Dungeon Hunter Chapter 176:
Chapter 176: Quickening Period (2)
The dungeon changed its appearance . The dungeon on Bukhan Mountain had now changed into a huge ‘castle . ’
At a glance, there seemed to be no end to how huge it was . It stretched out for dozens of kilometres . The height . . . it was unimaginable . It reached high into the sky .
"The dungeon exploration will be prohibited until a clear cause is determined . ”
The girin declared .
She climbed on top of a podium and had a distinctive magical atmosphere around her .
"There is only a small stockpile of cores . We will stop all dungeon exploration for three days . ”
Kim Yong-woo disagreed . The girin and a few Awakened were gathered . Only the masters of the huge guilds were present .
There were seven guild master, the girin and two dark elves in a small hall .
They were gathered in one place to discuss measures .
"Many Awakened feel insecure about exploring the dungeon . If they explode then the damage will be great . ”
The Dambi guild master Alin . The atmosphere reversed as she talked .
But the girin was firm . Roy, who was holding a sword next to her, said .
"I can solve the problem of the dungeon cores . ”
"Do you mean that the cores can be obtained without exploration?”
Roy nodded at Kim Yong-woo’s question .
"My master sent me a lot of cores . ”
"Saviour . . . ?”
"He sent me a weapon . In order to clean up those who are causing trouble . ”
Jjak!
Roy clapped . Then a figure dropped down from the ceiling . It fell .
"Hup!"
The guild masters were surprised because they hadn’t noticed its existence .
Its height came up to their shoulders at most . The figure was a naked male with no hair . The eyes were completely black and the tongue hanging out was weirdly long .
“Homunculus . This was a failure but . . . it will be enough to clean them up . ”
Homunculus . Artificial life!
The seven guild masters here didn’t know anything about it . They just felt an instinctive fear .
Being a guild master didn’t necessarily meant they were the strongest . Even within the guilds, there were many members stronger than the guild master . But the guild masters had selected and raised them . They had also experienced the dungeon exploration .
It was natural that they could measure the strength of their opponent . The strongest people were the man called Saviour and the girin, however the homunculus was next . The artificial golem used by the dark elf Rose was strong, but it didn’t give off a sense of pressure .
“Hiii . . . . ”
The homunculus groaned and gazed at the guild masters . He came closer and licked their cheeks with his long tongue .
Gulp!
The people swallowed their saliva . Some raised a hand to their swords .
Roy noticed and said .
"This child has no eyesight . Instead, he has a great sense of smell and touch . Right now, he is recognizing those who are friendly . Don’t worry . ”
"T-that is why he is licking our cheeks?”
Kim Yong-woo closed his eyes . He was relatively confident, but when the homunculus’ tongue had licked his cheeks, he had thought ‘this is the end . ’
“Yes . Have some guards assigned to this child . Put together a party of reliable Awakened and allow him to recognize them . Master said he is somewhat violent, so he might attack allies if measures aren’t taken .
"Shouldn’t Roy-nim be with him?”
Roy shook his head .
"I will be planting the ‘seeds’ along with Rose and doing the ceremony . I won’t be available . ”
“The seeds?”
Kim Yong-woo blinked as Roy pulled out two seeds .
The seeds didn’t look typical and had contrasting colours of blue and red .
"The Trees of Life and Death . They are derived from the Tree of Origin . They will be a big help to us if we grow them properly . However, the creatures might move while we are planting the trees . ”
Roy’s words were solemn . His haughty composure was completely different from his previous cowardly self . However, Roy seemed a little nervous when talking this time .
The guild masters couldn’t understand the atmosphere .
Alin of the Dambi guild asked on their behalf .
“ . . . Is a monster wave going to happen?”
“My master has dealt with many the creatures in South Korea . There is a possibility that the creatures nearby will come . ”
There were many stray creatures without a master wandering . They used their instincts and attacked the people in Korea .
While the Trees of Life and Death were growing, they would release a fatal smell to specific creatures . They would instinctively come to the trees to destroy them before that could happen .
Alin asked calmly .
"Then why we should take the risk?"
"They are vulnerable when growing, but they will crush the creatures after they are grown . ”
"Then do we have to plant them now? It isn’t too late after everything is stabilized . ”
“No, now is the perfect time . If we don’t plant them in the next three days, then we will have to wait 12 years . ”
Roy looked up at the ceiling . He seemed to be looking at something beyond the ceiling .
Alin looked at the other six guild masters . She was asking what their opinions were . Everybody was dubious but thought it was worth trying the gamble .
Alin spoke once again after receiving their feedback .
“As soon as possible . . . clean everything up . ”
The former government forces . The ones who committed terrorism .
The war with them had to be finished as soon as possible . The duration was three days . It was best if they finished it during that time .
They couldn’t receive the attacks of the creatures and the government forces at the same time .
The key was the homunculus . Right now, the government soldiers didn’t have that much strength . The ratio was 6 . 5:3 . 5, but they used guerilla tactics to be annoying .
It was at that time .
Roy and Rose’s eyes widened .
