“Ow, my back…”
I landed on the slime cushion Sa Jeil had made. On top of that, I stretched my tentacle-transformed left hand downward and coiled it beneath me. That softened the impact enough that, thankfully, I managed to avoid breaking anything.
“Ghhk…”
Sa Jeil let out a harsh, pain-filled gasp beside me. He looked far worse than I did. More than half the crimson armor covering his body had shattered away.
If Kwon Sua had been here instead of Sa Jeil, she probably wouldn’t have escaped without serious injuries. Her Trait lagged behind ours when it came to physical enhancement.
Focusing on Kwon Sua and leaving Sa Jeil to fend for himself seems to have been the right call after all…
Sa Jeil apparently disagreed.
“You bastard! I almost died because of you!”
I brushed off his complaint and looked around. Thanks to our desperate efforts to stay airborne as long as possible, we had avoided the worst-case scenario of more debris raining down on our heads.
Did a massive sinkhole open up? Why?
The ground around us had collapsed into a deep, circular crater, as if a giant had pressed a seal into the earth. When I looked up, I saw a round patch of sky at least fifty meters overhead.
The Shadow Slimes that had fallen with us were almost completely wiped out. Even the ones Sa Jeil hadn’t cut with his greatsword lay scattered across the floor, half-crushed by the impact.
At least all the Shadow Slimes are dead…
As I continued surveying the area, I frowned.
In one corner of the pit, where not even a trace of sunlight reached, a black Gate I had never seen before stood alone within the dense darkness.
Damn it…
Only then did I understand.
The cause of this sudden disaster was a newly opened black Gate deep underground. That narrowed our problem down to one question.
What kind of monster was going to come crawling out of that ominous black rift?
It was difficult to determine the rating of a black Gate connecting the Otherworld and the Demon Realm from its appearance alone. Its danger rating could only be estimated after confirming what kind of monster emerged from it.
However, black Gates did share one common trait. Immediately after opening, one unusually powerful monster would emerge first. The Gate would then remain completely dormant for several days.
We can’t expect a rescue team. And climbing that cliff is impossible right now.
I reached inside my clothes and repositioned my Green Ticket where I could pull it out easily. Depending on the combat power of whatever emerged from the Gate, we might have to tear our tickets immediately and escape.
Sa Jeil seemed to be thinking the same thing. He was holding his Green Ticket and fidgeting with it.
Watching him made me want to mess with him for no particular reason.
Sa Jeil eventually noticed my stare and snapped his head toward me.
I said, “Sa Jeil, are you scared? Don’t tell me you’re already planning to run.”
“Shut up, Kim Daram! Who says I’m scared?!”
Sa Jeil shouted and hastily stuffed the Green Ticket into his pocket.
I put on the apologetic expression of someone who had made a terrible mistake.
“Ah! Sorry, sorry. Our brave Vice Class Rep Sa would never do something like that. I misunderstood. I’m truly sorry. I apologize.”
My uncharacteristically submissive attitude left him confused. With a reluctant, sour expression, he accepted my apology.
“Watch your mouth.”
“Sure. And to make it up to you, I’ll give you the first opportunity.”
“What opportunity?”
“The opportunity to fight the first monster that comes out of that Gate, of course!”
Sa Jeil’s expression twisted strangely.
“Th-The opportunity to fight it first…?”
“Right. If we both jump in, we’ll only end up arguing over who gets the experience for killing it, how to divide the Mana Orb, and who contributed more. Let’s avoid all that and handle this cleanly, one-on-one.”
“No… That’s…”
“I did misunderstand you earlier, and I know how hard you’ve worked for our class. So I think it’s only right for me, as Class Rep, to yield this one to you.”
“But as far as I know, the first monster to emerge from a black Gate is…”
His hesitation showed plainly on his face.
Sa Jeil knew as well as I did that no matter what emerged, it would never be an easy opponent for a Hunter who had Awakened less than a year ago to face alone.
I drove the final nail in.
“If you’re not confident, I don’t mind fighting first. The choice is yours, Vice Class Rep Sa.”
“I’ll go first!”
Sa Jeil answered with a rigid expression.
As expected, he was incredibly fun to tease.
Of course, despite what I had said, I intended to check the monster’s Status Window first. After estimating its combat ability from its Performance Score, I would decide whether to leave it to Sa Jeil, fight it together, or grab Sa Jeil by the collar and tear our Green Tickets before anything else.
Not long afterward, the surface of the black Gate rippled.
A black, stone-like object the size of a fist shot out.
It was a black core—the true body of the Shadow Slimes we had been fighting.
This one, however, was incomparably larger than the cores of the slimes we had encountered so far.
The moment Sa Jeil identified the enemy, he moved as if determined not to give it even a second to react. His crimson greatsword came crashing down to split the black core apart.
But at that instant, viscous slime boiled up around the core and knocked his sword away.
The gelatinous mass rose, its body wobbling as it formed the shape of a three-meter-tall knight wielding a greatsword.
It was a far more intricate and complete imitation than any Shadow Slime we had faced before.
I checked the enemy’s Status Window.
