11 – Partying with the Demon King – 1

—Legendary achievement! You have become the discoverer of a secret ruin that has not been found by anyone for a very, very long time! The grade of the title rewarded by combining the past 1,874 undiscovered achievements has been upgraded from Rare to Legendary!

—You have obtained the Legendary-grade title ‘Conqueror of the Behind Dungeon’! Due to the title’s effect, the effects of all stats and skills increase by 10% in all environments such as dungeons and ruins. Wiping out the Behind Dungeon completely will activate the rest of the title’s effects!

—You have obtained experience points from the achievement. You have become level 97! Dexterity (Uc) has increased by 1, Endurance (Uc) by 1, and Spiritual Power (R) by 1.

—Legendary achievement! You have become the discoverer of a secret ruin that has not been found by anyone for a very, very long time! The grade of the title rewarded by combining the past 1,874 undiscovered achievements has been upgraded from Rare to Legendary!

—You have obtained the Legendary-grade title ‘Conqueror of the Behind Dungeon’! Due to the title’s effect, the effects of all stats and skills increase by 10% in all environments such as dungeons and ruins. Wiping out the Behind Dungeon completely will activate the rest of the title’s effects!

—You have obtained experience points from the achievement. You have become level 97! Dexterity (Uc) has increased by 1, Endurance (Uc) by 1, and Spiritual Power (R) by 1.

“What in the world is this?”

Looking at the stone staircase stretching underground that had appeared before his eyes, Gi-jun blankly let out such a voice.

After finishing breakfast, he had only slightly dug up the spot that stimulated his inspiration behind the Demon King’s castle together with the Demon King and Lucy, but——.

At the same time as a stone staircase leading downwards appeared as the soil suddenly collapsed, complex messages filled the space before Gi-jun’s eyes.

“Past 1,874 times? That means this ruin was in every tutorial channel, right?”

Having received an explanation of the messages’ contents from Gi-jun, the Demon King slapped her forehead and marveled.

“So it is only natural to give a Legendary-grade title… But considering that, the title’s effect is a bit lousy.”

“What are you talking about? How powerful it is to have all abilities increase by ten percent.”

Gi-jun, seeing that all his other stats—except for Mana, which had just become Uncommon and remained at 1—had grown by at least 1 and at most 5, could only marvel at the effect of the powerful title he was experiencing for the first time, but the Demon King shook her head, saying that was not the case.

“It is weak for a Legendary. If it were a title of the same Legendary grade that increased fixed stats, it would have easily added at least twenty to each stat.”

“Isn’t that just absurdly strong…?”

“Then do you think those who have Legendary titles would be weak?”

Come to think of it, that was true.

Since the one Legendary title Gi-jun himself possessed did not exert any effect at all, it seemed he had unconsciously come to look down on Legendary titles a bit.

However, the titles he had obtained so far were merely things like becoming slightly stronger when dealing with people at the cost of lowering Charm, cooking food to be slightly more delicious, or becoming able to butcher monsters of a higher grade than himself well…

“Well, since it said the rest of the effects would be activated once you conquer the dungeon, let’s look forward to that. I happened to think you needed real combat anyway, so this is perfect. I wanted to raise your race grade too.”

“Ah, race grade.”

Although his level had risen after a very long time by achieving the achievement just now, since there was virtually no other way to obtain experience points, he had actually forgotten about the race grade entirely.

However, his level had just risen to 97, and he had reached a ruin where monsters were expected to be.

Could he look forward to an Uncommon-grade race now?

“If your race grade rises, there is a positive correction to your status growth rate, and the same goes for skills, and above all, the probability of obtaining a good class increases. It can be said to be the most solid foundation supporting your existence.”

“Then, senior, by any chance…”

“Legendary.”

“I shouldn’t have asked.”

Cheers to himself, and of course, to the pitiful second-round Earthlings who would know nothing.

As Gi-jun smiled weakly, the Demon King chuckled and added.

“Even so, it wasn’t the strongest, though.”

“What? Hey, then does a grade above Legendary really——”

“Let’s go in.”

“Hey!”

Gi-jun, terrified, chased after the Demon King as she strode down the stairs.

“How can you go out so defenselessly when you don’t know what might appear, when you’re not even a tanker.”

“So you are going to protect me? A Common, protecting a Legendary?”

To the Demon King who looked back with her hands on her hips as if she had heard something ridiculous, Gi-jun replied without backing down.

“Even so, the one who must take the lead in a dungeon is the tanker. Don’t make me neglect my duties and get behind me.”

“……Ha, seriously.”

Come to think of it, he was this kind of guy.

