Chapter 15. Black Route (4)

"What the hell happened here?"

Build frowned deeply at the sight of Kaen and his party, who were completely wrecked.

This was something that had happened while he was away, having received instructions to find an important item and left his post for a moment.

It was a situation that couldn't help but make him frustrated.

He had thought that, after a long time, he had picked up some decent guys.

But now, all that effort had gone to waste.

The treatment was already beyond help.

It turned out that they had only managed to survive so far because some kind-hearted players had shared their leftover food with them.

The one in relatively better condition was suffering from paralysis in the lower half of his body, and in Kaen's case, he had no sensation below his neck.

Build asked what had happened, but none of the four could give a proper answer.

They just stared blankly into space.

Some of them even laughed maniacally, saying "Hehehe!"

Build realized that it would be easier to give up on expecting anything from Kaen's group and instead questioned the surrounding witnesses.

Since it was a conflict between players, he could have just ignored it and walked away, thinking it was inevitable.

'But they messed with my territory? I'm pissed. The fact that they didn't care even though they knew that the Arang Guild is protected means... they're disregarding us to that extent.'

Build had a great sense of pride in the Arang Guild.

More accurately, it was his loyalty to the Blue Flower Island, which encompassed the Arang Guild.

Still, the Arang Guild was a place he had built from the ground up with the person he served, from its early days.

Being disrespected was absolutely unacceptable.

"A guy with a white mask, you say?"

The witnesses all said the same thing.

White mask. Short broadsword. Agile movements.

"Yes, yes. That's right."

"A mask, huh."

Build's expression darkened slightly.

A guy with a mask. He hadn't heard of any participant in this tutorial with such a rare appearance.

"I'll have to look for him once."

Build threw himself in a direction.

Whoosh!

He didn't worry about moving between areas.

Players who had passed the tutorial had a pass ticket to go anywhere within it.

'The downside is that no matter what actions you take, you can't gain any stats or contribution points.'

Because of this, Build missed something.

The fact that just before he collided with the masked person, a young man had been talking with Kaen's group.

* * *

Kikik! Kik!

Three bats cut through the darkness.

Every time they opened their mouths to emit ultrasonic waves, the cave echoed, causing sensory confusion.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yeonwoo accurately detected the bats' positions amidst the chaos using only the sound of the wind and threw the three broadswords he held in his hands in different directions.

The sounds of heads shattering and wings tearing filled the air as the bats fell to the ground.

Then,

He lunged through the gaps and swiftly cut the throats of the remaining ones.

[You have successfully defeated 5 Low-Frequency Bats.]

[Current number of monsters hunted: 147]

"Huh. Now, at least, I'm getting used to the sensation."

Yeonwoo relaxed his shoulders and approached the dead bat monsters.

After entering the dungeon and defeating the Red Octopus,

Yeonwoo continued to descend through the corridors, eliminating any monsters he encountered.

The monsters that appeared were typically animals or insects commonly found in karst caves.

Spiders, salamanders, crickets, cave beetles, and bats, all enlarged to a size that made them look disgusting.

Moreover, the Red Octopus had been challenging, and the other monsters were also quite difficult to handle.

However, as the number of encounters increased, he gradually became more familiar with them, and by the time he had surpassed 100, hunting became much smoother.

Once he became familiar with their unique patterns, it became much easier.

'The significant development of the Flame Heart and Frost Rune also played a big role.'

Yeonwoo drew the broadsword from the end of his waist and began to dissect the bat's corpse.

He skinned it, separated the bones and flesh, and carefully removed the internal organs.

A task he had done several times in Africa.

Thanks to this, Yeonwoo could take what he needed without any particular hesitation.

'The eyes and vocal organs of the Low-Frequency Bats are said to be valuable later on, right?'

All of these would be used as material items.

His younger brother had noted in his diary that these items would be important later and were hard to obtain in the tower, so he had to get them in the tutorial.

'If I can make a good artifact with these small items, it would be a great gain.'

Yeonwoo neatly organized the items he would use as materials in his backpack and carefully began to cut out the heart.

When he caught the Red Octopus, it was so difficult that he had to tear it with his teeth, but to properly consume the essence of a monster, considerable skill was required.

The bat's heart was cleanly cut out.

Yeonwoo stuffed a handful of white moss into his mouth and began to consume the heart.

Crunch.

Crunch.

He could hear the sound of his body changing from the inside.

At the same time, he felt something rapidly rotating along a certain path, and his body felt refreshed.

A flow he could never have felt without the heightened concentration from his combat will.

Indeed, it was a familiar flow and sensation.

'Mana.'

Impurities began to seep out through his pores.

['Fragment of Flame Heart, Frost Rune obtained.']

[Current progress: 16.2%]

As the message appeared, the mana that had been circulating freely in his body disappeared as if it had never been there.

Yeonwoo smacked his lips.

As the progress of the Flame Heart and Frost Rune increased, the sensation of the mana circulating in his body was becoming clearer.

Yeonwoo realized that the changes in his body were also related to the mana and wanted to grasp it somehow.

However,

As always, the mana teased him by showing him a taste and then disappearing.

'Can't be helped.'

But it wasn't as if he had nothing to gain.

The amount of mana increased as the Flame Heart and Frost Rune progressed.

Moreover, his sense of mana was becoming clearer.

Yeonwoo guessed that when the progress reached 100%, he would be able to handle the mana properly.

There was no need to rush.

'But what's urgent is right here.'

