Past the fences, a narrow road carefully paved with asphalt appeared.
On both sides were thick towering trees, and beyond that were only dark shadows despite it being dayti.
Its quite spacious.
Let alone the mansion, all I could see were trees and grass when I looked around.
Was it safe to say that this was really made by carving out an entire mountain?
On top of thatthere was even a trace of magic over there.
A faint magic light was shining between the fences and forest.
I didnt know exactly what kind of spell it was, but it seed to be a kind of intruder alarm or trap.
It was a good thing I had co in through the front door.
I wasnt sure if the owner of the mansion had installed it himself or had employed soone from inside, but
One thing was certain, it wasnt a skill a beginner could accomplish.
If I had sneaked over the fence and infiltrated, I might have had to suffer quite a bit in the middle of such a trap.
For now I didnt have a particular thod to deal with magicso if possible, it would be best to avoid the traps.
While looking around like that, the sound of a cars exhaust began to be heard from afar.
And in a little bit, a small truck with dirt everywhere arrived. In the luggage compartnt were burlap bags with several suspicious stains.
Soon after, the truck door opened, and an old man wearing an old shirt and overalls got off.
He had a large hump on his back. It looked like a toad carrying around a birds nest.
What are you staring at?!
As I stood still observing him, the old man shouted in a voice resembling a crow. It was the sa voice I had heard at the entrance a while ago.
AreAre you telling to get in the truck?
Who else is here besides you?! If you dont want to be carried in the luggage compartnt, get in the car now!
It was an old man with a dirty temper. For a mont I thought about killing him, but I put that idea on hold for now.
Lets watch the situation.
There was no way to find clues in this vast area right now, so I thought it would be better to follow him into the mansion first.
If its Flower of Shadow, I thought it would more likely be hidden sowhere in the mansion than blooming like a weed on the side of the road.
I got into the truck according to the old man.
An unidentified slly odor poked my nose. It slled like rotten seafood.
I felt nauseous, so I imdiately lowered the window while the old man drove the truck without saying a word.
We drove along the mountain path for a while. The mansion was much wider than I had thought.
About 10 minutes or so passed. In front of us, who had arrived near the top of the mountain, another gate appeared.
Iron bars with colorful flower decorations that would suit old European mansions. After a mont, the old man got out of the car and opened the gate.
Squeak!
The unpleasant noise of rusty iron echoed through the mountains.
Then, on the wide plateau, I could see beautiful flowers and trees.
Sure enoughWas this why it was called Elf Garden?
I admired it sowhat.
The scenery of this huge garden was incredibly beautiful, as if the elves had really cared for it like what was ntioned in the Challenges explanation.
The old man got back into his truck and entered the garden. Next, he parked the truck in one corner close to the entrance.
Get out.
Sure enough, I didnt like being told what to do, but this ti I got off without hesitation.
The old man held the bags that were in the luggage compartnt in both hands before throwing one at .
Whats this?
Just shut up and follow .
An unknown damp liquid perated little by little from the handle of the bag. It inadvertently got on my clothes.
Should I just kill him now?
However, it was a waste to co all the way here and kill him, so I decided to keep the old man alive for now.
I shifted the bag around and followed the old man to the side of the garden.
After finishing everything, he ordered again.
Turn around for a second.
Why?
Stop talking! Turn around when I tell you to turn around!
When I reluctantly turned around, the old man quickly began to tie my body with a tough rope.
I was dumbfounded by the shaless attitude, so I watched for a while before putting strength into my arms to shake off the old man.
No, I was going to shake him off.
What was up with this old man?
My current muscle strength with 2 points in Body was already out of the realm of a normal human.
However, for so reason, the old mans strength was stronger than mine. So I fell to the ground in an instant while tied.
The old man had tightly tied the rope to the point where my skin had turned white.
KeukeuToday ended quite easily.
The old man made an unpleasant laugh. Upon closer look, the rotten sll was coming out of his mouth every ti he spoke.
Lay there for a while. I havent finished my work for today because you suddenly ca.
He opened one of the bags that we had just moved and pulled sothing out.
Inside was a ball of red flesh dripping with blood, but I couldnt guess exactly what at it was.
al ti. You lazy punks.
The old man grabbed a chunk of flesh in his hand and kicked a nearby tree.
