Ark

ACT 5 The Fallen Yggdrasil

Notes:

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“Earthquake!”

“Gather everyone in the square!”

When he entered the town, the raccoon soldiers were running around in confusion. Ark ordered some troops leaders to calm the turmoil and went to see the elders.

The elders’ face was pale like they had been sick.

“Ah, Ark!”

“What happened?”

“Nídhöggur is ……..The cause of this earthquake was certainly Nídhöggur.”

“Nídhöggur? What is that? Calm down and tell me.”

“It is the wicked malevolent deity we fear the most, the fallen dragon that lives in the deepest place in Subarutalp! And in the dark century……it was one of the six followers of the Lord of Darkness.”

“Yes?”

Ark asked again with a stupid face.

Dark century? Deity? Fallen Dragon? What are they talking about?

Wasn’t the problem that needed to be fixed Yggdrasil?

When Ark made an expression like he didn’t understand, the elders trembled and explained.

Once again, the Northern continent followed Norse mythology. And a dragon called Nídhöggur was also featured in Norse mythology.

Nídhöggur was described in the Norse mythology.

Even deeper underneath Subarutalp, the Underground world, there exists a frozen land of darkness and fog called Niflheim.

Niflheim was often called hell.  Nídhöggur started eating away at Yggdrasil’s roots, and it was the dragon that ate the corpses in hell.

Ark already knew that part thanks to his common sense.

“In the Dark Century, this was the place where the 7 heroes and Nídhöggur fought a fierce battle.  And at the end of a long battle, they were finally able to defeat hell’s army led by Nídhöggur. However, the 7 heroes weren’t able to completely defeat Nídhöggur. Therefore, as a temporary solution the 7 heroes borrowed Yggdrasil’s power and seal Nídhöggur and his army from Niflheim into Yggdrasil.

“So when Yggdrasil became corrupted……..”

“He waited for Yggdrasil to become weak and then weakened the seal in order to break out!

The elder held his head and made a sign to ward off evil.

“Didn’t I say so? We should’ve reached Yggdrasil faster!”

“But in this situation you never told me a single thing.”

“It is taboo to speak of it for the raccoon clans.”

The elders countered.

“The raccoon clans made a promise with the 7 heroes.  The raccoons must isolate Subarutalp from the outside world as a way to keep the secret of the seal containing Nídhöggur.”

“7 heroes?”

“Yes, so this place was deceptively hidden………”

The Elder revealed the amazing secret.

The Underground World wasn’t originally isolated from the outside world.

According to the vow between the 7 heroes and the raccoon clans, they blocked the entrance using the underground labyrinth.

Then the one year monarch who built Cairo was a descendant of the 7 heroes. At that time, the barbarians were gradually approaching the underground labyrinth, so in order to repel their approach the monarch mobilized his soldiers and built Cairo in order to prevent the secret of the sealing from escaping.  However, after a few hundred years the will of the monarch disappeared and Cairo became a simple lawless city.

‘Then the reason the other beast species didn’t know about the location of the raccoons was because of this?’

Once again, there were many existences buried in New World.

If there were such things in other games.  The whole situation was set up. There was an underground world just like there was an underwater city.  However, New World was different.

The underwater city and underground world demonstrates that there must be a purpose in order to reach it.

The same goes for monsters. There were many reasons for making monsters that inhabit different areas.  Legends of the past or traditions had a high possibility of being used as a historical event. And all of that results in a single scenario.

The Dark Century……..!

At that moment, Ark’s head was spinning fiercely.

‘The Heartsoul Bead disappeared and then Nídhöggur’s seal weakened.  If so, that might be the purpose of the Red Man in the first place.

Once again, Ark wondered about the red haired NPC.

So far, he had thought that the Red Man was simply a NPC related to the quest.  However, the problem wasn’t so simple if he has anything to do with Nídhöggur.

This scenario was likely to play a huge role in the prophecy that predicts that the Lord of Darkness and the 7 heroes would return.

‘Maybe what happened in Jackson and the resurrection of Valderas was also related to the Red Man.’

Everything must fall in place to find all the clues.

Such as not knowing how Valderas resurrected himself.  If someone had resurrected Valderas intentionally. Then the timing seemed to fit.

The Heartsoul Bead was stolen from the Magic Institute a year ago, but it was after the Event Quest finished that the Red Man disappeared with the Heartsoul Bead.

