Chapter 12: 12

Past the fences, a narrow road carefully paved with asphalt appeared.

 

On both sides were thick towering trees, and beyond that were only dark shadows despite it being daytime.

 

“It’s quite spacious.”

 

Let alone the mansion, all I could see were trees and grass when I looked around.

 

Was it safe to say that this was really made by carving out an entire mountain?

 

On top of that…there was even a trace of magic over there.

 

A faint magic light was shining between the fences and forest.

 

I didn’t know exactly what kind of spell it was, but it seemed to be a kind of intruder alarm or trap.

 

It was a good thing I had come in through the front door.

 

I wasn’t sure if the owner of the mansion had installed it himself or had employed someone from inside, but…

 

One thing was certain, it wasn’t a skill a beginner could accomplish.

 

If I had sneaked over the fence and infiltrated, I might have had to suffer quite a bit in the middle of such a trap.

 

For now I didn’t have a particular method to deal with magic…so if possible, it would be best to avoid the traps.

 

While looking around like that, the sound of a car’s exhaust began to be heard from afar.

 

And in a little bit, a small truck with dirt everywhere arrived. In the luggage compartment were burlap bags with several suspicious stains.

 

Soon after, the truck door opened, and an old man wearing an old shirt and overalls got off.

 

He had a large hump on his back. It looked like a toad carrying around a bird’s nest.

 

“What are you staring at?!”

 

As I stood still observing him, the old man shouted in a voice resembling a crow. It was the same voice I had heard at the entrance a while ago.

 

“Are…Are you telling me to get in the truck?”

 

“Who else is here besides you?! If you don’t want to be carried in the luggage compartment, get in the car now!”

 

It was an old man with a dirty temper. For a moment I thought about killing him, but I put that idea on hold for now.

 

Let’s watch the situation.

 

There was no way to find clues in this vast area right now, so I thought it would be better to follow him into the mansion first.

 

If it’s ‘Flower of Shadow,’ I thought it would more likely be hidden somewhere in the mansion than blooming like a weed on the side of the road.

 

I got into the truck according to the old man.

 

An unidentified smelly odor poked my nose. It smelled like rotten seafood.

 

I felt nauseous, so I immediately lowered the window while the old man drove the truck without saying a word.

 

“…”

 

We drove along the mountain path for a while. The mansion was much wider than I had thought.

 

About 10 minutes or so passed. In front of us, who had arrived near the top of the mountain, another gate appeared.

 

Iron bars with colorful flower decorations that would suit old European mansions. After a moment, the old man got out of the car and opened the gate.

 

Squeak–!

 

The unpleasant noise of rusty iron echoed through the mountains.

 

Then, on the wide plateau, I could see beautiful flowers and trees.

 

Sure enough…Was this why it was called Elf Garden?

 

I admired it somewhat.

 

The scenery of this huge garden was incredibly beautiful, as if the elves had really cared for it like what was mentioned in the Challenge’s explanation.

 

The old man got back into his truck and entered the garden. Next, he parked the truck in one corner close to the entrance.

 

“Get out.”

 

Sure enough, I didn’t like being told what to do, but this time I got off without hesitation.

 

The old man held the bags that were in the luggage compartment in both hands before throwing one at me.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“Just shut up and follow me.”

 

“…”

 

An unknown damp liquid permeated little by little from the handle of the bag. It inadvertently got on my clothes.

 

Should I just kill him now?

 

However, it was a waste to come all the way here and kill him, so I decided to keep the old man alive for now.

 

I shifted the bag around and followed the old man to the side of the garden.

 

After finishing everything, he ordered me again.

 

“Turn around for a second.”

 

“…Why?”

 

“Stop talking! Turn around when I tell you to turn around!”

 

When I reluctantly turned around, the old man quickly began to tie my body with a tough rope.

 

I was dumbfounded by the shameless attitude, so I watched for a while before putting strength into my arms to shake off the old man.

 

No, I was going to shake him off.

 

What was up with this old man?

 

My current muscle strength with 2 points in Body was already out of the realm of a normal human.

 

However, for some reason, the old man’s strength was stronger than mine. So I fell to the ground in an instant while tied.

 

The old man had tightly tied the rope to the point where my skin had turned white.

 

“Keukeu…Today ended quite easily.”

 

The old man made an unpleasant laugh. Upon closer look, the rotten smell was coming out of his mouth every time he spoke.

 

“Lay there for a while. I haven’t finished my work for today because you suddenly came.”

 

He opened one of the bags that we had just moved and pulled something out.

 

Inside was a ball of red flesh dripping with blood, but I couldn’t guess exactly what meat it was.

 

“Meal time. You lazy punks.”

 

The old man grabbed a chunk of flesh in his hand and kicked a nearby tree.

 

Soon, the tree began to tremble, and at one point, the bark rolled down as if a snake was molting.

