145. Chapter 145
“I am good! nice! It’s true! scary!”
Perhaps because the tip of the sword was right in front of the throat, the dwarf was rubbing his hands and praying to Sewoon, wringing out tears and runny nose.
It didn’t seem like the dwarf was lying.
No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find anything that could be called a weapon from him, and his physical ability seemed insignificant.
However, that wasn’t the reason Seun was puzzled.
‘What race is this?’
There are only two tribes, Lizardmen and Orcs, that exist in the swamp, the theme of the 11th floor.
The fact that dwarves exist in the swamp area was the first fact that even Se-Woon, who had already tackled this theme, knew.
Besides, I couldn’t even figure out the race name.
Goblins, halflings, gnomes and more.
I recalled a lot of information about the race that looked like a dwarf, but I couldn’t remember a dwarf that looked like this.
Before returning, it was Seun who had reached the 92nd floor, the highest floor reached as a player, and mastered most of the knowledge through the great library in the tower.
So, I had no choice but to be surprised by the species I had never seen before.
“What are you?”
“Hey, please put this away! It’s scary!”
Seeing her teary eyes, Sewoon let out a small sigh and put away his sword.
Of course, I did not forget to be vigilant in case of an unexpected situation. Because the opponent is an intelligent person, he can hide his strength and pretend to be weak, aiming for a surprise attack.
Well, to be honest, no matter how much I looked at it, the dwarf didn’t seem capable of doing that.
After Sewoon put away his sword, the dwarf let out a sigh of relief and slowly introduced himself.
“I am Magu, the guardian clan of the swamp!”
They are the guardian clan of the swamp.
It was only then that Sewoon remembered something and nodded quietly.
Occasionally, very occasionally, these beings existed.
Rather than being individuals belonging to a single race, those belonging to the environment itself, like the Earthly Spirit.
They have characteristics closer to elementals than to creatures.
Perhaps, this dwarf who introduced himself as a horseman was in a similar situation.
“So, why are you hiding here watching me?”
“This is where we have been monitoring since the beginning! There was a commotion, and the toxicity decreased, so I came closer!”
“watch? why?”
“that… … .”
The dwarf, who was about to continue talking, twitched his ears.
I seemed to know why. It was because Sewoon could also feel the presence of a group of people from far away.
Perhaps, after hearing the commotion, the Lizardmen seemed to be coming to assist.
“Hey, get out of the seat for now! They are coming!”
“It doesn’t really matter.”
“Please! Follow me!”
After speaking, the body of the horse was dyed a dark green like a swamp.
It didn’t just assimilate the color, but the presence completely disappeared.
Having reached the 5th circle, it was a stealth technique that surprised even Sewoon, who was not only sensitive to mana, but also more than a normal player.
‘Could it be, did it reveal its presence as part of it until just now?’
Come to think of it, it was a bit strange to suddenly feel a presence from behind a tree.
As much as he was concentrating on the battle with Song Jang-hwa, Sewoon was raising all his senses to the extreme.
The appearance of the horse was sudden, as if it had been summoned from behind a tree, rather than a sign approaching this place.
Sewoon, who thought of the horse as a being close to a spirit, was able to be confident in his thoughts.
“This way! Follow me!”
Fortunately, the harness is deliberately showing weak signs for Seun.
No matter how you think about it, it was a situation that was far from the ordeal that Sewoon knew.
However, as an adventurer, the intuition of a player who reached the 92nd floor was shouting. The fact that following the harness is the biggest hidden piece in the ordeal on the 11th floor.
– Kilkerga-style stealth is enhanced through inner air.
Ignoring the signs of the attacking Lizardmen group, Sewoon started following the harness.
* * *
At that time, aside from Seun, there was the only player in Clan Diablo facing Curse Rafflesia.
“Jackal! Wake up!”
“Kissit! What the hell is this!”
“Stop it! I’m on the same side… … Kew!”
Lizardmen’s screams were echoing in the breeding grounds of corpse flowers.
Upon closer inspection, they were fighting with the same side as if a civil war had broken out.
One strange thing was that the Lizardmen wielding spears on the other side of the screams did not feel any vitality at all.
“It is as you think! Commanding soldiers using pheromones. In this way, we will be able to overcome the limits of numbers!”
– The constellation ‘Horse that tramples on death’ sees the process of organizing the corps and stomps with satisfaction as it reminisces about its past.
At the end of it is a man wearing a white coat and smiling with joy. Baekhyun was standing there.
Poison did not work on the undead he handled, so even in this place full of poison from the corpse, there was no harm.
Baekhyun himself was wearing something like a leather mask made of necromancy, which seemed to block the poison.
Next to it was an undead made of the queen ant that Sewoon had brought him a while ago.
Black smoke was emanating from the tip of the queen ant’s belly, and the undead were moving their bodies in response to the signal.
The number of undead moving under the direction of the queen ant easily exceeded 50 already.
As the battle continued, the dead Lizardmen also woke up as zombies, and the number was increasing.
Necromancers commanded the undead, but there was a limit to their number depending on the circle.
However, Baekhyun was different.
Using the remodeled undead, they surpassed not only their qualitative strength, but also their numerical limitations.
“Kee-eee!!”
Curse Rafflesia. The corpse made a roar and raised its roots.
From nob le mt l dot com
Just like the battle with Seun, first of all, he planted roots in Baekhyun’s undead as well as the living Lizardmen for growth.
The contraction and expansion of the roots begin, and the moment the nutrients are about to be delivered.
“A flower that absorbs nutrients through a corpse! I’m interested. It is an undead production using plants, so it will definitely be of great help!”
