Chapter 267 – The Hoarder (7)
“Hector!”
Ibrahimovic ran over to Hector in surprise. Blood was pouring from his right shoulder. He quickly got out a potion and poured it onto Hector’s injury. However, it didn’t heal.
“You crazy bastard!”
Hector attempted to run at Yeon-woo with bloodshot eyes.
But he was stopped mid-step. A sharp blade was aimed at his forehead.
“It’s common knowledge that you shouldn’t touch someone else without their permission in the Tower. You’re a Captain of the Regiment, and you don’t even know that?”
“You…..!”
Chwak—
Yeon-woo swung the Magic Bayonet without any hesitation. Hector’s head rolled on the floor, his face still angry.
Ibrahimovic was covered in blood. He looked at Yeon-woo with fearful eyes.
He remembered why the Hoarder was called the Hoarder. It wasn’t simply because he hoarded hidden pieces and Karma to himself. It was because he chewed up all the guys who picked a fight with him.
“What? Do you have something else to say?”
“N, no.”
Yeon-woo shook off the blood on the Magic Bayonet and entered the forest as he placed it back around his waist.
Ibrahimovic trembled in fear. The blood from Hector was still hot.
* * *
The weather was hot and humid. He felt like his skin was being pricked, and the concentration of oxygen was so thin that it was hard to breathe. He felt like he was in water. He quickly became tired.
On top of that, there was poison in the air. It was probably from the evaporation of the River of Souls. If you stayed on this island for a long time, your body would most definitely crumble.
‘I understand why the time limit is 49 days. It’s impossible to stay in a place like this for too long.’
Of course, there were some players who roamed around the 29th floor and 30th floor. There were always dropouts who were forced to stop at the stage after the time limit was over.
However, Yeon-woo could guarantee that they weren’t people in their right minds.
His Demonic Dragon Body was affected this much, so how would the normal players fare?
Yeon-woo glanced around, thinking that he should leave this place as soon as possible.
‘There should be something around here.’
Yeon-woo opened his Draconic Eyes to find what he was looking for. The palm trees covering the island reached up to the sky, and the ground was muddy. There were poisonous insects and cobras everywhere.
‘Found it.’
Finding what he had been looking for, Yeon-woo slowly moved in front of it.
On the outside, it didn’t look too different from normal trees.
But if you looked closely, you would see that there were two intertwining vines that climbed up to the top.
It was the first material for the boat.
‘The Spectre Tree.’
All the trees on the Island of Souls were firm. Thanks to that, you could have sturdy lumber. It was easy to think that you could use them as materials for a boat.
There was something most people overlooked. The River of Souls was acidic enough to melt even that. You could sink in the middle of the river.
Fortunately, we sank not too long after we traveled from the island, so we were able to get back to the island.
After racking our brains for several days, we were able to come up with a solution.
‘Since their lumber melted in the River of Souls, they could find lumber that didn’t.’
To be exact, it needed to be a tree that had resistance to the River of Souls.
The Spectre Tree that Yeon-woo had found was just that.
There were small rivers and water that flowed underground on the island. The tree that Yeon-woo had been looking for was one that absorbed the water from the River of Souls, the Spectre Trees.
You couldn’t differentiate the Spectre Trees from other trees just by looking at them. However, there was an ominous atmosphere around the tree, and because it had grown by drinking the river water, it had a natural energy inside of it.
Sometimes, these trees had mutants.
Kiaaak!
As Yeon-woo approached the Spectre Tree with his Magic Bayonet out, it trembled and split a vine to reveal its face.
Chrarak—
The branches shook, and tens of vines came flying at him like whips. There were thorns on its surface, and a poisonous gas emanated from it.
A rock would be crushed just by touching it.
Whoosh—
Unfortunately for it, Yeon-woo was its opposite. Holy Fire flared up like will ‘o’ the wisps and landed on it. In an instant, the fire stuck to the branches.
Kieeek!
The Spectre Tree began to shake in pain.
Yeon-woo raised his Magic Bayonet and swung it.
Kashing—
* * *
“Co-captain! What happened?”
The 92nd Squad of the Fantasy Regiment, the group that had been called Tree Image in the past, was in shock.
From when the beginning of their clan was created to when they joined the Fantasy Regiment. Although Hector was oppressive, he was an umbrella for them.
Someone like that returned with their head cut off. Ibrahimovic looked out of it as he returned, completely drenched in blood.
“Co-captain!”
Only after the clan members called him did Ibrahimovic pull himself together. The dark circles under his eyes had become even darker.
Unlike the dejected aura he normally had, he looked scary right now.
“…..I can hear you, so don’t scream.”
“I, I, apologize.”
The clan members moved back. Their co-captain frequently became scared, but once he was angry, he became violent. It was almost like he had split personalities.
He was one of the reasons why the 92nd Squad had been able to join the Fantasy Regiment.
Two Face. His nickname that represented his different faces had once been infamous in the dark guilds.
“The person that made Hector like this is the Hoarder.”
“…..S***.”
“That guy again.”
“Don’t we need to take revenge, Co-captain? Even if he’s strong, he’s probably busy gathering supplies right now, so…..!”
