Chapter 100 – Picking up some keys for future softlocks

Lee swung his repaired Dark Saber and cleaved a shadowy wraith into a burst of ashes. "Hah! I knew I was strong. Dracula was just a dam- danged cheat."

Evandel poked a shadowy creature creeping her way with her 'Chocobar' and cheered with it tipped over, shattering into chocolate chunks. "Chocobar! Bestest candy weapon!"

Rachel flicked her wrist, causing space to ripple a bit as crimson barbs erupted across every monster in the nearby vicinity, turning them all to shredded viscera. Then she looked at Evandel and smiled. "It's good you're having fun, Eva."

They were in a shadowy castle with flickering blue torches.

After coming ashore to the Isle of Man, Lee walked along the shoreline for a while with Rachel and Evandel and came across a slight haze. And after poking it a bit, they were teleported into a hidden Dungeon.

What the criteria were for said Dungeon, Lee obviously didn't know.

But he did know one thing: everything here used mana in excessive amounts and/or was completely aligned with darkness.

Which, of course, meant that Lee and his family were natural predators to every monster here.

Lee swung his Dark Saber again at a massive oversized giant with blackened limbs and twisted spikes piercing through its body. The moment he did...

> [No Second Strike (Rederived)] activates!

> The target is using a vast amount of mana!

> Mana Backlash is elevated to Mana Hemmorhage!

...The monster burst into shadowy ash and oily black blood.

Evandel noticed and wrinkled her nose. "Ew! Stinky!"

Rachel wrinkled her nose too. "Yes. That's quite foul... Is it truly worth exploring this Dungeon, Hubby?"

Lee held out his hand and used [Mana Manipulation] to condense the ash and black blood into a mana crystal before slotting it into his Dark Saber, making it glow an even more ominous pitch black. "Oh, I'd say it's worth it."

Evandel noticed and gasped. "Daddy's sword even cooler! Black Excalibur!"

Lee laughed. "Not quite, Eva. But it is pretty strong. I miss my spear though... I'll need to update that later."

Maybe he could get Yeonha to scan the schematics and make something from it...

But later.

At that time, Lee noticed both his smartwatch and Rachel's smartwatch buzz.

Evandel pointed at them both and said, "Mommy, Daddy! Bzzt!"

"Hm..." Lee looked at his watch. "I'll take a look at this, Rachel. Keep an eye on the surroundings?"

Rachel chuckled. "Considering I'm the strongest in our little party... of course, Hubby."

Evandel gasped. "Mommy strongest?!"

"Mmhm! In this type of place, Mommy's definitely the strongest. Watch."

A group of what looked like bulky men with full equipment and enchanted arms started approaching from the corner.

Rachel swung her rapier and space rippled, bursting them apart from within with countless crimson barbs.

"See?"

"Wow!"

Lee's eye twitched a bit at that.

...He wasn't jealous about the fact that he didn't have Gae Bulg.

Definitely not.

'But let's see what this message is... Hm?'

===

[Team 2 Groupchat]

Nayun: I think I know the name of the devil/demon in Oppa.

Nayun: It's Belial.

Hajin: Belial? The Fiery Prince of Hell? The one who uses hell fire?

Hajin: O.o That makes sense, but what the heck do we do? That guy's crazy strong!

Yeonha: I will begin to ask around for details about said demon.

===

"Belial, huh?" Lee murmured.

He knew the name. It was pretty infamous after all. And also a common JRPG boss across numerous franchises.

"Hm... if it's really him, then it might actually be tough."

Considering Hajin's own reaction right now, Belial was probably buffed to hell (literally) and back.

While Lee was confident that the Belial sigil would allow for controlling the demon if it decided to try and take over Jinyoon's body... the fact was that some interpretations of Belial left him as an angel who commanded demons.

That meant that it might only be half successful.

'...But maybe that's a good thing.'

If Belial's nature was half-angelic and half-demonic... considering Jinyoon was a human, and humans were creatures of duality...

'There should be something there to make it work.'

It would need more workshopping, of course. And Lee would need to look into the angelic sigils that Solomon had recorded, as well as the Greater Key of Solomon...

But it was a path at least.

'And considering Suho is refining his Gift, it should be doable.'

If it really was Belial, then Suho would be able to cut away the demonic half to leave the angelic half.

They could definitely seal the demonic half away in Belial's sigil, and the angelic half could be controlled by Jinyoon through practice.

Probably.

Still...

Lee texted back.

===

[Team 2 Groupchat]

Lee: Great news, Nayun. I think we can work with this.

Lee: Tell your grandfather too. If we can get actual artifacts from Solomon regarding Belial, even better.

Lee: But this means Suho can help. And we have more options.

