Chapter 125 – Kariharan Frostplains (4)

“Chain Lightning”

Soldamyr fired a lightning bolt,

“Kyak!”

Rajenta repeatedly plucked soldiers off the ground to drop them from high above. Sungjin also ceaselessly charged towards the enemies and swung his sword.

Three or four soldiers whose eyes had turned blue came simultaneously attacking Sungjin together, but none of them managed to so much as graze Sungjin’s shirt.

The red caped Commander himself looked as if he would show high skill with the sword, but even he couldn’t produce more than a yawn from Sungjin.

‘Clang clang cling’

In just three blows, he dropped his sword

‘Stab!’

And the next pierced through his heart.

‘Plop’

Once he fell where he stood, the twenty or so remaining soldiers were cleaned up relatively quickly. Once the short fight was over, Soldamyr came to say

“How strange. The hidden boss was so weak…”

Sungjin interrupted him.

“It’s not over.”

“What do you mean?”

Sungjin knocked on his cube.

“This guy’s still quiet.”

“Excuse me?”

As soon as Sungjin was done explaining, the Commander who was pierced through the heart earlier suddenly stood back up, bleeding profusely.

“Not like this… I can’t die like this… Until I complete the king’s order… Gather up men, we cannot rest.”

At his words, one of the dead soldiers behind him came flying and attached itself to his back, as if attracted by some sort of magnet.

Soon, one by one, over twenty other members of the Knight’s order merged into one ‘lump’ and formed a type of monster. It had dozens of arms and legs. The monster was covered in swords, shields, armors and helms. Its appearance was grotesque without peer.

“Eh….”

Soldamyr stared at the monster with his mouth wide open. Sungjin said to Moon Specter

“Moon Specter.”

‘Yes?’

“Let’s go.”

‘Yes, Master.’

Sungjin sheathed Moon Specter as he charged towards the monster. Once Sungjin got close enough to the monster made of human corpses, the dozens of arms began swinging their many weapons towards him in a jumbled mess.

It was difficult even for Sungjin to dodge them all. He kept a precarious distance from the monster as he pulled out Moon Specter from the sheath and shouted

“Ghastly Wail”

“KYAAAH!”

The immense screech reverberated throughout the Frostplains. The combined mass of knights did not respond with fear at the same time, but the ones closer to Sungjin put away their weapons.

The ‘unafraid’ upper portion of the monster attempted to engage Sungjin, but Moon Specter let out another cry.

The upgraded Moon Specter continuously reapplied fear and so the upper portion which came under its effects started to reel back. It was during this time

“This isn’t working. Shield wall!”

The Commander’s voice shouted from within the mass, and the monster’s many shields, as well as few of its helm, were brought forward to defend.

It was pointless to attack while it was in this state. Sungjin gestured to Soldamyr who was standing behind him.

“Chain Lightning.”

Enormous bolts of lightning came spewing forth and spread across the surface of the shield.

“Kaa!”

The portion hit by lightning screamed in pain and temporarily loosened its defenses. Sungjin attacked the affected area as he said

“Besgoro, Frenzy.”

‘Alright’

Sungjin shoved past the shields and activated Besgoro’s Frenzy. He then began to cut away parts of its body. Still, the abomination composed of over twenty Knights put up a fight from time to time or attempted to parry away Sungjin’s attacks.

‘Clang clang, whoosh’

Its random attacks nearly hit Sungjin once in awhile, but the result was clear. Sungjin was able to slay his opponents without so much as a scratch.

“Damn! Show some backbone, Knights of the Red Lion!”

“Uwah!”

The enemy began to scream in sync. Sungjin felt his vision warp for a second but

[Iron Will activated]

A title he had forgotten about activated. Sungjin remembered the fight he had in the past. These things obeyed the commander’s orders and changed their tactics according to the situation. From defensive to offensive stances.

It even shouted together to cast spells with abnormal effects. Like the Harpy Queen from the past.

‘I hate annoying things.’

Sungjin threw the book from his vest. Gourmet’s Monocle soon began to read the book out loud.

“Inform me when the enemy approaches within ten steps. The soldier answered. They are within ten steps, sir. He ordered again. When they reach within five steps, inform me again. The soldiers shouted urgently in fear, the enemy has come. He picked up dozens of Jis* in his hands as he stood up, roaring.”

[Seance of Dian Wei Elai Activated]

[Passive skill – Enhance Attack(IV), Swift(II) applied.]

Sungjin thought to himself

‘A warrior… There was something I wanted to test if it was a tactician…’

Sungjin borrowed the strength of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to slay the human abomination.

“It’s no good. Shield Wall!”

