Chapter 224
The senior knight, Karis, stared at Seonghyun with a dumbfounded expression.
What was this?
He was already saying he had completed the mission?
He understood the words, of course.
But he could not believe them.
The Razor Wolf, Rugalnias.
It was a mission deemed so difficult that even within the Equinox Knights it required at least five knights to subdue.
And a newcomer supposedly went alone and handled it?
No matter that he ranked first in the knight exam, this did not make sense.
“Hand it over!!!”
Shouting that, the senior knight, Karis, snatched the mission paper from Seonghyun’s hand.
If it were real, the paper would bear a completion mark, magically sealed after the mission was finished.
He looked at the mission paper he had snatched.
The completion mark was indeed there.
Seeing this, the senior knight, Karis, stared blankly at Seonghyun.
This was real?
Did that mean this outsider possessed strength comparable to five senior knights?
As that thought crossed his mind, Karis looked at Seonghyun with eyes full of shock.
Seonghyun asked, as if to say that should be enough.
“Has it been confirmed?”
“Y-Yeah. It has.”
“Thank you. I will go handle more, then.”
“...What?”
He had just returned from a mission.
And he was going out to complete another?
Was that even possible?
Normally, after completing a mission, one would rest for at least a month.
That was in other knight orders.
Even in the harsh Equinox Knights, it was normal to rest for at least a week.
Yet he had slain the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias, on the same day and was going out again for more?
That was not normal.
‘What is he?!’
The senior knight, Karis, stared at Seonghyun, stunned, as he headed back toward the quest board.
He had only thought Seonghyun was first among the young knights.
But he was a true powerhouse.
Watching Seonghyun move toward the quest board for another mission, Karis thought to himself,
‘I need to report this to the captain.’
With that, he swallowed hard and headed to where the captain of the knight order, Ragna Ekrion, was.
Seonghyun watched Karis move and nodded in satisfaction.
That should be enough to stand out.
He had also completed the quest and managed to raise his level by three.
It was getting slower as his level rose, yet still,
[『Apostle of the Blood Realm』 has offered experience.]
[Experience acquired.]
Seonghyun smiled with satisfaction as he watched the steady stream of experience gain messages.
Thanks to the quests and the Apostle of the Blood Realm, Imbris, his level was already 173.
Still quite far from his goal.
Anyway.
Right now, the quests were more important than the level.
『Equinox Knights’ Captain』
→ Catch the eye of ‘Ragna Ekrion,’ Captain of the Equinox Knights.
In some ways, this quest could be considered easy or difficult.
If he continued to steadily complete missions like this, he would eventually stand out.
He had already finished first place with his results.
As long as he continued doing the missions diligently, it should be fine.
Believing so, Seonghyun reached the quest board for his new mission.
There were more missions than he expected.
‘Hmm, what should I do this time?’
The previous mission, defeating the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias, had been an unexpectedly fun raid boss.
Choosing something similar to that would probably be enjoyable.
It wasn’t a hidden raid boss.
But far stronger than general raid bosses.
It would be fair to say it was just below hidden raid boss level.
So he could handle it alone without any companions.
It was also a good opportunity to further adapt to the Lord of Darkness skill.
‘Then what should the next mission be?’
There were various options.
This time, he picked a suitable one from among the wanted posters.
It required five senior knights again.
In some ways, a wanted mission like this could be more challenging than simply defeating a raid boss.
So he thought it might be more fun.
Games should be like this to be exciting.
With that thought, Seonghyun accepted the mission and headed out again.
Of course, there was still the quest to catch the eye of Ragna Ekrion, captain of the knight order.
But experience points from these missions were surprisingly plentiful too.
5.
While Seonghyun chose another mission and was leaving the knight barracks,
The senior knight, Karis, arrived at the captain’s office and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking echoed.
The senior knight, Karis, stared at the door with slightly trembling eyes.
The captain’s office was quiet for a moment.
As he waited in that suffocating silence,
“Enter.”
A voice came from inside.
Karis let out a small sigh of relief, carefully opened the door, and stepped in.
Inside, he could see Ragna Ekrion at his desk, handling affairs.
Among the three leading knight orders, Ragna Ekrion was known as the strongest of the three captains.
Yet in Karis’s eyes, fear outweighed respect.
He bowed his head, thinking he must not make the slightest mistake, and spoke.
“I have a report regarding a new recruit.”
“…….”
There was no immediate response to Karis’s words.
Watching the silent Ragna Ekrion, senior knight Karis understood the unspoken command to continue and nodded.
“Yes, among the new recruits, there is one named Seonghyun who ranked first in performance and single-handedly cleared a mission requiring five knights.”
“...Hmm.”
Until then, Ragna Ekrion had shown no reaction, but now he responded with interest.
He stopped his work and looked up at Karis.
As if to say, “Go ahead, tell me.”
Karis swallowed hard and recounted everything he confirmed.
Of course, he left out that the mission was assigned somewhat to trick Seonghyun.
“He is an outsider, so we sent him to test his skill, but he completed the mission to deal with Rugalnias in just a few hours. And now he has gone to choose another mission. By now, he may have already selected and departed on the new one.”
