The Taming Master

Honestly, the odds were half and half .

‘No, the chances of winnings were much higher . ’

Of course, as long as the Commander’s Roar unique ability was in progress, there was no way for Ian to beat Mukan .

But he had a ‘not going to lose’ confidence .

Ignoring the attacks, the survival skills were just enough to endure anything .

And if he could have survived the duration of ‘Commander’s Roar’ . Then he could have created plenty of odds .

‘Barrier, Descend . Space distortion… there were plenty of things to survive . ’

But Ian hadn’t done those .

Woong-!

With a low voice, the darkened view slowly brightened .

And with that system messages came before Ian’s eyes .

Tring-!

[Died from the attack of Mukan, the Underworld King . ]

[‘Soul Bound’ effect has been triggered . ]

[Death Penalty (24 hours not accessible) doesn’t apply . ]

[Experience points have been reduced . ]

[1 level has been reduced . ]

[You are in the state of ‘dead’ . ]

[* ‘Dead state’ penalty: become ‘Undead’ and get stuck in the underworld for three days (While in Undead, experience, and items cannot be obtained . )]

[Open your eyes again . ]

Was it 2 seconds since the system messages have come up?

Ian’s blackened vision began to brighten once again .

‘Well, is this the Underworld?’

But the place that Ian looked at seemed very familiar .

The place he had lived for the last month .

The steep spot where the Falcacio castle rose .

‘…!’

Ian who was flustered looked around immediately .

The Underworld King who had won the battle couldn’t be seen anywhere, and the only group of users around him caught his eyes .

But the next moment, not knowing just took a deep breath .

And right before the eyes of Ian, was the fallen body of his .

‘Ah, sh*t, scared me to death!’

Was a breakout supposed to feel like that?

Ian could feel his whole body have goosebumps .

“There was no need to implement this so realistically . ”

Ian mumbled to himself and looked at Hoonie who seemed very sad .

Surely his situation gave him creeps too, but apart from that, he was curious and playful .

‘Should I have some fun with Hoonie?’

As Ian was literally a ghost, no one could actually see him .

Ian approached the back of Hoonie and moved his hands towards him .

Swoop-!

Unfortunately, the translucent hands couldn’t touch Hoonie .

[Physical power cannot be done while in a state of ‘dead’ . ]

“Sh*t…”

Ian cursed and looked around .

Realizing that nothing could be done in the place, he was thinking of why he couldn’t find a way to the underworld?

But right then, when Ian was about to turn around .

The deceased Ian of Lotus, right?

A voice of someone was ringing in the ears of Ian,

Rather than being heard with his ears, the sound felt like it was echoing all over his head .

Ian reflexively turned his head, a mysterious man wearing a huge black camp was in his sight .

As if he was walking down to the transparent stairs, the man slowly descended from the sky towards Ian .

And when he saw the figure, Ian mumbled under his breath .

“Ha, Grim Reaper!”

The reason for Ian’s astonishment was simple .

It was because the behavior of the man was very familiar .

A man with a familiar appearance that appeared in oriental tales; which had black shades, and black coat .

The man was literally screaming ‘I am the Grim Reaper’ from every part of his body, and Ian’s response surprised him .

-How do you know me?

“Uh?”

-What is your identity?!

At the question of identity, Ian responded with a rather silly face .

“I’m looking at you for the first time . I don’t know you . ”

-Didn’t you just say ‘Grim Reaper’?

“Ah, that… I did right?”

-How did you know that I’m the Grim Reaper?

“That…”

-…?

“You look like the Grim Reaper . ”

-…!

The two people were looking at each other with a rather silly expression . No, a ghost .

The side whose mouth opened the first was the Grim Reaper .

-Well, is it a ‘person you remember from a past life’?

“What is that?”

-Ah, not that human . But follow me for now .

He shook his head and then pointed his hand to a direction .

An empty crack began to appear at a space .

Woong- Woong-!

A purple portal leading to a dimension was created by distorting the space .

To Ian who was witnessing all this with a blank expression, the Grim Reaper spoke in a rather dry manner .

-Get in there .

“What is in there?”

-A haven for the dead .

“Underworld?”

-…?

The Grim Reaper once again narrowed his eyes .

But soon the Grim Reaper decided to speak with Ian and opened his mouth again .

-Just don’t talk and get in there .