The monster reassumed defensive stance. Sungjin pondered about what to do.

‘How should I approach this?’

Originally, attacking this monster with physical attacks during defensive stance would provoke a deadly counter attack. So this was the moment when he ought to be using magic.

But Sungjin wanted to take it head on. He even had the power of the Warrior buff of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and had Frenzy active. Head on fight was his choice.

So Sungjin approached the mountain of shields before him and used the Blood Vengeance

‘Vvvss’

To slice apart the shields. Dozens of spears and swords came from between the gaps towards Sungjin. Most warriors would be turned into pincushion from this lightning fast counter-attack, but it was not a strategy that would work on Sungjin in his current state.

‘Yeah, keep acting cute.’

Sungjin mocked the monster in his mind as he used his two swords to cut down all the weapons flying towards him. It was a clash between metals, but Sungjin’s sword emerged unscathed whereas all of the monster’s weapons were cut apart.

‘Thank you Kargos.’

Sungjin thought as he dashed head-on into the ambush. Sungjin became like a feral beast, using the power of Dian Wei and Besgoro’s Frenzy.

The Commander became panicked as he shouted

‘Retreat, defend, counter attack’

But that was all. After the body was dismembered one piece at a time, the Commander was beheaded. Even from his beheaded state –

“No, the King’s orders…”

– he managed to utter one more line before dying.

[Hidden Boss Commander Lahart of the Knights of the Red Lion and his Knights]

[Cleared!]

Sungjin took a deep sigh. Numerous corpses were strewn about behind him. Died of cold, reawakened, slain by the sword, merged into an abomination, and dismembered again; they all met such horrible fates.

Unfortunately for them, Sungjin had no time to mourn their deaths. Sungjin left them behind as he activated a Trollseeker Marble.

[Dimensional transfer has been requested.]

[Before Dimensional transfer can be completed, Raid Reward Distribution must take place.]

[Beginning distribution of rewards.]

[Monsters Slain. Yeti: 4. Sabre Tooth Tiger 6. Ice Troll: 20. Total 11000 points.]

[Boss Monster Slain: ‘Ice Witch’ O’Elliah: 1400 points…]

The points he earned this round amounted to 12232 points. And the Black Coins earned was 13455. Sungjin calculated for a moment.

‘Last time…’

With the exception of the 10 man raid, Sungjin’s rewards in 5 man raids were consistently rising from round to round.

[And now we will distribute the items.]

[Ashetaut – Frost Archer’s Bow]**

[Tonge – Frozen Gauntlet]***

[Stone of Enhancement x2]

Two items and two Stones of Enhancement fell before Sungjin. One item was a bow made of ice, and the other was a white glove. Sungjin had yet to check the stats on the glove, but the Bow was a shame. It was not an item he could use.

‘…Off to the auction house.’

[Congratulations. Legendary item ‘Ashetaut – Frost Archer’s Bow’ Obtained!]

[Congratulations. Legendary item ‘Tonge – Frozen Gauntlet’ Obtained!]

Thankfully they were Legendary class items so they would command a high price.

‘Legendary items almost never show up on the auction house… Should I inflate the price? Hmm… Now that I think of it… It’s good to hand it off to Serin too. What bow was she using again?’

While Sungjin was thinking, the Operator’s Cube gave him his title for the round.

[Last but not the least, you will be awarded titles you’ve earned on this raid.]

[Frozen Heart – See any other Hunter’s items and stats at will. Available 2 times while equipped. 1 time while unequipped.]

He earned a curious title this round.

‘What’s this? It allows a user to check items and status at will? Is it meant to be used against trolls? To check if the opponent can be overcome?’

It would prove advantageous in fights against other hunters. If one hunter were to be aware of all the active skills and status points, he would be able to very effectively take the initiative in the fight.

Of, course it had little meaning for Sungjin. Even if three or four trolls tried to fight him at once, there was no such individual who could seriously threaten him. And if it was more than 3 or 4 people, he couldn’t possibly check their items and stats anyway.

‘Well… if that’s the case… I’m sure there will be a time when it might prove to be useful. In the next Dimension… should I test it on a troll for fun?’

And then he had a realization.

‘Hmm… This would be a really good title for a troll to use… if…a troll was to have this active…’

*

At the top of the Frozen Palace, above the spiral tip was a shining six-pointed star. The ‘Frozen Heart’ Illich nimbly climbed on top to cut the star down from the tip.

He caught the six-pointed star on the flat side of his axe before climbing back down.

“Yiup”

[Congratulations. Hidden Piece Heart of Winter obtained!]

