Chapter 90 of 100
Chapter 90. Completing the Upgrade
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Chapter 90. Completing the Upgrade
"Sejun will be able to handle it, right?"
Aileen thought about Sejun, who had gone to the 67th floor of the tower.
Although she was a bit worried about the Red Locusts,
"The other kids will protect Sejun well."
Since the other animals had also gone with him, Aileen wasn't too worried.
Then,
[The number of Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower has exceeded 7 billion.]
[The Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower have met the evolution conditions.]
[The Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower are evolving into Purple Locusts.]
"Huh? Purple Locusts?"
Aileen was taken aback as she read the new alert.
And,
"Grandpa!"
She hurriedly called Kaiser.
-Oh! Aileen! You finally want to talk to your grandpa?
"Grandpa! The Red Locusts on the 67th floor have evolved into Purple Locusts! What about Sejun?"
-If the enemy gets stronger, the rewards get better. That's a good thing.
"What are you talking about?! Sejun is in danger!"
-Always worrying about that Sejun! He has the Great Flood of Antidotes and there are plenty of stronger creatures around him. What's there to worry about? And he got an extra option.
"So you're saying we don't need to worry about Sejun?"
-That's right.
"Hehehe. Grandpa, teach me the administrator duties quickly!"
-Hahaha. Sure. I'll teach you everything!
'Aileen has finally come to her senses.'
As Kaiser was moved,
'Hehehe. I need to learn the administrator duties quickly to see if there's anything I can do for Sejun.'
Aileen had other thoughts.
***
Nabia Swamp, 67th Floor of the Tower.
Swish.
[You have arrived at Nabia Swamp on the 67th floor of the Tower.]
[Find and eliminate the cause threatening the extinction of the Jewel Frogs.]
Sejun and the animals appeared with a bright light.
Splash.
"Ugh. What is this?"
As soon as they arrived, Sejun's shoes were submerged in water, and the discomfort of the water entering his shoes made his face contort. The same went for the animals that came with him.
"Disgusting, nya!"
Squish!
Quack!
Squish!
As the animals' fur got wet and their expressions soured,
Rustle. Rustle.
Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings came from all around.
"Huh?"
About 50,000 Red Locusts, which had almost all turned purple, were flying towards Sejun and the animals from all directions.
"What?!"
"These guys!"
Squish!
Quack!
Squish!
The animals surrounded Sejun, blocking the Red Locusts from approaching.
"Meow! I'll protect President Park, nya!"
Swish.
Theo unsheathed his claws and sliced through the Red Locusts,
Squish!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Black Rabbit swung his hammer, crushing the Red Locusts.
And,
Quack!
Whoosh. Bang!
Quack enlarged his body to about 3 meters and extended his branches to about 5 meters, creating a full swing that burst the Red Locusts with the wind pressure.
Squish!
Whoosh.
Finally, Squish used the Water Cannon, a water attribute magic, to shoot high-pressure water and eliminate the Red Locusts.
[Guardian Theo has eliminated the Red Locusts.]
[Guardian Theo has gained 5 experience points, which is 50% of the experience gained.]
...
..
.
The experience points were low, probably because they were weak.
As the animals started dealing with the Red Locusts,
[The cause of the Jewel Frogs' extinction on the 67th floor of the tower has been found.]
[A middle administrator quest has been triggered.]
[Middle Administrator Quest: Eliminate the Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.]
Red Locusts: 0/6,999,997,120
Reward: 1,000,000 experience points, 10,000 tower coins
Failure: You cannot return to your original location until the quest is completed.
The quest appeared.
"6,999,999,999?"
Sejun was surprised by the number of Red Locusts. He had heard from the wolves that the number of Red Locusts had decreased to nearly 5 billion.
"Only 288 more and they'll evolve into Purple, right?"
As Sejun was looking at the quest,
Rustle.
Small Red Locusts, about 10 cm in length, started emerging from the swamp. They were Red Locust larvae that had just hatched from eggs.
The Red Locusts were using this Nabia Swamp as a hatching ground. The Red Locust larvae, though just born, moved nimbly.
And when a Red Locust larva that emerged right below Sejun bit his foot,
Whoosh.
Blue flames erupted from Sejun's body, burning the Red Locust larva. It was the Guardian Flame buff given by Flame.
Whoosh.
The Guardian Flame burned the larvae emerging from the ground, protecting Sejun.
However,
Puff.
After a few minutes, the Guardian Flame, which had been protecting Sejun, faded after 3 hours.
Fortunately, during that time, the animals had eliminated all 50,000 Red Locusts,
Quack!
Bang! Bang!
When Quack stomped the ground a few times,
[Guardian Quack has eliminated the Red Locust larvae.]
[Guardian Quack has gained 2 experience points, which is 50% of the experience gained.]
[Guardian Quack has eliminated the Red Locust eggs.]
[Guardian Quack has gained 1 experience point, which is 50% of the experience gained.]
...
..
.
The Red Locust larvae and eggs in the swamp were all crushed by Quack's stomping.
[Level up.]
[You have gained 1 bonus stat point.]
Thanks to this, Sejun leveled up again. The experience points from the Red Locusts were small, but the sheer number compensated for the lack of quality.
"Let's assess the situation first. Create a dark cloud!"
Sejun and the animals had been attacked as soon as they arrived, so they had no idea what was going on.
"Is there a waypoint nearby?"
While creating the dark cloud, Sejun briefly looked around the sky.
"Too far."
A red rain streak could be seen rising into the sky from about 10 km away. It seemed they would have to give up on registering the waypoint again.
Puff. Puff.
The dark cloud created by Sejun's hand rose into the sky. He spread it out to a height of about 3 meters to cover them from view.
