Chapter 126: Memory Garden 3
“Hide for a moment.”
Things would get complicated if Midas were injured during the battle.
While the manticore would not attack him, he could still be accidentally hit by the poison darts or splinters.
It was better to have him hide as far away as possible.
Swoooosh!
As soon as Woohyuk pushed Midas back into the stone chamber, dark blue poisonous thorns flew towards them in succession.
The manticore was so large that each one was the size of an adult male’s forearm.
In addition, the firing speed was extremely fast, so a direct hit would seriously injure Woohyuk.
'I have to subdue it as soon as possible.'
If it continued to attack, the alarm system could be activated.
While Angrboda wasn’t here, there could be a few more individuals who would be troublesome to deal with.
As he dodged the poison darts, Woohyuk quickly narrowed the distance and approached the manticore.
“Kraaaaaaaaaaah!”
With a ferocious cry, the manticore violently swung its sharp claws.
Woohyuk leaped forward and avoided the blow, and then started climbing onto the monster’s forefoot.
Climbing the enemy was essential to attack a large beast efficiently.
He had to get on top of it to have an advantage.
'n the past, it would have required about a hundred elite fighters to subjugate this guy.'
And the number of casualties would have been huge.
The manticore's tried to bite Woohyuk as he climbed onto it.
It was trying to stop Woohyuk who had already reached halfway to the top.
Whack!
However, its attack backfired as Woohyuk hit its head instead.
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
As the manticore staggered with a painful cry, Woohyuk took advantage of the gap and quickly climbed onto the monster’s head.
'I shouldn’t kill it like this.'
There was a dark crystal in the bodies of the monsters guarding the interior of the chapel, so when the monster died or took damage beyond the standard value, it would send a signal to the other entities in the chapel.
Therefore, it had to be subdued by damaging it as least as possible, but at present there was no other way but to use magic, because the artifacts he currently possessed had weak abnormal status condition spells, and did not work very well for epic level monsters.
Swoosh!
The monster stopped moving when demonic energy began to spread in the surroundings.
“Obey me.”
“Krrrrrr...”
The manticore growled and slowly lowered its posture.
It instinctively felt the overwhelming gap in their strengths.
'It would have been nice if Choi Kayoon were here.'
It was a pretty strong monster, and while he didn’t have the monster taming skill, it would be possible to control it temporarily. However, it would be difficult to make it completely obedient. In other words, after a certain period of time, it becomes out of control again.
Before that happened, he had to leave this place in search of the hidden rewards.
“Hurry up. I don’t have a lot of time.”
"Yes…”
Midas, who was hiding behind a stone wall, crawled out with an expressionless face.
Woohyuk fell in deep thoughts as he walked through the inner corridor following him.
'I might get some important information about Angrboda’s imaginary world.'
It was unlikely that someone else had attacked this place in the past, because the entire forest was burned by the paladins of the Holy Apherian Empire who had come to defeat the witches, and the divine tree was also destroyed by them.
It may have been because of these events that the hand of Midas was not revealed to the world.
In other words, this was an unexplored world.
This place could potentially hold some clues about the divine thrones that had not been found in the past 40 years.
'The person who knows this world best is probably Midas.'
It seemed like Woohyuk had to keep him around for a while, to ask questions whenever he would have the chance, such as right now.
“Tell me all the secrets you know about Angrboda.”
“Witch… of Greed… Memory... garden…”
The Witch of Greed referred to Angrboda, but he couldn't understand what the memory garden meant.
Midas probably didn’t know that this place was a historic ruin.
Then, Woohyuk recalled the location where he had met Midas earlier.
“Does the Memory Garden refer to the place I met you?”
“That… is the case...”
“Why is it called the Memory Garden?”
“Raise… memories… in the garden...”
Raising memories?
Woohyuk did not understand Midas' words.
“The flowers… contain the memories… of the dead… from back when they… were still alive… The memories… grow… towards… a happy… ending…”
“…Why is Angrboda doing that?”
“I... don’t know… Made a deal... with Aleister...”
Aleister.
If it was something he was involved in, it was clear that there was a conspiracy.
“Where is Aleister? Does he visit this place often?”
"Comes... every time… flowers are harvested... Don’t know… where he is...”
Harvesting flowers containing the memories of the dead.
Was he using them for alchemical research?
Woohyuk's expression hardened for an instant when his thoughts reached that conclusion.
"Right. He’s using them as ingredients.”
An item for which Woohyuk didn’t know the recipe.
There were a few things he could think of, such as wildfire or monster breeding substance.
But at this moment, what came to his mind was...
[Clipport's Fruit].
It was a notorious stimulant that once plunged the Eeth continent into chaos.
By taking a single pill, one’s potential would be revealed and one could perform tasks that were above one’s usual ability for 5-10 minutes.
However, the side effects were not as light as simple drugs, so an overdose or prolonged addiction could lead to death.
'It can also turn you into a monster.'
Clipport’s fruit was not just a stimulant.
The unidentified ingredients contained in it gradually corrupted the beings except for demons, and eventually altered their essence and shape.
[Awakener]
Those who became monsters were called so, and their ferocity and terrifying combat power used to be the object of fear.
'Hopefully, I can figure out the recipe here.'
