Act 5: Inventor Wormer
Act 5 Inventor Wormer
There was a reason Ark had escaped to the canyon. Before leaving for Smuggler’s Pass, he had investigated Pabiun Canyon and determined that it was full of dozens of complicated passages. If he entered then he could use the terrain to somehow outrun the monsters.
‘The problem is Alan.’
Normally an ordinary monster would give up after a certain distance and time had passed and their battle states would disappear. But if Alan was controlling the monsters then they wouldn’t give up. They would follow until the end.
‘If Alan continues chasing after me then it will be impossible to destroy the Black Obelisk Forest. Damn, I need to figure out a way to run away from Alan……But now there’s no choice. I have to somehow lose Alan using the terrain of the canyon and then go to the Black Obelisk Forest……’
Ark was thinking that when something interrupted him.
Syuuuuuu, pepepepeng!
Suddenly a flash crossed through the sky. The flash came from the village where the special forces were just at.
‘What is that flash? Did Alan shot it? Then is it a signal flare? Perhaps……?’
Ark intuitively felt uneasy when he saw the flash.
“Master, it’s serious! Herds of monsters from all over the place……!”
Racard screamed from above him. Ark’s misgivings became a reality. A huge number of monsters were moving from every corner of the canyon.
‘Oh my god, there are so many monsters gathered in this canyon!’
“Ah, Ark-nim, what should we do?”
Lariette asked with uneasy eyes. But Ark couldn’t think of a good idea to escape. According to Racard’s report, monsters were in all the passages that exited the canyon. Of course, if the special forces battled desperately then they might be able to escape in one of those passages. However Alan and hundreds of monsters were chasing behind them. If they engaged with the monsters then Alan would catch up.
‘Is it going to end here?’
Ark sighed and felt like he was about to collapse. Suddenly there was the sound of the wind and a message floated in front of him.
-Wormer-nim has applied for a whisper using [Secure Communication].
‘Huh? Wormer? What is this?’
Ark accepted the whisper with a bewildered expression. Then a voice violently shook his eardrums.
-There’s no time to explain. You guys, do you have food?
-Food?
-Do you, do you?
-I have enough for several days……
-Good. Are you guys in danger now? I’ll help you. Do you see that narrow passage at your 3 o’clock direction? Run to that spot immediately. I’ll tell you in advance that I can’t help you if the group of monsters follow you. So hurry before the monsters spot you.
The user called Wormer then cut off the communication. Ark’s head was full of complicated thoughts. He didn’t know who Wormer was and his reason for whispering to him. And what was with those words about food? But Ark didn’t think for long. Even if Wormer had malicious intentions, he had no other options.
“Everybody head to the passage visible in the 3 o’clock direction!”
Ark led the special forces to the place Wormer indicated. However, they were forced to stop 3 minutes after entering the passage.
“What is this? Isn’t this a dead end?”
There was a cliff in front of him. Ark made a confused face.
Ku ku ku ku, ku ku ku ku!
Then the whole area started to vibrate. And the ground they were standing on suddenly flipped over. It was like a pot lid being turned upside down. Ark and the special forces vanished in an instant. And the floor returned back to normal.
—————————————————————————————————————–
“Did we miss them?”
The Dark Elf complained with pouted lips.
“No, all of passages exiting the canyon are blocked. There’s no way out.”
Alan answered in a firm voice. Alan, the Dark Elf and the monsters they were leading had arrived at the canyon just after Ark disappeared underground. But the floor had returned to normal so they could find no traces of Ark and the special forces anywhere. Alan and the Dark Elf couldn’t think of a reason why they had suddenly disappeared.
“There’s nowhere for them to go. If it was just one or two people then they could hide but it is impossible with more than 100 people. They can’t just sprout wings and fly into the sky.”
“This has happened once before. It was also in this area.”
There were actually two reasons why Alan was in this canyon. One reason was to control the monsters stopping the Schudenberg expedition and the other was to find ‘something’ the Red Man needed to accelerate his plans. Not long ago he had chased the people related to that ‘something’ to this area only to have them disappear. They had been running away and vanished just like in this instance.
