[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased by 0.12]
"What's going on?"
KangWoo exclaimed in surprise after reading the system window.
He got that message as he absorbed the cryshalis and the demonic energy that flowed out of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
'A decimal point?'
It was a stat increment he'd never seen before.
'Is it because the cryshalis is kind of vague?'
To be honest, he wasn't expecting his stat to go up by one from hunting a cryshalis.
His Demonic Energy Stat had increased to 122 thanks to Gaia's Blessing, so it wouldn't easily go up.
'Well, I guess it's better than not increasing at all.'
A decimal point was better than nothing.
Since he'd found a new thing called a ‘Fissure Fragment’, he didn't need to feel rushed.
'The Reaper of Souls attribute…'
Ting-
[The target isn't a demon.]
"As expected, it won't activate."
The cryshalis wasn't a demon, but a demonic monster.
It was understandable that an attribute that let him absorb a demon’s soul wouldn’t activate.
"So I'll have to keep hunting demons."
He had to keep absorbing demon souls to fulfill the conditions for Demonic Soul.
"First…"
KangWoo cut the thought. At the moment, growing wasn't what was most important.
He took out a small marble ball from his pocket.
"Ah, can you hear me?"
[Yes, you can speak.]
Gaia's voice could be heard.
[Were you able to finish the mission?]
"Yes. I've solved the Daegu part."
[Didn't you get hurt? If you come to the Hall of Protection…]
"No."
Gaia seemed worried about his body, but he cut Gaia's words short.
Not only hadn't he gotten hurt; he also didn't have time to relax while being treated.
"I obtained an important piece of information."
"What kind of…?"
KangWoo told her about the 'Fissure Seed.'
The Demon Cult was planting Fissure Seeds all around the world.
They had to use all of their forces to bring their plans to a halt.
[…]
There was silence. Gaia spoke with a heavy voice.
[Understood. I'm going to contact all Guardians and order them to destroy the Fissure Seeds.]
"No. You cannot get rid of the Fissure Seeds."
Eliminate the Fissure Seeds? That would be a huge loss.
KangWoo spoke in a serious tone.
"We have to gather them and put them in one place."
[Gather?]
"Yes."
[But if we do that, the Fissure Seeds would remain…]
"You don't need to worry about that. If we take the Fissure Seeds stuck on the stakes, they won't work anymore."
[Ah, I see.]
Gaia talked as if she couldn't fully understand what he was saying.
[But is there a reason we should gather them instead of destroying them? Wouldn't it be better to destroy them just in case?]
"That would be true if our plan was just to block this incident."
KangWoo didn't hesitate.
Making things flow in the direction he wanted in that kind of situation was his specialty.
[Then why…?]
"You need to think more long term. We won’t be able to solve the lingering issue by only acting after the Demon Cult makes its moves.
[Ah.]
"Did you ever try to investigate the Demon Cult’s knowledge?"
[Of course, but it's such esoteric knowledge that we weren't able to get results.]
"The more desperate the situation is, the better it is to have more investigative ingredients. The Demon Cult can do things like this because of all of the knowledge they've obtained through the years. Without investigating that, the only thing we'll be able to do is to deal with their actions."
[Ah.]
Gaia let out a short exclamation. She spoke in a regretful voice.
[I didn't know you had such deep meaning. I'm sorry. I didn't know you thought so seriously about the Demon Cult.]
"Haha. This is selfishness. I'm someone who lives on Earth, so I want to do my best to be able to preserve my life."
[No. You can't call that selfishness.]
Gaia cut him short.
[If it were just to preserve yourself, you could've remained hidden. You could've stayed down and remained hidden. But Mr. KangWoo, you took a step forward to protect those important to you. You're fighting while putting your life at risk. You couldn't call such determination selfish.]
KangWoo laughed lightly at Gaia's words.
"Haha. That's embarrassing. You don't need to praise me so much."
[You don't need to be so humble. Just like you said, we're going to try to gather as much as possible instead of destroying them.]
"Thanks."
[No. I'm the thankful one. We will do our best to gather as many Fissure Fragments as possible.]
"Then I'll also move to gather them."
The conversation was cut. A smile appeared on KangWoo's face.
"Yes. We should gather them instead of destroying them."
Gathering the Fissure Fragments to investigate and completely neutralize their plans?
* * *
That was nonsense. Even with the Authority of Insight, he couldn't completely decipher the Demon Cult’s knowledge.
It was knowledge not even the Demon King, who used to rule over the Hell of Nine Skies, could understand.
There was no way they'd be able to figure something out by investigating.
"And completely neutralize them? That can't happen."
He couldn't let them roam around freely, but that didn't mean he wanted to neutralize them completely.
To KangWoo, the Demon Cult were chefs who prepared delicious food for him.
