Chapter 172
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Primordial Forest
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[You have entered <Primordial Forest>.]
The first thing that caught my eye was a sea of green. Broad-leaved trees blanketed everything in sight.
Ukkikikik.
Beast cries echoed through the underbrush, mingled with the chirps of birds and insects.
A thick grassy scent filled the air, making it hard to breathe. I looked up and saw towering ancient trees blotting out the sky.
"......"
Over forty meters tall. Each one stood like a watchtower.
Standing before them made me feel like I'd been dropped into a world of giants.
"...Sun?"
"Is it daytime here?"
The trees were enormous, their leaves so vast they barely qualified as mere foliage. Hot sunlight filtered through tiny gaps between them, reaching the forest floor.
'[Primordial Forest] has no true night. Just times when the sunlight weakens.'
I held my hand up to the light.
It burned. Like my skin was cooking. And this was during the "night" phase.
'Predators don't move much during peak heat.'
That's why hunts happen in the cooler night. Just like the trials we knew—night was more dangerous.
'But to make progress, we have to move at night too.'
Even now, my skin stung like it was blistering.
Daytime exposure could mean burning alive. We'd stick to night, dodging the dangerous creatures.
But that wasn't the immediate issue.
"Huff... Pant... C-can't... breathe..."
"So stuffy."
The scorching heat and humidity were taking their toll. The air felt heavy, especially for those with low stamina.
'Just like the demon world's incubus haunts.'
Thankfully, no such trash lurked here. Still, for a fourth trial, the environment alone was brutally tough.
A special trial, through and through.
'Now, where's the group?'
I wiped the sweat beading on my skin and set off to find them.
It wasn't hard. Everyone had been teleported to the same spot.
Near the group, prisoners were being handed over at the center.
"Hao Zifeng, hand over the women first."
"...Take them."
The women who'd been forced to debase themselves under the Chinese returned tearfully.
"Sniff... Thank you."
"You saved us."
They'd charged in so boldly before, but now they were wrecks.
If the Jeju Nohyung Alliance hadn't shown up in time, it'd have been worse.
"Sniff... If those bastards hadn't ganged up like cowards..."
Yeah, even I thought it was a cheap fight.
But what could you do?
In a life-or-death struggle, fairness didn't matter.
Dirty or sneaky, the one left standing wins. That's the selection process.
Those women should've checked their surroundings before picking fights.
Whining after defeat was just loser's excuses.
Kim Jin-woo comforted them and said,
"Anyway, no attacking each other until this trial ends."
"Agreed. Truce and temporary alliance."
The Chinese accepted the Korean proposal readily.
Survival trumped revenge right now.
We'd all learned how bullshit these trials were on the way here—no one objected.
How long the peace would last was another story.
"Min-jun!"
"There you are!"
"Damn it, Dickhead. You vanished outta nowhere—we were worried. Answer when we call, man. How much trouble you cause us?"
"Sorry."
Looking around, no one was missing.
I checked their statuses—they were fine, high stamina keeping them steady.
Just fanning themselves against the pouring sweat.
"So, what is this place?"
"Feels like we walked into a rainforest."
"Huge plants, steamy as hell—like the stone age."
...Not wrong.
[Primordial Forest] was exactly that—a forest from eons ago. Eden on Earth, basically.
Just as we doubt Eden's existence, this place was mythical to the locals, from a bygone era.
Fleeting, defying time's endless flow.
Even the sun barely moved in the sky.
Change was glacial here.
And always humid. Sweltering.
Hudaduduk.
"Huh?"
"Wh-what?"
"...Rain?"
Rain suddenly poured from the sky.
Torrential sheets sent people scrambling to tree trunks.
"Damn. What the hell's with this weather?"
"Shitty place."
The weather here was infamous for its chaos.
Sudden downpours, fog, lightning from clear skies, hail—the works.
You had to stay vigilant, find cover, protect your head.
Unless you wanted your skull smashed by fist-sized ice.
Shwaaa—
"Crazy, hole in the sky or what? Pouring buckets."
"Really coming down."
"...Never seen rain this thick."
"Yeah."
Like dumping water buckets, puddles formed instantly despite the short burst.
