He looked around.
In this wasteland, there was a material he had to take before anyone else.
‘Hedley’s Kow.’
A unique fairy that could transform into any shape and could possess all the stats its target had.
When Hedley’s Kow’s life was at risk, it would transform into a phoenix and escape.
The phoenix was a mirage rank monster.
It was extremely rare and just as strong.
However, the phoenix Hedley’s Kow transforms into was something Muyoung could definitely catch.
It would be the best material if only he could get it…
‘First, I need to figure out where exactly it is.’
He was certain that Hedley’s Kow would be here in 5 years but was unsure if it was here now.
So he had to first survey his surroundings and figure out who the ruler of this area was.
As it was a Demon G.o.d’s territory, if he accidentally met a strong monster, he could lose his life.
Currently, Muyoung’s strength was only considered average.
Caww! Caaawwww!
Crows the size of a man’s chest were flying around the mountains.
‘Blood.’
He also smelled a thick scent of blood.
Muyoung slowly moved towards the place reeking of blood.
Grrrrawrrr!
An incomparably large black dinosaur-like monster let out a cry.
In front of it were giants covered in flames which grabbed the dinosaur’s neck and were toying with it as they burned its whole body.
The black dinosaur was a high ranked monster known as the Aquitora.
It had a fierce and aggressive temper and a tendency to hunt for fun so it was the culprit in destroying the surrounding ecosystem.
The Aquitora was a creature at the top of the food chain but it was currently the one being hunted.
It couldn’t even fight back.
It had no choice.
The giants covered in flames were the bane of living creatures.
Fire Tar.
A giant of flames.
With a height of 10m, they were the top among the high ranked monsters!
Although there weren’t many, they were a warrior tribe that lived in harsh conditions with a lifespan of a thousand years.
The five Fire Tars who were toying with the Aquitora broke its neck and made their hands sharp as knives to skin the beast.
They then roasted the meat and ate it.
The flames of the Fire Tar would only burn their enemies.
‘Is this the territory of the Fire Tars?’
Muyoung who gazed at this scene from a far couldn’t help but become nervous.
If this was the Fire Tars’ territory, then it would become a huge restriction on his movements.
First, unlike their size, the Fire Tar were agile and sensitive.
It was difficult for Muyoung to escape at his current level. Even with the help of the h.e.l.lhorse, there was a limit.
‘What to do.’
He couldn’t beat the Fire Tars right now.
Even with the help of all his undead.
From the start, the undead were weak against fire.
“Hmm…? An ant’s hiding here.”
Thuuuud.
One of the five Fire Tars moved.
Muyoung’s face distorted.
He tried his best to hide but was unable to fool the Fire Tars’ senses.
Different from humans, they were able to use the surrounding temperature to detect living creatures.
If this wasn’t the Fire Tars’ territory, he would have been able to walk away leisurely without getting caught.
‘If I use the undead to buy some time, I can leave.’
Muyoung became tense as he took the lead.
Just when Muyoung held talismans and was about to use them, the Fire Tar who had seen Muyoung tilted his head.
“A goblin? What, did you lose your pack?”
Goblin?
Ahah.
Muyoung nodded his head.
‘Six Paths.’
That was right.
Didn’t Muyoung’s appearance change to that of a goblin king after being enlightened by the Six Paths?
It wasn’t weird for the Fire Tar to make a mistake.
When Muyoung didn’t reply, the Fire Tar pointed towards a direction and spoke.
“Your pack moved towards the west. To hold a ceremony for the ‘Advent of Oom’ or something. If you go now, you should be able to catch up.”
He didn’t sense any ill will from the Fire Tar.
It felt like he was giving directions not to an enemy or a friend but to a pa.s.sing civilian.
It seemed like the relationship between the Fire Tars and the goblins weren’t bad.
‘The Advent of Oom?’
He had never heard of that name before.
Of course, there wasn’t a lot of information about the life of goblins but it did seem likely that they would have a few strange ceremonies.
Anyways, he knew the Fire Tars weren’t hostile.
‘I have to use this chance.’
Muyoung calmed his heartbeat as much as he could.
Since the Fire Tar might find something weird if his body temperature rose due to anxiety.
‘Three belts made from tree trunks wrapped around his waist.’
There were ranks among the Fire Tar and a unique trait was that their ranks would be indicated by the amount of tree trunk belts around their waists.
And if one had three belts, it meant he had the second highest rank.
“Vice-chieftain of the Fire Tars! Do you know of Hedley’s Kow?”
The language was automatically interpreted by the Status Viewer.
The accent was different but the Fire Tar replied without being suspicious.
It was because the Fire Tar believed that he could only be a goblin since he had recognized that he was the vice-chieftain.
“Hedley’s Kow? I haven’t heard of it. Have you guys heard of it?”
The other four Fire Tars shook their heads.
He had only asked just in case but it was like he thought.
“They say they haven’t either.”
“Then… could I receive some meat from you?”
The Fire Tar vice-chieftain thought over the sudden request and nodded his head.
“It’s not like the amount a small goblin eats would leave a mark so do what you want.”
Aquitora, the dinosaur shaped monster, was huge.
Even then, it was only enough to fill the five Fire Tar’s bellies.
Muyoung walked in an honorable manner and sliced off a hunk of Aquitora meat.
Then he ate as gluttonously as he could.
‘The Fire Tar’s territory is vast. If I can’t leave it, then I have to blend in.’
There was no guarantee that there was only one Fire Tar tribe.
There could be others that were more hostile to others, so it difficult to expect the rest to treat a goblin with good will.
And eating together gave a sense of attachment to a group.
In this moment, Muyoung was acting as if he belonged to the same group as the five Fire Tars.
The vice-chieftain looked at his figure with interest.
