Chapter 101. Body Enhancement Surgery (1)
“…It eats those?”
Sofía frowned as she looked at the creature called Margoth in the distance.
Though it looked rather timid, it towered over multiple kilometers.
How vicious and giant does one need to be in order to live by eating up those?
Hansoo just shrugged his shoulders at those words.
“Don’t worry. We can definitely kill them.”
If they follow his plan step by step then in the end they will get to the point where they can kill the Tiradus.
‘There’s no need to catch it at this moment.’
They had to go through a lot of steps before that anyway.
And get the thing they could gain here.
“Let’s do the most urgent things first.”
“What is it?”
Hansoo smiled at those words.
“There’s a specialty here.”
The biggest reason why Hansoo wanted to recover this place, the Orange Zone.
Tekilon was dumbfounded.
“Mmm…You want to receive the Body Enhancement Surgery?”
<Body Enhancement Surgery>
The combined efforts of the Akarons who envied the powerful bodies of the Gragos that withstood and even drank the lava.
Hansoo nodded at Tekilon’s words.
If curing the Gragos was for the people coming over from the previous world then the Body Enhancement Surgery was like a preparation for the next world.
‘Humans are too weak.’
There’s no point in comparing them to Margoths or Gragoses.
In short, the physique of Humans was too weak.
The fact that they could die randomly was only seen in humans out of all the races.
Even Elvenheims had resistances, stamina and bones that were numerous times stronger than those of humans.
Even without the help of the World Tree.
‘A powerful body that is strong even without the help of the runes is needed.’
They would lose their battle strength by simply not eating for a few days and would die if unable to breathe.
This couldn’t be solved with runes.
The Abyss was as harsh as this sea of lava, Heringsen, was.
There were places where meteors fell and places where lightning struck down every time one took a step.
Some places didn’t have any air and some places had gravity that was several tens of times stronger.
Though they could withstand them with skills, this meant that they were using energy which should be used as battle strength into surviving instead.
They could be at ease when fighting with the races of the Abyss because of this.
‘We need to… Reconstruct the body of a human as a whole before we advance.’
Enhance the bodies of billions of humans who would come up.
It wasn’t just any body.
The Akarons would gain powerful bodies that could even fight against those giant Margoths.
And if Hansoo was to acquire this then it’ll be of great help from now on.
‘The pressure from the Racial Metamorphosis will decrease tremendously immediately.’
Tekilon nodded as he looked at Hansoo.
“Your race wouldn’t be able to get as much of an effect out of it since you aren’t the same as our race but there is still a possibility. But… We would need to find the temple.”
Temple.
The house of the priests to worship the Divine Beast, Gragos.
The great patriarch who had united the whole Akaron, Mekido, chose the temple as the location of enhancing the body.
The temple was located where the most amount of essence from the Gragos flew by.
And because of this it was the most suited location for the Body Enhancement Surgery where they pulled out the essence from the body of the Gragos and integrated it with one’s body.
‘This is not the place where we used to live.’
Tekilon had looked around the surroundings when they had risen to the sky.
This was not one of the 27 colonies they had lived in before.
But there were traces of their race.
‘Thank god. They must’ve crossed over here.’
If their race had escaped from the Colony and had crossed over to this Gragos then they would’ve definitely raised a temple and set up the things required for the surgery.
Though their race had been destroyed after the Body Enhancement Surgery had been invented, the worth of this technology was too high for them to give it up.
No, the worth of the Body Enhancement Surgery was even higher since most of the Akarons had died.
The problem was that they didn’t know where the Temple was.
The Gragos was humongous in itself and they all had differences so it was hard to guess where the most essence was flowing though.
It might be deep within the body or between the two horns.
It could be near the heart or the stomach which swallowed the Lava.
Their race had only found the places where the essence was overflowing after countless years above the Gragos, expanding their numbers and searching every corner of the Gragos.
Of course they could build multiple temples in places where the essence flew by in smaller amounts but the priests did not allow this.
— The temple must be placed in the most important and core location of the divine beast, gragos. If not then it is the same as defiling the divine beast!
‘Those damned bastards.’
They weren’t that favorable to Tekilon who was sided with the Tribe.
He wanted to ignore and trample upon them all but then he couldn’t ignore the specialty powers of the priests.
The priests that served the Gragos weren’t normal people.
Within the system of the Akaron’s tribe where the patriarch and the priest had similar authority, the power of the priest and the patriarch weren’t that different.
And this was the same for the great patriarch, Mekido, so they had used the Temple as the location for them to have their bodies enhanced.
And this was still a huge amount of yielding from the priests.
At first the great priest, Karbanam had gone on a rampage that they were dirtying and sucking out the essence of the Divine Beasts.
Though he didn’t know whether the population of the tribe was higher than that of the priests, there was a high chance that only one Temple was built.
“First we need to find that Temple. It would be easier if we find members of my race but… There’s nothing I can guarantee.”
It might’ve been different if the owners of this place were the Akarons but it didn’t even seem like that was the case.
Tekilon couldn’t guarantee that he could find the Temple in a short time in such a situation.
Hansoo pondered for a moment and then nodded.
‘There’s a place that might have one….’
He wasn’t sure.
Since the depths of the Gragos was a world of mystery to the humans.
The reason why they had found out the existence of the Akarons was not because they knew about every part of the Gragos.
It was that there were fights between the Akarons and the humans within the Gragos.
Tekilon mumbled with a tone of worry while looking at Hansoo.
“But it seems like things might get a bit troublesome.”
