Fairies.
They are not the kind of beings that would kindly grant a poor girl a night of dreams with a prince as in fairy tales.
If a fairy found a beggar girl dreaming of marrying a prince, it would wonder why she thought marrying him would bring happiness.
After hearing the reason, the fairy might take her to a party where the prince is attending.
Or, it might even kidnap the prince at the party, bring him before the girl, and ask her if marrying him would make her happy.
Without thinking about the consequences.
Fairies are more like spirits or ntal projections, driven by curiosity and seeking their own amusent.
Sotis, a fairy might take a human child as a ga, raise them, and then return them once the child becos tainted by human influence.
Since their actions are motivated by their own amusent, fairies would not hesitate to perform actions that, by human standards, could be considered evil.
However, they are essentially beings who value life and are noble, closer to perfection compared to humans.
Typically, they dislike the impure nature of humans and avoid revealing themselves to people.
So, it was quite remarkable that Han Jae-young could imitate a fairy so perfectly.
‘Is he the offspring of a fairy... or was he raised by one?’
From the way he wielded that fierce fairy staff, it seed like the latter.
A human who calls a fairy “mother.”
‘Now that I think about it, he does have a fairy-like vibe.’
I’m not sure if Han Jae-young is a complete being, but the fact that his actions are entirely based on his own amusent is definitely similar to a fairy’s.
Even if he is a shapeshifter, the fact that he can transform so perfectly into a fairy suggests that he shares many traits with them.
And one more thing.
Although minor, it now makes sense why Han Jae-young never revealed his gender.
If he can perfectly transform into a fairy, his natural body is probably close to being sexless.
Given that Han Jae-young is this type of mage, it also makes sense why he didn’t step forward during the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break.
A shapeshifting mage, and one who can even transform into a fairy?
Even if his magic was usable, there were too many caras in Gwanghwamun.
If his ability to freely change his body, especially into a fairy, were caught on cara, it would pose nurous risks.
In modern society, hunters don’t only face monsters—they also face humans.
It’s not easy to trust a person who can freely change their face and body.
‘So that’s why he’s with Yoo Han-ul.’
Only soone like Yoo Han-ul, a fool—or rather, a hero—would be willing to partner with such a person.
Of course, I feel the sa way.
‘A hero and a fairy… this isn’t so childish fairy tale.’
I wonder if revealing my past life as the Demon King would make treated as impure.
No matter how I look at it, the image of the hero and the fairy teaming up to raid the Demon King seems oddly picturesque.
But the more I think about it, the more I feel that I should distance myself from a pair like that.
While I was pondering that, Han Jae-young was steadily dealing with the monster.
Crack!
The monster retaliated toward Han Jae-young, but its already slow movents had beco even more sluggish.
Having transford into a fairy, the air around it seed to reject its existence.
Honestly, I could barely breathe just conceptualizing it.
Thud, thud.
The body that contained magic was purifying itself.
The fairy essence made it so that even its movents were sluggish, rendering the absorbed magic useless.
The monster let out a sorrowful cry.
“Grrrr!”
It tried desperately to gather the scattered magic, but I didn’t let it.
The system is determining the monster’s na.
The system is reassessing the monster’s threat level.
An S-rank monster is typically one that would be hard to defeat even with hundreds of hunters.
Yet, even against a fairy, this one was weak.
The system probably wanted to reassess the threat level.
However, if the system’s primary purpose was humanity’s survival, and monster levels were based on how much they threatened humanity, then in that respect, the monster was definitely S-rank.
I want to live, I want to die, I want to live!
I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I’m sorry!
Entities that don’t communicate or attempt to understand each other are considered enemies.
The language this collective intelligence expressed was that of a monster.
Humans can’t understand the language of monsters.
But I, once humanity’s enemy, am different.
Therefore, the screams of this monster were communicated to as a language.
‘No wonder the dungeon synchronization rate keeps increasing.’
I knew that during the True Light Church incident, they had tried forcibly extracting souls from living humans to create Soul Cores.
At the ti, I didn’t understand why they were doing it, but it seed like this dungeon experint was a ans to that end.
I don’t want this, I don’t want this!
Why am I here…!
It sounded as if many people were speaking at once, a mix of countless voices.
It was no surprise that this monster was considered impure.
The body was falling apart under Han Jae-young’s hands because it had been artificially created.
When I looked past the item Han Jae-young had given , I saw many souls bound to this village.
If this monster had been left to wander here, it would naturally have drawn people to this town.
The magic contained within the False Idol would attract hunters.
That’s why I quickly told the HP guild mbers to leave the dungeon.
Han Jae-young, being an S-rank hunter, was safe from being absorbed, but lower-level hunters could have easily lost their minds if they stepped into this village.
And those souls would have been consud by the monster.
The monster was made by stitching together the bodies of several humans and anchoring nurous souls into it.
What should I call this thing?
Is it a pitiful "False Idol" that is neither alive nor dead?
A creation born of external forces?
The system nas the monster "False Idol."
“Don’t imitate .”
Once the system started processing, it didn’t stop.
The system begins to consider the relationship between the "False Idol" and the "Soul Core."
The system defines the "False Idol" as a "form fixed with multiple Soul Cores."
The system recognizes the "False Idol" as a massive threat to humanity’s survival.
It wasn’t wrong.