Beep!!
“Kee-eeek!”
The roots of the undead’s body exploded.
As a result, not only the root of the corpse flower, but also the flesh that broke out flew into the flower petals, creating a terrible scar.
Nutrient absorption of corpse was basically possible only through the corpse.
Even if it is inserted into the body of a living lizardman, full-fledged nutrient absorption is possible only after the life is turned off.
But now that was impossible.
It was because the corpses that needed to absorb nutrients were exploding with their roots sticking out.
However, the number of undead in Baekhyun was gradually decreasing.
Since she was a weak but intelligent person, as the number of undead decreased, she realized that she had an advantage, and blew her roots towards the undead.
The number of undead has decreased, and he might be nervous, but Baekhyun’s face didn’t show that kind of sign at all.
Rather, he was contemplating the direction of his research while looking at Song Jang-hwa, who was struggling.
In his mind, Song Jang-hwa was no longer an enemy, but a test subject.
“If you can grow even after becoming undead, I wonder where the limit will be!”
– The constellation, ‘The Word That Tramples Death,’ expresses great curiosity about this research, saying that he does not know the results.
Ugh!
Baekhyun’s dark mana circle rotated fiercely.
As if pouring out the mana he had, the door to the corpse’s warehouse opened in the air, created by Gamigin’s authority.
Through a door that was so large that it covered the sky, a thick piece of leather appeared.
A monster that exudes an overwhelming presence even after losing its life and leaving only its skin.
It was the boss monster he faced in the ordeal on the 10th floor, the Devourer of Saha.
Kugoong!
Baekhyun’s undead predator of Saha fell to the floor, boasting its huge body.
Unfortunately, with Baekhyun’s current skills, he couldn’t fully control it.
but… … .
“K-aaagh!”
It was possible to manipulate parts of the body one by one with careful control.
One foot, one foot.
Saha’s predator, which moved forward with Baekhyun’s delicate piloting skills, opened its mouth wide in front of Song Jang-hwa.
Song Jang-hwa, who was desperately resisting to survive and grow, stopped for a moment. It was because he couldn’t think of any way to survive in front of that gigantic being.
The moment I gave up on survival, all the roots fell onto the swamp like despair.
Kwajik!
Saha’s predator devoured the corpse.
In the meantime, he did not forget to take care not to damage the specimen as much as possible for the sake of research.
– The constellation, ‘the horse that tramples on death’, cries out vigorously to the contractor saying that he has never been this excited since ascending to the throne of the devil.
At the place where Song Jang-hwa fell, Baekhyun’s laughter filled with joy was heard.
The difference from Seun’s battle was that the swamp’s guardian clan ‘Magu’ saw it and ran away in fear.
* * *
“So, your clan has been protecting this swamp?”
“that’s right! This is our hometown and friends. No, because they are family!”
“But the Lizardmen and the Orcs started fighting.”
“yes! At first, I thought this was part of the law… … .”
“It must have collapsed since Song Jang-hwa and the Demon Beast appeared.”
“you’re right! uh? How do you know about the Witchbeast?”
As Se-Woon predicted, the Magu clan were similar to the Jibak-ryeong of the swamp.
A guardian spirit of the swamp?
There was a good reason why Seun didn’t notice before returning.
They are said to protect the swamp, but they respect the cycle of life and do not interfere in trivial matters.
Because it was nature’s order for strong monsters to hunt weak monsters, and for trees to fall and new shoots to grow.
Even if something happened, they said that they only gave minimal help and rarely intervened.
Rather, it is said that they hid themselves thinking that revealing themselves would interfere with the order of the swamp.
‘It’s similar to an elf.’
The image of Riel Refrain appeared in Seun’s mind.
Elves are also a species that lives their entire lives protecting the forest around the world tree, so I wondered if their purpose was similar to that of elves, even though their appearance was different.
– Successfully completed the 11th floor trial ‘Crossing the Swamp’.
– Counting public values… … .
– Remaining time: 41 hours 03 minutes
– The number of monsters hunted is 64.
– Complete the Hidden Quest ‘Lizardman’s Strategy’.
– Complete the Hidden Quest ‘Overgrowth’
… … .
– Total cumulative achievement 289,800 points
– Congratulations! Passed the trials on the 11th floor with a ranking of 3rd.
– Acquired 30,000 points as a reward.
The ordeal naturally ended when the green light of the swamp disappeared and the blue light began to drift.
I only followed the harness, but seeing the end of the ordeal, it seemed that those called the Guardian Clan were residing outside the green swamp.
Unfortunately, I didn’t achieve the 1st place in the rankings, but even considering that, I was able to get quite a lot of public value.
‘Well, this level of judgment is sufficiently possible even without a guideline for the journey.’
The strongest enemy exists where the poison is strongest.
It was a judgment that anyone could think of, and it was a hidden quest that anyone who was confident in their skills could challenge.
Thanks to the quick completion of the attack, I was able to compete for the 3rd place.
-Find a hidden fork in the road and connect to the next floor ordeal.
– Welcome to the challenge of the 12th floor.
– Topic: The Guardian Clan of the Swamp
– Time limit: 96 hours
– You encountered the Guardian Clan of the Swamp and asked for help.
– Currently, they are in a serious crisis situation. Before defending the swamp, please listen to their request and save the clan from danger.
As the trials were connected, the trials of the 12th floor began immediately.
Originally, it was the standard to choose one of the formations of Orcs or Lizardmen at this time, but following the harness was also the correct answer.
I was thinking about what ‘crisis’ was while reading the system message.
“Im here! There he is!”
Magoo raised his voice excitedly and raised his arms high.