Chapter 155 – Great Plains of Barrastan (6)

The Operator gave a verse in response to Sungjin’s prompt.

[The last resort remaining to mankind]
[was not able to shine thanks to]
[the leadership’s greed for recognition.]
[During the demon’s surprise attack,]
[Into the chest of a virtuous man, the holy object went]

“Hrm… There was a weapon, but it wasn’t properly utilized and is left in a righteous human’s chest.”

It was a verse that was both easy and difficult. Sungjin turned and looked around. There were only demons in the Great Plains of Barrastan, and no humans. That is, ‘living humans’. Instead, human corpses were piled in unbelievable amounts. Besgoro muttered,

‘…Is it in one of the many corpses we’ve seen until now?’

Sungjin pursed his lips as he said,

“That’s probably the case.”

It seemed that to find the hidden piece all you had to do was search the corpses. Sungjin asked for the hint about the Hidden Boss.

“What’s the hint for the Hidden Boss?”

[A reclusive researcher of magic]
[Seeking a way to replenish mana for research]
[Flew to watch the war unfold]
[Sleepily, he observes from the sky]
[For Blue light to shine among the tiny lifeforms fighting below]

“Hr….m”

Besgoro simply said,

‘I don’t get this at all.’

Sungjin felt the same. This time he looked up at the sky. In the vast skies above the plains that stretched all the way to the horizon, bald eagles that followed the scent of corpses could be seen occasionally flying around.

“There’s probably no way… that a bald eagle is the boss.”

‘Since it’s a reclusive researcher of magic, shouldn’t it be a person? A magician that uses magic to fly around?’

There was no time to dither about. Sungjin briefly thought about the two verses, then quickly made a decision.

“Then, for now, I’ll look through the corpses. While I’m doing this, you two phantoms should keep a lookout from the sky. There might be something else flying around other than the eagle.

‘Ok.’

‘Understood, Master’

Sungjin looked down at his waist, and then soon came to a realization.

‘Ah…’

Now that he thought about it, he had already used Shadowrun in order to escape earlier.

‘Though he’s the best in the plains…’

Sungjin instead removed the magic carpet from the cube. He could also call out Rajenta, but did not since he could be used in combat. He felt that it would be good to call him out together with both Cain and Soldamyr for the Hidden Boss.

Sungjin climbed on top of the magic carpet and then began to circle around the Barrastan Plains while flying low in the air. While flying around, he saw a place where human corpses were gathered; the demons had carelessly piled the corpses into a mountain.

Sungjin stopped there and got off from the carpet. The bald eagles were still hovering about near the corpses. The eagles paused from voraciously devouring the corpses and turned their heads to look at Sungjin when he approached. Their eyes seemed to be asking,

‘What do you want?’

However, Sungjin suddenly glared at them.

‘Flap flap’

The eagles got scared out of its wits and they flew away once they felt Sungjin’s killing intent. Sungjin then approached the heap of corpses. Though you could get used to any odour, it was difficult to really get used to the smell of rotting corpses.

Sungjin wrinkled his nose as he searched through the heap one by one. However, there was something strange about the bodies. Whether it was their pockets or their vests, any place where you could ‘hide something’ had all been searched through.

He did not know if the demons also liked gold or not, but in any case, it did not seem like he would find any kind of ‘holy object’ from these corpses.

Sungjin once again climbed on the carpet and circled the surroundings. There was another similar heap of corpses located not far away. It was about 1.5 meters tall. It seemed that the demons liked to make the piles in a manner that was comfortable to their own height.

Sungjin went closer and once more searched through the pile of corpses. It seemed that the demons had gone through the heap here as well. There was nothing like a ‘holy object’. Besgoro muttered,

‘If it’s like this… When will we find it?’

Sungjin was also thinking the exact same thing. He then requested the cube to repeat the verse once more.

“Operator, tell me the hint for the Hidden Piece again.”

Soon, the verse could be heard from the cube.

[…The holy item is in a righteous human’s chest]

‘A righteous human’s chest…’

Sungjin climbed on the magic carpet and flew just a bit higher into the sky. There were countless piles of corpses like the ones he had seen till now throughout the Barrastan Plains.

