Chapter 436

Chapter 436

Hamedis, a strategist who possessed a human body and a hippopotamus face, had long served as Dragan the Gluttony’s advisor. He was the one who had advised Dragan to assume the form of Count Piklu of Picture Castle on the Cliff. Piklu was a camera-shaped Demon with almost no combat ability, perfect for lulling opponents into a false sense of security.

“Lord Dragan, there is one issue,” Hamedis said.

“An issue?”

“Earth is Sir Kim Chul-Soo’s homeland.”

“Who is Kim Chul-Soo?”

Dragan frowned, and black liquid oozed from his massive slime-like body, indicating his extreme anger.

‘How dare he use honorifics for someone else before me!’ Dragan thought.

“Kim Chul-Soo is the Demon King’s name.” Hamedis almost sighed involuntarily. Despite devouring so many Demons, Dragan was still this hot-headed.

“Oh...” Dragan’s expression softened. He muttered the name Kim Chul-Soo repeatedly to remember it.

“I do not know his inclinations, so it’s hard to judge how he will view an invasion of his homeland,” Hamedis said.

“Hm... that’s fine. You’ve never been wrong. Speak freely.”

“He is definitely human, right?”

“I believe so...”

“Then he’s likely to approve of our invasion.” Hamedis knew human nature quite well. “Humans value things like justification, honor, and morality.”

“They value such things? Why?” Dragan found this incomprehensible. ‘Isn’t strength everything? What importance can justification, honor, and morality have?’

“I’m not sure either. It’s just how they are,” Hamedis replied.

Hamedis knew about the Demon King from records scattered throughout the Demon Realm. These were left by Garbinu, in preparation for his resurrection. Hamedis knew that the Demon King desired perfect domination.

“The Demon King surely wants domination. But being human, he must consider justification and morality,” Hamedis added.

“Get to the point!”

“He will want us to invade and dominate humans on his behalf. The Demon King won’t have the intention to directly dominate at least Earth.”

“You’re right. Hahaha!” Dragan laughed loudly. He thought that sending young Demons was sufficient for now. Soon, Earth would be plunged into chaos, breeding great anxiety and fear, which would strengthen the Demons further. “We will devour Earth!”

***

Demons appeared in various places on Earth, engaging in battles with Earth Players. However, this did not cause tremendous fear or chaos.

[New species from another dimension.]

[They call themselves Demons.]

[Extremely hostile to humans. Caution advised.]

Such reports merely circulated in the media and online communities. Some journalists and Eltubers attempted to cover this in depth, but it did not amount to much.

-Isn’t dying while Playing a normal thing?

-Players know what they are getting into...

Earth was a Server directly influenced by Chul-Soo.

-I bet some people will sympathize with Demons.

-Are Demons really anything special?

Any intelligent monster could be called a Demon. What mattered was how many experience points they gave or whether they dropped good items relative to their difficulty.

-They say those Demons are not monsters.

-Apparently, they are coming from the recently promoted Demon Realm Server...

-Oh, is this like a Server war or something?

Earth remained strangely peaceful. It wasn’t entirely unusual for someone from the Demon Realm to attempt conquest on the Server.

-Well, I guess that could happen.

-They aren’t approaching the capital city.

-It looks like the Guardian Tree is stopping them.

As Cha Jin-Hyeok grew stronger, the Guardian Tree’s power also increased significantly. Seoul’s Guardian Tree, which was connected to other Guardian Trees worldwide, now encompassed the entire globe.

As he summoned his power, black mana surged. A large fist emerged from his massive slime-like body. Many people witnessed this fist imbued with powerful magic.

“What’s that?”

“Isn’t that the Demon thing they’ve been talking about?”

“Huh? I think I’ve seen that on a livestream somewhere.”

Some even recognized Dragan.

“Isn’t that Dragan the Gluttony or something?”

“The one from Chul-Soo’s livestream?”

Dragan’s fist grew bigger. Now as big as a small hill, Dragan struck the barrier. “Behold. This is the power of a Demon serving the Demon Kin—Ack!”

Dragan collapsed and melted into a puddle, falling unconscious. There was a large hole in the back of his head.

***

The Guardian Tree Min-Ji was very excited.

-“It’s coming! It’s coming!”

The Guardian Tree had been heavily influenced by Jin-Hyeok. Jin-Hyeok was currently trying to lure out Garbinu by pretending to sleep and meditate. Influenced by this, the Guardian Tree had drawn in Dragan by deliberately weakening the barrier.

-“A big attack is coming!”

When an opponent was preparing for such a large attack, it created openings. The Guardian Tree Min-Ji aimed for the back of Dragan’s head.

-“It has a slimy body. I wonder if I can take him out in one hit!”

However, it did not matter. If not in one hit, the Guardian Tree would hit Dragan twice; if that wasn’t enough, then it would hit the Demon thrice. It was planning to keep smashing the Demon’s head until the back of his head cracked.

-“Wait, I took him out in one hit.”

Despite his grand entrance, Dragan was weaker than expected. The Guardian Tree sighed in disappointment and left a mark on the unconscious Dragan.

[By Kim Min-Ji]

The people of Seoul were not particularly surprised by this phenomenon. It was just another ordinary occurrence for them.

-“Oh, but his recovery is quite fast!”

Dragan, now with [By Kim Min-Ji] engraved on his back, suddenly stood up. He shouted into the air, clearly sensing the Guardian Tree’s gaze.

“Kim Min-Ji? So, you’re the infamous Min-Ji?” Dragan yelled.

Just then, the Guardian Tree Min-Ji heard a voice. It was Jin-Hyeok.

‘Hey, Guardian Tree.’

However, the Guardian Tree did not respond.

‘Sigh... Hey, Kim Min-Ji.’

-“Oh, you called for me?”

‘Can you help Dragan for a bit?’

-“You want me to help that guy?”

The Guardian Tree tilted its head in confusion, but due to their strong mental connection, it could somewhat understand Jin-Hyeok’s intention.

-“I see!”

Jin-Hyeok planned to have the Guardian Tree buff Dragan and then fight the Demon. With the Seoul Guardian Tree’s buff, it would be a more even match. This was Jin-Hyeok’s trap to lure Garbinu into attacking him.

-“But I want to crack his head!”

Cracking that slimy being was quite fun for the Guardian Tree. It did not want to give up the soft, satisfying feeling.

‘I’ll pat you,’ Jin-Hyeok said telepathically.

-“H-Hmph! I’ll not be tempted by such an offer!”

When Jin-Hyeok did not respond, the tree quietly added something.

-“If you take a nap on my branches, I will agree to your proposal.”

The deal was sealed.