Chapter 629: 629
V56C2P1 – The King of Devils
– These pesky, worthless dwarves must have lost their senses stealing my things!
The dwarves of Cygorn and Ulta Mountain Pass continued to suffer under Kaybern’s wrath .
The peaceful villages were set entirely on flames, and the terrain was transformed by a series of avalanches .
“That insane dragon!”
The dwarven citizens forgot about their instinctive fears and retaliated, only to be wiped out by waves of magic .
– Attack, slaughter them all!
The dragon soldiers led the monsters to invade the resisting dwarven villages .
In 3 days, 45 villages were razed and over 30,000 dwarves lost their lives .
The war that took place in the deepest parts of Ulta and Cygorn Mountain Pass were released to the public via broadcast .
– Thor has ultimately become the target of the dragon .
– Seems that the dwarves and the dragon cannot coexist within the woods any longer .
– Would there be a possibility that Kaybern’s weekly target may shift to dwarven villages?
– It doesn’t seem to be to that extent . For the time being, the cities that the dragon will likely target are… Hmm-hmm . The calculation is very complex to understand, but anyways the targets will be major cities .
– The dwarves do not settle in large communities, to begin with .
The situation in Thor became dire and more dwarves descended from the mountains away from the dragon . It was so critical that even Weed, who carried out the dwarven race quest, was deeply concerned .
‘This is a race quest? What, is this some kind of dwarf annihilation quest?’
Even so, the dwarves of Debrado Village, who were connected to the quest, actively roamed around the Mountain Pass .
“Just for how much longer are we supposed to suffer? We retrieved our nation’s treasure, the Brazier of Sacrifice . It is time to swing the axes of revenge . ”
“Finally, has that time arrived?”
The nature of dwarves were different from humans . They were naturally afraid of the dragon, but if their kind lost their lives they burned in vengeance .
All the dwarves were uniting as one .
“Is it really true that the Brazier of Sacrifice was found?”
“Yes . A great, heroic dwarf has appeared before our kind . ”
“What is his name?”
“He’s… Weedhand . ”
It was a fake name that Weed told them when he was under Sculptural Transformation!
That name was spreading among the dwarves of Thor .
The dwarf users that remained in Thor laughed .
“This is amazing . Isn’t it the first time that such a large-scale dwarf race quest arised?”
“It’s spectacular of Weed-nim to discover it . A chain quest after the robbery of Kaybern’s lair…”
“Awesome . Just purely epic . ”
“I want to join too . ”
“We are dwarves too, so we can . ”
“Oh, yeah . Dwarves never had a war quest like this one . It’s going to be fun . ”
The dwarves that were negligent even when the Hermes Guild dominated the Central Continent wished for Weed to succeed in his adventure .
Kaybern was the most wretched presence of all for the dwarves and so they hoped dearly that the dragon would be slain .
***
Weed preceding the progression of the dwarf quest, hunted whenever he could . It was also an important task to lead the assault squad that pledged to fight against Kaybern and take care of the multiplying monsters .
“To battle . ”
100,000 monsters vs . 1,000 assault squad!
On the vast plains, huge clashes with aerial supports from the avian broke out in the morning, midday and afternoon . Even after midnight, before breakfast, during breakfast, after breakfast… They just kept on fighting .
“19 hours of hunting in a day… Though I think I’ve grown a little used to it . ”
“Humans are mighty beings . If I kept on levelling since the start of Royal Road, I would have won against Bard Ray . ”
The users that enlisted in the assault squad began calling themselves combat slaves in the process . The nickname that was given to Pale had spread to everyone .
“This is impossible . But, he can fight like that even while leading us . ”
“I thought it was plain insanity when he first explained it, but once we got into it, it’s doable . ”
“The hunting level has become more difficult than when we first started, but somehow we are pulling through . ”
“The willpower of humans is strong . ”
“Yeah . That’s why people die from exhaustion . ”
They were all above level 500, but the more they hunted the more they developed respect for Weed . Weed wasn’t a typical person to whom they can apply feelings like jealousy .
Weed sprang into a field full of monsters, fighting with the strength of ten men .
– Everyone fight! Advance!
He swung a sword, used a sword cloning technique, wielded the Radiant Sword Technique…
He even healed his allies with the Sword of Regeneration on occasion whilst leading the battle . Then he would use Corpse Explosion and summon the undead, doing the job of 30 or even 50 men . Even users above level 500 could do nothing other than watch in awe .
“That is just really amazing . ”
“He is the perfect all-around character, the complete, ultimate mode . Something like that . ”
“But he doesn’t use Sculptural skills that often . He’s not even using Disaster sculpting . ”
“If he used that, this place would become a living hell . We would die too . ”
The high level users would spend weeks in dungeons during their peak . They levelled up and naturally exceeded their limits whenever they found good hunting grounds .
They reminisced about past memories, and gradually their complaints diminished .
Whenever Weed led the hunt, their eyes dropped below their cheekbones, but when he was absent on a quest, they waited anxiously .
Depending on whether or not he was present, the hunting speed could be from 2 to 3 times faster .
Furthermore, their hearts boiled whenever they saw Weed in action with their own eyes .
‘Weed is doing that much… What stops me from doing the same?’
‘Just hold my ground . If I stick here for a month, I will become a hero in the future . ’
‘Rankers? Hermes Guild? This is the chance to become stronger than any of them . ’
A craze for training was brewing up among the users of the assault squad . Passion burned inside them whenever they saw thousands of monsters advancing across the plains .
