Sung Jinwoo used a special fishing rod that Scáthach had made for him. He had no idea what it was made of, but it was incredibly sturdy, covered in runes he couldn't read.
However, she hadn't given him any bait. She'd told him to cast it as-is—no need to worry about not getting a bite.
He didn't understand, but he did it anyway. The Land of Shadows was even more barren than the middle of nowhere; finding suitable bait here was impossible.
The hook sank into the water, and not even two minutes passed before Sung Jinwoo felt it catch something below.
"Huh? Already—a fish that fas—"
Before he could finish, a terrifying force yanked back. Caught off guard, he nearly got dragged straight into the icy river.
"Th-this… what the hell did I hook?!"
Veins bulged along his arms and neck. He was an all-round S-Rank Hunter; if a truck fell into the water, he could pull it out. Yet, whatever lurked in this river wouldn't budge an inch.
"Iron! Igris! Get out here and help!"
He'd just endured Scáthach's Spartan training and wasn't in great shape. With the river's edge steadily approaching his feet, he gritted his teeth and summoned his most loyal shadow soldiers to assist.
With their combined strength, the creature finally surfaced.
It looked like a piranha—but far, far larger—its body plated in razor-edged scales like knives.
The monster fish went berserk the instant it hit the bank, shrieking with an ear-splitting cry as it lunged at Sung Jinwoo and his shadows.
Sung Jinwoo was in rough shape, but the monster fish wasn't faring much better. It was still a fish; dragged onto land, how much strength could it really exert?
The outcome was predictable. Sung Jinwoo won—but didn't kill it, allowing it to flee back into the water instead.
"Hah… hah… this damn place…" Sung Jinwoo stared at the glassy surface, shaken. "Even a fish is this strong? I nearly got wiped by a fish?"
He no longer dared underestimate a single living creature in the Land of Shadows.
Now that he thought about it, every monster he'd encountered here seemed to be S-Rank… Did this place seriously not have a single creature below S-Rank?
On Earth, S-Rank was the absolute peak. Why did it feel like even a stray dog here could rival an S-Rank?
When had S-Rank stopped being special?
Then he recalled Scáthach's instructions—catch one fish for dinner.
…Was he really going to eat that thing later?
True, a fish that big would easily feed two people. In fact, he wondered if the two of them could even finish it.
The real problem was—
"This fish looks like it's been soaking in nuclear waste. Is it actually edible?"
Thanks to [Longevity], he was theoretically immune to disease, poison, and abnormal statuses. Still, the thought of putting something that disgusting into his stomach made his skin crawl.
In that regard, Sung Jinwoo's mindset wasn't nearly as ironclad as Rimuru's.
Splash!
The river surged. The monster fish he'd just driven off burst back onto the bank. Even without words, Sung Jinwoo understood—it had returned for revenge.
"Tch. You want round two…?"
He tightened his grip on his dagger and braced himself. Earlier, he'd been worried the fish would escape and leave him empty-handed, knowing perfectly well he couldn't defeat it in water.
Given his current condition, it was better to bully a wounded fish than to seek a fresh one. Higher odds. Safer.
But once on land, the monster fish didn't attack right away. Instead, it opened its mouth wide and released a single howl.
A sense of dread bloomed in Sung Jinwoo's gut.
"I've got a really bad feeling about th—"
His instincts were right. One after another, more monster fish leapt from the water, all locking hostile eyes onto Sung Jinwoo as he froze.
Damn it! That earlier howl had been a call for backup!
If the monster fish could talk, it would probably say something like, "Think you're smart calling for help? Surprise—I can call for help too."
Sung Jinwoo felt his soul leave his body.
His shadow soldiers couldn't die, sure, but they weren't that strong. Meanwhile, every single fish here was S-Rank. How was he supposed to fight that?
The result was predictable—Sung Jinwoo got chased down and jumped the whole way.
He'd come here to eat fish, but now the fish were about to eat him instead.
In the end, Scáthach had to step in and eliminate the entire group of absurdly resilient monster fish.
"Hmm…" Scáthach looked at the dozen-plus corpses on the ground and fell into thought. "That's… a bit too much fish."
One fish was plenty for a meal. She had no idea what to do with all the leftover meat.
She turned her gaze toward Sung Jinwoo.
"Why not pack up the leftovers and bring them home? You have a younger sister, right? Consider it a local specialty for her."
No way was Sung Jinwoo doing that. These were monster corpses—if he dragged them home, he'd scare his sister half to death.
"…Could I turn them into my shadow soldiers?" he cautiously asked, sounding out Scáthach's opinion.
These were S-Rank monsters. Even weakened on land, their strength remained S-Rank—more powerful than most of his shadow soldiers.
To Sung Jinwoo, turning them into food would be an absolute waste—a criminal waste.
"Do whatever you want." Scáthach couldn't care less. "If it'll help you, then do it."
"Got it! Thank you, Shishō!"
He meant it wholeheartedly. After all, Scáthach had killed these monsters; they weren't truly his spoils.
As he'd said before, [Shadow Extraction] granted three attempts per corpse. The stronger the creature—and the longer it had been dead—the higher the failure rate.
Perhaps because these monster fish were nearly on Sung Jinwoo's level and hadn't been killed by his own hand, the odds were awful. Across more than a dozen dead fish—over forty attempts—he succeeded only once.
In other words, apart from the one selected for dinner, he managed to turn only a single monster fish into a shadow soldier. All the rest dissolved into ash when the extraction failed.
Still, gaining another S-Rank combatant was enough to satisfy him. He knew better than to be greedy.