The time in between……..

The Red Man must have been orchestrating the events that happened in Jackson.

‘If my guess is true……..The Red Man is the main NPC that holds the key to all the scenarios in New World!’

A spark flew in Ark’s head while he was thinking.

‘Perhaps………….perhaps……….!’

It was the condition to pass the Global Exos test.

He didn’t know whether the condition was a quest or unknown event scenario. However, the Red Man was an NPC that might influence the fate of New World!’

Maybe figuring out the clues was the key to passing the test to enter Global Exos.

No, if Ark’s reasoning was no doubt correct. Then even if it wasn’t the answer requested by Global Exos, if he managed to clear the quest then there was no doubt a strong impression would be given.

‘It is New World after all and everything is related to the Dark Century and the seven heroes.’ ‘Yes, it’s clear the passing the company’s entrance examination was entangled in the legend scenario!’

He had finally found a clue.

This was the answer to Global Exos!

‘Even though there was a report sent about the Jackson Event Quest, there was no reaction which seems strange…….it must have been just a clue. It is Global Exos after all. They must be careful with the scenarios to avoid unscrupulous people joining the company………’

A clear view of the future increased is mood.

Have the other candidates found any clues like this? Of course, in order to choose more people Global Exos might have other clues. But anyway, Ark had managed to find a clue so it became a little clearer what he had to do.

‘I have to stop the resurrection of Nídhöggur for the time being. Because if I don’t solve this then there is no meaning in finding the clue. When completing a quest like this, I must do it clearly so that points will be piled up neatly.’

Ark asked with an urgent voice.

“What would happen if Nídhöggur is resurrected?”

“Doom …..Ruin! The Nídhöggur from the Dark Century almost drove the entire Northern Continent to death. It was only when the Lord of Darkness appeared and the dragon submitted to them that the Northern Continent was saved. But now, there is no Lord of Darkness to restrain him. If he wakes up……the Underground World along with the Northern continent would become a land of the dead in just a few months.”

“How do we stop the resurrection?”

“Before the seal breaks, you have no choice but to return Yggdrasil to its original state.”

“There is no time to delay anymore.”

Ark nodded and murmured.

Dududung, the quest information window popped up.

[Quest has been updated.

Reclaim the Peace of the Underground World! = Prevent the resurrection of Nídhöggur!

You have discovered the secret hidden in Subarutalp.

Nídhöggur, the dragon that almost led the Northern continent to destruction is sealed underneath Subarutalp. But when Yggdrasil became corrupted, the seal weakened and if Nídhöggur is resurrected then he will lead his hellish army again.

If Nídhöggur is restored then the entire Northern continent will be engulfed in a huge disaster.

The only way to prevent the resurrection of Nídhöggur is to rescue and restore Yggdrasil.  Lead your raccoon soldiers to Yggdrasil and restore it before the seal breaks.

The current rate of seal destruction: 30%

<Difficulty: ☆ ☆ ☆      Quest is limited to: Dark Walker>]

Bang bang double bang!

“1st division retreat! 2nd artillery division, support the 1st division!”

Flames were burning as the artillerymen covered the first division’s retreat. A variety of flames flew through the air and exploded from the body of the Plant Golem.

“3rd division engineers, restore the 1st division using potions!”

Meanwhile, the engineers who had dug tunnels came up through one and applied potions. The first division who had their health restored once again went to face the Plant Golem and had their health decreased again.

“There is no time to rest. Go back to the potions and recover your health.  As quickly as possible!”

Ark shouted at his raccoon troops.

Since the quest updated, Ark literally pushed forward like a tank.  Thanks to Nídhöggur, he found out that the Red Man held the key to passing the entrance examination.

However, the situation was worse. The quest had a time limit before the seal would be destroyed.  If the limited time was over then the quest would fail.  And the Underground world would perish.

<Prevent the resurrection of Nídhöggur!> if the quest failed then the one he spent a long time on <Find the Heartsoul Bead> was also likely to fail.

But the biggest problem was not the failure of the quest.  He could get one of the Three Marvels from Yggdrasil.

It was a major item required for 2 quests and his profession at the same time.  Of course, the Three Marvels was the only way to upgrade his profession…….he was lucky to have found a fragment of it in the Underground world. There was no guarantee that he would be able to find the clues again if he started from the beginning.

It also wasn’t possible to give up on the company entrance examination.

