Volume 23: Chapter 8: Great Disaster Nature Sculpting
It required a lot
of time for Undeads to walk to Natalia plain.
Skeletons were
really good at marching as long as they had perfectly fine legs.
It was because
they walked as they were ordered to, while dragging swords on the ground.
But with Zombies
and Ghouls they staggered and they kept going in the wrong direction.
“Get back in the
line!”
Necromancers were
busy managing Undeads.
Over 110,000
Undeads!
Skeletons had high
attack power so they were useful in battles.
They could be
revived and if necessary, curse spells could be activate through the corpses so
their departure was delayed as Necromancers tried to bring as many Undeads as
they can.
“No matter how
many monsters are in Natalia plain, we should be able to win easily.”
“With our forces,
we can even kill any boss-material monsters.”
Necromancers were
relieved looking at their Undeads force reassuringly, but Weed waited for
battle anxiously.
‘I have to hunt
more, I have to take more items. With this many Undeads there could be less
monsters for me.’
A source of
endless greed!
Any expectations
of clearing the quest with impractical ease shattered right after they arrived
at Natalia plain.
[El Vance Monastery]
It was a place of monastery established by the
Imperial family of the Niflheim Empire.
This is a placed embedded with sacred power.
Weakens Undeads body and cleanses any curse spells.
Necromancer’s magic abilities decrease by -24%.
Destroyed Undeads cannot be revived.
Faint wisp of
holiness was rising from rapidly from the ground.
As holy power
touched his body, warm feeling spread and strength fell from his sword bearing
arm.
Strength decrease by -3.
Health decrease by -240.
With the effect of Balkan’s Death
Aura, his health was supplemented again but on Natalia plain an enormous aura
of divine energy was rising up.
In the dark night the streams of holy
energies rising up looked very beautiful but to the Necromancers it was a
serious horror.
“Ku… At this rate how are we
supposed to attack with the Undeads?”
“Magic?”
“Curses or dark magic will get
weak as it tries to penetrate the holy power and it won’t even be in range.”
“Let’s try it first.”
Jeanne and Otem combined their
power and activated their dark magic, calling up a cloud of poison.
Monsters immediately went hiding
inside the wall of El Vance monastery.
Even if it was a monastery its wall
were really high and its structure wide, so it could be possible that tens of
thousands monsters could have gathered there.
These monsters’ reproduction rates
were beyond imagination.
“Go! Pour down vicious poison
rain!”
The poisonous cloud headed toward
the direction of monastery but the rode up the rising holy energy and
disappeared.
“This is really headache inducing.”
Weed’s expression soured as he also
looking at the monastery.
‘This is not just a quest given out
in vain to meet Balkan.’
They had to penetrate through the
most horrifying thing for Undeads, holy energy.
The holy power outside of Natalia
plain wasn’t as strong but inside the monastery lights were shining bright.
Far away from the plain was scene
of gloomily gathered Undeads, their expression souring at the light.
When they were human holy power
felt slightly bright, now they stung the eye with its brightness.
‘Undeads seem to feel holy power more
sensitively.’
Necromancers couldn’t come up with
any definite solution and just stood behind where the holy power couldn’t reach
them.
Weed considered time as money so he
gave an order.
“Youngest skeleton.”
“Yes, lord”
“Run straight forward.”
The shortest skeleton from Weed’s
unit run limpidly along his way to the monastery.
Even though they were Undeads, they
still had their instinct about death so they feared the holy power.
But the great, peerless Weed
perfectly controlled the skeleton with his charisma and leadership.
Tadadadada, tuktuk, boom!
The Skeleton ran forward hard while
getting hit by the holy power here and there.
About halfway to the wall of the
monastery, it looked like he was burning from the holy power.
With reduced health, it collapsed
while walking down without even swinging its sword once.
Before long it purified the
Skeleton with even leaving a corpse, leaving the Necromancers with their
tongues hanging out.
