Skillbook My Way: Chapter 69
Chapter 69
The day after the Third Safety Field was breached, the Atlas guild hall.
"The Exploration Union?"
I repeated the words I had heard from the Vice Guild Master.
"It is a union created by guilds from various nations for the purpose of exploring the World. I've heard that major guilds from the USA, China, Russia, the UK, India, and others are participating."
"That's incredible. Didn't they send a proposal to our guild?"
"Well, that's…."
The Vice Guild Master's expression turned odd.
"None of the Korean guilds received any proposals, not just us. It was as if they were trying to keep us in check."
'Keeping us in check….'
Only one reason came to mind.
Korea had been the first to clear the worldwide Overflow and the large-scale monster raid.
After the appearance of Hunters possessing mana, conventional weapons had largely lost their meaning.
In other words, the level of a country's Hunters could represent that nation's military strength.
'Of course, unlike armies that obey the state, Hunters are much freer beings, so they are also dangerous.'
"In the Exploration Union, they've gathered renowned Hunters from each guild to form an expedition team. Their classification system is different from ours, but I've heard there are nearly a hundred Hunters close to SS-rank."
At the Vice Guild Master's words, I clicked my tongue.
"With an expedition team like that, it's no wonder they reached the Third Safety Field."
The Vice Guild Master nodded at my words.
"More than anything, I've heard that the leader of the expedition team possesses a very unique skill."
"A unique skill?"
"I've heard that he doubles all of his comrades' stats. And it doesn't even consume mana; as long as he's nearby, it happens."
'That's a cheat!'
I thought it was an absurd ability. All stats doubled just for being nearby.
"If we sit idle, we'll be beaten to the punch in the next Safety Field too."
I recalled receiving 5 million RP from the scoreboard update.
Overtaking the score against a hundred SS-rank Hunters—with doubled stats, no less—seemed like quite a difficult task.
"We need to hurry and breach up to the Third Safety Field as well."
"I was thinking the same thing."
I and the Vice Guild Master called the other party members and headed to the World together.
Having arrived at the Second Safety Field, we headed to the next field.
[You have entered the 1st Floor of the Forest.]
Upon entering the field, what greeted us first were the giant trees.
The forest was densely packed with trees so enormous that all five of us stretching out our arms and holding hands still couldn't wrap around one.
"The trees block the sky so much I can't even see it."
The middle-aged man said, raising his head.
The sun was completely blocked.
Despite that, the surroundings were bright thanks to the luminescent moss attached to the ground and trees.
"It feels like we've stepped right into a fairy tale."
"Since this is literally another world, that statement isn't entirely wrong."
Hyeri and O Seyeon exchanged such words.
After hearing that Hyeri had taken on the role of bait last time, allowing them to obtain the method to undo the metalization, O Seyeon had softened up considerably toward Hyeri.
"By the way, finding a path in a place surrounded by such giant trees must be difficult."
The Vice Guild Master said.
"No, I think it'll be fine."
I said, pointing at one of the trees.
An arrow was drawn on the tree's surface.
"It seems to be a marker left by the Exploration Union."
The arrows were carved at regular intervals.
"I see. So this is a path they've already taken once. Come to think of it, we also left markers as we advanced through the grassland."
The Vice Guild Master said, touching the tree.
Several of the arrows were marked with an X over them. They probably meant this wasn't the right way.
"Then we might be able to reach the Third Safety Field more easily than expected."
The middle-aged man said in a bright voice.
We began advancing, following the arrows.
However, the path was not as easy as expected.
"Grawrr!"
"Krr!"
"Ooh! Ooh!"
Bears, wolves, and sometimes monsters resembling gorillas lunged at us as we walked between the trees.
"Damn it!"
The middle-aged man, whose axe had been caught by a gorilla, made a startled expression.
"Hup!"
With a thud, the spear I threw pierced through the gorilla monster's torso.
"Thanks, Hwajin!"
I nodded.
The monsters appearing in the forest were quite strong. Even checking through the bookmark, their stats were higher than the monsters in the grassland.
They were about on the level of the normal monsters from former 7-star dungeons.
O Seyeon and I cut down the monsters without trouble, but the middle-aged man looked to be struggling.
The monsters rarely gave the middle-aged man, a power-type dealer, an opening to attack.
If the Vice Guild Master hadn't blocked the gorillas charging at the middle-aged man's back, he would have been hit several times by now.
"Man, I went through the trouble of buying a skill, but I can't even use it."
The middle-aged man said, sounding troubled.
With O Seyeon and me taking the lead in defeating the monsters and following the tree markers, about an hour passed.
A clearing appeared before us.
'Are there no trees only here?'
Even though there were only a few giant trees around, it was quite spacious.
The Vice Guild Master's complexion changed as he surveyed the surroundings of the clearing.
"Vice Guild Master? What's wrong?"
Wondering what was wrong, I approached the Vice Guild Master.
"The markers have stopped."
'What?'
It was then.
"Awooooo!"
At that moment, a wolf's howl rang out.
"We've been surrounded."
The Vice Guild Master said, raising his shield. The edges of the clearing were filled with massive wolves, their eyes glowing.
Beyond them, glowing eyes were continuously visible between the trees.
'Monster Detection.'
I activated the skill to ascertain their numbers.
The number of wolves exceeded two hundred. It felt as if all the wolves in the forest had gathered here.
"What should we do?"
The middle-aged man asked, raising his axe. Hyeri, too, was holding her staff, ready to engage in battle immediately.
"Let's avoid direct combat. We can use this."
I pulled out a Bac X bottle from my pocket. Then I threw it with all my might toward one of the wolves.
