Ch.56Dummy Data

“He… he ran away…!”

“Gasp…!”

“He disappeared…!”

The children made a fuss as Thief vanished before their eyes. The arms and legs that had fallen to the ground were the only evidence that he had ever been there.

“What is this…”

“Sniff sniff…!”

While I was bewildered, Hwang-gu licked her lips as she looked at the arms and legs. Then she began to glance at me, as if seeking my permission.

Since human limbs were of no use to me, there would be no problem giving them to Hwang-gu. I nodded, giving Hwang-gu permission to eat them.

“Chomp!”

Hwang-gu happily ran over and bit into an arm. The children watched, swallowing their saliva.

“What do you think happened?”

“He must have escaped. Using a cash item…”

I answered Aurel’s question while stroking my chin.

A cash item that no one else had been able to obtain. He was the one who had been using a Race Change Ticket. The Blood Carnival’s cash shop sold various items, so he could have obtained a warp-type item that allowed free movement across the map.

If that’s the case, was the cash shop available to all users?

No, probably not.

If all users had access to it, human users would have armed themselves with all sorts of cash items to drive us out.

It must be an ability that only he, the user called Thief, could use.

A special quality completely different from ordinary people…

At that moment, I remembered that I too was a user with special powers different from other users.

I had a skill structure that was far ahead of others in terms of version.

I was able to build my own forces using the Subordination skill that was unavailable to other users.

Perhaps the god had created special users in the human faction as well, thinking about balance?

Me in the vampire faction.

Thief in the human faction.

If my guess was correct, there should be a special user in the werewolf faction as well.

“Maybe…”

I looked at Hwang-gu.

“Nom nom nom!”

Hwang-gu was happily tearing into the arm that Thief had left behind, her mouth wide open.

The bones made a cracking sound as they broke, creating an eerie noise.

I shook my head as I watched.

No. Hwang-gu is not a werewolf with special powers.

Rather, she was a poor child who had even lost her memories.

“What should we do now…?”

“What else…”

I answered Aurel’s question while looking outside the castle.

We had driven away the human user who had arrived here and claimed the hunting ground.

We should just act the same way we did in Blood Carnival.

“For now, we hunt.”

I left the castle and roamed the Underground Ruins diligently with the children.

While checking if there were any other doors marked on the map, I hunted Fusion Bodies to raise the children’s levels.

But no matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t find another entrance to these Underground Ruins.

Perhaps that guy called Thief had used a cash item, or like us, had accidentally flowed in here.

The hunting grounds in the Underground Ruins were really vast.

Even if I spread out all my subordinates widely, we couldn’t hunt all the respawned Fusion Bodies.

And so another day passed.

***

The next evening.

After the sun had set.

I rode Hwang-gu to find Firin.

Since we were using the vast hunting grounds of the Underground Ruins inefficiently, I thought of bringing her forces to use them together.

And so we arrived at Firin Clan’s hideout.

It was a large abandoned hospital that had been remodeled and decorated quite nicely.

“Firin!”

“Woof woof!”

I called out to Firin energetically while standing in front of the hospital.

Hwang-gu barked as if imitating my voice.

Aurel was still sleepy, clinging tightly to my back and nodding her head drowsily.

At that moment.

The curtain of a hospital window was pushed aside, and Firin poked her head out.

“Charlotte?”

“Hello!”

I waved at Firin.

Surprised, she hurriedly ran away.

Soon she would pop out through that door.

Pitter-patter-

As I expected, small footsteps echoed, and Firin ran out from inside the hospital.

She still had a teddy bear in one hand.

“What’s going on?”

“Let’s go hunting.”

“Hunting…?”

“Yes.”

Firin tilted her head at my words.

Her small head moved slightly, making her red hair sway gently.

“Are your clan members inside?”

“They are, but…”

“Call them all out.”

“…Did you find a dungeon or something?”

“Something even better.”

I answered Firin with a confident expression.

She looked up at me and smiled slightly.

Firin gathered all the clan members inside.

A total of five clan members emerged.

“Where are the rest?”

“They all went hunting. These are the only ones here now.”

“Ah…”

Firin seemed to be thinking of taking these five clan members with her.

The ruined world was full of inconveniences.

In the past, we could have used phones to gather clan members who were outside…

Of course, now with the power cut off and telephone exchanges collapsed, even if we found a working phone, we couldn’t use it.

Eventually, I led Firin and her five clan members out of Seoul.

Of course, Firin rode with us on Hwang-gu’s back, while the rest of the clan members had to run along.

When we arrived at the entrance to the Underground Ruins.

