𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟓
‘Right, it can’t be helped since he already ran away.’
Having resolved to definitely eliminate him the next time we meet, I let out a long sigh and started walking again.
By the way, how did that guy escape?
It was in the middle of a battle with me, so it couldn’t have been a Return Scroll.
The only thing left was a skill, but I had no idea what kind of skill it was, so I stopped thinking about it and started to worry about what would happen next.
‘Perhaps a war?’
I didn’t know how, but it was certain that the intruders were in this area.
Besides, since the negotiations had broken down, I thought the only thing left was war.
‘Should I contact Aizen?’
If I stayed like this, I would definitely be caught off guard.
Thinking it would be better to tell Aizen, even if it was bothersome, I immediately contacted him and told him about what had just happened.
━You’re saying he’s still in this area?
“Yeah, he’s definitely hiding somewhere. Be as careful as possible.”
━Understood. Thank you for letting me know.
I was a little uneasy since I didn’t have any other information besides the fact that he was in this area, but I didn’t worry too much because Aizen wasn’t an ordinary guy either.
He wouldn’t just let himself be caught off guard, would he?
However, it seemed like the scenario progression might be delayed.
‘Come to think of it, isn’t this all because of the roadblock?’
If Aizen hadn’t blocked the road, this wouldn’t have happened.
Of course, I wasn’t unaware of Aizen’s intentions.
I assumed Aizen was trying to monopolize the main scenario.
Otherwise, there was no reason for him to block the entrance, and there was no way he would have answered Lee Juho in a way that left no room for negotiation.
‘And seeing Lee Juho intrude even though he knew he would be facing the Emperor Guild……’
Does that mean the main scenario reward is that great?
It goes without saying, but since I didn’t receive the main scenario quest, I didn’t know what the reward was.
Conversely, I thought I could ask Aizen, but I thought it would be ridiculous to ask about a reward that had nothing to do with me, so I used Intuition again to find a searchable location.
The problem was that it wasn’t easy to find.
In the first place, the efficiency wasn’t good.
The method I was using now was to go to a suspicious location, focus my mind to activate Intuition, and then check if it was searchable.
Frankly, it was worse than having someone else activate the Exploration Skill.
This was because I was wasting time trying to concentrate.
‘There is a way to solve this.’
I could activate the second Intuition.
I had been refraining from it as much as possible since I was hospitalized, but the second Intuition seemed to definitely tell me the searchable locations.
‘Find the searchable location and then immediately log out?’
I couldn’t stop the second Intuition on my own.
The only way to stop it was to log out, and I thought there wouldn’t be a big problem if I used it for a short time and then logged out.
‘I can’t keep wandering around anyway.’
……Okay.
After much deliberation, I decided to use the second Intuition, and I concentrated my mind even more while using Intuition.
“Phew.”
As soon as I activated the second Intuition, I thought of searchable locations.
At the same time, I felt the paths I had to take here and there, and since there were more searchable locations than I expected, my head felt like it was throbbing.
‘Let’s go to the nearest one first.’
Fortunately, the sensation I felt was not that far away.
About a 5-minute run at full speed?
Considering my running speed, it wasn’t exactly close, but the other places were even further away.
[Logging out.]
[Back on the Twilight-lit Street……]
Anyway, I quickly ran to that place, logged out, tried logging in again to get rid of the second Intuition, and then looked around the place I had found.
“There’s nothing particularly special.”
Well, that’s how this area is.
Still, since it was a place found with the second Intuition, I thought something might pop out, so I took out the Gem-Eating Snake and used the Exploration Skill.
[Gem consumed.]
[A-rank skill, Exploration Wave (LV7) is activated.]
Fwoosh!-
‘As expected.’
As befitting a place found with Intuition, I could see something appear when I activated the Exploration Skill.
Without having to look closely, I could see grass and lush trees beyond a transparent membrane that looked like a barrier, and I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw it.
A forest in a place like this?
Besides, when I reached out my hand, it passed through very easily, unlike the barrier where the follower was.
“So that means I can enter.”
It might be an important place.
After all, there was a forest sitting alone in this barren land.
Thinking that far, I passed through the transparent membrane that looked like a barrier and entered the forest, and at the same time, I could feel the air become refreshingly clean.
“By the way, what is this place?”
Forests were not uncommon in Twilight, but this forest felt somewhat different.
To put it bluntly, it was peaceful.
Looking around again, there was no sign of any monsters.
“Intruder!”
“……?”
Suddenly, I heard someone shout from afar.
Thinking that this place, too, might be a village-like place like the Mole’s, I stood there and waited for someone to come, and soon I could see about 10 people appear.
Surprisingly, they weren’t Moles.
“Human?”
“Elf?”
The 10 people who appeared had long ears. Their hair was also a bright color like gold or green, and their skin was white and clean, so I unconsciously uttered the word “elf.”
“Could you be an Apostle of Beluin?”
“To think you’d come all the way here.”
‘Huh?’
Somehow, I felt like they would misunderstand if I left it like this.
“No, I have nothing to do with Beluin. In fact, I caught an Apostle of Beluin.”
“You caught an Apostle?”
They looked at me with suspicion when I said I had caught an Apostle, but fortunately, they didn’t attack.
“Yes, and I found this place while wandering around looking for a way to the sealed area.”
“The sealed area? Why are you going there?”
“Uh……”
I’m momentarily speechless.