The bottle splendidly hit the wolf's face and shattered, and the liquid inside splashed onto the wolf.
Shortly after, the wolves began to collapse.
"Is it demonic poison?"
I nodded at O Seyeon's question. I had prepared it beforehand before coming to the World.
Just as I was letting out a sigh of relief and relaxing my body.
"Awooo!"
"Awoooo!"
The wolves suddenly began howling all at once.
Simultaneously, light began emanating from the wolves' bodies.
"What the—!?"
The middle-aged man shouted in a flustered voice.
The collapsing wolves began to stand up again.
"Don't tell me the monsters are using recovery skills."
There was no other way to explain this situation.
"Everyone, stick close to me!"
At my command, the four of them moved immediately.
"Mana Barrier!"
I created a barrier surrounding us.
Several wolves charged and collided with the barrier.
Even after charging several times, the barrier didn't break, so the wolves only glared at us and moved no further. However, they didn't retreat either.
"What the hell is going on? We followed the arrows."
The middle-aged man said in a bewildered voice.
"There are two possibilities. We might have mistakenly taken a wrong path that the Exploration Union marked by mistake."
"What's the other?"
O Seyeon asked.
I felt flames rising inside me.
"If it wasn't a mistake… it's possible that the arrows we followed were intentional."
I heard Hyeri gulp.
"You mean it's a trap?"
"Yeah. They deliberately guided us to where the wolves are. Perhaps even the arrows marked with an X were a device to lure us here."
"The latecomers… No, aside from them, we're the only ones who have passed through the grassland. It's highly likely we were targeted."
I nodded at the Vice Guild Master's words.
'How do I handle this.'
The demonic poison didn't work, and no matter how hard O Seyeon and I fought, protecting the other three completely would be difficult.
"Hwajin."
Then Hyeri called me.
"Please leave this to me."
Hyeri raised her staff.
"Glacial Burst!"
It was a skill Hyeri had acquired with RP.
Outside the mana barrier, white mist swirled above the wolves' heads, gradually gathering into a single point and becoming a mass of ice.
Boom!
The next moment, it exploded.
Hundreds of ice shards flew out and pierced the wolves' bodies.
'Oh!'
I was impressed. The areas around their wounds were freezing.
"Slow!"
Hyeri applied a debuff skill once more to those wolves.
The wolves, already freezing and now affected by Slow, moved as if in slow motion.
I dispelled the mana barrier and swung my spear, infused with a skill, at the wolves. Flames and lightning swept through the wolves.
O Seyeon and the middle-aged man also attacked the wolves in turn, and the Vice Guild Master struck down on the wolves' heads with the edge of his shield.
"Glacial Burst! Slow!"
Hyeri tirelessly used her skills on the other wolves, preventing them from attacking us.
Shortly after, thanks to Hyeri's active performance, we succeeded in defeating all the wolves without receiving a single wound.
"We're alive thanks to you, Hyeri."
Following my words, the others each expressed their gratitude to Hyeri, and she smiled proudly.
'That aside….'
I surveyed the arrows. As the Vice Guild Master had confirmed, there were no markers at all beyond the clearing.
If ordinary Hunters had followed the markers, they would undoubtedly have been torn to pieces by the two hundred wolves.
'Those Exploration Union bastards were trying to screw us over, weren't they.'
I gritted my teeth.
"But if this is the case, we'll have to find the path from scratch again."
"The forest limits our vision, so it'll be hard…."
The conversation between the middle-aged man and Hyeri entered my ears.
'Vision.'
I raised my head. The sky was visible in a small patch above the clearing.
"Please wait here for a moment."
I used [Shrinking Earth] and [Mana Barrier] to ascend.
"These trees are ridiculously high."
Only after climbing for quite a while did I reach above the trees.
Looking down from above, it was literally a sea of trees. The trees stretched all the way to the horizon.
Since we only numbered five, we couldn't split up to search for the path.
In this situation, finding the circle to the next floor was impossible.
"Vision…. Vision…."
A moment later, I thought of something and came back down.
And I took everyone and went back up.
I had everyone enter inside the mana barrier, then summoned my book.
'Let's see. Attribute is
Using the bracelet, I fully charged the mana in my body, then used the newly created 9-Word Skill.
'Grand Conflagration.'
An incredibly intense red light burst from the demonic spear, and a fire orb with a diameter about three times my height formed. I dropped the fire orb below.
The sea of trees was instantly swallowed by flames.
We looked down at the burning forest from inside the mana barrier.
Thanks to the mana barrier, the smoke and heat were blocked, but it seemed we would collapse immediately if we went outside.
[You have acquired 13,030 RP.]
[You have acquired 26,300 RP.]
[You have acquired 5,250 RP.]
"I suppose the monsters below are dying?"
"I suppose so. To think there was such a method."
Hyeri and the Vice Guild Master conversed.
"Because of Hwajin, we killed two birds with one stone, huh?"
The middle-aged man laughed heartily.
"If this were outside, you'd be a criminal."
O Seyeon said so, glancing at me.
"It's fine because we're inside."
Perhaps because it was a 9-Word Skill, or perhaps due to the Flame attribute enhancement effect of the Thunderflame Demonic Spear, the flames burned through the trees at a speed beyond common sense.
The vast forest was reduced to ashes in a mere 20 minutes.
'There it is!'
A red light was visible from one side of the forest, which had turned pitch-black.
Since the bottom would be filled with heat, I cast [Triple Attribute Resistance] on everyone before heading there together.
As expected, there was a circle.
Just as I was about to step into the circle.
[The Guardian of the Forest Layer is enraged by your actions.]
[The Guardian of the Forest Layer will appear shortly.]