The large snake-headed giant’s last scream echoed through the area.

“Roooooooar!”

Its large body finally started to fall down.

Boom-!

There was black blood dripping out of the fallen snake-headed giant’s entire body as it had holes everywhere.

As for the person who had created those injuries…

‘I did it……!’

Kim Min Ah started to smile while looking at the fallen giant.

“Huff, huff.”

However, she was breathing heavily and both of her arms were shaking.

The hand she mainly used to hold her spear was also visibly shaking.

“Min Ah, are you okay?”

Bae Puh Rum walked over and asked about Min Ah’s condition with concern.

Kim Min Ah chuckled while looking at Bae Puh Rum.

“Bae Puh Rum, I think I’m at least better than you are right now?”
“Is that so?”

Bae Puh Rum looked down at his body.

He wasn’t injured even though he crashed into the giant like a rocket over and over while controlling the whirlwinds Kim Rok Soo had given him, but he was still a mess.

Of course, he had some minor injuries and bruises, but it was a win if he could defeat a Grade 1 monster with these kinds of injuries.

“Do you need me to help you walk?”

Kim Min Ah shook her head at Bae Puh Rum’s question.

She put some strength into her legs and stood up straight.

‘This is the first time.’

It was the first time she had done this.

She had never fought while using her ability as much as she wanted.

‘…My body can’t keep up with my ability.’

Maybe that was the reason her whole body was shaking.

It didn’t hurt.

These issues would disappear once her body got used to her ability.

She realized that her ability was best described as ‘Herculean Strength.’

That was why it was even more shocking.

‘…Kim Rok Soo, this person, just-’

This person named Kim Rok Soo.

She became more shocked the more she thought about it.

She looked to her side.

Cale and Kim Min Ah made eye contact.

She heard his nonchalant voice.

“That was amazing.”

She observed how Cale somewhat wiped the blood flowing out of the corner of his lips as she talked to him.

“Kim Min Ah, you fought pretty well.”

Something was weird.

Cale’s nonchalant praise was making Kim Min Ah weirdly emotional for some reason.

She couldn’t understand why she was feeling this way.

“Bae Puh Rum, you did well too. You fought well.”

It was the same for Bae Puh Rum as well.

The two of them finally felt that they had really defeated this giant after hearing Cale, who only seemed slightly older than them, praising them.

Kim Min Ah subconsciously blurted out.

“I want to go there too.”

Cale looked toward her and Kim Min Ah expanded on what she had said out of impulse.

“Seomyeon, Busan. I want to go there.”

She then quickly added on.

“In return, you need to make me stronger.”

She could see a gentle smile appearing on Cale’s stoic face.

It looked as if he knew she would say something like that.

“Okay.”

Cale calmly responded and turned around.

“The two of you head back to the building now.”

He then walked over to Park Jin Tae and Lee Chul Min who were standing outside the main door to the building.

Bae Puh Rum started to speak with a blank expression as he watched Cale walk away.

“…Wow. Isn’t that hyung so cool? He’s totally sick!”
“You were cool too.”
“…Huh?”

Bae Puh Rum’s eyes opened wide as he looked toward Kim Min Ah.

Kim Min Ah looked at him with a confused expression and Bae Puh Rum cautiously asked.

“Really? I was cool?”
“Yeah.”
“…Min Ah.”
“What is it?”
“To be honest with you, I didn’t say this earlier while we were fighting the giant because the timing didn’t seem right. Can I say it now?”
“Sure.”

Bae Puh Rum smiled brightly at Kim Min Ah giving him the okay and started to speak.

“You were so cool when you were swinging the spear earlier. I think you’re the coolest person in the world. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you earlier.”

Kim Min Ah truly was the only one in Bae Puh Rum’s eyes.

Pffft.

Kim Min Ah chuckled before responding.

“Keep going.”
“Hmm?”
“Praise me more.”
“Okay! You’re the best.”
“You’re so cute.”

Kim Min Ah looked toward Bae Puh Rum as if he was cute and Bae Puh Rum couldn’t help but smile widely after seeing her gaze focused on him.

The two of them then looked somewhere.

Cale who had been heading back to the building had stopped and was looking at Bae Puh Rum and Kim Min Ah.

“Ahem.”
“Hem!”

Kim Min Ah and Bae Puh Rum slowly avoided Cale’s gaze.

They then quickly headed toward the building.

The two of them heard Cale’s voice as they passed by him.

“You look good together.”

Bae Puh Rum flinched after hearing that while both of them responded to him.

“T, thank you very much!”
“I know. We look really good together.”

Bae Puh Rum and Kim Min Ah entered the building after giving responses that suited their personalities while two other people walked over to Cale.

“Kim Rok Soo.”

One of them was Park Jin Tae.

He already had his gun in his hand as if he was itching to use it.

“What is it?”

Park Jin Tae slowly turned his head after seeing Cale looking right at him.

He then recalled the conversation he just had with Choi Han.

Before he and Lee Chul Min had walked over toward Kim Rok Soo because they knew it was their turn…

‘What do you want?’

