The High Elf named Haeph slightly nodded her head.
“Yes, I am. Please do not move. You will heal faster if you stay still.”
‘I see.’
The High Elves were said to be the most beautiful of the Elves, who were known to be the epitome of beauty.
Now it made sense why she was so shockingly beautiful.
However, High Elves were special for more reasons than just their beauty.
Haeph was healing my injuries right now using healing magic.
She was very talented. My injuries were healed in less than 10 minutes. I still felt some pain, but there were no more visible injuries.
I also used some highest-grade potions as well, but I still expected to be down for about half a day.
The legendary High Elves were said to be talented in magic and I could see that being true based on her healing magic.
“Haaaa, all done.”
Haeph let out a small sigh with her beautiful red lips.
Even her sigh was sexy.
Her outfit tempted me even more. She must not feel cold because she was wearing a thin white garment that was very revealing.
But it was really weird. Looking at this extremely beautiful Elf was not making me feel any lust at all.
Although really beautiful women made men become extremely lustful, this Elf was so beautiful that she seemed to suppress my lust because she felt so out of my league.
“You did something really amazing. Many Elves and Elementals tried to clear this Demon Cave and failed.”
“We are not done yet. We still have one last hurdle to overcome.”
We will arrive at a large hall if we walk about 5 km from here.
The Demon Lord’s Relic is located there, along with the boss monster protecting the item.
“I believe we can do it. This is the first time so many Elves have made it this far. But most importantly, we have a talented individual like you with us.”
She didn’t need to praise me like that. I wouldn’t have come this far if I didn’t plan on going to the end.
I also believed it was possible to successfully complete this Demon Cave Clearing.
No, I needed to make it happen. How unfair would it be if I make it this far but I’m unable to overcome this final hurdle?
I needed to attack with full confidence about our chances.
However, the problem was that I did not have any information.
“Do you know what monster is guarding the Relic?”
The High Elf shook her head at my question.
“No. Nobody has managed to get near the relic until now. Our Clearing Squad made it the farthest, but this was as far as we got.”
It meant that everything from here was a world of mystery that nobody had seen before.
It was disappointing since I would be able to plan accordingly if I knew the identity of the boss monster.
Oh well, I could only find out with my body.
“Let us rest a bit before we go.”
“I think it will be difficult to do that.”
The High Elf shook her head at my suggestion. She then looked deep into the Demon Cave.
“Excuse me?”
I wondered if she heard something I could not hear.
That seemed to be the case as I quickly started to hear noises from where the High Elf was looking.
The noise started to get closer, letting me figure out what it was.
Squeak, squeak, squeak ……
“Rats?”
“Zombie Rats. Everybody, please gather together.”
The High Elf instructed as she moved to a corner of the cave. She stopped at a nook with the wall behind us. It seemed to be the perfect spot to set up a wall and defend.
But why was she going there? Was there a reason not fight with our lives on the line?
I’m sure she had her reasons.
The High Elf continued to quickly lead the others while I questioned what was going on.
“Everyone, hurry! Stone Elves, guard!”
She seemed to be very charismatic. Her abilities to lead the Elves and Stone Elves seemed to be higher than my own.
But she had to be this way since High Elves were known for being the leader of the Elves.
The Elves followed the High Elf to the nook while the Stone Elves surrounded the Elves and set up a wall.
“Kang Hwi Ram-nim, please head over here as well.”
I followed the High Elf’s command for now since I had no information on the Zombie Rats.
I just felt like they wouldn’t be much since I assumed they would be like the Desert Ants that were not very strong but used their numbers advantage to overwhelm you.
I was correct. The Zombie Rats soon arrived, and they seemed to be just like regular rats other than their appearance.
But there was something that was different than what I expected.
‘Why are they so fast?’
They seemed to have motors on their feet. The rumbling quickly got louder as they traveled about 30 m almost instantly.
Seeing that made me a bit worried.
‘Will the Stone Elves be able to keep up with the Zombie Rats’ speed?’
The close to 100 Stone Elves had set up a wall, but the Zombie Rats could probably get past them if they really wanted to do so.
