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As a cradle rocked back and forth in a cozy room, a baby’s cries filled the air.
Kang Yoon-Soo slowly opened his sleepy eyes and said, “I’ll go.”
“Please,” his wife replied sleepily.
Kang Yoon-Soo stretched his arms, then went over to the cradle. Then, he picked up and began slowly rocking the baby, saying in a calm, gentle voice, “It’s okay…”
He comforted the baby by calling out a name he could no longer remember. The baby soon stopped crying, and soon had a bright smile just like its mother’s. It was if the child had never cried to begin with. Perhaps the baby really liked its name. Was that why it had suddenly stopped crying?
Then, Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly wondered… Why could he not remember anything about his child? The baby’s name, appearance, and everything else related to his child was a blur to him.
Kang Yoon-Soo’s hands trembled uncontrollably, and he kissed the baby’s cheek and whispered, “I’m sorry, dear one…”
The day the Demon Lord was going to appear was fast approaching, and the world would be destroyed and he would regress…
…no matter how happy he was right now.
***
Kang Yoon-Soo opened his eyes when a droplet of water fell from a stalactite above him and splashed onto his cheek. It was still early in the morning, and he was in the basement of an abandoned building, which served as the den of a group of thieves.
“So, you’re awake.”
Kang Yoon-Soo looked up at the source of the voice and saw a tall woman was sitting on top of his stomach. He was being pinned down so tightly by the woman’s strong, sturdy legs that he found it difficult to breathe.
He looked back through his memories. How had this happened?
The woman laughed and asked, “Did you have a nightmare or something? My things are all wet because of your sweat. Damn it… I have to stay like this until they bring some rope…”
The short-haired woman, who wore a bandana over her mouth, was a bandit. She put a knife to Kang Yoon-Soo’s neck and whispered in his ear, “Anyway, it’ll be better for you to stay still if you want to keep that fancy thing between your shoulders.”
“It’s much faster to get kidnapped,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“What?” the bandit exclaimed, tilting her head in confusion.
Kang Yoon-Soo explained the situation. “It was much faster for us to get kidnapped by you and sleep through the night while you brought us to our location. Then, we’d just have to kill you after that.”
“Ha!” The bandit scoffed, putting pressure on the knife as she said threateningly, “Don’t make me laugh. Did you just say you got kidnapped by us on purpose? Is that it?”
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied before kicking the bandit in the head with his feet, instantly knocking her unconscious with the sudden strike.
Right as Kang Yoon-Soo got up from the ground, a large woman walked down the stairs, saying, “Mehila, I brought the rope just like you asked me to. Hihi. We should drug that guy and… Huh? What the? How did this bastard get free?”
Pukeok!
“Ack!” The large woman yelped as Kang Yoon-Soo crushed her jaw. Then, he bound the bandits up with the rope she had brought.
Kang Yoon-Soo lightly stretched his body and thought, ‘Such a waste of time. I’ll take care of this quickly.’
The Demon Lord would appear much earlier in the final life.
***
The three party members were in a precarious situation. They had woken up in the morning to find that Kang Yoon-Soo had disappeared, with only a note in his place. The message on it was quite short and precise.
[I got kidnapped. The address is on the back.]
Henrick furrowed his brow and said, “I knew he was crazy, but this is on a whole other level. Who the hell leaves behind a note saying they’ve been kidnapped and leaves an address for them to be rescued?!”
On the other hand, Shaneth was quick to adapt to the situation. She wondered, “But it’s kind of strange… Why would they only kidnap Kang Yoon-Soo and leave the rest of us behind?”
“They probably only kidnapped one because there weren’t a lot of them at the time. An experienced adventurer does fetch a hefty price on the slave market, after all,” Henrick replied.
“But wouldn’t it be better to kidnap women if they want to sell them as slaves…?” Shaneth asked.
“How should I know? Maybe the kidnappers are into guys or something. No, wait… Come to think of it, maybe they kidnapped him because he looks pretty?” Henrick muttered.
