Chapter 2 : Todeum Expedition

10 Unicorns and 12 Pegasus broke through the door and intruded.

"Hihihing!"

"PeureungPeureung!"

Before long, with voltage like speed, they dashed.

Dadak dadak ddadadadadak!

Within one or two steps, they gained tremendous acceleration with each tread one after another.

These horse-like monsters can be regarded as long-term sprinters!

In comparison to the size of the common horse, these divine creatures were nearly twice as big; with steams coming out of their snouts, they angrily rushed toward the group.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the castle's bas.e.m.e.nt was about as large as decent plaza, with empty boxes and pillars posed as obstacles; however, they were smashed to bits before the terrifying a.s.sault.

Kuruereung kwashang!

Kwareureureung!

The whole castle shook from trembling of the ground.

Weed had already antic.i.p.ated the Unicorns and Pegasus to come due to their acute sense to divine magic, but he didn't expect a rush of this caliber.

Nevertheless, he immediately responded.

"Sahyeongs are to divide into 5 units: 1st unit in order of names up to Geomchi100, 2nd unit up to Geomchi200, 3rd unit Geomchi300, so on so forth. Master and the four instructors are to command each unit. One of the 5 units please at once, go and block the enemies' rus.h.!.+"

Weed's words echoed terribly; with 70 of the current group's members under Geomchi5's command, they went on the a.s.sault with their s.h.i.+elds.

"Let us move to fight!"

The Unicorns and Pegasus at a terrifying speed, shortened the distance in an instant.

Through the means of s.h.i.+elds, Geomchis tried to stonewall their a.s.saults.

These divine creatures were much more daunting and larger than the usual horses!

They broke through the barrier and were still rus.h.i.+ng in at an alarming rate, but more jumped in in order to prevent them.

Whether they were brave or just simpletons, time and time again, the Geomchis took place for preventive measures.

Even if they could not stop the sprint and suffered a great deal of damage in return, there was no hesitation coming from any of them.

Weed too, ran out with his Ancient s.h.i.+eld in hand.

Although he could have waited safely in the rear, he wanted to check the damage output of these creatures directly.

With his Defense and Endurance, Weed was the best to take a hit and if he couldn't stop them, n.o.body else could.

Weed ran in and issued a second order.

"Romyuna nim, use spell! I don't need any strong magic, please just make the ground muddy."

"Understood."

Romyuna's specialty was offensive Fire magic. But she acquired a secondary skill set with her few extra points.

The set was completed with the addition of a pretty much useless skill called Water Clay.

"Water, moisten the earth wet and drag the on the enemy's feet. Water Clay!"

Romuna casted her magic and the ground changed into that of a moist swamp.

These divine creatures' magic defenses were enormous.

Even if they were attacked, they were impervious to it.

But this was not a direct attack on them; this cast was to influence the environment around them.

Peureureung!

Peuhing!

The Pegasus and Unicorns were digging their hooves into the earth.

And because of that, it had slowed them down quite a bit.

If they had been weaker monsters, they would be stumbling around and falling onto themselves; but this only made them madder.

Pretty soon again, they tried to achieve their earlier speed.

The Pegasus sought to spread their wings.

The Unicorn and Pegasus planned to get airborne deliberately to escape having to set their hooves into the ground.

Their bodies became twice, three times as large with the huge white wings!

Pureukpureuk!

Their aim was Weed and Geomchi's unit.

Weed on the verge of being rammed, closed his eyes.

You have used Cold Eyes.

You can see nothing, but suffering and pain disappears.

Kwakwakw.a.n.g!

The roaring sound of collisions!

The strong impact spread throughout Weed body as his HP dropped by half.

Have suffered a highly lethal a.s.sault.

Due to the nature of the Sculptor, his HP wasn't great; so even if he had high defense, the toll taken on him was expensive.

In this case, half of his life force had been reduced.

Comparing to the damage taken by Weed, the pract.i.tioners didn't fare any better.

