The Demon King is Unfathomable

Chapter 23: Reeling in a Big One

A few adventurers staggered out of the Northpeak Shaft’s entrance.

All of them were so relieved to have survived an ordeal that they could kiss the ground beneath them, including the strongest Jack. They nearly lost their lives and became undeads for good.

Looking at the setting sun, Rue murmured, “I can’t believe it... We actually survived.”

‘Though we ended up betraying Lord Saint Sisto...”

But again, it was not as if they were devout believers with noble souls.

They wouldn’t reincarnate into an aristocratic clan in their next life just because they were faithful anyway, so they might as well enjoy their current one.

Jack didn’t say a word. He was thinking whether it was worth making a deal with the demons.

He wasn’t so naive as to think he could ascend to heaven after death, but dealing with the demons was different from dealing with the pirates.

...but it was not as if he had a choice anyway.

As long as there was enough distance between them, a Copper-tier necromancer could easily subdue a Copper-tier warrior.

And that fellow, as someone who had subdued the entire Silver Scimitar, was possibly at Steel-tier or even Platinum-tier. He would be courting death if he hadn’t struck a deal with him there and then!

But now that the necromancer had leverage over them, they were now on the same boat.

A young man carrying a short bow looked at Jack and asked, “What about Chris?”

He was the only one who still remembered they were here to rescue Chris.

Jack eyed the cavern behind him before coldly remarking, “Didn’t you see Bant? I bet Chris’ dead too.”

It was regrettable, but he had already done everything he could.

Ultimately, the two of them were ultimately business associates who got along. The most he could do for her was to collect her corpse and bury her after he got closer to the necromancer. There was nothing else he could help her with.

Looking at their leader’s grim face, Rue softly asked, “What about the kidnap? Are we still doing it?”

Jack pondered about it and shook his head. “...We’ll give up on that. The reward is too high; there must be something off. The client also has quite the background. I heard he’s one of the fief lord’s people.”

Duke Campelle hadn’t been feeling well recently, presumably due to his ailing age.

There was word on the street that most god elects, other than the Ors Empire’s emperor, had rough later years.

The client neglected to mention who the kidnapping target was despite having promised a generous reward. This left him with an ominous feeling. He also thought that it would be best to avoid risky trades for the next few days given that he had just cursed at Saint Sisto.

On that note, that necromancer surprised him.

He thought that fellow would request hard-to-source, illegal items, but he made an order for weapons and tools instead. Being a necromancer’s intermediary was also a job that warranted the death penalty if caught, but it was still not as risky as kidnapping a noble.

All he had to do was to ship the goods to the abandoned inn then scour the horse stable’s straw heap for treasure.

He had plenty of subordinates who could do this work. There was no less riskier trade than this.

Jack walked up to the carriage but suddenly halted. He directed warning eyes at his fellow comrades and said, “No one is to divulge what happened today, got it?”

The crowd hurriedly nodded before making solemn vows on that.

“Got it!”

Jack nodded his head in satisfaction. He leaped onto the carriage and patted the coach’s shoulder, a gesture that the latter could leave now.

‘Actually, that is a good idea. Why have I never thought about that? Rather than have these faithless criminals swear on Saint Sisto’s name, it is more effective to record them swearing to the Demon God. As long as I have the recording in hand, it would be as good as grasping them by their balls.’

The more Jack thought about it, the more ingenious he thought this move was. A normal human would have never thought of something as psychopathic as this!

However, the magic crystals dropped by skeleton players were of the lowest quality, so the Adventurer Guild wouldn’t offer much for it—not even a copper coin. After all, summoning a skeleton soldier cost only 1 faith.

But of course, players wouldn’t know these things.

The soulfire in Dogshit’s eye sockets suddenly flickered as he thought of something incredible. “Hold on... If we collect magic crystals from player corpses, doesn’t that mean that we can endlessly farm magic crystals by continuously killing ourselves and reviving?”

Fecespool was taken aback.

“Holy shit, you are a genius!”

They might be unable to sell these magic crystals now, but who knew what the future had in store? They would be rich if these things could be sold for hundreds of hell coins in NPC stores later on!

The two of them exchanged looks and understood each other’s intentions.

“Shall we stockpile?”

“Of course!”

While they were discussing who should die first, an ink-green notification suddenly popped up before all the players.

【a.0.2 Update Notice: New Currency System!

1. Reworking the Revive System!

With the exception of ‘Monster Siege’ events, players will now lose 20 contribution points upon death. (The amount of contribution points deducted may differ depending on the race and level. Check our patch notes for more detailed information.)

2. Friend and Party System Update!

You may add in-game friends and communicate privately with your newly-acquainted brothers and sisters now!

3. Possession System Update!

Equipment purchased through NPC stores will be registered under the player. Looted equipment can also be registered in NPC stores, but there will be a processing of 10% of the equipment’s estimated value.

Registered equipment can be listed on the official sales platform.

Other players are also forbidden from taking registered equipment that aren’t under their name. Players who have their registered equipment stolen by another player can report the matter, and the game administrator will take action against the violator.

Also, do note that there will be penalties for maliciously destroying other players’ registered equipment, as well as compensation for retrieving other players’ registered equipment. Check our patch notes for more detailed information.

4. NPC Store Update

NPC stores will be introduced in three days. Equipment blueprints have been updated on the official site.

Also, NPC stores will be hiring players as sales assistants, and they will receive their salary in hell coins. We welcome lifestyle players to join our ranks~

5. Increasing the Closed Beta Player Count to 500!

We are opening applications again! Interested players should register as soon as possible!

PS: Our game doesn’t support ID change at the moment. For your gaming experience, please think thrice before keying in your username!】

Fecespool and Dogshit froze as if they were struck by lightning.

Of that long system notification, they only saw the first subject and immediately lost their mood to continue reading.

‘There is now a death penalty of 20 contribution points! There’s no need to farm anymore!’

“Fuck!”

“This bug fix arrived too timely!”