Chapter 153
Chapter 153
Chapter 153
"W-wait! Stop!"
Ha-yeon finally managed to pry off Baduki, who had climbed on top of her and was licking her cheeks frantically.
Only after being pushed away by Ha-yeon's hands did Baduki sit in front of her and wait obediently.
Grung-.
Though he had stopped licking for now, Baduki was still wagging his tail, looking for an opportunity to pounce again at any moment.
Ha-yeon gently scratched Baduki's chin while thinking.
'Every time I see him, I notice how much he likes me.'
Normally, undead would want to avoid being anywhere near divine power since it's an opposing force to them.
In fact, previously he would flinch whenever she just petted his fur due to the repulsive force.
But according to what she heard from Seo-jin, when he equipped the Tears of Pontos on the 20th floor, he underwent various modification procedures, and anti-divine properties were also added at that time.
Since then, whether his resistance to divine power had greatly increased, he would run up to her every time they met, which was troublesome.
Anyway.
'Seeing that Baduki is here means Seo-jin is nearby.'
...Actually, since it had already been several hours since being teleported, he probably wasn't that close by now.
'What should I do?'
Ha-yeon petted Baduki while setting her priorities.
She would put meeting with Seo-jin on the back burner for now.
"First... let's find the Rabbit Tribe and our members."
Since Seo-jin and the Reverse Heaven Society members wouldn't be going around massacring the natives, it would be better to find their side's members first.
It would be good if she found the Rabbit Tribe along the way too.
Ha-yeon petted Baduki sitting in front of her and asked.
"Will you follow me?"
Grung- Grung-.
Baduki nodded his head vigorously.
"Good, then lead the way."
As if he had completely forgotten his master's commands, Baduki began moving along with Ha-yeon.
***
In this cramped underground world, space meant power and authority.
Securing large spaces meant expanding one's living area accordingly, making it easier to secure space for cultivating crops, water sources, magic stones, and such.
Moreover, the mana and materials needed to revive the dead could also be obtained more easily, providing direct help in combat.
Therefore, the more space secured, the stronger the faction became, and the stronger the faction, the more space they could secure - creating a virtuous cycle.
Even now, each tribe was desperate to secure even a palm's worth of more space.
Among those underground spaces, the large spaces called cavities that were open on all sides were even more special.
Cavities were spaces where water from underground streams pooled to form lakes, had flat terrain suitable for planting crops, and were well-ventilated enough to even light fires.
Therefore, cavities were only owned by a few tribes with strong power.
The Eagle Tribe was one of those few powerful factions.
"...Someone's coming."
The conversation among the tribe members gathered around the campfire lit in the center of the great cavity suddenly stopped.
"Is it an enemy? What about the sentries?"
"No alarm has sounded either."
"......"
They felt an ominous presence gradually approaching and rose from their seats.
Normally, before an unknown entity approached like this, there should have been reports from sentries or signals from detection spells.
Something unusual was definitely happening.
The tribe members swallowed nervously, each taking up spears and swords as they watched the entrance leading to the cavity with vigilance.
Eventually, a long shadow entered their field of vision.
Thud- Thud-.
An uninvited guest who entered the cavity with confident steps.
Wearing an eagle mask covered entirely in blood, he threw something in front of the wary tribe members.
Clatter-.
They were beak-shaped ornaments that Eagle Tribe members always wore around their necks.
"...!"
These were objects symbolizing the pride of tribal warriors, to be protected like one's life.
Dozens of such ornaments being bloodied and tangled together like this meant that many warriors had died.
A tribe member who saw the bundle of ornaments widened his eyes and asked the masked stranger.
"What are you?"
"Do you think you can get away with doing such a thing?"
"You've got some nerve."
The Eagle Tribe warriors clearly showed hostility as they surrounded the intruder in a circle.
Each of these was a hero who had survived hundreds of years of continued warfare, and among them were many veteran heroes who had been revived from death.
Step-.
