The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

Chapter 4 : Roselyn Rescue Mission

Accepting the commissioned quest was simple enough, regardless of the multiple stats change; not surprising considering the request came from a vampire.

"Wah! Reputation dropped."

After Weed had accepted the quest, Surka bellowed; while the remaining other people shown vexed expressions. Gaining fame was a tough road; one could be grinding mobs or repeating the same quests for weeks or so to raise 200 Reputations.

There were also the declines of Faith and Luck, but the amounts were laughable comparing to Reputation. And since the Reputation had a direct correlation to the quests one may takes, while acquiring 2nd job, and 3rd job also required a certain amount of rep, the loss was quite huge.

Geomchi seriously inquired.

"Weed."

"Yes?"

"If this continues to be the case, what would happen if our REP hits zero?"

Though Geomchis" reputations were not terribly high, the resulted loss still wasn"t that big of a problem. In fact, Weed concluded that there would be some kind of penalty when accepting the quest.

"A level B quest offered without doing familiarity works such as quests beforehand, so the loss in fame in the land of vampires isn"t a significant problem."

Originally Weed was going to tell them the damages were not a big deal, but he decided to say something casually to prevent them from accepting fraudulent offers.

"Well, Weapon shops aren"t going to sell us good weapons."

"Why?"

"They"ll say the no-REP and anonymous doesn"t deserve good weapons."

"......"

Geomchi"s greed for good weapons would not lose to anyone; so in actuality, the fact that he might not be able to purchase good weapons to further his a.r.s.enal caused him considerable sadness. Geomchi3 then asked.

"But that doesn"t mean our only option was to buy them from weapon shops. Can"t we just order blacksmiths to make them directly?"

"Problem is blacksmiths will be even more difficult since they got more pride; since they make their weapons on their own, they want to put them in the hands of celebrities. And if our fame falls while those prices rise, it"ll be even harder."

Geomchi3 forced a smile.

"We"ll probably be able to endure it."

They can still buy weapons through Weed or Mapan.

To have blacksmiths to create custom-made weapons uniquely matches their personal preferences would be great, but not a primary concern. Also, blacksmiths can be bought at a premium price if they had truly desire to create their personal gears.

Weed, again, tried to make it a big deal.

"Will also be tricky if you want to enter a restaurant."

"Wh...why"s that?"

"A reputable restaurant isn"t going to let just anyone in."

"Euheuheuk."

Geomchi3 agonized over it.

The need to suppress his appet.i.te was a long and insufferably painful road. In fact, the foods in Royal Road were something to alleviate the throbbing called forth by his strict diet.

"Com"on, fame was that important?"

"Noone said it"d bring this kind of trouble?"

The others pract.i.tioners also churned.

Their spirits, broken!

Weed then turned to his simplest method.

"Hyungs!"

"......?"

"Battle! It"s time to rescue the vampire beauties. And then...in consolidation..."

"In consolidation..."

Kkolkaa!

All of them essentially drooled. Throughout faces of the pract.i.tioners, all of which formed an easy to read poker face.

"This is not the time to care about something like that!"

"I will be the first man to get......"

"Gotta hurry! Damsel in distress!"

Weed did not continue. Just a hint here and there will get results!

"Whoaaaa!!!"

The students bellowed as they charged across the field toward the village, followed by the teachers. As to not be outdone, the teachers also vented their voices.

"MOVE! I will get Roselyn!"

"Your rank"s below me! Follow and pay attention!"

"Brother, why would ranking authority matters here!? There"s a woman in trouble!!"

Both teacher and student pract.i.tioners rallied while rus.h.i.+ng!

"Get out my way! IT"S SUPER URGENT!"

Geomchi too, ran like the wind.

Female vampires were monsters that closely resembled humankind, and tend to quite pretty.

Unlike the High Elves and Wood Elves whom were innocently charming, the female vampires had the enticing and sensual body figures.

The captured Vampire Queen Roselynn that was awaiting rescue had the figure that could not lose.

Surka sighed deeply.

"They"re hopeless."

Romuna too, furrowed her brows.

"Men are all the same."

Still, the macho and tough looking Geomchis jumped at the chance to rescue the vampire queen was a disappointing sight beyond belief.

Meanwhile, the strides of Geomchi2 and Geomchi16 remain unchanged.

Maylon was quite curious as to why.

"Geomchi16-nim, why aren"t you going with them to the rescue?"

Her impression of Geomchi16 within the Geomchi"s group was similar to the ridges in one"s hand, just one line of many. The ridges in the hand that belonged to one of the nephew weeping loudly, while he amongst many others holding out that hand on the first day of the New Year.

Geomchi16 replied with a bright smile.

"I"m sending whispers with my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

Everyone"s eyes were widening in amazement.

Geomchi16 has a girlfriend!

The possibility was too hard to believe.