As many as 12 pract.i.tioners, after having crashed into, turned to gray and disappeared.

They cannot underestimate the Unicorns and Pegasus' charge!

Of the 12, during the clash of the moment with their s.h.i.+elds in front of them, some pract.i.tioners were slammed and lost their lives.

Others survived for a brief moment, before once again being hit by something as the monsters turned around to deal another strike.

Beside the 12, thanked to the fact that they weren't directly hit by the Unicorns and Pegasus' rush, they were able to be alive.

The attack was as disastrous as being hit by a car.

For the pract.i.tioners who stonewalled, all their s.h.i.+elds were damaged without exception.

The steel s.h.i.+elds made by Weed at Intermediate level 3 Blacksmith exceeded their limits and broke from direct impact.

It didn't end there for Weed with the decreased vitality after having received the strike.

The large impact have put You under Confusion.

For 8 seconds, movements are impossible.

36% decrease in Attacking Power, 23% decrease in Defense.

Cannot use any skill.

He was confused.

For Weed, throughout his history in battles, that rarely happened.

He went in to deliberately take a hit.

The ones that he saw didn't expose their vitals nor allowed any attacks to come behind them.

Then the thrust came from the Unicorn, contained a great deal of force, stopped him and put him in disarray.

It put him under a very dangerous situation, but the Unicorns and Pegasus weren't exempted from the clash.

The reciprocation of the impacts in the conflict also blew these creatures away from the location of the crash.

Even with their force being much stronger than expected, Weed grew more vigilant as he watched them.

Jjijijik.

A fine crack spread on the Ancient s.h.i.+eld.

The Ancient s.h.i.+eld Durability have declined by 1.

An impossible to repair Unique item!

The Ancient s.h.i.+eld was expected to fetch at the very least 1,000,000 Won!

He wanted to pamper himself with the debut of the treasured s.h.i.+eld.

Now the Durability of the Ancient s.h.i.+eld had dropped by 1.

"You dare...my money..."

Weed's fighting spirit raged.

"Ready to fire arrows!"

Cheochoechoek!

The Geomchis and Pale, along with Maylon drew the bowstrings as hard as they could at beckon.

Needless to say, their targets were the Unicorns and Pegasus!

Thanks to the selflessness of the 5th unit, the monsters were standing in place, stopped moving.

The remaining distance between them was 20 meters.

They were close enough to be a breath away.

"Fire!"

The fired arrows flew straight toward their targets.

Due to the abnormal size of the bow, the large arrows shot by the Geomchis gave off vapors as they flew.

These arrows that could be even be mistaken as something shot off of a siege weapon; struck the body of the Unicorns and Pegasus.

"Puheeeheng!"

These divine creatures screamed and staggered as they suffered the blows.

The Geomchis took the Martial Artists profession.

With any weapons, they follow the same skill proficiency.

Now they were dealing damages with their bows, which was equally as strong as their sword.

These creatures' levels were explicitly more than 400; while close to more than 280 Geomchis were attacking with arrows; it can't be said that it wasn't damaging.

However, not a single monster had been slain yet.

The Pegasus who seemed to suffer the greatest, were still in decent shape with ¾ of their health remaining.

After series of strikes, Weed exclaimed.

"All get swords. We're attacking!"

The Geomchis all abandoned their bows and rushed these Divinities with their swords armed.

"DIEEE!"

"I'll avenge you brothers!"

They brandished their swords and fought close range.

The greatest weakness of the Unicorns and Pegasus!

Along with their tremendous size and high affinity to elemental magic, they could also fly.

Although unmatched; with the ground hindering them, at this distance, they had far less combat capability.

"Do not allow them s.p.a.ce!"

"Block them. Keep the being close!"

The Unicorns were going wild and on a rampage.

They kicked with their fore and hind limbs, chewed with their mouth, even thrust with their foreheads.

The Geomchis were rolling on the ground to avoid the attacks, turning side to side and moving round and round.

Figuring that frontal a.s.saults were meaningless, they refocused themselves to attack the thighs and b.u.t.tocks from the sides.