 

Inside, red muscles wriggled, and thick blood vessels pulsated in-between.

 

It looked just like what I would see when I had cut open human skin in the past.

 

And in a little bit, the features of a face seemed to have sprouted on the tree. The face had no eyes, nose, or anything, but it was huge as if a whole person had been swallowed.

 

“Kill me…Please kill me…”

 

From it, I heard a voice.

 

What’s…this?

 

A clear voice different from ordinary plants. 

 

It sounded similar to when I had received this Challenge.

 

Was this related to the ‘Flower of Shadow?’

 

As soon as I thought as such, suddenly, all the plants in the garden began to transform at once.

 

The trees’ thick bark peeled, and in it, bizarre faces appeared.

 

Everywhere was quickly covered with red flesh. The entire garden wriggled like it was alive.

 

Looking at it, I felt as if I had entered a huge intestine.

 

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!”

“I want to go home…Mom…”

“Kuaaak–!!!”

 

Screams and groans leaked out from all over the place. And among them, the most frequently heard phrase was ‘kill me.’

 

That was what it is…I see.

 

I could roughly guess what had happened here. The plants in this beautiful garden…All of them were ‘human.’

 

It seemed the Children that were sold in the House of Flowers had really become flowers here.

 

The old man threw the flesh in his hand at the trees shaped like humans.

 

Without hesitation, they ate it with their big mouths.

 

Having emptied the bag like that, he looked down at me and smiled unpleasantly.

 

“Keukeu…You must be surprised and can’t even cry.”

 

Certainly, it was as he said. I was surprised. Was it a variety he had developed himself? I had never seen these strange creatures in the previous round.

 

What the hell should I call these? Tree humans? Human trees?

 

Anyway, it was a taste that was hard to understand for a person like me who had extremely normal thoughts.

 

“Hmm…dimwitted punk.”

 

When I didn’t say much, the old man frowned and his forehead narrowed. He seemed to have wanted me to give a more dramatic reaction.

 

“What are all the large monsters here?”

 

I asked him.

 

The old man stared at the stone mansion seen far beyond the garden.

 

“Haha, all the plants here can be said to be the creations made by my great master himself. Although most of the guys here are just failures.”

 

“Creations?”

 

“Haha, even if you don’t ask me, you’ll find out soon anyway.”

 

The old man lifted me, who was tied like a caterpillar, on one shoulder, and slowly climbed the hill to the mansion.

 

My body shook here and there whenever he took a step.

 

Seeing his relaxed steps, it seemed he believed he had captured me completely.

 

…I guess now was my only chance.

 

While his guard was lowered, I had to dig up the information I needed.

 

“Grandpa, what will happen to me now?”

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“Keukeu…You must be scared now. In the future, you’ll be reborn as a beautiful flower under the grace of the great master.” 

 

“Like the monsters I saw before? Do I have to live like that for the rest of my life?”

 

“Hmph! They’re just failures. As long as you succeed, you’ll gain enormous power. So you should be honored!”

 

“I see…Do you know where the ‘Flower of Shadow’ is?”

 

“Shadow? What kind of nonsense is that?”

 

The guy who had been answering all my questions so far suddenly looked like he didn’t know English.

 

There would be no reason to act like that now, so maybe he really didn’t know anything.

 

He was no longer useful.

 

***

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“I can kill him now.”

 

“Hmm? What did you just say?” 

 

While the old man looked back with a surprised face, I quickly changed my body to a liquid and released the bondage.

 

Immediately after, I took a military knife out of my inventory and put it in the carotid artery of the old man.

 

Pak–!

 

“Keuk…keu!”

 

Thanks to my precise diagonal stab, the vocal cords in front of the larynx were neatly cut off.

 

It should be impossible for him to scream now.

 

I pulled out the fresh knife before the old man could fall to the ground. Then, from his ribs to groin, I opened his stomach in one motion.

 

Shiik–

 

Due to the momentum of my action, the wound spread open just like that and all the contents inside poured out onto the ground.

 

Maybe by now he would feel an emptiness in his stomach.

 

“Keuk! Keuh! Keuh!”

 

The old man, who stumbled for a while, bent his arm in the air and collapsed in a ridiculous pose.

 

I took another knife out of my inventory.

 

And then I approached him step by step. Lastly, I was going to put another knife in his heart.

 

But…

 

“?!”

 

The old man’s condition was somewhat strange. No, to be exact, the contents poured out from him were strange.

 

The organs that should have been bright red were black and dead.

 

In addition, when I looked closely, there were even white maggots among them.

 

A stench permeated everywhere. It smelled dozens of times worse than what had come out of his mouth a while ago.

 

“Keuk!”

 

I stepped back, pinching my nose.

 

And then…

 

Behind the old man’s protruding back, something orange began to wriggle and stretch out.