‘In the end, everything is hanging on this quest.’

Ark didn’t stop to reclaim the town.

Upgrading the troops and equipment required a minimum of 2 hours. He had to skip stopping in towns to save time.

By the rate of destruction of the seal wasn’t indicated in time, it made him even more impatient.

‘It is lucky that even the monsters are confused.’

Ark looked around at the shaken Underground world.

The earthquake was still continuing to move forward.

It was a natural result of Nídhöggur trying to break the seal. There was a deafening sound before the rocks rose and the ground cracked open. As a result of that, the earth in the forest where the battle was occurring sank down.

“Aaaaah, help me!”

“The crack is coming. The damage!”

Fortunately, the raccoon troops didn’t receive considerable damage.

However, that also happened to monsters.  The monsters would fall into the sudden crack or would have to avoid most of the raccoon troops.  And at that time, Popo manifested a strange ability.

“Arc-hyung, this is dangerous. We have to turn to the right.”

Wherever Popo said, a crack was likely to appear.  How on earth did he know that, was something that thought at first.

However, the situation repeated several times so Ark trusted Popo with the direction of the march. And they marched for three hours without distraction.

“Yggdrasil!”

The leading soldiers shouted.

“That is the number of worlds that appears in Norse mythology……..!”

Ark looked at the huge tree on top of the hill with a sigh.

At the heart of the jungle, the towering tree on the hilltop looked like a giant that was bearing the weight of the ceiling. With roots that extended everywhere, it was the patron of the raccoons, Yggdrasil.

There were numerous Kanggeul and Plant Golem’s running around the vicinity of the hill.

‘There is only one chance. If the troops are defeated then there is no way to return and try again.’

There was no time to rush blindly.

“Dedric, tell the heavy troops of the 1st division to use plan A-4 and lure the enemy. The 2nd artillery division will wait on standby to begin plan A-1 of concentrated attacks. The 3rd engineers will back up the 1st division.  You will concentrate on watching the movements of the monsters from the sky and if anything changes then tell me immediately.”

“I understand.”

When it was busy he would return.

Ark had commanded the raccoon force and suppressed his impatience.  He took advantage of Popo’s ability to predict changes of terrain in advance, in order to keep the Kanggeul and Plant Golems separate and enabled their attacks to be concentrated.

The raccoon soldiers also found the situation urgent and became more aggressive.

They spent 2 hours hunting around 20 Plant Golems and hundreds of Kanggeul. Numerous crosses floated over the heads of the raccoons as they levelled up like crazy.

Ark reached level 108 and his tactical skill increased considerably.

At that time, Dedric flew back.

“Master, the clean-up is now close to finishing. There are no monsters around Yggdrasil.”

‘Okay, the amount that I can raise my level and skills has become limited.  The preparation is sufficient. The game hangs on this!’

Ark immediately gathered the raccoons and sold them the Warrior’s cookies. The ravenous soldiers ate the cookies wildly with shaking shoulders.

The raccoons that had their moral raised to 100% weren’t afraid of death at all.

“This way!”

Popo pointed from the front.

A few kilometres around the bottom Yggdrasil, there was a break that looked like a giant cave.

The gap was so huge that 100 people could enter and line up in rank.  Ark stationed the soldiers too injured to march at the front of the entrance.

“I hate it; I want to fight with my hyung as well!”

“The front is going to be many times more dangerous than it is now.  I won’t have the capacity to protect you.”

“I don’t need the protection. I am from a warrior raccoon clan that fought to the death! I’ll just enter by myself!”

“………I understand. Then don’t fall from my side. Got it?”

“Yes, I’ll protect Hyung!”

Popo brandished a twisted dagger.

Ark sighed.

He really didn’t want to take him, if possible. However, Popo was a soldier and there was no time to argue with him.

-The current rate of seal destruction: 68%

‘It’s not enough.’

Ark checked the information window and immediately ordered them to march.

“Charge. It is right in front of your eyes!”

Ark led his troops into the interior of Yggdrasil.

The light of the ore didn’t reach inside and it was difficult to even see an inch in front of him. Besides, somewhere in the darkness a mist was pumped out that clogged up his breath.

To make matters worse, the interior was complicated like a maze.

In some places, thick tree branches tangled together to block a route.  Ark looked back at the elder and asked.

“Elder-nim?”

“I don’t know. When I went, it wasn’t this dark or complicated.”

