Ch. 30.1 - Attack of the Necromancer(2)
It took about three hours to go to Martevis Cemetery. At least, the airship and warp hall system were systematized in Arcanium, so it wasn't a mess, but it was really congested.
After boarding the warp hall and moving to the transfer station, I took the train for an hour.
After waiting in line at Warp Halls for 30 minutes, I was able to arrive after an hour on the bus.
“You are lucky, student. Originally, it was a place where buses rarely went, so I almost had to rode a horse.”
I laughed at the bus driver's joke, thinking I was lucky too. Because if the time wasn't right, I'd have to ride a horse.
Like Earth, not all land were safe, so roads were not everywhere. So, in the Aether World, horses were still one of the main source of transportation.
Arriving at Martevis Cemetery, it was crowded with far more people than expected.
Half were mercenaries, and half were rookie mages of the Class 2 and Class 3. Other than that, those who were not combat troops were merchants who came to trade with mercenaries. Generally, they exchanged combat supplies with demon corpses.
The strange thing was that there were so many people in the cemetery. In the game, there was no one except for NPCs.
In the beginning, during the 'Third War of Dark Demons'.
Most cemeteries were legally required to go through a cleanup after the recurrent appeance of necromancer…
“Oh, that? There was no cleanup here.”
"Why?"
I had no choice but to ask an adventurer on the road, and the answer was finally revealed.
“If we do the purification work, there won't be any more ghouls. Then Vampbat, who eats ghouls, won't appear, and then 'Predfish', who eats Vampbat, won't appear either, right?”
"Uh... Isn't it?"
“It means that the main earning of our mercenaries is the Predfish. However, the ghoul disappears due to the purification work, and then the Vampbat disappears. Next, what if the Predfish disappears? The factory site in the next town that feeds on our hunt and I wonder what will happen to those old merchant brothers.”
That was to sum up...
Cleanup work → Ghoul extinction → Vampbat extinction → Predfish extinction → Mercenary job loss → Trader job loss → Small businessmen starve to death → World perish
It would be like this.
“Do you understand now?”
“Ah, yes…”
In the end, it was the story that the priests of the Holy Nation couldn't approach because the residents living in this area shouted, 'Oh, we're all starving to death!'
Come to think of it, despite the legal restrictions, there were exceptionally many cemetery fields in the Aether World.
I didn't notice it because I didn't care about it in the game, but it was so realistic there.
I didn't know there was a reason behind it. And it was ridiculously logical.
'Aren't you afraid of necromancers anyway...'
Anyway, with so many people, it seemed hard to find anyone.
'Was it better?'
With so many people, it would be easy to stop the attack.
First of all, I caught another mercenary or mage and asked them.
“Hey, have you seen any mages wearing coats just like mine?”
“Stella Cadet? There have been a lot of them these days, and of course I saw them today too. There are some students going into the cemetery.”
It seemed that Hong Bi-Yeon, Eisel, and Edna's group members had already gone hunting.
Perhaps they, too, went deep into the northern forest to hunt for the Predfish. I decided to go find them myself.
[Martevis Cemetery]
[※Caution※ Do not enter alone]
'It's spooky...'
Ignoring the screeching and swaying old signs, I passed through the old iron window and entered the interior, where the damp air of the foot of the mountain filled my lungs.
As soon as we moved a little away from the base camp, the number of people rapidly decreased, and all we could hear were the cries of all sorts of animals and birds.
The sound of the wind hitting the tree branches might sound like a weeping ghost, but in that world, it was a real weeping ghost, so one needed to be careful.
Passeuk! There was the sound of something wriggling in the forest. I hardened my expression and quickly ran to the direction where there were many trees.
'It's Predfish.'
It was a unique demon that flew in the air while taking the form of a fish, thanks to its 'floating-type' characteristics.
Without a ranged attack technique, I was vulnerable in air combat. However, if the terrain was full of tall trees, it was worth fighting for.
Crisp!
Kiaag!
A two metre long fish with dark scales rushed at me, exposing its sharp teeth. Unusually, the Predfish had a very sharp and long tongue.
Chark! The tongue aimed at my neck and grabbed me, but I had already used Flash to go upwards.
As it was, I pointed the Argento sword down and used Flash once more.
Then, I thrust the blade into the creature's neck.
Fu-wook!
Kyaaaaaa!!
It screamed and struggled. The attack did not cause immediate death, so I twisted the sword as much as I could and stabbed it hard, but I tripped and fell to the ground.
"Ahh!?"
Thud! A tremendous jolt came from my back, which made me nauseous, but I quickly rolled to the side.
Chow! Its tongue, which was like a sharp needle, stabbed the spot where I stood a split second ago.
I quickly swung my sword and cut off its tongue.
Piaaaagh!
It let out a more grotesque scream.
It was hard to kill, but it wasn't a threat anymore. It was as if one of its means of attack had been completely lost.
After running between trees, using the flash to move on top of it, and stabbing it in the eye with all my might, it finally died.
Thud!!
[Skill EXP increased.]
[Stat EXP increased.]
I was breathing heavily with the corpse of the Fredfish on the ground.
“Ah, this was fucking difficult…”
Predfish was a Level 2 Danger Demon. It was the same grade as the Fire-attribute Lizard, but it was harder to deal with.
The scale itself was tough. It could do long range attack, and could even fly through the air.
'Air control is still a bit tough.'
Besides, this terrain filled with trees itself was actually not very advantageous to me. If I had failed to control the Flash even a little, I would have been fatally injured, so my mental power was always raised at the max.
After shaking my butt and getting up, I dismantled the body of Predfish and took out the mana core. Normally, even the expensive parts of the corpse would have been stored in a frozen wooden box, but there was no time right now.
As I continued forward, a few half-dug tombstones came into view. In the meantime, I found what I was looking for from the beginning.
One tombstone of considerable size, unlike other tombstones. According to the setting, it was said that it was a tombstone where the 'general' was buried. All letters had been erased.
It didn't matter too much since I could see it with my Sentient Spec.
'I don't have the power to wipe out the skeleton army overwhelmingly like Mayuseong.'
If I tried to fight like Mayuseong, it would be equal to desiring my own tombstone in that cemetery.
However, it was not that there wasn't a way.
For the player, he had his own way.