episode_0206

It’s a little different from the existing method, but it seems like the foundation has been laid.

The fact that Talpon did not reject the offer and instead presented conditions to me means that they are continuing the development as I knew without any problems.

but…

[ 1. Hand over the engraving stone and entrust the contract and engraving matters. ]

[ 2. Defeat the Scorpion King in the Urome region. (0/1) ]

[ 3. Achieve more than 80% achievement in sparring with Talpon. ]

I still don’t know why one condition was added.

“Carcein? Where are you going?”

“Where are you going? Shouldn’t we catch that witch according to the conditions set out by Talpon?”

“I know that. We need to gather people to subdue and go together, so why are we riding horses?”

really. Now that I think about it, was there a conversation with Tasha at this time?

I had forgotten about it since the person changed to Harnier.

“I will go alone.”

“Yes?!”

She opens her eyes wide as if she is dumbfounded.

“You didn’t say to do it alone. Let’s go together!”

“No.”

“The Scorpion King is a fearsome beast even in the West, so hunting it alone is absolutely prohibited!”

He said that and grabbed my arm.

“Also, I didn’t say it before… but why did you hand over the authority of the engraving stone and just come out without watching Talpon engrave the engraving? You know this can get dangerous!”

I know that information well.

Because the manual for the game explained it several times.

But there is a reason for such reckless behavior.

‘Whatever the reason, it’s all because of intimacy.’

Although Talpon did not directly mention it, each condition is ranked according to achievement level depending on ‘how’ it is cleared.

If you raise this rank and satisfy Talpon, your intimacy will slightly increase, and your recognition in Lilpeten will also increase.

That’s the key.

Lilpeten is an external workforce hired by me, the temporary lord of Shatren, so if you satisfy them by increasing intimacy, the number of tribesmen who follow you will increase and your work radius will increase.

In a word, if you become a person who is recognized and trusted by all of the Lilpeten tribe, you will naturally do a better job.

This leads to intimacy = agent rank.

‘But Harnier wouldn’t know that.’

It seemed like a bit of explanation would be needed to convince her.

I held out one finger and told her.

“First of all, the reason I handed over the engraving stone first was to instill trust in Talpon.”

“Trust?”

“Yes. For Lilpeten, who has been stabbed several times by the imperialists so far, this is unexpected, or rather a first. He may have planned and ruined it, but he handed over the engraved stone even at that risk, expressing his trust to the best of his ability.”

Next, I explained about the one-finger Scorpion King.

“And the second. Talpon is testing me by presenting its conditions.”

“Test? I said it was a suggestion earlier…”

“Westerners test what kind of person the other person is, whether it is through a request or establishing diplomatic ties. To determine whether that person is someone worth following.”

“Test… If you think about it, Westerners were extremely rare in being hired or commissioned by others…”

I’m glad you see a connection. Harnier touches his lips as if he is a little convinced.

“This story is consistent. As for the task of killing the Scorpion King, according to my research, only those who carry out that task are given the title of true warrior here. So, equally, you can say that your strength is being tested.”

“This is my first time hearing this… Does it have anything to do with having to go and catch the Scorpion King alone?”

“You have to prove your strength, right? If you want to be recognized by the Lilpeten tribe here, including Talpon, it is easier to prove that you handle it alone without accompanying people.”

In fact, only then can intimacy increase.

“Hmm.”

Harnier narrows his eyes.

I thought this was enough. Is something strange?

“How did you conduct that investigation?”

“Is that suspicious?”

“Of course. You didn’t know much about the West.”

Harnier narrowed his eyes with suspicion, as if he knew too well.

What is that…

I just took the information from the game. What do I know?

‘…This can’t be helped.’

I have no choice but to sell one more person.

“I heard it from Pollux. I sent you a letter some time ago and asked you to tell me about Lilpeten.”

“…Ugh. Why on earth did the Marquis of Ipherus tell me that?”

She grumbles that she will have to point it out later.

sorry. Pollux!

I couldn’t help it!

“Okay. Then… I’ll just follow you.”

“Harnier. As I said before, I have to go alone─”

“It’s absolutely not possible?”

Harnier cut me off immediately and wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“If you don’t allow even this, I won’t let you go. It’s okay to step forward when it’s dangerous.”

“…”

“I don’t want to see you fall twice. Even if I give up on other things, I won’t give up on this.”

I looked at Harnier, whose eyes were sharply open, and my arm in turn, and sighed.

“Okay. Let’s go together.”