This time, Weed lifted his finger
and pointed at a Skeleton warrior.
“Advance.”
“Yes, lord”
The Skeleton warrior was able to withstand
a few more steps but he still couldn’t make it to the wall.
“Skeletons can’t seem to go.”
Necromancers were disappointed bitterly
by the fact that the majority of their Undead armies were completely useless as
it was composed of Skeletons.
Only thinking vaguely about the
fear of holy power, they now could feel keenly after seeing the sight of
melting Skeletons.
“Dullahan, go forth as well.”
“Yes, I will follow your order.”
Dullahans were very fierce
warriors.
With their standards they were able
to make great achievements in battles but Weed carried out his experiment
freely.
The Dullahan reached the wall that
looked like it was about to collapse, but died under monster attack as it was
about to go over it.
Looking at Weed Death knights were pierced
with horror.
As next time, it was their turn.
Undeads were shivering in great
fear as underlings of Weed as he was a remorseless liege.
‘Hmm.”
But Weed didn’t deploy any more
Undeads after sending out the Dullahan.
‘If about a Dullahan, then Death Knights
should be able to fight, at least for a short amount of time…’
Even if he gather every Death
Knights from other players, it would be hard to gather over 2,000.
If they send that much to fight the
monsters, they will be able to achieve something but they would melt completely
like ice creams in hot summer.
‘Quest will fail after that.’
A quest with four day limitation!
They spent seven hours trying to
get here because Undeads weren’t nimble.
If all their Undeads got
eliminated, they wouldn’t have enough time to gather the current quality and
number of Undeads.
‘There is only one chance.’
Weed was locked into a deep thought
as he looked behind the enemy lines.
They needed varieties of meticulous
strategies.
“Don’t you think this quest
difficult is way too high?”
“Did the quest really say to destroy them?
This is completely impossible.”
“There are no solutions with the
Undeads. Maybe it’s a quest that can only be succeed at high level? To be
stopped like this here…”
“Maybe we should have hunted
monsters in advance so they wouldn’t gather here. Even in the canyon I let some
monsters run away, they must have all ended up here eventually.”
The Necromancers could not get the
point right now.
It was when Necromancers were in
panic.
Harien came to where Weed and Marie
were.
Last time she heard a great method
from Weed so she came here for advice.
Weed was murmuring intently on his
own.
“Japtem… Leathers not so good… If
there are treasures left in the monastery…”
He look like he was struggling
hard, locked in deep agony!
“Perhaps are you thinking about
solution to clear this quest?”
“Guessing monsters tendencies… the
possibilities of gold, silver and treasure… but definitely the treasures…”
Jeanne and Otem came along while
Harien was waiting for her reply.
While observing Weed, they did considered Weed as a great player as well.
It was hard not to acknowledge his
abilities, with him coming all the way here not with a magic class that could
summon Undead but a combat class.
It’s hard not to acknowledge him.
As a single power Weed’s Undead was
quite strong.
About ten minutes elapsed, Weed was
writing words and numbers on a ground with his finger.
~Leather, very rough and defective
so 1,750.
~Japtem, variety of items. Less relevant
to the quest, dispose as lump-sum to Mapan-nim.
~Monastery, information about
Niflheim empire history’s past holy weapons, not enough.
-
Decision postponed.
It was difficult for Jeanne, Otem
and Marie to understand how the cipher like phrase related to the monsters at
all.
Harien waited, waited and finally
asked.
“Is there really no way to clear
this quest?”
Weed while looking at the phrases
piercingly, lifted his chin.
“Yes?”
“Weren’t you trying to come up with
solutions for this quest?”
“No I was calculating something
else.”
“Ah…”
Realizing that she was waiting and
expecting for something great out of Weed’s irrelevant actions, she backtracked
quickly.
Harien was dispirited to think that
she was expecting something from Weed’s weird behavior.
