Chapter 24: The Repulsive Act and Orias’s Gift

#24

Han Yuseong responded with a slight furrow of his brows.

Not only was it frustrating to fail to obtain , but Dagon, whom they had barely saved and raised to a high level of rapport, was also merely a C-grade monster.

This meant that even if they died, they would never have a use for this skill. ‘E-grade… Who was an E-grade monster?’

This was precisely why Dokyeom lamented entering Han Dokyeom’s body.

The path ahead was long and arduous.

He would have to suffer twice as much as others.

“Has something gone wrong?”

“A problem?”

Leaning against the wall, Dokyeom listlessly looked up at Han Yuseong and Dagon. His eyes stung from lack of proper sleep.

As he rubbed his bloodshot eyes, his thoughts blurred and vanished.

He had, in any case, already decided on a contingency plan.

It was a measure prepared for scenarios where he gained nothing, managed to save the director, or when events veered off course like this.

Yet, it was also an option he deeply wished to avoid.

“There was a skill I needed to acquire, but… a different one appeared instead.

So, from now on, I plan to use a somewhat different method, but I’ve been deliberating because it’s a rather distasteful approach.”

“What kind of method is it that makes you say you’re ‘distasteful’ of it?”

It was a task that had to be done once he failed to obtain .

Dagon stood idly behind them, watching.

To make that creature grow, this method was absolutely essential.

“…I intend to feed Dagon magic stones to make it grow.

I possess the skill, so there’s no need to worry about that, but… since I lack a vassalization skill, I can’t suppress its ferocity.

Therefore, I’ll have to use another method to bind it, similar to vassalization, but… it’s a rather repulsive act, you see.”

“What exactly is this ‘act’ you speak of?”

Han Yuseong pressed on, uncharacteristically persistent this time. His heavy, sunken eyes fixated on Dokyeom without a single blink.

Dokyeom’s gaze darted around before he finally sighed and responded.

“Feeding it my magic power.”

For the first time, Han Yuseong’s eyes widened significantly. A grinding sound soon emanated from his tightly clenched jaw.

Dokyeom understood the fleeting disgust that flickered across his face. Han Yuseong’s gaze drifted to the seal embedded beneath Dokyeom’s ear.

“Why… would Hunter Han Dokyeom do that?”

“I’m not cut out for combat, so should I just go fight on the front lines?

I’m E-grade, Mr. Han Yuseong.

And you seem to think it’s easy to make a monster this docile, but this is the result of constantly using the Rapport skill.

If we just feed it magic stones and let it grow, its rank could rise to a level you wouldn’t envy, so why are we beating around the bush when there’s a good solution right here?”

Monsters were fundamentally a violent species, and most hunters risked their lives to tame them.

Dokyeom’s situation had been a stroke of luck.

Dagon happened to be unconscious, which allowed Dokyeom to heal it and simultaneously use his Rapport skill.

It was a situation bound to create immense synergy.

However, lacking the ability to suppress its innate ferocity, he had intended to acquire a vassalization skill to control its temperament.

Now, without that skill, he had no choice but to rely on a secondary method.

This alternative was a ‘Pavlovian conditioning’ method, taming monsters with magic power.

It was a training method conceived from monsters’ primal desire for hunters’ magic, by offering that magic as a reward.

The training was designed on the premise that monsters who consumed magic power would salivate merely at the sight of a seal.

The research concluded that monsters accustomed to a hunter’s magic would not attack the hunter who fed them.

Furthermore, this training demonstrated an astonishingly high vassalization effect.

“We don’t have time, so I’ll proceed quickly.”

“Hunter Han Dokyeom.”

Ignoring Han Yuseong’s words, which he spat out as if chewing them, Dokyeom rose and approached Dagon.

He then guided Dagon towards the Blue Hole, where magic stones were piled.

“Over there. Let’s go over there. Good boy.”

Dagon tilted its head, then, like a child taking its first steps, bent its back and followed Dokyeom one step at a time. For a typical Dagon, it was remarkably docile.

The grotesque scales covering its body would contract and erect with each movement, as if breathing.

It was fine that Dagon had settled where the magic stones lay, but the problem was how to make this monstrous, fanged creature consume magic power.

If he simply let it eat, he felt he’d be chewed to death.

Dokyeom, who had been tossing a magic stone into the air and pondering, suddenly spoke into the void.

“Orias, let’s use one of your unique skills. Hand it over.”

[‘Orias’, the demon of ‘Lemegeton’, threatens that they cannot allow the magic power of their seal to a mere insignificant creature.]

“You bastard, what have you been listening to all this time?

