For the first time in his life, Devil Commander Veritas trembled in fear. It was ironic that he who has been called the ‘Commander of Terror’ by all, was terrified of a lesser lifeform. The source of his newfound fear was but a mere human. Humans were insignificant existences that could be killed with a single glance. But the one before him, wielding a massive hammer, was different. Just a bit TOO different.

Over a hundred Balroq Devils were strewn across the Demon Realm floor with their skulls split open. There hadn’t been any flashy skills or spells. That stupid bastard hammered at and ripped apart all of the Demons’ skulls with ease. This human, who effortlessly swept aside the guards, approached ever closer.

“W-what do you want, Human? I’ll listen to all of your…”

The massive hammer flew over like lightning and dealt a critical blow to the Devil’s goat-like skull. The High Devil of the Demon World’s Third Circle, Veritas’ eyes spun in separate directions.

Wham! Blam! Slam!

The torrent of blows continued, not stopping until every inch of the High Devil’s skull was completely flattened. The Devil perished, and his army was laid to waste. All that was left was the King of all Demons, Hesthnius Max.

Sungchul Kim opened the gate inscribed with an insidious hexagram, then turned towards the Demon King’s Citadel. However…

“Hm?”

On top of the blood-tinted throne was a long, cold corpse. A hazy form appeared in front of the flabbergasted Sungchul.

“Kehahahaha! You can’t kill me now, wielder of Fal Garaz!”

The Demon King had voluntarily shed his body. The reason for this was simple; Sungchul was just too strong. However, physical strength was not all-powerful.

‘You can’t kill me now.’

Sungchul already knew this.

“…”

Physical attacks did not have any effect on ethereal targets. A strong blow would be able to disperse a weak enemy. But this was the Demon King; only a limited number of high-level spells had the potential to deliver a mortal blow. Furthermore, Sungchul couldn’t use Magic. Rather, he had never bothered to invest in Magic. Not only did he dislike Magic, he even hated Mages as much as he did the Devils; this was the weakness the Demon King had taken advantage of.

“I may have lost my army, but as long as I, one of the Five Great Calamities, survive, the Prophesy of the End will still come to pass. As it stands, we may not be able to kill one another, but I can still crush the very world you stand upon. You may hate your own kind, but what could you ever obtain from a dead world, filled with nothing but monsters and Demons?”

Listening to the taunting words of the Demon King, Sungchul came to realize something important.

‘I need Magic.’

_____________________________________________

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

A bright light poured from a colossal summoning formation and the night sky started to glow eerily. As he gazed up at the faintly lit sky, Sungchul reminisced about the time he was first Summoned. That had been more than two decades ago.

Back then, he had been naive and unprepared. Dangers were common, and it was nothing short of a miracle that he had managed to survive. Now, it would only take an hour for him to kill everyone in the Summoning Palace, but the terror and helplessness he had felt when he was first Summoned resurfaced from a corner of his memories. Sungchul approached the sewers of the Summoning Palace while shaking himself free of these memories.

In front of the sewers, a Werewolf was standing guard.

“Grrr…When will it end? My turn better come soon.”

Creatures that were once human, Werewolves were people that had forsaken their humanity to embrace the feral side. Those who had a cruel and vicious nature would typically be seduced into walking this corrupted path which granted them high strength up front at the cost of having a low potential for growth.

The Werewolves, whose limits were clear, had but one joy and one purpose in their life, and that was to rip apart the newbie humans with their powerful teeth and claws. Werewolves had been one of the most feared enemies when Sungchul was first Summoned into the Summoning Palace, but they now couldn’t even survive a single punch of his.

Sungchul comfortably walked towards the creature from the shadows.

“Grr…Who are you?” said the Werewolf guarding the waterways as he sniffed the air and looked around angrily.

Woosh

A firm grip suddenly wrapped around the Werewolf’s neck and his yellow eyes widened in fear.

‘W-what is this strength?!’

