Round 235

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Ras bristled, standing guard with his fur stiffened.

Kyu-seong wondered if more enemies were approaching and hid behind the kids.

It was quite a sight, hiding behind children who barely reached his waist.

To an outsider, it might look strange, though they would think differently if they knew each of those small children was a boss monster from the Seven Deadly Sins.

“Shall I set up a poison field in advance?”

“No, let’s just wait and see.” Kyu-seong decided to trust the children, confident that only a truly formidable opponent could break through his familiars.

“Kyu-seong!” A voice called from afar.

Realizing that someone was looking for him, Kyu-seong’s eyes widened.

“Huh?” Meanwhile, Ara, curious to see who had arrived, used her farsight and insight simultaneously.

“Hanul! Jeong So-yeon! Kim Si-young!” Familiar names emerged, and Kyu-seong quickly deduced that the guild members had come to rescue him.

‘What should I do?’ He used a disorienting poison to change the appearance of Ras and Mammon, but since the poison’s effects had a limited duration, he had to think fast.

“Kids, could you go back home for now?”

“If people see us, it could be troublesome! Understood!”

“I could defeat everyone. If need be, I shall flatten them all.”

“They’re on our side, not enemies. Don’t knock them out.”

“Hmm, understood. I misunderstood.”

After explaining the situation briefly, he sent them back, using the dungeon entrance conveniently nearby as a gateway.

“Is Poispois going too?”

“Hm, let’s keep Poispois with us for now.” Having subdued the attackers with poison, Kyu-seong planned to use Poispois as an alibi, given its capability as an envenomed slime with powerful, all-purpose toxins.

Shortly after sending Mammon and Ras away, people arrived.

“Huff!”

“What on earth happened here… Kyu-seong! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Support had come from various guilds, including Ara Hongryeon, and even unfamiliar foreigners were present.

Kyu-seong reassured them of his safety and provided a brief explanation of the incident.

“Thinking about it, this whole mountain technically belongs to me now, so I was inspecting it with Ara when suddenly strangers attacked, so I subdued them for now.”

“Subdued…”

Several people exchanged puzzled looks, to which Kyu-seong tilted his head.

“Is something strange about that?”

Then, Choi Sung-hyuk, among the first to arrive, stepped forward.

“Hmm… the people you ‘subdued’—they’re actually quite renowned hitmen, known worldwide.”

“Hitmen?”

“They’re part of an assassination organization. Technically, they’re mercenaries, but they specialize in assassination. And their ranks are composed of awakened individuals of at least level five or higher.”

“Ah… what!?”  

Did they say they were level 5 or above awakened ones?  

Kyu-seong looked over the sprawled bodies again. He hadn’t thought they would be that strong, given how easily the three children had subdued them.  

“Who did that?”  

“Wow.”  

Foreigners he had never seen before approached and examined the fallen attackers with admiration. They conversed among themselves and then shared something with him.  

“Hm…”  

“Wh-What is it?”  

“The person here is the leader of this organization. He’s an 8th-level awakened one.”  

“E-Eighth level?!”  

Wait, was he really someone that impressive? Kyu-seong was shocked and checked the fallen opponent again. Ras had carried him like a sack, so he hadn’t thought much of it.  

But to think that sack was an 8th-level awakened one!  

‘An 8th-level awakened one would be practically national representative level in our country.’  

In fact, in South Korea—and even globally—an 8th-level awakened individual ranked among the top ten in each nation. While there were some exceptional Level 9 or unclassified awakened individuals, they were so rare that they could be counted on one hand worldwide.  

“Did Kyu-seong subdue him by any chance?”  

“What? Oh, uh, no, my familiars subdued them.”  

“I did it!” Ara raised her hand enthusiastically. Beside her, Poispois wobbled, as if trying to assert that it had helped, too.  

Watching them, Choi Sung-hyuk was at a loss for words as he stared, and more people began arriving on the scene.  

“Kyu-seong!”  

“Brother Kyu-seong!”  

“Kyu-seong, are you alright? Are you hurt?”  

Jeong So-yeon, Kang Hanul, and even Kim Si-young and Han Seok-jun were there. Ara Hongryeon  guild members swarmed around, worried about Kyu-seong’s well-being.  

Feeling a mix of guilt and gratitude, Kyu-seong greeted them warmly as they crowded around him. Ara, meanwhile, excitedly greeted everyone in sight.  

“Because of me, all you busy people… how did you know to come?”  

“We received a call from America. Guildmaster Hailey warned us that you might be in danger around this time.”  

“Oh.”  

Realizing that the attackers targeting him had come from America, Kyu-seong suddenly wondered who could have made the request. Judging by the fact that Hailey had informed them, it probably wasn’t the Iron Sight guild.  

‘Should I use Mammon’s poison to make them confess?’  

However, as if reading Kyu-seong’s thoughts, Han Seok-jun explained, “It seems that Iron Sight’s rival guild, Venom Guild, is behind this. Given the contract’s value, they assumed Iron Sight had succeeded in securing the contract with you.”  

“Venom Guild! That place is famous!”  

“They’re a giant guild, ranked 9th even in America.”  

The skyscraper guild, the most impressive network Kyu-seong knew of, even had to bow to Venom Guild’s influence. Realizing such a powerful guild had targeted him, Kyu-seong felt a sudden surge of anger.  

‘They came after me without even checking the facts properly?’

Unlike the European Union incident, this one had genuinely angered him.  

