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Chapter 129: Star, The First Mission (4)

“…!” Eun-Seo realized her mistake and hurriedly turned her head forward.

From afar, countless arrows were pouring down in their direction.

Swoosh, swish, swoosh!

[The Player ‘Shin Eun-Seo’ has activated the Skill ‘Shield Extension’!]

Her tower shield shone, the light spreading over its surface. An invisible barrier was formed above the group and deflected every pouring arrow.

Ting, ting, ting!

Meanwhile, the Magical Core in the air quickly spun and shot light arrows to where the arrows came from.

Swish, swish, swish!

Pzzz!

Rumble, rumble―!

Along with loud, lightning-strike-like sounds, the light arrows pulverized the edge of the forest. As a result, the group saw the shadows of the hidden enemies hurriedly spreading out in every direction. However, some couldn’t avoid the arrows. They were soon ripped to shreds and fell to the ground.

“… That freaking hurt.” Geum-Gyu groaned as he straightened his back. The arrow that had definitely hit his head powerlessly dropped to the ground, leaving only a small scratch on his forehead.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ tells his subordinate to get his act together, clicking his tongue.]

“Well, I’m not a fan of getting hit by an arrow either. Besides, didn’t you say during your lessons that the Magical Core would protect me?” Geum-Gyu shrugged.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ glares at you and asks if you’re saying that was his fault.]

“… N-no, not really. Hehehehe.” Geum-Gyu smiled goofily.

Eun-So’s teary eyes widened upon realizing Geum-Gyu was okay. “Geum-Gyu, are you…?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. But… hehe!” Geum-Gyu smiled wickedly.

When Eun-Seo noticed his smile, her face hardened. “… Don’t do it.”

“Hehehehe.” Geum-Gyu continued to smile.

“I warned you not to do it,” Eun-Seo growled.

“Geum-Gyuuu!!!” Geum-Gyu mimicked Eun-Seo with a high-pitched voice.

With a reddened face, Eun-Seo kicked him and yelled, “I told you not to do it!”

Smack!

A very loud sound echoed in the forest, making Gyeo-Ul and Chang-Sun momentarily wonder if Geum-Gyu’s shin was broken.

“Arghhh! Hey, it hurts!” Geum-Gyu groaned.

“You should have just died! Why did you have to survive?!” Eun-Seo shouted.

Geum-Gyu and Eun-Seo growled at each other as usual, but they moved quickly and flawlessly as if they had often fought side-by-side. While Eun-Seo reinforced the barrier using [Shield Extension] to block the arrows that started to pour down on the group again, Geum-Gyu cast several magic circles in the air and scanned the forest to find the hidden monsters. His Magical Core quickly spun like a top and used [Lightning Shock] several times, destroying groups of trees that the monsters could possibly use for hiding.

“Gyeo-Ul,” Chang-Sun quietly called.

[The Player ‘Baek Gyeo-Ul’ has activated the Skill ‘Shadow Steps,’ trying to subdue the enemy!]

Paah!

Gye-Ul began to move. Following Chang-Sun’s order, he jumped out of Chang-Sun’s shadow and dropped to the center of the forest, which was where the team members estimated that most of the monsters would be hiding.

Boom!

Slash, slash, slash―!

With a loud explosion, a gigantic cloud of dust rose up high in the sky. Sounds of weapons clashing continuously echoed. After a while, their surroundings became quiet, and Gyeo-Ul returned. “I captured one for interrogation.”

He threw the dying monster before Chang-Sun. One of its arms and legs had been cut off. Geum-Gyu and Eun-Seo’s eyes shone upon seeing the monster since it wasn\'t really different from humans. In fact, it was much more beautiful and had whiter skin and sharper ears.

“Elf…?” Geum-Gyu and Eun-Seo murmured with mixed feelings upon encountering a monster from the race of beauty that they had only heard of.

Although they were one of the few monsters with enough intelligence to talk with humans, they were very hostile toward them. Since Elves loved nature and were great hunters, Players had to avoid them if they were to encounter them in forests. Hence, this Dungeon could no longer be considered one-star since they inhabited this place. Their population was very small, and most people had never even met Elves their entire lives. Therefore why were they here?

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ tilts her head in confusion, wondering why they’re here.]

“No, look at its eyes. It’s not the elf you know,” Chang-Sun said.“ It’s a Gray Elf.”

“Gray Elf…?”

“What’s a Gray Elf?”

The Shin siblings tilted their heads in confusion and took a closer look at the elf that Gyeo-Ul had brought, finally noticing a slight difference from the Elves that they had seen in photos. Its eyes were all white as if it didn’t have pupils.

