# 042. The King’s Arrival (13)
Jaehee stopped when he reached a certain tree. Catching his breath after running at full speed, he glared in the direction where Kim Shin would be. Kim Shin, seemingly confident in his advantage, was leisurely pursuing Jaehee from behind. He appeared to think he was conducting some kind of drive hunt.
Jaehee dispelled the knife he was holding and summoned a bow. Closing his eyes, he imagined the biggest and most powerful bow he could think of, with arrows strong enough to penetrate anything. Though it was his first time materializing a bow, it didn’t feel particularly difficult. For Jaehee, a bow was a much more familiar object than a knife.
And when the bow finally formed in his hand, Jaehee opened his eyes.
“Ji-su-ssi. Have you secured all the survivors?”
“Huh? Yes. I have all of them.”
“Good. That cult leader over there is currently in league with a Constellation, specifically the Demon King. That black flame must be the Demon King’s power. I’m not entirely certain, but you shouldn’t let that black flame touch you. Avoid it as much as possible.”
“What?”
“W-wait, what did you just say? D-Demon King?”
Park Yong-pil grabbed Jaehee’s shoulder in shock. Jaehee nodded while drawing the bowstring.
“Think about it. I just checked and found that the Constellation that was in second place for dungeon contribution suddenly reversed positions and reached 90%. But what have we encountered since entering the dungeon? Any monsters or anything like that? You know how contribution works, right? It increases when you defeat those who come to conquer the dungeon, but we haven’t encountered any monsters or traps, and suddenly a Constellation that was merely in second place has its dungeon contribution raised to 90% and becomes the owner. That raises questions. How exactly did they accumulate contribution? Or did someone else accumulate it for them?”
At Jaehee’s words, both Park Yong-pil and Kim Ji-su gaped. A hypothesis neither wanted to imagine came to mind.
“Are you saying that this Kim Shin guy is the Demon King’s puppet? That he raised the Demon King’s contribution?”
“I’m almost certain, but this is just my speculation, so make your own judgment. Don’t you think the ridiculous ‘End Baptism’ that transformed people’s appearances was actually using the Demon King’s power to turn people into dungeon components? In fact, they were closer to monsters than animals, weren’t they?”
“C-crazy bastard… How could he do such a thing…”
Park Yong-pil’s body trembled, and Kim Ji-su turned so pale she couldn’t possibly get any whiter.
“T-then, what about the people who have already transformed… What can we do? Is there no way for them to return?”
“I don’t know. It’s all speculation, so I can’t be sure. All we can do is hope they’ll return after we clear the dungeon.”
“That’s… that’s impossible… The Management Bureau said there would be over a hundred people, but I’ve only photographed about twenty. That means the rest have all… been transformed like that. It’s… it’s impossible.”
At Kim Ji-su’s words, Jaehee bit his lip. When he had seen the survivors, he had scanned their faces, wondering if there might be a familiar face among them. But his stepmother wasn’t among them. Unless she was somewhere else, it was clear that his stepmother had also become a sacrifice to the Doomsday Cult.
“Let’s find a way. For now, think of that Kim Shin as the dungeon boss. The black flame is definitely dangerous, so be careful, each of you.”
After finishing his words, Jaehee drew the bowstring. The bow being large and heavy, his arm muscles bulged tightly as he pulled. Jaehee closed his eyes and focused on Kim Shin. He didn’t know how it was possible, but even with his eyes closed, he could somehow see Kim Shin’s movements clearly.
The footsteps rustling through the undergrowth, the swaying shoulders, the restless eyes.
When all of those became vividly clear, as if within reach, Jaehee released the string.
Along with a heavy swoosh, a scream rang out.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Hmph, judging by that loud voice, it seems I missed. Lucky bastard.”
The arrow had flown precisely toward Kim Shin, but at that moment, Kim Shin had stumbled over a rock. He was disgustingly lucky. The arrow that had been aimed at Kim Shin only tore his clothes as it grazed past him, failing to wound him.