Had I not co here, this dungeon would have continued to increase its synchronization and pose a growing threat to Earth.
Eventually, the synchronization would have increased, and if the dungeon wasn’t cleared, a dungeon break would have happened.
‘Humans really have many ways of deceiving.’
At first, I thought this place was just another experint facility like True Light Church.
But when I ca here, I realized it didn’t need to be.
While True Light Church made Soul Cores out of its followers, this place was on another level.
Like the body I found earlier, the alchemist who attacked the HP Guild would have been brought here and sacrificed to the False Idol after a short while.
If soone disappeared one day, no one would question it.
If an investigation began, the head of the Lightfall branch would simply say:
‘Oh, that person? They had gambling debts, so I felt sorry for them and hired them. They worked diligently for a while, but after asking for an advance on their paycheck, they didn’t show up anymore.’
This was a garbage dump, a place humans wouldn’t care about.
If soone died here, they’d never be found until the end of the world.
Moreover, there were plenty of souls to supply to the False Idol, just like a cult.
In a capitalist society, money is like life, and people gamble with their lives, flocking to it like moths to a fla.
Humans were walking into hell by their own hands.
In fact, money may be the new god of this world, even more so than Imanbok.
And it seems that the ‘enemy of humanity’ has learned how to wield that new god.
What’s more disturbing is that the bad taste didn’t end there.
‘Did they recreate this?’
The landscape of this crumbling village was too familiar to .
It was a typical village I could have seen at any ti in my past life.
Recreating this kind of village, and then putting the False Idol here… it disgusts .
What is my sibling doing in my past life?
I don’t know if they were reincarnated or what, but if they were born into a new world, shouldn’t they just live their own life?
Thud!
How long had passed?
Did it still want to live at this point, or was it just futile struggling?
The monster’s body, which had been crawling on the ground to escape Han Jae-young, finally lost all strength and collapsed.
The body, which had barely taken on a human form through patchwork, now lost its organic form and beca nothing more than a chunk of at.
And this death was the only rcy I could offer.
It might be arrogant to think that way.
“Is it dead... or not?”
Han Jae-young, with his fairy wings fluttering, kneeled beside the fallen monster and stared at it.
“And it really does look like a person.”
“Didn’t you hear the system? It says it’s a monster.”
“…True, I guess.”
Han Jae-young turned to look at .
“But you’re not surprised?”
“What?”
“This wing. Usually, when people see this, they’re shocked, but I guess you’re different, Jeong Da-on Hunter.”
Han Jae-young smiled and fluttered his wings once more.
The powder spilling from the wings scattered in the air.
I frowned but didn’t say anything.
Han Jae-young’s eyes glead even brighter.
“Definitely not impure, though.”
The fairy seed to have suspected that I wasn’t impure.
Despite the soul, my body is simply human, so the fairy dust doesn’t affect .
And honestly, now that I’ve learned what I needed, I didn’t want to get any more entangled in this.
A hero, and a fairy?
“Don’t be throwing dandruff around, and get lost.”
At my words, Han Jae-young jumped in surprise.
“What?! Dandruff?! Wow, that's harsh. This is, after all, the pristine fairy...”
The boss monster is defeated, and the dinsional rift is restored.
The dungeon is cleared.
Dungeon escape becos possible in 00:03:00.
The system will protect the user until dungeon escape.
“The dungeon’s cleared.”
“Stop changing the subject!”
Han Jae-young scoffed, but he knelt down again right there, continuing to observe the monster.
“I don’t know how to put this, but the bracelet they found at True Light Church...”
“What about it?”
“It’s structurally similar to this monster.”
Clearly, Han Jae-young was sharp.
It was highly probable that the sa entity had created both.
“Could it be that Jeong Da-on Hunter is trying to save this person...”
“ow!”
Just as Han Jae-young was about to continue, Leo’s tail suddenly brushed against my ankle, wagging like a puppy’s.
I’m buried too! I’m buried too!
“That’s your role. Did you find anything?”
When we first discovered the False Idol and broke through the ceiling, I had deliberately tossed Leo in.
I had to bring the False Idol to a wider space, but at the sa ti, I felt the need to explore the place where the False Idol had been.
At my words, Leo stared at with a shocked expression, mouth wide open.
Too much!
I wondered if Leo, having shrunk to the size of a kitten, was now mistaking his strength for being weak, despite having absorbed an abundance of magic in this place, which had increased his size a little.
“So, what’s the result? If there’s no outco, I’ll leave you here.”
Leo’s expression briefly soured, but fortunately, it seed I wouldn’t have to leave him in the dungeon.
Found it!
Leo’s teeth revealed a piece of paper that looked like a scrap of parchnt.
Leo let out a few growls and then spat out the paper, like a hairball.
“Gross…”
Too much!
It seed that he must have swallowed it while digging through the dirt.
I carefully approached and picked up the paper Leo had thrown up.
“This is…”
The paper, damp from saliva, carried the weight of ti.
And...
“What are you doing?”
Han Jae-young spoke to , but I remained silent, unable to respond.
“Did you find sothing?”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
The paper turned to ash as soon as it touched my hand, crumbling into dust.
But what I needed to see, I had already seen.
To be precise, I had read it.
Dear my sibling,
The familiar handwriting was in a language I hadn’t seen in this life.
Welco ho.
It was a ssage from my brother
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