Thump. Thump.
About 10 minutes into their journey to the western forest, Sejun heard the sound of a massive object moving.
At that moment,
Krueong!
Bang!
Pink-fur suddenly slammed its front paws onto the ground.
Then,
[Guard Pink-fur has eliminated the Corrupted Ent’s underground root infiltrator.]
[You’ve gained 2000 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Guard Pink-fur.]
…
A message indicating the enemy had been eliminated appeared.
“Underground root infiltrator?”
It seemed there was a monster moving underground. Although he hadn’t seen what the enemy looked like due to Pink Fur’s attack.
Krueong!
After Pink-fur killed the infiltrator once, Pink-fur taught Cuengi how to hunt enemies moving underground without doing it directly.
Krueng?
[Is it here?]
Krueong!
Cuengi touched the ground and spoke, but Pink-fur shook her head. It must be the wrong spot.
Krueng?
[How about here?]
Krueong!
After about ten such failures,
Krueng!
[Mom, Cuengi can feel something moving here!]
Krueong!
Pink-fur nodded at Cuengi, who seemed to have caught on.
Krueng!
[Now Cuengi will take care of it!]
Bang!
[Herbalist Cuengi has eliminated the Corrupted Ent’s underground root infiltrator.]
[You’ve gained 2000 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Herbalist Cuengi.]
…
Afterward, Cuengi skillfully found and cleanly eliminated the underground infiltrators as they moved on.
Of course, enemies also swarmed from above ground, but
Snap!
“Cuengi, Krueng-hooo!”
Krueng!
Cuengi spread the fire Sejun had started, burning the enemies with it.
[You have eliminated the Corrupted Ent’s Sticky Flower Attacker.]
[You have gained 1200 experience points.]
[You have eliminated the Corrupted Ent’s Large Branch Scout.]
[You have gained 500 experience points.]
…
Then,
[Fire Field Lv. 3 has been activated.]
[Grass and trees burn even better.]
Perhaps because of killing plant-type enemies, the Fire Field skill was activated. It made the enemies that were already flammable burn even faster, clearing the way to the Corrupted Ents.
Thump. Thump.
Through the black smoke, ten 50-meter tall Corrupted Ents slowly approached. The giant trees moving together looked like a small mountain in motion.
Krueong!
Krueng!
Pink-fur and Cuengi, who had instantly enlarged himself, roared as they blocked the path in front of Sejun.
And then,
Thump! Thump!
Pink-fur and Cuengi charged swiftly towards the Corrupted Ents.
“Guys, wait for me too!”
Sejun shouted to the two as they ran off, but
Bang! Bang!
they didn’t hear him, attacking the Corrupted Ent.
Bang! Bang!
The one-sided attack continued. Perhaps because they had found enemies that allowed them to use their strength, the two were spiritedly hitting the Corrupted Ents.
“This will be over quickly.”
While Pink-fur and Cuengi fought, Sejun decided to explore the center of the western forest.
Upon reaching the center of the western forest, there was a huge tree base. The circumference was over 20 meters, and the height was as tall as Sejun.
“Is it dead?”
Unlike the other corrupted ents, this one was still, which meant it could be a dead tree.
As Sejun cautiously approached the tree base,
“Huh?!
The name that came into Sejun’s view.
[Tree Titan, the Bringer of Corruption]
The tree base was a named monster.
“The Bringer of Corruption?”
It seemed that this monster was the main culprit behind corrupting the Ents.
“What should I do?”
Sejun pondered for a moment and decided to wait for Pink-fur and Cuengi to finish off the Corrupted Ents.
“I could defeat it myself, but I’ll give them the honor of a team kill.”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Bored, Sejun grabbed a handful of kudzu fruits and scattered them towards Tree Titan, planning to increase his skill proficiency while waiting.
[You are a Field Lv. 1 has been activated.]
[You have planted kudzu fruits on the body of Tree Titan, the Bringer of Corruption.]
[Your job experience has increased slightly.]
[Your proficiency in You are the Field Lv. 1 has increased slightly.]
…
[The kudzu absorbs the life force of Tree Titan, the Bringer of Corruption.]
[The life force of Tree Titan, the Bringer of Corruption, continuously decreases.]
…
Crunch. Crunch.
