Chapter 225: Slave Marketplace (2)

‘A Karga Phantom…? What is this?’

It was definitely not one of the three species that Seraphim had recommended.

Because that was the case, if it was like any other normal situation, the moment he checked the race, it was one that he should have overlooked.

However, Ian couldn’t do that.

‘Its appearance looks incredibly similar to a Dark Phantom!’

To be honest, there was nothing he could call a part of their appearance.

Since Dark Phantoms didn’t have anything like a fixed outer appearance.

The form of a regular Dark Phantom was shaped as if thick, dark clouds rose up and floated in the air.

When Ian said that they looked similar to each other, he meant that their texture(?) and the feeling they gave off were similar.

And a slightly interesting point was that different from other Dark Phantoms, the Karga Phantom had some sort of definite shape.

And that shape was like…

“This is my first time seeing such a cute dragon, owner.”

Just like the words of Karceus, who suddenly popped out from behind Ian’s back and opened his mouth, the Karga Phantom was shaped like a small and cute lizard.

“Dra, dragon?”

However, from what Ian saw, the outer appearance of the Karga Phantom felt more like a dinosaur with small wings attached rather than a dragon.

After Ian looked back and forth at the phantom and Karceus several times, he asked Karceus.

“Karceus, when you were young, were you this big-headed? On top of that, with a stomach that protrudes out like a water balloon and wings that are the size of a palm…”

At Ian’s words, Karceus momentarily flew off the handle.

“Owner, there’s no way that a God Dragon like me was that ugly when I was younger!”

While looking at Karceus, who fumed, Ian smirked.

“You said that it was cute just now, though.”

Karceus hesitated for a moment before he replied.

“Cu… Cutely ugly.”

“…”

For a moment, Ian stared at the one with the race called the ‘Karga Phantom’ with a dazed expression.

‘I feel like it would match well with Bbookbbook for some odd reason…’

Ian, who went out of it for a moment as he was fixated on the Karga Phantom’s appearance, was startled as he immediately opened up its information window.

‘Oh, right, there’s no time to be like this!’

It wasn’t the race he was looking for, but for some reason, he wanted to even check all of this one’s detailed information at least.

And in front of Ian’s eyes, the information window of the Karga Phantom opened wide up again.

• Kaka

Level: 145

Race: Karga Phantom

Classification: Slave

Rank: Unknown

Personality: Fainthearted

Offensive Power: 135

Defensive Power: 77

Agility: 97

Intellect: 7812

Vitality: 2334/2334

Inherent Ability A (Racially Inherent) (Racially Specialized) (Fortified Ability)

• Unknown

Inherent Ability B (Rare Ability)

• Unknown

Inherent Ability C (Racially Inherent) (Racially Specialized) (Evolving Ability) (Fortified Ability)

• Unknown

Now a forgotten ancient species.

There are theories that this species is the origin of the Dark Phantom, as well as theories that they are the ancestors of the Kargon race, but nobody knows the truth.

As its head is big and body is small, it looks as if it didn’t finish fully growing.

However, surprisingly, it is a fossil-like existence that has lived at least 3 thousand years.

It hates when it is called cute the most.

Ian, who read through all of the information window, wore a dazed expression.

‘What the hell is this incredible creature…?’

Ian’s two eyes were fixated on the inherent abilities.

He was looking at the incredible options that were plastered next to the inherent abilities.

Before he even realized it, Ian almost spread out his hand towards the contract that was right in front of the transparent wall.

“This, this is the devil’s temptation!”

While babbling on about something puzzling, he grasped his head with both hands.

Karceus stared at Ian with a dumbfounded expression, and Ian thoroughly looked at the information of the Karga Phantom again.

‘Why are you such a weird species? If you were a Dark Phantom or a Kargon, I would have contracted you immediately without a need to think about it…’

Despite that, Ian was not able to give up on this one so easily.

His game senses were constantly telling him to pick this one.

‘Whew, let’s pull it together first and look around a little more.’

However, the information window of the Karga Phantom was a sight to see the more carefully he read it.

The most shocking part was its combat abilities especially.

‘Why is its stat window like this now? Bloody hell! Its Intellect is more than triple its Vitality! What kind of a situation is this?’

He seriously thought he had seen the stat window incorrectly.

This was the first time Ian met an abnormal organism while playing Kailan that was lv 145, but its Vitality didn’t even reach 10 thousand.

‘Wow… Goddamn, it seriously might be instantly killed even by being nibbled by Bbookbbook’s mouth.’

Aside from his Defensive Power, all of Bbookbbook’s combat abilities crawled along the ground, but after looking at the Karga Phantom, he was able to realize that Bbookbbook was a saint.

“No, what’s the point if its Intellect is high? When the other stats have to be good in order for its high Intellect to support it…”

In the case of a user character, the higher their Intellect stat, the higher the Magic-related Offensive Power, mana, as well as the mana recovery amount, etc.

As that was the case, to be honest, aside from Magicians, Intellect was the stat that was not that important.

However, in the case of one that is not a user, such as a monster, NPC or Familiar within the game, it was different.

To them, aside from the combat stat increasing effects of their Magical Offensive Power, mana, mana recovery amount, etc., Intellect was the element that influenced their AI the most.

‘No matter how high the AI is… With cotton ball-like stats like this, there’s probably nothing that it could do.’

The combat abilities of the Karga Phantom could be considered stats that fit the outer appearance of a dragon looking like it was made out of cotton bundles.

Ian slightly turned his gaze that was fixated on the information window and stared at Karceus.

“What should I do, Karceus?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That. What do you think of it? Should I recruit it?”

“Ahem…”

Karceus, who momentarily narrowed his eyes and stared at the baby dragon that looked like a cumulus cloud, slowly nodded his head as if he had decided.

