[Dyulebul]

[Health: 100,001

Dyulebul was an ordinary hellfire lizard that lived in the hellfire river. One day, it was struck by the spit of 1st Great Demon Baal who was having a picnic and evolved into a higher demon.

* Dyulebul’s salivary glands are affected by Baal. Dyulebul will spit out a ray of light every 5 seconds.

* Dyulebul’s spit will deal 20,000 fixed damage to the target, as well as doing 8,000 splash damage in a radius of 10 meters around the attacked target.

* Dyulebul’s skin is less evolved. It will get 2,000 fixed damage when hit. It is true regardless of whether it is a weak or hard hit.

* Dyulebul’s tail will rotate without resting. The hellfire from the tail will inflict 3,000 fire damage to all enemies approaching Dyulebul. The enemy will receive 699 burn damage per second.]

Dyulebul’s appearance was that of a human body with a lizard head. Its long tail, which had a flame at the end, was spinning like a hula hoop.

“A demon...?” Eat Spicy Jokbal felt like he had been struck with a hammer. He had never dreamed that a day would come when a player could summon a demon. However, when he thought about it, this wasn’t that surprising. After all, Agnus was Baal’s Contractor! It was weird that Agnus had only been able to summon the undead when he contracted with the 1st great demon.

Dyulebul flew over Eat Spicy Jokbal’s and Elizabeth’s heads and then once again opened his mouth. A glaring light filled with a mighty magic power was gathered there. How many people would think that the identity of this was saliva? Agnus warned them, “Shouldn’t you stop resisting if you want to live? Kikik.”

Dyulebul was less useful than a death knight or lich. Its skill structure was so simple that it could only be used to kill the enemy. Additionally, its intelligence was so low that it was only faithful to the instinct of ‘killing humans’ and didn’t listen to commands properly.

However, it was strong enough to ignore all those shortcomings. It had a ranged attack which dealt 20,000 fixed damage and 8,000 splash damage, a flame that didn’t allow the enemy to get close, and above all, a powerful tanking force! The demon received 2,000 fixed damage per hit and had a health of 100,001. Therefore, Dyulebul would only die after being hit 51 times. It was meaningless for the opponent to use legendary-rated skills.

This was a disaster for players. It would naturally be helpless under a group attack but when dealing with a large number of enemies, Agnus could summon the undead to attract aggro.

“Avoid it!"

Flash! The dungeon started to collapse in the aftermath of the first ray of light. Witnessing the second ray emerge from Dyulebul, Eat Spicy Jokbal pushed Elizabeth away, letting himself be struck directly by it.

[You have suffered 20,000 damage!]

[You have suffered 8,000 damage!]

“Keok! Cough! Cough!” Eat Spicy Jokbal’s health fell to the bottom. He was unable to endure the shock and fell into despair. What was Agnus’ biggest advantage? It was his liches, yet the current Agnus hadn’t even summoned a lich. Eat Spicy Jokbal felt that it was absurd.

Agnus’ rebirth as a legend was great enough to render the information that Eat Spicy Jokbal had collected as meaningless. He even wondered if all the information he had on Agnus was wrong.

‘Maybe I’m not stronger than Grid?’ A bitter smile appeared on Eat Spicy Jokbal’s face. It was funny because he had been using Grid as a criterion of strength without knowing it. ‘I thought he was a bad guy...’

Strangely, Eat Spicy Jokbal felt that Grid wasn’t a detestable guy. It seemed the experience they shared in the National Competition played a great role in this as he realized that he didn’t actually hate Grid. Then Dyulebul opened its mouth again.

“Uncle!” Elizabeth screamed as she witnessed the flash of light. She felt regretful. If she had only just listened to her uncle, he wouldn’t be suffering like he was now.

Did he read her expression?

“It isn’t your fault!” Eat Spicy Jokbal shouted while facing the flash of light. There was no resentment or anger in his eyes when he looked at his niece. Instead, his gaze was only full of affection. “The result would’ve been the same even if you listened to me and left! He would wait here forever! Did you forget our family’s saying? Don’t regret the past!”

