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Lumberjacks at the Logging Camp
073 ? Lumberjacks at the Logging Camp #3
World tree.
A tree whose branches stretch all the way to the sky, so much so that it is called the tree of the world.
I had heard several stories about the World Tree in Alfheim, the home of the elves.
The tall branches stretch all the way to the sky, and the deep roots extend underground to the underworld.
Even in ancient Korea, trees that were relatively large and old in a village were called dangsan trees and were deified as village guardians.
The desire to worship a large tree is somewhat understandable.
Of course, in this braggart world where cats disguise themselves as lions, its grandeur may be somewhat exaggerated.
However, it is certain that it is a very large and majestic tree, as it is called the World Tree and is worshipped. I would like to see for myself how big it is.
However, there is a superstition that says that if you pick the leaves or break the branches of the sacred tree without permission, something bad will happen.
Shit, setting fire to that huge, sacred World Tree. Elfriede was a more crazy woman than I thought.
“I don’t know for sure, but I heard rumors that a white-haired elf was seen in another city, Calcutta.”
I ended my speech with the feeling that there was something like that, while trying to hide my relationship with Elfriede as much as possible.
Because I wanted to avoid the situation where this tight-fisted elf would get interested in me and ask me all sorts of questions, which would annoy me.
“Calcutta. I’ve heard of it. It’s the city where the labyrinth of the underworld was first discovered. It’s a city famous for being the entrance to hell… There’s a chance that it might be there.”
It was the tight-fisted Kalidur who muttered to himself as if he was getting rained on, and then came to a conclusion.
I thought that was the end of this awkward conversation, but Kalidur was watching me finish cleaning up the dishes.
“What now?”
“This is just my personal curiosity. Would it be okay if I touched that necklace?”
Sometimes I felt Kalidur’s gaze piercing me. It seemed that he was interested in the Pluto Eyes necklace I was wearing.
In fact, the pointed star-shaped necklace the size of a medal had many aspects that caught people’s attention.
Should I say that the synergy is doubled because I’m wearing a strange necklace on top of my physique and appearance that sticks out like an awl in a pocket?
Still, I wondered if it was okay to let others touch it since it was an epic relic that could be sold for quite a high price.
It’s worth a dozen gold coins, and everything I own combined is less valuable than this necklace. Perhaps even my life would be cheaper than this. What if you run away with it, Sval?
So, when he was revealing his suspicious gaze without being able to hide it, Ppakkaki said a few more words.
“You don’t have to take it off your neck. I’ll just put my hand on that star-like point. I don’t mean to brag, but I have a natural talent for sensing magic.”
If you don’t have to give away the entire necklace, I don’t think you have much to worry about.
So after I finished roughly cleaning up the dishes, I straightened my back, stood up, and put the necklace in Ppakkaki’s hand.
But didn’t the tight-fisted Kalidur who received it suddenly start shaking violently?
“Ugh-.”
A groan burst out from the mouth between his bushy beard, as if he had been electrocuted. What the? A vibrating tightness?
“Ugh!”
Soon she screamed and threw the necklace from her hand. I felt a little bad because it felt like my belongings were being treated like dirt.
“Why the sudden seizure? Is there a problem?”
“Huh, it seems like the object itself rejects the small vehicle. It’s almost as if it were a special object made for someone.”
“hmm-.”
I don’t know what it is, but would it be okay to think of it as an item that belongs to me?
I was thinking of selling it for gold later if it didn’t work out. If it was mine, I don’t know if there would be anyone who would buy it. The price would probably go down too.
“I’ve heard that the spirit of the wilderness people is remarkable. It’s even better than I imagined. I guess you could call them natural-born warriors.”
Anyway, that was the end of this funny conversation with the dang-jung. It was late at night and I was full, so it would be wise to sleep to conserve my energy.
But, because the only thing we brought was a small tent.
“Look! Shh! I won!”
Luna, who won by playing rock-paper-scissors, decided to sleep inside.
The rest of us just slept under blankets and around a campfire. Fortunately, the logging area was warmer than expected, so there was no problem sleeping out there.
* * *
The next morning.
I woke up to Luna flutter her pink hair against my face, tickling me. For a moment, I thought I was dead and seeing an angel.
“It’s morning, Hassan.”
“Ugh, it feels like I closed my eyes and opened them again, and it’s morning.”
I was so nervous that the tree monsters might attack me while I was sleeping that I felt very heavy and half-asleep.
Chorus-.
I rinse my face with the water I had in the leather water bottle, and the sleepiness wears off. I finally come to my senses.
