Chapter 172
[You have completed the quest.]
Power surged through Suho’s entire body.
A total of five level-ups.
It seemed the massive Mana Zarvier had absorbed from others had returned and converted into EXP.
[The quest completion reward has arrived.]
[Would you like to check the reward?] (Y/N)
Rather than checking the reward, Suho urgently turned his gaze to find his father’s projection.
“Father…!”
Shhhhhhh—
The moment Zarvier died, the sandstorm and all illusions he had created turned into particles of light and scattered.
Sung Jinwoo’s projection wasn’t much different.
But even as his body dissipated into the wind, his demeanor remained calm.
—There’s no need to make such a fuss. I’m just a projection right now.
Then he slightly tilted his head up and looked toward the sky as he continued.
—The real me is doing fine up there. Ah, though things have gotten a bit hectic lately since someone’s been absent.
[KIEEEEEEH! My king! This unworthy sinner is before you! Please, forgive me……!]
At those words, Beru darted forward and threw himself at Jinwoo’s feet, sobbing.
[I do wish to return, but I simply lack the Mana to find a way back!]
—It’s fine. If that’s the only reason you can’t return, then that’s one less thing for me to worry about.
Though a projection, this version of Jinwoo was sharing consciousness with the real Sung Jinwoo through soul synchronization.
He had used Zarvier’s spell against him, turning the illusion into an avatar—a manifestation of the real Sung Jinwoo.
Thanks to that, the real Jinwoo in outer space now knew that Beru had safely reached Suho and released the seal.
He had been worried Beru might have been obstructed and failed to reach Suho. That concern was now gone.
—More importantly.
Jinwoo turned his eyes toward the tiny Beru, lying flat on the ground.
—I think it would be better if you stayed on Earth for a while.
[Kiek?! I-Is that acceptable?!]
Beru’s eyes widened.
The war in outer space was fierce, balanced on a razor’s edge.
So the absence of a commander like himself was a massive burden on Jinwoo.
[Without me, the balance of war will…!]
—Ah, it’s fine. I recently acquired some capable soldiers.
[……?!]
Thud.
The shock of Jinwoo’s answer hit Beru so hard that his mouth hung open, and he froze on the spot.
—Of course, the sooner you return the better, but Earth doesn’t seem to be in such a leisurely state either.
Even as he spoke, half of Jinwoo’s body had already dissipated.
—I don’t have much time left.
He immediately turned his gaze to the remains of Zarvier, whom Suho had just defeated.
A skeleton with shattered ribs.
Above its shadow, a message floated.
[Extraction impossible due to Mana contamination.]
Looking at the message, Jinwoo calmly explained for Suho to hear.
—Among the Mistborne, some, like the Demons, cannot be extracted.
Hearing that, Suho made a disappointed expression.
Just as Jinwoo said, Zarvier’s soul could not be extracted—just like the souls of demons.
In other words, he couldn’t be turned into a shadow soldier like Harmakan.
—In any case, this one’s unusable for you.
Jinwoo reached out with his vanishing hand and seized Zarvier’s soul.
—I’ll make use of him.
SZZZZZAP—!
Zarvier’s contaminated soul was forcefully pulled up into his grasp.
As if realizing its impending fate, it let out a chilling scream.
KRAAAAAAAH—!
How dare you—!
This is impossible—!
—Nothing is impossible, I told you.
Jinwoo smirked as he looked at the writhing black shadow struggling to escape his hand.
Zarvier’s soul trembled in abject humiliation.
An illusion born from his own spell had seized his soul in turn!
—You should know this well. Mistborne like you, who’ve built up spells over many years, make excellent ingredients for new spells.
With those words, Jinwoo unleashed his final spell using Zarvier’s soul.
SZZZZZAAAAAAP!
A web-like spell circle exploded from his hand, binding Zarvier’s thrashing soul tightly.
KRAAAAAAAAH…!
The spell circle grew denser and compressed smaller and smaller.
And when Zarvier’s screams finally faded into silence—
A gem the size of a fist rested in Jinwoo’s hand.
—Here, a gift.
Whip.
[You have acquired the item: Zarvier’s Soul Stone.]
Suho looked at the gem handed to him and made a puzzled expression.
“This is…”
[Item: Zarvier’s Soul Stone]
Acquisition Difficulty: ??
Type: Gem
A gem made by compressing a Mistborne.
—It’s a just-in-case insurance. Keep it in your inventory.
“Insurance?”
—Yeah. Watching you fight… I had some concerns.
Jinwoo gave a bittersweet smile as he looked into Suho’s face.
Part of him wanted to say more, but no words came out.
The future is unknown.
A son may follow in his father’s footsteps, but the path is never the same.
A son’s future is for the son to choose and decide for himself…
‘Right now, encouragement is better than nagging.’
Jinwoo swept away all the thoughts swirling in his head.
—So Suho.
He reached out with his disintegrating hand and gripped Suho’s shoulder.
