Chapter 208 – Slave Contract
“Black Scythe…”
John Delgado murmured blankly, his face slack.
The person he was supposed to take revenge on was standing right in front of him.
And not in the Otherworld, either—here, in reality.
‘This isn’t the time to lose it.’
John snapped himself back to his senses.
In the past, he would’ve attacked the instant he saw him—but now he knew.
Rushing at Black Scythe was no different from suicide.
“A-are you truly Black Scythe-nim?”
“After seeing this scythe, you’re still asking that?”
Ryu Min swung the scythe threateningly.
John flinched and, without realizing it, checked if all four of his limbs were still attached.
“S-so you really are Black Scythe-nim. How did you know where my house is?”
“Does that matter?”
John shook his head.
How he found him wasn’t what mattered.
Why he came—that was what mattered.
“For what reason did you come looking for me…?”
“What do you think?”
Answering a question with another question—it sounded like wordplay, but John felt it.
Black Scythe had come here knowing everything.
“Revenge… then.”
“Go on.”
“O-our group did something. So you came to collect the price.”
“Oh? I thought your head was just decoration, but I guess it’s not that bad.”
Ryu Min chuckled in a lazy circle, then cut straight to it.
“As you guessed, I know your Messiah attempted an assassination. Well, the attempt was nice. Instead of taking one of our squad members hostage like last time, you thought up hiring a killer while I was in narcolepsy. Whose idea was it? DarkSoul? Yang Qiwen? Spaniard?”
“……”
Just as expected, Black Scythe knew everything.
But—
‘He even knows the organization name “Messiah,” and all the apostles’ nicknames…’
John hadn’t even imagined he’d grasped things in this much detail.
‘Was Swingman… that bastard… really the traitor?’
Goosebumps rose along his forearms, but that didn’t matter right now.
Considering what they had done to Black Scythe, it wouldn’t be strange if his head rolled in this very spot.
‘I can’t die like this. Not like this…’
He didn’t even dare think of doing something stupid like a surprise attack.
No matter how powerful his summon was, in front of Black Scythe it was nothing but a candle in the wind.
When someone could erase thirty in a single lightning strike, what answer was there in putting forward an angel summon?
And he was under a penalty on top of that.
‘Resisting with force is the worst option. If I want to live, there’s only one way.’
Thud—
John Delgado suddenly dropped to his knees.
“I-I was wrong, Black Scythe-nim. I’m truly sorry.”
“You have to say what you did wrong for me to understand.”
“I dared to make the mistake of joining a lowly group called Messiah to oppose someone as high as the heavens—Black Scythe-nim. I dared to fuss with pointless nonsense, saying I’d carry out an assassination that was never going to work, and I troubled Black Scythe-nim. I will immediately withdraw from the vulgar organization called Messiah, so I earnestly beg you to grant mercy and spare at least this lowly life…”
“You sure know how to say ‘spare me’ in a long-winded way.”
He said that, but Ryu Min was satisfied.
Because he could feel the sincerity in John Delgado’s thoughts.
‘He’s not trying to wriggle out with some trick. He’s truly afraid of me, and truly wants to cling to life.’
In his inner thoughts, the word “revenge” had already faded to something faint.
Of course, since he’d suffered, he couldn’t throw it away completely—but John was almost giving up.
‘He’s set on surviving to Round 20 no matter what.’
If revenge happened, it would only be after that. Right now, it was a luxury—and the bastard knew it.
“It’s good. I can feel you mean it.”
“Th-then…”
“Fine. I’ll spare your life.”
“Th-thank you! Thank you—”
“But there’s a condition.”
At the word “condition,” John’s face lit up—then his eyes widened.
“W-what condition…?”
“Duel me once.”
“Y-yes? A d-duel?”
“Yeah. I’ll set the conditions now, so look. It won’t be bad conditions for you either, so read them and decide.”
Ryu Min manipulated a system window in midair and sent a duel request.
John Delgado stared at the conditions in the request window—then his eyes went wide in shock.
[The person in front of you has sent a duel request to the nickname ‘John Delgado’.]
[Duel Type ▶ Simple sparring where no one dies]
[Victory Condition ▶ Touch even a single hair]
[On Victory ▶ The loser becomes the winner’s slave, serves the winner as their master for life, and obeys all orders]
[Opponent Penalty ▶ All equipment and skills forbidden; cannot move a single step until the duel ends; yield the first strike]
[John Delgado Penalty ▶ None]
[Under the above conditions, do you accept the duel? Y/N]
‘W-what is this?’
John knew what a duel request was.
It was just that the stake attached to it was absurd.
‘The loser becomes the winner’s slave?’
This was basically a slave contract—no different from saying he’d make him into a slave and use him.
‘Never accept. Never.’
But if he won?
Then it would be the other way around—he could use Black Scythe as a slave.
It would be a revenge far more useful than killing him.
‘The problem is whether I can win or not… against Black Scythe.’
If he thought normally, there was no way he could win.
It was practically balance-breaking.
A fight not even worth watching.
And yet John fell into 고민.
‘He says he won’t use skills or items, won’t move a single step, and even yields the first strike?’
Because unexpectedly, there was a chance of victory.
‘The conditions are good. If my attack even grazes him, I win.’
He could strike first, and all he had to do was graze the body of a target that stood still like a scarecrow?
That was basically a free win.
Even so, John didn’t fall for it easily.
‘He must be setting these conditions because he believes he can still win. He’s sending this request to make me his slave.’
The intent was obvious.
So obvious it was visible.
Even knowing that, John couldn’t easily say, “I refuse.”
Because if he did, Black Scythe might decide he was useless and kill him on the spot.
‘No—he definitely would. If it’s that cold-blooded bastard, he definitely…’
Then there was only one way out.
