Chapter 65: Scorching Land (2)
TL: Haku
Editor: Hungry Panda
And after hearing the news about his guildmates, he also became curious as to whether the base was developing well.
“How about the base? Is the wiping around the area going well?”
“Don’t even mention it. At first, we were just happy that the base was big, but since the village-effected range grew just as big as well, it’s hard to raise the public order even by 1 unless you hunt an unbelievable amount of monsters.”
“I see. I want to see the base quickly now.”
Carwin’s lips curled as he added.
“Even if you had just not reset, we would have been able to work on the suppression operation more easily… Why did you choose to reset…”
“Just wait a little bit, bro. This hyung[1] will soon restore all of his strength before he reset.”
Ian thought that way without an ounce of exaggeration mixed in.
Ian was currently lv 69, and even if he got close to around lv 80, he thought he could display stats that could be equal to the strength of his Archer before resetting.
Although it could be a stretch to reach lv 80 in two weeks with his current hunting speed, he felt he could at least reach around there.
Of course, Carwin didn’t take him seriously.
“Talk big much…”
“I’m not talking big. I’m almost at lv 70 now.”
At Ian’s words, Carwin and Harin both had on an incredibly surprised expression.
“No, I thought it’s only been about a week now since the arena ended, but you’re at lv 69?”
As Ian shrugged his shoulders, Carwin shook his head.
“No, does this hyung not sleep and just level-up… You leveled up more than 1 level per day, you’re crazy.”
Harin spoke with a worried expression.
“Ian, if you do that, you’ll shorten your lifespan.”
It seemed as if Harin suddenly remembered something while they momentarily caught up with each other, as she stared at Ian.
“But, Ian. Can you show me your new friend that you said likes my meatballs?”
“Ah, Bbookbbook?”
At the word Bbookbbook, Harin wore a quizzical expression.
“Huh? Bbookbbook is its name?”
Ian laughed as he responded.
“Yes. Once you see him, you’ll know why his name is Bbookbbook.”
And Ian let down Bbookbbook, who was hanging on his back.
“Bbookbbook, come out.”
As Ian called, Bbookbbook, who was inside his shell, poked out his head.
Bbook-.
As Harin saw that, her eyes opened wide.
“Wow, he’s super cute!”
Harin, who fell in love with Bbookbbook at first sight, crouched down in front of him.
“Hello, Bbookbbook.”
Bbookbbook turned his head away from Harin, whom he had just saw for the first time.
It was a Bbookbbook-like reaction from such a haughty turtle.
Harin, who was hurt by Bbookbbook’s coldness, asked Ian with a sullen face.
“Ian, it seems that Bbookbbook doesn’t really like me. Why is that so?”
And Ian, Bbookbbook’s owner, knew the answer.
“It’s because Bbookbbook’s hungry right now. If there’s something that you have already made, try giving one to him. Do you have something like a meatball?”
Harin rejoiced as she began to look through her inventory.
“Just a second, as a matter of fact, there was something I had made while grinding for Proficiency… Let’s see here…”
And the thing that Harin pulled out was a meatball, yellowish in colour, that was slightly different from the previous meatballs.
It was a visual that seemed as if it was coated in flour and fried once.
“Oh, the meatball’s colour slightly changed?”
“Yes, that’s right. I improved the recipe so it’s a little tastier.”
The delicious smell emanating from around the meatball!
Bbookbbook, having already discovered the meatball, could not turn away, and even Ian had a gaze full of anticipation.
“Ooh…”
“The improved meatball’s name is ‘Drug Meatball’. The texture of the food should be good since I lightly spread a special sauce I created on the surface and coated it with one layer of flour before frying it. It will probably delicious to you now, too, Ian, since the fishy taste should be gone.”
Harin, who confidently boasted her new menu, crouched down again.
And she held out the meatball to Bbookbbook.
Bbook-!
As she did so, Bbookbbook snatched the meatball as if he was waiting for it.
Bbookbbook, who took the meatball from Harin, began to munch it while all three, even including Carwin, watched him in amusement.
And shortly after.
Bbook… Bbook!
After Bbookbbook savoured the meatball’s texture with closed eyes until the last moment, he shook his shell in delight.
And with a happy expression, he approached Harin and rubbed his head against her.
Bbook- Bbookbbook!
The chic Bbookbbook disappeared without a trace.
All that was left was a gluttonous turtle that longed for the Drug Meatballs.
“Bbookbbook must be in a better mood!”
Harin, whose mood also brightened at the strong reaction from her customer, placed her hand on top of her bag in order to grab another meatball.
However, just then, Ian restrained her.
“Harin, don’t give him any more. He’ll develop a bad habit.”
That moment.
Glare-!
Bbookbbook glared at Ian with both his eyes as if lasers would shoot out from them.
However, Ian was adamant.
“If you give them to me, I’ll give Bbookbbook one whenever he gets hungry.”
At those words, Harin nodded her head and pulled out the lunchbox from her bag before handing it to Ian.
“Alright. Let’s do that, then. I’m sure you’ll take care of Bbookbbook well.”
The cruel scene of the lunchbox, which looked like it could fit at least a dozen Drug Meatballs, going into his owner’s bag was played, and Bbookbbook could only helplessly watch.
Bbook-
At the horrendous scene that was hard to watch with wide-open eyes, it seemed as if Bbookbbook would start crying.
As if Carwin, who was watching from the side, felt pity at Bbookbbook’s expression, he said a word to Ian.
“Hyung, he looks like he’s about to cry. Why don’t you give him just one more?”
At Carwin’s words, Bbookbbook turned towards Ian again with eyes brimming with tears.
To be exact, though, he looked at Ian’s bag, where the lunchbox was.
However, Ian firmly refused.
