151 CHAPTER 139. Promotion Igris

Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually

trapped in a never ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him.

...

Today's meme is here. [ ]

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Jin chuckled slightly while looking at the mountainous physique blocking his view.

"You finish with everything?"

Iron, and Lobbock nodded their heads.

"Are you sure?"

Iron, and Lobbock nodded their heads even more energetically than before. Jin smirked and extended out his senses. And then, as he spun around, he also threw the 'Baruka's Dagger' behind him.

'Dagger Throw!'

His dagger flew faster than the sound itself towards a certain empty wall in the blink of an eye. But, then….

"Keo-heok!!"

The dagger didn't hit the wall, but instead tore through the chest of a demon hiding there quietly while using invisibility. It had been quietly waiting for Jin to be separated from his soldiers to mount a sneak attack.

"Euh-euhk…."

The demon could only freak out inwardly at the huge hole in his  chest.

'How did he find out?!'

If the demon was a human, that's where the heart would have been. Meaning, that human male had completely seen through the invisibility magic from a high-ranked demon Noble.

'How could a measly human….?'

When the demon raised its shocked gaze away from his wound, Jin was already standing beside his target. The demon's eyes quaked violently.

"But, how….?"

Jin called back the 'Baruka's Dagger' and activated his only close-quarter combat skill.

'Vital Point Targetting!'

Stab!

The demon that barely managed to hold on from the damage inflicted by the Dagger Throw, ended up dying in one hit from the maxed-out 'Vital Point Targetting' skill.

[You killed a Demon Noble.]

Jin returned the 'Baruka's Dagger' back to his Inventory, and stood before Iron and Lubbock again.

"So, how will you explain this?"

'...'

As if he was feeling sheepish, Iron and Lubbock lowered their gazes and scratched the back of their heads. Well, for iron rather than the head, it was the back of his helmet, though. Soon, Igris, Gold, Gorr, and Akame also made his return, having killed all the demons hiding in the deeper parts of the castle.

Ng?'

However, Jin sensed something was different about Igris again.

Yes, is it?'

Jin observed the approaching Igrit and tilted his head.

Igris quickly approached Jin and knelt down, before lowering his head. Up until here, it wasn't such a strange scene as it had happened many times. But, quite unlike before, Jin heard the mechanical beep of 'Ring' going off suddenly in his head.

'There's a System message'

Jin swallowed his saliva after all this was the second time and soon he would be more powerful than even S-rankers. 

[Knight 'Igris'' is requesting his Monarch your permission to advance his grade.]

[Will you permit the advancement?]

'Permission to advance '

It happened often, a lot of time especially with the weker soldiers as he granted them permission to the promotions in big lines.  

As Soldiers would kneel in front of him in rows ready to ascent to the next level of power.

As a new thing comes with this as There was a never-ending-screen flashes before his eyes continuously. So, Jin quickly confirmed Igris's information just to be sure.

[Igris Lv. Max]

Veteran Knight Grade.

It's now possible to advance the grade after the level requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade when the Monarch gives his permission.

'Igris's level….'

The level that previously hovered around the 37 mark had changed to 'Max' before he had noticed it. It must've been the case that, once the Shadow Soldier's level cap had been met, they will be given an opportunity to advance to the next grade.

'Is the requirement level for advancement between the late seventies and early nineties?'

When taking into account the potential level-ups happening during a single battle, he had long ago suspected that the required level had to be around there somewhere.

Considering that the average level of the Shadow Soldiers was still around the early twenties, it sure as heck felt like a cumbersome requirement.

'Besides all that, it also needs my consent, too.'

That must've been the reason why Jin thought there were hints of unknown but earnest yearning in Igris's eyes as he ran over here.

'...'

Igris didn't raise his lowered head at all.

Jin could even sense a nervous determination emanating from Igris as he waited for his lord's decision without budging an inch from his kneeling position.

Jin was even tempted to pat the dude on the shoulder and praise him for the job well done.

'This guy….'

Jin's gaze shifted back to the System message.

[Will you permit the advancement?]

The message was blinking slowly as if to urge him for an answer.

Igris was one of the very first to become his Shadow Soldiers, not to mention one who fought the hardest until now, as well. 

That's why this was going to be the second promotion that happened in this castle on the eighth floor. 

This happened due the fact that he is the only one who got the highest boost in his level by RNG when he became a shadow and it was 10 levels highest I ever seen and he was the only one receiving it and many came close to his record with 8 levels Shadow Strengthening.  

So starting at level 10 second reason was his relentless hunting in both this and Akame Ga Kill world trying to catch up with pears and their power. 

Whenever he got the chance he was always part of hunting teams. Was there a reason not to allow the grade advancement here?

Without a shred of hesitation, Jin replied to the System's message with a proud smile.

"I allow it."

"Rise Beyond Shadows! Evolve into Darkness Unseen!" Jin said as the very darkness around him trembled, this was Jin's designate the command phrase.

