Chapter 243

The shortest distance from Reidan to Titan was via Viscount Welkun’s territory. But Grid headed there through Earl Zebra’s territory. It was a huge delay of 10 days, but he didn’t mind.

‘Lauel told me to stop here and get the Slaughterer’s Eye Patch.’

Do so through any means, he had added. It meant the item called the Slaughterer’s Eye Patch had great value.

'Slaughterer.’

According to Lauel, the Slaughterer was an inhabitant of Earl Zebra’s underground area. Earl Zebra’s hobby was the torture and gruesome killing of half human, half beast species.

‘But it was impossible to control.’

Half human, half beast. Depending on the circumstances of this species’ growth, they could be either human or beast. It was a natural result that one of them would become an evil beast from Earl Zebra’s brutal actions.

‘I will know what type of person he is when we meet.’

Grid focused on hunting for four days and decreased his infamy, allowing him to move on.

***

‘This is a bad place.’

Earl Zebra’s castle.

The entrance was exceptionally dark and desolate, reminding Grid of the entrance to a dungeon. It felt like once he entered, he wouldn’t be able to get out again. It was a very bold person who would be able to step in here.

But Grid didn’t feel any fear. He went forward without any hesitation. As his self-esteem grew, he became less cowardly. He wasn’t the same as the person who used to pee at the sight of ghosts.

“Who?”

The soldiers guarding the gate looked at Grid suspiciously. The person was wearing a deep hat that covered his face. Grid took off the hat. His dignity stat was over 1,500 points and he had 25,000 continent reputation, so he was extremely influential. The soldiers seemed to see a halo around Grid. They felt a baseless confidence.

“Where do you come from?”

The soldiers misunderstood Grid as a high-ranking noble of the empire and became polite. This was a familiar transformation. Grid didn’t feel much from it and responded with a nonchalant expression.

“I came to fight against the Slaughterer.”

“Heok.” The soldiers gulped. This person would fight against the fearsome Slaughterer!

‘Furthermore, by himself?’

‘The others all tried to bring more companions...’

“Are you serious?”

The soldiers asked with disbelieving expressions and Grid nodded.

“That’s right.”

***

"Hrmm."

Earl Zebra’s body weighed 0.1 tons. It wasn’t pleasant to look at his belly fat and greasy face. He stroked his droopy chin and looked at Grid before speaking.

"What are you?”

Earl Zebra was competent and ordinary. He had no apparent talents. He became an earl because he inherited it from his father, just as his father did. But his eyes were good at looking at people. He often mingled with high-ranking nobles in the social circles, so he could feel the dignity coming from the other person.

In his view, Grid had a dignity compared to the royal family.

‘However, he isn’t any royal member that I know.'

In the first place, why would royalty come to this area to try and fight a monster? The royal family were like gods in this world, so it was natural for them to pursue safety.

‘Royalty from a foreign kingdom?’

Grid replied to Earl Zebra.

"I am someone who will solve your problem. Isn’t that enough?”

“Hah.”

It was truly a cheeky tone. Earl Zebra didn’t like it, as well as the fact that Grid didn’t disclose his identity. But he didn’t feel the need to dwell on it.

‘Anyway, he will die.’

The Slaughter had evolved into an evil beast half a year ago. Like every day, Earl Zebra was torturing and killing somebody when a man watching the scene suddenly trembled and transformed. Now an uncontrollable monster lived under the castle.

It was serious. Earl Zebra was keen to defeat it. He used the most powerful knights and magicians in his family, hired top-ranking mercenaries and even recruited adventurers. But in the end, he failed.

So far, the number of people who had attempted to defeat the Slaughterer was over 800, and all 800 of them had died. That Slaughterer was strong. In addition, there was a problem with the environment. The basement was narrow and the Slaughterer was large.

The maximum number of people allowed in the basement was three. It was the crucial reason why the strongest knights and magicians in his family couldn’t kill the Slaughterer. It was impossible for only three people to get rid of the Slaughterer.

But the black-haired man in front of him was alone.

“Kukukuk. Yes, yes. I understand. It doesn’t matter who you are. Just please fix my problem.”

The knights had already been killed by the Slaughterer. Four days later, reinforcements from the Red Knights would arrive. Earl Zebra wasn’t expecting anything from Grid, so he spoke vaguely.

Then a quest window appeared in front of Grid.

[Fight the Slaughterer]

Difficulty: S+

In the past, Earl Zebra found a half man, half beast species from the slave market and purchased it. He enjoyed playing with his toy in the basement of the castle as he tortured them.

But eternal joy doesn’t exist.

Zebra became bored of torturing stupid monsters who couldn’t speak the language, and became addicted to torturing the ‘good humans.’

He framed innocent people, made them prisoners, dragged them under the castle, tortured them, then killed them.

