Chapter 142 – Greenskin Fortress (3)

Sungjin examined how the other ‘Chosen Ones’ were progressing. Baltren’s and Franz’s progress was a bit slow. Whether or not they had obtained the clue about the hidden piece, those two were still looking around the prison, unable to find the wandering merchant ratman.

‘Well... They’ll probably find it soon.’

If they can’t find it, then he can go and help them. The one who had progressed the fastest was Serin Han. She was fighting against the hidden boss in the basement.

One peculiarity was that there were bulky men wearing turbans having a bloody fight against the crimson orcs. Furthermore, it wasn’t just one or two, but dozens of men to the point that they seemed to be countless.

They each used their scimitars to fight with the orcs, and when their necks were broken or their hearts stabbed through, they would disappear from that spot while creating ‘poof’ sound.

‘What is that... Did Serin summon them? Is it Arabian Nights? Ali Baba and the 40 thieves?’

Regardless of how it had happened, she was ceaselessly shooting arrows while receiving their protection.

‘Ping~ Ping! Ping~!’

Every time she shot an arrow,

‘Thud! Thud! Thud!!’

The arrows would be embedded in the orcs’ heads. Only a few Orcs remained alive, and this raid looked to be over soon.

‘She’s doing well.’

Lastly, Nada was just about to begin the fight against the hidden boss.

‘This should be worth watching.’

Sungjin propped his chin on his hand and watched.

*

The way down to the hidden boss.

Nada, who was standing in front of the entrance said,

“Before we go down, everyone please gather.”

At those words, the hunters gathered themselves into a line. Somewhere along the raid, they began to follow her words like the zombie ‘Domingo’ that she kept with her. Nada chanted a spell upon them.

“Protection of Darkness, return everything to null, Dark Shield!”

Soon a black colored shield covered the hunters and Domingo. Nada then said,

“Be careful when we go down, we’re going to see many crazed orcs and the Hidden bosses’ attacks will be so fast that it will be difficult to deal with. So prepare yourselves.”

Everyone nodded their heads to Nada’s words. Having confirmed that they were all ready, she commanded,

“Then let’s go.”

And headed towards the basement first. A bizarre chant flowed out from inside. Before much time had elapsed, they were soon facing the Priest of Yanhurat and the crazy orcs.

[Warning!]

At the same time as the Operator’s warning,

“Kwaauuurrrr!!”

The crimson eyed orcs began to swarm the hunters.

‘When we go down, we’re going to see many crazed orcs.’

Though the hunters had received Nada’s warning, they couldn’t properly react to the orcs’ speed and fervor.

Nada, who had warned them, was also the same. Though she had heard the story from Kei this morning, they were faster and crazier than expected when she finally ran into them.

The hunters had to deal with 2-3 orcs each as they charged at them. As such, an orc managed to close in on Nada who was in the rear.

“Awowooo!”

The orc randomly swung his hammer horizontally and diagonally while charging at Nada. It was an irregular movement, but Nada calmly blocked the orc’s blunt weapon with the staff in her left hand and then swung her dagger to cut off the orc’s hand.

‘Thud thud’

Several fingers that had been holding the blunt weapon were cut off and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Nada was about to catch her breath; however, the orc showed no signs of pain. Rather, upon seeing blood,

“Kwaaaaaau!”

Charged at Nada as if it was more crazed than before. It was unarmed now, but if she were caught by those hands then it would become quite messy.

“Shit!”

Nada barely blocked the orc’s hand with her staff, and then once again used her knife to stab into the orc’s chin. The dagger that penetrated the orc’s chin even cut through his lip, but it seemed the crazed orc did not feel either fear or pain.

Despite one hand had become stump and being skewered by the dagger, he still swung his arms. He was now more grotesque than a zombie. This wasn’t the only problem. From the back, two more orcs came charging towards her. If it was one orc, then maybe, but three was just impossible. Nada urgently called her zombie,

“Domingo!”

