Chapter 231. Guardian (1)

[Amazing! With just five people, you have defeated one of the enemies threatening the world! The Lava King’s soul has been completely annihilated by Agni’s flames. As a result, all flame type monsters invading Earth will have all abilities decreased by 10%! This is a monumental achievement!]

[You obtained the title, ‘Guardian’. The dungeon is extremely satisfied by this result, and has decided to increase the support for Earth’s Guardians. When fighting on Earth, your abilities increase by 10%!, and you will receive even better rewards for completing Event Raids and Grand Raids!]

[You obtained 30 stat points and 10 skill points as rewards for completing a Grand Raid.]

[Rewards will be distributed in order of contribution.]

[Kang Shin-nim’s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]

[1. Lava King’s Egg (Legend)

2. Flame Dragon Evil Eyes (Legend)

3. Immortal Fire Dragon Whip (Legend)

4. Fire Dragon Arl (Legend)1

5. Guard Ring (Legend).]

The moment I heard the fanfare, my body went limp. I didn’t want to move even a single finger, and in truth, I barely had the strength to do so. Then, as Lotte put me down on the ground, Hwaya flew towards me.

“Shin!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okafdsah!?”

[Uwak, Witch! What are you doing!?]

Attacking me when I don’t have any strength to resist! Even if I wanted to say something, I couldn’t because her lips were completely blocking mine. I only resisted meekly as I made barely audible moaning sounds. Because of the pain and damage from Sacrifice and the fatigue that swept over after knowing that the battle ended, I couldn’t move even though Hwaya wasn’t restraining me strongly.

Hwaya only let go of me once 30 seconds had passed. After barely mustering enough strength to take a step back, I pointed at my lips an shouted. Because of the huge shock, my legs were shaking.

“%!#$*$ (What were you doing)!?”

“I was too happy… Sorry, but I’m happy with that.”

“M-My tongue was twisted.”

I staggered back with my face entirely reddened. I then bumped into someone. I turned around and saw Duca.

“Dear, how about you do it again with me?”

“Kyaaaaak!”

I leaped backwards. Duca, who was smacking her lips and approaching me, was then punished by Hecate’s whip. Both Daisy and her master were too reliable.

“Don’t scheme on another girl’s man!”

“Can’t I have some fun? Ow!”

“Mm, as I thought, I can be great friends with Daisy. Even the… god called by her Deific Manifestation is so helpful!”

Hwaya who had acquired a spot next to me nodded her head as she watched in satisfaction. I hoped she’d realize that she was just as scary as Duca.

Then, without me having to say anything, Lotte quickly flew next to me and protected me. Lotte was the only one who understood me! Of course, I wanted to believe that she just wanted to protect her master and had no ulterior motives.

“By the way, how did you kill him? No, how was he even alive?”

“It seems like it was a special magic, one that separated his body and soul. If I wasn’t using Agni’s power, I would have been done in too.”

“Ah, so he took out his soul before his body was heavily damaged.”

“Yep, and once he restored his body with lava, he could return his soul. Before he could do that, I incinerated his soul with Agni’s power.”

That damned guy, doing all that when he was on the verge of death… He was even worse than me! Wait, was I spitting on my own face?

“Thanks Hwaya, you saved us.”

“I got my reward so it’s fine… If you think it’s not enough, can I get it again? The remaining 4.8 points. This time, from you.”

“No… Sorry.”

It went by 2.1 points! Uuu, straightforward women were too scary. If I let my guard down even for a second, I felt like I would just fall. The all-knowing expression of Hwaya’s was even more worrisome.

Seeing me flustered, her grin shone even brighter.

“Shin, do you…”

“Let’s make an undead now.”

It seemed like Hwaya was about to say something important, but Daisy, or rather Hecate, interrupted her. Hwaya glared at Hecate.

“Weren’t you going to cooperate!?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, child. That child isn’t your man, and I can’t let my poor Daisy be alone forever. You’re still young, so you should give up and find another wonderful man.”

“You!”

After ruining the mood, Hecate danced towards the volcanic crater as she whistled. It was then that Ina ran into my arms.

“Daddy!”

“My Ina, was it scary?”

“Un.”

Ina’s eyes were teary. It seemed she thought I would die. When I looked away from Hwaya to console Ina, Hwaya drooped her shoulders and spoke weakly. She had undoubtedly gave up saying what she was about to say.

“Argh, I’ll endure it…”

“Mommy, thanks for saving Daddy.”

“If I don’t save my man, who would? You should stop crying too.”

“Un. Next time, I’ll get stronger and protect Daddy and Mommy.”

“Daddy will get stronger to protect Ina too.”

“Un!”

Hugging Ina, it felt like my heart that was racing because of Hwaya and Duca was returning to its normal pace. I could finally relax. I patted Ina’s head and pondered.

Although romantic feelings made my heart pound, they also made me distracted and unfocused. On the other hand, when I was with Yua or Ina, I felt relaxed and was empowered by feelings of wanting to protect them. As I thought, for me right now, family was more important than romance.

… Though something felt off, I decided not to pay attention to it.

“Wow, even with his soul gone, he still has such a powerful regenerative ability.”

Hecate gave an unreserved praise. When I approached the Lava King’s corpse that had fallen into the lava, his severed head had been mostly regenerated. Even without a soul, his body had a terrifying strength. Even though so much mana had been shaved off and stolen, the mana remaining in his body was absurdly great. It was even absorbing the mana inside the lava pit.

