Chapter 113

Chapter 113 – Black Tree (3)

8 .

Unique and Rare was not a vocabulary that the Users disliked . The word, Unique, drove people into a fervor . This was the same for Rare Boss monsters . Either the odds were very low or one had to fulfill a particular set of requirements to be able to meet a Rare Boss monster . The reward given out was proportional to how difficult it was to encounter the monster .

It gave ingredients Items with good Options, very good EXP, and rare titles .

On top of that…

“Are you thinking about uploading the hunting video again?”

Raid videos was an opportunity to bring in a lot of money .

“Of course . It’s my meal ticket . ”

When he decided to commit to the Black Tree Raid, all the risk regarding the Raid was erased from his head .

Return!

Instead, Hyrkan’s head was filled with thoughts about the costs in regards to the Black Tree . Hyrkan had carried out numerous Raids before, but the most profit he could make until now was riding on this Black Tree Raid .

This was why Hyrkan asked an indirect question .

“Is it a problem? Do you want me to edit you out? Do you want a mosaic? Or do you want a share?”

Of course, he wasn’t asking those questions, because he wanted to cede those things . Still, he asked the question to confirm where he stood with Whistling .

However, Whistling shook his head from side to side at Hyrkan’s questions . It was the reaction Hyrkan had wanted to see . However, instead of a smile, Hyrkan couldn’t help, but feel amazed by Whistling .

‘He really is an incredible person . He is giving up everything to save the Elven tribe… . ’

Whistling was giving up Items and rights that was rightfully his . Of course, if one wasn’t competent, it was moot point in the first place . If Hyrkan was in Whistling’s shoes, he would have acted differently . If he couldn’t have it, then no one could .

If some else saw Whistling’s action, he would be labeled a stupid loser .

However, Hyrkan didn’t even think those thought . Instead, Hyrkan felt truly amazed by Whistling’s action . Even if Hyrkan died and woke up again, he would never be able to live his life like Whistling .

Whistling’s action made Hyrkan’s heart shake .

“If this business ends well, let’s have some melon beer together . ”

The words that came out of Hyrkan’s mouth was very rare . It was hard to hear such words from him .

Whistling answered Hyrkan with his words .

“I’ll show you my battle footage . ”

Whistling’s voice and expression was very serious . His expression was especially overwhelming . His face looked like that of a pitbull, and his face came off as menacing when his face turned serious .

Hyrkan had seen all kinds of monsters… These monsters were beyond odd . The monsters had outer appearances that was hair-raising, yet Hyrkan smiled as he killed the monster . He had thought about the Items they would give . However, Pitbull’s face even made Hyrkan flinch .

Of course, Hyrkan immediately changed his mindset . He locked away such nonsensical thoughts deep within his stomach .

“All right . ”

They had to make preparations for the battle . Of course, Hyrkan didn’t need to see the footage . He already knew how to take down the Black Tree . However, he couldn’t explain that to Whistling .

Whistling immediately showed the footage of his battles with the Black Tree .

The Black Tree was quite big . It was around 30 meters tall . If ten broad shouldered men linked hands, they would barely be able to surround the circumference of the tree . The special characteristic of this tree was the long and thick strand-like branches . It was closer to whips than tree branches .

Its attack method was quite simple . It took root into the ground, and it swung its whip-like branches towards its enemies .

It was very simple, but the power behind the strikes were enormous . The tree branch headed towards its target as it divided the wind . The sound of the strike would make anyone’s neck stiffen .

Whitling had tried attack the Black Tree twice .

In the first attempt, Whistling barely dodged the rampaging tree branches . When he approached the main body of the Black Tree, he used his Charge skill to immediately close the distance . Then he used a high level Booster skill, and the Flash Skill . These skills increased the power and speed of the sword strike . Then he used a level 150 Rare Fighter skill called Cut-Cut . He had maximized the cutting force of the sword to the extreme .

However, when the three skill combo impacted on the Black Tree’s Bark, it left behind a cut that was only an inch deep .

It might be a critical wound on a human, but an attack of that caliber wasn’t even considered to be a scratch .

On this second attempt, Whistling aimed for the knothole . He once again evaded the tree branches as he closed the distance with the Black Tree . Then he aimed for one of the knotholes . The wound was deep, but Black Sap exploded forth from the wound, and it coated Whistling’s body .

At the same time, the Black Tree tried to shake off Whistling, who was stuck to the tree like a bug . It used its branch to send Whistling flying .

After being flung far into the distance, Whistling immediately got out of there . When he saw the Black Sap eat away at his HP, he immediately realized he couldn’t catch this monster by himself .

From that point, it took him three hours before he had contacted Hyrkan .

