Chapter 1257 |
The jungle that Plague had fled into was called the Jukai Jungle, and this was the second-largest jungle on the continent.
While it was not quite as vast as the Great Jungle that Siegfried had once explored, it was still as large as an entire kingdom. Hence, Siegfried expected this journey to be a long one, so he stuffed his Inventory full of supplies before venturing out.
“Kyuuu! Let’s pass through the jungle! Kyuuu! Let’s crawl slowly! Kyuuu! When the swamp appears, crocodiles will come out! Kyuuu! Crocodile swarms!”
Hamchi looked clearly excited about going on an adventure again after so long, as evidenced by how he skipped and hopped happily.
‘Seriously… I wonder which one is this guy’s true form?’ Siegfried wondered.
He recalled the time that Hamchi had transformed into what the hamster had claimed to be his real form. In that form, Hamchi was a cold and ruthless spirit, one so ruthless that even Siegfried shuddered in front of him.
When he was in the form of this little beast, calling him "punk" was the best word to describe him.
‘I should raise Invincible Spear Art’s level.’
Before setting out, Siegfried invested every skill point he had into Invincible Spear Art.
[Alert: Invincible Spear Art has leveled up!]
[Alert: Invincible Spear Art has leveled up!]
[Alert: Invincible Spear Art has leveled up!]
(omitted…)
[Alert: Invincible Spear Art has leveled up!]
A confrontation with Lee Geon was inevitable, so strengthening his fundamentals was more important than anything. As much as he hated to admit it, Lee Geon was superior when it came to both controls and reflexes.
To close that gap, the best way was to raise the level of Invincible Spear Art, a skill that allowed him to transcend human limits.
Even though Lee Geon’s reflexes were far superior to his, the automatic defense function of the Invincible Spear Art allowed Siegfried to fight toe to toe against the former.
“Take this with you, sire,” Ninetail said, handing him a large bag with a magic orb attached.
“Is this a communication device?” Siegfried asked, inspecting the magic orb.
“Yes, it is. I brought it just in case. It will be useful to keep in touch with the Guardians,” Ninetail replied with a nod.
“Thanks, Ninetail.”
The Jukai Jungle was so vast that a communication device was essential. If he could request satellite imagery from the Guardians, then it would raise his chances of tracking down Plague.
Of course, the Jukai Jungle was so densely overgrown that even a satellite could hardly observe anything happening under the thick canopy.
Still, Siegfried needed all the help he could get right now, so he decided to take the communication device with him.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
“Please come back safely, sire.”
Leaving Ninetail behind, Siegfried looked back at his trusty sidekick.
“Let’s go, Hamchi!”
“Kyuuu! Into the jungle we go!”
As always, Hamchi seemed quite excited about the new adventure they were about to embark on.
***
The Jukai Jungle was swelteringly hot and insanely humid, just like any other jungle.
However, Siegfried had already reached the realm of Grandmaster, and his reconstructed body neither felt hot nor cold.
The climate within the Jukai Jungle was bad, but it had no effect on him whatsoever.
He pressed forward and steadily explored the vast jungle. While exploring the jungle, he noticed that there were stone pillars and rectangular blocks scattered through it.
‘Could these be ancient ruins?’
Siegfried began to wonder if some great civilization had once flourished here in the Jukai Jungle.
After all, signs of human presence were faintly visible across the jungle.
“Kyuuu! Doesn’t this place feel strange, owner punk?!” Hamchi exclaimed.
“Hm? What do you mean?” Siegfried asked.
“It feels like we keep ending up in the same spot! Kyuuu!”
“Hey, come on. There’s no way,” Siegfried scoffed.
However, he decided to open his minimap to check their current location, just as a precaution.
“What…?”
He realized they had been circling the same place for nearly an hour now.
Unbeknownst to him, this was one of the peculiar traits of the Jukai Jungle. The space and time within the jungle were warped and distorted, and one could end up wandering in circles forever without ever finding the way out.
This was the reason only a few people had ever dared to venture into this jungle, even though it was smaller than the Great Jungle.
‘Is this why no one knows about the ancient ruins here?’
With that thought, Siegfried activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance.
The minimap appeared in front of his eyes, marking the warped zones where time and space twisted. Thanks to that, he was able to avoid the warped zones and no longer lopped back to the same spot.
‘Finding him will be difficult…’ Siegfried thought.
He couldn’t help but be worried about Plague.
In a place where time and space were warped, tracking someone down would be no easy task. Flying overhead was not an option either, as there was the risk that Lee Geon would notice if Siegfried took to the skies.
Also, the jungle canopy was so dense that aerial observation was pointless anyway.
‘I guess I have no other choice. I should head to the center of the jungle first and start from there.’
With that thought, Siegfried pushed deeper toward the heart of the Jukai Jungle.
It was then.
“Kyuuu! Look over there, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed in a hushed voice and pointed ahead.
“...!”
Siegfried saw a group of knights approaching, but something was off about them.
They were not clad in metal armor. They were made of stone, and they were not humans, but rather, statues in the form of knights. However, the thing that caught Siegfried’s eye was the crest emblazoned across their chests.
He was all too familiar with it, as the crest belonged to none other than—
‘Illuminati?’
—The secret organization that worshiped the Creator and wished for the destruction of the world...
***
[Cursed Statue]
[Statues of knights created by the ancient secret organization known as the Illuminati.]
