Chapter 84: Chapter 84

Ho-Yeong Guild training ground.

Yeo Min-Ji took a deep breath and then performed her footwork.

She then started hitting the scarecrow in front of her with Wind Fist.

[You have repeatedly hit the same area. Critical Hit has been triggered. The scarecrow’s HP has decreased by 5%!]

With the Critical Hit triggered, combos and accumulated damage quickly piled up.

Wind Fist quickly rose to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th forms, followed by Destruction Fist and Fire Fist in succession.

After a considerable amount of time, Yeo Min-Ji finished her training.

Her body was drenched in sweat after moving for hours without rest.

“Wow… You’re amazing.”

One of the guild members who was watching from the control room came over and handed Yeo Min-Ji a towel.

“Amazing? I’m still far from it.”

Yeo Min-Ji couldn’t accept the compliment.

The martial arts that Jeong-Hoon had shown her the other day.

That perfect balance made her feel empty, envious, and jealous at the same time.

It was because all her pride in her own brilliant talent had been completely shattered.

At the same time, a longing to follow him engulfed her.

“Is that so? But it’s a level 400 scarecrow…”

The guild member glanced at the scarecrow.

The scarecrow, which had been intact, was completely shattered, leaving only traces.

Considering that they had created three scarecrows today alone, it was an incredible display of power.

“By the way, where’s your mother?”

“My mother? Oh! I heard she finished hunting a while ago and logged out.”

“Really? I should go see her quickly.”

Yeo Min-Ji quickly finished up and went outside.

Learning martial arts from Jeong-Hoon was one thing, but she had also become close to Lee Na-Yeon after joining the guild, so they would meet offline and have coffee, talking about New World.

It had become a new joy in her life, aside from training.

“Miss! I have something to report!”

“A report?”

“Yes.”

She was about to log out, but Park In-tae, the team leader, came in, so she had to postpone it.

Judging by his expression, it seemed to be a serious matter.

Yeo Min-Ji asked in a serious tone,

“Tell me.”

“A few guild members have gone missing!”

“Missing?”

Her eyes narrowed at the word ‘missing’.

“Yes. They haven’t logged out. They’re still logged in, but their location can’t be tracked at all. And they’re not responding to whispers either.”

“…Give me the list.”

“Yes.”

Yeo Min-Ji slowly looked over the list Park In-tae handed her.

They had disappeared after clearing a dungeon called ‘Fruhneum’ at Lv. 139.

Currently, that dungeon had been cleared, and information had come in that another party was attempting to clear it.

So where had they disappeared to?

“It’s the Lohais territory.”

Lohais territory, like Autobahn, was one of the territories that users between levels 100 and 150 passed through.

Lohais, located in the southern part of the Märchen Kingdom, was less popular than Autobahn, but it was quite a popular area among users because it was a decent place for leveling.

“Yes.”

“…I’ll leave right away. Let’s go.”

It seemed like the tea time with his mother would have to be postponed.

* * *

An imperfectly rendered city.

“Foreigner %& how did you get here &^%^#?”

The NPC spoke to Jeong-Hoon in an incomprehensible language.

It was curious that a foreigner had entered this city.

‘He’s asking how a foreigner like me got in here.’

Jeong-Hoon was able to understand his words intuitively.

And a question mark was blinking above his head.

It was a question mark that was so broken that he couldn’t even tell its color.

[@# Quest : $(&*%&$%]

– Restriction: ^$$%@!

– Reward: &^$#!!@*

– Description: (^&*%#$%@

This was really amazing.

The quest details were completely incomprehensible.

He knew the reward because Maximus had told him, but how the hell did that guy proceed with this?

It was amazing, even thinking back on it.

But there was no option not to accept it.

Jeong-Hoon immediately accepted the quest.

“Thank you ^%. If it weren’t for you @!# there would be no one to help me!@”

“Thank you.”

“If it weren’t for you, there would be no one to help me.”

“…Brother? Don’t you think we should just go back?”

Kim Bong-Goo asked, clinging to Jeong-Hoon’s sleeve in fear.