Kudzu fruits scattered on Tree Titan’s body, began to absorb life force and grow rapidly. Perhaps because the roots were taking root in another tree, the kudzu had no difficulty taking root.
Whoosh. Whoosh
“Why aren’t they coming?”
While waiting for over 30 minutes for Pink-fur and Cuengi who hadn’t arrived, Sejun kept tossing kudzu fruits at Tree Titan.
Then,
[Your proficiency in You Are a Field Lv. 1 has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency in You Are a Field Lv. 1 has been filled, and the level has increased.]
The level of the skill ‘You Are a Field’ increased. Checking its details, there were no significant changes apart from the description that it could now absorb more life force and grow a bit faster.
Another 30 minutes passed.
But still, there was no sign of Pink-fur and Cuengi.
“Golden Bat, go see what’s happening.”
(Yes!)
Sejun, who had been still planting kudzu on Tree Titan’s body, sent the Golden Bat, suspecting something had happened to the two who still hadn’t returned.
A short while later,
“They keep recovering?”
The Golden Bat returned, and reported that the bodies of the corrupted Ents were continuously regenerating, and Pink-fur and Cuengi were becoming exhausted.
“I’ll have to go!”
Sejun hurriedly ran towards the two.
After Sejun had left,
Crack, crack.
The kudzu roots Sejun had planted began to burrow into the bark of Tree Titan and started to aggressively drawing out its life force.
***
As Sejun arrived,
Huff, puff, puff.
Bang!
Pink-fur and Cuengi were gasping for breath, fighting against the corrupted Ents.
“Guys, eat this and rest for a while! Crop Gigantification!”
Sejun hurriedly enlarged a sweet potato to provide to the two who had expended a tremendous amount of energy in a short time.
[You’re lucky.]
[The Power Sweet Potato has enlarged successfully while retaining its strength.]
Thanks to Sejun’s luck, the enlarged power sweet potato still retained its strength this time.
Chomp, chomp.
While the two earnestly ate the giant sweet potato Sejun had handed them,
“Golden Bat, support me!”
(Yes!)
Sejun and the Golden Bat bought some time.
Swoosh, swoosh.
The Golden Bat swiftly flew, slicing the branches of the corrupted Ents with its wings, and
Snap.
Sejun flicked his fingers, creating fire to burn the bodies of the corrupted Ents.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Simultaneously, in the bodies of the corrupted Ents that did not catch fire, he planted kudzu.
After about 10 minutes of buying time,
Krueong!
Krueng!
Pink-fur and Cuengi, having somewhat recovered, joined the fight.
Bang! Bang!
The two, with renewed strength, hit the corrupted Ents with tremendous force again.
However,
Crack, crack.
The corrupted Ents were recovering again.
Then,
“Huh?”
Sejun noticed that only the parts where the kudzu was planted were recovering slowly. It was clear that the kudzu, by absorbing life force, was hindering the proper recovery of the corrupted Ents.
“Good.”
Sejun, having figured out how to deal with the corrupted Ents, quickly climbed up Cuengi, reaching his shoulder 35 meters high.
“Cuengi, hit the enemy and get me closer!”
Krueng!
[Understood!]
Bang!
Cuengi struck the body of the corrupted Ent with its giant right front paw, creating a wound, and carefully held Sejun with its left front paw, approaching the wound he had just made.
Then,
Swish, swish.
Sejun scattered kudzu fruits. It clearly had an effect, as the corrupted Ent was unable to properly heal its body.
“Hehehe. Planting kudzu in wounds!”
Sejun laughed like a villain. The subsequent battle was very easy.
Pink-fur, Cuengi, and the Golden Bat created wounds, while Sejun diligently planted kudzu, hindering the enemy’s recovery.
And then,
Thud.
[Herbalist Cuengi has defeated a corrupted Ent.]
[You’ve gained 10 million experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Herbalist Cuengi.]
Finally, one of the corrupted Ents fell.
Thud.
Following that, the remaining nine corrupted Ents also fell, and Sejun leveled up twice, reaching level 65.
“Guys, there’s one more over there.”
Sejun informed the animals about the presence of Tree Titan in the heart of the western forest.
But,
Krueng?
[There’s another one?]
Krueong.
Pink-fur and Cuengi were already significantly exhausted.
