The grasshopper demon emerged from nothingness and lunged at Luciria. It had killed the bodyguard Sven hired as easily as slaughtering a chicken. That bodyguard was a Level 25 warrior—equivalent to a D-Rank Hunter. He couldn't be called top-tier in terms of strength, but he wasn't shabby either. At the very least, Sven had never witnessed a D-Rank Hunter die from a single attack in all thirty-two years of his life.

  "Lucy!" Sven screamed his sister's name.

  Luciria's legs trembled like a fledgling bird's before the bloodthirsty grasshopper. Its mouth gaped open, letting brain matter and gore spill from its wide maw. The genius girl who could defeat children five years older—in the end, she was still just a naive child with no experience of the world. When faced with pressure too intense for her mind to bear, her entire world crumbled, and she lost the ability to think.

  "Protect the young miss!" A bodyguard unleashed blazing red planar. Magic blades materialized and shot forward as flying knives. Magic blades were low-level spells, but they were fast and effective for urgent attacks. Dozens of blades spun through the air, striking from all directions.

  The grasshopper flicked its arm and deflected them all in the blink of an eye.

  "O flames, become my armor!" The bodyguard drew a short blade hidden beneath his suit jacket while conjuring fire that blazed into armor encasing his body. He stood blocking Luciria, receiving the grasshopper demon's attacks head-on. His duty was to protect his master with his life.

  The instant the scythe-arm struck his blade, waves of agony coursed through the bodyguard's body.

  "Guh!" The bodyguard swallowed blood back down his throat. Even a clash through weapons could inflict damage this severe. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if that attack landed directly. He'd probably end up decapitated like his fellow bodyguard who had confidently taken the hit with his bare body—that was why he'd ended up in such a state.

  Every bodyguard was required to train in a technique called [Stone Body], which made their bodies exceptionally durable—able to take bullets or attacks for their masters at any moment. Blades couldn't pierce them. Bullets couldn't kill them.

  But attacks that dealt damage regardless of defense values—this was what body-cultivation practitioners were most vulnerable to. Defensive magic and body techniques were nearly useless against it. This creature was an assassin born specifically to kill bodyguards like them.

  The grasshopper demon moved its scythe-arms so swiftly that ordinary human eyes could barely follow. The bodyguard moved his arms with all his might to deflect as many attacks as possible—not letting young miss Luciria receive even a single scratch.

  Another bodyguard ran around to flank. He gathered flames at his palm and shaped them into a magic fireball.

  Second Stage: Phoenix Talons!

  The fireball shot forward and transformed into razor-sharp talons of a mythical bird. It was a spell designed to bind the target in place while dealing fire-element damage.

  The grasshopper demon drew planar around its body. It flicked its scythe-arm, and the image fell upon the eyes—the spell was swept away into nothingness.

  "My magic was dispelled that easily! What the hell is this thing?" The mage-bodyguard pulled out special glasses and put them on. They were power-analysis equipment linked to the federal government's database called [Level-Link], allowing a rough estimate of an opponent's level and power rankings.

  [Level 30] [Common Stage, Tier 8] [Strength: D+] [Planar Quality: D+] [Response: C+] [Mental Power: C] [Intelligence: E+] [Charm: F+]

  "Its stats are completely ordinary—so where does this terrifying, hair-raising aura come from?"

  The bodyguard was a former Hunter with extensive experience. Opportunities to encounter Level 30 or higher monsters weren't frequent, true, but he had seen them several times. Yet none had ever felt this threatening before. The intense killing intent and the terror that welled up from the depths of his soul—his instincts told him this creature was humanity's natural predator, born to slaughter and devour them as food. In its eyes, humans were nothing more than walking protein sources—no different from pigs or cattle.

  It began moving again. One bodyguard rushed forward with his blade to intercept while Luciria's legs had gone rigid—she couldn't take even a single step. Its blood-red eyes paid no attention to the two muscular men fighting against it. Its target was solely the twelve-year-old girl who was still weak and innocent.

