V55C6P1 – The Great Escape

Yoo Byung Joon dwelled in his thoughts.

“The scarecrow strike should have been complete within four weeks, according to the plan.”

He had to increase his stats up to a certain level and proceed to hunt near the castle gates. However, continually swinging his wooden sword was an insane grind. Doing it for four whole weeks was very close to the human limit, both mentally and physically.

He knew that he wasn’t capable at all. Now, he just wanted to collapse and rest every time he grasped a wooden sword.

“This is a novice training arena? This is insane.”

– I don’t think you remember, professor. When you first designed Royal Road, you said it yourself that people who wish to succeed need to suffer. Human limits and potential shall be a.s.sessed on the basis of…

Yoo Byung Joon was reminded of his own words from the past.

He blabbered endlessly about the requirements of a hero who will unite the continents, but executing it personally was no different than h.e.l.l itself.

“My body can’t keep up… I guess I’m too old for this.”

– In Royal Road, there are no restrictions that come from age.

“Well, I’m sure I will feel more mental fatigue than young people.”

– There is absolutely no relevance.

The answers from the AI prevented him from rea.s.suring himself.

He knew all too well of the methods for training quickly in Royal Road.

Even so, mimicking those methods was no ordinary task.

“Mmm, not everyone’s efforts have the same value.”

Yoo Byung Joon then thought of the most brilliant idea.

“Why am I struggling like this? I can go to the item trade website and buy all the best items that I can use.”

Pay to win!

It was using his fortune as the richest man in the world.

Spending millions even on minor items will help him grow exponentially faster than other users.

– Professor, last time you criticized real currency item purchases as an expedient of Royal Road.

“I had no idea what I was talking about back then.”

– In regards to what?

“Real currency was the best.”

***

Weed slipped out of Debrado Village.

Nide and the dwarven users together transported the Brazier of Sacrifice.

“We need to go right from here.”

“It looks difficult going around the narrow paths through the trees.”

“There’s no other option. It’s our utmost priority to stay undiscovered by Kaybern.”

It was a challenge driving through the mountains with a wagon carrying the Brazier of Sacrifice that was over 2 meters in size.

The wheel rattled ramping over the tree roots, and they had to push the wagon uphill at other times.

Swift Coldwind: Sizeable number of monsters are coming out from the lair. It seems that they are trying to track us.

“How is the Mapan Council?”

Swift Coldwind: Having left early, they are growing further apart. There are only a few teams that are still in proximity to the monsters.

From the bird’s eye view, with the mine as the starting point, the dwarves and the Mapan Council scattered in all directions.

To spread out the escape routes, some moved to the depths of the Ulta Mountain Pa.s.s.

“Padon-nim. Be careful of the monsters.”

MoneyGrabber: Yep! I will escape as quickly as possible. Weed-nim, look out for yourself as you will be the furthest behind.

The dwarfs of the Debrado Village were to cover up the tracks, but the whole escape could not solely depend on them.

The quest itself became a large-scale thief raid instead of Weed’s solo plan.

It was to no surprise that lots of tracks would be left behind and the transport teams would be chased.

The Mapan Council accounted for this and had prepared a baiting strategy, and that was to hire the dwarf users of the Thor region.

They would be rewarded upon carrying out their mission as bait and a proper escape, alongside additional hefty compensation if they were to die in the process.

‘Nothing in this world goes for free.’

There was a lot of expenditure on various things for the robbery, but these were all investments!

– Find all those that dared to intrude my lair and slaughter them all!

Kaybern’s ferocious screams could be heard from the distance.

Given Kaybern’s usual personality, it should be in its maddest state.

‘All that is left for us now is to run.’

Weed decided not to pay any more attention to the transport teams.

He stopped by the Debrado Village for the quest, and he, himself transporting the Brazier of Sacrifice was most in danger.

“Let’s hurry.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Weed busily descended through Ulta Mountain Pa.s.s along with Nide and the dwarves.

Debrado Village was located in such a rough terrain that they had to pa.s.s through 8 ridges before coming out of the mountain pa.s.s.

Halfway, there were dangerous spots that were exposed and hence they had planted trees and gra.s.s in advance.

‘When you watch thief movies, the prep is half the plan. Yup, indeed.’

Crumble!

That moment, the mountain began to shake.

– Swift Coldwind: Kaybern used its breath! It seems to be its most powerful level of breathing. The location is quite a distance from Weed-nim but are you alright?

“…!”

The atmosphere was of pure devastation.

“It really is angry. Let’s hurry.”

Weed urged the dwarves forward. There were no other options but to run at the moment.

‘The dwarves were to cover our tracks, so would it be wise to hide somewhere close?’

He also considered hiding but quickly swayed.

