Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Agony of the Flower Tree
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Seol Do-yun headed toward the secret studio apartment he had prepared in advance.
The place was completely empty, without a single piece of furniture. Blackout curtains hung over the windows, making the room pitch dark.
He crossed his arms and stared at the massive pinboard monitor that dominated one wall.
It displayed a map of the Ninapinta continent, marked with all currently known dungeons.
On the opposite wall hung another enormous monitor showing a world map.
That one was annotated with the locations of all known gates and information on discovered items.
Seol Do-yun booted up the computer in his studio and logged into one of the websites he managed.
「Dungeon&Item.com」
To access other people's item information here, he had to upload his own.
Seol Do-yun entered the admin page and hit the update button.
Today's newly posted item data automatically synced to the pinboard monitor.
Pacing steadily, Seol Do-yun stopped in front of the Ninapinta continent map.
He jotted down newly acquired gate and item info on sticky notes and pinned them up.
From stories of people who had awakened to A-rank abilities in Ninapinta, their powers generally reflected the regional characteristics or item traits found in those areas.
Even following the same archer path, second job changes varied slightly depending on the dungeon and region at the time.
You could see it with Mochibol, who chose first job change as a nature mage and looped through Souil Dungeon to advance to 'Earth Magician' on the second.
There was a specific awakening ability Seol Do-yun desired.
A debuff—weakening—power.
He planned to weaken enemies from the back lines without fighting directly, then pass the credit to guildmates who would join his guild later. That's why he was hunting for it.
To manipulate guild members, their records needed to prominently feature his contributions.
It wasn't essential, but becoming that indispensable figure was Seol Do-yun's goal as a hunter.
He chose debuff over buff because of the dungeons.
Whatever this world had been up to, the item types he possessed and the knowledge he had were suspiciously vast.
It reminded him a bit of Yi Sa-byeok, making him wary of getting entangled, but he figured he'd need her power at some point.
After awakening, he planned to delete his account and remake it to sever the soul contract.
Remaking an account after second awakening would remeasure physical stats, but job change abilities persisted, so deleting post-job change was fine.
Without being under her thumb, becoming someone she needed would give him leverage.
Deals struck from that position would favor him.
Most publicly revealed legendary items shared a strength-weakening trait.
When items shared a trait like that, they were likely derived from the same region.
The question was where—and Seol Do-yun pegged it as the Montjihel region.
Among the random epic items that occasionally dropped near dungeons was one called 'Grekta's Leather,' whose description mentioned 'Montjihel monsters.'
All those elusive, powerful monsters haunting dungeons originated from Montjihel.
Back when organizing the Ninapinta lore, he'd collected bits on hidden settings like Bachinum and Montjihel out of curiosity.
He'd circulated pigeon memos to Happy NPC faction NPCs as a survey and extracted Montjihel info.
Various guesses and data piled up, but the common thread was this:
-Stronghold of powerful monsters
-Monsters' homeland
Even that wasn't confirmed.
But among contacted NPCs, one lucky soul had relatively solid Montjihel knowledge.
A dungeon camp grand mage named 'Heail,' fixated on the absurd 'Dungeon Graffiti Studies.'
Approaching as the deletion handler active in adventurer villages, he dropped his guard easily.
Probably because the graffiti mentioned 'adventurer deletion handler.'
'What kind of studies from Yi Sa-byeok's scrawled handwriting.'
Doubts aside, completing the '[C-rank] Noah Footwriting' quest had him thrilled, handing over a 'Continental Mana Flow Map' and 'Mana Distribution Chart.'
'Recent research find: Monsters don't eat dead people, but they constantly suck mana from them. Not absorbing it—they hold it briefly in their bodies, then it dissipates.'
'See this mana-sucking point? I suspect that's the Montjihel entrance.'
The spot where ambient mana slowly flowed in was Lowriarin; where it poured out was Yoharaum.
'Two suspected Montjihel entry points total.'
Yoharaum and Lowriarin.
Lowriarin seemed slightly more plausible.
Dungeons popped up there often, and rumors of elves exiled to hell for crimes felt suspicious.
Seol Do-yun marked the suspected spots on the map, then logged into the game for the first time in ages.
* * *
Arriving in Lowriarin, Seol Do-yun pulled out an item.
[Legendary] Agony of the Flower Tree
Gripping the withered, twisted black branch he'd bought for 10 billion, he shook off a brief wave of regret.