“Mmm?”
“It might be different if the those on the tribe’s side were there but… If those from the priest’s sides are in power then they won’t let us use the Temple.”
It wasn’t that he labeled those from the priest’s side as bad guys just because he was of the tribe’s side.
The priests were people who emphasized that the Akarons who were higher up on the power scale had to receive the Body Enhancement first.
Why would such guys allow a human, who was of a different race, to use the temple?
There would be a clash.
Tekilon looked at Hansoo and spoke.
“I’m saying this just in case but… Let’s be cautious when we act. You are strong but our race is very strong as well.”
The <garde-barong> who protected the Temples were very strong especially.
Those who fought in order to erase the enemies of the temples for their whole life.
Their strength cannot be questioned since they were warriors who were already powerful but had received the blessings of the Temple and the Body Enhancement.
Nothing much to say since the requirement to be a Garde-Barong was to be able to kill a Margoth singlehandedly.
They would be given the rights to protect the Temple and the Body Enhancement set up above it only when they can kill off the parasite living upon the Divine Beast, the Margoths.
Hansoo nodded.
It was good to decrease unnecessary clashes.
But that was something he would need to worry about after finding it.
“First I need to get some help.”
It was hard for him to search this humongous Gragos by himself.
He needed to borrow the strength of an already existing power.
‘Where shall I go?’
The Gragos had numerous powers sectioned in different locations since it was so large.
A bit of time would be needed just to find nearby information since they didn’t know where they had landed.
Sofía, who was listening quietly on the side, poked at Hansoo.
“Mmm?”
“My trait is telling me to go towards a direction?”
Hansoo nodded.
“Let’s go.”
“Is it alright to choose that easily?”
When Tekilon asked with a worried expression, Hansoo shook his head.
“It’s even hard for me to make a decision better than Sofía. Just believe her.”
Him choosing a direction was heavily influenced by his knowledge of the future.
But the things he knew about were only important things, he couldn’t learn of small details like this.
On the other hand, the Library supplied them threads of clues that told them about the quickest route.
Sofía, who had gotten happy from Hansoo’s compliment, flew her body towards the direction her Trait was telling her.
***
“Phew… We barely survived. Damn. They all ran away alive. Why did the charge have to come now…”
Ken grinded his teeth.
He couldn’t do anything since the clash was something that could happen at any time but the result this time was the worst outcome possible and it was hard for him to not lament.
It was too late for him to find those who had ran away in all directions.
And after this those guys would understand the danger and bunch up with their clans.
Then it would be almost impossible for people like Ken who moved around in small numbers to look for another chance.
‘And… It’s different from before.’
Ken looked at the Margoths in the distance.
The surviving Margoths were constantly puking out the adventurers from the Red Zone.
Those who would usually come once a month.
The reason why they could do something like this was because the Magoth would puke them out once a month.
Setting up camp in front of this constantly was the same as being crazy.
Since it was the same as the slothing around that they all avoided.
Actually spending one day out of the 30 in a month was still a huge investment.
Since their competitors will get stronger during that day.
‘Damnit.’
Ken made a dispirited expression.
Did this mean it was impossible for him to get revenge on Amil Stadan?
At that time a chill ran down Ken’s spine.
And Ken knew what this sensation meant too well.
‘Danger.’
At that time a jade colored marble cut across the skies and flew towards him.
‘Damnit!’
Ken hurriedly gathered a black colored light within his hand.
<Black Deconstructing Light>
A skill which had turned the scout from Lighthouse from the Red Zone into a rotting puddle in an instant.
The thing that was good about the Black Deconstructing Light was that it could be applied to every object and creature.
Everything that got swept by this black light will get the structure broken down and then melt down into a thick puddle.
But this was only when they were at similar levels or when he was stronger.
Chujujuk
The jade marble that had smashed into him had frozen his whole body.
Ken’s Black Deconstructing Light tried to melt down the ice but the mana and the mastery of the skill on the ice was definitely a level above him.
‘This is about… 5th year. No, almost 6th. Damn.’
Ken then gave up resisting.
‘Since they have frozen me, they don’t have thoughts of killing me.’
If they wanted to kill him then he would’ve died already.
It was better to listen than resisting and be forced into listening.
But Ken regretted this decision after seeing the face of the person who had frozen him that was walking towards him from the distance.
He should’ve resisted harder.
“It’s been a while?”
“…Fuck.”
Ken made an uneasy expression after seeing Sofía approaching him from afar.
Seeing the gleeful expression, his earlier thoughts had been exposed.
Since she wouldn’t be making such a happy expression while coming over to beat him up otherwise.
Ken hurriedly shouted.
“I don’t think you know since you just got here but do you even know what clan I’m from? This isn’t a place where you can act however you want! You will regret this!”
Sofía laughed as she approached while clenching her fists tightly from the urgent shouts of Ken.
“I know. I can see it clearly. Rerorerore… Huh. Rather gaudy.”
<Rerorerore>
The thing which he belonged to that was seen above his head.
Hansoo laughed as he heard Sofía’s mumbles.
‘She’s never wrong.’
Rerorerore.
Though the name was a bit crappy, their strength and influence were real.
A huge clan which had influence over 28 areas out of the 118 areas that the humans had made up on the Gragos.
If they follow this guy’s guidance then they would be able to find some hints.
‘Well. It seems like that guy will get beat up a bit first.’
Since he had intentions of killing another human being, he should’ve expected at least this much.
Hansoo shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Ken who was white from fear.