"Keoeoeok!"

"Really strong. These guys!"

Screams erupted here and there.

None of these divine creatures had lost their life.

No matter how much they dealt, the creature was too strong even with a group of Geomchis attacking; and there were more of them.

With 22 of these more than level 400 divine creatures, they could not afford to go all on one.

Then, Hwaryeong stepped up.

"Enchanting Dance!"

Her specialty Bubibubi dance!

The rampaging Unicorns started dancing to and fro among her.

The sight was dangerous from another person's perspective, but surprisingly, she was safe.

"Pretty woman. Kihihing!"

Around her, the once unruly Unicorns became as docile as lambs.

Women are toxic to Unicorn!

Caught up in Hwaryeong's formidable charm, they quietly closed their eyes.

"Happy. Kihihihihihing!"

She was able to quiescence the enemies' ability with her fascinating dance.

They smiled delightfully, and stood still.

Having settling the three Unicorns asleep, she headed toward the nearby Pegasus.

'Maybe this wont work on Pegasus.'

Perhaps she'd be kicked once and killed instantly.

Being a dancer with her weak defense, dancing among monsters was an amazing risk.

But it was the same for Pegasus.

"Kiheheheng!"

A very satisfying smile rose and even their b.u.t.ts swung to and fro!

Whether it's men, wolves, or horses, all males have the same tendencies.

After having set two more Pegasus asleep, she ran out of Stamina and sat in place.

Afterward, the battle didn't get any easier.

With the declined in number of active creatures, it came in handy because the groups were able to get thickened for the a.s.sault.

"Cut his legs! Do not let him move!"

Geomchi3 screamed.

Although dozens of attacks landed on the body, the results were inconclusive because of the thick leather like armor.

But each time they attacked the ankles and thighs, the Unicorns and Pegasus were writhing with pain.

"Here's the weakness!"

"Concentrate on the legs!"

Geomchis were fighting well, but this tactic place them in vulnerable situations: such as being unable to avoid the kicks and were hit to the point where they were near death.

So whenever that happened, Irene took the risk and approached to give help to those in need of treatments.

Meanwhile, Weed withdrew and a.s.sessed the situation.

'The odds.'

With the significant damages earlier on, he saw they might not be able to win.

If it had not been good at all, he would call an order to immediately escape.

However, with that singular drop of the Ancient s.h.i.+eld Durability, he wanted to grab the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who did it!

Still, he couldn't tell if the hunt could be successful or not, but the creatures were getting pretty damaged.

It was thanks to the fact that the Geomchis were clinging onto them like leeches that their vitality and stamina were incrementally weakened bit by bit.

'Can win.'

Weed was confident.

"Don't let up on the a.s.sault. Don't let them cast magic or call on the elements! We can win if we stop them from doing so!"

Weed's cries stopped everything and gave Geomchis hope.

"I knew it!"

"Keuheuheuheu."

"Looks like these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are our meals."

Geomchis did not doubt Weed's words.

They experienced it throughout many adventures, and they were ready to place his insistence before their own judgment.

Though they thoroughly trust Weed's words, they still believed.

'Weed's reliable at everything except money transactions!'

Complete trust!

Furthermore, Geomchis felt something as they continued the battle.

'Their movements are increasingly sluggish.'

'We can do this.'

Geomchis, without a single thought misplaced, heavily focused on the monster they were responsible for.

Only in this situation where they were fully preoccupied in battle that their talents s.h.i.+ne.

Herein, it was more difficult for Weed. It was a full-pledge battle that needed all sorts of power.

"Tori! Death Knight Van Hawk!"

"Present."

The Vampire Lord Tori mantle waved as he approached from the rear.

Although they have already liquidated their relations.h.i.+p, they entered a temporary truce until Todeum return to normal.

Death Knight Can Hawk also appeared in his armor in a puff of smoke.

With Weed in the helmet taken from him, a bunch of mixed feelings stirred up.

