Chapter 90
TL: Hanguk
"Sejun can handle it well, right?"
Aileen was thinking about Sejun, who had gone to the 67th floor of the tower.
The Red Locust did worry her, but
"The other animals will protect Sejun well."
Since other animals had also gone with him, Aileen wasn't overly worried.
Then,
[The population of the Red Locust on the 67th floor of the tower has exceeded 7 billion.]
[The Red Locust on the 67th floor of the tower has met the conditions for evolution.]
[The Red Locust on the 67th floor of the tower evolves into Purple Locust.]
"What?! Purple Locust?"
Aileen was taken aback upon seeing the new alert.
And then,
"Grandpa!"
She hurriedly called Kaiser.
-Oh! Aileen! Finally, do you want to have a conversation with your grandpa?
"Grandpa! The Red Locust on the 67th floor of the tower has evolved into Purple Locust! What about our Sejun?"
-If the enemy gets stronger, the reward also gets better. It's a good thing.
"What are you talking about?! Our Sejun is in danger!"
-Stop worrying about that Sejun again! He has detoxifying green onions and he's surrounded by animals even stronger than him! He even gained an extra skill.
"So, you're saying we don't need to worry about our Sejun?"
-That's what I'm saying.
"Heeheehee. Grandpa, teach me the administrator's work quickly!"
-Hahaha. Okay. Your grandpa will teach you everything!
'Finally, our Aileen has come to her senses.'
When Kaiser was moved,
'Heeheehee. I'll quickly learn the administrator's work and see if there is anything more I can do for our Sejun.’
Aileen was thinking something else.
***
The 67th floor of the tower, Navia Swamp.
Swoosh.
[You have arrived at the Navia Swamp on the 67th floor of the tower.]
[From now on, find and remove the cause that threatens the extinction of the Jewel frogs.]
A bright light flashed, and Sejun and the animals appeared.
Squish.
"Ugh. What is this?"
As soon as he arrived, his shoes were soaked with water and the damp feeling inside them made Sejun's expression crumple. The same was true for the animals that had come with Sejun.
"I hate this feeling, meow!"
Squeak!
kueng!
Pi Ppi!
The animals frowned as their fur got wet.
Flap. Flap
Suddenly, the sound of wings flapping could be heard nearby.
"Huh?"
Nearly fifty thousand Red Locusts, now almost purple, were flying towards Sejun and the animals from all directions.
"What?!"
"These creatures!"
Squeak!
Roar!
Pi Ppi!
The animals surrounded Sejun and blocked the approach of the Red Locusts.
"Meow! I, President Theo, will protect President Park, meow!"
Swoosh.
Theo extended his claws and slaughtered the Red Locusts, and
Squeak!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Black Rabbit swung its hammer, crushing the Red Locusts.
And then,
Grrr!
Boom. Bang!
Cuengi enlarged its body to about 3m and extended the enhanced branch of the corrupted ent to about 5m, destroying the Red Locusts with the wind pressure created by the full swing of the branch.
Pi Ppi!
Splash.
Finally, ChuChu used the water attribute magic, Water Cannon, and shot high-pressure water to kill the Red Locusts.
[Guard Theo has killed the Red Locust.]
[You have acquired 5 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Guard Theo.]
...
..
.
Maybe because they're weak, the experience points were small.
When the animals began to deal with the Red Locusts,
[You have found the cause of the extinction of the Jewel frogs in the Navia Swamp on the 67th floor of the tower.]
[A Mid-level Administrator quest has been triggered.]
[Mid-level Administrator Quest: Exterminate the Red Locust on the 67th floor of the tower.]
→ Red Locust: 0/6,999,999,712
→ Reward: 1 million EXP, 10,000 tower coins
→ Failure: You cannot return to the original location until you complete the quest.
The quest appeared.
"6.99 billion?"
Sejun was surprised to see the population of the Red Locusts. According to the wolves he had heard from before, the population of the Red Locusts had reduced to nearly 5 billion.
"They'll evolve into Purple when their number increases by just 288, right?"