“A righteous human…”

He did not know what that meant, but it should refer to a human who was special in some way. It did not seem like the Hidden Piece would be in one of those piles. Sungjin decided to look around some more instead of thoughtlessly looking through the countless corpses.

While going around looking for the ‘righteous human’, he also ran into a few teams of demons. They were the survivors who had scattered in all directions after Commander Zeratar died. In other words, they were deserters.

Sungjin climbed down from the carpet and cut their necks each time he saw them. Not only did it increase his contribution, but it also filled up the health points he had lost while fighting Zeratar.

Another reason was that he was also about to face the Hidden Boss soon. Every time Sungjin drew the demons’ blood, the life stealing ring on his finger would let out an eerie crimson light. It was not a scene you could see often.

This was because, from the beginning, there were not many cases where Sungjin would take damage. Either way, Sungjin went around killing demon stragglers he occasionally found while also making sure to look out for special corpses from time to time. But nothing of the sort could be seen.

“Besgoro, Moon Specter. Do you see anything strange?”

‘There’s nothing other than eagles.’

‘No, I also haven’t seen anything other than eagles as well.’

“Hrm…”

Sungjin frowned. However, there was no particular method that could be used to search beyond this one. He once again circled the Great Plains of Barrastan while on the magic carpet. There was a stream that cut through the center of the plains.

Sungjin searched the area around the stream since the area looked somewhat more special than the other places. He kept flying while following the stream.

While searching near the stream, something peculiar caught his eye. There were bloodstains that were steadily headed towards the stream. Sungjin quickly landed near that area. Now that he looked, there was also the corpse of a horse nearby.

‘Strange.’

Sungjin followed the bloodstains and walked next to the stream. When he did so, he quickly discovered a corpse that had died with his upper torso stuck in the stream.

He did not know if it was ‘righteous’, but in any case, it was obviously a ‘special’ corpse. Sungjin approached the corpse. Besgoro said,

‘This friend here hurt his ankle after he fell off the horse. The fatal wound was… Likely the arrow that’s stuck in his back.’

Sungjin looked down. As Besgoro had said, the corpse’s ankle was twisted.

‘It looks like he had crawled here after he was mortally wounded… But it’s unlikely that it’s because he wanted a drink.’

Sungjin held the corpse and pulled it out of the water.

“Kuuh…”

The smell of regular corpses was repulsive, but it was even worse in this case as the corpse had been in the water. Sungjin looked through his vest. The man, who was wearing a plate armor, looked like he had held a rather high position.

‘Even if he’s not the commander, he looks like the sub-commander?’

Sungjin cut off the plate armor with his sword. Inside, he was wearing clothes made of leather. Sungjin searched through it, but there was nothing to be found.

“Shit…”

He had done this much, but for it to be in vain.

‘Master.’

However, Moon Specter suddenly spoke up,

‘There, inside his chest.’

“Hm?”

At Moon Specter’s words, Sungjin examined the chest of the corpse. Inside the waterlogged chest, there was something giving off a blue light.

“I’m sorry.”

Sungjin gave a short apology, and then cut open the corpse’s chest with Blood Vengeance. He then extended his hand and grabbed the round object that gave off a blue light. It was hard. Sungjin thought,

‘What’s this?’

At that moment, the Operator made an announcement.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Hidden Piece]
[‘Elendil’s Final Preparation’]

‘Good.’

It seemed that this man had purposefully swallowed this and drowned himself in the river in order to hide it. Sungjin did not know what this was, but in any case, since it was called the last resort, it was undeniably something important. And since the man had even attempted to protect this while he was dying, he was definitely ‘righteous’.

Sungjin took it out and washed off the blood in the flowing water by the streamside. It was a gem. A strange, blue gemstone in which there seemed to be some kind of cloud floating about. A thought came to his mind as he looked at it,

‘This… is some kind of final bastion? But I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere…’

Sungjin, as he had always done, was about to hold it above his head. However, at that moment, the sound of something flying through the sky could be heard.

