Vol 16 Chapter 4

SPACE 4. Bio-Plant(PART : 1)

‘There’s something weird.’

Ark frowned.

He had obtained information thanks to the reference points that Rapid had written down on the rocks. At least they were moving in the direction of Rapid’s group.

Thanks to that, he had help determining the direction to advance!

Kwaaaaah!

“Ark-nim, T-rex!”

“Okay! Leave it to me! Now! Now!”

Sometimes they would fight off the T-rex!

“Phew, Ferguson! A! B!”

“Yes! Please leave the clean up to us! Ohhhhhh!”

Chomuk chomuk! Chideok chideok! Chideok chideok!

Ferguson, A and B picked up the loot and covered the bodies with poo! Ferguson, A and B tirelessly refilled the poo around the clock! Ferguson, A and B had to painfully march through the fog covered forest for 6 hours!

…..Ark was still wandering around the fog covered forest.

“Are we going in the proper direction?”

“Yes, it is certain.”

Ark nodded and touched his Nymphe.

The Nymphe’s memo function was activated and a grid ‘▦’ was floating. This was the image of the forest that surfaced in Ark’s head after reading Rapid’s message. The place where the space twisted were arranged at intervals of 200 metres so it was easy to make a visible form.

In other words, the places where the lines crossed ‘+’ were the distorted places. And with the rule that the direction would change every time they passed through a ‘+’, he could seem identify the path in this complex forest.

He noted that the forest was divided into compartments. What he meant….

“The forest is largely divided into several areas. There is an invisible fence around the east so no matter how much we wander from the west, south or north, we won’t be able to enter that part of the forest. This is the information that Rapid wrote down on the rock. In other words, we can proceed in the east, south, north or west from the rock and if we maintain that direction then we will end up back at the rock. So the rock is called a junction.”

“Then the information on how to exit….”

Irina murmured with an astonished expression.

“Aren’t you a pretty smart person?”

“No, well if I had a little more time….”

Irina pouted at Ark’s words as she blushed. It was natural to blush when thinking of themselves in that way.

“I’m aware of that.”

But then Irina smiled faintly. What the, she was indeed Irina! He was glad she was his girlfriend. She would always be on his side! Well, all women like Irina was caring!

‘My greed means I want to be with you in the future.’

But now wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Try this.”

Ark caused the ‘▦’ to rise from the Nymphe.

The left portion of the grid was covered with thick lines. Ark had marked the directions they travelled in the past hour. After passing through a ‘+’, the direction might change but the was no need to go back. And such a task was more advantageous for Ark than for Rapid.

He checked the orientation whenever he found a Baum Mushroom!

Once he knew the secret of the forest, he could wander around much more comfortably than Rapid. That’s how Ark was able to explore most of the western forest in 5 hours.

So it was strange.

“Like I explained, this forest is divided into blocks. And thanks to Rapid, we’ve already verified most of the area in the western forest.”

If so, they should’ve passed traces left behind by Rapid. The western forest should contain things like phrases written on rocks or simple markers. Rather than escaping from the forest, Ark’s purpose was to find the Silver Hand and Rapid’s group. However, he had found most of the markers in the western forest.

“Won’t it depend on their situation? They might’ve been attacked by many T-rex.”

That was the general idea. But Ark had a disturbing feeling. He had some loose ends to tie up with Rapid due to the words he wrote on the rock.

‘Now, let’s consider changing the position. I left the team with Rapid due to a mission. But this forest is scary. And I still haven’t resolved what is beyond the forest. Then what if Rapid comes here soon? Then should I think Rapid the direction I changed to?’

The answer was NO! The reason why? His anger!

Rapid needed to be alive to continue the mission. This mission had taken four days so it was harder than expected. But he had arrived late so he didn’t need to suffer.

Of course, it was impossible for him to feel good.

But how did Rapid behave?

-I have struggled thanks to you. By the time you wander through the forest and catch up, I would’ve already cleaned up everything.  It would be better if you died before that.

Naturally Rapid would have ulterior motives!

‘It’s possible! It is certainly possible if it is that bastard! Dammit, I was too short-sighted. I should’ve thought more deeply after finding Rapid’s words!’

His suspicion soon turned into certainty. And anger rose in the depths of his heart!

