Chapter 152 – Thrash’s Protection

“Relick.”

[Did you call me?]

At Woojin’s call, black smoke solidified to form Relick.  He was on one knee as he showed his respect.

“Bring me that.”

[…….]

“Cut down anyone, who gets in your way.”

[…I follow your order.]

Since he knew what the piece of cloth hung atop the tower meant to his people, he hesitated before he moved.

Relick almost flew towards the tower, and he brought back a billowing piece of cloth.  There was unrest in the town, and a group from the Ratick tribe came running towards them.

Woojin took the piece of cloth being offered respectfully by Relick. The Warriors from the Ratick tribe started backing away in fear when they saw this.

‘Thrash’s Protection.’

The Protection Cape was part of the Trash’s Set Items.

He never expected to see it here.

“Stop!”

Accompanying a booming shout, an old man from the Ratick tribe appeared.  The Warriors respectfully bowed their heads towards him.

“Chieftain.”

He was the highest ranked adult here.  He was their leader.

Chieftain Pepio glared at Woojin.

“That’s the God of Destruction’s holy relic!  It isn’t an item that should be taken by a lowly Predator!”

“You know about the God of Destruction?”

At Woojin’s question, a vein bulged out from the side of Pepio’s neck.

“He is one of the Primal gods.  Even the ignorant and arrogant Predators runs away from him.”

“…….”

Woojin smiled.

“Will you block me from taking this?”

[…….]

Relick became more nervous at Woojin’s question.

He was saying he would kill anyone, who got in his way.

Chieftain Pepio snorted.

“Hoong! Predators may arrogantly act as if they are gods, but this is a holy relic from a true god. Your body will melt the moment you put it on.”

Woojin’s eyes shone.

‘So it will melt one’s body?’

If a Dimensional lord took the Thrash’s Set Item for himself, his body would melt away…

<Damaged Thrash’s Protection>

This is Thrash’s Protection armor and cape.

The shoulder armor and breastplate is missing.  Only the cape is left.

It’s true effect cannot be displayed.

Effect : Control + 100, Sealed, Sealed, Sealed

Skill : Infinite Soul Storage, Sealed, Sealed

Set Effect : Sealed

It had many effects, but most of it was sealed since the Item was damaged.  Even the Control Stat that was present was much lower than its original Option.

However, the number of souls hovering around him as the Spirit Armor won’t have an upper limit any more with this Item. He would have to always wear the cape, but the effect in provided was an incredible Skill.

If he could store tens of thousands of souls, he could block any surprise attacks and ambushes.  Even if a nuclear bomb went off around him, his barrier of Souls would allow him to survive it.

The name was apt.  It really was an item with Thrash’s Protection.

Woojin kept grinning as he looked at the old cloth.  A Warrior standing next to Pepio whispered into his ear.

“What do we do?  If we lose that Item, we’ll have to live out our lives as nomads.”

There was only one reason why the Ratick race had put up Thrash’s Protection as a flag.

The holy relic let out a dismal curse just from its presence.  Its mere presence stopped the regular monsters from approaching it.  Of course, if a Predator was leading a horde to attack them, then the Item wasn’t enough.

“Don’t worry about it.  The moment he takes it for himself he’ll die from the curse.”

Pepio was sure of this.

In his lifetime, he had seen 3 Dimensional lords put it on, and he had seen all three of them die.

“This might work out better for us.”

The Predator, who had threatened their village, was about to swallow a poison.

Everyone’s eyes followed Woojin’s hands, which held the cape.

Pul-ruhk.

Woojin billowed out the cape once to get rid of the dust, then he put it around his neck. Since he didn’t have the breastplate, it was hard to tell the difference from his outward appearance, but Woojin could feel his Stat immediately increase. He also felt the the force limiting his Spirit Armor’s Soul Storage disappear.

Woojin let out a satisfied laugh.  Pepio’s two eyes widened, and he shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what just happened.

“How come the curse…….”

In the past, everyone who had put on the cloak had died.  However, the Predator in front of his eyes…

“How…  How can this be?”

Woojin spoke to the surprised Pepio.

“I’ll take this.  If you have any grievance, hurry up and tell me.”

“…….”

If he expressed his grievance, Pepio knew he would be killed.

“Just go.”

