• The fourth Devil Summoning Stone has been destroyed.

• Due to user ‘Ian’ and ‘Remir’, the monster wave portal that was scheduled to open in ‘St. Ville Plateau’ of the central continent has been cancelled.

• The second Devil Summoning Stone has been destroyed.

• Due to Devil King ‘Ricardo’, the monster wave portal that was scheduled to open in ‘Lolangka Mountains’ of the northern continent has been cancelled.

Many users, who were in the middle of hunting in various places across Kailan, wore dumbfounded expressions after checking the world system messages that suddenly popped up.

“What the hell? How did this happen?”

“My point. Exactly what is happening in the Devildom?”

Information on the internal situation of the Devildom was a fact that only a small number made up of just the top-ranking users knew.

Even though a user who entered the Devildom now was considered quite good, there were only about 100 users that were actually carrying out their quests at most.

Excluding them, as all the rest were just hunting in around Zone 120, there was no way for them to know about the destructive devils, Khalifa, and such.

As that was the case, it was hardest for them to understand the fact that Devil King Ricardo had destroyed a monster wave.

“What exactly could it be? Is some sort of internal conflict occurring within the Devildom?”

“No kidding, there are so many strange things happening. This is also my first time seeing a monster wave being destroyed on its own.”

And the biggest interest of the public was the part related to whether the monster wave being destroyed would be an advantage to them or not.

“Anyhow, as 1/3 of the monster waves have been destroyed, isn’t it a good thing?”

“How?”

“If we cannot stop the monster wave, we would lose even the central and northern continent. If that’s the case, the amount of content loss is enormous. While Ian and Remir have stopped that.”

“Ehh, I don’t think that’s the case. Would the development team have really planned the monster wave so that the users wouldn’t be able to stop it?”

“Huh…?”

“Think about it. If the central and northern continents were to be Devildom-ized just like you said, it might not be the case for the true beginner users that are hunting in the eastern and western continents, but that would mean that the base of the mid-upper level users that are between lv 70-150 would disappear. That means the balance will collapse.”

“You do have a point there as well.”

“So that’s why I think that Ian and Remir have instead done something useless.”

“Why’s that now?”

“Since they’ve made two of the monster waves useless, our hunting grounds have shrunk.”

“Hul… Is that what it ends up meaning?”

Tons of opinions between the users went rampant, and in the official community, a fierce battle came and went everyday.

This was because the opinions were half and half, one side backing up Ian and Remir, while the other side criticizing them, stating that they were acting selfishly for their personal quests.

However, of course, the people directly involved had absolutely no interest in that sort of reaction from the official community.

* * *

“Wait, wait a second.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Remir had red hair that flowed with sheen, as well as skin as pale as a doll’s.

She, who was like that, looked as haggard as a slave that was dragged over from a shrimp boat before anybody realized it.

“Let, let’s rest a little.”

“We already rested five hours ago, though.”

“No, but, but that…!”

“Out of the four days, only half has passed by! I’m telling you, if this Devildom closes now, there’s no way of knowing when we’ll be able to find such sweet hunting grounds like these again.”

“Euh, eu-euh…”

Between Remir’s slightly parted lips, a light sigh escaped.

‘I think he’s seriously crazy. How can a human be like this?’

After they had each cleared all of their own quests once the Devil Summoning Stone was destroyed, Remir had pompously spoken to Ian.

• Ian, shall we now go hunt right away?

• Huh? One moment, I have a couple of miscellaneous items that I have to organize…

• Where is there time for that right now? I’m telling you, there’s no way of knowing when we’ll be able to hunt here once the Devildom closes. Forgetting about everything else, we need to dig up as many magic stones as possible!

• You’re right, Remir, now that I think about it. Alright. Let’s begin hunting right away.

However, right now in this moment, Remir was seriously regretting not giving Ian time to sell his miscellaneous items back then.

‘Euh… This is seriously hell. Hell, I’m telling you!’

Even just when they started hunting in the beginning, Remir was incredibly happy.

Since she clicked with Ian more than anybody else up until now when it came to party hunting.

When she watched her EXP and magic stones pile up, her exhaustion was automatically forgotten.

However, even that was momentary.

As 4 hours, 5 hours, and even 6 hours passed by, Ian had not told Remir that they should rest even once.

However, because Remir was also a user that prided herself as quite a decent game cripple, she continued to endure with her pride.

‘However, gaming without sleeping up until 30 hours have passed is too much!’

Because of Ian, who just hunted madly to the point that anybody who saw would think that the Kailan server would be closing in three days, Remir was endlessly receiving pain.

“Ian, then just 10 minutes. Let’s just rest 10 minutes and then start again. So that I can reset the cooldown times of my skills once and check my inventory.”

It was only then that Ian nodded his head with a displeased expression as if he was saying there was nothing that could be done.

“Then… Let’s do that.”

“Alright!”

“However.”

“…?”

“Just 10 minutes.”

“Oh, alright.”

Remir grumbled internally.

‘Euh, let’s see if I ever party with this ignorant punk ever again!’

However, to be honest, even right at this moment, if Remir just firmly made up her mind, she could leave this party.

Because, anyhow, the reason why this party was being maintained was because party hunting with Ian had an addiction similar to drugs.

‘It is painful, but still, when will I ever be able to hunt this hard if it isn’t a situation like now?’

It was to the point that the EXP, gold, items and such that she was obtaining almost seemed to have a double-buff event being given by Kailan autonomously.

Whenever Remir wanted to collapse with her trembling body, if she just checked her inventory and the system messages, as well as her EXP gauge, she felt her mental state recovering again.

‘Sure, just this once! Just this time, for three full days, I will party hunt with this punk. I will never do it again!’