This was the first time amongst the Geomchi group that there was the mention of a girlfriend, so it sounded unbelievable.

"I cant believe what he"s saying."

"Could he have some sort of dementia?"

"To be talking to an imaginary person, could he have been..."

"Don"t talk like I was abducted!"

A bunch of speculations came about, and as Maylon worded her own theory, his outburst caused her to choke on her words. She then painfully asked.

"Can you tell me what happened when you met her?"

"I knew her since the battle with the dragon. Her name is Libian. Isn"t it a beautiful name? HAHAHAA!!"

A good event happened to Geomchi16 that noone else knew.

He devoted the last bar of his life fighting to add a friend. A dream then was made into reality by her. She sent him a whisper after they parted. He was quite clumsy, but Libian was comforted to find Geomchi6 to be honest and trustworthy, and extremely entertaining.

He was then looked up by the Geomchis, the act was something worth imitating!

Hence, they all rushed forward like crazy to save the female vampire.

Maylon eyes blinked with admiration.

"Of course I understand! The trait of being dependable, of course this will make you popular. Oh, and by the way, Geomchi2 nim, why aren"t you rus.h.i.+ng in to battle?"

"I"m here to keep her accompanied."

Geomchi2 drew his sword and stood beside Seechwi to keep watch.

Tall fat female Orc and human!

Geomchi2 muscular body and at a stuttering two meters tall, was still slightly smaller in comparison to Seechwi. So to say he was going to watch over her may sounded a bit unusual, but he still remained static to take care of Seechwi.

"Geomchi2 nim! Chwiik, chwiyiit!"

Seechwii didn"t know what kindness meant while in this second body.

The parties she was in before were filled with bitterness!

Having good people didn"t mean the status quo were evenly distributed; in fact, the loot and experienced she acquired were at the size of a bedbug comparing to the bed itself. Unable to be let in battles, she was only allowed the job of a porter, carrying luggage around.

She felt a sense of loneliness and desolation, and even shame.

However, such a person is presented before her.

"This is not the first time a guy said such a thing to me, but..."

In reality, the beautiful psychiatrist had been out on blind dates and such, while many well-dressed men lined up before her.

Even though going against what the male preferences were in Royal Road by choosing a job as an ugly Orc, she didn"t have to worry about her outer appearances nor worried about men pretending to be interested without their own agenda.

Geomchi2 was the older brother amongst the teachers so he was naturally sensitive to the people around him.

Weed stepped up.

"Then, we"ll also go into battle."

"Weed nim, I"ll cast a blessing. Please let the divine power fill thy body to protect it from harm. Origin of Eternity!"

The prayer can from Irene.

As she chants her prayer, the area was filled with white light.

Irene acquired a new blessing skill!

It temporarily increases magic and physical defense, also improves the body ability to heal.

"Please let his power peak against all forms of wickedness. Bless!"

She continued with the blessings on Weed, and then turned to bless the rest of the party. Even though the best of her current ability can"t match that of the Pope candidate Ron Alves, Irene divine powers were still quite effective.

Now they were primed for battle.

Weed then turned to Yurin.

"Sis."

"Huh?"

"Stay here and be well hidden. Mapan nim will be here with you."

"Ok."

"If monsters come then let Hyungs take care of it; if not, run."

"Don"t worry, I"ll run fast."

"When you get hungry, eat the beef jerky inside the wagon."

"Eat till I"m full."

"But if I don"t come back..."

"I"ll offer the best rice for the afterlife."

"Man..."

"Just kidding. Didn"t have to believe it."

Weed then, continued on for a while.

From things such as it"s usually female vampires that are seductress, but if a male vampires sent you a pa.s.s, don"t go for it; to when you"re tired, take a rest. Having low stamina mean you"ll be exhausted quickly. So don"t overdo things, to avoid chronic fatigue and a cold, it"ll take...

Mapan"s face was stricken.

"Weed-nim"s sensibility is going downhill with each spoken word."

Pale too, agreed.

"To be quietly listening to this, Yurin-nim is amazing."

Zephyr seemed to identify the reason as to why.

"I can relate to the relations.h.i.+p between a younger sister and the older brother. When she goes out wearing a mini skirt, as a brother I can"t seem to word out the problem at hand."

After that duration of nagging, Weed turned his sights toward the battlefield.

"The situation there is more urgent so lets be brief."

"Yes, brother."

"Plenty of time later."

"Tell me more later since there are a lot of unfinished subjects."

"Of course!"

The people around them were horrified.

Weed moved toward the widely flung gates of the fanatics" village.

"The vampires misled you fools."

"Repent. Repent!"

"Here is where we sent them to h.e.l.l to repent for their sins! And we were given the task by G.o.d!"

"First squad, Paladins, GO!"

The fanatics.

The Shadow Paladins and Shadow Priests were poised to attack.