“No. We’ll wait for the right time.”
Ibrahimovic firmly shook his head even at the urging of his subordinates.
“He’s strong. You didn’t forget about what he did on the 26th floor already, hm?”
“…..”
“…..”
The Fantasy Regiment had eyes on every floor. It was possible because they had numerous clans within them.
Sharing information they received was an unspoken rule that the clan members had.
This was how they knew about Yeon-woo’s performance on the 26th floor. He had jumped into the nest of the snow monsters and even killed the shedding of Apophis, the hidden boss. They said he finished the trial in just two days.
Hector downplayed it, but Ibrahimovic was different.
Snow monsters were strong, and moving past them was unimaginable.
Those here had already passed the 26th floor, but they had almost died for it. A lot of their clan members had actually died as well.
“This time, Hector made a mistake. Foolish bastard. I told him multiple times to control his temper.”
Ibrahimovic was mad at the death of his friend, although he was a stupid guy.
“Also, we have orders to scout the Hoarder from above. So confronting him……is something we won’t do.”
The clan members all bit their lips.
The Fantasy Regiment had given them orders to treat the Hoarder well if they saw him and contact the headquarters.
Hector had died after doing what he normally did. The 92nd Squad originally hadn’t planned to meet Yeon-woo like this.
“But Vice-captain, we can’t step back like…..”
“Fool. Do you think I’ll really just step back like this? Knowing I’ll be cursed by you guys for listening to the orders from above?”
The eyes of the clan members widened.
Ibrahimovic smiled coldly and pressed his temples.
“We have to use our heads. Since we have the Regiment name at our disposal, shouldn’t we use that to our advantage? We still haven’t gotten our registration fee. Oh, there he comes.”
A clan member came panting from the forest.
“What about the Hoarder?”
“He’s currently busy gathering materials. But the materials he’s gathering…..are a bit strange.”
“How?”
“There were some Spectre Trees that lashed at us with their branches if you remember. He’s mostly just cutting them. Strange monsters aside from that are being hunted by him…..”
“They’re probably hidden pieces. Since he got 1st place on all the stages so far, he’s probably overflowing with Karma. The amount of money he gave Charon is most likely the highest of all of us.”
There were 30 boats that Charon could make. Of those, the 92nd Squad was able to request only a middle-level one.
Of course, there was nothing they could do because they had to carry all of their clan members over.
“But since he’s alone, he won’t be able to push his boat. What do you think will happen then?”
“Ah.”
“I see, so that’s how!”
The clan members exclaimed after realizing Ibrahimovic’s thoughts.
The River of Souls was so large that it almost wasn’t a river. Pushing off from the shore definitely wasn’t easy.
You needed a helmsman, a navigator, crew members for the trivial work, and sword wielders who fought when it was needed.
However, it was going to be hard for the Hoarder to do all of those things by himself.
What would he do when he was surrounded by several boats in the middle of the river?
He could fight. He might even win.
But what about after that? What if his boat was destroyed? Then it was the end for him. It would be bad if such an unfortunate incident happened far off from the island.
Ibrahimovic was talking about that.
Far away from the island, the Hoarder wouldn’t be able to do anything if he was surrounded by enemies. You couldn’t do alone what 10 people did together. He was alone, and they were 500.
Also, the headquarters had said to contact them as soon as they saw the Hoarder so they could send people.
Then, the rankers of the Regiment would participate as well.
It probably wouldn’t be just one or two boats that surrounded the Hoarder. There would be at least 10, maybe even more.
‘We can contract him then.’
Ibrahimovic clenched his fist. Raising their numbers was easy.
He would create a situation where the players didn’t have any choice other than to listen to him, and they would be contracted into the Regiment. Since it was a contract with a demon, even the Hoarder wouldn’t be able to squeeze out of it.
The other players on the island were all contracted forcefully and became a part of the Fantasy Regiment.
‘If we can contract the Hoarder into our 92nd Squad…..our prestige will rise. We might even be in the top 10 Squads.’
They weren’t all equal just because they were registered in the Regiment. The lower the number of their squad, the more authorities they had.
The 10 Squads were especially groups that had caused a commotion in the Tower before the Fantasy Regiment was made.
They would be able to be a part of them. Ibrahimovic thought that even if they weren’t in the 10, they would at least be in the top 30.
“Then contact headquarters first. And give Charon more money so our boats can be made before the Hoarder’s.”
The clan members busily began to move.
* * *
Kookookoong!
The 31st Spectre Tree toppled over.
Yeon-woo skillfully separated the parts he didn’t need and cut it along its flaws to toss it inside Intrenian.
「But Master, what kind of boat are you trying to make? Do you think you can man itt without any other people to help?」
Just then, Shanon spoke up in a slightly concerned voice. As someone who had already passed the 27th floor, he was worried about Yeon-woo. He had barely crossed this place as well.
Hanryeong, albeit silent, was thinking the same thing.
Yeon-woo grinned.
“What do you mean there’s no crew?”
「Huh?」
“Do you know what the concept of the boat I’m making is?”
「What is it?」
“A ghost ship.”
Shanon realized what Yeon-woo was saying. It seemed like they were going to do some trivial work.
「……S***.」