“If we don’t handle it soon, it will revive as an undead we can’t possibly control. Huhu, it’s great that Daisy called me.”

“Is it impossible with Daisy’s power?”

“No, child. It’s just that there isn’t enough time.”

“That’s the same thing. Hecate, hurry up. Then, we can go play somewhere! It’s been such a long time!”

“What, you want to enjoy women since you can’t get a guy? Behave yourself. Return your body to its owner and go back!”

“Chet.”

Duca smacked her lips and gave up on tempting Hecate. I felt like I had caught a glimpse of the depth of the gods’ world, but I tried to ignore it and watched Hecate turn the Lava King into an undead.

“Uung, this guy is really overwhelming. With him out, none of the other undeads can be used.”

A brilliant light shone from Hecate’s hands. Once all undead monsters went back into her inventory, she started the process of turning the Lava King into an undead.

All of her mana was sucked into the Lava King and lifted the Lava King’s body sleeping in the volcanic crater. His body slowly became blackish red, a sign that it was evolving into an undead.

In case something happened, I prepared myself to call Peruta. However, once I became confident that she would finish her work without any mishap, I looked at the other target that was itching for attention. It was, of course, the reward list.

“Hwaya finished him off, but I’m the 1st, huh.”

“Without you, we couldn’t have won.”

“We wouldn’t have won if any one of us was missing. especially you, Hwaya…”

“Yeah, but you were the won who damaged it the most and drove it to the verge of death. All I did was finish him off. Now, hurry up and choose your reward.”

“Ehew.”

In truth, there was only one thing for me to choose. The Lava King’s Egg! As I wanted to give it to Yua, I was a bit worried that it would become tied to me, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case. After putting the egg into my inventory, I made a sigh of relief.

“With this, my original goal is completed too.”

“Shouldn’t you tame it yourself? I know you care about Yua, but…”

After seeing that I had chosen an egg, Hwaya raised an understandable question. I shook my head.

“I can’t tame a fourth monster yet. If I put skill points into it, I might regret it later. More importantly, I don’t have any Taming-related skills, so rather than raising a monster from an egg, it’s more appropriate for me to tame an already strong adult monster. On the other hand, Yua’s main class is Tamer, so she can tame many more monsters and have skills that help her tamed monsters get stronger. If Yua raises a powerful monster from its infancy, it’ll grow by leaps and bounds.”

“If that’s what you say… Oh, this must be an orb!”

As expected, Hwaya was the second to choose a reward. What she choice was the Lava King’s Eyes, which even I was tempted to get. She leaped in joy, saying that she had found something to replace the orb she had lost. In the next instant, she screamed.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Hwaya! Are you okay!?”

Hwaya suddenly knelt and covered her face. I hurriedly squatted down and asked to be sure.

“Was it not an orb, but Evil Eyes!?”

“Kuuk, yeah… My eyes… What if it looks like a reptile’s now!?”

“Raise your head. It’ll be fine.”

“No, it’s going to look weird. What should I do…”

“Don’t worry.”

“Will you take responsibility?”

“Yeah, yeah, hurry up! If it’s now, we might be able to turn in back!”

“You promised.”

I took Hwaya’s hands off her face and her face was revealed. Her eyes were shining in a deeper red than before. Almost like the Evil Eyes I possessed, countless particles of light were gathering in her eyes and forming a strange symbol.

Beautiful enchanting pupils. They were like Loretta’s with only a different color.

While I blanked out, Hwaya quickly stole my lips again and spoke with a grin.

“No takesies-backsies.”

“You… I’m taking it back!”

“Really, I made it easy for you too. Still, you can’t take it back.”

“You knew it, didn’t you!? That nothing would happen!”

“Well… Your Evil Eyes came from the Basilisk.”

“Ah…!”

‘You fool! The Basilisk is a reptile too!’ I shook my head, realizing my own stupidity.

“We both have Evil Eyes now. Isn’t it fateful? Not that I believe in fate or anything.”

“I don’t like that word either… but anyways, congratulations.”

“Hmph, in that case, Child belongs to my Daisy. She already had Evil Eyes.”

Hecate walked towards us. Behind her, the reborn Lava King was flying slowly. Although he didn’t give off as much pressure as when he was alive, the pressure was still massive. Without Overlord, I wasn’t confident in beating it one on one.

“Call it Laki.”

“… You didn’t just shorten Lava King, right?”

“…”

“Daisy’s naming sense…”

Hecate dodged my gaze. I gave up on interrogating her further and looked at Laki who was flapping her wings in the air. His awe-inspiring majesty reminded me of the time we fought.

Perhaps because I nearly died several times, the whole fight felt like something that happened years ago. Although not even 10 minutes had passed, I was now looking eye to eye with Laki, who had become our ally.

I grinned and looked away.

The clear full moon poured a chilling blue light over us. With all the burns we were suffering, it couldn’t feel more satisfying. Feeling like the moon was blessing us, I spread my arms out. It’s so refreshing…!

“By the way, Dear, do you know your armor’s full of holes? Are you seducing me? I’ll fall for it gladly!”

“Ah, shit…!”

So that’s why it felt chilly!

1. Translation subject to change. Will note if it does.

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