Lebron’s visit had truly exquisite timing. He came to Hyeonu the moment the stream was over. Then Lebron asked out of the blue, “Where is that old man? I don’t think he is around here.”

It was safe to say that this was the only reason why Lebron came to the demon world. No, it definitely was. John Blake—Lebron was here to meet him.

“There are two ways. Go to where he is or wait for him to come here. Which one do you choose?” Hyeonu calmly presented two options despite Lebron’s urgent words.

“I will go to see him of course. Why should I wait when I don’t know when he is coming? The old man is like the wind,” Lebron answered with an expression that said, ‘Why are you asking the obvious?’

He was always proactive rather than passive when it came to what he wanted.

“Then use this, Master.” Hyeonu handed Lebron a silver coin. The identity of the silver coin was the Blanc Return Stone. It was a coin with the ability to travel to Blanc, the city where John Blake was located.

“What is this?”

“You can use it to go to the city where Duke Blake is. From there... can’t the two of you take care of it?”

If Lebron didn’t hide his presence, it wasn’t possible for John Blake to fail to sense it.

“Of course. I can find him with my eyes closed,” Lebron said and picked up the silver coin from Hyeonu’s palm. He was immediately engulfed in a flash of light and disappeared.

“His personality is hasty as always.” Hyeonu clicked his tongue. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand Lebron’s mind, but Lebron was too hasty.

‘I wanted to say a few more words to him...’

John Blake wouldn’t disappear from Blanc in the next few minutes. If so, it would’ve been enough for him to listen to Hyeonu’s detailed explanation of the demon world.

‘He is in a hurry...’

“It isn’t my business.”

Hyeonu’s touch was relaxed as he stroked Tang-E.

***

Following New World, Red Bull America, New York Warriors, and Crescent Moon, a number of large guilds appeared in Etono using the magic circle. Their reactions were the same. The responses of those who arrived earlier were repeated. These players were also amazed by the scenery of the demon world, surprised by Etono’s emptiness, and then shocked by the demon world’s penalty.

However, that wasn’t the end. They were surprised once again at the rental prices of Etono’s buildings.

“No! There are so many empty buildings, yet a building with a 500,000 gold deposit and 17,000 gold monthly rent is the cheapest!” A man confronted Johnny with a red face. The rent was too expensive. It didn’t matter if it was paid in cash, but the NPC in front of him wanted gold.

‘I already spent a lot of gold on the magic circle...’

The man’s guild had filled up the 150 people limit. This meant that 7,500 gold had been used on the magic circle fee alone. In addition, he’d spent tens of thousands of gold to buy potions at a more expensive price than usual. There was a lot of cash left in the guild, but gold was always scarce. Almost all the guild members had poured their gold into exchanging it for money or buying items, so there naturally wasn’t much gold left in the guild. This was the reality for most of the large guilds. The way that New World had casually spent 30 million gold was beyond common sense.

“It is the amount that His Majesty the Emperor has set. There is nothing I can do about it,” Johnny informed the man with a sober expression. There really wasn’t anything he could do. To the NPCs of the Yusma Empire, the emperor was a god. His words were the law and truth.

“Hah!” The man eventually clenched his fists hard enough for them to turn white. He was short of money. There was enough to pay the monthly rent of 17,000 gold, but the 500,000 gold deposit was a problem.

‘I have to interrupt here,’ Hyeonu thought.

He approached Johnny and the man with a light smile: “Is something wrong, Johnny?”

Johnny heard a voice calling his name and turned his head to see Hyeonu. “My Lord, you’re here?”

Hyeonu smiled and corrected Johnny’s words, “I’m not the lord here. You should call me ‘Earl’, not My Lord.”

Externally, Etono was owned by the imperial family, so Hyeonu naturally shouldn’t be called the lord here.

“I’m sorry, Earl.” Johnny realized this and scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

“What’s going on? Why do you look so serious?”

“It isn’t a big deal, Earl. The man standing in front of me said that the deposit is too expensive. I was just explaining that there are guidelines we can’t adjust.”

“Really? Well done. It is an order from His Majesty, not anyone else. You can’t change it as you please. By the way...” Hyeonu said and patted Johnny several times on the shoulder as if he had done well. Then he whispered to Johnny, “If New World, Red Bull American, and the New York Warriors want to rent... don’t take the deposit. I’ll take care of it, understood?”

Johnny nodded silently at Hyeonu’s whisper. He couldn’t help but nod. Hyeonu was his lord after all.

“That’s it... Well, take care. Go and bring the gold or... wait for your guild members to send the money... I’m leaving.” Hyeonu smiled at the man in front of him and left.