The Elves behind the Stone Elves were packed too close to each other to move around.
That meant that this location was more advantageous for the Zombie Rats than the Elves since they were small enough to move around freely in this area.
Which meant that this was the worst possible spot for our side.
‘Why would the High Elf pick such a plan?’
I soon found out I was wrong. The moment the Zombie Rats got close to us, a dim light started to surround us.
‘Ah! Mana Shield!’
It was a very large mana shield that was large enough to cover the area the Elves were gathered in.
The Zombie Rats could not get past the mana shield and stopped right outside the shield.
Squeak- squeak-
The Zombie Rats then tried to attack the shield. As they pushed at the shield, other Zombie Rats climbed on top of them. This continued on until it seemed like there was a small Zombie Rats hill.
The Elves would not just stand by and watch. They swung their weapons toward the Zombie Rats making up the hill.
The Stone Elves were the same. They wouldn’t be able to stop any Zombie Rats from getting past them, but it was easy for them to attack the Zombie Rats piling up like a hill outside the mana shield.
They punched and stomped and started to kill the Zombie Rats.
That sight was pretty disgusting and made me feel like I needed to vomit.
However, now was not the time for me to be lost in such thoughts. The High Elf showed me something unexpected, but our situation was not very good.
It would be fine if we could last like this forever, but I knew that wasn’t the case.
Although the High Elves may be very skilled in magic, there still was a limit to their mana.
I could tell by looking at the High Elf’s expression.
Her face was becoming stiff even though it had been less than 5 minutes. This mana shield was large and being attacked by thousands of Zombie Rats at the same time.
In addition, an endless number of Zombie Rats continued to appear from the corridor. It felt like 100,000 no, maybe even 1 million of them would come to attack us.
It would take over a day even if the Stone Elves hunted them as quickly as possible.
I needed to find a different method.
The Elves and High Elf probably had more information than I did, so I just fired away with a bunch of questions.
“Where are they all coming from? Is there a King Rat? Is there a way to quickly handle them?”
“There should be a Liche controlling them somewhere up there. We just need to get rid of him ……”
There was no relief in the High Elf’s voice. She seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble maintaining the mana shield.
Anyways, I didn’t need to hear the rest. The Elves did not have the ability to cut through the Zombie Rats and attack the Liche.
Although the Elves had the endurance stat, they did not have the reinforced toughness stat. Even those small Zombie Rats would damage them if they were bitten, and they would probably die right away if those thousands of Zombie Rats each bit them once.
That was why they could only defend in a corner like this.
But I was different.
“I will go out and try to take care of the Liche.”
“It is dangerous outside the mana shield.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m going now.”
I would be able to jump up more than 5m if I really wanted to do so. My strength and agility helped me with my vertical.
I kicked off the ground and jumped up into the air.
My goal was the shoulders of two of the Stone Elves. To be more specific, I used the Stone Elves’ shoulders and kick off again.
Taaaat-
Once I did that, the two Stone Elves had to take a step back. That was how strong I was.
Thanks to that, my body shot forward like an arrow and quickly crossed about 20m.
Swiiiiish- tatatap!
I rushed forward as soon as I landed back on the ground. At that moment, I thought I heard the faint sound of a bell.
Jingle. Jingle.
At the same time, a portion of the Zombie Rats who used to only rush toward the Elves rushed toward me.
They were very scary because of their numbers. They covered both the ground and the side walls and made it look black. It seemed like the Zombie Rats had become a flower river.
There was no way to dodge their attack because they were all rushing toward me at once. No matter how quickly I moved, some of them started to climb up my legs.
That wasn’t the end of it. The Zombie Rats piled up in front of me, creating a wall
Taaat!
I kicked off the ground and jumped up again. I was trying to get past the Zombie Rats’ wall with my high vertical.
But it was impossible because the Zombie Rats moved their wall in response to my movements.
I couldn’t kick off the air and attempt it again. My body started to come down due to gravity and I fell into the Zombie Defense.
Squeeeeeeak-
Tens of Zombie Rats were stepped to death underneath my feet.
