Chapter 8: The Saint and the Salamander
First, a glimpse into the system that Han Do-Hyun never sees.
[PET STATUS SCREEN]
Name: Sooty
Species: Abyssal Void-Dragon (Ancient Larva)
Designated Owner: Han Do-Hyun (The Master of the End)
• Attack: [UNMEASURABLE: CONCEPTUAL ENTITY]
• Defense: [UNMEASURABLE: EXISTS OUTSIDE CONVENTIONAL REALITY]
• World-Eater's Nap (Passive): Sooty sleeps approximately 22 hours a day. During this time, it passively absorbs the ambient mana, prayers, and fears of all living things within a 5-mile radius to sustain its growth.
• Pity Me (Passive): Its true form is incomprehensible to mortal minds. The system automatically renders it as a pathetic, injured-looking lizard to prevent widespread insanity.
• Primordial Glare: When annoyed, can show a target a 0.001-second glimpse of its true nature.
[Current Mood: MILDLY ANNOYED / HUNGRY]
• Note: The 'Dried Squid' is an inadequate substitute for the 'Wagyu Beef' the God-King provided. It considers the beef more valuable than the souls of a thousand S-Rank Hunters.
The Challenge
The rooftop of the Lotte World Tower was a vortex of wind and noise from a swarm of news helicopters. In the center of the helipad stood the Sword Saint of the USA, Arthur Sterling. He was Rank-2 in the world, a man whose blond hair and chiseled jaw seemed sculpted from divine marble, and he was not happy about being demoted to second place by a "Nameless Korean Glitch."
His legendary blade, Holy Light's Verdict, pulsed with a brilliant golden aura that pushed back the clouds.
"Where is he?!" Arthur boomed, his voice magically amplified to be heard across the city. "Where is this coward who hides behind system errors and broken algorithms? Face me like a man!"
Inside the penthouse, Han Do-Hyun was hiding under the kitchen table.
'He's here! The Sword Saint! The #2 Hunter in the world is going to kill me personally for being a fraud!' Do-Hyun's teeth were chattering so hard he accidentally bit his tongue, producing a yelp. 'I have to surrender! I need to tell him it was all a terrible, terrible mistake!'
He grabbed Sooty, who was gnawing contentedly on a piece of dried squid, and began crawling toward the balcony. His logic was simple and terrified: if he showed the world's greatest hero that he was just a normal, pathetic guy with a pet lizard, surely the hero wouldn't pulverize him.
Do-Hyun slid open the glass doors, his face pale and tear-streaked.
"Wait!" he squeaked, holding Sooty out in front of him like a scaly, wriggling shield. "I... I just... please take this!"
[Translation Active: The Sovereign's Ransom]
What Arthur Sterling heard was not a squeak, but a voice colder and older than the stars themselves,
"YOU STAND BEFORE ME. OFFER YOUR FEALTY, OR I SHALL UNLEASH THIS CALAMITY UPON YOUR SOUL."
Holy Light's Verdict, an S-Rank artifact that had never known fear, began to scream—a high-pitched, metallic shriek of pure terror. The divine golden light was instantly snuffed out, and the blade's holy inscriptions turned a corrupted, vein-like black.
Arthur's arrogant gaze fell from Do-Hyun to the "calamity" in his hands.
Sooty looked back. It was annoyed that its squid snack had been interrupted. It let out a tiny, bored puff of black smoke.
To the world, it was a cute, harmless burp.
To Arthur Sterling, it was a Vision of the End. His mind was ripped from his body and thrown across eons. He saw the stars being extinguished one by one, like candles in a gale. He saw entire galaxies being chewed and swallowed like pieces of cosmic jerky. He saw the "lizard" grow into a shadow that blotted out the universe, its red eyes the last two lights in existence before they, too, went dark.
"Th-That's..." Arthur's knees gave out. His Holy Sword, unable to bear the psychic backlash of being in Sooty's mere presence, shattered into a billion motes of dust. "The Void-Dragon... you... you have tamed the Star-Eater?"
Do-Hyun was just confused. 'Why is he crying? And why did he break his own expensive sword? Is… is it because my lizard is too ugly? Is he offended by Sooty's appearance?!'
"I'm sorry!" Do-Hyun yelled, taking a step forward in a panic to apologize. "I know he's small and weird-looking!"
[Translation Active: "HE IS BUT A FRACTION OF MY TRUE POWER. DO NOT OFFEND HIM WITH YOUR GAZE."]
Arthur Sterling didn't just bow—he prostrated himself, slamming his forehead against the concrete helipad with a sickening crack.
"I AM A FOOL! AN INSECT! A SPECK OF INSIGNIFICANT DUST!" he screamed, his voice raw with primal terror. "PLEASE, OH GREAT SOVEREIGN, SPARE MY COUNTRY! I FORFEIT! I FORFEIT MY RANK, MY TITLE, MY EVERYTHING!"
He scrambled backward on all fours like a crab, then launched himself off the side of the skyscraper, activating his emergency flight skill to flee as fast as physically possible.
The Global Viral Reaction
[BREAKING: THE SWORD SAINT, ARTHUR STERLING, DEFEATED IN 0.5 SECONDS WITHOUT A SINGLE BLOW!]
Post: "The Rank-2 Hero didn't even draw his sword! Han Do-Hyun simply showed him a small 'Black Spirit,' and the Saint's Holy Weapon disintegrated from pure fear! Sterling is currently on a private jet back to D.C., and sources say he is retiring to a monastery to 'repent for his staggering arrogance.'"
User : "Did you see Lord Han's face? He looked so disappointed. He didn't even consider Arthur Sterling worthy of a single swing of his legendary kitchen knife. He let his pet handle the trash."