Chapter 111 : Chapter 111

Chapter 111 - Extortion (1)

The raison d'être of alchemy differed in every medium, but in Conqueror, the entire field of study felt as if it were dedicated to the ‘creation of artificial life’.

It might not be a Homunculus made using a Philosopher's Stone, which brought to mind a combination of blond hair and armor, but even just a Golem that could move on its own was considered a pretty high level of achievement.

And Leila was a person who raised an ambitious objection to that interpretation.

To the effect of, ‘How is that an amazing technology?’

To be a little more precise.

Leila was someone who felt that a Golem that ‘just’ moves had no soul.

And I sympathized with that sentiment to some extent.

“W-what in the world is that again?!”

Seo Ah-in, with two chicks tucked under her arms and one on her back, let out a breathless voice as she saw it soaring up from the center of the island as if it had exploded.

Looking at her like that, she was almost a nanny now, that girl.

“Can’t you tell just by looking?”

“I’m not Kim Gyu-sik, how would I know just by looking?”

Hmph, this is why. A person without romance just wouldn’t do.

How could she look at that and ask what it was.

“...No, really, what is it? It just looks like a giant Golem.”

“Huh?”

Just a giant Golem?

Was she crazy?

She could be mistaken. But if you looked just a little closer, you could see countless differences that clearly set it apart from a plain Golem.

The lion embossed in the center of its chest, the clearly visible ‘face’, the black external armor added to its limbs. And the powerful ‘fist’ on its right arm.

Yes, clearly visible to anyone.

“Heroic...”

“If you say that, you’ll get caught by the higher-ups! We won’t be able to generate revenue-!”

Thanks to the tackle Seo Ah-in threw with a pale face, I was able to stop myself from finishing the sentence.

Hmm, right. That was certainly dangerous.

Anyway, that wasn’t just a moving Golem, but a distinctly modified ‘moving bipedal weapon’.

It meant it had a clear distinction from Golems that could only execute simple commands like attack, move, and stop.

“It doesn’t look that different on the outside, though? In what way is it...”

Seo Ah-in quickly shut her mouth.

Before her sentence could even finish, Leila’s special Golem had pulled out a giant ‘sword’ from thin air.

[It’s time for judgment! Sinners, prepare yourselves!]

A magnificent voice then echoed out.

“Oh, ooh...”

What a sentence, with a more destructive resonance that matched its appearance.

Leila’s Golems had soul...

“Forget about soul, that thing looks obviously dangerous!”

“Actually, not necessarily.”

“Pardon?”

Well, didn’t it say it would judge the ‘wicked’?

That wasn’t just empty talk.

“Um, Climber Seo Ah-in. That expression is?”

“Ah, it’s a sign that someone is about to cry their eyes out because of Kim Gyu-sik.”

“...”

Hey.

What are you telling the kids?

***

Jeong Joo-chan was running like crazy, his breath catching in his throat.

Considering the immensity of the thing chasing him from behind, it could be said to be a futile act, but it was also certain that it was exuding an aura so terrifying that he had to do at least that much.

[Sinner! Stop meekly and pay for your sins!]

Well, if a giant who had drawn a greatsword from behind was chasing you while shouting such things, anyone would reflexively run away first.

“In the first place, why am I a sinner!”

“Uh, uh...”

Isn’t it because you only picked and hunted demonic beasts that had no ability or will to resist?

I bet everyone but you knows.

Such words tickled the throats of everyone around, but no one let them out of their mouths.

Because he wasn’t the type to understand even if they did.

And that dismal feeling was further deepened by the words that followed.

“D-damn it! It can’t be helped! Hey! Forfeit!”

“...Pardon? B-but if we forfeit here, the points we’ve accumulated so far...”

“Is this the time to worry about that crap!”

Certainly, the stone giant chasing them from behind was threatening enough to make one think that way.

But if he had used his head just a little, he would have known that the organizer, the Hunting Alliance, wouldn’t just stand by and let them get hurt, as they would provide treatment and everything else upon forfeiture.

If he was going to throw everything away and give up just because he was a little scared, why did he even think of screwing others over in the first place?

“What are you doing! I said forfeit already!”

“Ah, I understand!”

Of course, since that foolish man was their leader now, they had no choice.

At the continuous commands, one of the subordinates took out a reluctant radio to contact the organizers, but.

“...Huh?”

The radio was dead.

This wasn’t inside the Tower where all electronics failed; it was just an island near the Tower where demonic beasts appeared. There was no way such a phenomenon should occur.

“It-it’s not working!”

“What? Why isn’t it working!”

“Uh, uh...”

“There’s a communication mana crystal, you idiot! Use it quickly!”

“Th-that’s broken too. There’s no response at all.”

“You stupid bastard! How can a device that uses mana be dead! That’s supposed to work even inside the Tower!”

“I-it’s true!”

“Give it here!”

Jeong Joo-chan snatched it from his subordinate with a fierce expression, but even when he infused it with mana, nothing happened.

“...Tsk, it’s really broken. Then use the flare gun! At least that should be fine!”