“All right. Let’s not cross path in the future.”

He had gained a spoil of war without actually fighting.  Since his limit on Soul Storage was gone, he was a little bit disappointed that he couldn’t harvest the Ratick tribe’s souls.  However, there were still a lot of monsters left.

Woojin turned away in a good mood, and Pepio sank to the floor.

“The legend….”

“Chieftain!”

Raksha ran forward to prop up the Chieftain.

“The God of Destruction’s…. In the end, the Planet will be destroyed.”

“…….”

It was a Predator that ate the other Predators.

The God of Destruction’s new Collector had appeared on Planet Jaku, and he had taken the relic for himself.

Raksha had a complicated light in her eyes as she watched Kahng-woojin disappear.

***

They had spent 3 days near the Colony as they hunted down the monsters, but in the end, they had fallen into a trap.

Their confidence had soared as they got comfortable working with each other.  This was when they decided to attack their enemy’s weak spot. However, the table had been turned, and the party was forced into a corner.

“Shit.”

Baek-jungdo let out a curse word.

He had received Blanka’s Buffs, but his body was littered with wounds.

Weeeeeeng.

Melody’s Prayer surrounded his body as it healed him. If it wasn’t for her, he would have been dead long ago.

“We are at our limit.”

Even in such an extreme situation, Haesol had calmly led her party, but she was out of ideas now.  They were like mice that had fallen into a jar.  They could struggle, but they were already inside the jar.

“What about the Immortal?”

At Melody’s words, Jaemin put on an apologetic expression.

“I contacted him, but he is far away.  It will take him a quarter of a day to get here.”

If seen in a certain light, this was all his fault.

He had become overconfident as his Stats grew exponentially. His thirst for blood grew, and Do-jaemin had run amok drunk on his own power.

“It is my fault.  I should have been more careful.”

“No. I made the decision.  You don’t have to feel any guilt.”

Jaemin couldn’t lift his head even as he heard Haesol’s words.

“If you weren’t here, we would have died long ago.”

It was as Haesol had said. If it wasn’t for Jaemin’s explosive attack power, they wouldn’t have even been able to survive here.

“Well, we aren’t dead yet, and we are wasting time talking about this.  Let’s hold out as long as we can.”

“Yes, hyung.”

Do-jaemin clamped his lips together.  A mistake was a mistake.  However, he couldn’t act as if they were already dead in front of his teammates.  The task looked insurmountable, but they had to somehow last until Kahng-woojin showed up.

Kuwehhhhhhh!

“It seem another horde is coming our way again.  Let’s get ready”

“Yes!”

They had experienced urgent battles where their lives were in each other’s hands.  The camaraderie between the party members had gotten much deeper, and it couldn’t be compared to what it was 3 days ago.

When facing an incredible number of enemies,  they had made the mistake of heading towards a canyon.

As the road narrowed, the party had to face fewer number of enemies.  It was quite advantageous for them to fight here except there was nowhere to run.  After an endless battle, they couldn’t help, but be fatigued.

They were barely holding up, because of Melody and Blanka’s support magics.

Baek-junkgo and Do-jaemin stepped forward towards the horde of orcs charging towards them.

“Since healing magic doesn’t work on you, don’t over do it.”

“Yes, hyung”

Melody couldn’t heal Jaemin, since he had become a vampire. He had to drink blood to heal himself or Blanka had to cast support magic like the recovery magic.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Baek-jungdo’s fists were dyed black as he ran forward.  Do-jaemin ran at a speed twice as fast as the Bake-jungdo.  His movement was very different compared to before.

Paht, paht!

When Jaemin clashed with the enemies in the front, Jaemin’s hands accurately pierced through the neck of the Orcs.  A vampire’s sharp claws were being used like fine swords.

Ggoo-uh-uh!

While Jaemin used his overwhelming quickness to move all over the ground to cut the throats of the Orcs, Baek-jungdo charged in like a bulldozer.  Everything that got in his way was broken.

Kwahng, kwahng!

“Hue hue.  Let’s see who becomes tired first.”

With the addition of Blanka’s Buffs on top of Baek-jungdo’s Reinforcement ability, he was basically like a human made out of steel.

The exploit of the two men caused the casualty of the Orcs to rise steadily.  However, the party was inevitably being pushed slowly deeper into the canyon.  As the corpses start pile up to form a mountain, the horde’s advance also slowed.

