Chapter 99: The Troubled Underground Waterways

“Huh? Three to four?”

“Yes.”

Kamian nodded. Soo Hyuk reopened the quest window that he had just closed and examined the current status of the quest.

Once the Koma Guild checked that there were six magic circles, their quest will be completed. But if the circles confirmed were four rather than three, then Soo Hyuk’s quest would change altogether.

“Eh?”

After checking the quest Soo Hyuk was quite shocked.

The updated quest was.

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways. Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison. In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping. Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 0 / 1]

[Chimera: 202 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

Kamian was right, there was a change. The summoning circle B, went from zero to one, confirming it was destroyed.

“My quest status updated too. It looks like another magic circle has been destroyed.”

Soo Hyuk said to Kamian. That single 1 meant that the conditions were met and the Summoning circle B was destroyed, he was lost in thought.

‘What’s going on?’

How could the Summoning circle B be destroyed?

‘Is someone else with us in here?’

He thought of a possibility that someone else might have entered this place. The Underground Waterways didn’t have a limit to the entries, so it was likely others could have entered this place.

“Who else could be here beside us?”

Ketoto, who was listening to the conversation, butted in.

“I think so, too. I don’t think other than us…”

Kamian also had the similar thoughts.

“Let’s get going.”

Soo Hyuk, who had to stop because of the sudden change in the quest, began to pick up his pace for the rest of the journey. Looking at the map, he said.

“Uh, sorry.”

Soo Hyuk said.

“I don’t know which of the remaining places was destroyed.”

They had three other destinations to go, suddenly, one of them was destroyed without their notice. In other words, they had no reason to go to that place. But he didn’t know which of the place was destroyed.

“You’re right.”

Kamian nodded, understanding the situation.

“But who is it?”

Kamian, in his thoughts, asked. Who could it be? Who could destroy the Magic Circle? Then suddenly just as they were moving and having such a discussion.

“Huh?”

Kamian exclaimed.

”…”

Soo Hyuk was startled at Kamian’s sudden outburst. And at that moment, he felt deja vu.

“Soo Hyuk.”

Kamian called Soo Hyuk, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“No way…”

The same thing happened again.

“Yes.”

Seeing Kamian’s nod, without asking any question Soo Hyuk opened his quest window and checked.

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways. Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison. In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping. Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 1 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 1 / 1]

[Chimera: 202 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

‘Again?’

This time the Magic circle F had gone from zero to one.

“Another one has been destroyed?”

Kamian asked at the same time that Soo Hyuk was checking the quest window.

“Yes, you are right. Looks like another one has been destroyed.”

While answering Kamian’s question, Soo Hyuk started to think.

‘It’s good, but…’

If this went on, they wouldn’t have anything to lose. Meaning, no more wasting time while moving from one destination from the other. In other words, their time would be saved.

‘If this goes on…’

Soo Hyuk might have one problem.

‘I don’t think I’ll level up to 200.’

That’s what he wanted to reach. He calculated by the end of the quest; his level would shoot up to 200. But, judging from the current situation, it would be nearly impossible to reach 200.

Now only one spot was left…

And he didn’t think just by clearing one magic circle would level him up to 200.

Urgh!

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but groan a little.

‘Who the hell is this?’

Who is it? Who on earth is destroying the Magic Circles?

“Which spot?”

Soo Hyuk stopped his thinking and focused on Kamian’s words.

“Looking at the speed, they didn’t destroy just one but at least two.”

Of course, the magic circles were not anywhere near to each other. The distance between them was quite large. However, this unknown group of people destroyed two of them consequently.

Concluding that, there has to be more than one group who were destroying the circles.

“Could they be the Rime and the Drak Guild?”

It was Garan who answered Kamian’s suspicion.

“It could be.”

Kamian nodded and said he had a point.

“What do you think, Soo Hyuk?”

Kamian asked Soo Hyuk. With the sudden question, he was pulled out from his thoughts, opened his mouth, and said.

“I don’t think it’s either of them.”

Soo Hyuk had a different opinion altogether. It was neither the Rime Guild nor the Drak Guild.

“They’re the ones who gave me this quest.”

Ian and Alex, the two Guild masters of the Rime and Drak Guilds were the ones who requested Soo Hyuk with such a quest. It wouldn’t make sense for them to suddenly make a move. It doesn’t make sense. Besides, if they were the ones to make a move, they would tell him in advance.

“Oh, they were the ones who commissioned this quest.”

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Hearing Soo Hyuk’s answer, Kamian concluded.

“So, they are ruled out.”

Kamian said.

“Well, what about…”

This time Ketoto came up with an option.

“What about the mages at the entrance? I think I saw them when I was with Soo Hyuk.”

Those mages Ketoto mentioned were the ones that belonged to the Hadrac branch of Tower of Poison. Rhino and his group of mages, Ketoto reminded them.

Just as they were all engrossed in the discussion of who could it be, K-Cross stopped walking and raised his hand to signal them. Soo Hyuk stopped in his steps, watching K-Cross.

“There’s a chimera ahead. Looks like this magic circle hasn’t been destroyed yet.”

That was the reason why K-Cross alerted them as he saw a chimera ahead of him.

