Chapter 15
‘A sword?’
Earlier it was shooting arrows.
Was the guardian actually a sword?
‘But how’s it planning to fight from that far?’
While jumping around to open treasure chests, Kanghan had moved far from the starting point.
Even if the Goblin Chief had thrown it, a sword flying all the way here seemed impossible.
But then—
Fwoooosh!
A pure white light burst from the sword.
Shu-shu-shu-shuk!
The giant light sword split into dozens of smaller swords, flying straight toward Kanghan.
“???”
“What kind of difficulty is this?”
“This… is Iron level?”
“Even a Gold rank would struggle with this!”
The swords were flying at Kanghan at nearly the same speed as he moved using Heavenly Demon Lord’s Step.
They hadn’t reached him yet, but at this rate, they would catch up in a few minutes.
‘There’s not much time left on Heavenly Demon Divine Power.’
Should he fight those swords while the divine power lasted?
Or rush to open more treasure chests?
As he stood at a crossroads—
[Return portals are opening.]
Ziiing…!
On the other side of the broken cliff, in the direction Kanghan had been heading while collecting treasure chests, several blue portals opened.
Maybe because this was Iron level, they weren’t just going to let him die here.
‘Then I’ll collect more treasure and escape through the portal.’
Whoosh!
Kanghan quickly visualized the escape route in his head and opened the next treasure chest near the stepping stones.
[Treasure chest opened.]
[You gain 1,000 TP.]
[Bonus reward effect: 100% extra.]
[You gain 1,000 TP.]
After opening 10 more treasure chests, Kanghan reached the portal area.
‘One more jump and I’m out.’
He had opened 35 treasure chests using the ticket and earned 70,000 TP.
Pretty good for an Iron-rank player.
But then—
‘If I defeat that sword next time, I could open even more chests, right?’
He still had two more entry tickets left.
It wouldn’t be too late to test whether he could handle the sword now.
With that in mind, Kanghan stood on the last platform before the portal, arms crossed, and waited for the sword to arrive.
About a minute later—
‘Here it comes.’
Shoooosh!
Dozens of light swords approached.
‘Up close, they’re definitely more intense.’
Shwoosh!
The swords spread out and began surrounding Kanghan.
There wasn’t much room to dodge, so avoiding them seemed nearly impossible.
But—
Whoosh!
Kanghan moved with sharp, precise steps, dodging the blades just barely.
He even managed to grab the handle of one sword.
“He dodged all of that?”
“Is he sparring with the swords or something? That’s insane.”
“His movement is on another level…”
“That’s the power of the Heavenly Demon, duh.”
“Too bad it’s temporary. So sad ㅠㅠ”
Even considering the Heavenly Demon trait, Kanghan’s movements were impressive.
Just as he grabbed one sword and prepared to face the others—
[You are subduing the ‘Spirit of the Sword’…]
‘Spirit of the Sword?’
There was a spirit like that?
Kanghan glanced at the sword in his hand.
Vrrr…
Inside the glowing blade, a small child-like figure was curled up, hugging its knees.
‘So that’s the Spirit of the Sword.’
If he could subdue it, maybe he’d be able to use the sword?
That would be amazing.
Kanghan got a bit excited, but then—
[You have no sword-related skills.]
[You cannot subdue the Spirit of the Sword.]
Crackle…
A crack appeared in the blade, and the light shattered and vanished.
‘Well, that didn’t last long.’
If he could’ve subdued the spirit, it would’ve been way more valuable than just opening a few more treasure chests.
Disappointed, Kanghan kept fighting the remaining swords.
Slash!
Even though some blades nicked his skin, he didn’t even flinch and grabbed another sword.
He couldn’t subdue them—but he could destroy them.
Crackle!
After grabbing and breaking about ten swords—
[You are subduing the ‘Spirit of the Sword’…]
[You have acquired the skill: ‘Heavenly Demon Sword’.]
Unlike before, a new message appeared.
‘Oh?’
He could get sword skills this way?
Then maybe he could now subdue the sword spirit too.
Kanghan waited for the message to complete.
Ding!
[Trait ‘Heavenly Demon Physique’ has not reached the minimum D-rank.]
[You cannot acquire the skill: ‘Heavenly Demon Sword’.]
‘Ah… when I saw that skill in the bonus selection, it said D-rank or higher… So that’s what it meant.’
Turns out, the minimum trait rank was linked to what skills he could acquire.
Just like how he got Heavenly Demon Lord’s Step when his trait rank went from E to D.
To get Heavenly Demon Sword, he needed at least D rank.
And to go further—
‘Heavenly Demon Eternal Blessing was an SSS-rank skill… Good thing I picked that first.’
That SSS-tier skill probably needed the trait to be SSS rank.
Luckily, because it was a bonus skill, he didn’t need the trait level to match back then.
‘Picking that at the very beginning was the right choice.’
If he hadn’t, he’d need to reach SSS rank to get it later.
“Wow, over half the swords are gone already.”
“This just proves his power is limited-time.”
“How can someone like this be ranked E? LOL”
“It’s a shame… Maybe he’ll make it to Bronze.”