Unable to even cry for help, the Werewolf could only watch helplessly as the mysterious human began looping a rope around his neck with one hand while holding him with the other.

Thump!

The Werewolf struggled against the noose for a while before becoming limp. Sungchul took out a pen and paper and scribbled: ‘I can’t go on living like a dog.’

He silently shoved the piece of paper into the Werewolf’s pocket and walked deeper into the darkness of the sewers, heading towards the Palace.

After passing through the dark waterways, a brightly lit hallway appeared. Sungchul reached into his memories and directed himself towards the Summoning Plaza. There were a few guards along the way, but at their level, they wouldn’t be able to feel his presence. Sungchul freely strode through until he reached the Summoning Plaza.

The plaza was filled with massive inscriptions and numerous Mages who were chanting summoning incantations. They were conducting a Summon of a grand scale.

This was an accursed practice in which humans from a world called Earth were forcefully summoned here. The massive Summon teleported ten thousand people each time, but not even five hundred would walk out of the Summoning Palace in one piece. The rest would meet their end in pitiful tragedies, used as Magical experiments, or be sold as slaves.

There were four plazas in which the summoning took place. These were: Azure, Scarlet, Blanche and Crimson. Each plaza was able to convoke 2500 humans per Summon. Sungchul chose to quietly hide himself at the Blanche Plaza. The Blanche Plaza was defended by a total of 200 Summoners, Guardian Golems, and soldiers. A small abominable fairy was hopping around between them.

“Kekeke! What kind of trashy humans will be coming today? I can’t wait anymore! Trash Mages! Hurry up, spit out the trashy humans!”

The small, ugly creature with red eyes wasn’t actually a fairy. It was a Homunculus, an artificial lifeform created within a Mage’s flask. They were in charge of the ‘introductory’ course for the newly Summoned, and their greatest joy was looking upon the fear and dread etched into the faces of dying people. This Homunculus, which wore a green hat, was one of these sadistic bastards. Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his side.

“Kekekeke! How should I kill these newbies to receive praise? Happy worries…Eeehh?!”

The Homunculus, preoccupied with the summoning process, was suddenly pulled backwards.

“…”

The kidnapper of the Homunculus was none other than Sungchul. The Homunculus’s crimson eyes were filled with horror.

“How can a mere normal human do this to the noble me?!”

Though Homunculi were only as large as infants, their Strength and Dexterity were about five times stronger than the average adult. It wasn’t uncommon to see two Homunculi tearing a human apart. This Homunculus, however, was now powerless after being captured by a seemingly average looking man.

“Hand over the quest log.”

Sungchul bluntly spat out his demand.

“Q-quest log? Do you even know where this is…?! Keeeeee!”

Act first. Ask questions later. Sungchul tore away a single leg from the Homunculus, and its red blood splattered all over.

“Hand it over.”

As he spoke, he tore off another leg. It didn’t matter if it died since there were countless other Homunculi left to replace it. In fact, a dead comrade would serve as a strong incentive for the next one to obediently comply with his demands.

It hastily answered before Sungchul could grab its arm.

“I-I’ll hand it over! Human, sir!”

The Homunculus spat out a bright orb from his flapping gullet, and a message popped up as Sungchul grabbed the item.

[Obtained Summoning Plaza’s Quest Log!]

[Would you like to see the Quest Log?]

With a simple nod, words began to fill Sungchul’s vision.

[Summoning Plaza’s Quest Log]

Charismatic Person - After being Summoned, introduce yourself to more than 10 people within 10 minutes. / Reward: Fire Seed

Sports Man - Within 3 days of being Summoned, perform 300 sit ups and 3 hours of running. / Reward: Strengthening Dumbbells

Cook - Using more than 3 types of ingredients provided by the Summoning Palace’s Quests, prepare a meal. / Reward: White Bread (Ration) x 3

…

All the quests and their requirements provided by the Summoning Palace were written concisely within the orb taken from the Homunculus. Sungchul carefully sifted through all the quests to find those that were useful to him.

