Gidan leapt off the head of the roaring contaminant and carved the blade of the Thunderclap Heavenly Sword apart in a zigzag.
The moment Gidan landed, the Thunderclap Heavenly Sword vanished into powder with a faint pop.
‘Those sons of bitches…….’
They destroyed my skill right in front of me?
As if they weren’t already toying with her. Cheon Gyuri bit her lip, her pride crushed.
She hadn’t gone all out, true, but to think they could block it this easily…….
On Jurim, that monster, was one thing, but even Gidan, whom she had secretly considered beneath her, had grown by leaps and bounds.
“Guild Leader Cheon.”
Just then, Jurim’s languid voice called to her.
“Guild Master On Jurim…… sir……. How did you get here…….”
Startled, Cheon Gyuri stammered as she spoke. She had something to feel guilty about, which made it awkward to treat him the way she usually did.
“Why do you think I came?”
“For national defense, of course…….”
“As if.”
Jurim laughed aloud, as though he had heard something truly ridiculous.
Crunch. Cheon Gyuri ground her teeth.
Was that something to take as a joke? At any rate, every last one of those Hyeonak bastards was a thug, no exceptions.
“My daughter was indebted to you, I hear.”
The laughter had already vanished from Jurim’s face.
“My daughter got scammed, and they say the scammer was Guild Leader Cheon Gyuri’s young master?”
Cheon Gyuri stiffened and swallowed hard.
They said he had gone mad over his daughter, and Gu Sinhu had been right.
That bastard really did have a ghost’s intuition.
“So while I’m at it, I thought I might become indebted to you too.”
Indebted? Cheon Gyuri’s lips twitched.
“To…… me…… What sort of debt are you saying you’ll incur…….”
“It wouldn’t be any fun if you knew in advance.”
Ha, haha……. Cheon Gyuri laughed awkwardly, as though she had heard an unfunny joke.
‘In the middle of this national crisis, did On Jurim come all the way here just to slowly torment me to death?’
“…….”
“…….”
A brief silence settled over them, as it was not an easy situation to answer in.
Nayeon and Gidan, who had come with Jurim, were simply doing what they had to do, regardless of the awkward silence hanging between the two.
When Nayeon wrapped the contaminant in vines, it lost its strength and melted away.
“It works.”
“Oh, awesome.”
Gidan let out an exclamation of admiration.
While Nayeon and Gidan idled around, Cheon Gyuri clicked her tongue, thinking they were truly Hyeonak through and through.
What was she supposed to do about this?
In any case, it was true that Ham Honggi had scammed On Jurim’s daughter, so the taste in her mouth was bitter. She was also afraid of the consequences if she refused.
Jurim tilted his head slightly, urging her for an answer.
“You’ll help, won’t you?”
“…….”
How am I supposed to help when I don’t even know what it is……. The words she could not bring herself to say dangled in Cheon Gyuri’s throat.
Jurim glanced at his watch without thinking, then let out a sigh.
“Do you know how inconvenient it is when your watch stops working?”
“…….”
With a bored expression, Jurim crossed his arms.
“You’re slow to answer. Isn’t that national defense thing urgent?”
Is he insane? Anyone listening would think I’m the only one living in Korea.
Ah, screw it, I don’t know anymore. Cheon Gyuri swallowed hard and forced herself to answer calmly.
“How could I not help when it’s your business? It’s your matter, Guild Master On, so of course I should help. Naturally…….”
Jurim nodded with a faint smile.
“Thank you.”
“By the way, Guild Master On, how did you get here? Did the main camp send you this way?”
This was a remote place some distance away from the main camp. So Cheon Gyuri naturally assumed those Hyeonak bastards had come here after passing through the main camp.
‘If Hyeonak found them, they should’ve held them back for a while.’
She was in the middle of marveling at the loyalty of the main camp, which had gone to the trouble of sending those bastards all the way here.
At Cheon Gyuri’s question, Nayeon, who had been winding vines together to build a dam so the contamination could not cross over, answered in his stead.
“Huh? There was no one there, so we came here.”
What? Cheon Gyuri furrowed her brow.
