IBMATG 30

Chapter 30

-Kuaaaah!

{Orobas’s minion has been devoured.}

The demon was swallowed by the black flames of the Orb of Karma.

That made three.

I had successfully acquired three new demons.

‘For now, I won’t have to worry about unlocking new powers.’

I was going to have to absorb countless guardian spirits in the future. Each time, if my powers and traits ended up being sealed because there weren’t enough demons to jam the system, it would be troublesome. So, I decided to round them all up and devour them at once.

Whether this method would remain effective in the future, I didn’t know. But the last message I got only told me one thing—“catch more.”

I was only following that command to the letter.

Either way, thanks to this, I managed to unlock the newly acquired powers.

<Form of the Demon Hound, Bran> (Auto-Activation)
When using a skill that consumes Impact Wave, Strength increases by 10% for 1 minute.

<Form of the Demon Hound, Scalon> (Auto-Activation)
When using a skill that consumes Slash Wave, Reflexes increase by 10% for 1 minute.

This time, the powers I gained were different—they were auto-activated skills.

Using certain powers would trigger stat boosts—essentially buffs.

‘Slash Wave, huh.’

The notable part was the mention of another type of Wave.

That implied that aside from the Impact Wave and Blast Wave techniques I already had, I’d eventually obtain a new kind of skill—Slash Wave.

And just by the name, it was obvious that this path would specialize in cutting and slashing techniques.

The fact that I could unleash so many attack styles with just one weapon—knuckles—was a massive advantage.

The same went for my other traits, especially Dragon of Malice’s Blood.

The trait Right Eye of Malice was truly a power that shattered the balance among Awakeners.

It boosted stats far beyond anything achievable by ordinary hunting.

It allowed me to steal others’ powers, reprocess them, and turn them into my own.

All of this was granted by that entity known as Malice.

‘Or rather… maybe I should start calling him Angra Mainyu.’

After the last flashback, I got a clearer picture of what kind of being he was.

Ahriman—the figure from my memories who bore relentless hatred toward orcs.

The one who kept sending me messages—Malice.

And my guardian spirit, Azidahaka.

It all lined up perfectly if they were one and the same—the Evil God, Angra Mainyu.

‘But… something doesn’t quite add up.’

Knowing this raised another question.

The memory was shown to me as if it were a real history I had lived through.

But it was far too unrealistic to be taken as actual history, and it felt deeply distorted.

Take Thor, god of thunder, or Sigurd, the dragon slayer—the Norse mythology figures were depicted as if they were orcish deities.

But Norsemen weren’t orcs—they were humans.

And in Zoroastrianism, Angra Mainyu was the embodiment of absolute evil, not a human. That interpretation doesn’t exist in any tradition.

‘It’s too impactful to dismiss as just some hastily fabricated illusion.’

Ever since the System appeared five years ago, the boundary between reality and unreality had already been collapsing.

But realizing that myths and legends weren’t simply “guardian spirit data” within the system, but had hidden truths behind them, only deepened my curiosity.

‘Just what kind of world is hidden inside those memories?’

In Kalininskaya, there had been three lower-ranked Legendary Awakeners:

Song Hyung-ju, Volkov, and Alex.

And I had killed all three.

The next targets were the 9th-rank title Legendary Awakeners.

There were two of them. One—Daria—I had already “dealt with.”

The other was the man currently in front of me, hunting monsters—Vasily.

“What the hell? Why are you guys blocking the way here?”

A man who looked Spanish asked Vasily’s group.

Kalininskaya’s members were blocking an access tunnel in one corner of the dungeon.

“No pass.”

That was all the mafioso said.

The foreign Awakener grew even angrier.

“What are you talking about? I paid the proper entry fee! Move!”

“No. Pass.”

“Unbelievable! I even paid an extra fee for today because of the dungeon boss spawn!”

This was the Spider Dungeon, where the boss was about to spawn.

Not only were its drops valuable, but just participating in the fight granted a huge stat increase.

That was why, on boss-spawn days, the management company usually charged higher admission fees.

The European Awakener must have paid dearly for the chance to earn something.

But Kalininskaya’s thugs were blocking the path and letting no one through.

“No pass.”

“Goddammit!”

The irony was that this dungeon actually belonged to NL.

Meaning, these people were blocking paying customers from using a dungeon that they themselves had charged for.

‘Scumbags to the core.’

Still, what they did wasn’t my concern.

I only had one target here.

{Guardian Spirit: Gawain, Knight of the Sun (Legendary)}

Those mafia thugs were nothing but delicious prey to me.

Fwoosh!

While they were arguing at the entrance, a giant spider monster appeared inside, shrouded in light.

The ordinary Awakeners, unable to enter, grew restless.

