Chapter 22

“Hyung! This…”

Right after Lee Gilyoung discovered the treasure box, I blocked his little mouth . “Shh, wait . ”

The world of Ways of Survival was relentless . The constellations enjoyed the adversity of the characters and added obstacles in the scenarios just to fuck with humans . Things saying ‘Catch me!’ usually contained traps and even system messages couldn’t be trusted .

“The treasure trove doesn’t just contain treasures . ”

[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is disappointed . ]

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon… He wanted me to die for a while .

Anyway, I waited . Shortly afterwards, shadows started to emerge around the treasure chest .

It was the ground rats . They brought something through the tunnel, threw it and exchanged information . Once a certain number of ground rats had gathered, the number of lights illuminating the surroundings increased . It was black fire, flames made with black ether . It was said that this place was the core of Dark Root, which was why it had so much black ether to burn . At that time, someone’s voice was heard, “It is all because of Yoo Sangah-ssi!”

There was no need to say who he was . It was a voice I would know at once . I gripped the shoulder of the surprised Lee Gilyoung tightly . It wasn’t time yet .

“Because of me, what do you mean by that?”

In the dim light, there were two people captured by the ground rats . They were tied up tightly by branches that came up from the ground .

“I-If Yoo Sangah hadn’t taken the subway, the situation wouldn’t be like this!”

“Why does the subway matter now?”

How could she accept all this nonsense? Maybe Yoo Sangah was a saintly person . Or maybe the sponsor behind her was a saintly person .

“T-That…That, Yoo Sangah-ssi, you ride a bicycle all the time…” Han Myungoh’s voice shook as he wrote gibberish .

Yoo Sangah’s tone was cold . “Wait a minute . Were you the one who stole my bike?”

“W-What is this person? I clearly told you that I would drive you in my car! You should know how to accept favours!”

“Answer me . Did you steal my bike?”

All of a sudden, the situation made sense . This was it . It was why a person who drove a Mercedes-Benz S-Class took the subway line 3 . Well, it wasn’t strange . There were quite a few men who had their eyes on Yoo Sangah, not just at the company but at Geumho Station as well . In fact, Yoo Sangah was a worthy person . Her atmosphere was warm and she knew how to flatter people .

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ hates the character ‘Han Myungoh . ‘]

Han Myungoh’s face was so red that it could clearly be seen in the dim lighting . It looked dangerous . “Yes, shit! I did it! So what?”

“Why are you talking like it isn’t a big deal? You took someone else’s things, it is theft . ”

“Theft? Shit, don’t talk bullshit! You should’ve just got in my car from the beginning!”

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ hates this trivial argument . ]

I didn’t mean to do this but there was no other way now . I quietly gripped the thorn .

“I didn’t ask you just once . I continuously asked to take you home but you kept fucking rejecting me…”

I threw the thorn as hard as I could . The thorn scratched the corner of Han Myungoh’s mouth and continued into the darkness .

“Uwaaaaack! What?”

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is pleased . ]

[100 coins have been sponsored . ]

“Dokja-ssi!” Yoo Sangah called out to me . However, I wasn’t looking at them .

Across the habitat of the ground rats, the darkness was split apart by the thorn . Then that damned guy came . There was no way it wouldn’t be in Dark Root .

[‘Dark Keeper’ has appeared!]

[The sub scenario has been updated!]

[Sub scenario ‘Kill the Guard’ has begun!]

Like slaves surrendering to a king, the terrified ground rats fell to the ground . A dark figure appeared in the dim light . A tentacled monster that was like a grim reaper . Lee Gilyoung’s complexion deteriorated sharply .

“Oof, Hyung, that…”

“It is okay . ”

Eventually, Lee Gilyoung fell to the ground and started retching . It wasn’t strange . A lot of pressure was felt just looking at it from afar . The cockroaches scattered around the area had their stomachs exploded . Lee Gilyoung, who was connected to the cockroaches, would’ve suffered considerable mental damage .

“Gilyoung . How many more times can you use Diverse Communication?”

“…I think I can do it one or two more times . ”

“I understand . Then rest here for a while . ”

I left Gilyoung leaning against the side and approached Yoo Sangah and Han Myungoh . The panicked Han Myungoh was struggling .

“O-Ohuk! What is this…?”

I took the Swiss Army knife and cut the branches binding the two of them . I only moved the knife a few times . Then the part of the branch that it touched abruptly corroded and the blade melted away . Yes, this was the power of a demonic species .

“Stay back . ”

I said while raising a weapon made of the spine of a ground rat . The 7th grade demon type species, dark keeper . Among the many monsters that appeared since the start of the destruction, the demon species were toxic . In fact, the treasures of the ground rats were close to ‘tributes’ to the demon . Even if it was the same grade, the demon species were different from other monster species .

[The ‘Dark Keeper’ has received the favour of the demon king it follows . ]

“Kamyun . Der . Yitur . ”

The demon species had their own language, worshipped different demon kings and inherited some of the power of the demon king through Dark Root .

[The ‘Dark Keeper’ has emitted ‘Fear . ‘]

[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ has neutralized most of the ‘Fear’ effect . ]

Therefore, killing one demon meant becoming the adversary of their demon king .

“Yitur!”

I didn’t know what it was saying but the situation didn’t look good . I didn’t want to fight if possible .

“M-Mother?” Yoo Sangah was the one who spoke . She still hadn’t left?

“I told you to stay back . ”

“That monster just said ‘Mother’…”

I thought for a moment about what this meant . No, wait a minute .

“Uhh, I think…K-Karud, yemiren? Ah, this is the pronunciation? Aketu?”

For a moment, I thought I was mistaken . But I didn’t hear wrong .

“Kallitu!”

Surprisingly, the dark keeper nodded at the end .

