Alley

‘Was I too harsh because the opponent was a Monster?’

That thought suddenly occurred to me as I left Nanos’s mansion.

I’d never properly negotiated before, so I just blurted out whatever came to mind, but,

“It’ll be fine.”

I decided that was good enough.

In the past, I would have been too busy worrying about what the other person thought to say anything.

Forcing my demands was better than that.

Besides, a Succubus joining hands with the Ancient Nightmare to spread nightmares in Dwarfneer, and I’m going to eradicate them.

Americano decided to think of herself as righteous.

“….”

I looked at my bronze hand.

I raised my little finger.

The power of the little finger.

I remembered it.

Hooking pinkies to make a promise is a common custom.

The power of the contract residing in the little finger was easily recalled in connection with that.

It grants practical power to promises.

A brief explanation of the power of the little finger.

The Succubus Queen hooked her little finger with the demon’s little finger,

And promised to catch the Ancient Nightmare with Americano.

What if the promise is broken?

Whether or not it is broken is conveyed to the other party.

It’s a demon’s power, but what a skill.

It was useless.

It couldn’t be helped.

Drawing out demonic power was different from drawing out Mana.

The usage was also an on-off method like a Skill, so it resembled an Awakened Ability, but the control method was completely different.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Thumb.

I injected Mana into each finger, but the demonic power remained constant.

Even if I injected too much Mana, the demonic power itself didn’t change.

But I was certain that I could draw out more.

I just didn’t know how.

‘I can figure it out slowly.’

But what if Nanos really breaks the promise?

The power of the little finger was too weak to enforce the promise.

‘Hmm…’

I crossed my arms and thought.

Why make it so difficult?

I can just kill her.

I hope she takes our brief meeting as a lesson and keeps strong guards by her side.

More than that, there’s nothing to do.

‘There’s nothing to do.’

The biggest reason I went to see Nanos was because I was bored.

The cooperative relationship to catch the Ancient Nightmare wasn’t even on my mind.

Killing her on the spot seemed like bullying, and not killing her was awkward, so I just said something appropriate.

‘When did Chris say she was coming?’

Chris.

My real-life friend.

She had promised to meet in Dwarfneer with her First Home Clan members.

The promised date was tomorrow.

Not today.

“Haa~ahm.”

I was spacing out when people gathered in the plaza.

Dwarfneer is a village of blacksmiths.

It was a place where strong equipment was born.

Not everyone who came to find equipment was strong, but the proportion of people classified as strong was high.

I sat quietly by the fountain in the plaza and observed the people.

Weak.

Weak.

Weak.

Weak.

Weak.

They’re all weak.

These days, I can guess the strength of an opponent at a glance without fighting.

The way they move their limbs, the way they look at others, there are many reasons if you go into detail.

All of that is processed in an instant and instinctively sensed.

That can lead to carelessness, but,

I rested my chin on my hand and thought.

‘Does it matter?’

You don’t die in Full Dive anyway.

More than that,

‘There’s no one who looks strong.’

People gather in the plaza.

The center of the crowd.

A Dwarf shouted.

“Alright, gather around!”

“These battle hammers here are what I made and failed at.”

“They’re failures, but they’re like children I made with care.”

“If any of you want to receive my failures, raise your hand and come before me!”

At the Dwarf’s command, people gathered like clouds.

It was across from the fountain, so I could see the Dwarf clearly.

“There are many people.”

“But I only have eight failures.”

“If there are hopefuls, compete in strength.”

“If you are selected as the final winner, I will offer this as the winning prize.”

He raised a hammer with an appearance similar to the failures high.

Then the hammer gradually grew larger.

It becomes a Great hammer.

“Based on the story told by the Summoned Hero, I made it so that the size can be adjusted freely.”

“I put in as much Adamant as I could and made it very sturdy.”

“Gathering the power of lightning, was it called Thor? Like that, it accumulates the power of lightning and releases it to enhance its power.”

“I will give this finished product to the final winner as the winning prize.”

At the Dwarf’s words, people cheered.

It resembled the Great hammer.

No, maybe it was made based on that.

This was inside a game.

And a very high degree of freedom.

If the Summoned Hero wanted to make it, it was possible to imitate real-world objects.

I was a little interested in the Great hammer.

I used to enjoy using it when I was an Unawakened Hunter.