“You should have said that a long time ago.”

Only then did the soft flesh that was touching his arm fall, and Harnier smiled brightly.

“Then, excuse me for a moment.”

“Excuse me? What is that… kyaaa?!”

He lifted her up with one arm and placed her on the horse.

“What what what what, what is it?”

“Well, whatever. Since you had to ride a horse, I lifted you up directly.”

First of all, he was leaning against my body, but I told him to tell me as much as he wanted if his posture was uncomfortable.

“…You are such a person.”

“Yes?”

-puck!

Harnier glared at me for a moment, then hit my chest with his fist and turned his head.

“Harnier?”

“Don’t say anything.”

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“Don’t say anything!”

“…”

Why are you doing that?

I don’t think I did anything to get angry.

…I don’t know.

Let’s just go.

***

▶Entered the Urome region.◀

▶Warning! This is a field where strong demonic beasts appear.◀

I thought I had arrived slowly, but then a status window popped up saying that the field had changed.

and.

[Scorpion King]

[Lv. 85 ]

[HP: ■■■■■■■■■■]

A status window appeared over the target, which appeared to be a mountain.

The giant scorpion was curled up and sleeping in the warm sunlight.

I got off the horse and warned Harnier once more.

“I said it before, but you shouldn’t come forward. If there is a real emergency, I will send a signal.”

“…”

We talked about it while riding the horse, but Harnier looked very worried, as if he didn’t like the instructions at all.

Nonetheless, she followed my instructions.

“If it is judged to be dangerous, be sure to use that artifact. Got it?”

“Yes.”

-Jump, jerk.

The Scorpion King is known as a very dangerous beast even in Lilpeten. It is customary to hunt in a group of four to five skilled warriors.

The point is to hunt by letting out threatening attacks and draining the power one by one, and only then losing the means of attack one by one. This is information that can be easily accessed in the Monster Encyclopedia.

But, only one person can face the Scorpion King?

Even the Lilpeten tribesmen might shake their heads and ask if I’m crazy.

‘But from my perspective, there is no turning back.’

If you do not raise Talpon’s intimacy to the maximum, you will not be able to gain their trust. If that happens, there may be a shortage of people accompanying Lilpeten, or the agent rank may drop, making it impossible to solve Shatren’s problems.

This meant a bad ending for me, so there was no other way than to defeat that ridiculous opponent.

‘Be calm. All you have to do is play the game.’

When it comes to hunting demonic beasts, I’ve tried it many times.

Just like in the game, in raising Karssein’s stats, he gained experience by dealing with regenerated demonic beasts and bands of thieves that appeared from time to time.

And I clearly know how to deal with the Scorpion King.

-Seung.

I walk on the lightly sandy ground and draw my sword.

When I pulled out my sword, its two red eyes opened.

The moment it is caught, the two gigantic pincers, which can easily tear apart a human body, gnaw and squeeze and unfold a couple of times. The guy noticed my presence and woke up.

That much was already assumed.

The first pattern of the Scorpion King after he opened his eyes.

that.

-Quaang!

It starts with a downward stroke of the index hand.

“Phew. I know the pattern in advance, but… this isn’t easy.”

Sand falling with a patter and the ground dug up.

This situation, where I have to run and catch it with my body rather than the keyboard, is a situation that makes me click my tongue.

However, the advantage is not that small.

-Sigh!

“Kruk?!”

The gap visible between the shoulder blades.

I couldn’t hit something like this in the game, but since I was moving my body myself, I could cut it more easily.

If you find these advantages one by one, it won’t be impossible to deal with them alone.

-Kaang!

And I have the stats to deal with him quite well.

It was a fight worth fighting either way.

***

The fight started with a sharp slash of the claw hand.

I have dodged his attacks several times, even dealt dangerous blows with my sword, and have not suffered any major injuries yet.

However, the process is not smooth.

“Pushaag!”

“That again. Chiit!”

-Chiiik!

White smoke rises from the sand where the green fluid has fallen.

If I hadn’t quickly dodged, it wouldn’t have been the sand that was melting, but my body.

“This damn game. Why the hell are you adding a pattern!”

Clearly, this pattern was not in the game.

Two pincer hands. A poisonous sting at the end of the tail. Sweeping and headbutting using a huge body, etc.

The existing patterns are now ingrained in my head to the point where I can clear them with no damage, but that pattern never existed in the first place.

“Ha. But it’s also absurd to just avoid it like this.”