 

Dozens of stems resembling coral reefs. I was sure I had seen it somewhere before.

 

…What was it again?

 

While I was pondering over my memory, I recalled the contents of the children’s great encyclopedia that I had read at the nursery not too long ago.

 

Cordyceps Militaris?

 

Come to think of it, it looked just like the shape of a fungus. As soon as I thought as such, a human face popped out of the fungus.

 

“Damn it. Because of this I lost a useful body…For the time being I need a new host. I have no choice but to get another one of my master’s test subjects.”

 

“Host?”

 

“That’s right. Thanks to the grace of my master, I’ve gained eternal life as a host…W-wait! Y-you can hear my voice?!”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No way… Even my master can’t hear the voice of plants…Ah, I have to let my master know…”

 

The Cordyceps Militaris was noticeably shocked.

 

It hurriedly controlled the old man’s body and crawled toward the mansion. Although the limbs were bent, his speed was quite fast.

 

I approached that kind of guy and once again put a knife into him.

 

But…

 

“Keukeu, it’s no use. My body is stronger than steel because of the grace of my master.”

 

The Cordyceps Militaris crawled without stopping despite my continued attacks. My physical attacks didn’t seem to be working very well against him.

 

And I couldn’t absorb this smelly and disgusting bastard…

 

I was conflicted. At this rate, he would run away if I left him alone, but he was too dirty for me to touch.

 

At some point, I remembered a memory that I had forgotten.

 

“Ah, there was that.”

 

The Turbak Brotherhood was both a drug cartel and a kind of terrorist organization preparing for war.

 

Therefore, among the weapons I had acquired in their arsenal, there were weapons that were simply meant for war.

 

Finally, the day had come where I could try this.

 

I pulled a gasoline tank and a flamethrower out from my inventory.

 

Until now, it had been indoors or the situation wasn’t good, so I had been neglecting it.

 

“To be honest, I really wanted to use it from the moment I first saw it.”

 

Check the installation. 1500 PSI. It was enough pressure to have no problem shooting flames right away.

 

I aimed the hose at the bastard.

 

The Cordyceps Militaris urgently looked back and shouted.

 

“Hey, wait a minute! If you do something like that here…”

 

But it was too late to stop me. How could I endure something that looked so fun?

 

“It’s going to be a little hot.”

 

I opened the valve connected to the tank. Gas was mixed with the fuel, and compressed gasoline was injected forward.

 

Soon, it came in contact with the torch’s flame and a huge flame burned.

 

“Kueaaak!!!!”

 

A flame resembling a dragon’s breath engulfed the bastard. The Cordyceps Militaris burned in an instant and an acrid black smoke rose.

 

This was fun.

 

While I was at it, I also gave fireworks to the trees around me.

 

“Kyaaak!!”

“It’s hot! It’s hot! It’s hot!”

 

I could hear the cold scream filled with anguish among the plants. The beautiful garden quickly became covered in flames.

 

It was bodies that couldn’t return to being human anyway. They had also wanted to die, so wouldn’t they be grateful to me?

 

In the midst of my enjoyment playing with fire…

 

Ding–!

 

Messages that I had been looking forward to appeared in front of my eyes.

 

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Gained a Fragment of Growth. ]

 

“I’ve gained two levels this time.”

 

I didn’t have a chance to gain experience for a while and felt that my growth was a little stagnant, so I took this opportunity to level up properly.

 

Like I had said before, mobbing was the best way to farm.

 

The messages didn’t end here.

 

[ You’ve eliminated an existence that meets the standard of ‘evil.’ ] 

[ You’ve saved those who were in despair. ]

[ Warrior’s Journey grade has increased. ]

[ A new effect has been added. ]

 

Come to think of it…I had forgotten about it because so far it had been useless, but I had a growth skill.

 

I opened my status window to check the added effect.

 

< Warrior’s Journey >

Classification: General

Grade: E (Grade F -> E) 

Description: A Warrior grows through trials.

Grade Effect:

Grade F: < Mark of a Warrior > Favorability increases easily.

Grade E: < Destiny of a Warrior > Awaken at the moment of crisis. * New *

*Punish evil to grow the skill.

*Save others to grow the skill.

*This skill cannot be strengthened by yourself.

 

“Ooh.”

 

Fortunately, the effect this time seemed pretty good, unlike the useless favorability effect.

 

I wasn’t sure what ‘awaken’ meant yet, but it seemed to be a combat ability at a first glance.

 

“Regardless, I was lacking combat skills, so this is good…”

 

As expected, it was fun to punish ‘evil.’

 

Perhaps being a hero was more suitable for me than I had thought.

 

“I’ll have to deal with the remaining ‘evil’ now.”

 

Looking at the charred garden, I turned towards the mansion.

 

The reward I had been looking forward to was waiting for me there.

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