, but he would take it step by step. Grid laughed with joy.

"Master, do you like me? Nyang!”

The memphis was great. Grid made a pleasant expression as he looked at the cat.

'Sehee likes cute things like this. I’m worried because she has no hobby other than studying... Should I buy her a capsule?’

The memphis’ eyes in the shape of a ‘ㅅ’ looked sweet and cute even to Grid. He thought about buying his little sister a capsule, because he wanted to show her the memphis. Grid quickly nodded.

"Yes, I like you.”

“Of course you do! I am elegant, beautiful, and powerful. I am the best demonic beast of hell! Nyang!”

Pisik.

The memphis’ big and round eyes narrowed. Then he sniffed and spoke words that stabbed at Grid’s heart.

"But I don’t like Master.”

“Eh? Why?"

"You are ugly! I don’t like you!”

"..."

"Take a look twice~ can’t~ unsee~ it~~ nyang!”

Recently, Grid hadn’t been hearing that he was ugly. He had built up confidence, so there wasn’t anyone who became sick or tried to run away when he smiled at them. Therefore, he was shocked to hear that he was ugly from a cat.

Then the memphis tried to comfort him. "Don't worry! I won’t abandon you because you’re ugly! You can be ugly! Master just needs to entertain me!”

"..."

The cat should honor and serve his master, yet he was asking for his master to entertain him?

'This damn cat, does he not know the meaning of the words Master?’

Grid’s expression distorted while Peak Sword laughed at the sight.

"It looks like a cat, but its nature is different from a cat. Won’t you be struggling in the future?”

“Well... I can tolerate some things if I have this pet.”

The first way to build affinity with a pet was to name it. Grid worried about what he should call the memphis.

‘If it was a dog, not a cat with wings, the name Dog would be perfect...’

Was there a name he could give to this prideful cat? Grid thought of an appropriate name.

“Slave.”

“Nyang?”

“Your name is slave.”

"Kyaak!"

Padak padak!

The memphis flapped his wings hard around Grid and bristled.

“Master’s naming sense sucks! How can a noble beast of hell be a slave? Master is crazy! Nyang!”

Grid was surprised to see that the memphis had even extended his claws.

‘This cat doesn’t know the meaning of the word master, but it knows the meaning of slave?’

If affinity entered into the negatives then the pet could escape. Grid wanted to prevent the worst so he quickly changed the name.

“You heard wrong. It isn’t slave, it is Noe, Noe.” (TL: Slave in Korean is pronounced like Noye)

"Noe?" The memphis was confused. “What does Noe mean? Nyang?”

Grid replied roughly. "A slave is a slave... Noe means you are not a slave.... That is what it means.”

“Oh...! Ohhhh!”

The memphis’ wild eyes became lanterns again. As a demonic beast of hell, he had a lot of knowledge after being born, but he was still just a kitten. He felt like there was something wonderful and cool about Grid’s words. And then...

"Good! I am Noe! Nyang!”

He felt better and rubbed his cheeks against Grid. Grid laughed at the poor little guy.

“Okay! With this, your name is Noe!”

[Do you want to set the memphis’ name to ‘Noe’?]

‘Yes.’

[The memphis’ name has been set to Noe.]

[Affinity with Noe has risen by 5.]

The memphis raised a paw to his engorged belly and shouted.

“You are Master and I am Noe!”

“Correct.”

Grid made a serious expression and raised his thumb. Memphis. No, Noe was satisfied! He laughed. Peak Sword saw this and clicked his tongue.

‘Giving that name to a demonic beast...’

Grid truly wasn’t an ordinary person. After that, they left the dungeon and headed for Cork Castle.

“Ohh! The return of the heroes!”

"You cut down Yoshimura?”

The guild members praised Grid and Peak Sword, who had defeated Hell Gao and the Sakura Guild. They tried to question Grid, but were stopped by Peak Sword.

‘He didn’t register in the rankings, so he probably doesn’t want the public to know that he is Pagma's Successor.’

Peak Sword had keen insight as the head of an organization, so he didn’t spill Grid’s identity. He highlighted that they succeeded in the Hell Gao raid because of the fire stones weakness.

During the night.