However, tens of hundreds seemed to have been waiting for me to move as they started to rush up my legs. It looked like I had become a Zombie Rat human.
“Come back.”
Either and Elf or the High Elf was calling out to me.
It probably just looked like I was in danger to them.
I would be fine even if thousands of Zombie Rats stuck to me like this. As expected, they were not very strong. Their sharp teeth were trying to rip me to pieces, but it did not cause me any damage at all.
The only issue was that I could not move very well with them on me like this.
There was a method to get all these Zombie Rats off of me, but I could not use it right now.
I didn’t want to Liche to be afraid of me and run away. I had to catch the Liche off guard and hunt him in that moment.
In order to do that, I needed to first figure out his location.
I knew approximately where the Liche was based on the bells from earlier.
He seemed to be behind that pillar over there.
He would run if I personally went, so I needed to send a second set of eyes to check behind the pillar.
It was about 30m from here.
My affinity with the guardian spirit was already at 80%, so I was able to look through its eyes even at about 45 m away. This type of distance was not very hard for me anymore.
‘Guardian Spirit, go take a look!’
My connection with the spirit was perfect that it flew out after reading my mind.
But it was too bright.
‘Hide your light.’.
The Guardian Spirit’s glow became fainter. It was still a bit bright, but it was impossible to lower it any further.
I sent the guardian spirit forward and continued to swing Goonto’s Twin Blades. I was able to kill about ten of them each time I swung my weapon because there were so many of them.
The Guardian Spirit headed behind the pillar as I did that.
My eyes were pitch black because of the Zombie Rats, but I could see behind the pillar because of the spirit. Although it was a bit blurry, I could still verify what was behind the pillar.
However,
‘Not there!’
I used the guardian spirit’s sight to look around.
There were many other places for the Liche to hid as well in addition to this pillar.
‘Go to the left! Now right!’
I started to slowly move forward while killing the Zombie Rats. At the same time, I sent the Guardian Spirit all over the place to locate the Liche.
‘Ah! Over there!’
The High Elf named Haeph slightly nodded her head.
“Yes, I am. Please do not move. You will heal faster if you stay still.”
‘I see.’
The High Elves were said to be the most beautiful of the Elves, who were known to be the epitome of beauty.
Now it made sense why she was so shockingly beautiful.
However, High Elves were special for more reasons than just their beauty.
Haeph was healing my injuries right now using healing magic.
She was very talented. My injuries were healed in less than 10 minutes. I still felt some pain, but there were no more visible injuries.
I also used some highest-grade potions as well, but I still expected to be down for about half a day.
The legendary High Elves were said to be talented in magic and I could see that being true based on her healing magic.
“Haaaa, all done.”
Haeph let out a small sigh with her beautiful red lips.
Even her sigh was sexy.
Her outfit tempted me even more. She must not feel cold because she was wearing a thin white garment that was very revealing.
But it was really weird. Looking at this extremely beautiful Elf was not making me feel any lust at all.
Although really beautiful women made men become extremely lustful, this Elf was so beautiful that she seemed to suppress my lust because she felt so out of my league.
“You did something really amazing. Many Elves and Elementals tried to clear this Demon Cave and failed.”
“We are not done yet. We still have one last hurdle to overcome.”
We will arrive at a large hall if we walk about 5 km from here.
The Demon Lord’s Relic is located there, along with the boss monster protecting the item.
“I believe we can do it. This is the first time so many Elves have made it this far. But most importantly, we have a talented individual like you with us.”
She didn’t need to praise me like that. I wouldn’t have come this far if I didn’t plan on going to the end.
I also believed it was possible to successfully complete this Demon Cave Clearing.
No, I needed to make it happen. How unfair would it be if I make it this far but I’m unable to overcome this final hurdle?
I needed to attack with full confidence about our chances.
However, the problem was that I did not have any information.
“Do you know what monster is guarding the Relic?”
The High Elf shook her head at my question.
“No. Nobody has managed to get near the relic until now. Our Clearing Squad made it the farthest, but this was as far as we got.”