The half man, half beast watched this every day and became frightened, finally showing self-protective instincts. He opened the strength of an evil beast.

The Slaughterer has been subjected to numerous tortures and has the ability to grasp humans.

He is strong and dangerous.

He will become a great disaster someday if left unchecked now.

Quest Clear Conditions: Slaughterer’s death.

Quest Clear Rewards: Black Quartz Earrings.

Quest Failure: Level -6. Reputation throughout the continent - 1,000.

‘S+.’

It meant it was extremely difficult compared to S-grade quests. He heard that the number of participants who could participate in this quest was only three.

‘Lauel said that the Slaughterer can’t be defeated unless Pon, Regas and Faker formed a team.’

But.

‘I think you can clear it alone.’

Lauel was always a reasonable person. Grid could trust his words.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

The soldiers guided Grid down to the basement. They walked down a narrow staircase for three minutes before arriving in front of an iron door that was firmly closed.

“O-Over here.”

The sound of the Slaughterer breathing could be heard, so a soldier opened the lock with trembling hands. Then the soldiers ran away before the iron door opened. Grid was left alone.

‘No matter how strong, you must be weaker than Hell Gao.’

He had experience fighting against the strong evil aura of Hell Gao, a great demon. He acquired two new sword techniques. His control skills were rapidly rising due to Noe and Randy. Grid was in his strongest state since starting Satisfy. The greatness he showed the world at the National Competition? The Grid at that time was nothing compared to the current Grid.

Step step.

Grid listened to the sound of his footsteps echoing in the basement. The sound of the Slaughterer also entered his ears.

Kuoooh!

The Slaughterer’s appearance was horrible and sad. His skin was peeled off and rusted metal pieces were embedded deeply inside his body. There were also pieces of flesh out of place. These were signs of Earl Zebra’s torture. His face couldn’t be identified because he was wearing a mask, but he had an eye patch and only one eyeball.

“Poor fellow. I will kill you quickly so that you don’t suffer anymore.”

Grid pulled out two greatswords. A blue greatsword in his right hand and a jade greatsword in his left.

[The +9 Failure has been equipped. Due to the effect of orichalcum, your damage has risen by 30% in this dark place.]

[The +8 Doppelganger’s Greatsword has been equipped. One 50% of the weapon’s attack power is applied due to the double wielding penalty.]

Kuaaaaah!

The Slaughterer roared. When it saw the weapons, it was reminded of its nightmarish days of being tortured.

[The cry of the Slaughterer has caused fear.]

[You have resisted.]

[The persistent eyes of the Slaughterer will penetrate through your weaknesses.]

[You have resisted.]

Kung kung!

The Slaughterer rushed with its massive body. Then it randomly swung its weapon.

‘How crude.’

Grid had fought Randy, who copied Pagma’s power, a total of 83 times. In the end, the Slaughterer couldn’t pose a threat compared to the Randy.

Chengkang!

The jade greatsword blocked off the path.

Puok!

The blue greatsword pierced the heart of the Slaughterer. The thing that should be noted here was that it wasn’t one strike. Grid smashed the flesh of the Slaughterer with his weapons.

Kuaaaang!

The Slaughterer cried like a child struggling with pain. Grid cut the lower part of the Slaughterer with the jade greatsword while he used Pinnacle with the blue greatsword. The blue greatsword fell like a thunderbolt towards the Slaughterer’s chest. The rotten blood mixed with pus splattered out and covered one wall of the basement.

The Slaughterer was filled with rage. Why did he have to always suffer like this? He didn’t want to be born a monster! The Slaughterer seemed to be crying out. As hiss weapon fell towards Grid’s head...

Chaaeng!

Randy appeared in the shape of Grid and used Revolve.

“Let’s finish this.”

Suuuk.

Seven blades spread out in the air. The golden blades shone brilliantly in the dark basement and poured towards the Slaughterer. Noe was also active.

"I'm going to eat! Nyang!”

The huge mouth swallowed up the Slaughterer.

[Strength has increased by 1,831.]

Grid was reinforced by the stats received from Noe, and used Pagma's Sword Dance, Linked Kill.

The option effect of the Doppelganger’s Greatsword was applied, giving him a 20% increase in his skill damage. In addition, the ‘Five Joint Attack’s option effect of Failure and the Holy Light Gloves were activated. Therefore, Link Kill was reborn a his strongest skill.

[You have killed the Slaughterer.]

[108,950,109 experience has been acquired.] One-third of this will each be distributed equally to Noe and Randy.]

[The Slaughterer’s Eye Patch has been acquired.]

[The Slaughterer’s Mask has been acquired.]

[Three weapon enhancement stones have been acquired.]

[A Blessed Weapon Enhancement Stone has been acquired.]

The Slaughterer’s eternal pain ended. Grid appraised the items that were dropped and understood why Lauel told him to come here.