133. Out of Focus

Thinking that they could not absorb the magical energy of humans despite killing them, the demon king and Ladin left Jong Ho’s corpse alone and left.

If Jong Ho wasn’t wearing the resurrection ring, the magical energy that he had been collecting would have been transferred over to Ladin.

Just like that, the demon king and Ladin disappeared completely from sight.

Karin, who had been hidden from view with Mass Stealth Jutsu, came out trembling and went towards Jong Ho.

The two of them knew of Karin’s presence, but since he was such a low ranking monster, they had ignored him.

They acted as if they weren’t interested in Karin in the slightest.

“Keheh. Hu…. Human.”

“…….”

“Jong Ho…. Are you…. Dead? Stop joking around……”

“…….”

“Kehel. I can sense your magical energy. You’re not dead. Wake up!”

“…….”

Seeing Jong Ho die so easily, Karin could do nothing but sit still.

He shook Jong Ho’s body repeatedly, but there was no reaction.

In denial, Karin continued to call Jong Ho.

This all had taken place in less than ten minutes since Min-Cheol had headed through the Warp and headed for the Gate.

Almost as if someone had planned this out ahead of time, they had met not only Ladin, but the demon king as well.

Helpless, Karin could only guard Jong Ho’s body that was cooling.

“Keruu… Human, I wasn’t angry before. I wasn’t upset either…..”

“……”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again ever, so hurry up and wake up.”

“…….”

“I’m scared. I’m scared that Min-Cheol would also be done in by the demon king….. I’m afraid that I’ll be left alone. I’ll swear my loyalty to you, so please don’t die. Please?”

“Can I trust you?”

“You can trust me. Goblins do not go back on their promises….. Kel? Human!”

“I thought I was really going to die.”

“Kehel? Human! Did you not die! Is this for real?”

“Ah…. To be precise, I was dead and was revived.”

“Kehellll!”

“Why are you like this…. You’re being too much!”

Jong Ho’s pale face had instantly regained its life.

His body that had been torn apart was restored back to perfect condition, almost as if it had never been damaged in the first place.

The armor that had been shredded like paper was slowly regaining its form.

Normally, regular armor would not self repair.

However, the defensive gear that Min-Cheol and Jong Ho was wearing far surpassed anything that could be called normal.

After all, the equipment had stats and effects that most people couldn’t even dream of.

Karin was hugging Jong Ho, who had woken up.

It seemed that he was quite happy with Jong Ho’s revival.

Gently pushing Karin aside, Jong Ho quickly looked around to check if the demon king was still nearby.

Jong Ho already had casted every single defensive skill he knew the moment he woke back up.

Being done in once was enough of a mistake.

He could not allow to be taken down so easily again.

Continuing to look around, he asked Karin, who was still giving him a running hug.

“How long was I out for?”

“Keru. I think it has been 20 minutes or so.”

“What? Only 20 minutes?”

“That’s right.”

“Firstly, what about the demon king? Is he still nearby?”

“Keru. No. I do not sense the magical energies of the demon king or Ladin.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure.”

“Whew….. I’m glad you’re safe as well. Did you hide well and made sure that you weren’t discovered?”

“Keruu. No. It seems that the ability you used doesn’t work against them.”

“…….”

“They definitely knew of my presence.”

“Is that so….. But somehow you survived?”

“Keruu…. It’s embarrassing to admit, but they ignored me and left, saying that I’ll perish on my own to the food chain of the demonic realm.”

“That’s something you shouldn’t bother remember. Forget it. It’s a good thing that we made it.”

“Kerut. However, I think it works on other monsters. While you were down, none of the monsters around could not sense me.”

“Then I’ll cast it on you one more time. Just wait here for a bit.”

“Kehet? Are you telling me to be by myself again?”

“I have to get to Min-Cheol. If I don’t tell him as quickly as possible, you might just be left alone forever. I’ll be back soon, so don’t worry and wait here.”

“Keruu. I understand. You have to hurry back though.”

“I got it.”

****

Jong Ho thought of the moment where he had lost his life, albeit it being a brief moment.

He tried to think of the time when he recovered from the demon king’s attack and was trying to get to the Warp.

But no matter what he tried, he could not remember Ladin’s attack.

There was no movement or special effects that Ladin made.

All he could recall was that Ladin had blocked the path to the Warp, and his vision had gone white before losing consciousness.

When he had regained consciousness, he was in a small space filled with darkness without a single speck of light.

In that room, he found himself standing idly, and he could see a single small flower that was sprouting out of the ground.

This small flower that didn’t blossom yet was of a strange color that he had never seen before.

Despite the room being pitch black to the point where he couldn’t see almost anything, he could still see that flower.

The flower was transparent like glass, changed between many colors, and glowed softly.

The only thing he could do in that situation was to wait patiently.

He tried to find an exit by feeling the walls of the room and even casted magic to try to break through the walls.

Realizing that a long time had passed since he started his search, he had given up and had sat in front of the flower.

Despite not knowing the exact time, he could tell that at least a day had passed.

However, Karin had said that only 20 minutes had passed.

It amazed him so to hear that.

However, that wasn’t the end of the bizarre occurrence.

