A Monster Who Levels Up

“Hmph... It’s not too shabby, I suppose.”

Kim Jong-Hyuk sneered as he took in the surroundings. Beautiful actresses and female Knights were everywhere. Although he didn’t come here for that, it did seem a bit like a wasted opportunity to not have his ways with all these women.

No, actually, the feeling of righteous anger was stronger than that of regret over missed chances. The b*stards who snorted in disdain when he called out to them, were now busy wagging their tails right now.

“Mister Trudeau?”

Kim Jong-Hyuk turned around to look at ‘Trudeau’ with courteous eyes. The foreigner narrowed his brows a little, but he still nodded his head once.

“Three’s the limit. And Knights with strong resistance are a no.”

“Hahaha. That’s going to be enough.” (Kim Jong-Hyuk)

As soon as Trudeau’s permission was given, Kim Jong-Hyuk extracted a ring from his inner pocket. There was a strange and blood-coloured gem stuck in the middle.

“Hehehe...”

Just as Kim Jong-Hyuk grinned an evil grin and was about to jump into the middle of the attractive actresses...

“Huh? Aren’t you Mister Kim Jong-Hyuk? This is a pleasant surprise.”

The High Tier Knight affiliated with the Raven Order and the member of The Monster Guild, Yi Hye-Rin approached him. And Kim Yu-Rin was following her as well. Two of them kitted out in eye-catching dresses were as beautiful as Elves, so the overtly licentious Kim Jong-Hyuk had to stop everything he was doing and take a large gulp of saliva instead.

“......Ahahaha. Well, look who it is. I just ran into the real VIPs here. It’s my pleasure.” (Kim Jong-Hyuk)

“Fuhut, we are not VIPs at all. Isn’t that what we are supposed to say? By the way, who is this gentleman next to you?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

The moment Yi Hye-Rin smiled and spoke, a voice seemingly seeped into her mind.

– It’s the Elder.

It was a telepathy from Rhosrahdel.

“He is the current Vice President of the firm ‘Rolaina Intrude’. They are an international investment firm, so I’m not sure if lady Knights have heard of them...” (Kim Jong-Hyuk) (TL: Well, this author and his terrible naming sense strikes again... I did my best to romanise “롤레이나 인트루드” but man, it sounds like a variant of some exotic milkshake, doesn’t it...)

“Of course, we’ve heard of them. This must be some type of a fated encounter, so how about we share a drink or two?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

While smiling with her eyes, Yi Hye-Rin checked for Kim Yu-Rin’s reaction. Oho? Captain acting out in that bashful expression is really amazing?!

“Looks like Captain here is okay with that as well?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“....Well, if you guys want it, then. Hahaha.” (Kim Jong-Hyuk)

Kim Jong-Hyuk guffawed and eyed Trudeau. His eyes arrogantly said, ‘See? I’m a man of this much status.’

“...Hmm.”

Trudeau thought about this for a moment. Even if it was the Elder-level charm magic, against high Tiered Knights, there was a big possibility of it failing to stick.

However, hidden within the trouser pockets of Kim Jong-Hyuk was thehighest grade ‘aphrodisiac.’

Concocted with the utmost care by the Vampires, this aphrodisiac should prove effective even against high Tiered Knights, and when alcohol was added in the mix as well, then the odds wouldn’t be bad at all.

“....I’m fine with that.” (Trudeau)

Trudeau assumed a thick smile and looked at t

he two Knights.

“In that case, should we head to a guest room below deck? I don’t enjoy all this hustle and bustle, actually.” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“Well, that’s great. Lead the way.” (Kim Jong-Hyuk)

Four of them formed a group and climbed down the stairs of the ship, and at the same time, another Vampire trailed them from behind, his presence nearly undetectable.

*SFX for footsteps.*

And as he walked down the steps, Trudeau suddenly had a strange yet foreboding feeling coming over him.

It wasn’t solely because no matter how much he walked, the bottom of the stairs couldn’t be seen. There was also a faint but familiar presence coming from behind him...

When Trudeau turned around to look, the world seemed to darken all of a sudden.

“W, what?!”

As Kim Jong-Hyuk panicked grandly and looked around, a blunt scabbard of a sword was swung his way.

Khong!

A completely useless third wheel was soon knocked out with a well-placed smack to the middle of his forehead.

‘It’s a trap!’

Trudeau hurriedly tried to activate teleportation, but the golden sword light pouring out from Kim Yu-Rin sliced off his right arm before that.

