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Chapter 215

“Fire to the left!!”

Amidst the fierce wind and rain, the men shouted loudly. Countless people were bustling about on the ship, and shells flew through the torrential downpour, where visibility was near zero.

Bang!! With a loud explosion, several men plunged into the sea. They were surely doomed if they fell here in this weather, with no hope of rescue. But there was no time to save them.

A man, holding the helm, shouted fiercely, still clad in his splendid attire that clung wetly to him.

“Draw your swords!! They’re coming!!”

Even in the midst of the storm, the temperature around seemed to drop drastically. This chilling sensation, they were all too familiar with.

Their enemies were the ghostly pirates drifting on the sea. If they couldn’t overcome them, this ship would join their ranks.

*

“This is footage of the pirates that appeared in the East Sea.”

Riley, who lightly manipulated the floating image, turned it off with a calm voice as usual. Yeon-woo, who had been fiddling with his chin for a moment, opened his mouth.

“It’s the Cult of Oblivion.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

Locating the Cult of Oblivion, which follows Toyo’s Demon King Nephren-Ka, isn’t as difficult as one might think.

Due to the nature of the magic they use, it’s not hard to find their cult.

If an area where undead had never appeared suddenly begins to see them, it usually means that the Cult of Oblivion has shown up.

Moreover, if the undead are appearing in the sea, it can practically be confirmed that it’s the Cult of Oblivion.

The reason is simple. Few terrains had as many corpses as the sea.

When people think of mages, they often imagine a rather intellectual profession, but necromancers are different. The measure of their power relies on how many corpses they can control, so they have to invest time in hunting down bodies.

“Ghost pirates….”

While they were spotted near Busan in the East Sea, it was too close for comfort, yet it was still a distance worth taking the risk to hunt them down.

“Well, buying a ship seems a bit much, doesn’t it?”

“If you’re going, I think it would be best to find a ship and crew locally.”

“But if a first-year student from the Academy says he’s looking for people to fight the pirate group, I doubt anyone would show up.”

“That part you’ll need to figure out with money somehow.”

The briefing was cold-hearted. It wasn’t wrong, but when you have someone do something no one wants to do, paying them handsomely is usually the go-to solution.

“Hmm, is it really okay? The synergy isn’t great, is it?”

Nea asked with a worried tone while overhearing the briefing. Of course, Yeon-woo understood what Nea was concerned about.

The tactics typically employed by necromancers revolved around overwhelming numbers. Quality over quantity?

While they wanted to tackle both aspects, it was unlikely that a high-level necromancer would appear so conspicuously in a narrow sea like the East Sea.

And such overwhelming tactics were not particularly compatible with Yeon-woo’s approach, which mostly involves one-on-one or small-scale skirmishes.

“It’s okay, Nea. We’ve got an expert on board. Besides, we’re not heading out immediately.”

As he said this, Yeon-woo turned to see Amir awkwardly seated. Noticing the crowd’s attention on him, Amir rolled his eyes.

“…Ah, hello, I’m Amir.”

— Haha, Amir, aren’t you a bit too tense?

“Sebek, you should be a little nervous…!”

— Hahaha, why would I be nervous? There’s no reason for that.

Amir, his face pale from tension, and Sebek, who spoke leisurely, were entirely different.

Just like before in the café, the tiny alligator that appeared as Sebek sported small sunglasses and was floating on a plate, doing backstrokes.

He even had a tiny espresso shot glass on his belly, slurping the contents through a straw.

Sebek was among the most eccentric of the gods Yeon-woo had encountered. What happened to his first impression?

“Looking forward to working with you, Amir.”

“No, it’s me who should be grateful. I’m nobody…”

With an overly humble attitude that made him look pitiful, Amir bowed deeply.

It wasn’t surprising he’d feel intimidated in front of those who contributed massive amounts of money to the temple.

“Well then, Riley, I’ll leave Amir to you. Our meeting time is right around the corner.”

“Oh, are you going out for a raid today? Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. If it becomes too dangerous, I’ll run away.”

“Y-Yeon-woo, do well…!!”

“Thanks for the support, Nea. I’ll do my best!”

After nodding towards Amir, who was clenching his fists behind him, Yeon-woo left the laboratory.

*

“Wow, how can the leader be the last one to arrive? Talk about a lack of responsibility!”

“Hey, I still made it in time for the appointment. I’m more curious about how fast Namgung Seong got here.”

“No matter who you are, you gotta show up for an important meeting.”

“I’m late because the morning assembly isn’t that important, and I’m planning to tell the teacher that.”

“Oh? Can I just smack my head on the floor then?”

Their group chuckled as they watched Namgung Seong rummaging around on the ground. Even Baek In-hwa let out a giggle, so he got some decent points.

When the laughter quieted down, Yeon-woo cleared his throat and looked around at his companions.

