Chapter 15: The Soil Fountain

[Gathering C-Rank Layer Tree.]

[Gathering C-Rank Layer Tree.]

[Gathering C-Rank Layer Tree.]

[Gathered 100 C-Rank Layer Trees. Gathering speed increased.]

[Gathering C-Rank Layer Tree .…·…·- ]

Thanks to the increased speed, I gathered trees even faster.

What used to take three seconds now only took two.

Because of that, I could easily pull out the trees and advance deeper among them.

The people who had looked at me in disbelief followed inside and moved the pulled-out trees to the back.

The trees moved one by one were stacked neatly, forming a barricade to block the skeletons.

These were the same trees that had withstood attacks from the A-Rank hunter, Oh Juhan.

They would easily fend off attacks from the B-Rank monster skeletons.

“Block them! Don’t let them climb up!”

“You came up here just to die? Good effort, you bastards!”

The skeletons seemed to realize their attacks were useless against the trees.

They tried to climb over the piled wood, even attempting to scale the cliff.

A futile effort.

Unless skeletons were swarming from all directions like earlier, but right now, they were charging from only one direction.

It was no challenge for A-Rank hunters to fend off an assault from just one direction.

Because of that, Woo Yeonhu left the defense to the team and studied the map, contemplating which direction to escape.

“… Huh? Mm?”

In truth, I was the most relaxed here.

Just by touching the trees with my fingers, they would uproot themselves automatically.

Because of that, I could see Woo Yeonhu staring at the map in confusion.

He kept tilting his head as if he didn’t understand what was going on.

Why is he like that?

“Yeonhu! Is something wrong?”

“Ah, Zion. Well, according to what’s marked here…”

“…?”

“Udamhwa is nearby.”

“What? Why is it nearby?”

Wasn’t it supposed to take three days just to get there?

We had run hard, but not hard enough to cross a three-day distance in half a day.

Yet it was right around here?

It wasn’t just me who questioned it; the combat and supply teams also looked at Woo Yeonhu.

Under everyone’s gaze, he scratched his neck awkwardly.

“It seems we crossed through this canyon.”

“Ah…”

Everyone, including me, understood and sighed in relief.

The reason it was expected to take three days was because we had to take a large detour around this canyon.

Now, we were uprooting the layer trees blocking the canyon to cross through it.

We were making a shortcut that could be traveled in half a day.

Haha, maybe this is what they call a blessing in disguise.

“So this is the dilemma. Given the current situation—”

“Let’s go!”

Why are you worrying about that?

The others nodded in agreement with my opinion.

He continued calmly as if telling us to calm down.

“But the skeletons—”

“It’s okay, we’re not dying!”

“We’re relaxed because the Skeleton Lord hasn’t come. If he comes now—”

“Ah, what’s the worst that can happen? We die!”

“That’s literally the top rank of deathbed lines men say—”

“Ah, let’s go!”

“…….”

He paused for a moment, weighing the situation.

As the leader of the expedition, avoiding danger was a priority.

We were more relaxed now, but we were still being chased by skeletons.

If the Skeleton Lord, who was still holding back, arrived, the situation could change drastically.

But the expedition’s goal, Udamhwa, was right in front of us.

If it were far away, maybe we’d hesitate.

But since it was so close, we had to at least take a look.

Nodding decisively, Woo Yeonhu made up his mind.

“Alright, let’s go. But only with a small group.”

Having stacked the layer trees as a barricade, he meant to hold the position here while sending two or three people quickly to grab it.

A layer tree suddenly jumped and fell backward.

Until now, the empty space had been on our side, so the trees always fell forward.

For one to fall backward meant…

“That was the last tree.”

It meant we had uprooted all the trees blocking the way.

I walked out of the tree tunnel I had created and looked back.

The tunnel was about wide enough for three people to pass at once.

I asked Woo Yeonhu, who was watching the combat team on the other side.

“Who’s going?”

“Well, I and Zion must go. I’m thinking of taking one more.”

He was the one who organized this expedition, and I had to collect Udamhwa.

Oh Juhan looked like he wanted to go, but neither the guild master nor the vice guild master could leave their posts.

The guards from the supply or gathering teams couldn’t leave the mana generators, so they were excluded.

In the end, we had to take one more person from the combat team.

That was why he was looking at the combat members.

Excluding Woo Yeonhu and Oh Juhan, the combat team consisted of one tank, two ranged DPS, and one mage.

They didn’t have a healer, which was essential for an A-Rank hunter party.

The reason was that they treated healing potions like energy drinks and used them during breaks.

The resources of this large guild were truly terrifying.

“Jiyeon would be good. ‘Kim Jiyeon’!”

“Yes, I’ll go!”

The female archer among the two archers answered.

It seemed they decided to leave the tank with strong burst damage, the consistent ranged DPS, and the versatile mage behind.

The archer called Kim Jiyeon shot a wide volley of magic arrows before stepping down from the woodpile.

She must have overheard everything from above because she asked no further questions and crossed the tunnel promptly.

“Juhan, take command!”

“… Got it!”

After Woo Yeonhu asked Oh Juhan to take command, he crossed the tunnel.

Thus, we set off toward the place where Udamhwa grew.

Udamhwa was really close.

It was about five to six kilometers from where the layer trees grew.

We had been planning to take three days going around a long way.

