Chapter 154: Star, Cadmus (4)

“Already?” Chang-Sun was quite surprised. Considering the Sheim Bloodline was pretty influential on the fifth floor of the Changgwi Cave, Jin defeated them absurdly quickly.

「Hey, Master! What do you mean ‘already’?! Aren’t you underestimating me too much? I’m the first son and the heir of the great Prezia Family—!」

“Cut that out and show me what you were going to show me. I have to go downstairs soon.” Chang-Sun crossed his arms.

「... Shit, bragging to you is really hard.」Jin grumbled, then roughly measured the size of Chang-Sun’s room.

「The room is pretty small, so I’ll do the full demonstration later. For now...」

Jin flicked his fingers.

「I’ll show you mine first.」

Woosh, woosh, woosh!

A gray fog formed in the air and soon took the shape of a gigantic horse.

Kiyoo?

Finally sensing something was going on, Cadmus turned its head to look at Jin, then tilted it in confusion. A Ghost Devil Horse, which was nearly twice as big as ordinary horses, was standing beside Jin. Its body was made up of blazing shadow energy, and fire came out of its nose every time it snorted.

Wearing thick iron armor, the intimidating horse looked as if it was going to crush everything in its way. Chang-Sun had seen its kind while going up against the Winged Hussar soldiers, so he could confirm this horse could fight on equal grounds against the Yeti guards, who had fought viciously in ‘Yeti Hill,’ by itself.

[Ice-Energy-Suffering Death Horse Lv.6]

‘No, it looks a bit different. It seems to be wearing sturdier armor. Wait, did Jin use the [Cold Iron] in the [Winter King’s Treasures]...?’

Chang-Sun wondered.

The Ghost Devil Horse was already terrifying, but it looked much more menacing with the [Cold Iron]’s ice energy. It suited Jin the Frost Undead quite well. The [Winter King’s Treasures] were helping him so much that he became indebted to the Winter King in many ways. Chang-Sun raised Cadmus with those treasures, and his subordinates were turning into elite soldiers because of them as well...

‘But I’m using up these treasures too quickly. At this rate, I’ll probably empty it out soon... I should definitely get to opening up the ,’

Chang-Sun decided.

He had been hellbent on accumulating Merits because he had to use them to do something.

「As you can see, I used the [Cold Iron] that you gave me for its armor. I used a certain ratio when I mixed it with the horse’s original harness, so its quality improved a lot. I also seized the Sheim’s hemomancy as I took them down, so I used it to improve the Ghost Devil Horses’ overall power. It turns out that their hemomancy was tailored for taming monsters.」

“You even learned their hemomancy?” Chang-Sun asked in surprise.

The bloodlines in the Changgwi Cave used different kinds of hemomancy that were unique to their clan, so if Jin and his subordinates had learned the Sheim’s, then it wasn’t an exaggeration to say they became the Sheim Bloodline itself.

「Well, it wasn’t that difficult. If I conquer the rest of the bloodlines and master all their hemomancies, our power would also increase. Look forward to the results that that would bring.」

Just as Chang-Sun had wanted, his secret weapons were becoming stronger. “How many horses have you trained?”

「 Twenty-one.」

Chang-Sun’s eyes shone as he imagined a cavalry unit of twenty-one soldiers riding on the ferocious Ghost Devil Horses. “You’ve tamed a lot.”

「Hehe, every one of my subordinates has become an elite. What makes it even better is that I defeated over a thousand Gulgaks with just twenty-one soldiers. You should have seen the look on their faces, Master. Hehehehehe!」

Chang-Sun continued to ask several other questions. He had to know the unit’s overall power since he was going to use them in times of need. Jin’s answers made Chang-Sun realize that Jin’s army could be a good match with [Inauspicious Heart].

‘If I can also grant them ... how would the army turn out?’

Chang-Sun wondered.

Maybe he could do more and share the ‘heart’ itself with the whole army, spreading the blessing of the to everyone. It was impossible to do right now, but that would certainly make them ridiculously powerful.

‘It may become possible someday,’

Chang-Sun thought, believing that his plan wouldn’t be impossible forever.

Just as he had done until now, he was going to make his army stronger by conquering the rest of the Changgwi Cave. While doing so, he would find skilled boss monsters like Jin and the Elfin Root, resurrect them, and recruit them into his army. If he could gather up his old colleagues, who had died or had disappeared...

‘Everything will really be different.’

Chang-Sun faintly smiled.

He also planned to increase the power of Baek Gyeo-Ul and the other Team L members and use them.

「Anyhow, we’re going to continue conquering the cave. Imagining successfully defeating all the Gulgaks is really fun. I’ll have to gather up all the left in this damned cave.」

Jin smiled pompously. Just like Chang-Sun, he was coming up with his own ambitious plans. Every time Jin stroked the Ghost Devil Horse’s chin, the horse felt good and lightly snorted out of sheer happiness. However, the Ghost Devil Horse suddenly looked at Chang-Sun with discontentment.

