Episode 145
145. Episode 145
“I’m good! I’m good! I’m serious! I’m scared!”
Perhaps because the tip of the sword had come right up to his Adam’s apple, the dwarf was crying and snotting, rubbing his hands against Seun’s and begging him.
It didn’t seem like the dwarf’s words were a lie.
No matter how much I looked at him, I couldn’t see anything that could be considered a weapon, and his physical abilities seemed to be lacking.
However, that wasn’t the reason Se-un was wondering.
‘What species is this?’
The only intelligent beings that exist in the swamp, the theme of the 11th floor, are the Lizardmen and the Orcs.
The fact that dwarves exist in the swamp was something that Seun, who had already conquered this theme, had never heard of.
Besides, I couldn’t even figure out the name of the race.
Goblins, halflings, gnomes, etc.
I’ve recalled a lot of information about dwarf-like races, but I don’t remember any dwarfs that looked like this.
Before returning, Seun had reached the 92nd floor, the highest floor he had ever reached as a player, and had mastered most of the knowledge through the tower’s great library.
So, I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw a race I had never seen before.
“What are you?”
“Hey, please get this out of the way! It’s scary!”
Seeing the sight of tears welling up in his eyes, Se-Woon let out a small sigh and put away his sword.
Of course, I didn’t forget to be on guard in case of an unexpected situation. Since the opponent is an intelligent being, they might hide their strength and pretend to be weak while trying to launch a surprise attack.
Well, honestly, no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like the dwarf had the guts to do that.
As Se-un put away his sword, the dwarf sighed in relief and slowly began to introduce himself.
“I am Magu, the guardian of the swamp!”
A clan of guardians of the swamp.
Se-Woon, who had just remembered something, nodded quietly.
Occasionally, very rarely, there were such beings.
Rather than being individuals belonging to a single race, they are like spirits belonging to the environment itself.
They have characteristics closer to spirits than living beings.
Perhaps, this dwarf who introduced himself as Magu is in a similar case.
“So, why were you hiding here and watching me?”
“This is a place we’ve been monitoring from the beginning! There was a commotion and the toxicity level decreased, so we came closer to take a look!”
“Surveillance? Why?”
“that…….”
The dwarf, who was about to continue speaking, twitched his ear.
He thought he knew why. Se-Woon could also feel the presence of a group of people coming from far away.
Perhaps the lizardmen had heard the commotion and were coming to provide support.
“Hey, get out of here first! They’re coming!”
“It doesn’t really matter.”
“Please! Follow me!”
After finishing speaking, Magu’s body turned dark green like a swamp.
Not only did the colors blend in, but even the presence completely disappeared.
Even for Seun, who was sensitive to mana and had senses that were superior to those of most players, this was a surprising stealth technique that reached the 5th circle.
‘Could it be that you were just making some noise just now?’
Come to think of it, it was a little strange that I suddenly felt a presence behind the tree.
Because Se-Woon was so focused on the battle with Song Jang-Hwa, all of his senses were heightened to the max.
The appearance of Magu was sudden, as if he had been summoned from behind a tree, rather than a sound of approaching.
Se-un, who thought of Magu as a being similar to a spirit, was able to gain confidence in his thoughts.
“This way! Follow me!”
Fortunately, Magu is intentionally making a weak sound for Se-un.
No matter how much he thought about it, it was a situation that was far removed from the trials Se-woon knew about.
However, as an adventurer, the player’s intuition that had reached the 92nd floor was screaming that following the horse was the biggest hidden piece in the 11th floor’s ordeal.
– The Kilker’s stealth technique is strengthened through internal energy.
Ignoring the sounds of the approaching lizardmen pack, Seun began to follow Magu.
* * *
At that moment, apart from Seun, there was only one player from the Diablo clan who had faced Curse Rafflesia.
“Jackal! Come to your senses!”
“Kissit! What the hell is going on!”
“T-That’s enough! I’m on the same side… … Keuk!”
The screams of the lizardmen echoed through the Songjanghwa breeding grounds.
Upon closer inspection, they were fighting with their own side as if a civil war had broken out.
One odd thing was that the lizardmen swinging their spears on the other side of the screams seemed completely lifeless.
“It’s exactly as I thought! Using pheromones to command soldiers. This method will allow us to overcome the limitations of numbers!”
– The constellation, ‘The Horse that Tramples Death’, stomps his feet with satisfaction as he reminisces about his past while watching the process of forming the legion.
At the end of it all, there stood a man wearing a white gown and smiling with joy. Baekhyun.
Since the undead he was dealing with were impervious to poison, he was not affected at all even in this place filled with the toxicity of the corpse flower.
Baekhyun himself was wearing something like a leather mask that seemed to have been made with sorcery, and it seemed like he was using it to block the poison.
Next to it was an undead created from the queen ant that Seun had brought a while ago.
A black smoke-like substance was slowly flowing out from the tip of the queen ant’s abdomen, and the undead were moving their bodies according to the signal.
The number of undead moving under the queen ant’s direction has already easily exceeded 50.
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As the battle continued, the dead lizardmen also rose as zombies, increasing in number.
Although necromancers command the undead, their numbers are limited depending on the circle.
But Baekhyun was different.
By using modified undead, not only was their qualitative strength improved, but they also overcame numerical limitations.
“Kee-eeeeeek!!”
Curse Rafflesia. The rhododendron raised its roots with a loud noise.
Just like the battle with Seun, the priority was to plant roots not only in the living lizardmen but also in Baekhyun’s undead for growth.
The roots begin to contract and expand, and nutrients are about to be delivered.
“A flower that absorbs nutrients from corpses! I’m intrigued. It will definitely be a great help in creating undead using plants!”
