Chapter 22 – 022 Flood – Outskirts
A supernatural ability acquired in the jungle. Hwanin’s appreciation of the power to manipulate souls was not much until the soul orb was available.
It’s just, ‘You’re more likely to survive in the jungle.’ This level.
It was part of such a ritual that he paid more attention to escaping the jungle rather than spending his energy on training or training in the yard, which was sure to be a growing power.
In the first place, every day was a series of efforts to survive, so there was not much time to train or practice.
But now, Hwanin desperately felt that his thoughts had faded.
It was the last bastion, belatedly realizing how much stability the hidden number could give to the mind.
Hwanin hoped that a soul holder who could reap the harvest would appear in a short time along the artificially created path, but such a wish did not come true.
Once, as a warning of emergency food, I found a green and red snake. Judging by the triangular snout, it was a venomous snake.
Hwanin quickly stepped on his head and decapitated him with a stone axe, but was unable to secure his soul orb.
Although something like whitish mist flowed from the corpse of the snake, the size of the soul was very small and faint compared to the green monster or beast-headed monster, and even if he tried to collect it with the soul orb while holding the staff, he did not listen to the command and disappeared as it was.
Other than that, I killed a bird that was half of the emergency ration or a scarab with a red-green shell the size of a child’s fist (the emergency ration also refused to eat it), but I couldn’t reap the soul.
‘The body is at least emergency food level. Does it have to be at the level of a monkey’s intelligence?’
While following the road with a sigh, Hwanin, who was supplementing his hunger and moisture with blackberry-like berries he found, suddenly noticed that the density of the bushes had thinned.
After about 40 minutes, Hwanin confirmed that the density of the bushes was increasing again, and after thinking about it for a while, he found a blackberry bush and pondered for a while while picking the fruit.
Shall we proceed as it is towards the Great Lakes, or shall we break through to the less dense thickets?
“…….”
Quack?
Emergency food crying at Hwanin who stops picking blackberries.
Hwanin, who woke up while feeding the blackberry to the carefree figure, turned around.
The food situation was not bad. Even now, what seems to be edible is still being collected and harvested, so it is enough for a few days.
There may still be monster seagulls flying around the Great Lakes, and the Great Lakes know where they are and what direction they are going to, so check out the thinning bushes for now.
If it goes your way, you’ll be able to escape this disgusting forest that’s sweltering, swarming with insects, and difficult to move.
Worrying about the worst and the lesser evil, which is the lesser evil, Hwanin decided to go in the direction of reducing the density of the bushes.
It is terribly difficult to pass untouched mountains and forests.
The overgrown bushes and messy tree roots make walking difficult, and the overgrown undergrowth tends to suck up one’s stamina like a dry sponge absorbing water.
What’s more, if you’re armed with a weapon like a staff or a spear like Hwanin, you don’t even need to say anything.
Spears and staffs often get caught in the twigs or vines of tall trees, and if you don’t pay attention to your feet, you almost trip over tree roots or bushes.
Naturally, annoyance piled up like dot damage, but as I moved forward, the density of the bushes gradually decreased, the ground began to become visible, and the densely growing trees gradually widened the distance, so I was able to persevere.
Quack!
Hwanin stopped moving at the warning sound of emergency food and opened his soul sight to look around.
It is said that the spirit vision can be used continuously without wasting heat and cold, but the multi-colored forest with double dyes puts a considerable burden on the eyesight and brain.
That’s why I use it for about an hour and then take a break for about 20 minutes. Just like now, when the emergency food sitting on the horn of the cane sounds a warning, it expands its spirit vision and explores the surroundings even during rest.
But I don’t know what the warning was.
“Emergency food, what did you see?”
Hwanin waved his staff lightly and said, the emergency rations flew up and landed on a branch of a tree, looking at the bushes below.
Are you hiding underneath?
Hwanin, who took out a spear in response to the emergency food’s location, cautiously touched the bush, causing moderate tension. Then Puss Ssuck! The bushes shook greatly, and Hwanin caught sight of something protruding to the other side.