The flowers were most likely used for the Clipport’s Fruit. In the past, he had ordered many alchemists to research this fruit, and they discovered that it contained the powder of an unknown flower.
It was not clear whether the Clipport's fruit was in circulation right now, but even if it were in the clinical trial stage, he could potentially get clues about the production process.
If this could reveal the secrets of the Clipport’s Fruit, it would be of great help in stopping the future plots of the Golden Rose Society.
They could even create an antidote for it.
'I have the Life Tree Fruit and the Paradise Tree Fruit.'
Alchemy ingredients that only existed on the Eeth continent.
They were likely to play a key role in the development of the antidote as they worked against the Clipport’s Fruit.
However, if he used them for research, he would not be able to enjoy their original effects.
Walking into a new stone chamber with Midas, Woohyuk took out the two fruits one after another from his pocket.
[Paradise Tree Fruit]
Type: Consumable
Effect: Alchemy ingredient. Eating it within a ruin grants you a secret knowledge related to said ruin.
[Life Tree Fruit]
Type: Consumable
Effect: Alchemy ingredient. Grants you all the alchemical knowledge and recipes related to a single ingredient you hold in hand.
Both items were obtained from Paradise Lost, the center of the Primordial Forest.
It was a little wasteful to use them here, but they were far less valuable than the positive effect the antidote would bring.
Midas, who stopped walking, spoke while Woohyuk recalled Lyla, the dryad who was protecting Paradise Lost.
"It’s… this way…”
A stone wall engraved with magic circles.
Considering the empty space he could sense on the other side, it is probably the entrance to a secret area.
“Wait for a moment.”
After moving Midas behind him, Woohyuk rummaged through his pockets to put the fruits away and take out the Archaeologist's Golden Magnifying Glass.
'There must be a trap hidden somewhere.'
It was rare for magic circles to be exposed like this in the open in ruins, no matter how difficult it was for intruders to enter said ruins.
'There is also a magic circle engraved on the wall behind them.'
Observation through the archaeologist's golden magnifying glass revealed that it was the real entrance.
In other words, what was in front of them was a trap that has been prepared consciously for intruders.
Mishandling it could have put them in a lot of trouble.
Woohyuk carefully put his hand on the stone wall and concentrated,
Rumble.
As the stone wall structure changed, a secret passage appeared.
He had activated the magic circle behind them instead of the one they had foud first.
“Is there a monster guarding the area inside?”
“I've never been… inside... there...”
Midas only knew the approximate location of the secret room.
Woohyuk pondered for a while and put him on standby at the entrance.
“Don’t think about coming in unless there is a problem.”
“…Yes."
There was no chance he would awaken from the hypnosis before nightfall.
In the case of the librarian in the Izuna Kingdom’s royal library, Ronald had cast a spell to remove any abnormal status conditions after coming across him by accident.
However, it was better to hurry up, as Angrboda's followers and Aleister could arrive.
'There.'
As the torches hang at regular intervals on the passage walls, a bronze gate could be seen at the end.
Woohyuk boldly opened the bronze door with both hands.
Creaaaaak.
A dark interior was revealed with a gloomy sound.
There were no monsters.
There was just one giant magic circle shining in a purple hue on the floor.
'Is it an advanced magic circle?'
He had to release that first to get to the Hand of Midas.
As Woohyuk walked forward, the bronze door slammed and closed shut, and a purple flash covered his eyes.
After some time...
“Sergeant Chun, avoid it! It's dangerous to be here!”
As the surrounding landscape turned into the interior of a barracks of a military base, a young man's urgent voice resounded.
Woohyuk turned his head and looked at him.
Private Yoon Taewoo.
He was Woohyuk’s spotter during his military service.
‘It’s my imaginary world.’
A scene he had seen so many times that it was boring.
He didn't even feel puzzled anymore.
As Woohyuk stood still, Yoon Taewoo pulled on his arm with an urgent expression.
“Private Kim Jinwoo has gone crazy and can’t recognize us, Sergeant Chun. He even has grenades and will try to destroy himself if we corner him.
Private Kim Jinwoo.
He was the perpetrator of the firearms incident in Woohyuk's unit.
He couldn't withstand the verbal and physical bullying of his seniors, and stole ammunition and killed Woohyuk’s troops with a K2 rifle.
Later, he even tried to kill the executives, but was surrounded by supporting units, and decided to explode himself.
Back then, Woohyuk was the only one to survive amongst his unit due to Yoon Taewoo’s sacrifice.
However, he was suspected of being one of the seniors who had harassed Kim Jinwoo and the rest of his military life became hard to endure.
It was a very traumatic event for Woohyuk.
'I'm sorry, Yoon Taewoo.'
You weren't supposed to die back then.
Rather than protecting him, Woohyuk had made a mistake and received help instead.
A feeling of guilt rose in his heart, despite the fact that this was an imaginary world that had been repeated countless times in his mind.
When Woohyuk stared at Yoon Taewoo silently, the sound of a firearm was heard from a nearby location.
Bang! Bababababang!
Painful screams and cries followed
Yoon Taewoo's expression was cold.
“Ser, Sergeant Chun…”
“Wait here, Yoon Taewoo.”
Woohyuk tapped Yoon Taewoo's shoulder with one hand.
Afterwards, he took out the sword on his waist and spoke confidently.
“I will take care of him.”
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