"First get the guy on the right."

"Got it."

The Death Knight and Tori answered briefly and moved toward the enemy.

"The guy at the right. Hold the rightmost guy."

"Aye."

"Okay."

Pale and Maylon answered lightly one after another and focus their shots at the Unicorn on the right. Weed also used his Yeurika's Bow and focus on the target.

They shot arrows consistently as they ate away at the Unicorn's HP constantly.

With the help of Tori and Van Hawk, the first of the Unicorns fell.

"Hihing!"

The bovine-like body of the Unicorn slumped to the ground with a loud sound. In its place: horn, leathers, jewelries, and knee protector dropped.

Weed's eyes scanned like a wildfire.

'Celtic Protector, 220 Gold; Jewels, averaging with 103% to sell would be 400 Gold; 7 pieces of leathers, 325 Gold; horn! 8 of these with 2000 Gold in others mats and I can make Unicorn horn bow. The minimum price to sell it could be 5000 Gold, and if it ends up being a Unique item, it's 78,000 Gold. The horn stands alone at 945 Gold!'

Weed's eyes were consumed by greed.

The Unicorn's levels were too high; but generally, they weren't monsters static in dungeons.

No one had ever hunted these divine creatures in Todeum before!

Their drop rate was still fresh.

In this case, he was able to obtain more items.

Furthermore, it had long been acknowledged that Unicorns often dropped good and many items.

With such conditions, it was highly probable for them to expect more.

"If we hunt the Unicorns, each one can buy us 3,118,500 barley bread!"

Only when it was about money calculation that his mind work so fast!

"Heoeok, so much barley bread."

"Let's get them all!"

"Woooooooo!"

"From now on, we can say goodbye to hunger!"

The Geomchis' motivation burned.

Weed too, unequipped his bow and rushed onto the battlefield with his sword.

With just that, it was sufficient enough as a command.

To the Geomchis, the importance of the first hunt is incomparable!

Because from thereon, as battle experts, within that clash was how they learn how to deal with the monster afterwards.

In the first place, they allowed Weed to decide whether they should continue the hunt or abandon it to escape.

'Let's hunt till death.'

Weed made the decision and jumped toward the divine beast without hesitation.

"Moonlight Sculpture Blade!"

This was done onto a Pegasus.

The Pegasus vitality and stamina had already been significantly reduced due to the fight against the Geomchis!

Together with the Geomchis, they became an encircling task force.

Weed moved dazzlingly.

"Single point attack!"

He focused only on the rampageous Pegasus' leg.

Every strikes were focused on a single point was the best still to use!

Due to the struggling of the Pegasus, sometimes Weed's attacks missed.

But with all the Geomchis presented attacking on all limbs, the damage taken by the Pegasus grew increasingly.

Whenever his legs became exposed with his wild movements, the punishment was immediately dealt by the Geomchis.

So the divine creature was forced to rely on his great defense as his hidden legs remain covered.

But his blood dripped onto the floor constantly as he took the hits, dwindled his more and more of his vitality.

Weed, Tori, and Van Hawk designated themselves a different target to fight.

"Pale nim! Maylon nim! Concentrate on only one!"

They had a slight overall advantage in this war-like situation, so it was best to concentrate on one and kill it as soon as possible.

Unless some unforeseen event happened, this way was the certain path to their victory.

Kuwooung!

Kwaang!

Here and there, the divine beasts collapsed.

With Tori, Van Hawk, Zephyr and the party concentrated on attacking, this creature also fell; and the number increased as they fell to the hands of the Geomchis.

"Iyat. We did it!"

"Master, we got him!"

The monster that Geomchi's group was dealing with also died.

Under Weed's intensity, another Pegasus fell pretty soon; afterward, these divine creatures clung to each other.

With Geomchi2 and Geomchi3's hunting compet.i.tion, more and more creatures collapsed.

"Puhihing!"

The monsters that were put to sleep by Hwaryeong woken up only to realize they were getting pummeled!

