Chapter 76 – Dark Elven City (9)

Once he was done transferring into the new realm for the second time this Raid, Sungjin quickly took a look around from the top of the Temple roof. He observed two individuals fighting in the distance.

‘Hey, Kei’

Besgoro spoke first.

“I know, I’m going.”

Sungjin gave a quick reply and made haste towards the hunters. He didn’t know who was the troll yet, but he was going to protect the victim and eliminate the troll.

But now that he got closer, he noticed that both of them were shrouded in red auras. Sungjin didn’t understand what could have caused them to turn against each other, but it would be a great loss if they continued to clash weapons until one died.

‘Hey, stop fighting’

Trying to stop them would probably be a waste of effort. As he ran, Sungjin chanted a spell alongside Besgoro.

“Discard your fangs and become a tame sheep! Polymorph!”

“Discard your fangs and become a tame sheep! Polymorph!”

The same spell was cast simultaneously with two voices. The two trolls turned into sheep at the same time. Disarming his prey, Sungjin pulled out his two swords.

He attacked the sheep closest to him. On being hit, the magic was undone.

“Who the fuck!”

There was no reason to say anything back. Sungjin moved to behead him. But he shouted a familiar activation word.

“Snake Eye”

He wore the same basilisk’s eye necklace that Sungjin wore around his neck. The closed eyelid opened up, and the snake eye stared at Sungjin petrifying him for a moment.

‘Oh?’

Sungjin immediately followed up with

“Free Ark”

And freed himself from the spell, continuing his attack. The troll was shocked when he saw that his basilisk’s eye didn’t work and tried to put up resistance, but he was no match for Sungjin.

Blood Vengeance pierced his heart.

“Ugh…”

He let out a short cry of agony before collapsing onto the floor. Sungjin turned around. The Spearman had come out of polymorph already and was alternating his glance between Sungjin and the troll.

He probably didn’t know what to do with the sudden appearance of an enemy.

‘If both of them were able to work together they might have stood a chance.’

Sungjin shook his head at Besgoro’s comment.

“Probably not.”

The troll stuttered a few words out before coming to charge against Sungjin. The second troll also did his best to put up resistance against him, but ordinary hunters could only buy few seconds against Sungjin.

‘Clang! Clang! Clang! Splat!’

Sungjin pulled the Moon Specter out of the Troll’s chest. The troll kneeled over.

“Blagh”

He spewed blood from his lips.

‘Good, good!’

Besgoro was enjoying the sight of blood. On the other hand, Sungjin was more preoccupied with picking up the items that had dropped.

Like a housewife picking up ears of grains, Sungjin picked up the fallen items and put them away in the cubes.

“Operator, how much time passed since we came here?”

[7 minutes and 21 seconds.]

Sungjin thought to himself

‘Hmm… I think I was rushing a little bit too much this time.’

He had reserved about 20 minutes per jump; a period of time he had decided on when he was still in the Tahrakhan Plateau.

But that kind of allocation of time only made sense due to the fact that he was thinking in terms of the wide open area of the Plateau where searching for trolls would take a long time. It was only made worse by the fact that the ‘Kill X number of mobs to summon Boss’ style raid caused the Hunters to scatter across a wide geographical area, making it time-consuming to search for Trolls.

On this map, the ‘Priestess Kerenis’ was always found on a single predetermined location at the highest and the most central point in the city, so finding trolls was extremely easy.

‘I should start estimating the time based on the terrain of the raid.’

It wasn’t like Sungjin had perfectly memorized every detail of every Raid, but he had beaten every raid boss with the exception of the one that killed him.

He would be able to make a fairly good estimate on the time he would need per raid. Sungjin returned to the Temple; there was no place better suited for searching for trolls.

Sungjin sat on the stairs as he inspected the items he had obtained this time.

‘This is probably worth… 4000 coins.’

‘This is probably 2000… no 1500 is better. Yeah, I can’t even imagine anyone really wanting this thing.’

He was calculating the worth of the items he had obtained. Normally, he would pass through the Black market once, and when he returned to the Ninety Nine Nights, he wouldn’t leave again for the night. But Sungjin planned to spend his day differently.

‘Put items up for auction, eat dinner and wait for the Receipts to arrive, and head back out into the market again.’

He had heard that 7th circle and higher spell books were extremely expensive, almost impossible to buy with raid rewards alone.

‘I also want to buy ‘Star of the Nameless’… and since I collected two Enhancement stones… time to go visit ‘Smithy of Kargo’.”

From experience, he had nowhere near the number of coins needed. Sungjin finished calculating the prices of the six items he had obtained through ‘troll hunting’ and stood back up.

“Pursuit of Justice”

For the third and last time, he activated the dimensional teleportation.