  Both men used their hardened bodies to create planar shields and receive its attacks—diverting its attention to prevent it from getting close to Luciria. But every attack created pressure that affected the receiver's mental state. Even Luciria, who wasn't being attacked directly, was affected. The constant feeling of being suppressed until she couldn't breathe only made things worse for the bodyguards. Their efficiency in controlling planar deteriorated.

  "What do we do? Help definitely won't arrive in time." Sven had already sent a distress message. This wasn't the capital, so backup would take a while to arrive. Sven feared all his bodyguards would die first—then he and Luciria would become the next targets.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He thought about calling friends at the training center who could probably arrive faster. But those people were just ordinary exam candidates—how could they possibly handle a monster that seemed to have crawled straight out of hell?

  "Hah... hah... hey, could you get something from my car for me?" Jinyo, sitting and gasping for breath, made a request to Sven.

  Sven turned to look at the man who had just miraculously survived the accident. A young man who appeared weak with no aura of a master—the one Joden had spat on as incompetent. Someone without even the power to cultivate—what could he possibly do in a situation like this?

  Sven didn't want to waste time talking. It would be better to run and carry Luciria away than to rely on someone half-dead like him.

  "Your eyes already give away what you're thinking. I'm not offended. But you'll regret it if you don't cooperate with me. You've got nothing to lose anyway. Will you go grab my things so I can fight, or will you carry the young miss and run with that scrawny body of yours? Either way, you can't outrun that grasshopper's legs. Your choice."

  "Fine then. You're right. If someone's volunteering to die and buy time, I have no reason to refuse." Sven was also curious about what made Jinyo so smooth-tongued now. Even if they ran, they wouldn't get far—might as well gamble on this unemployed contract teacher.

  Sven thought his life was truly turbulent to have to rely on a stranger in a crisis like this.

  The badly damaged car door was wrenched off with ease. Behind the driver's seat were a sword, a black backpack, and a portable thermos.

  Sven tossed everything to Jinyo, who sat aching all over. He wondered what secret Jinyo had in that backpack that could save them from this crisis.

  Jinyo unzipped the backpack and pulled out what was inside. It was... fried potatoes.

  "What?" Sven's face turned utterly hopeless.

  Thin, crispy fried potato slices dusted with salt, packed tightly in large bags. Crispy fried potatoes you could buy at any convenience store. A household staple paired with soda while watching shows or reading books—not some powerful weapon or rare elixir.

  "Hey! Are you messing with me? It's just fried potatoes—what can you do with those?"

  "These aren't ordinary fried potatoes."

  "Then what are they?"

  "Homemade fried potatoes!"

  "..."

  Sven absently placed a hand on his own neck. If he received any more shocking news, he might just strangle himself to death.

  Jinyo tore open the bag and shoved fried potatoes into his mouth. Calling it "eating" was too generous—he practically crammed them down his throat. Ten kilograms of thin, crispy fried potato chips were emergency rations that provided high energy, especially since they were made from Exploding Potatoes grown in the Garden of the Sword—far superior to regular Exploding Potatoes.

  His body, which absorbed nutrients from plants and converted them into energy instantly, began recovering from pain and exhaustion, regaining its strength.

  Jinyo opened the thermos. But what was inside wasn't hot water as Sven expected—it was mushy rice porridge emitting a powerful fragrance. Sven's eyes widened when he caught the scent of rice drifting on the wind. Born into a wealthy family, he had seen things ordinary people never got to see. But he had never smelled rice of this quality before. Even the dullest fool would know this wasn't ordinary rice. This was high-grade miraculous rice that common people couldn't dream of touching.

  Jinyo gulped down the rice porridge. The Immortal Rice, simmered until soft, boosted his power immediately. His planar recovery rate, injuries, and exhaustion practically vanished. The young man rose and drew his sword from its sheath. The pink blade adorned with floral patterns reflected the moonlight, creating a pink aura. Every movement made those flowers seem alive.

  "An Ether sword! No—a famous blade? Who the hell are you?" Sven looked at the ancient characters carved on the sword. The crest of peach blossoms and a full moon displayed the unique identity of its wielder.

  Jinyo smiled wryly and turned to look at Sven. How overlooked must his identity be for this young master not to realize his surname was Southerncross?

