Side Story Chapter 93 – Capture the Relic (4)

Side Story Chapter 93 – Capture the Relic (4)

"Sheesh, there's no end in sight."

"It's as wide as the Korean Peninsula, after all."

Kang-Woo and his party were welcomed by a thick forest filled with trees that did not exist on Earth as soon as they entered the Gate.

Han Seol-Ah asked as she looked around, "How will we find relics in this big place?"

"Just a second."

Kang-Woo got on one knee and placed his hand on the ground. He closed his eyes and focused.

'Authority of the Beholder.'

The Authority allowed Kang-Woo to immediately have a full image of the terrain in his mind. Information about several kilometers of forest terrain as well as the various lifeforms in it poured into him like a tidal wave.

"Urgh…" Kang-Woo winced.

His brain felt like it would explode. He had become one with the Demonic Sea but that didn't mean his brain's processing speed increased.

"Haaa."

Lifeforms roaming around the forest such as animals and monsters, people, insects on the ground and trees, and even corpses buried under the dirt— an enormous amount of information tore his brain apart.

"Nothing here…"

Kang-Woo slowly opened his eyes and shook his head. He searched several kilometers using the Authority of the Beholder but couldn't find anything that looked like a relic.

"Maybe this area has been cleaned out," Cha Yeon-Joo wondered, tilting her head.

Kang-Woo shrugged and shook his head. "Maybe, but… it might be just that I can't find them with my Authority."

"Come to think of it, the same thing happened back in Singapore," Lilith noted.

Authorities like the Beholder and Insight couldn't detect the powers of a Titan.

Lilith stepped forward and said, "One moment, please. Let me try searching as well."

Lilith surpassed Kang-Woo when it came to gathering information. The range at which she could wasn't as wide as Kang-Woo but she might be able to find the relics.

Wriggle.

Lilith's hair extended and crawled across the ground in all directions like snakes.

"Mmm…" Lilith groaned with his eyes closed. She sighed as she shook her head and continued, "It looks like I can't find anything with my abilities either."

Kang-Woo nodded in disappointment.

"Now what do we do?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"Well… there's no other way." Kang-Woo clicked his tongue. "We'll have to search on foot."

"The fuck? You want to look for it normally?" Yeon-Joo asked in shock.

The chances of finding relics with no help in this massive place were despairingly low.

"That's how the other Players found them. It at least means they're easy to distinguish."

The relics were mostly in the shape of totems like the one Lilith brought, weapons, or armor. Such things would stand out in a forest, hence it was not as impossible as one would think.

"I guess it's going to take a while." Seol-Ah rummaged through a backpack she brought and continued, "Maybe I should've brought more food and cooking utensils."

"I mean, we don't need food to survive anymore. Don't worry about it, Darling."

"But we don't know how many days we'll have to spend here…"

"Hehehe. I'm full just from looking at you, Darling."

"Oh, you." Seol-Ah lightly jabbed Kang-Woo's side and hugged his arm.

"Jeez, get a room." Yeon-Joo clicked her tongue and shook her head.

Kang-Woo smirked and walked forward, holding hands with Seol-Ah.

"Alright, let's go catch us some relics!"

The sun was beaming down on them, the leaves rustled from the gentle winds, and the chirping of birds echoed throughout the forest.

'I might as well treat it like a stroll in the park!'

Kang-Woo hummed as he walked through the forest.

***

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!" Screams echoed throughout the forest. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE RELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICS?!!"

Five days passed since Kang-Woo and his party entered the Gate. They had been searching for relics leisurely as if they were on a stroll at first but they did not find anything after five whole days.

"C-Calm down, Kang-Woo." The sweating Seol-Ah grabbed Kang-Woo's shoulder.

"For God's sake, why don't you quiet down over there? Do you think you're the only one who hasn't found relics?"

A party also searching for relics not far from them glared at Kang-Woo.

"What'd you fucking say to me?"

"I-I mean, uhh… I'm just saying we should both do our best."

The person from the other party slowly walked away in pallor once Kang-Woo glared at him while exuding a small amount of demonic energy.

"Haaa," Kang-Woo sighed.