However, Domingo was being torn apart by two other orcs. There was no one that could help her. Nada kicked the orc in the stomach as she pulled out the dagger that had pierced him.

“Kweeh!”

The orc stumbled backward. As this happened two orcs rushed towards her. One orc held an axe, and the other held a long sword.

Nada barely blocked the axe with her staff and the long sword with her dagger. However, what would happen next was the problem. The orc whose chin had been smashed rushed at Nada again. There was no manner in which she could deal with his two hands. However, at that moment,

“Ah-ta!”

A hunter appeared from somewhere and kicked that orc in the side. It was the ‘Elite Pugilist’. It was the most trustworthy ally she had met in this raid. Following this, he lowered his stance before swinging his long legs like a windmill. It was an attack aimed at the two orcs that were in a contest of strength with Nada.

‘Thud! Thud!’

The orcs who were kicked in the shin had their legs broken like a twig sideways and fell over. Having received some breathing room, Nada immediately chanted a spell before the orcs could stand up.

“Come, vengeful spirits! Graves Call!”

Soon, pale hands shot out from the ground near Nada and grasped the limbs of the fallen crazed orcs. The orcs moved and struggled with all their might, but the hands of the dead did not let them go. At that moment, Nada took her dagger and stabbed at their hearts.

‘Stab stab’

The orcs whose hearts were stabbed still struggled crazily, but they went limp after spewing a fountain of blood. Nada tried to express her thanks to the ‘Elite Pugilist’ who saved her. However,

“Ahtaho!”

He was no longer there as he had already gone to save the other hunters. The ‘Elite Pugilist’ was tall and wore a martial arts uniform, and despite being white, he oddly practiced Eastern martial arts. Regardless, Nada, having just caught her breath, began to help the other hunters by using her signature spell.

“Tense muscles, brittle bones, Weakness!”

After cursing the entire group of orcs,

“Unholy power, strip the skin and expose the bones! Frenzy!”

She used the spell on the zombie Domingo in order to allow it to put up a real fight against the orcs. In the start of the battle, they had been pushed back, but now it was beginning to turn in their favor.

‘Good.’

Having thought this, Nada held her dagger and was prepared to leap into battle. However at that time,

Shoooom~

Suddenly a long beam of light came from the sky, and a single man appeared. This was none other than Kei.

“What?”

While Nada was surprised, that person started to cut up the orcs like a hurricane.

“Geez, get lost!”

He cut about halfway through the neck of an orc that was wrestling with a hunter, with their foreheads touching each other,

‘Clang! Clang! Bang!’

Stabbed through the heart of an orc that had been banging on a shield with its club in a crazed manner.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”

And cut the wrists of the orc that was in a contest of strength with the ‘Elite Pugilist’. Now free to act, the ‘Elite Pugilist’ hit the orc’s head with a satisfying roundhouse kick.

“Ahta!”

The orc’s head turned halfway around, and it didn’t move again. After Kei had joined in, the difficulty of the raid had significantly fallen.

This was because that person went around the place like lightning while killing orcs, or turning them into cripples, allowing the other hunters to finish off the leftovers. Before long,

[Hidden Boss Clear!]

The Operator let out a message. Excluding Nada, the other hunters looked at Kei with incredulity. Nada approached him and said,

“What’s this, when I ask you to help you didn’t come... Why did you arrive this time? We could’ve killed it ourselves.”

To her words, Kei shook his swords from left to right, and said,

“Aaah, there’s another reason why I came here.”

“Huh?”

As Nada tilted her head, Sungjin removed the helmet he was wearing and said,

“There’s a person here I want to take.”

Then, a voice could be heard from behind her.

“...You are...”

It was the voice of the ‘Elite Pugilist’. While Nada was confused, Kei approached him and asked,

“Do you remember me? Mahadas.”

“Of course. Mister Kei”

Since they knew each other’s names, it seemed that they had already met each other somewhere before. Nada leaned to a side and stared at them.