“Huu, some hope he would rekindle…
I shouldn’t have waste my time.”
Jeanne and Otem were about go back
to other Necromancers.
Even if they go to them it was a
hard problem they were trying to solve but if they agonize it together they
might find a slightly better method.
They were in a position where they
needed to find a solution fast.
But Weed talked as if there wasn’t
any problem.
“We just have to beat the monsters
in the monastery.”
“Yes but how?”
“There are many ways.”
Weed had no need to waste any effort
in thinking about monsters.
He made decisions immediately and
was now estimating for after the hunt.
He took number of monsters inside
and their approximate levels, item drops and rough schematics on the monastery
and even the whereabouts of potentially hidden treasures into consideration!
‘Since it’s filled with holy power
there must be something there. The probability of it being in the basement is
high.’
As that treasure might high
extremely high value he was in serious thought about it.
_______________________________________________________________
Necromancers pass over their authorities
for their Undeads units to Weed.
“Please just go.”
“Just walk a little bit, hmm?”
It was because the Undeads wouldn’t
listen to the Necromancers.
“Forward.”
“Yes, lord.”
“Death Knight shall follow the
commander-nim’s orders.”
Undeads didn’t resist against Weed
command.
Part of it was because he was a
Death knight but his absurdly high leadership ability and items influenced a
lot.
There were many occasions where he suffered
many damages from large-scale battles but in the end, Weed achieved victories
and obtained a title of glorious Undead Commander.
When he was a Lich he killed
Kubicha in Jigolaths and obtained the title of Immortal Warrior.
Because of that Undeads believed
and followed Weed even if it leads to their deaths.
They were Undeads maintained by
Necromancers’ mana but they moved according to Weed’s order.
“Full attack, run forward!”
Weed shouted out in a loud voice.
Skeletons and Dullahans ran towards
the monastery as one.
A major offensive of 11 thousand
Undeads!
Once all these Undeads disappear,
there will not be enough time to collect Undeads again.
“Kuaak!”
“Too hot, too hot!”
Through the holy power the
Skeleton’s started caught fire and started burning, but even so the other
skeletons continued running, stepping over their fallen allies.
In the middle of night the burning
skeletons were running down the plain.
It was like the Undead were making
a flaming path, even the Necromancers were awed at the sight.
“Let’s open paths for them, Bone
Wall!”
“Dark Crow”
Necromancers supported the Undeads
move forward by summoning walls of bones and growing plants that grew by
feeding on darkness.
Skeletons and Dullahans were able
to move forward a bit more by stepping on the bones and plants.
Of course it didn’t last long and
burned because of the holy power rising from the ground but Undeads used it as
stepping-stone.
Under unbelievable suffering,
Undeads move steadfast while taking damage. Weed’s plan was to move in with
every Undead and fight a final battle with monsters.
A position of Undead armies’ Chief
Commander with heavy responsibilities.
Usually it was difficult task if it
was shared, but there was no better method than this.
If the Undead closed the distances
with the monsters, Necromancers can fight with Corpse Explosions and curses.
Streams of holy power rising randomly
from the ground dealt a lot of damage to Undeads but mobilizing every Undead at
the same time so they can step over each other was the plan.
“This is impossible.”
In a situation in when their joined
strength was lacking, there were Necromancers complaining rather than casting supporting
spells that could increase movement speed or defense of the Undead.
They disagreed with Weed’s plan in
the first place but as Jeanne, Otem, Harien agreed, other Necromancers followed
with them.
But now as the Undeads were
crossing the plain and incurring massive casualties, these Necromancers started
to protest.
“It’s still not too late. Let’s
stop here and find another way.”
“I’ve been telling you it’s a
reckless plan from the beginning. If it proceeds like this and even if they get
to the monastery, they will all die before they can even fight. We know about
monsters’ strength very well. We must cancel this idiotic plan now.”
Players who agreed with Weed’s plan
started to doubt themselves.