After packing our camping gear back into our bags and having a simple meal of dried meat and small biscuits, party leader Rene said:
“We’ll finish it today and go. From what I’ve heard from Joseph, it doesn’t seem like the Necromancer is above Bronze Tier. If we make a surprise attack on our own, we’ll be able to do something.”
I thought maybe they were trying to do things too roughly. Most things in this world are done like this.
Still, if someone is trying to become a leader and lead people like this, it can be seen as quite planned.
“Did you sleep well, Hassan?”
Luna yawns with her small mouth wide open. Her pink hair sticks out here and there, perhaps because she hasn’t washed her hair.
“No, I didn’t sleep well.”
“I slept well! I slept in a tent.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Who are you kidding? But I don’t think Luna would have such mean and evil intentions. She’s probably just letting me know that she slept well.
“Then let’s go. We’re almost there.”
The party members begin to advance again, following Rene’s instructions.
Each hand holds a lumberjack axe that they received from Joseph. Since they had some rest, they are in much better condition than the day before, so there is nothing to worry about!
Crackling, crackling.
“Nice to meet you, kids! How dare you insult me yesterday!”
As we approached the lair where the necromancer was said to be located, tree monsters called Stomps began to appear intermittently.
As soon as he sees the guys, Rene rushes in without even thinking about it or discussing a strategy. A tanker who rushes in as soon as he sees the enemies, I think he might actually be disqualified as a tanker.
Phew, crunch!
But unlike yesterday when he had struggled so hard, Rene easily cut down the stomps with the iron axe he was holding.
“It’s a bit heavy, but the axe is usable.”
Is this really an enchanted axe? It looks like it costs 20 silver each.
“Hatsan, look at this! I’m cutting down the stomps!”
Luna was also cutting down the tree monsters with the axe she was holding in her hand.
It was difficult to cut it cleanly, but he easily took down one monster by moving his arm several times as if he was doing a classic axe swing.
“I guess I’m actually really strong! I’ve reached a high level of voodoo!”
I was wondering what axe-wielding and voodoo skills had to do with each other. Luna’s voodoo skills seemed to be comprehensive and broad in scope.
It must mean that she is not bound by concepts. As expected, she is a daughter of a goddess, so she has a big heart.
Mmmmm… .
“Be quiet!”
Luna completely crushes the writhing tree monster on the ground. She also doesn’t forget to thrust an empty leather water bottle into the monster’s body, which is oozing sap like blood, to collect the sap.
“Why are you guys collecting the sap there? Do you eat it too?”
“You can’t drink their sap. Instead, you can harden it and use it as glue. Now I can make my own ward off again!”
The word “absorbent” made me think of the giant wooden mask Luna was wearing when I first met her. It had been completely destroyed during an altercation with some thugs.
I had forgotten because there was no mention of it after that, but it seems Luna was still paying attention.
“Hey, shit! Stop playing around and kill those stomps! You came out to play!”
At that moment, I also took out the battle axe that was on my back at the sound of Rene’s angry voice.
This is an iron axe specially borrowed from Joseph. It is a heavy and sturdy axe without any enchantments.
The tip is quite heavy, and the center of gravity is completely different from that of a sword, so you have to constantly exert strength in your grip holding the hilt.
Crunch, crunch.
At that moment, a stomp jumped at Luna, who was collecting sap, with its body stiff.
Since Luna didn’t seem to have time to react, I swung the axe in my hand with all my might and slammed it into the tree’s trunk.
A horizontal axe swing with full force.
Kwajijik-!
Then, Stomp’s body shatters like a thin wooden plank, sending shards flying everywhere.
“Fuck, I’m so strong!”
Thanks to Luna, my bonus points have exploded and my current strength value is 5. This means that I have twice the strength of an ordinary person.
My extraordinary strength, my dexterity, and my experience with axes were all combined to make it so that the bodies of the Stomp kids simply couldn’t handle it.
“You little tree cubs, we’ve got them all!”
My elastic body continued to swing the giant axe from left to right, from right to left. Every time I did that, the sound of the crashing, crunching, crashing stomps made my head feel like it was going to burst open.
“after-.”
After cutting down about ten monsters, I felt the backlash of my heavy weapon shaking back and forth. My stamina was depleted, I was out of breath, and my head was spinning.
Still, I was able to take a deep breath without worry by roughly dealing with the trees that had gathered around me.
“That’s some rough axe-slashing. The skill is very rough, but it seems to go well with the heavy lump of iron. How about trying a blunt weapon like a club instead of a sword?”
The tight elf Kalidur kept praising me for taking down the stomps without stopping. It may have just been lip service, but for someone who is weak to compliments, I felt a little arrogant.
