Chapter 71. Incursion (1)

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“What shall we do? If we move with haste then there is a possibility to create friction with other clans.”

Michael pondered at the words of Liu Hong, the captain of the shock troopers.

It had already been 4 years since he had come into the Otherworld.

He had gone through a lot in the Otherworld.

He had trampled on those who tried to kill him and used the people who would benefit him no matter how.

He didn’t know whether his actions were correct or wrong but after a while of doing similar actions, he had felt that he could get some form of sensation.

Whether he needed a person or not.

Whether a person was somebody he could approach or not.

A sensation came to him.

‘I think that if I get rid of the poison then there will be some very sweet meat.’

He won’t be easy.

Like how a pufferfish becomes an extremely tasteful material once one gets rid of the toxins, Kang Hansoo will puke out a lot of things like how a strong monster dropped a lot of things.

“Get him. I’m also curious as to what he gained inside there too.”

Liu Hong nodded at those words.

That guy had pulled something out from the Heart.

That was likely the reward for killing the Calamity Fish.

No, even without that. That guy was the sole survivor that knew of its insides.

He was somebody they needed to catch due to many different reasons.

“Catch him before you clash with the other Clans.”

Liu Hong stopped while sending out the Blue Carrier Pigeons in all directions and the spoke while laughing.

“It’s not likely that we won’t be able to catch him before he gets to a different clan’s territory.”

They had come down with 5 teams of shock troopers consisting of 12 people each and 10 search teams of 20 people each since it was quite an important event for them.

They couldn’t take a lot of people in order to maintain the power up above on the Pillar but other clans were like that too.

One single search team could destroy most normal people.

And one of those search teams had tailed Hansoo and others were quickly heading towards the location where the Blue Carrier Pigeons pointed them to.

‘What could have changed in a week.’

They had said that he was quite strong for a newcomer.

Since he was strong enough to beat back Kalz Morenn.

But they didn’t believe that they won’t be able to catch him.

Though that guy had killed the Calamity Fish, if such a thing could be killed with strength then that guy wouldn’t have run away from Kalz Morenn in the first place.

Even if that guy had gained something amazing not much would change.

‘I should still go.’

Liu Hong quickly moved as he sent the Blue Carrier Pigeons towards the leaders of the shock trooper teams and search teams.

***

Boom!

‘Hu-uk!’

Kugan, a member of one of the search teams who were following him, grinded his teeth and backed off as he felt his defense skill get chopped off.

‘Goddamnit.’

Though they were just a part of the search team, they were still clansmen of Lighthouse.

They could fight somebody from the shock troopers of the Twelve Roots one on one.

They had equipped themselves with survival-related skills since there were a lot of dangerous situations.

But every time that crazy sword cut through the air, their skills were getting smashed apart despite being tens of meters away.

“Goddamit! Close the surrounding net!”

And the moment you got scratched by that guy’s sword your blood would pour out.

The search area for Hecate, an enemy clan, was around here.

And they couldn’t leave behind the injured in such a place.

Because they had to take the injured with them the speed at which they were closing the net was slowing down.

And what hurt his pride even more was the fact that the guy over there wasn’t running away despite knowing that he was being chased.

‘That bastard, is he looking down us?’

That guy was constantly disappearing and appearing around the Kukulja lake even whilst swinging his sword.

‘Let’s see how long you can run for.’

The Blue Carrier Pigeons should arrive by now.

Which meant that everyone will gather towards here.

Once more search teams get here and the shock troopers get here then it’ll be the end for this guy no matter how talented he was.

Hansoo, who had been running around the Kukulja lake and collecting the Gehwche seeds, clicked his tongue at the guys charging towards him.

‘Annoying pests.’

An information which Hansoo had acquired on the way out.

‘For 3 days to have passed.’

He needed to collect Gehwche seeds in order to go into the <Devouring and Vomiting Root> but it seemed like he won’t be able to collect the amount he needed at this rate.

There were tens of thousands of lily flowers which had the Gehwche seeds floating around the top of the lake next to him but it was very difficult due to the guys behind him sticking by so closely.

Hansoo shook his head after watching the guys chasing him from behind.