While Sejun was looking at the quest,
Squirm.
Red Locusts, roughly 10 cm in length and smaller in size than regular ones, began to emerge from the swamp. They were freshly hatched Red Locust larvae.
The Red Locusts had been using the Navia Swamp as their hatching ground. The Red Locust larvae, though just born, moved agilely.
And when a Red Locust larva that emerged right below Sejun bit Sejun's foot,
Fwoosh.
Blue flames erupted from Sejun's body and incinerated the Red Locust larva. It was the Flame of Protection buff given by Flamie.
Fwoosh.
The Protection flame burned the larvae coming out from the ground, protecting Sejun.
However,
Ssssh.
The Flame of Protection buff that was protecting Sejun faded away a few minutes later, not lasting the full three hours.
Fortunately, in the meantime, the animals had taken care of all 50,000 Red Locusts, and
Roar!
Thump! Thump!
When Cuengi stomped on the ground a few times,
[Guard Cuengi has killed the Red Locust larvae.]
[You have acquired 2 experience points, 50% of the experience points earned by Guard Cuengi.]
[Guard Cuengi has killed the Red Locust egg.]
[You have acquired 1 experience point, 50% of the experience points earned by Guard Cuengi.]
...
..
.
All the Red Locust larvae and eggs that were beneath the swamp were crushed under Cuengi's feet.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have acquired 1 bonus stat.]
Thanks to this, Sejun leveled up once again. Although the experience points given by the Red Locust were small, the sheer number made up for it.
"Let's assess the situation first. Create Thundercloud!"
Since they were attacked as soon as they arrived, neither Sejun nor the animals had any grasp of the situation.
"I wonder if there's a waypoint nearby?"
As he created the Thundercloud, Sejun quickly looked around the sky.
"It's too far away."
Roughly 10km away, he could see a red stream shooting up into the sky. It seemed like he would have to give up registering a waypoint this time as well.
The thundercloud created in Sejun's hand rose to the sky. Then, at a height of about 3 meters, it spread out, concealing them from view.
Centered around Sejun, a cloud about 30cm thick and 500m in radius covered the area. Thanks to the increased proficiency in creating thunderclouds, such detailed control became possible.
Pi Ppi!
ChuChu, who had taken a brief rest to recover her mana, cast a waterproof spell on Sejun and the animals.
"Oh. Thanks."
Thanks to ChuChu's magic, his shoes were still damp but he was able to avoid having his feet wrinkled with moisture.
"Let's start with the void prison storage."
Clink.
Sejun opened the void prison, but...
"Huh?"
The door didn't open because Iona was upgrading the void prison storage.
"This is a problem."
Looking at the number of Red Locusts, it seemed likely that they would evolve into Purple Locusts soon. In order to prepare for that, he needed the detoxifying green onions which were inside the void prison storage.
Just then,
[The Red Locusts has evolved into Purple Locusts.]
[The quest has been updated.]
[Mid-Level Administrator's Quest: Exterminate the Purple Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.]
→ Purple Locusts: 0/7,000,011,712 billion
→ Reward: 3 million EXP, 50,000 tower coins
→ Failure: You can't return to your original location until the quest is complete.
The quest was updated.
"What?! We just killed over 50,000 and the number has increased..."
It seemed like there were other hatching sites elsewhere as well.
"President Park, eat this quickly, meow! It's dangerous, meow!"
While he was looking at the quest, Theo quickly stuffed a detoxifying green onion into Sejun's mouth.
"Uh! Why (are you doing this)?"
"Just swallow it quickly, meow!"
Theo shouted as he held Sejun's jaw so he couldn't open his mouth.
Chomp chomp.
Sejun glared at Theo with a look that said 'I'll remember this', and chewed the green onion as he was told. Although it was a raw green onion and a bit spicy, but as he chewed it became sweet and tasty.
Gulp.
[You have consumed a detoxifying green onion.]
[Neutralizes poison of rank D or lower for 1 hour.]
"President Theo, what..."
Just as Sejun, who had swallowed the green onion, was about to scold Theo
"President Park, look down, meow!"
