V56C8P1 – The End Of The Quest
“As I thought, the next target is Morata.”
Weed returned to the secret storage of Agoldia.
From here on out, time was of the essence!
The dwarven warriors were ready after sufficient rest; Kracore, the final boss of the dungeon remained.
Aid was supplied by the Mapan Council in order to defeat Kracore.
Weed took out a green bottle and applied it to the Loa sword.
“Put this liquid on your weapons. The more the better.”
“What is this?”
“What an awful stench. Is it poison? Using poison in battle is a disgrace to dwarves.”
Brockhand and the dwarves rejected the idea.
Their pride as dwarven warriors could not accept such a tactic.
The players of the Mapan Council who came to deliver supplies watched in concern.
The obstinance of dwarves wasn’t easy to break.
Weed grinned.
“This isn’t poison.”
“Then?”
“This is made from Upulechika leaves. It prevents the cell regeneration of Kracore and destroys them.”
“Ah, it was a flower?”
The dwarves acknowledged it begrudgingly and rubbed the green liquid on their weapons.
“Just like that? It convinced them?”
“What? How is that different from poison? It’s the same thing.”
Upulechika was a beautiful but vile poisonous herb.
It was a plant that only grew in the deep swamps of Tulen.
For typical monsters, its effects were mild paralysis, but for specific monsters, the paralysis was boosted significantly.
“I have to hand it to him, I almost got convinced too.”
“Honestly, same. His brazen tone of speech made me accept it.”
“That’s Weed-nim. They say that even Mapan-nim learned the basics of trade from Weed-nim.”
Weed led the dwarves quickly into the room of Kracore.
“If it gets too dangerous, trust your comrades and back away. We must face Kaybern. We cannot die in a lowly place like this.”
“I got it.”
“Everyone, be careful.”
The final boss!
Weed took the nervous dwarf warriors to the final boss room.
Kracore was a 55-meter tall lump of growths.
The s.p.a.ce was large as a town square with dwarven crafted equipment scattered all over the floor.
< Primal fear!
You have encountered a being of overwhelming power. >
< You feel overwhelmingly intimidated. Terror has instilled into your mind.
Your Willpower and Spirit withstand it. >
Weed’s fighting spirit remained unhindered unless he was under a presence like a dragon, so nothing felt special.
Though the dwarves were considerably weary.
‘It looks like a clump of flesh. But it is an incredible creature. And we still have to face Kaybern in a few days…’
The pink, round cell chunk even seemed a little adorable.
– I have waited for ages. New visitors.
– You all will become a part of me.
From the body of Kracore split cell ma.s.ses the size of knuckles which developed quickly into the forms of the ferocious beasts that roamed Agoldia.
– Go!
On Kracore’s command, the predators sprang from the ground!
Beasts four to five meters tall charged fearlessly forward.
“Defense formation!”
Weed ordered the dwarves who formed a line of defense with the room entrance behind them.
“Hoorah!”
“Lift your s.h.i.+elds! Strike down with your hammers!”
The dwarves put their s.h.i.+elds forward and built a protective wall. Not a moment later, the sharp claws and body slams rammed against it.
“Dwarves. Pull out your swords, spears, and s.h.i.+elds!”
“The greatness of our kind!”
“Kracore. I will avenge our kin, who were sacrificed for your wretched conduct!”
The dwarf warriors roared as they clashed their sword and s.h.i.+eld against one another.
A powerful buff that shrouded their comrades!
“We will lure one at a time and take it out.”
“Fend them off comrades! s.h.i.+eld battalion!”
Weed observed the status of the dwarves, but even without his meticulous command, they seemed to be able to hold their own against the creatures of Agoldia.
The beasts empowered by Kracore were constantly evolving.
Their size kept growing and so did their power, but it was still manageable for the dwarves to hunt.
Kyaaarrgh!
Gwwaaaak!
With each swing, the animals screamed.
They were savages created from the cells of Kracore and therefore possessed heightened defense and recovery, but at the same time, they were severely affected by their greatest weakness – poison.
‘Kracore. Cell-type monster. It takes its own cells to create monsters. Most attacks to its main body are absorbed.’
Some people said that Kracore was able to recreate any monster it had absorbed once before.
It could easily produce Wyverns, griffins, and even giants.
Once it neutralized the opponents, it latched onto them. It stole their bodies and exercised terrifying control over them.
Since Kracore was the ruler of Agoldia, there was a lot of data about the monster that was preserved.
– We, the Levenche Guild will be the first to hunt Kracore!
It was before the Hermes Guild united the Central Continent.
The Levenche Guild with a mediocre reputation attempted the raid during their Agoldia adventure and were ma.s.sacred.
They had no clue that Kracore was so powerful. They were dragged away by the predators and monsters and were consumed by the main body.
In reality, there were reasonable suspicions that Kracore pretended to be weak in order to lure prey, hence baiting the Levenche Guild.
‘This one is clever. It doesn’t die easily which makes it even trickier.’
The danger of Kracore had just begun.
Just a portion of its body could reproduce the cells into an enormous army.
The 55 meters of flesh meant that it had the ability to reinforce units endlessly.
Moreover, bigger lumps of cells could reproduce highly advanced monsters.