Later, nine additional Unicorns busted through.

Although their intrusion was a momentary crisis, Weed and the Geomchis have thoroughly refined themselves during the struggles of the earlier battle, hunted these down.

After which, it looked as if they have hunted all the monsters.

Ttiring!

Fought against the s.h.i.+nsu in the 1st castle of Todeum.

Remaining castles: 46.

Reputation rise by 30.

Receives an additional 60% combat experiences.

They obtained additional compensation in correlation to the hunt.

Presently, Weed and his party, along with the Geomchis, their Reputations had been dragged through the mud.

- Mean and Petty Archer – Pale.

- The Vile Merchant Who Can Eat Children For Money – Mapan.

- Fists are Louder than Words – Sureuka.

During the course of doing all the Vampire quests, they were given bad t.i.tles and also the declination of their Reputation.

However, by winning battles, they could make up their Reputation little by little.

The achievements through the battles could be great.

Through physically beating all these divine creatures, not only vast quant.i.ties of items were acquired; but also, the Vampires who were asleep in Tori's castle arisen.

"Greeting my Lord."

The Vampire Queen and the followers joined!

A troop of 100 Vampires obtained.

These guys' levels were around the mid late 200s, but nonetheless, more power was added.

The pract.i.tioners, however, faced a loss of 28 deaths.

The largest amount of 12 deaths was during the initial clash.

Mid of the battle, some were killed in combat; the second intrusion of the Unicorns took out seven more.

"We got this vampire castle."

Those who were still alive toured the castle's halls.

The place was decorated with old arts and crafts!

It was filled with many precious treasures such as gold or silver candlestick holders, and swords embedded with sapphires or opals.

Weed and Mapan seemed to have made a secret oath with a quick eye contact, and went separate ways.

And as they moved forward, each and every time the valuables they pa.s.sed disappeared moments later!

Swiishh!

For a simple reason to earn additional income, they left nothing remained.

Even with the items where they couldn't see the monetary values using 'Feeling.'

Due to their Rarity, Artistic Value, Historical Value, their prices varied.

Although the armors and the swords had practical uses; but in actual practice, their values dropped in accordance to their low Durability.

Weed addressing these points and asked.

"What do you think the price for all these is?"

Mapan agonized and replied at the end.

"Most of these artworks are Common. Altogether, the maximum we can get for these are 12,000 Gold."

Weed nodded.

The suggested price was somewhere around what he initially figured.

Since these artworks weren't the really good items, it was difficult to sell a huge sum of them.

"I'll try to sell all of these. After which, we'll evenly split the profit."

"Yes!"

In the case of valuable works of art, they were valued as collectibles; but to these guys, that meant little in comparison to the monetary gain.

And then, they stumbled onto a picture they had never seen before in the middle of their 'hunt.'

From the picture on the wall, a strange energy wafted out within it.

A pale vampire was staring at the nape of a girl longingly could be seen.

You have witnessed 'The Longing Face Masterpiece.'

Perhaps the painter was intimidated by a vampire to paint such a picture.

This was not an amazing work by such an exceptional painter.

In addition, few mistakes were committed from fear in parts of the work that declined its overall rating.

Fighting Spirit will increase by 10%.

In the dark, stats will rise by 7.

In the dark, Recovery Rate will increase by 15%.

By looking at the picture, some abilities could be increased.

"Well then, let's go to the next castle."

Weed visited another castle.

This castle seemed to be slightly larger than that of Tori's!

In this castle, there were 32 more.

Again, Weed with the Geomchis stood at the forefront as the vanguards.

The newly acquired Vampire forces will have their chance not much later to enter the battle.

Reason being that they were too weak and could be easily dealt by these divine creatures.

Growth of the Vampires!

The group was being thoughtful: to keep the Vampires from death and have them grow stronger.

The experiences the Vampires acquired from these divinities were enormous.

Through just one single battle, Weed also gained more than 20%; while the Geomchis nearly obtain another level as the battle finished.

After which, the number of liberated Vampires in this castle was 110.