One giant among them stepped forward in front of the intruder and spat curses.
"I won't give you a clean death. I'll cut off your limbs, leave only your torso, and keep you breathing for a long time to torment you."
"......"
Even at such fierce threats, the intruder didn't bat an eye.
Rather, he drew his sword and pointed it at the native warriors.
Shing-.
Then he spoke with gleaming eyes behind his mask.
"You have a long tongue."
The Eagle Tribe warriors' expressions twisted at the intruder's words.
"Get him!"
At the giant's shout, the tribe members surrounding the intruder all charged at once.
Swoosh-.
The masked stranger, Ju Won-jae, watched the arrows and weapons flying at him and fell into thought.
The natives' attacks seemed like slow motion.
This was the effect of Ju Won-jae's trait, [Swift].
In that black and white world, he glared at the native warriors charging at him with gleaming eyes.
'This is the most efficient method.'
He had no intention of persuading each native one by one, seeking cooperation, gathering opinions, and leading them.
'Fear.'
The most certain thing was control through fear.
Show overwhelming power to instantly dominate the tribe.
Even if a few died in the process, it didn't matter.
Their sacrifice was trivial, and he could even revive them through totems.
Kill, kill, and keep killing, and eventually these people would easily submit.
Humans were ultimately creatures that became weak in the face of fear.
No matter how dull these people were to fear and death, being living creatures, they couldn't completely escape it.
Once he completely dominated one tribe like this, he would release the tribe members to find other team members.
Slash-.
"...!"
As Ju Won-jae's sword flashed, the arm of the giant who had been bringing down an axe toward him was cut clean off.
Thud.
But contrary to Ju Won-jae's expectations, the native's arm wasn't cut as cleanly as expected.
This was because the density of bone and muscle was much tougher than anticipated.
Indeed, as Nimrod had warned, the natives of this place were fundamentally different from natives of other floors.
These were beings tempered by countless battles, deaths, and revivals.
[LV.450]
Some of the natives even showed levels higher than Ju Won-jae himself.
Swish-.
The giant whose wrist was cut didn't panic.
He picked up the axe he had been holding with his severed arm with his opposite hand and charged at Ju Won-jae again.
These people not only had high levels but also excellent combat instincts.
However,
Slice-.
As Ju Won-jae's sword flashed again, a blue line appeared from the giant's head down to his crotch.
Rip-.
The giant's corpse split in half and collapsed.
"Next."
No matter how strong these natives were, they weren't his match.
He would be the victor of this test.
***
"A god? Something like you?"
Crack-.
A warrior of the Wolf Tribe.
No, the Wolf Tribe's troublemaker, Romulus.
He clenched his fist as he looked at the figure before him who had declared himself a god.
A human wearing strange clothes he had never seen before.
Actually, he couldn't even tell if it was human to begin with. The aura emanating from him was very alien and evil.
It was certain that he wasn't an underground person, but some other peculiar being.
Were such beings called otherworldly existences?
Moreover,
'That strange mask he's wearing.'
Romulus's eyes gleamed as he looked at the peculiar wolf mask the being was wearing.
This matched the legend passed down among tribe members for generations.
[An otherworldly savior bearing a strange mask shall come.]
A being that fit this prophecy.
As the stranger had declared himself, there wasn't zero probability that he was a being close to a god.
However, Romulus glared at the being before him and burned with fighting spirit.
'Even if he really is a god, there's no need to believe it at face value.'
If the being before him was truly their god and savior, he would have to prove that power himself.
The Wolf Tribe had no need for a weak god.
As Romulus burned with fighting spirit, the masked stranger scratched his head and changed his words.
"Ah, not a god? A savior? Something like that. That was the legend, right?"
"Hmph, if that's really true, don't just flap your mouth but prove it!"
Swoosh-.
Romulus charged forward with a vigorous shout.
The stranger's voice reached his ears.
"Sure, I'll prove it alright."
At the same time as that voice.