He had made eye contact with Choi Han.

Lee Seung Won, Kim Min Joon, and Lee Jin Joo were off to one side doing something and Choi Han had just been chatting with Lee Seung Won as well.

But then, Choi Han had split off on his own to walk over to him.

Choi Han had looked at him with a vicious gaze.

‘I wish to have a conversation with you.’

Choi Han then looked toward Lee Chul Min who walked away once Park Jin Tae nodded his head.

Park Jin Tae looked toward Choi Han after seeing that Lee Chul Min was far away.

Choi Han started to speak at that moment.

‘Lower your gaze, punk.’
‘…What?’

Park Jin Tae looked toward Choi Han in shock at this sudden change in demeanor, but Choi Han was calm.

Actually, he was angry.

He had heard everything about how Kim Rok Soo had been treated from Lee Seung Won.

Choi Han put his hand on Park Jin Tae’s shoulder.

He had learned a lot of things from Cale.

Pat. Pat.

Choi Han looked almost identical to Cale as he patted Park Jin Tae’s shoulder.

‘…You beat up Rok Soo hyung?’

Park Jin Tae got the chills at the suffocating murderous intent focused only on him.

He continued to hear Choi Han’s voice as well.

‘Why? Why did you do it? Ah, nevermind. There were no good reasons based on what I heard.’

Choi Han had recalled what Lee Seung Won had told him.

‘Hyung was the only one to get beat up. Only Rok Soo hyung. They came up with random reasons to beat him.’
‘They always beat him like that?’
‘N, no. That’s not the case. This was the first time he was beaten up, but they always treated him badly.’

Choi Han quietly whispered to Park Jin Tae.

‘Rok Soo hyung is probably leaving you alone because he needs you right now and because you are useful. That’s probably why he is leaving Lee Chul Min alone as well.’

Choi Han’s sunken gaze looked toward Lee Chul Min who was quite far away from Park Jin Tae.

‘Remember that I am watching you.’

That voice still echoed in Park Jin Tae’s ears.

“Haaaaa.”

The person sighing was Lee Chul Min, Park Jin Tae’s trusted subordinate and an attack-type ability user.

He was sending Cale a heartrending gaze.

‘Do I really need to fight too?’

That was what the gaze seemed to be saying.

Cale looked right back at him and Lee Chul Min eventually dodged his gaze and started to frown without Park Jin Tae knowing.

Cale held back a snort after seeing Lee Chul Min’s reaction.

‘Lee Chul Min, it’ll be hard for you to escape this time.’

Lee Chul Min.

This bastard was someone who had escaped on his own while pretending to listen to Park Jin Tae’s order to ‘Let the weak and useless people escape first!’ when the original central shelters had lost their powers.

There was one more thing.

‘He ends up a guild leader.’

Lee Chul Min and Park Jin Tae.

Cale needed these two people for the upcoming battles, but he was not going to pay as much attention to them as he did for Bae Puh Rum and Kim Min Ah.

‘I’ll make sure to use you properly. I’ll make it so that you want to run away.’

But he will not be able to run away.

Cale would take these two people to Seomyeon, Busan no matter what.

He would make them do the hard work.

‘And the team leader won’t leave them alone.’

Based on team leader Lee Soo Hyuk’s personality, he would flip a lid once he heard about what happened at the central shelter once he left.

Cale was planning on taking Grandma Kim and the Lee siblings with him as well. They would probably tell Lee Soo Hyuk everything.

‘It’s going to be vicious.’

His reaction was going to be vicious and scary.

Cale suddenly got the chills but shook his head to get rid of that feeling and started to speak.

“There are 3 Grade 1 monsters left.”

Park Jin Tae and Lee Chul Min looked south.

Boom-!

A giant bear that was over 5 meters tall and required them to look far up in order to see its face took a step forward.

A bear covered in purple tiger stripes.

Cale opened his mouth to speak.

“That monster’s name is Poison Bear.”

Poison.

That word made Park Jin Tae clench his fists. He definitely realized that it was his turn.

He heard an eerie noise at that moment.

“Shaaaaa- Shaaaaaaaaaa-”

Lee Chul Min started to frown.

“…Disgusting bastard.”

Cale continued to speak at that moment.

“You can probably tell based on how it looks, but that is the human mask spider. It’s a spider that wears a human face like a mask.”

Lee Chul Min slowly stepped back as the 3 meter tall spider wearing a crying child’s face as a mask got closer.

Lee Chul Min saw it at that moment.

Smile.

Cale whispered as he smiled.

“Let me make a prediction.”
“…What?”
“Originally, you would have run away.”

Lee Chul Min urgently looked to see Park Jin Tae’s reaction as his pupils started to shake. Park Jin Tae looked away from Cale and Lee Chul Min with a stoic gaze.

Lee Chul Min’s heart sank after seeing that and he urgently started to speak.

“No! I would have fought until the end!”
“Is that so?”

Pat. Pat.