“Did it transform? I can’t do it.  Dedric, go first and examine the terrain.”

Ark commanded and Dedric flew away and searched around.

However, he soon returned and shook his head.

“No, it is too complicated and I don’t know where I am.”

“Unbelievable. 1st division soldiers march forward and find the way.”

“Yes!”

After a few minutes of searching through the darkness……..

Swaeeeeek, Double bang!

“What, what is that sound?”

“An attack. Aa-avoid! Incoming!”

“Keuak!”

In the darkness, a huge object flew and attacked the troops.  When he used Eyes of the Cat, he saw that it was a huge thick vine.  Yggdrasil used its inner wall of vines to attack indiscriminately.

“Do not panic and maintain formation. 1st division form a circle and protect the troops, 2nd artillery division use plan A-3 to barrage the vine! 3rd engineer division, dedicate yourself to helping the wounded.”

It was a fearsome attack that flew in the dark!

Although it was a situation that would cause fear, the moral of the raccoon troops was already 100%.

Thanks to that, the fearless raccoons calmly followed Ark’s command.

Flashes from the cannons firing penetrated the darkness. 3~4 vines were destroyed under a chain of explosions.

However, another vine took their place along the floor.

“Arc-hyung, fighting the vines won’t do anything.”

Popo jumped back and forth as he shouted.

“The vines are Yggdrasil itself. If you destroy the vines then they’ll just be replaced! We must hurry to seek the core of Yggdrasil and remove the source of corruption!”

“I know!”

Ark shouted in an irate voice.

He could guess that much just by looking.  But was it as easy as he said? How would he move the troops that are battered from all sides by the vines?

At that time, something appeared like lightning inside Ark’s head.

“Yes, that’s it!”

Ark immediately packed Lancel’s sword into his bag and replaced it with ‘sword’ which was Deimos transformed into a blade.

Saw blade ………..although the damage was better, Lancel’s sword had several bonuses which meant more damage.  However, this time was different. It was a time when a special effect was more important than damage.

“Snake, return all items to the bag! If you run out of space then discard the japtem!”

Ssak ssak ssak!

Snake quickly climbed Ark’s body and entered the bag. And uncontrollably spat out items.

Items were also quickly thrown out of the bag. Tears gathered as even in this situation, Ark didn’t want to give up 1 copper.  But there was no time to think about it.

“Snake, paralysis poison!”

When Snake climbed back out, Ark immediately made it eat a poisonous plant and shouted.

Snake which produced poison inside its body spewed out venom.

“Go!”

Once the sword was poisoned, he switched on the whip. Ark who had done all that in a few seconds twisted his sword, and swung the saw blade at the vines.

Chwarararak, the sword attacked like a fan and hit all the vines within a radius of 7 metres. The number of times the poison could be used was five times, but if he used the sword like a whip to strike five times, the number of uses disappeared. And it took 3 seconds for the 6 vines that were struck to fall paralyzed to the ground.  Although he attacked a lot at the same time, the probability of all the enemies being poisoned was low.

However, if he used a poisonous herb the probability increases.

“Continue, create the poison!”

Ark made Snake eat the poison nonstop.  And he jumped crazily all over the place and wielded his sword.  Soon all 20 vines that had attacked the raccoon troops fell to the ground paralyzed. Ark restrained the raccoons from attacking the vines and shouted.

“It is not necessary to attack the vine. Anyway, it can’t catch up to us!”

He arranged the raccoon troops after defeating the vines and advanced. However, as they entered the maze became even more complicated.  In the end, it was difficult to distinguish where they were and they became even more disoriented.

In the meantime, some of the raccoons died from the offensive of the vines. In the beginning he had 300 people, but only 200 entered Yggdrasil and that number was now reduced to 150 people in the interior of Yggdrasil.

‘Damn, I keep losing more troops…….’

It won’t make removing the corruption from Yggdrasil any easier.

The boss would be even more difficult. Thanks to the difficulty level of C+, it was important to preserve all his raccoon troops.  But honestly in this state, he couldn’t even guarantee that he could find the nucleus of Yggdrasil.

-The current rate of seal destruction: 80%.

He closed his mouth as it began to dry up.

Meanwhile, he turned a corner.

All of a sudden he felt a feeble shake from the bag.

‘What? This is……Star Fragment?’