Do his shadows to promote allow Jin's shadow soldiers to ascend to new levels of power:

The phrases carry an air of mystique and power, and when spoken by Jin, this would triggers the transformation and ascent of his shadow soldiers to new levels of strength and abilities.

It was similar to the word 'Arias' when he needed to raise a new soldier he had to say these words.  

Soldiers at the same time. For today, it was only Igris, but he was sure before he left this tower that a few soldiers who were on the ranks of Veteran Elite Knight Grade, Commander/General Grade would request him for the advancement permission at the same time. It was nearly Impossible for Veteran Elite Knight Grade, Commander/General to ascend to the next Grade as it was just exp required to level even one time.  

That's why he knew it might have become rather tedious and time consuming to answer their call one by one. Especially so, if it happened during the middle of a fight.

The command phrase was prove to be useful on those occasions, that's for sure. After a short deliberation, 

As soon as the command phrase was set, changes rapidly took place. It began from beneath Igris's feet.

Wuuuaaahhh-!!

Accompanied by screams coming from a distant place, countless black hands emerged from Igris's shadow and they grabbed onto every part of him.

'Man, I will never get bored of this scene no matter how many times I see it.'

Jin observed in great interest the unfolding process of the advancement. At first, anyone would think that those black hands would drag Igris back into the shadow, but in reality, the opposite happened, instead.

The hands holding onto Igrit turned into black smoke and spun around him quite ferociously, before getting absorbed by him. It was as if Igris was absorbing the black smoke voluntarily.

Psuuuuuaaahhk!

Igris emerged from the dissipating black smoke while emitting a far greater aura than ever before.

Ding.

The System message informed Jin of the results.

[The current grade of Veteran Knight 'Igris' has advanced from 'Veteran Knight grade' to 'Elite Knight grade'.]

'Noice!'

Jin did his best to calm his trembling heart and rechecked Igris's information window.

[Igris Lv.1]

Elite Knight grade

'His level has been reset, but his current grade is the same as 19% of my soldiers. 

 now.'

Before joining Jin's army of the Shadow Soldiers, Igris used to be the boss monster of a rank A- - rank instant dungeon. Now that Igris was on the same grade as some of the most powerful creatures in his army, it could only mean that his abilities had grown by that great a deal now.

Ba-dump…

Jin's heart beat faster. The thing about him came up with back when he became the Shadow Sovereign. 

He had now become and it should take long for him rank up again and reach the level of Veteran Elite Knight Grade, where my strongest soldiers are but till then I am sure most if not all the soldiers who are Veteran Elite Knight Grade would be ready to rank up with Commander rank.  

As most of them were halfway there already. As for the only Commander Typhon it would take long for him to reach the next rank as he would remain Commander rank when at least ten of my soldiers reach the Commander rank but still he will be stronger than them.  

Due to the level gap,  but still it will take him a long time to reach the next rank as he is not even ¼ way there.  

'It wasn't just me who can get stronger. It's every last one of them'

Jin's gaze swept over each of his Shadow Soldiers.

'All these guys are growing stronger alongside me, too.'

After Igris changed so noticeably through the grade advancement, he was reminded once again of his soldiers' capability for growth. Was nearly infinite. He was now beset with the desire to urgently raise the levels of other soldiers and have them advance to the next grade as soon as possible.

'Looks like one more thing has been added to my must-to-do list,'

'That is different from sexy one'

Yes, Jin had two to-do lists. Both have no connection with each other but they help him move forward and keep the count of his desires to do things.  

One was what he had to do to build up power.  

One that every otaku and possibly living person had was if you were reincarnated what you will do.  

Half of it was solely contributed to desires of pleasure of every kind.  

Jin get your head outta your dick.  Jin quickly shook off the distracting thoughts. And so, as he stood there checking out his soldiers while feeling rather satisfied with himself….

From afar, he spotted Tank quickly approaching with a dead body of a Knight demon that escaped a little while ago in his jaw.

'Uh?'

However, the light shining in Tank's eyes as he hurriedly ran closer also seemed rather suspicious, too. Those eyes, that aura….

Jin quietly started, before asking aloud with a disbelieving expression on his face.

"Even you?!"

Tank finally stopped right in front of Jin's nose and quickly discarded the corpse he worked so hard to bring here. He then began prostrating as well, with his front legs gathered together before his head.

"Wuuong."

And sure enough, another message popped up in Jin's view.

Ding.

[Veteran 'Shadow Beast Soldier' is requesting permission to advance his grade.]

[Will you permit the advancement?]

'….Holy cow.'

Jin facepalmed in surprise. A quick confirmation of Tank's information revealed that his level had also reached the cap as well.

[Shadow Beast Soldier Lv. Max]

Veteran Grade

It's now possible to advance the grade after the level requirement has been met. Will advance to the next grade when the Sovereign gives his permission.

'Wait a minute….'

Jin-Woo found this rather odd.

Unlike the tireless battle machine named Igrist, who started off as a level 10 and maintained his sky-high level until now getting first promotion as soon as he entered this tower, Tank was still far away from meeting the level cap reaching his second promotion.

