CH 97

Merlin suddenly thought of something. Since these monsters didn’t know they were NPCs, the item drop system might be different. After further reflection, Merlin recalled that when monsters died in level-up tests and quests, their corpses didn’t vanish or drop any items.

Sss.

Without disturbing the sea, Merlin quickly moved atop its surface and stepped on shore before waving his hand.

“Gust of wind.”

When his wind-based magic spell was activated, the surrounding poisonous air was cleared. Since Merlin didn’t know how far the poison had spread, it would’ve been safer and wiser to stay further away. Yet, Merlin hated calculating things if he didn’t have to, so he never learned how to control and rearrange his magic power from a distance.

“Hmm.”

First, Merlin examined Inyup’s body to find a spot that seemed the safest to touch, and he lifted that area. Then, he waited for a text message to pop up, but nothing happened.

Sss!

A massive amount of seawater gathered behind Merlin and advanced to envelop Inyup’s corpse, compressing it. Soon, Merlin stated, “Let’s freeze it for now.”

Crack.

Once he spoke, the seawater started freezing around the corpse. It took less than a minute for the seawater to entirely become a block of ice, which Merlin threw into his house.

“Oh, no messages at all. I expected something about Karma points to have appeared by now.”

After putting away the corpse, Merlin saw Narin wildly swinging her bat.

Bam!

“Ugh!”

Like the sound of paper being crumpled, Garam and Miho coughed out blood. They were trying to expel the poison in their bodies, but their efforts didn’t seem entirely successful based on their gray complexions. Furthermore, Narin had removed the others’ poison, but she couldn’t do the same for herself and soon collapsed.

“Narin!”

“Ack… ha… sorry… the poison is so strong….”

Unable to finish speaking, Narin spasmed uncontrollably. Fortunately, Garam and Miho were able to push out some of the poison within her, so she didn’t fall completely unconscious.

“You don’t look so good, Miho. Will you be alright?”

“Do I look like I’ll be alright!”

While she was shouting angrily, Miho turned ghastly pale. She didn’t have any way to resist the poison like the others, and since she was smaller, Miho was affected much quicker. Moreover, although she knew how to use monster power, her physical body was the same as an average fox. So, she was in dire straights.

“Phew… phew… I don’t have much time. I need to quickly return to the village and get help from the adults.”

Among the three, the burly Garam seemed the least affected. Despite not possessing any special properties or skills, his sheer mass seemed capable of containing the poison within him. In addition, Narin had helped remove some of the poison before she collapsed, so Garam would probably recover in time. However, in the meantime, Narin and Miho would most likely die, as they were physically weaker and more susceptible to the poison.

“Quiet Heaven, do you have a detox skill?”

“Sorry, but I don’t have any healing or detox-related abilities. Also, since the Human-Faced Centipede used a gaseous poison, it has probably already spread throughout their entire body.”

Merlin couldn’t remove the poison either. As a mage, he had read about detox spells, but he knew them in theory only; he had never practiced or trained in them.

“You there, human.”

“Why are you calling me a human? I’m just a normal person.”

“Ah, sorry. You, normal person.”

“…”

Seeing Garam scratching the back of his head, Merlin couldn’t help but look dumbfounded. It seemed that this goblin had never seen a human before.

“Anyway, that’s not important right now. I need your help.”

“Help? To do what?”

“The poison has spread within these two. I need to quickly take them back to the village so that the adults can treat them.”

“Why should I- wait, what?”

Merlin stopped mid-sentence when a familiar text message popped up abruptly.

[MISSION

[Escort]

Time Limit: 00:59:46

Transport the injured!

The goblin and six-tailed fox have been inflicted by the Human-faced Centipede’s poison. Escort these two to the location of a monster who can treat them.

Mini-map operational/ Important characters and the monsters who can treat the poisoned have been marked on the mini-map.

Plundering allowed/ Applies to all monsters that attack you.]

“A real-time quest… is it because I’m in the area? Or is it some new feature from a recent patch?”

“What? What are you going on about….”

“Nothing. I’ll help.”

“Huh?”