Once he opened the bag, he saw a feeble light shining from the Star Fragment of the Three Marvels. The Elder’s eyes widened and he muttered as Ark took out the shining Star Fragment.

“A Star Fragment! That’s right, you had a Star Fragment!”

“What do you mean?”

“At the centre of Yggdrasil is another of the Three Marvels. And according to legend, the pieces of the Three Marvels would recognise each other if they were within a certain distance.”

That stupid raccoon! Only telling him this information now?

Ark swallowed the profanities that were rising up his throat.

He cleared his thoughts as now wasn’t the time to be angry.

Woong Woong Woong, he moved the star fragment back and forth until the light became stronger.  And he felt like a child being pulled to one side by a force.

‘This way!’

Ark judged the situation and immediately shouted.

“Concentrate your power on defense! Don’t worry about anything else and just follow behind me. Unfortunately, I have no time to concern myself with stragglers.  The life and death of the continent as well as the Underground World is concerned in this battle. At whatever cost, I have to prevent the resurrection of Nídhöggur!”

“Ooh oh oh oh!”

Ark shouted while running at a furious pace without looking back.

The raccoon soldiers in the lead prevent vine attacks using their shields.  He didn’t know how many people died from the attack since there was no time to turn his head. If he stopped to help them while surrounded by vines, it would eat up time again.

“Ack, don’t pay any regard to us!”

He heard a praiseworthy sound caused by drugs.

Of course, Ark didn’t even look back as he continued running.  And at a crossroad he would go depending on where the light from the Star Fragment shone stronger.  For 10 minutes, he ran like crazy while striking vines………..

Suddenly he heard water and saw a bright ambient light.

“Hyung, we did it! This is the heart of Yggdrasil!”

Popo jumped and shouted.

Ark and the raccoon troops had arrived at a huge cavern. In the centre, there was a giant bud that rose from the ground. A crystal ball the size of a fist was lodged.  But the flesh surrounding the area where the crystal was stuck seemed to swell up.

Dugun, dugun, dugun…….

The odd flesh twitched like it was breathing.  And with every pulse, he could feel a black sinister aura.

He was able to determine the circumstances with a glance.

‘The Heartsoul Bead is causing Yggdrasil to be corrupted!’

“1st division soldiers, 2nd artillery division! Concentrate your attack on the crystal ball!”

“Wha ah ah ah ah ah!”

The soldiers ran forward holding their swords. However, it was the artillery that attacked the crystal ball first.  The artillerymen aimed the cannon and pulled the trigger.  50 sparks flew from the muzzle as lit up the darkness as it flew through the air.

Just as it was about to hit!

The leaves at the back suddenly rose and protected the crystal ball. And every bullet disappeared under the leaves.  At the same time, the defensive vines attacked the troops as well.

“Kuaaaak!”

The heavy troops became disordered as they fell to the side.

A red warning message appeared in front of Ark.

-Boss monster ‘Awakened Heartsoul Bead’ has appeared!

[*A page is missing from the raws]

Cocoons hung along the wall.

The size of the cocoons was ten times the size of the ones he saw when reclaiming the dungeon. Then when some twitching, the cocoon split in half.  Then something slowly crept out……..!

“Plant Golem!”

A giant body covered with bark tore the cocoon. It slowly emerged like a scene from a horror movie.

‘Oh my God…….if all the cocoons hatch……….!’

There would be around 100 Plant Golems swarming the cavern. They had difficulty fighting a dozen Plant Golems, if they were surrounded by one hundred then they would need all their concentration to survive.

“Switch attack! 1st division, stop the Plant Golem.  2nd artillery division, attack the cocoons!”

When Ark raised his voice, 50 bullets started firing at the cocoons immediately. Just like the famous classic RTS game Stark O, maybe the cocoons defense was really strong?

Sure enough. The defensive power of the cocoon was unimaginable.

After hitting one 100 feet up, the cocoon barely exploded and the dead body of the unfinished Plant Golem fell.  And meanwhile three Plant Golems had finished hatching and emerged.

‘Unbelievable. The degree of difficulty for this boss…….’

Even if he concentrated his power, he wasn’t sure if he could break the crystal within the time limit.

If they tried to avoid the vine’s attacks, the rest of the Plant Golems would hatch! And until the artillerymen finished attacking the cocoons, there was no way for the heavy troops to attack. He only had 150 troops but even if he had 300~400, it wouldn’t be enough.

