D.I.O
Chapter 250

“Now, can we talk?”

“…”

Merlin’s party had teleported into Merlin’s housing space.

Originally, some difficult conditions had to be met for a living monster to enter a housing space, but currently, Sungmuk was able to enter the housing space without any issues.

This was because the text floating above his head… had changed. It now stated…

[Tamed by Merlin]

[Sword King, Sungmuk]

“You’re able to tamper with the system… Wait… Could it be that the activation of the system’s alert mode was because of you?”

“Hahaha. I guess anyone in your position would be able to logically arrive at that conclusion. If a thick-headed and ignorant internal energy practitioner like you can arrive at such a conclusion, I’ll have to take better precautions when using the Editor Blade and with the results that stem from its use.”

While Merlin fell into deep thought, Sungmuk was taken aback by the unfamiliar terms that Merlin used to describe him. He had never been called thick-headed or ignorant in his life.

Merlin’s Editor Blade was essentially a hacking tool that threatened DIO’s foundation, but that did not mean it was a do-everything tool that could change everything.

In other words, the Editor Blade was like cheat codes that veteran gamers used to make games easier when playing packaged console games. However, it was still difficult to influence or overturn the basic system itself like a game developer.

‘I don’t know who made DIO, but I’m sure he or she was an incredible genius. If I study magic for another ten years, I might be able to tinker and edit the main system, but there’s no way I’d be able to do something like that now.’

For this reason, Merlin used a subsystem that already existed in DIO, which was called Taming. Taming was a subsystem that subordinated wild animals or monsters, and the process was the following…

1. Possess overwhelming ability over the designated wild animal or monster.

2. Present food or items that the animal or monster likes.

3. Wait until the animal or monster regains perfect condition and then overwhelm it once more.

4. Issue another present.

5. Repeat this over and over.

In the worst case, this process—which users jokingly called [horse-breaking]—sometimes needed to be repeated dozens of times. Even after doing so, the tamed monster could be killed by another user or choose to run away (mainly in the case of intelligent monsters). Thus, it could be said that Taming was a very difficult and relatively unrewarding process.

Moreover, the Taming subsystem didn’t activate if anyone helped the tamer, so basically, Taming users could only tame beings that were substantially weaker than them. Amongst Taming users, it was popularly stated that [the act of Taming was possible, but there was no such thing as a tamer].

‘Of course, the situation changes if one is bewitched with Magic Eyes or musical instrument skills, but even those methods won’t work on named monsters.’

Named monsters, including Sungmuk, were immune to mental attacks, just like users who enjoyed DIO’s mental protection system.

It was possible to temporarily confuse or cause hallucinations in named monsters, but the act of enchanting or reading another being’s memories was systematically impossible.

“Anyway, please introduce yourself, Sungmuk. I believe you’ve been freed from all your [restrictions].”

“… I see.”

Sungmuk closed his eyes for a moment and checked his condition, then he made a surprised expression.

As Sungmuk frowned, he made a telltale orc facial expression, where his thick tusks unique to orcs were revealed above an underbite.

“Your tusks… You must have shaved them down.”

“Hmm?” Merlin turned his head towards Arc, who stood quietly like a shadow in the corner after speaking aloud and being heard by Merlin.

Then Arc continued, “The orc species’ molars originally go up to their cheeks. They’re usually so big and thick that the orcs can’t keep their mouths shut.”

Merlin nodded after hearing Arc’s explanation. In fact, Merlin had felt that there was something off about Sungmuk’s appearance. Sungmuk always looked more like a human than an orc.

“Sungmuk… Is that your real name?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I guess it’s obvious. There’s no reason why an orc would use an Asian name like Sungmuk unless it was its real name.”

Since Sungmuk had ground his own molars down, Merlin felt that Sungmuk must have originally been a human and from the Jin Continent, where the masters of Plum Blossom Swordsmanship flourished. Merlin knew that the [contracted] were given random NPC positions by the Noblesse, regardless of their original species’ qualities.

“By the way, Merlin. Why did you choose this guy? He seems overly difficult to control,” Quiet Heaven commented.

Quiet Heaven fidgeted atop Arc’s shoulder as if it felt uncomfortable—perhaps because Arc was wearing her full-body leather armor, which was quite thick and hard.

“That’s because aside from the transcendent beings… this guy… is the named monster with the most [personality]. Having a personality that goes against the characteristics of a traditional orc or Orc Hero means that he still possesses his memories, and having memories means that he signed a contract with very good terms.”

As Merlin said this, he looked over at Miho, who was burning the nearby monsters that were loitering around with her fox fire or controlling them with her Magic Eyes.