"Down? Huh?!"
The water around Sejun had turned purple.
[You have been poisoned by a D-rank nerve poison.]
[Detoxified.]
Had Theo given him the detoxifying green onion a bit later, it would have been dangerous. The poisonous blood from the Red Locusts had flowed into the swamp.
"President Theo, you..."
Sejun was moved by Theo, who had saved his life.
However,
"President Park, that was close, meow! Be careful, meow!"
As Theo spoke while rubbing his face against Sejun's knee, Sejun cooled off. That's just who he was.
"President Theo, where did you get the detoxifying green onions?"
"I've packed goods to sell in advance in my bag, meow! I am always a well-prepared, excellent wandering merchant, meow!"
Theo proudly showed off his bag.
"Good job."
Sejun stroked the head of Theo hanging on his knee.
"I want to eat Churu, meow!"
"Not here. I'll give you some later."
"Okay, meow!"
Thanks to Theo, Sejun was less worried about the poison for the time being. Sejun also fed the detoxifying green onions to the other animals as well. They had stronger resistance to poison than Sejun, but they could be in danger if they were continuously exposed to it.
"But is this really okay?"
Sejun looked at the swamp that had turned purple and wore a serious expression. He was worried about the jewel frogs that were endangered.
***
The 67th floor of the tower, Lizardman's base.
"Block them!"
"Hold on!"
"Don't let a single one enter the waypoint!"
Lizardmen, freelance mercenaries, and the Silver Wolf tribe were desperately defending the waypoint.
However, they were lacking in long-range firepower to stop the red locusts who were pushing in with sheer numbers. They were starting to get pushed back.
'Damn it! When is the reinforcement coming?! We'll be breached in a few hours at this rate!'
The Lizardman Great Warrior Tamuro felt bitter about the reinforcements that didn't come despite waiting.
Then
Flap. Flap
About a quarter of the red locust forces started to change direction and head east. This gave them some respite.
"Rest and recover your strength in turns!"
'What's happening over there? That's where Navia Swamp is...'
After giving orders to his soldiers, Tamuro looked in the direction the red locusts were flying and thought.
***
Inside a rock cave.
Chomp chomp chomp.
'Puhuhut. It's so good without Iona, meow.'
Theo was sitting on Sejun's lap, eating Churu. Sejun and the other animals were drying their clothes by the fire.
Just then
Hop Hop.
Twenty frogs with various gems embedded in their foreheads approached. They were jewel frogs.
"Did the treatment go well?"
When Sejun put his hand on the jewel frog's body and asked
Ribbit Ribbit.
[Thank you. Thanks to you, our friends have become healthy.]
Ribbit Ribbit.
As the jewel frog bowed its head, the other jewel frogs also expressed their gratitude to Sejun.
Sejun met the jewel frogs while he was wandering around the swamp, which had turned purple, searching for the habitat of the jewel frogs. He thought the jewel frogs would be in danger since the water had been contaminated with poison.
While searching for the jewel frogs
Ribbit...
Black rabbit heard the faint voice of a jewel frog.
Squeak!
Then, the black rabbit led Sejun to a place where he found a jewel frog dying from poison.
"Eat this for now."
When Sejun fed the jewel frog a detoxifying green onion to detoxify it,
Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!
[Thank you! My friends are also sick from drinking purple water! Please help them!]
The revived jewel frog asked Sejun for help and they were now waiting in the habitat of the jewel frogs for them to fully recover.
"That's good. We'll handle things here, so don't come out for a few days."
Sejun shouted out to the jewel frogs and came out of the large crevice where the jewel frogs lived.
Whirrrrr, Rrrrrr
As soon as he came out, he was greeted by 1.5 billion purple locusts.
"...?!"
Sejun froze at the astronomical number.
Then
Bang!
"Hehehe. Sejun, I've finished upgrading! It's now using quintuple layered magic!"
Iona appeared, opening the door to the void prison storage with both hands.
*****
Chapter 90: Finishing the Upgrade
*****
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