[Gray Elf]

In contrast to ordinary Elves, Gray Elves are nocturnal. They are born from Parasitic Trees, so they are also called ‘Parasitic Elves.’

Having taken the Player license exam, the Shin siblings knew very well that there were many kinds of Elves. Druid Elves assimilated and lived with nature, mines were Black Elves\' primary habitat, and Fairy Elves were too playful. And with their divine blood, the High Elves were considered the most supreme of them all… However, they had never heard about Gray Elves.

“Although they look like Elves, they technically aren’t one. They’re more like the interceptors a monster named ‘Parasitic Tree’ artificially created to attract prey,” Chang-Sun explained.

“A Parasitic Tree is…?”

“A tree sends out these monsters? It’s my first time hearing about this.”

Eun-Seo and Geum-Gyu had heard about Parasitic Trees. Unlike Gray Elves, it was common to encounter Parasitic Trees, so the Shin siblings couldn’t help wondering. Regardless of which living creature stood before it, the plant-type monster would attack them and feed on their vital forces. However, it could not survive a day without its host and was vulnerable to fire, so it wasn’t difficult to hunt them down. In fact, they got exterminated as soon as they appeared in Dungeons.

Chang-Sun silently observed the Gray Elf instead of answering the twins. ‘If the tree is capable of giving birth to Gray Elves, then it’s at least a ‘Saint-Class’ tree… This isn’t an uncleared Dungeon, so how did no one know about it growing in a one-star Dungeon?

For a Parasitic Tree to give birth to Gray Elves, it had to grow up to a certain size, blossom, and bear fruits. However, the conditions for it to grow fully mature were very tricky. The young parasitic tree should be in a very nutritious yet deep and secluded environment…

Based on what Chang-Sun remembered, the island of ‘Blue Jewel Island’ wasn’t big, and the rest of the dungeon was filled with the sea where no monsters lived. However, people often frequented it because of its [Mana Ore] quarry, so someone would surely have noticed and done something about a Parasitic Tree big enough to give birth to Gray Elves. Moreover, this Dungeon was classified as one-star this morning, meaning it had emitted a very low level of mana wave when people outside had measured it.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ narrows his eyes because the appearance of Gray Elves is a rare and abnormal phenomenon.]

J?rmungandr also seemed to have noticed something suspicious. After all, he also held deep knowledge about many areas.

‘There is definitely something up with this place,’?Chang-Sun thought.

He always believed every accident had a cause, so he could think of some possibilities.

‘But it’s only possible if ‘she’ is involved… Unless this Dungeon was created after that plane and ‘she’ had gotten completely destroyed, it’s impossible.’?Chang-Sun shook his head.

Concluding that there had to be another reason, Chang-Sun decided to change his plan and retreat with his team.

‘With this many Gray Elves instead of just one or two of them, then the Parasitic Tree had have taken over almost the entire island. I have no other choice.’?

Although the current goal of this mission was to make the team members experience actual combat, there was no need to take a risk.

“Geum-Gyu. Eun-Seo,” Chang-Sun spoke.

“Yes, hyung?” Geum-Gyu looked at Chang-Sun.

“Yup, oppa.” Eun-Seo instantly raised her head.

“We’re going to exit the Dungeon now,” Chang-Sun ordered.

“Huh…? But we didn’t get to check on the trapped people…!” Geum-Gyu urgently replied.

However, Chang-Sun firmly shook his head. “We don’t even know how many Gray Elves are in the Dungeon, so it’ll be dangerous to go deeper with our current strength. It’s practically suicide.”

Geum-Gyu and Eun-Seo bit their lower lips because they knew what Chang-Sun meant. If Chang-Sun was alone, it could have been different, but he wasn’t sure whether or not he could complete the mission with them. Although their pride was hurt, they had to follow Chang-Sun because he was their team leader. The Team L members prepared to retreat.

[Unable to log out!]

However, the message that popped up before them told them they couldn’t exit the Dungeon.

* * *

[Unable to log out!]

[Unable to log out!]

…

[For an unknown reason, all connections to the outside world have been disconnected.]

[Complete the Dungeon Quest before attempting to log out.]

[Commencing the Dungeon Quest!]

[Quest theme: Search.]

[Find and retrieve the Mana Core hidden somewhere in ‘Blue Jewel Island.’]

[The island is divided into inland and ocean. It is possible to move freely inland, while it is impossible to approach the ocean without tools. Different monsters reside in each sector, so be careful.]