At least the European Union hadn’t attempted to harm him.  

If he hadn’t had the Seven Deadly Sins as his familiars, he would have been overpowered.  

“I’ll need to file a proper complaint about this,” Kyu-seong said, his eyes blazing with intensity.  

Seeing his expression, Han Seok-jun nodded, and Kang Hanul, who had checked if Ara was hurt and now carried her on his shoulders, nodded emphatically in agreement.  

“To think they would dare target my younger brother, Kyu-seong! I won’t forgive this!”  

“This cannot be forgiven!”  

Kim Si-young and Jeong So-yeon, who were listening nearby, also voiced their agreement.  

“If it hadn’t been for Ara, it would have been Kyu-seong who got hurt.”  

“Ara was in danger too. It’s a good thing she’s strong; otherwise, she might have been harmed alongside Kyu-seong…” Jeong So-yeon shut her eyes tightly, as if imagining something terrible had happened.  

Seeing this, the Ara Hongryeon  guild members all began to feel a growing sense of anger.  

Once assured of Kyu-seong’s safety, they turned their focus to seeking retribution against the attackers.  

“Hanul, are you angry?” Ara asked innocently, not fully grasping the mood.  

“Uh, huh? Ahaha! No, no, I’m not angry!” Hanul shook his head, causing Ara to sway from side to side.  

“Don’t worry, our dear Ara! Leave these difficult matters to the adults!”  

People gathered around Ara, cheering her up with comforting words. Ara didn’t fully understand what was being said, but she was happy all the same.  

“Hehehe.”  

With familiar faces surrounding her, Ara smiled brightly. Watching her, Kyu-seong turned to Han Seok-jun and said, “Shall we clean up here first? For now, my Poispois’s poison has immobilized them, but it will wear off in time.”  

“Ah, I see.”  

As Han Seok-jun looked down, Poispois wobbled, as if proudly demanding acknowledgment. Though the poison was Mammon’s, Poispois was shamelessly taking credit as if it were its own work.  

“Let’s head back together. The Awakening Bureau and the government will handle the cleanup.”  

“The government?”  

“Yes, the Blue House and the National Assembly have also taken action. This incident won’t end quietly.”  

“W-What?!”  

Without him realizing it, this situation had escalated into a major event. Kyu-seong had now truly become the center of a whirlwind beyond his control.  

***  

A dense jungle.  

Someone emerged from the thick African rainforest, reminiscent of a dungeon’s interior.  

With a scruffy beard and tangled hair that looked like they hadn’t been groomed in years, his intense gaze left a lasting impression.  

“Another failure, huh?” he muttered in a self-deprecating tone.  

His fierce eyes dimmed, replaced by a deep emptiness.  

He appeared to be an odd figure, someone you might wonder about if you passed by. He looked no different from a wandering beggar.  

However, anyone who knew his true identity would be astonished.  

He was one of only seven Level 9 awakened individuals on Earth.  

He was also the most mysterious among them, with his whereabouts rarely known, constantly roaming remote dungeons alone.  

People called him “The Wanderer, Kyler.”  

“Hah…”

Kyler let out a sigh as he emerged from the dungeon he had just cleared.

Once again, he hadn’t found the item or artifact he was searching for in this dungeon.

‘How much longer…!’ 

It had already been five years.

Five years since he’d started roaming the remote dungeons, the same five years since his daughter first fell ill.

After losing his wife, his only remaining family was his daughter. She was precious to him, but she was born frail.

And then, she’d contracted a rare disease—one that neither modern medicine nor any dungeon items or by-products could cure.

But Kyler hadn’t given up.

His daughter was the only family, the only treasure, he had left.

For five years, he traveled to every possible location on Earth, determined to cure her.

And finally, his efforts began to bear fruit. He found a clue to heal his daughter’s illness.

The problem was that the clue lay in a place even he, a Level 9 awakened individual, couldn’t reach on his own.

‘The Seven Deadly Sins.’

What he had discovered was the dungeon of an undiscovered member of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Even Kyler, as a Level 9 awakened, hesitated to take on such a dungeon alone.

If it were for his daughter, it would be right to gather people and attempt the dungeon raid immediately, but his situation was complicated.

In fact, the existence of Kyler’s daughter was a secret from the world. Even his daughter didn’t know her father was Kyler.

This was the fate of a Level 9 awakened who couldn’t wield political power.

Though Kyler had a strong loner’s disposition, his tremendous strength made him the target of checks and restraints from all directions.

No matter how powerful a Level 9 awakened was, no one could win against the entire world. And with his unyielding nature, he had plenty of enemies.

“Damn it.”

Kyler was furious at his own helplessness. Despite being level 9, he couldn’t even take care of his own daughter, and this reality felt bitterly humiliating.

“Hah…”

After calming his emotions, Kyler cast a bitter look back at the dungeon he had cleared.

Currently, he was preparing to tackle the dungeon of the Seven Deadly Sins on his own. It was nearly impossible, but he was steadily gathering items from various dungeons that might aid him.

However, going it alone made even this preparation arduous.

Fortunately, he did have one powerful ally.

This ally was an old friend who worked for the U.S. intelligence agency, the only one who knew everything about Kyler.

Ding!

“Hm?”

As he stepped out of the dungeon, he noticed a message on his communication device.

Since his friend from the intelligence agency was the only one who would contact him, he wondered what kind of information they had this time.

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