Chapter 17
In front of Hongyureung Gate, rows of portable container booths had been set up.
They were reserved for the employees of the Ildae Group.
There were places to work and places to rest, and even a makeshift emergency room for the injured.
The main job of the staff stationed at the gate was to keep in touch with the expedition’s contact inside and report back to Chairman Woo Chan-sung.
For that reason, Team Leader Im Jae-hyuk of the Ildae Group’s Hunter Management Department had once again been exchanging messages with the expedition’s contact.
“……”
There was, however, one problem before he could report to Chairman Woo Chan-sung.
It was the content of the message the contact had sent.
Under attack by the Skeleton and fleeing.
Currently entering the expedition canyon, dead end.
Not long after sending that, the contact collapsed.
He had used search magic over and over to report the emergency in real time, burning through every last drop of mana.
Refilling mana was a simple matter of giving him a mana potion, but drinking one wouldn’t restore the mental stamina needed to cast spells again.
At this point, the only thing Team Leader Im could do was wait for the contact to recover enough to use search magic again.
“The expedition has returned!”
Then a frantic voice rang out from outside the container booth.
At that shout, Im Team Leader could already guess how things had gone.
This was an expedition expected to take seven days at the shortest, ten at the longest.
For that expedition to come back in half a day could only mean one thing: it had failed.
“Hah…”
He let out a sigh and stepped out of the booth.
The faces of the people coming out of the gate looked terrible.
Even Assistant Manager Kim Min-ju of the supply team, who was always the first to comfort everyone, looked grim.
Just as he had suspected, the expedition had failed.
Come to think of it, the man wearing the white mask who had stood out so much when they went in wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
He must have died while running away.
Without anyone to gather Udamhwa, of course they’d come back.
Having grasped the situation quickly, he ran up to Woo Yeon-hoo, who was the last to leave the gate.
“Vice Chairman! I’m sure this must be a great disappoin—”
“Please take this, Team Leader Im.”
Woo Yeon-hoo thrust out his hand toward the man who had rushed over to him.
It was a magic pouch about the size of a fist.
Team Leader Im took it with both hands and asked, “What is this?”
“…Udamhwa.”
Woo Yeon-hoo answered, biting his lower lip.
Im Team Leader tilted his head, unable to make sense of the reply.
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said Udamhwa.”
“I-I heard you. But… Udamhwa?”
Im Team Leader asked again, but Woo Yeon-hoo had already turned his gaze away.
The place where Udamhwa grew was supposedly three days away, one way.
It was a distance that could be covered in half a day in a straight line, but there were barriers blocking the route, so they had to make a huge detour.
And yet Woo Yeon-hoo had gathered Udamhwa and returned just one day after setting out.
He still didn’t understand why Woo Yeon-hoo looked so displeased.
They had finally obtained the Udamhwa he had dreamed of all this time, so why was he angry?
Woo Yeon-hoo shouted to his right arm, Oh Ju-han.
“Ju-han! We’re returning to the gate immediately!”
“Everything’s ready!”
After answering, Oh Ju-han immediately led the four party members back into the gate.
Carrying portable mana generators on their backs, they went back in like soldiers heading for battle.
Team Leader Im truly couldn’t understand a thing.
The expedition’s objective was in their hands, so why were they going back in?
“Supply team, wait here! Min-ju, I’m leaving the people to you.”
“Yes! Don’t worry and go!”
As Woo Yeon-hoo headed toward the gate entrance, he spotted Team Leader Im and frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Pardon?”
“I handed over the Udamhwa. I asked what you were doing!”
“Ah! Right away! I’ll head out immediately!”
Team Leader Im hurriedly sprinted toward the vehicle.
As he got in, he looked back at Woo Yeon-hoo entering the gate.
Could he be going back to rescue the man with the white mask?
He’d probably already be dead. Wasn’t that a pointless thing to do?
The thought flashed through his head, but he quickly dismissed it.
Whether the white mask was dead or alive had little to do with him.
What mattered more to him was getting the Udamhwa delivered to Seoul as quickly as possible.
“Ugh, when will that hateful thing finally go away?”
Every time I aimed with the log, the Skeleton Lord dodged one way or another.
It was so funny watching him squirm that I stuck the log out in front of me and went, “Ee-bye.”
The lord took one look at me and backed off with a face like he wanted to scream.
Was it just my imagination, or had the white skeleton gone even paler?
“Is that any way to act when you’re begging me to put it away?”
“You insolent wretch! That is not a request, it is an order!”
“Ee-bye.”
“Grrr!”
The moment I took a step forward, the Skeleton Lord retreated again.
It was like how human beings got goosebumps when they came across the class teacher in the bathroom.
Like standing there in a public restroom, agonizing over whether to open the toilet lid or not.
The lord hated the log that much.
He’d gone so far as to call it a hateful thing.
To me, it was nothing but hilarious.
An A+ class monster that couldn’t get near me because of a single log.
“I can no longer tolerate your arrogance!”
“Really? Then eee-bye!”
“Grrr! I will not indulge your childish games any longer!”
“Oh?”
I thrust the log forward.
This time, the Skeleton Lord didn’t back away.
Even when I waved it gently from side to side, he no longer dodged around like before.
At last, he had decided to catch me.
He had decided to throw open the toilet lid that should never have been opened.
To show my profound respect for that resolve,
“Y-You cur! Where do you think you’re going!”
I ran.
I ran like mad, with the log slung over my shoulder.
Behind me, I could feel the Skeleton Lord pounding after me.