‘Thank god, I’m glad to hear that.’

Soo Hyuk inwardly sighed at K-Cross’s confirmation thinking. He didn’t know if he should feel relieved or ashamed at such thoughts.

This seems to be the magic circle C, which has yet to be destroyed.

“Gomblin’s (1) uses sting as their form of poison. But, unlike Foblins, their poison attacks are not their main focus, rather they focus on their strength. The one who attacks is the bear.”

Kamian said.

The chimeras summoned from the Summoning circle were the combination of Bears and Goblins.

As the summoning circle D was destroyed, the Gomblins from circle D were met with the Foblins of magic circle C.

In other words, they would have had to fight one kind at a time, but now, they had to fight both the Foblins and the Gomblins together, as they were being summoned by the same circle.

“Is there anything we need to be extra careful about?”

Kamian nodded his head, saying yes. When Soo Hyuk saw the nod, he moved towards K-Cross saying.

“I’ll take the lead from here.”

Saying that, he took the lead and continued from the spot where they stopped walking forward.

‘Two of them.’

He didn’t need to walk far before he saw the Foblin and the Gomblin in front. There were two of them, one of each kind.

“Flame Wall!”

Soo Hyuk was the one to first initiate the attack, and cast ‘Flame Wall’ towards them. Not being able to dodge the massive flame, both the Foblin and the Gomblin screamed in pain.

-Argh! It’s hot!

-It hurts!

-Aaoouh!

Soo Hyuk, who attacked first, heard the scream and thought.

‘So this is a Gomblin.’

If what Kamian said was right, then the one who attacks would be the bear, not the goblin. So, he was wondering if this chimera could narrow the distance between them like the Worc.

Contrary to what he thought, however, the Gomblin, like the Foblin, didn’t have any resistance to his attacks.

Soon, the drop window appeared, making Soo Hyuk stop his attacks.

They resumed their walk with Soo Hyuk leading the way, followed by K-Cross, then by Kamian, Garan, and Ketoto. They maintained this 1:1:3 formation.

With that formation, they headed towards the Summoning circle.

[Level Up!]

A notification popped up.

Seeing the notification, Soo Hyuk couldn’t contain his smile and looked forward.

-Argh! It hurts!

-It stings!!

In front of them were the Foblins and the Gomblins who were screaming in fear as they were stung with poison.

‘There’s a lot of them.’

Is it because two different types of chimeras came out of the same summoning circle? There were a lot more Chimeras in front than when they attacked after destroying the magic circle.

‘If I could kill them…’

Thinking Soo Hyuk smiled.

‘I don’t have to worry anymore.’

A large number of chimeras meant there would be a lot of experience he could gain. Previously, when he learned the two magic circles were destroyed by someone else, he was quite disappointed. Now, looking at the current situation, he was no longer disappointed.

It was just then.

“W-Wait a minute!”

Ketoto, who was at the back, shouted.

“…”

With his sudden shout, not only Soo Hyuk but also the other members of the Koma Guild were startled.

“Uh…”

Ketoto, who suddenly attracted four different pairs of eyes, was slightly worried.

“I think there is someone behind us.”

“What?”

Kamian was the first to respond.

“Behind us?”

“Yes.”

Ketoto nodded at Kamian’s question.

“As the other magic circles were destroyed, I installed a tracking stone behind us, just in case they might come here.”

Silence followed Ketoto’s answer.

Breaking the silence, Soo Hyuk suggested.

“Should we take a rest here for a while?”

“Okay! Let’s stay in our position and be ready.”

Kamian agreed with Soo Hyuk. They didn’t know if the other party was their friend or foe.

What if they were an enemy? Perhaps as they continued forward, they would be caught up while dealing with the chimeras. The possibilities were endless.

Even if they had to wait, it would be better for them to figure out who was behind them and they were at a good spot to wait.

Didn’t they have enough to spare as they were destroying the magic circles?

Soo Hyuk and the Koma Guild members patiently watched the path where they might come out from.

“Oh, I can see them.”

K-Cross updated.

“There are five of them. One of them is arriving really fast, but I don’t think he is a monster, given that I can’t observe him through my ‘Hawk’s Eye’.”

The skill was diverse, however, that was only when dealing with monsters. If the target wasn’t a monster, then the skill wouldn’t be capable of finding anything.

As soon as K-Cross finished his sentence, they heard hurried footsteps in front of them and after a while.

“Soo Hyuk!”

”…”

As soon as a familiar voice was heard, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“I think he knows you.”

Kamian said. Of course, the shout wasn’t just heard by Soo Hyuk; it was heard by the Koma Guild too.

“Yes, I think so.”

Embarrassed, Soo Hyuk wondered.

‘Who is it?’

He knew the voice sounded familiar, however, he couldn’t figure out who’s it was, he didn’t even have a guess for someone he could bet on.

No one came to his mind. Who could this person be?

Seeing the man, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘…Pavian?’

The man was none other than Pavian, the Spiremaster of Poison.

Translator and Editor Notes:

1: Gomgoblin is a mix between a bear and a goblin. The Gom comes from the Korean translation of bear meaning, bear=Gom, it is the same thing, just sounds better than Beargoblin.

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