Chapter 81: Encounter

Chapter 81: Encounter

On the 254th day of the disaster, at dawn.

- Park Sejun, wake up.

A calm voice woke Sejun.

"Ugh... Lord Anton?"

- Park Sejun, corrupted Ent branch scouts have appeared outside.

"What? Branch scouts?"

Sejun was puzzled, thinking the corrupted Ent had died from the black dragon statue's breath.

- I only killed one of them.

"Oh."

Understanding the situation, Sejun slowly got up and gathered his equipment.

Huh?

The black rabbit, which had been sleeping in the corner of Sejun's bedroom in a wooden box, also woke up, picked up its hammer, and followed Sejun.

As Sejun left the brick house and moved west,

"How many are there?"

500 small branch scouts were visible. It was definitely fewer than before.

"Let's go!"

Huh!

Just as the black rabbit was about to join the fight,

- Black rabbit, stay here. Only Park Sejun will fight today.

Anton stopped the black rabbit.

Huh?

- Park Sejun is too weak. He needs to get stronger.

Huh!

The black rabbit nodded vigorously in agreement with Anton's words.

- Yes. You understand well. So just watch.

Huh!

The black rabbit sat on the ground and watched Sejun, as per Anton's instructions.

Then,

Gweong!

Gweong woke up to the loud noise and ran over when she saw Sejun fighting alone. Dad is in danger!

And,

- Stop.

Huh!

Gweong?

The black dragon statue gestured to Gweong, and after hearing the situation from the black rabbit, Gweong also sat next to the black rabbit and watched Sejun.

Thus, Sejun faced the branch scouts alone.

Thud!

Sejun's thrown hand axe embedded itself in the center of a branch scout's body.

[You have defeated a small branch scout of the corrupted Ent.]

[You have gained 25 experience points.]

Thrust.

At the same time, Sejun stabbed an approaching enemy with the dagger in his left hand.

[You have defeated a small branch scout of the corrupted Ent.]

[You have gained 25 experience points.]

However,

Crack.

Another enemy approached from Sejun's right and swung a wooden arm at him. There wasn't enough time to pull out the dagger and counterattack.

Whirr.

"Retrieve."

Sejun dodged the branch scout's attack and retrieved his hand axe.

And,

Thud!

He stabbed the waist of the branch scout that had just attacked with the hand axe in his right hand.

[You have defeated a small branch scout of the corrupted Ent.]

[You have gained 25 experience points.]

Sejun, facing the small branch scouts, was on a killing spree.

'I'm pretty strong, huh!'

While Sejun was absorbed in his own strength and enthusiastically defeating the enemies,

Rumble.

Gweong.

The black rabbit and Gweong, who had been watching Sejun's lackluster battle, fell asleep out of boredom.

And,

- Hmm... There's a long way to go.

Anton's concern grew as he watched Sejun's battle. It was so poor that he didn't know where to start.

That morning, Sejun defeated 500 small branch scouts.

***

Grid's office on the 55th floor of the tower.

"What? The Silver Wolf tribe has canceled the contract?!"

"Yes. What should we do?"

"Leave it. They probably refused the commission, trusting in the Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower, but they will soon regret it."

The Red Locusts will provide enough food for a few months while they are alive, but without food, they will eventually eat each other and naturally die out.

And the food shortage that Grid had been waiting for will begin. However, that alone was not enough to get what Grid wanted. So Grid planned to cause another famine.

"How is the acquisition of monster corpses by Tarric going?"

"The acquisition of 50,000 monster corpses has been completed, and Tarric is leading the wandering merchants of the guild to the 67th floor of the tower."

"Good."

Grid had seen the Red Locusts briefly on the 55th floor of the tower before. When the Red Locusts evolve to the next stage, they turn purple.

And the corpses of the Purple Locusts contain a strong poison that no one can eat and even pollutes the ground.

"Now we just have to wait. Hehehe."

Grid laughed, showing his grotesque fangs.

***

"Phew."

Sejun, who had been fighting until dawn, woke up late.

Swoosh.

He drew a line on the wall to mark the date and went outside.

Rumble.

Moo.

Outside, his mother, the Crimson Giant Bear, and the Black Minotaurs were busy building a canal by stacking bricks.

"Flame, hello."

Sejun went down to the cave and greeted Flame.

[Master! Good morning!]

Flame waved its leaves to welcome Sejun.

"Flame, I need the Flame of Affinity."

Sejun planned to check the situation in the western forest as the branch scouts were active again.

[Yes. Yaaah!]

A yellow flame appeared from Flame's green leaves and seeped into Sejun's body.

[The Flame of Affinity will seep into you for 3 hours.]

[The Flame of Affinity assists the user in controlling fire and enhances the power of fire.]

"Let's go, guys!"

Huh!

Gweong!

The black rabbit and Gweong, who were hunting in the pond, followed Sejun at his call.

"Gweong, transform!"

Gweong!

At Sejun's words, Gweong grew huge. Instead of riding the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who was helping with the canal construction, Sejun planned to ride Gweong.

Gweong!

Gweong lay down and carried Sejun and the black rabbit. Gweong had grown to over 10 meters in size.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Riding Gweong, they arrived at the entrance of the western forest in 40 minutes.

And,

"When did they grow so much?"

Sejun was surprised to see the rotten branches that had filled the entrance of the western forest again.

Unbeknownst to Sejun, the corrupted Ents had been busy replenishing the rotten branch sentinels that Sejun had burned, so they hadn't sent branch scouts to Sejun's cave.

Clang!