Cale patted Lee Chul Min’s shoulder.

“Then give it your best.”

‘Damn it! I’ve been had!’

Lee Chul Min started to frown while looking at Cale’s relaxed smile. He now needed to give everything he had in this fight.

Lee Chul Min heard Park Jin Tae’s voice at that moment.

He was speaking in a stoic tone.

“That’s right, Chul Min. You should fight at least once with everything you have.”

Lee Chul Min’s pupils started to shake for a different reason.

“…Leader-nim?”
“You’ve always been hiding your strength instead of fighting with everything you had. Did you think I would not know that?”
“…Ah.”

Lee Chul Min could see Park Jin Tae smiling while looking at him. Park Jin Tae raised his gun.

“Fight properly… If you don’t want to be hit by my bullet.”

‘Damn it!’

Lee Chul Min barely managed to smile back.

“Leader-nim! Please don’t worry!”

But neither Cale nor Park Jin Tae were giving Lee Chul Min a look. Lee Chul Min became annoyed at this, but he pushed it down.

There was a simple reason for it.

‘It’s safe here.’

He found Kim Rok Soo annoying and Park Jin Tae scary, but…

Next to these two people was currently the safest place.

That meant that he needed to fight hard.

“Even the leader is stepping forward.”

Lee Chul Min looked toward the monster majestically stepping forward behind the bear and spider.

This monster had a mane like a lion, but it looked like a tiger.

It’s black, grey, and white stripes were more beautiful than vicious while its black mane was rich and shiny.

The term majestic suited this Grade 1 monster.

“…The Dark Tiger.”

Park Jin Tae quietly mumbled the name he had heard from Kim Rok Soo.

But he couldn’t just stand there and watch the monster forever.

The Dark Tiger started to speak.

“You’re quite skilled.”

“……!”

Park Jin Tae and Lee Chul Min’s eyes opened wide.

It was Korean.

The monster was speaking a human language.

Cale started to speak as if this was normal.

“Not bad, right? Won’t you make a deal with me?”
“…A deal?”

The Dark Tiger’s black eyes slowly observed Cale.

‘A monster that can communicate.’

Cale was able to come up with this plan as soon as he had learned about these monsters.

There was a hypothesis that arose in the future about this Grade 1 monster.

< The monster that could communicate was a taster monster but still could give orders to the other Grade 1 taster monsters. In that case, wouldn’t it possibly be able to give orders to other Grade 1 monsters or lower-grade monsters? >

If this hypothesis was true…

Then it was possible to come up with an innovative plan.

The Dark Tiger was strong and had many abilities, but it also had many other things Cale needed.

“Yes, a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“As you might have already realized, you’ll end up dying by our hands in the end. Wouldn’t it be better to join us than to die?”

Lee Chul Min and Park Jin Tae looked toward Cale in shock.

‘What the hell is he talking about?’

Lee Chul Min’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

Kim Rok Soo was talking about being on the same side as a monster.

How could that be?

‘Absolutely not!’

It made no sense.

However, Lee Chul Min gasped in shock after hearing the Dark Tiger’s response.

“What an interesting proposal. But I cannot do that.”
“Why not?”
“I have an order I must carry out.”
“…Is that so?”

An order. Those words made Cale’s eyes cloud over.

A monster that can communicate.

Cale knew he needed to speak to this monster.

It was not just so that he could make it a part of his allies.

‘The ones responsible.’

This sudden cataclysm that happened on earth.

He wanted to know who was responsible for it.

These monsters that had suddenly appeared… And the abilities suddenly given to humans and the odd events.

There must be a reason for it.

‘The Demon World and the sealed god. I’m sure they’re related somehow.’

Cale wanted to hear more details about it.

This monster that could communicate was a precious source of information to figure that out.

“How disappointing. Dark Tiger, it would have been great if you could join me.”

Cale suddenly saw the Dark Tiger’s gaze change.

“Grrrrrr.”

The Tiger quietly growled and shook its head left and right.

Its mane was shaking.

It then looked down and quietly looked at its body. The Dark Tiger’s eyes opened wide as it raised its paw.

Lee Chul Min flinched but the Dark Tiger just raised its front paw and patted the ground a few times.

“…Ho!”

The Dark Tiger laughed in disbelief. It then looked as if it was deep in thought.

Cale recalled a record as he watched.

This was a comment about this situation he had seen in the future.

< For some odd reason, these monsters that could communicate tried to speak to the humans. They tried to communicate at least once. >

< Of course, these monsters attempted to communicate before saying, ‘there’s no point to chat with you.’ and then killed the humans. >

< The important question is, why did these monsters try to communicate with humans? >

< Wouldn’t they have had no reason to communicate if they just wanted to kill all humans and destroy the original central shelters? >

< There must be a reason these monsters tried to communicate with humanity. >

This Dark Tiger’s goal.

Cale thought about that goal as he started to speak.

It was so that he could use a certain word.

“Then I might be able to give you the ‘freedom’ to ignore your orders.”

He started with that statement in order to figure out its goal.

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