130. A Dog Who Lost His Owner

“Kerut! Keruk! Hu-human…. How…..”

There was surprise in Karin’s eyes, the same eyes that gazed at Jong Ho and I.

Almost as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen, the wrinkles near his eyes flattened out.

On top of that, he was hiccuping.

Jong Ho spoke to Karin, who had turned still like stone.

“Karin, why are you acting as if you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Keheh… Human…..”

“Pfft. We’re nothing different from ghosts. He was absolutely positive that Berdan would win, but here are the two of us standing right before him. He must be quite shocked.”

“Aha. I guess so.”

“Hyung-nim, especially time times like these, we should help him face reality, right?”

“Keruu….”

“Hm… That’s true.”

Jong Ho put on his most earnest face.

Putting his hand on Karin’s shoulder, he spoke.

“Your owner Berdan is dead. Even pulling out his horns, he resisted. However, all his limbs were cut off and he was butchered pathetically before being turned to ash! You can’t even recognize him by his remains!”

“KEHEH!”

“Hey, are you insane! Is there something wrong, hyung? Why are you being so graphic!”

“Why I told him the reality of the situation immediately and accurately. I’ve met all of the requirements…..”

“Whew….. You’re being quite the handful. Look how scared he is. What are you going to do about his expression?”

“Was it too much?”

“You realized that now?”

“Keru….. What happened! Human! Where is sir Berdan?”

“Berdan is dead. We won.”

“…….”

Looking at us, his eyes were filled with loss.

Other than the demon king Jamon, he had thought that Berdan was without equal, so it must be difficult for him to accept this.

However, this was the truth.

For a long while, he lowered his head and was lost in thought.

It was then.

“KUWUH!”

“Keh! Keruut!”

One of the monsters standing nearby had tried to charge in an attempt to attack Karin.

I grabbed onto its neck and blew it up in a single hit.

Perhaps being severely frightened, he was holding onto me tightly while trembling.

When we headed for Berdan’s castle, all the monsters quaked in fear when they looked at us.

Forget attacking like this, they were too afraid even make eye contact with us.

This included not only Jong Ho and I, but Karin as well.

But a sudden attack from the monster just happened.

Latching himself onto my trousers, Karin murmured to himself.

“Kel. Berdan’s Authority has disappeared…. My magical energy…. Kehel….”

“……”

“I’m going to die now. Keruu….. Sir Berdan……”

That was right.

The Authority that Berdan had given to Karin was the only reason why the monsters of the demonic realm weren’t attacking Karin.

However, since Berdan had disappeared, the Authority bestowed upon Karin had disappeared as well.

That was why Karin, who was the lowest ranking monster called Puppet Goblin, was nothing more than a snack to the monsters.

Losing his owner meant that he did not have anyone to rely on at this moment.

I spoke to Karin, who was shaking in fear.

“Are you scared?”

“Keru……”

“Berdan, who had been your shade this entire time, is no more.”

“Kel.”

“What will you do?”

“……”

“Do you want to become a meal for the monsters while you guard Berdan’s castle? Or will you serve me and live longer?”

“……..”

It seemed that he wasn’t able to come to a decision easily.

That was expected, as he had been serving him for hundreds of years.

Due to the situation completely changing in a single moment, he must be in quite a shock.

However, it didn’t take long.

Wobbling about, Karin hurriedly ran into the castle.

There was panic behind his footsteps.

It seemed that it was difficult to accept Berdan’s death.

I followed in after Karin.

Lowering his body before the giant throne, Karin was murmuring.

“Oh great Berdan……”

“Hm….. If it goes on like this, food supply will be an issue.”

“I am having a hard time accepting this situation.”

“……”

“How could this happen…. It’s such a tragedy.”

“It was expected that it’ll be difficult to get him to switch sides….”

“However, doesn’t the living have to go on? Keruk.”

“Huh?”

“Keruu. Thank you for taking care of me all this time. I’ll be going then…….”

“Why is he so quick at changing sides?”

After dogeza-ing before the throne, he quickly ran over to me.

I was flabbergasted at how he was acting as if this was normal.

Staring at me, he cleared his throat and spoke.

“Kerut. Ahem! Great Min-……”

“Hey hey! No need. Just go on as normal.”

“Kel kel. Are you sure that’s ok?”

“I guess you were waiting for me to say that?”

“Keruru. Human, is it ok for me to follow you?”

“Yep. I’ll protect you. In return, provide me with information about the demonic realm and take care of the food inside your pocket dimension, okay?”

“Kerut. I got it. You can count on me.”

“Firstly, I’m going to go take care of the monsters near the Gate.”

“Kel? Ok. I shall guide you!”

“I’m not bad with directions, so I can at least remember where I’ve been. You should help with Jong Ho hyung to make dinner.”

“Kel! I got it.”

“Yeah. Also ask hyung-nim to melt the frozen beef for you.”

“Kel kel. You really are a good human.”

“How can you be so weak against steak….”

Jong Ho entered the castle after us.

I picked up my weapons and was preparing to go towards the Gate.

Looking at me, Jong Ho spoke.

“What happened with Karin? And you said you wanted to eat, so where are you going?”

“Please prepare the meal, hyung-nim. I already gave Karin instructions. I think I need to get to the Gate.”

“The Gate?”

“Yes. I have to clean up the surrounding area around the Gate.”

