Puk!
“It’s over!”
A man in red martial warrior suit pierced through a giant Hellfire Lizard.
The man was in shambles. He had burn wounds here and there which appeared to be from the Hellfire Lizard’s flame attack. However, his eyes were shining vividly.
The man’s arm was thrusted into the lizard almost to his shoulder. A huge amount of energy was discharged from his arm.
Kuuuuuuaaaa.
Feeling the danger, the lizard rolled on the ground to crush the man. However, that was not enough to destroy several tens of protective energy layers.
Soon, his energy penetrated deep into the lizard’s body and pounded at its heart. The Hellfire Lizard coughed blood from its mouth like a waterfall and met its end.
“Kuuuk. Huk. Kuuuhuk.”
The man in red warrior suit won.
However, he was drenched in blood and had numerous burn marks. His clothes looked like a rag. Hence, he currently didn’t have the dignified look of a victor.
In fact, his legs were faltering because he didn’t even have any strength left to stand.
Han Surl-hye, a yin yang elemental enchantress, giggled and laughed at him.
“You fool. You are fighting just a lizard, yet you are using all of your strength and then some, including the strength you had to suck on your mommy’s milk. Would you like me to lend you my chest?”
“Shut up! Ugh. Huuuk. You bitch. The elemental type put me at a disadvantage, that’s all!”
“Hoho. Putting up an excuse like that, you look like a brat. Why don’t you come here and be embraced in the bosom of a lady?”
“That foolish lass.”
Somehow, it had been 200 years since they had been traveling together. However, her way of talking, which turned one’s mind upside down, never changed with the passage of time.
Dan Uu-san, a vampire demon, spat on the ground and focused his mind.
The lizard’s blood slowly got sucked into the man’s hand.
Chuuurururururup.
Dan Uu-san evaporated unnecessary moisture from the blood and absorbed only the vitality from the blood.
By his specialty, blood absorption, the Hellfire Lizard’s corpse shrank like a balloon that lost air. Soon, it became worse than a dried-up mummy.
Dan Uu-san was completely recovered from all wounds. He then kicked the lizard’s corpse, which only had the skin left.
Bam.
Puuurrrssusususk.
The corpse suddenly became dust like a dry sand castle and got swept away in the wind.
Dan Uu-san cursed out of frustration.
“Fuck. I beat the shit out of that fucker, yet all I got is a chicken feed that a beggar on a market would have gotten. Damn it.”
“What’s there to complain about? You are steadily growing.”
Han Surl-hye smiled brightly and consoled him.
However, Dan Uu-san screamed in anger.
“Steadily? Do dogs have horns… Fuck. Does this look like growth to your eyeballs?”
“Even if it is the size of a rat’s tail, growth is growth. Look at me. It’s been 150 years since I had been stuck behind a wall.”
She was talking about something incredibly frustrating and discouraging, yet the smile on her face didn’t leave her.
Dan Uu-san watched the look on her face and shook his head left and right.
“Did that lass just give up completely or is she insane? No, was she always insane?’
He had no way of knowing.
With angry look on his face, the man looked at her. He then suddenly turned his head away and made a passing repark.
The tone also had a bit of disappointment mixed in.
“If I could catch that bastard Vulcan, then I’ll be able to have a rapid growth too.”
“Oh hoho. Are you confident about it? That bastard is incredibly strong, you know?”
Having heard her provocative words, Dan Uu-san crumpled his face big time.
However, to say ‘Of course! I can win no matter what he throws at me!’, he had quite a few things coming to his mind that made him feel uneasy.
‘According to the information by the Bae Su Jin, this guy killed these tough monsters with ease… Kuuuk.’
Although Dan Uu-san’s specialty was fight to the death duel against another martial warrior, not monsters like this Hellfire Lizard, he couldn’t place himself above Vulcan even with that under consideration.
He knew well what that lass, who had terrible personality, was going to say. It was as obvious as what would happen to a fire.
“… If you fight with me against him, it will not be a problem…”
“Ho ho ho. As I thought, you can’t do anything without me?”
“Ugh, shut up! Seriously!”
“Hahahahaha!”
It was not certain what she found so amusing. Han Surl-hye tilted her head toward the sky and laughed out loud.
Dan Uu-san’s face started to rot from watching her, but she didn’t care one bit.
Holding her stomach, she laughed for a while longer, but she suddenly stopped laughing.
After that, with disappointed look on her face, she said to him,
“However, it’s been 20 years since that guy disappeared. He probably escaped to somewhere else.”
