SSS-Class Ranker Return

Chapter 51

World Tree Sprout (1)

The Tekalona Forest where the half elves had given the quest was really far from the Crossroad. Even on a horse that doubled the movement speed, it seemed to run for 30 minutes.

Lokan felt his butt hurt, and as soon as he reached his destination, he wrote and looked at the mark first. The rune book’s storage space was small, but since it had already crossed over to the Crossroads, there were only three spots left, thanks to the deletion of the rest of the locations.

“Good work.”

Beep!

Lokan, who blew a whistle to reverse summon his horse, twisted a heavy battle ax.

Now, the slayer’s ax will become his favorite.

As it was only the last 5, the reinforcement effect did not appear, but somehow it seemed to have a red and ferocious energy, and I stepped out into the forest to find the half elves.

No one would see him and think he was going to save someone’s life, though.

“At the beginning, most of the mobs are neutral, so it’s a bit boring.”

However, unlike that bloody momentum, there were no monsters that attacked Lokan.

At the entrance of Tekalo or the forest, only so-called neutral monsters that do not attack the user first will appear unless they attack first. Lokan didn’t like it.

If I had a normal personality, I would have run out and hit him once, but now the quest came first.

He exercised unparalleled patience and found the half-elf-gathering group that was once missing.

“I think it was like this… … . found.”

What Lokan found was not the gathering team. the traces they left behind.

As he found out, the Gatherers didn’t disappear, but because they went into the forest with greed and became isolated.

They already know the approximate location, but they found traces of them because they thought that finding it right away could lead to suspicion.

“From now on, I just need to find the footprints.”

The traces they left behind were ‘shoes’. Exactly what one of them left behind, but in the process of running away from encountering a powerful monster here, their shoes were removed.

After that, they found something they were looking for, and they went further inside with greed, but they haven’t come out yet.

And thanks to such a setting, from now on, I could only track the half-elf footprints left at regular intervals to track them.

What happened to the monsters they escaped from?

“It’s a peek-a-boo, you bastard.”

It became Lokan’s sandbag, which was already sweet.

The level of a tree monster named the Spirit of the Contaminated Forest was 115. It was higher than that of a mining kobold, but it had serious problems.

That is, the modifier “polluted” is attached and the combination skill is sealed.

Instead, the physical specs have risen significantly, but the opponent is Lokan. In terms of strength versus strength, he wasn’t a wooden monster, but he didn’t want to be pushed back even if something more came, so the hard shell ruptured in one blow, and it didn’t take long for him to cut off the base and collapse.

“It’s clean.”

As a result of measuring the performance of the strengthened equipment by cutting, cutting, and even hitting a few on purpose, I was very satisfied.

I liked the overwhelming attack power that seemed to explode even without a critical hit, and I also liked the state of the armor that increased the defense quite a bit to reduce the decrease in health.

It was just his style that there were no chore options, only damage and crit chance.

By this point, he seemed so powerful that he had to worry about getting patched.‘It won’t happen. I didn’t get it for free.’

But Lokan was sure. that’s not going to happen

In the first place, all of this was arranged and pursued by The Lord. Whether he cuts 100 or 10,000 by himself, there will be no direct influence.

‘this way.’

Instead of stopping, Lokan, determined to take a further leap forward, hurriedly found the footprints.

The half-elves resembled the characteristics of elves more than humans, so if you don’t look closely, it’s hard to find even the footprints, and even they have to keep their nerves sharp because they’re a good distance away.

Not only did I have to find the footprints, but I also had to deal with monsters that attacked midway through.

‘First of all, tracking. It’s a battle, because after a while, I’ll do it without a circle… … .’

He was a Lokan with overflowing confidence and skills, and even a boiling fighting instinct, but he was cold-hearted while tracking his footprints.

He uses even stealth to minimize battles and focus on finding a gathering group.

It was nothing other than to save consumables.

Money and consumables were plentiful, but a fierce battle was scheduled soon. Besides, the potion had a separate place to be used.

‘bingo.’

Three half-elves appeared as the direction of the footprints coincided with the known approximate location.

It looked like he had been wounded or had bandages on, so Lokan carefully released his hide and appeared in front of them.

“What kind of guy are you!”

“This is a human Jean Berserker Lokan. Terryl sent me to worry about those of you who can’t be reached.”

“Teryl-nim made a human”

They put their weapons in their inventory and spread their hands out to show that they didn’t want to fight, but their vigilance did not go away.

When he heard the name of the crossroad’s half-elf chief, Teryl, he reacted slightly, but he gave a suspicious look.

‘I have the same name as Jinyoung, but believe me.’

I didn’t like the way they were openly wary of people who came to rescue them, but what can I do?

Rokhan added his words, thinking that he should finish it quickly, even if it was dirty.

“It means that Terryl can’t send humans. That’s right. I’ve been given this job because it’s to be recognized. But look, I have already been recognized by the dwarves.”

👌👌👌👌

At Rokkan’s words, their facial expressions, which were sniffing like puppy puppies, changed.

The moment they received the recognition of the Dwarves, some of their scent was absorbed.

It was for this reason that Terryl believed Rokhan without even checking.

“… … I want to believe it.”

‘What if I don’t believe it’

Lokan clicked his tongue when he saw them pretending to be measurable on a weak subject, but he didn’t show it at all. Rather, he treated them with a supremely friendly business smile.