Observant - Read aloud the inscription posted at the main entrance. / Reward: Intuition +1

‘I have to raise Intuition. Especially because of those curses.’

As he resumed searching for more quests, he could hear a pained voice beside him.

“H-human, sir. Y-you’re letting me go now, right? It h-hurts.”

It was the legless Homunculus. The reply was…Crunch! A merciful, painless death. Sungchul tossed the limp corpse into the air. Blood had splatted all over the place, but that didn’t matter; this entire place was about to overflow with human blood soon.

‘Are these all just the common ones? There are no Hidden Quests listed here.’

This was a decent find considering the fact that he had obtained it from a low-level Homunculus. Sungchul retreated back into the darkness to wait for his next opportunity.

Soon, modern humans suddenly appeared from the bright lights of the Magic Formation. The Summoned have arrived.

“Where am I?”

“What…What happened?”

Having been pulled out of their comfortable, civilized world, they inspected their new surroundings with innocent and confused faces. However, there was no time for them to be surprised.

All the Mages and the guards left the plaza, and only the rough looking Homunculi remained to face the humans.

“Kekekekek! Humans! Welcome to the Fields of Judgement!”

The people didn’t know what to make of these infant-sized creatures that were hopping and shouting about. Some of them looked around blankly, some kept bashing at their phones, and others kept badgering another with questions. Each person’s reaction might have been different, but the crises facing them were all the same.

Sungchul, who had slipped in amongst the crowd, was quietly waiting for a message to appear.

‘Will…it succeed?’

He, who had been banned and made enemy of every Circle of Mages, had never had the opportunity to learn Magic. If there was a way to learn Magic by beating the knowledge out of a Mage, he would have tried it by now. But Magic could not be learned without obtaining a Mage Class first, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Along with precise planning and some luck, he would need to find an altar and a skilled Mage who could breathe life into that altar. It wasn’t difficult for him to crush a kingdom, but if someone was to find out that he was trying to learn Magic, all the Mage circles would put their lives on the line to stop him. Those people were the craziest of fanatics. They put their reputation even above their lives.

The only solution Sungchul could come up with was to sneak into places that bestowed Classes for free, like the Summoning Palace. If one could receive the Summoning Palace quest, there would be an opportunity for them to learn Magic. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but this was the most moderate method with the least collateral damage he could think of. Suddenly, a message appeared before Sungchul’s anticipating eyes.

[Welcome to the Summoning Palace.]

[Summoning Palace’s Quest will now begin.]

[Battle will soon commence, please be prepared.]

It happened. The Summoning Palace’s quest had been triggered. In his mind, Sungchul was celebrating when another message appeared.

[Warning! You could die.]

“Me? Die?”

His lips curved into a cynical smile.

The iron gates on the walls surrounding the plaza opened, and an alienesque creature squirmed through. A man with particularly good sight spoke uneasily.

“Is that a Mantis?”

The man’s guess was correct. However, there was no way that something as simple as that would appear in the Blanche Plaza. What had really appeared was a Man-Eating Mantis, standing at the height of an adult male. There was a swarm of them numbering in the hundreds.

“Now! Trashy humans! Weapons are going to start appearing. Pick one! Fight…or run! If you don’t do either…kekeke! You can just let yourself be eaten!”

The Homunculi began dancing as they taunted the Summoned. The crowd remained still, unsure of what to do. But Sungchul was different. Without showing any particular emotion, he patiently waited for the arrival of the weapons. A worn blade suddenly appeared in the air.

[Blade of Beginnings]

Grade: Common - Lowest Grade

Type: Blade

Effect: None

Note: Wield and fight. Die. Or Kill.

‘It has been a while since I’ve used a blade.’

He had been solely using his hammer for quite a while now. This didn’t mean he couldn’t use a blade. Sungchul’s mastery level with a blade was at the Master rank. It fell short of the ‘greatest’ ranking of Grand Master, but it wouldn’t be wrong to say he was humanity’s most powerful swordsman.

