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Chapter 333 - Continent of Aernor (1)

The only thing different from back then was that it was not an endless tunnel; they were slowly but surely nearing the end of the tunnel. Their vision turned back clear as they were enveloped in the blue light.

“Argh, I feel dizzy,” Cha Yeon-Joo said, putting her hand on her forehead after going through the blue Gate.

“This is... the continent of Aernor?” Kang-Woo said as he looked around.

The Gate had been opened in a gigantic forest.

‘I can’t really tell based on the surroundings.’

He was not a botanist, so he had no idea of whether these trees could only be found on Earth or Aernor.

“Uhh... Mm. Kang-Woo?” Han Seol-Ah called out to him.

“Hm? What is it, darling?”

“Over there...”

Kang-Woo turned toward the direction where Seol-Ah pointed.

“Wha...” Kang-Woo unconsciously chuckled. “I guess... we’re not on Earth.”

Seol-Ah had been pointing at a giant tree that had pulled out its own roots from the ground and was walking.

“Damn, it even has eyes and a mouth,” Kang-Woo expressed.

“Oh! Th-Th-Th-Th-That’s...!” Yeon-Joo clapped her hands together as if she had realized something. “That’s Maokai!”

“... What the hell is that?” Kang-Woo asked.

“It could even become a world tree if grown to its full potential!”

No matter how Kang-Woo look at it, the tree did not seem like it would grow as large as a world tree.

‘Anyway...’

He was at least sure that such a tree did not exist on Earth.

‘A monster like that hasn’t been discovered in Gates either.’

Kang-Woo stared at the walking tree while having his arms crossed. It was not the only tree that was moving; there were thousands of trees that were baring their sharp teeth as they pulled out their roots. Any normal person would have run away in shock.

“I will take care of them, hyung-nim.”

“Stand aside. I will be the one to take care of them.”

Si-Hun and Balrog stood in front of Kang-Woo while glaring at each other, just like dogs that wanted to be praised. Kang-Woo smirked and waved his hand.

“Sure, go for it. Oh, why don’t you guys make a bet about who can kill more of them?” Kang-Woo suggested.

“Oh?”

“Sounds good.”

Balrog and Si-Hun’s eyes shone from the intriguing suggestion.

“You are arrogant,” Balrog said.

“Right back at you,” answered Si-Hun.

They were emitting bloodlust at each other instead of the tree monsters.

“Whoever wins gets a dedicated one-day training session with hyung-nim.”

‘What?’

“Kehehehe, deal.”

‘Deal, my ass, you fucker. Who do you think you are to put me up as a prize?’

“What the hell are you two talking ab—”

Wham!!

Si-Hun and Balrog charged toward the tree monsters before Kang-Woo even had a chance to stop them.

Crunch! Crush!

“Skreeeee!”

Sounds of trees being smashed along with the screams of monsters were heard from their surroundings in an instant.

Kang-Woo grabbed his hair as if his head hurt, and then turned to Uriel. “Lord Uriel, do you know where we are?”

“Mm. We seem to be in the Nightmare Forest in the southern region of the continent.”

“Hmm.”

Kang-Woo fell into thought with his arms crossed, wondering what should be done first. They needed to find the high elves.

“Do you happen to know where the high elves are?” he asked.

“No, I’m not sure either,” Uriel answered while shaking his head. “Angels have a policy of staying away from Aernor matters as much as possible. We usually stay in a fortress called Sant’Angelo and only come out to perform missions.”

“Does that mean you know barely anything about the continent?”

“Yeah. I know the general layout, but... I barely know anything about how the people of Aernor live and where the high elves are.”

They were in a pickle.

‘This brat is fucking useless.’

Kang-Woo had gone far out of his way to prepare Seol-Ah’s pendant, human skin for Balrog and Vaal Zahak to wear, and many other things just to keep things hidden from Uriel during their Aernor mission, but Uriel was of absolutely no benefit.

‘Oh.’

A thought popped up in Kang-Woo’s mind.

“In that case, could you go back to that fortress and ask about the high elves? Since Holy Sword Ludwig had been blessed by the high elves, other angels might know where they are.”

“Wh-What? You want me to go to Sant’Angelo? By myself?”

Sant’Angelo, the fortress of the angels, was located high above the northernmost region of Aernor. Just flying there from the Nightmare Forest, located in the southern region, would take an enormous amount of time.

“Yes, please. We barely know anything about this place, so we would appreciate it if we could get help from the angels.”

“Ngh...”

Uriel bit his lip; his expression clearly showed that he did not want to part from Kang-Woo.

Just then, Seol-Ah hugged Kang-Woo’s arm and said, “You’re right, Kang-Woo. I’m... honestly a little scared. Trees suddenly moved and attacked us, and we have no idea where this place is and what we should be doing.”

