Chapter 252
Hyukjin could tell.
‘If I wasn’t the destroyer of the Gray Ring… I wouldn’t have been able to come here, and even if I did…’
The destructive sensation that had just swept through his body would have completely demolished him.
It was truly a good thing that he had chosen the ‘Gray Ring’ in the Gran Seoul Dungeon’s hidden field. Looking at the Players’ current rate of growth, breaching the 40s appeared doable, unlike in the past.
‘The countless people who weren’t able to overcome the level 40 wall…’
Now, those Players whose growth had technically been artificially restricted would be able to grow by leaps and bounds, at least until level 60.
‘Anyway, let’s focus on this place.’
[A new field, Sea of Clouds, has been opened.]
Sea of Clouds. Just as the name suggested, it was a sea made of clouds.
He saw a pure white sea.
[Entering the Sea of Clouds.]
Hyukjin’s body instantly tilted. He immediately recovered his balance.
‘The footing has changed.’
The ground had turned into clouds.
‘I need to keep moving.’
If he didn’t, he would sink. The clouds felt plushie under his feet. For the time being, he walked to avoid sinking down.
‘It’s huge.’
The Sea of Clouds was truly enormous. He couldn’t even fathom how many meters lay between him and the faraway horizon. The same went for the depth. He couldn’t see down to the depths of this white ocean.
“I’m at a loss,” Hyukjin said.
There didn’t appear to be many clues on what to do. All he could see was a sea of clouds. But there had to be a clue somewhere, a trail towards the clear. He intentionally said he was at a loss to get the Guardians to empathize with him.
“There aren’t any clues I can see with my eyes.”
Waves of clouds came in like in a real ocean. They were even accompanied by the sound of rushing water.
He continued to walk. If his exploration of the surrounding area turned up empty, he would have to explore the Sea of Clouds’ depths.
‘The keywords given to me are…’
Freedom.
Sky.
Endless Sky.
These three. And if he were to add one more—
‘The Demon King’s arrangements.’
He had to proceed with these four factors in mind. After walking for some time, he saw something far above him. It was odd calling it a sky seeing as this was an ocean made of clouds, but in any case, there was something flying around in the sky.
‘Extremely high up.’
Something kept flying up there. He couldn’t see it clearly.
“The fact that there’s a sea and it’s flying around… means there’s a high chance it has someplace it can rest.”
In other words, there was probably a “shore” somewhere. Of course, there were also fields out there that didn’t prescribe to such expectations, but this was a special field involving countless arrangements and settings. There was a good chance it had something of the sort lined up.
‘If there are birds in the sky… there must be fish in the sea.’
Just then, Eye of Perception captured something. Something huge, and fast. He felt it some distance underneath, far beneath the surface.
‘It’s getting closer.’
He didn’t detect murderous intent or hostility from it, but its presence was simply too huge. So huge, in fact, that it made Hyukjin back away.
‘Here it comes.’
That thing, whatever it was, surged up some distance ahead of him.
Sploshhh–!
It breached the surface, appearing in a spray of clouds.
‘A whale?’
The enormous whale-like creature sprang out of the clouds, its unique coloring strikingly obvious.
‘A white whale.’
It was a pure white whale of tremendous proportions. A great spout of clouds emerged from its blowhole instead of water.
But just then, the thing flying around in the sky began to approach at a rapid speed.
‘What’s going on?’
Just how high up had it been? What had originally appeared as small as a sparrow became incredibly large as it approached.
‘That’s…’
It was a monster he knew.
‘A wyvern.’
The flying creature was a wyvern, a monster classified as a subspecies of the ultimate species that existed only in the settings, dragons. It also went by the name of ‘flying lizard’.
There were many different variants of wyverns, and of them, this one was a Steel Wyvern, the most violent of them all. Not the strongest, but the most violent. That was how ferocious they were.
‘Though well, whether it’s ferocious or not isn’t the issue with a wyvern.’
A wyvern wasn’t something that should appear in the beginner period. It didn’t matter whether the monsters that showed up after the beginner period were aggressive or docile. Most of them were hostile monsters, and they either nursed intense enmity towards humans or considered humans prey.
‘But the fact that it earned its violent reputation in spite of that…’
Was due to its extreme gluttony. The Steel Wyvern was a major glutton that scrambled to gobble down everything it could see. In the Great Explorer Jackson’s notes, there was a passage like this:
–If there is a field that should certainly have a lot of monsters but doesn’t, and if there is a gorge in the area, then we must consider the possibility of a Steel Wyvern’s existence.
Kiiiiiiiiiii—!
The Steel Wyvern plummeted down, this flying lizard with scales of a color somewhere between blue and black tearing into the white whale’s body.
The white whale thrashed in pain, producing massive sprays of clouds dyed bright red. There was no blood, but the red clouds gave off the impression of blood.
That moment, Hyukjin received a quest.
[The quest ‘Save the White Whale from Danger!’ has been generated.]
Kiiiiiiiii–!
Like sharks drawn to the smell of blood, countless Steel Wyverns began descending from the sky in their direction.
‘Save the white whale?’
There was no way he could defeat that many Steel Wyverns at his current level. He would be the one ripped to shreds.
‘Hunting them is impossible.’
So ultimately, he just had to focus on ‘saving’ the white whale.
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