Thanks to the experiences acc.u.mulated from the first battle, only 16 of the Geomchis lost their lives.

At this point, Weed said.

"We still have too many people dying during the battle. If we keep this going with an upward of 10 people die at every battle, then before long, all of us are gonna get wiped out by these creatures way before we can liberate Todeum. From now on, we're gonna keep the damage taken to a minimum."

They have already learned how to deal with the Unicorn and Pegasus.

Weed, to over the shortcomings of the group, pulled out the materials he had been saving.

The Rotting Dragon.

The materials were obtained from the dragon hunt.

From which Weed made weapons and armors out of them.

Bone Sword:

Durability 130/130.

Damage 64~79.

Sword made of from bones of a dragon!

To use such corrosive material into the blade is not a good idea.

Though, it's sufficient enough to function as a sword.

To repair this item requires a highly skilled blacksmith.

Restriction:

Cannot be used by Paladins.

Level 300.

Agility 520.

Option:

This was created with extreme delicacy, so it's easier to use.

Requirement reduced by 20%.

+200 Reputation.

+30 Agility.

Poison damage will inflict an additional 60 HP points per second.

From fear and metastasis, atrophy with monsters rises.

Foul odor.

Bone Chest Armor:

Durability 130/130.

Defense 85.

The armor has a fatal flaw!

Since the armor is made out of old bones, if it was to receive a singular large enough impact, it will break.

Restriction:

Cannot be used by Paladins.

Level 320.

Strength 650.

Option:

This was created with extreme delicacy, so it's easier to use.

Requirement reduced by 20%.

Reduce physical damage.

+35% Magic Defense.

Immune to all Confusion magic.

Foul odor.

Blacksmith skill proficiency increased by 2.3%.

Blacksmith skill proficiency increased by 3.1%.

The rotting bones of the dragon gave an unbelievable amount of proficiency.

The completed sword and armor weren't at the highest levels, but they were more brilliant than expected.

"While there aren't that many effects given, but I think each should be able to fetch at least 20,000 Gold."

If he had better blacksmithing techniques, he would have been able to reach the extreme capabilities the materials could give out.

However, these were the maximum output for them since Weed was rather lacking in blacksmithing techniques.

To make a sword required at least 3 kilograms of the dragon's bones!

To make either s.h.i.+eld or armor required as much as 5~15Kg of the bones.

He obtained a total of 230Kg of dragon bones from the hunt!

He made a total of 10 swords, and the rest went into s.h.i.+elds and armors.

Each person a bone armor set!

Ttiring!

Have obtained Blacksmith Intermediate level 4.

Created items' Attack and Defense increase by a certain value.

Improve ability to handle weapons and may inflict additional damages.

Have acquired the t.i.tle 'Blacksmith with Extensive Experiences.'

+350 Reputation.

Weed's skill level had risen by one.

Furthermore, the Intermediate level 5 wasn't that much further away.

Weed's made weapons and armors were offered to Geomchi and the instructors.

"Master, please take."

"Is it really?"

"Yes. I was saving these materials but it made me just as happy to make these weapons for Master."

"Weed."

Short word and grim demeanor!

To interject in this requires delicate timing.

The hesitant feeling will decrease as the effect if the gifts slowly loosen their grips.

Weed did not miss the moment.

"In this stead, if you don't mind, can some of the smithing and sewing materials you get from the Unicorns and Pegasus go to me..."

"No problem. Take all you'll need from us."

Geomchi and the instructors value little regarding the materials.

So after little deliberation, Weed was able to take them.

Some of the pract.i.tioners also divided up the weapons and armors; instead in an immediate trade, they offered their promises instead.

From then on, the battles against the creatures were much easier.

The swords, s.h.i.+elds, and armors played a major role in this.

Thanks to the help of the given defenses, the number of deaths greatly reduced; as the battles raged on, only about 5~6 people died in each.

They were still going after the smaller castles; and among them, the number of tag-along Vampires increased significantly.