The game difficulty
has gone crazy
At Glen’s order, one knight ran ahead to Avenu first.
By the time the group arrived at the fortress, Jaber was already waiting to receive them.
“I heard you have something urgent to discuss, and that this man is involved.”
Glen did not give a long explanation.
He simply signaled with his eyes to the knight who had joined them.
The knight lowered the corpse of Ralfer, which he had been carrying over his shoulder, in front of Jaber.
“…….”
Jaber’s expression stiffened quickly.
Then, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him, he crouched down and carefully examined Ralfer’s dead body piece by piece.
“Well now…… this certainly wakes me right up.”
As if accepting the reality before his eyes, Jaber grabbed the back of his head.
He then stood up and stared at Glen with a very serious expression.
“It seems the young master will have to stay up late tonight. Will that be all right?”
“As long as needed.”
He was so tired that he felt he could fall asleep the moment he closed his eyes, but it was fine.
He had woken him knowing this would happen.
After entrusting Tasha to the medical staff, Glen and Jaber headed straight to the office.
“What exactly happened?”
“It will be a bit long, so please listen carefully.”
“Understood.”
A serious light filled Jaber’s single eye, and Glen calmly explained what had happened at the Ronian Monastery.
‘All he needs to know is that the Demonkin guerrilla unit crossed the border and Mount Rivero to assassinate Jaber.’
That alone was enough.
Everything else was unnecessary detail.
So Glen added a few lies to the truth.
When the Demonkin guerrilla unit occupied the monastery, the wraith in the basement went berserk, and after fighting each other, the Demonkin and the wraith were mutually destroyed.
At that moment, Glen arrived at the monastery and encountered the surviving Demonkin.
During the battle between Glen and the remaining Demonkin, Tasha was struck by an arrow, and that was how the story ended.
“You suffered a truly great ordeal.”
“Rather, the god helped me. If I had arrived at the monastery any earlier, I would have been torn apart by the wraith or killed by the guerrilla unit and had my nose cut off.”
There was no need to tell Jaber the extra detail that the mutual destruction of the wraith and the Demonkin guerrilla unit had been staged by Glen.
“…….”
With his arms crossed, Jaber seriously mulled over Glen’s story.
He was likely drawing additional information from what Glen had told him.
After a short while, as if he had reached a conclusion, Jaber opened his single eye.
“It seems the holy war may break out sooner than we thought.”
“I think so as well.”
“You thought the same, young master?”
The movement of a Demonkin guerrilla unit meant the main force’s assault would begin soon.
Jaber, who had repelled Demonkin attacks at Avenu Fortress many times, could not fail to realize that.
“It seems we should hurry our preparations for defending the fortress.”
“A wise decision, Sir.”
Glen nodded.
It was exactly what he had expected.
Since he had even brought back Demonkin corpses as decisive evidence, this conclusion was only natural.
“I will also send a raven to my family and to my sister Tris.”
“I would appreciate that. I am truly sorry to trouble you at such a late hour.”
“I woke you while you were sleeping peacefully, so we are even.”
Glen smiled gently and was about to stand up when—
“May I ask you one last thing, young master?”
At that, Glen raised his eyebrows, telling him to go ahead.
“Did you perhaps know in advance that this would happen?”
“What do you mean?”
Jaber then picked up a sheet of paper lying on the desk.
“This is what you handed to me before you went to the monastery today. It lists all kinds of defensive supplies.”
“Ah…… right.”
So many things had happened in just one day that he had forgotten.
At the time, he had given it with the attitude of, if you listen, good, if not, so be it.
“You realized the existence of the Demonkin only after going to the monastery…… so how did you know that defensive supplies would be needed?”
Their gazes met.
Glen smiled with his eyes.
“Are you perhaps suspecting that I am colluding with the Demonkin?”
“Hm?! N-no, that’s not it. I was simply curious…….”
“I’m joking.”
Glen smiled softly at the flustered Jaber and turned his body.
“I know because the god whispered in my ear that they would be needed.”
“A god… what do you mean by—”
“I am tired, so I will take my leave now. I will see you tomorrow.”
With that, Glen left the office.
Left alone, Jaber sat back down and scratched the back of his head again.
“Well now…….”
Was it simply keen insight?
Was he hiding something?