A 500-meter radius around Sejun was covered by a dark cloud about 30 cm thick. The proficiency in creating dark clouds had increased, allowing for such detailed control.
Squish!
After a brief rest to recover mana, Squish cast a water resistance spell on Sejun and the animals.
"Thanks."
Thanks to Squish's spell, Sejun's shoes were damp, but his feet wouldn't get wrinkled.
"Let's check the subspace storage first."
Clank.
Sejun opened the subspace prison, but
"Huh?"
Iona was upgrading the subspace prison, so the door wouldn't open.
"This is bad."
Looking at the number of Red Locusts, it seemed they would soon evolve into Purple. He needed the Great Flood of Antidotes in the subspace prison to prepare for that.
Then,
[The Red Locusts have evolved into Purple Locusts.]
[The quest has been updated.]
[Middle Administrator Quest: Eliminate the Purple Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.]
Purple Locusts: 0/700,000,1712
Reward: 3,000,000 experience points, 50,000 tower coins
Failure: You cannot return to your original location until the quest is completed.
The quest was updated.
"What?! We just killed over 50,000, and the number has increased..."
There seemed to be other hatching grounds.
"President Park, eat this quickly, nya! It's dangerous, nya!"
Theo urgently stuffed the Great Flood of Antidotes into Sejun's mouth while he was looking at the quest.
"Ugh! Why?"
"Swallow it quickly, nya!"
Theo shouted, pressing Sejun's jaw to prevent him from speaking.
Chomp. Chomp.
Sejun glared at Theo with a 'we'll see about this' look and chewed the leek as instructed. It was a bit spicy, but it tasted sweet as he chewed.
Swallow.
[You have consumed the Great Flood of Antidotes.]
[You are immune to D-grade and lower poisons for 1 hour.]
"President Theo, what are you..."
As Sejun was about to scold Theo for making him eat the leek,
"President Park, look down, nya!"
"Down? Huh?!"
The water around Sejun had already turned purple.
[You are poisoned by a D-grade neurotoxin.]
[Detoxified.]
If Theo had been a little slower in giving Sejun the Great Flood of Antidotes, it could have been dangerous. The Red Locusts' bodies contained poison that mixed with the swamp water.
"President Theo, you..."
Sejun was moved by Theo saving his life.
But,
"President Park, that was close, nya! Take care of your knees, nya!"
As Theo rubbed his face against Sejun's knee, Sejun's heart sank. That was just Theo being Theo.
"President Theo, but where did you get the Great Flood of Antidotes?"
"I packed items to sell in my backpack, nya! I am always prepared, the best wandering merchant, nya!"
Theo proudly showed his backpack.
"Good job."
Sejun stroked Theo's head, which was hanging from his knee.
"I want to eat Churu, nya!"
"Not here. I'll give you some later."
"Okay, nya!"
Thanks to Theo, Sejun no longer had to worry about the poison. He also made the other animals eat the Great Flood of Antidotes. They were more resistant to poison than Sejun, but continuous exposure could still be dangerous.
"But is this okay?"
Sejun looked at the purple swamp with a serious expression, worried about the endangered Jewel Frogs.
***
The Lizardman base on the 67th floor of the tower.
"Defend!"
"Hold on!"
"Make sure not a single one gets into the waypoint!"
The Lizardmen, free mercenaries, and Silver Wolves were desperately defending the waypoint.
However, they lacked the long-range firepower to stop the overwhelming number of Red Locusts. They were gradually being pushed back.
'Damn! When will the reinforcements arrive?! At this rate, we'll be overrun in a few hours!'
Tamura, the Lizardman Great Warrior, was frustrated by the reinforcements that didn't come.
Then,
Rustle. Rustle.
About a quarter of the Red Locusts changed direction and headed east, giving them a bit of breathing room.
"Take turns resting and recover your strength!"
'What's happening over there? That's where the Nabia Swamp is.'
Tamura, who had given orders to the soldiers, wondered as he looked at the direction the Red Locusts were flying.
***
Inside the rock cave.
Squish. Squish. Squish.
"Hehehe. It's great without Iona, nya."
Theo was sitting on Sejun's knee, eating Churu. Sejun and the other animals were drying off in the cave.
Then,
Hop. Hop.
Twenty frogs with colorful gems on their foreheads approached. They were Jewel Frogs.
"Did the treatment go well?"
As Sejun touched the Jewel Frogs and asked,
Ribbit. Ribbit.
[Thank you. Thanks to you, my friends are healthy.]
Ribbit. Ribbit.
The Jewel Frogs bowed, and the others also thanked Sejun.
Sejun met the Jewel Frogs while searching the purple swamp for their habitat, worried that the contaminated water would harm them.
While searching for the Jewel Frogs,
Ribbit...
Black Rabbit heard the weak cry of a Jewel Frog.
Squish!
When Black Rabbit led Sejun to the spot, he found Jewel Frogs that were dying from the poison.
"Here, eat this."
Sejun gave the Jewel Frogs the Great Flood of Antidotes to detoxify them,
Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!
[Thank you! My friends are also in pain from drinking the purple water! Please help us!]
The revived Jewel Frog asked Sejun for help, and they were now waiting for the other Jewel Frogs to recover in their habitat, a large crevice in the rock.
"Good. We'll take care of this, so stay here for a few days."
Sejun loudly told the Jewel Frogs and left the crevice where they lived.
Rustle. Rustle.
As soon as he came out, 1.5 billion Purple Locusts greeted him.
"...?!"
The overwhelming number of Purple Locusts froze Sejun.
Then,
Bang!
"Kuk kuk kuk. Sejun-sama, I've completed the upgrade! It's a five-stack!"
Iona appeared, opening the subspace storage door with both hands.