‘The… place where it exists?’

The answer that Gripper gave Ian didn’t seem to have answered anything. Ian head to the Manor after exiting the Dimensional Tower.

He found a way how the Behemoth’s egg could be hatched, but they didn’t know how to get it.

Gripper knew that there was a place called the Underworld but didn’t know how to go there.

He just gave Ian a clue.

‘Hmm… How to get to the Underworld? Honestly, I’m not so sure about it either. I only know that there is a place called the Underworld and how to get inside there. I’m sure that there were ancient records which mentioned how others went there.’

‘But that’s all…? This guy has no idea at all?’ Ian thought.

‘Ah! I’m not so sure about it, maybe the ‘Monarch of Command’ might know something about it. However, rather than trying to find the Monarch of Command, it might be easier for you to find a Behemoth in the Devildom… gulp.’

Recalling what Gripper mentioned to him the last time, Ian tried hard to remember the information he had about the ‘Monarch of Command.’

However, he just couldn’t remember any information related to the ‘Monarch of Command’ no matter how hard he tried to remember.

Ian sighed out of disappointment.

“Phew, I just don’t know what I’m trying to look for…?”

Ian was thinking so hard that he was shaking his head.

Suddenly…

A thought flashed into Ian’s mind.

‘Come to think of it… the tower where the Richie King Chalian’s seal was unlocked in the Devildom was the Commander’s tower…?’

Information flashed through Ian’s mind one after the other.

‘Then does it mean that the Richie King that was sealed at the top of the tower was the one Gripper was talking about?’

He wasn’t 100% sure about it, but it seemed plausible to him.

In order to find the clues about the Monarch of Command, it seemed like meeting the Richie King Chalian was needed.

He had to follow the linked quest he got from Louisei in order to find Chalian who was hidden somewhere.

Many of the Luspel Empire loyalists were sacrificed for the ambitions that Chalian had, and the loyalists were hiding in various parts of the continent.

Ian might eventually meet Chalian while looking for them.

‘Uhmm…? This is all rather good. I was going to find Helliem either way…’

Helliem, the battle type NPC, the leader of Luspel Empire’s Imperial Knights, a companion to Kaizer.

He didn’t know much about the other NPCs, but the only thing he wanted to do was to find Helliem and make him his retainer.

“Nice, by now Remir noona and Yu Shin should have made it back to the estate…”

Remir and Yu shin received the linked quest along with Ian.

Hoonie also received the quest, but there was a message saying that he wouldn’t join the party as he had something else to do.

Ian laughed out loud the moment he thought of Hoonie.

“Haha, that jerk isn’t upset, right?”

Ian had to kill Hoonie in the catacombs, and he truly felt bad about that. He looked at the blinking icon at the corner of his message window.

[There are quests that can be shared.]

Ian thought that maybe he wasn’t able to clear the quest in the catacombs, and that was why the icon at the corner of his message window was still blinking.

“Well, Hoonie isn’t the guy who likes to lag behind…”

Ian arrived at the front of the castle town and went inside.

* * *

“Kay, I got the Queen’s Scale for 13500 gold each! That’s so cheap… cheap! At least a thousand gold cheaper than its original price!”

“The Griffin’s Patron has been sold! It was sold for 2.2 million gold!”

“Hallucus, and an underground tanker that moves quickly! Level 230 or higher with 5000 defense and strength and vitality more than 150 million!”

A shout from a user could be heard throughout the market.

A large group of people was in the small town of Keaton Manor, which was very close to the Lotus Kingdom.

Keaton Manor was a place that belonged to the Kingdom of Elijah. Many users started to form a base inside the city.

It was close to the Pyro Lordship—the Capital of the Lotus Kingdom—and word started to get out that dungeons had been appearing there recently.

Another good thing was that the Manor of the estate belonged to an NPC and not a user.

Even if they didn’t have a guild, they were able to have bureaucratic power in the Kingdom and receive help from the Lord.

Even when their territory was under the Kingdom, which was set by a user, it didn’t change much.

The Elijah Kingdom lost its title since their guild’s affiliation changed.

Keaton’s noble users wanted the Lotus and the Elijah Kingdom to fight because of that.

If the Keaton Manor was merged with the Lotus, all the Manor’s noble users would naturally be transferred into the Lotus Guild.

Well, they wouldn’t be given a high ranking position, but they would be taken in as general guild members with little authority; that in itself was huge merit for them.

In recent times, the Lotus Guild turned out to be the dream guild for many because of its ranking.

There were a lot of users in the Keaton manor thanks to that.

A warlock with a black robe entered Keaton’s square.

“Uh, I need to kill him fast. But, why are there so many people here in this small good for nothing town?”

The man who was grunting… was none other than Hoonie.

“I was told that there was definitely a temple of the God Kades in here…”

There wasn’t any other reason for Hoonie to appear in this small town aside from that.