【Shadow King Slime】
【Level】: 28
【Performance Score】: 32,000
Level 28 with a Performance Score of 32,000…
For reference, I was currently Level 20 with a Performance Score of 65,000.
Sa Jeil was Level 17 with a Performance Score of 36,000.
Judging from the numbers alone, Sa Jeil held the advantage over the Shadow King Slime. But Performance Score did not represent combat power alone. It was a comprehensive numerical evaluation of all the abilities and potential an individual possessed.
For monsters, however—creatures with simple structures and purposes—Performance Score could be treated as combat power itself.
In other words, even when a monster’s score was equal to or slightly lower than an Awakened’s, the monster was often far stronger in actual combat.
Either way, I was relieved.
Everything else aside, anyone with a Performance Score even one point lower than mine was incapable of escaping the influence of my dazzling Puppet Needle.
And the Shadow King Slime’s score was only half of mine.
I could make it serve me like a slave if I wanted.
Every time something like this happens, I’m reminded how absurdly lucky I was to obtain [Unique] System Observer the moment I Awakened.
Unlike in my previous life, I had acquired [Unique] System Observer immediately upon Awakening.
That allowed me to grasp the gap between myself and my opponents at a glance, and it had already given me a Performance Score far beyond what someone at my current Level should possess.
Thanks to that, I had accomplished the feat of Clearing Assessment Level 20. My Performance Score had already exceeded sixty thousand as well.
Considering that my score had only been in the seventy-thousands right before my death, my current growth rate was nothing short of astonishing.
If the snowball keeps rolling this smoothly, maybe the ridiculous goal I declared in front of the Chairman really will come true.
But first, I had to deal with the situation in front of me.
Thankfully, we had avoided the worst-case scenario of being forced to use our Green Tickets while fleeing from a monster.
All that remained was deciding who would defeat the Shadow King Slime and claim the benefits.
Naturally, I intended to give Sa Jeil the first opportunity.
I had promised, so keeping my word was only right.
But then again… can Sa Jeil actually win?
As expected, Sa Jeil was struggling.
He was already battered from falling off the cliff. There was no way he could fight at full strength against a monster more powerful than he was.
“Sa Jeil, don’t push yourself too hard! There’ll be other chances!”
“Sh-Shut up!!”
Sa Jeil fought desperately against the Shadow King Slime, which had transformed into a berserker.
But each time their blades collided, another piece of the crimson armor covering his body broke away. Even the Blood Sword itself was gradually shrinking.
After clashing with it for some time, Sa Jeil finally reached his limit and came rolling back toward me as if he had been launched.
“Ghk…”
He collapsed facedown and vomited a bucketful of blood.
When I patted his back, he violently slapped my hand away.
Unbothered, I said, “Good work, Vice Class Rep Sa. It’s my turn now, right? That thing doesn’t have so much as a scratch. It’s practically brand-new. You’d better not accuse me of stealing the last hit later. Got it?”
Sa Jeil’s face crumpled.
But since nothing I had said was wrong, he probably couldn’t come up with a rebuttal.
I stepped forward.
“Now, allow me to demonstrate the power of your Class Rep.”
I summoned two more Puppet Needles.
I had already used two on Self-Awareness Puppet, which meant these were the last ones I had left.
Had it realized that its opponent had changed?
The Shadow King Slime, still shaped like a massive warrior, began charging toward me.
Good. Come at me!
I had no intention of dragging this out either.
Self-Awareness Puppet’s duration was about to end. I had to settle this before then.
I used Flash and shot between its legs.
The King Slime’s enormous sword narrowly swept over my head. Taking advantage of the opening, I drove both Puppet Needles into its thigh.
The strength of the effect did not change, but the duration multiplied as more needles were inserted.
Each needle lasted three hours, so the Shadow King Slime would now serve as my faithful subordinate for six hours.
The massive warrior, now my Puppet, obediently stopped moving.
It lowered its sword and knelt before me.
When I turned around, Sa Jeil was staring at us in horror.
“Ta-da!”
I dramatically extended both hands toward the slime.
“Th-That’s impossible…”
“What do you mean, impossible? You’ve experienced it firsthand twice.”
“An ability that powerful must have equally severe restrictions or penalties…”
Yes, you’re right.
This ability is completely useless against anyone whose Performance Score is even slightly higher than mine.
I quietly raised a finger to my lips.
“Which means you should watch what you say, right? There aren’t many people left in the world who know about my Trait. I don’t need to explain why, do I?”
Leaving the now-pale Sa Jeil alone, I moved on to wrapping things up.
It would be convenient in several ways to clean up the situation before everyone else arrived.
I ordered the kneeling Shadow King Slime, “Return to your core state.”
The slime forming its body rapidly shrank and was sucked back into the core all at once.
Before long, the Shadow King Slime had returned to the fist-sized black core it had been when it first emerged from the Gate.
I picked up the core with my tentacle-transformed left hand.
Then I immediately placed it inside my System Pouch.
“What the hell…?!”
Sa Jeil recoiled in shock at the sight.
Ah, you didn’t know?
Core-type monsters can be stored inside a System Pouch while they’re in their core state.
Hahaha.