Nayun: Really?! (T_T)

Hajin: That's true! If we know the devil's name, then Suho might be able to sever the devil's name entirely from its power!

Lee: ...Hajin, buddy. Why are you only smart at the randomest times? Are you literally a luck-int build?

Hajin: ...

Yeonha: XD

Lee: Also, Hajin, buddy. Don't you have Stigma?

Hajin: !!!

Hajin: I'M STUPID

Nayun: Huh? What's Stigma?

Lee: Same principles as Demon Sigils, but holy.

Nayun: HUH?!

Hajin: LEE WHY

Nayun: HAJIN! YEONHA! EXPLAIN!

===

Rachel's giggles echoed from the side.

Lee lowered his smartwatch and looked over to see Rachel smiling. "Couldn't resist reading it, huh?"

Rachel smiled. "Well, you were all being quite active..."

Evandel hopped up and down, trying to peek at Rachel's watch. "Mommy! I wanna see!"

Rachel patted Evandel's head. "It's not meant for you, Sweetie. Remember, good girls don't eavesdrop."

"Oh!" Evandel nodded. "Kay! I goodest girl! No eavesdrop!"

Lee nodded. "That's right. Now..." Lee started walking forward. "Let's go see if there's real treasure at the end of this or if it's a bust. We can't have the fancy weapons with us back at Cube, so the sooner we find them, the sooner we can have fun with them before putting them in storage..."

===

While Lee, Rachel, and Evandel were speedrunning Dungeons with Irish mythology and potentially Irish mythological heroes...

Late at night, around 10 PM in Korea, Hajin, Yeonha, Jonghak, and Suho were gathered at Kamak Mountain to hunt for a certain Dungeon.

Jonghak sighed as he held Xiang Yu's halberd. "...I still don't get why I'm here."

Suho wrapped his hands behind his neck and said, "You're here because you owe Nayun and Yeonha infinite favors for leading them on."

Jonghak blushed and said, "It wasn't intentional!"

Yeonha gave Jonghak a frosty glare, her eyes sparking violet with crackling lightning. "...Intentional or not, it is unforgiveable."

Hajin checked his loadout. The usual pocket sand, a spare satchel of pocket iron dust, twin shotguns, pistols, needles, knives...

Even though he had [Inventory] to keep all the rest of his equipment, it was still faster to have it on his person.

Jonghak noticed and looked amused. "You really became a walking product placement for Yeonha, didn't you, Kim Hajin?"

Hajin gave a thumbs up and said, "My wife's products are the best in line across the entire world."

Yeonha blushed and said, "Hajin..."

Jonghak rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever..." He looked up and said, "It's a full moon tonight, so we should move while we can still see- Hm? Why is the moon pink?"

Suho's eyes lit up and he said, "I know this. Seung-Ah mentioned it. Today, April 13th 2025, is the Pink Moon. It's super pretty." He chuckled. "She was complaining though and said she'd have to miss it since she's busy preparing for the Tower of Miracles dive."

Yeonha paused and glanced over at Suho. "...You seem awfully close with Miss Seung-Ah, Suho."

"Well, yeah. We're dating."

Hajin tripped over his own two feet, only barely managing to duck into a roll and get back up. "WHAT?! You?! Yun Seung-Ah?! But she's 26!"

Yeonha frowned and poked Hajin's side. "Hajin. You can't bring up a woman's age like that. Even if Miss Seung-Ah is old."

Jonghak looked surprised and said, "So you realy were out on a date with her today, Kim Suho?"

"Yeah, like how you were out on a date with Senior Youngji."

Jonghak's ears turned red and he said, "Th-That's not... I mean- So what if we were?!"

Yeonha blinked and looked at Jonghak. "...Senior Youngji is 21, isn't she?"

"A-And?" Jonghak's entire face turned red and he said, "She's mature! And she understands me!"

Hajin slowly looked between Suho and Jonghak. Then he said, "...You two do realize that since you're still underage it could cause troubles for both Miss Seung-Ah and Senior Youngji if word gets out, right?"

Suho froze.

Jonghak's eyes widened.

Yeonha facepalmed. "...Men."

Suho averted his gaze. "Th-That's... Ahem."

Jonghak's eyes flitted back and forth, as if doing mental math. And then he slowly nodded. "...It's only a few more months. It's fine."

Suho paused, doing math too. Then he also nodded. "...Actually, yeah. A few more months and it'll be fine."

Hajin blinked. Then he said, "Oh yeah. You were both summer birthdays."

Yeonha tilted her head to look at Hajin. "...And how do you know that, Hajin?"

Hajin coughed. "...Research?"

Suho laughed. "Well, I'm happy that I'm high enough on your priorities to know my birthday, Hajin... though when's yours?"