*

Once he arrived at the third instance of the Temple, Sungjin wanted to step out and begin the search for the hunters, but then he heard battle ensue from within the temple.

Sungjin entered deeper into the interior of temple when he saw

“Boom”

The troll ‘Berserker’ landing a shot to the head of the ‘Guard’ with a hammer.

“Pffk”

A direct hit on the head, the Guard died instantly spewing blood.

“Tsk…”

Sungjin frowned. There was not even enough time to save the man. The only thing left for Sungjin to do was take revenge; to avenge his death.

Sungjin snuck up behind the ‘Berserker’ as the troll was taking a breather, and stabbed him in the back once he was in range.

‘Squelch’

The strike would have the ‘Assassin’ passive applied on it which he had obtained today. The ambushed Berserker died on the spot. Sungjin withdrew his sword.

The interior of the temple was a mess. The corpse of the Raid boss, her four Guardians, and now the corpses of hunters also littered the ground.

Sungjin who had long been around corpses of hunters felt no desire to stick around in such a place. He wanted to collect the fallen items and leave the place when

“Cough”

Within the Temple, Sungjin heard a sound from the other side of the pillar. He immediately headed towards the source of the sound. There lay a tall and pale westerner, ‘Goliath’. He was propped up against the pillar, bleeding out.

He must have been gravely injured by the ‘Berserker’. Sungjin approached him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“How… Cough cough”

He seemed to want to say something, but he stopped to cough up blood. His state seemed dire.

“Who are you…”

Sungjin frowned as he answered

“Focus on the important things first. Do you have potions?”

The man barely answered.

“I…drank them all”

Now that he said it, Sungjin noticed the large amounts of empty potion bottles strewn about the ground. After staring at the man for a second, Sungjin took out a Medium Recovery Potion.

The Medium Recovery potion healed up to 1000 HP; Sungjin whose HP exceeded 50,000 had no use for such a small potion.

“Go ahead and drink this for now. If your bleeding stops, you won’t have to worry about dying at least.”

But the man shook his head.

“I’m not bleeding out. Cough”

Sungjin took a closer look, and as the man had said, he was without a scratch.

“Then?”

“I am afflicted by… poison from the cursed Chalice…”

“…Ah”

He was not taken out by the troll. As he was tanking the boss, he had fallen victim to Kerenis’s weapon. One of his legs was bloated containing a deep shade of purple.

“Don’t you have any antidote?”

“I had one, but I already used it earlier against the Anaconda. I didn’t expect the Priestess to have her own poison attack…”

Sungjin couldn’t help but slap his forehead.

“If you are the main tank…”

‘You should keep a minimum of two’

He wanted to say, but he stopped himself. There was no reason to lecture a dying man. Sungjin stared at him for a moment longer before saying

“Operator, get me the large Recovery Potion.”

He retrieved the large recovery potion he just received recently and handed it to the man. He looked at Sungjin for a moment

“Th…Thanks.”

He expressed his gratitude and then drank the potion. Large Potion heals 10,000 HP. With this, he would be able to hold on for few more minutes at least. Sungjin asked the man

“Hey go ahead and ask the operator. How much longer you have until the poison’s duration ends.”

The man turned to the cube to ask the Operator

“Operator… how much time is left… on this poison?”

[Kerenis’s Lethal Toxin, 8 minutes 12 seconds remaining.]

The man fell into despair.

“It’s over. I calculated earlier… 10,000 HP is lost every minute. I tried to hold on drinking every potion I carried with me, but I don’t have…”

As the name would suggest, Lethal Toxin was a dangerous poison. If he weren’t the tank, he wouldn’t have been able to last this long. Sungjin frowned as well.

‘Even if I hand over every potion I have ever received… it still wouldn’t be enough…’

He had never bought a single potion; he did not need them. Especially once he got the ‘Vampire Ring’.

The only things he carried with healing properties were the Large Recovery potion which he had already handed over, few medium potions and a handful of small potions.

Although he could extend the man’s life for a few more minutes, it was meaningless; his death was already set in stone.

‘What should I do?”

But the man interrupted him.

“Thanks for trying, but… I think this is the end for me.”

Sungjin couldn’t just watch a man die before his eyes without doing anything.

‘But there’s nothing you can do.’

Besgoro said. Sungjin bit his lips. But a thought occurred to him.

‘Wait…’

He took out the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. He could use the active skill once a day, and it had not been used yet. Sungjin gingerly opened the book.

‘If it’s blank… this man will die… and if not…’

He thought as he opened the page. Luckily there was a text. Sungjin unhesitatingly read out the content.

“While Guan Yu was busy playing Go with Ma Liang, he began an incision on his skin, grafting out the part affected by poison. Medicine was applied on the wound, and the skin was sewed back together with thread.”

The man stared at Sungjin, curious as to why he had begun reading verses out of a book. Sungjin noticed his gaze but continued reading.

