Absolute Dweller

[Episode 11] Jagalchi Market (5)

The anomaly came from above.

From afar, the sky was engulfed in darkness.

With human influence halted and artificial lights gone, the night sky of the city became a twinkling jewel box of moonlight and starlight.

However, those lights were being engulfed in deep darkness.

“Are those all… monsters?”

The trembling darkness revealed an enormous number of monsters.

Various types of marine creatures were flying through the sky.

Starting from the sky marlin often encountered on the way here to much larger sky whales, the night sky was being covered in darkness.

The scattered tree giants began to gather under Grandpa’s direction.

Fortunately, there were around 30 tree giants that could beat a land shark.

And.

Wooong.

When Grandpa waved his hand, green vitality flowed towards a tree giant.

The tree had been damaged during the battle with Ha Dong-geon’s party, but it was instantly healed when Grandpa’s vitality touched it.

Looking at the healed tree, Grandpa spoke up.

“You guys did this?”

Ha Dong-geon bowed as the representative and apologized.

“I’m sorry. We thought they were monsters so…”

“Hm? But it usually just stays still like trees, right?”

I spoke to Ha Dong-geon’s party.

[The reason the tree giant attacked was because it mistook Oh Eon-ju as a monster. Please show Grandpa directly. We will be fighting together from now on, so he needs to be aware.]

“I understand.”

Oh Eon-ju stepped forward and said to Grandpa.

“Can you please take a look?”

And then the transformation process started.

Gududuk.

As Oh Eon-ju’s body transformed into the form of a bear, the tree giants immediately reacted.

Kwoong.

However, when Grandpa glared at them, the tree giants stopped and returned to their places.

“I understand what you’re saying. Our tree acted wrong first.”

By then, the darkness had drawn near.

As Ha Dong-geon prepared to throw a spear and Kim Ga-yeong prepared an arrow, Grandpa opened his mouth.

“Stay still.”

“What? But…”

“Do they look like they’re trying to attack us to you?”

“Huh?”

Listening to Grandpa’s words and looking again, something was indeed strange.

If they were aiming for this place, they would have to gradually lower their altitude. However, the swarm of monsters coloring the sky was approaching from hundreds of meters high.

“Look at those movements, those things aren’t coming to attack us right now. If we leave them be, they’ll pass by.”

“What? Then why…?”

Why were so many monsters rushing towards this place?

“I don’t know either, but…”

Grandpa said with a solemn face.

“It looks like they’re fleeing from something.”

What could be the reason for that many monsters to be terrified?

Anyway, Grandpa’s prediction turned out to be correct.

The monsters that dyed the sky jet black mostly just passed by above.

The night sky was completely devoid of light, with only the faint light emitted by the World Tree illuminating the surroundings.

“Blessing!”

The blessing enveloped everyone.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

“It’s a power that increases physical abilities.”

“What? Do you all have abilities?”

“Thanks to Mr. Jae-hyun.”

“Jae-hyun’s ability must be great, haha.”

The flying fish didn’t just pass by completely without harm.

Flap flap!

A flock of sky marlin flying low near the ground, were sticking their noses through the walls of tall buildings and apartment buildings.

Also, a small number fell to the ground altogether.

Seeing this, Grandpa shouted loudly.

“Hide inside the buildings!”

People who were holding various weapons and preparing for battle scattered at Grandpa’s command.

Some took refuge in the warehouse where they stored the fish, and some fled to the underground parking lot of nearby apartments.

And.

Wooong!

Grandpa began to prepare for battle in earnest.

A wave of green extended out from his body to the thirty tree giants.

Kwoong! Kwong!

They clumped together closely to form a wall.

Grandpa shouted at Ha Dong-geon’s party next to him.

“What are you doing! Why haven’t you run away?!”

“We’ll help too!”

“No need!”

At that moment, the ground began to vibrate.

It had arrived.

Kugugugugugugu.

The ground shook as if there was an earthquake because so many monsters were moving in.

[Everyone, even if the purpose of the monsters is not here, it’s too much for Grandpa to handle alone. Please help him.]

I also intended to help all that I can.

Along with Ha Dong-geon, the whole party nodded with firm determination.

“Go inside!”

“You’ll have a hard time alone!”

“Haa! I, really.”

At first, they thought that Grandpa was exaggerating.

However, that thought disappeared soon after in the face of the incoming monsters.

Kugugugugugu!

As various types of monster swarms approached.

Bang!

The grandfather stomped his foot loudly.

And then.

Boom boom boom!

The ground shook with tremendous force.

Kwaang! Kwaang!

“!!!!”

The thick roots of the World Tree emerged with loud explosions everywhere.

Bursting through the asphalt, they grabbed the mindlessly rushing monsters and became a solid wall between buildings.

Numerous monsters gathered together and began to push the wall with their bodies.

They had no choice with the influx of monsters pouring in from behind.

In order to survive, they had to break through.

However.

Swish!

Sharp thorns spread out from the roots of the World Tree that the monsters were trying to break through.

And.

[You have hunted a Land Shark (Lv. 24).]

[You have gained experience points.]

[You have hunted a Sawfish (Lv. 23).]

[You have gained experience points.]

[You have hunted a Blue Crab (Lv. 29).]

[You have gained experience points.]

Amidst the chaotic notifications, there were no settlement messages because the monsters were hunted by Grandpa.