-The current rate of seal destruction: 86%

‘Jeez, what is with this hospitality? How am I supposed to defeat this boss? If I want to defeat it within the time limit, I’ll have to completely destroy the petals!’

It was really endless. If one cocoon was destroyed then another one would rise.  However, if he didn’t pay the vines any attention then it would attack and deal damage. He was being pushed back. He couldn’t seem to grasp the feeling of control of the situation.

Ark swung his blade coated with paralysis poison at the vines in order to gain more time.  However, after 10 seconds the paralysis wore off and the situation was the same.

‘I can’t waste time on the vines but they keep on thickening……..can I tie it up?’

A thought suddenly sparked in Ark’s head.

‘That’s right, it might lead there……..No, I think this is definitely correct.  I can block all the vines and Plant Golem at once! There’s no other way!’

Ark made a decision and immediately commanded.

“1st division soldiers attack and attack the back of the bud! 2nd division artillerymen, concentrate your attacks on the cocoons of the Plant Golems. 3 division, hand out potions that will increase damage!”

“But how do we prevent attacks from the vine……”

Popo gasped.

“Leave that to me! Transformation off!”

At that moment, the sword changed back into Deimos.

“Deimos, protect me.”

Clack clack! Clack clack clack!

“Snake, Spirit Body Glue!”

Snake opened its mouth and spat out the glue.

“Now the rest is ours! Dedric, use your full power and attract the vines this way!”

“Eek? It that really okay?”

Don’t speak and just do it!”

“Hung, I don’t understand so I’ll just do it. Hey over here! The stupid vine!”

Dedric opened his wings and soared. He flew through the air at an incredible pace while avoiding the vines’ attacks. Dozens of vines huffed as they chased after Dedric. And after a moment, it glimpsed him and the vines changed their direction towards Ark.

“Well done!”

Ark had quickly thrown the glue in front of his body.

-……..Wooeoeoeo, I shall stick them all!

Green slime …….The ectoplasm gave a strange sound and sprung out.

The ectoplasm hit the entwined vines and stuck them to the ground. They only became even more tangled as they tried to escape.

‘It’s a success!’

Ark waved the ectoplasm as he jumped all over the place.

When Dedric attracted the vines, he brandished the ectoplasm.  And the slime increased and wound around the vines. The entangled vines became stuck to the ground.

The number of times the spirit body glue could be used was a maximum of five.

He had already used it twice so there were three times left.  However, once used there was no limit to the time it would stay stuck.  The material was the ectoplasm which increased the affinity with the spirit.  And once glued, it would never break before falling.

Double bang!

Deimos stopped the surprise attack.

Thanks to the fusion with Warwick, Deimos had 1000 health. And thanks to the shield, his defense dramatically increased.

“Dedric, I’ve finished cleaning up here. Lead the other vines towards this place!”

So the ectoplasm spread and attacked dozens of vine stems to the walls and floors.

“Ha ha ha! How about that, wood bastard!”

As Ark had already used it, he even used the ectoplasm to glue the cocoons shut.

When the Plant Golem tore it to escape, there would be a perfect blockade.  However, when he finished gluing everything one hour had already been wasted.  But the vines and cocoons were glued together and couldn’t attack anymore.

‘This……….once I’ve tried it out, it was an extravagant item!’

Ark marvelled at the efficiency of the spirit body glue.

It was used to repair the lever and open the door as well as build a new skeleton body.

And now it was used to attack a boss that had a difficulty of C+.

At first he wasn’t sure what to do with it, but now that he’s tried it out it was an object with limitless utilization.

‘Sheesh, this is so good.  I can only use it two more times so I shouldn’t waste it.’

He had a chance to win now thanks to the spirit body glue.

The only thing left is……….

“Okay, one more thing to eliminate! Unconditional Assault!”

Ark used his tactical skill to make the raccoon troops attack one target.

The 1st division swung their swords at the bud while the artillery fired like crazy. The engineers even threw an explosive potion.

The 150 raccoon troops poured all their firepower on the target.

The leaves gradually withered and twisted off one by one.  And finally, all the leaves fell off to reveal the crystal ball.

Even without the protection of the leaves, the crystal ball had a lot of health. But after a few minutes, the health fell down to 2%.

Then a brilliant idea shone in Ark’s eyes.

“The whole army, unconditional retreat!”

“Eh eh?”

The raccoon troops were perplexed by Ark’s order.