Dyulebul fired the third flash.

“Come ooooon!” Tears filled Elizabeth’s eyes as she watched her uncle die. He was the uncle whom she had always thought of as Superman...! As her legs weakened and she fell down, Agnus’ cold voice was heard in her ears, “Give up and work on the Stone of Life. You have no choice but to listen to me.”

Why?

“If you don’t listen to me, you will die hundreds or thousands more times in the future. Do you want a life of hell?”

There was no smile on Agnus’ face. He was just serious and desperate. Agnus could finally resurrect ‘her’ based on the creation skill he got after becoming a legend, but in order to do so, the help of the Stone of Life was necessary. Resurrection—it was a word that would make anyone in the world laugh, but Agnus was sincere.

“...”

The atmosphere sank heavily. Eat Spicy Jokbal had been struck by a third ray and was believed to have been crushed to death by a pile of stones. Yet now Eat Spicy Jokbal roared loudly, “You shouldn’t ask for a favor with that attitude!!”

He jumped out from the pile of stones and rushed to Elizabeth.

“U-Uncle?” The tearful Elizabeth was perplexed, rather than pleased that her uncle was alive. Eat Spicy Jokbal smiled at her. “Isn’t Uncle invincible?”

[You won’t die easily in your dungeon. You can resist all attacks for 2 seconds with a minimum of health.]

[The dungeon escape skill ‘Emergency Exit’ has been activated.]

It was the Dungeon Maker’s special move! On the first day that he met Grid, Eat Spicy Jokbal had been able to survive thanks to this skill. At present, the moment Eat Spicy Jokbal was going to use the Emergency Exit skill...

“Baal’s Eyes.” Agnus used a skill as he noticed Eat Spicy Jokbal’s actions. He had been on many adventures and met countless people. After having faced a number of past crises, he managed to read Eat Spicy Jokbal’s suspicious actions and blocked the variable.

Duguen!

Agnus sensed the air around him darken, and a giant eyeball appeared. The eyeball’s pupil which changed between black, red, and yellow clearly wasn’t human. All the beings it observed—Dyulebul, Eat Spicy Jokbal, and Elizabeth—were unable to resist.

[A complete fear will stop your heart.]

[Your thoughts have come to a stop. You won’t be able to move for one second. You can’t use any skills and magic for 3 seconds.]

This was an ultimate technique of Baal’s Contractor which ignored all status resistance. It didn’t distinguish between friend or foe, so Agnus received the disadvantage of having all of his currently summoned undead and demons disabled. However, he was fine since he could summon new undead.

“Stop interfering!”

After stopping Eat Spicy Jokbal from using Emergency Exist, Agnus rushed toward him.

‘Shit!’ Eat Spicy Jokbal gulped, and his expression distorted as he realized there was no way to avoid death.

Suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared.

“I will punish you.”

Her pure white cloak fluttered, and her silky hair waved in the air. The woman’s name was Yura, and she condemned evil with eyes that were as deep as a lake. This was the appearance of the strongest ranker who had carried South Korea alone until Grid’s appearance.

“Purification.”

Tatang! She fired a bullet at Agnus.

“Kuk...!” Agnus’ head shot back with a groan. He completely lost his momentum, and a quarter of his health gauge flew away instantly. The problem was that after Baal’s Contractor was upgraded to a legendary rating, his race had changed from human to half-demonkin. A Demon Slayer’s attack was now fatal to Agnus.

“Why...” He slowly raised his body and summoned skeletons, using them as a shield for Yura’s next bullet. “Why does the world interfere with me every time?”

“...”

“Huh? Kik! Kikikik!” Agnus laughed, burning with anger as he held his injured forehead. He was filled with killing intent while he watched the woman in front of him. Then a quest occurred.

[The second class quest of Baal’s Contractor has occurred.]