It was understandable because all
they could see were Undeads burning and getting purified by the holy power.
It’s true that their chance of
success were looking smaller.
But if they stopped or retreat the
Undead now, the quest would end in complete failure.
They should have spoken before
Undeads moved out, right now it was seriously late.
They already invested over half
Undeads!
After the Necromancers started
protesting, the Undeads agreed as well.
“If we go forward we will be annihilated.”
“I don’t want burn to death like
this!”
As bulk of the Undeads disappeared
by holy power, a situation arose where the remaining Undead tried to disobey
Weed’s order.
They had to keep pushing additional
Undeads forward.
If the deployment of Undeads stop
like this, the forces currently running forward in the plain will all burn or
melt down.
Riding on his gargoyle Weed raised
up his rusty legendary sword.
And then opened his jaw.
A
smell… There is a smell
I
am singing but I still there is a smell
Even
if I stop, the smell won’t stop.
“…?”
With no tune and no rhythm,
definitely a song that was sung as the lyrics just popped up.
Sound of Death Knight with slightly
hoarse voice spread widely across the whole plain.
Jeanne, who was using magic near
the vicinity of Natalia plain, turned her head around.
“The person who sings this kind of
song…”
Harien, Otem, Bohram, Gruzed,
Varenna and other high-rank Necromancers also stopped what they were doing and
shifted their gazes to where Weed was.
It was a song they never heard
before.
There is no way a reckless song like
this would ever be composed.
But they knew a person who would
sing a song like this in a battle.
Today
is a dark night, very dark night
I
am a Death Knight
I
am a Death Knight who doesn’t wash his face
I
don’t have to wash my feet as well
“War God…”
“It’s Weed!”
They had some suspicions as he
chose a combat related class and was far ahead than any other.
But that person, singing a
senseless song that no one could absolutely mimic, singing a ridiculous song.
Even senior granny players in
Versailles continent knew him, watching palpitating videos of him through the
night.
It explained everything now.
“That Weed was with us…”
“Use magic. Invade the monastery
and kill every monster!”
The loud mouth Necromancers
sprouting it was impossible started to do their tasks.
Marie was just waiting for Weed to
sing.
He took out a harp made by dwarves
and matched Weed’s song, improvising a performance.
‘It’s harder than composing a new
song.’
A best bard was matching Weed song.
Keuheu,
keuheu
Price
for melon rose
Strawberries
are really expensive
Mandarins
are too precious to eat
Don’t
eat anything at night
Sleeping
early is fine
Undeads
gathered here, start singing
My
dear Undeads who knows no hunger, or exhaustion.
You
shall go forward
As soon as Weed finished his song,
he took out a horn.
A horn announcing victory in
Treserk.
A unique item that can bring out
incredible abilities in soldiers.
It was a treasure that could make
someone famous just by having in his possession.
Weed put the horn to his mouth and
blew it with all might.
TOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!
Undeads’ morale is rising.
Undeads are craving for victory.
Temporarily boost physical potential by +120%.
Bad things will happen often to the enemies.
“Advance!”
Weed suddenly gave
Lion’s Roar.
Then the
rebellious Undeads started rushing toward the monastery in unison.
Even the Undeads
suffering under the holy power sped up and ran forward.
They were weakened
by holy power but they were acting beyond their potential capabilities.
The loss of
skeletons was at an unspeakable level but they got close to the monastery.
Fierce and strong
skeletons stepped over their allies’ heads and shoulders to jump out to the
front.
“Time to deploy
the Death Knights.”
Weed flew high on
his gargoyle.
The underling Death
Knights also got on their gargoyles and flew up beside Weed.
“Phantom steed
summon!”
Death Knights
commanded by other Necromancers got on the phantom steeds summoned by their
owners.
Holy power from Natalia
plain to rose up till the sky but the Undeads were fully covering the ground.
The Undeads became
shields.
