Published at 25th of March 2019 9:37 pm

Volume 26 Chapter 2 — Refugees of Serabourg Citadel

The players’ eyes were brimming with determination,

‘I must not die.’

‘Whatever happens, I will follow Weed-nim.’

‘Focus. I will come out of this place alive. I can’t die like this or I will be stuck being a newbie. I won’t even be able to get a girlfriend!’

Weed yanked the wooden lever affixed to the wall.

Du Du Du Du!

The stone gate blocking the exit began to rise, slowly unveiling the path leading to the surface.

“Now is the time. Let’s head out.”

The break was brief, but it was enough for the players to recover some of their vitality. Weed headed out first, wriggling his large frame through the opening. As soon as he surfaced, the rest of the players began to jump out through the clearing one by one.

“Don’t leave any humans alive.”

“It’s just for all who do not believe in the gods of Embinyu to die.”

“Purge Serabourg Citadel!”

Upon surfacing, the players were struck by the piercing cries of the fanatics and dark forces of the Embinyu Church. Even though the exit was well hidden with overgrown bushes, it was a mere 2km away from the Serabourg Citadel. A horse could cover that distance instantly.

Weed’s gaze turned to the Citadel. Swarming with Embinyu forces, the area now resembled a large black mass at a distance. Smoke billowed from the buildings as they burned fiercely while large demons could be seen encroaching the Citadel.

The soldiers of Rosenheim Kingdom were slowly being forced back into the palace where they would make their last stand. Weed noticed various groups still within the Citadel’s using this moment to escape.

It was absolute pandemonium! This was a true battlefield.

‘Please come out. Now is our chance.’

Players continued to materialize from the exit. Even nearby escape routes began to spew out players. Over tens of thousands newbies and NPCs had followed Weed, and for all of them to escape would take time.

The first group of players that poured out from the escape route had a fairly decent high level and could fight. Over 200 of these warriors exited, followed by the newbies. The group tried to covertly escape as they possibly could, but with so many people it was inevitable the Wyvern Knights circling in the sky above would detect them.

“Humans!”

“Kill them! Use them as sacrifice for the god of Embinyu!”

Players cried out in surprise.

“It’s the Wyvern Knights of the Embinyu Church!”

“We are spotted!”

Archers, Rangers, and anyone else possessing a bow began loosing their arrows at the Wyvern Knights. A chaotic stream of arrows flew from newbies and high archers alike, and rained down onto the enemy.

“Humans are offerings!”

“Praise the Embinyu Church!”

The Wyverns gracefully evaded the arrows as they dove toward the ground.

The mobility of the wyverns was astounding! To strike them in the air would be difficult, and spells were practically useless against them since they took too long to prepare.

“Evil Spear!”

The critical situation was when the Wyvern Knights came closer and closer as they primed their spear skills!

Weed accelerated furiously and leaped high into the sky.

‘Will it work? My strength and agility have increased radically so it just might be possible.’

BANG!

The ground cratered as the Ice Troll jumped with unbelievable might!

Weed suddenly thrust his sword mid-air. The low flying wyvern attempted to evade the Ice Troll that had abruptly appeared before its eyes, but its efforts were futile, it was already within range of Weed’s sword.

“Gyaak!”

You have dealt a great blow to the Wyvern Knight.

Wyvern Knight is unable to participate further in battle.

The overflowing strength of the Ice Troll!

Weed had not aimed for the Wyvern, instead striking the knight riding the Wyvern. The Wyvern Knight plummeted to the ground as Weed’s attack had toppled him from his steed. In a swift and smooth motion, Weed quickly snatched the reins as he mounted the Wyvern. To display such incredulous quick and fluid movements despite having the massive body of an Ice Troll, one would think the scene had been choreographed.

“Gyaaa!”

The Wyvern staggered, nearly crashing, from the sudden brunt of the full weight of the Ice Troll. This was the Ice Troll’s weight attack! As the Wyvern came closer to the ground that its underside could literally scrape the surface, it gave it a one last ditch effort to fly back up.

Weed peered down. The high level players had scattered and were resisting the Wyvern Knights’ attacks but the beginners and the NPCs were still being slaughtered.

The resident Darium, living some distance behind the palace has died. Fame decreased by 2.