It meant that everything from here was a world of mystery that nobody had seen before.
It was disappointing since I would be able to plan accordingly if I knew the identity of the boss monster.
Oh well, I could only find out with my body.
“Let us rest a bit before we go.”
“I think it will be difficult to do that.”
The High Elf shook her head at my suggestion. She then looked deep into the Demon Cave.
“Excuse me?”
I wondered if she heard something I could not hear.
That seemed to be the case as I quickly started to hear noises from where the High Elf was looking.
The noise started to get closer, letting me figure out what it was.
Squeak, squeak, squeak ……
“Rats?”
“Zombie Rats. Everybody, please gather together.”
The High Elf instructed as she moved to a corner of the cave. She stopped at a nook with the wall behind us. It seemed to be the perfect spot to set up a wall and defend.
But why was she going there? Was there a reason not fight with our lives on the line?
I’m sure she had her reasons.
The High Elf continued to quickly lead the others while I questioned what was going on.
“Everyone, hurry! Stone Elves, guard!”
She seemed to be very charismatic. Her abilities to lead the Elves and Stone Elves seemed to be higher than my own.
But she had to be this way since High Elves were known for being the leader of the Elves.
The Elves followed the High Elf to the nook while the Stone Elves surrounded the Elves and set up a wall.
“Kang Hwi Ram-nim, please head over here as well.”
I followed the High Elf’s command for now since I had no information on the Zombie Rats.
I just felt like they wouldn’t be much since I assumed they would be like the Desert Ants that were not very strong but used their numbers advantage to overwhelm you.
I was correct. The Zombie Rats soon arrived, and they seemed to be just like regular rats other than their appearance.
But there was something that was different than what I expected.
‘Why are they so fast?’
They seemed to have motors on their feet. The rumbling quickly got louder as they traveled about 30 m almost instantly.
Seeing that made me a bit worried.
‘Will the Stone Elves be able to keep up with the Zombie Rats’ speed?’
The close to 100 Stone Elves had set up a wall, but the Zombie Rats could probably get past them if they really wanted to do so.
The Elves behind the Stone Elves were packed too close to each other to move around.
That meant that this location was more advantageous for the Zombie Rats than the Elves since they were small enough to move around freely in this area.
Which meant that this was the worst possible spot for our side.
‘Why would the High Elf pick such a plan?’
I soon found out I was wrong. The moment the Zombie Rats got close to us, a dim light started to surround us.
‘Ah! Mana Shield!’
It was a very large mana shield that was large enough to cover the area the Elves were gathered in.
The Zombie Rats could not get past the mana shield and stopped right outside the shield.
Squeak- squeak-
The Zombie Rats then tried to attack the shield. As they pushed at the shield, other Zombie Rats climbed on top of them. This continued on until it seemed like there was a small Zombie Rats hill.
The Elves would not just stand by and watch. They swung their weapons toward the Zombie Rats making up the hill.
The Stone Elves were the same. They wouldn’t be able to stop any Zombie Rats from getting past them, but it was easy for them to attack the Zombie Rats piling up like a hill outside the mana shield.
They punched and stomped and started to kill the Zombie Rats.
That sight was pretty disgusting and made me feel like I needed to vomit.
However, now was not the time for me to be lost in such thoughts. The High Elf showed me something unexpected, but our situation was not very good.
It would be fine if we could last like this forever, but I knew that wasn’t the case.
Although the High Elves may be very skilled in magic, there still was a limit to their mana.
I could tell by looking at the High Elf’s expression.
Her face was becoming stiff even though it had been less than 5 minutes. This mana shield was large and being attacked by thousands of Zombie Rats at the same time.
In addition, an endless number of Zombie Rats continued to appear from the corridor. It felt like 100,000 no, maybe even 1 million of them would come to attack us.
It would take over a day even if the Stone Elves hunted them as quickly as possible.
I needed to find a different method.
The Elves and High Elf probably had more information than I did, so I just fired away with a bunch of questions.
“Where are they all coming from? Is there a King Rat? Is there a way to quickly handle them?”
