I Never Run Out of Mana

131. Demonic Realm Guide Karin

“Kerut.”

Out of the 6 duffel bags that were filled with beef, Karin had eaten one of them completely.

It made me wonder how he was able to shove in so much food into his small little body.

Patting his belly, he wore a satisfied expression.

“Whew. I feel alive again.”

“Keru. The steak was good.”

“How were you able to eat all that?”

“Keru keru. Human, there is nothing that is impossible. I am not a goblin that gives up easily.”

“Don’t get so fired up on something like that!”

“Kel kel! Human, I am curious about something.”

“What’s up?”

“I know that you, my human master, is named Min-Cheol.”

“Yep.”

“Then what is the name of that human that you are raising….?”

The single grain of rice that was left in Jong Ho’s bowl flew from his fingertips, hitting Karin on his forehead dead center.

In a single moment, the well cooked grain of rice had transformed into a weapon.

Being hit by that, Karin let out a scream of pain and froze with his mouth agape.

I was thankful that he didn’t die from that.

To be hit with such force, anyone would be wearing an expression like that.

“Kehk!”

“Hyung-nim! Control your own strength. Our food storage….. I mean, Karin could implode from that.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know that much at least. However, I need to make sure that he learns who’s in charge.”

“What is the meaning of this! You lowly…..”

Karin could not finish his sentence.

It was because his eyes met with Jong Ho’s fierce glare.

Lowering his gaze immediately, he croaked out an apology.

“Ahem! Keruru…… I’m sorry.”

“My name is Jong Ho. Lee Jong Ho. Remember it well. I’ll be quizzing you on it later.”

“Keruru. I understand. I won’t forget……”

“That’s right! Anyways, Min-Cheol. What of the Gate? Did you take care of the monsters near it?”

“Yes. I took care of all that I could find as a cautionary measure, but it probably won’t be long until they come back. There are a lot of monsters after all.”

“Keru. That’s right. The amount of magical energy the Gate is giving off is massive. It’s enough to entice most lesser monsters nearby into a frenzied charge towards the Gate.”

“Hm….. Seems we’ll have to find a way to deal with it?”

“I have some summoned creatures guarding it as a temporary measure for now, but this won’t serve as a permanent solution.”

“It’s still better than nothing. But as you said, they won’t last long.”

“Yes. Karin, can the demon king and the leader of the remaining demon tribe able to sense the magical energy of the Gate that leads to Earth?”

“Keru. Not for now at least.”

“What do you for now?”

“Kel! Unless you get close to the Gate, you won’t be able to sense the magical energy of the Gate, even if the one trying to detect it was the demon king. Other than the magical energy of the two of you, he wouldn’t be able to sense anything else.”

“Does that mean that he’s able to pinpoint our exact location?”

“Keru. He can’t do that either. All he would know is that you two are somewhere in the demonic realm.”

“Hm….  That’s not too bad. I guess there are things that this omnipotent demon king can’t do?”

“Kel! However, we should keep moving! He probably doesn’t know about the existence of the Gate yet, but he should have noticed that Berdan’s magical energy signature has vanished. Currently, I’m able to detect both Zekill and Berdan’s magical energies within you. If I’m able to sense your powerful magical energy flowing within you, then there is no way that the demon king has missed it. He will definitely come here to investigate.”

“……”

“Guess that means we gotta provoke him.”

“Taunting him?”

“Yes. If the demon king did come here, he will learn of the location Gate, since it isn’t far from where we are right now. The whole point of us coming here was to minimize the damage that Earth takes from this ordeal, right?”

“Of course.”

“This means that making sure the Gate isn’t discovered has become our top priority. If he does cross over to Earth…….”

“It would be over for Earth. To taunt him…….  What do you have in mind? It’s not like you’re saying that we should charge headfirst into fighting against him.”

“Of course, that’s not it. Karin.”

“Kel? Speak, Min-Cheol.”

“We are going to the leader of the remaining demonic tribe. Let’s head for his territory.”

“Keruk! We’re going to where Ladin is?”

“Yep. The demon king can sense his magical energy as well.”

“That’s obvious.”

“If Ladin perishes, he can easily tell that I’ve moved locations, right?”

“That’s true……”

“Why? Even after seeing this, you can’t trust us?”

I cracked my neck.

In the castle where we finished our meal, the place had become ruin.

On top of that, the monsters that had filled this enormous castle had become nothing more than unrecognizable corpses.

Looking around his surroundings, Karin swallowed his spit before speaking.

“That’s not it….. However, Ladin has become incredibly strong as of now.”

“That’s different from what you told me before though? You said that the demon king Jamon is number one, while Berdan was second, followed by Ladin as the third?”

“Keruu…. That was the case up to just a few days ago. However, that’s not the case anymore.”

“…….”

“The demon king gave greater powers to Ladin. He has given both Berdan’s land and subjects to Ladin.”

“This has become quite a pain. I was hoping to take down one of the remaining demon leaders easily.”

“Kel….. Min-Cheol, if you were able to use magical energies, not only will Ladin not be able to face you, but even the demon king wouldn’t be able to hold himself against you. It’s a shame.”

“Well, we don’t have time to waste on something that we can’t use. Either way, Ladin will be weaker than the demon king, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then let’s go! Does anyone oppose? Perhaps the goblin?”

“H……”

“Well……”

“Done. We’ll be going now. To Ladin. Karin, lead the way.”

“Kel?”

****

With Karin, our guide for the demonic realm, leading the way, we headed for Ladin’s territory.

According to Karin, he said that it wasn’t far from here.