Tiny clumps of pale gray fur disappear in an instant through the vines clinging to the branches.
‘What was it?’
At first glance, it was a four-legged beast slightly larger than emergency food.
The color system was distinctly yellow, but if it was enough to run away even with a light touch, it must have been a timid animal.
After digging through the bushes where the beast had been, a rather large nest decorated with grass and twigs was revealed.
Gradually, the density of the undergrowth was thinning. This would be a good place for small animals to hide from the big beasts.
Hwanin, who was moving forward again, felt the bushes disappear noticeably, and in fact, soon after, he entered a cute forest full of brown dry leaves.
He looks back and sees a grim growth of undergrowth not far away.
Hwanin looked forward again and saw grass and small grass poking out through the leaves. Then he looked at the tree, which gradually became thinner and thinner, and pushed the tree with all his might with one hand.
The trees tilt a little and the ground shakes.
Hwanin’s body specs may have increased, but since it is a thin tree that is less than 50 cm thick, it seems that the roots are not firmly rooted.
An environment where you can’t hide behind a tree, and the tree seems unlikely to be an obstacle, and it’s easy to get caught in a tree next to you if you swing your weapon carelessly.
I put the stone ax in and took out the spear again. Then he flew in and told the emergency rations that were following him.
“Emergency food. ‘Vigilance’ please.”
Quack.
Although the distance between trees is only 2 to 3 meters, the trees are so thin that you can see the blue sky through them without looking up.
If it’s an emergency ration that’s flying and following you, you’ll be able to see far away.
Hwanin, who learned the vigilance mode through simple training, asked emergency food to monitor the high ground, and began to move forward, keeping a close eye on the location of the tree.
If a small animal lives, it means that there is also a large animal that hunts and eats it.
It was a Hwanin who planned to occupy an advantageous highland by remembering the location of the tree in the event of a battle.
And soon…….
Pretty much!
“Whoop!”
Poo-wook-gae-gaeng!!
Cackle!!
“Synthesis!!”
Knock, buck!
Kaaeng!
Hearing the warning of emergency food coming from all directions, Hwan-in fought fiercely with an animal similar in size and appearance to a retriever dog that constantly rushed at him.
I wonder where it came from, when I got out of the sea of the bushes and walked for about an hour, the emergency food suddenly screamed loudly, and I was nervous, but a pack of over 50 dogs suddenly attacked me.
Using a slender tree as a barricade, the gray four-legged beasts do not rush at once, stabbing their spears nonstop.
It opens its mouth and jumps to sever the flanks while slightly dodging the jumper, and after dodging the attacker from behind with a side step, it cuts its hind legs with a spear.
“Suck!”
Kagang! Wake up!!
Crumble-!
Hwanin felt the arm holding the spear tremble slightly from fatigue, but was also experiencing a strange sensation.
It feels like you know where the canines and beasts will attack. The movements of the beasts caught my eye in particular, and I felt like I knew how to move.
Even so, I was quite tired.
He fought while distributing his stamina as much as possible, but now that he has killed about 30 of them, his breathing becomes rough and his spear quality is in a state of spirit.
It was a long time ago that the effect of the third decree ended, and at least 20 minutes had passed since the battle began.
It’s strange that you don’t get tired.
“Hot!”
Determined not to show weakness, Hwanin thrust his spear like lightning into the jaws of the charging beast, and immediately took a picture of the face of the attacker from the side with the tip of the spear.
Catch!
Wake up!!!
The one who swallowed the spear blade deeply rolls ferociously on the ground, and the one whose eyeball was stamped on the tip of the spear screams desperately and runs amok.
While the other beasts flinched at the seizure of the two kinsmen, Hwanin quickly kicked up the staff of the deer antlers that had been thrown away and held them in his hand.
Growl-!
Arleung-!
Seeing this, the beasts all at once retreated about 10 meters and started growling.