Kim Shin and his followers were in a complete panic. They were even more terrified because they hadn’t expected an arrow to come flying.
Jaehee slowly materialized a second arrow. As he nocked it on the string, his legs trembled as his strength drained away. Materialization was all well and good, but its biggest drawback was that it consumed his energy. This was also why he had been using knives despite being more familiar with bows. Once a knife was materialized, that was it, but with a bow, he had to continuously materialize arrows, which consumed a lot of energy.
However, if he wanted to attack Kim Shin without coming into contact with that black flame, a bow was the only option.
Upon seeing Jaehee preparing an arrow, Kim Ji-su silently took out her own weapon from her inventory. In truth, Kim Ji-su was a fighter who used her small, agile body as a weapon, moving swiftly and unpredictably. If anything, she was more of an assassin style than a knight. Kim Ji-su armed herself with short daggers at her waist, ankles, and wrists. What she took out next was a pendulum. The pendulum, with its blade-sharp tip, was attached to a long metal chain. Kim Ji-su held a pendulum in each hand. Uniquely, Kim Ji-su’s main weapon was the pendulum. Though it looked like some kind of accessory, this pendulum was sharper than most knives and was a powerful weapon.
With a short sigh, Park Yong-pil also took out his weapon. Though he had introduced himself as using a staff when he first introduced himself, what he actually pulled out was a massive greatsword. The large, blunt blade looked more like an axe than a sword, but it suited Park Yong-pil well.
“I thought something was strange. Why aren’t there any monsters in a dungeon? I figured they must be somewhere… but it turns out we’re supposed to be taking human heads instead. Damn, this job is really unlucky.”
Jaehee released the second arrow. He aimed for Kim Shin’s head. But this time, knowing the arrow was coming, Kim Shin drew his sword. The moment black flames flickered on Kim Shin’s blade, the arrow abruptly withered. That was the only way to describe it. The arrow was consumed by the flames as if it were a thin sheet of paper.
“Ugh…”
As his materialized creation was forcibly dispelled, the backlash squeezed at his heart. This was the first time his materialized weapon had been forcibly destroyed, so he hadn’t known there would be such a rebound effect.
So he couldn’t just shoot arrows recklessly.
By now, Kim Shin was just a stone’s throw away.
“Hurry and find them! What are you doing? Are you all really Awakened Ones? We can’t let that bastard go.”
Kim Shin hissed as he berated the Doomsday Cult followers. He had been leisurely pursuing them as they seemed to be fleeing in fear, but suddenly arrows came flying, and he was startled. This was a guy he disliked in many ways.
“Huh?”
Just as one of the Doomsday Cult followers spotted Jaehee and made a sound, something flew with a swish and strangled his neck. In an instant, the man collapsed to the ground. The man didn’t seem to even realize what had hit him.
As the man fell, the metal chain that had dug into his neck loosened as if it had a will of its own. It was Kim Ji-su’s pendulum. Receiving Jaehee’s gaze, Kim Ji-su shouted with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“I-I didn’t kill him. I just knocked him out.”
Kim Ji-su moved quietly in the darkness, eliminating people one by one. Her movements were both silent and swift. In contrast, Park Yong-pil revealed himself in front of people. With his already intimidating appearance, holding that crude greatsword, he gave off the impression of a movie serial killer. Just the sight of Park Yong-pil made ordinary members of the Doomsday Cult slink back.
“Ha, this is why you shouldn’t let just anyone join a cult. Even when we show them magnanimity and mercy by accepting them, they don’t understand what grace they’ve received.”
Kim Shin stepped forward. As he did, black flames erupted from his sword. Seeing this, Jaehee threw an arrow, embedding it next to Kim Shin.
“Hieek! Y-you, a mere Awakened One… Do you know who you’re dealing with?”
“That’s the thing. I’d like to know too. Who exactly am I dealing with?”
Jaehee nocked another arrow to his bowstring. Seeing this, Kim Shin’s face turned red and blue with anger.