  Bloodline Deduction!

  [Grasshopper Demon Level 30(?)] [Status: Slave of Heaven]

  Slave of Heaven—one branded as a servant of Heaven. They would receive immense power and wisdom from above, in exchange for being controlled by another's will and losing their rights as living beings forever.

  Information about the grasshopper demon flooded his brain. It was different from Chimera Wolf, where he couldn't read anything at all. Now he could clearly see numerical values, abnormal statuses, and its strengths and weaknesses.

  He hadn't just been sitting idly watching. He had used the two bodyguards fighting as distractions to buy time for Eye of the Sage to gather enough data.

  Jinyo wasn't at the Garden of the Sword. With zero Spirit Essence here, he couldn't use Nature Synthesis Technique to recover power during battle. But the life force from the Immortal Rice he had just eaten nourished his body, allowing it to recover power as quickly as if he were at the Garden of the Sword—equivalent to 2 units of Spirit Essence. The effect would last for 2 minutes.

  The young man quickened his pace toward the grasshopper demon—devoid of any fear toward its power and the threatening aura it radiated indiscriminately.

  The technique it was using now was called [Intimidating Aura]. It released mental power to dominate the consciousness and senses of opponents, inducing fear, destroying confidence, and reducing efficiency in using power. It was highly effective against those with weak minds but useless against those with equal or greater mental power.

  The instant Jinyo entered its perception range, the intense Intimidating Aura focused specifically on him.

  Jinyo steeled his mind and charged forward, swinging Poet's Aria and generating an intense pink aura. The grasshopper demon faltered—its Intimidating Aura had no effect on this young man whose power was even weaker than the two men in black.

  From its perspective, it was like seeing two large water jars and a glass filled to the brim. But that tiny glass didn't contain ordinary water like what was stored in the jars. It was poison—poison with the power to end its life.

  "Hey you! Why can you still move? You're just going to die anyway!" The mage-bodyguard had examined Jinyo's body. Broken bones, head trauma—he'd taken the full force of the airbag and nearly died from that alone. Where had he found the courage to rush in and test his strength against this monster?

  They watched Jinyo ignore their well-intentioned warning. The young man was focused solely on confronting an enemy he could not exist under the same sky with. The primal instinct within him awakened his hunting spirit to devour this enemy from Heaven.

  The ordinary, weak young man swung his sword with movements that were fierce yet elegant.

  All of this was in Sven's sight. Peach blossom petals scattered across the nighttime street illuminated by roadside lamps. Jinyo's planar was weaker than the bodyguards his family had hired, yet he used techniques and forms superior to theirs—holding his ground against the swift grasshopper demon.

  If not for Jinyo's injuries from the car crash—if he were at full strength—he might have been the one pressuring the grasshopper demon instead.

  'It's faster, but not beyond calculation. Compared to that one before, this thing is way easier to fight. Is it the gap of 10 levels, or the difference in techniques? Whatever it is—as long as I can kill it, that's enough.'

  The gaze Jinyo directed at the grasshopper demon was the gaze of a predator watching prey. Unknown was the enemy that had destroyed his life, and the system required killing Unknown as one of the conditions for the next upgrade.

  Jinyo pulled a carrot from his bag, sliced it in half with his sword, and tossed the pieces to both bodyguards.

  "Eat this, then come help me."

  Both bodyguards received the vibrant, beautiful carrots with confused expressions. They exchanged glances—their eyes full of questions—but suspicious as it seemed, they quickly swallowed them down.

  Their blocked planar flowed smoothly again. Not only that—their minds cleared. The stress that had been constricting their brains was swept away, leaving them so relaxed they wanted to pass out right there.

  "Happy Carrots? No—isn't the effect too good?"

  "Forget the details! As long as we can fight, that's enough!"

  The bodyguard drew his blade and charged in to coordinate attacks from the outer ring.

  The mage-bodyguard still hadn't recovered from his astonishment at the mood-adjustment effects. He gathered planar and formed a fireball.

  "It's not just mood adjustment—it also improves planar circulation. You can't find stuff like this on the market. Once this is over, I definitely need to ask where to order more."