Grid enjoyed a banquet and built up a friendship with Peak Sword and the Silver Knights Guild. Some guild members caused a fuss after they became drunk, but fortunately it ended without anything serious happening.

The next day. In the early morning, Peak Sword carefully asked Grid who was preparing to leave.

“You aren’t participating in the National Competition this year?”

Grid nodded. "A strange woman put down my name on the list of participants, but I have no intention of participating. I don’t want to expose my identity, and there isn’t much merit to participating.”

“Yes. But I hope that you change your mind next year. As a man, fighting for the honor of your country isn’t a bad experience... I will participate next year, so let’s join together.”

"I will think about it then. As a reservist, I am already in the arduous position of striving for the security of our country.”

Grid went out to the terrace. He savored the smell of salt on the wind and told Peak Sword.

"Please let me know if Hell Gao responds normally during the next cycle. I need one more fire stone.”

"I understand. But as I said yesterday, Hell Gao probably won’t appear for a while. He’s likely to be replaced by other high ranking demonkin.”

"I guess I’ll have to look forward to it. Then I’m going now.”

Grid immediately used Fly. Then he flew away from the island and disappeared into the horizon. Peak Sword watched Grid and thought.

'The greatsword with fraudulent attack power, the golden blades, the invisibility cloak and now the boots with Fly magic attached to them... Amazing. This game truly is about items.’

To be honest, he was really envious.

'I want to obtain items like that soon.’

Then Grid’s voice entered his ears.

-If you have a request to produce an item, please contact me. I will add you to the schedule. Of course, it's a paid service.

“Ohh...!”

He could request the production of an item from a legendary blacksmith! Peak Sword shook with joy.

-Thank you Grid!

The two people rapidly became closer after sharing secrets.

***

“Grid!”

Toban was waiting at Khan’s smithy as Grid returned after six days. Grid’s face, which had been happy since obtaining Noe, stiffened as soon as he saw Toban.

"Good work! Did you obtain the fire stones?”

Grid looked at Toban’s expectant expression and pulled out two fire stones.

“...I am lacking one.”

“Kuk...!”

Toban had already predicted this situation since Grid said ‘Believe in me.’ However, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed as it was proven true. Grid apologized to the frustrated Toban.

"I'm sorry. I did my best, but Hell Gao was too strong. It was impossible to focus on mining.”

Toban panicked. "Why are you apologizing? Is it something you should be apologizing for? I’m just grateful that you tried.”

To think he would apologize. Grid really had changed. He felt like a completely different Grid compared to the one Toban first met.

‘Can people mature while playing the game?’

Anyone could become strong if they levelled up. That was all. The level up system wasn’t one designed for people to grow internally. So how could Grid change in this way?

Toban thought it was a miracle. "In the past four months, Vantner had put his stat points in stamina and he can now play the role of tanker. Even if I don’t have the Fire Shield, there’s a chance we can succeed in the Phoenix Raid with him. So don’t worry about it.”

"Then I'm glad. I will keep these fire stones for the Fire Shield production.”

"Yes, thank you. By the way, why did you ignore Jishuka’s whisper?”

“Jishuka?” Grid was confused. "Jishuka never whispered me?”

“On the day you left for Cokro Island, Jishuka kept whispering to you, but there was no response."

Grid looked through his memories and nodded.

"Ah, I was busy with flying that day and ignored some whispers. It might’ve included Jishuka’s whispers. But why was she trying to contact me?”

“She wanted to ask for your home address...”

“My home?”

“She came to South Korea and wanted to meet you.”

“Hrmm...”

Grid thought about it and was sad to miss the opportunity. The guild members who came to South Korea because of this National Competition was Jishuka, Pon and Regas, so it was a chance to meet all of them.

'I definitely want to meet them... If I don’t meet them this time, I might not get another chance?’

Wouldn’t he regret it someday if he missed the chance to appreciate Jishuka’s fantastic body, who made hundreds of millions of won for taking pictures for a few hours? Grid checked the time.

"It will be the second day of events in reality. What events is Jishuka participating in?”

“Target processing and the siege. And it seems like the last one is treasure hunting.”

“The second day... It is the day with target processing and siege.”

The National Competition was everywhere when he turned on the TV, so Grid couldn’t help memorizing the schedule.

“Maybe I should go there.”

He said goodbye to Toban and logged out.