Chapter 211 – This Is as Far as It Goes

Thump. Thump.

After about 10 minutes of heading to the west forest, the sound of a giant object moving came to Se-jun’s ears.

At that moment,

Kruooar!

Boom!

Pink Fur suddenly struck the ground with her front paw.

And,

[Watcher Pink Fur has defeated the Fine Root Underground Infiltrator of Corrupted Ent.]

[You have acquired 2,000 experience points, which is 50% of the experience points acquired by Watcher Pink Fur.]

···

..

.

A message stating that the enemy was defeated appeared.

“Fine Root Underground Infiltrator?”

It seemed there was a monster moving underground. Although they didn’t even see the enemy’s appearance due to Pink Fur’s attack.

Kruong!

Pink Fur did not defeat them directly herself after defeating the underground infiltrator once but taught Cuengi how to hunt the enemy moving under the ground.

Kkueng?

[Is it here?]

Kruooar!

When Cuengi spoke, touching the ground, Pink Fur shook her head. It seemed wrong.

Kkueng?

[Is it here?]

Kruooar!

When Cuengi failed about 10 times like that,

Kkueng!

[Mom, I feel something moving here!]

Kruong!

Pink Fur nodded at Cuengi’s words as he got the hang of it.

Kkueng!

[From now on, Cuengi will punish them!]

Boom!

[Herb Collector Cuengi has defeated the Fine Root Underground Infiltrator of Corrupted Ent.]

[You have acquired 2,000 experience points, which is 50% of the experience points acquired by Herb Collector Cuengi.]

···

..

.

After that, Cuengi skillfully found the underground infiltrators and cleanly defeated them as they moved.

Of course, enemies flocked on the ground too, but

Snap!

“Cuengi, Kkueng Roar!”

Kkueeeeeng!

Cuengi spread the fire Se-jun lit far and wide, burning the enemies.

[You have defeated the Sticky Flower Attacker of Corrupted Ent.]

[You have acquired 1,200 experience points.]

[You have defeated the Large Branch Scout of Corrupted Ent.]

[You have acquired 500 experience points.]

···

..

.

At that moment,

[Fire Field Lv. 3 is activated.]

[Grass and trees burn better.]

Perhaps because he defeated plant-type enemies, the Fire Field skill was activated. Thanks to that, the enemies, who already burned well, fell even faster, opening the path toward the Corrupted Ents.

Thump. Thump.

Ten 50-meter-tall Corrupted Ents slowly approaching beyond the black smoke. As the giant trees gathered and moved, it looked as if a small mountain was moving.

Kruoooar!

Kkueeeeeng!

Toward those Corrupted Ents, Pink Fur and Cuengi, who instantly giantized, blocked Se-jun’s front and let out roars.

And,

Thump! Thump!

Pink Fur and Cuengi ran quickly toward the Corrupted Ents.

“Guys, I should go with you!”

Se-jun shouted to the two running out, but

Boom! Boom!

it was not heard by the two attacking the Corrupted Ents.

Boom! Boom!

A one-sided attack followed. Perhaps because they met enemies they could use their strength on after a long time, the two struck the Corrupted Ents excitedly.

“It will end quickly.”

Se-jun decided to look around the center of the west forest while Pink Fur and Cuengi fought.

The center of the west forest that he moved to like that. There was a giant tree stump. A stump of a giant tree with a circumference of over 20 meters and a height as tall as Se-jun.

“Is it dead?”

Seeing it stand still unlike the other Corrupted Ents, it could be a dead tree.

As Se-jun cautiously approached the tree stump,

“Huh?!”

The name visible to Se-jun’s eyes.

[Tritan, the Giant Tree Leading Corruption]

The tree stump was a named monster.

“The giant tree leading corruption?”

It seemed this guy was the main culprit that corrupted the ents.

“What should I do?”

Se-jun pondered for a moment and decided to wait for Pink Fur and Cuengi to finish defeating the Corrupted Ents.

“I can defeat it by myself, but I’ll specially defeat it through team play.”

Swish. Swish.

Se-jun, who became bored, grabbed a handful of kudzu fruits, scattered them toward Tritan, and spoke. He was thinking of waiting while raising his skill proficiency.

[You Are a Field! Lv. 1 is activated.]

[You have planted kudzu fruits in the body of Tritan, the Giant Tree Leading Corruption.]

[Job experience increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of You Are a Field! Lv. 1 increases slightly.]

···

..

.

[The kudzu absorbs the vitality of Tritan, the Giant Tree Leading Corruption.]

