Chapter 205 : Chapter 205
Chapter 205 - Tornava Continent (6)
It had already been four months since I completely cured the illness I suffered from all my life in Seo Ji-han's body.
I had recovered a significant portion of my past strength, but I had not yet shown my true full power to anyone other than Rosie.
I was not exactly hiding it.
Since I had focused only on personal training for the past few months after the zombie incident, I simply had no opportunity to show it.
Now, I thought it would be fine to reveal the true strength of the unit leader to my members.
"Outworlder! Hurry up and show the basis for your big talk!"
The Lion tribe warrior named Jemba-jemba hurried me.
His tone was full of certainty that I would be humiliated.
I took out the Holy Sword Bastian and walked toward the group of Krakes.
Then, I quickly scanned the positions of the monsters and set the attack range.
'From here to here.'
There was no reason to hesitate before insignificant monsters.
I immediately drew a straight line in the air.
SLASH!
The space split, and a stream of flash poured out from the holy sword.
The thick energy of mana instantly consumed the surroundings.
And like cutting tofu, dozens of Krakes were cut in half along with the space.
Countless sprays of blood were scattered at the same time.
Since it was a momentary event, no screams or groans were heard.
The Krakes group was annihilated without a single error.
'The sensation is good.'
The feeling felt through the handle made me feel as if I had returned to my days as Johan Raven.
I had certainly recovered a lot of strength.
By now, even having a Bimu with Rosie would be meaningless.
At this pace, I would be able to completely recover my past strength before long.
"......"
However, the reaction inside the dungeon was strikingly quiet.
The Chamryongdan members all had frozen expressions as if they had made a pact.
Some even had looks of terror.
This sight was not entirely unfamiliar.
When a sword strike reaches this level of power, it can produce an effect close to a Dragon Fear.
It was Choi Ho-joong who spoke up first.
"Unit Leader. What did I just see?"
"How is it that you are surprised every time? Is it not about time you adapted?"
"It is not that, but whether this is truly a power that can be produced with a sword......"
The reactions of other members were no different.
Even Shin Ah-yeon, who had been to the Abyss with me most recently, could not close her hanging jaw.
Rather, the newly joined recruits seemed to adapt faster.
Since one sees as much as one knows, perhaps the magnitude of their surprise was smaller.
"I am glad I joined the Chamryongdan! Unit Leader!"
"To think the Unit Leader we serve was such a person!"
"I will not doubt you anymore. I am certain of our return to Earth!"
It was an important point.
Some members seemed worried about whether they could return to Earth, but that doubt was cleanly blown away.
The morale of the Chamryongdan soared as each member began to speak one by one.
However, there was one fellow who could not smile even at this moment.
When Jemba-jemba made eye contact with me, he took a slight step back.
"Did you commit a crime? Why are you so surprised?"
"I-I was not surprised!"
"What do you think? Does it not seem much simpler than your method?"
"T-That is certainly true."
It was said that every Lion tribe member possessed the heart of a warrior, but his heart was currently racing.
It meant he had a guilty conscience.
I took a step toward him.
"Look, I left one Krakes alive. Why do you think I did that?"
"......"
Jemba-jemba was just staring at my eyes blankly, not knowing what I meant.
"Fine. I will give you an easier set of choices."
Option 1: I intended to kill them all but missed one by mistake.
Option 2: To intentionally not clear the dungeon.
"Which one is it?"
Jemba-jemba thought for a moment and then spoke cautiously.
"......Could it be number 2?"
"You got the answer right."
"Did you truly not clear it on purpose?"
I took another step toward Jemba-jemba.
The fellow flinched at the shortened distance.
"Even while nearly finishing a dungeon, a quest has still not been generated. What could be the reason for this? Because we did not work hard?"
"D-Do not ask me that! The quest is a matter for you outworlders!"
"Yes. From your perspective, it is a matter only for the outworlders. But why are you trying to interfere with that?"
"Interfering? What kind of nonsense!"
Feigning ignorance was the expected course.
I took one more step right in front of Jemba-jemba's nose.
"The first place we went was the Rabbit tribe village."
"......What?"
"I came here knowing everything, so why act like you do not know? Do you think I am just testing you?"
I held my sword to his neck.
"I will ask once more. The rabbit bastards sent us to you after erasing our memories. What on earth were you planning to do?"
"H-How do you know that!"
"I did not clear the dungeon because I was curious about that. Now, I think you should give me an answer."
The Jemba-jemba fellow had a dispirited face, like a lion that had lost its claws.
***
In fact, there is no better place for torture than a dungeon.
It is completely cut off from the outside, there is no worry about sound leaking out even if someone screams, and even no traces are left behind.
Above all, once the dungeon is completely cleared, the corpses here vanish like the wind along with the dungeon.
"AAAGHH!"
After a long, long torture session, I was finally able to make Jemba-jemba open his mouth.
As expected, the Rabbit tribe and the Lion tribe were in a state of collusion.
What the Lion tribe wanted were faithful slaves who would go out for dungeon hunting in their place.