“Did you hear? It isn’t possible. If you want to argue, go to the emperor, not me.” Johnny gained strength from Hyeonu’s appearance and drove the man away.

***

Hyeonu stood with Tang-E on the wall of Etono. Fierce battles were taking place outside the castle.

‘They are fighting hard.’

It was naturally the members of the large guilds who were fighting outside the castle. They had started the hunt against the demonic creatures. Hyeonu cocked his head at the sight.

‘How the hell did he explain it that they keep coming?’

Etono had no place that was called a hunting ground. No, there was no need for a hunting ground. The outside of the castle was already infested with demonic creatures. Even at this moment, dozens of them were running toward Etono.

‘It is good for me, but...’

Of course, the more demonic creatures that came here, the more beneficial it was for Hyeonu. There was no damage to him. If this rumor spread out, the players would come swarming.

“It is a hunting ground where honey drips.”

Monsters flocked over even if they stayed still. Unlimited hunting was possible as long as their health and magic power allowed it. That was Etono.

‘Huh?’

Hyeonu felt a huge vibration from a distance. The source of the vibration was a giant creature’s footsteps.

‘An intermediate-grade? I don’t think so...’

Hyeonu couldn’t see the demonic creature, but the pressure from it was intense. It was at least an advanced or higher-rated demonic creature.

‘Will they be able to kill it?’

It was very difficult for the average player to kill an advanced demonic creature when their stats were reduced by the penalty of the demon world.

‘Should I help them?’

Hyeonu pondered on it for a moment before shaking his head. There was no point in helping them; there were no benefits for Hyeonu.

‘If it goes wrong, I might be blamed for interfering in their hunt.’

Of course, this was a very trivial reason. The bigger reason...

‘They will have to use potions like water to kill the advanced demonic creatures, so the potion price will go up.’

The market price was dynamic and moved organically as if it were a living creature. It was dull to some stimuli and sensitive to others.

‘It is very sensitive to the movement of large guilds.’

It was mostly large guilds who used expensive potions. Naturally, the prices were determined by their demand, just like the potions Hyeonu had bought.

“Tang-E, shall we have dessert? A simple chicken skewer?” Hyeonu asked Tang-E while trying to suppress the smile on his face.

“Master dude seems to know something. A chicken skewer is perfect as dessert.” Tang-E blinked with a smile.

Hyeonu burst out laughing at the sight. “Okay, we will eat here.”

***

“What is this? A boss monster?”

“This is great. Honey is dripping...”

“We need to suck up some honey before it spreads, right? If another guild comes, there will be more competition for the boss monster.”

The members of the Almighty Guild, one of Arena’s large guilds, thought they were lucky. They were able to meet a boss monster the moment they came to the demon world. Then that thought quickly changed as they realized it was a crisis, not an opportunity.

“I can’t focus on the boss! There are too many demonic creatures!”

“The penalty has consumed too much magic power!”

“There are no potions left!”

The Almighty Guild members called out their situation from here and there. It was too embarrassingly chaotic to be called the raid of a large guild.

“If you have any magic power recovery potions left, hand it to the back! We can’t kill the boss monster without the magicians anyway!” Enzo, the master of the Almighty Guild, cried out.

Things were tough, but he never gave up. He got to know the situation as calmly as possible and gave out the appropriate orders. At Enzo’s words, the guild members turned over all their extra potions to the magicians.

“It is enough to concentrate your magic on the boss monster.”

However, it was just a temporary measure. They had been fighting for hours already before this, and there weren’t many potions left in their inventory. The amount of magic power consumed had increased due to their reduced stats.

“Now what? There is nothing left!” a magician shouted at Enzo.

‘If I had known the demon world was like this, I would’ve taken more potions...’

They would’ve had a chance against the boss monster if his preparations had been more thorough. He already acknowledged it in his heart. It was almost impossible to kill the boss monster in front of him.

“Still, don’t give up! Magicians, concentrate your magic. Priests, use your shields and heals at the right timing!”

Nevertheless, he couldn't just give up here. He put everything on the line despite the slim odds. The Almighty Guild members were influenced by Enzo’s tenacity and also started to fight hard. They used proper skills to kill their way through the lowest-grade and low-grade demonic creatures.

Enzo’s spear pierced the chest of a demonic creature that consisted of thick muscles.

‘There is half left to go?’

Enzo quickly pulled out the spear and spun it around to shake off the blood from it. Then he turned his head and looked at the boss monster—a huge demonic creature.

“It might be a boss monster, but it is so big...”

Its size was distracting. The boss monster who appeared in front of his eyes matched this type of expression. It had legs as thick as thousand-year-old pine trees, a round head like a giant rock, and... a huge thorny shell.

“A tortoise...?”