“Feels like we’re getting a taste of his powers before it vanishes LOL.”
Meanwhile, viewers became more convinced that Kanghan’s powers wouldn’t last.
Would he disappear after Iron rank?
Or could he reach Bronze?
People started betting in the chat.
[Heavenly Demon Divine Power duration has ended.]
The effect ended, and Kanghan’s movements slowed noticeably.
‘Time to escape.’
Even though the number of swords had halved, it was still hard to deal with them without his divine power.
Kanghan jumped toward the return portal.
[Iron Tower No-777 – Performance Calculation in Progress…]
[You opened more than 30 treasure chests.]
[You encountered the Spirit of the Sword.]
[Clear Rating – S]
The tower was cleared, and he got an S grade.
‘Just S?’
Kanghan had gotten SSS+ twice already, so this wasn’t satisfying.
[Your rewards are based on performance.]
[Opening Clear Rewards…]
[You gained 1 level.]
[You earned 3,000 TP.]
Compared to the previous SSS+ rewards, this was weak.
‘So that’s why the Iron map gave generous rewards… It was because I had been scoring SSS+ before.’
Still, 3,000 TP was worth about 3.9 million won.
A decent amount.
If everyone earned this much, far fewer players would quit halfway.
‘Still, going from SSS+ to S feels disappointing. Maybe defeating the Spirit of the Sword would’ve raised the grade?’
If he had Heavenly Demon Sword, he might’ve subdued the spirit.
‘Next time, I’ll hold off on entering until I qualify for that skill.’
With that plan, Kanghan organized today’s profits:
35 treasure chests = 70,000 TP
Donations = 10,000 TP
Clear reward = 3,000 TP
Total = 83,000 TP (~Over 100 million won)
‘Now I’ve got 123,000 TP in total… Feels wasteful to exchange it at 100% rate.’
Better to exchange it through a guild at 110%.
So he decided to keep holding TP.
‘Are the goblins revived?’
He opened the Ten Thousand Demon Hall to check.
[Ten Thousand Demon Hall]
The place where the defeated demons kneel before the Heavenly Demon.
Player level too low. Features are limited.
Current Occupants – 51/10,000
Just like the chief said, goblins who died in the tower had revived here.
In the dark goblin zone, several were lying flat, colored gray.
Kanghan tapped on one of them.
[Goblin #1 – Reactivation in 23:48:55]
‘So you can’t reuse them right away—24 hours cooldown.’
But since tower entry is also on a 24-hour cooldown, it’s not a big penalty.
‘Wait… why isn’t the chief lying down?’
Maybe his horn’s resurrection activated.
Unlike the others who died falling, the neutered Goblin Chief was still active.
But instead of commanding, he was staring at his groin and pulling his hair in distress.
‘Hmm… anything else to invest in the goblin zone?’
Not long ago, Kanghan had hesitated before spending 40,000 TP.
But after how much the goblins helped in this 777 map, and how much he earned—
He felt generous.
As he poked around the goblin zone—
Ding!
[Build ‘Goblin Training Grounds’?]
[Cost: 30,000 TP]
[Goblin Training Grounds]
While resting in the demon hall, goblins will level up on their own through training.
Growth rate scales with player level.
‘So their growth depends on my level.’
It seemed worth building.
The goblins were just lying around doing nothing anyway.
As the lord of this place—
He couldn’t just let them slack off.
‘Right. They should at least keep up with me.’
After deciding, Kanghan built the training grounds.
Bang bang!
A small camp formed in the goblin zone, and scarecrows were lined up neatly.
The Goblin Chief, who had been staring at his groin, immediately started pushing goblins into the training zone.
‘Now that’s a reliable middle manager.’
Kanghan smiled and tapped around the goblin zone again.
He still had some TP left. Maybe something else?
Then—
Ding!
[Build ‘Goblin Black Market’?]
[Cost: 60,000 TP]
Compared to the previous builds, this one was really expensive.
‘60K TP… That’s a lot.’
If he built this too, today’s spending would exceed his earnings.
Earning 100 million and spending it all in a day?
Maybe it was time to calm down.
‘Yeah… let me wash my face first.’
He needed a clear head before deciding.
Just as he got up to head to the bathroom—
Ring ring…
His phone rang.
“Who is it? At a time like this?”
The number was unknown.
Curious, he picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kanghan! It’s me, Mr. Jung-hyun from the logistics center.”
That name made Kanghan remember someone.
Kang Jung-hyun, who used to talk with him at the logistics center—kind, helpful, and always full of advice.
‘Wait, he had my number?’
Kanghan tilted his head in surprise.
“Oh, yes, sir.”
“There’s someone who really wants to talk to you.”
“…Talk to me?”
“Yeah! You know CEO Shin Yuri, right?”
“Shin Yuri?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know… The president of GLASS Agent! I’ll pass the phone to her now.”
What the—
As Kanghan frowned in confusion—
“Hello. Is this Kanghan Lee?”
A calm woman’s voice came from the phone.
“Yes.”
“I’m Shin Yuri, the CEO of the player agency GLASS.”
