Chapter 143
Chapter 143
Chapter 143
"Shut up, you bastard. Keep it down."
Seo-jin frowned and kicked the front paw of the roaring Antarea.
[Krwaaah…….]
Antarea hung her head dejectedly after being scolded by her master for no reason.
Thanks to being modified to have a gentle personality that follows her master well, completely opposite to the ferocious nature of the living Demon Dragon Antarea.
Because of this, her authority and power had greatly diminished compared to when she was alive, but it was better than being uncontrollable like Leviathan.
"You'll scare the natives. Lie down."
When Seo-jin extended his hand forward.
Kuwong-.
Antarea lowered her head, which had been held high, to the ground and lay down in front of Seo-jin, even folding her wings.
[Krrrung-.]
Whether summoned together or not, Baduki, who had sat beside her at some point, began licking Antarea's nose area with his tongue.
Whether he was doing this because it tasted like bones or because he thought of her as a friend was unclear, but he seemed happy.
Seo-jin looked at Antarea, who was lying down obediently, and fell into thought.
'Antarea is a Black Dragon.'
A poison-type specialist who shoots poisonous breath. Her inherent attributes and authority are poison itself.
And handling deadly poison means having a vessel capable of withstanding that toxicity.
She should be able to easily purify the toxicity of the swampland.
Seo-jin stood in front of Antarea's house-sized head and said:
"You, let me pull out just one bone."
[Krwah?]
"One from around the Dragon Heart. I'll make a new one and put it in later."
[Krwahraaah-!]
Antarea sprang up from her position as if refusing and tried to twist her body, but.
Krrrung-.
When Baduki, who was beside her, glared with glowing eyes and growled, she immediately stopped moving.
Antarea froze like a statue, overwhelmed by Baduki's gaze.
Without Seo-jin needing to intervene, a clear hierarchy was established among the undead.
'It seems she still has memories of being thoroughly beaten by Baduki wearing the power suit on the 29th floor.'
Baduki, who had gained experience with the Behemoth suit while fighting Leviathan in the past, had easily subdued the living Antarea.
It wasn't just subduing. He had beaten her until her bones turned to powder, taking a whole week to remake her into an undead.
The fear carved deep into her soul at that time still dominated Antarea even now as an undead.
[Krwaah…….]
Antarea had no choice but to give Seo-jin one of her bones.
Tuk-.
"I'll use it well."
Seo-jin wove Black Chains to pull out one of Antarea's ribs and sent her back.
Jareugeureak-.
The extracted rib was much larger than Seo-jin's torso, so he had Baduki carry it bound with Black Chains.
"dia njr pwj?"
"rk dls anf rhl?"
The natives murmured as they watched the large bone and Baduki carrying it.
Before the natives could tremble in fear or show deeper interest in Seo-jin's group.
"f kak wjd rjr!"
The native shaman stepped forward to calm the residents and waved his staff to prevent them from coming closer.
Thanks to the shaman's goodwill, Seo-jin was able to safely transport the bone to the village outskirts.
So-yul's eyes lit up as she looked at the bone Baduki had dragged over.
"Is it Antarea's bone?"
"Yes."
"Are you planning to use Antarea's attributes in reverse?"
At So-yul's words, Seo-jin nodded.
"Now you understand just by looking. Your guess is correct."
"Hehe."
Having stayed by his side for so long, she had reached the level of intuitively guessing what Seo-jin was trying to do.
Whether becoming able to read the intentions of Seo-jin, who does crazy things, was good or not was uncertain.
Isn't there a saying that when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you?
"What's your plan from here?"
At Austin's question, Seo-jin picked up a tree branch and began drawing on the ground.
"Fortunately, this village is at a relatively low elevation. If there's a water source nearby where a lot of water has pooled, we could easily draw water up just by adjusting the gradient."
Seuk seuk-.
"Once the scouts find a water source, we'll immediately begin aqueduct construction."
"What about the existing aqueduct?"
So-yul mentioned the waterway the natives had been using.
Seo-jin shook his head.
"It was embarrassing to even call it an aqueduct. The water source was also destroyed, so we can't repair and reuse it. No need to worry about it."
Next, Seo-jin planned to create the magic circle needed for water purification.
To absorb mana from the surrounding ley lines and periodically maintain the purification authority dwelling in Antarea's bone.
"Then what should we do?"
At Nam-gung Rin's question, Seo-jin fell into thought for a moment.
"Hmm."
Seo-jin, who had been wondering whether to make the aqueduct with sturdy stone and concrete or just adequately with wood, decided to use wood.
He would have liked to make something magnificent like Rome's arched aqueducts if he could.
'But that's a luxury for a village with barely 500 residents.'
He decided to make it adequately with earth and wood, and process it with magic so water wouldn't leak.
The important thing wasn't making the aqueduct perfectly, but accumulating merit.
He had to consider cost, time, and efficiency.
However, that didn't mean he would make it carelessly.
He would make it carefully enough to satisfy even the dark god Lunaris.
"It would be best to start by gathering the materials needed to build the aqueduct. Wood first."
With Austin's spirit power and Nam-gung Rin's Taoist Arts, they should be able to obtain materials without having to go around collecting resources the hard way.
"Then let's begin."
***
Meanwhile, the scout team dispatched for area investigation and monster subjugation around the village.
"This is really fucking awful."
Nam-gung Cheon grimaced as he peeled off the corpse of a poisonous insect stuck to his cheek.
The swamp where you sink up to your ankles and humidity so high it makes your skin sticky.
Poisonous insects and insect-type monsters that somehow detect you and keep attacking even without lights.
Plus the surroundings are so dark and eerily quiet that your sense of direction becomes hazy.
