Returner of the Colosseum

Episode 62. Promotion Match (5) -Paid Start-

Arriving at the central square with the players, I redistributed the roles first.

With the deaths of Nebudnezzar, Yasuke, and Nox, there are no players to block the northern gate.

“Gogunbaek and Angela, please take charge of the northern gate starting tomorrow.”

“All right.”

In the end, there was no choice but to entrust the defense of the north by borrowing one person each from the west and south.

[A mark has been registered in the shadow of player ‘Karoll’.]

Next, I went straight to Isaac.

Earlier, I didn’t have time to ask, but I needed more information.

Finding Isaac wasn’t that difficult.

“Repair of the southern wall is urgent!”

“How much has it collapsed?”

“I probably won’t make it past today.”

“There are too few soldiers left in the north!”

I was frantically receiving reports from my adjutants in the central square.

Then Isaac found me and approached me, defeating the lieutenants.

“Ah, messenger of God. I was informed that you did a great job today. Thank you very much for your help.”

“yes.”

“Then why don’t you rest here…?”

Isaac asked in a voice full of anxiety.

He looked so nervous that he would tell us that we were going back.

“Ah, I have something to ask you. Is there anyone who goes in and out of the mountain outside the castle? For example, a herbalist or a woodcutter.”

Isaac let out a sigh of relief at my question.

“Yes, there is. Hey Ziggs! Go get Rudel.”

“ancient!”

A soldier named Ziggs ran out through the main plaza and brought back a man in his mid-thirties.

“I brought you, Sir Isaac.”

“Ah, Rudel. greet you This is the messenger sent down by the sun god to save us.”

“Bye, it is an honor to meet you, Lion! My name is Rudel, who has continued the family business as a third-generation woodcutter in Hersebelg.”

Rudel bent his back excessively.

There was a look of awe in his eyes.

“You know about the mountains here?”

“ancient. I climbed three or four times a week until right before the monster wave burst.”

“Then you should know which monsters live in which area.”

“you’re right. If you don’t know that, you can’t go to the forest to cut trees. The moment you enter the wrong area, you will immediately be attacked by monsters.”

“Could you explain that to me?”

“Yes, that…….”

As Rudel pulled his horse and looked around, Isaac took a map and fountain pen from his pockets and laid them out on the floor.

Rudel then marked the map and explained the area.

“Here, based on Hersebelg, the mountain to the east is Nazaran, and the mountain to the south is Dumbes. And the long stretch from west to north is the Arituapo Mountains, and these two mountains and the Arituapo Mountains are called Death Valley.”

“yes.”

When I looked at the map, the area of the monster was enormous.

Even the smallest Mount Nazaran was ten times more massive than Hersebelg.

“Here and here the orcs live, and this is the realm of the black orcs. In other places, they would have already been absorbed by the Black Orcs, but since the mountain is so large, the two individuals live in harmony.”

“…”

“Here and here are kobolds and goblins, and behind this is the realm of trolls and ogres.”

Thanks to Rudel’s indication of the area on the map as a diagonal line, the scope of the area came into my head much better.

Anyway, it looks like a military map, but I don’t know if it’s okay to scribble like this.

Well, stopping the monster wave is more important, so Isaac gave me the fountain pen.

“Here, what are the unmarked parts?”

“Oh, that’s where the horned orcs live.”

“… Horned Orcs?”

I was taken aback by Rudel’s words.

Unlike black orcs, which are classified as a lower race, horned orcs are a middle race.

In short, they were of the same grade as elves and dwarves.

Ogres belong to the higher races, but there are only a few individuals, while Horned Orcs are a middle-level race, but live in huge colonies like the Black Orcs.

That’s why ogres couldn’t easily touch horned orcs.

In fact, in this place called Death Valley, the ones at the top of the food chain were horned orcs.

“How many are they?”

“well······. The population of Herzebelg was about 400,000, so it will be 1 million at least.”

“A million?”

“yes. However, they are highly intelligent beings like humans. Knowing that touching a human would cause a large-scale war, we never attacked first.”

“Wasn’t this the monster wave as well?”

It was Isaac who answered my question.

“Yes, the horned orcs have never attacked. If they had attacked in the first place, we would not have been safe until now.”

