Chapter 144
Chapter 144
Chapter 144
"You bastard! You shot that knowing it was me, didn't you?"
Nam-gung Cheon shouted angrily with some kind of conviction.
However, Yelena just shrugged her shoulders.
"How can you tell who's who in this darkness? I shot first and looked later."
Nam-gung Cheon snorted at Yelena's excuse.
"Hmph, bullshit."
Divine Archer Yelena.
She was someone he knew well since they had acted together when Nam-gung Cheon briefly belonged to the Frontline Strategy Team in the past.
'Yelena possesses the Demon Eye.'
Nam-gung Cheon looked at her blue eyes that glowed brilliantly even in the darkness.
No matter how far away the enemy was, and regardless of the surrounding environment, she never missed a target once she recognized it.
Even in such dark conditions, even if torrential rain poured down, she would never lose sight of her target.
Once someone became her target, they would only become a sacrifice to her near-divine archery skills.
The title Divine Archer was arrogant, but it wasn't entirely wrong either, which was somewhat irritating.
At least at this point in time, there was no archer who could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
Nam-gung Cheon massaged his aching shoulder and hardened his gaze.
'The fact that only my left shoulder is injured now is because she didn't shoot to kill me in the first place.'
That attack just now was a warning shot, fired with the intention of only blowing away his left arm or so, after she had already realized her opponent was him.
If Yelena had shot her Invisible Arrow with killing intent, his life would have truly been in danger.
Anyway.
Seeing how she was ready to blow off her former colleague's limbs, her temperament was still the same.
'That woman has always been merciless toward men.'
"So what's the reason for throwing the first punch? You want to have a go?"
"Oh my, I don't particularly want to fight. But."
Piiing-.
Yelena drew her bowstring again and spoke calmly.
"Our Frontline Strategy Team has dibs on this dungeon. So why don't you look elsewhere?"
"Hey, you guys have already cleared a lot. Give way a little for the latecomers."
"I can give way. But."
Gooo-.
"I wonder if my arrow will give way too?"
Yelena smiled wickedly while gathering powerful energy on her bowstring.
As she drew the bowstring, air and mana concentrated in her hand and soon began transforming into fierce wind.
Nam-gung Cheon bit his lip as he watched the mana swirling around the arrow like a whirlwind.
'That's the Annihilation Arrow that devastates an entire area.'
That single arrow would vaporize dozens of meters in radius.
In the past, he would have retreated without looking back, saying there was nothing but loss in fighting such a monster.
Sring-.
Nam-gung Cheon drew his sword while gathering his energy as well.
"...Go ahead and shoot."
Now he wasn't alone, and he had reasons he had to fight.
He couldn't retreat obediently.
When Nam-gung Cheon chose a frontal confrontation, Yelena raised one eyebrow as if surprised.
"Oh my, you've become quite bold? Our little puppy. If you're that confident, try receiving this."
Just as Yelena was about to release her bowstring after saying that.
Pak-.
"Yelena, that's enough."
Someone grabbed her hand to prevent her from releasing the string.
The one who stopped Yelena was a woman in white priestly robes, Saintess Kwon Ha-yeon.
With Ha-yeon's appearance, Yelena's expression, which had been ready to blow away the entire area, brightened considerably.
"Oh? When did you get here?"
"Someone seemed to be injured. It was caught on my Saintess radar."
Ha-yeon made a gesture of placing her fingers like horns above her head.
It seemed her ability to detect injured people had activated when Nam-gung Cheon got wounded in the shoulder.
Ha-yeon said.
"Let's withdraw for now. We'll hand over the dungeon to the Shadowless Flying Hero too."
"Why give away something so precious?"
"Think of it as a small kindness from a senior? It's admirable how hard you've climbed to get here."
Ha-yeon smiled as she looked at Siegfried and Se-yeon standing behind Nam-gung Cheon.
Nam-gung Cheon and Francesca were fossils who had started activities around the same time as themselves, but those two were much junior colleagues.
