Chapter 122 – Kariharan Frostplains
“Woooooo~”
Powerful gusts of wind came from beyond the darkness. The winds were strong, strong enough to push a man down. And the snow from above rode upon the winds as they fell from the sky.
The two elements merged and covered the world in white. The mountains, the trees, the plains; the endless blizzard blanketed the entire Frostplains. And in the midst of the freezing cold was a rider galloping through the snowstorm.
Then
“Grrr”
A Sabre Tooth Tiger as tall as the rider on top of the horse blocked his way. The Sabre Tooth Tiger was the most dangerous creature to live on the Frostplains.
Its large size, its physical strength to match, its claws as strong as steel, and teeth as long as swords, and finally its snow white coat which allowed it to perfectly blend in with the environment like a chameleon, all combined made the Sabre Tooth Tiger a deadly predator. The beast slowly snuck up on his mark, looking for an opportunity to strike and then
“Krah!”
It leapt up to ambush the rider. A moment of life and death. But then, the body of the Sabre Tooth Tiger became separated into three pieces as if someone had cut it with the aid of a ruler; The head, the torso, and the lower body.
Red blood splattered upon the white Frostplains. The man who had dealt with the Sabre Tooth Tiger in a single blow, Sungjin, was muttering to himself.
“Wow… You have become such spectacular weapons, Blood Vengeance and Artemio.”
Sungjin returned his two swords to their scabbards. The upgraded Unique Legendary swords he wielded boasted amazing specs.
Especially Blood Vengeance with its SSS Strength rating which delivered a stellar performance.
‘Well… the stats are the same as before… but having it made right after Chapter 10 is probably why it is overpowered…’
Sungjin thought to himself as he looked back into the darkness, towards the place where the snowstorm was raging. Besgoro’s Ghost vision allowed Sungjin to see as clear as day in the dark.
Sungjin focused his eyes into the distance. The Frostplains went on as far as the eyes could see. And in the middle of it was a palace made of ice; the home of this Raid’s boss, the Ice Witch. Sungjin muttered to himself.
“Thank you, Besgoro. I had such trouble last time because of the darkness.”
‘Well… Shadowrun is the one doing all the work.’
Sungjin pet Shadowrun’s neck out of grat.i.tude. Shadowrun neighed once. The Ghost Stallion was able to run without rest without becoming cold even through this blizzard.
“Let’s go Shadowrun”
Sungjin whipped the reins once. The Shadowrun ran full speed headlong into the wind, unaffected by it, towards the frozen Palace.
The closer he got to the Frozen Palace, the stronger the blizzard became. In truth, the blizzard was the most difficult enemy to overcome. Considering the stats of the monsters in this map, they were actually quite ordinary.
Ordinary, except for the fact that the monsters, Sabre Tooth Tiger, Yeti, Ice golems and the like were completely unaffected by the cold or the snow.
On the other hand, the Hunters were struggling to keep warmth despite the thick snowsuit and could barely move properly. Of course, none of these factors were a handicap to Sungjin.
He was already strong enough to finish this raid alone. He was only worried about the others.
He was not worried for the other four hunters he had left behind to go ahead, but the ‘Chosen Ones’ that were fighting in their own dimensions. Sungjin thought to himself
‘How are the others doing?’
*
The giant snowman, Yeti, came charging at Nada. The fingers of this monster alone was as large as a man’s fist.
Nada first escaped the reach of his grasp as she swung her daggers.
‘Woos woosh’
“Krrr”
One of the Yeti’s thumbs was cut off. The monster became enraged and came charging towards her even faster than before. Nada shouted quickly
“Domingo!”
Domingo was the name of the Zombie she brought around with her. It was the name of a cla.s.smate she disliked long ago. Domingo dove in and bit away at the Yeti’s arm.
The Yeti turned his attention away from Nada to look at Domingo. Before the zombie could be flattened, another hunter wielding a trident stabbed the Yeti at his sides.
‘Stab’
Along with the sound, the Yeti turned his attention away from Domingo to chase the hunter with the trident. The trident wielding hunter yelled out in fear
“N… Next!”
This time someone chanted
“Firebolt!”
He used the magic to burn the Yeti’s fur. The Yeti turned his attention away from the trident hunter to chase the magician. Nada thought to herself while watching the scene.
‘It’s exactly as the Master Hunter had told us.’
This was what the ‘Chooser’ Master Hunter Kei had told them during the unscheduled breakfast meeting.
‘The Yeti boasts an incredible strength and endurance, but it isn’t all that bright. Yetis tend to focus on the last person who hits them. So after one person attacks, if the next person strikes before the Yeti can counter, it will switch targets to the new attacker. So if you plan a delayed attack and take turns striking it in a circle, it will just go round and around until it dies.’
The information sheet only said ‘it is a simple and unintelligent creature’, so Kei’s instructions were far more detailed and complete, as well as being effective in battle.
After the Yeti was pa.s.sed along from hunter to hunter and each of the hunters had hit it two or three times
“Kughagh”
It cried out and died.
“Oohh… it’s true, this thing… just as Miss Nada had said…”
Meanwhile, one of the hunters asked Nada
“How did you know about this? It wasn’t written on the Information sheet.”
Nada didn’t have much to say, so she shrugged.
‘I want to know that as well.’
Master Hunter Kei, he had too many secrets.