Why was he calling a retreat with victory right in front of his eyes? However, since the additional tactic’s orders were absolute, the raccoons discretely dispersed.

“Now. Blade Storm!”

Ark took out a sword and used his skill.

The special effect of the Blade Storm was displayed. The sword broke into many pieces and whirled around like a storm.  And the bunch of sword fragments was drawn to the crystal ball.

The hundreds of fragments did X 5 damage!

Inside the crystal ball, something scrambled before there was a popping sound.

And the black aura stopped flowing from the crystal ball.  The crystal ball lost its power and fell away from the bud.

-Your level has risen!

-Your level has risen!

-Your level has risen!

The message windows popped up simultaneously.

‘One, two, three…….eight, eight times!’

After he defeated the awakened Heartsoul Bead, he levelled up 8 times!

Ark had commanded unconditional retreat at the last moment in order to get all the experience.  It was a level 400 boss monster!

It was a huge chunk of experience.  I thought of sharing the experience with the raccoons was something he couldn’t even fathom.

One piece of common sense, there was a limit on experience gain in New World.  If he completed the quest and boss monster in several steps, his levels would rise but the experience wouldn’t apply 100%.

The first time the level rose he would get 100%, the second time 90% would be applied, the third time 80%……….and so on.

In other words, no matter how much experience the boss gave or have difficult the quest completed, at a high level it was impossible to raise more than 10 levels at one time.

But even with such a penalty applied, he still gained 8 levels! It as astronomical experience.

‘Wuhahaha, I level up 8 levels at once!’

Now that they grasped the situation, the raccoon soldiers had bitter looks on their faces.

“Dirty…………”

“Dang. Tick.”

However, they didn’t dare say such words under Ark’s eyes.

Well, anyway the Underground World was saved so the raccoons should be satisfied.

“You did it! Ark-hyung accomplished it! Subarutalp is saved!”

Popo tears fell as he glanced around.

“Yes, I made a promise. Hyung has never broken his promises.”

Ark rubbed Popo’s head when suddenly.

[Heartsoul Bead

Handle with care! The Heartsoul Bead is a crystal ball filled with ancient magic and a curse. An ordinary person who touches the Heartsoul Bead will lose their soul to the Devil. But now it has lost its magic and is just plain beads.]

‘As expected, it was the Heartsoul Bead.’

Ark picked it up and sighed.  There was a lot of talk but this situation was finally neatly arranged.

“Okay, it has ended. Everyone went through a lot of trouble.”

Koo-Kung!

Ark had opened his mouth to praise the raccoon troops.

When with a sudden roar, the whole place started shaking.  Popo saw the buds of the tree start breaking and threw his body.

“Ah, Ark-hyung! Danger……..Ack!”

Ark had been pushed to the floor by Popo.  And reflexively lifted his head as his breath returned.

“Po, Popo!”

A crack had spread across the floor like a spider web from the shock of the bud.   And protruding from the gap was a black shape that impaled Popo.  Popo had lost 90% of his health and his body was flashing red.

Ark hurriedly rushed to Popo.

Wuuuuuu!

Then, an eerie ringing came from under the crack.

Ark’s face hardened as he turned his head.

Underneath the crack was a cavern where the end couldn’t be seen. And climbing up the rocks along the walls were black shapes.  The monster’s whole body burned from the heat, but what was even more terrifying was the enormous existence at the centre of the black form.

The deep red eyes of a dragon were visible in the tattered body. From a dozen metres down, the huge body started climbing up.

It was a scene like the devil was rising from Hell.

It looked horrible, but after looking at the dragon’s information he had a more realistic fear.

The Immortal General Nídhöggur. Level 500!

It was the nightmare of the Northern continent that was sealed by the 7 heroes!

His breath got stuck in his jaw.

‘Oh my God!’

“What on earth is happening? The Heartsoul Bead was destroyed so why is Nídhöggur still resurrecting?”

“I never considered it!

The elder flopped down in a panic.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Nídhöggur had been sealed using the divine power of Yggdrasil……..but in order to break the Heartsoul Bead in this battle……..Yggdrasil received too much damage……..therefore it lost the power required to maintain the seal………”

“That……..!”

Double bang!

Once again, a roar was heard and the cracks widened even further.  Some of the dead people wearing gear began to emerge from the gap.

“Raccoon troops, steady! Attack, attack!”