Sungchul hid amidst the rumbling crowd and observed the transparent beings that were meandering above their heads. It was a summoned creature with the appearance of a transparent bloodshot eye. Most people wouldn’t be able to notice it due to its invisibility spell, but such illusion spells were ineffective against Sungchul.

‘That must be the Observer’s Eye. Have they already started filtering people out?’

Sungchul could see a large Observation Tower above the walls surrounding the plaza. The bastards who held power in this part of the world were sitting in that tower. They were watching through the Observer’s Eye for any seeds or ‘special talents’ they could nurture. But at this point it was still too early for them to tell, so they were mostly just watching the people who were of interest to the higher ups.

As if on cue, the Observer’s Eye focused their attentions onto those special individuals at the same time. This was a type of a mark.

‘All of The Observer’s Eyes are enchanted with a low-level repellent spell. I suppose it could keep away trash mobs like those Man-Eating Mantises.’

Some of the Observer’s Eyes hovered over the men and women who looked promising. These eyes were the property of the slave traders. Most likely they would reveal themselves at a moment of peril, offering a contract with horrific terms in exchange for saving the Summoned’s life, just so that the innocent life can be plunged into the depth of despair and suffering.

“Now now, trashy humans! The game will begin!”

The Homunculi with the red hats were hopping over to the humans. A man walked over to one of them.

“Hey! What the **** are you? Huh?”

It was a relatively muscular man in his mid-twenties who looked agile. He must have used his fist quite a bit in the Old World, but this was Other World; old ways of thinking did not apply here.

One of the Homunculi with the red hat tottered along and asked,

“Trashy human, you have something you want to say to me?”

The man, seemingly full of energy, suddenly kicked the Homunculus. However, the kick carrying all of his weight was easily stopped by the Homunculus’ child-like hands.

“Uh…? Huh?!”

The man’s eyes only briefly reflected the horror welling up inside him before the surrounding Homunculi gathered like vultures and each happily held onto a limb. The man desperately tried to swing his blade, but it was all to no avail.

“H-hey! Let go of me! Sheet!”

The red hatted Homunculus smiled viciously as it said, “Trashy human, struggling without knowing your place! Time for a lesson!”

“This place is OUR playground! Break our rules, and this is what happens!” snickered another Homunculus while pulling the man’s limbs apart.

“KYAAAAAA!”

The man’s limbs were torn apart, accompanied by a sickening cry of agony. After a brief and shrill scream of a woman onlooker, the entire plaza plunged into a horrified silence. The Homunculi, basking in the tangible fear of the humans watching, arrogantly proclaimed, “From now on, you must all listen to what we tell you to do. Run over to that door as fast as you can! Or else Mister Mantis is going to make a tasty meal out of you!”

The seal surrounding the plaza fell away, and the starving Mantis swarm suddenly perked up. The humans finally understood the fate that awaited them. There was a desperate cry, followed by pandemonium. A huge group of 2500 people all bolted towards the door. Everyone pushed and shoved until the weakest of them were trampled to death. Sungchul calmly made his way through the chaos towards the front of the crowd. This was all a familiar sight to him.

The Homunculi’s repertoire hadn’t changed a bit. There would still be an unwelcome surprise waiting for them at the exit.

“Kwuuuuuh!”

A hand shot out from the exit, followed by a creature shaped like a human. It was a Ghoul, a zombie-like creature that sought human flesh. Although the creature still retained a bit of its human consciousness, their insatiable hunger prevailed over their sense of reason.

The starved Ghouls became frenzied at the sight of fresh, living humans. They caught the more athletic among the Summoned who were at the front of the crowd, and started eating them alive. Witnessing the traumatizing scene unfolding before them, those at the front came grinding to a halt. However, the remaining herd of 2000 didn’t stop with them. The people at the back continued to press forward, while those at the front began to scream, “Stop pushing! Stop pushing!”