Yeon-Joo sat down on a rock and swept her long red hair back. "We've seen nothing but people. Where are the goddamn relics?"

"I'll say."

Kang-Woo and the others were currently at the center of the Gate where Valhalla had found the seven-star relic. They had flown here because they heard it was where the most relics could be found but all that was here were people who had come from who knows where.

"But there were some parties who found relics," said Lilith with her finger on her lip.

The rumor that most relics were found here did not seem to be fake.

"That's why it pisses me off more," Kang-Woo remarked.

'Why am I the only one who can't find any?'

Riiing!

[Obviously, because you're lacking desperation—]

"Shut up."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue in irritation and swiped the message window away. Just then, men who looked like they would have wanted to become human traffickers when they grew up walked out from thick bushes.

"Well, well, well~ have you guys found any relics yet?" one of them asked.

There were five of them, the same number as the party of moronic horndogs Kang-Woo met outside the Gate. They were all bald and had an eccentric tattoo drawn from the crown of their head to their neck.

"Hehehe. I hope you got some."

"Who the hell are you guys?" Kang-Woo frowned at the five bald men.

They snickered for some reason and crumpled their already nasty faces.

"We are the apostles of Oceiros, the God of Plundering."

"You've heard the name, correct?"

"…?"

Kang-Woo had never heard of Oceiros before.

'Wait, apostles?'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone. 'They're from the Tower of Creation.'

Yeon-Joo had said some people calling themselves apostles were attacking Players.

'The God of Plundering, huh?'

They were likely the ones Yeon-Joo was talking about.

"Hm? What? You don't know us?"

"Oh, maybe they're those people! Uhh… what did they call themselves? Oh, right! The crazy people who call themselves Players!"

The ones calling themselves apostles were crazy to Players but it was the other way around in the apostles' perspective.

"Hehe, who cares?"

"All we need is their relics."

The men smiled wickedly and approached Kang-Woo and the others.

"Gehehe! Now, you can avoid bloodshed as long as you hand over your relics— KUUUUURGHHH!!"

"We don't have any relics to give, motherfuckers," Kang-Woo remarked.

There was no need to listen to those who had approached them for obvious reasons. Kang-Woo ran up to the closest apostle in a flash and stuck his hand into the apostle's chest. Kang-Woo's hand came out of the apostle's back, his heart still beating in Kang-Woo's hand. Kang-Woo crushed the heart.

"Fuck!"

"We could've handled this by talking like civilized men!"

The apostles of Oceiros grimaced as they took out their weapons.

Whoooom!

The eccentric tattoos drawn on their bald heads shone purple.

Kang-Woo answered, "You can talk as much as you like with your parents in the afterlife."

He kicked the apostle's corpse aside and spread out his arms. His palms split and black blades shot out from them. Two of the apostles of Oceiros were shouting something but they were beheaded by the blades before Kang-Woo could hear them. Their hairless heads flew into the air.

"I'm craving some hard-boiled eggs."

The two heads rolled across the ground nicely, likely because the lack of hair reduced friction.

"E-Eek!!! Wh-What the fuck?!"

One of the two remaining apostles quickly turned around and ran after realizing something was wrong.

Clatter—!

"Good thing you guys showed up. I was getting pissed off."

Red chains wrapped the apostle's limbs.

"Die."

Yeon-Joo snapped her fingers and the chains tore the apostle's limbs apart.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The last apostle screamed in terror and quickly ran in Seol-Ah's direction.

"S-Stay away, motherfuckers!!! I'll kill this bitch!!!" he shouted as he pointed a sharp blade at Seol-Ah's neck.

"Poor thing…"

"He chose Seol-Ah of all people…"

Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo clicked their tongues, pitying the apostle.

"Wh-What?"The apostle looked around in confusion, being met with a reaction different than what he expected.

"…" Seol-Ah gritted her teeth as he stared at the man's hand grabbing her arm. The light in her eyes vanished. "…uch me."

"Wh-What did you say?"

"I said, only Kang-Woo is allowed to touch me," Seol-Ah said chillingly.

"H-Huh?"

The apostle stepped back after an uneasy feeling swept over him.

Tssssssss—!!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" the apostle screamed as his flesh decayed rapidly.

Crack, crack!