[Cheonroe (Heaven's Thunder)]
Flash-.
Black and white lightning suddenly filled Romulus's vision.
After that, his memory was blank for a while.
"Huh?"
When Romulus opened his eyes again, his entire body was bound in chains.
He stared at the stranger before him in bewilderment.
'I... lost?'
Though he was treated as the tribe's troublemaker, he took pride in his combat instincts and natural physique being close to the strongest.
To think there was a being who could subdue him in one strike.
Perhaps... this being before him might be the savior he had been waiting for.
While Romulus was lost in thought for a moment.
The masked stranger.
No, the otherworldly savior commanded him.
"Guide me to your village."
***
Seo-jin followed behind the boy who had identified himself as Romulus toward the cavity where the Wolf Tribe resided.
'Before the regression, this boy seemed to be the chieftain ruling the Wolf Tribe.'
He couldn't remember the face well, but seeing the toughness that allowed him to get right back up after being hit by Heaven's Thunder, he was certain.
But that was about three years from this point in time, so it wasn't time yet.
"Here it is."
Romulus, who had become polite after being instilled with manners, guided Seo-jin to the entrance of the cavity.
'The Wolf Tribe is a major upper-tier faction boasting considerable scale.'
The fact that they occupied a cavity proved this.
Upon reaching the cavity, the gatekeepers guarding the entrance blocked Seo-jin and Romulus.
"Hey, where have you been and why are you just getting back now? And who's this weird guy?"
At the gatekeeper's question, Romulus looked at Seo-jin and said.
"This person is... the Wolf Tribe's savior. You know, the one from legend..."
"How naive. Do you believe such absurd talk?"
"Hey, isn't this a Fox Tribe spy? One using transformation magic."
As the gatekeepers showed no sign of belief, Romulus grabbed Seo-jin's sleeve looking wronged.
"Savior! Please convince them!"
At Romulus's words, Seo-jin nodded.
"Fine, would this be convincing enough?"
Seo-jin took out a large chunk of magic stone from his inventory and held it out to the gatekeepers.
"Gasp."
"I-if it's this size..."
Seo-jin looked at the gatekeepers whose eyes had gone wide and said.
"I want to meet your chieftain. I have several times more magic stones of higher purity than this, and I'm willing to hand them over. This should be enough qualification to meet him, right?"
"O-of course. This way."
Magic stones were fertilizer for growing mana crops and one of the important resources for reviving the dead through Anima Totems.
They held tremendous value in this underground world.
Not only the value of such magic stones, but a mysterious being who could pull out large magic stones from thin air.
To the natives who didn't know about inventories, even alchemy that created gold wouldn't be more wondrous than this.
Thus Seo-jin succeeded in entering the Wolf Tribe's stronghold safely, but Romulus looked dissatisfied.
"...This isn't what I was hoping for."
He seemed to want Seo-jin to show overwhelming power like when he had subdued him.
Seo-jin followed behind the gatekeepers and snorted.
"Why? Don't tell me you want me to beat down everyone I see?"
If he had done that, given the Wolf Tribe's belligerent nature, all the tribal warriors would have jumped out wanting to hold honorable duels and try to arrange wheel battles.
If he had to face them all one by one, it would take three days just to get inside the village.
Seo-jin patted Romulus's head and said.
"Everyone has a different idea of what a savior means. I'm just showing them that."
Seo-jin headed toward the hut at the center of the cavity, following the gatekeepers' guidance along with Romulus.
While Seo-jin waited outside briefly, a gatekeeper went inside the hut to relay the message.
"High Priest, an individual wearing a peculiar wolf mask has requested an audience. We confirmed he has the unusual ability to summon magic stones at will."
"......"
They conversed briefly, then soon decided to let Seo-jin in.
"Please come in."
Upon entering the hut, a man welcomed Seo-jin and Romulus.
"It's my first time meeting you. I am the Wolf Tribe's chieftain and High Priest, Remus. I have always been waiting for an otherworldly being to come."