[Kin]

All abilities increase by (Trust +10)%, and the experience points of monsters hunted by those with the kin title are increased by 10 times and divided evenly. However, settlement money is exclusively for the target.

Grandpa, who had the kin title, monopolized the settlement amount.

Instead, he gave half of the tenfold experience points to me.

“Huh? What is all this? Money? Experience points?”

Grandpa was confused as he looked at the words in the air.

It was probably because this was the first time he was seeing a system message after being registered as kin.

Beside him, the Ha Dong-geon party stood silently with puzzled expressions.

I was the same.

‘…Is this the power of a level 55?’

It was absurd to try to help

As long as they weren’t getting in the way, it was good enough.

Hunting hundreds of monsters with just a stomp.

There was no other word but extraordinary.

Even while Grandpa stood still, the tree giants were diligently moving, organizing the approaching monsters.

Empowered by Grandpa’s strength, the enlarged roots of the tree giants pierced through even tough chitin armor.

[You have hunted a Giant Crab (Lv. 31).]

[You have gained experience points.]

[You have hunted a Giant Lobster (Lv. 29).]

[You have gained experience points.]

[You have hunted a Sawfish (Lv. 30).]

[You have gained experience points.]

And then.

[Your skill level has increased.]

The festival of experience points eventually led to a level up.

‘Level up? Already?’

I hadn’t even prepared for such a rapid level up.

‘Urgh!’

Due to the sudden pain, the view of Ha Dong-geon’s party was turned off and I could sense the apartment complex.

The dome-shaped area surrounding the entire apartment complex.

It rapidly expanded.

Feeling your entire body bursting in slow motion would probably feel like this.

‘Aaaghhh!’

The pain finally ended after the dome swallowed up all the roads that spread out like blood vessels with a radius of 1 km.

“Whew, whew.”

[A being satisfying the conditions to be recognized as a citizen has been found.]

[Would you like to grant citizenship?]

Since the area was vast, many people became eligible for citizenship.

It was a huge number in the thousands.

‘Could Mom or Dad… be among them?’

It was such a huge number that it was difficult to check one by one.

However, considering Grandpa and Grandma’s case, if there were relatives nearby, there would have been a message related to kin rather than citizenship.

‘Mom and Dad are probably outside this range.’

That was where Seo Ye-jin was diligently searching.

Once she found them, there would be an immediate response.

‘Grant citizenship.’

I accepted all the thousands of people.

“Mr. Jae-hyun!”

Yoo Hye-rin supported me as I was about to collapse.

My mind was in a mess, but I couldn’t afford to collapse from exhaustion.

‘Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.’

I immediately activated the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes to grasp the situation on Grandpa’s side.

“Strange.”

The first thing I noticed was Grandpa tilting his head in confusion.

“What is it, sir?”

Ha Dong-geon’s tone was more polite than before.

Well, anyone would be humble in front of such overwhelming power.

“In the past, monsters I hunted would have their flesh disappear, but now even their bones are gone.”

Ha Dong-geon confidently replied.

“That’s probably due to Mr. Jae-hyun’s ability. Originally, we would have monster corpses left behind after hunting, but since we went under Mr. Jae-hyun, monster bodies don’t remain.”

“Is that so? Then, are those strange letters appearing in the air also Jae-hyun’s ability?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s a strange ability.”

Looking at the situation, it seemed we had safely passed the monster wave.

Although there were a terrifying amount of monsters, we managed to survive because we only had to deal with those directly attacking us. In the end, Of course, it was not a scale I could handle alone.

To fend off so many monsters alone.

Moreover, Grandpa showed no signs of exhaustion.

‘No matter how much abilities were enhanced by titles or stats increased several times over…’

Even if his ability was increased ninefold by the 10x trust multiplier.

This was too incredible.

It was possible because his original abilities were tremendous.

“So, if you guys hunt monsters, they just disappear?”

“Yes.”

“Then go to the warehouse and call some people.”

“People?”

Grandpa looked at the struggling marine monsters that were caught alive by the roots and struggling.

“Yes, if you want to eat, you have to kill them while leaving it behind.”

“I’ll call them.”

As Grandfather said, when ordinary people hunted monsters, the bodies remained intact.

‘I never thought there would be such an inconvenience.’

I hadn’t even thought about the fact that monsters would be eaten.

‘Item registration.’

As an experiment, I tried registering the corpse of a dead marlin.

Zing-

A new item called “Fish” appeared in the store.

‘It’s a success.’

The price was higher than expected, but considering the size, it was not surprising.

Even one would be enough for almost a dozen people.

That’s when it happened.

[Seo Ye-jin has encountered kin of the Absolute Dweller.]

[The power of kin has been unlocked.]

I immediately focused the Absolute Dweller’s Eyes on Seo Ye-jin.

And there.

“Oppa, look over there. Our apartment is intact!”

“That’s right.”

『Name: Lee Ji-sook (Lv. 50)

Titles: [Kin] [Ichon]

Trust: 97

Awakening Ability: Ruler』

『Name: Kim Dong-hyuk (Lv. 42)

Titles: [Kin] [Ichon] [Guardian Warrior]

Trust: 93

Awakening Ability: Self-defense Spirit¹호신강기, borrowing the translation from Elsword.』

‘Mom…! Dad…!’

My parents, whom I missed and longed for, were there.

[Citizenship is granted to the 23 individuals who are subordinate to kin Lee Ji-sook (Ruler).]

‘Huh?’