The apostle's limbs fell to the ground like rotten tree branches. He collapsed as he screamed madly and died.

"Holy fuck…" Kang-Woo prayed for the apostle in his mind after seeing him dying horribly even by his standards.

"Kang-Woo… that man touched me."

"There, there. Don't worry, Darling. I'll clean you up."

Kang-Woo grabbed Seol-Ah's arm and blew on it as if he were blowing dust away. The light in her eyes came back and she smiled.

"Hehe. It tickles~"

"Haha. All better now, right?"

"Yes, Kang-Woo."

As he continued to blow on Seol-Ah's arm, Lilith's eyes widened as she was examining the apostles' corpses.

"Oh, my king."

"Huh?"

She picked up two sculptures that were both slightly bigger than the one they had seen a few days ago and a round shield that could cover an entire arm.

"These are relics," Lilith replied.

'Eh? We found relics? Just like that? Not just one but three?'

"Holy fuck, it's for real! Open the item status window right now!" Yeon-Joo shouted as she approached the sculptures and touched them.

Kang-Woo did as she said.

Riiing!

[??????????????????]

[★★★]

[????????????????]

[★★★]

[????????????????????????????]

[★★★★]

The two sculptures were three-star relics and the round shield was a four-star relic.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEET!!!"

Sparks traveled throughout Kang-Woo. He had finally found relics that he had not seen a trace of for the past five days.

"Eve, can I pull for a Trait with this much?" he asked as he grabbed the relics.

Riiing!

[Yes! You should be able to pull once with this much!!]

"HELL FUCKING YEAH!"

Eve had mentioned the retention and absorption efficiency of the relics for the power of a Titan was high but he did not expect to be able to pull the Trait gacha when he had to offer seven necklaces last time.

"Then let's do it right away… no."

Kang-Woo shook his head.

'I might be able to get more.'

It would be better to pull for several Traits after getting as many as possible.

"Anyway, it looks like we hit the jackpot." Kang-Woo hummed with a smile.

"Are you that happy?" Yeon-Joo chuckled as she looked at Kang-Woo but grimaced once the five corpses came into her view. "That aside, I guess there will always be people like this, whether they're from Earth or the Tower."

"Of course."

Kang-Woo recalled the five thugs he met outside the Gate. They had also tried to take others' belongings, blinded by greed. Although they were from different worlds, they were humans all the same.

"Wait… the same?" Kang-Woo softly gasped. The irrefutable truth struck him like a lightning bolt. He clenched his fists and shouted, "Yeah… that's it!!! Desire…! Desire was the key!!"

The Players outside the Gate and the apostles inside the Gate were from different worlds but they were both blinded by desire and tried to take what was not theirs.

"Ahh… yes. We're from different worlds, but we were【one】from the start."

Humans from Earth and the Tower were never different. They communicated and sympathized with one another through desire. In other words…

"Desire…"

It could be considered the true love for humanity that could unite us all.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"Huhu. I've figured it out, Yeon-Joo."

Humans, whether they were from Earth, the Galactic Federation, or the Tower, were cut from the same cloth and were comrades.

Kang-Woo shouted firmly, "We have a sacred duty to spread this love for humanity!!"

"Is he alright in the head?" Yeon-Joo asked Lilith as she tilted her head.

Lilith also tilted her head in confusion.

"Alright! Let's go, Yeon-Joo!!! To unite humanity!! We have to share this precious emotion with everyone!!!"

Kang-Woo used the Authority of the Beholder to search the surroundings. He couldn't detect relics with it but could detect people.

"Alright! Found them!!!"

He found the apostles of Oceiros with eccentric tattoos on their bald heads. The five of them were plundering relics from people they came across. Kang-Woo quickly dashed toward the apostles of Oceiros, his heart beating excitedly with the desire to share the love for humanity he had realized. He soon reached the apostles and stood face-to-face with them.

"Huh? Who the hell is that?" said one of the apostles.

Kang-Woo smirked and said as he walked toward them, "Well, well, well~ have you guys found any relics yet?"

Kang-Woo's hand split and a black blade shot out of it.

He licked his lips as he chuckled, "Hehehe. I hope you got some."

Human farming— ON.