When he looked at the flower, he had lost his will to escape this place or continue living.

He only felt peace and was no longer bothered by hunger, thrist, or any other desires.

The only thing that bothered him was of his relationships with the people he was leaving behind.

He remembered the mother who received him with love, his lover, and a brother who was closer to him than blood.

These were the memories that he could never forget.

He had come to terms with his current situation, accepting it as it was.

He was most likely dead, and was probably something similar to the concept of purgatory.

Just like that, he continued to stare at the flower blankly for days on end.

Suddenly, the magnificent flower blossomed at an incredible speed.

“The flower……”

Even then, Jong Ho could not feel any emotions.

He simply acknowledged that the flower had blossomed.

Giving the petals a look, he stared blankly.

“Huh?”

Then he saw something that caught his eye.

He sensed something different in the center of the flower.

Fixing his posture and staring more closely, he saw a human.

It was a fetus curled up in a mother’s womb.

As the flower opened up further, the human became easier to see.

And then finally…

Jong Ho could not remember anything after that.

Hearing a child’s cry, he had received life once more.

The long silence ended, and he was returned to the arms of the ugly green goblin.

****

“Hyung-nim, you’re here?”

“Yes…….”

“It was enough with just me, so why did you come? Waste of the Warp cooldown, really.”

“…….”

“But why do you look like that? What’s up with the blood?”

“…….”

Jong Ho’s armor and body had recovered completely.

However, the spots of blood that he had spilled still remained.

Min-Cheol looked at those spots with concern.

He turned his attention to Jong Ho’s hand.

“The ring. Where is the ring?”

“That’s……”

“Don’t tell me….. Were you done in by Ladin?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay?”

“As you can see, I’m okay now.”

“Let me see.”

Min-Cheol went around Jong Ho to check on him.

Thankfully, he could only see spots of blood, but there were no injuries.

Jong Ho lowered his head and spoke in weak voice.

“I promised to return the ring to our mother, but it’s been only so long in the demonic realm and…..”

“That ring isn’t anything much. That fact that you’re safe is all we need!”

“It really happened in a flash. I faced them off not ten minutes after you went through the Warp.”

“……”

“Since they cannot tell where we are, it must have been a chance encounter….. Both Ladin and Jamon were there. And I was completely done in. I couldn’t even put up a fight before being taken down in a single blow……”

“You said that the two of them were there together?”

“Yep.”

“You must be quite shocked from the whole ordeal, so get some rest first. We can talk details later.”

“No. I already rested for an incredible amount already. But Karin…..”

“Ah! What about Karin? Was he killed?”

“No. Since he couldn’t take the Warp with me, I told him to wait there.”

“I guess they don’t care much about Karin.”

“Yep. But the thing is, Mass Stealth Jutsu didn’t work on them.”

“It’s probably because all monsters can read magical energies. For monsters without intelligence, they can probably sense it too, but they probably didn’t attack since they could not see us.”

“Yep. Also, there are a couple more things I’d like to share.”

“What’s up?”

“I received both their attacks once, but I wasn’t able to see Ladin’s attack.”

“Are you saying that he was that fast?”

“He probably is. But no matter how fast an attack is, you can usually tell where it came from. One can usually tell where they got hit, how hard, and how much damage you took.”

“That’s right. No matter how dumb a person might be, they can usually tell.”

“The thing is, when I said that I couldn’t see his attack, I meant what I said. I really couldn’t see anything. I didn’t feel where I got hit or how hard, but I immediately lost consciousness.”

“Seems he has a trick up his sleeve…..”

“Yep. Also the demon king immediately went for my heart. It was similar to how you use your Eye of Insight to identify and strike at the weakness of your enemies.”

“Isn’t it possible that the demon king had fought humans who had crossed over to the demonic realm before? There might have not been that many, but I did hear that some had arrived in the Unknown Dungeon.”

“No, it doesn’t seem so. He asked me if I was one of those so called humans. From what he said, it seemed that he was very curious about humans. He acted as if he had never met them before.”

“I see. Is there anything else?”

“That’s all. They are far stronger than what we had imagined them to be.”

“…….”

“Zekill, Berdan? They cannot even be compared to the two.”

“Do you think it’ll be difficult if I fought them as I am now?”

“Not sure. If they have attacks that breaks through your Mana Shield….. It’ll be difficult.”

“That’s an unexpected answer. I didn’t think they were that strong.”

“Yep. We have to come up with a solution.”

Min-Cheol did not disregard Jong Ho’s comparison of strength between him and the demon king.

It was because he trusted Jong Ho to make a cold and logical call on this situation.

And Jong Ho had the most accurate information regarding the two of them, since he had just fought them.

Thinking about it for a bit, Jong Ho spoke.

“First, we rest for 11 hours!”

“Huh? What about Karin?”

“We’ll have to bring him. But first, we have to wait for the Warp cooldown. If we meet them again? The only way we can get away is using Warp.”

****

“Keruruu! You humans! I take back what I said about pledging my loyalty! I, goblin Karin, will be going back on his promise for the first time! Keruk. I am hungry. I’m scared. When will you be coming! Human!”