Chapter 176: Quickening Period (2)
Chapter 176: Quickening Period (2)
The dungeon changed its appearance. The dungeon on Bukhan Mountain had now changed into a huge ‘castle.’
At a glance, there seemed to be no end to how huge it was. It stretched out for dozens of kilometres. The height...it was unimaginable. It reached high into the sky.
"The dungeon exploration will be prohibited until a clear cause is determined.”
The girin declared.
She climbed on top of a podium and had a distinctive magical atmosphere around her.
"There is only a small stockpile of cores. We will stop all dungeon exploration for three days.”
Kim Yong-woo disagreed. The girin and a few Awakened were gathered. Only the masters of the huge guilds were present.
There were seven guild master, the girin and two dark elves in a small hall.
They were gathered in one place to discuss measures.
"Many Awakened feel insecure about exploring the dungeon. If they explode then the damage will be great.”
The Dambi guild master Alin. The atmosphere reversed as she talked.
But the girin was firm. Roy, who was holding a sword next to her, said.
"I can solve the problem of the dungeon cores.”
"Do you mean that the cores can be obtained without exploration?”
Roy nodded at Kim Yong-woo’s question.
"My master sent me a lot of cores.”
"Saviour...?”
"He sent me a weapon. In order to clean up those who are causing trouble.”
Jjak!
Roy clapped. Then a figure dropped down from the ceiling. It fell.
"Hup!"
The guild masters were surprised because they hadn’t noticed its existence.
Its height came up to their shoulders at most. The figure was a naked male with no hair. The eyes were completely black and the tongue hanging out was weirdly long.
“Homunculus. This was a failure but...it will be enough to clean them up.”
Homunculus. Artificial life!
The seven guild masters here didn’t know anything about it. They just felt an instinctive fear.
Being a guild master didn’t necessarily meant they were the strongest. Even within the guilds, there were many members stronger than the guild master. But the guild masters had selected and raised them. They had also experienced the dungeon exploration.
It was natural that they could measure the strength of their opponent. The strongest people were the man called Saviour and the girin, however the homunculus was next. The artificial golem used by the dark elf Rose was strong, but it didn’t give off a sense of pressure.
“Hiii....”
The homunculus groaned and gazed at the guild masters. He came closer and licked their cheeks with his long tongue.
Gulp!
The people swallowed their saliva. Some raised a hand to their swords.
Roy noticed and said.
"This child has no eyesight. Instead, he has a great sense of smell and touch. Right now, he is recognizing those who are friendly. Don’t worry.”
"T-that is why he is licking our cheeks?”
Kim Yong-woo closed his eyes. He was relatively confident, but when the homunculus’ tongue had licked his cheeks, he had thought ‘this is the end.’
“Yes. Have some guards assigned to this child. Put together a party of reliable Awakened and allow him to recognize them. Master said he is somewhat violent, so he might attack allies if measures aren’t taken.
"Shouldn’t Roy-nim be with him?”
Roy shook his head.
"I will be planting the ‘seeds’ along with Rose and doing the ceremony. I won’t be available.”
“The seeds?”
Kim Yong-woo blinked as Roy pulled out two seeds.
The seeds didn’t look typical and had contrasting colours of blue and red.
"The Trees of Life and Death. They are derived from the Tree of Origin. They will be a big help to us if we grow them properly. However, the creatures might move while we are planting the trees.”
Roy’s words were solemn. His haughty composure was completely different from his previous cowardly self. However, Roy seemed a little nervous when talking this time.
The guild masters couldn’t understand the atmosphere.
Alin of the Dambi guild asked on their behalf.
“...Is a monster wave going to happen?”
“My master has dealt with many the creatures in South Korea. There is a possibility that the creatures nearby will come.”
There were many stray creatures without a master wandering. They used their instincts and attacked the people in Korea.
While the Trees of Life and Death were growing, they would release a fatal smell to specific creatures. They would instinctively come to the trees to destroy them before that could happen.
Alin asked calmly.
"Then why we should take the risk?"
"They are vulnerable when growing, but they will crush the creatures after they are grown.”
"Then do we have to plant them now? It isn’t too late after everything is stabilized.”
“No, now is the perfect time. If we don’t plant them in the next three days, then we will have to wait 12 years.”
Roy looked up at the ceiling. He seemed to be looking at something beyond the ceiling.
Alin looked at the other six guild masters. She was asking what their opinions were. Everybody was dubious but thought it was worth trying the gamble.
Alin spoke once again after receiving their feedback.
“As soon as possible...clean everything up.”
The former government forces. The ones who committed terrorism.
The war with them had to be finished as soon as possible. The duration was three days. It was best if they finished it during that time.
They couldn’t receive the attacks of the creatures and the government forces at the same time.
The key was the homunculus. Right now, the government soldiers didn’t have that much strength. The ratio was 6.5:3.5, but they used guerilla tactics to be annoying.
It was at that time.
Roy and Rose’s eyes widened.