Hoonie was currently looking for Kades the God of Darkness’ shrine, which was near the Keaton Manor.

Since the religion that the Lotus chose for their state was ‘Mares’, Elijah Kingdom had no other option but to take ‘Kades’ as the religion for their state.

This was Hoonie’s first time to visit the city, and he was very intrigued about why the city was so busy that it took him almost 20 minutes to find the Shrine of Kades.

* * *

Krrrrng- kung-!

The sound of the temple’s huge door echoed throughout the temple as it closed.

Purple flames lined up on the dark walls of the temple at the same time.

Inside the dark temple was a shrine for Kades—the God of Darkness.

The lights that were on either side of the walls were bright enough to only lit what was ahead.

Thud- thud-!

Hoonie’s footsteps were the only sound that could be heard in the middle of the quiet temple.

A black shadow suddenly appeared in front of Hoonie.

“Why are you here?”

The voice sounded dismal and bitter.

However, Hoonie wasn’t scared, not even a bit.

Rather, he answered the dreary voice with a cheeky tone.

“I want to see the God of Darkness, Kades.”

The dreary voice didn’t answer back right away.

The reason why was because the shadow was flustered at how cheeky Hoonie was.

“Uhm, you too are a kid of darkness like me. The purpose…”

Hoonie cut off what the dreary voice was saying.

“Keuk, I’m the great Monarch of Darkness. I am the successor of the Immortal, and I have no obligation of any sort to only talk to a priest”

Since he met this NPC a lot of times before, Hoonie knew well about how its AI worked and stopped it in advance.

There was nothing wrong with what Hoonie was doing, which was why the NPC just nodded while touching its forehead.

“Ha, you sure are. I’ll take you up. Come this way please.”

Kades’ priest guided Hoonie further into the temple.

Hoonie then saw a dark altar with huge purple flames.

Hoonie mumbled to himself after seeing the purple flame around the altar,

‘Hmm, it’s been a while since I last visited Kades’ temple. I just want Kades’ help…’

Hoonie arrived at the altar. He took out the Book of Darkness from his inventory and handed it to the priest.

The Book of Darkness was a basic item that users needed to sacrifice if they wanted to see Kades.

“Give me a moment, Lord of Dark.”

Hoonie nodded and responded.

“I have something very important to talk about with Lord Kades.”

“Okay.”

Kwark- Hwakr-!

The priest unfolded the Book of Darkness that he received from Hoonie and began to wave his hand over it.

Something unknown appeared behind the priest. The purple flames roared and became larger as it sucked this unknown thing into the altar.

After a while, grey smoke began to rise from the altar.

The smoke started to turn darker while it slowly took shape.

A man with a sacred cape and was twice Hoonie’s height appeared.

Hoonie immediately recognized the man and decided to talk first,

“It has been a while, Mr. Kades.”

Kades saw Hoonie and laughed. He then gave Hoonie his greetings,

“It has been a while, mischievous kid. You were just a dark man, the other day… You have taken the power of the immortal, use it well.”

Kades spoke with a stern tone.

Hoonie shook his head since he felt that Kades was not being friendly today.

‘What? That is definitely not a friendly reaction… but not hostile though?’

The reason why Hoonie met with Kades was simple.

It was because of a sentence he read in the quest related to ‘Richie King Chalian’.

It hinted the Chalian’s ambition to go against the will of the five Gods who defended the harmony and balance of the human world.

Kades too was one of those five gods, and that meant that he too wouldn’t be on Chalian’s side.

Hoonie, who had the power of the Immortal, was standing in Chalian’s way.

If Hoonie’s assumptions were right, then Kades should be welcoming him with open arms.

However, Kades seemed to be acting the opposite of what Hoonie expected.

When Hoonie took a quest from Kades the other day, he was surely friendly to him.

‘Something is surely wrong.’

However, Hoonie had no reason to fear Kades.

Even though Kades was powerful, he couldn’t exert any direct influence over the human world.

Which meant that ‘Kades’ was a God that shouldn’t be feared.

So Hoonie decided to speak confidently to him.

Kades then spoke,

“Huhu, what about you? You decided to come to this place after a lot of searching… it means that you need to know something of dire importance.”

Hoonie respond,

“Of course, there are important things I need to know.”

“What are those?”

Hoonie answered him very straightforwardly.

“I need your strength Kades.”

Kades’ eyes slightly went big.

“My strength…? The Monarch of Darkness needs my help…?”

Hoonie looked straight into Kades’ eyes.

“There are a few who want to destroy the harmony and balance of the human world, and my strength alone isn’t enough to defeat them.”

Kades’ eyes changed as he heard what Hoonie said.

“This is interesting, the balance and harmony of the dimensional world… who is it?”

Kades asked with a smirk on his face.

Hoonie then spoke with a resolute voice upon seeing the smirk on Kades’ face,

“The one who wanted to destroy the order of the world is Richie King Chalian.”