[Aaagh! Don’t touch my body! Get your hands off me!]

Mukho freaked out.

“Absolutely not. And I’m not your brother.”

He looked older than him just by his appearance, so why wouldn’t he call him brother?

“Hey, if you’re more handsome and stronger than me, aren’t you my brother?!”

It was Kim Bong-Goo’s own survival strategy.

If he couldn’t escape from Jeong-Hoon no matter what, the best option was to build a good relationship with him by flattering him.

“Do as you please.”

Even if he flattered him, his past misdeeds wouldn’t disappear.

He wouldn’t give up on the idea of squeezing every last drop of blood from Kim Bong-Goo.

Kim Bong-Goo, unaware of this, clenched his fist, thinking that his flattery had worked.

Jeong-Hoon summoned Michael and gave him instructions.

“Michael, search the surroundings.”

“Here?”

“Yes. If you see any strange guys, you can hunt them.”

“Alright.”

Michael, having received the order, summoned ghosts using necromancy and disappeared to the other side.

“Let’s go too.”

Jeong-Hoon said to the NPC.

“Alright @#. Follow me ^#!@.”

The NPC turned around and headed towards the center of the city.

The center was also not rendered properly, and there were sinkholes everywhere.

The bottom was dark and nothing could be seen.

“Eek!”

In the middle, there was a near-accident where Kim Bong-Goo almost fell into a sinkhole.

Fortunately, Jeong-Hoon grabbed his arm and pulled him up, preventing him from falling.

“Be careful not to fall. Unless you want to become a dimensional wanderer.”

It literally meant being trapped in a dimension and wandering around.

Kim Bong-Goo’s face turned pale.

“Is that, is that true?”

“Yes.”

“…Wow, I almost had to say goodbye to New World forever.”

If you were trapped in a dimension, you couldn’t solve it by logging out of New World.

This was because you would reappear in the same place even if you logged back in.

In other words, it was the same as not being able to enjoy New World anymore.

“We’re here $@”

The place where the NPC stopped was a building a little away from the center.

When they went up to the building, a terrible sight unfolded before their eyes.

‘There are too many monsters.’

The center was teeming with countless monsters.

Perhaps because there was an unknown barrier built around the center, they couldn’t leave the center, making it reminiscent of a packed sardine can.

“Is he asking me to clear them out?”

The NPC nodded at the question.

“If you clear them out!@, I’ll give you my !#@ treasure!@”

“You’ll give me treasure?”

Nod.

It was a simple request.

Jeong-Hoon pulled the bowstring on the spot.

‘I almost died back then.’

He recalled the conversation he had with Maximus.

‘You almost died?’

‘Yes. I heard they were trapped, so I thought it would be over if I cleared them all at once. But… that was a trick.’

‘A trick?’

‘It was a system where the barrier would collapse if a user got close.’

Unaware of that, he had approached, and nearly 2,000 monsters swarmed him, causing Maximus to die several times on the spot.

When he logged back in, he was back at the bottom of the cliff.

Jeong-Hoon released the bowstring he had pulled.

Whoosh!

The arrow shot out and accurately pierced the monster’s head.

‘As expected of a bug city, that barrier is only effective on monsters.’

A strategy he had learned after dying four times.

Maximus’ friend had eliminated as many monsters as possible from a distance, and Maximus had gone down and hunted all the remaining monsters in close combat, successfully clearing the area.

Thanks to that, Jeong-Hoon could comfortably hunt monsters using only his bow like this.

Moreover, they were clustered together, making it much easier to hit them.

Whoosh!

“!$!@”

The monster, its head pierced, disappeared with a scream.

As Jeong-Hoon continued to pull and release the bowstring without hesitation, arrows flew like rain.

* * *

[Level Up!]

[All stats have increased by +1.]

[Bonus stat +1 has been granted.]

After defeating all those monsters, Jeong-Hoon’s level had reached 137.

He had gained 33 levels just by entering the bug city.

“Is that enough?”

Jeong-Hoon turned his head towards the NPC.

The NPC’s mouth was agape, unable to even think of answering.