“Hmm.”
Karis was uneasy not knowing how to interpret this reaction.
But after hearing the report, Ragna Ekrion said,
“Understood. Monitor him carefully, and if there’s anything else to report, do so immediately.”
“Yes!!!”
“Leave now.”
“Thank you!!!”
Karis left the captain’s office with a stern look.
Alone in the office, Ragna Ekrion stood for a moment and looked out the window.
At that moment, he caught sight of Seonghyun departing from the barracks.
What a delicious prey.
If he could absorb that guy,
‘Everything might be fulfilled.’
He thought there would still be something left even after consuming Seonghyun.
But maybe that day would come sooner than expected.
Until the day he ruled this city.
And,
‘The time of war might come sooner than expected.’
With that thought, Ragna Ekrion gave a bitter smile, and a sinister aura rippled around him before disappearing.
It was still not the time.
He had to wait until things matured further.
Though patience was agonizing.
It wouldn’t be long.
‘I must call him soon.’
6.
Wanted missions were certainly more difficult than simply taking down a raid boss.
More precisely, they were trickier rather than purely harder.
It was not easy to inquire about the wanted target’s whereabouts, track them, and capture them.
In terms of raw combat power, they were simpler than the Razor Wolf, Rugalnias.
Either way, he managed to capture the wanted target.
Doing it alone was definitely not easy.
‘It’s tough handling this solo without any vassals.’
If only Nocturinium had been there, it would have been much easier for sure.
Still, the unexpected satisfaction of taking it down alone made him content.
It also granted more experience than expected.
Thanks to that, he gained another level and reached 174.
As Seonghyun thought so and turned to head back,
He suddenly recalled his vassals in the Netherworld.
Especially the knight-type vassals.
‘They said they were training with Drakhanos, right?’
Silvanor had just gotten a body, and Drakhanos had insisted all three were needed, so Seonghyun had sent them.
After meeting Leon, Seonghyun did not particularly need Silvanor either.
So he sent them off.
Judging by Silvanor’s expression when he left, which looked like a walking corpse,
The training was harsher than expected.
Still, better than not training at all.
As Seonghyun thought that and headed back toward the knight barracks,
Training was in full swing in the Netherworld.
Under Drakhanos’s lead,
“Wow, it’s insane every time I see it.”
Even Helena could not help but admire.
A boulder the size of a small mountain was being lifted, and that boulder was supported by nothing but a single stick, while the three moved as if swinging swords.
There were three such heaving stone-mountains.
Beneath them, Leonik, Balthar, and Silvanor were crushed under the weight, struggling to lift the stone-mountains somehow.
For the ones with bodies, Balthar and Silvanor,
Their muscle fibers tore, and blood burst between the muscles like an explosion.
Even so, they could not stop swinging their swords.
As for Leonik, who had no muscles,
Bones twisted and cracked with brittle sounds, fissures spreading through the bone.
It would have been a relief if they had simply broken or burst.
“How pitiful.”
Helena said that and healed them with heavenly power.
-Kkyaaaaargh!!!
-Uweaaaaargh!!!
“Krghhh-ugh!”
Once healed, they could resume training again.
All three had hot liquid, whether tears of joy or something else, flowing from their eyes.
Watching them, Drakhanos shouted something.
-Muttering, mutter, mutter.
If one only half-listened to his grumbling tone, it would be easy to miss,
But in their ears it rang clear.
If your body cracks from something this trivial, you must train more.
Upon hearing that, Leonik and Balthar deeply regretted it.
They had hoped that once Silvanor had a body, perhaps the training time would be reduced a little.
Instead, the three of them ended up in joint training.
If only Seonghyun had said he needed one or two of them.
But as luck would have it, that was exactly when none of the vassals were needed.
Thus the joint training came to be.
-‘I just want to rest a little.’
-‘Why... why is it only us.’
‘Be patient,’ they all thought in unison.
As if their hearts were bound together.
At that moment, something felt off.
While enduring such grueling training, they glanced at each other and thought,
‘D-Does it feel a bit heavier?’
- ‘I-It must be my imagination, right?’
- ‘...No, look at the ground.’
Suddenly, a black abyss had formed beneath their feet.
And they knew exactly whose power that was.
The three of them raised their heads in a daze and looked toward Helena.
Helena said,
“Oh? I thought you had so much free time you could daydream, so I increased the gravity a bit.”
The three turned pale at Helena’s words.
Seeing them like that, Drakhanos chimed in.
-Mutter, mutter, mutter.
He praised Helena and thanked her, then told them they needed to increase the training intensity.
They were horrified.
To think the training intensity could go higher than now.
It was truly nonsense.
Tears welled up as the training continued.
Helena asked Drakhanos,
“Will our Seonghyun train like that too?”
-Mutter, mutter.
But Drakhanos shook his head.
He said the lord only needed to improve his swordsmanship a bit.
Those others grow by working their bodies, so they train like that.
Had they heard that, the three would have been even more bitter.
Unfortunately, due to the increased gravity, they couldn’t hear a thing.