Or was some being truly called a god guiding him?
“I really don’t know.”
The rumored butcher was far more impressive, mysterious, and strange than he had imagined.
With an awkward expression, Jaber ruffled the back of his head.
“It looks like I won’t be sleeping deeply tonight.”
Since Glen arrived at Avenu, only half a day had passed.
Yet in just about twelve hours, an incredible amount had happened.
Late into the night.
After sending ravens to his family and to Tris, Glen finished a late bath and returned to his room.
He wanted nothing more than to throw himself onto his comfortable bed, but he did not have that kind of time.
The margin he thought was fifty days had shrunk to around fifteen, so even one minute felt precious.
‘First, let’s organize things.’
Glen took out paper and a quill and began to understand the information he had obtained from the Demonkin guerrilla unit and the rewards gained from eliminating the monastery’s wraith.
‘First, the newly gained holy power.’
《You have defeated the wraith “Guardian of Ronian’s Labyrinth.”》
《Holy power increases by 10.》
It was quite different from the original plan, but in any case, the goal of eliminating the monastery’s wraith had been achieved.
Because of that, Glen had gained a holy power increase of 10, a value that was by no means small.
‘That brings my holy power to 48.’
At last, he had reached the condition to weave the fourth holy ring.
This meant he could now use the Holy Armor even without relying on the gray ring.
‘This time, I relied heavily on the Holy Armor.’
A three-on-one fight against Ralfer, a 6-star demon archer.
If he had not had the Holy Armor then, he would not have been able to endure the black arrows that slowly carved away at his flesh.
‘The small fry’s black arrows would have piled up wounds little by little.’
In any case, being able to activate that power without risk from now on was an enormous advantage.
Not only that, by using the gray ring, he could use a total of five rings as holy or demonic rings.
Of course, since the number of rings that grant skills was even, he would not gain any particularly eye-catching new ability.
However, as the number of odd rings increased, the total amount of holy power he could operate increased as well, allowing Glen to unleash far greater power with the same skills than before.
“Four stars in two months… maybe even five.”
Even Tris, who was called a genius, entered the realm of five stars at the age of twenty-three.
But Glen had reached the same level at just seventeen, and only two months after taking up the sword and raising his holy power.
This was a pace comparable to the playable characters Glen remembered from the original work.
Considering that his starting point had been overwhelmingly worse than those characters, his growth was even more remarkable.
“It’s not bad, but…….”
He could not be completely satisfied.
The leader of the Demonkin legion he would have to face was a powerhouse of eight stars.
‘Can I reach it?’
Creating the eighth ring in just fifteen days.
It was practically close to impossible.
Even Seong Yohan, a veteran of Gray Eden, had no way to raise rings that quickly, as far as Glen knew.
‘Then there’s only one way—using tricks.’
Like when he defeated the wolf that had devoured a spirit using Inlusio’s magic circle.
Or when he defeated the Domain Ruler using magic scrolls and a hidden skill.
There existed tricks that could overcome even the difference in rank represented by rings.
‘If the proper way doesn’t work, use tricks.’
A strange light flowed through Glen’s eyes.
Coincidentally, he had just obtained items closely related to those tricks.
Glen placed the two orbs obtained from the wraith on the desk.
《Soul Fragment Imbued with Obsession》
《Grade》 : Epic
《Type》 : Material
: A fragment of a lingering soul that could not leave the world of the living and pass on to the world of the dead. Strong and negative spiritual energy resides within it.
《Story》
: Ronian Monastery is a beautiful structure built atop a rocky cliff. However, because the foundation was unstable, its underground facilities had to be built in a complex manner.
: Perhaps because of that, priests and visitors often lost their way underground, and the monastery selected a young priest to act as a guide through the labyrinth-like passages. But that boy…
The story of someone who became a wraith was always tragic, no matter when he saw it.
In any case, this item, imbued with strong and negative spiritual energy, could serve as a proper material item once three or more were gathered.
‘One I got before at the monastery inside the territory, and the two I got today.’
With a total of three, Glen could now obtain one usable item by using them as materials.
So, if asked what he would make with these materials—
‘A sword is the best choice.’
A smile crossed Glen’s lips.
He had been fighting with a plain longsword with no special features for nearly two months.