Even now, I was honestly more confident in handling the Great hammer than a sword.

But there was no reason to pick up a weapon I was so good at again.

I need to know how to use various things.

A fight started in the plaza.

It was a tournament.

With the Great hammer on the line.

It became noisy, so I moved my seat.

I blankly walked down any road.

Then,

An alleyway.

My eyes were drawn to it, so I went in, and before I knew it, I was in a gloomy alleyway.

Even though it was daytime, it was as dark as night and damp, and there were puddles of water on the ground that I didn’t know when they had formed.

The musty smell chased away my boredom.

A pungent smell that made my mind clear.

Only then did I look around.

‘Where is this?’

An alley…

…it was wider than that.

It was just an ordinary street.

However, a desolate feeling was laid out.

Looking back, thin wooden planks were dividing the buildings like a fortress wall.

I had swaggered in through the door pierced in that wooden plank.

“….”

‘Is this a slum?’

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

The sound of a blacksmith.

Even if it was a slum, Dwarfneer was still Dwarfneer.

There were many places where the sound was coming from, and when I went to the place where the sound was coming from, flames distorted the light on the left and right sides of the street.

The hot heat was scorching the street.

As soon as I stepped in, sweat was about to form on my cheeks, so I wrapped Frost around my body to cool the heat coming from all directions.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

A certain store.

A blacksmith.

It wasn’t a store.

No, there was a furnace right inside the building, and a Dwarf was hammering red metal on an anvil.

Right in front of the store, metal items that seemed to have been made by that Dwarf were haphazardly displayed.

There was no uniformity.

Small swords, full-face helmets, 50-meter chains, large scythes, iron bars, pots, and other non-uniform items.

I opened the item information window.

The functions were similar.

If you inject Mana,

It becomes hard.

‘Good?’

Of course, how strong it actually becomes and how much Mana it can hold could not be known until you actually used it.

Still, I was interested.

“Excuse me.”

Clang.

“Excuse me!”

Clang.

“A customer is here!”

Clang!

The Dwarf was listening.

He was just ignoring me.

“….”

Does that mean it’s okay to steal?

First of all, the price tag was written on the display stand along with the items.

[100 Gold]

All products.

Very cheap.

‘How much was Gumiho’s Magic Sword?’

I forgot.

I’m not very interested in prices.

Still, it was more expensive than this.

I put down 100 Gold,

And picked up a sword.

I surrounded it with Mana.

How far will it go?

I injected Mana.

I injected it.

I injected it.

The sword becoming harder was conveyed through the Mana. I poured Mana into it until it reached its limit.

Cold Energy seeped out from the Sword God.

Cold Energy was mixed in my breath.

But now that I had 100 points in the Frost stat, I couldn’t feel the cold from this level of Cold Energy.

It was just cool.

But,

Crack.

The sword was wrong.

As the Sword God entered sub-zero temperatures and the temperature gradually decreased, it lost its elasticity and cracks burst like glass.

If 100 points of Mana is seen as 100 percent of output,

’10 percent.’

Considering that Mana was 30 points before the duel with Hongyeom, it endured quite well.

But it couldn’t withstand any more Cold Energy than that.

I expressed my regret as I looked at the sword that had been broken in two.

The sword wasn’t bad.

The Cold Energy was at fault.

“Hey, you.”

“…Are you finally interested?”

“How did you break that?”

“Just with Mana.”

The remaining part of the sword too,

Crack.

Cracks burst and it broke.

“You need to try harder. Simply becoming hard is not everything. You also need to know how to bend so it doesn’t break.”

But Cold Energy freezes even iron, increasing its hardness and reducing its elasticity, making it easy to break.

I said that, hoping that he would complete a sword that could withstand Cold Energy and become hard.

I put the broken sword back on the display stand.

And I took the chain and handcuffs.

Why?

‘Just because?’

I have offensive and defensive means, but I don’t have anything for suppression.

Suppression and the function of becoming hard also have synergy, so I paid 200 Gold.

“I’ll come again next time.”

“….”

The blacksmith had a face that said he had a lot to say, but I didn’t bother to ask.

And I looked around at the items that were haphazardly displayed around.

I saw unique items, but they didn’t stimulate my desire to buy.

I came out of the slum,

And someone came to find me.