‘So you don’t come when I ask for help... But you come to recruit that person, is that right.’

Regardless of whether she stared or not, Kei shook hands with the ‘Elite Pugilist’ Mahadas, and then suddenly whispered. She couldn’t hear, but she had a rough idea of what it was about.

‘Become our ally.’

Sure enough, as expected Mahadas looked back and forth between Kei and her. This meant that he was listening to the explanation about the ‘Chosen Ones’. Nada didn’t say anything. They had only fought once, but the ‘Elite Pugilist’ had good skill and was a selfless person. After exchanging a hushed conversation with him, Kei said,

“Nada, and the other hunters, please stay here for a bit.”

And the two left the basement first. Nada crossed her arms and stared at the two as she thought,

‘It looks like there will be six of us for dinner tonight.’

*

“Baptize”

Sungjin poured the Holy Water of Baptism on Mahadas’ head. Once it was over, Sungjin grasped his shoulder and said,

“Then, let’s meet again at dinner.”

“Excuse me?”

Mahadas frowned slightly at Sungjin’s baffling suggestion, but there was no time to give a detailed explanation now.

“You’ll know soon. For now, don’t eat dinner today and wait.”

“... I understand.”

After Sungjin left him, he used the Trollseeker Marble to transfer to a different dimension.

“Pursuit of Justice”

Thankfully, there still were some trolls that were active. Sungjin caught them and cut them up while picking up two items from each troll. It was a bit regretful that he couldn’t meet Edward who was definitely active somewhere.

‘If he’s alive then he’s definitely going to be doing some troll like actions...’

As Sungjin thought this, he used the three, four, and then finally all five of the Trollseeker Marbles. The troll that he met in the last dimension was a thin sleazy looking Eastern person.

‘This one is not it as well...’

Though Sungjin was slightly disappointed, he still pulled out his sword and held it. It was work nonetheless.

“Who are you?”

Having seen Sungjin, the troll threateningly held up his blood covered sword and asked. Looking down, the corpses of the hunters were below him.

‘Regretful...’

While he was doing this, the troll suddenly used an active skill and disappeared.

“Shadow Walk.”

Sungjin creased his forehead. This was because it would be troublesome if the troll ran away like the last time when Illich became invisible.

“Haa... Annoying...”

Sungjin walked towards where the troll had disappeared. Since this wasn’t the frostplains, hence nothing could be seen.

‘What should I do? I can’t use Cain to smell... Should I just destroy everything around here with magic?’

While Sungjin was thinking,

‘kata-kata’

Footsteps could be heard from behind him. Sungjin turned to his back while swinging Moon Specter. The troll that had been trying to assassinate him twisted his body backwards and barely avoided it.

“Hooh... Your ears are quite good.”

He said in admiration.

“Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to kill you face to face.”

Sungjin chuckled when he heard this. “What... You’re already dead, bastard.”

“What?”

While facing the troll, Sungjin

“Amplify Magic. Mana Flow.”

used both active skills,

“Time Reversal”

And reversed time. Time started to go backwards. Sungjin turned around and brought back Moon Specter at the same moment as the man disappeared into invisibility. Time had gone back by about 10 seconds. The troll, same as before, threateningly held up his sword and asked,

“Who are you?”

Sungjin acted the same as he did previously and looked towards the pitiful hunters at the troll’s feet. Then the troll,

“Shadow Walk”

Similarly hid in stealth again. Sungjin also purposefully walked towards where the troll had been. And after pulling out Moon Specter and holding it backwards, he threw it behind his back.

“Pa!”

The flying Moon Specter

‘kata-kata!’

‘Stab’

Was embedded into the leg of the approaching troll.

“Kwaaaaaak!”

The troll shrieked and collapsed in place. When Sungjin approached him, he asked,

“How... How did you...”

To his words, Sungjin grinned and said,

“My ears are quite sensitive.”

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