Those facing the Ghouls held the crowd back with all their strength, but in the end, they were slowly being pushed forward inch by inch until they, too, were grabbed by the Ghouls.

“KYAAAA!”

“So…hungry…! HUNGRY!”

Accompanied by the screams of their victims, the Ghouls began to feast. However, there was stronger, even more terrifying predator hunting those who had fallen behind.

“D-dear!”

A middle-aged man feebly tried to defend his wife with his blade, but a beginner was no match for the Man-Eating Mantis.

Clang!

The mantis’ foreleg shattered the blade and snatched up the despairing survivor.

Crunch! Crunch!

The Homunculi made satisfied smiles while listening to the music of flesh and bone being devoured.

“That’s why you have to run faster, you slowpokes! Being lazy led to this! Kehehe!”

It was a hellish scene, but all of this failed to affect Sungchul. To him, there was something more important that demanded his attention, which was to read the inscription that was at the front gate.

“…Death will set you free.”

[You are a possessor of sharp observation. You have astutely observed the inscription written at the front gate, and completed Observant (Common)]

Reward: Intuition +1

The first quest had been completed. However, it was still far from over.

[Oh Ho! What a nice guy! You have completed Samaritan (Common) by helping 3 people who have fallen over.]

Reward: Apple x2

[You are a true romantic, gazing up upon the two moons longingly even in the most dangerous of times! Romanticist (Common) has been completed.]

Reward: Palace Token x1

Even during the process of escaping, he was able to finish a few trivial quests. Things like apples could be earned at Sungchul’s leisure, but the Palace Token was the most important item to collect from Palace Quests. Palace Tokens were required to pick a class. One would have to feverishly collect them if one wanted to take one of the Hidden Classes, but Sungchul only wanted the common Mage Class. He could easily collect 9 of the 10 tokens with little trouble. Trying any harder would only garner the attention of the large guilds and sects.

‘I can probably get away with earning 15 tokens without raising an alarm. Now that I’ve managed to get some intuition, maybe I should check my status window for once.’

In this brief moment, A Ghoul rushed towards Sungchul. Sungchul reflexively swiped across the Ghoul’s skull with the back of his blade. However, he forgot to control his strength. The Ghoul’s head broke through the reinforced floor.

“Sheet.”

He tried to hold back, but he was still too strong. It couldn’t be helped. His physical strength had far exceeded the level of a human and approached the realms of divinity.

‘There is definitely a need for me to conceal my strength. By a lot.’

Thankfully, his action went completely unnoticed; no one was in a position to notice anything out of the ordinary. That was only natural. Preserving one’s life here was difficult enough without watching what someone else was doing.

The end slowly came into sight. The Homunculi were waving blood-soaked cloths while shouting at people. Those who arrived first felt as if they were suffocating both physically and mentally. Sungchul softly muttered ‘Status Screen’ under his breath. Overall, the Status Screen of newcomers would be pathetic beyond compare. It wouldn’t be rare for it to be filled with just some meager stats and nothing else. This wasn’t the case for Sungchul. His Status Screen unfolded like a legendary epic.

[Current Status of Sungchul Kim, ‘The Destroyer’]

[Blessings]

Covenant

(Unknown)

Unshakeable

(Immune to Mental Attacks)

Blessing from God of Chaos

(10% Bonus to Strength, Dexterity, Vitality)

Heir of Heracles

(+100 Strength)

Bloodline of Zealot

(Major Bonus to Regeneration when Below 10% Vitality)

Champion of Humanity

(+ 50 Resilience)

Rapid-Bow of the High Elven Kingdom

(+ 30 Dexterity)

Heart of an Ancient Warrior

(+5 Strength, Resilience, Vitality / Resilience)

[Curses]

Covenant

(Unknown)

Final Declaration of Grand Mage Balzark

(-10 Intuition)

Blessing of Blademaster Karakardra

(+ 1 Dexterity, -1 Strength)

Ancient God’s Champion, Arrak - Garr’s Criticism

(-3 Strength)

