Chapter 1065 – 1065. God’S Atlantis
“I’ve gathered 15,000 life points.”
After an hour in the blood-soaked area, I managed to collect 15,000 life points. Quite a few monsters were drawn by the scent of human blood.
“You have acquired 30,000 AP as a completion reward.”
‘30,000 AP isn’t a bad reward.’
It’s a shame my stats didn’t increase, but there’s a lot I can do with 30,000 AP.
‘Has it been long enough? The monsters drawn by the scent of blood have noticeably decreased.’
It’s safe to say that all the ones nearby came and died. There was no more merit to staying here. I looked around and moved south. There wasn’t a big reason. I just moved on instinct.
‘My luck stat is high, so things will work out.’
This place was only vaguely mentioned in the setting book, so I don’t know much about it either. But I was confident that I wouldn’t lose to any monster that appeared. I am strong now.
I heard the sound of water. I quickened my pace.
There was a wide, blue lake. It wasn’t an ordinary lake. Palm trees were sticking out all over the lake.
‘Palm trees and a lake… it’s a strange sight that doesn’t seem to fit but somehow does.’
I drew my sword.
The monsters that come out of this place have one characteristic. They are all composite monsters, a mix of two or more types. Animals and animals. Plants and plants. Or monsters that are a combination of animals and plants. Those palm trees in the lake might also be some kind of monster.
‘The way to find out is simple.’
Just check it out. No creature wants to die easily.
I infused my sword with blue sword energy and swung it at a distant palm tree. The sword energy flew and hit the palm tree. The palm tree swayed greatly. A scratch appeared on its surface.
‘Just a scratch with sword energy?’
It was not an ordinary palm tree after all.
The palm tree moved towards me. The calm surface of the lake rippled violently. It seemed angry at the sudden attack.
At the bottom of the palm tree was a giant blue crayfish. About 1.5 times bigger than me, the crayfish rushed towards me, swinging its pincers.
It was a simple attack. Not hard to dodge. I stepped back and swung my sword.
Clang!
The Hwaryeon Bido, coated in sword energy, was deflected. Only a small scratch appeared on its body. Its outer shell was surprisingly hard.
Kwarururung.
I dropped lightning. The palm tree crayfish, struck head-on by the lightning, paused for a moment. About two seconds, to be exact. After that, it seemed even angrier and charged at me. The lightning only managed to scorch part of the palm tree.
‘Astrape.’
Pajijijijik.
Red lightning gathered on the blade of the Hwaryeon Bido and coated it. The blade, made entirely of lightning, shone menacingly.
‘In this world, using skills also increases their power.’
To put it bluntly, it’s a buff.
I jumped onto the crayfish. Due to the crayfish’s body structure, its pincers couldn’t reach its back. The crayfish tried to shake me off by wriggling its body. I skillfully maintained my balance and stabbed my sword into the crayfish’s back.
It wasn’t easy, but the blade eventually pierced the crayfish’s outer shell and entered its body. Red lightning coursed through the crayfish’s body. Soon, the crayfish’s body slumped, and a savory smell wafted up.
“You have gained 700 life points.”
700 life points!
It gave me more life points than any monster I’ve faced so far.
I looked around the lake and smiled. There were at least 15 palm trees in sight. I could easily get 10,000 points here.
‘This is a gold mine. Heh heh.’
***
I wandered around, killing every monster I saw. There were some quite annoying ones, but most of them knelt and died before my high stats. If I felt I was lacking in power, I switched my status window to the Heavenly Demon to fight.
As I walked through the forest, I stopped and stared at the base of a tree. There was a purple mushroom. It was a mushroom with insect legs. I pointed at the poisonous mushroom bug with my index finger. A streak of blue lightning shot towards the poisonous mushroom bug.
“You have gained 50 life points.”
“You have gathered 37,000 life points.”
“You have acquired a top-grade recovery potion.”
“A dud.”
I shook my head as soon as I saw the recovery potion. It was an expensive item, but it was something I could buy as much as I wanted if I had money.
I swallowed the potion right there.
Top-grade potions not only restore life force but also stamina and mana.
‘Full recovery is a trump card. It’s better to save it as much as possible.’
Four hours had passed, and I had collected 37,000 life points. My goal was 50,000 points, and I had 2 hours left.
‘I have plenty of time.’
I needed to target big guys, not small ones like the poisonous mushroom bug. That’s how you gather life points efficiently.
How long had I been walking through the forest?
Suddenly, I smelled a rotten odor. It was the smell of decaying corpses. It was a familiar smell, and I frowned.
I headed towards the smell. The monsters here were all unique. There might be a monster that emits a decaying smell.
My guess was right. The decaying smell was coming from a monster.
‘It’s a patchwork.’
A patchwork zombie.
It was a zombie made by combining several corpses. It was a particularly tough zombie to deal with. Above all, there were many variations. It could suddenly explode or emit poisonous gas.
‘This one is huge.’
It was the biggest patchwork zombie I had ever seen. It was about 10 meters tall. And while patchwork zombies are usually made of human corpses, this one was different. It was a single entity made up of all sorts of animals and plants.
‘If you just sit still, it looks like a pile of corpses, but… if you look closely, it’s wriggling.’
I stared at the patchwork zombie, lost in thought. Could I defeat it?
‘It would be hard to defeat with just a few sword strikes. I need firepower.’