– Let us fight!
The Central Continent users thrived under the pressure of the Hermes Guild and the prestigious factions . Their tendencies were slowly changing .
‘My operation is starting to show results . ’
Weed too felt their attitudes changing into proper combat slaves . On the other hand, news of the Brazier of Sacrifice was spreading like wildfire .
“Using the brazier reduces your level by 20 to 30?”
“You can decline further than that . It’s to a maximum of 10% depending on how much you use as fuel . ”
“That’s absurd . ”
High level users made a blunt assessment .
The tradeoff was too heavy for fighting Kaybern just once .
“For one hunt… I need to throw away all that I’ve worked for?”
“All that grind we did in hunting hell would become meaningless . Just how hard did we try to reach where we are?”
“Other people would be training while I become weaker . ”
Most users that heard of the brazier could not accept it . They wanted to participate in the fight against the dragon, but they did not wish to use the brazier .
The higher level they were, the more they were attached to their own level of power .
“What about the live stream? If we give up now, won’t we look like dirtbags?”
“We said we are going to fight Kaybern, so we just need to fight . Forget about the Brazier of Sacrifice . ”
“That’s true . ”
“If we end up fighting in our current state, it is good enough to keep our promise . But if I am forced to use the brazier, I’m out regardless of how people are going to curse me . ”
Out of the 400,000 members in the assault squad, only a few hundred elected to use the brazier . They didn’t want to bear the loss and frankfully they had their legitimate reasons .
Fleeing during a battle would indeed be a behavior subject to criticism, but throwing away a handful of levels was a different story .
Weed also knew of this consensus and did not bother mentioning it .
‘These guys signed up to fight against Kaybern, so I can drag them all around these hunting grounds . But I cannot impose sacrifice . ’
Honestly, the success of the Kaybern hunt could not be guaranteed .
There were no rewards he could offer at the moment and even he had some conscience . On top of that, it did not concur with Weed’s usual philosophy .
Normally, speeches of encouragement in war are the desires of a single individual manipulating mob psychology .
The core desire of these high level users was to become more powerful .
‘Even I would have been reluctant if someone asked me to fight using the brazier . ’
No matter what reward they were promised, it was very difficult to get someone to do something that most people would turn down .
‘The only one to trust is myself . I would appreciate people who will help me, but I should not rely on them . ’
***
The Earthy Shadows party that left for the South quickly progressed their quest to uncover the secrets of the Frozen Forest .
< The Reason For the Cold Winds >
< The Tree That Vanished >
< Ancient Vestige >
< The Elves’ Course >
The difficulty was above A rank but they were clever in their use of adventure skills and requested necessary information from the Great Library of Morata .
“There is nothing yet about the Wind Mage, Ruckledare . Could we have followed a false lead?”
“I don’t know . We might have opened the door for another quest, but it’s too late to quit . ”
“Weed is progressing through the dwarf race quest, so maybe the lead to stopping Kaybern might arise from that side . ”
“We need to be hopeful . ”
The self esteem of the continent’s best adventure party was depreciated after repeated failure in quests .
They changed the weather with magic and created a miracle of reviving the frozen forest .
The bleak forest of solid ice regained its green vigour .
*Blink!*
< Mayad’s Forest is reviving . The wood elves will return .
As reward, affinity with nature is increased by 3 . >
Elix wrapped bandages around his wounds and spoke .
“This is the reason why I cannot give up on adventures . ”
“It’s a spectacular sight . Even if other people wouldn’t appreciate it as much . ”
It was something that occurred in the outskirts where no one visited .
Just who will acknowledge their accomplishments of putting their own lives in danger to bring back the elves .
Even so, they felt pride in turning a small part of Versailles into a beautiful scenery .
“Let’s look around the forest before the elves return . ”
“That’s a sound idea . ”
Following Silver Ring’s suggestion, they walked into the forest .
It was a silent forest yet without creatures like birds and hares .
On the ground were snow and ice fragments that were still melting; a little eccentric .
– Welcome, Adventurers .
A tree began speaking to them .
It was a plain tree about 3 meters tall, rooted in the wide open space in the forest .
Ben was extremely surprised .
“A talking tree… You don’t seem like a spirit or a fairy . Are you the World Tree?”
– I have succeeded that great being, somewhat . Though I could not protect even this forest .
A tree in Mayad’s Forest .
It wasn’t the World Tree that existed and protected the world since the beginning of time, but its descendant that budded from its branches .
– The World Tree was destroyed by Kaybern . It rotted in poison, burned in its flames and was torn down in pieces . The high elves took the roots and branches not yet burnt away and scattered across the continent . To revive the tree that protects the realm of forests .
“Kaybern… So it was connected to Kaybern after all . ”
Elix moaned .
– Kaybern and the high elves engaged in countless battles . Despite the dragon’s might, the high elves did not submit until the end… Thus they disappeared .
Silver Ring was inspecting the fallen leaves on the ground and asked .
“So, the reason for this forest being here…”
– Yes . They fled from Kaybern and raised a forest here . The noble high elves fell one by one to the monster legion that tracked them down . If it weren’t for the help of a human, the new roots would not have settled .
Elix’s eyes glimmered .
“By chance, is that human the Wind Mage Ruckledare?”
– Yes . It was he who assisted us .
It turned out that they were on the right track for Ruckledare’s tracks connected to Kaybern and Landony .
– I have a favour to ask of you all . I must return to the forest again . All elves will offer their assistance .
(To be continued…)
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