“...?” Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes, wondering why the horse was acting like this. Chang-Sun thought the horse did not like the fact that someone made its master look weak since horses had always been easily scared yet freaking prideful animals, and that didn’t change even if the horse was an Undead.

「Huhh? Why is it acting like this?」

Baffled to see his horse about to pounce on Chang-Sun, Jin momentarily pondered what to do. It wasn’t difficult to subdue it, but they were inside a hotel room. If he used the wrong skill, the entire room could become a mess, so he wasn’t sure how to deal with the situation. Just as Jin was about to unsummon the horse, Cadmus suddenly shrieked.

Kiyoo!

‘Woah?’

Chang-Sun and Jin’s eyes widened in surprise. Cadmus only cried once, but that was enough to surprise the Ghost Devil Horse—no, it wasn’t just surprised. It pompously raised its chin and pretended as if nothing happened, but it faintly looked terrified of the high-ranking Dragon Cadmus. The horse looked like prey that had met its predator. It was impossible for Ghost Devil Horses to defy Dragons due to their power differences, so it got instinctively frightened of Cadmus.

Kiyoo! Kiyoo, kiyoo, kiyooooo!

The more Cadmus shrieked, the timider the horse became. It even slowly stepped backward and quietly lowered its head as it nervously looked around the surroundings.

「No way... is it using [Dragon Fear]? Or can it already use [Pressure]? That can’t be! It’s still a baby Dragon!」

Jin screamed as he watched the horse and Cadmus. Although there was a big power difference between Undeads and Dragons, the Ghost Devil Horse that Jin had captured and tamed with difficulty was definitely not an ordinary Ghost Devil Horse. Even the Sheim Bloodline leader had trouble taming it, so it was actually illogical to just call it a ‘horse.’

Besides, this Ghost Devil Horse was just as much of a Gulgak as the Sheim Bloodline . Although it didn’t look like a human, the horse was a ‘king’ who had conquered a part of the fifth floor and led an entire bloodline.

Considering even Jin had to pull two consecutive all-nighters to subdue this horse... something crazy was happening right now. As the person who had to go through so much to make it bow down to him, Jin ought to be shocked.

“It’s an Evil Dragon.” Chang-Sun patted Cadmus’s head to praise it, and Cadmus smiled and pleasantly rubbed its head against Chang-Sun’s hand. After noticing Cadmus loosen up, the Ghost Devil Horse furtively raised its head, but it had to slam its head on the floor again.

「Evil Dragon? But still...!」

Jin let out a long sigh because it seemed he still had a long way to go to be equal to Chang-Sun.

“Ah, by the way, Jin. Do you have any subordinates who are skilled at using the Concealment Skill? One that would never be caught even while moving around in the midst of a crowd.” Chang-Sun asked, and Jin nodded.

「I do. Why?」

“Once I go down to the banquet hall later, I need that subordinate to tail this person.” Chang-Sun handed Jin a photo. Jin tilted his head in confusion because it was the photo of a blue-eyed Caucasian woman, and the name ‘Mireille Aliano’ was written at the bottom.

「Why are you tailing her? Are you trying to seduce her? You know that stalking is a crime, right...?」

“Stop the nonsense and make sure to keep your eyes on her,” Chang-Sun instructed.

「Why? Who is she?」

Jin stopped joking when he noticed Chang-Sun’s eyes turn cold.

“She has the [Fifth Cryptical Book of Hsan].”

「...!」

* * *

“He’s still not here yet, is he?”

“Yup.”

“Woah! So he isn’t just pretending to be a tyrant? He’s a real freak!”

A welcoming party for the White Tiger Clan Players was taking place on the sixth floor of the R hotel, which was where the White Tiger Clan members were staying. This party had another purpose, however. Since the ‘Wuthering Stone Desert’ was a very notorious Dungeon, the French Clans and White Tiger Clan had formed a punitive force under the pretext of the French Clans being unable to let the White Tiger Clan—a foreign Clan—solely take charge of clearing it. They planned to get to know each other through this party.

Of course, the real reason was to see the ‘Tyrant’ Lee Chang-Sun, who was a world-class celebrity and super rookie with SSS+++ Magic Grade, with their own eyes. However, Chang-Sun still hadn’t shown up even though it had been hours since the welcoming party started. Even all his team members had already changed into formal clothes and were in the banquet hall.

Baek Gyeo-Ul, who was known as the Tyrant’s right-hand man or shadow, busily roamed around the buffet tables. Meat, fish... He shoved every dish into his mouth with sparkling eyes as if it was his first time eating such food. He looked impolite to the French people since they considered table manners important.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Of course, some of the women liked Gyeo-Ul because he looked innocent and cute, but there were only a few of them. Some even came up to him and blatantly provoked him, but Gyeo-Ul just blinked because he didn’t understand what they were saying at all, making the French Players more frustrated.

“It has been ages since the seminar ended. How is he still not here? Did he use room service to eat separately or something?”