They stared at a shadow and started to talk.
“Huh? T-then the ceremony?”
"That's right. Roy isn’t reliable. The two of us doing the ceremony...”
Rose’s ears pricked up. It seemed like she was listening to something. The guild masters were puzzled.
“Can you do it? R-rather, you don’t have to do this. For now, just give me your advice. Well, we can do it.”
"No, Rose would be better. Queen-nim can be at ease.”
Queen-nim?
That meant it was the saviour.
In addition, both of the dark elves followed the presence.
10 seconds. It became silent. Roy and Rose bowed.
“...Understood.”
“...I will try it.”
Shortly after the two opinions were unified, somebody appeared from the shadows.
The outline gradually became clear.
The guild masters felts their breaths being blocked as they confirmed its appearance.
The person was a woman wearing a robe made of a silken material. Her skin and ears showed that she was a dark elf like Roy and Rose. Her face was veiled except for her eyes, but she gave off an overwhelming presence.
There was an untouchable atmosphere around her. Despite only her eyes being visible, they could tell she was a beauty. The men had to suppress the urge to stretch out their hands. They wanted to tear off the cloth covering her face.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Ah...”
Kim Yong-woo and the other male guild masters exclaimed. All the women except for Alin were also amazed. Her voice was also charming!
The female dark elf continued speaking.
"This mission, I will come along.”
The time limit was three days.
It was honestly tight. They had to catch the scattered enemies. No matter how powerful she was, there was a limit to their speed.
...They thought like that. That was common sense.
But that common sense was smashed. The plate was overturned.
The homunculus was excellent for finding the enemies. His sense of smell and touch precisely spotted their hiding places, even if a stealth skill was used.
Was that all?
In terms of speed, he was unmatched by anyone else. A truly invincible speed! His destructive power was weaker than his speed, but it was still an insurmountable wall compared to humans.
However, not everything could be solved with strength. The girin said that she wouldn’t fight humans, but Rose’s golem was also very strong.
The problem was the number of enemies. They were weak but there were hundreds of thousands of them. In fact, Rose’s golem had ran alone into a trap by the government forces and been damaged by two thousand skills.
Several conditions needed to be overlapped, but they couldn’t be ignored.
However...there wasn’t one strong being, but two.
One of them was so strong they couldn’t be compared to anyone else.
The story was different.
Pasak!
Puk!
The female dark elf.
She moved forward despite the numbers.
In the middle of the enemy. She read all the traps the enemy set, grasped the enemy’s movements and quickly killed them. Dazzling movements. Restrained but neat actions. No wasted movements could be found.
Eek! Screams could be heard from the other side.
The third day. They succeeded in attacking the headquarters of the government troops.
Of course, the dark elf and homunculus weren’t the only ones involved in the war.
Thousands of Awakened surrounded the headquarters that was in the mountains. All seven guild masters and their members were present.
"Don’t let them get away!”
"We have the Goddess of Victory with us!”
The morale of their allies had sharply increased.
In contrast, the morale of the enemy was extremely low.
There hadn’t been a clear winner in the war against the two sides.
However, the situation was reversed after the two strong presences joined.
In particular, the female dark elf called the ‘Goddess of Victory’ played a huge part.
The momentum was fully on their side, so the results seemed predetermined.
The Trees of Life and Death.
They were an accidental product of the Tree of Origin’s upgrade.
Yihi hadn’t reported it to me, but the fire spirits found them because of the colour.
Fire-One, Fire-Two and Fire-Three were tired of Yihi’s tyranny and told Rei and Sera.
In the end, Yihi was forced to hand the two seeds over to me.
No matter how much her rating increased...Yihi was still Yihi. It didn’t seem like she would ever change.
Either way.
‘It will be difficult to plant them in the dungeon.’
The Trees of Life and Death attracted creatures while growing. It maximized their aggressive tendencies. They would move instinctively and ignore my commands.
Therefore, the dungeon was unsuitable for planting the seeds.
‘It is ideal for promoting the growth of humans.’
I sat in front of the Dungeon Core.
There were conditions to grow both trees.
The Tree of Life grew every time there was a birth near it and the Tree of Death grew when there was death nearby.
And when both trees grew, they would ‘awaken’ the surrounding species. For example, in the case of humans, there would be a higher percentage of Awakened appearing.
What if this was applied to the creatures? It was possible but...
‘Humans are different from creatures.’
The creatures weren’t significantly better than the Awakened. In contrast, humans had huge ‘possibilities.’ This difference was large.
In addition, there was a high probability that the dungeon would be a mess if two trees were growing inside it.
It would be better to assign the trees to promote human growth.
‘There will be many benefits if there is a high ratio of Awakened.’
First of all, there was a need for the humans in South Korea to grow quickly.
'Quickening period. The time for change.’
I could deal with one faction, but there was a limit if another one joined. Humans would become helpful at that time.
They should be helpful.
That’s why I was making this move.
‘Humans. Do not disappoint me.’