00573 The anger of the Queen of Iron Blood, the joy of Kim Soo-hyun. ————————————————– ———————-=
The passage was still dark. Although Vivien revealed the light spell, it was not enough to drive out the darkness that had filled the cave, perhaps because traditional magic was not her specialty.
Suddenly, I missed Hayeon. This is because a user who has mastered orthodox magic to the extent of Hayeon will be of great help not only in battle but also in times like this. Although it was possible to recognize objects in the dark by increasing one’s visual acuity, it was still a slightly different problem from completely illuminating one’s vision.
Anyway, about 50 minutes have passed now?
A considerable amount of time has passed since entering the central entrance. While marching at the head, I never saw any monsters. I didn’t feel even the slightest strange feeling. From what I felt like I had been walking down until now, it was nothing more or less than just an empty passage.
It’s actually quite boring to just keep marching like this without anything happening. The kids seemed to have started to relax little by little, and had been chatting quietly for about 10 minutes.
Perhaps because he was a quiet person to begin with, or because the whispering bothered him, Seon Yu-un sometimes looked back with a disapproving look, but once he shook his head to tell him to leave it alone, he never looked back.
“Hey, Clan Lord. “A question suddenly occurred to me.”
As the tedious march continued, Helena slowly approached and spoke to me. Her eyes sparkle with curiosity and her mouth wears a strange smile, which means she is probably really curious. After asking Seon Yu-un to lead the way for a moment, I slowed down my pace slightly.
“What am I curious about?”
“It’s no different… . Aren’t humans now trying to cross this area called the Steel Mountains?”
“yes.”
“Then why are you trying to cross these steel mountains? Even at the cost of death. “Humans have already settled down on one continent, and they will lack nothing to survive.”
“That’s because once you cross the Steel Mountains, a new continent appears.”
“Do we really have to discover and possess that new continent? “Can’t we be satisfied with what we are given now?”
hmm. If you look at it from the perspective of a dragon rather than a human, isn’t the perspective bound to be different?
Helena’s voice, which was playful at first, became lower as it continued. It’s as if you’re asking a wise man for an answer. Now that she thinks about it, Sasha is also sneaking up on her and pressing his ear to her ear. I cleared my throat briefly and then quietly opened my mouth.
“It’s a problem on a slightly different level than satisfaction. First of all, how much do you know about your users?”
“I’ve somewhat heard of it, so I know a little bit about it.”
“good. First of all, Holplane is a world ruled by power. Users have a duty to become stronger in order to survive. But the way to become stronger is, in the grand scheme of things, very limited.”
“Isn’t there a method called self-discipline?”
“Once the user information settings are entered, there is a limit to how much you can become stronger through training. It’s determined by one’s own potential, so it’s as if the line was drawn from the beginning. So we have to find another way. Go out and kill monsters, discover ancient ruins, explore to get good weapons, class gold, etc. … But in the end, that too has its limits. The resources and achievements lying dormant on one continent are never infinite. If you keep digging and digging, one day it will disappear. And right now, the Northern Continent is in such a state of saturation that users keep coming in.”
“like. So are you opening up a new continent for new users?”
“Of course, there is an aspect of creating conditions to nurture new users, but that is not the ultimate goal. It’s a joke, but we also call the new continent a land flowing with milk and honey, right? Since it has not been explored yet, I believe that the new continent has valuable resources and valuable achievements that have not yet been reached. If there is a continent like that, will users stay still? Also, since you risked your life to participate in the expedition, you should enjoy your own privileges. “After it fills the stomach to a certain extent, it will probably be opened to other users.”
“You are saying that we are pioneering a new continent for the sake of development, but we are still guaranteeing priority to those who have worked hard.”
I nodded my head slowly.
“But I still don’t understand. I don’t know if it’s because they have a different perspective than me, but I think those are just secondary reasons. Why, why do you have to cross these steel mountains? If it’s a new continent, aren’t there areas in the north that haven’t been explored yet? “Why don’t they organize such a large-scale expedition for such a place?”
Helena continued to ask questions without getting tired. At that moment, I had to feel my heart pounding. It seems like everyone is concentrating on this story as the surroundings suddenly become quiet. I suddenly felt the need to be careful with my words.
“Because there is no certainty. And you can’t just sit still.”
“certainty?”
“There was a time eight or nine years ago when Barbara was also an unexplored area. We passed through the central forest like the Steel Mountains and conquered Barbara, and later discovered other cities and established a home called the North Continent. In the process of attacking… . To be precise, I discovered a record in the ancient library in Barbara that there was a new continent called Atlanta. In contrast, there was no mention of unexplored areas in the north.”
“indeed. That’s what certainty meant. So what you’re saying is that you shouldn’t stay still… .”
“The continent called Atlanta will eventually reach saturation point. Then we’ll have to find a new continent again. Regardless of whether or not there is a record of another new continent in Atlanta, the problem is that there is not only the North Continent in this world called Hall Plain.”
“Not one?”
“If our northern continent goes south beyond the Steel Mountains, a new continent called Atlanta will appear, right? It’s the same on other continents. If the eastern continent moves west through the barren wilderness, a new continent called Florence will appear; if the western continent moves east through the frost canyon, Iris; and if the southern continent moves north through the Orc Castle, a new continent called Ragnarok will appear. Then think about it. “If each continent continues to move in the opposite direction from where it is currently located, what will happen in the future?”
“… “They end up bumping into each other.”
It was correct. To be precise, we have to compete for the last continent called Terra, but we can’t say that much.
Fortunately, Helena did not ask any more whether she had sufficiently satisfied her curiosity, and then slowly nodded.
“Thank you for those kind words. “Thanks to you, I feel relieved.”