It seems to remember that when the first necromantic effect was maintained, five of them were thrown down at once by the soul explosion.
But Hwanin’s purpose is the fourth rule.
Hwan-in, who quickly summoned the whitish spirit of the animal and put it on his body, felt his heart beat rapidly again and his body temperature rising rapidly, and he took a deep breath. At the same time, identify those who are particularly large.
“Good!!”
Shhh-
He pulled in all the floating spirits around him and blew them away at once.
As if Hwanin’s actions were a signal, the beasts quickly dispersed. However, each of the 5 soul orbs exerted a homing function and tracking was faster.
I’m sorry! Big…….
Kwagwawang!!
Wake up!!
Break-!
Every beast that caught Hwanin’s eyes was caught in the explosion.
“Aaaaa!!”
Leaving the wounded and bloodied ones alone, Hwanin flinched from the explosion and rushed at the unharmed beasts who lowered their stance, and mercilessly speared at the beasts showing their teeth again.
Kaaeng!
Aaaaa!!
Break it up!!
Even if the number of attacks decreases, one at a time, it will surely inflict deep wounds on the legs and body, reducing its combat power.
After making four more of them incapacitated, the momentum of the beasts began to subside noticeably.
A situation where Hwanin also felt cold because he fired 5 soul explosions at once.
‘There must have been a leader among those fallen.’
Quickly grasping the situation, Hwanin took out a black club from his waist and slammed the tree right next to him with a loud shout.
“Get out of here you bastards! Get out of here!!”
At the ferocious cry, all the animals turned their backs and ran away.
“…… Whoa.”
Even though the Necromancer effect continues, the body is very weak.
Hwanin let out a long breath and looked around after watching the 12 beasts running away.
Knock off, shut up.
Wake up.
Well over forty beasts are dying, covered in blood everywhere.
Hwanin silently pierced the chest of not only the animals that were still breathing with his spear, but also those that were lying limp, and continued to kill them.
And it accepts the soul in the form of no additional technology as a soul orb.
“…… Eight?”
Eight soul orbs glow faintly and cling to the antlers of the deer antlers staff.
Has it grown a little with the use of 4 times in a row and multiple Soul Explosions?
Hwanin, who nodded, lifted up the tattered animal-skin bag and stared at the food that was crushed and crushed by the dog’s saliva falling through the cracks.
“…….”
Hwanin, who tossed the luggage that had turned into trash, kicked the corpse of the animal right next to it with a loud bang.
Due to the strength of the legs, the corpse weighing 20kg flies away like a soccer ball.
I sacrificed the botjim instead of the wound, but I feel bad that all the food I saved without eating has become food waste.
The only things that are intact are a package of food for preservation and a package of golden bell flowers for treatment, which are stored in the inside pocket of the suit coat.
Anyway.
‘Now what should I do?’
For a moment, I thought about taking only the fangs of the beasts and making them like amulets, but I discarded them right away.
Using the smell of fangs as a talisman to drive away beasts can be like inviting a tiger to avoid a wolf.
If these are strong guys, they don’t know, but they are fighting in numbers. Rather, it is likely to attract giant rabbits or other monsters because of its smell.
It would be nice to make a wooden shield too…….
It is not a good idea to stay long in such a place where the smell of blood vibrates. Moreover, if I make a shield, I think I will have trouble using a staff.
In the end, Hwanin, who concluded that he just left, called for emergency food sitting on a branch up there.
Whiik-.
Quack!
He took out insects from his coat pocket to feed the emergency rations that flew as if he had been waiting for them, and began to think about where to go.
For now, getting out of the beggarly thickets was a success.
Where to go next….
Will the beasts go the way they fled, or will they go the other way?
To put it simply, the giant rabbit 〉 is a canine beast, and the weaker it is, the more likely it is to follow the beast as it will be located on the outskirts of the forest.
However, if there are more than 50 beasts, and if they are intelligent enough to siege a wheeled battle, there is a possibility of occupying the upper ranks in the food chain of the forest.
