Hwang Tae-wook ascended to the second floor at my command and immediately turned on the broadcast, summoning all his subordinates.
A moment later.
All the people on this island, including the employees who had disappeared with Mari, gathered in one place.
‘The production of Evolved Creatures has come to a halt. Mari’s efficiency is impressive. I like it.’
Mari had somehow come up next to me, staring wide-eyed.
“Ha… Master…”
Drool was dripping from the corners of her mouth. It seemed as though her appeal in a state of mimicry had gone a bit overboard.
– What’s going on? I kept hearing explosion sounds.
– Looks like they caught the intruder. You seem unharmed.
– Anyway, we’re the ones who’ll be blamed for the breach.
– Huh… must be exhausting.
– But what’s that armor next to you?
– Reinforcements?
– No, it seems they’ve completely halted the Evolved Creature production.
– What? Really? We’re screwed… Must have had a defective product!
– Huh…?! Didn’t this happen once before? That time was due to a defective product too!
– Ah, crap… that sounds about right.
The guys who were called in from the outskirts still had no idea what was going on. They were just hoping that the mess wouldn’t splash on them.
“Hey, do any of your former lackeys not know what happened here? Or did you drag them in here by force?”
Just to be sure before killing them all.
“Absolutely not. If I forcibly bring people in, I’d need extra personnel to monitor them, doubling my costs.”
“Aha… That makes sense.”
“Yes. Those guys have been working at the factory that exploded for at least 2 years. They had to stay on the island, but they volunteered to come here as we offered high pay.”
“Of course, among them are those who can’t forget the perks of Evolved Creatures and are here to enhance their skills by consuming small amounts of high-quality Evolved Creatures.”
“I see. But offering money or Evolved Creatures wasn’t your doing?”
“…I’m really sorry… I swear from now on, I won’t do anything but follow Master’s commands.”
“Me too, Master!”
“Of course, that should be the case.”
When I return home, I should give Huang Tae-wook and Mari some mental training before putting them to other tasks.
They seem just right to be training for my summoned creatures.
“Total… 316? That’s quite a few. Is this operation really that demanding?”
“Producing Evolved Creatures is more complicated and requires quite a lot of work than expected.”
“Really? Hmmm…”
Ines, from ‘Do’, used skilled personnel like Alchemists to mass-produce Evolved Creatures even in small spaces, so the saying that a poor brain leads to a struggling body wasn’t baseless.
“I can’t even imagine how much it costs to manage so many at once. You really are something else.”
“Haha, I have some skills beyond appearance. But the guys here are ultimately people who dislike fighting monsters, so it hasn’t cost too much. Of course, B-rank Hunters are treated differently.”
“Well, whatever. Let’s get down there and subdue everyone. Tie them up if possible.”
“Yes!!”
“Yes, Master!!”
──?!
When their employer in armor used the title ‘Master’, the employees watching from below began to murmur at the unexplainable situation.
‘Let’s go.’
[Dong-dododdodod…]
“Beeeeeeeeep!!”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
– Wh-what are those?!
– A-a monster!!
– It’s a monster!!
And thus, the time for trash collection began.
Starting with Skeleton Bombs, all subordinates were deployed in a purging operation.
Boom, boom, boom!!
– Kyaaaaah!
– Wh-why are you attacking us all of a sudden?!
– Cough, cough!!
– What the hell! Hwang Tae-wook has snapped! Everyone run!!
Among Hwang Tae-wook’s subordinates, there were quite a few who reached A-rank, but as dozens of bombs started exploding in succession, chaos set in due to the sudden ambush.
In real combat, emphasizing the importance of a preemptive strike could never be overdone, and subduing the bewildered hunters was an easy task.
After ‘Jim’ provoked them and blocked the escape path with a Wall of Flames, I restrained the main hunters, capturing every single one without exception.
There was a decent amount of resistance, but it took less than twenty minutes to clean them up.
“Bring three over to me.”
“Yes!”
[Blood Siphon]
I had become accustomed to siphoning blood, enabling me to drain from up to three people at a time.
– Wisdom +1
– Magic Power +1
– Health +1
“Ugh…!”
Thud─!
For hunters below A-rank, one would need to suck the blood of dozens to barely increase their stats by 1, while A-rank and above boosted the stats satisfactorily.
‘So this is why the skill description said growth is slow. If they’re not equal or more robust than me, it’s inefficient to siphon.’
Out of the 300 or so subordinates I drained, I had gained only 37 stats.
It wasn’t a small number, but considering the effort put into knocking them out just to suck their blood, it was disappointing.
‘But these five should be useful.’
The five with potential among Huang Tae-wook’s subordinates were drained just a little and converted into Demon Servants. They were high-quality personnel, almost equivalent to my first enemies.
I had originally wanted to spare a few more, but in a mindless thirst for blood, I ended up excessively draining them until they died, leaving only five.
‘I guess there’s a limit to how much I can siphon in a day. If I drain more, just smelling the blood could drive me crazy… I need to be careful. Still, thanks to this, the level of [Demon Servant Enchantment] leveled up.’
– Demon Servants gain an additional 5% (+2) boost to the caster’s base stats.
– Each Demon Servant possessed increases the caster’s physical stats (Strength, Agility, Health) by 3.
– Demon Servants 8/30 (+10)
With this operation, the level of Demon Servant Enchantment rose to 4, also boosting the physical capabilities of the Demon Servants and my maximum capacity for them.