Come to think of it, I didn’t know what to do after going to the sealed area.
Maybe Aizen, who received the quest, would know?
But if I couldn’t say anything, there was a high chance I would be chased away, so I had to answer somehow.
‘That Mole guy said that part of the seal had been released, right?’
Thinking that far, I made up a story and answered.
“Strange forces and giant monsters have been appearing on the continent one after another. I think there’s a problem with the seal, so I’m trying to go there to check it out.”
“……But we can’t trust you. Go back.”
Tsk, both the Mole and these guys are just telling me to go back.
But who are these guys? Are they really elves?
I’ve rarely met other races while playing Twilight, so I was suspicious, but they were definitely elves.
‘If I say I can’t go back here, will they try to fight?’
Honestly, I wasn’t afraid of fighting, but I didn’t want to ruin the main scenario progression by unnecessarily straining the relationship.
I wish I had Sina with me at a time like this.
If it didn’t work out, I could bring Aizen and have him fight them, so I didn’t feel too burdened. I nodded and offered a condition.
“Yes, I’ll go back. But tell me how to break the barrier in the sealed area.”
“The barrier? You talk as if you’ve been there.”
“I have been there. But there was a barrier, so I couldn’t get in. I thought there might be a way here.”
It was the same conversational technique that Aizen used at the entrance to the Mole village.
If there was a way to break the barrier here, then that was good, and if not, they would answer that they didn’t know of such a method either.
And my prediction was right, as the elf, who seemed to be pondering this and that, soon nodded slightly and gave me the answer I wanted.
“A way to break the barrier…… it’s not impossible.”
“Really?”
As expected, there was a way to break the barrier from the outside, not just by Aizen infiltrating alone and breaking it.
In addition, I thought I should use this conversational technique that Aizen showed me often in the future. I looked at the elf with expectant eyes, but the elf coldly refused.
“But I can’t tell you.”
Refusal really rolls off his tongue.
Would it have been different if it had been Aizen who received the main scenario quest?
Anyway, I couldn’t back down here.
“Isn’t there any way? I have to go inside the barrier to see what happened to the seal. Besides, I think what I’m doing will help this place too.”
They said I was an Apostle of Beluin as soon as they saw me, so I guessed they might have been hiding here to escape Beluin’s forces.
“Indeed, we are nearing our limit.”
“What if we ask this human for help?”
“What help could one human be?”
At that moment, some of the elves voiced their opinions.
Listening to their conversation, it seemed like this place also had some kind of problem, just like the Mole village.
‘Oh…… I hope I don’t have to find something like the Sun Stone again.’
Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
“Human, I can tell you how to break the barrier as you wish. If you do something for us in return.”
“Something?”
“Before that, there’s something you have to swear. You will never use force here.”
[Nature’s Oath has been activated.]
[If you accept, you will not be able to use skills in this ‘Green Dense Forest’.]
“If you swear, we will allow you to enter our village.”
Skill sealing……
Either way, since they had a way to break the barrier here, there was no other way but to go in.
And this was just my thought, but judging from the fact that options were appearing, there seemed to be other ways as well.
But I thought I should achieve my goal here without having to go far, so I nodded and made whatever the oath was.
“I swear.”
[All skills are sealed due to Nature’s Oath.]
“It’s not very human-like to be so suspicious. We will not betray that trust either.”
[You have taken Nature’s Oath without hesitation.]
[Favorability with Ladels increases by 1.]
‘Not a bad start.’
It was only 1 favorability point, but it was much better than nothing.
Originally, I didn’t care about favorability, but considering the situation, I was glad that the favorability had increased this time.
And since I had taken Nature’s Oath, it was now time to enter the village.
“Follow me. I’ll introduce you to our village.”
Following the elf presumed to be Ladels, I soon arrived at a place that looked like a village.
It seemed that this forest wasn’t that wide.
‘Oh, but it’s still amazing.’
In the center of the village, a somewhat withered giant tree stood tall like a modern building, and around it, houses that seemed to be made of earth were scattered here and there.
‘But it’s small for a village.’
There were roughly 30-40 houses that I could see, and there weren’t many elves outside.
At most 20-30 people?
Since more than 10 people came to me at first, I thought there would be at least a few hundred, so it was a bit of an unexpected sight.
“What do you think?”
What do I think? Should I answer that it looks like a rural village?
“Oh, it’s a nice place.”
“You have a good eye. And to answer your question about the barrier from earlier, you can go through with a branch of the World Tree.”
“I guess that tree in the center is the World Tree?”
“That’s right. But it’s withering day by day to block Beluin’s evil influence.”
Leaving aside the evil influence, something came to mind.
It was something I heard from Mous. Mous said that part of Beluin’s seal had been released, and he was absorbing all the life force in this area to regain his power.
But this place remained intact, so I guessed it was probably the power of the World Tree.
‘Instead, it’s withering as a price.’
“You should understand by now. If you help the World Tree recover, we’ll give you a branch of the World Tree that can break the barrier.”
[A Contribution Point Quest has been generated.]
A Contribution Point Quest, not an NPC quest?
Thinking it was a different kind of quest than before, I opened the Quest Information Window and was able to roughly understand what kind of quest it was.
[Contribution Point Quest: Restore the World Tree.]
Description: The World Tree that protects the Green Dense Forest is withering day by day to block Beluin’s power. Please help the World Tree recover and regain its original strength.
*Contribution Point Rewards.
……
……
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