Vortuga the blacksmith has passed away. Fame decreased by 6.

While he didn’t mind the players dying, every single NPCs death affected Weed personally. The nature of the quest to lead the refugees to safety had the potential to earn or lose an enormous amount of fame.

Weed could have never imagined the astronomical magnitude of this quest when he was first approached by Selina. The scale of the quest grew exponentially as the abandoned residents of Serabourg Citadel gathered and placed their faith in Weed. Fortunately, Seo Yoon was finally displaying her true ability as she slaughtered the Wyvern Knights, sending them into the grey light.

“Let’s go. We’ve more bastards to hunt!”

Weed pulled the rein on the Wyvern with his left hand. To tame a Wyvern, a player would need high strength and fighting spirit. In these aspect, Weed already qualified. And he had a lot of experience taming a Wyvern through Wy-Three.

But to completely subdue and tame a monster, high intimacy and time to understand one another was required. Weed did not have any of this. But the Wyvern Weed was riding on top obeyed his command and flew towards the other Wyvern Knights.

“Faster!”

Pa-dak, Pa-dak, Pa-dak!

The Wyvern flew as fast as possible. It wasn’t due to its submission and obedience to Weed, but a silent plea to the other Wyvern Knights to knock off the heavy Ice Troll on it’s back. Furthermore, the cold emanating from the Ice Troll frosted the wings, causing fear to seep into the Wyvern from the possibility of crashing.

The Ice Troll was heavy and it was cold. It was truly evil.

“Well done.”

The Wyvern’s desperate measure to save itself went up in smokes as Weed exchanged several blows with the Wyvern Knights and emerged victorious. Weed was used to aerial battles where attacks were exchanged in a flash.

The Wyvern flew toward its other brethren for salvation, but Weed came out victorious in every single encounter.

GYAAA!

The Wyvern Weed was riding on was quickly becoming exhausted as it flapped its wings harder and harder to prevent its fall. But because of the cold coming from the Ice Troll, soon the whole body of the Wyvern was covered in ice.

Weed waited for his Wyvern to completely freeze over before hijacking another Wyvern in mid air. The sight of a massive body leaping in the air was a truly mind boggling and dazzling performance. The players were dizzy from the heart dropping display above.

“Call Death Knight Van Hawk! Call Vampire Lord Torido!”

Summoning of Van Hawk and Torido!

“Master, I want to fight.”

“This place has the lingering scent of blood. Nothing is refreshing as the blood in the air, it’s much better than any exquisite perfume.”

“Kwaaak!”

The Wyvern was in greater agony as the number of passengers on it’s back increased.

Weed gave them a simple command

“Fight however you want”

Back when they were battling in the Yurokina Mountain, he had to constant supervise and direct them. But now, these two had experienced all kinds of battle with Weed.

Before the weight could overwhelm the Wyvern, Van Hawk and Torido jumped off. Van Hawk flew around, fighting on his summoned Phantom Horse while Torido spread his cape and became one with the darkness. Torido would then appear out of nowhere, behind the Wyvern Knights, plunging his fangs into their unprotected necks.

Woosh!

The pure blood vampire clan that obeyed Torido was summoned as bats and attacked the Wyverns Knights. The Wyverns did not fear the bats, but their movements were hampered as the bats clung everywhere on the Wyverns, sucking out their blood.

“It’s that Ice Troll. Retreat to the base!”

“We need to come back with more troops!”

Eventually the Wyvern Knights retreated. Van Hawk and Torido gave chase and returned with considerable amount of loot.

The Wyvern was spent and crashed to the ground with Weed still on top.

BOOOM!

The combined mass of the Ice Troll and the Wyvern ploughed through the ground as they crashed. Because of the extensive injuries the Wyvern sustained during battle and the additional trauma of the crash, the Wyvern turned into a grey light and disappeared.

Weed’s health also dropped considerably but thanks to the priest’s Healing Hand spell, he recovered in an instant. The novice priests and all alike who could use healing magic darted toward Weed and a cascade of Healing Hand spells was used on Weed.

The players continuously streamed out from the two exits points, clearing out the overgrown thickets as they took flight away from Serabourg Citadel. Already, several thousands of refugees were out of the tunnels.