“Its characteristic are…… . ”

The video had ended, and Whistling started to give a more in-depth explanation .

“I can see it for myself . ”

However, Hyrkan immediately cut off Whistling with his words .

“The Tree Bark has a very high defense . Instead, we have to attack its weakness, which is the knotholes . However, if the knothole is attacked, it’ll let out the Black Sap . It is probably a poison . No, you would have just used an antidote item if it was just a simple poison . You were prepared for this possibility . This means antidote item and skill won’t work on this attack . ”

Whistling was impressed at Hyrkan’s explanation .

“You are amazing . You just saw the footage once, yet you were able to come up with those answers . ”

“It isn’t anything amazing . ”

Hyrkan displayed an ambiguous reaction, and he immediately changed the topic towards the Raid .

“The Circlet of Purification will block any negative effect caused by the Black Sap . This is why Chieftain Drah gave you that Item . ”

The solution to the biggest obstacle had already been provided .

“However, you are the only one able to equip the Circlet of Purification right now . You will have to do the Armor Breaking . ”

However, the Circlet of Purification couldn’t be transferred . To be precise, it returned to its liquid form when held by someone other than Whistling . This was why the Armor Breaking or the expansion of the knothole was Whistling’s job .

Hyrkan’s role was to occupy the several dozen tree branches, so Whistling could focus on his job .

“It won’t be easy . This is especially true for you, Hahoe Mask . If the task becomes too arduous, you can just leave me behind . ”

If one looked at the difficulty of their tasks, Hyrkan’s role was overwhelmingly more difficult . Since Whistling had the Circlet of Purification, he had to just climb the tree to attack the knotholes . He had a body that could easily climb a cliff of 90 degree to 150 degrees . The act of climbing a tree was nothing to Whistling . Moreover, the Black Tree’s Bark was so rough that one could easily find the handholds .

On the other hand, Hyrkan had to face several dozen wild tree branches . It was almost impossible to imagine how a single person could pull it off .

It was such a difficult task that Whistling had told Hyrkan to run away if things got bad .

“Huh . ”

However, Hyrkan’s reaction to Whistling’s reaction was unexpected .

“No, it isn’t really that hard…”

“What?”

Whistling was surprised . However, Hyrkan didn’t give an explanation .

“You are the one doing the hard work . My role is just to put a bow on at the end . ”

Whistling soon found out the meaning of Hyrkan’s words .

9 .

The process of finding the Black tree had been complicated and difficult . Just hearing about how Whistling did it made Hyrkan dizzy .

The first requirement was to receive the Black Tree’s Curse Quest from the Tehkee tribe .

However, to find the Black Tree hiding within the lush forest, one needed to find the ‘Compass Twig’ .

However, one could receive this twig only if one had high affinity to the Mooah tribe .

At the same time, one needed the ‘Tree Alarm Clock’ from the Soorey Tribe to be able to wake up the Black Tree .

Of course, the order of obtaining these Items happened in reverse order . One had to increase affinity with the Soorey tribe by doing Quests related to them . This will allow one to establish a connection with the Mooah tribe . Then one wouldl be able to receive the request from the Tehkee tribe .

If one was crazy enough to do all the Quests related to the Elven tribe, one would be able to do the Black Tree hunt . Currently, Whistling was the only User that had reached this point .

However, at that moment, Whistling was thankful that he had developed a good relationship with Hyrkan .

‘How surprising . ’

At the same time, he was in awe .

Whistling had climbed up the body of the Black tree, and he was widening the knotwholes . When he looked at Hyrkan from the side of his eyes, he saw 15 Skeleton Warriors nimbly dodging the Black Tree’s branches .

Hoo-oohng!

The tree branches were letting out a heavy sound as they flew towards the 15 Skeleton Warriors . It was like watching a circus show . It didn’t feel like a battle at all .

This had been the cause of Hyrkan’s confidence .

Hyrkan confirmed it the moment he saw Whistling’s video . The branches of the Black Tree moved slower than he had originally expected . He realized the Skeletons he had poured much effort and care into developing would be able to dodge the Black Tree’s attacks .

Moreover, he had three more cards he could play aside the Skeleton Warriors to catch the Black Tree .

– The magic spells are coming . You should dodge it .

His first card was the Skeleton Magicians, who could control the aggro .

His second card was his Golem . Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary Golem . When he decided to do the Black Tree Raid, he immediately bought the Ingredient Gem of a level 140 Boss monster called the Elephant Colossus . The Elephant Colossus was a large sculpture with the head of an elephant . It had a human body with four arms . Hyrkan had used it as ingredient to the Clay Play, because this particular monster was very good at using its arms . As Hyrkan had expected, the Elephant Colossus was able to grab the tree branches, and a tug of war ensued . There were times when all four hands had grasped a tree branch each .