*
Serin was more focused than ever before. To begin with, the strong winds made it difficult to aim the shots, and second, the target was covered in white fur, making it difficult to distinguish it from the environment. But in spite of it all,
‘Pew~’
The arrows which left her bow hit its mark at the base of the Yeti’s neck.
“Kughagh”
The Yeti came charging at the hunters enraged. Serin readied another arrow as she nocked it on the bow and prepared to let it fly. Whenever a hunter was about to be in danger, she would immediately
‘Pew~’
Let the arrow fly and have the monster come after her. Even if the Yeti charged towards her, if anyone so much as grazed the monster it would change target, so the Yeti was no real threat to her.
She calmly prepared another arrow on her bow, and when a hunter was just about to be hit
‘Pew~’
She turned its attention towards her. Just by controlling the timing of her arrows, she was easily able to control the movement of the Yeti, making it easier to hunt the beast.
“Kughagh”
Once the Yeti had fallen, the hunters approached her and said
“Wow, you’re a really great shot Ha.s.san”
“Where did you learn to shoot, Ha.s.san?”
Ha.s.san, as in Serin, stroked her beard as she answered
“Well, I learned it, long ago.”
The Mask even changed her voice. She didn’t have a whole a lot of meaning in picking the name Ha.s.san.
When she was looking for masks to buy, she found one which turned her into a middle eastern man and the first name that popped into her mind was Ha.s.san.
A common name. Thanks to it, not even other people of middle eastern origin questioned her.
‘Where are you from?’
When she was asked this question, she was a little fl.u.s.tered as to how to answer. But as a bearded man, one of the ‘Chosen Ones’, she was progressing through the raid without much difficulty.
Serin was already quite strong, but once she obtained Master Hunter Sungjin’s bonus stats, she became even more powerful.
She has not given it a try yet, but even if one or two allies were to die… no, even if she was all alone, she felt that she could possibly beat the regular Raid boss on her own.
The reason why she had to ensure the safety of her comrades were, that the Hidden bosses would be difficult to beat otherwise. Serin wanted to make sure to defeat the Hidden Boss this round. She already kind of knew where to find it.
‘Oppa told me…Bas.e.m.e.nt of the Frozen Palace… There is a Hidden Boss frozen in there…’
During the ‘Briefing’ in the morning, Sungjin had informed the three ‘Chosen Ones’ the location of the Hidden Boss. It was a valuable information that could not be found on the information sheet. Serin gripped her fist.
‘I will defeat the Hidden boss of this round and become even stronger.’
*
The man in the front, ‘Frozen Heart’ lifted up his hand and spread his fingers. This was a signal for them to stop. Franz asked him
“Why…”
But as soon as he began to utter his words, a Yeti came walking out of the blizzard into view. ‘Frozen Heart’ lifted up his s.h.i.+eld and gave a short command.
“Ready”
Four other hunters surrounded the Yeti upon his command. Franz was one of the hunters. Once the Yeti was in the right distance, he ordered
“Attack”
The first hunter ran in and attacked the Yeti and fell back. Franz was the second. Before the 1st hunter could be attacked, he swung his two-handed sword and stabbed the creature.
The third hunter was ‘Frozen Heart’ who swung his axe and transferred the aggro upon himself. This was the method Master Hunter Kei had informed the others to use.
‘Frozen Heart’ was a natural born leader. Once he had learned of the strategy from Franz, he a.s.signed an attack order for the hunters and gave command during the fight.
And Franz, as well as the other hunters, found themselves naturally following his orders. ‘Frozen Heart’ had something about him.
A certain charisma that compelled people to obey. Strictly speaking, Franz ought to be stronger, but strangely, he couldn’t help but feel that he had to obey.
It was true that as an ex-military, ‘Frozen Heart’ had more experience with leaders.h.i.+p. So the Hunt continued. It was during the hunt when
“Uhh…”
A problem arose. The 1st hunter who was supposed to hit the Yeti after the 5th hunter, had missed.
The 5th hunter was in danger of becoming folded in half by the Yeti’s attack. Franz wouldn’t watch on by without doing anything. He prepared to charge at the Yeti.
But ‘Frozen Heart’ reacted faster than anyone else, blocking the hit with his s.h.i.+eld.
“Boom!”
Franz had thought he might have sustained an injury. ‘Frozen Heart’ was strong, but Master Hunter Kei had told them
‘Yeti’s attacks are really dangerous. Anyone other than the tanks will probably die in one hit, and even tanks would have difficulty sustaining more than two hits. Probably.”
But the one to spit blood and die was not the Frozen Heart but the Yeti.
“Kughagh”
Embedded at the base of the dying Yeti’s neck was Frozen Heart’s Axe. Frozen Heart walked up to the dead monster with cold eyes deserving his t.i.tle, as he pulled his weapon out of the beast’s neck.
He directed his attention to the 1st hunter.
“Careful. A comrade almost died because of you.
His glare, as well as his words, were cold without equal. The 1st Hunter apologized.
“Ah… Sorry…”
Most people would find such cold demeanor off-putting, but Franz who liked the strong found it to be a merit.
‘This man… even though he does not have the Chosen One t.i.tle… his power is almost on par with mine’
Franz approached the man out of curiosity.
“Hey, Frozen Heart.”
“…What.”
“What did you say your name was?”
Frozen Heart looked up into the sky and then said his name as if he was letting out a sigh.
“Illich.”