A familiar sentence was engraved on the embroidery of the cloak.

[Demonic Cult]

‘Those guys are everywhere.’

“I found you!”

“It’s her!”

“Fight all at once!!”

“I’ll show you what happens if you underestimate the Demonic Cult!”

The Demonic Cultists rushed in chaotically.

The fastest Demonic Cultist stabbed with a spear first.

I reached out and deflected the spear,

And my fist touched the Demonic Cultist’s solar plexus.

[Heavenly Destruction Fist]

It flew away noisily and bounced off the alley wall once.

“Die!”

“….”

Demonic Cultist 2 swung down a sword.

I dodged that sword by pulling my body back.

I crushed Demonic Cultist 2’s neck with a hand blade.

Immediately, Demonic Cultist 3 and 4 attacked together, and I slipped through the gap between the two swords that were slashing horizontally.

I put my hand on the ground and kicked Demonic Cultist 3’s chin.

“Keuheok!”

“Haap!”

Demonic Cultist 4 swung the sword like a baseball bat without paying attention to 3’s death.

At the same time, Demonic Cultist 5 and 6 intervened and gradually crowded in, but,

“….”

Well.

There’s no sense of crisis.

Mana 1 percent.

My movements become slightly faster, and I become a little freer from inertia.

My hands and feet pushed away Demonic Cultist 4, 5, and 6, and then I rotated like a ballet dancer to 7, 8, 9, and 10, and extended my hand blade, which had stopped rotating, to Demonic Cultist 11.

“Wh, what is this.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

I beckoned with my hand.

“Coward.”

Demonic Cultist 11’s face turned red.

He swung the Great hammer he was holding with all his might.

The Dwarf’s failure I saw in the plaza earlier.

My palm, which had Mana more strongly wrapped around it, shone white, like a white snowfield greeting the morning, and I stuck it into the Great hammer that was flying in.

Crack.

There is an impact.

It hurt.

I forcibly endured it with the Strength of 100 points.

The fingers that were standing on the striking surface of the Great hammer were stuck in, and I clenched my fist as it was.

Clang!

I smashed it.

“What?!”

“Lame.”

With the fragments of the Great hammer in my hand, I stuck the fragments into Demonic Cultist 11’s face.

It passed through as I stuck it in, and after that, there were still 6 more Demonic Cultists.

They seemed stronger than the Demonic Cultists I had just knocked down, but they were weaker than Demonic Cultist 11.

How weak, Demonic Cultist 12 to 17 couldn’t withstand a single hand blade.

When Demonic Cultist 17 was disappearing into Polygons,

Tatatak.

Someone ran along the wall in the alleyway and jumped a long way, kicking.

In the air, I briefly met eyes with the assailant.

“….”

“….”

I slightly lowered my body to dodge,

And the assailant stopped, scraping the alley floor with the recoil of the kick.

There are no words.

The assailant swung a sword.

Is it more of a katana than a sword?

I dodged it.

I dodged it.

I dodged it and,

Dug in and punched.

[Heavenly Destruction Fist]

The assailant blocked the Heavenly Destruction Fist with the sword with a bang.

He strongly supported the ground with both feet and did not get pushed back.

He knows the Heavenly Destruction Fist.

He wouldn’t be able to prepare if he didn’t know.

He immediately stabbed the sword in.

A perfect blind spot aimed at carelessness.

It was a fleeting moment when there was a slight lack of time for my hand to deflect the sword.

‘At this rate, a finger joint will be pierced.’

But,

[Silent Wheel Fist]

Wrapping my hand with ink-like Mana, I swung my hand outward instead of inward.

The assailant’s sword, which was heading for my abdomen, was caught by the Silent Wheel’s attractive force and deflected between my ribs, and the assailant was startled.

Awkwardly, he couldn’t react immediately and followed the inertia.

He came into my arms defenselessly, so I hugged him.

Ah… my chest is being pressed.

What do girls react to at times like this?

Kyaak?

‘That’s enough.’

Let’s go with my own way.

I brought the assailant into my arms and grabbed him with both arms.

“Not bad.”

“Heup..!”

The assailant’s face turned red.

He was clearly flustered.

I turned the Mana as it was.

I emitted Frost.

I shattered the assailant, who had become an ice sculpture in an instant, into pieces with both arms.