This item would lead not just to the Montjihel entrance, but to wherever strong monsters lurked.
Slightly mutated, its original form was the 'Lotus' tree.
He knew about it from community posts where players trolled others with Lotus items.
Hold this flower tree and use a skill, and the skill's unique effect imbues it, turning it into a material item—but that wasn't its main role.
The branch grows longer the closer you get to the tree body, blooming flowers upon arrival.
That's why it was mostly used for traps.
Plant fast-growing Lotus trees where you want to lure prey, imbue with skill to complete the trap.
Then, a target who luckily snags a Lotus branch hunts the tree for more materials—the branch guides them straight to the trap.
Lotus branches usually graded as 'Rare.'
They couldn't hold all abilities and performed poorly as materials.
But a 'Legendary' Lotus from Yoharaum—frequented by Montjihel monsters—and a dungeon chased by them.
Plus the weakening ability infused in the Lotus tree.
Following it should lead somewhere.
'Scour suspected areas; no reaction, then try Yoharaum.'
Luckily, the branch reacted soon.
Moving toward the elf village in Lowriarin, it started wriggling, slowly elongating.
Seol Do-yun walked slowly in the direction it pointed.
He reached a vast forest behind the elf village.
The branch shot up rapidly, soon as thick as his forearm.
Drawing nearer to the body, a black flower bud formed on it.
Elf-like corpses littered the area.
He'd heard rumors of elves in Lowriarin suiciding to avoid exile—seemed this was the spot.
The branch stopped growing at a certain point.
Suddenly, it glowed, revealing a magic circle.
Looks like this branch had been used as bait to lure its dungeon owner.
Sloppy trap—who'd fall for it?—but the condensed mana suggested no pushover monster.
Light from the hidden magic circle soon enveloped Seol Do-yun.
'What monster is it?'
Honestly, no plans to beat a Montjihel monster in one go.
He'd set pain tolerance to 0%, learn patterns through deaths, then crank to 100% and smash.
Any foe was fine—just not mental type.
"......"
Mental types in a game? Unlikely.
Seol Do-yun ignored the odd unease.
* * *
His guess on 'Agony of the Flower Tree' was spot on.
The flower's body was in Montjihel.
[Kieeeek!]
"......"
Stepping through the magic circle into Montjihel, Seol Do-yun was instantly chased by monsters.
They swarmed like they'd been waiting.
A slight fluster, but he was confident in running.
[Kieeeek!]
[Kiiiiieeeek!]
Dodging the incomprehensible monsters, he bolted.
Even fleeing, he didn't forget to seek the 'Lotus.'
He ran holding the branch aloft.
'Blooming yet?'
Had to follow the blooming direction, but wind made it hard to tell.
The branch just bent under speed and gusts.
[Kiiiiieeeek!]
Glancing back, monsters had multiplied. Word of an adventurer intruder must've spread.
One spat a poison stinger; Seol Do-yun ducked low, evading.
Evasion maxed.
Hating frontline, loving dodges and hides—Seol Do-yun weaved past incoming attacks effortlessly.
"Ah, there."
Veering north, the flower finally began blooming properly.
[Kyaoooo!]
A fast runner matched pace beside him.
With fluid motion, Seol Do-yun mounted the monster casually, checking the flower.
New buds sprouted, trying to bloom. Good direction.
[Kyaaaak!]
Before the monster noticed the rider and shook, Seol Do-yun leaped off, rolling toward a shallow cliff.
Dozens of venom-tipped arrows slammed into the ground behind.
Impressed by the arrows aimed his way, he scooped several from the dirt into inventory.
Then ran again.
[Kyaaaah!]
[Kieeeek!]
Their cries sounded angrier now.
'Ah, how long do I run?'
Monitoring the blooming intently while sprinting, Seol Do-yun reached a quiet space.
Entering silenced other monster roars and attacks.
[Entered Black Ghost Knight's Dungeon.]
Pitch black, nothing visible—but one black tree grew in the center.
'Here?'
Dungeon entry notice confirmed it.
To check, Seol Do-yun drew his bow, loosing an arrow at the center.
Thuk.
It thudded harmlessly into the ground.
'What...... Quiet.'
In a dungeon, something should spawn—nothing did. Maybe stealth ambush type.
'Close combat with higher-level foes? Not confident.'
Seol Do-yun pulled a iron-spiked club bigger than himself from inventory, slung it over his shoulder, and scanned surroundings warily.