“Kkheuahahahck!!”

With the arm needed to complete the technique gone, the teleportation got cancelled immediately. Trudeau panicked and tried to form ‘Venom Spear’ with his remaining arm instead.

Almost right away, from his back, dozens, hundreds of black spears materialised in the air.

Each of these spears were manifestations of a powerful venom, so these human scums would be grievously wounded even with the slightest touch...

It was definitely a high-grade spell, but unfortunately for him, the compatibility was poor – Yi Hye-Rin’s sword could distort the space itself and slice apart magic, after all.

*SFX for air being split*

The sword swung by Yi Hye-Rin deflected one spear away, and then, began bending in a weird way to rapidly destroy all the other spears.

The pitiful Trudeau didn’t even have time to panic at all – because, at that moment, Kim Yu-Rin’s Gungnir had cut off his other arm...

“Keu-ah...”

Kim Yu-Rin set about the ‘purpose’ of her Trait as ‘mute’, so he couldn’t even scream in pain anymore. Losing both of his arms, he ended up kneeling down on the floor.

“...”

The isolation barrier was cancelled by then, and Trudeau could spot the despicable traitor busy loitering about past the shoulders of the female Knights.

‘Do you not fear the wrath of the Lord?!’ (Trudeau)

He wanted to scream out, but his voice didn’t want to come out. However, Trudeau didn’t give up and forcefully pushed his vocal chords as hard as he could – until he sensed a strange voice buzzing around near his brain.

– Let’s be honest, Mister Elder, you also have been suspecting it for a while, haven’t you? That our plan has a higher chance of failing altogether. I merely chose a path of survival for myself. (Rhosrahdel)

It was a telepathy sent from Rhosrahdel. Trudeau hurriedly sent back furious swearings and angry shouts, but by then, the younger Vampire had firmly shut the communication off.

Now that he was completely trapped, Trudeau’s face reddened even more, and as he struggled uselessly, blood poured out like waterfall from where his arms used to be. Although his consciousness got blurred from all that blood loss, Trudeau still glared at Rhosrahdel with bloodshot eyes.

Too bad for him, all those fury, cursings, and hatred that went unheard now, would remain unheard forever.

****

For how long had she been swimming in the pit of meaningless abyss?

“Let’s get married.”

She suddenly recalled a man who said the words she wanted to hear so much in a slurred speech. Right away, Yu Sae-Jung’s eyes snapped open.

Tongtongtongtong...

The first thing she heard was the sound of a pestle pounding on a mortar, and soon afterwards, her heart began to burn hotly. Even tears began to well up. Yu Sae-Jung tried to get up hastily but her feet got tangled up and, Kwadangtang!! fell flat on the floor.

“...Mommy!?!?” (Hazeline)

The sound of mortar and pestle came to a halt, and the woman who had been using them turned to look at her.

“...Unni?” (Yu Sae-Jung)

“Sae, Sae-Jung, you are awake.” (Hazeline)

Hazeline put the pestle down and approached Yu Sae-Jung to help her stand up.

“Are you alright? You should still rest...” (Hazeline)

“Let me go!” (Yu Sae-Jung)

However, Yu Sae-Jung coldly pushed the helping hands away. She suddenly felt wronged and furious. She was Kim Sae-Jin’s girlfriend. They even promised to get married. So why was she the very last person to be informed about his kidnapping?

“Sa, Sae-Jung-ah?! Please, calm down first, and...” (Hazeline)

“How can I calm down in this situation?! Oppa has been kidnapped! But besides that, where is everyone else? Call them over here right now!!” (Yu Sae-Jung)

She gritted her teeth as Mana began boiling above her skin. Definitely a bad sign, that was the first indication of the condition, ‘Mana Deviation’. It was one of the most fatal conditions for either Knights and Wizards, where Mana went out of control, resulting in all the accumulated Mana leaking out and their lives being placed in mortal danger.

Hazeline’s brows narrowed to a slit.

“Sae-Jung, you need to calm down. You being like this isn’t going to help anyone, you know?” (Hazeline)

“Help anyone, my a*s! You all knew already, so why?! Why didn’t you tell me before?!” (Yu Sae-Jung)

“Because, we thought you might get too worried...” (Hazeline)

“Worries? Of course I would worry!! Get outta my way!” (Yu Sae-Jung)

Yu Sae-Jung pulled herself up and staggered towards the exit of the room. Hazeline sighed out and in the end, pulled out a bottle of potion from her inner robe pocket.