“The dungeon boss!”

“What do we do? Those bastards won’t let us through!”

“Just hit it once at least!”

One of them pulled out a bow and nocked an arrow.

He aimed to fire over the mafiosos’ heads and strike the boss.

Whizz!

If you struck the dungeon boss even once, it counted as participation—you’d get the stat increase upon its defeat.

And that didn’t disadvantage Kalininskaya either, since stat boosts were distributed equally to all participants.

Whether a hundred or a thousand attacked, the boost amount was the same for each person.

So, letting something like this slide wouldn’t have hurt them.

But—

Splat!

“Aagh!”

One mafioso rushed at the archer and plunged a blade into his chest.

Unlike his cold poker face earlier, he now looked enraged.

“W-Why…?”

“I told you. No pass.”

The only reason was probably that he didn’t like someone shooting an arrow over his head.

“M-Murder!”

“You bastards!”

“Are you insane?!”

The place erupted into chaos.

Some fled in fear. Some resisted in anger.

And now that blood had been spilled, the mafiosos had no intention of holding back either.

Clang! Crash! Whoosh!

A skirmish broke out, like a small-scale war.

For me, silently watching and waiting, this was the perfect timing.

‘Yes. Keep fighting each other.’

I had planned to strike the boss raiders from behind, but this was even better.

With chaos at the entrance and a desperate battle with monsters inside, I could quietly move in, slit my target’s throat, and slip away.

‘Best if I don’t get caught at all.’

If Vasily died here, Kalininskaya would likely dismiss it as an accident in the confusion.

They hadn’t even realized Daria was dead yet, and after the fight with “the Grim Reaper’s Descent,” they still thought I was just hiding and running.

If I could delay the moment they recognized me as a threat, all the better.

“What’s going on outside?”

“Looks like they’re fighting with some foreigners.”

I didn’t understand Russian, but their gestures and faces made it clear enough.

My target, Vasily, kept glancing backward, unable to focus on the boss fight.

“Cyka blyat!”

Cursing, he left the boss to his men and turned back alone toward the tunnel.

He clearly intended to settle things himself.

‘Now.’

Hidden behind a boulder, I watched until he was alone between the two groups—then moved.

Tap-tap-tap!

“Hm?”

In a blink.

Before he could react, I rushed him and threw a punch.

I didn’t use any powers.

My current skills weren’t suited for stealth kills anyway.

But the overwhelming stat difference was enough.

Slash!

“Huh…?”

Rip.

Before Vasily could even utter a sound, my razor-sharp dragon claws shredded his torso in two.

Without slowing, I slipped away with my momentum.

To the ordinary Awakeners—whose reflexes couldn’t keep up—it would look like something just flashed by, and then Vasily’s body fell apart in pieces.

‘Assassination complete.’

{Your eyes have seen the…}

Even before Angra Mainyu’s message fully appeared, I was already outside the dungeon.

{You have absorbed Gawain’s soul.}

{You have stolen the power <Sun Sword Galatine>.}

{Willpower has increased by 5.}

{Your synchronization with Azidahaka has increased. 7.66%}

“What’s the next target?”

“An 8th-rank Awakener. His name is Sergei, a mage-type. We already tracked his movements. Just follow the schedule in this plan.”

“Good work.”

I pocketed the USB handed to me by Darius.

Since Daria’s disappearance, he had been planning with far more boldness, freed from obstruction.

His intel came from Bogdan and other Nikolai Family members who siphoned information right under Kalininskaya’s nose.

Just as Bogdan had said, they were still showing signs of life.

“But… is it really okay to keep killing like this?”

Still, it couldn’t last forever.

Kalininskaya wouldn’t just sit back and take this.

Darius worried about that.

“For now, I’m feeding them false info through Daria’s laptop, keeping them confused. But sooner or later, they’ll catch on. If we keep wiping out their Legendary Awakeners, eventually…”

“I know. They’ll realize the severity of the situation and send Rankers after us.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the one who’s supposed to handle the planning.”

“…What?”

Darius looked genuinely dumbfounded.

His eyes practically shouted, ‘Are you seriously dumping this on me?’

“I thought with how confident you were, you had some powerful backing…”

“Heh. Just kidding.”

“…Hah?”

He closed his eyes tight, then let out a sigh of relief.

“Nearly gave me a heart attack. Right, of course. You’ve got something, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Care to share what it is?”

“That, I can’t.”

“Ah, so it’s your trump card.”

Darius chuckled it off.

‘Yeah, my trump card. One even I don’t fully understand yet. But one thing’s certain—it’s something tremendous.’

I checked the date on my phone.

December 15th.

The time was almost here.

The Diamond Auction.