'I'll eat from them as much as I can before throwing them away.'
He walked out while saying something that would make the Demon Cult members go crazy if they heard it.
Echidna and Balzac followed him after clearing out all the demonic monsters around them.
"Echidna, Balzac, There should be two more gates near this area. See if there's a stake in either of them. If there is, don't destroy it and bring it to me."
"Okay, KangWoo."
[I'll do as you order.]
The two summoned monsters moved according to his directions.
KangWoo took out his smartphone after exiting the gate.
'I already contacted Gaia.'
It was time to make the other people he knew move.
KangWoo contacted Cheon SooYeon, Chae YeonJoo, and Kang HyunJae.
After explaining the situation to the three people, he asked them to gather the Fissure Seeds.
"With this, the situation in China and Korea has been solved."
There was only Japan left.
KangWoo took out the card with the contact information he'd received before—it was the card with Kurosaki Yurie's contact details.
'I'm not sure why she's doing this for me…'
But it was too good not to use in that situation.
Ring-
[It's Kurosaki Yurie, Mr. KangWoo.]
'How did she answer so fast?'
She'd received the call after one ring.
"Ms. Kurosaki, hi. It's the first time we're talking like this."
[You're right.]
The voice sounded cold.
It seemed like not having contacted her before was a problem.
"I'm sorry for not contacting you before. I've been busy recently."
[No. I'm sure Mr. KangWoo had his reasons.]
It seemed like her mood improved.
"The reason why I've contacted you is…"
He began explaining the Fissure Seeds.
[That… I understood. We're also going to investigate.]
"Please."
[Ah, there's something I wanted to ask. Is that okay?]
"Of course."
[This Demon Cult… Do you know what demon they serve? I've tried to investigate but couldn't find the answer.]
"Hmm."
It was a sudden question, but there was no reason to hesitate.
"They serve Satan."
The Demon of Prophecy, Satan.
It wouldn't be good if only Guardians knew about his existence.
'It's going to be better if as many people know about it as possible.'
He'd already told people close to him, like Cheon SooYeon or Chae YeonJoo, about Satan.
The more people knew about his existence, the fewer people would suspect him.
[Hngh. Satan?]
It was a voice that made it seem like she didn't like the answer.
KangWoo tilted his head at her reaction but answered in a confident voice.
"Yes. The Demon they serve is Satan."
[Okay. Understood.]
"Then, please contact me once you've gathered Fissure Seeds."
[Yes. I'll do as you say, Mr. KangWoo.]
"Thanks."
KangWoo was about to cut the call when…
[Oh yeah. There was something I wanted to ask you. Is that okay?]
"Yes. Of course."
[It isn't related to this, but it’s a personal question… Does Mr. KangWoo know the myth of Cthulhu?]
"Myth of Cthulhu?"
The question was so sudden that it caught KangWoo off guard.
'That myth where lots of tentacles appear?'
KangWoo had heard about it because it was overused in many media.
"Yes. I know it, but why…"
[I have the power to call the strength of a mythical being, so that's why I'm investigating different myths and legends. I wanted to ask your opinion on a few that caught my attention.]
"Ah, I see."
KangWoo remembered her ability—the power to borrow the strength of a divine being that appeared in Japanese myths.
'To be more precise, to summon the power of someone that belongs to another realm.'
It was an ability he thought was worth researching.
'To think that there's a dimension where gods really existed.'
There was a chance that Gaia's real body existed in that plane.
'The Cthulhu myth, huh?'
If that wasn't a simple personal creation, but a being that really existed in another world…
'I think it should be good to investigate their strength beforehand.'
After ordering his thoughts, KangWoo opened his mouth.
"I'm interested. Can you borrow the strength of a mythical being that isn't from your country?"
[No. That's not the case. I can only borrow the strength of gods that appear in Japanese myths and legends.]
"Hmm. I see."
He wasn't sure if he was happy or disappointed.
'I guess it's a good thing.'
He didn't want to see a god full of tentacles.
[Fufu, I see. It seems like you're interested. Thanks for your words. Then, I'll contact you later on.]
"Ah, yes."
Kurosaki laughed in a way that gave him a bad feeling and mumbled a few words; then she cut the call.
KangWoo looked at his smartphone with confused eyes.
'What a hard-to-understand woman.'
She'd sent an octopus as a present, and then, she'd asked something strange out of the blue. He couldn't help but think that she was a bit crazy.
"Well. I guess it doesn't matter."
As long as she didn't interfere, it didn't matter if she was a bit crazy.
For the moment, he didn't have to focus on Kurosaki Yurie but on the Fissure Seeds that were spreading throughout the world.
'The net has been cast.'
A thick smile appeared on his mouth.
It was time to patiently wait for the harvest.
'Now I just have to wait.'
