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Chapter 224: The Third Trial (12)
He had caught three demon lords.
'Level 605.'
He was level 530 when he came here, but he had been leveling up at a devastating pace.
55 levels up by wiping them out with the earthquake.
10 levels up by catching Paimon.
Amon and Marbas were stronger than Paimon, but they only gave him about 5 levels of experience each because he caught them with the Balrogs.
'A total of 75 levels.'
Considering that he had been in the Demon Realm for less than two weeks, it was a terrifying leveling up speed.
Actually, it was familiar to Kim Minwoo. Whenever he went on an expedition, he would level up 50-60 levels in no time.
Vulcan approached.
―Human. I have a request.
"What is it?"
―Items. You must want them, right?
He had obtained a violin from Paimon.
And now, items were sparkling around the corpses of Amon and Marbas, as if begging to be looted.
'Items dropped.'
Amon dropped a monocle, a skill book, and other miscellaneous items.
Marbas dropped a lion's mane helmet. The reason he didn't acquire them right away was because they were the result of a party hunt.
The Balrogs' contribution was also included in the hunting share of Amon and Marbas.
But taking all the loot for himself?
Even if they had risked their lives together, it wouldn't look good.
"Of course I'm greedy."
―I'll give you everything.
"Really?"
―Yes. But give me their bodies in return.
"Why, to eat them?"
―That's right.
Vulcan's eyes sparkled as he looked at the Demon Lords' corpses. Drool dripped from his mouth as if he were looking at a delicacy.
―The Demon God's Stone embedded in my heart is speaking. It wants a sacrifice.
"And if you eat it, you'll get stronger?"
―That's right.
"Okay. Take it."
―Good!
Vulcan flapped his wings.
The strong wind pressure ruffled his hair.
It was also beneficial to Kim Minwoo.
The byproducts from the corpses seemed useful, but they wouldn't be more valuable than the items dropped right now.
The Balrogs gathered the bodies of the three demon lords.
―For the revenge of our brothers!
Vulcan shouted loudly and opened his mouth wide.
Crunch!
While he was devouring the bodies of the three lords, Kim Minwoo also examined the looted items.
First, the violin.
[Maestro]
[Rank: Ancient+]
[This is the instrument of the 7th-ranked Great Demon Lord Paimon of the Demon Realm.]
[Effect 1. Can be transformed into two forms (Destruction/Harmony).]
[Effect 2. Can use skills in each transformation state by consuming mana.]
[Effect 3. Mana +200]
'Plus Ancient rank?'
It was a very high-rank item.
A massive stat increase of 200 mana.
Plus the unique effect of transformation.
He had to test it out.
"Merhen."
―Yes, Minwoo.
"Can you lift me up in the sky?"
Nod.
As Merhen gestured, his body was lifted up. He looked down at the vast forest from above.
Marbas' domain.
He could see the forest collapsing as if it were withering away as he died.
['Maestro of Destruction' is activated.]
When he transformed into Destruction mode, the Maestro in his hand took on a sinister appearance.
Crimson wings sprouted from the body, and blood dripped from the strings.
[Symphony of Chaos (SSS) is activated......]
[Wings of Discord (SSS) is activated......]
[Catenza of Ruin (SSS) is activated......]
The Demon Realm was teeming with monsters.
The vast forest, Marbas's territory.
All sorts of insect-like monsters resided here, and the ones he saw now were no exception.
From giant maggots to mantis-like monsters and beast-type monsters.
He could see all sorts of creatures moving, trying to escape the forest.
He gripped the violin bow and moved it across the strings.
[Symphony of Chaos (SSS) activated!]
[Consumes 1,000 Mana!]
[Consumes Mental Power!]
♪♬.
With a slight dizziness in his head, an eerie melody flowed from the strings.
[Confuses the enemy!]
Kwaa!
Kiee!
The fleeing monsters screamed. Soon, they could be seen fighting amongst themselves.
'Is this how it works?'
A horde of monsters that had completely lost their minds and were devouring their own kind.