Regardless of Garam’s surprise, Merlin moved to Narin and put her on his back. Perhaps it was from being a goblin, but she was pretty big; however, Merlin wasn’t short, so he didn’t have much trouble.

/Warning! You have picked up “someone’s” item without authorization! You have lost three Karma points!/

/Warning! If you do not heed the above message and remedy your wrongdoing, you will permanently lose the three Karma points!/

The message didn’t pop up because Merlin was carrying Narin on his back, as she was a living monster. It appeared when Merlin had taken the bat that Narin was carrying.

‘Hmm. I guess the default setting is that they’re NPCs, but if they show hostility, they become monsters.’

Merlin was interested in the goblin’s bat, but after seeing the message, he clicked his tongue and placed it on her belt.

/Good job./

“Are you planning on carrying her?”

“Yeah. She’s lighter than I thought. Though her skin is red, she has some volume in the right parts, so carrying her feels pretty nice….”

“Me! I’ll carry her!”

Despite his shaking legs, Garam took Narin’s body and placed her on his back. Meanwhile, Miho was already hovering in the air. Merlin had made one of his Wicalein Ring spirits, Younghwi, turn into a basket and carry her.

“Alright. Then let’s get moving. Which way do we need to go?”

Merlin asked this, but he already saw the destination markers on the minimap in the top right corner of his vision. There were two destinations he could head toward, and the name of the monsters at those points was also provided.

‘One of the options is a monster named Venomous Junghee… whatever monster that is; it’ll probably be hostile, right? It’s most likely the leader of the Human-Faced Centipede.’

The other monster shown appeared like they’d be friendly, and they were also someone the three monsters had spoken of before.

“Let’s go to the village. Since we’ve been weakened, we should try to avoid bumping into anyone hostile.”

“So, we need to find a monster named Heavenly Flower?”

“What? Go to the eight-tailed fox?”

Seeing Garam’s surprise, Merlin continued.

“We haven’t met, but Miho seemed to speak highly of her. Shouldn’t she be able to detox you guys?”

“Of course, she could. Hmm… I’m not sure if Heavenly Flower is here right now; I’m fairly certain that she’s on the main island.”

“Main island?” Merlin asked while running along the path highlighted in his mini-map. Since Merlin was going in the right direction, Garam didn’t see a need to guide him, so he focused on the question.

“I guess you truly don’t know anything about this place. The Phantom Monster Magic Island is the main island, and it’s surrounded by four vast outer islands in every cardinal direction, forming a four-pointed star. This is the northern outer island, Blue Forest Island.”

“Ah, I see. Then, you’re saying that there are three more outer islands, with four islands in total if you include the main one.”

“Right. Heavenly Flower originated here, but she’s also famous on the main island because of her overwhelming power. Insignificant monsters like us can’t approach her so easily.”

While listening to Garam’s explanation, Merlin recalled the world map that he saw during the beta test. There was an island south of Blue Forest Island, coinciding with the goblin’s words. It was so massive that it seemed to be about the same size as the Dead Earth area on Dynamic Island. In terms of the real world, the island was a little larger than modern-day Jeju Island.

‘That island is too huge to explore. If I go ashore there, I’ll inevitably get quests like the one I have now. I’ll just gain the ‘first discoverer’ bonus and move further southward.’

Merlin’s primary objective in DIO was to explore, not to level up. Moreover, in his case, it was much easier to travel in the water since his water attribute gave him a greater range of movement and HP there.

“Oho, who is this? And you brought a human- eh?!”

“Oho, you look so tired- ack!”

“Why are you moving in such a rush- ack! My eyes! My eyes!”

Seeing Merlin and Garam with the defenseless Narin, a few monsters with bad intentions tried to approach them, but they all ended up rolling around, grabbing their eyes when the two passed by. Surprisingly, even while running, Merlin could hit the monsters’ eyes with his arrows.

“Wow, you’re an eyeball hunter. Why are you targeting their eyes?”

“That’s the only place where my arrows can have an immediate effect. The eyes are the weakness of every living organism.