“Tha!$ you!@#”

The NPC grabbed Jeong-Hoon’s hand and his eyes welled up with tears.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Because the exclamation mark above his head wasn’t blinking.

‘He wants me to take care of the boss too, right?’

It was obvious that if they didn’t kill the boss and left, the empty center would soon be swarming with other monsters again.

So the quest would only be completed after killing the boss.

Just then, two ghosts approached Jeong-Hoon.

“This way.”

After taming Michael, he was able to hear their voices.

Jeong-Hoon nodded and followed the ghosts.

An underground bunker a little away from the city.

Unlike the city, the bunker was very well rendered.

“Where are we now…?”

Kim Bong-Goo groaned.

He wanted to escape from this strange place as soon as possible.

Of course, that was only possible after Jeong-Hoon finished his business.

“Master! You’re here!”

Michael came running out.

“Yes. Where is he?”

“He’s in there!”

The boss was hiding on the roof of the building.

[Lv. 150 Aberrant Being]

Not only its level, but unlike other monsters, it was wearing a black robe pulled down low.

Its distinct form suggested that it wasn’t an ordinary monster.

“Are you the one who defeated the barrier?”

But the words it uttered were still difficult to understand.

As a boss, it seemed to maintain its form to some extent, but it was impossible to go against the system of New World.

“I’ll finish this quickly.”

Jeong-Hoon pulled the bowstring.

“@!#!@”

The monster babbled incomprehensible words again and raised the staff it was holding.

[The Aberrant Being uses ‘!%#!’.]

As it used its ability, the surrounding air became murky and turned red.

The air inside became hot, and his body felt feverish.

“Ugh!”

“#!@@#.”

Kim Bong-Goo let out a low groan, and the NPC who accompanied them screamed.

“I’ll take care of it!”

“No, it’s okay. Take the others and get out of here.”

Jeong-Hoon used healing on them and spread Blackfield.

The surrounding space began to distort and shatter like glass.

“Understood!”

Michael hurriedly took Kim Bong-Goo and the NPC out of the building.

“Shall we try again?”

Jeong-Hoon pulled the bowstring again and released it.

Whoosh!

The arrow was shot.

[The Aberrant Being uses ‘&%@##’.]

But the arrow disappeared before it could even reach the monster.

“What? Why is this happening?”

Anima, who was riding on Jeong-Hoon’s shoulder, looked bewildered at the sight.

“It’s a monster that can distort space-time.”

Jeong-Hoon wasn’t flustered at all.

This was because he had experience dealing with such beings.

But it was also surprising.

That a mere level 150 monster could distort space-time, even if only slightly.

‘Magic Missile.’

Jeong-Hoon created Magic Missile for the first time in a long time.

The Magic Missile, which had been upgraded to Epic grade, could create up to 6 missiles.

Moreover, each one had a radius of 50cm.

‘Go.’

Jeong-Hoon set the target as the Aberrant Being, and the Magic Missiles shot towards it.

But the Magic Missiles also disappeared one by one before they could reach it.

In that gap, Jeong-Hoon used his movement technique to get close to the monster.

“!@#!@”

He could see the blue eyes behind the robe twitching.

That’s right.

To distort space-time, the monster had to use its ability, and if it continuously distorted long-range attacks, it would become vulnerable in close combat.

It had created a delay by continuously eliminating the Magic Missiles.

Jeong-Hoon then punched the monster in the face with the Underworld King’s Fist Technique.

Wham!

“!@$”

The monster screamed and fell back.

Jeong-Hoon quickly pummeled its body.

The Aberrant Being couldn’t withstand the continuous martial arts and eventually disappeared.

[Level Up!]

[All stats have increased by +1.]

[Bonus stat +1 has been granted.]

A massive amount of experience points flooded in at once, and his level rose to 138.

“It’s over.”

[Damn it, I can’t test you like this! Just get hit a few times!]

“I’m not interested in getting hit.”

Jeong-Hoon collected the crystal that had dropped from the monster.

[!@# Magic Stone]

Done.

He had successfully snatched all the opportunities that Maximus was supposed to have, from the elixir to the magic stone.