Chapter 72
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: A Strange Request
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Gulp.
He told me to run immediately.
Thats what Kain had told him before.
If he ever ran into a troll, he should run without looking back.
Hed said that players based in Lutetia Village were nowhere near strong enough to win.
He even said that Yuryeong couldn't beat one.
The gap in power levels due to level differences was that significant in Wonderland.
To the current Yuhyeon, facing the troll felt like running into a solid wall.
I think he said there's an experience penalty if you die.
Yuhyeon had never once been killed since logging into this world.
Therefore, he didn't know exactly what the penalty for dying was.
All he knew was what he'd heard from Sangcheol.
Make a quick decision.
The choice to fight it might be nothing more than reckless bravado.
But for some reason, Yuhyeon didn't feel the urge to run.
For one, the troll was right in front of him, making escape difficult, but
With the Breath of Silvanus, I might just have a chance.
Because Yuhyeon possessed stats unlike anyone else.
He even had a legendary skill obtained as a reward from the time attack.
Isn't this enough to give it a shot?
Shing
Just as Yuhyeon carefully gripped his bastard sword.
"Hu, man"
The troll spoke.
It simply stared down at Yuhyeon without any other movement.
Tiring!
The troll is interested in your instrument.
Taking a specific action can increase the troll's favorability.
"?"
Yuhyeon looked up at the troll with a dumbfounded expression.
Its gaze was fixed squarely on his instrument.
Not on him, but on the cajón.
"That? An instrument?"
Was it asking for this?
"It looks a bit small for you to play Ah, perhaps you want me to play for you?"
The troll nodded its head.
As if it genuinely wanted to hear a performance.
""
Yuhyeon stared blankly, his eyes darting between the troll and the cajón.
To think the day would come when he'd be playing music for a troll.
Is this a blessing in disguise?
Perhaps this was a better way.
It wasn't as if he was confident he could fight and win against it.
"Hoo."
Yuhyeon took a short breath and placed his hands on the cajón.
Boom boom! Tak!
Soon, a melody that soothed the fear-stricken forest echoed out.
Just like I played before.
If the troll had reacted to his performance, it was only right to repay it with the same music.
He channeled the emotions he had felt just a moment ago into the cajón and continued his performance.
Dum-chit! Du-dum!
With the music, the forest's commotion began to subside.
The mountain birds that had been circling the sky returned to their perches.
It was as if peace was returning to the forest through Yuhyeon's performance.
Chirr, twang!
Dum dum! Taak!
Just as Yuhyeon played the final phrase.
"Huh?"
The troll was already heading back to its den.
It had left the carcass of an animal right next to Yuhyeon.
"A deer?"
A deer lay there.
The bloodless carcass of a deer that looked like it had been dead for quite some time.
Why would it give this to me?
Yuhyeon tilted his head and placed a hand on the deer's carcass.
With a tiring!, a notification window popped up before his eyes.
Dead Deer
Description: The troll has gifted you a deer it had stored as food. Try giving it a friendly greeting next time you meet.
""
Yuhyeon stared blankly at the path the troll had taken.
A friendly greeting?
Was it suggesting they become friends?
"I've seen some strange things in my life."
The next afternoon.
"Kain, what did you say was the appearance rate for a troll?"
Yuhyeon, sitting in the carriage, quietly asked Kain, who had just logged back in.
"Two percent. Why?"
Kain answered without thinking, then tilted his head.
"Are you worried one might show up on our way?"
Worrying about something so pointless.
"No, I already met one."
"?"
"I met a troll while you and Yunaring were away."
"Excuse me?"
Seeing Yuhyeon's serious expression, Kain responded foolishly.
Judging by his face and tone, it didn't seem like a lie
What, is he serious?
Just in case, Kain opened the party members' status window.
While he couldn't see all of a player's information, he could at least check their level.
His level actually went up?
Yuhyeon's level was a whole 1 level higher than yesterday.