Even though the Wyvern Knights retreated, in no time at all, another contingent of cultists were heading toward them.

“Torido, Van Hawk, did you have enough?”

“The scent of blood is delicious. My thirst has not been quenched yet.”

“I want to keep fighting.”

Weed sheathed his Demon Sword and took up the long spear he snatched from a Wyvern Knight. Because his arm was longer and his body became bigger, Weed was able to exert greater force with a spear rather than a sword.

He did not have the Weaponry Skill like the Geomchis, as Weed’s spearmanship skill level was low the attack damaged followed suit. Even with the spear’s negative points, it outweighed the sword basic attack damage and Weed’s strength stat as an Ice Troll further increased the damage. Also Weed thought that it would be much better to confront the early to mid level 200 cultist with a spear.

Weed with the spear in hand marched forward. The cultists of Embinyu numbered more than 500! The cultists were a scant group equipped with long pickaxes or bastardized bows, swords and axes without any armor.

“Van Hawk, Torido. Take the front.”

"The throng I wanted."

“This is the dawn to get drunk.”

Van Hawk charged the cultists flank on his Phantom Horse.

Pooo he hing!

The Death Knight on his Phantom Horse galloped into the cultists and slaughtered them. Torido with his pure blood vampire clan clung onto the cultists back and sunk their fangs into their necks. The pure blood vampires had to drink human blood for quick growth. This was a once in a life time opportunity for the vampires as such opportunities were few and far between since they started following Weed.

“If it’s only 500 cultists, it’s easy.”

Van Hawk and Torido had the characteristics of an Undead for limitless stamina, no matter how long it took, they could take care of it. But right now, time was not on their side. Before Embinyu Church sent a greater force, they had to clear out the cultists and allow as many refugees to escape as possible.

“I tried my best not to use it, but… Sculpture Destruction! Turn everything into strength!”

Weed took out a Fine sculpture, ‘The Evil Merchant Holding A Beating Stick’, he carried around in his backpack and destroyed it.

Sculpture Destruction has been used.

The pain! The agony of destroying a Fine sculpture.

Art stat decreased by 5 permanently. Fame decreased by 100.

Art stat transformed into strength with 1:4 ratio for the next 24 hours.

The additional converted strength has been applied to an unaccustomed body due to Sculpture Transformation, 30% penalty has been applied.

Your Art stat is too high. Because your original strength stat is too low, the conversion will not happen instantly.

870 strength has been converted into Advance level 8 skill, ‘Crushing Blow’.

The enemy will be flung far if you hit it precisely with a full powered strike.

Increased chance of enemy falling into paralysis and confusion.

950 strength has been converted into Advance level 6 skill, ‘Piercing Spear’.

This mighty attack will completely destroy the opponent's armor and shield.

1,430 strength has been converted into Advance level 9 skill, ‘Momentary Herculean Strength’.

For a short period of time, it will triple your maximum strength. Requires immense amount of vitality.

690 strength has improved the Ice Troll’s traits.

The cold will now affect up to 15m.

Mastery of Sculpting skill increased.

Weed greatly increased the strength of the Ice Troll with Sculpture Destruction. Indeed strength was the only thing to put trust in. By using the strength properly he could leap through the battlefield with ease!

“Well, let’s have some fun.”

Weed twirled his spear. The spear felt disproportionate to his body and was light as a feather. He felt he could do anything.

“Hyaa!”

As Weed whirled his spear, he leaped into the cultist’s flank.

Pa Pa Pang!

Everytime he spun his spear, the enemies flew several meters back! But, at the same time, all sorts of weapons the cultists held were targeting the large Ice Troll. As the enemies had him surrounded, defending was impossible.

But defending was not part of an Ice Troll’s dictionary. Only attack. Weed swept away the enemies with a whirl of his spear. Every cultist within the range of Weed’s spear turned into grey light. Weed’s attack was foolish, daring and full of fighting spirit!

The weak cultists could not content with Weed’s high level and strength. It was like watching the strong violently suppressing the weak! The eyes of the low level newbies were wide as they watched in disbelief.

“Ah, I also want to be like that.”

“The Ice Troll is so cool!”

“How many times do I have to level up to fight like that?”

Watching Weed reassured the players, some even momentarily forgot about their escape and began to eat peanuts as they watched the spectacle.

