novelraw Chapter 76 : Chapter 76
Chapter 76 : Chapter 76
Chapter 76. Territory of the Mountain God (3)
A peculiar phenomenon created by the Eye-opening Flower colony, the creation of illusions.
The Eye-opening Flower colony had the ability to create a kind of magical mirage.
It was a mechanism to protect their territory.
Therefore, finding the Eye-opening Flower colony was not an easy task.
Because they block the entrance to the colony with illusions just like now.
Paradoxically, because of this, ordinary people were safe from the Eye-opening Flower colony.
Since they couldn't enter in the first place, they were bound not to be exposed to danger either.
To see through this illusion, one had to either use detection ability like Riman or accidentally trip and roll into it.
However, just looking at this, one couldn't understand why the Eye-opening Flower colony was dangerous.
Because the illusion itself wasn't dangerous.
The danger of the Eye-opening Flower is revealed the moment one enters inside that colony.
Demonic Beasts attracted by the Eye-opening Flower's mana inhabited inside the colony.
And these Demonic Beasts possessed resistance to illusions.
But humans do not.
The moment humans break through the illusion and enter inside the colony, they face an even more powerful illusion.
The most terrible among them is seeing Demonic Beasts and companions swapped.
The moment enemies and allies appear switched, the group collapses as it is.
They mistake companions for Demonic Beasts and attack them, and mistake Demonic Beasts for companions and welcome them defenselessly.
And the Demonic Beasts with resistance to illusions attack and devour these confused humans in an instant.
The remains of the corpses left after they finish eating instantly become fertilizer for the Eye-opening Flower, and the colony flourishes even more.
Such a terrible cycle.
The moment one falls into this, no one can leave the colony alive.
But there was a method.
First, to respond to this, one must meet two conditions.
First, one must enter alone.
Since there are no companions in the first place, the room itself to mistake enemies and allies disappears.
That was why Riman left Saya behind before entering the mountain.
Of course, it's easier said than done; there were almost no humans capable of doing this.
Because entering alone meant having to face the Demonic Beasts there single-handedly.
But Riman could do that.
So he entered while lightly satisfying this condition.
And next, the second condition, one must block vision.
The hallucinatory effect of the Eye-opening Flower works strictly only on ‘vision’.
Therefore, if one covers the eyes, hallucinations won't work at all.
Of course, as much as a powerful sense called vision is blocked, mobilization of other senses to compensate for it is necessary.
Riman satisfied this condition as well by replacing vision with [Detection].
So all preparations were complete.
He had even properly set foot inside the colony.
Now what remained was…….
‘Where are you.’
Killing the Mountain God, no, the Earthbound Spirit, gathering the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower, and then escaping from here.
For that, Riman spread [Detection] even wider.
Tu-uung!
This place was inside a mountain.
A place where obstacles to detection like trees, rocks, and bushes were scattered.
Therefore, Riman pushed out the detection field with all his might and spread it.
To search out Demonic Beasts that might be around in advance.
And above all, to grasp the location of the Earthbound Spirit.
The mana Riman extended permeated every corner of the colony in an instant.
Whoosh-
The wind blows.
But the smell of beasts is not mixed in the flowing air.
Strong evidence that Demonic Beasts do not reside here.
Riman's [Detection] also firmly supported this fact.
‘…There are no Demonic Beasts.’
It is strange.
That there are no Demonic Beasts in an Eye-opening Flower colony was something impossible.
This place was truly a natural fortress from the perspective of Demonic Beasts.
If they just adapt to the hallucinations, there are almost no intrusions from outside, and they can easily hunt intruders that occasionally enter.
Just like clownfish hiding inside the tentacles of a sea anemone.
Nevertheless, there are no Demonic Beasts here.
There was only one reason Riman could think of immediately regarding this.
‘It means there is a much higher predator.’
Rabbits cannot live in a lion's territory.
One had no choice but to see that an existence possessing mana enough to overwhelm Demonic Beasts was here.
And Riman seemed to know what that existence was.
‘Mountain God.’
That Earthbound Spirit bastard is inside this colony.
Although it hasn't revealed itself yet.
No, but wait a minute.
‘Didn't she say I would naturally encounter the guy if I entered the colony?’
Just as he was murmuring and moving forward.
Halt.
Riman suddenly stopped walking.
Outwardly, there was nothing wrong around him.
But Riman's intuition didn't think so.
‘There is something ahead.’
Riman grabbed a handful of wind with his hand and threw it at the ground right in front of him.
Pop!
A lightly bursting gust.
Leaves and grass piled on the ground at his feet scattered, and the appearance beneath was revealed.
There was a steep slope there.
It looked flat outwardly because it was covered by fallen leaves, but it was a terrain where one's foot was bound to sink deep the moment one stepped on it.
If he had taken one more step, he would have fallen and rolled just like that.
‘…A trap?’
No, I might just be overreacting.
Since this much is something one can occasionally encounter in a mountain.
Toward Riman who was standing still for a moment thinking so, something started to approach.
Slither…….
It was a snake.
And a venomous snake at that, a Tiger Keelback (Yuhyeolmok-i).
A guy with deadly poison strong enough to require changing all the blood in the body if bitten.
Even a person with a weak body like Riman could really reach death.
Such a guy was revealing its fangs and approaching Riman.
And-
Hiss!
The guy sprang out aiming for Riman's ankle.
A surprise attack launched at precise timing.
But the opponent was too bad.
Ting!
The snake bounced off, hitting its head on a transparent wall that suddenly appeared.
