“Why they hell would they have foreign books in Korea? It should be published once it's all translated!”
He couldn't make heads or tails of it.
About half of the shelves were filled with foreign books, and the rest were Korean, but written with many ancient Korean characters. Since they weren't written out in modern Korean, they were extremely difficult to read.
“I have to find a book on strategy…”
The books Lee Hyun was looking for happened to be rare and weren't well translated. As he rummaged through the bookshelves, of course it was difficult to understand. Despite seeing the titles, he couldn't find what he was searching for.
“Most bookstores order by title, but why is it so hard to find stuff in a library?”
It would actually be easier to find the strategy text Lee Hyun wanted in the novels section. Books such as “The Art of War”, “Admiral Yi's Tactics”, and “Wuzi” had been published as novels. With the Korean explanations, they were easy to understand and even had illustrations.
However, trying to find the book he wanted in the untranslated, original-lined shelves of the Eastern Philosophy section was hell.
“I need to find a strategy or tactic that can be used against the Embinyu Church to win.”
It was obvious why Lee Hyun spent his precious time to come to the library. It was difficult to strengthen the might of his troops. He had to utilize his current force to the fullest. If strategy and tactics shone through, he needed plans at a high enough caliber that extraordinary generals might attempt them.
“I have to find a strategy like that…”
No matter how much he looked at the strategy texts, simply reading them was impossible.
The strategy texts he managed to find in modern Korean had phrases such as this—
— Know thyself and know thy enemy and you will be ever-victorious.
If you compared Lee Hyun's Weed and the alliance tribes with the Embinyu Church's forces, it was really too much.
“Ever-victorious, as if… looks like the quest is gonna fail.” Lee Hyun grumbled as he looked for other books.
As he was doing so, he spotted a novel on the shelf.
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”!
Apparently, someone had read it and then left it on a random shelf.
“„Romance of the Three Kingdoms“… other than the name, it's a book I've never read before.”
Lee Hyun glanced through the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. It was a story about the oath of the peach garden sworn by Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.
[T/N: It is a novel written by Luo Guanzhong during the 14th century. It is a true story based on the happenings during the Han Dynasty with some fictionalization.]
He didn't read the mighty “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” in detail, but merely skimmed through the stories volume by volume.
The best part was where Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times to recruit him. It caused a complete reversal from a totally disadvantageous position.
Lee Hyun discovered the strategy to deal with the Embinyu Church from the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”.
The Embinyu Church's great army!
After Weed and the alliance tribes' attack, their vigilance had greatly increased. The personnel posted on the wall had grown considerably, and there were also more Archers with bows. It was evidence of the continuous growth of troops and the expansion of military weaponry even within the Embinyu Church's fortress.
“Bingryong.” Weed spoke from behind a rocky mountain, a spot that couldn't be seen directly from the fortress.
“Speak, Master.”
“Scout how many there are over there and report.”
“Understood, Master.”
Bingryong flapped into the sky. Without going near the Embinyu Church's fortress, he reported after observing them from afar.
“The humans on the wall alone are a little over 5,000.”
“That's quite a lot. How about the ones wearing armor?”
“About 1,000.”
1,000 Dark Knights alone! He had to assume the rest were Normal Soldiers, Priests, or Magicians.
Including the ones who weren't on the wall, their overall number had at least more than doubled!
Weed had anticipated the siege, so he had elicited and destroyed the pursuit forces in advance. The strategy of dividing and conquering! He had lured and annihilated the weak enemies first.
Despite it all, an enormous number of forces still remained inside the Embinyu Church's fortress. Moreover, given the great might of the Embinyu Church, it wasn't an exaggeration to say they dominated over the nearby tribes. As the battle wore on, reinforcements would continue to arrive from other tribes.
“It means the enemy's at least over 2 times larger… it'll be totally impossible like this.”
“Master, surely you're not going to attack the fortress again?”
“Yes.”
Since Bingryong had been caught in the middle of the quest, he didn't know what kind of quest Weed was doing.
The retired old mercenary, Smith, did not come and had remained in the Salmere Tribe's village. He refused to participate since he said that fighting the Embinyu Church was suicide.
“I want to listen to Master's plan. The fortress looks really dangerous.”
Bingryong's growth!
His intelligence had grown, so he had the admirable thought of finding out what Weed's plan was in advance.
Weed gladly responded, “There's something called the Power of the Deliverer. It can even call forth an amazing Versailles Continent boss monster. Remember the Bone Dragon? I'm going to bring one stronger than him.”
“You're going to bring another monster although we can't handle the current enemy?”
“Yeah. I'm going to call it here. And we'll fight together.”
“But what if the monster you bring attacks us?”
“We'll have to be careful to not get attacked.”
Bingryong nodded as if he was satisfied with the answer.
“Master is a genius.”
“Well, it's true that I'm pretty smart.”
Weed pulled out the Wand of Promise in order to use the Power of the Deliverer. Unlike normal magic, he had to recite a spell for a holy blessing.
“Thy servant desires to use the strength of the blessing the divine Matallost granted upon the world. I beg for permission.”
Ding!
— You have used Power of the Deliverer.
At that moment, all of the Versailles Continent was projected into Weed's eyes.
Monsters!
He could summon any kind of monster if he looked through any area and chose a monster. Of course, with Power of the Deliverer, if he brought an unmanageable monster, there could be a negative effect.
“Uhehe.”
“Kuhuhuhu. Humans are scary.”
Goblins running around in the dark were passing by.
'Anyways, I have to bring a strong monster. Or an NPC worth making a comrade.'
Weed scoured canyons, mountains, and rivers.
As ever, there were many boss monsters and unconquered monsters in the Versailles Continent. Punitive expeditions were often made in the Central Continent, but in the East, West, South, and North, the likes of half-baked punitive expeditions were stamped out by boss monsters who trampled them lightly.
Monsters lurking in undiscovered dungeons.
The levels or characteristics of many such boss monsters were not known to the public.
'For the quest to succeed… the answer can only be a truly strong monster.'
Ridiculous, jaw-dropping monsters! He intended to bring a monster such that even a prestigious guild would have to gather over 500 people to fight it.
The minimum standard was Vampire Lord Torido or Bone Dragon-class!
Weed spent 6 hours carefully looking for suitable monsters.