Contrary to Black Scythe’s expectations, win the bet—and make him a slave.
That was the one chance John Delgado had, and the only way to break out of this situation.
[Duel has been accepted.]
[In 10 seconds, the duel between the two will begin.]
After reading the message, Ryu Min’s lips curled up into a grin.
‘As expected, you accepted.’
From the start, John had no real choice.
It wasn’t a situation where he could calmly pick from options.
‘It must’ve been a tempting offer—being able to make me a slave.’
And by imposing penalties, he’d also “balanced” it appropriately.
Only, he’d guided it so it looked disadvantageous—so it looked like there was a real chance.
‘Even if I can’t use skills, can’t move, and even yield the first strike…’
Ryu Min wasn’t worried.
With the Rune of Inner Thoughts and the Rune of Foresight, he was confident he could see through whatever trick the other side tried.
“I’ll yield the first strike. Come.”
“Like you need to tell me—”
Fssshhhh—
“I know, you f*cking bastard!”
From the tip of John Delgado’s staff, a ghostlike form took shape.
A spirit undead that only takes damage from magic—Sariel.
It was summoned in a gaunt, bony state, nothing left but bones.
“Kill that son of a bitch!”
At its master’s command, Sariel charged without a word, arriving in front of him in the blink of an eye.
It was so fast it looked like teleportation.
Then the curved blade Sariel had wielded in life flashed and drew a line.
True to his word, Ryu Min yielded the first strike.
Ryu Min simply moved only his upper body to dodge, then spat a single word.
“Launch.”
Bzzzt—CRACK!
The lightning shot out, piercing straight through Sariel’s torso and even punching into the ceiling of the house.
“Wh-what the hell!?”
It was a ridiculously empty exit for an archangel summon, but that wasn’t why John Delgado was shocked.
“You said skills were forbidden!”
“This isn’t a skill. It’s a Rune effect.”
“You f*cking scammer bastard!”
Realizing he’d been tricked, John Delgado calmly pulled out his next move.
Wooooooo—
Five spirit undead spawned from the tip of the staff, scattered in all directions, and pounced on Ryu Min at the same time.
But there was no twist.
“Area Discharge.”
With a single activation, everything around him was wiped clean.
But John had already expected that, so he immediately summoned five more.
‘No need to bring out everything at once. It’ll just get cleared in one hit anyway.’
John’s plan was simple.
Split the troops and attack in waves.
‘That damn ability must have a cooldown.’
If he attacked in groups of five, it wouldn’t be able to stop them because of cooldown.
A smile formed on John Delgado’s lips.
It was a plan made for times like this, and it was definitely a plan with a real chance.
If Ryu Min didn’t have the Rune of Darkness.
“Scatter.”
A dark orb floated up, then transformed into dozens of blades and burst outward in every direction.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-THUNK—!
Maybe because the damage was mixed with magic, the spirit undead were struck by the blades and vanished.
Every last one.
And among them was John Delgado as well.
“Keugh…”
A blade of darkness lodged into his forehead, John dropped to his knees.
[Duel has ended. ‘Black Scythe’ is the victor.]
[Since the opponent has been defeated, the effect will be executed: the opponent becomes a slave and serves ‘Black Scythe’ as their master for life, obeying them.]
The duel was over.
A smile hung on Ryu Min’s lips.
‘Just as planned.’
Just like Joo Seong-tak, he had turned John into a slave through a duel request.
At some point, the wound on his forehead vanished, and John—still kneeling—lifted his head.
“I greet you, Master.”
“Good. John. There’s something I want to test with you.”
“Just give the order.”
He’d just killed Sariel too, but since it had been within a duel request, you never knew.
“Summon the angel.”
“There are five minutes left on the cooldown. May I ask you to wait a moment?”
“Do so.”
Five minutes later, John summoned the spirit undead once more.
With no ego, Sariel didn’t recognize Ryu Min.
‘Let’s test whether stacks build even if you kill a summon. Launch.’
Bzzzt—CRACK!
He immediately fired electricity and erased Sariel.
But no message appeared, and the number on the Rune of the Devil didn’t change.
[Angels killed: 1/100]
‘So it doesn’t count beyond the first time I killed Sariel.’
In other words, even if you killed an angel summon, you couldn’t build stacks for the Rune of the Devil.
‘Yeah. If killing summons gave you benefits, there’d be no need to suffer like this.’
It was the same with other summons—killing them didn’t give experience or gold.
If it did, Players worldwide would never leave it alone.
‘All Summoners would’ve banded together and leveled up even in reality.’
He already knew summons gave no profit, but he tested anyway—just in case.
‘That’s how desperate I am.’
To face the next archangel, he needed to build stacks and be able to activate the Devil’s Blessing at any time.
‘But I need to kill ninety-nine more angels to use the blessing. What do I do?’
And with no way to hunt angels, building stacks was a faraway dream.
‘If I’d known it would be like this, should I have threatened Sariel like I did with Remiel—forced him to summon angels, then killed them?’
He regretted killing Sariel so cleanly, but then he shook his head.
‘He was someone who resisted until the end. He wouldn’t have complied.’
He wasn’t the kind to bend under threats.
‘It can’t be helped. Next time I meet an angel, I’ll have to test again. It might not count because it’s a spirit undead.’
If the corpse was intact, you could make a physical undead.
Unlike spirit undead, once a physical undead was destroyed, it couldn’t be summoned again—so it might be different.
‘Next time, I’ll test whether the number increases when I kill an angel that’s become a physical undead.’
If physical undead could be counted, John Delgado’s value would skyrocket.
It meant he could build stacks much more easily.
‘If it comes to that, I’ll work him for life.’
Of course, regardless of the result, Ryu Min intended to keep using him anyway.