The expectation of a boring siege as the village lying in wait to be attacked was off by a mile, as these human NPCs were rather aggressive.

"The path you tread is not abiding to the will of G.o.d!"

The rumbling speed of the Geomchis lowered significantly. Their heavy footsteps were constantly being constraint as they headed toward the headwind blowing against them.

The Shadow Priests continued casting their magic.

"You whom were deluded by evil, you reprobate beings! The stench emitting from you now will make you sick!"

Geomchis bodies began to turn green. An unpleasant smell entered their nostrils as they breathe in the plague.

Usually this would have been a troubling development! Most would have lost the will to fight, holding their breath and run away at the opportunity.

But an unfortunate blessing, the Geomchis aren"t normal humans.

Geomchi3 grinned.

"Just this much!? This is barely comparable to not having my feet wash for 10 days!"

Geomchi4 too, flashed a sinister smile as he recall one moment of his past.

"I was on an excursion in the rainforest for 2 years, and then returned to Korea. Everybody ran away from the bathroom when I started using it. Hehe!"

"There"s never a stench that can raise a hair on my skin!"

He went on a h.e.l.lish training to discipline himself against any sort of odor.

Geomchi aimlessly let out a chuckle.

It was a lifetime ago. In his childhood, at the time when he was learning the arts of the sword; his house was poor, and there was nothing to eat. Sometimes in the middle of his training, he"d find food and eat at the bathroom on his way back.

This was one of his comfort zone!

At the time, it was called a dwitgan (a hole in the ground where u sits to p.o.o.p. Google.) The "facility" didn"t have water. It was an old and outdated hut, where you"d have to scoop out the wastes, unlike modern conventional toilet!

The foods in the dwitgan were delicious.

"Squatting there eating instant noodles was the best."

Each and every one Geomchis" past was so tragic!

Though their bodies were riddled with the plague that was weakening their joints, they continued to advance.

"Warrior"s a.s.sault!"

"Endless Sword!"

Geomchis" bodies glowed with a faint light.

Their running speed and attacking speed increased.

Warrior"s a.s.sault.

A buff that increases the recipient"s running speed by a whooping 25%!

The powerful rus.h.i.+ng attack was extremely effective against the knights.

Even thought it consumes a considerable amount of stamina, the trade off was worth it.

As the buff was continuous, anything that was in the way did not stand a chance.

Cutting, stabbing, and hitting anything!

The swords were forced to flow constantly as a stream of water.

The buff is inefficient to those that aren"t familiar with the way of the swords. If one disrupts their flow at the sight of monsters, potentially the sword can go out of control.

One must be three or four steps ahead of the monsters and change their attacking patterns accordingly.

And raising the skill"s proficiency can be done through efforts, but to truly utilize the ability to its full potential depends on the individual"s fighting ability.

"Screw them!"

"There"s nothing that can stop us!"

The Geomchis brandished their swords and advanced like madmen.

Swords were slicing the wind!

They charged toward the priests that conjured the headwinds.

And more paladins got in between.

"Strike!"

"Feel G.o.d"s wrath, unbelievers!"

The fanatics and Geomchis clashed.

"Hammer of G.o.d!"

"Ground Reversal!"

Magically enhanced s.h.i.+elds and swords collided.

"Haters. Hate the will of G.o.d!"

That was not a skill, just two herds smack talking.

"Oh power of the Holy Spirit, please give me power to relieve the suffering. Therapeutics Touch!"

The Paladins kept receiving the Priests" blessing every time their health points drops.

Priests, clergy and the likes didn"t have very strong magic attacks, but their protective blessings and heals were unmatched.

Geomchis continued their vehement attacks, but the HPs they caused on the Paladins were immediately replenished. Not only that, the expensive armors the Paladins were wearing boosted their defenses unimaginably.

Then the Priests in the background continued to buff the Paladins attacking powers.

Furthermore, the Paladins were wearing great armors!

Weed eyes pried them at his location.

"Armor set! Paladin"s even!"

Paladin is one of the most popular professions.

They can wield a variety of weapons such as swords and maces. They can also use magic, and have a high defense for survival, so it"s love by many.

"If it"s the Paladin armor set, I can sell for a h.e.l.luva high price."

Most people don"t like checking auctions to get a part at a time. Most would just go for the full set even if it"s more expensive.

"This is awesome to come to the Land of Vampires."

Then against, they must win the battle.

The priests in the rear were making it tough with their constant buffs and heal.

"Why don"t these fools die!"

"Priests are healing them."

"Cowards..."

Geomchis clamored.

Though not having the high vitality the Geomchis has, the knights were constant getting heals from the priests till prim and proper shape. Even the ones that seemingly almost ready to collapsed, the priests took care of them till they"ve made a full recovery.

The Paladins continued the fierce fight, forming an impenetrable wall.

