'I party hunted with a Shaman in the City of Heaven, Lavias.'
An unforgettable name. Dain.
She was exactly his ideal woman. It was difficult to say what exactly he liked, but his time together with her had been enjoyable. They talked a lot while dungeon hunting with just the two of them, and they had clicked even when they were hunting.
'Although she left to undergo surgery… is she doing well now?'
Since there was no word, he could only hope for her wellbeing.
Weed brushed off thoughts of the past and spoke.
— It seems too dangerous a place for a Shaman to come.
A Priest-type profession was fundamentally a big help in party hunting, but they couldn't protect themselves.
— Please convey my apologies for not being able to do it together.
— No. It can't be helped.
He couldn't call Hegel. If he called him, the news would soon spread all over through the Black Lions' Guild.
The Thief Nide wasn't an alternative, either.
'A Thief is a profession with a lot of uses in a dungeon.'
A stereotype where Thieves or Assassins were vulnerable in a melee match!
Since he was getting a mercenary to help him in battle, a hiding, ambushing profession was unsuitable.
'If it's the strongest person I know, there's only her…'
Weed recalled Seoyoon in his mind.
She, whose blade sliced up most monsters! A Berserker who grew stronger as the battle continued.
She had an outrageous level, and her utilization of skills was rapid.
The Berserker Seoyoon!
It would be the safest if she was here.
However, Weed shook his head.
His trust in Seoyoon was kindling a little, but it was too much to ask her to help him with a dangerous quest that had absolutely nothing to do with her.
'Besides, I don't even know where she is right now, and it would take lots of time if she were to come all the way here.'
He couldn't get anyone he knew from around Sur Kingdom.
Weed made his decision.
“Call Death Knight!”
Death Knight Van Hawk appeared with smoke.
Since he'd been with him for a long time, he was used to meeting even Death Knight's savage eyes.
“Did you call, Master.”
“Yes. Work has arrived.”
“I will knock down whomever it may be,” was steadfast Death Knight's cry.
Weed turned his head and looked at Smith.
“If it's Death Knight, we will not need another mercenary.”
Smith had not been that alarmed even when Death Knight had appeared.
“Seems like Death Knight can protect us. But the alcohol?”
Weed briefly opened his rucksack and pulled out several bottles of beer. There were dozens of beer bottles, he also had considerable amount of whiskey and wines. There was no need to purchase liquor separately, and if it was urgent, he could distill alcohol at any time.
Since there's always a chance he could be called to leave for an adventure, he prepared plenty of bandages, a whetstone, or herbs and the like.
He was done with preparation for departure anytime..
“Let us go.”
“Alright.”
Weed took the lead first, and Smith followed behind. The bodies of the two vanished completely with the black gate.
Ruuuuuuumble!
As the gate disappeared, the shaking of Count Savoid's mansion gradually faded.
The scattered corpses of monsters!
Fragments of monsters fell whenever Seoyoon swung her greatsword.
The monsters who ambushed from hiding beneath the earth or assaulted by falling from trees!
Seoyoon simply swung her sword.
Every time her blade flashed, monsters turned to grey light.
In the past, she had fought to forget everything. While dripping wet with sweat, if she could fight, then it was enough, and she would blindly run towards a monster group.
The fate of Berserkers who grew stronger the more they shed blood!
'This place is too weak.'
A Berserker had the characteristic of drawing enemies and monsters.
A group of monsters gathered in Seoyoon's location. Her footsteps were naturally drawn to a place where there were increasingly stronger monsters.
The absolute sense of a Berserker who sought blood and battle.
When there was a Berserker, the place would quickly become a battlefield with ceaseless screams.
The high-level hunting ground renowned even in the North, Maban's Forest!
Monsters were running en masse to Seoyoon's location.
'Nobody loves me.'
Although it was she who had thrown herself into battle so her past wouldn't resurface, now her heart didn't hurt compared to the past.
'Friend…'
Whenever she recalled the friend she had, a part of her chest became warm. The time when they shared an adventure in Royal Road was not long, but they could also meet in reality.
'I want to protect him.'
The sight of him dying quickly at the Bone Dragon's Breath…
She was hunting for the sake of the feeble Weed as she amassed experience and skill proficiency.
Her level was 422!
Seoyoon entered an area with even stronger monsters.
Chapter 9: Sculptor of Hell
The place Weed and Smith arrived at after passing through a black gate was a jet-black stone mountain without a single growing tree.
It was definitely not going to be a normal stone mountain.
The stone was jet black with holes all over, and a river flowed through the area.
— Waaaaah.
— Save us. Save us.
— Let me escape from this pain.
The river cried out. It was wailing like a ghost.
'Is this the River of Lamentation?'
There were quite a number of sculptures on the stone mountain.
Like evil, murderous antagonists, they were sculptures creepy enough to make demons tremble!
The neck of a mother embracing her child was cut off. The mother and daughter were not Human, but Orcs. The Trolls were stabbing each other with spears. Humans were waging war en masse. Even a scene of a village being plundered and burned down was expressed through sculptures.
Following the flow of the river, groups of sculptures were lined up, and continued on endlessly.
“Ahem.”
It was enough to make even the likes of Weed grimace.
Some sculptures only depicted negative scenes that weren't positive at all.
For a normal person, it was at a level where one couldn't help but feel repulsed.
But the sculpture Weed liked and could understand was provokingly depicting a slaver.
The sculpture of the man was ignoring the scrawny kids and enjoying a steak by himself. The kids, who looked like slaves, were eating barley bread at most.
“If you don't have money then you will starve! They must be treating them well to give them barley bread…”
It was a sculpture evoking 100 % of Weed's sympathy!
Those kids might be considered lucky to be enslaved under the wicked trader. Because if it was Weed, he might not have even given them a single bowl of porridge!
The procession of sculptures continued endlessly down the River of Lamentation. The river made more rough and raspy groaning noises as it flowed downstream.
— Waaaaah.
— Kill me. Kill me.
When Weed looked after approaching the river, he saw it wasn't normal water.
Deep inside the river, ghosts of all kinds of monsters and humans were intactly flowing down the river.
They had expressions of distress difficult to see even in the chilling horror of a haunted house.
Smith approached and said, “Maybe it's the influence of the sculptures?”
“What?”
“I'm talking 'bout the artwork. The basics of artwork is to move emotions. These sculptures are making the river wail.”