He met a troll, didn't die, and his level went up instead?
The situation made even less sense now.
"That's not possible"
Trolls were among the stronger monsters, even in intermediate zones.
"No, even if you really did meet one, how are you still alive? With your stats, you wouldn't have been able to escape."
It was only natural for Kain to ask.
The troll was the king of the mountain range, an entity that a beginner at this stage could never defeat.
"I played my instrument."
But Yuhyeon's next words were rather shocking.
"?"
"I played for it, and it left a deer as a token of its gratitude."
"What?"
Kain's eyes widened.
"W-What was that? Say that again."
"Hmm, I met a troll last night, and it showed interest in my instrument, so"
""
So
A troll appeared, beating the 2 odds.
And that troll asked Yuhyeon for a performance, and even gave him a gift?
"You must have been dreaming."
Kain decided not to believe this preposterous story.
"You looked very tired yesterday, so you probably saw something that wasn't there."
There was no other way to make sense of the situation.
It was a hundred times easier to believe it was a dream.
Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?
Kain glanced at Yunaring.
"Um, Yuhyeon, I have a question too."
Yunaring, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up.
"What was it like meeting a troll in person?"
Of course, that wasn't the question Kain had been hoping for.
"The trolls in movies are huge, hehe."
She was simply asking a pure question, as if she believed every word.
Am I the only one who finds this strange right now?
Kain looked at the merchant NPCs in the carriage with a sense of injustice.
""
They just chuckled, not offering a response.
Their expressions clearly said, Who cares, as long as he came back alive?
So Yuhyeon has a penchant for tall tales.
Kain fell silent, resigned.
It seemed there was more to Yuhyeon than met the eye.
"M-Monsters spotted up ahead!"
Just then, the driver shouted in alarm.
"!"
Shing. Yuhyeon and Kain instinctively placed their hands on their swords.
""
Kain's eyes narrowed as he focused on the path ahead.
He was trying to identify the monsters.
"Looks like a mantis. What's it doing here?"
Tiring!
A quest has been generated.
Side Quest: Exterminate the Mantis Swarm that Left its Habitat.
Rank: B
Requirement: Player who has accepted the 'Peace in the Eirn Mountains' quest.
Reward: Large amount of experience based on contribution.
Failure: Cannot proceed with the 'Peace in the Eirn Mountains' quest.
"!"
Kain's eyes narrowed as he read the quest window.
Rank B? And it left its habitat?
A mere side quest having a higher rank than the main quest.
And it was a quest to hunt monsters that had wandered from their habitat.
Even for Kain, who had played for quite a while, this was a first.
"Kain, is something wrong?"
Yuhyeon asked, sensing Kain's change in demeanor.
"Ah, no. It's not that, but"
A peculiar look flickered in Kain's eyes.
The appropriate level to hunt a mantis is 30.
The appropriate level for this area was 25 to 40, so it wasn't strange for a mantis to appear.
But normally, mantises don't spawn here.
He didn't know what changes had come over Wonderland, but it was just strange that mantises were appearing in the Eirn Mountains.
From the appearance of bandits to these mantises. It's one strange thing after another.
Well, a mantis's habitat was grassy areas, so it wasn't impossible
Still, it was a series of unfamiliar events.
"Anyway, they're blocking the road, so we'll have to deal with them."
"Is there anything we should know?"
"Well, individually, they're not very strong monsters."
Kain continued his explanation with a serious look.
"They have a tough exoskeleton, so their defense is high, but they have low intelligence, so their attack patterns are very simple. Plus, if you aim for their weak spots, the belly or the head, they're not hard to kill. But"
"But?"
"Ah, never mind. It seems fine for now."
Kain quickly cut himself off with a hint of doubt.
The trickiest part is that they call their allies.
This was what gave beginner players the most trouble when facing mantises.
When in danger, a mantis could spray a pheromone to summon nearby allies.
But this was a plain on the way to the mountains.