Although this race was brave, it was a well-known fact that they were lazy.
Since they were like male lions who only made the lionesses hunt while they took naps, they had snapped up our Chamryongdan from the Rabbit tribe.
However, the Rabbit tribe supposedly wanted nothing while handing our Chamryongdan over to the Lion tribe.
On the surface, it was a deal where only the Lion tribe gained unilaterally.
But that could not be the case.
I had an intuition that there must be something in it for the Rabbit tribe too.
'What could it be?'
The answer to this must be related to the strange phenomena the Abyss has been facing recently.
And one more fact I learned from Jemba-jemba.
It was that the Lion tribe recently lost their sacred relic.
Through this, I could reconfirm the intention of the Rabbit tribe.
Our quest was to collect three sacred relics of non-human species. The Rabbit tribe had sent us to a place where performing that quest was impossible.
"Kill me."
Jemba-jemba eventually chose death.
He had opened his mouth because he could not endure the torture, but once he came to his senses, he had become the disgrace of the warriors.
Even without that, I had no intention of sending him back alive.
Since I intended for us to fake our deaths in this dungeon along with Jemba-jemba.
***
Eventually, we arrived in front of the Monkey tribe's village.
"Welcome! Outworlder!"
The greeting from the non-human species who welcomed us was always the same.
Hearing this greeting, I wanted to check the voice recorder immediately.
Since we had met non-human species for the first time after having our memories erased twice before.
'Fortunately, it does not seem to be the case this time.'
Although I had not checked the recorder yet, the look in the eyes of the Monkey tribe members was a bit different from the previous two races.
First of all, it was impressive that their faces were so identical to humans that it was hard to distinguish them.
The term "non-human species" felt misplaced.
However, the only difference was that they had tails, and I thought if they intended to hide them, they could sufficiently disguise themselves as humans.
"Will you let us into the village?"
It would be a disaster if the answer was no.
In fact, I did not know whether they needed us or not.
However, I simply hoped it would be the case this time as well, since I had heard that the non-human tribes of Tornava somehow joined hands with outworlders.
"Wait here for a moment. I will go and ask for the Chieftain's opinion."
They seemed slightly wary of us.
But there was no plot twist.
The gatekeeper of the Monkey tribe returned a moment later and guided us to the Chieftain.
'That is a relief.'
If we had faced a cold reception, I would have had to persuade them somehow.
The Monkey tribe's sacred relic, the 'Ring of Truth,' was something I absolutely needed right now.
"Welcome. Outworlder. Have a seat."
The Chieftain was peeling a large banana at his seat.
"Is our village your first time in Tornava?"
"Not exactly; this is the third."
At my words, the Chieftain's eyes widened.
"No need to be surprised. We only stayed for a day at each of the previous two places."
"Honestly, I am disappointed. If you cannot settle down in one place, are you not likely to leave here tomorrow as well?"
"Not really. Let us just say both places were not a good fit for us."
"Where on earth did you go through?"
"The Rabbit tribe, and the Lion tribe."
"The Lion tribe? I understand instantly! It was very wise of you to cut ties with those guys in just one day."
The Chieftain's quick change of attitude.
I could immediately feel it, as they said the two races were enemies.
"That is right. We absolutely could not stay with such fellows."
When I lightly agreed, the Chieftain looked truly excited.
"Outworlder, I heard you perform something called quests here. Could you tell me what it is? Would it not be good for us to help each other?"
However, it was an awkward thing to reveal at the moment.
I could not ask to borrow the sacred relic of the Rabbit tribe—no, their own sacred relic—at our first meeting.
Honestly, if I brought it up, the Chieftain's wariness toward us would only grow.
For now, I needed to build trust.
"I will not reveal our quest yet."
"Is there a reason to do that?"
"Because it is not the stage to speak of it yet. However, we will help with whatever you Monkey tribe members need."
"Hearing you say that makes me even more curious."
Due to the shared hostility toward the Lion tribe, the favorability toward us was quite high.
However, a moderate amount of help would not open his heart, and I needed to show our strength first.
"Ask for anything."
If he wanted, I could even massacre the Lion tribe for him.
"Before that, please have a meal first."
The Chieftain took me to his private dining room.
"Let us not talk about complicated things while eating. We Monkey tribe members are serious about food."
At the Chieftain's words, I thought a great meal would come out, but what appeared as an appetizer was a dried banana snack.
I had a bad feeling.
The eating habits of the non-human species in Tornava felt bizarre, almost like a concept.
For now, I chewed the dried banana without a word.
"How is the taste?"
It was a look that seemed to force an answer.
"It is good."
The Chieftain wore a satisfied smile and began to cram dried bananas into his own mouth.
This went on for five minutes.
"It is finally coming out."
What was placed on the table was a handmade banana cake.
And banana juice was provided for each of us.
"Could it be that every item on the menu is this banana?"
"Of course. It is the best cooking ingredient in Tornava."
This might be fine for a day or two.
Thinking that I would have to eat only bananas for all three meals every day, I thought I should finish my business with the Monkey tribe as quickly as possible.