Seo Yoon began to flex the frightening temperament of a Beserker. The cultists within her vicinity were swept up in a mana explosion and disappeared.

“Go!”

“Let’s increase our level quickly to eat a gourmet meal and find a boyfriend!”

The great escape!

While Weed, Seo Yoon and the other players halted the cultists of Embinyu, they had to flee as far as possible. The players and the NPCs came one after another from the underground passage and continued their escape beyond the hill.

The residents of Serabourg Citadel who have managed to escape gave their heartfelt gratitude.

Fame increased by 34.

The residents are in your debt, your reputation among them improved.

Your intimacy with the residents of Rosenheim Kingdom improved.

Texts kept popping up on Weed’s message window.

The number of refugees were enormous, even now only several thousands had managed to pass the underground passages and climbed over the hill. Weed had to buy more time for the rest of the refugees to escape to a safe area.

‘I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this.’

Looking toward Serabourg Citadel, he saw that it was covered in an inferno and was burning brightly. Soon, the Embinyu forces would chase after the king and his knights and would discover the refugees. It was only a matter of time till the large army of the Embinyu Church would come after the refugees Weed was leading.

“Sister!”

In the chaos a newbie slipped his hand and was caught on the edge of the rock, struggling to get out. At that place, a seriously wounded cultist was standing with his pickaxe.

“Death is the only option for those who refuse to follow the Embinyu Church!”

For a newbie, a cultist was no different than a boss monster.

“Chad!”

The moment the sister who cried out upon looking at the scene, the cultist who was about to bring down his pickaxe turned into a grey light and disappeared. Behind the point where the cultist was standing was an Ice Troll holding a spear.

Weed who was fighting at the front line saw the boy Chad was in danger, he ran toward the scene at an extreme pace.

“Please hurry.”

Weed personally grabbed hold of Chad’s hand and raise the boy up. The players escaping in a flurry saw this scene.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. I did what I had to do. ”

There was no hint of hypocrisy or pretense on the wicked looking Ice Troll’s face.

‘Whew, that could have been a disaster!’

Weed never missed a japtem! He found himself fortunate that he spotted the sapphires at the place Chad fell before anyone else.

*****

The refugees did not move as fast as Weed wanted. The newbies could logout if they moved far away from Serabourg Citadel and the war zone. But the same did not apply to the NPCs of Serabourg Citadel and there were quite a lot of children and elders among. Not only was their stamina low but so was their morale, so the marching speed was slow.

Even though Seo Yoon, Van Hawk, Torido and the other players were fending off the Embinyu cultists, Weed’s expression was dark.

“The end of Serabourg Citadel is nigh.”

From afar, it was now possible to see the fire and the smoke rising from Serabourg Citadel. The defending forces were just a step away from total annihilation and portions of the palace gave deafening sounds as it started to collapse. And from some distance away, another contingent of Embinyu Church forces was heading toward Weed and the refugees.

“They sent the Karaclops this time!”

These monsters were rhinoceros that were mammoth sized. Their height was 6 meters and their level was about 360. On the back of the Karaclops were watchtowers in which the Embinyu soldiers rode on.

This was the contingent of Karaclops troops sent to attack the refugees after receiving the report from the Wyvern Knights.

“Kill all those who have rejected the Embinyu Church and are fleeing!”

The archers riding on the Karaclops readied their bows.

Weed stepped forward to draw their attention.

“Not one of you shall pass if you can’t go through me!”

As Weed had overflowing strength and resilience, he heroically baited them into attacking him.

Pu shushuong!

In response, immeasurable number of arrows flew towards Weed and blackened the sky.

With both hands Weed spun his spear as fast as possible. Like in the movies, the arrows ricochet from his spear.

Chararang!

But arrows still managed to find their way through the gaps and pierced the Ice Troll’s large body.

You have been struck by an arrow.

Health decreased by 275.

You have been struck by an arrow.

Your armor mitigated some damage.

Health decreased by 89.

You have been struck by an arrow.

Your armor mitigated some damage.

Health decreased by 327.

……

Weed’s body was riddled like a porcupine!

Your body withstood an arrow from a high rank enemy, resilience increased by 2.