“No. One meatball becomes two, and two meatballs becomes three.”
As he did so, Ian slightly glanced at Bbookbbook.
‘I’ll probably have to soothe him now, right?’
And Ian, who slightly moved, sat in front of Bbookbbook.
“Bbookbbook.”
Bbook-!
Bbookbbook sharply turned his head away.
It seemed as though he was as sullen as when he was used as a shield for the first time.
“Listen a little to hyung’s words, Bbookbbook.”
Bbookbbook didn’t respond, but Ian’s words continued.
“Bbookbbook, you, do you know who is the most handsome and coolest turtle in the world?”
Bbookbbook was still, acting as if he hadn’t heard, but he had already begun to listen carefully to Ian’s words.
“There’s a turtle named Bbakbbak in the northern continent, but apparently, they say that turtle is the coolest turtle in the world.”
Bbookbbook slightly turned his head.
And with a gentle voice, he continued his words towards Bbookbbook, who wore an expression as if he couldn’t believe it.
“You see, this hyung. If only I could have restrained myself after hearing those words. From what I know, there’s no other turtle that is as handsome and cool as our Bbookbbook.”
The cool turtle story that came out from Ian’s mouth had the magic to even suck in Carwin and Harin.
“So, this hyung thought about it carefully.”
Gulp-
Amidst the silence, the sound of Bbookbbook swallowing his saliva rang out.
“Could it be that you’ve eaten too many meatballs and gained weight lately, so you’ve been pushed aside by that Bbakbbak?”
Bbookbbook was shocked.
This was because, as a matter of fact, whether it was from him gaining weight recently, he felt that his shell was a little tight!
“That’s why I can’t give you a lot of these Drug Meatballs, Bbookbbook. You understand this hyung’s heart, right?”
Bbook…!
Bbookbbook, who didn’t know that Ian thought of him this much, rubbed his head against Ian’s hand as he wore a deeply moved expression.
“So, hold back a little, Bbookbbook. This hyung will make you the most handsome turtle in the universe.”
While watching the scene of the owner and Familiar’s friendship blossom, Carwin and Harin shook their heads.
And with a small voice, Carwin mumbled.
“That trickster…”
Ian, who received enough support from Harin, rode Ly in order to go over Forcal Mountains again.
It was a situation where he couldn’t summon Ddukdae, whose movements were slow, but catching one or two sparsely appearing Forcal Mountains’ monsters with just Ly while moving wasn’t too difficult.
‘But, will the Drug Meatballs that Harin gave me truly have an effect on the Lava Witches?’
Harin said that the meatballs that she made could have an effect when capturing monsters.
And she had a point to an extent.
Considering the results he already had from feeding Bbookbbook, hadn’t he already confirmed that they were meatballs of the devil?
However, he couldn’t tell whether the Lava Witch, whose body was completely covered in red lava, would like the meatballs or not.
He also thought that they might not be able to eat the meatballs like Ddukdae.
“If we just go a little more, we’ll be able to get out of Forcal.”
It was a situation where he wasn’t very far from lv 70 now, which was a result of the monsters he consistently caught while passing through Forcal.
He felt he could even make everybody reach lv 70, even including Bbookbbook, who was the lowest level, if he hunted a couple of Sand Worms, which were an early lv 70 monster that appeared in Scorching Land, before he entered the dungeon.
And just like Ian predicted, Forcal Mountains ended soon and the splendor of Scorching Land was revealed.
“Whew, it’s so hard to dare step foot here.”
The ruined land that was cracked here and there because of the dryness, Scorching Land was humid to the point that the heat haze was visible enough.
‘Just looking at it makes me sweat. If I rode Ddukdae around before he evolved, it would have been a bit cooler…’
Of course, if Ddukdae had heard, he would have freaked out. During his Ice Golem days, heat was practically equivalent to catastrophe for Ddukdae.
Either way, Ian, who escaped Forcal Mountains, began to walk through Scorching Land.
And Ian was able to discover about four to five large, scorpion monsters shortly after.
It was the ‘Sand Scorpion’, a monster that Ian was familiar with as well.
Ian momentarily contemplated.
‘Hm, this will be difficult without Ddukdae. Should we just pass by or should we catch them and go?’
As there was still a long way to go, he was planning on pushing Ddukdae’s summoning as much as possible, but it would be a struggle to face several lv 70 monsters without Ddukdae.
However, to just ignore and pass by EXP that he saw made him uncomfortable in a small corner of his heart.
“Ddukdae, summon!”
Ian eventually made up his mind to fight.
Thud-
Along with a heavy sound, Ddukdae was summoned in the middle of Scorching Land.
Because of his even larger build, the scorpions’ attention turned to Ddukdae just from him being summoned.
Screee-.
Seu-Seu-Seu-Seut-.
The scorpions that discovered Ddukdae busily approached Ian and his party with fast movements.
‘If we’re just careful of their deadly poison, then there’s nothing major that would be a problem.’
The scorpions’ deadly poison attack was incredibly dangerous.
The deadly poison was the upgraded version of the generally known poison attack, ‘Poisoned’, in Kailran, and if attacked by the deadly poison, there was even an additional consistent damage received.
If gone into a general Poisoned state in Kailran, you received a damage equivalent to 1-2% of your maximum Health per second.
However, the damage proportionate to your maximum health was a given; the scorpions’ deadly poison dealt an additional fixed damage of 500 to 1500+ at most depending on the receiver’s resistance to the poison.
In other words, ‘Deadly Poison’ was a critical effect basically equivalent to having both the Poisoned stated and Bleeding state in effect at the same time.
Because of that, if even a high-level user was careless, it was a dangerous monster that could send them kicking the bucket in an instant, however, a strategy existed as well.
[1] hyung = what a younger male calls an older, close male