Chapter 79: Advancing at Mach Speed
The wave is already the fourth. It’s been two days since they drifted into the gate.
During that time, Ha-ri tried to awaken her power while fighting the waves on the beach.
Normally, she would have been more diligent than anyone else in searching for statues or something, but she had a desperate reason.
“Ah! Ah!”
She hit the water with her bare feet and tried to squeeze a handful of seawater but the water soon collapsed and the squeezed seawater scattered in her hand.
Poma shook his head at Ha-ri’s meaningless struggle.
[If you want to play with water, take off your clothes and do it. Make it look good.]
“Yuck…! Don’t harass me when I’m trying to awaken somehow!”
[I don’t know where your attempt to awaken the power of the sea and waves is.]
Ha-ri pouted her lips and sat down on the wet sand floor at Poma’s question.
“I learned that you can be closer to Goddess Arianna of Light and Justice by repeating righteous actions or raising honor.”
[It’s a fitting teaching for her. It’s boring.]
“Goddess Demera of Life and Abundance was grateful to the land by farming, and God Petos of War and Fire was victory and flame of will? Something like that.”
The gods teach the proper teachings and how to perform them according to their respective domains.
Surprisingly, the previous gods were simple in terms of difficulty rather than teaching.
“Since Poma is the god of sea and waves? I thought it might have something to do with the sea.”
[I don’t think it has anything to do with water.]
“Yuck…! Then why don’t you tell me? Should I go out to sea and catch some fish?”
[It’s more like offering me fish that you catch. But how are you going to catch fish without a boat, a net, or a fishing rod?]
“Uh…”
Ha-ri wondered why this bright turtle god didn’t give her any power.
“His Majesty Leon…you said we had to save him … Shouldn’t we hurry in that case?”
[That’s right. He is trapped in the sea, not on land. The fact that he hasn’t come out by himself means he’s in a rather difficult situation.]
“Then why don’t you hurry up and awaken me so I can find His Majesty?”
[That’s right.]
Then why? Ha-ri couldn’t understand this god of sea and waves.
[Ha-ri, my goddess. It’s easy for you to practice the code of the sea and waves and build your faith.]
[Every day, pray as a fisherman, throw a net, harvest fish, and thank me, pray for the source of life.]
[The sea is an infinite source of life. You can build faith by just being grateful for it.]
Should I make a raft or something? As Ha-ri was worried, Poma said kindly.
[But, Ha-ri. Young goddess. How do you mistake the way of believers and priests? Are you arrogant enough to think that the enlightenment of soldiers and knights is the same?]
Realize and practice. Only that way can you realize the way of faith.
“…”
Ha-ri had mixed feelings. Just tell me what to do instead of talking so much.
She wanted something like skills or systems that gave results without any process.
“Hmm… I’ll try harder.”
But what can I do? Ha-ri just tried hard to awaken the power given to her as Poma told her.
“Sister! Sister!”
And then, he saw Soo-ho running fiercely towards the beach.
“What’s wrong?”
“The Maverick Guild found a statue!”
There were nine hours until the next wave so Ha-ri immediately followed Soo-ho.
The interior of the island is full of crab monsters, making it a challenge just to advance but Reynold’s island was on the smaller side, so the distance to the statue was not very far.
The mission Reynold received from Wisdom Jewel was to destroy all the statues.
He should have destroyed this statue on the first day and proceeded to the next island…
‘You’re still guarding it. You’re more stubborn than I thought.’
[Why are they doing things they weren’t told to do?]
The Phoenix Guild thoroughly investigated the statue and its surroundings. As if they doubted the quest itself that said destroy Rakshar statue.
That was beyond Wisdom Jewel and Reynold’s expectations.
Usually hunters who receive quests try only according to those quests, not digging into the intentions or truth of quests.
The sweet fruits they get while clearing quests, rewards are chased by hunters, but now Lee Yong-wan and Phoenix Guild’s movements were clearly different.
‘Should I destroy it secretly at night?’
[There is no need to arouse unnecessary suspicion, and we have a reason.]
Reynold quickly understood what Wisdom Jewel meant by reason.
“Hey, Korean guys. Don’t you think we should destroy the statue soon? I think we’ve waited long enough.”
The Maverick Guild members agreed with the judgment of the Phoenix Guild.
Whether it’s really ‘Rakshar statue’ as the quest says, or if there’s anything else around it.
“When I was trying to capture the gate in Mexico City, I made a mistake and fell into a trap.”
“It’s not a bad choice to do a thorough investigation rather than blindly destroying it.”
They blocked the wave while investigating the island for three days, and came to a conclusion.
“There was nothing to be found on the island except for those crab monsters and traces of civilization.”
“There is only one statue. One per island according to the quest. It seems right to destroy Rakshar statue.”
“Is there any reason to wait?”
Maverick Guild drew a reasonable conclusion based on their research.
Lee Yong-wan and Ha Yuri had nothing to say against it.
“Hmm…”
“I can’t help it. I don’t see any other way.”
Almost as soon as he agreed, the Maverick Guild’s S-class Hunter Minuteman pounded on the statue with a fist the size of his head.