Thanks to the Favor of Blades, he had upgraded a normal-grade sword to high-grade, but that did not mean he was using its full potential.
Rather than upgrading a normal-grade sword to high-grade, upgrading a high-grade sword to rare, or a rare sword to epic—
That was when the Favor of Blades trait would truly show its worth.
‘And a sword made from three soul fragments would be epic-grade.’
If that epic-grade sword ended up in Glen’s hands, it would ride on the Favor of Blades and be elevated to a legendary-grade item.
If that were successfully completed and wielded by Glen, he could strike the enemy with a blow that surpassed its rank.
Even if that enemy were an eight-star powerhouse.
‘The problem is who to entrust these materials to.’
Since the grade was epic and spiritual energy was involved, there were not many blacksmiths who could handle them.
One person did come to mind.
‘But to find that guy, I’d have to ride for three days from Avenu.’
Glen rubbed his lips.
He wanted to go find that blacksmith immediately, but there were still things he had to do here.
‘Sir Jaber will probably handle the fortress defenses well, but…’
He had still not recovered the hidden piece located in the border region.
“Let’s try to fit the schedule…….”
In any case, what needed to be done was clear.
So he only had to plan according to the remaining time.
Fortunately, Glen still had about two weeks.
‘First, as planned, get the hidden piece in the border region… then head to Haibon, where the blacksmith is…….’
Glen picked up the quill and began writing out his schedule on the paper.
Since time was short, he broke the plan down into finer and finer steps.
And the more the quill moved, the faint smile on Glen’s lips grew deeper.
The next dawn.
As soon as the morning sun rose, Glen went to see Jaber.
They briefly reviewed what they had discussed early that morning and exchanged opinions about the plans ahead.
“I have something in mind, so would you listen to it?”
As expected, Jaber had decided to hurry the preparations for war.
First, he planned to dispatch knights within the day to conscript regular soldiers from the villages and cities near the fortress.
No matter how elite the Gray Wolf Knight Order was, regular soldiers to support them were absolutely necessary.
Glen nodded with a satisfied expression, supporting Jaber’s decision.
“The defensive supplies will be prepared as you said. However, the distribution of the supplies was unusual… have you learned this somewhere?”
“There are many books with various knowledge in the family library.”
“Oh? Those must have been quite boring books. You read those as well?”
“I don’t always read only the scriptures.”
“Hahaha! You’re already preparing to take the position of head of the family!”
With Jaber’s hearty laughter, the agenda moved on.
The two of them also exchanged opinions about repairing the walls and the deployment and allocation of troops.
The conversation between Glen and Jaber flowed as naturally as water.
Jaber laughed loudly, saying it was good to discuss things with Glen.
Throughout the conversation, Glen revised his evaluation of Jaber.
‘I thought he was just a typical battle-crazed man with a fiery and impulsive personality.’
But he adjusted Glen’s additional suggestions into his plans with ease.
He clearly understood what needed to be done and known right before a war.
Truly worthy of a veteran commander who had been responsible for Avenu for nearly ten years.
‘They say the leader of the gray wolves is not only the strongest in the pack, but also clever.’
Talking with Jaber like this made that saying feel all the more true.
‘He pretends to be a battle maniac who charges in without care, but inside he’s a clever wolf.’
That was the Jaber Glen saw anew.
“……Also, I plan to increase the number of scouts and patrols. Since we don’t know when they will cross the demonic lands, we need to gather information quickly.”
Jaber leaned forward.
“Do you have any additional suggestions regarding this?”
“Not really. You are already very capable, Sir, so I don’t think further suggestions are needed. However.”
“However?”
“I have one request. Would you grant it?”
“Oh? I’m curious what interesting thing you’re going to say this time.”
Jaber’s single eye gleamed like that of a beast.
“What is your request?”
“Please assign me to the newly formed patrol for just one day tomorrow.”
Glen answered in a gentle tone.
For a moment, silence settled over the room.
Jaber’s eyebrow twitched.
“To the patrol…… you say?”
“Yes.”
“Is there any particular reason for this?”
“A reason…….”
Glen rubbed his lips as if thinking.
Then he looked at Jaber and smiled with his eyes.
“Last night, the god appeared in my dream and told me to go there.”
He used a cheat key.