Sejun struck his dagger and hand axe together to create a spark and threw it at the rotten branches. They had grown a lot, but burning them again would be fine. It was even a good opportunity to gain experience points, so he was grateful.

Whoosh.

Sejun's flame began to burn the rotten branches.

[You have defeated a rotten branch sentinel of the corrupted Ent.]

[You have gained 10 experience points.]

...

..

.

Huh!

Whoosh!

Gweong!

Whoosh!

Instead of the mother Crimson Giant Bear, the black rabbit and Gweong created a wind. They had been steadily eating jelly and strengthening their magic-related talents, so they could create a strong enough wind.

Whoosh.

Thanks to their help, the fire grew quickly, and Sejun's experience points accumulated rapidly.

While Sejun was gaining experience points, yellow flowers walked out from inside the western forest.

[Sticky Flower Attacker of the corrupted Ent]

Splat! Splat!

The sticky flower attackers began to spit sticky substances to extinguish the fire.

"That won't do."

Thud!

Sejun hit the head of a sticky flower attacker with his hand axe.

[You have defeated a sticky flower attacker of the corrupted Ent.]

[You have gained 1200 experience points.]

The appearance of a monster that gave substantial experience points.

"Let's attack, guys!"

Whoosh.

Feeling guilty for only assisting, Sejun moved the fire left and right to create a path for the black rabbit and Gweong to reach the sticky flower attackers.

Huh!

Gweong!

The black rabbit and Gweong followed the path Sejun had created.

And,

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Thud!

They began to defeat the sticky flower attackers.

While the battle continued,

[You have leveled up.]

[You have gained 1 bonus stat point.]

[The Flame of Affinity is fading.]

Sejun's level-up coincided with the end of Flame's Flame of Affinity buff.

"Let's run!"

Sejun and the animals quickly fled.

At the spot Sejun had left,

Roar!

The roar of the corrupted Ent, enraged by the disappearance of its sentinels, echoed through the western forest.

***

67th floor of the tower.

"Lord Tarric, thank you for coming!"

Tamura, the lizardman grand warrior, warmly welcomed Tarric.

Tarric was the owner of the large guild, Chau Guild. Tamura was very happy that Tarric had come in person.

"Lord Tamura, this is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."

Tarric handed Tamura a black card with '10000' engraved on it. It was a check that could be exchanged for 10,000 tower coins at Chau Guild.

"No, this is too much..."

Despite his troubled voice, Tamura put the card between his armor.

"Lord Tamura, can we go out and collect the locust corpses?"

"Of course. If you can fight, it will be easier for us."

"Thank you. Let's go."

Tarric left with the wandering merchants who had followed him and returned after 10 hours.

Although the amount of Red Locust corpses outside had not changed much compared to the time he left, Tamura did not pay much attention.

***

75th floor of the tower, the shop area.

"Hurry, meow!"

Theo ran to the forge to draw a card. No matter how urgent it was, he had to do what Sejun had asked.

To leave quickly, he had the group wait at the entrance of the shop area.

When Theo arrived at the forge, he first checked the card drawing corner before buying a card. He wanted to see if there was anything to draw.

However,

"There's no pull, meow."

There were no items that caught his interest. Theo left the forge empty-handed.

On his way back to the entrance of the shop area where the group was waiting,

"Chirp, chirp!"

A familiar voice reached Theo's ears.

'Is this?'

Theo quickly stopped and looked in the direction of the sound, seeing Iona frantically looking around, calling someone's name.

'Phew. It's not too late, meow.'

Theo was relieved to see his competitor right in front of him. Sejun's lap was safe.

"Pu, pu, pu. I need to get there first, meow!"

Theo tried to leave quickly, but

"Chirp, chirp! Where are you?!"

"Meow..."

His feet wouldn't move. He was torn. He needed to sit on Sejun's warm lap and eat churu, but he couldn't leave Iona, who was desperately searching for someone.

"Iona! What's wrong, meow?!"

Theo finally decided to help Iona.

"President The, please help! My disciple, Chirp, has disappeared!"

Iona explained her situation to Theo when he appeared.

"Chirp? What does it look like, meow?!"

"A white rabbit with a red ribbon and king glasses."

"I understand, meow! I'll have my subordinates help! It will be faster with more people, meow!"

Theo quickly ran to the entrance of the shop area.

"Everyone, help Iona find a white rabbit named Chirp with a red ribbon and king glasses, meow!"

"Yes!"

The wolves and interns scattered to search for Chirp.

Then,

"Lord Theo, hello."

Jeras, a secret inspector patrolling the area, greeted Theo warmly. Jeras was proud of his ability to recognize Theo as a genius merchant, given the rapid increase in Theo's sales.

"Ah! Jeras! Help me, meow! I'm looking for a white rabbit named Chirp, meow!"

Theo, eager to find Chirp and go to the 99th floor of the tower, asked Jeras for help. He needed all the help he could get.

"Chirp?"

"Yes, meow! Let's find it quickly, meow!"

Theo dragged Jeras along, and before he knew it, Jeras had abandoned his duty of secret patrols to help find Chirp.

However, even after a few hours, they couldn't find Chirp.

'I want to sit on Park Sejun's lap, meow.'

While Theo was longing for Sejun's lap,

Zap.

Theo's front paw activated. A strong pull.

Snap.

Theo placed his front paw on the backpack of a wandering merchant he didn't know.

"What?!"

The wandering merchant glared at whoever dared to touch his backpack.

And,

"Hey?!"

"Who are you?!"

Theo and Scaram looked into each other's eyes.