‘The same thing occurring twice can’t be an accident. I’m missing something.’
Alan suddenly dug out his own eye with a finger. The Dark Elf frowned at his distorted features.
“Yuck, doesn’t that feel really awful?”
Alan didn’t answer as he just removed his eyeball. And the eyeball started to float in front of him. It was Buksil’s technique, Vampire’s Eye! Alan had used the ‘Predator of Demons’ ability to acquire the Vampire’s Eye skill. That’s right. The eyeball which popped out of the snow when the special forces passed through Smuggler’s Pass belonged to Alan. Alan hadn’t known that Ark would find out about the Smuggler’s Pass. He expected that the Schudenberg expedition would use the Smuggler’s Pass so he had hidden one eyeball there beforehand. Then he discovered Ark and had hastily gathered monsters together to cause him to Nuran village.
‘I had a separate plan to ruin that guy but I can’t let him go now that he has entered my sight. That guy and Lariette has wounded me. I can’t forget it. I’ll let him know what it feels like.’
Alan turned as his eyeball returned without anything.
“They’re obviously hiding somewhere here. The canyon has been blocked for several days even before they appeared. This is our number one priority. Inform all you colleagues.”
All the monsters surrounding Alan bowed and left. Then the Dark Elf frowned.
“It doesn’t matter if we leave Pabiun Fortress to the monsters but we still haven’t made any progress with ‘that.’ The Red Man said ‘that’ is our priority……”
“It is impossible for the demonic monsters to capture ‘that’ now that it has changed to a defense formation. Andel is also having a difficult time. So I’ve already requested support from the Rwigenberg. That problem can be set aside since the most important thing for me is to catch that guy.”
Alan answered without even having to think about it.
“Okay. I only joined you because I like you.”
The Dark Elf played with her sharp ears and nodded. Alan quickly folded his arms and said.
“I have no interest in another woman. Got it?”
“Are you joking right now?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
The Dark Elf pouted at his words. Alan unfolded his arms and looked at the Dark Elf with an uncomfortable expression.
—————————————————————————————————————–
“What, what the?”
“What on earth is going on?”
“Who? Where is the light?”
“Ah, sorry. The stone was turned off.”
A voice rang out in the darkness. The special forces were all piled on top of each other like a pile of trash thanks to the floor flipping. Luckily the height of the floor wasn’t enough to deal damage but it the special forces were crushed under the weight of their members. Ark also felt the strenuous weight of everyone on top of him.
‘Damn, it feels like my internal organs are going to pour out of my mouth.’
Ark grabbed his throbbing ribs and crawled out of the human pyramid. Then both of his wrists started to throb.
‘Eh? What? Why…..?’
Ark looked at his wrists with a baffled expression. Sure enough? The tattoos that needed a special criterion to unseal for Eternal Soul had lights around it. The light spread like a crack and then broke. Then an information window appeared.
-A seal of ‘Eternal Soul’ has been released and you’ve acquired a new profession-specific skill.
-[Demonic Response Ⅵ]: Eternal Soul stage 7 (Passive)
‘Demonic Response’ is a necessary stage to learn if they want to reach the enlightenment needed for Eternal Soul. When fighting against a monster with the demonic attribute, you will deal additional 40% damage and resistance to the demonic attribute will increase by 50%. In addition, you will be able to detect hidden demonic power within the bodies of monsters.
-[Magi distortion]: Eternal Soul Stage 8 (Active)
Demonic Distortion will release the demonic energy sealed in the cursed equipment and this will make the space distort. The user can control the flow of demonic energy to distort the space, and it is possible to change the position of friends and foes in a 500 metre range. The amount depends on the level of demonic energy sealed in the equipment.
The equipment with a higher level will emit stronger demonic energy which can move more enemies. Typically one equipment can exchange 10~30 people. This skill can be used to help besieged allies or to strategically attack an enemy camp. You also can’t exchange friends and foes if there is an obstacle in the way.