209. Appearing All Over the Place

“Heh heh.. So you’re going?”

“Just focus on managing them so you can see if any of them are slacking.”

“Of course. Your wish is my command. Ah right. Count Paraol requested me to give you his thanks. It seems that the castellan was quite pleased at the last young maiden he had offered him…”

“Hm? Who are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember her? The child of the astrologer you kidnapped about half a year ago.”

“She really was quite the pretty gift. However, the aftercare would’ve been more important. Of course, don’t forget the due credit for your part as well.”

“Aha. Thank you for saying that.”

“Enough useless banter. Ah. You said that you are acquainted with the caretaker of the goods?”

“Yes, that is the case.”

“I heard that the caretaker has been replaced recently, and thus rumors say that the quality of goods have increased as a result. Arrange a meeting between us soon.”

“Yes, yes. Will do. As soon as tomorrow…”

“…”

“Tsk. Living off of narcissism. What are you goons doing! Why aren’t all of you hurrying to gather up the jewels!”

The man who had carried a person finished his short conversation and left the castle.

As expected, the carriage he had ridden to come here was moving at a speed that was hard to believe.

It had disappeared from view within a split second, and even weaved between rugged terrain and monsters at a speed that didn’t match how well it was evading.

With this much speed, my guess was that even if it had gone around the entire rocky mountain, it would’ve arrived at the tier 3 hunting grounds by now.

I did make a plan after hearing what Herb had said, but I did not have information on them.

Before talking to Herb, I didn’t even know who were part of the organization called Swesi that kidnapped maidens and young Protectors.

However, I was able to identify them with full confidence after eavesdropping just a little bit of their conversation.

The suspicion I had before had now become certainty, and it’d be great now if things went according to plan.

Thinking through a few thoughts and after waiting until he was further away, I sprung into action.

I casted Mass Stealth Jutsu and Silent over quite a large area.

I had taken account of the monsters that would pour out when initially opening the storage and the amount of space they would take.

I headed towards the guards patrolling in a large circle around the castle.

Letting those who guarded the innermost area go, I went quickly behind them and opened the storage.

“Keruruk!”

“Kuwoh!”

The entire area was filled to the brim with monsters that flooded out of storage in a split second.

Due to the tremors they caused on the ground from landing on the ground, all the guards heads turned at once.

However, since the monsters, me, and even the dust they’ve kicked up had been hidden, so they didn’t take any action right away.

All they did was to become slightly tense and look at each other for suggestions on what just happened.

“Did an earthquake occur?”

“It did feel like something shook right in front of us…”

“You goons! What are you being distracted by!”

“It’s nothing.”

Due to the yelling of the officer, they stopped looking.

Despite only a day passing, the monsters had recovered fully.

I dismissed the storage and removed the stealth and Silent from everything but my own form.

Hundreds of monsters appeared, and they directed their rage at the Swesi guards with a charge instead of me, who was hidden due to stealth.

There were many, but due to how they were completely clumped up in a single area, there was a chance that they would be easily defeated by an area of effect spell.

“Kueh!”

“Keru!”

Using my sword like a bat, I hit the monsters to get them to spread out.

They needed to hold out to get as many guards gathered here as possible.

Only then would my plan of having the cake and eating it too be possible.

There were hundreds of monsters spread out here.

And all the guards of Swesi that will stop them.

And all their powers will soon come to me.

After seeing the massive number of monsters, they began yelling in all directions.

“It’s a monster wave!”

“Group! Group up! It’s a monster wave!”

“What is this sudden chaos!”

“At least it looks like we can fill our daily quota quickly today.”

“Cut the crap and charge them already!”

“Looks like it’s a lucky day. Let’s fill our daily quota and then relax in leisure for the rest of the day.”

They gathered at where the storage had opened in an instant.

Since the monsters were from the 7th tier hunting grounds that they could handle with ease, they were running in without any suspicion.

If I had gathered any stronger monsters, I was positive they would’ve reported to the higher ups.

I even saw some of them carry eager smiles.

As expected of Protectors that have been fighting monsters for a long time, even the way they gathered into a formation was different.

“Hey. They’re only 7th tier monsters, so do we really have to go all out like this?”

“Did you already forget about the older know-it-all person who has surveillance on us all day from over there? That’s the person who reports every single move of all us 140 guards. There’s no benefit to us to earn his dislike.”

“Ugh. Well. What a stickler. Let’s get this over with already.”

The tanks from the warrior class blocked the charge of the monsters from the frontlines, and those at the edges on each side of the frontline kept pressing forward to prevent the monsters from surrounding them.

Fierce attacks were directed at the guards, but were easily blocked by their shields.

On top of that, the mage class Protectors were casting area of effect damage spells like Normal Breath.

The monsters and guards were split into the east side and the west side, pushing at each that formed a line of contact.

If the battle continued, it would swing in the favor to Swesi’s guards, but that wasn’t a big issue.

Leaving them to fight, I shifted my focus for a bit.

“They’re completely focused on the battle. I think that person will fit the bill.”