Soon, the tree began to tremble, and at one point, the bark rolled down as if a snake was molting.
Inside, red muscles wriggled, and thick blood vessels pulsated in-between.
It looked just like what I would see when I had cut open human skin in the past.
And in a little bit, the features of a face seed to have sprouted on the tree. The face had no eyes, nose, or anything, but it was huge as if a whole person had been swallowed.
Kill Please kill
From it, I heard a voice.
Whatsthis?
A clear voice different from ordinary plants.
It sounded similar to when I had received this Challenge.
Was this related to the Flower of Shadow?
As soon as I thought as such, suddenly, all the plants in the garden began to transform at once.
The trees thick bark peeled, and in it, bizarre faces appeared.
Everywhere was quickly covered with red flesh. The entire garden wriggled like it was alive.
Looking at it, I felt as if I had entered a huge intestine.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!
I want to go hoMom
Kuaaak!!!
Screams and groans leaked out from all over the place. And among them, the most frequently heard phrase was kill .
That was what it isI see.
I could roughly guess what had happened here. The plants in this beautiful gardenAll of them were human.
It seed the Children that were sold in the House of Flowers had really beco flowers here.
The old man threw the flesh in his hand at the trees shaped like humans.
Without hesitation, they ate it with their big mouths.
Having emptied the bag like that, he looked down at and smiled unpleasantly.
KeukeuYou must be surprised and cant even cry.
Certainly, it was as he said. I was surprised. Was it a variety he had developed himself? I had never seen these strange creatures in the previous round.
What the hell should I call these? Tree humans? Human trees?
Anyway, it was a taste that was hard to understand for a person like who had extrely normal thoughts.
Hmmdimwitted punk.
When I didnt say much, the old man frowned and his forehead narrowed. He seed to have wanted to give a more dramatic reaction.
What are all the large monsters here?
I asked him.
The old man stared at the stone mansion seen far beyond the garden.
Haha, all the plants here can be said to be the creations made by my great master himself. Although most of the guys here are just failures.
Creations?
Haha, even if you dont ask , youll find out soon anyway.
The old man lifted , who was tied like a caterpillar, on one shoulder, and slowly climbed the hill to the mansion.
My body shook here and there whenever he took a step.
Seeing his relaxed steps, it seed he believed he had captured completely.
I guess now was my only chance.
While his guard was lowered, I had to dig up the information I needed.
Grandpa, what will happen to now?
KeukeuYou must be scared now. In the future, youll be reborn as a beautiful flower under the grace of the great master.
Like the monsters I saw before? Do I have to live like that for the rest of my life?
Hmph! Theyre just failures. As long as you succeed, youll gain enormous power. So you should be honored!
I seeDo you know where the Flower of Shadow is?
Shadow? What kind of nonsense is that?
The guy who had been answering all my questions so far suddenly looked like he didnt know English.
There would be no reason to act like that now, so maybe he really didnt know anything.
He was no longer useful.
***
[ Translator Yasi ]
[ Proofreader Karane ]
I can kill him now.
Hmm? What did you just say?
While the old man looked back with a surprised face, I quickly changed my body to a liquid and released the bondage.
Imdiately after, I took a military knife out of my inventory and put it in the carotid artery of the old man.
Pak!
Keukkeu!
Thanks to my precise diagonal stab, the vocal cords in front of the larynx were neatly cut off.
It should be impossible for him to scream now.
I pulled out the fresh knife before the old man could fall to the ground. Then, from his ribs to groin, I opened his stomach in one motion.
Shiik
Due to the montum of my action, the wound spread open just like that and all the contents inside poured out onto the ground.
Maybe by now he would feel an emptiness in his stomach.
Keuk! Keuh! Keuh!
The old man, who stumbled for a while, bent his arm in the air and collapsed in a ridiculous pose.
I took another knife out of my inventory.
And then I approached him step by step. Lastly, I was going to put another knife in his heart.
But
?!
The old mans condition was sowhat strange. No, to be exact, the contents poured out from him were strange.
The organs that should have been bright red were black and dead.
In addition, when I looked closely, there were even white maggots among them.
A stench perated everywhere. It slled dozens of tis worse than what had co out of his mouth a while ago.
Keuk!
I stepped back, pinching my nose.
And then
Behind the old mans protruding back, sothing orange began to wriggle and stretch out.