However, whether this would really be Remir’s finally party hunt with Ian, even she couldn’t confirm it.

And like that, three days just flew by.

* * *

“Psst, Remir.”

“…”

“Remir, are you asleep?”

A vacant lot in the corner of Zone 57 of the Devildom.

A woman wearing black rags was sprawled across the floor, and a man, who stood in front of her, was scratching the back of his head.

Of course, the two people were none other than Ian and Remir.

With a serious expression, Ian spoke while looking at Bbakbbak.

“Bbakbbak, it looks like Remir is sleeping.”

Bbakbbak nodded his head as he responded.

“I think that’s the case, owner. I think she’s forcibly fallen into a sleeping state.”

Ian rubbed his chin as he mumbled.

“Hmm… We’ve rested a lot in between while hunting, so why is she like this? We’ve even logged back on again after sleeping 3 hours yesterday.”

At Ian’s mumbling, Ly, who was next to him, shook his head as he spoke.

“As expected, Magician punks are soft. To have given out after just this much hunting.”

Bbakbbak made a counterargument.

“No, Ly. Our owner is just too much of a wicked owner. I have never seen a human hunt for this long.”

However, Ly’s rebuttal was also serious business.

“No. Think about it seriously, Bbakbbak. Setting aside how he is normally, this time, we’ve rested 5 minutes every 3 hours, and yesterday we’ve even slept 3 hours. It’s certain that this girl is soft.”

Bbakbbak’s pupils began to tremble.

“Is, is that so?”

Ian’s familiars were becoming familiar with his hunting pattern before they even realized.

Even Karceus nodded his head in agreement.

“That’s right. I was also satisfied with this hunt. It would be nice if the owner let us rest just this much all the time. It was an incredibly pleasant circumstance.”

While Ian was talking about Remir behind her back with his familiars, the body of Remir, who was lying down, started to grow more and more faint.

Ian, who saw that form, scratched the back of his head.

“It looks like it’s a compulsory log out.”

And as soon as Ian’s words ended, a system message popped up.

• Party member ‘Remir’ has logged off.

• The party has disbanded.

Ian licked his lips as he checked the time once.

“Let’s see here, how much time is now left until the Devildom closes?”

• Time remaining until the monster wave (03:47:22)

Ian, who had checked the time, mumbled internally.

‘Hmm, 3 hours and 50 minutes, huh… This is so disappointing.’

Ian slightly turned his gaze.

“Shall we break up after hunting for just 3 more hours?”

Ly responded first.

“Sounds good, owner. We can even do 4 hours.”

Karceus followed through and responded.

“I think exactly 3 hours would be best, owner.”

Ian, who actively gathered the opinions of his familiars, gave a clear-cut(?) conclusion.

“Alright, then we’ll hunt for exactly 3 hours and 30 minutes before we rest.”

Ian prepared for battle again as he checked on each and every one of his familiars and retainers.

However, just then, a round backside caught Ian’s gaze.

Bbook- Bbook- Bboo-bbook-.

He had discovered Bbookbbook stealthily crawling towards somewhere.

Ian shouted with daggers in his eyes.

“Bbookbbook, you punk, where are you running away to again?”

And Bbookbbook, who was startled at Ian’s shout, instantly stopped in his tracks.

Bboo-kkuk-!

And Bbookbbook even hiccupped out of shock.

Bbookbbook turned his head as he spoke with a sorrowful expression.

“Owner, I’m depressed bbook. I felt the energy of a sacred herb filled with vigor over there, so I was just going momentarily to find it bbook.”

Ian narrowed his eyes as he interrogated him.

“Don’t play with me, you punk. I know you go crawling stealthily away like that all the time to go find something to eat and once we start battling, you just disappear off somewhere once again.”

Instead of a response, a hiccup came out of Bbookbbook’s mouth.

Bboo-kkuk-!

And Ian, who pitied that form for some reason, said something that made it seem like he was being generous.

“Hmm… Well, still, since I’ll let you go eat the thing that you said you found over there right now, come back quickly afterwards. And don’t go any farther than that.”

At Ian’s permission, Bbookbbook, who looked sullen, immediately brightened.

“Owner, thank you bbook! I will go find just that quickly and come back after eating it bbook!”

The moment he was done speaking, Bbookbbook turned his footsteps back again and began to crawl away.

Bbook- Bboo-bbook- Bbook-.

While watching him do so, Ian smirked.

‘Ha, seriously, when it comes to that punk there, I’m telling you, it feels like I’m raising a pet rather than raising a familiar.’

Ian, who momentarily left Celia to keep an eye on Bbookbbook, took his gaze off the turtle and began to check the state of his other familiars.

‘Alright, as soon as the cooldown time for Karceus’s Breath is over, we’ll go hunting immediately!’

And had about 5 minutes passed like that?

The moment that they were about to start battling again, the flustered voice of Celia could be heard from afar.

“Lord, Bbookbbook… Bbookbbook is acting strangely!”

“Huh?”

Ian reflexively turned his head in the direction that Celia was.

“What’s the problem?”

“That, that, well. You need to come here and see to…!”

However, just then.

A couple system messages unexpectedly popped up in front of Ian’s gaze.

Ring-!

• Familiar ‘Bbookbbook’ has consumed a Heroic-rank Devil Spirit Grass.

• The ‘Turtle Spirit’ stat of Familiar ‘Bbookbbook’ has increased by 7.12%.

• Current Turtle Spirit Level 99/Proficiency: 100.00%

• The Turtle Spirit level of Familiar ‘Bbookbbook’ has increased.

• The Turtle Spirit level of ‘Bbookbbook’ has reached its maximum!

And from the shell of Bbookbbook, who could be seen from afar, began to glow a blue light.