At his powerful appearance, which she could not feel at all usually, the Demon King recalled the time she had faced and fought him as an enemy and ended up laughing.

Seeing him tenaciously blocking her path with a blood-drenched body to protect his weak companions, had she not thought, ‘If only a fellow like him had been in my past party too——’?

She had thought he was cool.

It was a secret she could never tell him even if she died.

“Then within the dungeon, we are in the same party.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

Startled by the words the Demon King casually threw out, Gi-jun nodded in spite of himself, then added after pondering for a bit.

“Still, if you fight in earnest, it won’t help my training, so please hold back.”

“Of course. I will only help you when it seems you are really going to die, so be prepared.”

“Then it’s no different from usual.”

—The things sleeping in this ruin will probably be much better than that terrible demon!

Lucy also added such words and infused light into the shields in both of his hands.

The shields imbued with light glowed softly, so there was no need to even hold a torch even though the surroundings grew darker as they went further down the stairs.

“Thank you, Lucy. Do you want some brown sugar?”

—I am always on the contractor’s side! Yum…

As they walked like that for a long time, a thudding sound echoed from behind, and a ceiling appeared, blocking off the top of the stairs.

In the darkness where there was no light source other than the shield in his hand and Lucy in his chest, Gi-jun realized the fact that he had stepped onto solid ground, not the stairs.

And, the enemy.

‘Is coming.’

He instinctively raised the shield in his left hand.

*Clang!* An impact more terrible than imagined, sparks flew from the collision between something blunt and the shield.

The soft light emitted by the shield illuminated the enemy in front of him.

“Kyahaa——!”

Something resembling a human with dark blue skin and a single horn growing on its forehead.

Its body was much larger than Gi-jun’s, appearing to reach two meters and fifty centimeters, and its muscular physique was covered here and there with black carapace like partial armor.

The chest, shoulders, fists, groin, and knees.

Each was a part effective for striking and defense.

Confirming the creature’s appearance, the Demon King groaned quietly.

“Lesser Demon Evil Fighter——. A Rare-grade race of the dark attribute, with a Rare-grade class.”

“Kik——!”

Immediately after, the enemy’s fist flew in again.

Gi-jun deflected the attack at the optimal timing and the optimal angle, making the training he had done with the Demon King worthwhile, but he groaned as he felt the heavy impact spread through his entire body nonetheless.

It wasn’t even a skill but just a normal attack, and he was confident that he had deflected it perfectly, yet it was this much…?

“Demon King, are these guys by any chance…”

“It seems they haven’t been weakened.”

No wonder they were so damn strong.

According to the Demon King, all monsters that originally appeared in the tutorial—starting from the wolf they had to catch semi-forcibly according to the fairy’s quest at the very beginning—were in a weakened state compared to the main stage.

Otherwise, there was no way the heroes, who were entirely Common-grade and did not even have classes, could have defeated an enemy like the High Orc Legion Commander, even if hundreds of them had gathered.

However, perhaps because the enemy in front of him now was a monster of the Behind Dungeon located behind the Demon King’s castle—which could practically be considered the end of the tutorial—it was not weakened at all.

*Boom! Crash!*

“Fortunately, their level seems to be on the lower side, but… can you deal with it?”

“Don’t ask me something like that. Of course I have to…!”

If he tucked his tail and ran away just because an enemy of a higher grade than himself appeared, wouldn’t he feel sorry to the Demon King and Lucy, who had dedicated over three months of time for him?

—It’s okay, Contractor. It is certainly an incredibly strong enemy, but—— light is never swallowed by darkness.

Lucy whispered, adding power to his body and shields.

Just as she said, the enemy had an attribute that was literally darkness itself, and Gi-jun was together with the Spirit of Light, wrapping her light around his body and weapons.

This was the reason why the demon, who rampaged as if to crush Gi-jun right away, could not easily carry it out.

“Whew, alright.”

“Kyakh!”

Once again, after blocking the enemy’s attack, he thrust his shield in a surprise attack, striking the creature’s face.

Due to the overwhelming gap in stats between them, his full-power strike was merely equivalent to a slightly hard flick to the forehead for the demon, but that alone was enough to make the creature’s mood extremely foul.

“Go, Hero! Complete your Dual Shield Mastery in real combat!”

“I wished you would give me a slightly more encouraging cheer if possible… Hup!”

Applying Steelization to the right shield where light had gathered to boost its defense, he successfully parried the knee the enemy suddenly thrust upward.

Next, he struck the creature’s chin upward with the left shield to break its guard, and struck the creature’s chest again with the shield in his right hand!

The light residing in the shield erupted violently, pushing the enemy far back.