‘There’s no time to collect them all. If you like me so much then… I should fulfill your wishes.’

Hansoo stopped running around the Kukulja lake and pulled something out from his pouch.

The heart of the offspring of the Calamity Fish which he had acquired before.

And the core part of it, the Seed.

Because even the heart of the baby Calamity Fish was so big, the core part was still the size of his head after cutting it out.

Hansoo cut out a palm sized piece from that thing.

He then shook off the people pursuing him a little bit then started to madly run around the Lake and collected materials.

‘Arumkal’s Scent Sac… I collected Essence of Aron just now I need Gon’s Horn.’

— This is a bit dangerous but it’s a method for when you can’t collect all the seeds in time. Only use it during emergencies.

‘Awaking after 3 days of being unconscious is an emergency.’

Hansoo swung his sword backwards a few times and then quickly started to head towards the Gon’s Habitat near the lake.

Kwaaaaaaaaa!

At that moment something popped out from the ground and attacked Hansoo.

The Gon, which had the shape of a lizard with three horns, suddenly popped out from the ground and then tried to bite Hansoo with its giant jaw.

Though it had a slow movement speed, it moved under the ground and then ambushed somebody above the ground with lightning speed and crunched them with their jaw.

Hansoo flinched after seeing the Gon that had popped out.

‘…Three?’

The End Root here was not a place where a Three Horned Gon came out on.

It was at most Two Horned.

Three Horned was a much bigger version that came out much farther above the Middle Root.

And because of this, Hansoo knew immediately.

‘It’s almost here.’

The fact that something that should’ve been above is down here meant that the Devouring and Vomiting Root was steadily heading towards their direction.

Hansoo ondensed formless sword that he had elongated earlier and then stabbed it between its jaw and the cervical where it wasn’t covered with bones.

Kwaduduk.

The formless sword which had gone in between the gap spread out inside the neck and then cut off all the blood flow and nerves.

Kuduk.

Hansoo, who had turned it powerless in an instant, cut of it’s horns and then frowned slightly.

‘If it’s a Three Horned one then the effect might be a bit stronger than I expected…’

But this wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

Hansoo crushed the piece of Calamity Fish offspring’s heart, turned it into paste and then quickly mixed on the newly attained Gon’s Horn and other materials.

The mixture in Hansoo’s hands quickly turned black as time passed by.

But unlike its color, it started to pour out a very pleasing scent in all directions.

And Hansoo, who was smelling this strong scent, quickly threw it into the pool.

The moment the mixture in Hansoo’s dropped down into the waters, it disappeared very quickly.

At that time something flew towards his head at an extreme speed.

‘<Sword of Light>. A skill like this…’

Hansoo frowned at the sword that was slashing down towards him from the skies and then slashed his own sword as he split the translucent sword in the sky in two.

Kudududuk.

At the same time Hansoo jumped into the Gehwche Habitat near the Kukulja lake.

Hansoo, who had been standing around tens of thousands of lily-like flowers, spoke towards the people coming down one by one.

“Why are you chasing me so hard. We won’t see each other in the future anyway.”

Somebody else answered this question.

“That’s not something you decide. I have a lot of questions.”

Michael, who had arrived along with Liu Hong as his guard, laughed as he looked at Hansoo in the distance.

There really wasn’t a need to come but he had come all the way here because he was curious.

‘If you killed the Calamity Fish then that’s enough to make me come see you.’

There wasn’t just one or two things he was curious about.

How he had killed the Calamity Fish.

How he had survived the insides of the Calamity Fish.

What he had obtained after killing that giant thing.

And most importantly.

— Is there a possibility to kill the other Four Calamities.

If you could kill the other Four Calamities or even know their fatal weaknesses then the Red Zone’s governing style will change completely.

‘It’s also not bad to engrave my name before I go up.’

Michael laughed as he finished his thoughts.

“Why are you trying to do something that hard by yourself. It’ll be so much easier if we help you. You can kill the others ones right too?”

Of course the killer of the thing would change if he were to act together with Hansoo and the reward ratio will be slightly, or even largely, changed but it would be a win-win for both.

Good for him and good for that guy.