[The vitality of Tritan, the Giant Tree Leading Corruption, decreases continuously.]

···

..

.

Creak, creak.

The kudzu fruits took root in Tritan’s body and began to grow rapidly while absorbing vitality. Perhaps because the place to take root was a tree, the kudzu took root without difficulty.

Swish. Swish.

“Why aren’t they coming?”

He kept throwing kudzu fruits at Tritan while waiting for Pink Fur and Cuengi, who didn’t come for over 30 minutes like that.

At that moment,

[The proficiency of You Are a Field! Lv. 1 increases slightly.]

[The proficiency of You Are a Field! Lv. 1 is filled, raising its level.]

The level of the You Are a Field! skill rose. Checking the contents, there was no major change other than the description that it absorbed more vitality and the growth rate became slightly faster.

Another 30 minutes passed.

However, Pink Fur and Cuengi did not come.

“Golden Bat, go find out what is going on.”

(Yes!)

Se-jun, who was planting kudzu in Tritan’s body, thought something had happened to the two who still hadn’t returned, and sent the Golden Bat.

After a while,

“What? They keep recovering?”

The returned Golden Bat said that the bodies of the Corrupted Ents kept recovering, so Pink Fur and Cuengi were getting exhausted.

“I must go!”

Se-jun hurriedly ran toward the two.

After Se-jun left like that,

Creak, creak. Creak, creak.

the roots of the kudzu Se-jun had planted dug into Tritan’s bark and began to suck up vitality in earnest.

***

When Se-jun arrived,

Pant, pant, pant.

Boom!

Pink Fur and Cuengi were fighting the Corrupted Ents while panting.

“Guys, eat this and rest for a bit! Crop Giantization!”

Se-jun hurriedly giantized sweet potatoes and gave them to the two who had consumed immense energy in a short time.

[You are lucky.]

[The Sweet Potato of Strength successfully giantized without losing its power.]

Thanks to Se-jun’s luck, a sweet potato that did not lose its power appeared this time as well.

Munch. Munch.

While the two diligently ate the giant sweet potato Se-jun handed them,

“Golden Bat, support them!”

(Yes!)

Se-jun and the Golden Bat bought time.

Swish, swish. Swish, swish.

The Golden Bat flew quickly and cut the branches of the Corrupted Ent with his wings, and

Snap.

Se-jun burned the Corrupted Ent’s body with the fire he made by snapping his fingers.

Swish. Swish.

At the same time, he planted kudzu in the body of the Corrupted Ent that was not on fire.

When they bought about 10 minutes of time like that,

Kruooar!

Kkueeeeeng!

Pink Fur and Cuengi, who had recovered their bodies to some extent, joined and fought together.

Boom! Boom!

The two struck the Corrupted Ents with immense power again.

But,

Creak, creak. Creak, creak.

the Corrupted Ents recovered again.

At that moment,

“Huh?”

Se-jun discovered that only the areas where the kudzu was planted were slow to recover. It was clear that the kudzu absorbed vitality, hindering the Corrupted Ent from recovering properly.

“Good.”

Having caught on to how to defeat the Corrupted Ent, Se-jun hurriedly climbed 35 meters up Cuengi’s body and arrived at Cuengi’s shoulder.

“Cuengi, strike the enemy and bring me close!”

Kkueng!

[Understood!]

Boom!

Cuengi struck the Corrupted Ent’s body with his giant right front paw to create a wound, carefully held Se-jun with his left front paw, and approached close to the wound just made.

And,

Swish. Swish.

Se-jun scattered kudzu fruits. Then, as if it was indeed effective, the Corrupted Ent could not recover its body properly.

“Hehehe. Scattering kudzu on the wound!”

Se-jun said, laughing like a villain. The battle after that was very easy.

Pink Fur, Cuengi, and the Golden Bat made wounds, and Se-jun diligently planted kudzu roots to hinder the enemy’s recovery.

And,

Thud.

[Herb Collector Cuengi has defeated the Corrupted Ent.]

[You have acquired 10 million experience points, which is 50% of the experience points acquired by Herb Collector Cuengi.]

Finally, one Corrupted Ent fell.

Thud.

Subsequently, the remaining nine Corrupted Ents also all fell, and Se-jun leveled up twice, reaching level 65.

“Guys, there is one more over there.”

Se-jun pointed out the existence of Tritan in the center of the west forest to the animals.

But,

Kkueng?

[There is another one?]

Kruong.