Shaneth’s face paled when she heard Henrick’s banter.
Iris looked concerned as she said, “I am worried about the kidnappers…”
“You have to be prepared to take that much risk if you want to work as a criminal, but what’s important right now is…” Henrick trailed off. His gaze turned sharp and he finished, “That bastard took all the booze and money!”
“Let’s get moving!” Shaneth cried.
They passed a checkpoint and entered a middle-sized city called Birhen. The fragrant smell of food tickled their noses the moment they stepped into the city, and Henrick slowly began to be distracted by the alcohol being sold on the streets.
“It’s only dawn, but the streets are already bustling. They must be having a festival or something,” Henrick said.
Iris squirmed with a hesitant expression, then said, “This place is filled with tasty smells…”
“Our main priority is to save Kang Yoon-Soo right now!” Shaneth snapped, grabbing Iris by the shoulder and dragging her along by force.
The party followed the address and the map drawn on the back of the note, and arrived at an abandoned building.
“It’s the basement of this building,” Henrick said.
Shaneth quickly opened the door and went into the abandoned building. It was empty and run-down, but inside it was a staircase leading down to a metal door.
Clack! Clack!
“Huh? It’s locked. There should be a key somewhere,” Henrick said.
“Get out of the way!” Shaneth yelled, extending her hand. “Pyrokinesis!”
The metal door instantly melted.
“Wow, your flames are getting more powerful,” Iris said in astonishment.
“They say a fire grows hotter the more desperate it is,” Henrick joked.
However, Shaneth did not have the time or patience to respond to Henrick’s lame joke.
“Kang Yoon-Soo!” the party called out.
“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He had already retrieved all of his belongings, and was leisurely sitting on an oak barrel. Sprawled across the ground were dozens of unconscious female bandits.
Henrick observed the countless stalactites and rocks in the basement and said, “It seems they retrofitted an underground cave and turned it into their hideout. It does feel like a hideout, but it’s a bust from an architectural perspective. They could have just used any other basement, but why did they build their hideout here of all places?”
Shaneth hurriedly approached Kang Yoon-Soo and asked, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Really? Did nothing happen? Did someone touch you or… Don’t be shy, you can tell me… Be brave…” Shaneth said, stumbling over her words.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Henrick asked. He looked around the area and added, “So this was the den of a female bandit group. I guess it makes sense now, seeing as a man would be a perfect slave in a place like this.”
“Then why did they not kidnap Henrick instead?” Iris asked innocently.
“Well, most people would prefer to eat fresh meat instead of old meat, don’t you think?” Henrick asked in response.
“I like both,” Iris said with a smile.
“Hmm… You’re too innocent for me to explain what I actually meant…” Henrick muttered.
Kang Yoon-Soo distributed the items the bandits had stolen from them, then carried the still-unconscious bandits upstairs. Afterward, the party found the local investigators and handed the bandits over to them.
A man who appeared to be in charge of the investigators expressed his gratitude. “These bandits are quite infamous for kidnapping people during the festive seasons, and they have been buying strange rocks from the black market for who-knows-what plans. In any event, thank you very much for your help.”
It was then that Iris’ eyes shot wide open and she asked, “Is this city going to have a festival soon?”
The head investigator seemed to be surprised for a moment, but politely replied, “It will be the harvest moon soon. Around this time of year, the fall season officially starts across the continent. The people of Birhen are preparing a festival to welcome the start of fall. I suggest that you join the festivities if you have the time, as it should be a memorable experience for you.”
The investigators bound up the bandits and dragged them back to the headquarters.
[You have handed 42 female bandits over to the investigators.]
[You have received a small bounty.]
[You have handed over 8 bandit groups.]
[You have obtained the right to become a Grade 8 investigator.]
Iris stared at Kang Yoon-Soo with sparkling eyes, pleading, “Kang Yoon-Soo… I want to see the festival…”
“We have something to do before that,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“What is it?” Iris asked.
