novelNecromancer (3)
| ← Ch.014 | Ch.016 → |
Edited by Myoni & Yoni
The Guide regained his composure after looking like he saw the collapse of the world for a while.
Soon after, he looked through his clothes, took out a small magical item with his one hand and offered it to Muyoung.
"Accept it. Since you beat me three times, you have the right to receive this."
Muyoung examined the magical item. As soon as he accepted it, information popped up.
Name: Long-distance Teleportation Magical Item
Rank: B+
Classification: 1 Person, Single Use
Effect: Within the Underworld, you are able to teleport to a place you remember.
Muyoung tried to keep himself as calm as possible.
He calmed his spirit and regained his composure.
Although it couldn't endlessly emit flames like the Glass of Fire, to Muyoung, the Glass of Fire was incomparable to this item.
'To a place I remember...'
He couldn't return to Earth, but depending on how he used it, it could be incredibly useful.
It was peculiar that it didn't have a limit to the distance.
If Muyoung was a beginner, he might not have had much use for this item. However, as the current Muyoung possessed his past memories, he could make use of it better than anyone.
He could teleport to a currently undiscovered place with the Star of David and monopolize the rewards or he gain a secret class much more easily.
However, the first thing that came to mind when he first laid eyes on the magical item wasn't either of those.
'Hedley Kow[1]. '
Humans have been summoned into the Underworld for a long time, but there were more unexplored areas than there were explored.
5 years from now, due to the foretelling of the Great Calamity, every guild and clan started to organize a wide-scale exploration of the Underworld. During that time, they happened upon Hedley Kow.
'Hedley Kow' was the name of a certain fairy.
Although fairies normally have the appearance of a four-legged rock, they were able to shapeshift.
On top of that, they were able to possess the same abilities as the target they shapeshifted into.
And one of those targets was... the phoenix.
Once they felt that their life was threatened, they would break out of the rock as a phoenix.
However, Hedley Kow was too cowardly and fled as soon as it transformed.
If he could only capture it, it could have become a material necessary to create an S rank weapon.
Even if he was to absorb it, he anticipated an incredible growth to his abilities as the heart of a phoenix was an endless supply of magical power.
Although the phoenix was a bit weaker than a dragon, its heart was comparable to that of a dragon's.
If it was a regular phoenix, it would be impossible to catch, but a Hedley Kow-transformed phoenix could even be captured by Muyoung.
It was better than most rewards he could receive from a place with the Star of David. What was worse was that the trials were designed to be impossible to complete by one person.
The only obstacle in capturing Hedley Kow was that area which Hedley Kow inhabited was quite deep in the territory of a Demon God so, to secretly traverse the territory, he needed to get stronger.
"Is this all?" asked Muyoung as cool-headed as he could.
It was because it was him, that he had a use for the item, to any ordinary beginner, the item would have been an insignificant reward.
At the same time, the Guide's expression stiffened.
"What do you mean 'Is this all'! It could be a life-saving item you know."
"Every time I win, don't a get a reward?"
On the first bet, he won the Guide's guidance. On the second, he won the Long-distance Magical Item and now Muyoung looked like he was waiting to see what he would get for his third win.
"You... are very greedy!"
"You are the one that said you would give a reward for a win."
"Urgh. Fine. For the last reward, why don't you tell me what you want. I will do my best to fulfil your request as long as it's something I can do."
The biggest compromise.
It was obvious he was going to coldly refuse the difficult requests.
Also, Muyoung didn't have anything special to ask of him.
"Guarantee my safety for 10 days."
Muyoung was certain that the Guide wouldn't refuse as this request overlapped with the initial request of guiding him.
"10 days? Too long. I won't go over 3 days."
"Then let's settle for 3 days."
Muyoung nodded his head.
Truthfully, one or two days would have been sufficient.
Since he knew the Guide was going to haggle, he purposely asked for 10 days. 3 days was a splendid result.
The Guide was stupefied when Muyoung agreed so easily.
However, Muyoung knew what kind of existence the Guide really was.
'The past aide of Solomon, a magician who can only live in the Blue Temple.
A supreme magician more than a thousand years old.
He was a guide and at the same time, a protector.
With his existence, the Blue Temple was completely protected.
Even the great Demon Gods were not able to easily break into the Blue Temple.
However, he was unable to leave the Blue Temple, in a certain way, he was the Blue Temple.
It was because he had aged to a point where he should have been long dead.
However, he heard that the Guide periodically reverse the effect of time on his physical body.
It was magic that was only permitted in the Blue Temple.
This was why he currently had a na?ve appearance.
As both his physical body and mind would always revert back in time, his physical body had to die to truly awaken the power of the supreme magician.
'This was uncovered through the Demon Gods. '
A full-scale invasion started after the Great Calamity, where all the humans on Earth were summoned to the Underworld.
And then, because of the massive gathering of humans, the barrier of the Blue Temple collapsed.
Three of the highest ranking Demon Gods launched an attack on the Blue Temple and the Guide's physical body turned to ashes in an instant. However, afterwards the supreme magician began to 'reanimate' himself.