They firmly stood their ground in the midst of the battle, while defending with their s.h.i.+elds, and slowly pushed Geomchis back.

"Magic Arrow!"

"Ice Bolt!"

At the same time as their defensive lines up, the priests also used some tough attacking spells.

As the damages they were continuously receiving, the acc.u.mulation was becoming more and more significant.

Geomchis were too far ahead for him to intervene, but Pale was getting more and more restless.

"If things are continue to go the way they are, are we"re going to fail the quest?"

Weed shook his head.

"We good."

The quest was acquired from the village of vampires!

Similar to the quest he received a while back fighting against Tori"s clan, also a rank B quest.

In order to complete the request at the time, he was struggling to increase and utilize all of his skills while under the a.s.sistance of Ron Alves.

However, the situation has changed. The Geomchis are higher levels comparing to Weed at that time, and masters in their arts.

Nevertheless, Weed"s optimism still looked a bit wry.

"Quest is successful, but there"ll be sacrifices."

"Yeh?"

"We"re done if we died just once in this place."

"Ah, that"s a h.e.l.l of a restriction!"

Pale and Zephyr"s were startled.

If you fail a quest, or die, you"re forever banished from the world of vampires.

In case of the death, revival is not an option.

Having high ATK is an outstanding feature of Geomchis. But that also means their defenses aren"t prominent enough so they"re quite vulnerable. In addition, they can"t even use simple self healing spells like the Paladins.

As things going the way they are, the c.u.mulative damages will naturally results in deaths, and the amount is relevant to the total of their strength.

Pale realized.

"We"re screwed if this continues!"

Irene lacked the power to cycle her heals to a large group of people; therefore, the fact they were facing was that anyone maybe expendable. In particular, the DEF-lacking Geomchis had the highest possibility of dying at any moment.

Frankly speaking, if the battle continues to go down the current path, the number of their allies will be greatly reduced.

Weed"s ways of doing things are meticulously going through preparations.

Cultivating his allies, test the strength of his enemies, while making the most of his environment.

But now was not the case.

They were allowed to be in this land for the total of only three months.

Current situation: Vampire witch trial.

There wasn"t much time left to rescue Roselyn from the burning stake. While the Paladins and Priests continued to defend with their impenetrable barrier.

"Have to bet everything on this one."

Weed"s heart was about to break from the slowing growing pain.

"Paladin armor set. Have to give up holding back the damages now."

Organization within a natural clash can minimize casualties. While commanding over hundreds of officers is a tremendous task; at the same while, organized battles can mean abandoning the victory, and the loss is even more damaging.

In this messy melee skirmish "formation," controlling the fight isn"t that complex. In addition, the intention of the Geomchis who are in no mood to listen to anyone is well known.

Weed yelled.

"Roselyn, hang in there for a bit! Zephyr nim is coming to save you!"

Kureureureung!

Terrible roars roamed from the battlefield.

Weed"s Lion Roar stirred an enormous ripple effect.

Up until now, the uncooperative individuals of Geomchis continued to move forward for Roselyn"s, exhausted their rage.

"What? That fish soup of a playboy"s gunna save our Roselyn?"

"h.e.l.lsnoo! Not happening!"

"I"d rather let our Hyongs get her."

"All the handsome guys can go lie in a ditch!"

The movements of Geomchis changed.

Rather than single mindedly forcing their ways to Roselyn, they pushed toward the Paladins and earnestly fought in close quarters.

"Rotating Lunge!"

"Crisscross Cut!"

"Seven Strokes!"

Geomchis took advantageous of their skills and attacked aggressively.

Dealing direct blows with their swords.

They were using long ranged attacks with their swords, while dealing little damage at the cost of lots of mana. Now they were utilizing their direct melee attacks.

Straightforward and more effective skills.

Some rolled their body on the ground to avoid incoming magic arrows, and then leapt into the air immediately afterward.

Swung their blades at enemies whilst rotating in midair.

Results from agility, quickness, judgment, and experiences!

The scene here was unconceivable by any movies.

From running, ducking, even throwing their swords for a hit......attacking with no distractive thoughts such as flashy moves and defending.

The paladins frantically avoided Geomchis" desperation whist casting their spells.

"I absolutely won"t allow him to pa.s.s!"

"I don"t care how unfair the world is to me, just not for the sake of Zephyr!"

An honorable one on one fight during a confrontation.

In a war, to h.e.l.l with that!

Geomchis repeated the same tactic of attacking then recedes while ganging up 3-4 people to one paladin.

They continued to do so as they isolated some paladins, and hunted them down. The priests persistently casted heals and plagues, but Geomchis were able to pushed the paladins to their breaking point.

Geomchis had plenty of experiences attacking large group of enemies, so the priests weren"t given any break as they tried to intervene.

