Chapter 70: Chapter 69: Find the Duck Duck! Part II (2/2)
”Crazy bitch, there she goes again.”
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I got up at seven in the morning. I went down to the restaurant for some breakfast, then went back up to my room to wash up before I set out.
The streets of Pocheon were still lively this early in the morning. I saw at least three hundred other devas getting ready to go hunting.
”I'm looking to put together a party! Rangers, healers, buffer, I don't discriminate! Let's go hunting together!”
”I need a healer for my party!”
”Buying Gorgon Eyes! I'll buy all you have. I'll pay ten more than Store prices! I'm also buying Gorgon Hair Strands! I'll buy all you have. I'll pay fifty more than Store prices!”
”Selling a Mirror Shield here! It can block Gorgons' Petrification for up to fifty times!”
”Selling Cure Petrification Scrolls here! You'll need them if you're going to go out and hunt Gorgons. Selling them cheap!”
”Repair your equipment here!”
There were devas looking to party up, and others looking to sell and buy items. I guessed there were a lot of Gorgons around here. I kept hearing about Gorgons as I wove through the crowd, heading towards the border barricade on the other side of town. When I got there, I walked up to a Sunbin Guild guard posted at the gate.
”Could you tell me about the monsters in this area?” The gate guards knew the most about the monster life in the surrounding areas of Pocheon.
”Is this your first time here?”
”Yes.”
”It's dangerous to go out alone in these parts. The whole area surrounding Pocheon, Dongducheon, and all the way to Cheorwon is infested with Gorgons. There have been many cases of people dying without being to fight back because of the Petrification effect. I recommend you go out with a party. There are a lot of people around that know how to deal with Petrification.”
”Are there any other monsters besides Gorgons?”
”Griffons have taken over most of east Gangwon Province. To the north of Cheorwon, past the border into North Korea, there are lizardmen. There are mostly Medusas in the surrounding areas here. A few years ago, the lizardmen and Gorgons used to fight over territory from here to Cheorwon, but the Gorgons managed to chase the lizardmen all the way to the north. I believe their territory stretches all the way to the outskirts of Paju, where the giant spiders have nested,” the guard explained patiently.
”I see. Thank you very much!”
”I still advise against going out alone…”
”Heh, it's alright. I made all the necessary preparations. I'm also not accustomed to with hunting in a party.”
”Then good hunting. I pray that you get back alive.”
”Thank you.” I shook the guard's hand in thanks and walked out the gate.
Gorgons, Part I
I saw several parties out hunting around me. There was not a single other deva that was out hunting alone like I was.
It was dangerous to come out here alone because of the Petrification Curse of the Gorgons, as the guard had said. If there was no one else around to remove the curse, the only choice left was death. But when I heard that there were Gorgons around, I was secretly ecstatic. I had the Unrivaled skill to protect me. I was immune to all status effects, including Petrification.
In the past, I had the chance to face Gorgons. Gorgons liked to Petrify their opponents, but that wasn't their only method of attack.
The best way to counter their Petrify attacks was to just avoid their eyes, or to use a Mirror Shield. Looking into their eyes would get you cursed with Petrification, but the time the curse took to completely consume you depended on your WIL and MDEF. The lower they were, the faster you were Petrified.
You needed to use Cure Petrification Scrolls, or have a healer/buffer use the Remove Curse spell on you before you completely turned to stone to free yourself from the curse!
”If I recall correctly, Gorgons use Lightning magic and magic snakes to attack, as well...” The primary method of attacking of Meduasae was to unleash a swarm of magic snakes to distract their foe, then close the distance between them and their enemies in order to rain down a torrent of Lightning spells.
There was another type of Gorgons that attacked with Magic Arrows. These were higher leveled than normal Medusas, but back then, there weren't many of them. It was safe to say that Petrify, magic snakes, and Lightning were the primary attacks of Gorgons.
”Either way, I'll be able to farm a lot of experience points from them thanks to my status immunity and their low HP.” Gorgons were high level monsters. There were bound to be stronger Gorgons out there, since they were field monsters, but I wasn't worried.
”I suppose I'll start somewhere nearby.” I left Pocheon and headed north.
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I saw a few parties here and there fighting Gorgons. One party had an archer and a mystic aggro about four to five Gorgons at once, and a shield mage, a class of magic tanks, countered their spells. The shield mage used Iron Shield and Solid Earth Wall to protect the archer and mystic while they pummeled the Gorgons with arrows and spells. The shield mage occasionally retreated back when cursed by Petrify so that a mage could use Remove Curse on him.
It was a pretty common method of fighting Gorgons, which I had also used in the past.