It was fortunate the sun didn't rise, but if sweltering jungle-like heat had been added, he might have given up on quests and everything else.
Still, even under these harsh conditions, they did their job.
"We found a decent water source too. Should we just find the dungeon and head back?"
Thanks to hunting the constantly attacking insect-type monsters, they had already filled the merit points they could earn from today's battles.
They had also found a highland water source suitable for connecting an aqueduct as Seo-jin requested.
All that remained was finding dungeons where mid-boss monsters resided.
Dungeon clearing was one of the few elements that could earn special merit points separate from the daily merit points with limited caps.
It was beneficial in many ways to find and clear as many dungeons as possible.
If only to get out of this shitty place even a day sooner.
"Wouldn't others have already claimed most of the decent ones?"
At Zieg's question, Nam-gung Cheon let out a deep sigh.
"That's true."
He didn't know what quest the frontline strategy team performing Solaris-side quests was carrying out, but if they were also accumulating merit points, there was a high probability they were putting effort into dungeon conquest.
Even if they weren't proceeding with merit point quests like Reverse Heaven Society, they wouldn't ignore dungeons.
'Dungeons on newly opened floors are treasure troves of magic stones, items, and achievements.'
There was no reason not to clear them first.
Moreover.
'It's been about a month since not only the frontline strategy team but also top rankers from various countries and corporations entered.'
It was safe to assume anything useful had already been cleared.
That was also why Seo-jin's group was trying to complete every single daily quest without missing any.
"So are you going to give up? I can't keep wearing this crap."
Francesca grimaced as she fiddled with her crumbling straw raincoat.
For her, who usually valued style, her current appearance was nothing short of a fashion disaster.
Not to mention it wasn't good for her skin.
"We absolutely have to find it."
If only they could find a deal where they could laugh off minor losses like clothing changes, then the leader would understand.
Just then, Se-yeon, who had been silently following behind, looked up at the sky in a daze.
"Rain."
"Rain?"
Ttok-. Tto-tok-.
As soon as those words ended, raindrops began falling one or two at a time.
Swaaaah-.
The raindrops soon became a downpour that struck Nam-gung Cheon's group.
"Uwaaah!"
Nam-gung Cheon's group hastily flipped the large straw hats attached to their raincoats to block the rain.
"Where, where should we go?"
With this level of downpour, the swampland would flood in an instant. They had to quickly get to dry land or it would be dangerous.
The panicking team members.
Even in the chaotic situation, Nam-gung Cheon found the direction his team members should go through his pathfinder instincts.
'A pathfinder is a guide.'
Never losing the way in any situation, instinctively finding a way out even in the worst circumstances.
Except in special cases like labyrinths.
"This way!"
Cheolpeok- cheolpeok-.
Nam-gung Cheon's group hastily escaped the swampland and reached somewhere they could at least stand.
As the scout team fled through the dense forest to avoid the rain, something was caught in their field of vision.
"There, it looks like there's something there?"
A flow different from the mana scattered around the area.
Places where such mana flows were detected were either special regions where magical disasters occurred.
"A dungeon?"
There was a high probability that a dungeon they were looking for existed there.
"Let's go there!"
It would serve both to avoid the downpour and, if they found and mapped the dungeon in advance, it would be convenient to return later.
So Nam-gung Cheon's group ran following the mana flow.
In front of them.
Swaeaek-.
Something flew through the air.
"……!"
Something flying from the front while running at high speed.
With darkness all around and in a downpour where it was hard to rely on hearing.
There was no way to identify the sudden attack in advance.
"Chik."
However, Nam-gung Cheon relied on instinctive senses to greatly twist his body and dodge the attack.
Peoeok-.
Something that tore right through his shoulder area as it passed.
Nam-gung Cheon gritted his teeth and shouted.
"Zieg!"
"Yes!"
Zieg hastily raised his shield in front, and the team members swiftly took cover behind it.
Peobeobeonng-.
Ranged attacks hammering Zieg's shield as if they had been waiting.
"Haa, haa."
Nam-gung Cheon, hidden behind the shield, exhaled heavily and examined the wound on his left shoulder.
The flesh of his shoulder blade was torn away, exposing bone.
"Damn it……."
If he hadn't reflexively dodged, his left arm would have been severed.
"Hold on for a moment."
After checking the wound, Francesca took out a potion from her bosom and poured it on Nam-gung Cheon's shoulder.
Chiiiik-.
The wound healed with a sound like burning flesh.
There was pain like being seared by fire, but since it was a special potion made by Seo-jin, the affected area quickly healed.
"Can you move?"
"Yes."
Nam-gung Cheon rolled his shoulder around.
The pain remained, but there was no hindrance to movement.
However, regardless of that, the situation wasn't very good.
Jjeoeong-! Jjeoeong-!
Tremendous attacks consecutively hammering Zieg's shield.
The shockwaves bursting forth could be felt even beyond the shield.
Along with the dizzying impact sounds, Zieg's stance gradually began to crumble.
"Kuk. The barrier will collapse at this rate!"
Among paladin job classes, there was only one person who could push Zieg, who had defense among the best, to this extent.
"Hey! Stop hiding and come out! I know it's you!"
Nam-gung Cheon's voice echoing through the forest in the downpour.
As soon as that shout spread, the rain-like barrage of attacks ceased.
Swaaaah-.
Only the sound of the downpour could be heard quietly.
Sabak-.
Finally, a woman appeared from far away.
A blonde beauty elegantly holding an umbrella in the downpour.
"I wondered who it was, and it was you?"
A member of the frontline strategy team, Divine Archer Yelena Blavatsky.
She revealed herself before Nam-gung Cheon's group.