Weed successfully managed to draw the enemy's attention. It was thanks to the Ice Troll’s absurd health, he managed to survive. But if there was any slip-up the situation could have turned very serious.

Skills existed whereby it allowed the players to cut an arrow in mid air with a sword, or block them by creating walls. Weed could only regret that he did not have an opportunity to learn such skills. Though even if he had those skills, his mana was too low to use them anyways.

“Stomp them!”

The Karaclops thumped the ground as it dashed toward them.

The NPCs and players began to lose their courage.

“Ah, do we really have to fight with those things?”

“I am scared.”

Other than a battlefield, such a rush of attacks was rare and far between. The players who had only fought against common monsters couldn’t help but be overwhelmed.

“Healing Hand!”

Priests urgently healed Weed.

Weed, Van Hawk, Torido and Seo-Yun stood side by side on the hill.

“What a joyous day for battle. I am going to fight to my heart’s content on this day.”

And with that, Weed moved back a step.

“When I was still alive and well in Kallamore Kingdom, I used to have battles like these every day.”

Even Van Hawk took a step back.

Seo Yoon didn’t want to stand out alone and draw the enemy’s attention so she also move to the back.

“KARURURU.”

Torido who was facing the charging enemy with his fangs out only noticed now that everyone else had pulled back. But to retreat was out of the question in the face of the Vampire Lord’s dignity. And as the pure vampire clan was flying around as bats, it was beyond unacceptable.

“Blood! I yearn for blood!”

As Torido scurried forward, he unfurled his cape and jump up high to the top of the Karaclops.

“Vampire!”

“Let’s use the vampire as a sacrifice for the Embinyu Church as well. Nothing is too precious as a sacrifice to him. For the complete destruction of this continent!”

The Embinyu Archers fired arrows toward Torido and the Shaman casted curses and binding spells.

“Blade Tornado!”

Torido used his skill. The keen edge of the blood sword devastated the surrounding, causing huge damage to the Karaclops that were within the attack range. In that time, Weed’s health was restored and vitality recovered.

“Let’s go Van Hawk.”

Weed raised his spear and ran forward. The Karaclops tried to stomp him and the Embinyu soldiers attacked with spells and arrows. Because of his huge size, Weed could not completely dodge all the attacks. Just a graze dealt huge damage to his health. But with his outrageous strength he toppled the Karaclops by bashing its front leg.

“Ka-ang!”

With a roar, the massive Karaclops toppled!

Seo Yoon also used her Berserker skills in earnest and began fighting. Once she started to fight in earnest, her class specialty was hard to halt. Up till now it was difficult to get warmed up, but now it was enough for the Berserker skills to be activated.

She weaved through the battlefield, showing off her incredible strength as she turned the Karaclops and Embinyu soldiers into grey light en mass.

Van Hawk riding on his Phantom Horse, subdued the soldiers with his mobility. Torido flew on top of the Karaclops with his pure blood vampire clans. Morning has yet to come, so the vampires were still frighteningly powerful against the humans.

The Karaclops and the Embinyu Archers ensnared by Torido began to fight against each other.

“Those speaking heresy must die.”

“The vampires were sent by the Embinyu to lead us toward the right path!”

The players who have yet to log out gave support with spells and arrows, and the warriors bravely fought the dangers together. Even though they were killed by the Karaclops hooves and the Archer’s arrows, they fought till the end.

“Mom, I’m on TV!”

“I’m going to brag to my friends that I died fighting next to Weed.”

“Ah! I could have taken that item!”

Magic exploded all around them and arrows poured down like rain.

Weed did not target the Archers, rather he only preyed on the Karaclops.

Koong! Koong! Koong!

A Karaclops charged toward Weed and tried to trample him.

Momentary Herculean Strength has been used.

Strength increased.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Weed held onto the Karaclops leg and flipped it to the side. Whenever the humongous Karaclops fell, large number of Archers and Shamans died as a bonus.

In a war or a siege, Karaclops played a major role against soldiers. They had the ability to lower the morale of the army, so they could be useful in many situations. Once a Karaclops started its charge, the body of the players with low fighting spirit froze up and were killed without being able to escape!

But Weed, Seo Yoon, Van Hawk and Torido had even fought off a Bone Dragon before. With their fighting spirit, something like the Karaclops was not enough to make them lose heart.

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