They stared at a shadow and started to talk .
“Huh? T-then the ceremony?”
"That's right . Roy isn’t reliable . The two of us doing the ceremony . . . ”
Rose’s ears pricked up . It seemed like she was listening to something . The guild masters were puzzled .
“Can you do it? R-rather, you don’t have to do this . For now, just give me your advice . Well, we can do it . ”
"No, Rose would be better . Queen-nim can be at ease . ”
Queen-nim?
That meant it was the saviour .
In addition, both of the dark elves followed the presence .
10 seconds . It became silent . Roy and Rose bowed .
“ . . . Understood . ”
“ . . . I will try it . ”
Shortly after the two opinions were unified, somebody appeared from the shadows .
The outline gradually became clear .
The guild masters felts their breaths being blocked as they confirmed its appearance .
The person was a woman wearing a robe made of a silken material . Her skin and ears showed that she was a dark elf like Roy and Rose . Her face was veiled except for her eyes, but she gave off an overwhelming presence .
There was an untouchable atmosphere around her . Despite only her eyes being visible, they could tell she was a beauty . The men had to suppress the urge to stretch out their hands . They wanted to tear off the cloth covering her face .
“Nice to meet you . ”
“Ah . . . ”
Kim Yong-woo and the other male guild masters exclaimed . All the women except for Alin were also amazed . Her voice was also charming!
The female dark elf continued speaking .
"This mission, I will come along . ”
The time limit was three days .
It was honestly tight . They had to catch the scattered enemies . No matter how powerful she was, there was a limit to their speed .
. . . They thought like that . That was common sense .
But that common sense was smashed . The plate was overturned .
The homunculus was excellent for finding the enemies . His sense of smell and touch precisely spotted their hiding places, even if a stealth skill was used .
Was that all?
In terms of speed, he was unmatched by anyone else . A truly invincible speed! His destructive power was weaker than his speed, but it was still an insurmountable wall compared to humans .
However, not everything could be solved with strength . The girin said that she wouldn’t fight humans, but Rose’s golem was also very strong .
The problem was the number of enemies . They were weak but there were hundreds of thousands of them . In fact, Rose’s golem had ran alone into a trap by the government forces and been damaged by two thousand skills .
Several conditions needed to be overlapped, but they couldn’t be ignored .
However . . . there wasn’t one strong being, but two .
One of them was so strong they couldn’t be compared to anyone else .
The story was different .
Pasak!
Puk!
The female dark elf .
She moved forward despite the numbers .
In the middle of the enemy . She read all the traps the enemy set, grasped the enemy’s movements and quickly killed them . Dazzling movements . Restrained but neat actions . No wasted movements could be found .
Eek! Screams could be heard from the other side .
The third day . They succeeded in attacking the headquarters of the government troops .
Of course, the dark elf and homunculus weren’t the only ones involved in the war .
Thousands of Awakened surrounded the headquarters that was in the mountains . All seven guild masters and their members were present .
"Don’t let them get away!”
"We have the Goddess of Victory with us!”
The morale of their allies had sharply increased .
In contrast, the morale of the enemy was extremely low .
There hadn’t been a clear winner in the war against the two sides .
However, the situation was reversed after the two strong presences joined .
In particular, the female dark elf called the ‘Goddess of Victory’ played a huge part .
The momentum was fully on their side, so the results seemed predetermined .
The Trees of Life and Death .
They were an accidental product of the Tree of Origin’s upgrade .
Yihi hadn’t reported it to me, but the fire spirits found them because of the colour .
Fire-One, Fire-Two and Fire-Three were tired of Yihi’s tyranny and told Rei and Sera .
In the end, Yihi was forced to hand the two seeds over to me .
No matter how much her rating increased . . . Yihi was still Yihi . It didn’t seem like she would ever change .
Either way .
‘It will be difficult to plant them in the dungeon . ’
The Trees of Life and Death attracted creatures while growing . It maximized their aggressive tendencies . They would move instinctively and ignore my commands .
Therefore, the dungeon was unsuitable for planting the seeds .
‘It is ideal for promoting the growth of humans . ’
I sat in front of the Dungeon Core .
There were conditions to grow both trees .
The Tree of Life grew every time there was a birth near it and the Tree of Death grew when there was death nearby .
And when both trees grew, they would ‘awaken’ the surrounding species . For example, in the case of humans, there would be a higher percentage of Awakened appearing .
What if this was applied to the creatures? It was possible but . . .
‘Humans are different from creatures . ’
The creatures weren’t significantly better than the Awakened . In contrast, humans had huge ‘possibilities . ’ This difference was large .
In addition, there was a high probability that the dungeon would be a mess if two trees were growing inside it .
It would be better to assign the trees to promote human growth .
‘There will be many benefits if there is a high ratio of Awakened . ’
First of all, there was a need for the humans in South Korea to grow quickly .
'Quickening period . The time for change . ’
I could deal with one faction, but there was a limit if another one joined . Humans would become helpful at that time .
They should be helpful .
That’s why I was making this move .
‘Humans . Do not disappoint me . ’