On the Paladins" side, they weren"t given a second of a breather as they faced the onslaught of the raging-wild-boars that were the Geomchis.

In the battle, just a miniscule of a second of the moment!

For one caged Paladin who let up just for a bit, he was struck five, six times in that bit.

Weed"s entertained tears faded as he approached the priests at a different route from a far distance. He intended to attack the Judges and Priests that were located behind the units of Paladins.

Dadadadadadak!

From the middle of nowhere, footsteps approached him for no reason.

Therefore, Weed, without a care, sped up on the plain. But then, Zephyr also did the same in a flurry.

Initially, the intention was pure. Weed only sped up to get the similar rate of speed to that of the dash. Then suddenly, the two continued increasing their speed as if it was a compet.i.tion.

Men"s Pride.

For such a trivial reason, even if their stamina"s depletes, they absolutely refuse to be lag behind.

If they were at the same condition, Weed was a bit faster. But at the moment, he was wearing a heavy armor. So Zephyr was able to match his speed with Weed"s.

Weed was the first to open his mouth. Even though he was short of breath, he let his word flown out calmly.

"The plain"s pretty."

"Not a big deal."

Zephyr too, maintained a healthy like glow.

"How you gonna slow down? It"ll be a bit hard for ya..."

"Is hyong nim saying it"s tough for little old me? I have a very light body."

"Hu hu, the wind"s quite calming. So far, I"ve only used 1% of my strength."

"Only 0.2% of my real strength"s used at the moment."

The childish compet.i.tive mindset of men weren"t going to end.

Weed lifted his hands.

There was still a considerable amount of distance until the priests. However, he had a secret weapon hidden away.

High Elf Yeurika"s Bow.

The dream of all archers.

Weed loaded an arrow on the bow. Then shot it toward the priest.

Syusyuk!

The bow was imbedded with powers of the water spirit. The arrow zoomed past as it left behind a stream of droplets in it trajectory.

Soon the arrow reached its intended target.

Puwawak!

It swept up the priests like a wave.

A luxurious bow that can use the power of water spirits!

Weed"s archery was not very outstanding. Most of his battles he relied on his sword. The arrows he shot before simply drifted toward monsters from a distance. Also, since the skill wasn"t in set with his mastery, it had very little power as it was reduced.

But the Yeurika"s Bow reached the priests at a surprising distance and dealt the standard damages.

"This bow"s pretty good."

Weed continued to fire arrows using Yeurika"s Bow toward the priests. His mana was rapidly depleting, but he didn"t care.

"Cowardly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"

"We are the devotee of G.o.d."

"You shall receive the wrath of G.o.d!"

Cries of fanatics!

Weed and Zephyr were in close proximity to priests with their sprints.

Weed"s gaze became stone cold.

"Ima win this battle and bring the armor sets back."

Many people also took on the roles priests. Unfortunately, the prices for robe sets were much lower in comparison.

Because they usually weren"t situated at the forefront of the battle, their sets didn"t require much defense.

"Armor sets!" (yep...that"d be my warcry too, Weed.)

Desperation for items!

"Moonlight Sculptor Blade!"

Aimed at the Priests!

Weed forced his way amongst the priests as he brandished his sword.

Due to the fact that his level was considerably higher than the current quest, the priests lost their lives within two or three strikes.

"Bracelets, rings, earrings, magic staves! MINE!"

Weed looted the priests as he swept through them.

Zephyr too, attacked with a wide radius as he swung his fis.h.i.+ng pole, while Surka flaunted her fists in close proximity. At the same time, Maylon and Pale situated themselves atop a hill.

"Triple Shot!"

"Fatal Blow!"

And to support the two as they fired their arrows, Romuna called forth her memorized spell.

"Fire Tornado!"

A huge whirlwind of fire took place.

More so than attacking directly, the spell had vast range and struck many enemies; essentially, disabled the priests from conjurations.

Hwareureureu!

"Kkueahahak!"

The Priests screamed.

Irregardless of the flames around him, Weed continued to target the priests.

Without the past protections and heals from the priests, the paladins dropped quickly one by one.

Geomchi2 and Geomchi3 joined Weed amidst the flames.

"I"ll help."

"We gotta divide up their troops."

As they read the flow of battles, the Paladins united into one thick a.s.sembly.

While seemingly past their limits, they were not broken.

The Paladins.

Organized themselves and offered their prayers. And contrary to their characteristics, they even tossed their s.h.i.+elds aside.

As they continued to hymn, the Paladins fiercely swung their swords. While ignoring defense, they fought to annihilate.

The Geomchis retaliated for their dear lives.

"d.a.m.n!"

"Where are they getting the strength..."

The Paladins will to live were twice that of the Geomchis.

Geomchis were surrounded by the paladins to a point where there was little s.p.a.ce between each Geomchis. Then the paladins let on an unrelenting onslaught as they neglected their defense; but as the damages they dealt were comparatively little, each fell one after another.