—I leave this place to you.
“Yes, Father.”
Suho’s eyes burned silently as he solemnly nodded.
Seeing that look, Jinwoo wore a satisfied smile.
And in that moment, his body completely crumbled away.
Crackle.
Eventually, even the hand that had been patting Suho’s shoulder turned into particles of light and scattered away.
At that moment, the entire sky seemed to collapse.
[The instance dungeon is being lifted.]
Crash!
Harmakan’s barrier vanished.
As the boundary between the inside and outside of the barrier disappeared, the civilians outside finally became visible.
At the same time, the hunters who had been swallowed by the sandstorm became visible to the civilians.
“……Uwaaah!”
Cheers erupted a beat late from the crowd.
“The magical beasts are all gone—!”
Hearing those resounding cheers, the hunters finally realized—
The brutal battle of today was over.
But the reason both relief and exhaustion washed over their faces—
It was because they knew all too well that they had done absolutely nothing here today.
And… while they had been thrashing around inside an illusion—
Only one person.
‘Sung Suho…’
That young hunter had fought the boss monster alone and ultimately emerged victorious.
Everyone had seen it clearly with their own eyes.
‘Hunter Sung Suho.’
‘Woojin Guild.’
As all the hunters’ gazes converged on Suho, who stood firmly at the center, the civilians outside naturally followed their line of sight as well.
And Beru was visibly delighted by their reverent stares.
[Young Lord, would you at least wave your hand? All eyes are upon you.]
“……Forget it.”
Suho looked lost in thought.
After seeing his father disappear again after such a long-awaited reunion, it was impossible to feel good.
But he had no intention of wallowing in those feelings forever.
There was still work to be done.
“Esil!”
At Suho’s call, Esil, who had been out of sight for a while, waved from somewhere near the shore.
“Suho! I found it!”
Everyone had momentarily forgotten because of the sudden boss monster’s appearance—
But the Woojin Guild, led by Suho, had not forgotten their original objective for coming here.
“I found the Gate!”
……!
At Esil’s shout, everyone turned in surprise.
‘Oh, right!’
‘Come to think of it!’
‘We were supposed to be looking for the Gate!’
Though they had ended up defeating the boss monster, Suho’s guild had originally been dispatched for gate reconnaissance.
And while everyone else was busy confronting the boss monster—
Esil had been the only one separated far enough away to successfully find the hidden Gate somewhere on this beach.
“Well done.”
Suho finally cracked a smile as he saw Esil waving from afar.
Then, he looked around to find the other guild members.
“Is everyone alright?!”
“Healers over here!”
“Medical team! Medical team!”
Healers and medical staff from the Hunter Association rushed in from all sides to treat the injured.
Among them, S-rank Hunter Im Taegyu stood out, having sustained severe burns.
Yet Im Taegyu paid no mind to those burns.
Instead, what he cared more about was—
“Please treat my son first.”
“This is Hunter Im Taegyu’s son?!”
The medics looked surprised at his words.
To them, Im Taegyu responded while gently patting the back of Im Do-Gyun, who lay exhausted beside him.
“……Yes. He’s my proud son.”
It was truly fortunate.
That amidst this terrible disaster, he had been able to save his son.
But today was different from “that time.”
—Uaaaargh!
His son didn’t look at him with a fearful expression like before.
And he no longer ran away from him.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“No. Not okay.”
Im Do-Gyun, grateful just to be alive, gripped Suho’s hand and stood up.
Then he reached out his other hand to his father.
“Are you okay, Dad? You must be in a lot of pain.”
“……You brat.”
Who’s worrying about who here?
Seeing his son worry over his burns, Im Taegyu chuckled and took the hand, pulling himself up.
* * *
Inside the Gate Esil had found, everything was already hollowed out.
It was likely that Zarvier had devoured every living thing within.
Still, the amount of dungeon minerals left inside was substantial.
And the ownership of all those minerals went to the Woojin Guild, led by Suho.
Although this wasn’t specified in the contract, Im Taegyu had handed over all his rights to Suho.
However, there was one issue—
Time.
With all magical beasts gone and even the boss monster dead, the Gate would only remain open for a very short while.
To extract ore in such a limited time, a massive number of miners would need to be deployed all at once.
But that was no problem for the Woojin Guild.
“Rise.”
From Suho’s shadow, countless shadow miners rose up in unison.
They grabbed pickaxes and shovels and rushed into the dungeon, mining ore at a phenomenal speed.
“This is incredible…”
Im Taegyu’s jaw dropped at the astonishing sight.
He knew Suho was a summoner, but he had never imagined he could summon such numbers all at once.
Suho walked over to him and initiated a new negotiation.
“By any chance, does the Reaper Guild have any leftover dungeons? The more dangerous, the better.”
“……Now I see why Do-Gyun got so good at running away.”
“Ah, that’s a misunderstanding.”
It really was.