It was a tremendous area-of-effect skill.
[Wings of Discord (SSS) is activated!]
[Reduces the defense and resistance of surrounding enemies by 40%!]
With a prickly melody like a hedgehog, he could see the monsters with their skin softened.
'This is much better than the Curse of Aging.'
The Curse of Aging, which reduced defense and movement speed. Unfortunately, it was a D-rank skill, so even with 9 enhancements, it didn't work well on high-ranking monsters.
The Wings of Discord were different.
'It's an upgraded version.'
Not only does it reduce defense, but also resistance.
A truly useful effect.
Lastly, Catenza of Ruin was...
[Catenza of Ruin (SSS) is activated!]
Bang!
The monster's body, hit directly by the melody, explodes.
'Single target skill.'
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It was a way to inflict maximum damage on a single target.
Kim Minwoo, who had tested the music in this way, staggered slightly.
His head felt a little dizzy.
―Minwoo, are you okay?
"It's nothing. Just a little dizzy."
It was said to consume not only mana but also mental power.
He seemed to understand what that meant.
If he used it for too long, he might pass out.
'But the effects are worth it.'
Next was Harmony's turn.
Just as he was about to test it...
[Your musical proficiency is insufficient!]
[Cannot change to 'Harmony' form!]
"......Huh?"
―What's wrong?
"Nothing, it's nothing. Let's go down."
―Okay.
He landed on the ground with Merhen.
Harmony was probably an ability that gave beneficial effects, the opposite of destruction.
'I guess it's not possible right now.'
It seemed he would have to improve his violin skills a bit.
'But this wouldn't be affected by potential, would it?'
Like practicing playing but not improving at all.
'Oh, no way.'
He shook his head.
That couldn't be.
With a little practice and a few teachers, he could improve his violin skills. He decided to believe that for now.
* * *
Amon's monocle and the Lion's Helmet.
Both were Ancient rank items with excellent performance.
The monocle had a special effect called 'Weakness Insight (SSS)', which allowed him to identify the enemy's weaknesses, and the Lion's Helmet was an item that gave the user a powerful stat buff through 'Courageous Roar (SSS)'. However, they were not items that he could use.
'Class restriction.'
The Lion's Helmet was for melee classes only.
The monocle was for mages only.
So he gave them to his legion commanders.
[Merhen equips 'Amon's Monocle'......]
[Cedric equips 'Lion's Helmet'......]
―How is it? Does it fit well?
"It looks good on you."
The monocle had a small owl feather attached to the lens, and it looked quite good on Merhen. It emphasized her intellectual appearance.
Cedric had golden lion manes plastered on the sides of his skull, which also...
'Looked good.'
Violin, monocle, helmet.
In addition to the three representative items, he also acquired various other items.
Recipes, material items, and so on.
Among them, the most precious one was...
'Soul Bound Skill Book.'
He took out the skill book he had carefully stored in his inventory.
[Would you like to use the Soul Bound Skill Book?]
This skill book had dropped from the Demon Lord Amon. Soul Bound Skill Books granted job skills that perfectly matched the user's level.
It had been quite a while since he had obtained a soul bound skill book.
'What will it be?'
Curse would be good, and summoning would be good too.
He immediately used the skill book.
[Necromancer Skill Book, 'Bone Dragon Creation (SS)' has been acquired!]
"Oh!"
Bone Dragon?
He immediately checked the contents.
[Bone Dragon Creation (SS)]
[Level Restriction: 605 or higher]
[Creates a Bone Dragon. The created Bone Dragon becomes a summon.]
[Required Materials: 3 tons of Dragon Bones, Dragon Heart, 1 liter of Dragon Blood...]
[Currently Created Bone Dragons: 0]
[* When creating a Dragon, it can be summoned by consuming 1,000 Mana per dragon.]
[* The level and potential of the Bone Dragon depend on the crafting materials.]
It was a skill that combined creation and summoning.
It wasn't strange.
'Higher summons need to be made physically.'
The same was true for summons like Death Knights and Liches.