“Owner.”

“Hmm?”

“It will not do at all.”

“Hmm… Why?”

“It’s too ugly. It somehow feels like a disgrace to my radiant younger days.”

However, despite Karceus’s serious opinion, Ian shook his head.

“No, let’s think about it again. Still, I think it’s a fellow with incredible inherent abilities.”

“No way, it’s ugly.”

“No, still…”

Karceus glared at Ian.

“Owner!”

While looking at Karceus, who burst out suddenly, Ian slightly flinched.

“Hmm…?”

“Owner, you’re like that!”

Towards Karceus, who was talking nonsense, Ian asked back again once more.

“What’s that?”

“That… Dapjungnuh[1]! Owner, you were a dapjungnuh!”

At Karceus’s unexpected attack, Ian was taken aback.

“What?”

“You performed ‘The answer is decided, and you just have to respond!’ just now!”

Ian let out a deep sigh as he shook his head.

“Did Bbakbbak teach you that as well.”

Karceus nodded his head.

“When I first studied it, I had a hard time understanding what it meant, but I realized after seeing you just now, Owner.”

“…”

Karceus had sad eyes as he stared at Ian.

“What now?”

Karceus’s words continued.

“Bbakbbak said that dapjungnuh was a critically terminal illness.”

“…”

“Our owner has caught a terminal illness…”

While ignoring Karceus, who stared at the air with eyes full of gloominess, Ian immediately spread his hand out towards the contract.

As he did so, the contract of the Karga Phantom flapped as it flew over and landed in Ian’s hands.

Like that, Ian had obtained an unexpected slave.

* * *

The City of Rage was a wide and large city that was almost the size of a decent zone of the Devildom.

And right in the middle of it, there was a huge castle.

The giant ramparts of that castle had a bizarre shape that looked like it was covered in colourful flames, and the devils called them ‘Hell’s Flames’.

“Huhu, to finally step foot inside of this place.”

As Shyakran’s party, so the guild members of the Titan Guild, entered the open doors of the castle, a system message popped up in front of their eyes.

Ring-.

• You are the first to have entered the Devil King’s Castle of Rage.

• You Guild Fame has increased by 150 thousand.

• Each individual’s Fame has increased by 50 thousand.

• Your Resistance Magic has increased by 0.5%.

While looking at the messages that popped up one after another, Shyakran couldn’t hide the corners of his lips curling upwards.

“Huhu, it looks like our Titan Guild will be able to completely preoccupy the Devildom content this time.”

The Titan Guild members headed deeper into the Devil King’s castle without delay.

The Devil King of Rage, who would give them the connected guild quest, would be waiting deeper inside.

Shyakran wore a triumphant expression, while the footsteps of the Titan Guild members were just as buoyant.

However, shortly after, much like a rice cake that was completely smooshed by an elephant’s foot, their expressions couldn’t help but crumple miserably.

* * *

“So… Are you saying that one user from every class has to all be included in the party?”

The Devil King’s office, which was at the top of the Devil King’s castle.

Shyakran faced Hikion, the Devil King of Rage, with a flustered expression, and the other guild members behind him that were lined up also wore expressions that were no less dazed in comparison.

However, the Devil King wore a relaxed expression as he spoke to Shyakran.

“That’s right. You must complete my assignment by making a party that is consisted of one of each of the classes, which would be a total of eight member.”

Shyakran stepped back as he cleared his throat.

“Ahem!”

It was a quest condition that he couldn’t help but be flustered about.

‘It was going so well, yet, what this bolt out of the blue now?’

The reward of the quest that Shyakran was proceeding with allowed them to register the guild of the members proceeding with the quest at the guild management office of the City of Rage.

At a glance, this could look like a lame reward.

However, the moment they were registered as a formal guild in the city, the additionally granted benefits were more diverse and effective than expected.

Fundamentally, the commission that was attached when they sold random items or when they bought something from the city shop decreased drastically.

Also, they would be able to get buffs from the Devildom shrine that was in the central plaza of the City of the Rage, as well as even use the warp gates that were right next to the shrines.

Of course, because the warp gates were not connected to the gates outside of the Devildom, at the moment, they weren’t that useful.

However, if he was to consider the future, it was certain that it would be incredibly useful.

‘But for the quest to be stopped like this…!’

However, in the quest where everything was going so well, an outrageous condition was suddenly attached.

The one where he needed to create a party that included all classes when proceeding with the quest and solve the task of the Devil King.

For the Titan Guild currently, this was an impossible condition.

This was because if it was with all of the classes, it definitely included the new classes as well.

‘Sure, still, an Assassin that is just around the corner from lv 160 is in the guild at least. In the case of Black Magicians, there’s someone that is even over lv 170, so if I bring them to the Devildom somehow, they should be able to come.’

However, the problem was, as expected, Summoners.

‘But, bloody hell… Where in the world am I supposed to find a Summoner?! I noticed that the Summoner currently in 1st place in the rankings is lv 165 or something like that… Goddamn!’

What was worse was that amongst the Summoner users that were within the Titan Guild, he was aware that the user with the highest level wasn’t even quite at lv 140 yet as well.

If it was lv 140, from Shyakran’s standard, even if they came into the Devildom, it was a ridiculously low level that wouldn’t be any help to the fighting power.

Just when Shyakran’s head was beginning to ache, as if the Devil King Hikion had even gone in and out of Shyakran’s mind added on.

“If even one ridiculous user is included, it will be close to impossible to pass my test. You see, I’m not that worthless of a Devil King.”

A long sigh leaked out from Shyakran’s mouth.

[1] Dapjungnuh = Was basically already explained by Karceus himself, but it is Korean slang for someone who has already decided on the answer, but expects that answer from the other and waits until that answer comes out