“Huhuhu, this use of this skill is quite surprising.”
Ark laughed as he checked the message window. It was the newly learned ‘Soul Extortion’ that he gained after eating the Necromancer’s Immortality Pill. In fact, Ark had thought it was slightly regrettable when he first checked the information window of the Soul Extortion skill. But after he used it a few times, he thought that the information was slightly insufficient. When utilized in an actual fight, the effect was quite good.
While the skill only raised his Spiritual Power and no other stats, Ark’s favourite part of Soul Extortion was that it had a range of 30~40 metres. It was equal to the range of archers who had mastered Advanced Archery. Ark was able to deal with the Harpy thanks to Soul Extortion. Although it only did 50 damage, the effect was 100 times better than his beginner’s Archery. Furthermore, Soul Extortion was a skill which didn’t consume mana and had no cool down time. The only difficulty with using Soul Extortion was that he had to ‘Lock on’ to the target first. Lock on required a certain amount of time to be fixed onto the target but it wasn’t easy with the Harpy flying around in the sandstorm. So while attacking, Ark had to stare at the monster. But once Lock on was successful, it didn’t go away until the end of the battle.
“Now shall I start attacking earnestly? You are already screwed. Soul Extortion! Soul Extortion! Soul Extortion!…..No, it’s not enough. Soul Extortion!”
Ark ran after the Harpy and fired Soul Extortion blindly. The transparent hand shot forward like an arrow every time and removed a part of the soul. Since it was infused with the spirit of the monster, he felt a little ill absorbing it but he didn’t question it too closely. Eventually its health would fall below 10% and the Harpy would try to run away. It was a cowardly monster that would hide until its health was 100% again. Before escaping to a place he couldn’t reach, Ark had to reduce its health.
Kiiiiik, kiiiik!
When the Harpy’s health fell to 7%, as expected it instantly flew away up the rocky mountain.
“Now Racard. Dark Dash!”
“Okay!”
Racard who had been hiding behind the rock at Ark’s order shot forward and impacted with the back of the Harpy’s head. The Harpy who had been hit wobbled and shook. However, Racard was a ruthless bat. Racard soared through the sky and continued head butting the falling Harpy. Each hit was like a nail being beaten by a hammer.
“Make it descend so that I can finish this!”
Once the Harpy entered his range, Ark swung the Saw blade and wound it around the Harpy’s ankle. When he flipped the Saw blade over his shoulder, the Harpy was flung and impacted with the ground. This was the method he devised to capture the Harpy who ran away. When he first arrived at the rocky mountains, Ark didn’t know anything about flying monsters and used Racard and the Saw blade to fight. However, the Harpy was a monster which instinctively attacking the flying object first. No matter what Ark did, if Racard was visible than he would die first. Since aerial combat was often dozens of metres in the air, it was impossible for Ark to do anything. Racard’s current ability was at a level 270 standard. No matter how trained his pet was, he had no chance of winning a 1 on 1 fight against the level 350 Harpy. Thanks to that, Racard had died many times in Hwaryong Mountain. So Ark didn’t utilize Racard during the battles after that. He instead made in lie in ambush and only used Racard for the element of surprise against the Harpy.
Racard faithfully played the role this time.
Once the Harpy had been caught by the Saw blade and thrown into the ground, Racard started head butting it and stamping on its wings with fury. The Harpy was stuck on the ground. Even a flying monster wasn’t able to easily get back up. Ark also realized this.
“Now it is time to finish this!”
Ark used Sprint and pierced the chest of the Harpy with his Saw blade. He could feel it as the sword penetrated the ribs. The Harpy’s wings flapped a few more times until it couldn’t last any more.
-Your level has risen.
When the Harpy collapsed, he received the wonderful message.
“Phew, I gained one level. The experience gained is quite good when comparing the time it takes to hunt.”
Ark nodded as he browsed the character information window. Even though the Harpy was lower levelled than Ark, as a flying monster it gave 20% more experience than general monsters. Although it takes a lot of time to hunt one, the rate of experience gain is similar to hunting monsters of the same level.
“Character information window!”
