Chapter 175. Green Road (2)

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“Hahahahaha! Ekidu! What’s with the tiny group! Did you get expelled from the village? Only three people?’

“…”

Ekidu frowned as she looked at the person she hadn’t seen in awhile.

A man with a handsome visage, golden hair and who was holding a giant bow.

Hansoo’s eyes shone as he watched the man.

Well, the artifact in the man’s hands to be exact.

‘… Number 301. Snake’s path.”

Behind the man, who was holding a bow which had red and green beautifully intertwining, around 500 people were standing.

Among and on the trees.

‘Hmm. Most are Hunters. I can see some Guards…’

Most people heading towards the Green Road were Farmers.

But the group in front of them were all skilled people at the level of Hunters.’

‘And it’s not a group that was hastily created.’

A group of that level would be quite formidable.

If they fight then they wouldn’t be able to leave here unscathed.

‘Hmm. This is unexpected. Karhal having enmities would be reasonable but for Ekidu to have enemies.’

While Hansoo was sighing inwardly.

Ekidu sighed as she threw the arrow in her hands down and then muttered in a cold manner.

“Let’s not butt into each other’s business and go our own ways Marun.

Marun smiled at these words and then spoke.

“Eh, sure. Anyways, you’ve become really pathetic. Did you get kicked out of the village like me?”

‘What happened to her, she’s supposed to be a village leader?’

Usually when a strong person, like someone at the level of a village leader, left for the Green Road, a large amount of Hunters and Farmers would follow them.

Since being next to a strong person increased their chances to gain even just a bit of leftovers.

It might be different if the village leader’s personality was bad but countless people would try to stick by Ekidu due to her fair and righteous personality.

‘Did they not group up yet?’

Ekidu realized instantly as to what Marun was thinking about as she replied.

“We’ll group up soon so don’t worry about it. And what do you mean by getting kicked out. We ran away on our own.”

The fact that Marun was pondering like that meant that he was calculating the situation.

Since there wouldn’t even be a need to ponder if he had the upper hand.

‘Since we aren’t really on good terms or anything.’

She had tried to kill Marun.

In the past.

A man hadn’t been satisfied with just trying to search around the 1st Area and had shook the entire 4th Area.

Ekidu mumbled as she looked at Marun, a man who had been a guard at her village.

After somebody had searched around the 1st Area by themselves and turned the entire village into a wreck, searching around the 1st Area had been banned.

But the man standing over there, Marun, had tried to use that opportunity.

— How long are you going to stay stuck in this village! Danger comes with chances! There’s even a thing like the darkness, there might be wondrous things in there!

Marun thought that the powerful guards staying within the village was a waste and continued to attempt searching the 1st Area.

But because of Ekidu’s judgement which said that it was too dangerous, and because Karim also opposed his idea of searching around the 1st Area since it would be a waste of the Guards, Marun resorted to the worst option he had.

He had convinced the hunters of the 4th Area, which was where he was before, and had tried to flip the village upside down.

He was the reason for the great massacre of the 4th Area.

Actually, he might’ve succeeded.

His own skills were quite good and he had a large amount of comrades.

And they had robbed the village’s Armory, waited until Ekidu and the other Guards went out for some work and then went for the village then.

But there was one thing Marun hadn’t been able to foresee.

It was that Ekidu, who had been enraged after she had returned from the situation then, was strong beyond his imagination.

And the fact that the powers of the ten people siding with Karim were beyond his imagination as well.

The coup d’etat of the 4th Area, which seemed like it would work, had been suppressed by the hands of the guards, Karim and Ekidu.

Most of the hunters who had been with Marun had been killed off by Ekidu but Marun, who had realized that the situation was quite bad, gathered up the few remaining people as he left the village.

After taking the Scarlet Yang Armor as well as the most precious item, the bow <Snake’s Path>.

Marun smiled as he looked at Ekidu.

‘Ekidu, the situation is really different now, huh.’

