Chapter 126 - Memory Garden 3 (1/2)

Things would get complicated if Midas were injured during the battle.

While the manticore would not attack him, he could still be accidentally hit by the poison darts or splinters.

It was better to have him hide as far away as possible.

Swoooosh!

As soon as Woohyuk pushed Midas back into the stone chamber, dark blue poisonous thorns flew towards them in succession.

The manticore was so large that each one was the size of an adult male’s forearm.

In addition, the firing speed was extremely fast, so a direct hit would seriously injure Woohyuk.

'I have to subdue it as soon as possible.'

If it continued to attack, the alarm system could be activated.

While Angrboda wasn’t here, there could be a few more individuals who would be troublesome to deal with.

As he dodged the poison darts, Woohyuk quickly narrowed the distance and approached the manticore.

“Kraaaaaaaaaaah!”

With a ferocious cry, the manticore violently swung its sharp claws.

Woohyuk leaped forward and avoided the blow, and then started climbing onto the monster’s forefoot.

Climbing the enemy was essential to attack a large beast efficiently.

He had to get on top of it to have an advantage.

'n the past, it would have required about a hundred elite fighters to subjugate this guy.'

And the number of casualties would have been huge.

The manticore's tried to bite Woohyuk as he climbed onto it.

It was trying to stop Woohyuk who had already reached halfway to the top.

Whack!

However, its attack backfired as Woohyuk hit its head instead.

“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”

As the manticore staggered with a painful cry, Woohyuk took advantage of the gap and quickly climbed onto the monster’s head.

'I shouldn’t kill it like this.'

There was a dark crystal in the bodies of the monsters guarding the interior of the chapel, so when the monster died or took damage beyond the standard value, it would send a signal to the other entities in the chapel.

Therefore, it had to be subdued by damaging it as least as possible, but at present there was no other way but to use magic, because the artifacts he currently possessed had weak abnormal status condition spells, and did not work very well for epic level monsters.

Swoosh!

The monster stopped moving when demonic energy began to spread in the surroundings.

“Obey me.”

“Krrrrrr...”

The manticore growled and slowly lowered its posture.

It instinctively felt the overwhelming gap in their strengths.

'It would have been nice if Choi Kayoon were here.'

Before that happened, he had to leave this place in search of the hidden rewards.

“Hurry up. I don’t have a lot of time.”

”Yes…”

Midas, who was hiding behind a stone wall, crawled out with an expressionless face.

Woohyuk fell in deep thoughts as he walked through the inner corridor following him.

'I might get some important information about Angrboda’s imaginary world.'

It was unlikely that someone else had attacked this place in the past, because the entire forest was burned by the paladins of the Holy Apherian Empire who had come to defeat the witches, and the divine tree was also destroyed by them.

It may have been because of these events that the hand of Midas was not revealed to the world.

In other words, this was an unexplored world.

This place could potentially hold some clues about the divine thrones that had not been found in the past 40 years.

'The person who knows this world best is probably Midas.'

It seemed like Woohyuk had to keep him around for a while, to ask questions whenever he would have the chance, such as right now.

“Tell me all the secrets you know about Angrboda.”

“Witch… of Greed… Memory... garden…”

The Witch of Greed referred to Angrboda, but he couldn't understand what the memory garden meant.

Midas probably didn’t know that this place was a historic ruin.

Then, Woohyuk recalled the location where he had met Midas earlier.

“Does the Memory Garden refer to the place I met you?”

“That… is the case...”

“Why is it called the Memory Garden?”

“Raise… memories… in the garden...”

Raising memories?

Woohyuk did not understand Midas' words.

“The flowers… contain the memories… of the dead… from back when they… were still alive… The memories… grow… towards… a happy… ending…”

“…Why is Angrboda doing that?”

“I... don’t know… Made a deal... with Aleister...”

Aleister.

If it was something he was involved in, it was clear that there was a conspiracy.

“Where is Aleister? Does he visit this place often?”

”Comes... every time… flowers are harvested... Don’t know… where he is...”

Harvesting flowers containing the memories of the dead.

Was he using them for alchemical research?

Woohyuk's expression hardened for an instant when his thoughts reached that conclusion.

”Right. He’s using them as ingredients.”

An item for which Woohyuk didn’t know the recipe.

There were a few things he could think of, such as wildfire or monster breeding substance.

But at this moment, what came to his mind was...

[Clipport's Fruit].

It was a notorious stimulant that once plunged the Eeth continent into chaos.

By taking a single pill, one’s potential would be revealed and one could perform tasks that were above one’s usual ability for 5-10 minutes.

However, the side effects were not as light as simple drugs, so an overdose or prolonged addiction could lead to death.

'It can also turn you into a monster.'

Clipport’s fruit was not just a stimulant.

The unidentified ingredients contained in it gradually corrupted the beings except for demons, and eventually altered their essence and shape.

[Awakener]

Those who became monsters were called so, and their ferocity and terrifying combat power used to be the object of fear.

'Hopefully, I can figure out the recipe here.'

The flowers were most likely used for the Clipport’s Fruit. In the past, he had ordered many alchemists to research this fruit, and they discovered that it contained the powder of an unknown flower.