‘With the increased stats due to adding Demon Servants, my stats are at 45. This Demon Servant Enchantment is quite charming, huh?’
No matter how much I raise my stats, there’s always the feeling of inadequacy.
I was satisfied with my bolstered growth yet craved even greater strength.
“Y-you’re amazing, Master! It’s astonishing how quickly you grow in such a short time!”
‘Mari’ couldn’t hide her astonishment as she watched me grow in real-time.
“Wow… whoa…!”
Hwang Tae-wook, thanks to the effects of Demon Servant Enchantment significantly improving his physical capabilities, suddenly dropped to the floor and started bowing to me repeatedly.
‘The psychology of a Demon Servant is truly confusing. But having excessive loyalty isn’t necessarily a bad thing.’
Now I had to prepare for the Grim Reaper’s arrival. Of course, the siphoning was in anticipation of that, but it was time to carry out more pragmatic operations.
“Is there an open area where we could summon him? A place where it would cause less harm to those bound here.”
With ‘Ran’ not beside me, I couldn’t store people in my Space for transport.
If the building were to collapse during the battle, it could harm those present, so we needed to relocate.
“Yes! There is a place that used to be a testing area; let’s go there!”
“But will he come after us if we go there? I’m short on time.”
“Don’t worry! He has a ‘sense of smell’ capability, so he’ll know where I am in an instant.”
“A sense of smell… truly a talented creature.”
“Compared to you, it’s nothing special. But his raw power is real!”
“Got it, let’s move out. Everyone, follow me.”
“Yes, Master!!”
‘……’
With Haseirin excluded, my forces had increased to seven.
They followed behind me while actively engaging in conversation.
‘No need to impose any restrictions.’
Once I formally start giving missions, I plan to instruct them not to let my name slip.
“Amazing! The stats given by Master are just incredible!”
“Really… my Strength shot up by 42, and my Health boosted 66? Becoming a Demon Servant has been the greatest fortune of my life!”
“I’m so happy to have met Master… How can I repay such grace?”
“To meet someone I’ll serve for a lifetime in a place like this…!”
Having these blindly devoted followers was surprisingly not a bad feeling.
‘This must be why everyone tries to play the leader role.’
Among the five who turned into Demon Servants from Huang Tae-wook’s subordinates, three were melee fighters, one was a Barrier Mage, and another was in the Druid category.
‘The four melee fighters including the Druid can be sent toward Cha Jin-hyuk. I should let the Barrier Mage stay with us. He seems specialized in defensive barriers.’
As I pondered the utilization of Demon Servants, we quickly reached our intended location.
The place had a clearer view, though the terrain wasn’t exactly level.
“What the hell did you do here for the ground to look this way? By the way, you were even handling Cliff Worms; was your concept just capturing any available monster for experimentation?”
“Huh?! How did you know?! I’m deeply sorry, Master. But doing it this way, we did catch some eventually. Like getting the wings of a Harpy or developing an Evolved Creature with telepathy-like abilities, akin to Ents.”
“That’s just boasting, you punk. You’re just feeding the beast that will slaughter you.”
“My sincere apologies…”
gazing quietly at the uneven ground that looked like it had been bombarded. The tactical implications didn’t seem too bad.
‘Shall I test this out?’
[Boundary Sanctuary]
I descended to the deepest pit and summoned the sanctuary, trapping Huang Tae-wook inside.
After acquiring the Boundary Sanctuary and consistently feeding it with materials from the Great Beasts, I found I could now select from three options for the sanctuary.
First, ‘Visibility Block’ preventing entities outside from seeing those inside; this was possible from the get-go.
Of course, as the sanctuary grew larger, I needed to inject more materials to maintain the option, but it was manageable.
Second, the ‘Non-Existence’ ability to make the sanctuary itself invisible was a recent acquisition. Though not perfect, it should work on those without sensing abilities, making it difficult for the Grim Reaper to discover it.
Triggering both abilities simultaneously means hiding everyone inside perfectly.
And third, the ‘Escape Prevention’ feature preventing any entities inside from exiting.
Still not fully complete, but it functioned at an operational level.
‘It was that option that Byte Chungski hit me with. But I’m still far from the perfection he had; even I think it’s a bit flimsy. At best, it might only briefly bewilder him.’
While there were many options I wanted to apply, conditions such as immunity to magical attacks required too many resources, so I postponed them for the time being.
This time, the primary options were indeed ‘Non-Existence’ and ‘Escape Prevention.’
“Ah- now that I’m inside, I can definitely feel it. It’s truly a mystical space. Mari, do you see it?”
When Hwang Tae-wook moved to the specified location, he looked around in genuine astonishment.
With an imposing leather jacket and rugged appearance, his bouncing demeanor as he waved his hands felt oddly like watching a naive boy.
“Yeah, so you can see. You can stop that childish bouncing now. But you don’t see the space, right? Truly, Master is amazing…!”
“Truly magnificent, Master!”
‘……’
Now, I made a conscious effort to ignore the Demon Servants praising me as I continued my thoughts.
‘Okay. The sanctuary feels like it’s functioning well. If the Grim Reaper approaches without suspicion, that’d be excellent. If I can bewilder him even briefly, I could insert an extra skill.’
I buried one of the most powerful bombs I had among the explosives in the area.
‘Come on. Even that sturdy Escalon was taken down by these bombs.’
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