Pubberbang!!
“Kki-eeeek!”
The rooted undead body burst apart.
As a result, the roots of the saffron and the burst flesh flew to the flower petals, creating terrible scars.
The absorption of nutrients from the corpse was basically only possible through the corpse.
Even if it is stuck in the body of a living lizardman, it can only fully absorb nutrients after its life has been extinguished.
But now that was impossible.
The corpses that needed to absorb nutrients were exploding as soon as they took root.
However, the more this happened, the more Baekhyun’s undead numbers gradually decreased.
As the corpse flower had grown weak but intelligent, it realized that it would be more advantageous for itself as the number of undead decreased, so it continued to shoot its roots at the undead.
It would be understandable to be anxious about the dwindling number of undead, but there was no sign of that on Baekhyun’s face.
Rather, I was looking at the struggling Song Jang-hwa and thinking about the direction of my research.
In his mind, Song Jang-hwa was no longer an enemy but merely a test subject.
“If you can grow even as an undead, I wonder what the limits are!”
– The constellation, ‘The Horse that Tramples Death’, shows great curiosity about this study, saying that he himself does not know the results.
Woof!
Baekhyun’s dark mana circle spun fiercely.
As if pouring out all the mana I had, the door to the corpse warehouse created in the air by Gamigin’s power opened.
Through the door that was so large it seemed to cover the sky, a rough leather surface was revealed.
A monster that exudes an overwhelming presence even after losing its life and leaving only its skin behind.
The boss monster we faced in the 10th floor trial was the Saha Predator.
Kookung!
The predator of Saha, reborn as Baekhyun’s undead, fell to the ground, showing off its huge body.
Unfortunately, Baekhyun’s current skills were not enough to fully control it.
but…….
“K-aaaaah!”
It was possible to manipulate individual body parts with careful control.
One step, one step.
Saha’s predator, which had been advancing thanks to Baekhyun’s delicate piloting skills, opened its mouth wide in front of Song Jang-hwa.
Song Jang-hwa’s movements, which had been desperately resisting to survive and grow, suddenly stopped. This was because no method of survival could come to mind in front of that gigantic being.
The moment they gave up on survival, all the roots fell into the swamp as if in despair.
Kwajik!
The Saha predator devoured the pine cone.
In the meantime, we did not forget to take care to ensure that the specimens were not damaged as much as possible for research.
– The constellation, ‘The Horse that Tramples Death’, roars powerfully at the contractor, saying that he has never been this excited since he ascended to the throne of the Demon King.
Baekhyun’s ecstatic laughter could be heard at the spot where Song Jang-hwa had fallen.
What was different from the battle of Seun was that the guardian clan of the swamp, Magu, who were gripped by fear, ran away in fear when they saw the sight.
* * *
“So, your clan has been protecting this swamp?”
“That’s right! This is our home and our friends. No, our family!”
“But then the Lizardmen and Orcs started fighting.”
“Yes! At first, I thought this was part of the natural order… … .”
“It must have fallen apart since the appearance of the Song Jang-hwa and the Demon King.”
“That’s right! Huh? How do you know about the demons?”
As Se-un had expected, Magu’s clan was similar to the swamp spirits.
A guardian spirit of the swamp?
There was a reason why Se-Woon didn’t notice it before the regression.
They are said to protect the swamp, but they respect the cycle of life and do not interfere with anything.
It was the law of nature that strong monsters hunted weak ones, and that trees fell and new shoots grew.
Even when something happened, they are said to have rarely interfered and only provided minimal assistance.
Rather, it is said that they hid themselves because they thought that revealing themselves could disrupt the natural order of the swamp.
‘It’s similar to an elf.’
The image of Riel Refrain appeared in Se-un’s mind.
Elves are also a race that lives their entire lives protecting the forest centered around the World Tree, so even though their appearances are different, I thought their purpose was similar to that of the elves.
– You have successfully completed the 11th floor trial, ‘Crossing the Swamp’.
– Calculating public figures… … .
– Time remaining: 41 hours 03 minutes
– Number of monsters hunted: 64.
– Complete the hidden quest ‘Lizardman’s Trick’.
– Complete the hidden quest ‘Overgrowth’
… … .
– Total accumulated merit points: 289,800 points
– Congratulations! You passed the 11th floor trial with a ranking of 3rd.
– You have earned 30,000 points as a reward.
The ordeal naturally ended when the green of the swamp began to fade and blue began to appear.
I had only followed the horse, but seeing the trials end, it seemed that those called the Guardian Clan were living outside the Green Swamp.
Unfortunately, I didn’t achieve the #1 ranking, but even considering that, I was able to gain quite a lot of public service points.
‘Well, this level of judgment is possible even without a guidepost for the journey.’
Where there is the most toxicity, there exists the strongest enemy.
It was a decision that anyone could think of, and it was a hidden quest that anyone with confidence in their skills could challenge.
Thanks to finishing the strategy in a relatively short amount of time, I was able to secure 3rd place.
– Find the hidden fork in the path that leads directly to the next level of trials.
– Welcome to the 12th floor trials.
– Topic: Guardian Clan of the Swamp
– Time limit: 96 hours
– You have encountered a swamp guardian clan and have been asked for help.
– They are currently in a serious crisis. Before you protect the swamp, please listen to their request and save your clan from danger.
As the trials were connected, the 12th floor trials began.
Originally, it was standard to choose one of the Orc or Lizardmen formations at this time, but following the horse was the correct answer.
While reading the system message, I was wondering what the ‘crisis’ was.
“We’ve arrived! It’s over there!”
Magu raised his arms and raised his voice excitedly.
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