Do you want me to be bitten to death by those sea urchin-like teeth?

Did you leave your conscience behind when you went out, why are you acting like a child?”

[‘Orias’, the demon of ‘Lemegeton’, advises you to reconsider, stating that it is not a good option.]

He knew. Dokyeom knew it better than anyone; how could he not?

Nevertheless, in this situation, there were no other options.

“I get it, so just hand it over for now. I know, I know.”

With time of the essence, there was no time to find another way.

“Let’s just survive first.”

[‘Orias’, the demon of ‘Lemegeton’, gazes silently at you.]

It was, after all, an act of imparting magic power through their own ‘seal,’ so naturally, hesitation was to be expected.

However, sensing the gravity of the situation, ‘Orias’ ultimately had no choice but to concede and follow Dokyeom’s decision.

[‘Orias’, the demon of ‘Lemegeton’, rummages through their skill pouch.]

Dokyeom met the gaze of Dagon, who sat before him, mouth agape. With its hollow, fish-like eyes grotesquely protruding, Dagon was a monster that hunters avoided taming not only due to its grade but also its repulsive appearance.

Dokyeom now intended to change that, using ‘Orias”s unique Divinity skill.

[‘Divinity Unique Skill’ begins preparation for blossoming.]

Suddenly, the world inverted, and his vision turned black.

He gasped for air, as if submerged underwater.

A deep-seated hatred surged up his throat.

It was a unique trait inherent to demons.

After a moment of exhaling and waiting, black letters gradually began to fill the brilliant void.

It felt as if it were ‘Orias”s wrath.

However, when his vision fully returned, Dokyeom saw ‘Orias”s gift floating before his eyes.

[‘Divinity Unique Skill’ has blossomed.]

‘Orias”s unique Divinity skill, capable of transforming a target into a creature of one’s desired form.

That was it; with this, he could transform Dagon into a human.

“Dagon.”

Dokyeom softly called out to Dagon, who was still opening and closing its mouth. Its fish-like eyes swiveled, piercing him with their gaze.

Dokyeom met its eyes reassuringly, then twisted his neck to reveal the seal. He coaxed Dagon closer.

“Come here. Food, it’s time to eat.”

He slowly, softly, and gently spoke, mimicking Dagon’s mouth movements so it could understand. After a brief wait, as Dagon’s hunger-filled, fish-like eyes terrifyingly dilated, the shadow violently lunged towards Dokyeom.

Before its rake-like hands, with their sharply pointed claws, could seize Dokyeom’s shoulder, Dagon’s savage charge abruptly halted right before his nose, as if restrained by an unseen force.

It was due to the white blade pressed beneath Dagon’s neck. Blue blood instantly welled up and dripped from the sword’s surface, where it had pierced the scales.

Saliva also pooled and dripped from Dagon’s mouth, anticipating its meal.

Had the blade dug in just a little more, its neck would have been severed.

It was Han Yuseong.

With bloodshot eyes, he held his sword beneath Dagon’s neck, blocking that critical inch of distance.

“Mr. Han Yuseong.”

“…You could die, Mr. Han Dokyeom.”

“No, ha… I told you I won’t die.”

He couldn’t understand why reaching this point felt as slow and tangled as a ball of yarn. With a sigh, Dokyeom pushed away Han Yuseong’s faintly trembling sword.

Even as the blade reluctantly retreated, it did not lose its murderous intent until the very last moment.

Meanwhile, the famished Dagon waited like a leashed hound. Even as the magic power from the seal stimulated its appetite, causing saliva to drip and wet its jaw, it suppressed that impulse, enduring patiently.

It waited, and it endured.

This was all the result of .

It had to be seen as the formation of an attachment.

Dokyeom exhaled deeply and gently stroked Dagon’s cheek with his fingertips. Then, he activated ‘Orias”s skill.

‘‘

Human form would suffice. Just that much.

Holding the image of a human form in his mind, he successively touched Dagon’s face, then its shoulders, chest, and limbs.

As he finally stroked the grotesquely erect scales on its back, a burgeoning flash of light filled his vision to the horizon.

Through the light, Dagon’s form could be seen faintly transforming. Its protruding, fish-like eyes receded, and a nose and ears formed harmoniously.

The rough scales seamlessly merged into smooth human skin.

When the entire process culminated in its rebirth as a single creature, Dagon, like a beast unleashed, viciously lunged forward.

Its rounded fingertips pressed down on Dokyeom’s nape, immobilizing him, while its rock-like body crashed into him with painful force.

Then, with a low growl, it sank its teeth into the seal.