“A goblin would usually be shocked and scared at the sight of us, you’re quite an interesting one.”
It was like he watching a small animal’s cute tricks.
Muyoung wiped the grease off his lips and said.
“I came from a very far place. Don’t group me with other goblins.”
“All goblins are the same, what could be different.”
Muyoung’s expression distorted.
“I am different. But this land is too harsh to me. I want to get stronger by catching prey that are my level. If you tell me a method, I will compensate you the best I can.”
The Fire Tars had been here the longest.
They would know exactly what lived where.
There was a limit to exploring by himself.
Since he might meet an opponent too difficult to handle like now.
He was lucky this time. However, he couldn’t always be lucky.
“Hmm, this land is too barren for a lone goblin to live by himself…”
The vice-chieftain rubbed his chin as he continued.
“There are bugs that gnaw on the trunk of the ‘Poom tree’. They dig holes in the ground so it’s hard for us to hunt them. If you can deal with them, I’ll tell you a way,”
He offered a deal.
‘Not bad.’
It wasn’t bad to cooperate with the rulers of this territory.
If he was to gain their trust, he would be able to find Hedley’s Kow.
It was foolish to move without any information but it wasn’t good to stay still either.
Muyoung had to get stronger.
Multiple times what he was now.
“Okay. I’ll handle that for you.”
They made a deal.
The vice-chieftain said it without any expectations.
The Poom tree was one of the trees the Fire Tars took care of and although it couldn’t compare to the world’s largest, it was an enormous tree.
It was the size of a small mountain so there were a large number of bugs gnawing on its trunk.
There wasn’t ten or twenty thousand but a number easily exceeding a hundred thousand.
And it was impossible for a single goblin to ‘handle’ them all.
Although it was a joke, the Fire Tars only thought to pull a prank on this oblivious goblin.
‘No way a goblin could handle this troublesome problem that even we Fire Tars couldn’t handle.’
The Poom tree played a crucial role in the lives of the Fire Tars.
The Fire Tars were unstable lifeforms.
Unless they calmed the flames with the roots of the Poom tree, they would one day be consumed by their own flames and die.
And obviously, once the Poom tree disappeared, the Fire Tars would move their territory.
‘3 years from now…’
The vice-chieftain shook his head.
In 3 years, the Poom tree would be eaten by the bugs and die. And the Fire Tars had no way to stop it.
There was no way they could burn the Poom tree to kill bugs that lived deep in its roots.
It was a problem they just tossed to a unique goblin that had appeared.
They never expected that a small and weak goblin could handle this problem.
Crush!
He stomped on the bug that was crawling out.
The bug instantly exploded and green liquids sprayed out everywhere.
‘There’s no end to this.’
There was a countless amount of small fist-sized bugs.
There looked to be hundreds of bugs crawling out around the mountain-sized tree.
Even if he caught them all, it would be difficult to get all the bugs that were below.
‘They look similar to treebeard bugs.’
Although they looked similar to the treebeard bugs that gnawed on trees, their sizes were significantly larger.
Was it because they gnawed on the Poom tree?
What was more, it was hard to find a place where they had reproduced to such levels.
“Please give, me your orders.”
Muyoung summoned all his undead.
Then the Blazing Spear Soldier kneeled and asked while the rest quietly looked at Muyoung.
‘The Black Sun Warrior.’
He turned his head to looked at the warrior wearing full black armor.
He was the strongest out of all the undead he had made until now.
If he was created when Horus was alive, it would have been hard for him to have become a ‘Death Warrior’.
Points were added because he was a warrior of death.
Muyoung ordered all his undead.
“Get rid of all the surrounding bugs. Provided, you don’t burn the tree.”
The Poom tree was of utmost importance to the Fire Tars.
It almost to the point of deification. It would be a problem if he burned it.
And since the Fire Tars’ village was close, they would rush here the moment the tree started to burn.
“I will, follow, your orders.”
Knock. Knock.
All the undead moved quickly and started to kill the bugs.
They killed tens of bugs a second.
Just like that, they killed bugs until night but there was no end in sight.
‘Let’s change the method.’
It seemed that recklessly killing bugs wasn’t the answer.
With this much, it seemed likely that they reproduced extremely quickly.
Muyoung understood his mistake and looked at it from a different angle.
‘Treebeard bugs dig a tunnel and lay eggs in one place.’
As soon as he came to that thought, Muyoung quickly opened his mouth.
“Look for their tunnel. If you search around the tree, there should be a large area dug out. Go in and get rid of all the eggs.”
There would be no end by simply killing the bugs.
He had to get rid of the eggs to stop them from reproducing.
However, it didn’t take long for him to realize that this method was wrong as well.
Exactly three days later.
Muyoung gave up.
There were too many eggs.
It was the same with the tunnels.
‘Just where did this reproducing ability come from?’
Muyoung looked around.
Perhaps it was because the Fire Tars’ village wasn’t far from here but no monsters came to this place.
The only things here were the Poom tree and the bugs.
However, the thing that was becoming the bug’s food was the tree’s roots.
Their numbers infinitely increased by eating the roots.
‘I have to handle this. If I can curry favor with the Fire Tars, it will be easier for me in the future.’
The Fire Tars were the top among the high ranked monsters.
It was a chance to earn their protection.
Although they were monsters, he didn’t care.
Since there were humans who were less than monsters.
Above all, they were flaming warriors and he was very interested in their spoils of war.
If he was lucky, he might even be able to obtain useful equipment.
‘There are only bugs.’
Muyoung thought carefully.
He pondered while even reducing his sleep.
A reproduction ability that exceeded common sense. To get rid of the bugs, he had to handle the root cause.
After two days, a thought suddenly pierced his mind.
There were only bugs.
Then…
‘There weren’t any natural predators.’