The fierce battle raged on for more than 40 minutes!

As the Shadow Priest were taken care of before them; the Shadow Paladins too, lost their lives.

The Geomchis slumped as they sat.

"Coughkeok"

"I was h.e.l.la nervous for a long time."

Their stamina was exhausted after the long battle.

Even if they were against tough mobs, they can easily take a break in between battles. But this war against the paladins was a necessity for the quest"s sake, and called for no pause as they had to win the battle.

Geomchi13 grinned.

"Thank G.o.d. The kids didn"t get hurt."

Geomchi19 too agreed.

"Aint we dignified? It"d suck if we couldn"t protect them."

They withstood the attacks from the Shadow priests and paladins to ensure Seechwi and Yurin"s safety in the back.

Men"s Pride.

Even they they"re seemingly near death; they"re willing to fight at close range to ensure the safety of the women in the rear.

A close examination after the victorious battle, the number of pract.i.tioners declined by 34. They"ve lost their lives during the ferocious battle. Primarily the lesser experienced who were killed during the confusion of battle.

"Keoheoheom!"

Geomchi coughed uncomfortably. In addition, Geomchi2 and Geomchi3 didn"t lift their heads, similarly with the other instructors.

"How are we going to instruct those kids......such a big disappointment."

"......"

"Tonight, make them do every set."

"Yes."

"Write the name of the deceased separately."

"Sir!"

The penalty for losing their lives in game were experiences lost and a day of was a tiny punishment.

h.e.l.l Training!

They will be subjected to at least a month in front of h.e.l.l"s gates.

"WOW."

"Heoeoeo, better not relax too much to avoid death."

"In the future, the instructors also have a responsibility to their pract.i.tioners."

The instructors" shoulders dropped.

But this was another sort of training posed on them.

Instead of teaching the selection they had to pract.i.tioners; comparatively, Royal Road offered an unlimited ways to learn an art.

Royal Road was more superior in terms of training the five senses and one can truly take advantages of the swords.

Without even the need of using skills, no one who truly uses the sword was harmless if they had antic.i.p.ated the behavior of the monsters.

Nevertheless, the pract.i.tioners face a higher risk, so it was better for the instructors to monitor their group of disciples.

After that, Geomchis, the instructors, and every other pract.i.tioner approached Roselyn who was still on the cross.

Kkulkkeog!

Geomchi swallowed his saliva.

The hanged being on the cross had an amazingly alluring appearance.

"Le, let me get you down."

"Thank you."

Geomchi untied the ropes on Roselyn. She held on to him afterward to show thanks.

"I was able to released thanks to Yongsa-nim" (brave warrior + nim)

"Keoheok!"

Ttiring!

As Roselyn gives thanks to everyone, she held them close and bowed to kiss their hand.

"Oh great human hero, I humbly gives you my sincere thanks for saving me."

Geomchis were flattered.

"OHH!"

"Great!"

"Nice work coming to the Land of Vampires!"

After completing the quest, the sense of achievement filled the air!

From the teacher down to the pract.i.tioners, Roselyn gave thanks by means of a hug in sequential order.

The quest"s finished, Pale subtly checked the notice for quest completion.

"Maylon nim, if it"s not too much to ask, what we received for completing this quest..."

"Alayot!"

From Minorca, each was to receive 10 cursed dolls as a reward.

Items such as these can be offered to the Temple for a great boost in reputation.

They also received a considerable amount of experiences, the lower level Geomchis were able to gained 2~3 levels.

"The compensation wasn"t bad at all."

Weed was satisfied.

After receiving the thank you from the beautiful vampire, Geomchis were more than happy.

"I wish this quest can be repeated......"

"Saving her was a righteous thing to do; this was just one sample of chivalry."

From then on they started accepting Vampire quests!

Quests ranged from grade B and C, and got as much as four at once.

Although they received a considerable damage from the first battle; through Weed"s conducting, the damages now reduced dramatically.

Beyond the red wall of the town, where the wild yaks roamed, were their favorite preys.

And the reason was that they can eat yak"s meat after the siege!

19 Geomchis were killed. (ROFL)

They became more cautious when hunting Beasts of Chaos. Since the beasts were able to use dark arts and their physical were topnotch. Therefore, a frontal a.s.sault seemed to do more harm than good.

Weed and the top 100 pract.i.tioners decided to head into battle.

"How we gunna fight? Do we go all out on those guys? I think if we do that, we can take out about half of their HP."

Said Geomchi12 while clenching his fists.

In comparison, it was apparent that the beasts were far stronger than them; but in any case, he didn"t want to allow himself to show any sign of weakness.

"Please stand your ground as long as you could when fighting against them."

"Aren"t we fighting to win?"