It was fortunate in misfortune.

If the Horned Orcs had invaded, I would have given up on the mission.

Other players wouldn’t have been able to stop it.

For lower league players to deal with, the Horned Orcs were too strong.

“Can I take this map with you?”

“yes. But where do you want to use it…”

“Here, I’m going to go into Mount Nazaran for a while.”

“Oh, there! I don’t doubt the lion-sama’s strength, but wouldn’t it be a bit dangerous?”

At Isaac’s dissuade, I shook my head.

“I was wondering if there was something to salvage. I will go and do a brief investigation and come back.”

After speaking, I headed for the eastern gate.

It seemed that I would not be able to get rid of this uneasy feeling until I checked it myself.

For some reason, it felt like someone was artificially creating a monster wave and sending it to Hersebelg.

You don’t know how many more monsters will rampage from tonight.

I thought it would be good to check it out when I have time.

‘The mountain is very wide.’

As soon as I entered the forest, I was able to come out to the place I scouted yesterday.

Looking at the map, it was still embarrassing to call it the beginning of the mountain.

To enter the realm of monsters, they had to go a long way.

‘There seems to be something.’

The deeper I went into the mountains, the more I could understand why yesterday’s sense of incongruity was caused.

Because the forest looked so peaceful.

Originally, the monster wave was a phenomenon that occurred when the number of monsters living in their own territory increased exponentially.

Since the size of the ecosystem is limited and the amount increases, the monster at the top of the food chain in the center is pushed out like a wave.

Because of that domino phenomenon, monsters from the outskirts invade the human domain.

‘But the forest is too calm for that.’

Monster Wave also has precursory symptoms, but I didn’t see anything like that here.

After all, it means that someone may be artificially promoting a monster wave at a certain time.

And that thought became stronger after arriving in the orc territory that Rudel had marked.

‘It’s quiet.’

No matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t see anything like a battle.

It seemed that the orc, who was living a normal life, suddenly came down the mountain by someone’s order.

‘I guess I’ll have to wait here until tonight.’

Perhaps because of the massive invasion yesterday, there weren’t that many monsters in the Orc’s territory.

Then, the most powerful was the Black Orc living a little further away.

I put the map in my arms and moved to the realm of the Black Orcs.

The fight was intended to be avoided as much as possible.

‘Because the first goal is to see who artificially creates the monster wave.’

It would be embarrassing if someone behind the scenes found out about fighting monsters for no reason.

And if it’s actually confirmed, if it’s a simple natural phenomenon, then it won’t be too late to go hunting.

After riding the mountain for a while again, I was able to arrive at the boundary line where the black orc and ogre realms meet.

The sun is still floating in mid-heaven.

‘I guess I’ll have to rest until nightfall.’

I climbed a nearby tree.

It was not a bad space to rest until the night as the thick leaves would hide me.

‘I hope it’s something someone artificially created.’

If so, it might be easier to clear this mission.

I leaned comfortably against a branch.

after the moon rises

You will know for sure.

The darkness in the deep mountains came quickly.

As night fell, a cold chill enveloped her body.

Tring!

[＜Echo of the Moon＞ blocks the outside temperature.]

After a while, the moon seemed to start to rise.

But so far, no outliers have been found.

‘That’s why it’s even weirder.’

I couldn’t understand why it was so quiet.

Tring!

[The full moon has risen.]

[＜Robe: Echo of the Moon＞ borrows the power of the moon and increases all stats by 3%.]

It was then.

Suang!

‘What is this?’

It was a feeling I felt for the first time.

Like a wave in space? Distortion of space? It feels like the same thing has passed me by.

I immediately kicked off the tree and ran towards the ogre territory where the tremors started.

“Chwiyeee!”

“Quooo!”

“Chwiyeee!”

Then, the mountain, which had been quiet until just now, became noisy in an instant.

It feels like a group taking the wrong medicine and going crazy.

‘As expected, it was artificial.’

“Chuiiik! human! Chwik!”

“Kill the human! Chwiyiik!”

The monsters that found me swung huge axes.

Kwajijijijik!

squeak-

Rather than kill, I broke through as much as I could to find the source of the tremors.

I had to hurry.

In the next 20 to 30 minutes.

