Chapter 42 - Delia Island (5)

The flying-type monster, Ralas.

Just as Babangida said, the creature was leisurely circling the sky above the mountain peak.

The reason it couldn’t be classified as an avian monster was clear just from its appearance.

It felt like a giant stingray was swimming in the sky.

But there was something even more peculiar than Ralas in the sky.

“Babangida. Do you happen to know about that light?”

In the empty space around Ralas, there was a small, ring-shaped light.

The creature was circling around that light as its center.

“I don’t. But that monster seems to be protecting the light!”

“Protecting the light?”

“That’s right! My brothers and I once threw rocks at that light. Every time, that monster defended the light with its tail!”

Even without Babangida’s story, I could immediately tell that the light was no ordinary thing.

I heard that this Delia Island was connected to another dimension one day, and I had a hunch that perhaps that light was related.

“By the way, that monster, doesn’t it attack people? It doesn’t seem to be interested in us at all.”

This was different from the information I had about Ralas.

The creature was known to be quite an aggressive monster in Kalia as well.

“That’s not true! Many of our brothers have died to that thing! It is a very dangerous monster.”

“Then why is it like that now?”

“I don’t know the reason! But that monster becomes very ferocious when it comes down the mountain!”

It seemed there was something about that light after all.

From my perspective, too, Ralas seemed only interested in protecting the light right now.

“Yohan! But how do you plan to hunt that monster? The monster dodges everything thrown at it! Human bows are useless! No matter how I think about it, there’s no way, so what are you going to do!”

He sure asked late.

If he thought I had no way, he should have told me before we came.

But fortunately, I had a way.

I knew very well about that Ralas.

I took out two coins.

“Yohan! What is that!”

“This? A weapon to catch the monster.”

The plan was already set.

Ziiiiing!

I infused one of the coins with mana.

The mana, compressed into a single point, was well-contained without a hint of wavering.

The key was how well this mana could be controlled even after leaving my hand.

The target was uncomfortably far away.

Thwack!

The coin, flicked by my finger, shot up quickly into the sky.

The primary target was the ring-shaped light that Ralas was guarding.

The coin was just about to enter the hole of the light. But.

Hwoooooo!!

With a roar, the creature’s tail covered the light and blocked my coin.

I had expected this.

I quickly controlled the mana to change the coin’s trajectory.

The new target was the blue spot on Ralas’s belly.

The distance was considerable, making it quite difficult to control the coin.

But a perfect control was not necessary. It didn’t matter if the concentrated mana scattered a little.

As long as I could give a very small impact to that blue spot, something interesting would happen.

Hwoooooooo!

Ralas let out an angry roar. It was a success for now.

Ralas, having allowed an attack on its blue spot, let out an angry roar and began to descend.

The damage from the coin was almost nonexistent, but its eyes had already turned red, and it would not return to the sky until it had a life-or-death battle with me.

That was the characteristic of Ralas.

“Be careful! Yohan!”

Babangida immediately threw a rock at Ralas.

Hwoooooooo!

Ralas took the rock thrown at close range and let out an even angrier roar.

But its gaze was fixed only on me. After a brief hesitation, it flew fiercely towards me again.

Of course, I was fully prepared.

Having hunted Ralas countless times in Kalia, I knew perfectly how that thing would move to attack me.

I anticipated its trajectory and unleashed a decisive strike.

Swishhh!!

The straight line drawn by the Reapersword was immediately dyed red. And.

“Yohan!!!”

The stone thrown again by Babangida once more shook Ralas’s huge body.

A truly excellent friend.

Thanks to Babangida, my next attack became that much easier.

Swishhh!!

Another red line was drawn on Ralas’s body.

Blood poured out.

Ralas let out another scream.

Having taken this much damage, it should have fled into the sky for a moment, but right now, Ralas had no such intention.

It was a monster with truly interesting characteristics.

The creature only briefly ascended to attack me, then shot down fiercely.

But having already allowed two attacks, Ralas’s presence had already diminished considerably.

It was time to finish it.

Thwack!

First, I flicked the other coin I was holding in my left hand again.

The target was the ring-shaped light that Ralas had been guarding.

I was just curious to see what would happen if I touched the thing Ralas had tried so hard to protect.

Hwoooo!

The light no longer existed in Ralas’s view, and the creature charged, looking only at me.

The Reapersword flashed.

The agonizing groan that Ralas let out echoed.

Now there were three straight lines drawn on Ralas’s belly.

The creature could no longer endure and stopped flying, crashing to the ground.

Craaaash!

The ground shook and dust rose.

“You did it! Yohan! You truly are my friend!”

[Quest Progress: (6/6)]

[You have cleared the quest.]

[You have acquired 1 Mana Stone and 1 Abyss Rune as a quest reward.]

The messages didn’t end there.

[You have succeeded in severing the connection with another dimension that was eroding Delia Island.]

[You have cleared the Hidden Quest.]

[A special reward will be given.]

“Yohan! The light in the sky has disappeared!”

I looked at Babangida and gave a slight smile.

Now that the connection between Delia Island and the other dimension was severed, this chaotic island might become a little boring.

And now, it was time for farewell.