"Of course! They"ll be attacking us with all their might so it"s good to show that you"re able to defy them. It"ll be pretty difficult. Don"t fight them to the death, escape them to survive."

"Oh? Sounds interesting. Lets do that then."

Weed along with the top-tier Geomchis went on the a.s.sault against the beasts. And they were heartily beaten with all sort of magic and physical attacks.

And before their lives were at stake, they fled like the wind.

"Bandage!"

He used the bandage skill on them for a long time.

Weed brought along plenty of first aid materials on the wagon for situations such as this.

In the meantime, the second wave led by Geomchi2 of 100 men went on the a.s.sault.

"Yo evil beasts!"

"Come and get it!"

They were struck by curses from the dark arts and sustained physical strikes, calling forth for retreat.

Like a bunch of tanks!

Resilient and slowly worked their way toward victory!

Over time, the Beasts of Chaos power and HP continued to dwindle. And since their INT were low, these monsters began to go out of control.

Rush, rus.h.!.+

Without a single break, the fight escalated and caused for more retreats.

This was the method of fighting Weed thought up while fighting along side the Pope candidate, Ron Alves, many times before.

100 people during each a.s.sault alternately winding down the beasts power; and when they were completely burnt, it spelt their deaths.

As a result, only 13 Goemchis died for the win!

They couldn"t escape the strikes from the beasts fast enough.

Pale muttered.

"This quest"s also tough."

Zephyr too, agreed.

"h.e.l.la tired to celebrate the victory."

Some quests through hard work rewarded new talents.

Those that claimed hard labor won"t result to anything suddenly realized Weed"s conviction.

Thanks to that, Pale and Irene were able to obtain some new skills; though the skills requirements were so random that they let out shrieks of terror.

"I have to shoot once for every 1000 steps; if I can"t, I won" be allowed to shoot for 10000 steps."

"It"s this hard to raise the expertise on Sacred Blessing? I have to train it everyday for 10 hours each time......"

The number of deaths gradually decreased as they took on the quests, but they spent much more time than before. Nevertheless, n.o.body complained.

Soon after they entered the land of the vampires, Pale"s party realized that they weren"t prepared for such a task, now primarily focused on safety.

From the pract.i.tioners" perspective, if they were to die, the gate of h.e.l.l would swing open for them.

The instructors, who a.s.sumed the responsibilities as well as the penalty for his disciples, worried for their safety also. Even if the progress of the quest came to a crawling speed, they"d still prioritized safety above all else!

Geomchi at this time was distracted by delicious foods and Hwaryeong.

Weed was the only one by himself.

He wanted to make use of the 2x EXP period given.

He would try to get commissioned quests battling other monsters so that it wouldn"t interfere with his colleagues" current quests.

"We already have 66 deaths. The number will increase without a doubt, and even more so as they get higher difficulty quests. It"s best to survive as long as possible. There are still things to do after we finished here."

The feeling of complete isolation seeped through in this land of vampires; while it"ll continue to increase corresponding to the number of people dying.

Weed"s way to ensure the number didn"t drastically increase was to remove a bunch of stronger monsters while he hunted.

So in some hunt, he swept more than the requested number; such as defeating the wizards and clerics of the Killer Blade Army in addition to the request.

In this way, Weed was busier than the bunch.

Since the quests were preceded with caution, they cut the time for lunch breaks as short as possible. While Weed and Mapan were going through the supplies for food preparation, the rest a.s.sumed other duties.

Geomchis were used to making their own foods; while Yurin and Irene as well as other girls tried to be helpful; from was.h.i.+ng rice to doing the dishes or setting up the fire.

Weed"s tasks decreased to simply picking out ingredients and seasoning the foods as the girls" jobs increased.

When Weed cooked by himself for the group, it could take up to as much as five hours each time. And thanks to this, his Cooking skill increased tremendously.

Hwaryeong after she tastedsoaked kimchi said with a smile.

"Kimchi"s so very delicious."

Irene then murmured sadly.

"It"s still came from China."

"......?"

She still could not shake off that past the expiration-date-material feeling.

Nevertheless, Hwaryeong and the rest enjoyed it. The feeling of sitting on the ground eating freshly made food enthralled her. Yurin and Surka who were at the same age too, wanted to cook the food.

Of course the manly Zephyr and Pale didn"t want to just idle. They got the necessary firewood and also prepared the materials.

Even to such extent as removing the poisonous part of monsters they"ve hunted: Pale with his bow arrows obtained birds, while Zephyr went down the river to fish.

They supplemented the food ingredients diligently.

"Hurry! We need fish here."

"Yea yea, in just a bit."

Zephyr never once rushed while fis.h.i.+ng. With the lure in the river, he would simple watch the flow of the river with a peace of mind.

But ever since he joined up with Weed, he was expected to procure foods. He was now fis.h.i.+ng with as much as 10 fis.h.i.+ng rods at once, so there was no time for him to slip into his idle mode.