Who would have thought the skeleton attacks would turn into a blessing?

The only issue was having to go over the canyon cliffs, but the cliffs weren’t very tall, so it wasn’t a big problem.

Kim Jiyeon threw a few daggers at the cliff to make footholds.

The cliff was low enough to climb that way.

Upon reaching the cliff top, we saw another lower cliff.

Below it was a pool, and in the pool bloomed a single flower.

Udamhwa.

True to its nature of growing by absorbing yin energy, it was in a spot where sunlight didn’t reach at all.

“Finally…!”

Woo Yeonhu stood there trembling with emotion.

The remedy he had been searching for to cure his younger sibling’s illness was right in front of him.

I couldn’t even imagine the joy he must have felt.

He might even cry.

“…….!”

Just as I thought that, the yin energy suddenly surged violently.

The ground shook in response to the pulsing energy.

It was because of a massive teleportation circle that appeared on the cliff one level above.

“So it won’t be this easy.”

“Skeleton Lord…!”

Woo Yeonhu muttered darkly.

Even darker than his voice, the Skeleton Lord stood on the cliff above.

Wearing a cloak wrapped in darkness, its two eyes glowed red as it stared at me.

Why?

There were three humans here, but it felt like it was only looking at me.

It seemed furious at me, which was baffling.

What had I done?

“Good. If you came alone, then here—”

He bit his lower lip mid-sentence.

Really, a slip of the tongue.

Before he could finish, skeletons arrived behind the Lord.

Two general-class, four captain-class, and hundreds of soldier-class.

These were different from the ones we’d seen before—their bodies emitted black smoke that rose like the horns on the Lord’s head.

Probably the basic buff effect of a gate boss.

It generally made them about twice as strong.

I’d never seen it firsthand, but I had heard a lot from A-Rank hunters around me.

“Run. We can’t handle all of them.”

This time, I nodded without hesitation.

There was no way three people could fight the evolved Skeleton Lord and hundreds of minions.

Though I joked about being ready to die, I really didn’t want to.

No matter how close Udamhwa was, it was best to give up and run here.

Just as I prepared to retreat, his words echoed in my mind.

“… Fight?”

He didn’t say “Let’s run” but “Run” as an order.

Meaning he wouldn’t run.

The reason was easy to guess.

He planned to stay behind alone to buy me and Kim Jiyeon time to escape.

“Are you crazy?”

“I am crazy!”

My calm voice was drowned out by Kim Jiyeon’s shout.

We were about to say the same thing anyway.

I left it to her and looked up at the cliff.

They were watching us from above with relaxed attitudes.

Hundreds of skeletons in front, a cliff behind.

They were arrogant because there was nowhere for us to go.

Then the skeletons mocked us by opening and closing their jaws with a clicking noise.

I was growing more and more irritated. Damn skeleton bastards.

“Don’t you think about the chairman and his sister?”

“… I’m the one who formed this expedition. I’m responsible for keeping you alive.”

“That’s ridiculous! I’m responsible for my own life. Chaeyeon asked me to look after you. So if you’re going to die here, I’ll die with you.”

“Kim Jiyeon!”

Even while the skeletons mocked us, the two were putting on a melodrama.

Ha, damn it.

I wiped my mask with both hands and sighed deeply.

Really.

This is truly my weakness.

“Ah… I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

“Yes. Zion, you should run—”

“No, I’ll go with you.”

I cut off their misunderstanding.

The two stared at me wide-eyed in surprise.

“What? Why would Zion—”

“Look at that.”

I pointed at the Skeleton Lord.

The two followed my finger.

The creature suddenly raised its right hand and summoned a huge sword.

Apparently, it didn’t like being pointed at.

It was angry at me.

I didn’t know why.

“That look it’s giving me… It’s like a teenager in love, isn’t it?”

“Love… I don’t think so.”

“Well, anyway. I don’t think it’ll just let me run away. If anything, it’ll chase only me.”

They slowly nodded as if agreeing.

So, I wasn’t imagining the Skeleton Lord’s anger at me.

Now that I thought about it, it was unfair.

What on earth did I do wrong?

Maybe it felt a kinship because I wore a white mask?

“So, let’s do this together.”

I shrugged.

He gave a smirk as if saying I wasn’t crazy.

Kim Jiyeon shook her head but gave a faint smile.

At that moment, a holographic system window popped up.

[The World Tree Sprout is moved by the sincere care humans have for each other.]

[The Sprout transfers the surrounding ‘soil’ to the caretaker, Baek Dowoon.]

Moved? Soil?

What does that even mean?

More importantly, World Tree…

Are you watching this situation right now?

As I wondered that, thud!

Suddenly, armor popped out.

Why did it pop out?

“Ah.”

Something suddenly came to mind.

The memory of when the expedition’s World Tree fruit had emerged from my smartphone.

Could it be…

“Zion? Your armor—”

Puhak!

With an explosion-like sound, the armor was pierced.

At the noise, Woo Yeonhu’s eyes went wide.

Not because of the sound.

Something even more surprising was happening on my chest.

Soil gushed out violently through the hole.

It was so powerful that I lost control and fell backward.

I had become a soil fountain spewing dirt.

Dohee, Taecheon, I heard leaving home means hardship.

I think that’s right.

I miss you so much…

The soil shot high into the sky, then fell down like tears from my heart.