It was the sleeping potion.

After popping open the lid, she poured it over Yu Sae-Jung who couldn’t even walk properly but was behaving rather recklessly.

“Ah-ahck!! Hey!! What are you doin...”

Hazeline was sure of hearing an unpleasant form of informal speech, but whatever – Yu Sae-Jung powerlessly slid down to the floor.

And almost right away, the door to the room was pushed open. And it was the members of the rescue team, accompanying a Vampire that could be the Elder.

They were rushing inside but after discovering the situation, stopped in their tracks.

Yu Sae-Jung, who was on the ground after suffering the effects of an unknown potion, while there was Hazeline, holding a potion bottle.

Kim Yu-Rin’s hand slowly reached down to her hips, towards her sword.

“....I just put her to sleep because she was rampaging around. Please, don’t doubt me on this one. Yu-Rin? Please let go of your weapon. Let go. I’ll really die with that. Like, really die. Really.” (Hazeline)

***

Persuading the Elder was quite easy. After pounding on the Elder’s face with Kim Yu-Rin’s fists loaded with the purpose of ‘shearing away bits of mental resistance with every punch landed’, the Elder’s mind finally became soft as mush, and using that opening, Hazeline’s mind manipulation magic dealt the final critical blow.

And so, they had succeeded in turning this Elder into a puppet, but...

“So, what should we do about this guy?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

Yi Hye-Rin pointed to the additional guest of this mess, Kim Jong-Hyuk, and asked.

“Oi, Bob Ross, can you make so that he will forget about today’s matters?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Of course.”

At Kim Yu-Rin’s demand, Rhosrahdel stepped forward smartly and began pouring his Mana into Kim Jong-Hyuk’s brain.

“It’s all done. He will remember it as having had a blackout after drinking himself into a stupor.” (Rhosrahdel)

“That’s a relief. Well done, Bob Ross.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“....By the way, just who is a Bob Ross? I’m Rhosrahdel.”

She lightly ignored ‘Bob Ross’ and his complaints and instead, Kim Yu-Rin took a slight glance at Yu Sae-Jung lying on the bed.

“What time did the butler from the Dawn household say he’ll be here?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“He said soon.”

Kim Yu-Rin nodded her head with a complicated expression on her face. It was regrettable, but Yu Sae-Jung’s mental state would only be a hindrance to them. On top of that, according to Hazeline’s words, she even exhibited signs of ‘Mana Deviation’, too...

“Alright, then. Is everyone ready? If you wish to be forgiven by Yu Sae-Jung, you need to bring the Guild Master Kim Sae-Jin home no matter what!” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Yes, ma’am. We will!”

Everyone energetically spat out the same answer.

***

*SFX for the engine roaring*

Driving on a precipitous mountain road was a wide-bodied SUV packed to the brim with eight people inside.

Kim Yu-Rin’s driving was top-notch, but at the same time, it was also quite rough as well, so the passengers all looked to be in some serious discomfort. Especially so for Yu Baek-Song, who just so happened to possess keener senses than regular humans; with a face of someone literally dying, she was in the middle of busy harming herself, such as hitting her head repeatedly against the back of the middle row of passenger seats.

“It’s the East Sea in this direction. Is this place correct?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Yes. Just a little bit further...”

Trudeau replied with a dazed face.

“Straight ahead?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Yes....”

“Okay.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

Even though they were on the unpaved road, she still stepped hard on the accelerator. And because this, but interior of the car began shaking madly as if an earthquake had broken out or something.

“Wait, wait, I might... really throw up... at this rate...” (Yu Baek-Song)

Not too long after, Yu Baek-Song’s powerless voice came from the furthest seats at the back.

“Huh?! No, you can’t! You can’t, you must not throw up in here!! I telling you right now, you must not throw up, got that?!” (Hazeline)

And the person raving madly was Hazeline, seating right next to her.

“No, no, I can’t hold back anymore, you know?! I can’t endure it no more. I might really die at this rate. No, I am already dead. Dead. Just treat me like a dead person.” (Yu Baek-Song)

“Endure it. Endure it!! I’m telling you to endure. Seriously, I’m telling y...” (Hazeline)

“Bleeeeergghhh!!”

“Kkyahahahahahck!!!!” (Hazeline)

Chaos was unfolding at the rearmost set of seats, but Kim Yu-Rin didn’t stop the car. No, instead of stopping, she actually increased the speed after her urgent need to rescue Kim Sae-Jin and the excitement at being given the opportunity to drive offroad real fast after long while, ended up overlapping.

