Episode 10. The Demon’s Secret Double Life (1)
Status:
For Ted, who had obtained both, only one choice remained.
‘I have to leave this country!’
Originally, under Caron Kingdom law, a criminal could reduce their
Even if it were possible, Ted could not spare even a single second, and he had absolutely no intention of investing time in such a thing.
The conclusion he reached: asylum.
It was absolutely not because Ted was frightened or weak that he made this choice.
First, Ted had defeated Tenichi, a player in the level 670s, in single combat.
But that was before the battle where he took a hit from
If Ted was classified as a boss, with his health exceeding 67,000 and even his level temporarily surpassing 400, he would not lose unless Tenichi came at him with overwhelming force.
‘Though there are probably almost none in the kingdom who can beat me now that I’ve become a Demon…’
Even among the users ranked around the top 100, once they reached level 600, none were his match.
However, in Face Chronicle, there were a great many NPCs far stronger than players.
In Ted’s estimation, those in the Caron Kingdom who could trade blows with him one-on-one would be the NPC Chief of the
Their levels were 799 and 813, respectively.
Even across the entire Caron Kingdom, with its NPC population of forty million, there were fewer than five such powerful individuals.
‘There’s no reason those busy folks would come to catch me. Then I just need to beat down bounty hunters and users.’
But what if his Demonification wore off after 12 days?
Then the situation would change.
His health would drop to 10% in an instant… he would inevitably become vulnerable to numbers.
‘So, in conclusion, I need to power-level for the next 12 days while I’m a Demon, then cross over to the Pixy Kingdom.’
Because changing nations would cancel the
Although his Crime Value would remain… Ted currently possessed the dual class
‘Anyway, what rotten luck to meet rankers from the Daeil Empire during the siege? My precious points….’
Thinking that the siege of Count Sauron’s territory had been ruinously unlucky, Ted shook his head vigorously.
Of course, he had succeeded in finishing it in a short time. Moreover, though it was a shame, he had raised his level by over thirty.
However, the aftertaste was far from clean. He had lost roughly 60,000 Defense Points earned by slaughtering a whopping 6,000 people.
Those points were worth tens of thousands of gold, enough to have obtained a unique item.
Now that it had vanished into thin air, how could he not shed tears of blood?
Perhaps Ted had blown his second unique item in his life. It was truly an unlucky ending.
‘…It stings so much… But let bygones be bygones… For now, let’s just focus on getting to the Pixy Kingdom.’
Ted intended to leave the
There was a reason he chose the
Not long ago, Ted had stolen the Chronicle material
He planned to use it to create a third skill slot to insert into the Hexagram. To do so, he had to find Brahman, the God of Blacksmiths.
Because
‘I just have to cross the Joint Mountain Range.’
There was a mountain range between the
An extremely high, long, and rugged mountain range.
The mountain range over which the two kingdoms held joint sovereignty was called the
‘First, head toward the Caron-Pixy Joint Mountain Range.’
With that thought, Ted immediately began to run.
Demons possessed bodies with nearly infinite
Relying on that infinite stamina, Ted ran seventeen hours a day. His legs were long, and with buffed stats, his speed was faster than most horses.
It was a speed made possible because Ted’s current specs were similar to those of a player in the 700 level range.
‘At this speed, it’ll take about five days.’
Five days.
It was a shame to waste that time just running.
So Ted decided to do a few things while running.
First, there were necessary preparations to cross the Caron-Pixy Joint Mountain Range.
A grand monster in the 900 level range, the
There was only one way to cross it: the deep, treacherous underground
The
Most of the inhabiting monsters were
And did it give good rewards? Not at all.
Thus, player traffic to the Joint Mountain Range had long since ceased. Accordingly, the number of Worms had accumulated nearly to capacity.
‘I can’t waste several days in there.’
Ted thought of two preparations needed to break through that place.
One was the stat
The other was the skill
‘If I weave the two together well, I can obtain them simultaneously. Besides, their uses are limitless.’
It was a skill normally obtainable only by tank-type classes with high-level
But Ted was now a Demon, a being that was inherently threatening.
‘This will add another variable to my combat style.’
From that day, Ted changed his lifestyle pattern.
First, he changed his usual sleep pattern of sleeping at 01:00 and waking at 07:30.
To a pattern of sleeping at 2:30 PM and waking at 7:00 PM!
He had decided to utilize Face Chronicle’s nighttime in this way.
The moment night fell, Ted’s developed
But his ears grew incredibly sensitive.
Around that time, Ted entered the mountain range connected to the Caron-Pixy Joint Mountain Range.
Ted, who had only been running, gradually began to prick up his ears while running.
‘I hear them. The sounds of monsters.’
Running through the mountains at night and focusing on sound, his ears gradually opened up.
Soon, the state
Ted changed his running direction and headed toward where the monsters were.
* * *
—Kihihihik… *munch munch*….
—Krahuhuhu! *chomp chomp*….
They had mouths protruding like wolves. Yet they walked on two legs and wielded weapons.
They were gathered around a freshly caught
Mountain pigs were very tasty but quick and heavy-snouted, making them difficult to catch.
So they usually couldn’t catch them well for fear of injury, but today, for some reason, they had managed to catch one with ease.
It was truly a lucky day!
The Mountain Gnolls devouring the mountain pig were in very high spirits.
—Krahuk?
But then, one Mountain Gnoll smelled something unfamiliar.
—Krahuuk?
—Kihiiiik?
Soon, they felt chills run down their spines.