[Old Enemy]

[A Demon Slayer is the destroyer of hell. She regards you, the agent of Baal, as an enemy and will keep interfering with you.

For the sake of your future, kill the Demon Slayer!

Quest Clear Conditions: Kill the Demon Slayer.

Quest Reward: Species evolved from half-demonkin to demon. When you evolve into a demon, you can acquire new skills and magic as well as increase the number of demons you can contract with.

Quest Failure Condition: Killed by the Demon Slayer.

Quest Failure: The permanent loss of 100 points in your highest stat.]

The penalty that a growth type class received upon reaching the legendary level was to have their level regress to 300. It was a very small penalty compared to what Grid, Yura, and Kraugel would receive, which was to have their levels reset to level 1 after obtaining a legendary class.

This wasn’t always a good thing. The difficulty of the class quests was very high, so the penalty which would be obtained after failing a quest was unbearably large. The class would be permanently weakened if even one mistake was made. It was like walking a breathtaking tightrope.

Agnus wanted to ignore reality, so he would normally welcome this situation. Nevertheless, this time was an exception.

“Get lost! Summon Lich! Mumud!”

Magic power exploded and hit Yura. Dyulebul overcame the status condition and also fired a ray of light at Yura.

***

Unlike other kids her age, Elizabeth had never once dyed her hair. In university, she had also stuck to her black hair. Wasn’t it because black hair best suited her appearance which was like that of an Oriental doll? The surrounding people thought so, but the reality was different. For Elizabeth, black hair was Yura’s symbol, which was why she stuck to it. She had adored Yura since the first time she saw Yura on TV four years ago.

“Pant... Pant... Pant...!”

“Yura!”

Yura was a world star whom Elizabeth had always been watching from afar, yet she had no time to rejoice that her idol was currently right in front of her. She was excited that Yura had appeared like a hero when she and her uncle were in a crisis. However, her heart ached as Yura became injured once the fight progressed.

“Kuk! Bok...! No, Elizabeth! Run away instead of standing there idly!” Eat Spicy Jokbal couldn’t leave Yura alone since she had come to help them. Still, his desperate voice filled the dungeon as he struggled to support Yura, but he was isolated by the death knight and skeleton warrior.

However, Elizabeth stood still in her current position. She couldn’t escape alone while her uncle and Yura were in a crisis. After all, they were her family member and her idol. Of course, she would’ve run away if her presence was hindering them, but this wasn’t the case. Agnus never harmed Elizabeth. He just attacked Yura and Eat Spicy Jokbal persistently.

Yura was reloading her magic bullets after avoiding Lich Mumud’s magic and Dyulebul’s flash, only for Agnus to disappear from her field of view. Instead of Agnus, a skeleton appeared. Agnus had noticed that Yura was targeting him, so he summoned a skeleton to use as a shield. It was a tremendous improvisation.

While Yura was unable to fire her magic bullets, a magic circle appeared at her feet. It was the precursor to Lich Mumud’s magic. Yura had already suffered a severe blow from the Fireball shot by Mumud. So from her perspective, she definitely had to avoid this magic. Yura’s slender figure jumped away from this magic circle while a heavy pain was transmitted to her. Right after, Yura turned the muzzle of her gun behind her back and fired without any fuss.

Tatang!

The shot broke a skeleton warrior’s skull. Then the ground cracked like broken pottery, and flames sprang up from the gap. This was the explosion magic that Mumud had developed earlier. Thanks to the skeleton warriors, Yura couldn’t avoid the magic.

“Unni!”

“Kikikik! Kuahahahahat!”

In the collapsing dungeon, screams and laughter were mixed together.

***

“Is it here?” Grid asked after he barely made it out of the forest and discovered a mountain several kilometers ahead.

Bullet hadn’t expected to see a mountain in the distance and quickly nodded. “That’s right! That mountain is Gerad Mountain!”

“It was a long trip.”

Colorful jewels jingled in Grid’s pockets. They were the jewels he’d obtained from Belial’s raid.