“… No. It’s very likely he is here.”
“Based on what? There is nothing, right?”
“The return scroll had been blocked. The members of Bae Su Jin had been keeping watch here regularly. Vulcan had no way of escaping here.”
“Um… I think he probably escaped already through a secret passage…”
Han Surl-hye talked in pessimistic attitude.
She held her chin with her hand and put up rather exaggerated gloomy look on her face.
Her behavior was turning things upside down in Dan Uu-san. However, deep down, Dan Uu-san also had given up actually.
‘I had been hanging around here because it was quite suitable for training, but… Honestly, I think it is about time we call it quit. Ugh. As that lass said, should we really leave here?’
Dan Uu-san agonized over it hard.
It had been 25 years since Vulcan disappeared without a trace.
When the main force of the Bae Su Jin came back empty handed, their leader scolded them harshly. Their leader then inquired the Oracle on two things.
First one was about the killer who slaughtered the horse-faced and one-eyed. The second one was about Vulcan’s location.
To start with the result, Bae Su Jin was currently mad to the core due to utter lack of progress on both matters.
First, regarding the mystery assailant, the problem was that they could not do anything even though they had the information.
According to the Oracle’s information, it was Fowaru, the one who ran the general store at the Espo City.
Fowaru was the man who reached incredible heights on both magic and physical techniques. His abilities far surpassed the leader of the Bae Su Jin.
Moreover, ever since the incident, Fowaru had never set foot outside of the Espo City.
Bae Su Jin may be an organization who have gone far, very far, but they could not afford to cause ruckus in Espo City, which was a place protected by many Gods. They had no choice but to hold down their anger in tears.
As for the second matter, the location of Vulcan, which was far more important than Forwaru in several ten folds, there weren’t any information at all.
Oracle was an organization that knew most of activities happening in Act 2. However, even this organization raised the white flag on this assignment.
Vulcan suddenly disappeared as if he went to a different dimension. Even Madorugi, the leader of Oracle, panicked a lot. He delivered a message to the Bae Su Jin, apologizing for not being able to complete the client’s inquiry.
However, the Oracle said that they were confident that Vulcan was alive and had not been caught by anyone. Because of this, Bae Su Jin could not give up either.
So, Bae Su Jin scattered their members around in search of Vulcan. Eventually, it led to putting up a bounty on Vulcan.
‘Bae Su Jin will give body modifications to anyone who hands this man to us! Just catch him and bring him to us! We swear to god that we will hold up our end of the bargain!’
The body modification performed by the special technique of Rex Ruvero, the leader of Bae Su Jin…
It was one of few safe procedures by the Bae Su Jin. It made a martial warrior’s body to be even more compatible with the martial techniques. It made a mage’s body to be more compatible with magic power.
The procedure required all sorts of precious materials, so only extreme few within Bae Su Jin had received this procedure. It was a very valuable procedure.
With that as the reward for the bounty, countless human mages and martial warriors looked around in search for Vulcan. They had lights on their eyes.
The Lava Field where Vulcan was last sighted was an obvious place for people to swarm in to search. People also swarmed to search hunting grounds nearby. They searched pathways, temporary residences and all areas they thought he might be at. All of famous low lives of Act 2 gathered in those places to find Vulcan.
People died in truck loads from getting into arguments with each other in the process. However, all this lasted only up to 10 years.
Despite all of their efforts, they couldn’t find any lead.
It was as if Vulcan disappeared into the ground. He was gone without any hint as to where he went.
One by one, people grew tired and gave up. Now, over 20 years later, Dan Uu-san the vampire and Han Surl-hye the enchantress were of the extreme few who still lingered around the Lava Field.
‘Even the Bae Su Jin is starting to divert their people away from this search, so… I guess that’s that.’
Actually, Dan Uu-san held out this long because of his anxiety.
He felt desperate. He was facing fear about being stuck at where he was forever, never being able to advance further. Hoping for a big score, he charged into this search. Now, unable to throw away his pipe dream, he missed the time when he should have exited from this futile search.
‘Hu… I should have got out of this when other guys washed their hands 15 years ago…’
Dan Uu-san sighed in regret.
Watching him from the side, Han Surl-hye said,
“Retard. Stop dreaming. Let’s leave this place.”
“Hey, this lunatic bitch… Are you going to keep pissing me off to the end!”
Dan Uu-san was infuriated. He raised his energy like a storm.