‘Whiiiiiiiiz!’

Sungjin urgently placed the gem in his pocket and took out his sword. At that instant, a man appeared right in front of him.

‘Thud!’

A beautiful man, approximately 180cm in height, with a long nose, blue eyes, and blonde hair.

Sungjin looked at him.

‘Who’s this?’

Then, the man said,

“Hand that gem to me, human.”

For a ‘human’, to refer to another ‘human’ as ‘human’. This could only mean that the man was something that had taken the shape of a human. Sungjin asked him,

“And if I refuse?”

The man simply replied,

“Then you will die.”

There was absolute confidence in his voice. Sungjin clenched his jaws. This man who had suddenly appeared from the skies was the hidden boss. And if it was as Sungjin had predicted,

“You… Are you a Dragon as well?”

The man nodded in response to Sungjin’s question.

“That’s right. I’m a Dragon. Between you and me, there’s a gap in strength as large as the gap between the earth and the skies. I saw you killing those demons before. You’re obviously a strong human. However, even so, resisting against me is pointless. You understand what I’m saying, right?”

Sungjin quickly began to think.

‘So the Hidden Piece and the Hidden Boss were linked together. If I don’t hand it over, I’ll die…’

Sungjin prepared himself mentally in order to fight the man. However, if he truly was a Dragon, then it was obvious that he would be on the same level as Ariane, if not stronger.

‘A head-on fight is impossible. Then…’

While Sungjin was thinking, the man asked,

“You… Human, that blue ring. Just where did you get that ring?”

Amongst the many rings that Sungjin was wearing, the one the man was pointing to was none other than the ‘Ring of the Great Sage’. The ‘Ring of the Great Sage’ that Ariane had gifted to him. However, now that he looked at it, it had the same gemstone as the circular gem that he held in his hand.

A blue shape with clouds flowing inside of it. It seemed that the Dragon was looking for this gem. While Sungjin was thinking this the dragon again said,,

“Answer me. Just where did you find that ring?”

But, those words struck something inside of Sungjin. Although his mouth had been closed, Sungjin unconsciously opened it and said,

“I received it. From another Dragon.”

“A Dragon?”

“Yes.”

“Hrm… From whom?”

Sungjin kept his mouth shut this time as well. However, the man again repeated himself with a bit of strength,

“Answer me. From whom did you receive the ring?”

Sungjin attempted to keep his mouth closed, but it opened and answered the question.

“Ariane.”