“Hm… Ok, got it. Take care.”

“Yes.”

I was going to head for the Gate in a bit.

If any of the idiotic monsters of this demonic realm entered through the Gate, they would immediately be teleported to Earth.

Despite Berdan’s death and his Authority vanishing, this wasn’t made from his own strength.

Using Karin to relay his commands, this portal was made by sacrificing countless monsters, so it wouldn’t have expired.

The whole reason to have come through the portal willingly was to stop the chaos and destruction that would occur if Earth was to become a battlefield.

To accomplish our original objective, I had to defend the Gate from entry.

****

It didn’t take long to arrive at the Gate.

As expected, many monsters were gathering near the Gate due to it exuding power magical energies.

Perhaps some had entered already.

However, on the other side of this Gate stood the combined might of the commander and Awakened from all over the world.

There wasn’t much of a reason to be concerned.

They would be able to stop them without much trouble.

“KUWUHHH!”

“KAAAA!”

At my arrival, the monsters became restless.

Each of them let out fierce Fear howls, but how they acted after was pathetic.

All of them were lowering their tails and slowly falling back.

It was to be expected.

I had taken down 2 of the 4 leaders of the demonic realm.

The amount of magical energy within me would be beyond their wildest imaginations.

“How obnoxiously loud.”

“KARU!”

“Hush! Hey! Who do you think you are to dare challenge me!”

“……”

“You die if you try to go through here.”

“……”

“Whew. I guess you don’t understand?”

It was then.

A herd of monsters were charging at full speed towards the Gate.

Looking with my Eye of Insight, I was able to see that these monsters were called Butcher.

At their appearance, the air became putrid with their rotting scent.

“Ugh! Are they friends with the Ragged? Smells quite terrible.”

“Kuruk!”

Leaping up, I blocked the entrance towards the Gate in a split moment.

Following that up, I casted In Storm to cover the area with electricity.

The moment that they arrived here from their running, they would become fried.

The many Butchers that charged fiercely as if they had been hypnotized finally arrived in the range of my In Storm.

“KUWHECK!”

“KWECK!”

It didn’t take even a few seconds for them to burn like a lump of charcoal.

Those that could still move continued to fiercely charge forward.

Their corpses burned, making popping noises from the sparks from the inferno.

They soon became ash and settled on the ground around me.

The monsters nearby spectated the entire scene.

As expected, due to their lack of intelligence, they looked on without a care.

Since this was the case, there would definitely be some monsters that would try to enter when I left this place.

“I killed them to make an example out of them, but none of you are scared? Guess that means that I have to kill you all.”

****

I took out all the monsters in my field of vision.

No matter how far I searched around the areas near the Gate, I could not see a single monster.

However, I knew that there were more monsters in the demonic realm than I could ever imagine.

That’s why it would probably only take a few hours or minutes before monsters would roam near here.

I wasn’t able to just stand here and guard though.

“Hm…. I guess the only ones I can rely on are them.”

“KUWAAG!:”

“KUWUHHH!”

“KUWUH!”

“Loud, huge, and good at combat.”

In front of the Gate appeared three Devil Avatars.

They understood and followed my commands to the letter.

While I explored the demonic realm, I would keep this place on my mind, but these creatures would be an immense help while I wasn’t here.

On top of that, I summoned one more.

It was King Suwoo, a creature summoned from an S+ ranking summon skill.

This was a creature that was summoned by Ghost during our fight before.

I already knew how useful summoner skills were.

That’s why I couldn’t help but be sold at King Suwoo’s destructive and endurance capabilities.

The Devil Avatars had strong magical attacks, while King Suwoo had powerful physical attacks.

Of course, I had to make sure that these monsters would be able to handle the situation in the case of enemies with magical resistances appearing.

The top 1% of the monsters in Berdan’s territory had already all perished.

Gathering in Berdan’s castle, they met their terrible fate at my hands.

Even so, I was positive that these summoned creatures could not kill all the monsters here.

After all, compared to here, the monsters of the Hidden Dungeon were child’s play.

There would be different results depending on the monster’s ranking, but if they charged in small numbers like what just happened now, these creatures should able to stop them.

I spoke to the summoned creatures that now guarded the Gate.

“Prevent them from entering. No living creatures are allowed to enter through this Gate, okay?”

“KUWANG!”

“Good. If any of you perish, I will sense it and come running. Do not forget that I am always watching over you, and halt them with all your might! No matter what it takes, okay?”

“KUWUH!”

“They sure are dependable.”

***

Demon king Jamon was staring into space with a serious expression.

Several days had passed since he had met with Berdan.

Berating him for his complacency, he had commanded Berdan to surrender his territory and monsters under him to Ladin.

The demon king spoke to himself.

“I cannot sense Berdan’s magical energy…… And what is that new magical energy…. Zekill? Berdan? No, whoever it is, they have both their magical energies.”

Due to Berdan’s death, the shroud that was used to hide Min-Cheol’s magical energy had become undone.

However, the demon king already knew of Min-Cheol’s existence even before the shroud became undone.

He is the demon king, after all.

It didn’t even take any effort for him to sense anyone with massive amounts of magical energies.

He had sensed the magical energy of Zekill, who had expended all of it while traveling to another dimension.

On top of that, he sensed the magical energy that had been Berdan’s on this new person.

Unsettled, Jamon whispered to himself.

“Who would it be…….”