As they were moving farther into the canyon, Melody used her energy to put a blessing on Baek-jungdo.  Jaemin sucked the blood out of a barely alive Orc he had dragged back with him.

“We are literally at a dead-end.  What should we do?”

Haesol took a peek behind, and she let out a voice full of worry.  Once the corpses were pushed to the side, the battle would start again.  Moreover, her Taming ability didn’t work well against the Orcs.

If she focused all her concentration into her Taming ability, she’ll be able to Tame a single Orc.  However, that wouldn’t be of any help to their plight.  She had made the mistake of coming near a Colony where the Orcs had made their residence.

“If it comes to it, we’ll just climb the cliff.”

“The dragonflies in the sky won’t leave us alone.”

“Still, there are less dragonflies than the orcs.”

One of the reasons why they had escaped to the canyon was the fact that the dragonflies had been attacking them from the sky.  They looked like a bug, but they were as big as a helicopter.  Moreover, they had spider-like legs that allowed them to snatch their prey.  They grabbed their prey with their legs, and they munched on their prey as they flew.

“Hoo.  I think I’d rather face the Orcs.”

If they were caught by the dragonflies as they climbed the cliff…

The Orcs had moved the pile of corpses to the side, and they charged forward.  It seems the Orcs thought this battle was almost at an end.  It was overwhelming to see the black mass gathered in front of them.  There were too many of them.

They had killed so many of them, yet more of them were pouring forth.  It was a frightening sight.

“Hoo.  Let’s do this again.”

Baek-jungdo’s stoked his fighting spirit.  As he was about to step forward, he narrowed his eyes.

“What the hell is that?”

“Uh? Maybe hyung-nim is already back?”

Jaemin also looked at the red fireball falling from the sky.  If it wasn’t some additional attack from the enemy, it was most definitely an ally. As the fireball approached closer, they could discern the shape of the fireball.

“…I think it’s Sunggoo hyung.”

“It really is Mr. Sunggoo.”

Baek-jungdo agreed with Jaemin’s words.

Sunggoo was falling from the sky, and he dropped into midst of the Orc horde.

Kwah-ah-ahng!

Accompanying the loud sound of an explosion, fire exploded forth into the air.  The shockwave cause the hot air to sweep over the canyon.

“Ooh-oohk.”

“L…look at that.”

Haesol had a shocked expression as she pointed towards the front.

Hwah-roo-roo-roo-rook!

The heat was filling the canyon, and the Orcs were screaming as they ran around in chaos.

Kwahng, kwah-kwahng!

The flame moved freely as Sunggoo moved his hands and feet.  Everything in his surrounding was being burned.  Che-haesol couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘Mr Sunggoo is….’

He had become unbelievably strong. Hong-sunggoo had looked like a dolt when they had went around clearing the Dungeons.  Was this really him?

Hwah-roo-rook.

Sunggoo walked through the flames to approach the party.  Jaemin ran forward in greeting.

“Sunggoo hyung! What are you doing here?”

“Hoo-ooh.  What do you mean what am I doing here?  Hyung-nim sent me ahead.”

“Ah….”

Sunggoo patted down his hair where a stray flame was burning his hair. Then he suddenly asked them a question.

“I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

“W…what is it?”

“Which one do you want to hear first?”

“I want the good news first.”

“I’m incredibly strong now.  I just learned how to fly through the air.”

Do-jaemin’s eyes was shining brightly.  He couldn’t believe a day would come where Hong-sunggoo looked so cool.

“Did you learn how to do it from the Lich you talked about before?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“The Lich is trying to kill me.”

“What?”

Sunggoo’s face suddenly darkened. From a long distance away, a dark shape was flying towards them.  The shadow of death was approaching.

“Shit. I’ll heave to head out first.”

“W…what about us?”

“You guys are coming with me.”

“……?”

It was a dead end.  Where were they suppose to go?

Before they could ask the question, Sunggoo took in a deep breath.  He ran past the fire, and he headed towards the exit of the canyon.

Ggwah-ah-ahng!

Flame erupted every time Sunggoo took a step.  He used his enormous fire to create a narrow path.

The party ran after him as they watched the canyon turned into a complete pandemonium.