“Well then, is there anything else we need to prepare? We can head out as-is, right?”

“They said you packed all the heavy stuff. We can just go as we are.”

In response to Yeon-woo’s question, Kim Yoo-min seemed to ask what kind of obvious question that was. It was true.

Tent or food supplies were safely stowed in the warehouse, so the remaining trio just needed to gear up.

“Alright, then let’s go.”

As Yeon-woo led the way, the group followed him. Their destination was the so-called West Forest located to the west of the Academy.

They hadn’t told the Academy they were heading to hunt down monsters, but well, a word is just a word.

*

The rulers of the West Forest weren’t particularly troublesome creatures.

Even before the regression, the perception hadn’t changed much. Was there really a need to invest manpower to exterminate beings that could be ignored? It seemed they were merely asking to have their territory acknowledged and to coexist at this level.

Such an attitude demonstrates that these monsters could think logically based on their surroundings and possess some intelligence.

But despite their political savvy, the West Forest became a target for extermination after the regression.

The reasons were two-fold.

Firstly, regardless of how harmless the monsters appeared until then, humanity was cornered such that they could not afford to ignore them.

Secondly, a tremendous opportunity was discovered deep within the forest.

Commonly referred to as the Source of Mana.

With the monsters growing stronger while hunters couldn’t level up at the same rate, the hunter industry had been struggling. However, the discovery of the Source of Mana allowed them to reclaim some of their former might and push back against the monsters.

It was all a story unrelated to those like Yeon-woo, who were unsuitable for mana, but nevertheless, such a remarkable opportunity lay hidden deep within the forest.

Finally, people began to realize why such a forest had high-level monsters cooperating to drive humans away.

‘Well, that too became unusable after a certain point.’

Naturally, they couldn’t uproot the mana source and relocate it into the city, so both hunters and monsters engaged in fierce battles over the resource.

As this drawn-out conflict continued, rather than being ground down, the hunters had the audacious idea to extract the key portions, thereby wrapping up the conflict with minor gains.

The four paused, having caught sight of the forest.

This operation was close to a piecemeal attack, so it was necessary to define the regions. If they didn’t clearly set the scope, they could hinder one another.

“Of course, Namgung Seong, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Good to have less on my plate.”

Namgung Seong, who was free to use the entire canopy of the forest, was an exception.

He could either lure Night Stalkers to assist or intervene in other fights; he had the most pivotal role.

“When Namgung Seong enters the battle with the Night Stalker, the other three will start moving. The goal is to wait until the Grand Serpent reveals itself. When the Grand Serpent surfaces, Kim Yoo-min and I will pull back.”

“…Got it. But what if other guys join in early?”

“I’ll handle dropping them, so don’t worry. As for anything else, I’ll ensure you two can fight one-on-one.”

“Hmm, if it’s you, I can trust it. So when do we go in?”

“Just wait a moment. Kim Yoo-min, you ready?”

As Yeon-woo turned towards Kim Yoo-min, he saw her taking deep breaths with her face stiff as a board.

Though she had shed much of her fear of throwing punches at people after the fight with Christopher, it seemed her shortage of practical experience was making her tense.

“Hey, those high-level monsters aren’t stronger than that guy, so don’t get too nervous. Just act like you usually do.”

“R-Really? Okay, I’ll try not to be nervous…!”

“It seems like that thought is what’s making you nervous…. But well, I suppose it’ll fade once we enter the actual combat.”

Just like he had seen before, Kim Yoo-min was the type to thrive in the heat of battle. Once her life was in danger, that was when her true strength blossomed.

The way she stiffened her whole body and moved like a robot wasn’t convincing, but Yeon-woo believed in the innate talent she possessed.

“Alright, let’s head out, Namgung Seong.”

“Okay, I’ve been waiting for this.”

With a smile, Namgung Seong bent his knees like a spring and soared above the forest.

As his explosive speed shot through, the entire forest seemed to tremble, as leaves rained down in surprise. Of course, the forest didn’t actually possess consciousness to shake so.

From between the trees, shadows erupted at breakneck speed. Though the forest was divided into zones by four monsters, only one being ruled the skies above.

The Night Stalker, a gigantic owl nearly double Namgung Seong’s size, flew into a rage as it swooped down.

『───!!』

“Oh, hello there, senior~.”

Easily evading the claws of the diving owl, Namgung Seong twisted his body.

The Night Stalker dominated the eastern sector. If he knew the direction, avoiding its attacks wasn’t that difficult.

For a brief moment, there was a lull. At one point, both Jo-in and the owl dove toward each other.

Kakang!! With a sound so clear that one could scarcely believe claws and blades collided, the three waiting on the ground stepped into the forest. The operation had begun.

(To be continued in the next episode)

 

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