There would be almost no time to share the lingering feelings.

“Babangida. My business is all done. It may be sudden, but I’m going back to Earth now.”

“I’m sad. Yohan! Must you go?”

I nodded my head.

“I will now disappear from here like the wind. Just as the other Earthlings did.”

“Yohan! Come back anytime! I will always be waiting!”

Although we couldn’t meet again, I told him I would.

[The vicinity of Delia Island has been registered as a teleport location. Upon your next entry into the Abyss, you can move directly to the vicinity of Delia Island.]

My vision gradually blurred, and the background turned to darkness.

The second quest concluded like that.

***

The special reward given by the Abyss was a very strange item.

A necklace with a carving of a Guyeopcho.

While wearing this, my depleted mana recovered at a very fast rate even without operating my inner energy cultivation method.

Although I only possessed a speck of mana, this item was very useful to me.

Since my mana was a speck, the recovery was also almost instantaneous.

“Hoo!”

I was going through my daily routine, lifting weights in the physical training room.

I depleted my mana by lifting heavier weights than usual and repeatedly recovered my mana using the Guyeopcho necklace.

There was no method as effective as this for training the body.

It had already been two hours since I started working out in the physical training room.

Usually, Choi Ho-joong would have come in by now to report on Chamryongdan’s daily activities, but today only silence lingered.

When I returned from the Abyss, the members of Chamryongdan were absent.

They had left for a dungeon raid.

In fact, besides Chamryongdan, many of the family’s sword units were absent for dungeon raids.

To win the competition proposed by my father, conquering as many dungeons as possible would be advantageous.

But there was also a sword unit that could afford to be leisurely in this situation.

Seo Ji-won’s Myeongundan.

It was because they were excluded from this competition, having been recognized for their previous achievements.

“You, what are you doing here alone?”

The one who broke the silence of the physical training room was, as expected, Seo Ji-won.

“You can see for yourself. I’m working out.”

“I mean, I’m asking why you’re the only one left in the family house doing this. I heard all the other members have left for dungeons.”

“They’re probably doing well. Ho-joong is better at handling the kids than I thought. I guess the position really does make the man?”

I replied nonchalantly and focused on lifting weights again.

If the conversation dragged on, Seo Ji-won would only nag.

“But that doesn’t seem to apply to you. A unit leader is lazily working out at such an important time.”

I knew it.

Seo Ji-won was surprisingly talkative.

“Sorry, but you’re disturbing my workout.”

But Seo Ji-won paid no mind and continued what he had to say.

“I just hope you don’t get embarrassed at the unit leaders’ meeting tomorrow. If the difference in performance with other sword units is too large, Chamryongdan’s position within the sword units will narrow.”

“Thanks for the concern, but I’ll worry about myself from now on.”

Then I turned up the volume of the physical training room’s speaker to the maximum.

From now on, in front of Seo Ji-won, my hobby is music appreciation.

***

The sword units that had gone for dungeon raids began to return to the family house one by one.

Because today was the end date of the competition between sword units proposed by my father.

Chamryongdan also appeared, led by Choi Ho-joong.

But they all looked terrible.

The traces of hardship were clearly visible on their faces.

“Young Master, no, I report our return to the Unit Leader!”

“You all worked hard. Any injured?”

“Fortunately, no one has any serious injuries.”

“You’ve accomplished the most important thing. Ho-joong, you had it the toughest.”

I also praised the other members for their hard work over the past few days.

Along with the promise of a special bonus.

The Mana Stone I received as a quest reward from the Abyss this time looked quite valuable, so treating them like this once was no burden at all.

“But why the long faces? You’re getting a bonus not long after you came in. Aren’t you happy?”

Was it because I hadn’t disclosed the amount yet?

“Actually, our performance was meager. It will likely fall far short of your expectations, Unit Leader.”

It was Shin Ah-yeon who answered in a dispirited voice.

“What’s meager? The monsters you hunted?”

“That’s right. It will probably be difficult to win in the competition against the other sword units……”

“That’s enough. Stop there.”

I looked at the faces of the members one by one.

Judging by their expressions, it seemed most of them were thinking the same thing as Shin Ah-yeon.

“You’re all mistaken.”

A really ridiculous mistake at that.

“I don’t recall putting any pressure on you about the competition, so why is everyone so serious? Did you really expect to achieve proper results on your own, without the unit leader?”

“It’s not that, but……”

“Don’t overestimate yourselves. You’re not at that level yet.”

At that moment, the one who shot her hand up was Baek Ji-ah.

“Why? Do you have something to say?”

“I have no complaints about our lack of results. However.”

“However what?”

“The other sword units that we raided the dungeon with looked down on our unit. For the sole reason that you, the Unit Leader, were absent.”

“The so-called unit leader abandoned his unit at a crucial time to go somewhere else, so I guess that’s understandable.”

“Th-that’s not it, but.”

“What do you mean it’s not? Then what other reason is there for other sword units to look down on us. Because we’re new? I don’t think so.”

In fact, I had anticipated this to some extent.

But after the unit leaders’ meeting, this atmosphere would be completely overturned.

I could be sure.

That in this competition, there would be absolutely no sword unit that could beat Chamryongdan.