"Dickhead, this okay? Water's rising fast. We need to prep or something."
"Relax. It'll stop soon."
"How do you know?"
As if on cue, the rain cut off abruptly.
The thousand-plus people gawked upward in stunned silence.
The sun blazed down again.
'Humidity drops, then rain spikes it, temp cools, then heats up again.'
"Ha! What kinda weather is this?!"
"Total mess!"
Whether it maintained eternal conditions or not, it was bullshit.
Fighting monsters in this environment? Brutal.
"Whoa, you're starting to scare me now."
"?"
"Now you're controlling the weather too? How'd you know the rain would stop?"
Shin Seo-yeon stared wide-eyed. I shrugged.
"Misunderstanding. Borrowed Rang's skill for a sec."
"Oh?"
[Primordial Forest]'s weather was notoriously deadly, always threatening players.
But with Rang's [Weather Forecast], it was no issue.
[Using <Weather Forecast>.]
+
Day 1: Clear. Occasional light rain. High temperature. High humidity. No special notes.
Day 2: Cloudy. Occasional light rain. Thin fog at lunch. High temperature. High humidity. Notes...
+
'Weather won't be a problem.'
We'd arrived at a good time—no floods, hail, or disasters.
One day had brief lightning, but nothing major.
'Alright, switch <Bond> to Seo-yeon and get moving.'
Now the real work began.
Time to scout our target.
"You guys check that way! We'll take this side!"
"Something over there?"
"Nah."
People emerged from the shade, hunting monster tracks with gusto.
Contribution points motivated them.
At the center: Cheongsung and Jeju Nohyung Alliance.
"Hurry! Catch more than those small-country punks!"
"Grab good loot and turn the tables!"
Prime gear could multiply power. Mythic, even?
Chinese planned to score merits, snag items, and smack Jeju back.
Jeju thought the same.
"Jin-woo, no real tracks around here. Like the Chinese, climb trees?"
"Footprints won't cut it. Plants block views. Let's do it, hyungnim."
Sasak—
Both sides raced up trees competitively.
Elites—average strength 40, quick climbers.
But forty-plus meters took time.
'No need to climb.'
I watched, then strode off.
"Huh? Min-jun's moving."
They'd been allocating bonus stats from level 4, hands waving in air. They hurried after me.
'The Goddess isn't dumb.'
[Primordial Forest] was vast. Random teleports? No way.
'She drops us optimally. Where we need to be.'
Her workload lightens if we succeed.
So something prime lurked nearby.
'This it.'
I found it soon. Tree-climbers spotted it too, voices shaking.
"Th-there...!"
All eyes turned our way—actually, ahead of us.
"What's that?"
"A mountain?"
A massive mountain loomed before us.
"Why's there a rock mountain?"
Some called it a rock mountain.
"...Cliff?"
Others, a cliff.
"Th-that ain't a rock mountain!"
"Not a mountain? What then?"
"Something on top?"
"I-it's like..."
As they buzzed, we reached it. I placed a hand on the huge cliff.
"Dickhead, what're you doing? Hidden door?"
"...No."
"Then?"
I lowered my hand from the "mountain" and looked up.
Nearly fifty meters—twenty stories, apartment-wise.
Unbelievable.
"This ain't a cliff."
"What? If not a cliff, what?"
"This is the monster we gotta kill."
"What? How...?"
I followed the cliff's curve. Soon, it changed.
"Eh...?"
"Min-jun! Th-this is."
The cliff vanished, revealing a massive reptile head—tongue lolling, dead.
So huge, you questioned if it was real.
Sculpted on a mountain? More believable.
"Crazy? That's a dragon...?"
"The mountain was a living body?"
Eyes bigger than people, tongue like a theme park slide.
...The group gaped at the building-sized head, speechless.
"Joke, right? Kill this?!"
Body over 400 meters. Primordial dragon.
Resembling a mountain: [Mountain Giant Dragon Dracalon].
[You have encountered the corpse of <Mountain Giant Dragon Dracalon>.]
That was our monster.
[A Trial is given.]
[Defeat the offspring of Mountain Giant Dragon Dracalon.]