“This thing is pretty hard.”
But that was all. The S-ranked Hunter was serious, and the statue was destroyed shortly thereafter, at which point the quest window updated.
[The ‘Great Rakshar’s Stone Statue’ has been destroyed].
1/3 of the statue destroyed
“So destroying this statue was the right answer.”
The Maverick Guild’s members had a positive response to the quest update. However, Lee Yong-wan and Ha-Yuri still had a nagging feeling.
“I wonder if this is it.”
“It can’t be helped, I don’t see any other way.”
-Kiruk!
-Kiruk! Kiruk!
That’s when it happened. The moment they destroyed the statue, crab monsters came bubbling out from everywhere as if they were enraged by the destruction of the statue.
“They’re going crazy all of a sudden.”
“Kill them!”
But the crab monsters were no match for them. Even though their numbers were huge, they were fighting against three S-class Hunters.
The hunters calmly slaughtered the crab monsters and the battle continued for a long time.
“Whew… Damn, there are so many.”
“We also found and destroyed the nest, so they won’t come anymore.”
“Lee Yong-wan, it’s wave time.”
“Already? It took longer than I thought.”
It’s time for the sixth wave. But even though it was 12 o’clock, there was no wave warning on the island.
“There’s no wave?”
“It was the right answer to destroy the statue.”
They destroyed the statue and the waves stopped. No wonder they were so confident that their actions were correct.
“Then let’s attack the rest of the islands!”
The Phoenix and Maverick guilds split up and agreed to attack the islands.
After four days they were lucky to recover the rubber boats that had drifted away.
Lee Yong-wan parted with the Maverick guild and headed for the island, and he was able to reach the second island soon by entrusting himself to the calm waves.
“Everyone, unload the supplies and build a camp first! We have to respond to the monster wave right away!”
The Phoenix guild quickly built a camp and started installing obstacles to deal with the wave as soon as they landed.
When it was about halfway done, the hunters who had gone out for reconnaissance returned.
“Guild leader! There’s something you need to see!”
A guild member who urgently looked for Lee Yong-wan.
“What is it?”
“Well, there are traces of battle!”
“If hunters were swept away here, it’s natural──”
“No, it’s not that kind of trace! You have to see it!”
“???”
Lee Yong-wan felt puzzled by the guild member who was pale blue and followed him to another sandy beach that was a little distance from where they landed.
“This, this is…!”
Lee Yong-wan’s eyes widened when he saw it.
It was a trace of war.
More precisely, a war between the landing force and the defenders.
If that was all, he would have thought it was a trace of hunters fighting with wave monsters but that wasn’t it.
“…Cannons?”
The scars of the monsters were not traces of being cut by cold weapons such as swords or spears.
They were mangled corpses, as if they’d been decimated by a powerful firepower.
It would be roughly like this if you watched the gruesome scene of a war documentary.
“We have to go back quickly. This island is different. We have to prepare!”
-Kiruk!
It was then that a lot of eyes that made him feel cold and Lee Yong-wan hurriedly aimed his bow at the island.
-Kiruk kiruk!
-Kikik!
The crab monsters he had seen on the island were staring at him, their inexhaustible gazes fixed on him.
If that was all, Lee Yong-wan, an S-class hunter, wouldn’t have much to worry about. These crab monsters were only numerous, not very strong monsters. But──
Armor that fits perfectly along the thick shoulder blade bone and a line that looks like some kind of electric device connected to it.
What was more surprising was that it wasn’t just that. The crab monsters all had something big and long on their backs. It looked like… ‘cannon’.
“A cannon?”
“They are armed with firearms! How come only on this island?!”
No, calm down. The island they were attacking wasn’t full of primitive monsters like the previous one.
But how can they use cannons only here? There is no way that there is such a gap in civilization. Surely that’s decoration──
-Bang!
The cannonball shot past Lee Yong-wan and sank into the sea.
-Kwang!
The shell exploded and raised a fountain of water as Lee Yong-wan clenched his teeth as he got hit by the rising fountain of water.
“It’s real…”
There are hundreds of those cannons. It’s too much difference to start a battle rashly.
Hesitant Lee Yong-wan came up with some crab monsters carrying something on their shoulders. It looked like a big basket.
-Kiruk kiruk!
-Kikik!
-Kikiruk!
The crab monsters bowing in reverence to the tribal chief-like existence decorated with flowers and wood ornaments from ancient times. It was… really an unexpected person… no, machine.
“Yacht Spinner?!”
Yacht Spinner, the killing machine of Cheongju Gate, who received the reverence of crab monsters and came riding on a basket, was undoubtedly TTG Holy Knight Yacht Spinner.
“Bow down to Brother Yappy, our Kikiruk tribe’s boss!”
Behind him, wringing his hands and chanting, was the unmistakable Kim Jae-hyuk, a knight cadet of the TTG Guild.
-Surrender, organic beings. You have no chance of winning.
“”…“”
Yong-wan Lee put down his weapon with a pale face after seeing them.
Firebird Guild suppression complete.