Either piercing
through the Undead, or avoiding the stream of holy power rising up, it was
possible to approach from the sky while flying.
“Let’s go!”
Weed flew with his
Death Knight units toward the monastery.
About that time
Undeads arrived as well, taking down the walls in three different places and were
fighting with defending monster.
As the Undead’s
health was almost gone they collapsed to the counter attacks.
‘But they are very
weak.’
As he expected,
monsters weren’t normal as well.
It was not as much
as the Undeads but the monsters were also overwhelmed by holy power.
Multiple of
Undeads ran into monsters and about 3~4 Undeads clung to one monster.
“Let’s go down to
the ground.”
Weed went inside
the monastery riding on his gargoyle.
He was able to see
bright lights gathered in a bunch on the ground.
The gathered light
pierced the ground and a thick stem of holy power rose up threateningly.
Some Death Knights
fell from their gargoyles but most of them avoided with sharp turns and landed
safely inside the monastery.
-
You have arrived at El Vance Monastery.
Due to the abundant holy power physical abilities reduce by -45%.
Health decrease by -300 every second.
It’s difficult for
Undeads to be active in a church or a shrine.
It was not a place
that Death Knights could withstand for a long time.
Monsters came
unceasingly toward Weed.
“It’s the Undeads.
Kill and eliminate them.”
“It’s the Death
Knights commanding the Undeads!”
Monsters had capacity
for rational thought so they targeted Weed first.
If they took Weed
down, he would not die alone but shake up every Undead underling for losing
their commander.
Its influence
would be lower for humans or elves but losing a commander was a hopeless
situation for Undeads!
Of course for orcs
it didn’t matter if their commander died or not.
Whoever held the
glaive and shouted first become an orc captain.
“Heriam Fencing!”
Weed while
performed attack skill, slashed monsters.
His level for
Heriam Fencing went up, enabling him to strike 13 times consecutively.
And every time the
strike succeed strength, agility and destructive power increased.
Because he wasn’t
far from mastering the skill the swordsmanship skill proficiency rose steadily.
Weed’s Death Knight underlings fought together while guarding him.
________________________________________________________________
“Wow… He really
is amazing. Even if he’s Weed and trying to clear the quest, how could he just
jump into a place swarming with monsters?”
“I doubted him
until he got on his gargoyle but he really went in. Does he not find his life
valuable?”
Necromancers were
deeply impressed by Weed’s brave action.
A commander
jumping into an enemy base full of dangers just to win!
‘Just like the
rumor.’
‘There is chance
of really victory in this battle.’
Weed rekindled
hope and bravery to the Necromancers.
Necromancers
recovered health to the Undeads that weren’t completely destroyed and
strengthened them with supporting spells.
“This front is
relatively safe now let’s advance as well.”
The land was
polluted by the corpses of the collapsed Undead.
The holy power couldn’t
rise up and just burned up the wreckages of the Undeads.
Necromancers got
on the ghouls’ backs and headed toward the monastery, close enough to throw
spells.
________________________________________________________________
“Attack!”
While Weed was
provoking monster and putting more effort into hunting more, he glanced
sideways.
He was attacking
the inner area of the monastery with his fearless Death Knights, preventing any
chance for the monsters to become more active.
Rather than being
heroic by being in the forefront, he was making the Undeads fight and waiting
behind for the perfect chance!
“I’m sure there
are great treasures somewhere in the monastery.”
His craving for
items led him to the inner side of monastery.
If he comes with
other Necromancers after the battle ends, he would have to share the treasure.
But there was no
need to share treasures he picked up secretly!
Now was the only
chance to search the monastery.
Pushung!
In front of his
eye the holy power gathered and erupted skywards, far away the ground was hit
with magic casted by Necromancers and Skeleton mages.
After deploying
the Undead and judging the place to be slightly, the Necromancers advanced
toward Natalia plains.
‘There must be a
treasure somewhere. I need to look for a collapsed structure or stairways to
downstairs.’