It was a small kindness for the juniors.
"...Well, fine. If that's Ha-yeon's will."
Yelena, who had seemed ready to fight even alone, readily put away her bow and withdrew at Ha-yeon's persuasion.
Nam-gung Cheon tilted his head at the sudden temperature change and asked.
"Are you really giving it up?"
"Of course. But."
Ha-yeon smiled wickedly and waved her hand.
"Give my regards to Nova. Tell him it's a gift from me."
***
When Nam-gung Cheon's group returned to the village, waterway construction was in full swing.
Clatter- clatter-.
The sight of countless skeleton soldiers moving like an ant colony, carrying wood and stones.
'I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.'
It seemed like it was this feeling when Seo-jin made the giant monster in Atlantis.
Nam-gung Cheon shook off the inexplicable sense of déjà vu and approached Seo-jin to report the reconnaissance results.
"I found a pond that could be used as a water source. I marked it on the map. I also found a dungeon to clear."
"You found a dungeon too?"
"Yeah. We met the Frontline Strategy Team on the way. The Saintess asked me to give you her regards. She also gave us the dungeon clearing rights as a gift."
"I see."
Seo-jin nodded indifferently.
Depending on the difficulty, successfully clearing a dungeon could yield about 5,000 Merit points.
Considering the items, magic stones, and achievements obtainable from the dungeon, finding a dungeon at this point was quite an accomplishment.
"But what's your relationship with the Saintess? What kind of relationship do you have that she'd readily gift you dungeon clearing rights?"
As far as Nam-gung Cheon knew, there wasn't any significant connection between the two.
They had only met about three or four times since their encounter on the 10th floor.
Had he somehow seduced her in the meantime?
To Nam-gung Cheon's question, Seo-jin only shook his head instead of answering.
"You don't need to know."
It was a complicated relationship that was hard to explain in words.
"...Fine if you don't want to talk about it."
Nam-gung Cheon sighed as if deflated and headed toward the temporary lodging.
After the reconnaissance team went to rest.
Clatter clatter-.
The skeletons that had gathered materials needed for waterway construction began moving in a line toward the water source Nam-gung Cheon had reported.
They were the wood and rocks that Austin and Nam-gung Rin had created until their mana was depleted.
Since the water source wasn't very far from the village, there didn't seem to be a shortage of materials.
The skeleton workers exited the village's main gate in a line like a sluggish snake.
Watching that bizarre spectacle, Seo-jin said.
"Han So-yul, you take charge of the waterway construction."
"M-me?"
"Yeah, I have to make a purification magic circle."
Since he had to find the ley lines around the village and create a purification magic circle using Antarea's ribs, he didn't have time to supervise the construction site as well.
Let's leave that to So-yul.
Seo-jin instructed Baduki and the Lich King to follow So-yul's orders.
"Follow this friend's commands while building the waterway."
Krrrung-.
Clatter-.
So-yul had become their master for a limited time.
"You know the basic details, right?"
So-yul nodded and recited what Seo-jin had instructed while folding her fingers one by one.
"Ah, yes. Compact the ground with Baduki's earth magic, use rocks as foundation stones and build a wooden waterway on top. Also secure a water quality purification area by making settling tanks in between."
"Right, minimize the aqueducts exposed to the outside. Remember that the most stable method is digging the ground and letting water flow inside it. Now go."
Clap-.
Seo-jin put So-yul on Baduki's back and smacked Baduki's rear.
Krrrung-.
Baduki let out a small cry and ran out of the village carrying So-yul.
"W-wait a minute!"
So-yul's voice, screaming while clinging to Baduki's back, gradually faded away.
***
Solaris's secret temple.
As if declaring their will to drive away the darkness enveloping the entire 37th floor, mirrors decorated everywhere reflected faint light.
The Frontline Strategy Team was using this place as their base while working hard to clear World Quests.