Yeonwoo selected only the hard parts of the bat's body, such as its teeth, claws, and bones.

He then applied a solution mixed in a certain ratio with the white moss and the toxic blood of the Red Octopus.

Sizzle!

The parts where the solution was applied began to smoke and melt.

Each monster had a different type of poison in its blood. Some were so venomous that he had to be careful not to let their blood splatter when hunting them.

And among my comrades, there was one who, though a bit, no, very stubborn, was interested in this. He didn't like fighting directly because it was troublesome?

Laziness created a monster.

A team that once ranked 6th in the tower, Artia.

If there was a top player, it was someone who had worked with his younger brother.

A player who, in large-scale battles, even his younger brother had to admit was a step above.

Anti-Venom, Bayrock.

One of his mortal enemies, but there was much to learn from him.

'Bayrock was originally a scholar who studied alchemy in the world he lived in. Based on this, he researched the toxic blood of monsters and achieved great results.'

Thanks to this, his younger brother could observe many of Bayrock's achievements from the side.

And that knowledge was passed on to Yeonwoo.

The solution Yeonwoo applied to the hard parts of the Low-Frequency Bat was one of those achievements.

[Solvent Solution]

Weakens the bonds of solid materials. Can disintegrate materials if the concentration is high.

'There's no reason to discriminate against techniques that can be stolen and used effectively.'

Even if they were from his enemies, if they could be borrowed, he would borrow them.

In fact, because they were from his enemies, he could use them without any guilt.

Yeonwoo began to grind the softened claws and teeth using the hilt of his broadsword.

With his strength stat approaching 70, the work went much more smoothly.

He then gathered the powder and filled it into the tough membrane of the bat he had cut into a square.

After that, he gathered the ends and tied them tightly with a tendon.

A fist-sized bag filled with powder.

From the dungeon entrance to now, he had collected a considerable amount of powder this way.

It was already the 15th bag.

It might look like a useless task on the surface,

But it was necessary to pass the next point.

'The ant nest. That's the biggest problem, right?'

Yeonwoo frowned slightly as he saw the chamber beyond the corridor.

Originally, the monsters in the Frost and Flame rooms varied slightly depending on the area or environment.

The same was true beyond this point.

This place was inhabited by only one type of creature.

A chamber much larger than any of the many corridors he had passed through.

White eggs lined the walls and ceiling.

The habitat of the Blue Army Ants.

[Blue Army Ant]

Size ranging from 30 centimeters to 1 meter. They form a colony of hundreds of ants centered around a queen ant.

As is characteristic of ant societies, worker ants will risk their lives to protect their habitat.

Facing hundreds of them at once?

Until now, he had only encountered one or two, at most five, making it possible to hunt them.

But considering hundreds of them swarming in a group,

'It's insane.'

It was easy to be torn apart and become food for the larvae before he could even react.

The problem was that Yeonwoo had to pass through this point.

'The Vampiric Sword of Bathory is in the room beyond.'

Artifact Number 352.

The number symbolizing the Vampiric Sword of Bathory.

When he accidentally discovered that the relic of the vampire lord Erzsebet Bathory was hidden there, he was truly shocked.

There were dozens of classes in the tower to facilitate the growth and strategies of players, and among them, those with outstanding potential could become 'lords.'

Each one was an excellent expert, an absolute ruler capable of commanding numerous subordinates.

The Vampire Lord was one of the lords who had died long ago.

It was said that he absorbed the life force of others to strengthen himself and even stole skills, bringing destruction and ruin wherever he went.

Many players and clans still shuddered at the thought of the damage he caused.

As a relic of such an existence, its numbering was very low.

'The lower the number, the better the item. A three-digit, especially a 300s artifact, is top-tier. Moreover, this is a unique item, the only one in the tower and the tutorial. I can't afford to miss it.'

But with hundreds of army ants guarding the entrance,

'If a direct approach won't work, I need to use my wits.'

Yeonwoo tied the tendon that secured the bag to his shoulder. It was a knot that could be easily untied by pulling the opposite end.

"Huh!"

He took a deep breath and,

Whoosh!

Crossed the entrance to the ant nest in one swift motion.

Click?

Click!

The ants sensed his presence and began to turn their attention towards him.

The one guarding the entrance opened its pincers and let out a screech.

"Sorry, but I need to clear a path."

With agile movements, Yeonwoo passed through the ants guarding the entrance and threw the bags he held into the nest.

Having practiced throwing in Africa, the landing points were accurate.

Then, he pulled the opposite end of the string hard.

In the air, the bags' openings opened one by one.

Powder was sprinkled thickly along the chamber, creating a red mist.

The ants screeched, confused by what was happening.

Click!

Yeonwoo lit a lighter from his backpack and threw it in.

At the same time, he pressed himself against the wall outside the entrance to the ant nest.

And,

Boom!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Screams!

A violent explosion filled the chamber.

Flames accompanied by a heat wave scorched the walls.

The army ants, suddenly hit by the fire, burst one after another, screeching in unison.

The monster powder, already rich in fire properties, ignited when sprinkled, especially in the confined space.

A power far beyond the dust explosions typically observed in physical phenomena.

The violent explosion shook the chamber.

Rumble!

[The ant nest has been successfully destroyed. 217 Blue Army Ants were incinerated, 89 Blue Army Ants were disintegrated, and 92 ants suffocated to death.]

[Additional contribution points are provided.]

[300 contribution points have been obtained.]