< [Episode 11] Jagalchi Market (2) >
There was no separate fish market on the road from Jagalchi Station to my hometown.
From crawling fish to flying fish, and various types of monsters such as crabs and crayfish were running wild.
As befitting the reputation of Jagalchi Market, all the seafood was gathered together.
Of these, the most troublesome ones were crustaceans.
“This time it’s crayfish!”
“Get back!”
Just like the crabs we had hunted before, crayfish armed with hard chitinous armor appeared, but they had already learned the strategy.
Kwaaaaang!
The barbell, which landed like a shell on the crayfish’s back, took its life.
[You have hunted a Giant Lobster (Lv. 30).]
[Gain experience points.]
[106,886,599 won was deposited into the wallet of the absolute owner of the house.]
Unfortunately, the settlement was tight because I had hunted, but right now, clearing the road was more important than money.
‘I’m sorry, Minho.’
The barbell had been used several times and was badly damaged.
‘I’ll register the item and buy you a new one.’
Overall, this was a much more dangerous environment than the area around our apartment.
The average level of the monsters is high, and there are so many of them that even the Ha Dong-Geon party would have a hard time.
‘It would have been dangerous if I hadn’t leveled up the warehouse!’
Kim Da-jeong would have been injured in the first battle.
If that had been the case, the power of Owen Ju and Ha Dong-geon, who were not blessed, would have been greatly weakened, and they would not have been able to kill monsters as stably as they are now.
Moreover, the function of the blessing was not limited to simply increasing physical abilities.
Woohoo
Late evening.
In a dark environment where even streetlights could no longer be expected, Kim Da-jeong’s ability served as a light that brightened the surroundings.
Just like in the subway station, the light that comes out when you receive a blessing is doing its job perfectly.
Since humans are animals that rely heavily on sight, having light to brighten up the dark night was a huge advantage in battle.
“Dong-Geon, behind me!”
He summoned a bullet towards a tuna that was following Hadonggun.
[You have hunted a Sky Bluefin Tuna (Lv. 17).]
[Gain experience points.]
[1,326,284 won was deposited into the wallet of the absolute owner of the house.]
In this way, the assistance provided through the warehouse function was top-notch.
But my expression, focused on the battle, was only serious.
‘There are too many monsters.’
There were several instances where dangerous situations arose if it weren’t for my assistance.
So, in reality, this path is difficult to break through with just the original Ha Dong-geon party’s skills.
That was the problem.
‘If the Ha Dong-gun party is having a hard time enduring, it means that the environment is even more unbearable for ordinary people.’
It was a party comprised entirely of Awakened people.
That’s not all.
The combination was good, and they even gave guns to Moon Byung-ho, Kim Geon, and Kim Da-jeong, who had no proper means of attack.
But I have no choice but to say that I am having a hard time moving just 1km.
‘——The probability of the family being alive is close to zero.’
Now I had no choice but to admit it.
That’s why, as I got closer to my hometown, my fear gradually grew.
‘But you never know. You might be lucky and survive.’
I just couldn’t let go of hope.
It was when the Hadonggun party was passing by the public fish market.
Now I could really say that we were almost there.
The familiar street scene, despite being terribly damaged, brought about longing.
‘If you just go into that alley, you’ll be right at home.’
But then I noticed a strange tree taking up the middle of the road.
He immediately ordered Ha Dong-geon’s party to go to the party.
[Stop.]
There’s a huge tree on the street.
‘What is that?’
Was there something like that?
There was no way that could happen.
It was the city where I was born and raised.
I had a perfect idea of where everything was.
‘Aside from that, there’s no way the city would have left a tree blocking the middle of the road!’
So, this means that it is a tree that appeared after the world was destroyed.
And the implications were clear.
‘It’s a monster.’
I looked at him with the eyes of an absolute being.
“Tree Giant (Lv. 32)”
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‘also’
Because it was filled with marine-type monsters up until now, I almost thought it was a normal tree.
Considering that the level is quite high at 30, if you passed by without knowing anything, you could have suffered serious damage.
He gave orders to the Hadonggun party.
[That tree is a monster. Attack it.]
As soon as the order to attack was given, Owen Ju took over and Kim Ga-young shot an arrow at the tree.
Phew!
The arrow with the Piercing skill pierced the tree perfectly, but there was no message indicating that the tree giant had been captured.
instead.
Woodduck-
The tree slowly began to raise its body.
Wood crunch—
[Attack!]
There was no reason to wait for the monster to finish preparing.
Immediately, Hadonggeon’s spear flew towards the wooden pillar.
However, the wooden tentacles sprouting from the bastard’s body blocked Hadonggeon’s spear that was flying towards him.
Kwajik!
Although the tip of the tentacle was shattered, it blocked Hadonggeon’s spear throw without causing any damage.
The tree began to walk towards the Hadonggun party.
Kuung—
The floor vibrated violently every time the heavy body moved.
Shushuk
Moon Byung-ho, who teleported behind the tree monster, fired his pistol at its back.
Taang— bang—!
They hit the bastard’s body, but didn’t do much to cause any significant damage.
Moon Byung-ho’s pistol shot bounced off the tree, barely breaking the bark.
Push!
In the case of Kim Ga-young’s arrow, the situation was a little better.
Thanks to the Piercing skill, I was able to successfully create a hole through the tree, but that was all.
Kuung—
The tree monster didn’t care whether there were holes in its body or not.
Kuung!
As the guy got closer, Oh Eun-joo, who had received Kim Da-jeong’s blessing as he had done until now, took the lead.
“Crung!”
The tree roots swung towards her like whips, and Owenju dodged them with graceful movements, finally being able to attack the tree monster’s torso.
Kwajik!