Thinking of Ekidu who had chased him like a demon in the past, it still kept him awake at night.

But the situation was now different.

‘I clearly have the upper hand this time.’

He had run away like a lost dog but his skills stayed even if he had gone to another village.

No, that wasn’t all.

The artifact he had stolen from the Armory, <Snake’s Path>, had given him wings and had allowed him to attain a new power at the village he had ran to as well as allowing him to gather close to 500 hunters to follow him.

Hunters whose contracts had ended with good timing.

And compared to them, the other side only had three people.

Marun, who had realized that there wouldn’t be any forces backing her up even if it got dragged out, started to laugh coldly.

He had been nervous since there was a chance but for it to really be possible.

‘Shall I check just in case.’

Marun laughed coldly as he spoke.

“Well. Let’s forget about our past. Since I didn’t really lose out that much.”

“…”

Ekidu, who had been maintaining her cold expression, sighed in relief inwardly.

Even if they had Hansoo, the other side was still very strong.

And Marun couldn’t be ignored as well.

In a situation where they didn’t know what would come out from the Green Road, a clash was best avoided.

But before Ekidu could even finish her thoughts.

Marun smiled as he spoke.

With the expression of a hyena who had gained a chance to take a bite off its prey.

“Just leave behind an arm before you go. It’s fair since I lost a finger in my right hand when you chased me in the past right?”

Marun then lifted up his right hand which was missing the middle finger.

The hand which he had flipped her off with and had thus had lost the middle finger.

Tremble

The moment she heard it.

The White River Demonic Art that was calming down started to burn back up again.

‘Fucking hell.’

Karhal spoke to Ekidu carefully as he eyed the situation which was turning worse and worse.

“… Can’t we just give it and be done with it?”

“…”

“Okay okay, I get it.”

‘Those guys wouldn’t stop at just an arm anyway.’

If she gave her arm off they would then all charge in.

This was a threat.

That they would kill them all.

Karhal gulped from the side and prepared to fight.

***

‘Hmm. Good, good. It’s all going very well.’

Mount Liang’s member, Junghwan, surveyed around the entire funnel area as he nodded.

They were gathering.

People who had started off at different villages were gathering towards the Green Road.

There were a lot of different types.

People who had grouped with a large amount of people up from the fear of the mystery about the Green Road.

Or a small group of people who were confident in their skills and were trying to go through the Green Road without becoming a large target.

They all had different looks to them but they all had something in common.

‘… They aren’t fighting, huh. Why can’t they be more like those guys over there.’

Junghwan made a bored expression as he looked at the five hundred people who were threatening the three others openly.

They were wary of each other but they didn’t fight.

There was a reason.

Why would they waste their forces when they didn’t know what would pop out from here on.

Junghwan clicked his tongue as he saw this scene.

The village had tamed these people too much.

‘Those guys are all useless. Let’s start it up now then.’

It was time to turn them back.

To the them of the past.

They needed to become a bit more desperate.

Junghwan finished his thoughts as he touched the red marble in his hands.

In the next instant.

Kuuudududududu

A tremendous noise and vibrations started to occur around Junghwan.

At the same time the ground near Junghwan cracked open.

It was similar to an earthquake but that wasn’t it.

As the ground cracked open, a black tunnel had popped out.

A square tunnel that looked artificial.

Junghwan laughed as he saw the tunnel.

Some might say there weren’t enough people who survived.

But in their perspective, there were still too many of the humans.

They didn’t need such a large amount of people.

Filter away the weaklings and only look for those who will remain.

Over half of the people down there didn’t even have the right to meet the standards.

And people like him didn’t have the time to go through such people.

So there was a need for him to do something.

‘Come.’

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of something rushing up could be heard from below.

Roaarrr

Junghwan quickly ran away after hearing the rough breathing below the ground.

‘I should run away as well.’

It’ll come back after it filled up enough.