Just as Seo-jin's group was diligently collecting Merit points, the Frontline Strategy Team was also accumulating Radiance Power by clearing various quests.
Radiance Power was another name for the divine power needed for the descent of Solaris, the god of light.
Collecting this power to the maximum was the Frontline Strategy Team's purpose.
However, this Radiance Power was no different from the Merit point system that Seo-jin's group was collecting, only the name was different.
A system where daily quotas were set, and anything beyond that could only be filled through special quests.
As such, dungeon clearing was quite an important element for the Frontline Strategy Team as well.
But Ha-yeon had handed over the clearing rights of a dungeon she had found with effort to the Reverse Heaven Society.
Hearing the situation, Sword Star Ju Won-jae looked at Kwon Ha-yeon with cold eyes.
"Why did you do such a thing?"
Nova's Reverse Heaven Society, which had been chasing them at a terrifying speed, had finally reached the 37th floor.
Won-jae's mood was already twisted just by that, and now she had even handed over important dungeon clearing rights to them.
"What you did is no different from hindering our Frontline Strategy Team's tower climbing."
"...I'm sorry."
"I don't need apologies in words only. Fill the Radiance Power equivalent to the loss we suffered."
Ha-yeon silently nodded.
Ha-yeon's divine power was compatible with Radiance Power as well.
Whether it was because they were both divine in nature, or thanks to Ha-yeon's origin of mana conversion, he didn't know.
However, if there was a problem, it was that the conversion efficiency was considerably poor.
Still, if she offered massive divine power to Solaris, the Radiance Power value would rise a little.
Ha-yeon shut herself in the prayer room to make up for the Radiance Power lost by giving away the dungeon.
"Ugh, that's why you shouldn't do such things."
Yelena comforted Ha-yeon sitting in the prayer room and began maintaining her bow and arrows beside her as if to share the pain.
Meanwhile.
"......"
Won-jae closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
'So they've finally reached here.'
He had thought they would reach the top floor eventually since there was a difference in tower climbing speed between them, but that speed was much faster than expected.
He had thought they wouldn't meet until at least the 40th floor, but the Reverse Heaven Society's climbing speed hadn't dropped at all despite corporate interference.
Won-jae recalled what Chairman Kwon had asked of him several months ago.
It was the day when all the Nova assassination plans had failed and he had lost the hunting dog he had been using.
'He's not simply a climber with outstanding talent. He's a disruption that will completely destroy the existing order. If we don't eliminate him as soon as possible, that blade will eventually target you.'
Chairman Kwon had subtly expressed the need to eliminate him.
Of course, Won-jae didn't agree with Chairman Kwon's opinion.
He thought it was a matter to judge after seeing for himself.
'That thought hasn't changed even now.'
Others' thoughts or evaluations weren't important.
He would judge what kind of existence the opponent was by seeing with his own two eyes.
If he could take him in and use him as a good chess piece, that would be good.
Since the Reverse Heaven Society was showing a policy of not confronting the Frontline Strategy Team head-on on the surface.
There was a high possibility that Nova accurately recognized the optimal position he should take.
'Light and shadow rather than two suns?'
This was certainly a clever judgment.
Then the possibility of him coming under his command wasn't non-existent either.
But if by any chance he was a vessel he couldn't contain...
Won-jae stopped thinking and looked at Lee Seo-mun leaning against one wall.
"Would you like to go see him once?"
Nova's Reverse Heaven Society had the Nam-gung siblings who were Lee Seo-mun's disciples.
As their master, he might want to meet them once.
But Lee Seo-mun lightly shook his head.
"There's no propriety in a master seeking out disciples. It's proper for disciples to come find their master."
He did want to see his disciples' faces after a long time, but it wasn't such an urgent matter. If he waited leisurely, he could meet them sometime.
Then.
"I'll go! I'll go!"
A boy suddenly stood up from his seat.
The genius boy with the title of Grand Mage, Tsuchimikado Gu-ren.
His eyes burned with vengeance.