[To complete the quest, every participant has been granted access to <Inventory>, <Status Window>, and <Skill Window>.]

[Please refer to the document below for instructions.]

[Best wishes to all participants.]

The team members were forced to participate in a Dungeon Quest, which meant Team L couldn’t exit the Dungeon until they had completed it or acquired an item that would enable them to log out.

“Hyung,” Geum-Gyu quietly spoke.

“… We’ll continue what we’ve been doing so far. All of you, maintain your positions. I’ll take the lead. Geum-Gyu, support me. Eun-Seo, cover the side and rear.” Chang-Sun drew the Nameless Saber and strode forward.

With very nervous faces, Eun-Seo and Geum-Gyu followed Chang-Sun into the forest that was just as beautiful as the time they had seen it on the sandy beach. Unlike the ones in the ‘Black Blood Mountains Range’, the forest wasn’t too dense, and the ground wasn’t soggy either. The especially captivating part of the island was the blue jewels on every tree that glowed every time the sun shone on them. However, that was also why the forest was more dangerous for the group.

[Enemies have appeared!]

Swish, swish, swoosh―!

The arrows came from all kinds of unexpected places. The ground would also sometimes sink and unleash a trap. They seemed capable of elemental spirit magic spells because a strong wind would blow and ice picks would pour down on the group every now and then. The Gray Elves attacked in the same way as the elves, just like the Shin siblings had learned during the lessons that they had taken before taking the Player license exam. Many of their attacks could have dealt critical injuries to the twins if Chang-Sun hadn’t blocked them all.

Rumble―!

[The State ‘Fierce Tiger’ has been activated, manifesting the Additional Skill ‘Fierce Tiger Unleashed’!]

Just like its size, the Nameless Saber was very destructive. Every time Chang-Sun swung it, he created a powerful gust of wind that knocked down trees and eliminated the Gray Elves hiding among them. Whenever Chang-Sun did so, Eun-Seo and Geum-Gyu looked at him with wide-opened eyes.

Unlike them, Chang-Sun was quite frustrated. ‘If I could do as I please, I would have burned everything already…’

With the Jigwi’s Eon Fire, he could burn down the entire forest and the Parasitic Tree, but he didn’t know where the miners were trapped. Of course, there was almost zero chance that the missing miners and the Council’s rescue team had survived since a Parasitic Tree this big had appeared. However, considering the tree’s characteristics, it could have saved its prey because it was too full. Besides…

‘Something keeps bugging me,’?Chang-Sun thought.

[The Skill ‘Viper Eyes’ has been activated, locating traces!]

While Chang-Sun moved to the spot where the miners had gotten trapped, he couldn’t help feeling leery.

Slash―!

[Critical hit!]

[Successfully killed the ‘Gray Elf 71’ in a single strike!]

[Earned 532 experience points!]

[Earned 121 additional experience points!]

…

[As a reward, the skill ‘Lesser Saber Proficiency’ has been created.]

…

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is surprised by your weapon skill!]

‘Again, it’s…’?Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.

Ever since Gyeo-Ul had captured the first Gray Elf, Chang-Sun thought something was strange every time they eliminated a Gray Elf. He hadn’t told Gyeo-Ul or the Shin siblings about it, but the Gray Elves that they had run into were different from ordinary Gray Elves. Cutting an ordinary Gray Elf’s head would feel like chopping a tree with an axe since it was more like the Parasitic Tree’s fruit than a living creature. They didn’t even bleed.

‘But I feel like I’m killing living creatures. Flesh, muscle, skeleton… They have everything. They even bleed in blue, even though it’s very little. Above all, although very small, they hold a <Divinity Fragment>,’?Chang-Sun recalled.

Chang-Sun could never disregard that because it meant this Parasitic Tree was different from ordinary Parasitic Trees. There was only one type of Parasitic Tree that gave birth to such Gray Elves.

‘Divine Tree.’?Chang-Sun bit his lower lip.

While it was also known as Shindansu or World Tree, it referred to the replanted Yggdrasil’s branch. There was one deity who was capable of raising such a Divine Tree.

‘Kali… What happened to you?’?Chang-Sun thought bitterly.

For the second time, much like what he had done with Xerxes, he… unexpectedly found a trace of his old colleague, the ‘Goddess of Massacre and Destruction,’ here.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ observes the battle in the Dungeon with a lot of interest!]

Chang-Sun’s eyes shone coldly as he read Heoju’s message.

1. It’s a tree where the Korean ancient king, Dangun, descended from the sky