Staying near it would just result in a meaningless death.

In the past this thing had been accidentally released and had almost destroyed an entire ceasefire village.

If it hadn’t eaten its fill then the whole village would’ve been erased.

Roaaaaarrr!

Soon something popped out from where Junghwan had disappeared from and roared.

It then sniffed his nose as it started to dash away.

In order to fill its hunger that it hadn’t been able to satisfy while it had been trapped.

***

Roaaaar!

“…Huh?’

Marun, who had been drawing his bow, heard the huge roar from the distance as he stopped.

‘Fuck. Why does it have to be now?’

Marun, who was going to wipe the three people in an instant, frowned a bit.

Well the talk between Ekidu was him just testing the waters out.

Even if Ekidu hadn’t been there, they would’ve killed them all.

Since a useless clash was better if avoided but five hundred people killing off three couldn’t really be considered a clash.

Since a tank running over an ant wasn’t a clash.

Wouldn’t it be a waste when three people were just walking around with a set of amazing artifacts?

‘And… a beauty like Ekidu isn’t that common.’

Marun, who had stopped for a bit, shook off his thoughts as he released the bow he had drawn.

A single beast wasn’t that much of an issue.

They just needed to finish this off before it got here.

Kwaaaaaaaaa!

<Red Snake>

The fastest and the strongest arrow of the three, the Red Snake, had been applied with four additional skills as it flew towards Ekidu.

‘It can’t be dodged.’

Snake’s path.

An arrow shot out from this could not be dodged no matter what.

Like a snake who searched for body heat in order to keep warm, the arrow aimed for the warmth of the heart and will fly towards that heart until the end.

At that moment.

Booooom!

The arrow, which had been flying towards Ekidu with a tremendous aura, suddenly got blown apart.

‘…What the fuck!’

Marun was shocked.

The arrow had been blown apart by the guy standing next to Ekidu who didn’t really look like much.

Marun was flustered.

That arrow wasn’t something that would be easily destroyed like that.

‘And… Why aren’t the skills activating?’

Marun’s eyes got focused onto the man and away from Ekidu.

‘I don’t remember a face like that?’

It hadn’t been long since he had left the village.

He couldn’t remember everyone in the village but someone who could become this strong in that short amount of time had to have been someone quite strong already back then.

Like Karhal standing next to Ekidu.

‘Damn. Something is wrong.’

Marun frowned but shook his head and shouted.

“What are you doing you bastards! Solve it quickly and leave! Nothing has changed.”

The hunters erased their amused expressions at Marun’s shout and then all nodded.

They had been shocked by the sudden roar of the beast and the unexpected skill but nothing much changed.

But Hansoo shook his head at those words.

“Something did change.”

“What?”

At that moment.

Kiiiiiiing!

Marun flinched at the ominous sound coming from behind him.

And soon.

Boooooom!

The beam of laser, which cut through the forest, smashed into the group of Hunters.

“Waaaaaak!”

“Damn!”

Close to 20 people couldn’t even yell out at the beam which flew in at the speed of light and had disappeared.

And soon.

Roaarr!

A giant beast jumped in between the melted jungle.

With an aloof posture unlike its beastly and strange roared.

Marun made a confused expression.

“…What the hell is that.”

The body of a wolf.

The wings of a bird.

Head of a Mouse.

And it was huge.

It was easily over 30 meters tall.

While Marun was flustered at the horrendous beast in front of him.

Hansoo looked at the beast with a calm expression.

‘It’s here.’

Triple fusion beast.

A beast that had been hurriedly created by the Sages in order to deal with the Higher Races who had betrayed them.

He needed to kill that thing in order to head towards the next objective.

‘But… it’s quicker than my expectations.’

At that moment.

Grrrrrr

The Triple Fusion Beast’s eyes landed on Hansoo.

And soon.

Booooom!

A beam of light poured out from the mouse’s mouth as it smashed into Hansoo.