I heard that the demonic realm was huge, so I was quite thankful.

I even wondered that I had been scared unnecessarily and brought too much food.

After much time passed, I asked Karin.

“Karin, how much further?”

“Kehek! Kehek! We’re nearly there.”

And like that, far more time passed by.

“How much further?”

“We’ll be there soon.”

“Min-Cheol, haven’t we been running for 3 hours already?”

“He said that we’re nearly there.”

“Hey, Karin.”

“Kehek! Speak, Jong Ho.”

“Just how many more hours before we’re there?”

“Kehem…. Probably half a month.”

“Ah, half a month.”

“We just have to go for half a month.”

Both Jong Ho and I stopped at the same time.

We then proceeded to question if our hearing was still ok.

Jong Ho then gave a hollow smile while looking at me.

“I must have heard wrong, right?”

“Of course. What did you hear?”

“Half a month. Hey, no way that’s the case. Right?”

“You little shit…. Karin!”

“Kehk! Why are you doing that human!”

“Come here, you little shit! It’s my fault for trusting you!”

“Min-Cheol….. Why….. Why are you doing this. In the demonic realm, that pretty close by. You can’t compare this place with your tiny Earth’s standards.”

“Ha……”

I wanted to smash him into the ground right this moment.

This stupid goblin was ranting on about how it would take half a month.

I was so flabbergasted that I was about to let out a soulless laugh.

If he didn’t carry our food supply in his pocket dimension and wasn’t intelligent to deliver information on the demonic realm, he would be buddies with the ferryman of the River Styx by now.

Barely able to contain my boiling anger, I spoke.

“Whew…. Get on.”

“Kemuruk…..”

“I’m not angry, so get on.”

“Okay.”

“Hyung-nim, I know it’s gross, but hurry up and hold onto me.”

“Again?”

“Can’t help it. Karin, I’m not expecting much. Just make sure you’re giving me the correct directions. If you tell me that we’ve gone in the wrong direction halfway through traveling or some nonsense along the lines of this being the wrong place, you best be prepared to die, okay?”

“Kerut….. Min-Cheol, are you sure that you aren’t mad?”

“Oh! Not at all! Not in the slightest!”

“Alright! I know the demonic realm like the back of my hand. Don’t worry!”

“I really hope that’s the case.

****

“That’s the place?”

“Yes. That castle in the distance is Ladin’s castle.”

“We should’ve done this in the first place….. Whatever. For now, let’s use this spot that’s far away from the castle as our base camp.”

“Why? Aren’t we going there right away?”

“Yes. I have to first set up a Warp to the Gate. I need to make sure that my summoned creatures are holding the line properly.”

“Then should I go?”

“No. Since the Warp cooldown is 12 hours long, we have to rotate cooldowns between us to get to the Gate. I’ll go first.”

“Okay. I’ll be scouting the area nearby.”

“Yes. Don’t overdo it.”

“Of course. Safety first!”

Min-Cheol moved into the Warp.

Now Jong Ho and Karin were the only ones left here. It was just the two them.

Perhaps still feeling the shock from Jong Ho’s rice grain attack, Karin only glanced at him time to time in silence.

The one to break the silence was Jong Ho.

“Are you upset?”

“No.”

“Hey, you are upset. I’m sorry for before.You know, hitting with that grain of rice.”

“……”

“You wanna eat some steak?”

“I don’t need it. I’ll eat it when Min-Cheol returns.”

“Hm……”

Jong Ho tried to get Karin to stop pouting, burning time in doing so.

It was then.

Jong Ho sensed a presence from nearby.

However, he didn’t pay much heed to it.

After all, countless monsters roamed the fields of the demonic realm.

He thought that it was just a wandering monster or something.

The owner of the sound was a monster alright.

However, with a single word from Karin, the mood changed in an instant.

“Keh! D….. Demon king!”

“Hush!”

Jong Ho pressed down Karin’s head and laid low on the ground.

He then asked in a whisper.

“Where? Where is the demon king?”

“Kel…. I cannot see him. However, I can sense it. The demon king’s magical energy!”

“Damn it…. This means that he would’ve sensed our magical energies as well……”

“He shouldn’t have been able to sense my magical energy, since there are plenty of monsters nearby. However, Jong Ho, you on the other hand…..”

“Is he getting close?”

“Kuhuk! He’s not alone!”

“……”

“Ladin… Ladin is with him!”

“Damn it…….”

“Jong Ho! We have to run away immediately.”

“I understand, so be quiet for now.”

“What will you do?”

Jong Ho was briefly lost in thought.

Since he could cast Warp right now, it wasn’t that difficult to escape this place.

However, it was obvious that Karin wouldn’t be able to follow.

After all, only the caster could go through the Warp.

However, he wasn’t in a situation where he could just abandon Karin and run away by himself.

Karin had absolutely no combat capabilities.

Many violent monsters nearby were glaring at him, eyeing him with aggression.

‘The only solution here would be Mass Stealth Jutsu…..’

The conclusion that Jong Ho came to was to use Mass Stealth Jutsu.

The Balrock ring could store all spells with the exception of shields and recovery magic.

The stealth spell should be stored inside the ring somewhere.

Jong Ho spoke in a whisper to Karin once more.

“I’ll bring him here, so stay quiet as a dead rat.”

“Kel? Jong Ho….. Are you leaving me by myself?”

“At this rate, the two of us will die. This is the only way where we can both stay alive.”

“Keruwu…..”

Jong Ho hid Karin’s form completely and then casted Warp.

It was then.

“A….. Aaaaa!”

“Human? So you are the so called human race…..”