It was a barrier.
Riman's automatic defense system activated and deflected the snake's attack.
"What, this guy too?"
Squish!
Riman trampled the Tiger Keelback just like that and sent electric current through the sole of his foot.
[Discharge]
Zzzzt!
The venomous snake turned into roasted snake in an instant.
Of course, it wasn't a visual he particularly wanted to ingest.
‘A snake pops out like this suddenly?’
A trap just a moment ago, now a snake.
Once could be a coincidence, but from twice on, it's not.
Even more so if the interval between the two is short.
‘Something is happening here.’
Could this be…….
‘Is it the Earthbound Spirit's doing?’
At the moment Riman's thought reached there.
The third one started to approach.
Buzzzzzz-
Sound of air vibrating brutally.
Those sounds were overlapping with each other and swarming in a drove.
Huge bees were forming a swarm and flying toward him.
‘…Giant hornets?’
A huge insect reaching 5cm in body length despite being a bee.
One dies immediately if stung wrongly by this guy too.
‘I ran away crying when I first saw that in the army.’
However, there was no need for that now.
[Ignition]
Whoosh!
Riman started a fire on his hand and swung it widely just like that.
Surging flames covered the swarm of bees.
They are big, but they are just insects after all.
The guys tumbled on the ground, turned crispy by the fire.
Nevertheless, the bees' offensive did not stop.
Guys rushing at Riman as if possessed by something.
Just when Riman's attention was focused on burning the swarm of bees like that.
Crack, crack-
The sound of something thick and hard slowly breaking was heard.
It was a sound coming from the base of a huge old tree.
A presage of collapse.
Crack!
Crash!
Two old trees fell toward Riman.
While Riman was distracted by the swarm of bees.
They collapsed toward the crown of Riman's head just like that.
If hit by that, it wouldn't end with just breaking something somewhere.
It was an urgent situation, but Riman wasn't urgent.
Because he was already facing the falling trees squarely with his sharp senses.
Swish-
While swinging fire with one hand, he extended the other hand toward the huge trees at the same time.
If it were an ordinary person, it would have been nothing more than meaningless resistance.
Magic is something that twists and changes the meaning of even simple actions.
[Incision], 4 bursts.
Blades of wind cut sharply soared from Riman's outstretched hand.
Slash, slash!
The falling trees were cut away like tofu in an instant.
Blocks of wood scattered in all directions, and none of them hit Riman.
At this point, Riman had no choice but to be certain.
‘Clear malice is felt.’
This series of phenomena happening now could absolutely not be a coincidence.
How on earth could two trees fall toward one person simultaneously?
Even aiming precisely for the moment he was distracted by the swarm of bees.
There was intention in these phenomena.
That there is intention means there is an existence exerting will somewhere.
And that existence would naturally be the Earthbound Spirit.
‘Where are you.’
The guy wasn't even caught by [Detection], yet was continuously applying pressure using surrounding natural objects.
A situation where the guy's existence could be certain, but the guy's location was unknown.
During that short moment, Riman quickly racked his brain.
How to catch an enemy launching an offensive from outside the detection range.
‘Ah.’
At that moment, Riman's intuition brought out a flashing answer.
That the guy exerts physical influence up to here means the guy extended mana up to here.
He just had to backtrack that mana.
Shooooook!
Riman quickly shrank the [Detection] he had spread widely.
Along with the reduction, the density of [Detection] becomes much tighter.
He processed that high-density [Detection] magic into tentacle form and extended it toward the base of the fallen tree.
To fell a tree that big, a considerable amount of mana must have been projected.
So the residual scent must have remained the thickest too.
He intended to track that residual scent.
Riman quickly scanned around the base with the tentacles of [Detection].
And Riman's prediction was spot on.
The residual scent of mana the Earthbound Spirit spilled remained thick there.
‘Gotcha……!’
Shoook!
The tentacles of [Detection] trace back in an instant following the residual scent of mana.
From downstream to upstream, from the end to the source.
The sprinting tentacles soon stop abruptly at a certain point.
The answer came out.
‘Found it.’
He pinpointed the location of the Earthbound Spirit.
This was a stunt almost on the level of finding a sniper's location by looking only at the bullet hole.
Riman immediately went into preparation for counter-sniping.
He recalls magic.
Magic most suitable for this moment right now.
This place is a forest.
A place where all kinds of cover like trees and rocks are scattered.
What must one do to shoot the opponent in such an environment?
Should one shoot from close range?
Or should one fire in a high angle?
‘No.’
A much more efficient method came to mind.
He just has to destroy everything in the firing path.
‘Blue stakes, tense dark clouds, helix of molten iron.’
Zzzt!
Four strands of thin electricity extended from Riman's fingertips.
The ends of the electricity plugged into the ground, trees, rocks, etc., and were fixed.
And inside Riman's palm, a large, pitch-black lump of electricity was gradually inflating its size.
Creeeaak-
Riman pulled the lump of electricity backward with all his might.
The lines of electricity were also dragged back and became taut.
This is a kind of electrical slingshot.
The lines take the role of rubber bands, and the lump becomes the projectile.
A cumbersome and noisy magic.
But the true value of this magic is destructive power enough to chew up all those downsides.
Release.
Riman let go of his hand.
A magic he hadn't been using due to cumbersome prerequisite conditions and large mana requirements.
[(Tanroechungung / Bullet Lightning Piercing Bow)]
It reveals its appearance to this world for the first time.
Pisyuk!
With a silent firing sound, pitch-black electricity pierced through the air.