While other lower undead could be summoned in droves with just mana, these top-tier undead had to be created first before they could be summoned.
'That's why it costs a fortune.'
The bigger problem than that was that these top-tier undead couldn't be summoned with basic skill books.
'Only up to Dullahans.'
Dullahans were seen in B-rank basic skill books. A-rank and S-rank skill books were curse-type.
In other words, to summon Death Knights and Liches, he had to obtain two summoning skills through soul bound skill books. Unfortunately, Kim Minwoo had not yet obtained the two summoning skills.
'But I got Bone Dragon.'
It was like going to middle school, skipping high school, and going straight to college.
A kind of rank skipping.
'I can't believe there was a real Bone Dragon summoning skill......'
He had been playing this game for over 15 years and had never seen the Bone Dragon skill.
At best, he had only seen Death Knights or Liches.
Perhaps it was natural.
It was a skill obtained after defeating a demon lord. And that demon lord was a monster that couldn't be encountered in the original game.
That's why he had been so obsessed with creating Cedric's Divine Dragon, Gleipnir.
Cedric's thing = my thing.
Cedric's dragon = my dragon.
Such a beautiful formula.
Anyway.
'Compared to Gleipnir, the materials are a significant downgrade.'
Gleipnir.
The materials needed for its creation were all insane.
He still hadn't acquired the last remaining corpse of a ten-thousand-year-old ancient dragon.
Gleipnir could be considered a kind of hero summon.
Just like how Cedric was clearly distinguished from ordinary skeletons.
This Bone Dragon Creation skill was the same.
'Mass production type.'
That was the feeling.
Dragon bones, heart, blood, etc.
Although dragons were rare monsters, they weren't materials that couldn't be obtained.
'I can just put up a bounty.'
It seemed like it would cost at least hundreds of billions of won to make one, but in other words...
It only costs a few hundred billion won?
Cheap.
Plus, there was a big advantage to these crafting-type summons.
While non-crafting summons start at level 1, these summons start at a much higher level.
"I'll have to make a few."
He happened to have Bone Dragon crafting materials in his inventory.
This was because he had been steadily purchasing blood thanks to the Blood Jade.
He had also been buying bones, hearts, and other things, thinking he might use them for crafting.
He had a large quantity of the most essential materials, and he also had enough miscellaneous materials to make two.
[Holy Dragon Ivelion - You possess 2nd-stage heart, bones, and blood.]
[You also possess 1st-stage materials.]
[What stage Bone Dragon would you like to create?]
[1. 1st stage]
[2. 2nd stage]
'Huh?'
Aha.
Come to think of it.
He had caught the Holy Dragon Ivelion in addition to the ice dragon at the Orc Gate. Naturally, he had extracted blood with the Blood Jade and stored its body in his inventory. A dragon of that size was an excellent material in its entirety.
'First stage for now.'
2nd stage?
All he had so far was Ivelion's, and a dragon of that size was something he couldn't even see on Earth.
It meant it was very precious.
'Plus, I need to save blood.'
He hadn't even been able to upgrade the Blood Jade to the 2nd stage for Cedric and Merhen because they were short on blood, so how could he use blood to make a mere mass-produced Bone Dragon?
So he decided to use the overflowing 1st stage materials.
It was at that moment.
The materials popped out of his inventory.
A mountain of bones.
The sloshing blood contained in the Blood Jade.
Two dragon hearts and other miscellaneous materials. A magic circle was drawn on top of the piled-up materials, and then...
Wooong...!
Mana was sucked in, and the magic circle began to glow blue.
Skull, neck, chest, wings, legs.......
The bones automatically fit together, and a heart nestled in the center of the empty rib cage.
Red blood moistened every part like seasoning, and the giant heart began to beat.
[Creating 1st stage Bone Dragon!]
[Creation successful!]
[Two 1st stage Bone Dragons become your soul bound summons!]
[The average level of a 1st stage dragon is half of its master's.]
―Kuooo!
Two giant Bone Dragons, nearly 12 meters in size, roared loudly.
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