[They were once knights, but were cursed and turned into stone statues after failing their missions.]
[They possess immense combat power.]
Shockingly, the level of the Cursed Statues was an astonishing Level 500.
‘T-That’s crazy…’ Siegfried thought.
He couldn’t help but be appalled after seeing that the level of these mere mobs was ridiculously high.
“Get your filthy feet out of this holy land!”
“This is the land of the One True God! Begon, wretches!”
“We are those who serve the Almighty Creator! Intruders shall not be forgiven!”
“Such blasphemy! You dare trespass upon this sanctuary?!”
The Cursed Statues roared in rage after spotting Siegfried and Hamchi.
Wielding their stone swords, they charged at them to strike them down.
‘So this really was some kind of ancient ruin,’ Siegfried thought.
He readied his +10 Sky Piercer and prepared for battle.
Fwaaaah! Fwaaah!
Sshhhh…!
He unleashed Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair, applying layer upon layer of debilitating debuffs upon the Cursed Statues.
The two sides clashed.
‘Whoa… Why are they so strong?’ Siegfried marveled at their overwhelming combat power.
Each one of the Cursed Statues easily rivaled a Master in terms of combat prowess, and an ordinary Master would not last even five minutes when facing all thirty of these statues.
However, Siegfried was different.
While he might have been surprised by how strong the Cursed Statues were, he was far stronger than all thirty of them combined.
The Cursed Statues crumbled into heaps of stone in less than five minutes, unable to even exert their full combat prowess after getting completely weakened by the powerful debuffs unleashed by Siegfried.
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
(omitted…)
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
Due to their high level, the Cursed Statues yielded enormous experience points.
“Whoa! Damn, this is sweeeeeet!” Siegfried grinned and cheered, thrilled to find that these statues yielded as much experience as champion monsters from the Ancient Dungeons.
Unfortunately, his joy was short-lived after the realization struck him.
“Hold on… Could this be the ancient ruin of the Illuminati?” he muttered under his breath, his expression hardening.
Though the Illuminati had already collapsed, they were still an incredibly dangerous faction. At their peak, they ruled half the world and orchestrated the invasion of the corrupted angels.
The Illuminati was an organization capable of bringing about the destruction of the world, so discovering this ancient ruin that belonged to them was definitely no trivial matter.
“Kyuuu! There’s something off about this place! This isn’t just an ordinary jungle, owner punk!”
“Yeah, I agree. Let’s proceed with caution from now on.”
“Kyuuu! Roger that!”
And so, Siegfried and Hamchi continued scouring the Jukai Jungle in search of Plague while being wary of their surroundings.
***
Meanwhile, Plague had stumbled through the Jukai Jungle. He continued running for his life until he, by coincidence, ended up deep in the heart of the jungle.
While running away from the mysterious assailant chasing after him, he had unknowingly pushed all the way into the center of the jungle.
Right before Plague’s eyes was a massive ruin…
Though now reduced to weathered and collapsed, there was no doubt that numerous colossal structures had once filled this place.
‘This looks like a good place to hide,’ Plague thought.
He felt certain that the damned assailant would never pursue him this far.
It had already been ten hours since he had shaken off the assailant, and now he finally felt he could let his guard down.
‘I need some rest.’
He found a heap of stones piled together. He crawled into the hollow space within it and lay down in it. Though he was a demonic creature, being chased down for days had left him weary and tattered.
‘Just you wait…’
Plague gnashed his teeth.
‘I’m going to survive this no matter what. Once I get out of here, I’ll tell everything to my master. He’s going to punish you so badly… Hehehe…’
He had no doubt that Siegfried would deal with the mysterious assailant for him.
***
Siegfried believed he had reached deep enough into the Jukai Jungle, so he activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and used its Search function.
[Alert: Searching for Plague!]
[Alert: Search in progress…]
[Alert: Plague has been found!]
Using Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, Siegfried located Plague, who was currently hiding inside an unnamed ruin.
‘Found him.’
Following the green arrow, Siegfried quickly moved to where Plague was located.
‘I need to get him out of here.’
He was curious about the secret behind this ancient ruin, but his main priority right now was to rescue Plague and return to the Proatine Empire.
Plague was an extremely valuable resource for the Proatine Empire. He was the thing that prevented the Marchioni Empire from waging war, so Siegfried couldn’t afford to lose him here.
He planned to rescue Plague and return to the Proatine Empire, where the latter would be safe. Plague had to survive until the Marchioni Empire was fractured beyond all hopes of getting back together.
While he was heading toward where Plague was hiding…
“...!”
A red dot suddenly appeared on the minimap, and the name on the red dot was none other than Beowulf.
The mysterious assailant who had attacked Plague and chased him down was indeed Lee Geon, and he was less than five kilometers away from Plague.
“Get on my back, Hamchi!” Siegfried exclaimed.
“Kyuuu?! Why all of a sudden?!”
“Lee Geon’s closing in on Plague! We can’t save him just by running! We have to fly!”
“Kyuuu! Got it!”
With that, Siegfried carried Hamchi on his back and shot through the air like a fighter jet.
He zipped through the dense jungle and raced toward Plague’s location.
‘Hold on just a little longer. Just hang in there…’
His heart pounded with urgency as he flew toward Plague. The thought that he could lose him if he were even a moment too late drove him to push himself even harder.