Chapter 155 Great Plains of Barrastan 6The Operator gave a verse in response to Sungjin's prompt.The last resort remaining to mankindwas not able to shine thanks tothe leadership's greed for recognition.During the demon's surprise attack,Into the chest of a virtuous man, the holy object wentHrm There was a weapon, but it wasn't properly utilized and is left in a righteous human's chest.It was a verse that was both easy and difficult. Sungjin turned and looked around. There were only demons in the Great Plains of Barrastan, and no humans. That is, living humans'. Instead, human corpses were piled in unbelievable amounts. Besgoro muttered,Is it in one of the many corpses we've seen until now?'Sungjin pursed his lips as he said,That's probably the case.It seemed that to find the hidden piece all you had to do was search the corpses. Sungjin asked for the hint about the Hidden Boss.What's the hint for the Hidden Boss?A reclusive researcher of magicSeeking a way to replenish mana for researchFlew to watch the war unfoldSleepily, he observes from the skyFor Blue light to shine among the tiny lifeforms fighting belowHr.mBesgoro simply said,I don't get this at all.'Sungjin felt the same. This time he looked up at the sky. In the vast skies above the plains that stretched all the way to the horizon, bald eagles that followed the scent of corpses could be seen occasionally flying around.There's probably no way that a bald eagle is the boss.Since it's a reclusive researcher of magic, shouldn't it be a person? A magician that uses magic to fly around?'There was no time to dither about. Sungjin briefly thought about the two verses, then quickly made a decision.Then, for now, I'll look through the corpses. While I'm doing this, you two phantoms should keep a lookout from the sky. There might be something else flying around other than the eagle.Ok.'Understood, Master'Sungjin looked down at his waist, and then soon came to a realization.Ah'Now that he thought about it, he had already used Shadowrun in order to escape earlier.Though he's the best in the plains'Sungjin instead removed the magic carpet from the cube. He could also call out Rajenta, but did not since he could be used in combat. He felt that it would be good to call him out together with both Cain and Soldamyr for the Hidden Boss.Sungjin climbed on top of the magic carpet and then began to circle around the Barrastan Plains while flying low in the air. While flying around, he saw a place where human corpses were gathered; the demons had carelessly piled the corpses into a mountain.Sungjin stopped there and got off from the carpet. The bald eagles were still hovering about near the corpses. The eagles paused from voraciously devouring the corpses and turned their heads to look at Sungjin when he approached. Their eyes seemed to be asking,What do you want?'However, Sungjin suddenly glared at them.Flap flap'The eagles got scared out of its wits and they flew away once they felt Sungjin's killing intent. Sungjin then approached the heap of corpses. Though you could get used to any odour, it was difficult to really get used to the smell of rotting corpses.Sungjin wrinkled his nose as he searched through the heap one by one. However, there was something strange about the bodies. Whether it was their pockets or their vests, any place where you could hide something' had all been searched through.He did not know if the demons also liked gold or not, but in any case, it did not seem like he would find any kind of holy object' from these corpses.Sungjin once again climbed on the carpet and circled the surroundings. There was another similar heap of corpses located not far away. It was about 1.5 meters tall. It seemed that the demons liked to make the piles in a manner that was comfortable to their own height.Sungjin went closer and once more searched through the pile of corpses. It seemed that the demons had gone through the heap here as well. There was nothing like a holy object'. Besgoro muttered,If it's like this When will we find it?'Sungjin was also thinking the exact same thing. He then requested the cube to repeat the verse once more.Operator, tell me the hint for the Hidden Piece again.Soon, the verse could be heard from the cube.The holy item is in a righteous human's chestA righteous human's chest'Sungjin climbed on the magic carpet and flew just a bit higher into the sky. There were countless piles of corpses like the ones he had seen till now throughout the Barrastan Plains.A righteous humanHe did not know what that meant, but it should refer to a human who was special in some way. It did not seem like the Hidden Piece would be in one of those piles. Sungjin decided to look around some more instead of thoughtlessly looking through the countless corpses.While going around looking for the righteous human', he also ran into a few teams of demons. They were the survivors who had scattered in all directions after Commander Zeratar died. In other words, they were deserters.Sungjin climbed down from the carpet and cut their necks each time he saw them. Not only did it increase his contribution, but it also filled up the health points he had lost while fighting Zeratar.Another reason was that he was also about to face the Hidden Boss soon. Every time Sungjin drew the demons' blood, the life stealing ring on his finger would let out an eerie crimson light. It was not a scene you could see often.This was because, from the beginning, there were not many cases where Sungjin would take damage. Either way, Sungjin went around killing demon stragglers he occasionally found while also making sure to look out for special corpses from time to time. But nothing of the sort could be seen.Besgoro, Moon Specter. Do you see anything