The battle went on for ten long days, but the supreme magician ended up losing.
However, he was an incredible existence who was able to fight evenly against three high-ranking Demon Gods for ten days.
Although he was not the supreme magician, the current body of the Guide was more than enough to ensure his safety within the forest.
Since, no matter what his current condition was, his strength was in magic.
"So where are you planning on going? I will first fulfill my role as a guide."
Shiing!
Muyoung unsheathed Anguish.
And then, he ran towards the forest.
"That, that crazy..."
Huuuuuaaagggghhh!
After staring at Muyoung's fleeting image and hearing the shrieks of various monsters, the Guide finally realized Muyoung's intentions.
'So that's what he meant by ensure his safety!'
That was it.
The reason why Muyoung asked him to ensure his safety for three days.
Shut up and hunt!
He planned to wipe out the monsters without looking back.
*
......
Muyoung ran like crazy.
As if to show what it meant to run like crazy, he didn't even stop to rest for a second.
If anything, he jumped towards danger and fought with his life on the line.
He knew that the best way to increase his stats was to fight against monsters.
At the same time, the one who felt like dying was the Guide.
"Grr. You asked me to only ensure your life, what kind of impractical request is this!"
The Guide only acted when Muyoung was about to die.
However, that was not easy to time.
With the way Muyoung fought, it wouldn't be weird if he dropped dead at any time.
After he had protected him with magic, he was thanked with replies like, "I almost lost my flesh and could have ended up as a pile of bones, " "I got scratched a little, but it's not to the point I'll die."
Crazy bastard.
So he couldn't afford to look away for a second.
The observing Guide was much more exhausted.
After killing a Dark Bear, Muyoung said, "I need to fight a bit riskier."
"What?"
"When I avoid every attack by the width of a finger, my Agility isn't increasing as fast as I hoped. I need to reduce the width to half a finger."
"Is that a distance you can reduce just because you want to?"
"It seems to be possible the more I try."
"......"
The Guide was speechless.
It seemed like he was looking at a person who couldn't wait to die.
If he was able to choose the distance he avoided incoming attack at will, he could already be considered an expert.
No, it was difficult even for an expert.
However, there was no end to Muyoung's mysteriousness.
His technique was definitely above an expert, but it felt like his body couldn't follow through properly.
If he was to force himself to move a certain way, it would cause an untimely death.
However, the more he fought, the faster his body adapted to his movements.
'What a crazy, but peculiar fellow. '
A promise was a promise.
The Guide had to take care of Muyoung throughout the duration for the determined three days.
And Muyoung was definitely planning on maximizing the Guide's help and fought with every monster he encountered.
After doing this for a day and a half, a message appeared.
There was even a ranking for this?
But, Muyoung shook his head.
He didn't have the slightest intent to reveal himself.
~ 1st place: Lucien - 2578 Monsters~
~ 2nd place: Muller Lucas - 1956 Monsters~
~ 3rd place: No-name - 1221 Monsters~
Third place.
Muyoung had killed more than 1200 monsters since his arrival.
It was most likely that only monsters that were suitable opponents were counted.
Shortly after, 'Hunting Record (3)' was added to his history and a 'Hunting Map' was given as a reward.
The Hunting Map showed which monster's territory he was currently in.
It wasn't a very useful item, but it would save Muyoung some time.
Muyoung decided not to waste even a second of the remaining time and continued to hunt.
Then his ranking slowly started to climb.
~ 1st place: No-name - 2579 Monsters~
~ 2nd place: Lucien - 2578 Monsters~
~ 3rd place: Muller Lucas - 1956 Monsters~
Finally, he was even able to take first place.
'Herculean Strength Leather Armor' was given as a reward.
He didn't expect much since he didn't receive any reward for taking 2nd place, but it was a pleasant surprise to receive a B+ ranked armor with an effect that increased the wearer's strength by 3.
Although he was able to find some equipment in the forest other than those rewards, unfortunately none were useful for Muyoung.
Muyoung looked at his Status Viewer.
The Status Screen popped up.
Achievement Effect à Gremory's Anguish (A, +3 to all abilities)
Class Effect à None
Strength 41 (30+11) Agility 35 (32+3)
Stamina 33 (30+3) Intelligence 17 (14+3)
Wisdom 16 (13+3) Fighting Aura 19 (16+3)
Special Note: Fighting Aura has been awakened.
Even considering that the Herculean Strength Leather Armor increased his Strength by 3, he could see that his base stats had increased considerably.
Agility especially increased a lot.
His senses had become sharper.
Although everyone's stats increased rapidly in the beginning, there wasn't anyone who could compete with Muyoung at this point in time.
'Not bad. '
While he was feeling content with his improvement, the Guide said, "The promised 3 days have passed. Isn't it time to tell me where you want to go?"
Muyoung answered right away, "To the Cliff of Agony."
Finally, all the preparations were complete.
[1] Hedley Kow is a mischievous shapeshifting creature in a fairy tale. More info here.
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