“The, well . ”

Ian just nodded and stepped into the portal without any hesitation .

The purple energy sucked Ian inside .

The Grim Reaper, after watching it from behind, took slow strides with a frown still on his face .

– Suspicious guy .

As the Grim Reaper entered the portal, the whole portal vanished like it never existed .

* * *

Tring-!

[You have entered the ‘Underworld’ for the first time . ]

[Since you are dead, the initial discovery reward doesn’t apply . ]

[You have discovered the ‘Underworld’ for the first time . ]

[Acquired fame of 100,000 . ]

[In ‘Underworld’ physical power can be exerted even in the state of ‘dead’ . ]

[You have entered the dimensional type, ‘Middle-Earth’ . ]

[All the stats from the Earth are rebuilt . ]

[Transcendence level will be applied . ]

A whole new dimension, an entirely new dimension type called the ‘Middle-Earth’, a lot of system messages came up for Ian .

‘Huhu, I’m going to be the first intermediate . ’

For Ian to purposely die in the hands of the Underworld King, a well enough reason was present .

And it was extremely intense and computational .

‘It wasn’t default on the contract of the Titan Guild… so I didn’t do anything wrong . ’

The ‘dead state’ that allowed him to enter the Underworld .

It was in fact a penalty with quite a risk .

The death penalty, that didn’t allow a login for 24 hours, didn’t apply, and the 1st level down penalty applied .

In addition, three days of being trapped in the Underworld without gaining experience or rewards were actually worse than the average death penalty .

But that was all ‘only in general’ .

‘Since I have the Dimensional Beads…’

Ian had the Dimensional Beads that would open the path to anywhere if he had been there .

If the map was known; the coordinates could be opened, and the door could be opened at any time, which meant Ian could come to the place after the 3 days death penalty .

‘The Underworld King’s necklace cooldown time was 15 days . Even if Shakran manages to win over the Underworld King, I will be able to enter 12 days early, and first . ’

And that didn’t break the contract with Shakran .

And the opportunity he was offered was the entry to the Underworld .

As he was feeling a bit sorry, he just did method acting .

He did his very best and then died trying, it would hurt Shakran to pursue it .

‘I’m glad that the King was strong, if he was weak, I wouldn’t have been able to enter anyway . ’

Ian smiled while he remembered the Underworld King and put his hand through his hair .

Even the time that he has to do a penalty in a ‘dead state’, he had things he had thought of .

Ian was going to go through the underworld for three days and then figure out as much content as he possibly could .

‘Highest efficiency hunting ground, pre-emptive items . I need to know everything that I can possibly get . I need to find the best location to open the dimensional portal…’

Ian came up with these and other numerous plans in his head, he started to look around .

And the first sight to enter was a large river with no end, and a small ferry .

“That can be rode?”

Mumbled Ian as he slowly approached the small ferry .

But after a while, in the plan of Ian’s, came in a huge disruption .

The person who disrupted his thoughts had appeared .

-Uh, human . Where are you moving in that direction?

Ian reflexively looked in the direction of the sound, and there was the Grim Reaper looking at Ian with a ridiculous look .

“Uh? Uncle, why are you here?”

-Huh?

“Isn’t this hell?”

-Right .

“Doesn’t your job finishes when bringing me to the next place?”

At the logical question from Ian, the Grim Reaper seemed a little stunned .

-That… that so…?

Ian spoke to him again,

“You must be busy, right?”

-Me?

“Yeah . There are many people who have died apart from me . You need to bring them too . ”

At the question from Ian, the Grim Reaper pulled out a yellow paper into his hands .

-Yeah well . I do have a lot of work to do today .

“Don’t bother with me anymore, and go on and take care of the next job . ”

-That, that so?

“Yeah . I’ll find out and take that ship . Okay?”

Ian was persuading the Grim Reaper to prevent any disruption in his plan, he moved over and got on the ferry boat .

Waving his hands to the Grim Reaper, he spoke loudly,

“You did great work uncle . I’ll buy you a meal next time!”

The Grim Reaper couldn’t help but feel confused at the conversation he had with Ian, he was in a dazzled state .

Ian got onto the boat and began to paddle across the river .

-Something, something is strange…?

The Grim Reaper looked over at the ferry boat with a dull expression .

His mumbling was the only thing that could be heard in the empty Underworld .