Hwanin looked back in the opposite direction of the beast’s escape.
If you go down there, you will find a great lake. It’s also the direction the giant rabbit is facing, and there’s a monster seagull in the great lake, and a beggarly thicket…….
“…….”
Having made a decision, Hwanin moved to the direction where the beasts had fled.
Hwanin had no intention of letting go of the pack of dogs that attacked him. So, Hwanin, who wandered the jungle for several days following the trail left by the pack of dogs, came to know that this jungle is largely divided into two types.
As you make your way through it, the sea of thickets is so irritating that you want to set it on fire.
A gentle forest where the sun shines down on the soft ground with thick grass, thin trees, and brown fallen leaves.
The Sea of Bushes was devoid of life except for insects, plants, and small flying birds.
In the temperate forest area, large and small animals, including a group of gray dogs, were living in a food chain and food web with plants.
Among them, there were beasts that could be called wild beasts, but most of them were hunters who worked alone, and even if they encountered them, the beasts avoided the place first because of the smell of blood from different monsters.
Hwanin didn’t bother chasing after him, so it didn’t turn into a fight.
Hwanin’s target was a group of dogs that attacked him on the first day.
Dogs are surprisingly tenacious animals. Hwanin also did not want to be bitten by dogs in his sleep, so he planned to kill all the dogs in the gentle forest.
However, most of the members must have been lost in the first battle, and the dogs kept running away from Hwanin, and Hwanin kept chasing them.
In the meantime, there was a beast like a blue leopard that attacked Hwanin, driven by ferocious and savage instincts, but the tactic of forcibly creating a gap using Soul Explosion and then targeting only the tendon of the leg with a spear to neutralize it did not use much power.
It wasn’t difficult, as they only attacked one at a time, not many.
“…….”
Hwanin, who single-handedly hunted a leopard (looks like) beast, one of the representative carnivores, felt complicated, wondering if he had become this strong, but anyway.
Hwan-in, who had been following the trail of the gray dogs for the third day, was speechless at the sight of a mountainous area that suddenly appeared sparsely covered with trees like a meadow.
Light green or green plants and several types of white fruit trees were growing all over the mountain range seen through the spirit’s vision.
It is not strange that wild fruit trees grow in forests and mountains. But growing up revealing itself in a place where everyone can see it from the outside like this?
Fruit bearing is the function of a tree to reproduce. It means that it is a law of the natural world to evolve to make it difficult for birds or animals to eat, or to feel no benefit from eating it.
It is impossible to grow openly like this unless it is an orchard of the earth planted with a lot of improved fruit trees.
“The dog seems to have disappeared into that mountain…….”
Any way you look at it, it’s a trap.
Even if you judge it emotionally and sensibly, not rationally, you feel something ominous in that mountain area, and your spine feels cool.
Quack!
At that time, after hearing Hwanin’s self-talk, the emergency rations flew up and began to fly to a common place like a back mountain.
Seeing this, Hwanin hurriedly shouted.
“Emergency food! Come back!”
Quack?
He tilts his head as if asking why the emergency rations sitting on his forearm are like that. He shook his head as he stroked the back of the emergency food.
“There is poison in anything flashy and beautiful.”
If you look at it not from the color system of the soul’s vision, but from an ordinary perspective, various fruits and berries of various colors cover the mountain like a pattern, making it look more splendid than the mountain in autumn.
I don’t know if that’s the nest of a group of gray dogs or if the group ran away after noticing that they were chasing me, but Hwanin had no intention of going into that mountain.
There’s no shortage of food, so there’s no need to risk it on purpose.
“Let’s escape and go back.”
Behind the mountain that looks like a poison apple, you can see many other mountains.
I guess I’m out of the jungle now. It’s time to find someone.
It seems that the altitude is less than 100m, but if you climb to the top of that mountain, you will be able to grasp the surrounding terrain.
If you’re lucky, you might even find a small village.