… Feeling light-hearted?
Eventually, Helena returned to her original position with a slightly lonely look on her face. Then suddenly several thoughts crossed her mind.
Why did Helena suddenly ask this question?
What does it mean to feel light-hearted?
And what is the meaning of the lonely look shown at the end?
“Clan Lord!”
But before I had time to think deeply, Seon Yu-un urgently called me. As she put aside her thoughts and approached the lead, Seon Yu-un, who stopped in her tracks and stood tall, pointed ahead of her. I immediately signaled a stop and looked closely at the direction pointing to Seonyuun.
Was I too caught up in the story? I was able to forget the feeling of boredom for a moment, but before I knew it, a dull light was coming out ahead. There was still some distance left, but now we were almost at the end of the passage and a new entrance was visible. And inside, something stands upright and faces us.
It wasn’t one. In some ways, they were like users, but in other ways, they were like scarecrows. Even if you increase your visual acuity as much as possible, you cannot see clearly at this distance.
thud!
It was then. Suddenly, following the sound of something ringing, one of the things that had been standing upright collapsed helplessly. At that moment, power entered my eyes. Soon, I sensed the clan members quickly gathering, and I quietly drew my sword.
… At least I could see it clearly. The moment one collapsed, a black shadow quickly passed through the space beyond the entrance from somewhere.
“Su-hyun. Shall we send a shadow?”
“You may be able to enter through fog.”
Go Yeon-ju and Sasha spoke at the same time. But I calmly shook my head. This is because even though I had just turned my magic detection to the maximum, I could not sense any presence. then… .
no way?
“I’ll go in right away.”
After giving instructions, I walked through the passage without delay. After walking at a brisk pace for about 5 minutes, I was soon able to reach a wide cavity beyond the entrance.
The identity of the dull light leaking out was none other than a torch hanging on the wall. The area was about two-thirds the size of the previous cavity, and there were a total of nine caves opening in the direction we entered. In other words, all passages were connected to one space.
But that wasn’t important. The moment I quickly finished exploring the surroundings and looked toward the center, Seon Yu-un next to me said, “Wow.” I could hear her catching her breath.
“Su-hyun. What happen?”
Go Yeon-ju asked. However, he soon stopped walking for a moment as if checking the center, then turned his head around and started running to the other side.
The thing standing upright in the center was not a scarecrow. To be exact, it was eight corpses in the shape of a scarecrow.
The users were each stuck from their chests to the ends of eight wooden sticks embedded in the dirt floor. The lower abdomen was brutally torn apart, and the internal organs and organs were not visible at all, as they had been completely scraped off. The only thing that was intact was his head and his two arms that were hanging down.
I approached the body of the man in front and took a closer look. When her man died, she must have been in so much pain that her face was distorted, while her mouth was torn and pinned below her ears. Her blood is still flowing out, showing a strange shape where you can’t tell if she’s smiling or crying.
“I’m the second group from the right that entered earlier.”
Nam Da-eun, who was already down on one knee, turned over the collapsed body and said. If you’re the second group from the right… . The group included a woman who tripped over a bone when she first entered the pit. She was a woman who criticized Yoo Ji-tae’s way of welcoming his jokes, calling them vulgar.
In other words, one group was killed. What I had just guessed turned out to be reality.
for a moment. Come to think of it, I can’t see the woman’s body, only her man’s body?
“Clan Lord. wait a minute. “Look here.”
Nam Da-eun removed the stick with her head stuck in it and pointed to the floor. This was the spot where the body had collapsed earlier. When she bent her waist slightly and looked, she could see red blood drawn crookedly on the ground. It was the same handwriting she had seen when she first came down to the pit.
『Insolent. Where can I complain about a topic that came to my mind?』
『So I paid a little more attention this time. how is it. Isn’t this low quality? Heehee, heehee!
P.S. ah. I will use the other three gratefully.』
“You bastards!”
Ahn Hyun’s angry voice rang loudly throughout the cavity. I glanced at Anhyun and then turned my gaze to her when she touched her shoulder. Go Yeon-joo, who had just finished her search, was looking at me with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Su-hyun. Weird. “No traces were found.”
Trudging… . Trudging… .
“There must be signs of going out or coming in… . Su-hyun?”
“Go Yeon-ju. Shh.”
“… ah.”
“… … .”
Have you heard Ko Yeonju now? After giving the signal to be quiet, I looked back at the den I had just entered.
The sound of someone walking helplessly. The sound is coming from the immediate right side of the cave we entered, based on the direction we are looking now.
Trudging… . Trudging… .
It’s not a normal walking sound. It seems to be walking slowly and helplessly, and sometimes you can even hear the sound of shuffling. and… .
“… “It smells like blood.”
Sasha wiped her nose and spoke in a soft voice.
—————————= Review of the work ——————– ——-=
ah. I was really busy solving my comprehensive income tax today. Someone I know said it would be cleaner to just print out the receipt and go to the bank to pay, so I went to the PC room a little after lunch. The printer at home is broken. But what on earth is the problem? The problem may have been caused by a conflict with the security keyboard, but the password kept appearing strangely. ㅜ.ㅠ After struggling for an hour, I finally came home. And it was resolved in 30 minutes with electronic payment. He scared me because paying local taxes was complicated, but I did as he was told and it was resolved quickly. -_-a
Personally, I hope that the readers’ questions will be answered by the content in the beginning and middle of today. I’d like to draw you a map, but I’m not good at drawing. I tried drawing it once, but it was nothing more or less than just a collection of circles and squares. Because I was embarrassed, I couldn’t show you the pictures, so I just explained everything in writing as best as I could, including the rest.
fantasy,