Gi-jun’s eyes widened as he saw the carapace protecting the demon’s chest melt even slightly along with the terrible scream the creature let out.

“Oh?”

—The contractor has become able to add light to his attacks too! We can really win now!

“Fufu, thanks to practicing mana management, he has opened his eyes to the active utilization of spiritual power as well! It’s all thanks to me.”

“Kyaaaaaak!”

The Lesser Demon Evil Fighter charged while letting out a foul roar, as if it had realized it was being mocked.

Gi-jun, bending his knees and digging his feet into the ground, barely blocked the creature’s charge by holding both shields at an angle.

At the moment of collision, light erupted and pushed the creature back, but a terrible impact swept over Gi-jun’s body as well.

“Hero, are you an idiot? Why do you block that head-on!”

“*Cough*, how many times do I have to tell you that is what a tanker does.”

Moreover, compared to when his abdomen was pierced by the Demon King’s attack, it didn’t even hurt much.

The Unique-grade Rapid Regeneration quickly activated the moment his body was damaged to restore his condition, and the Enjoying Without Tiring skill, which kept him from tiring as long as he smiled, quickly dissipated the impact and allowed him to attack the enemy.

“That tickles, you bastard.”

“Kyaha, kiaa!”

He did not forget to mock the enemy further, just in case its gaze turned to the Demon King behind him.

If the enemy tried to attack the Demon King directly, the combat situation would be sorted out and ended by her single blow, but he had not started training just to piggyback on the Demon King.

It was real combat to grow both as a warrior and as a tanker.

With the mindset that everything would end the moment he was breached, he stood in the enemy’s way again and launched an attack.

“I will show you how terrifying a spoon killer is!”

*Thud*, the shield containing light struck the demon’s face again.

It was a strike much stronger than a spoon, and it was even a vicious attack where if a gap was created by one hit, several consecutive blows would land.

The free transition between offense and defense through the shields in both hands was finally becoming second nature to his body through intense, real combat where lives were on the line.

Only after five hours had passed like that did Gi-jun finally succeed in defeating the enemy.

—You have defeated the enemy and obtained experience points.

—Mana (Uc) has increased by 1. The level of the Shield Mastery (Uc) skill has increased by 1.

—Rare achievement! You have succeeded in defeating an enemy whose rank is two or more stages higher than yours in a one-on-one battle! You have obtained the title ‘Limit Transcender’! Due to the title’s effect, you obtain a positive correction when facing enemies of a higher grade than yourself. It becomes easier to transcend all kinds of limits.

—You have obtained experience points from the achievement.

—You have defeated the enemy and obtained experience points.

—Mana (Uc) has increased by 1. The level of the Shield Mastery (Uc) skill has increased by 1.

—Rare achievement! You have succeeded in defeating an enemy whose rank is two or more stages higher than yours in a one-on-one battle! You have obtained the title ‘Limit Transcender’! Due to the title’s effect, you obtain a positive correction when facing enemies of a higher grade than yourself. It becomes easier to transcend all kinds of limits.

—You have obtained experience points from the achievement.

The reward for defeating an enemy with an unweakened Rare-grade race and Rare-grade class was sweet.

Not to mention the growth of Mana and Shield Mastery, he even got a title that was never given no matter what enemy he caught during the tutorial.

To his questioning thought, the Demon King snorted and replied.

“Of course, those weakened ones aren’t the real thing.”

“If you put it that way, senior, I have nothing to say.”

“Anyway, now that you’ve obtained the Limit Transcender, upgrading your grade will be much easier. Well done, Hero.”

Seeing the Demon King discuss the title’s effect as if she already knew it, it seemed she had calculated even that.

Suddenly he wondered if she possessed this title, but thinking he would only be mocked again if he asked, he decided to quietly keep his mouth shut.

No, but it wouldn’t close as he wished.

It was a symptom he had easily experienced before when fighting for several hours straight.

It was because of the skill, Enjoying Without Tiring.

“My mouth won’t move well because I’ve been smiling too much.”

“That Enjoying Without Tiring skill is really too perverted. Do you know it is a bit creepy to watch you smiling even while being hit by me?”

“Then what can I do? It is a precious Rare skill, so I have to use it.”

“What level is that skill?”

“99.”

“It makes me afraid to evolve it…”

Her worry was in vain.

For by the time he succeeded in killing several Lesser Demons with Gi-jun’s ‘Copernican spoon hunting method’—investing several hours per monster—the skill had evolved into a Unique-grade skill that no longer required him to smile.

The name of the skill was Without Sleep or Rest (不不, No sleeping and no resting).