The surprised raccoon troops began hurling attacks.  The dead were bombarded and pushed back into the crack. But it was only a temporary measure.

Rocks. There were hundreds and thousands of dead souls from Niflheim! Nídhöggur offered them the ability to climb out of the crack………

‘Heck, I haven’t come this far just to give up!’

Ark cursed.  Now, the only reliable thing was the spirit body glue! Ark filled the crack with glue.  After he did, the crack became quiet for a while. But it was only temporary, as with another shock a new crack opened.

The crack spread out and was right next to the old one.

Eventually Ark burst out screaming.

“No. Even if I try to close up the crack, it’s no use. Really …….Will it end like this?”

“It’s over. Everything is done!”

Raccoon troops abandoned formation and flopped down with a desperate moan.  At that time, Popo’s body that was in a critical condition fell.

“Keuuuk, Ah……..Arc-hyung!”

“Po, Popo!”

Ark and Popo hugged.

Something green and sparkly spewed from Popo’s eyes.

-The current rate of seal destruction: 97%

“Pant!”

At the same time, screams emerged from the Planning Department of the Global Exos Company.

“Wha, What it this?”

Kim Gwon-tae looked at the monitor with bloodshot eyes.  The formerly fine monitor suddenly changed as uncontrollably data started appearing.  It was like he suffered from hack like symptoms, but he had already experienced this phenomenon once.

“An Event Quest?”

When an Event Quest appears in New World, it was necessary to update the data in the main system. Kim Gwon-tae jumped and flinched as he heard Ha Myung-woo’s voice coming from the side.

“Event Quest?” “What do you mean?”

“The enormous amount of data! There is no doubt.  Somewhere, an Event Quest is about to start. The security level…….Huk!”

After he checked the data on the laptop, Kim Gwon-tae let out a muffled scream.

And murmured in a trembling voice.

“B………….The Event Quest has a B difficulty.”

What nonsense is this? When it is a B difficulty, doesn’t the average user have to be level 300 in order for it to start? But the average level of the users hasn’t even reached 100 yet.”

“Ha, but it is true. “The Event Quest has a security level of B!”

“Oh damn! Has the main system gone crazy and discarded the security rating?”

“If only………”

Ha Myung-woo moaned and beat at this desk.

“Where is this going to happen?”

“The place where the data is being gathered appears to be near the Brandt Mountain range.  But that place has no town………For now I can’t tell what will trigger the quest.”

“Stop! All the employees set aside your work! We have to do whatever we can to stop it! If a class B Event Quest is activated now, it will throw off the balance of the game! Understood? Even if you have to take an axe to the main computer, stop it!”

Kim Gwon-tae shook his head helplessly.

“But all the outside interference codes have already been blocked.”

“Then do I just have to sit here and watch stupidly again?”

“Well……oh?”

While he was watching the scrolling data, Kim Gwon-tae’s eyes narrowed like a hawk.

He lifted a telephone and turned to Ha Myung-woo.

“What is it?”

“The data is somewhat abnormal.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the Event Quest was activated, another data showed up.”

“Another data? Explain it in a language I would understand!”

Ha Myung-woo threw the phone and looked at the monitor.

Kim Gwon-tae explained, pointing to some data coming up on the monitor.

“Here and here and here, this is not quest-related data. Rather the data appears to be a confrontation with the program that started the event quest.  So you see……..if I used a metaphor, I would call it an antivirus program.”

“Vaccine? A program that catches viruses?”

“Yes, if the computer is infected with a virus, won’t the vaccine program run automatically? It is similar to such a program. Now the data is automatically moving and blocking the event quest related programs.”

“You mean the event quest might not be triggered?”

“If this program is perfect.”

“Perfect?”

Ha Myung-woo wrinkled his forehead as he frowned.

But Kim Gwon-tae searched through a thick booklet and found what he was looking for.  And when one page was compared to the computer monitor, he nodded.

“Yes, when it is perfect the event quest won’t be triggered.  Any outside interference is blocked but since this program lurked in the interior, it doesn’t seem affected.  But this program is missing an important source”

“What is that?”

Kim Gwon-tae sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t know. But even if I do, there is no way to interfere from the outside.  The only way to settle it in the game is to defeat the boss…….it seems to……act like a human and ignore the war between the data.

The reality was that the next generation of lost myths and legends were breathing in a virtual reality game called New World.

It was a world unknown even to its operators.

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