Because these rampaging monsters will arrive in Hersebelg.

‘I have about 25 minutes left…’

Even if he moved on to shadow movement, it would be difficult to buy more time than that.

“…”

Then I heard someone’s voice in my ears.

‘Where are you? It seems to be flying nearby.’

As I approached the direction from which the voice was heard, I was soon able to meet unidentified humans.

Five humans wearing black robes and hoods were doing something on the outskirts of the forest.

‘found.’

One monster in the middle was holding a ball the size of his palm and muttering something, while the other four knights seemed to be escorting the monster in the middle.

I activated the breath of thunder that I had turned off due to the consumption of my stamina and went straight towards them.

“Huh, how do you know!”

“Priest…!”

“Everyone, don’t be rash.”

The knights who found me erected their shields, blocking the monster with the beads.

‘Evil eyes.’

[Check the opponent’s abilities.]

[Name: Liam Valdesgreitz von Reinhardt]

[Alignment: Fanatic]

[Strength: 105(+?)] [Agility: 101+?)] [Stamina: 102(+?)]

[Spirit: 88(+?)] [Intelligence: 41(+?)] [Magic Power: 101(+?)] [Divine Power: 99(+?)]

[Awakening ability: ＜Special Swordsmanship＞ ＜Special Life Skill＞ ＜Special Mana Management＞ ＜Advanced Park Fighting＞ ＜Lesser Healing＞ ＜Special Sacred Sacrifice＞]

[Achievement Perk: Paladin’s Will]

The moment I looked at the stats with the devil’s eyes, I got goosebumps.

This crazy baby.

‘Why are my stats like this?’

The knight in front of him was a formidable force.

There were even perks.

‘Paladins are like the sword masters of churches and kingdoms.’

Hersebel is a city in the Valinor system.

Apparently, he was one of the strongest in the Valinor system.

This is why Valinor seemed to be called the Big Four along with Murim, Alfheim, and Westeros.

‘The other guys are normal.’

Fortunately, the other three knights were at the average level of players in 10 matches against the star system.

To put it bluntly, it’s like an intermediate level knight.

In the end, the only person I had to be careful with was that paladin.

Kwajijijijijijijik!

Arriving right in front of them, I swung my spear.

Then Paladin held out a shield huge enough to cover the entire upper body from the front.

Chaeeng!

‘Keugh!’

Maybe it was because I couldn’t turn on the Blood Enhancement perk, so there was a huge difference in strength.

He couldn’t overcome the power of his shield and bounced back greatly.

“A fairly strong heretic. Guess you’re out of luck today. If I take your life, I will immediately pray to God.”

The Paladin, who saw through my level with just one clash, crossed my mind.

It was not a cross, but a triangular shape drawn across his forehead and shoulders.

“You are confident. Then, I wonder what kind of expression the priest behind him will make when he dies.”

“As long as God blesses us, that won’t happen.”

To my words, Paladin replied with a confident expression.

Where is that expression?

[list of markers]

[Player ‘Karoll’]

[The Valinore ‘Isaac Moneycoutes de Dacre’]

[Liam Valdesgreitz von Reinhardt, Valinor]

Let’s see how twisted it is.

‘Shadow exchange.’

In an instant, the positions of Paladin and I were reversed.

The guy is where I bounced off.

and i

Kwajijijijijijijik!

right in front of the priest.

Awesome!

The reaction of the three people guarding the priest was slow.

The shadow exchange was not expected at all.

Thanks to that, I was able to easily decapitate the priest.

As soon as the priest died, the roar of the monsters died down.

The crazy guys were quiet.

‘As expected, killing this guy was the correct answer.’

“Inooum!”

Suddenly, a pale-faced paladin rushed towards me in surprise.

But I swung my spear at the other three knights without even looking at him.

Awesome!

In an instant, three more heads fell to the ground.

And the moment the paladin’s sword was about to pierce my back!

‘hi.’

[Use the ＜Shadow Movement＞ ability on ‘Isaac Moneycoutz de Dacre’, a Valinor.]

His vision twisted in an instant, and he saw Isaac’s face, which was busy moving, not the Paladin’s sword.

＜ Episode 62. Advancement Match (5) -Paid Start-＞ End