The person who put a stop to Ark’s thoughts was Irina.

“I think it is too early to jump to conclusions yet. Something might’ve happened. Speaking of which, haven’t we searched this bit of the forest?”

“Well, I guess so.”

It was inevitable that they searched the entire western region. So it would be better to go back through and search the area. Ark displayed the map and chose a route.

And after 3 hours!

“That bastard!”

A curse ended up exploded from Ark’s mouth. After finding Rapid’s writing, Ark’s group had searched the western forest for 8 hours until they arrived at a cliff!

An invisible cliff signified the edge of the western forest. And if he looked down then there was the breath-taking view of lava bubbling.

“Now it is certain! That bastard Rapid! I won’t let this go!”

Rather than escaping from the forest, Ark’s purpose was to find the Silver Hand and Rapid’s group. However, he had found most of the markers in the western forest.

“Won’t it depend on their situation? They might’ve been attacked by many T-rex.”

That was the general idea. But Ark had a disturbing feeling. He had some loose ends to tie up with Rapid due to the words he wrote on the rock.

‘Now, let’s consider changing the position. I left the team with Rapid due to a mission. But this forest is scary. And I still haven’t resolved what is beyond the forest. Then what if Rapid comes here soon? Then should I think Rapid the direction I changed to?’

The answer was NO!

The reason why? His anger!

Rapid needed to be alive to continue the mission. This mission had taken four days so it was harder than expected. But he had arrived late so he didn’t need to suffer.

Of course, it was impossible for him to feel good.

But how did Rapid behave?

-I have struggled thanks to you. By the time you wander through the forest and catch up, I would’ve already cleaned up everything.  It would be better if you died before that.

Naturally Rapid would have ulterior motives!

‘It’s possible! It is certainly possible if it is that bastard! Dammit, I was too short-sighted. I should’ve thought more deeply after finding Rapid’s words!’

His suspicion soon turned into certainty. And anger rose in the depths of his heart!

The person who put a stop to Ark’s thoughts was Irina.

“I think it is too early to jump to conclusions yet. Something might’ve happened. Speaking of which, haven’t we searched this bit of the forest?”

“Well, I guess so.”

It was inevitable that they searched the entire western region. So it would be better to go back through and search the area. Ark displayed the map and chose a route.

And after 3 hours!

That bastard!”

A curse ended up exploded from Ark’s mouth.

After finding Rapid’s writing, Ark’s group had searched the western forest for 8 hours until they arrived at a cliff! An invisible cliff signified the edge of the western forest. And if he looked down then there was the breath-taking view of lava bubbling.

“Now it is certain! That bastard Rapid! I won’t let this go!”

“Eh? Eh? Eh?”

“Ah, there is a hole that someone can enter. Irina-nim, it is dangerous.”

And like nothing had happened, he walked towards a place where a pipe was broken.

‘That bastard! Someday I will kill you! I definitely have to kill you!’

Ferguson vowed while looking at the back of Ark’s head. However…..

“Hey, what are you doing? Quickly!”

“Huh? Ah, yes! We’re going now!” Hey, let’s go!”

Ferguson stood up and followed at Ark’s voice.

….Ferguson had already become a slave in body and mind. Thanks to Ferguson confirming it with his body, Irina, Ark and the 3 slaves found a way through the broken pipe towards a fence.

“We can’t just go over there.”

Ark muttered as he looked at a building that seemed abandoned. No, to be precise he was looking at the dinosaurs wandering around the building.

They were small 1 metre dinosaurs that resembled ostriches. It was a Dilphosaurus that he had encountered a few times in the forest.

Their level was 70~80. They weren’t dangerous opponents but the number of them was the problem. He had only met 10 Dilpho in the forest.  But now there were dozens of Dilpho wandering around the building! There was a significant number of Dilpho inside the building as well.

“If they are gathering like that then it will be difficult to lure the monsters. Then we should use the fence. If we pierce through a hole in the fence then we should be able to avoid most attacks.”

Ark determined the tactic before looking at Irina.

“Irina-nim, will you be okay?”

“Yes, please leave it to me.”

Irina nodded as she pulled out her pair of swords.

‘I am confident that I can pull off my share!’

Once again, Irina joined Ark on this adventure to show off her skills. However, she realized something when watching Ark fight the T-rex.