‘The difficultyof this quest certainly grew bigger. If we weren’t discovered by the dragon soldiers and managed to steal just the Brazier of Sacrifice, the dragon perhaps could have pa.s.sed by without noticing. But now, it’s going to be out to chase with everything it has.’

Considering the dragon’s power, it was capable of wiping out everything in its proximity.

It could turn into a real problem if they were to hide and get annihilated along with the entire region.

– Swift Coldwind: I was late trying to observe Kaybern. As of now, the dwarves of Debrado Village are mobilizing.

“In what way?”

– Swift Coldwind: They are setting fires and scrambling around.

“Setting fire?”

He thought that the dwarves were setting the forest on fire in order to cover the tracks.

– Swift Coldwind: Yes. Harpies are approaching, and I have to retreat. I will try to scout if I can manage to return here.

“Thank you for your a.s.sistance.”

Weed was too preoccupied with running to bother about Swift Coldwind`s message. However, he soon realized what was about to happen.

“Hyung, look at the sky.”

“Huh?”

The sky between the tree branches had turned pitch black.

“What’s with that? Is that the dragon’s magic?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. The way it looks like something is fuming up, doesn’t it seem like smoke?”

When they got to an open area, they could see the reason for the darkness in the sky.

The magnificent view of the mountain pa.s.s, the scene of thick green trees disappeared, and there was only an ocean of fire spitting black smoke.

Huge trees caught on fire and collapsed, embers danced in the strong winds.

The forest fire was spreading at an uncontrollable rate.

“Could this be… caused by the dwarves?”

“It seems so.”

Weed felt like he was stabbed from behind by his closest friend.

On a rational level, there were surely other ways like covering up the footprints.

“Nide. And fellow dwarves.”

“Yes?”

“We have to run much quicker from here.”

“Hyung, you said our priority is to be undiscovered.”

“That is true. But we have to move as quickly as possible. The direction of the wind is facing this way.”

“Gasp!”

Nide and dwarves turned pale after realizing it.

The immense fiery trail over the mountain was spreading towards them with the wind!

Nearby, there were taller mountains directing more wind in their direction.

“Let us go now, Hyung.”

Nide took the lead to find the path and Weed slashed through the trees with the Loa Sword.

“Run!”

“Hurry up.”

Dwarves pushed the wagon down without a hitch and tailed behind them.

“What kind of a quest is this?”

“So this is a rank S quest. There is danger every other moment.”

“So crazy!”

The dwarven users transporting the Brazier of Sacrifice were elites around level 450 and focused in strength and agility.

They were running in the direction furthest away from the dragon’s lair, but the hostile Ulta Mountain Pa.s.s had a series of uphills and downhills.

The forest fire was approaching fast riding on the winds.

“Hyung, smoky scent.”

“I know. Our skins might cook like bacon real soon.”

Weed’s comparison was dead serious, but Nide spoke as it reminded him of something.

“There is a great meat restaurant by the school entrance, and the soph.o.m.ores and colleagues are dying to meet you at once. When you return to school, take us all out.”

“… You still don’t know me. I will return to school one day, but there will never be a day in my life where I will buy you all meat.”

In the sky, a flock of harpies continued to roam. Monstrous birds with the pouting face of an adolescent girl screeched as they scouted the ground.

“Looks like the harpies under Kaybern’s command are on the search for us.”

“It would be big trouble if we got caught.”

“Then Kaybern will show up. Still, there are lots of people on the run, so hopefully they will be distracted.”

He wished for the other dwarves and transport teams to remain undiscovered, but if they were to be, it would make Weed safer in turn.

One of the dwarves pus.h.i.+ng the wagon spoke out.

“The forest fire is inching closer.”

“Remain calm. We have time.”

Each time they saw the harpies in the sky, they hid among the trees and waited.

They dressed the brazier with branches as camouflage and what was fortunate was that the harpies’ eyesights were not the most excellent!

“The fire is closing in.”

Nide felt the intense heat rubbing his face. The thick black smoke was already moving in like a wave.

Even the crackling of burning trees could be heard.

The dwarven users of the wagon were wiped clean of their joy and instead filled with anxiety.

“Are we going to die here?”

“Excuse me, sir, but the fire is way too close.”

They tried to push down the mountain with a wagon, but several areas were already caught on fire or lacked trees to serve as cover.

“This is a sticky situation.”

Weed observed the fiery path led by the wind expanding uncontrollably from a close distance.

“To have such fortune on our side; a nice breeze is blowing. It would be nice to have a rain shower right about now. If the heavens won’t, I have to solve this myself.”

The forest fire was inches away, but given his eventful life, it was not the worst scenario.

“Don’t worry. There are much worse things that can happen in life than this at any moment.”

Weed blurted out words that did little to extinguish the situation as he took out a sculpting knife from his inner pocket.

“Rest up for a bit.”

“Hyung?”

“I’m going to sculpt something.”

(To be continued…)