Dozens of stems resembling coral reefs. I was sure I had seen it sowhere before.
What was it again?
While I was pondering over my mory, I recalled the contents of the childrens great encyclopedia that I had read at the nursery not too long ago.
Cordyceps Militaris?
Co to think of it, it looked just like the shape of a fungus. As soon as I thought as such, a human face popped out of the fungus.
Damn it. Because of this I lost a useful bodyFor the ti being I need a new host. I have no choice but to get another one of my masters test subjects.
Host?
Thats right. Thanks to the grace of my master, Ive gained eternal life as a hostW-wait! Y-you can hear my voice?!
Yes.
No way Even my master cant hear the voice of plantsAh, I have to let my master know
The Cordyceps Militaris was noticeably shocked.
It hurriedly controlled the old mans body and crawled toward the mansion. Although the limbs were bent, his speed was quite fast.
I approached that kind of guy and once again put a knife into him.
But
Keukeu, its no use. My body is stronger than steel because of the grace of my master.
The Cordyceps Militaris crawled without stopping despite my continued attacks. My physical attacks didnt seem to be working very well against him.
And I couldnt absorb this slly and disgusting bastard
I was conflicted. At this rate, he would run away if I left him alone, but he was too dirty for to touch.
At so point, I rembered a mory that I had forgotten.
Ah, there was that.
The Turbak Brotherhood was both a drug cartel and a kind of terrorist organization preparing for war.
Therefore, among the weapons I had acquired in their arsenal, there were weapons that were simply ant for war.
Finally, the day had co where I could try this.
I pulled a gasoline tank and a flathrower out from my inventory.
Until now, it had been indoors or the situation wasnt good, so I had been neglecting it.
To be honest, I really wanted to use it from the mont I first saw it.
Check the installation. 1500 PSI. It was enough pressure to have no problem shooting flas right away.
I aid the hose at the bastard.
The Cordyceps Militaris urgently looked back and shouted.
Hey, wait a minute! If you do sothing like that here
But it was too late to stop . How could I endure sothing that looked so fun?
Its going to be a little hot.
I opened the valve connected to the tank. Gas was mixed with the fuel, and compressed gasoline was injected forward.
Soon, it ca in contact with the torchs fla and a huge fla burned.
Kueaaak!!!!
A fla resembling a dragons breath engulfed the bastard. The Cordyceps Militaris burned in an instant and an acrid black smoke rose.
This was fun.
While I was at it, I also gave fireworks to the trees around .
Kyaaak!!
Its hot! Its hot! Its hot!
I could hear the cold scream filled with anguish among the plants. The beautiful garden quickly beca covered in flas.
It was bodies that couldnt return to being human anyway. They had also wanted to die, so wouldnt they be grateful to ?
In the midst of my enjoynt playing with fire
Ding!
ssages that I had been looking forward to appeared in front of my eyes.
[ Level has risen. ]
[ Level has risen. ]
[ Gained a Fragnt of Growth. ]
Ive gained two levels this ti.
I didnt have a chance to gain experience for a while and felt that my growth was a little stagnant, so I took this opportunity to level up properly.
Like I had said before, mobbing was the best way to farm.
The ssages didnt end here.
[ Youve eliminated an existence that ets the standard of evil. ]
[ Youve saved those who were in despair. ]
[ Warriors Journey grade has increased. ]
[ A new effect has been added. ]
Co to think of itI had forgotten about it because so far it had been useless, but I had a growth skill.
I opened my status window to check the added effect.
Classification: General
Grade: E (Grade F -> E)
Description: A Warrior grows through trials.
Grade Effect:
Grade F: Favorability increases easily.
Grade E: Awaken at the mont of crisis. * New *
*Punish evil to grow the skill.
*Save others to grow the skill.
*This skill cannot be strengthened by yourself.
Ooh.
Fortunately, the effect this ti seed pretty good, unlike the useless favorability effect.
I wasnt sure what awaken ant yet, but it seed to be a combat ability at a first glance.
Regardless, I was lacking combat skills, so this is good
As expected, it was fun to punish evil.
Perhaps being a hero was more suitable for than I had thought.
Ill have to deal with the remaining evil now.
Looking at the charred garden, I turned towards the mansion.
The reward I had been looking forward to was waiting for there.
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