It was a pity that Miho had been unable to sign a contract with good terms.

Unlike Sungmuk who remembered his past and was allowed to use his original name, all of Miho’s memories were limited to the [Miho] character that existed in DIO.

Although she did not express it to Merlin, Miho was in a state of considerable confusion about her values and worldview while she slowly grasped the fact that the world and beings that she knew in her memories were all fictitious figures.

“… Wait.”

Ting!

Right then, Sungmuk’s eyes began to burn purple. It was different from the many types of Forbidden Eye that many monsters used… However, Merlin knew at once that Sungmuk was using Enhanced Eyesight, and a very advanced state of Enhanced Eyesight at that.

“What’s going on with you? What are you looking at?” Miho suddenly exclaimed as Sungmuk was staring at her.

Even though Sungmuk’s eye ability wasn’t in the form of direct interference like Magic Eye, Merlin could detect that Sungmuk’s Enhanced Eyesight was powerful enough to influence its target.

Practitioners who had mastered the Enhanced Eyesight ability could detect when others were using Enhanced Eyesight on them; even the slightest glance could be detected. Moreover, for an Enhanced Eyesight user to avoid being detected by another user, the caster’s level had to be much greater than that of the target or the caster’s Enhanced Eyesight had to be at a much more developed state.

“You… You are a contracted slave. How did you [put on] a user’s body?” Sungmuk asked Miho.

“What? I’m a slave?”

“Yes, a slave. Could it be that you didn’t even know you were a slave?”

“You…” Miho became ferocious.

When she became furious, a bloody momentum arose from her, but Sungmuk looked back at Merlin with an uninterested facial expression as if Miho’s boiling anger didn’t matter.

“Did you do that to her? Is that how you tamed me, a being that shouldn’t have been able to be tamed?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not powerful enough to turn a being, who was given an NPC role, into a user. She became a user through a deal I made with the Noblesse.”

“That is… amazing. For slaves like me who didn’t voluntarily choose to join, her status is practically liberation.”

“… If you call me or refer to me as a slave one more time, I’ll cook you until your hair turns yellow.”

For whatever reason, Miho wasn’t acting like her usual self. She was emanating considerable killing intent, but Sungmuk didn’t seem to mind or care. He didn’t even feel the need to snort.

“Go ahead and do your worst, slave.”

Whoosh!!

Boom!!

The fox fire burned fiercely, but a sudden burst of sword qi easily cut through it.

In such a precarious situation, Merlin sighed before taking a step forward.

Woong.

When he raised his left hand, his internal energy resonated according to his will, and Irrational Hand Strike was activated.

Next, when he raised his right hand, the magic crystal—a blue diamond—embedded in the back of his hand shone brightly and caused a magic circle to emerge.

“… Do you both want me to scold you like little kids?”

“…”

“…”

Miho and Sungmuk stopped.

Miho may have been more open to listening to others, but Sungmuk definitely wasn’t someone who would calm his fighting spirit after being told to calm down by another being, but currently, he was under the influence of a kind of coercive force called Taming.

In addition, since he had been defeated by Merlin once, he had already recognized Merlin as a superior being to some extent.

“First off, Sungmuk… Miho is my precious friend, so I don’t want you to speak to her so carelessly. She doesn’t even remember signing a contract or that she was a servant for the Noblesse, so bringing that subject up will only cause her to feel frustrated and bad.”

“… Hmm, you’re certainly not wrong on that point. However, keep this in mind… Beings who accepted contracts that made them no different from slaves had reasons for doing so.”

“Reasons for doing so?”

“Losing one’s memory is the same as losing oneself. It’s no different from dying and entering the universe’s reincarnation system. But what reason would one have to throw oneself into the hands of the maverick-like Noblesse, who act randomly, rather than the Netherworld, which is highly trusted by all beings?”

Merlin’s face darkened as he realized what Sungmuk was getting at.

“Because going to the Nether World… could get one into trouble?”

“To be more precise, that is the only reason. Absolutely. It’s a certainty. Anyway, only those who hold an inevitable ticket to hell sign a slave contract with the Noblesse. That’s why I despise slave contract beings. She may look cute and innocent right now… but…”

Perhaps Miho had been a serial killer back when she was alive. Merlin couldn’t refute Sungmuk’s words. Though it couldn’t be said that the Noblesse were a good group of beings, they did have a tremendous amount of self-esteem and were greatly influenced by the power of words, so they never lied.

Hence, beings like Miho weren’t deceived into entering an inequitable slave contract. They had knowingly accepted and entered into slave contracts, which meant that they possessed many exploitable weaknesses.

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