strange?There's nothing other than eagles.'No, I also haven't seen anything other than eagles as well.'HrmSungjin frowned. However, there was no particular method that could be used to search beyond this one. He once again circled the Great Plains of Barrastan while on the magic carpet. There was a stream that cut through the center of the plains.Sungjin searched the area around the stream since the area looked somewhat more special than the other places. He kept flying while following the stream.While searching near the stream, something peculiar caught his eye. There were bloodstains that were steadily headed towards the stream. Sungjin quickly landed near that area. Now that he looked, there was also the corpse of a horse nearby.Strange.'Sungjin followed the bloodstains and walked next to the stream. When he did so, he quickly discovered a corpse that had died with his upper torso stuck in the stream.He did not know if it was righteous', but in any case, it was obviously a special' corpse. Sungjin approached the corpse. Besgoro said,This friend here hurt his ankle after he fell off the horse. The fatal wound was Likely the arrow that's stuck in his back.'Sungjin looked down. As Besgoro had said, the corpse's ankle was twisted.It looks like he had crawled here after he was mortally wounded But it's unlikely that it's because he wanted a drink.'Sungjin held the corpse and pulled it out of the water.KuuhThe smell of regular corpses was repulsive, but it was even worse in this case as the corpse had been in the water. Sungjin looked through his vest. The man, who was wearing a plate armor, looked like he had held a rather high position.Even if he's not the commander, he looks like the sub-commander?'Sungjin cut off the plate armor with his sword. Inside, he was wearing clothes made of leather. Sungjin searched through it, but there was nothing to be found.ShitHe had done this much, but for it to be in vain.Master.'However, Moon Specter suddenly spoke up,There, inside his chest.'Hm?At Moon Specter's words, Sungjin examined the chest of the corpse. Inside the waterlogged chest, there was something giving off a blue light.I'm sorry.Sungjin gave a short apology, and then cut open the corpse's chest with Blood Vengeance. He then extended his hand and grabbed the round object that gave off a blue light. It was hard. Sungjin thought,What's this?'At that moment, the Operator made an announcement.Congratulations! You have obtained the Hidden PieceElendil's Final Preparation'Good.'It seemed that this man had purposefully swallowed this and drowned himself in the river in order to hide it. Sungjin did not know what this was, but in any case, since it was called the last resort, it was undeniably something important. And since the man had even attempted to protect this while he was dying, he was definitely righteous'.Sungjin took it out and washed off the blood in the flowing water by the streamside. It was a gem. A strange, blue gemstone in which there seemed to be some kind of cloud floating about. A thought came to his mind as he looked at it,This is some kind of final bastion? But I feel like I've seen this somewhere'Sungjin, as he had always done, was about to hold it above his head. However, at that moment, the sound of something flying through the sky could be heard.Whiiiiiiiiz!'Sungjin urgently placed the gem in his pocket and took out his sword. At that instant, a man appeared right in front of him.Thud!'A beautiful man, approximately 180cm in height, with a long nose, blue eyes, and blonde hair.Sungjin looked at him.Who's this?'Then, the man said,Hand that gem to me, human.For a human', to refer to another human' as human'. This could only mean that the man was something that had taken the shape of a human. Sungjin asked him,And if I refuse?The man simply replied,Then you will die.There was absolute confidence in his voice. Sungjin clenched his jaws. This man who had suddenly appeared from the skies was the hidden boss. And if it was as Sungjin had predicted,You Are you a Dragon as well?The man nodded in response to Sungjin's question.That's right. I'm a Dragon. Between you and me, there's a gap in strength as large as the gap between the earth and the skies. I saw you killing those demons before. You're obviously a strong human. However, even so, resisting against me is pointless. You understand what I'm saying, right?Sungjin quickly began to think.So the Hidden Piece and the Hidden Boss were linked together. If I don't hand it over, I'll die'Sungjin prepared himself mentally in order to fight the man. However, if he truly was a Dragon, then it was obvious that he would be on the same level as Ariane, if not stronger.A head-on fight is impossible. Then'While Sungjin was thinking, the man asked,You Human, that blue ring. Just where did you get that ring?Amongst the many rings that Sungjin was wearing, the one the man was pointing to was none other than the Ring of the Great Sage'. The Ring of the Great Sage' that Ariane had gifted to him. However, now that he looked at it, it had the same gemstone as the circular gem that he held in his hand.A blue shape with clouds flowing inside of it. It seemed that the Dragon was looking for this gem. While Sungjin was thinking this the dragon again said,,Answer me. Just where did you find that ring?But, those words struck something inside of Sungjin. Although his mouth had been closed, Sungjin unconsciously opened it and said,I received it. From another Dragon.A Dragon?Yes.Hrm From whom?Sungjin kept his mouth shut this time as well. However, the man again repeated himself with a bit of strength,Answer me. From whom did you receive the ring?Sungjin attempted to keep his mouth closed, but it opened and answered the question.Ariane.