“Or maybe he bolted after hearing that Henri is here.”

“What do you think, Henri?”

The most frustrated ones were Henri Bloque and his friends. Ever since Chang-Sun’s interview at the airport turned the French media upside down, they had been waiting for Chang-Sun to show up. Henri was France’s most prideful and best rookie and was expected to be France’s next ‘king’ once the ‘Immortal Overlord’ Jacque Valentine had retired, so he couldn’t believe the fact that a rookie who had just become a Player less than half a year ago looked down on him.

However, despite his friends asking various questions, Henri remained silent and held his champagne glass. Since they knew that was how the prideful Henri acted when he was angry, they stopped asking questions and distanced themselves from him. They still watched him, though, and some even seemed worried about him. However, there were also people who had trouble holding back their laughter.

Although they were Henri’s so-called ‘friends’ and ‘colleagues,’ they all looked at him with various emotions. Some of them truly thought of him as their friend, but some people were jealous of him, who was always better than people of his age. Since Henri was arrogant, they couldn’t help but gloat over how Chang-Sun looked down on him.

“But where is South Korea? It’s my first time hearing about it. Is it the country with that fattie who always whines that he’s going to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S.?”

“That’s North Korea. South Korea is below it. Don’t you know ‘Oppa, gangnam style’?”

“Ah, that one. Shit, how would I know that? It’s freaking confusing.”

“Hehe, yeah, not knowing those monkeys makes sense, considering they don’t even have a ‘king’.”

“Hey, watch your mouth. They might understand us, and you’re being a racist. Have you forgotten how Laude got reprimanded last time?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already checked that those guys can’t speak French.”

“What, already?”

“Kekeke! Of course, man. Do you think I would have spoken like that before checking that? So don’t worry, don’t worry. Or are you going to rat me out?”

“No way, I’ve actually been thinking the same.”

“Hehehe! We think alike, don’t we?”

“That’s why we’re friends.”

“Anyhow, this party is turning lame. We should beat those monkeys up so they won’t act too cheeky anymore.”

The French Players no longer hesitated to insult Korea.

“Hmm? It looks like someone’s coming.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but his team members are gathering up over there.”

“Wow! Is he finally here?”

“Is it like how the main character always appears last? That’s pathetic.”

When Gyeo-Ul and the rest of Team L members gathered up near the banquet room’s door, Henri and his friends turned their heads toward them. However, instead of Chang-Sun, something way bigger than most monsters entered the room.

“... A horse?”

Something no one had expected to appear just galloped right in, causing everyone inside the banquet hall to gasp and stop what they were doing. Seemingly feeling that all of the people’s attention was on it, the horse began to walk more pompously.

“No, that’s a Ghost Devil Horse.”

“What kind of Ghost Devil Horse is that? I’ve never seen anything like that... and its level seems to be high.” Mireille, the only summoner in Henri’s group, became baffled, confusing the others even more.

‘There is a monster that Mireille doesn’t know?’

‘That horse looks really strong...!’

‘I haven’t heard about the Tyrant being a summoner or tamer. Did he tame the horse with another method?’

Although Mireille was overshadowed by Henri, she was quite a skilled and popular Player, so it was surprising for her to say that. The Ghost Devil Horse looked more menacing than most boss monsters in Dungeons. The Players in the banquet hall were called promising rookies, but even they weren’t sure they could win against it in single combat.

‘It seems the rumor isn’t entirely wrong.’

Owning such a horse meant that Chang-Sun was quite skilled.

Crack!

Some quietly chuckled when they saw Henri trembling, cracks forming in his champagne glass. It looked like the staredown between Henri and Chang-Sun was going to be more interesting. Just then...

Kiyoo!

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

When Henri and his friends heard a high-toned voice echoing throughout the banquet hall, they all tilted their heads in confusion. It was too cute to have come from the Ghost Devil Horse. Busily and quickly flapping its wings, a creature landed on top of the Ghost Devil Horse’s head.

‘Huh?’

‘Hmmm...?’

‘What? Why is it here?’

‘No way, does that belong to Lee Chang-Sun too?’

The people busily looked back and forth between the Ghost Devil Horse and the creature that flew in just now.

‘Has Lee Chang-Sun really learned how to summon monsters as well? But even if he could somehow summon a Ghost Devil Horse, it should be impossible to tame a Dragon with his currently known ability.’

The Tyrant was known as a close-quarters combat expert capable of handling various weapons, but he couldn’t become that kind of expert if he had been such a skilled summoner. Even if he was an exceptionally skilled high ranker, it wasn’t possible to be talented in many different areas. While the people were bewildered, some looked at the doll-like Cadmus with sparkling eyes.

‘I-it’s cute!’

‘I want it!’

Kiyoo, kiyoooo!

The navy-blue baby Dragon, Cadmus, grinned when it noticed everyone’s eyes were on it, then majestically roared while still on top of the horse’s head.

[Your Subordinate ‘Cadmus’ majestically announces its appearance to mortals!]