The strange thing with the pressure was that even though the fishes he caught weren"t rare, the expertise rating on his skill rose rapidly.

"Maybe the reason my Advanced expertise rating stalled was because I"ve been too lax."

He was sure that fis.h.i.+ng skill rose by means of catching rare fishes.

There was even a record of the fishes one has caught. But now, simply by catching a lot of fishes, his expertise proficiency rose noticeably.

"Maybe the profession weren"t for the sake of a relaxing hobby. This is a fight for continued existence, could it be fis.h.i.+ng was a mean to survive? It makes sense......"

Zephyr moved quickly and deliberately as he tried to increase his proficiency by means of fis.h.i.+ng. As a Fisherman, his attacking power was a little higher than the norms, and his health point was on the high side; so the possibility of his survivability is very high.

No matter how things were, even when he was near collapsing, he"d refuse to be toppled.

Persistency was the Fisherman"s greatest advantage!

Squishy like a zombie, but still survived.

Though, since he was obsessed about his outer appearance, he wouldn"t allow himself to be in their position.

So from day to day it was a series of struggles.

From questing then to procuring food he had finally found out how difficult it was.

He remembered the time when he hunted in Basra Dungeon with no rest and thought that it would be his last. But now, on these lines, he was severely mistaken.

By partic.i.p.ating in obtaining ingredients, his workload further increased. As if he was maturing step by step, his workload increased as he grew.

Like a suffering horse leaving his barn for the pleasure of an adventure only to find out his suffering hadn"t change.

As if he deliberately brought the pain onto himself.

While eating, Zephyr muttered something strange.

"But this is the first time I"m deserving of the food."

Mapan raised his head from the food.

"Hmm?"

"For some reason I"m feeling like the meal"s decreasing in term of quality."

"......"

They were now eating poultry, noodles, meat, and whatever else mixed in the midst of it without spices.

Earlier on, the foods were covered with fruit scented seasonings. But now, the food they were eating unadulterated by the plentiful of spices; and the flavor of the day before lingered.

The body gotten used to the slight change of flavoring!

Nevertheless, the food expenses remained the same.

Mapan called for Weed urgently.

"You there, Weed nim!"

But Weed suddenly got up and hurriedly left.

"I just remember I gotta do something, I"m out!"

"......"

Everywhere in the world, there"s corruption, even in cuisine!

Meals in the early days of a restaurant tend to be on the good side. But slowly, the qualities of the foods drop to slightly average or go completely unbearable.

The similar process was aimed at Weed"s foods and the complaints acc.u.mulated to too much, he made the appropriate gesture.

Rather than cooking the foods he normally made while receiving praises, the meals now weren"t as delicious.

And now everyone caught wind of the deal!

Weed spoke without an ounce of alarm.

"Then don"t eat when you"re hungry!"

He threw a threat at them!

And sounds of discontentment traveled the group.

In the meantime, the party continued.

Day by day, experience and skill proficiency increased terrifyingly. Those who were below lvl 100 gained levels tremendously. Of course they were the Geomchis, thanks to the 2x experience boost for the initial weeks.

But still, their achievements couldn"t match to that of Weed"s.

He was able to locate enemy"s position, in an efficient manner, and dominated them in battles.

He underwent tremendous pressure and challenges, so he had little time to himself.

Weed"s rate on the hunt increased substantially as he learned of their patterns; he"d then informed the other parties regarding the matter.

Another reason why he didn"t join other parties such as Fail"s and the others was due to the fact that he was too strong.

If Weed was to lead any party, it"d be a boring hunt.

Still, even the lower levels pract.i.tioners were gaining experience dizzyingly fast via his information.

Every time they"d succeeded the quests, they changed their evaluation of him.

"It was set up the way he said."

"He"s not a completely evil being."

"My head"s......"

Weed was recognized as a force to reckon with.

Around a week had pa.s.sed, and roughly all the quests in Seirun village were completed.

They"ve obtained Olderin Boots that gives +45 Agility, and the Circlet of Blaine increases maximum MP as well as mana recovery.

Though the greatest gain came from the Beasts of Chaos" quest, where they received a number of refinement stones for weapons and armors upon completion.

And while Weed gained two levels from it, the others ranged from 5-10 levels increased.

Now the 2x period from quests ended.

The total of Geomchis dropped by 92. Romuna and Surka, whom nearly died twice, managed to survive.

By now, they"ve acquired a more coherent information regarding Todeum.

"Ordinarily, no one should go near Todeum. The vampires who went there never came back. Why? We do not know. If there is one, then......"

"You"re going to Todeum to find out why? This maybe the penalty we"re facing for the sins we"ve committed."

"Maybe you humans could save the aristocrats. Why be in league with you humans? It"s something we don"t even dream to care for."