It seemed far from their habitat, so it probably wouldn't be an issue.
There don't seem to be that many monsters, so there's no need to worry him unnecessarily.
Usually, mantis habitats were deep within the mountain range.
"Then shall we go? Yuhyeon, you'll provide buffs, and Yunaring, please cover my rear."
"Yep, leave it to me!"
Kain and Yunaring, weapons in hand, unhesitatingly dismounted the carriage.
Yuhyeon, just like yesterday, gently placed his hands on the cajón.
He was about to play to provide buffs when it happened.
Tiring!
The side quest begins.
Block the onslaught of mantises!
"Damn it"
Kain, who had been about to move forward, stopped dead in his tracks and spoke.
His expression was one of utter bewilderment, as if faced with something completely absurd.
"We have to fight all of them? There are so many?"
The mantises that had been obscured by the dust storm revealed themselves.
Rumble.
Krrrrrumble!
So many mantises it was hard to count.
They began to charge toward Yuhyeon and his party.
Clang! Thwack!
Kain's sharp blade sliced through a mantis's soft belly.
But there was no time to rest.
Ting! Chaaang!
A fellow mantis from the side charged in.
Kain barely managed to block the ferocious attack.
"Hmph!"
He didn't know how many minutes this fight had been going on.
Block, strike, block and strike again, over and over.
That's how numerous the mantises were.
Hoo, thank goodness for the buff.
He was in this state even with Yuhyeon's buff.
His attack power, defense, and attack speed were all significantly higher than before.
If he hadn't received it, he would have given up long ago.
"Haaah!"
Just then, an arrow from Yunaring's longbow struck a mantis's belly.
The powerful arrow caused the insect's soft abdomen to burst with a thwump!
"We've killed a lot of them! About half are left!"
Kain didn't miss the opportunity and swung his sword.
"We can do this! Let's go!"
Fortunately, he still had ten potions left.
That should be enough to take care of the remaining mantises.
"Uwaaah!"
As Kain mustered his strength and stabbed a mantis in the abdomen.
It happened.
Tiring!
A notification sound, unfitting for the urgent situation, rang out.
Kain's eyes trembled as he read the notification window.
This quest is wave-based.
The time limit was exceeded, and the next wave's monsters will be summoned.
Current remaining mantises: 67 (50 )
"Haha."
Kain let out a hollow laugh.
"K-Kain! More mantises are coming from the front!"
To think it would be a wave-based quest.
If he had known in advance, he would have given up from the start.
Retaking the bounty quest from scratch would have been better than a death penalty.
"I think we're doomed."
He only had 10 potions left.
That might have worked when there were 17 mantises, but it was a woefully inadequate number to face 67.
Besides, the only ones capable of fighting were himself and Yunaring.
"If I knew this would happen, I would've saved my potions"
Kain muttered blankly, like someone who had given up on life.
"You can use mine."
Just then, Yuhyeon approached and emptied his inventory, pulling out potions.
Rattle.
"?!"
At a glance, there were well over 50 potions spilling out.
They were even intermediate potions that restored nearly 20 of one's health.
The very kind sold for free only at the temple, but quite expensive on the market.
"Still, there are too many."
But even with the potion supply sorted, the sheer number of monsters was still a problem.
If the mantises surrounded them, potions alone wouldn't be enough to survive.
He would surely meet a gruesome end while trying to drink one.
"What if there are three of us?"
Yuhyeon said as he drew his sword from its sheath with a shing.
Kain urgently tried to stop him.
"N-No, you can't! Yuhyeon, you're a bard. It would be better if you escaped while we buy you some time"
A bard was a support role, a far cry from a combatant.
They had no proper attack skills, no ultimate move to turn the tide of battle.
"We won't know until we try."
But Yuhyeon just offered a calm smile.
Perfect. I had a skill I wanted to test anyway.
A fierce wind was swirling in his hand.
It was the Breath of Silvanus.