In the basement of the Fire Bird Guild headquarters, there was a secluded room used as a storage area.
The lighting in that place was always dim.
In this dark space, six hunters were sitting around a table. A few bottles of beer and dried squid were placed on the table.
Seo Gyuhye opened a beer can and looked around. He was an A-Rank Hunter of the Fire Bird Guild and a close associate of Vice Guild Leader Taeyoung Jeong.
His upright posture and sharp eyes left an impression that was hard to forget at first glance.
“The door is locked tight, right?”
Seo Gyuhye asked, taking a sip of beer and glancing towards the door.
Kang Minchul, sitting opposite him, nodded.
“Yes, I checked thoroughly.”
Kang Minchul replied, adjusting his glasses.
“And besides, no one cares about this place anyway, so it’s fine.”
Seo Gyuhye scanned his surroundings again with a dissatisfied expression.
“Still, you never know. What about soundproofing?”
“You don’t have to worry. I’ve covered the entire room with my skill, so nothing will be heard from outside.”
Kang Minchul said confidently.
His skill, Barricade, had a unique ability to temporarily separate the space from reality.
When the skill was activated, a translucent blue barrier would completely enclose the designated space. This barrier was not just a physical shield but temporarily isolated the space itself from the outside.
Sound, vibrations, and even mana waves could not pass through this barrier.
This was the ability of B-Rank Hunter Kang Minchul.
“That should be enough.”
Seo Gyuhye nodded with satisfaction.
As he did, Seyoung Jang, sitting at one side of the table, took out a cigarette and lit it.
Although her guild experience was longer than Seo Gyuhye’s, she always stood behind him due to her lack of political acumen.
“Can I smoke now?”
Seyoung Jang asked, holding up a lighter.
“Do as you please.”
Seo Gyuhye said, looking around at the other hunters.
“Now, let’s get to the real talk.”
As his tone changed, the atmosphere also shifted dramatically. The hunters, who had been drinking beer and joking moments ago, suddenly had sharp gazes.
Naturally, their identities were hunters belonging to the Fire Bird Guild. More precisely, they were close associates of the late Vice Guild Leader Taeyoung Jeong.
Seo Gyuhye spread a thin file on the table. Inside was a copy of Kanghyeon Lee’s hunter registration card.
“After investigating, he’s really F-Rank.”
He tapped the document with his finger and sneered.
“A mere F-Rank Hunter fought an A-Rank monster? That’s ridiculous.”
At Seo Gyuhye’s words, Seyoung Jang exhaled smoke and crossed her arms.
“He’s the weirdest F-Rank I’ve seen in this business in 15 years. And a Necromancer at that? I doubt how a hunter with a despised trait caught Yerin Jeong’s eye. It’s not like they were close before, is it?”
The hunters laughed at her words.
It was an obvious mockery.
“…Isn’t it possible that it’s an unregistered summon?”
Kang Minchul cautiously interjected.
Necromancy was a despised trait, but it was also a trait that was not yet well understood.
In that sense, he was raising the possibility that Kanghyeon Lee was an exceptional Necromancer, but he fell silent under Seo Gyuhye’s sharp gaze.
“What happened in the Minotaurus Dungeon.”
Seo Gyuhye lowered his voice and leaned towards the center of the table.
“You’ve all heard about it, right? The story that Kanghyeon Lee’s skeleton fought a Death Knight and a Goblin Lord.”
Seyoung Jang snorted.
“You believe that? It’s what the surviving hunters from the dungeon said. Yerin Jeong ordered it. She must have won them over while we were in chaos after the Vice Guild Leader’s death.”
She added, rubbing out her cigarette.
“Well, she probably promised them some spoils. It’s a typical tactic to seize control of the guild.”
This time, Kang Minchul adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Still… didn’t Team Leader Nam also acknowledge it?”
Kang Minchul said cautiously.
Here, Team Leader Nam referred to Team Leader Namgung Hyuk.
Namgung Hyuk occupied a position of strict neutrality within the guild.
Therefore, his words carried significant weight.
At his words, Seo Gyuhye slammed his beer can down.
“That means Namgung Hyuk is already on their side.”
His voice was filled with contempt.
“To survive in this trash situation, it was natural to stand on the winning side. You saw him bow to an F-Rank like Yerin Jeong, despite being an A-Rank team leader, right? There was no flattery like that.”
A brief silence fell in the room. Seyoung Jang took another sip of beer after her cigarette and spoke.
“But what are we going to do? Yerin Jeong is already like the Vice Guild Leader, isn’t she? Most of the guild members support her.”
It was true.
Although not officially the Vice Guild Leader, the perception that she was practically appointed was dominant.
Even if she was the child of a concubine, she was still royalty.
In such a situation, there was nothing that would change by them gathering here.
Rather, it seemed more advantageous to shed the image of being the former Vice Guild Leader’s associates and align with Yerin Jeong.
However, Seo Gyuhye had no intention of letting this atmosphere continue.
“Isn’t all of this too strange?”
Seo Gyuhye lightly hit the table with his fist.
“It’s all happened too quickly since Vice Guild Leader Taeyoung Jeong’s suspicious death.”
Seo Gyuhye suspected Yerin Jeong of being behind the incident.
Even if she didn’t directly carry it out, wasn’t all of this planned in advance?
He had such doubts.
Kang Minchul cleared his throat.