“That can’t be…….”
“The tents were all wrecked too, so we thought everyone was here.”
“Even the tents?”
No way. Had something happened?
All at once, an image formed in her mind: Brom Team One, including herself, their top force, had all moved out to the outskirts.
“Only our Team One moved this way. The main camp shouldn’t be empty.”
Cheon Gyuri spoke urgently and was about to check in the direction of the main camp.
At that moment, all the S-ranks turned their gazes in the same direction at once.
They had all felt it.
A power so immense it was chilling.
“What on earth is this…….”
Cheon Gyuri let the words slip out like a groan, while Nayeon and Gidan, unable to hide their bewilderment, waited for Jurim’s orders.
The only fortunate thing was that the source of the power was not where the main camp was located.
After hesitating for a moment, Jurim felt a chill in his left hand and furrowed his brow.
“I’ll go check over there, so you two go to the main camp with her. Is that all right, Guild Leader Cheon?”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
Cheon Gyuri nodded.
She was curious about the source of that power as well, but the fact that the main camp was empty was an even greater mystery.
‘Please, let nothing have happened…….’
What if the being with that power had attacked the main camp?
‘No one would have survived.’
Even if she had been there, she would not have been able to stop it.
For the first time in her life, Cheon Gyuri thought it was fortunate that Jurim had come. She immediately moved toward the main camp, with Nayeon and Gidan following behind her.
*
[You have entered the “Cradle of Bloodkin.”]
-The Cradle of Bloodkin. A monarch’s domain, meaning the origin point of life. Within the domain, the monarch reigns over the bloodkin.
Along with that notification, what surged over Ham Honggi was a cold so intense it seemed to freeze him to the bone.
‘Cold.’
For an instant, even his mind seemed to freeze over. His creaking eyes turned downward.
‘What the hell is this?’
Thud!
‘My breath…….’
Ham Honggi fell to his knees, unable even to breathe properly.
It felt as though his throat were being strangled.
The cold, the pressure, and the terrifying power radiating from this tiny child.
He wanted to claw at his stifled throat, but he could barely move even one finger by his own strength.
At that moment, he was nothing more than an insignificant creature before a supreme being.
[The monarch confiscates the authority of the vassal.]
[Special skill has disappeared.]
‘No! If the special skill disappears—!’
But contrary to his thoughts, Ham Honggi slammed his head hard against the floor, hard enough to draw blood from his forehead.
Against his will, his body obeyed the command.
Thud!
Ham Honggi slammed his head down hard once more, like an excessively violent bow.
The same thing spread among the snow leopards like dominoes.
And Geuru……
‘Geuru, why did I become the boss?’
……rolled her eyes as she looked at the snow leopards kneeling before her with their heads bowed.
‘Of course, I did want to become the boss every day…….’
There was only one thing that came to mind.
The transfer of the title “Monarch.”
Was Mephisto’s title something like this……. A surge of elation swept over her. Geuru lightly clenched and unclenched her hand.
No one had taught her, yet her instincts knew that she possessed the authority to do anything.
At that moment, immense power was breathing within Geuru. Not merely as the king of squirrels, but as if she had truly become the king of the world!
Heat rose to her face, and her heart pounded.
“Hang Hanggi.”
Ham Honggi trembled pitifully and bowed his head. He looked like a believer before a god.
Geuru tucked in her chin and spoke in a solemn voice.
“From now on, live nice.”
Ham Honggi spoke in a pained voice, so faint it seemed about to break.
“……I obey your command.”
After finishing those words, he slammed his forehead hard against the floor again.
Seeing blood come from his forehead, Geuru’s shoulders flinched once because it looked painful, but she tried hard to compose her expression.
[Would you like to register “Ham Honggi” as a vassal?]
‘Vassal?’
She didn’t know what it meant, but Geuru pressed the answer she usually chose in such situations.
Yes.
This was no time to leisurely deliberate.
“You guys go back and do what you have to do.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t follow Geuru.”
“We obey your command!”
The snow leopards answered as one in booming voices.
Flutter!
The baby flying squirrel turned around magnificently, her skirt hem billowing.