I got off Hwang-gu’s back and pushed away the car that was blocking the entrance.

Grrrr-!

“Is it here?”

“Yes. There’s that door.”

“Hmm…”

Firin nodded at my answer, arms crossed.

She sent her clan members ahead and entered the darkness.

I also secured the entrance thoroughly and headed inside.

“This is…”

After walking for quite some time, we arrived in front of a massive door.

The door leading to the Underground Ruins was wide open.

Firin seemed quite surprised by the sight of the huge door, her mouth agape.

“It’s an entrance to the Underground Ruins.”

“Wow…”

“It’s a secret from others. Understand?”

“Ah, y-yes…”

Firin nodded absentmindedly at my words, staring intently beyond the door.

I grabbed Firin’s hand and headed inside.

Her hand in mine was soft and warm.

“What do you think?”

“Wow…”

This is the Underground Ruins I discovered.

Strictly speaking, it was Hwang-gu who discovered it, but since I was her master, I could say that I discovered it.

If you asked Hwang-gu, she would certainly agree.

“It’s incredibly vast…”

“It’s too big for me to use alone, so I called you.”

“Ah…”

Firin nodded in admiration at my words.

However, she didn’t immediately start hunting.

“Everyone, go outside right now and call the clan members. Be careful not to be followed on your way.”

-Yes!

-Understood.

Firin ordered the clan members who had followed her to bring back the hunting clan members.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Firin’s clan members left the Underground Ruins.

“When did you discover this place?”

“Yesterday.”

“Thank you so much…”

Firin smiled with emotion and grasped my hand tightly.

Seeing the small, cute girl’s smiling face made me feel good too.

“Ahem, ahem… Lady Charlotte?”

At that moment, Aurel squeezed between Firin and me.

She cleared her throat and gave me a look that seemed to signal we should go hunting soon.

“Ah, sorry…”

I nodded and spread both hands.

“Come out!”

Soft girls began to emerge from my shadow.

Some looked drowsy, as if they had been dragged out of sleep with half-closed eyes, and one even came out holding crayons.

“Gasp…”

Yeppi was one of those children.

She seemed to immediately grasp the situation and ran around busily collecting her crayons.

I examined the crayons Yeppi was holding.

Seeing how blunt and short they had become, I thought I should get her a new crayon set.

There was a large department store nearby, so I could go out briefly while the children were hunting.

Having monopolized the hunting grounds for a day, the children’s growth was very rapid.

Firin muttered blankly as she looked at the children.

“It looks so convenient every time I see it…”

I smiled lightly at Firin’s words and made an offer.

“Would you like to become my subordinate too?”

“Ah, no… I’ll pass.”

Firin shook her head with a pale face at my question.

I was slightly disappointed, but I had no intention of forcing her if she didn’t want to.

I nodded.

“If you change your mind, let me know. Someone like you would be reborn as a really pretty child.”

The children, who had grown considerably stronger as their levels increased, began to form parties and go hunting.

After all the subordinates had gone hunting, only four people remained.

Me, Firin, Hwang-gu, and Aurel.

Why was Aurel still here?

I tilted my head and looked at Aurel.

“Aurel?”

“Yes!”

“Aren’t you going hunting?”

“Today I plan to follow Lady Charlotte!”

Aurel answered energetically to my question.

This worked out well. I had been wondering when would be a good time to go get Yeppi’s crayons.

I could ask Aurel to guide Firin and slip out briefly during that time.

“Then can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything!”

“Could you guide Firin around this Underground Ruins? I think I need to go out for a bit.”

“Oh…!”

Aurel was reliable.

I smiled softly and patted Aurel’s shoulder.

“You can do it well, right?”

“Yes, yes!”

I shifted my gaze to look at Firin.

Firin, who had been silently watching Aurel, nodded slightly.

“Then I’ll be back!”

In the end, Firin set out to explore the Underground Ruins with Aurel.

I handed Aurel a map of the Underground Ruins.

I watched the backs of the two girls as they moved away with Hwang-gu.

There seemed to be an inexplicable distance between Aurel and Firin.

“Shall we go then?”

“Woof!”

I pulled on Hwang-gu’s leash and changed direction.

Hwang-gu ran very quickly.

Clop- clop- clop-!

“This way!”

“Woof!”

“Now that way!”

“Woof!”

Hwang-gu freely changed direction following my commands.

Even obstacles blocking our path were no problem.

My Hwang-gu was capable of movements that ordinary motorcycles or bicycles couldn’t perform.

Clippity-clop-!

Hwang-gu, running at high speed, jumped in place and leaped over a large truck.

“Pant pant!”

Hwang-gu looked happy.