His clothes were waving fiercely as if they were going to be torn apart. Small pebbles around him were unable to withstand his energy. The stones became dust and scattered.
However, Han Surl-hye, the one who was facing this intense burst of energy head on, looked relaxed as if she had lots of margins to spare.
She was looking at him with intrigued look on her face. It was like a girl watching a nephew doing something cute. Having noticed how Han Surl-hye was reacting, Dan Uu-san withdrew his energy.
He was not confident about beating her.
‘Bitch… She is still half a step ahead of me.’
He thought he caught up quite a bit in the past 200 years. However, he was still far behind.
He felt humiliated, and it was filling up inside slowly. To hide what he was feeling, he cursed at her in loud voice.
“Retard! Only if that son of a bitch Vulcan dropped from the sky!”
“You must be very embarrassed? It’s all right, you don’t have to feel that way.”
“Hey, just leave me alone! I got it! Let’s go! I am sick of this place. I don’t want to stay here anymore!”
“Hm. Why didn’t you say so earlier.”
Han Surl-hye finally got the declaration of surrender from Dan Uu-san.
She licked her red lips with her tongue and smiled seductively.
She actually had folded her hopes in finding Vulcan 10 years ago.
She chose to stick around at this place because Dan Uu-san was being stubborn. However, her heart was no longer in it for the search. Having him say that he was giving up the search made her feel very good.
To leave the place before Dan Uu-san changes his mind, she started to operate her internal energy.
It was at that time…
Uuuuuuung.
Crack!
They felt the ground shaking, and the ground suddenly got split open.
It was as if the ground was torn by invisible hands.
The earthquake stopped after a while, and what appeared to be an entrance to hell revealed itself in front of them.
From the place, incredibly hot and evil energy was coming out, the kind that ordinary people would not be able to handle.
Dan Uu-san and Han Surl-hye exchanged gazes.
They quickly approached the front of what appeared to be an entrance.
Han Surl-hye, with a little excited look on her face, said,
“What is this? Could it be?”
“Wait, just hold still for a bit. Hide our presence for now.”
The two hid themselves behind a large rock that got made as result of the earthquake.
They held their breath and watched the gap.
This was a strange event that could never happen under ordinary circumstances.
They spent almost a thousand years in Act 2. However, they never once heard about earthquake happening at the Lava Field.
However, even if it was not due to natural earthquake, there were a few times when the ground shook. One thing zapped through Dan Uu-san’s mind.
“Secret cave…!”
Such things were discovered in incredibly rare occasions.
Caves like that usually had horrifying monsters lurking around, so most people avoided such places other than Demi-gods and training maniacs.
However, if someone was to spend the time in such a cave without opening the gate to the inside, no other place was safer than the cave. This fact was known.
In other words, secret caves were perfect for safe hideouts.
‘This is also my first time to see one, but… That’s not important.’
Dan Uu-san’s eyes gleamed. His gaze contained excitement, anticipation, and thrill. He glared at the secret cave.
Step… step…
Steps could be heard a little.
A human like figure could be seen.
Dan Uu-san stopped breathing and watched what was walking out of the place.
Dan Uu-san’s head was filled with just one thought.
‘Please… Please, let that bastard be Vulcan. Please!’
Soon, the mysterious being stepped completely into the open.
He was wearing ominous looking dark-red equipment, and he had a blade on his left waist which exuded holy sensation.
He had black hair, copper skin, and blurry look on his face. He was a young man in 20s.
His face looked exactly like the one in the bounty.
Having confirmed it, Dan Uu-san and Han Surl-hye put up shady smiles.
‘We found him!’
They were thankful for the huge luck that fell on them. They minimized their presence as much as possible.
After that, they looked at each other once.
They had been together for 200 years.
They didn’t even need to make plans through telepathic communication.
Just like before, when Dan Uu-san charges in violently, Han Surl-hye just needed to sneak behind and shoot paralysis attack.
‘Even if you are the best of the best, you are just a guy who had been playing in the Lava Field. You probably cannot dodge an enchantress’ paralysis.’
Thinking that, Dan Uu-san was preparing himself for the attack.
Meanwhile, despite having felt the fresh air outside the cave after decades, Vulcan had a look on his face as if he just chewed on poop.
There were two people behind the boulder, hiding.
They were bugging Vulcan.
‘What are those people doing there in hiding?’
Vulcan returned 25 years later after powering up significantly.
The two were seriously lacking in abilities to hide their presence from Vulcan’s senses.
Just to clear things up, MLN will continue as usual.