“I’ve already scattered kudzu to weaken it a lot, so it should be fine. It also wasn’t moving. Let’s eat this on the way.”
Sejun, who wanted to go defeat the enemy right away, persuaded the two with some food. He gave locust meat to Pink-fur, and honey to Cuengi.
Thus, after a successful persuasion, Sejun and the animals moved toward the center,
Boom! Boom!
A massive vibration was felt. The direction was straight ahead. It was the center of the western forest.
They saw a tree stump floating in the sky. More precisely, giant roots were supporting the stump. It was Tree Titan, who had come out himself after all the ents he had corrupted had fallen.
“Huh?! It definitely wasn’t moving before?”
When Sejun was startled,
Thud.
Suddenly, Tree Titan collapsed.
And then,
[You have defeated Tree Titan, the Bringer of Corruption.]
[You have gained 50 million experience points.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have acquired 1 bonus stat point.]
The message that Tree Titan had been defeated appeared. The hundreds of thousands of kudzu roots Sejun had planted over an hour had absorbed all of Tree Titan’s life force.
Originally, the Tree Titan wasn’t a monster that could be killed so easily, but its life force was weakened because of Iona’s magic, and it had kept infusing life force into the corrupted Ents so they wouldn’t freeze to death.
Moreover, where the roots were spread to recover the life force, the kudzu roots had spread and blocked the absorption of the life force, preventing Tree Titan from recovering properly.
If there had been even one day to recover life force, Tree Titan would not have been killed by mere kudzu roots. It was extremely fortunate.
“Hehehe. See?! I’m the one who defeated it!”
Thanks to this, Sejun boasted loudly to the animals and approached the corpse of the fallen Tree Titan to show off his kill.
As Sejun got close to Tree Titan’s corpse,
“Huh?! What’s that?”
[Tree Stump Pot]
Sejun found a huge hollowed-out tree stump. Beside it was something that looked like letters or symbols carved in.
As Sejun reached out and examined it,
[Tree Stump Pot]
???
It wasn’t appraised, so no detailed description was available.
“Aileen, appraise this for me.”
[The tower’s administrator says you can leave this to her.]
With Aileen’s words, the huge tree stump pot disappeared.
“Today, things are really going smoothly.”
Sejun said, looking at the fallen Tree Titan. Pink-fur and Cuengi had a hard time, but for Sejun, who had only scattered kudzu fruits, it hadn’t been that difficult.
Then,
Sniff sniff.
Krueng!
[It smells strongly of herbs!]
Cuengi started to dig at Tree Titan’s roots, sensing the scent of herbs from the corpse.
And then,
Krueng!
[Found it! This is definitely for Dad!]
Cuengi pulled out an ominous black kudzu root, exclaiming. At a glance, the root had the aura of ‘I’m really bitter.’
“Cuengi, save it for later.”
Sejun naturally said he would eat it later,
Krueng! Krueng!
[No! If you don’t eat it right now, it’s effect will be lost!]
Cuengi firmly shook its head and spoke.
“It’s effect will be lost?”
After hearing Cuengi’s words, Sejun examined the black kudzu root.
[Black Kudzu Root that has Over Absorbed Life Force]
→ A kudzu root that has absorbed more life force than it can handle temporarily due to its obsession with survival.
→ Over time, the efficacy of the kudzu root will fade.
→ When consumed, your stamina will increase by 200 or your potential stamina by 100.
→ When consumed, you may awaken a talent related to stamina.
→ You will experience a terrible bitter taste.
→ Usage restriction: Lv. 60 and above, Stamina 150 and above
→ Expiration: 1 minute
→ Grade: SS
“Oof… terrible bitter taste?!”
As Sejun hesitated,
Krueng!
[Become strong by eating it!]
Cuengi cheered Sejun on. There was only 1 minute left. He had to swallow it right away.
“Alright! I got it.”
Encouraged by Cuengi, Sejun clenched his eyes shut and chewed the black kudzu root.
‘Pain is temporary, but stats are…’
As Sejun was chewing the root with firm determination,
“Argh!”
The bitterness was beyond any of this world. Overwhelmed by the horrible bitterness in his mouth, Sejun fainted.
‘This is as far as it goes.’
Just before losing his consciousness, Sejun realized that his luck had finally run out.