Ark was strong and the difference was much larger than she thought. She hadn’t thought he would be that strong.

But there was a reason for it.

The power of a character’s stats would influence close combat.

That wasn’t all. In fact, various actions such as lifting weight would be influenced by strength. Among them, it was particularly important for users to figure out the recoil effect that would make the enemy flinch back.

If they managed to make a monster stumble than a user could attack with stronger power. That’s why users who invested strength in both hands would have insufficient agility or defense. They would rather focus on attack than defense.

This was most effective when dealing with large monsters like a T-rex. The bonus would have a significant impact against large monsters. The recoil would also stop the monster’s actions. A large monster would have slow attacks. It would be pushed on the defensive and couldn’t fight back properly.

However, Irina had invested in agility.

She didn’t like the feel of heavier, two-handed swords and her work with the Galactic Federation meant it was rare to fight large monsters. Irina usually faced humanoid opponents like the Rama. And agility worked against humanoid warriors who relied on strength.

‘I couldn’t show my skills when facing the T-rex but there is also a 20 level difference between us. But this isn’t a large distance. Ark is just a character that specialized in dealing with large monsters. But the Dilpho were small monsters! Mini monsters is my area if expertise!’

She also encountered the Dilpho in the forest. However, Irina was only able to display a small amount of her skills. Ark’s power was enough to easily take care of 10 Dilpho. But there were at least 100 around the building!

‘….Let me show you!’

Irina was burning with motivation.

The battle began with Ferguson firing his launcher.

Pepeng!

An ‘!’ popped above the heads of all the Dilpho at once. And they started headed towards Ark’s group at the fence.

Their number was enough to instantly cover the yard between the fence and the building! The Dilpho flocked towards the fence.

“Irina-nim, step back until there is less danger!”

‘He is concerned about me.’

A challenging smile appeared on Irina’s face. She was thankful for Ark’s consideration but she didn’t listen to him.

‘I didn’t steal my position as Galactic Federation Captain!’

“Rapid Sword!”

Irina shouted as she threw her body towards the crowd of Dilpho.

At the same time, dozens of swords made of light enveloped Irina’s body. A huge sword! When one sword disappeared another one would appear…..dozens of these swords seemed to form a sphere around Irina.

Jajajajak!

There was a fountain of blood as leather was torn. They were low level monsters but the dinosaurs weren’t easy. Their agility resembled an ostrich and the fluids they sprayed from their mouths had a poison effect.

However, Irina didn’t fall behind in speed. Irina swung her swords while racing like the wind, causing the Dilpho to collapse where ever she passed.

A trance like state! She had been immersed in battle since starting Galaxian. As a result, there were more than 10 bodies around her in only a few minutes.

She paused to take a breath and turned.

‘Yes, this is it! Ark-nim, look! These are my real skills…!’

Irina’s faces stiffened.

“Bring it on, you chickens! All the resentment that had accumulated until now! All the pent up grief! I need to release it onto you so you should just die!”

Ferguson was continuously firing his launcher while shouting. In fact, so far Ferguson had been in a similar situation to Irina. Ferguson used a launcher so he wasn’t a professional user in 1 vs 1 fights.

He dealt much greater damage to a wide area. Therefore he couldn’t exert his strength against the T-rex. However, it was different if the monsters were small and only level 70~80.

Ferguson, A and B were a set. A and B stayed by Ferguson’s side while holding shields! Ferguson would push back the Dilpho while they counterattacked with swords. And in the centre was Ferguson with his launcher!

The 3 people formed a chariot. A T-rex would step on them but it was different when the opponent were these small dinosaurs. Ferguson, A and B were weak to strong people and strong against the weak!

“Wuhahaha! Boring bastards! I will kill you all!”

Pepeng! Pepeng! Pepeng!

The Dilpho went flying every time the flames soared. And there were 20 bodies that had been turned to ashes! He had handled the Dilpho twice as fast as Irina.

‘T-that is ridiculous! What is this?’

Irina was upset that Ferguson performed better than her in front of Ark. It was natural. He was Ferguson! Ferguson was the person who always bragged about reaching the 18th ranking among users. And Ark who enslaved that Ferguson, A and B….

“Piercing! Chain Attack!”