‘He will say there is.’

Because there wouldn’t be a need to keep him alive otherwise.

Rumors had been spread already.

That Lighthouse had received a large amount of damage from one newcomer like a bunch of retards.

Of course members of other clans had followed in too but the single fact that Kalz Morenn lead them was a disgrace on its own.

If that guy didn’t know how to deal with the other Calamities then it would be much better to just take the thing that guy obtained from inside the Calamity Fish and then kill him.

At that time a very faint vibration could be felt from beneath the earth.

Kududududu

“…?”

‘Did the structure of the Root get weaker from the tsunami that the Calamity Fish made?’

If not then there wouldn’t be such a thing like an earthquake occurring around this location.

While the people were making confused expressions and tried to activated their Searching Skills, Hansoo answered Michael’s question.

“Of course I can kill the other ones.”

“!”

“I was just about to go there. Since you’re going to help me I thank you. Let’s go together then.”

Booooom!

At that moment the surface broke apart something rose up above the surface of the Kukulja Lake.

A gigantic root that looked like a tree root from one glance but was moving in a way that a plant could not.

The tens of split up mouths on the end of the root along with thousands of teeth that were the size of a man constantly opened and closed as they ate up the toxic waters.

Michael frowned intensely after seeing this.

“…Devil’s Mouth? Why is this here?”

<Devil’s Mouth>

It was a thing located within the deepest parts of the dungeon within the World Tree Root.

The thing that was estimated to be part of the <Devouring and Vomiting Root>.

Actually, nobody knew what the <Devouring and Vomiting Root> looked like.

Since there wasn’t a single story of somebody surviving after entering that mouth.

The skin of that crappy looking root was so tough that nobody had been able to damage it so far.

Since nobody had been able to see its true body, one of the Four Calamities was better known as <Devil’s Mouth> instead of <Devouring and Vomiting Root>.

But it was usually quietly sucking the World Tree’s toxic waters, why did it come all the way out here.

And he had never heard of that thing thrashing about madly like that.

“Uwaaaak!”

“Uaak! Go up and dodge it!”

“Damnit! How do you want me to dodge this!”

The mouth of the root that was extended from the ground was tens of meters in diameter alone.

Multiple tens of these were rising up from below.

Michael quickly sent messages to the Search Teams that he had previously ordered to search other locations.

Then he frowned intensely.

‘Damnit. Other places aren’t like this, why is it like this here!’

The root that popped out was drinking onto the toxic waters of the Kukulja lake as if it was thirsty and the waters of the giant Kukulja Lake was disappearing at a rapid pace as if a stopper below the bathtub had been removed.

But the problem was that the surrounding terrain was getting destroyed and they were getting sucked into the mouth at a rapid pace.

How could they dodge properly when the ground beneath them was falling apart.

Hundreds of clansmen who had come around here were getting sucked into the mouth below.

Hansoo laughed coldly as he saw this.

‘It arrived earlier than I expected. Good.’

The Root and the Mouth which had rushed in after getting lured from the scent of the Calamity Fish’s offspring was drinking up the Toxic Waters while the large amount of Gehwches and their seeds were getting carried along in there with the water.

Though everything had proceeded according to his plan but it was more dangerous because of this.

Hansoo tensed up his whole body.

<Devouring and Vomiting Root>

A thing that steals the Toxic Waters that flows through the Interior of the World Tree Root.

Since it drinks up the Toxic Waters of the World Tree, which acts as a purifier and turns the Toxic waters into Nutritional Fluid, that alone makes the amount of Nutritional Fluid dry up.

But the reason why that thing was called a Calamity was not just because that mouth acted us a tool for sucking in the toxic waters.

It was a thing that puked out all the beasts that were born from the <Main Body> deep inside the earth into the area of the World Tree through its mouth.

It was dual structure root.

Unlike the <Outside Mouth> which was for drinking, the Inside Mouth was a passage which constantly vomited out beasts.

And he had to go in because of this.

So he could get to the Main Body.

‘Let’s go.’

Hansoo breathed in and out deeply as he saw the beasts popping out from within the mouth, clenched his teeth and then jumped downwards.