He was an A+ grade monster.
The proof was the phrase “A+ class World Tree Quest” in the quest window.
Even if I’d obtained a branch from the previous World Tree as support, there was no way I could win by recklessly fighting something stronger than me.
Fortunately, the distance between me and the pursuing lord didn’t close easily.
That was probably because my body was moving better than usual.
Maybe it was because I had the branch with me.
I guessed the passive that boosted physical ability when carrying an item related to the World Tree had activated.
“Stay there, human! I shall never forgive the insult you have shown my master!”
“And you think I’d stop just because you said so?”
“If you stop, I shall kill you painlessly!”
“What bullshit.”
I would never stop.
As I made that vow, I thought about ways to kill him.
The first thing that came to mind was the dirt Saessak had sent me.
Soldiers and captain-level monsters had been purified simply by the fact that the dirt existed there.
The general-level one had been fine at first, but if he stepped on it or let it touch his body, he was purified, melted, and disappeared.
The Skeleton Lord had covered himself with a cloak back then to keep it from touching him.
That had to mean the dirt could hurt him.
“Tch…”
It was a shame I didn’t have any dirt on hand.
If I had it now, I would’ve thrown it at him while he was chasing me, and since he wouldn’t have been able to dodge, I could have taken him out easily.
But wishing over what I didn’t have wouldn’t change anything.
If it wasn’t there, it wasn’t there.
I’d have to think of something else.
Maybe I could use this log instead of dirt and make it work somehow?
That thought in mind, I glanced back.
“……!”
“Will you not stop?!”
The lord had somehow closed in to just behind me.
At this rate, those huge white hands would soon clamp around my throat.
Honestly, that worked out well.
I’d use that obsessive determination of his against him.
I stopped, bracing the end of the log with my palm as I held it over my shoulder.
Then I lowered my body, dropping to one knee to prepare for impact.
“Y-You bastard!”
It felt like being a pike man standing before a charging warhorse.
Would I be trampled to death, or would the horse stop midway and skewer me instead?
Lucky or unfortunate, there was no death and no killing.
The lord, who had looked about to slam straight into me, vanished from view in an instant.
“Teleportation?”
No, that wasn’t it.
I didn’t sense even a trace of mana flow.
No matter how much of an A+ class monster he was, he couldn’t use magic while completely erasing the flow of mana.
Then the only explanation was an equipment item effect.
“……?”
Then a sick feeling washed over me.
I had to move right now.
So I rolled forward without looking back.
“Behind you!”
The source of that sick feeling was the Skeleton Lord.
He was trying to stab me from behind with a greatsword as long as I was tall.
I nearly died without even knowing how I’d been killed...
Ah, right. I don’t die that easily.
“Sharp instincts, I see!”
Huh?
I felt like a good idea had just hit me.
I rolled once more from the position I was in, buying myself some distance.
As I got to my feet, I hoisted the log up as if I were embracing it and charged toward the lord.
“Pathetic! You would have done better to keep running!”
In any era, the greatest weakness of the strong has always been arrogance.
And the carelessness that comes with it.
Of course, that alone wouldn’t bridge the gap between me and the Skeleton Lord.
A strong man is strong precisely because he can kill the weak even when he’s careless.
The Skeleton Lord swung the arm holding the greatsword.
I only registered the fact that he swung it.
I didn’t actually see the blade move.
The greatsword I had barely been able to track was already piercing straight through my body.
I coughed up blood.
My arms lost all strength, and I dropped the log.
“Do not struggle to survive.”
“Keh… h-hah…”
“Soon, you will be reborn as one of my subordinates and gain eternal life!”
“I don’t need it...”
I didn’t finish the sentence and let all the strength drain out of my body.
I was playing dead.
The Skeleton Lord didn’t know I wouldn’t die from ordinary wounds.
Even with my eyes narrowed behind the mask, he couldn’t tell.
Convinced I was dead, he slung the greatsword with my body impaled on it over his shoulder.
The blade writhing in my stomach nearly made me scream.
I clenched my teeth and held on with everything I had.
That’s right.
Enduring it had to pay off eventually.
Look at the back of the Skeleton Lord’s head, white and smooth and right there in front of me!
Wasn’t it the perfect shape for beating on?
Suppressing a quiet grin, I used Warm Touch.
Why had the lord tried to avoid the dirt? Why had he tried to avoid the log?
It was because of the World Tree’s energy.
Anything carrying the World Tree’s mana was a threat to him.
And Warm Touch was...
Warm Touch (A-rank) - The World Tree’s mana gently wraps around the fingers.
It was an attack skill imbued with the World Tree’s mana.
The Skeleton Lord turned his head and looked down at me, still impaled on the greatsword.
His eyes widened when they met mine and saw me grinning.
Of course, those were just empty sockets, so he didn’t really widen his eyes.
He just seemed startled.
“Hello?”
“H-How are you still alive!”
“Beats me. I don’t really feel like telling you!”
I stretched out my right index finger and began rapping the Skeleton Lord’s skull.
He panicked and tried to shake me off, but I tightened my left hand around the greatsword.
“Hrk!”
You think I’m going to fall off that easily? Do you have any idea what kind of opportunity this is?
In that position, I kept hammering away at the lord’s hard white skull.
“You know what? This angle is perfect for chaining hits.”
“W-What are you doing? How dare you strike my head! G-gah!”
Do you know how long I’ve spent pounding on a smartphone screen?
I’m the guy who made a World Tree bloom with this thing, after all.