It was very effective .

The third card was Hyrkan himself .

Hyrkan took an active role as one of the cards . It had been about 50 minutes when the Black Tree entered into its Third Phase .

10 .

‘As expected of Pitbull, he is very skilled . ’

Hyrkan admired Whistling’s skill at Armor Breaking . He was giving help, but there was no reason for him to disparage Whistling’s skill .

Of course, Hyrkan knew about Whistling’s capability, but he never expected him to be so good in a Raid . Hyrkan had thought Whistling was more specialized towards PVP than Raids .

‘If his level and Items could be upgraded… No, he could get into any primary Raid teams of the 30 great guilds right now . ’

Whistling’s ability shined even in a Raid .

The fact that he could enter into the first team of the 30 great guilds meant that he was one of the top players in Warlord . However, this person had faded away from people’s memories .

Hyrkan was able to have an uncanny appreciation of this User .

At the same time, a thought crossed Hyrkan’s mind .

‘If I had met someone like Whistling instead of the Hahoe Mask guild before I returned to the past…… . ’

Maybe Hyrkan would have been like Whistling . Instead of using the game as a tool to gain resources and achieve a goal, he might have lived life as he enjoyed the game itself . What kind of life would he have lead? Hyrkan couldn’t even imagine such a scenario .

‘Stop fucking with yourself, Ahn-jaehyun . ’

He couldn’t imagine it, but he had been trying to imagine it . He made a sarcastic remark disparaging himself .

These thoughts were unbecoming of Hyrkan .

‘The timing is almost right . ’

Hyrkan wasn’t suited for some quiet fantasy game . He was intense, which lead to his flashy style .

The flashiness allowed him to make money . He could become the best only if he could make money .

This was what the game meant to Hyrkan . There was no room for romanticism in this game for him . It was a matter of life and death . This was the only two choice .

The same was true of today . He wasn’t here to simply succeed in the raid . He had come here prepared to sell the Raid footage .

“Get down, Whistling . I’ll end this . ”

It was time for him to unveil ‘that’ .

11 .

Kwahng!

The first explosive detonated .

Kwahng, kwahng!

Black Sap continuously dripped down from all over the body . The sound of explosives going off was heard, and flames erupted . When the flames erupted, the Black Tree looked like a decorated Christmas tree .

The string of explosions were so numerous that it couldn’t be contained . It started to spread . It was like looking at night sky in a rural area where the stars dotted the sky .

‘The explosives are going off quite well . ’

As he watched the sight, Hyrkan was struck with a feeling of admiration inside, but he had a sad expression on his face .

Bone Explosives .

It was the main cause of the explosions going off right now . Hyrkan had prepared several hundred Bone Explosives to kill the Black Tree .

The total cost of this was unknown . Hyrkan had bought ingredients for the Bone Explosives whenever he saw cheap Bone Ingredient Coins come up on the market . He made the Bone Ingredients into Bone Explosives, then he had put it into the Item Storage . He had brought out most of the Bone Explosives he had save this time around . It was possible for him to calculate the total cost, but he intentionally didn’t calculate it . His insides would burst if he did .

One thing was for certain . Several thousand gold was going off right now .

‘The picture will look fantastic . ’

He didn’t really need to catch the Black Tree like this . The large group of bombs were set off for show, and it was a waste of resource . This was evidence that Hyrkan was playing this game for materialistic reasons .

Whistling’s expression became a bit heavier when he witnessed the sight . Whistling quickly realized the reason for the spectacle in front of his eyes .

‘He’s desperate . ’

As someone who was born into a wealthy family, he could play this game for pleasure . Unlike him, Hyrkan had to think about the spectacle, and the way he could sell this footage . Hyrkan wasn’t playing this game for himself . He was playing for others, and Whistling felt sympathy towards Hyrkan .

Of course, Whistling didn’t pity Hyrkan . He didn’t have a reason or the qualification to be able to pity him .

“Thank you . ”

He just expressed his thanks .

Whistling had set up the table, yet he wouldn’t have been able to eat the meal if not for Hyrkan .

“If you need any help, please don’t hesitate to call on me . If it is a request from you, I’ll help you once with no questions asked . ”

Hyrkan expressed his thanks . At the same time, Hyrkan put himself under Whistling’s debt . He had done something that left him grasping the short end of the stick . Maybe it was a way for him to leave a point of contact with Whistling .

At that moment, both Users… .

[You’ve gained the Title ‘ Black Tree Logger’ . ]

The Announcement that signaled the end of the hunt rang out .