“The key is Kanghyeon Lee. If his summon is really that strong, why is he still F-Rank? Even if the host himself is weak, with the summon’s ability, he could have received a higher rank.”
Seo Gyuhye chuckled cynically.
“That’s exactly what’s suspicious. Either he’s trying to hide his strength, or he surprisingly has no talent.”
His eyes narrowed.
No matter how he thought about it, the latter seemed more likely.
Seyoung Jang also nodded.
“Well, that’s possible. He might have been lucky enough to summon a strong summon, but the person himself might be nothing. Especially since Necromancers rely heavily on their summons.”
At her words, Seo Gyuhye gave a meaningful smile.
“If that’s the case… it means we need to test Kanghyeon Lee’s true strength.”
That was the real reason they had gathered here.
To find out Kanghyeon Lee’s true strength.
“How?”
Kang Minchul asked.
“It’s simple.”
Seo Gyuhye said, leaning back in his chair.
“As Yerin Jeong said, she’s going to entrust the Minotaurus Dungeon to Kanghyeon Lee. We’ll volunteer when Kanghyeon Lee enters that dungeon.”
That was how they would find out Kanghyeon Lee’s true strength.
Of course, if they only wanted to find out his strength, they wouldn’t have gathered here for a secret meeting.
“And if we get rid of Kanghyeon Lee, that would be even better.”
Seyoung Jang nodded with interest.
“If Kanghyeon Lee dies in the dungeon, doubts will arise about his abilities, and Yerin Jeong, who brought him in, will lose the guild members’ trust.”
However, Kang Minchul felt something was amiss. And he voiced his thoughts.
“What if Kanghyeon Lee, that guy, is actually strong?”
“Even if he’s strong, there’s no problem. The dungeon is a place where many unpredictable things happen.”
Seo Gyuhye’s gaze turned cold.
As Kang Minchul said, even if Kanghyeon Lee was strong, what was the problem?
The dungeon was a closed space.
Those outside wouldn’t know what happened inside the dungeon.
“If we join forces, we can take down one person, can’t we?”
It wasn’t for nothing that they were the Vice Guild Leader’s close associates.
They were all elite hunters and were strong.
They were confident they could easily eliminate someone like Kanghyeon Lee. Of course, including his skeleton summon.
* * *
“Sigh.”
Something was lacking.
“I wish there were more sacrifices.”
There was much to do. He had to serve as an advisor to the Fire Bird Guild, and he also had to retake the hunter rank measurement test for that.
That wasn’t all.
He had to continuously manage the production of Terrilif Mana Potions, and he even had to enter the ‘Wandering Maze’ of the Minotaurus Dungeon, managed by the Fire Bird Guild, to show that he was doing something.
“Too busy?”
Of course, there was a way to cover all that busyness.
He just had to become stronger himself.
And there was also a way to bring more monsters like Maru to Earth.
“For now, getting stronger is the priority.”
He couldn’t rely on Maru for his safety indefinitely.
And once he officially started working as an advisor for the Fire Bird Guild, there would undoubtedly be various variables, whether he liked it or not.
For the future, he needed to become stronger. And to become stronger, he needed sacrifices.
“Hmm.”
His thoughts deepened.
Lately, the amount of incoming sacrifices hadn’t been great, and it was difficult to tell people to kill indiscriminately and offer them as sacrifices.
‘Are there no people who are okay to be sacrificed?’
At that moment, an idea came to him.
‘Villains?’
Just as there were villains on Earth, there were criminals everywhere on the El Dorado Continent.
If he captured and sacrificed such individuals, public order would be stabilized, and he would become stronger, killing two birds with one stone.
“Good.”
As he gave Celia the order.
Celia, being a smart administrator, would likely understand his words well.
He immediately turned on his smartphone and gave Celia the command.
* * *
Celia pondered his Master’s command again and again.
“To offer criminals as sacrifices?”
That was to punish evil criminals and offer them as sacrifices.
However, for Celia, a monster, the definition of a criminal was ambiguous.
Therefore, she was contemplating.
“What is the standard for a criminal?”
A person who has committed a crime.
But the scope of sin considered by monsters and humans was bound to be different.
Especially for Celia, a 6-star Succubus, sin was singular.
Those ignorant individuals who did not serve her Master.
From Celia’s perspective, they were all sinners.
How dare they not serve the great Master, they were truly foolish.
“Indeed…”
Having thought this far, Celia smiled.
“Master wants ‘that’.”
The criminals Celia thought of were precisely those who did not show loyalty.
“It means there’s no need to show mercy to those who are not loyal.”
It referred to all those who did not serve the great Master.
“That intention is essentially telling me to quickly offer the Free City Alliance.”
No, not just the Free City Alliance.
Master undoubtedly wanted everything.
The Free City Alliance was merely a stepping stone for the conquest of the continent.
“Hmm.”
Celia took a deep breath.
Just thinking about it made her feel as if the fragrant smell of blood vibrated in her nose.
She felt happy at the thought of offering sacrifices to Master.
“Good.”
Celia immediately handed over the letter to the Shadow.
“Deliver this to Necros and each sector of the dungeon. From now on, anyone who rebels against Master will be offered as a sacrifice.”
And then.
“It’s time to use the Banshees I’ve spread across the continent.”
The Banshees who had possessed humans.
It was time to utilize them.