Demon! It was the smell of a Demon.
The startled gnolls looked around in all directions, craning their heads to find any trace of the Demon.
Then.
"Uraah!"
Suddenly, a Demon jumped out of nowhere and screamed.
—Krahaaaak!
—Kihiiiiik!
Truly startled, the gnolls bolted from their spots and began to flee. Some, embarrassingly grown as they were, even pissed themselves as they ran.
‘As expected, it doesn’t work with just a few dozen times?’
The Demon’s true identity was none other than Ted!
He headed toward the source of the sounds, used
The acquisition condition for
However, because it was such a rare skill, even Ted didn’t know how many times he needed to startle them.
It was an all-too-easy task for Ted, who happened to be a Demon.
What monster would dare not flee from a Demon’s roar!
‘By the way, if the Hearing stat takes seven days, it’ll be troublesome.’
Ted could remain a Demon for 12 days.
According to commonly known strategies, it took 8 days to acquire the Hearing stat.
But Ted wanted to save even a single day. Because he would arrive at the mountain range on day 5, so the more time he saved in acquisition, the more he could power-level.
‘I don’t know if this will work, but….’
After agonizing repeatedly, Ted used
Soon, a feeble mosquito shot out from the muzzle of Black and White.
It flew around near the running Ted.
*Weeeeeeng….*
The sound of a mosquito in the dead of night.
It was a terrible sound that interfered with auditory concentration.
‘Ugh… I want to smash it with both hands at once.’
To the point where I want to kill it despite being my own skill!
Until then, Ted’s auditory concentration had been unable to exceed 25%. No matter how much it was night and he tried to focus, there was too much noise because he was running.
That was a great shame.
Because the higher the concentration rate, the higher the probability of obtaining the stat.
‘I need to eliminate the noise of my running, breathing, heartbeat, and so on. If I create a difficulty level for concentrating my hearing, it’ll be solved. I need to create a strong noise with a very consistent sound.’
It was a form of fighting poison with poison.
Eliminating trivial noise with strong noise!
Ted focused his mind calmly.
Following Ted’s orders, the Random Mosquito flew only right beside Ted’s ear, and its sound consistently provoked his irritation. Thanks to that, the trivial ambient noises disappeared.
Then Ted simply had to ignore the mosquito’s sound and focus on other sounds. It was a matter of discerning sounds.
Then,
His auditory concentration had risen by 27% from 25%.
‘Great!’
Thanks to that, he found even more monsters along his running path.
"Craaaah!"
—Kiiiiit!
"Craaaah!"
—Shh, shhhit!
And he could find and startle more monsters.
Was it because he was a Demon?
Watching monsters flee with every hair on their bodies standing on end was quite delightful.
Soon, Ted crossed the mountain range and followed a river. There were Lizardmen there. They were also perfect targets to startle!
"Hyah, craaah!"
—Krororot! Rorot!
"Craaah… huh…?"
Ted saw his reflection in the river!
‘What am I doing right now….’
The first thing I do after becoming a Demon is startle nearby monsters….
Somehow, it felt very undignified.
‘But I’ll do it anyway!’
An act committed to obtain what he needed! Appearance was no issue in that regard.
And so, on the morning of the fifth day.
When Ted arrived at the edge of the Joint Mountain Range.
—Bonus Stat: [Hearing] is being created.
Would you like to create it?
—Skill Created:
He had obtained the stat
The moment he obtained them, their values rapidly accumulated.
Ted possessed many titles that granted
Moreover, the Sharpshooter’s Uniform set also had a set item effect granting All Stat bonuses.
Thus, the moment he obtained it, Ted’s
His ears opened instantly, and countless sounds began to be distinguished in real time.
‘Nice. Then… let’s call the scaring good for now.’
For the past five days, Ted had come down here at an incredibly fast pace.
Five days was enough time for information about the
Probably starting today or tomorrow, users who had accepted the quests and begun tracking him would start coming down here.
‘It’s A-rank. And since the Caron Kingdom side will give the rewards, everyone and their mother will swarm in.’
During the five days since becoming a Demon, Ted had come up with various level-up plans.
‘Should I run dungeons to catch strong bosses?’
No.
Dungeons were unnecessarily vast, filled with unnecessarily weak mobs.
Low-level monsters gave almost no experience. And the levels gained from killing one boss were only 5 to 10. It was a waste of time.
‘What would be good? A way to fight as many enemies at my level as possible…’
The conclusion was to hunt the
When he checked the internet, the boards were blazing hot.
It was the first national-scale quest in a long time: the
What was known about him was that he was a Lesser Demon, and the power he had shown during the siege.
‘This is perfect.’
Once a Crime Value reached 10,000, a
But Ted’s Crime Value was a whopping 50,000.
The value of his head was by no means small.
At a time like this, since Demons were a race with extremely few individuals that dropped Rare and Epic items, as well as special material items, how much more valuable would he be?
If they caught him, there was a tremendous amount they could gain.
Money soon draws people.
Soon, a flood of experience points targeting his neck would rush in!
‘That’s right. Come in droves!’
These past few days, he had been a clown scaring small fry.
But starting tomorrow, Ted would transcend a Lesser Demon and show the true form of a Demon King.
‘Ahh. If there are too many status windows, I won’t be able to see ahead… what’ll I do?’
Already, hallucinations of level-up status windows covering the entire world flickered before him.
Thrilled just at the thought, Ted smiled and logged out.
The smile he wore at the last moment….
It was the smile of a Demon King wearing the mask of a Lesser Demon.