Cuengi and Pink Fur were already quite exhausted.

“I already scattered kudzu beforehand to drain its strength, so it will be fine. And it didn’t even move. Now, let’s eat this while going.”

Se-jun, who wanted to go and defeat the enemy now for some reason, persuaded the two by giving them food. He gave Locust meat to Pink Fur and honey to Cuengi.

When Se-jun, who succeeded in persuading them like that, was moving to the center with the animals,

Thud! Thud!

A giant vibration was felt. The direction was right ahead. It was the center of the west forest.

In their eyes, the tree stump floating in the air was visible. No, precisely, giant roots were supporting the stump. It was Tritan, who had stepped forward himself when all the ents he corrupted fell.

“Huh?! It clearly didn’t move though?”

When Se-jun was flustered,

Thud.

Tritan suddenly collapsed.

And,

[You have defeated Tritan, the Giant Tree Leading Corruption.]

[You have acquired 50 million experience points.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have obtained 1 bonus stat.]

A message stating that Tritan was defeated appeared. The hundreds of thousands of kudzu plants Se-jun had planted over an hour while waiting for Pink Fur and Cuengi had absorbed all of Tritan’s vitality.

Originally, Tritan was not a monster that would die so easily, but because he had continuously injected vitality to prevent the Corrupted Ents from freezing to death due to Iona’s magic, Tritan’s vitality was in a lowered state.

Furthermore, in the place where he took root to recover his body’s vitality, kudzu took root and blocked the absorption of vitality, preventing him from recovering his vitality properly.

Even if he had just one day to recover vitality, he was absolutely not a being that would die from something like kudzu roots. He was very lucky.

“Hehehe. Did you see?! I defeated that!”

Thanks to that, Se-jun housing boastfully to the animals and approached the collapsed corpse of Tritan. It was to brag to the animals about the enemy he had defeated.

When Se-jun went close to Tritan’s corpse like that,

“Huh?! What is that?”

[Tree Stump Flowerpot]

Se-jun discovered a giant tree stump with a hollowed center. On the side, something that was hard to tell whether it was characters or patterns was engraved.

When Se-jun placed his hand on it and examined it,

[Tree Stump Flowerpot]

???

Since it was not in an appraised state, there was no detailed explanation.

“Aileen, appraise this for me.”

[The Tower Administrator tells you to leave it to her.]

Along with Aileen’s words, the giant Tree Stump Flowerpot disappeared.

“Everything is really going smoothly today.”

Se-jun said, looking at the collapsed Tritan. Pink Fur and Cuengi went through trouble, but Se-jun didn’t have anything that hard other than scattering kudzu.

At that moment,

Sniff, sniff.

Kkueng!

[I smell strong herbs!]

Cuengi, smelling herbs from Tritan’s corpse, began to dig Tritan’s roots to find herbs.

And,

Kkueng!

[Found it! This is absolutely Dad’s!]

Cuengi shouted, pulling out an ominous black kudzu root. A kudzu root that gave off a vibe of ‘I am really bitter’ even at a casual glance.

“Cuengi, I will eat it later.”

Se-jun naturally said he would eat it later, but

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[No! If you don’t eat it right now, the medicinal effect will disappear!]

Cuengi said firmly, shaking his head.

“The medicinal effect will disappear?”

At Cuengi’s words, Se-jun examined the black kudzu root.

[Black Kudzu Root that Overate Vitality]

This is a root of kudzu that temporarily absorbed more energy than it could handle due to an obsession with survival.

As time passes, the medicinal effect leaks out from the kudzu root.

Upon consumption, Stamina increases by 200 or Stamina potential increases by 100.

Upon consumption, you can awaken a stamina-related talent.

You will experience a terrible bitter taste.

Use Restriction: Lv. 60 or higher, 150 or higher Stamina stat

Shelf Life: 1 minute

Grade: SS

“Te… terrible bitter taste?!”

When Se-jun hesitated,

Kkueng!

[Eat it and get stronger!]

Cuengi cheered for Se-jun. Remaining time was 1 minute. He had to swallow it right away.

“Alright! Understood.”

Receiving Cuengi’s support, Se-jun closed his eyes tightly and chewed and ate the black kudzu root.

‘The pain is temporary, but the stats are…’

When Se-jun chewed the kudzu root, making a firm determination,

“Khuup!”

This bitter taste was not a bitter taste of this world. Se-jun fainted from the terrible bitter taste felt in his mouth.

‘So this is it.’

As Se-jun fainted, he could tell that his luck was over.