The most significant blow so far was inflicted on the tree monster, with half of its body bursting apart.
however.
Quadduk—
The roots under Owen’s feet grew in an instant and grabbed her ankles tightly.
“Ugh!”
Quaddukduk—
It soon grew thick and completely bound Owen’s entire lower body.
At that moment, the roots that had grown out additionally were flying towards Owen’s heart.
Shush!
Moon Byeong-ho, who appeared in front of Oh Eun-joo risking his life, placed a hand on her shoulder and used teleportation again to disappear.
Shushuk
‘hmm?’
It was then that I was able to capture something odd about the tree monster’s reaction.
‘Why did the attack stop?’
It was the moment when Moon Byung-ho appeared and blocked Oh Eun-joo.
It was only for a moment, but I could see that the tree monster’s attack was about to stop.
‘if?’
I ordered the Hadonggun party to regroup and prepare for the second battle with the tree monster.
[Mr. Owen Ju, just fall back and let the rest attack.]
“Yes? Mr. Owen Ju?”
[yes.]
Owen Ju was the leader of the Ha Dong-geon party.
If you remove someone like that, your power will inevitably decrease.
The tree monster was the most annoying monster we’ve ever encountered in terms of its impenetrability, so everyone is wondering why it’s being taken out at full power.
“All right.”
When Owen Ju left without saying anything, the others were taken aback, but they accepted it for now.
“Follow Jaehyun’s orders. Oh Eun-ju, stay back and protect Ga-young and Da-jeong, and Deok-su, come forward.”
“Okay––! But can I do it?”
“One piece of bread is solid.”
“Oh, okay!”
Ha Dong-geon spoke to Oh Eun-ju.
“Please take the back.”
“all right.”
It was the moment when Owen Ju released his transformation and fell to the rear.
A strange thing happened.
Kuung—
“uh?”
Kuung—
The moment Owen Ju released his water transformation and turned back into a human, the tree monster turned its back without any hesitation and began to return to its original place.
“–what?”
The tree monster returned to where it had first been and sat down as if nothing had happened, turning back into a tree again.
“Jaehyun, how did this happen? Did you know about it?”
I couldn’t answer right away because I didn’t expect things to turn out this way.
‘Doesn’t it attack humans?’
If you think about it, the tree monster started attacking from the moment Owen Ju transformed into a human.
Moreover, the tree monster’s attacks were always aimed at Owenju alone.
He only defended himself by blocking the attacks of other groups and did not counterattack.
That’s why Owen Ju was pushed back.
Now that I think about it, it wasn’t Owen Ju that was the problem, but rather Owen Ju’s personification that provoked the tree monster.
‘then—‘
That was when.
Kuuung!
The tree monster began to move once again.
However, the direction the guy moved was the exact opposite of where Ha Dong-geon’s party was.
What appeared there was a land shark that moved by crawling on land like a snake.
Phew!
The land shark struggled, horribly impaled on the tree giant’s roots.
Kwungkung
The tree giant, having subdued the land shark, turned around without any hesitation and went back to where he was.
At one end of the tree giant’s roots, a skewered land shark was writhing in agony.
‘What is that?’
It wasn’t strange for monsters to fight each other.
Even among the same goblins, they would fight and kill each other, and it was not uncommon to see orcs and goblins fighting.
So it was not surprising that a tree giant was subduing a land shark that had invaded its territory.
‘The strange thing is, why don’t humans attack?’
Even though the Hadonggun party approached quite closely, it remained motionless like an ordinary tree.
‘I could just burn it like this, but…’
Although it appears to be almost immune to physical attacks, it is presumed that fire using intermediate attribute magic (fire) would be fatal to it.
but.
‘Let’s leave it as is for now’
If you only attack monsters other than humans, it would be more advantageous to leave them alone.
If possible, we might be able to evacuate Ha Dong-geon’s party into the area he’s guarding.
[It doesn’t seem to be showing any hostility, so ignore the tree monster and move forward. Just go past the apartment over there and into the alley.]
“All right.”
So, Ha Dong-geon’s party began to move cautiously.
To get into the alley beyond the apartment, I had to pass right next to the tree monster, so I walked slowly, wary of any unexpected events.
Fortunately, the tree monster remained still until the entire Hadonggun party passed by.
Just before the Hadonggun party entered the alley.
My heart sank as the part that had been hidden by the apartment building was revealed.
‘omg!’
There stood a huge tree there.
It was a tree with a mysterious atmosphere that gave off a faint light, whether it was because of the moonlight in the night sky or because of its own inherent luminescence.
Its size was about 20 to 30 meters and its thickness was also enormous.
But why of all things.
‘Over there~!’
What bothered me was that the tree was located exactly where our house should be.
The moment I saw it, uncontrollable anger flooded my mind.
It felt like my blood was rushing to my head.
Without realizing it, I was gritting my teeth and putting strength into my entire body.
I saw my face reflected in the living room window, distorted like that of a demon.
Until I saw it, I didn’t even realize I was making that expression.
I didn’t even know I was capable of making that kind of expression.
‘I’ll kill you’
I used to think that boiling anger was just an idiom.
But, seeing this feeling that heated up the blood in my whole body, I couldn’t help but feel that it was an appropriate expression.
I felt like I had to blow up that monster tree right now to satisfy my desires.
‘Fill it with gas and explode. Just summon Hadonggun and his party with the summoning spell.’
Just before I lost my mind and gave orders to Ha Dong-geon’s party.
[The presence of the Absolute’s blood relatives has been detected nearby.]
A cold system notification was poured onto my burning head.
-?
And that was the moment.
“What are you guys?!”
A stranger’s voice was heard in the darkness.
<[Episode 11] Jagalchi Market (2)> End