Even for Weed it
was difficult to find clues about the unknown treasure with the monsters and
the wreckages.
Because monsters
were heading to Weed he was also busy fighting with his Death Knights.
“Cut them all!”
He gave an order
to raise the Death Knights’ morale.
“I follow
commander’s order.”
“Kill the
monsters!”
Weed’s class was a
combat related Death Knight.
Even if he had underlings
with same class, there was nothing like being outnumbered by monsters.
As Undead who
found it hard to withstand the monastery, the Death Knights could not win over
the holy power and began the collapse.
Weed’s health was
decreasing scarily fast.
To others’ views,
it was either fearless bravery or completely craziness.
‘There is no
reason why this old and desolate monastery has so much holy power left.’
If Weed didn’t get
the feeling that there was enormous treasures here, he wouldn’t have started
such a reckless battle.
“I guess I have no
choice.”
Weed took out a
sculpture from his sides.
It was not a Fine,
Masterpiece or Magnum Opus sculpture.
Made out of woods,
it was a sculpture based on a storm he encountered coming back from Jigolaths on
a ship.
·
Dark Clouds and Thunders
Sculpture made from
dismantling woods from the mast and wine barrel on the ghost ship.
With the two wide wooden
board representing earth and sky, in between lightning and whirlwind is
blowing.
Due to the limitation of
the material, it lacks many artistic expression. An inerasable scent of wine
still permeates.
Artistic Value: 49.
It was worthless
to sell it as a sculpture anywhere.
But Weed stored it
preciously, waiting for someday to use this sculpture.
‘The day has is
today.’
Weed decided to use
a secrete Sculpture skill and acted immediately.
“Great Disaster Nature Sculpting!”
- Great Disaster Nature Sculpting has been used.
Art stat decreased by -20 permanently.
20,000 health and mana has been consumed.
All stats reduce by -15% for four days.
Affinity to Nature dropped.
Great Disaster Nature Sculpting can only be used once per day.
When dangerous disasters are called upon, depending on the damage
fame or notoriety can increase.
You can die in the middle of the disaster so be careful.
Even though there
were many monsters left, Weed disarmed his sword and laid down on the ground.
“Death Knights get
rid of your sword and lay down!”
Death knights
couldn’t follow the sudden change of command while battling.
Weed ordered
again.
“Throw away your
swords and defend with wooden shields.”
Death knights threw
away their rusty swords and raised their basic wooden shields.
It was broken and
rotten so no one knew whether it could function as a shield but it was better
than nothing.
Taking one-sided
attacks from monsters for about ten seconds, Weed raised his head up slightly.
“Did the skill
fail?”
Great Disaster Nature Sculpting differs in its strength based on Affinity to Nature but didn’t have
to raise it separately through skill proficiency.
While Weed was all
confused, the wooden sculpture that was used in the skill dismantled like soft
sands and spread out everywhere.
“Kaoh! Kill the Death
knights!”
Monsters were
fighting Death Knights with axes.
CRAAAAAK!
Lightning struck
monsters!
The aftermath was
incredible, the 6 monsters in the vicinity was burned charcoal black.
A great disappointment
descended on him as Weed was expecting something incredible force.
“So should I have
used a Masterpiece or a Magnus Opus as the basis for this skill?”
Even though it was
a secrete Sculpting skill, it was disaster that felt empty.
It was the same
power as a simple lightning bolt used by magicians.
Even though it was
not something that completely changed the battle situation, there was no need
for Weed to suffer so much in learning this skill if it was at such standard.
Suddenly, although
no one noticed it because it was early morning, stars in the sky gradually hid
themselves.
Soon, dark clouds
completely covered the sky and unusually loud sounds occurred.
ZZZZAAAAAAPPP
Instinctively it
gave him the chill.
“It just comes
late.”
Weed hurriedly hid
his body in a pit.
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