A flare gun shot into the sky wouldn't break or misfire. It was only natural.

Anyone would have thought so if a ‘bullet’ that flew in from somewhere hadn’t completely blown away the launcher just as the subordinate was about to fire it into the sky.

By this point, even a fool would have noticed.

Someone was intentionally targeting them.

-Ah, ah. Mic check. Can you hear me?

And then, someone’s voice echoed from the radio that had been unresponsive until just a moment ago.

Jeong Joo-chan’s face immediately contorted horribly.

“This... isn’t this that annoying bastard’s voice?!”

-You’re free to call me an annoying bastard, but can you take responsibility for it?

“What? What bullshit are you...”

-Right now, all the communication methods you can use are dead, but I’m contacting you just fine. What do you think this means?

“...”

Jeong Joo-chan gritted his teeth.

He didn’t know what kind of trick this young punk was pulling, but it seemed clear that this guy was ‘neutralizing’ all of their communications.

“You bastard, I’ll make sure to catch you and make you pay the price...”

[Punishment!]

Before Jeong Joo-chan could finish his sentence, the giant chasing him from behind swung down its greatsword with a roar.

The greatsword, which narrowly missed the group, created a desolate scene that transformed the entire landscape before returning to the giant’s hand.

Clearly.

If the angle had been tilted just a little more this way, everyone here would have been crushed.

[I will not miss next time!]

-Yep. That’s what it says.

“...”

And by this point, the faces of everyone who realized what situation they were in had turned pale.

Right now, that terrifying thing was chasing them, but there were no sanctions from the Hunting Alliance. This meant they could actually die if things went wrong.

And all means for them to officially express their intention to forfeit were currently blocked.

“You... you son of a bitch! Do you think you’ll get away with this!”

-Yes.

“...”

As Jeong Joo-chan lost his words and shut his mouth at the confident reply, the giant swung its greatsword down again with a vibration.

This time, the blow landed precariously close, and panicked sounds came from nearby.

-Are you going to be okay? You look like you’re in a lot of danger?

“Wha... what do you want?!”

-Not much right now.

“What?”

-Because watching you suffer is so much fun. For now, my goal is to watch that a bit more. Would you mind running away like that for a little longer? Just for about 5 minutes.

“...”

What a crazy bastard.

“You, you piece of trash-!”

-Okay. 5 minutes added.

“Y-you...!”

Compared to the life-or-death atmosphere here, a voice that was taking its sweet time continued to flow from the other side of the radio.

But on this side, there was no way to retaliate.

If they had a way to fight back properly, it would be a different story, but before the overwhelming power of that giant, they could only scream and run until that guy returned their means of communication.

About 30 minutes passed, and Jeong Joo-chan, who had become completely pale, opened his mouth with an exhausted look.

“...I-I treated you too harshly. Let’s talk it out like human beings.”

-Talking is good. If you run around for 5 more minutes, I think I’ll be in the mood for that too.

Run around screaming for another 5 minutes.

“D-damn it! I apologize! I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!”

-Oh? Hmmm...

A drawling voice continued for a moment from the other side of the radio, and soon Kim Gyu-sik slowly opened his mouth again.

-10 minutes added.

“Why! I apologized! You son of a bitch!”

-Nope. Just felt like it.

“...”

Run around screaming for another 10 minutes.

The taste of blood filled their mouths, and their mana had long since bottomed out.

Having come this far, they had no choice but to throw away all their pride.

“Please! Please save me! I’ll do anything you say!”

-I don’t accept promises like that on an empty stomach.

“...”

What a demonic bastard.

That thought rose in the minds of everyone there, but no one was brave enough to form it into a sentence.

“What, what do you want? I’ll give you anything I can, so please!”

-Oh?

A snickering sound came from the other side of the radio.

-How much can you give?

“...”

Everyone in that place had the same thought.

Perhaps, they had.

Been noticed by someone they should have never provoked.

***

“Hmm.”

Exhaling through my nose, I erased Jeong Joo-chan’s name written on the notepad.

This was the third one.

The guys who tried to mess with me must have accumulated a lot of karma points while hunting, so they would inevitably be pursued by that giant before me.

So, what I had to do was.

Hijack the radio. Neutralize the mana communicators through the Beholder. And disable the flare gun.

By neutralizing all their means of communication like that, I just had to extort everything I could.

From ‘everyone’ on this island except me.

“...No, but how did you even hijack the radio?”

“What’s with the sudden...”

Shouldn’t you be able to memorize things like each guild’s secret codes or communication frequencies just by looking?

You too would be able to do it with your eyes closed if you cleared the same event about 2,000 times.

“Well, I guess there are about 10 people left...”

Saying that, I couldn't help but smile as I looked at the names densely packed on the notepad.

Ah, I was so happy. To think that these were all gold mines that would shower me with free resources.

“...Climber Seo Ah-in. Is he always that scary...?”

“Uh, today he’s about a 0.7 Kim Gyu-sik...?”

“...”

What kind of standard was that?

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