“Creating a spirit,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
Shaneth tilted her head in confusion and said, “We currently have Sally and Acle, so there are only two kinds of spirits left. Which one are you making this time? Is it the light spirit or the sword spirit?”
There were four spirits that existed on the continent:
The Spirit of Fire, Salamander.
The Spirit of Ice, Icicle.
The Spirit of Light, Bright.
The Spirit of Swords, Sharpness.
However, Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and replied, “I’m not only going to make one this time.”
***
The party went back down to the basement cave, and Kang Yoon-Soo summoned Sally and Acle simultaneously.
Sally ran excitedly toward Kang Yoon-Soo and rubbed her cheeks on his leg, exclaiming,, “Papa! Why did you call Sally?”
On the other hand, Acle acted the way he always had. “Ah… So bothersome… What is it?”
Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “I’ll make you younger siblings.”
Sally smiled brightly and cried, “Wow! New siblings! I hope they’ll be cute and nice, unlike Acle.”
“Hmph! I’m stronger than you, so why don’t you follow me instead?” Acle snapped back.
“Why won’t you call me noona?! You won’t even play with me… You’re so mean!” Sally protested.
“Hmph! You were just born earlier than me, but you’re too weak for me to recognize you as my elder sister,” Acle said.
Sally had been born much earlier than Acle, but the quality of the materials used to create her had not been as good as his. That was one of the reasons why Acle appeared older than Sally.
Sally started crying. “Waaaah! Papa! Acle is teasing me!”
Kang Yoon-Soo pulled Sally off his leg. Sally quickly turned around and ran toward Shaneth, crying, “Waaah! Mommy!”
“It’s okay, Sally, it’s okay,” Shaneth said comfortingly.
Henrick scoffed and said, “It’s already pretty noisy now, but I can’t imagine how rowdy it’s going to be if we have two more added to this bunch.”
“Our travels will be more fun with more members,” Iris said, smiling innocently.
Kang Yoon-Soo walked deeper into the basement cave, and soon reached a fancy silver engraving on the wall. It was a door sealed with powerful magic that led to where the bandits had stored all of the spoils from their criminal activity, and one needed a special password to enter it. Kang Yoon-Soo knocked on the door and whispered something to it, and it slowly opened.
Shaneth asked curiously, “What did you whisper just now?”
“Something racy and vulgar,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied.
“I guess it’s better for me not to know…” Shaneth muttered.
The area behind the door was much wider than they had expected, and the rocks on the other side were much larger as well.
Kang Yoon-Soo took out the Bloody Halberd of Vengeance from his backpack and gripped it in one hand. It was the weapon he had obtained from the trial, and its edge was incomparably sharp compared to that of a normal halberd. He then equipped his Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword in his other hand. The halberd and the magic sword were an odd combination to dual-wield, but his stance seemed not to be awkward at all.
“Get ready for combat,” he said.
Shaneth gripped her scythe tightly, and Henrick took out Rick from his summoning box.
“What’s up?” Rick asked.
“Be happy. It’s time to fight,” Henrick replied.
“But I want to kill people…” Rick said with a sad frown.
“Do you want me to shove you back into the box…?” Henrick grumbled.
Iris summoned her black lightning and said, “It is not yet dawn, so I can still use my magic.”
The ground started to shake as if an earthquake had begun, and the rocks in the cave shone brightly. They all began to move, clustering together and forming into something that was tall enough to hit the ceiling. They had turned into a giant golem that emitted a brilliant light from the core in its chest.
[The Lightning Golem of Brilliance has appeared!]
Henrick’s mouth opened wide in surprise as he remarked, “So they brought all those rocks and built their hideout in a cave to build that thing. They were pretty resourceful for a small bandit group.”
The Lightning Golem’s voice resounded loudly. “I am a golem made by evil people through evil means. I want to kill you. My heart is fluttering at the thought of taking a life for the first time.”
Iris licked her lips and said, “Then your heart must be really tasty!”
“You! I will beat you to death!” the Lightning Golem cried.
Bzzzzt!
The Lightning Golem began to unleash its electricity across the cave.