Chapter 73 - Chapter 73 (1/2)

THUD!!

Vulcan fell to the ground, hard. Jin-Woo relaxedly walked out from the thick, ash-grey dust clouds rising up, and took a look around him.

He was thinking of assisting the Shadow Soldiers right away, but even they seemed to be getting close to finishing up, as well.

"Kiiechk!!"

"Khekeck!!"

"Kheeck!"

As the shadow soldiers hacked away with their swords, the number of Vulcan's underlings rapidly decreased.

'Status.'

Jin-Woo studied his Status Window. Since he had levelled up only a moment ago, both his HP and MP were full.

'I've plenty of Mana, so I don't really need to help out, huh.'

As long as there was sufficient Mana, shadow soldiers would be exactly like immortals. Now that was the true power of an undead army.

Leaving the mop-up of the remnants to his trusty soldiers, Jin-Woo turned around in order to collect the loot.

"Hmm."

Was this feeling similar to unwrapping a gift? Seeing that dead body of Vulcan, a smile automatically formed on his lips.

'I wonder what'll come out this time?'

He could spy several lights sparkling on the body. Just like before, Jin-Woo extended his hand towards the lights. Then, item acquisition messages popped up in his view.

Tti-ring!

[You have discovered 'Item: Demon Sovereign's Earrings.' Will you take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Bead of Avarice'. Will you take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Vulcan's Horns' x2. Will you take it?]

[You have discovered 'Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree'. Will you take it?]

He had been feeling rather optimistic about fighting Vulcan, even before the battle started. And as he expected, items were quite literally pouring out from the dead demon.

Having checked the list only once, Jin-Woo's face was brightening up considerably already.

'I can pretty much tell that Vulcan's Horns should be japtem.'

From its name to the total number he found, it wasn't that hard to guess that 'Vulcan's Horns' were japtem only good for additional Gold, just like the Demon's Horns he got after killing various demons.

Which meant the remaining three were the 'real' items….

And there was this one item that attracted his attention more than the others.

[You have discovered 'Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree'. Will you take it?]

'What is this Material Item thing?'

What could he possibly make with something like that? Or, was the System trying to imply that it might be something related to a quest?

Jin-Woo's curiosity roused from its slumber after reading about a type of item he hadn't heard of before. If he wanted to read the explanations on the items, he had to acquire them first. So, he chose 'yes' on all the item acquisition messages.

"Take them all."

The lights glittering from different parts of Vulcan all morphed into items and appeared near his feet as soon as he said that.

A pair of earrings, a red marble-like object, and timber as big as a grown woman. He could immediately tell which one was the 'Fragment of the World Tree' among them.

Jin-Woo looked at the timber. When he did, the information on the item popped up.

[Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree]

Rarity: ??

Type: Material

Remaining part of 'Vulcan's Club', originally fashioned out of a branch of the World Tree, after the contaminated portion had been removed. Timber from the World Tree possess extraordinary magical energy, and is seen as top material for the crafting of the very best magic tools available.

'Top material for the very best magic tool, is it?'

He was curious about just what could be made from this piece of wood, but too bad, that wasn't disclosed. Still, there was no doubt this thing was no ordinary item. Simply by standing near it, he could sense a powerful aura coming off of it.

'This timber... I think it'll come in handy later.'

Instead of selling off this 'Fragment of World Tree' to the Store, he decided to store it in his Inventory.

After he finished doing that, Jin-Woo confirmed the details on the other loot as well.

[Item: Demon Sovereign's Earrings]

Rarity: S

Type: Accessory

Endurance +20, Stamina +20

When worn together with 'Demon Sovereign's Necklace' and 'Demon Sovereign's Ring', set bonuses will be unlocked.

Set bonus effect 1. (locked)

Set bonus effect 2. (locked)

'This one has hidden set bonuses?'

If only its additional Stat boosts were concerned, then it was not that different from the 'Gatekeeper's Necklace' in terms of usefulness, but this 'Demon Sovereign's Earrings' had hidden set bonus effects as well.

Even if those set bonuses were ignored, the item itself was still quite brilliant. Both his Endurance and Stamina got a boost of 20 points, which was considerable.

'Every level up gives me 5 Stat points, so....'

He'd need to level up 8 times to get that many Stat points, in other words.

Feeling genuinely pleased now, Jin-Woo picked the earrings up.

[Will you equip 'Item: Demon Sovereign's Earrings'?]

'Equip.'

Just like with other items, earrings disappeared from the view, but their options still activated with no problem. A satisfied smile formed on Jin-Woo's face after confirming the rise in his Stats.

So, the accessory set of a demon sovereign, then.

'Other accessories should be around here somewhere. Right?'

What with the word 'demon' in their names, he could easily guess that those items must be somewhere inside the Demon's Castle.

Just what kind of set bonuses would be unlocked if he managed to find the other two? He had found only one part of the set, but there was nothing he could do about his anticipation soaring higher.

However, Jin-Woo's smile didn't last for long.

'What is this now....?'

[Item: Bead of Avarice]

Rarity: A

Type: Magic Tool

Bead created by solidifying superior demon Vulcan's blood. Will strengthen all magical effects and cause greater damage.

Effect 'Appetite for Destruction': x2 magic damage

It was a spherical red object the size of a billiard ball.

Jin-Woo tightly grasped the 'Bead of Avarice'. But, there was no change to his Stats.

He then summoned and checked the Class-related skill windows, since those were the only things that could be called 'magic' in his repertoire, but he saw no change to the number of shadows he could extract nor the number that could be stored.

'Maybe it's not something I can use?'

Jin-Woo's head tilted this way and that.

An increase of 100% in magic damage. That kind of performance was quite incredible, indeed.

Now originally, tools that boosted magic cost an arm and a leg, so only a few mage-type Hunters could afford to use them. Even then, Jin-Woo had never heard of an item that could double the power of magic among all those uber-expensive artefacts.

If there were, then it'd been utter chaos, with headlines and special reports and whatnot. So, there was no way he'd be unaware of one until now.

However, this 'Bead of Avarice' or whatever could supposedly double the amount of magic damage.

'But, so what? It doesn't really help me, anyway.'

Jin-Woo licked his lips.

An item that doubled magic damage but did nothing else, would not have any effect on him. Both his 'shadow extraction' and 'shadow storage' had nothing to do with damaging something, to begin with. And the rest of his skills weren't magic-related, either.

At this point, he'd rather prefer to have an item that raised his Intelligence Stat, instead.

'Tsk.'

Jin-Woo formed a wistful expression and lightly tossed the Bead of Avarice up and down in the air. Meanwhile, his soldiers arrived near him one by one after taking down Vulcan's remaining underlings. The first one to arrive was Igrit.

In the right hand, three, and another three in the left; he carried a total of six demon heads and placed them before Jin-Woo.

"....."

Jin-Woo looked at Igrit kneeling before him and scratched the side of his head.