Dark Dragon Groteus’s Karmic Curse

(- 20 Strength, -20 Vitality)

Adelwight of the Haunted Forest’s Common Curse

(- 5 Strength, Erectile Dysfunction)

Enemy of the Kingdom

(Faction: Nemesis of Human Kingdom, Blank Check Reward)

Destroyer of Hora Mountain Sect

(Faction: Nemesis of Hora Mountain Sect, Destroyed)

Destroyer of Mewra Sect

(Faction: Nemesis of Mewra Sect, Destroyed)

Enemy of the Allied Mage’s Guild

(Faction: Nemesis of Allied Mage’s Guild and Sub guilds)

Steel Fist Curse of Crimson Orc Chief, Drakuul

(Race: -30 Orc Favor)

Recorded on Dwarven Book of Grudges

(Race: -200 Dwarf Favor)

Recorded on Allied Merchant’s Guild’s Blacklist

(Faction: Trade impossible with Allied Merchant’s Guild and their affiliated factions)

…

Too long. It would take ages to read completely down to the class screen. This was why he had avoided opening his Status Screen before. There also hadn’t been any need to.

Sungchul sifted through the tightly packed lines of words to find what he was really looking for.

‘Ability power, Class, and Soul Contracts’

[Class]

Main Class - Primordial Warrior (Mythic)

Sub Class - High -Class Chef (Rare)

[Stats]

Strength 999+ Dexterity 853

Vitality 801 Magic Power 3

Intuition -9 Magic Resist 611

Resilience 501 Charisma 18

Luck 18

[Soul Contract - 6 Slots]

Soul Harvester

([Legend] Vitality Leech 15%, Vitality restored from fallen enemies)

Thunder Shield

([Legend] All Magic Damage reduced by 50% / Negate all mental attacks below legend rank)

Eye of Truth

([Legend] Negate all blessings below Epic rank / Identify all items, consumables, and skill details)

Soul Storage

([Epic] Can store 1500 different items)

Deceiver’s Veil

([Rare - High Tier] Conceals status window)

- Blank -

With the comparably lighter data, Sungchul first looked over the Classes.

‘I suppose Mage should be slotted to the sub Class. I haven’t really messed around with it like some other people have.’

Sungchul then looked over his 5th Soul Contract, Deceiver’s Veil. Soul Contracts were, as the name suggested, an agreement where a deity or a similar being inscribes some of their power into the user’s soul. Each of these contracts were exceedingly difficult to obtain, but they also granted significant power.

Deceiver’s Veil effectively deceived other users. It not only hid the user’s stats but also their name. It was something essential for an unreasonably powerful loner with more enemies than friends like Sungchul.

‘I should play around a bit when I get the chance.’

He finally looked over his stats, or more importantly, his Intuition.

‘Intuition is -9. That curse from the geezer, Balzark, is holding me back now.’

The image of an old man, covered in countless inscriptions, spouting curses while being turned into tenderized meat, flashed through his mind. Intuition was a core stat for a Mage, going along with their Magic power. Higher Magic Power represented the Mage’s destructive power and the size of his or her Mana reserve, while higher Intuition unlocked higher tiers of Magic spells. But, no matter how large your Magic Power was, spells simply could not be learned without their required Intuition. As far as he could recall, the Mage class required minimum of 10 Intuition.

‘It is critical that I raise my Intuition, but upper limit for increase in Intuition through common quest is set to 10. Limit for Strength gain is 23, so why is the limit for raising Intuition set so low?’

He did not plan for it, but a need for Hidden Quests arose. However, Sungchul didn’t know the requirements for triggering any of the Hidden Quests within the Summoning Palace. And he had only managed to get his hands on the common quest log. It wasn’t like there weren’t any other ways…

Sungchul searched for the most unnaturally calm individuals among the survivors. He found one. One with the Observer’s Eye floating above. In other words, a ‘Preselected’. A way would appear if he trailed him. A way to uncover a Hidden Quest.