The demons from the underground were very strong.

Their strength couldn’t be assessed that easily.

The illusion demons that were level 300-350 had been summoned to push him into a corner to test his capabilities.

‘Sh*t, these monsters seem too smart.’

At the beginning of the game, it was difficult for users to hunt a monster that had a higher level than them.

There was always a limit to the skills one possesses, this was because there were always unexpected factors in combat.

However, as the game progressed to the next level, the users were clearly able to overcome the level gap they had with the monsters at a faster rate.

This was because the users could play with their intelligence as the monsters had to rely on their AI.

And the monster’s intelligence also had been increased and the AI was also upgraded, but it still had its limitations.

Therefore, as the users level up, and their abilities were diversified, these skills could be used in the right moment to create a favorable situation and take down monsters that were stronger than the players.

Having better equipment was so much better, but this was how it was played.

And now here was the reason why Ian was struggling.

The ‘suitor’ summoned opponents for Ian to beat so he could showcase his strength.

And these monsters somehow seemed to be more intelligent than the other monsters.

Ian narrowed his eyes.

‘It is almost like I am dealing with 5 users.’

But somehow, Ian had to overcome this situation.

‘I’ll probably take more damage than I assumed. I need to put an end to this as fast as I can.’

Ian’s vitality was still full.

Ian didn’t get himself attacked, and the enemy didn’t bother to either.

And Ian had both Bbookbbook and Halli on his side.

Ian did manage to defeat one of the five demons and inflicted damage to the remaining four.

But Ian still thought that the balance between their powers hadn’t still been achieved.

‘I’m still in a disadvantageous position.’

The demons weren’t that great, but their skills were still sufficient to damage Ian.

And their vitality would recover little by little over time.

Ian too had a wide range of Heals, but it was an entirely different story.

There was a fairly long cooldown time on his Heals, and those monsters didn’t have such conditions on their recovering ability.

“Phew.”

Ian was able to breathe in between the battle as it had been so long since Ian had to face such difficulties after getting his familiars.

And now he had to look for small gaps in his enemies defenses and use his strongest attacks.

‘They are as smart as users. I need to play thinking I’m in a PVP.’ Thought Ian to himself.

The battle was still going on,

Ian was just waiting for the right time.

Kwang- Kwawang-!

Even in a fierce battle, Ian made sure to calmly assess the situation.

‘The guy who’s holding a bizarre scythe is the most dangerous, and that guy who looks like a Liche.’

Ian was more aware of those two monsters in the remaining four.

One of the demons was holding a scythe-shaped weapon. The demon had a horn and was wearing a dark hooded cloak. The other one looked like a Liche and had a skull shaped head.

Ian suffered the most damage from the demon with the scythe.

The demon with the scythe didn’t pose such a major threat, but the demon would always deal him damage in the most crucial moments.

Halli—who tried to maintain Ian’s vitality while he battled that demon—died instantly with its hit and Dukdae who had half of its vitality left died with a single strike.

Ian thought that it would be best to avoid his scythe.

‘I wasn’t able to see it that clearly… but this technique seems like it is using darkness.’

Even when hit with an explosive Halli and Bbookbbok would have managed to stay alive, Ian wouldn’t have had a problem in identifying the nature of the weapon.

He was now able to find out the identity of the weapon that had caused him such damage, and he checked the object right away.

However, Ian’s familiars would die every time they got hit by the demon’s weapon. He wasn’t able to find out the weapons nature even after thoroughly analyzing it.

‘Can’t do anything. I guess I’ll have to take a chance…’

Ian tried to take a chance and gamble with the assumption that the attributes of the demon’s attacks were of ‘Dark properties’.

And it started to move slowly once again.

“Bbookbbook-ah, stay ahead and look for an opportunity, if I manage to attack him, then consume him immediately, alright?”

Once Ian was done talking, Bbookbbok nodded.

“Okay-bbook.”

Kaka who was flying next to Ian’s shoulder, watched Bbookbbook as he walked forward and spoke to Ian.

“What are you trying to do master? Their next target will be Bbookbbook.”

Ian nodded and briefly ordered.

“I know.”

As of the moment, Bbokbbook’s vitality was about 40%.

Bbookbbok didn’t have a great tanking ability like Dukdae, but its vitality could sustain the strike from the demon’s scythe.

Before running towards the enemies, Ian stared at Kaka and spoke in a low voice.

“Kaka, do me a favor. When that demon swings its scythe, spread the darkness that its attack will emit.”

“…!”

Kaka was smart so she could understand right away what Ian was trying to do.

She thought that this was a great plan when she realized that she could do whatever she wanted.

“I understand master. I trust master’s decision.”