Character Name Ark Race Human
Alignment Good +500
Fame 2,365 (+500) Level 371
Profession Dark Soul
Title Cat Knight, Caretaker of the People, Jackson’s Hero, Great Adventurer, Magic Institute Member, Seutandal’s Hero
Health 6,965 (+225) Mana 7,155 (+25)
Spiritual Power 407 Strength 757 (+38)
Agility 947 (+110) Stamina 1,187 (+35)
Wisdom 173 (+10) Intelligence 1,255 (+5)
Luck 167 (+60) Flexibility 168
Art of Communication 69 Affection 134 (+10)
Resilience 439 Dark Fog 24
Special stat: Knowledge of Ancient Relics 153
* Equipment item effects
Guardian Armour of the Merpeople: Water Attribute Resistance +100%, Penalty based on water is nullified.
Cat Paws (Gloves): Attack Speed +10%, Agility +15, Critical Hit +10%
Raccoons Pith (Helmet): Agility + 10, Wisdom + 10
* Set effect: Strength + 20, Agility + 20, Stamina +20, Defense +40
Warrior’s Transcripts (Shoulder Blades): Strength + 3
Wolf’s Feet (Shoes): Agility + 40, Movement Speed +40%, Attack Speed +10%, ‘Jump’ is available
Galgashi’s Fur (Mantle): Cold resistance +100%, Agility +20, When health is less than 50%, ‘Magic Protection’ automatically activates.
Adelaine’s Necklace (Necklace): Defense + 40, Affection +10, ‘Blessing of the Sea’ available
Rarukan’s Ring (Ring): Agility + 10, Attack Speed +10%, Critical Hit +8%, ‘Dark Protection’ available
Ark’s Ring (Ring): Strength + 5, Agility + 5, Stamina + 5, Wisdom + 5, Intelligence + 5, ‘Sudden Increase in Power’ available
Amulet of Vitality (Bracelet): Health + 50, Health recovers by 5 every 20 seconds
Gladiator’s Honour (Bracelet): Strength, Agility, Stamina +10, Fame +500, Sword-based Skill Growth +5%
* All abilities will increase by 50% in the dark
* You have the ability to hide in the darkness (30 minutes duration. Cancelled when you get into combat)
* Resistance to Fear, Darkness, Blind, and Seduction spells is increased by 50%.
* You can bring out the true abilities from all types of tools.
* Shock absorption is increased by 20%.
* Poison resistance has increased by 50%.
* 10% increased attack and defense.
* Skill points: 80
“Not bad.”
Ark closed the information window with a satisfied expression. Ark deliberately only went to places on Hwaryong Mountain where the monsters were high levelled. Thanks to that, he managed to gain 5 levels in a week and was currently level 371. Of course, If he grabbed a good hunting spot than he could gain 2~3 more levels, but he never expected that much experience from this quest. However, it was quite annoying because Hwaryong Mountain had quite a lot of harpies.
“It seems like recently I’ve swept almost all of them up……”
When he first arrived at Hwaryong Mountain, he had been attacked by quite a few harpies. Sometimes he would be attacked by three or four at once. But after walking around Hwaryong Mountain for a couple of days, it became difficult to see the Harpies. It had taken him 20 minutes to handle that previous Harpy.
“Now that the surroundings have been cleaned up, I should be able to climb up…..”
In fact, Ark hadn’t taken care of the Harpies on the slopes of Hwaryong Mountain because he wanted to. Although it gave 20% more experience, hunting Harpies took a while and it was quite tedious. And the japtem dropped wasn’t that good either. Since the sandstorm limited the topographic range of his map, he decided it was more efficient to hunt the harpies at the base of the mountain. While hunting the Harpies, he had climbed the mountain for two days. The slope was pretty amicable until halfway up the mountain. However, suddenly sheer cliffs were blocking the way and he couldn’t go any further.
‘When I received the quest, the destination was marked on the map as the centre of Hwaryong Mountain. In other words, it is the top of Hwaryong Mountain…..but no matter how many times I went around, it wasn’t possible to find a path to reach the top. There is one route where I can ascend…..’
Ark checked the map once again and looked at the hill on the opposite side. When the sandstorm stopped yesterday evening, he was able to confirm there was a route from the hill on the opposite side. However, the hill on the other side was dozens of metres from Ark’s current location. However, the bottom of the cliffs between the hills weren’t even visible. So Ark had given up on the other hill and spent the next two days looking for another route but eventually gave up. He came to the conclusion that he had to go over the ravine.
“But how can I do that?”