Yes second as most if not all the soldiers who traveled to Akame Ga Kill world with him and gone on the usual  hunt and collating missions there had already gone through their first rank up. So even the weaker soldiers in Jin's army were B+++ rank.  

Not even a single soldier in his army was An C-rank.  

And even then Jin suspected it to be the advancement requirement.

Yet, both Igris and Tank were about to advance around the same time

The difference in these two guys' levels wasn't something that could be bridged by this one battle alone.

"This was due…. the required level is different for each grade?" 

Just like my Experience points I required gets exponentially high with every level they need to level up more and more with every rank up.  

They can't just level up 100 max out rank up and level up 100 max out rank up and repeat the cycle with every rank up they have to level exponentially more to rank up again.  

And this made sense as if there was a designated level then this then anyone able to abuse this.

He thought that since Tank was an 'Veteran' rank, his level cap was much lower than the one who just got in realms of S-rankers which meant his advancement would be faster; on the other hand, Igris and his 'Veteran Knight' grade needed more exp to advance.

This was indeed possible for the timing of their advancements to match so coincidentally like this.

When Jin's thoughts reached this point, a certain possibility suddenly entered his mind.

'Wait, if I reach the right level, could I advance in grade, too?'

It was just that the required level was so high that he hadn't reached it yet. It was 200 or 300 it could even be 500 or 1000 no one knows certainly he definitely didn't. 

'….It's a long journey, but I will reach there someday and find out..'

Jin smirked to himself. At the same time, he allowed the advancement to commence.

""Rise Beyond Shadows! Evolve into Darkness Unseen!" Jin said as the very darkness around him trembled, this was Jin's designate the command phrase.

The phrases carry an air of mystique and power, and when spoken by Jin, As soon as his permission left his lips, the same type of process as Igris took place with Tank as well. Hands emerged from the shadow, changed to smoke, and got absorbed into Tank.

Shuuaahhak….

And just like Igris, Tank also became a realm stronger than before.

[The current grade of Elite 'Shadow Beast Soldier' has advanced from 'Veteran grade' to 'Knight grade'.]

However, there were some differences, too.

Ding, Ding, Ding.

The mechanical beep went off continuously and System messages popped up one after another.

[You can bestow a name to a soldier with Knight grade or above.]

[The bestowed name will be maintained until the Shadow Soldier is dismissed.]

[Please assign the soldier's name.]

Tank was a temporary name Jin came up with on a whim.

Since a name couldn't be assigned unless a soldier was a Knight grade, Tank's official moniker had been stuck as a 'Shadow Beast Soldier' just like most beasts soldiers. If it weren't for his twice-as-huge frame compared to other bears, there was no way to differentiate Tank from the others.

But now, Jin can freely assign a name now.

A deep smile formed on his face.

"Tank."

[Will you assign it as 'Tank'?]

"I will."

When Jin confirmed it, the information on the 'Shadow Beast Soldier' changed.

[Tank Lv.1]

Knight grade.

Perhaps he knew that the advancement process had ended, Tank raised his body up. Standing on his hind legs, he was as tall as a regular two-story house now. Jin wholeheartedly praised him.

"You finally have a name now, Tank."

"Roar"

Feeling pleased, Tank raised its head up high and roared out loudly.

"You guys all did well."

So, time to take a well-deserved break until the next floor.

Jin recalled his soldiers back into his shadow, and while doing that, he couldn't help but spot Iron and his drooping shoulders. The poor guy was the only one out of the 'old' members to not get an advancement today.

Shururu….

After his soldiers disappeared in the shadows, Jin left the crumbling castle. Esil was waiting for him outside with a rather haggard face.

"E-excuse me, Sir Jin?"

"I told you, stop calling me Sir."

"Y-yes."

Esil hesitated somewhat after Jin curtly replied to her, but eventually, she spoke again.

"Excuse me…. Uhm, Jin… sir."

The demons were a lot more 'sensitive' towards one's seniority than expected, it seemed.

"….Fine. What now?"

"Do you know…. how many clans have ceased to exist with their whole floors pulverized by your hands?"

Currently, they are on the 90th floor.

Esil's clan was on the 80th, so that would make ten clans?

With her witnessing a clan being killed off with his whole floor welcoming a calamity level spell every time they climbed up a floor, Esil had finally grown too anxious to remain silent.

"Clans of superior Nobles are managing the floors 91 and above. They are on another level compared to the upper Nobles you've encountered so far."

Jin didn't slow down his steps, but still asked her anyway.

"Okay, so what?"

"How about resolving the matters with dialogue from now on? If you talk to them nicely, they might hand over the Entry Permit like my cla…."

Jin cut her off there.

"If I was weaker than your clan, you think your people would've tried talking to me at all?"

Esil quickly shut her mouth up. A measly little human dared to show up uninvited to a castle full of demons, and not only that, proceeded to demand something from said castle, too?

That human wouldn't have been able to return home alive.

"That's how it is."

 ""Power doesn't ask for permission; it commands respect." and "Strength is the ultimate conversation starter.""