“Ugh…”

“You’re coming with me for a bit.”

“Urk…”

Leaving the guards who were completely distracted with fighting the monsters, I punched this officer known as the older know-it-all right in the gut.

As expected, this Protector was weaker than the guards.

I had seen this officer quickly retreat when the monsters appeared.

This person had casted a shield spell only on themselves and fled without even looking back once.

I opened up the Mobile Storage and tossed this officer who couldn’t even breathe due to the shock into the corner of it.

This person would be an important informant when I would be forming a plan after all this.

“Keep this person in this general area by the corner. Rough them up just enough so they don’t die.”

Positioned at a blindspot where those within the castle could not see, I prepared to wipe out both the monsters and the guards in a single hit.

Perhaps due to how hunting monsters was an everyday event here, no one came outside the castle despite all the ruckus.

I was going to put everything I had into this attack.

On top of that, I wasn’t going to pretend by imitating the appearance of the Protector skills or worry about how it would look for others.

It was because this single attack would be that important.

“Hey. Was there a ranged attack monster in the 7th tier that fired projectiles like that?”

“Hm… I don’t know? Looks like meteors. Probably just a few 8th their monsters got mixed in. Don’t worry about and keep attacking.”

“The size is an issue and there are nine of them though?”

“Eh. This isn’t the first or second time we’ve seen attacks like that, right? It just looks like that in appearance without substa…”

The guard wasn’t able to finish the sentence.

It was because an attack that would cover the hundreds of monsters and 140 Protectors was pouring from the sky.

The transcended Meteor with all my powers infused into it fell on top of their heads, and a massive explosion and flames consumed them all.

The monsters were wiped out on the spot.

Since this was an attack with full force behind it instead of the moderate attack, their forms disappeared as if they had been evaporated.

It was a similar case with Swesi’s guards.

Only a few tank class Protectors were barely breathing.

After the Meteor, I continued casting In Storm and Iceberg nonstop without pause.

The shockwave and tremors from the attacks filled the entire area of Swesi’s headquarters.

Not only was that giant castle shaking, but it was intense enough to the point where the area around it was shaking as well.

At the same time, I felt that there was a change within my body.

The growth I’ve obtained was on another level compared to hunting down monsters, and I didn’t just feel it with my body, but it was such a large amount of strength that it ended up being almost more than I could handle.

“Ugh… This isn’t a good feeling…”

Due to the massive amount of strength suddenly flowing in, my body was shaking so much that it was near freezing up.

The surprise was one thing, but it was because I had obtained such a massive amount of strength I’ve never had before.

Like how Karupedan and Barub had spoken about before, it was as if more strength than what I could handle had poured into me.

My sight that had gone blurry for a bit had returned, but my consciousness wasn’t coming back fully.

If I stayed this way, I was positive that an unwelcome guest from the castle would show.

Tearing the scroll I had held in my hand since casting stealth, I left that place as if running away.

****

“Huff… Huff…”

As if I had been hit with a fever, my body was burning up, and my breathing was ragged.

My focus was all murky, but thankfully I had arrived safely at that inn room that no one would be present at.

After I had Awakened back on Earth, other than being injured by others, I had never had the cold or even a fever.

I was in a situation where I was far from the concept of disease.

That was why this sudden change in my body felt far more awkward and embarrassing.

“It’s a bit of a waste to use it like this, but…”

I pulled out a King’s Marble from the breast pocket on the inside of my armor.

Not even 10 remained now.

I didn’t know when I would need them in the next two remaining months, so I had been saving them.

However, I had a strong feeling that I wouldn’t recover from this haziness until I used one of these marbles.

I swallowed one, which made me recover with a clear mind as if I was never affected by that haziness in the first place, and then I checked my newfound strength.

“Good… This amount of strength is far beyond anything those who fought against Demon had.”

I didn’t see numbers like stats, but I could definitely feel it.

Right now, I was stronger than Demon.

I had obtained far more power than I had expected on my first day of eradicating Swesi.

I had only taken down the guards, but they were 140 Protectors who could take down 7th tier monsters with ease.

While Demon had obtained a high amount of compressed power all at once, I had obtained a lower grade power in mass quantity instead.

There was no way I could not be satisfied by such an outcome.

“Now I’ve got an appetite for those who remained inside the castle.”

“Let the officer out.”

“Ugh… Ugh.. Who are you!”

“A god.”

“What… What do you mean? A god? You’re insane!”

“The fate of if you’ll live or die… It’s in my hands. A person you can consider a god.”

“Are you doing this while knowing who I am?”

A punch.

“Ah. Sorry. I forgot that I had become a lot stronger than before, right?”

“Urgh!”

“I’ll be the one asking the questions. The only thing you have to do is to give honest answers. Remember this.”

“Eep!”

“Explain in detail how this organization operates. Also just how many monsters are inside that huge castle as well.”

“Urk…”

“Did you not get punished enough?”

“Ah! That’s not the case!”

“Then you should be starting, right?”

“O… Our group, the Swesi is…”