Before Kaka was about to finish what she was saying, Ian ran towards the demons.

Ian was aiming for the Liche shaped demon who had powerful magic.

“Karceus, Pin! Surround the enemies and follow Ly!”

“Okay, Master.”

Krr- Krrrr-!

Even Bbookbbook started to follow Ian with its heavy body.

‘I had gambled everything, there is no other way but to succeed.’

Ian jumped towards the Liche with all his might.

However, the other demons were ready for Ian.

They quickly stood in front of Ian to block him. Karceus who was on top of them used Breath on them, and Pin used Crush.

Kwahhh-!

Kwkwang-!

But then a translucent violet shield showed up in front of the demons.

The shield wasn’t able to prevent the damage that came from Breath and Crush, but it reduced the damage significantly.

Given the fact that they were two of the most powerful familiars with great skill that Ian had, this could be considered as a small achievement.

But Ian was smiling in the inside.

‘Yes, just as I had expected.’

Ian was going towards the Liche, but he suddenly changed directions and ran towards Bbookbbook.

It was because the demon was moving towards Bbookbbook, and it was obvious that Bbookbbok would get sick because of the darkness.

Smoke puffed up in front of Bbookbbook.

[Kiki- you’re late, human.]

In a moment the demon instantly appeared in front of Ian by using the space movement ability.

The demon moved its sickle towards Bbookbbook.

He moved as if an illusion had distorted the space and appeared in front of Bbookbbook.

But at that moment.

Ian surprisingly gave Bbookbbook an order even though Bbookbbook was about to die.

“Bbookbbook-ah! Use Greedy Predator!”

“Okay-Bbook-!”

The ability of Greedy Predator had been triggered, and the sickle in the demon’s hand wavered for a second.

Anyone could tell that Bbookbbook’s chances of survival were almost impossible.

But then, darkness started to spread around the battlefield.

Woong-

The system messages that Ian had been waiting for came up in front of his eyes.

[Slave ‘Kaka’ unique ability ‘Dreaming Devil’ has been activated.]

[During ‘Darkness Control’, all the party members attacks will be increased by 5%, and damage caused by Darkness will be decreased by 50%. All the enemies within the radius will be visible.]

This was what Ian was aiming for.

And among those effects, what Ian wanted was the reduction of the damage caused by dark attributes by 50%.

This…

[The ability of ‘Bbookbbook’ ‘Do not interfere while eating’ has been activated.]

[Shield with the durability of 343762 has been created.]

The ability ‘Greedy Predator’ of Bbookbbook was an attacking skill.

It was a skill that would instantly take down the life force of the enemy, it was almost impossible for this attack to be avoided once activated.

But this time, Ian took advantage of another passive skill that was followed by his attack ability.

If Bbookbbook activates the ability ‘Don’t interfere when eating’ while using the Greedy Predator, then a shield would be created that would save 50% of the familiar’s vitality.

This play had a chance to fail, but this was the gamble that Ian was betting for.

The reason why Ian went for this gamble was—first, the damage from the demon’s scythe would be reduced if the skill was a dark attribute because of Kaka’s ability.

The second was the shield that Bbookbbook activated, so there was no way the demon’s strike could kill Ian’s familiars.

Fortunately, Ian’s gamble was a successful one.

Puahk-!

[Lateros ‘Sickle of the demon’ has a unique ability.]

[Your familiar Bbookbbook received devastating damage from Lateros.]

[The vitality of Bbookbbook has been reduced to 100055 (-443817).]

Ian was now able to realize the destructive power of that demon the moment he saw the system message.

‘Dukdae had about 700,000 vitality taken away from him, and Halli had about 1.2 million vitality taken away from him, and Bbookbbook had about 800,000 taken away from it.’

The last system message, ‘Vitality of Bbookbbook has been reduced to 100055 (-443817).’

The numbers in the brackets were obviously due to the darkness control ability of Kaka’s.

The additional 340,000 of added defense that Bbookbbook got from his shield had been pierced. Bbookbbook was now left with only 100,000.

Ian had the ability to grasp the situation once he had experienced it or had seen it.

‘Kaka’s long-range effects last for about 10 minutes. I need to think of a plan in this duration.’

Since Bbookbbook did not die, the greedy predator skill was withdrawn. The demon was flustered when it saw that Bbookbbook was still alive.

The vitality of the demon didn’t drop that much.

However, Ian and Ly—who was there to help Bbookbbook—took advantage of the effect of the darkness and did a surprise attack on the demon.

Though the Greedy Predator ability wasn’t activated, the damage that the demon took was so powerful that the demon died.

Ian—who arranged the most nerve-wracking play—swung his spear and stared at the three remaining demons on the battlefield.