Ark pierced through the Dilpho like a drill! Following that, Ark clenched his fists and the group of Dilpho exploded. The combo attack of Piercing and Chain Attack! That alone caused the Dilpho’s health to drop by half.

Ark had leapt in the middle so he received 10 attacks at once.

“Mind Shield!”

Mind Shield surrounded his entire body! The attacks coming from every direction bounced off the shield. Then there was a swirl of swords around Ark.

“Khafra Fencing 3rd style! Galaxy Sword! Time!”

The Dilpho had their bodies brutally torn. An unfathomable number of bodies were piled up around Ark. It was like a wolf jumping into a flock of sheep!

Ark wouldn’t even call this a battle. In fact, this wasn’t Ark’s style of fighting.

Ark’s personality was better safe than sorry. No matter how weak the monster was, he would always allocate a certain amount of strength when fighting them.  Therefore he sometimes seemed timid but this situation was different.

Irina was looking at him! The long awaited opportunity to look cool in front of Irina! Thanks to that, Ark’s girlfriend….

‘Ark-nim, once again!’

…..She felt the bitter taste of frustration again.

————————————————————————–

Two days ago.

“Huh? Why aren’t you laughing?”

“No, it isn’t anything big….”

Rapid shook his head and laughed at Hegel’s question.

“I was just wishing that Ark won’t arrive here late.”

“Eh? Why? It is better if we solve it before Ark hyung-nim arrives.”

“That is true however….”

Rapid stopped and turned his head.

“I want Ark to see my message.”

Rapid said while staring at the forest covered in a dense fog. But there seemed to by a boundary as a completely different environment from the forest occurred. The blades of grass seemed to be pressing against an invisible barrier.

————————————————————————–

‘This really…..’

They processed all the Dilpho immediately after that.

Ark blushed and scratched his head. Once Ark discovered the building, he thought there would be some signs of Rapid or the Silver Hand.

However, the interior of the building was empty. It was disappointing but he was more worried about Irina’s attitude.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.”

He had felt something vague since fighting the Dilpho.

But Ark didn’t dare ask why. He could only approximately guess.

‘Irina must’ve thought this was a simple dungeon that would only take one day. Furthermore, there hasn’t been any traces found of Rapid or the Silver Hand in this building. No wonder why the light-hearted Irina is annoyed.’

….He completely headed in the wrong direction.

However, Ark was too dense to guess the source of Irina’s irritation.

Rapid had given them directions to this building. He thought there would be some evidence of Rapid remaining here.

-Rapid has come. (^_^)

There was nothing like that! The man had deliberately left a message in the forest so it didn’t make sense that he wouldn’t leave one at this point.

There were no marks that indicated Rapid had come to such a place. In other words, it was a fish bait.

And Ark imagined that Rapid was wandering around somewhere. This was probably the reason why Rapid didn’t pick up his phone. He didn’t want to answer the phone. And thanks to Irina, Ark was feeling impatient.

He ground his teeth together.

“That bastard Rapid….!”

“But why would Rapid do such a thing?”

“Rapid was originally like that!”

The person who interjected was Ferguson.

“He is a sneaky bastard. In addition, he is selfish and despicable. He was so blinded by self-interest that he didn’t wait for Ark-nim to arrive like I advised! That bastard Rapid is that type of person!”

Ferguson still hadn’t forgotten the grudge where Rapid had shoved is muzzle under his nostrils. No, he actually wanted to duel Rapid. However, they had been interrupted by the T-rex’s attack and he felt something strange.

This person shouldn’t be messed with! It was an anxiety similar to when he dealt with Ark.

In fact, Ferguson had a reason to feel uneasy. The Alan in New World who Ferguson, A and B wanted to avoid was now Rapid. Alan was a user who had climbed to the ultimate position only to be slammed down by Ark and Ferguson, A and B had encountered him a few times.

Of course, Ferguson had no idea that Rapid was Alan. But his body still remembered. Ferguson’s head sent him a signal that Rapid was dangerous. After being slaves of Ark in New World, he had unintentionally developed this type of instinct.

However, Ferguson was still angry!

“Rapid has a completely bad personality! It is evident that he is a social outcast! Won’t that answer appear when looking at him? He is clearly a 30 something year old man still staying with his parents and playing games all day! He is that type of human!”