“Then let’s go back. Don’t worry about safety. Since then, I have easily caught five ‘Polished Forest Spirits’ on the way. You can solve all the monsters in this neighborhood by yourself, so feel free to follow along.”

Rokhan’s words were also mixed with a bit of nonsense. To reassure them, and thus make them think differently.

‘Ask, ask.’

Then they started looking at each other. Instead of following Rokhan, he shifted his gaze to another place, further into the forest.

“really… … Is it easy to catch the spirits of the polluted forest?”

“of course. Look at this.”

As one of the half-elves struggled to speak, Lokan immediately pulled an item from his inventory called ‘Corrupted Spirit Energy’.

It was later used as a quest item or a crafting item, but now it was being used for proof of ability.

“It is true. If so, could you please grant me a favor?”

[The resolution of the young half-elves][Quest]

A request from the young half-elves who left for gathering in Tekalona Forest. Before escorting them to the Crossroads, they want to take them to wherever they want to be.

-Success Condition: Arrive at the heart of Tekalona Forest

-Failure conditions: Abandon moving to the center of Tekalona Forest or death of half-elves

-Reward: Combined with the quest reward for securing safety of the gathering group

‘Good.’

It was what Lokan had been hoping for. If I was alone, I would have to escort three kids, which was a risk, but I thought it would be okay now.

‘There will be no obstructions.’

There will be no obstructions.

The Tekalona Forest, located to the north of the Crossroads, is also a quest site in the undead area located not far away, so in the future, interferers who try to ruin the quests of the hostile camp often appear.

It’s not a conflict zone, but it’s the first place you’ll encounter hostile camps.

However, now that there are no tertiary city entrants, there is no need to worry about encountering disturbers. It was enough just to pay attention and focus on the monsters.

“It must be dangerous, are you okay?”

“It’s okay for us to do anything.”

“Then please follow my instructions exactly from now on. Otherwise, we will take you back immediately by force.”

“like.”

Even if he didn’t like it, it was Lokan who wanted to grab it and drag him by the collar, but he made sure of the relationship first. If you don’t, you don’t know where these bastards are going to pop out and attract aggro.

‘I’ve filled up the reins, so let’s go’

This is the part where many later make mistakes. NPCs and quest givers are the half-elves who follow everything they want and then go astray, causing monsters to become twisted and annihilated, or to pour out consumables.

So Lokan made it his top priority to secure the right to command.

“Mark the places you want to go on this map.”

He showed me a map, pinpointed the location, and gave them unilateral instructions. If you want to move, hide if you want to hide, and move around in a straight line.

Then, at some point, the half-elves refused the instructions for the first time and stopped.

“Wait.”

“What is it?”

Lokan glanced at them and immediately recognized the reason. They already know their purpose.“We have to get this.”

What they pointed to was a small, green bud.

If it weren’t for them, they were weed-like buds that I would have just ignored and passed, but when I looked closely, I could feel an aura.

At that sight, the half-elves’ expressions became serious.

“It is the bud of the world tree. To be precise, it is a sprout with the potential to become a world tree. No one knows if it will become a world tree if it grows properly, but if even one tree becomes a world tree… … . After all, we are here to gather the buds of this potential.”

Know. aldamada. And he knew his role for sure.

“Then let’s get started. Any monsters that appear will be handled by me.”

“How do you… … .”

A kind of guardian spirit resided in the sprout that had the potential to become a world tree.

And now that ‘some tricks’ are being practiced throughout the forest by the undead, some of those guardian spirits could be contaminated and endanger the collectors.

One of them was the Spirit of the Contaminated Forest.

“I studied a little beforehand.”

The half-elves were bewildered by Lokan’s smirk, yet they felt a sense of trustworthiness. If you already know, the story is fast.

He nodded his head and immediately began to carefully transfer the sprouts using the equipment.

“Who dares to steal the spirit of the forest!”

At that moment, the space condensed and something huge appeared. A huge wooden monster with green madness rose up and tried to crush the culprit.

“It’s me, man!”

“Aww!”

Whoops!

At that time, Rokhan’s body, which came crashing into it like a chariot, shoved it back to the root of a tree monster that could be about four times larger.

Not only that, he ripped off a part of his body and pulled out his white flesh. It wasn’t a normal shoulder charge, but a combination skill and a dash of destruction.

“Force! strike!”

[critical!]

It didn’t stop there, but the axe imbued with the Force continued. The spirit of the tainted forest was terribly broken like a hole in cheese, exposing its core.

“Your brother is busy. Let’s finish it quickly!”

Lokan ripped it open without hesitation. The size is bigger and the level is higher, but the basic attack is the same as the ‘forest monster’.

He faithfully carried out the strategy of taking the nucleus after slashing the body with overwhelming firepower, and knocking him down in an instant.

“There, wait!”

Then he quickly turned around and stopped the half-elves who were trying to gather the buds of the world tree with a surprised expression. There is work to be done before that.

A method discovered by a curious user.

It was to grow the sprout of the world tree right here.

If you just take the seedlings of the world tree as it is, there is a limit to the rewards no matter how many are taken, but if you take them in a more grown state, the rewards will have to jump greatly. This reduces the amount of time you have to wait for growth.

If he failed, he could be beaten and defeated by the half-elves, but he persisted, persuaded, executed, and succeeded.

And the fruit was about to bloom from Rokhan’s hand at this moment.