‘It isn’t the boss monster of Agoldia for no reason. For now, it is trying to wear out the dwarves in a dragged out battle.’
Its intentions were quite obvious.
It did not want to spend more cells and therefore planned to exhaust the dwarves and feed on them one by one.
‘There are two ways to victory. Keep defeating the cell army and weaken the main body, or go straight for it instead.’
Weed a.s.sessed that he could not afford to spend any more time before the fight against Kaybern.
“Sword of Radiance!”
He slipped between the dwarves and advanced with rays of light.
“Weedhand!”
“It’s dangerous. Return quickly!”
Weed ignored their concerns and pushed forward rapidly.
“Krrng!”
“Kwaaagh!”
The beasts pounced from all directions.
Slas.h.!.+
Weed pa.s.sed through the dimensional gate and swung his sword.
He pooled all his Art stats into Strength with Sculptural Destruction and attacked with venomous poison applied.
Fever, paralysis, confusion, bleeding: a four-piece set!
The poison was even more powerful than the one he offered to the dwarves.
“Team 1, 2, 3, and 4. Charge while maintaining defense formation!”
The dwarves with s.h.i.+elds up ran further.
“Team 5 to 20. Scatter and engage in skirmishes. The target is the main body of Kracore!”
“Hoooyah!”
The dwarves cl.u.s.tered in defense spread at once.
Weed saw his chance, despite the numerous beasts and protective forces remaining.
Weed thought of his days as the Great King of the Desert.
‘These dwarves have high defense. They will survive just about anything.’
He threw his subordinates into the middle of battle. The survivors only became stronger than before!
< You have slain Cell Logger. >
The Loa sword cut down the beasts cleanly, however, the corpses with their cell core intact revived as smaller and weaker forms. The Kracore cells transformed into goblins and dwarves.
“You cannot defeat us.”
“Kracore-nim will absorb all of you and attain more power.”
Weed looked at them and clicked his tongue.
“Having to kill them over and over. So annoying.”
They had the appearance of goblins and dwarves, but their bodies were tainted blue.
The poison had taken effect.
“I have no time to meddle with you sc.u.m.”
Weed travelled between dimensional gates and broke through enemy boundaries ever so lightly. Each spatial travel was intercepted by a rapid beast attack, but he ignored or deflected them and sprinted full speed towards Kracore.
– Defend!
Kracore was cowardly.
It avoided fighting firsthand and also feared being attacked and losing cells!
Due to its ma.s.sive size, escape was not an option.
“Sword Charge!”
Weed activated a warrior skill and slashed through the animals with pure strength.
He bypa.s.sed the monsters in a split second and arrived before Kracore.
“Sword Cloning Skill!”
Weed’s body multiplied into 50 copies as he activated his skill.
“Holy Fire.”
Froom.
All the clones ruthlessly slashed Kracore’s body with flaming swords.
– Kuuuuuaaarrrgh!
The colossal cell clump was set ablaze and screamed painfully.
“Radiant Sword!”
Weed did not hesitate as his clones were dissipated by the savage beasts and cut down with a blazing sword.
– This pain…! I cannot bear it.
The cells of the giant Kracore split into lumps and turned jet black.
It was an indication of an insane monster about to come forth!
“I will slice you into pieces so you can never divide.”
– Dwarves! You will all be absorbed by me!
***
– Battle between Weed and Kracore!
– Amazing. Was Weed this powerful?
The broadcast stations were live streaming Weed’s battle.
Undivided attention was focused on Morata where the fate of the continent was to be decided. Furthermore, Weed’s adventures guaranteed high viewer count.
Kracore became seven spiders with 32 legs, known to be troublesome even among monsters of Agoldia.
Weed cut down the spider webs and engaged intensely with them.
– Oh Joowan-ssi. Weed-nim wielding the flaming sword looks very spectacular.
– He utilizes skills whenever he needs them, but he can fight well with just basic sword techniques. This is his forte.
– Isn’t proficiency with weapons a common trait among high-level players?
– Weed is on another level. His skills are to the extreme. His understanding and strategy in battle is the pinnacle of his field.
– He won even against Bard Ray-nim, officially making him the most powerful player.
– I think G.o.d Warrior Bard Ray still has an edge in terms of basic combat abilities… But Weed did not miss an opening and exploited it.
Oh Joowan tried to comment on Weed’s battle like he always did. But something was off.
He swung the sword and moved much more lightly, turning the battle into a comfortable one.
He slipped past the swift movement of the spiders and their spewing attacks of poison and webs and countered. Do Chanmi also realized it.
– It might sound strange, but his swordsmans.h.i.+p is so ch.o.r.eographed. Weed-nim seems so relaxed. Could it be that even Kracore is a breeze for him?
– It doesn’t seem that way. Kracore is truly formidable. They have been in battle for over an hour now.
– Ah! The attacks are like a tide…
– Cells separated from Kracore’s body and turned into monsters once again. This situation is difficult to describe. c.o.c.kroaches the size of rhinos? Those things are charging at Weed all at once
The commentators concentrated on the footage. It looked that Kracore’s army was unstoppable, but Weed was slipping out craftily.
(To be continued…)