Merlin scanned his surroundings while constantly receiving messages from Quiet Heaven, who was flying high above him. The number of monsters chasing after Merlin and Garam had grown considerably, but as goblins started to appear ahead, their numbers quickly fell. Merlin was running towards the point on his mini-map representing Heavenly Flower, but seeing as Garam wasn’t giving any directions, it seemed that they were running toward the goblin’s village.

“Hey Garam! What’s going on? And what’s up with the human?”

“I met this human just a moment ago… anyway, that’s not important! Call the adults! Narin and Miho have been poisoned by Inyup!”

“What? That centipede bastard did what? Damn it. Why now of all times….”

“Why? What’s going on?”

Bam!

At that moment, an adult goblin roared and sent out an oppressive spiritual pressure aura. Although it wasn’t as overwhelming as a dragon’s, it was still a substantial force.

“Ugh! Is that all you’ve got? Is this everything a great and illustrious Hwanyo can do?”

“Hmph! You cowardly snake!”

Boom!

With the sound of the explosion, a few buildings blew up, and two monsters appeared.

“Woah… I guess that’s the eight-tailed fox.”

The first monster Merlin saw was a fox with fur that let off a golden light. It was the most powerful amongst the fox monsters, and with a bit more training and enlightenment, the eight-tailed fox could become a nine-tailed fox and reach the rank of a divine beast. The fox was slightly bigger than an adult human, and it had eight tails, each being larger than its main body. Its bushy tails were so voluminous that the fox’s overall size was equivalent to a modern-day house.

“Is that a One-Horned Fire Snake?”

The One-Horned Fire Snake looked just as expected; it was a massive snake with one horn atop its head. It was called a snake, but the One-Horned Fire Snake was enormous. It boasted a length of 250 meters and was as thick as two adult humans standing atop each other. Such a gigantic slithering snake would probably cause a natural disaster wherever it moved.

“Kik! You shall all die!”

“Like I’ll let you!”

When the One-Horned Fire Snake’s fiery breath met the eight-tailed fox’s Kitsunebi, a considerable aftershock spread throughout the area, knocking away the goblins standing nearby. It was, literally, a monster battle.

“Everyone, watch out!”

Then, the eight-tailed fox’s voice rang in everyone’s minds. The eight-tailed fox was losing the battle. While she was more formidable than the One-Horned Fire Snake, she had to be mindful of the well-being and safety of the surrounding goblins and foxes, so she was slowly starting to accrue injuries.

“Get back! Get back!”

“We’re just being a burden to Heavenly Flower! Everyone, get back!”

Whoosh!

While all the monsters were trying to leave the area, the One-Horned Fire Snake whipped its massive tail across the ground. Like a gigantic broom sweeping the floor, the snake swept away everyone in its path.

“That bastard snake!”

“Die!”

After seeing their compatriots being swept away, some of the goblins started swinging their bats at the One-Horned Fire Snake. Yet, the snake’s skin was tough enough to endure a sword strike with ease, so their efforts were fruitless.

Bam! Bam!

“Woah, so scary.”

Without any fear, Merlin murmured a few emotionless words before stepping back. Despite the debris and shrapnel from the exploding buildings flying all over the place, Merlin could see everything and could read their movements and assess their paths without much difficulty.

“Hey, Miho.”

“Ugh… why are you speaking to me… like we’re close….”

Although she was severely weakened and being held by the basket-shaped Younghwi, Miho angrily shouted.

“Oh, is our cute little thing throwing a tantrum!”

“L-let me go!”

Miho was terrified by Merlin abruptly picking her up and rubbing his cheek against her fluffy tails, but since she was poisoned, she was helpless.

“I guess I’ll need to send you off with the retreating goblins. Those adults might not be able to fully cure you of the poison, but they’ll at least be able to stabilize you.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to help the eight-tailed fox.”

Whoosh!

As Merlin finished speaking, the One-Horned Fire Snake spat out poison like a water fountain. The eight-tailed fox quickly shielded herself with a gold light barrier and was left relatively unscathed, but the other monsters who were nearby and trying to help were directly hit.