But then another star appeared at the top of the spiral tip.

“Hmm?”

Several hunters were surprised, but Illich explained to them.

“You didn’t know? Hidden pieces are designed for everyone to take one each. Go ahead, take one.”

“Ooh…”

At his words, each of the hunters quickly took turns climbing the spiral tip to retrieve the star. Franz liked Illich more and more. Leadership, strength, and knowledge.

Illich lifted the star above his head and said,

“Hmm… this is… material. I’ll need to bring it to the smithy.”

He placed it inside of his cube. Franz followed suit and checked the star before placing it inside his cube. The next on the list was to find the Hidden Boss. Illich asked Franz.

“Hey, it’s your turn. Where is the Hidden Boss located?”

Franz took a look around. The Blizzard had ended, and the land around them was easy to see from the vantage point. With the exception of the darkness of course.

“Hmm… that way behind the palace… there should be people frozen in place. It’s hard to see because of the dark…”

“Ah, don’t worry about that.”

Illich pushed his helm further down and said

“Clairvoyance.”

Suddenly a large eye emerged from the helm and it began to look around.

‘What a strange item… I guess he found many strange items with his Treasure Hunter passive.’

“There they are. Frozen people.”

“Where?”

At Franz’s question, Illich took off his helmet and pointed in a direction. It couldn’t be seen in the darkness, but nobody raised any doubts.

The hunters emerged from the Frozen Palace together and headed towards the darkness. Not long after, they were able to come across a group of frozen men.

Translator’s Notes

*Ji – Chinese Polearm weapon

** Most likely a reference to Ashe from League of Legends

*** Most Likely a reference to Frozen Gauntlet from League of Legends. Interestingly, the Tonge pronunciation is in french. With the Gé sound.

Here it comes.

Romance of the Three Kingdom Reference time

Dian Wei is a deified figure in China. He is one of the two guardians/gatekeepers drawn on gateways or doors to ward off thieves and bad luck. Just like how Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zheng Fei are deified as the representatives of three virtues.

There are two principal scenes of him, and the deification came from the second one (of his death). The portion mentioned in the chapter is when he was promoted. During Cao Cao’s war against Lu Bu at the Battle of Yan Province, Cao Cao had ambushed and made advances against Lu Bu’s forces. However, unluckily for Cao Cao, Lu Bu’s reinforcements had arrived, and Cao Cao was forced to fight on three fronts.

Cao Cao asked for volunteers to break through the lines and end the encirclement. Dian Wei volunteered and took with him ten heavily armored soldiers. All of them carried Ji (a type of ancient Chinese polearm weapon) and long spears, no shields.

He then fought from early in the morning until dusk without end. Then when his unit was encircled, arrows and bolts came raining down upon them to such an extent that Dian Wei could not see through the thick shower of projectiles. This is when he sat down and uttered the famous lines.

“Inform me when they approach within ten steps.”

Once the enemy got close enough, he stood up with his dozens of Jis and slew anyone who approached him. He and his ten men forced the enemy to retreat, and they returned to camp when night fell. He was awarded greatly for his outstanding performance.

Now you know the context of the quote in the chapter.

But wait!

This doesn’t show why he was deified. That’s right, if I leave it as is, you only know half the story.

The deification came much later, during the Battle of Wancheng. The most famous scene of the poor man.

In the last moments of Dian Wei’s life, he was guarding the gateway to the city which was about to be overrun by enemies. He and ten of his men stood in defense of the gateway to buy time for his lord Cao Cao to flee. He was clad in full body armor but again wore no shields. He always carried with him dozens of Jis. As the armies advanced, Dian Wei and his ten men bravely fought against them. About a dozen of them had managed to hold off the entire army. In fact, the army was able to go around and break through a different gateway before the gateway Dian Wei defended had fallen.

He fought and killed everyone who tried to get past him. No one could approach the fearsome man and live. Even when all of his Jis broke during combat, he grabbed the men with his bare hands and broke them to pieces. The scene of his fierce fighting, despite all the arrows sticking out of him and without a weapon, had struck such deep fear into the enemy that the entire army preferred to wait until he died of blood loss than fight. Once he finally died of blood loss and fell over, the remaining ten men defended him to the end, but they were eventually overcome. Once the enemy army made sure he had died, they severed his head to make sure he didn’t get back up to kill them.

Cao Cao cried mightily upon hearing the news of Dian Wei’s death and had his body snuck out for funeral. Cao Cao bestowed upon Dian Wei great honors posthumously, granting him high government positions, and immortalizing him as a guardian deity; as a fearsome gatekeeper who kept Cao Cao safe despite impossible odds.

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