“There should be a Liche controlling them somewhere up there. We just need to get rid of him ……”
There was no relief in the High Elf’s voice. She seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble maintaining the mana shield.
Anyways, I didn’t need to hear the rest. The Elves did not have the ability to cut through the Zombie Rats and attack the Liche.
Although the Elves had the endurance stat, they did not have the reinforced toughness stat. Even those small Zombie Rats would damage them if they were bitten, and they would probably die right away if those thousands of Zombie Rats each bit them once.
That was why they could only defend in a corner like this.
But I was different.
“I will go out and try to take care of the Liche.”
“It is dangerous outside the mana shield.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m going now.”
I would be able to jump up more than 5m if I really wanted to do so. My strength and agility helped me with my vertical.
I kicked off the ground and jumped up into the air.
My goal was the shoulders of two of the Stone Elves. To be more specific, I used the Stone Elves’ shoulders and kick off again.
Taaaat-
Once I did that, the two Stone Elves had to take a step back. That was how strong I was.
Thanks to that, my body shot forward like an arrow and quickly crossed about 20m.
Swiiiiish- tatatap!
I rushed forward as soon as I landed back on the ground. At that moment, I thought I heard the faint sound of a bell.
Jingle. Jingle.
At the same time, a portion of the Zombie Rats who used to only rush toward the Elves rushed toward me.
They were very scary because of their numbers. They covered both the ground and the side walls and made it look black. It seemed like the Zombie Rats had become a flower river.
There was no way to dodge their attack because they were all rushing toward me at once. No matter how quickly I moved, some of them started to climb up my legs.
That wasn’t the end of it. The Zombie Rats piled up in front of me, creating a wall
Taaat!
I kicked off the ground and jumped up again. I was trying to get past the Zombie Rats’ wall with my high vertical.
But it was impossible because the Zombie Rats moved their wall in response to my movements.
I couldn’t kick off the air and attempt it again. My body started to come down due to gravity and I fell into the Zombie Defense.
Squeeeeeeak-
Tens of Zombie Rats were stepped to death underneath my feet.
However, tens of hundreds seemed to have been waiting for me to move as they started to rush up my legs. It looked like I had become a Zombie Rat human.
“Come back.”
Either and Elf or the High Elf was calling out to me.
It probably just looked like I was in danger to them.
I would be fine even if thousands of Zombie Rats stuck to me like this. As expected, they were not very strong. Their sharp teeth were trying to rip me to pieces, but it did not cause me any damage at all.
The only issue was that I could not move very well with them on me like this.
There was a method to get all these Zombie Rats off of me, but I could not use it right now.
I didn’t want to Liche to be afraid of me and run away. I had to catch the Liche off guard and hunt him in that moment.
In order to do that, I needed to first figure out his location.
I knew approximately where the Liche was based on the bells from earlier.
He seemed to be behind that pillar over there.
He would run if I personally went, so I needed to send a second set of eyes to check behind the pillar.
It was about 30m from here.
My affinity with the guardian spirit was already at 80%, so I was able to look through its eyes even at about 45 m away. This type of distance was not very hard for me anymore.
‘Guardian Spirit, go take a look!’
My connection with the spirit was perfect that it flew out after reading my mind.
But it was too bright.
‘Hide your light.’.
The Guardian Spirit’s glow became fainter. It was still a bit bright, but it was impossible to lower it any further.
I sent the guardian spirit forward and continued to swing Goonto’s Twin Blades. I was able to kill about ten of them each time I swung my weapon because there were so many of them.
The Guardian Spirit headed behind the pillar as I did that.
My eyes were pitch black because of the Zombie Rats, but I could see behind the pillar because of the spirit. Although it was a bit blurry, I could still verify what was behind the pillar.
However,
‘Not there!’
I used the guardian spirit’s sight to look around.
There were many other places for the Liche to hid as well in addition to this pillar.
‘Go to the left! Now right!’
I started to slowly move forward while killing the Zombie Rats. At the same time, I sent the Guardian Spirit all over the place to locate the Liche.
‘Ah! Over there!’