“Surgery complete, Guan Yu stood up laughing and said ‘my arm feels as good as new, there is no pain. Doctor, you have the hands of a god,’ as he stretched his arms, moving them as he normally would.”

Once Sungjin finished reading the verses, the Book automatically closed itself.

[Seance of ‘Hua Tuo’ Activated!]

[Passive skill ‘Enhance White Magic(IV) applied]

[Active skill ‘Techniques of the God of Healing’ (I) available for instant cast]

Hearing the name of the skill calmed him down.

“Whew…”

Sungjin took a breather. The man continued to stare at him without a clue about what was happening.

“What… What was that just now?”

Sungjin grinned.

“What do you think it is? It’s a way to save you.”

Sungjin placed his hand on the bloated leg and said

“Techniques of the God of Healing”

A bright light burst forth from his hands.

*

“Mister Hunter! Please take a look at my wares! I’ve got new shipment!”

Sungjin made his way through the market with light-hearted steps. He had gained quite a lot from this raid:

Items and coins from the raid reward

Items to put on the auction house obtained through ‘Troll Hunting’.

And finally a white coin he obtained from saving a dying man.

Shopping is always joyful. If one is rich.

“Hmm~ hm~~”

Sungjin hummed a tune as he strolled through the Market.

Translator’s Notes: For those of you not aware of what Go is, it is a Chinese strategy game with complexity that’s out of this world compared to Chess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)

Read the article if you are interested. Now, note on the context of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

This is perhaps one of the best known stories of Guan Yu and his ridiculous manliness. But on the other hand, it also features one of the most mystical figures in Romance of the Three Kingdoms; The miracle worker Hua Tuo.

I know this story off the top of my head, having been obsessed with the three brothers (Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zheng Fei) as a child.

So here’s the translated version of the text that I’ve read as a child on the scene described in MHK.

It was late in the war against Wei. Guan Yu is nearing the end of his life. The wars between Wu, Wei, and Shu became intensified as armies grew increasingly larger and better trained.

Guan Yu was tasked with the protection of a large hotly contested region, and as usual, he personally participated in the battle.

However, he was hit by a poisoned arrow and was forced to withdraw to recuperate.

The poison quickly spread deep into his bone, and his condition worsened despite resting. Worried for his father’s life, his son calls for the legendary Doctor Hua Tuo.

After Hua Tuo inspected the wound, he announced that the severity of the wound and the spreading of the poison demanded immediate medical attention. Hua Tuo requested that Guan Yu’s mouth be gagged, and also be tied to a sturdy pillar, with a minimum of four strong men to hold him down.

Guan Yu asks shocked “Why are such things necessary?”

To which Hua Tuo replies

“The procedure is extremely violent and painful; I will need to cut open the skin, remove the affected tissue and scrape away the poisoned surface of the bone. Only when all the poison has been removed can I apply medicine and sew close the wound. A man will go mad from pain and resist animalistically, making the procedure impossible without complete and thorough restraint.”

Guan Yu laughs.

“How can I call myself a man if I let myself be affected by a small cut? Worry not, Doctor. I shall cause you no trouble with the procedure. I will play Go with Ma Liang to pass the time so please be at ease and operate upon my arm.”

Guan Yu sat down in front of the Go board and began to play. Ma Liang couldn’t help but watch nervously as he saw Hua Tuo begin cutting away and drawing blood.

Guan Yu did not bat an eye. Undistracted by the surgery, he began winning against Ma Liang who in turn was very distracted by the disturbing sound of flesh and bone being scraped out of Guan Yu’s arms. Guan Yu laughed as he pointed out simple mistakes Ma Liang was making during their game.

An hour passed and the scraping of the bone was complete. Hua Tuo applied medicine and took a needle, sewing thread into the skin of the arm, shutting it close. He tightly wrapped the bandage around Guan Yu’s arm, completing the procedure.

Guan Yu continued to play on.

“Surgery is complete, sir Guan Yu” Hua Tuo said, incredulous that Guan Yu would not notice that the vicious ordeal was over.

“Oh? I see that you are done. I say, my arm is as good as new! There is no pain!” He said, moving his arms as if he really felt no pain. “Your surgery skill is on par with the Gods of healing.”

“Surgery is one thing, I have never met a man so tolerant of pain.” Hua Tuo commented, bowing deeply. “I have never met a man with so much valor.”

“Indeed. I have lived and breathed on the battlefield as long as I have lived, and yet I have never felt as uncomfortable around a wound as I have felt today watching the surgery be performed before my eyes” Ma Liang said, wiping away sweat and taking a breather.

“It is thanks to the god-like skill of the Doctor that I am able to do this” Guan Yu said, as he used his newly operated arm to place the winning stone onto the board.