“Argh, Mister Sae-Jin gave this robe to me as a present, you know!! Your sh*t is all over it now, you stupid cat!!” (Hazeline)

“.....Bleurghhhhh.”

“Sh*t... Heup! Stop! Stop the car, Yu-Rin. Yu-Rin!! Stop!! I’m also gonna throw up... Woo-eup!! Blergh!!”

“...Mister Bob Ross? Please deploy a shield around the rearmost seats. The smell may come over to this side.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“I’ve already deployed one a while ago, so you don’t have to worry, ma’am. And I said, I’m not Bob Ross.” (Rhosrahdel)

Yi Hye-Rin, Kim Sun-Ho, and Joo Ji-Hyuk let out sighs of relief. They decided to leave the matters of the rearmost seats to the people back there.

***

After 40 minutes of torturous driving later, the group finally arrived at the place the Vampire Elder had lead them to. And well, it was indeed an area so secluded and lonely, they never could have guessed such a place even existed before.

“Well, there aren’t anyone with problems, right?” Asked Kim Yu-Rin.

If one thought of Hazeline and Yu Baek-Song who were mired in the sick of each other as “problems”, they were indeed problematic, but Rhosrahdel’s cleaning magic spell managed to completely wash both of them, well, clean.

“Since you knew a magic like this, you really should’ve used this spell sooner... Really, I don’t like you at all.” (Hazeline)

“There it is. Wow, as expected of Bathory. Look how sturdy the isolation barrier is.” (Rhosrahdel)

Lightly ignoring the grumblings of Hazeline, Rhosrahdel pointed at the dome-shaped jet-black barrier at the distance.

“What should we do now, Captain?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“I should be able to destroy the barrier with my Gungnir. But the problem is what comes next. How should we deal with Bathory?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“...Hmm. How about this method?” (Kim Sun-Ho)

Kim Sun-Ho raised his hand.

“What is it?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“TM has been in charge of defense against the Monster threats, so... They have come up with many innovative items such as unmanned arbalests and gun turrets.” (Kim Sun-Ho) (ED: For people who don’t know what an arbalest is, just imagine Van-Helsing hunting vampires with that crossbow. That crossbow is an arbalest.)

“.....Ah?!”

Kim Yu-Rin’s eyes widened in an instant, but soon, she slowly shook her head.

“We don’t have the time. We need to rescue the Guild Master before something happens to him.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“We can deploy the Mercenaries from the Company, so within half a day – no, less than one hour will be enough.” (Kim Sun-Ho)

“......”

Kim Yu-Rin studied the reactions of her comrades. Yi Hye-Rin thought this was a good idea, so she readily agreed to it and even added in her own thoughts.

“Hazeline Unni, you can still do that thing, right? The magic that eliminates Mana.” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“Uh? Uh, uh... But, I think ten seconds will be the l, limit, most likely.”

Being called ‘Unni’ out of the blue, Hazeline got bewildered slightly and stuttered with her speech.

“.....Whew. Then, we’ll call the Mercenary Company to install those. Mister Sun-Ho?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

In any case, Bathory’s aim was to tame the Azure Dragon. So, at minimum, it was guaranteed that she wouldn’t kill him, and even Kim Sae-Jin himself wouldn’t want to see his fellow Guild members sacrificing themselves either.

“Let’s exclude the gun turrets and go with the arbalests. The Guild Master might end up getting mixed up in the attack.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Yes ma’am, understood.” (Kim Sun-Ho)

Kim Sun-Ho hurriedly made a call to someone.

And less than 30 minutes later...

*SFX for the rotors of helicopters spinning*

Twelve helicopters covered up the entire night sky, and dozens of Mercenaries descended from them while carrying all the necessary gears.

“...Wow. What the hell. So fast.”

Under the admiration of the rescue team, the Mercenaries managed to install tens of the unmanned arbalests in less than 20 minutes.

“What did you tell them?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“I explained that we have trapped a powerful Monster within the barrier.” (Kim Sun-Ho)

“That’s fine. Tell them to leave the area now.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

In the end, unless the real ‘elites’ were involved, Bathory couldn’t be taken down. Of course, the Mercenaries from the Monster were well known for their competence, but it was the right thing to avoid meaningless death at all times.

“Understood.”

Kim Sun-Ho ordered them to return while clapping his hands; the Mercenaries retreated as swiftly as a fired arrow.