▶Stamina is below 30%!◀

▶As stamina falls below a certain level, damage received increases by 50%. Be careful!◀

“Damn.”

I took a deep breath and cursed.

According to my long experience playing the game, it always seems like a game full of irrationality, but if you fill up your stats, you can deal with quite a few magical beasts through pattern breaking.

First of all, it has been revealed that it is an attack with acidic properties, so this cannot be solved with stats alone.

Let’s calmly gather information about the attack pattern.

The standard strategy for dealing with that gigantic monster is to have the majority of the enemy continuously attack and block the attacks, just like the Lilpeten tribesmen did, thus making them lose their main means of attack.

The problem is that the added poison pattern is so powerful that it changes the color of the ground it touches.

Since there is no way to deal with the venom spewing out of its mouth, even when the time comes to neutralize the means of attack, it is not easy to land the final blow.

A magical beast with this pattern… is vulnerable to melee attacks, so it belongs to the type that pushes them away.

“Then, there is a way to nullify that pattern as much as possible.”

A poison that is sprayed at a certain distance.

It is expected that the Scorpion King’s magical energy will be replaced with poison and fly away.

The estimate was quickly drawn up.

What is the expected response?

“Mana is wrapped around the sword, replacing it with poison and canceling out the flying Scorpion King’s magic power.”

Mana cancels out mana.

If the mass of mana present inside the poison is dispersed, the displaced poison loses its power on the spot.

It was a fairly reasonable conclusion.

However, on the other hand, it was also an unreasonable conclusion.

Since I don’t see the mana gauge in the battle UI, I have no idea how to handle mana.

All I knew was the sensation I felt while using it to enhance my own hearing.

To be honest, you should step down. For me, who still lacks knowledge of this world, this path ahead is the path of death.

I don’t know what it feels like to be successful.

But the moment you fail, you will even lose all the sense you have now.

But, how can I turn around?

The moment I take even one step back, what will come to me is a bad ending.

Both front and back are stained with the path of death.

Here I was in an extreme situation where the only option was to defeat that giant scorpion.

Even after coming all this way, are you telling me to act like a dog and die in a ridiculous game because of my family?

Don’t be funny.

“I’m going back to reality. I will return alive with all limbs intact.”

I put in blood and sweat to escape from that damn family.

It is unacceptable for people to end their lives in places like this for such trivial reasons.

I will survive!

After wiping away the sweat, I grabbed my sword again.

-fault!

As we run along the ground to induce an attack pattern, the Scorpion King again casts his first pattern, the pincer downward strike.

The sweeping pattern continues, and soon the poison needle is inserted into the body.

All four patterns were well avoided and passed off well.

And the last pattern.

When it saw me approaching, it started spewing venom.

“Pushaag!”

This time I didn’t back down.

He rushed forward.

But… I see something strange right in front of me.

There was a strange thread flowing within the venom.

That strange thread, a thin thread that only my eyes can see.

I instinctively felt like I had to cut it off.

About 3 meters in front.

The moment when green liquid flew out and tried to melt my body.

My vision was completely cleared of the black green color.

no.

That’s not it.

Not only did my sword attack the monster that created a huge new form, but it also completely cut something else down.

-Cow!

The Scorpion King’s head, cut off with a single sword, was cut diagonally and fell to the ground.

“…”

This is the feeling.

What is Mana?

It’s probably a feeling I’ll never forget from now on.

-Tiring!

▶Mana awakening is successful.◀

▶Passive: Wederos Kingdom-Style Swordsmanship Lv. Obtained 1.◀

“…Wederos Kingdom style swordsmanship.”

This was a passive skill that Karssein acquired when he awakened Mana.

***

A horse has disappeared from Lilpeten.

And two people disappeared.

Talpon could vaguely guess what decision the two people had made by smelling it.

Just one word. And a noblewoman with a sword and the ability to use magic.

The manpower needed to capture the Scorpion King was not sought at all.

The word ignorant comes out naturally.

The skilled warriors of Lilpeten must gather together to capture the Scorpion King, the two of them going out alone.

“If I don’t want to die, I’ll just give up and come back.”

However, contrary to Talpon’s guess, they came back quite quickly.

“…!”

I feel a familiar smell.

At that entrance.

I could smell the venom of that huge scorpion.

“Huh. Just the two of you… no, judging by the smell… you took care of the Scorpion King alone?”

-Tiring!

▶By passing the test at a more difficult level, your intimacy with Talpon increases.◀

[Current figure: -5%]