Is there any other weapon that suits my aptitude better than a sword?
Anyway, the number of Stomps we took down like that was about twenty. The Stomps that had been on the offensive also began to retreat somewhere.
“I’m chasing you!”
Rene picked up his pace and ran after him alone. Our group followed him and ran hard.
Soon the Stomps were discovered hiding in a cave carved into a rocky cliff. It was a suspicious cave at first glance.
There’s a suspicious feeling going on here, as if someone is advertising themselves as a hideout for evil beings.
“Let’s go in.”
The party leader, Rene, confidently walked ahead as if he had nothing to fear. It seemed that his confidence had been boosted after chopping down trees with his magic axe.
But, as someone who had experience confronting necromancers following Hippolyte, I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.
“It’s really dark. The atmosphere is eerie, like walking through Niflheim. I want to finish this quickly and get out.”
Kalidur mutters a few words as he walks through a fairly large cave. As he says, the farther away from the entrance you go, the farther away you are from the light, and so your vision becomes darker and darker.
“Should I light the torch?”
Luna stopped him, frowning, as Rene tried to take a torch out of the thin bundle on his back.
“Oh, no. The sap here is scattered everywhere and hardened. If you set it on fire, it will spread everywhere and you won’t be able to breathe.”
As Luna said, I looked around and there were lots of hardened pine resins here and there. You can’t light a torch in the dark. Then there’s only one way.
I activated the grace by waving my hand, which was not holding the axe. And sure enough, my palm began to emit a strange light source, as if it were a bright lantern.
“What? What did you do?”
Rene stuck his tongue out as if he was amazed at the surroundings that were suddenly brightening.
Of course, I was also surprised. I still can’t get used to the sight of my hands glowing.
Swish-.
Then the tight elf grabbed my hand and startled me to the point where I almost screamed.
『Name: Kalidur Lv. ??
Status: Decreased libido》 Lost hair roots》 Protein deficiency》 World Tree imprint》 Coldness》
I was so shocked that I shook my hands and screamed.
“What the heck, why are you suddenly grabbing my hand!?”
Are you a gay kid? Homosexuality is a pretty major trend in this world, so you always have to be careful. But you came out so suddenly. Damn, you tough kid.
“Don’t grab me without permission!”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to check if you were emitting heat. Some of the high priests of Alfheim sometimes express their fighting spirit with their fists, so I thought it was the same, but it seems to be a little different.”
Did I really have to touch it? I just can’t seem to get used to the elves. Their way of thinking is so different that I can’t get used to them.
It was a bit annoying, but anyway, thanks to my glowing palms, I was able to continue on through the dark cave.
“Hassan, look over there. There’s a trace.”
“Really? Is that the road?”
Here and there we could see broken branches and leaves, and soon we were greeted by the corpses of animals and people that had dried up and become mummies without any moisture.
As we went deeper into the cave, a huge cavity or plaza soon appeared inside.
The ceiling was also high and the walls were quite wide, so my chest felt a little open. Also, on the other hand, I felt like this was the final stage, so my tension was at its peak.
“Be careful, you never know what might come out.”
The party members clenched their weapons tightly in accordance with Rene’s words. Soon, an ominous voice echoing through the wide cave was heard in our ears.
“I wondered who was cutting down my precious tree. It was Mars’ dogs.”
And then, with a swish, a woman dressed in black cloth appeared in front of us.
It was made of thin cloth, like something a dancer would wear. For comparison, it was exactly like what Luna wears.
But rather than feeling erotic like Luna, I only get a strong feeling of wondering if this is really okay.
The reason was that, compared to the highly revealing clothes she was wearing, her body looked very young.
The short, pointed ears that stick out from the crimson-colored bob seem to vaguely explain the reason.
Nymphs. Having already met Echo, the innkeeper’s wife, I have some knowledge about this race of nymphs, so I understand.
“I am Pluto’s priest, Paranoy. You-.”
When the nymph necromancer tries to explain something.
Ta-dat-.
Something passed by me very quickly and then mercilessly struck the small nape of my neck with its blade.
“Ouch!”
The nymph necromancer Paranoy fell to the ground, letting out a final scream.
What the hell just happened?
Our party members could do nothing but blink as they looked at the tight elf Kalidur, who was just shaking his palms.
“Can I consider this as the completion of the request?”
[Work Review]
Hepsiel-nim!!! Kadeom-nim!!! Mulseokuibyeol-nim!!! Chieftain-nim!!! Thank you for the first day support coupons on June 1st ㅠㅠ…!! I’m also really grateful to those who sent me coupons for manuscript fees…!!