"It's September 8th, so still a few months out."

Jonghak hummed. "A fall birthday... makes sense. It'll be a winter baby then, so you'll have something to celebrate in each season."

Dead silence.

Jonghak blinked. "What? My math's right, isn't it?"

Yeonha slowly shook her head. "It is. But to think the day would come when Shin Jonghak was so considerate... Perhaps Senior Youngji really is good for you."

"H-Hey! I'm not- Okay, I WAS that bad. But I got better! A bit!"

Suho laughed and said, "Come on. We're burning time chatting around here." He looked at Hajin and said, "You said the artifact you need is in a Dungeon here, right? Do you know where? Also, do we have a secured exit?"

Hajin nodded. "Yes. I made absolutely sure of that this time."

And for good measure, Hajin pulled up his newest Gift just to confirm.

===

[Emergency Escape - Static Gift | High rank | Spatial attribute]

Using all the stored magical power in Stigma, forcibly retreat to a specified known location.

===

Lee had made a good point.

Up until now, Hajin had completely forgotten about Stigma since he had been focusing on pure combat power with his weapons instead of magic.

Especially now that his physique naturally imbued his weapons with both Starlight and the neutral Light (Photon) attributes.

'Maybe I should just commission Lee to make gifts and abilities for me...'

The guy clearly knew Hajin's entire skill set and toolkit even if he wasn't actively saying he did.

But anyway...

"It's this way." Hajin held Yeonha's right hand and continued moving forward.

As he did, Hajin noticed Yeonha idly fiddle with the beautiful platinum ring on her left ring finger.

It was Homer's Ring that Hajin had awakened after the Paris incident. A ring that increased intelligence, gave the ability to Camouflage, and gave High rank magic power amplification.

Hajin had just given it to Yeonha because he was a bit worried about her combat capabilities and remembered that she could use a bit of lightning magic, which would be empowered by the ring.

But Yeonha seemed to have attached some special meaning to the ring...

Suho noticed and glanced over. "Hm? Did Hajin finally get you a proper wedding band?"

Yeonha let out a bright smile and showed it off. "That's right. Isn't it beautiful? A platinum band for our marriage, and an artifact that enhances my intelligence and magic power. Truly, my husband is the most thoughtful of men when it comes to love."

Hajin blushed but didn't say anything.

Especially not the fact that it was originally planned to be a wedding band...

'Although, I guess that makes a good story?'

Saying that Hajin went on the entire trip to Paris just to get a beautiful and useful wedding band for his wife...

Lee was absolutely going to roast him for it if Hajin said that was the reason.

But at the same time, Yeonha looked so happy that Hajin felt it'd be worth it.

Jonghak looked mildly impressed and glanced over at Hajin. "Mm. Can't say I completely approve of you... but you make Yeonha happy, so you pass. Barely."

Suho teased. "Says the guy who made Yeonha break into tears and angry fits all through Agent Military Academy for ignoring her."

"H-Hey! I said I was sorry!"

After some more banter and a bit of walking, the group arrived at a dead end covered in moss and vines.

Suho looked at it and nodded. "Mm... there's a strong sword ki resonance in here." He looked at Hajin, surprised. "How'd you find this? You aren't a swordsman, right?"

Hajin pulled out his pistols and said, "I have my sources."

Yeonha nodded. "I can verify."

Jonghak sighed. "...Let's just get this over with."

Hajin aimed his pistols and shot a precise flurry of bullets, expanding the thin crevice that was the opening for the dungeon.

But the moment he did...

"What?!"

"Who's there?!"

"A hidden side entrance?!"

...A group of six Djinn who were caught off guard immediately turned to face the group.

Suho drew his sword and said, "Hajin. Friend. Do you have a knack for hunting Djinn or something?"

Before Hajin could answer...

> Modified setting: Kamak Mountain Dungeon is too small considering the grand reward it provides.

> Modified setting: Kamak Mountain Dungeon has become a hidden stage in Suwon Devil's Nest.

> Update: Due to recent events, Packhorse Master, the hidden Djinn Guild, has sped up the timeschedule to conquer Suwon Devil's Nest

> Update: Due to the Pink Moon, Djinn are stronger than usual.

...He got a flurry of system notifications.

Hajin let out a long suffering sigh and raised his pistols. "I'm not even surprised anymore. Let's just get this over with."

The Djinn started to move into action.

In response, three dozen shining bullets of pure Starlight punched through the Djinn, turning them into dust.

Suho paused and looked at Hajin.

Jonghak did as well.

Hajin lowered his pistols and said, "What? I might be weak against normal people, but Djinn are easy to kill. Now come on, there should be a hidden path towards a boss fight over here..."