Not just any firepower would do.
‘…Wait. This is a forest of living things, right? Is it right for an undead to be here?’
I recalled the setting book.
Area 4,344, Patchwork Laboratory.
Just by the name, you might mistake it for a place that creates patchwork zombies.
But the real purpose of this patchwork laboratory is not to sew corpses together, but to combine living things. Strange creatures are born, and sometimes these strange creatures produce rare materials. The patchwork laboratory sells these rare materials. At the same time, it buys animals and plants from hunters and herbalists.
And the challenger is a setting to test the strength of the synthesized creatures.
‘The false god who is the owner of this place is the Patchwork King. His true name is Chimera. Chimera is a living creature and hates the undead.’
If that was the case, the patchwork zombie in front of me might not be undead but a living creature.
‘If it’s a living thing, won’t my lightning work?’
If things went wrong, I could just run away.
Thinking of all possibilities, I dropped lightning on the patchwork.
Kwarururung! Bang bang!
It wasn’t just one lightning strike. The lightning kept falling.
The patchwork twitched from the lightning strikes. I clicked my tongue. I had dropped 15 consecutive lightning strikes, but the effect was minimal. Its body didn’t even catch fire.
“Gwoooaaah…!”
A human face popped out of the patchwork’s chest and made a strange sound. And on the skin of its face, tentacle-like things pierced through with red blood. There were eyeballs at the ends of the tentacles. More than 10 tentacles were staring at me.
It was a disgusting sight. I suppressed the rising nausea and tried to deduce its identity.
‘Those tentacle shapes… they look just like horsehair worms.’
I think I know why the patchwork’s body is wriggling.
The patchwork is just a host. The real thing is the parasite living inside it. Since the parasite is also a living thing, it’s not strange for it to be in this forest.
The patchwork golem moved. As its huge body, over 10 meters tall, moved, the ground shook.
‘What is the parasite combined with?’
It was a flying insect. On the back of the tentacle-like parasite were mosquito wings.
The parasite with eyeballs flew towards me. If you looked closely, there were sharp, thorn-like teeth on the parasite’s body.
‘Change status window.’
“Changing status window.”
I changed to the Heavenly Demon status window. My body was overflowing with power. When it came to physical abilities, the Heavenly Demon state was definitely better.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Dragon (黑炎魔龍).
I threw the black flames that appeared in my hand towards the patchwork. The black flames stuck to the patchwork’s skin and began to burn.
“Gwoooaaahhhhhhhh!”
“Kieeeeeek!”
“Kieeeeeeeeeek!”
Not only the patchwork but something else screamed. It wasn’t the parasite. There was another creature inside the patchwork’s body.
Insects poured out of the patchwork’s body. There must have been over 10,000 of them. The insects were headed for me. I covered my whole body in black flames. The black flames were hot, but I could endure it.
‘Damn it. Killing the insects doesn’t give me any points.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and led the patchwork towards the lake. There was no time. Maintaining the black flames consumed too much mana.
‘The lake!’
I ran across the surface of the lake. The patchwork fearlessly followed me. As the patchwork’s body went towards the center of the lake, it began to sink below the surface.
The black flames didn’t disappear easily even when they touched the water. Part of the lake bubbled. The black flames disappeared when the patchwork was completely submerged.
I gaped at what I saw below the surface.
Fish with frog legs were tearing apart the patchwork and the insects. It was a spectacle.
“You have gained 17,487 life points.”
“You have gathered 54,487 life points.”
I had finally exceeded my goal of 50,000 points. The patchwork gave me as many points as its disgusting appearance suggested.
Three rewards appeared in a row.
“Your strength has increased by 1.”
“You have acquired 40,000 AP.”
“You have acquired the Combat Recovery (A) skill.”
“Combat Recovery.
Gradually recovers life force, stamina, and mana during combat.
Type: Skill
Rank: A”
It was a skill I obtained by reaching 50,000 life points. A satisfied smile spread across my face. This was what I came here for.
‘Combat Recovery. It literally increases recovery during combat. Fortunately, I got the skill in the Heavenly Demon status window as planned.’
My combat sustainability would increase.
With A rank, I could maintain combat for more than 30 minutes even when exhausted.
‘I’ve achieved my goal, but there’s still about an hour left. Should I hunt more? If I reach 55,000 points, I think I’ll get an additional reward.’
I flew sword energy and killed a fish in the lake.
“You have gained 1 life point.”
I shook my head. Even if I caught 100 of them, I would only get 100 points.
‘The efficiency is terrible. It’s better to find and kill other monsters in the forest.’
I went out of the lake. As I walked through the forest, searching for monsters, I found an unexpected corpse. It was the corpse of one of the four challengers who had run away from me.
It had been sliced to death by something sharp.
‘It looks like it was done by a sword?’
The corpse was clean, with no signs of being bitten. The monsters here kill each other to eat. It didn’t make sense to kill a creature and leave its corpse intact.
‘It seems like they fought each other.’
I was about to pass by the corpse when I sensed a presence. I stared at the base of a large tree. Someone was in the unnaturally dark shadow.
“Come out. I know you’re there.”
I held the Hwaryeon Bido and released my killing intent. Someone walked out of the darkness. I was surprised and gaped.
“You have good senses.”
It was Li Mei, a beautiful woman with long pink hair and a pink cheongsam.
