Chapter 97 - The Underground Waterways (6) (1/2)
‘Is it because I destroyed the circle?’
When he had destroyed the summoning circle the first time he hadn’t received a notification. No, he did, but it wasn’t for the quest, instead, creating another quest to destroy a recovery circle.
‘So, this species is a Wolf-Orc chimera?’
A chimera itself was a monster that was created by combining different monsters and this particular variant of chimera was a combination of both an Orc and a Wolf as the name suggested.
Soo Hyuk never thought that the chimera would literally be named for its previous parts. Though, it didn’t matter much to him, so he turned around with a shrug.
– Soo Hyuk: I am done here. I’m coming back.
Soo Hyuk sent Kamian a voice message as he returned then, opened his quest window.
〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉
In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways. Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison. In the end, the expedition failed, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping. Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!
[Chimera Summoning Circle A: 1 / 1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle B: 0 / 1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle C: 0 / 1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle D: 0 / 1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle E: 0 / 1]
[Chimera Summoning Circle F: 0 / 1]
[Chimera: 64 / ??? ]
[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]
‘Still, five of them left.’
Soo Hyuk had completed one of the quest requirements by destroying the Wolf-Orc summoning circle A. Now the remaining summoning circles B, C, D, E, and F remained. If he destroyed the remaining summoning circles then he would complete the quest.
‘If I include the Recovery circles, then it would add up to 10 magic circles.’
Of course, there wasn’t any guarantee that was a Recovery circle with every Summoning circle. But, the possibility wasn’t low, so if he kept that suspicion in mind, then the total number of magic circles should be as many as 10.
‘Should I do what I did with the first Summoning circle?’
Soo Hyuk calculated his next moves as he closed the quest window. Last time when he tried to destroy the summoning circle a quest had appeared to destroy the recovery circle. His mind moved, trying to figure out what his next steps should be.
“The reason why I saw the recovery circle and not Roa, it was all because I received the quest…’
If Roa had the quest, then she could have seen the recovery circle. But, she didn’t have it and was unable to see the circle.
‘If I cast magic on that place…’
Just because the recovery magic was invisible, didn’t mean it didn’t exist. So, what would happen if he cast magic on that spot?
‘I’ll need to experiment.’
He needed to know if his experiment would lead to the destruction of the magic circles, or if nothing would happen. So, Soo Hyuk decided his next destination.
‘It would be better without them.’
He would be relieved if there wasn’t much chance of there being recovery circles.
“You’re here!”
“Yes, shall we continue?”
Returning to the intersection, Soo Hyuk answered Kamian as he replied to Kamiam. He pulled out his Map and unfolded it while gesturing toward his next destination.
“What kind of chimeras is there?”
Soo Hyuk asked Kamian while gesturing to his next destination.
“Is this where you are going?”
“Yes.”
“From here.”
Kamian pointed his finger at a certain part of the map and answered.
“Hmm, the chimeras here should be a combination of foxes and goblins.”
So, that was their new destination.
“A Fox and Goblin?”
“Yes, and they are called Fox-Goblin chimeras.”
Kamian saw Soo Hyuk’s confused expression and nodded his head.
“They are quite different than those Wolf-Orc chimeras.”
“Different?”
“Yes, in Wolf-Orc chimeras, the wolf was the one who attacked with poison, right?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“Unlike the Wolf-Orc, the fox isn’t who attacks with poison, it’s the goblin. Whenever the Wolf-Orc attacked, it was the orc who used physical attacks while the wolf spat out poison.
“Hmm, that would be tricky.”
Soo Hyuk commented.
“Yes, but I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the poison attacks.”
“…”
Hearing Kamians words, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help wondering why he wouldn’t need to worry. Were they prepared for it?
“Ketoto! Show him!”
Seeing Soo Hyuk’s puzzled expression, Kamian exclaimed.
“Okay!”
Ketoto, who was vaguely listening to their conversation, suddenly opened his inventory pulling out a shield.
However, even after looking at the shield, Soo Hyuk couldn’t shed off his doubts. They may use the shield, but it was too small. No more than 40cm in diameter.
However, in the following moment, Soo Hyuk was able to let go of his doubts.
Siaak!
The small shield suddenly enlarged in size.
“This shield is a specialized weapon, so we don’t have to worry about their poison.”
“So the poisonous attacks are not of concern,”
Kamian said looking at the shield.
“But…”
He slurred his words as he looked into Soo Hyuk’s eyes, saying.
“B-But there is one problem.”
Of course, there was a problem, if not they would have met the requirements for completing the quest.
“Problem?”
“Yes, we might be safe from the incoming attacks, but it won’t be easy for us to attack.”
The main issue was the fox who didn’t take part in the offense but instead moved around, making it difficult to hit the Fox-Goblin chimera.
The shield could protect them from the poison attack, however, they couldn’t attack while the shield was up.
“Oh, I see…”
Soo Hyuk nodded, understanding the situation.
‘But if I cast Poison Storm or FireStorm…’
It was true Soo Hyuk had various tricks up his sleeves which included spells that could be cast regardless of a protective shield. But, the issue was the duration and continuous casting such spells.
‘It’ll take too long.’
The spells took too much time.
“Then for now.”
After pondering, Soo Hyuk opened his mouth.
“I’ll take the hits.”
“Huh?”
Kamian was taken aback, not only him, but Ketoto, K-Cross, and Garan who had been silently listening to the conversation in silence were also surprised.
“We can fully block the poison attacks, and they wouldn’t be weak.”