[The character ‘Yoo Sangah’ has activated the ‘Interpreter Lv . 3 skill . ]

…Oh my god, she wasn’t only good at Spanish . Let’s see what would happen . I asked, “What is he saying?”

“That…it keeps saying ‘become Mother’…”

…Become mother? The dark keeper cried out again and pointed to Yoo Sangah .

“Kallitu!”

Yoo Sangah had a tearful face . “Uh, Mother? I’m not married yet!”

The dark keeper pointed at Han Myungoh this time . “Kallitu!”

Han Myungoh turned pale as he wiped his lip . “W-Why am I the mother? Father!”

The dark keeper’s tentacles rose .

“Ooooof!”

One of the tentacles entered his mouth and Han Myungoh turned black . There was the sound of something moving down Han Myungoh’s throat . That’s right . This was what it meant to become the mother . I belatedly recalled that the demon species conceived their young in the body of other species .

“Yoo Sangah-ssi, you don’t plan to have a child yet, right?”

“Of course!”

Yoo Sangah immediately understood the words and stepped back quickly . I swung the ground rat spear and tore at the tentacles attached to Han Myungoh .

The dark keeper roared angrily, “Kallituo!”

The tentacles of the demon species were gradually breaking the ground rat spear . Even the stone hog thorn, which broke through the stomach of an ichthyosaur, would’ve been destroyed the moment it was stuck in a demon’s body . Before I knew it, Han Myungoh was far away while Yoo Sangah looked at me .

「 Is there a chance? 」

Her eyes seemed to be asking me . To tell the truth, I didn’t have a chance .

Pushu! Pushuu! Teong!

After a few strikes, the ground rat spear was almost destroyed . The hand holding the spear was in pain . The monster guarding the treasure chest couldn’t be caught, just like the ichthyosaur of Dongho Bridge . That’s why the original plan wasn’t to deal with this monster but to obtain the treasure chest after it disappeared . As always, plans existed for things to go wrong .

“Dokkaebi . Are you watching?”

[U-Uh . You knew?]

The dokkaebi showed up in the darkness . I didn’t know his name but he seemed to be a cousin of Bihyung .

“There should be some mail for me by now . I want you to hand it over quickly . ”

[Hihit . It isn’t my responsibility . I-It is Bihyung’s thing . ]

“Right now, you are taking Bihyung’s place . Don’t you see the constellations complaining?”

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband wants to scold the dokkaebi ‘Biryu . ‘]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ threatens the dokkaebi ‘Biryu’ . ]

The dokkaebi Biryu gulped . […O-Okay . Instead, it is just this once . I think it will be interesting!]

The dokkaebi muttered something and the summoning began .

[The item has arrived from the exchange . ]

[The item ‘Broken Faith’ has been acquired . ]

[The brokerage fee was exempted due to the effect of the contract . ]

Broken Faith . The item bartered for the ‘ichthyosaur core’, which was registered on the Dokkaebi Bag’ exchange, had finally arrived .

“Kik . ”

The dark keeper saw the item coming out of thin air and laughed . No wonder it was laughing . All I received was a D grade item . It was a knife broken in half .

[The item is too old to use . The durability will be poor and it will be difficult to achieve any performance . ]

Even the dokkaebi who gave him the item was giggling . [H-How can you fight with that old thing? And it can’t be used if you don’t have a special skill…]

I knew that much . I wouldn’t have bought it if I didn’t know .

“Sigh…” I sucked in a breath and concentrated my mind .

Kiiing!

The hilt started trembling greatly . Biryu shouted with shock .

[Uh? How?]

It was natural to be surprised . It was because this was a skill I bought from his friend for a huge 10,000 coins . Blue ether started to settle slowly on the surface of the broken blade .

[White Pure Star Energy]

After killing the ichthyosaur, I bought this skill from Bihyung . There were a few flaws compared to other superior energy techniques, but they weren’t something that could be obtained for the time being .

[Broken Faith has responded to your star energy!]

[Blade of Faith is activated!]

Shortly afterwards, a brilliant white virtual blade sprang up from the edge of the broken blade . Broken Faith, its real performance was revealed when star energy was injected into it .

The number of tentacles increased by dozens and covered my field of view . I wouldn’t be safe from these attacks with my current stamina level . It was scary . But now there was a chance . It was because the Blade of Faith was the best quality weapon when it came to demon species .

The tentacles touched by the blade were oxidized and cut off . The dark keeper let out a terrible scream as its tentacles were destroyed . I felt magic power draining out but I wasn’t in a hurry . I calmly moved the blade . I missed the tentacles many times because I didn’t have the ‘Fighting Senses’ skill or the ‘Swordsmanship Training’ skill, so the way I wielded the blade was terrible . It was natural . I was a reader, not a swordsman . And a reader fought in the manner of a reader .

[The attribute effect has improved your memories of the pages already read . ]

The pages of Ways of Survival flashed in my head .

「…The dark keeper’s attack pattern is simple . Unconditionally, the tentacle on the upper right will first… 」

「 …After the attack, a single tentacle at the bottom… 」

「 …Its tentacles regenerate but it will take a few minutes… 」

I read diligently and used what I had read .

“Kuaaah!” The dark keeper shrieked as its tentacles were cut .

On the other side of my field of view was Lee Gilyoung . The young boy looked at me with awed eyes . Unfortunately, unlike his wishes, I wasn’t the main character in this world . Still, I was confident of at least one thing .

“Kar . Mien . Der . ” The dark keeper muttered as it barely managed to pull itself together from its shock . I didn’t ask but Yoo Sangah muttered from behind me in a quivering voice, “How do you know all my weaknesses…?”

This was what it meant . I gave an answer in a light manner .

“I usually read a lot of books . ”

I knew more about this world than anyone else .