His mouth! How scary! And Ferguson’s claim was unexpectedly close to the truth. In fact, Rapid was currently getting an allowance from his parents while playing the game. Well, it wasn’t like Ark wanted to defend him.

Thanks to that, Rapid’s reputation degenerated to a human trash.

“How can Ark-nim know such a person….”

“It is an unfortunate affinity.”

“I’m sorry. I thought he was Ark-nim’s friend and trusted….”

“No. Irina’s perspective is enough.”

Ark casually replied.

The situation was still annoying but Irina made him feel better.

“That Rapid, you don’t have to worry about him. He should be worried for the trick he played on Ark-nim. But this is serious. What do we do now?”

“It might be a prank but the message Rapid wrote on the rock was true. If this isn’t the correct direction then we will have to go back and move in another one. The previous attempt took 5 hours so this time it shouldn’t take too long. But before that……”

Ark looked around the interior of the building.

Now it became clear that Rapid wrote down the wrong direction. However, Ark had found a hidden place thanks to Rapid’s antics.

In other words, Ark was the first one to visit this building. He couldn’t leave without searching around this building.

“There is a reason why this was built in the forest. Someone made this building with a purpose. And it is certainly related to the phenomenon of the forest. Perhaps it might be helpful in locating the Silver Star so let’s search the place.”

“Yes.”

The search of the building began.

The outside might be old but the interior contained modern facilities. For instance, the front door opened to a wide lobby with passages containing many doors. And a dizzying amount of equipment was scattered.

Despite the Dilpho, the building was proof that people had previously lived here. There were broken desks and cabinets. While examining the place, occasionally Dilpho would pop out. However, the Dilpho were easily fought. It wasn’t surprising that monsters would pop out.

Wiiing! Buuuong! Buuuong!

He stepped on the heads of the Dilpho.

And he could also pick up some items just wandering around.

Clothes made of unique fabric.

But it seems too old to be used.

Faded photos of a species with a unique appearance. They resemble the Grey Clan but have longer arms and legs.

Written on the back of the photo is the phrase ‘For Alkan’s leaders!’ in an ancient language….

“Alkan Clan?”

This building was probably created by that species. However, he couldn’t obtain any more information from the rooms on the 1st floor.

Ark climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor and arrived at the end of the hallway. And he sliced up 2~3 Dilpho while wandering around. A message window popped up when he touched the door at the end of a long hallway.

Enter the security code or use Invaders to hack and release the lock.

Attempt to hack? Y/N

“Ohu! A locked door!”

A smile flashed on Ark’s face. A lock. In meant the room needed special security. There was something hidden in the place! And an electronic lock wasn’t a problem for Ark.

“Well, it is just this much.”

Ark connected the Nymphe to the lock. Ark activated the hacking program as Invaders started and began to attack the security device. And after a while, there was a clink as the lock opened.

“Pretty easy.”

Ark smiled and muttered.

Once again, Hacking was a fairly useful skill. He used this skill to open electronic locks as well as hacking a computer. Without Ark knowing anything, his Hacking skill had steadily grown.

He always carried japtem with circuits in order to improve his hacking skill. The circuit would improve his proficiency by 1.

This was his personality where he worked as a dog. He didn’t want to be unable to open a door when it was important because his Hacking level was too low. He would rather sacrifice a good sleep in other to raise his hacking proficiency.

His fingers became bruised from playing mini-games over and over but Ark managed to raise it to Lv. 3.

Hacking (Advanced, Active): You have tapped into your knowledge of how to use rust. This will be helpful when you need it. You know better than anyone the result of an expert hacking. Your accumulated experience has improved the performance of Invaders. Now electronic locks of the lower grade, grade 1~6 can be automatically hacked with a 100% probability.

<You can hack electronic locks with a rating of 1~9. Grades 1~6 will automatically be disabled>

Mental power consumption: 50

This was the information window for Hacking Lv. 3.

The reward was worth it. It was possible to hack security devices grade 1~9 while grades 1~6 were automatically released.

At first, Ark had some fun but he became bored doing them repeatedly so this was good news. Now he didn’t need to play mini games to hack grade 1 circuits.

All he needed to do was connect. Of course, this would increase the speed of his hacking proficiency. But that was for a later time.

“Now, let’s see……”

Ark entered the room with a look of anticipation.