Seol-Ah stuffed herself in Kang-Woo’s embrace and gave Uriel a look as if telling him to go away already.

“Urgh!”

Uriel glared at Seol-Ah while baring his teeth, but he could not object since he had been just as confused when he crossed over to Earth. For them to adapt to a world that they knew nothing about, Uriel needed to be the one to provide them with the information.

“Urghhh. Oh! Then Kang-Woo, you should come with m—”

“No, I can’t. I am the leader of this party.”

“Kuh...”

It was a fair point. The leader of the party that was responsible for command could not be absent.

“I-In that case, I’ll just call them—”

“I believe it would be wise to go there directly to give an official report regarding this mission as well as about us.”

It was more efficient to call them if it was just to ask for information regarding the high elves, but Kang-Wo’s true objective was to get this nuisance of an angel out of his hair temporarily.

“Urgh, fine. In that case, I’ll head to Sant’Angelo to get information regarding the high elves.” Uriel nodded in dejection.

Kang-Woo smiled and grabbed Uriel’s hands. “Thank you very much. There would be nothing better than having the help of the angels in this operation.”

Uriel’s cheeks reddened as he was joined with Kang-Woo by hand. Seol-Ah stared icy daggers at Uriel.

“Ahem, alright. I’ll go make an official report to Lord Michael and request for reinforcements.”

“Thank you very much.” Kang-Woo smiled.

Uriel spread out his wings and flew up into the air.

“I’ll call you as soon as I arrive in Sant’Angelo, so make sure you keep your crystal orb with you at all times!”

“Okay.”

With that, Uriel disappeared. As soon as he disappeared, Balrog unleashed his true form as if he was waiting for it and began to wipe out the tree monsters even faster.

“Graaaaaaahh!! I refuse to lose to the likes of you! I will not lose my one-on-one training session with my king!”

Balrog seemed to have been falling behind Si-Hun in his human form. He rampaged like a beast and wiped out the monsters at incredible speed.

“Hahaha... We certainly can’t show that to Lord Uriel,” said Layla while scratching her cheek.

Kang-Woo mentioned while staring at her, “This needs to be kept a secret, even to Lady Gaia.”

Layla answered while nodding, “Yes, of course. Oh, but shouldn’t we tell her one day? I’m sure that Lady Gaia will understand your circumstances.”

“We should, but not now. Let’s tell her together once we finish this mission.”

Kang-Woo had fallen into Hell in the past and turned into a demon against his will, and had been the demon king until he lost to Satan. He had managed to overcome demonic energy and turned back into a human with the help of Tirion, God of Heroes, and even the demons that served as his retainers back in Hell were with him. Although there was no need to tell Uriel, he needed to tell Gaia sooner or later.

‘Well, I’m pretty sure she’ll buy it, considering the trust I’ve built with her.’

However, one never knew how anything would turn out. One could never be too careful.

“Hehe. It’s so much nicer now that the bothersome brat is gone.” Seol-Ah smiled brightly.

She still seemed to bear hostility toward Uriel. Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and turned around.

“Vernaak.”

“Yes, Master Kang-Woo.”

Vaal Zahak— no, Vernaak approached.

“Do you happen to know where the high elves are?” Kang-Woo asked.

Although he had no idea if it was true or not, Vernaak was apparently the demon king of Aernor. In other words, he likely knew much about this continent, and possibly even knew about the location of the high elves.

“My apologies. I also... have not heard about the location of the high elves.” Vernaak shook his head, contrary to Kang-Woo’s hopes.

“Hmm.”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. Although Echidna also used to live in Aernor, there was no way that she would know where they were since she had never left her lair.

“This is a bit of a predicament.”

Kang-Woo frowned. They needed the help of the high elves to find the Demon God’s heart, but they had no way of knowing where the high elves were.

‘What a catch-22.’

They had to go through too many hoops to do anything.

‘I guess there’s no other choice but to gather some information in a city.’

It had not even been thirty minutes since they arrived in Aernor; there was no need to be hasty.

“In that case, do you know if there are any cities near the Nightmare Forest, Vernaak?” Kang-Woo asked.

“None near the Nightmare Forest. As for a city closest to the forest... Mm, there is a city called Velen north of here.”

“How far is it?”

“Two weeks by carriage. After we get out of the Nightmare Forest, that is.”

“Really?”

Kang-Woo leisurely turned around. Two weeks by carriage was by no means short, considering how developed Aernor’s civilization was. Not just that, it was two weeks after getting out of the Nightmare Forest. If they were a normal party, they would have had to go by foot, but...

“Echidna.”

Kang-Woo had a retainer that could fly.

‘It’d be faster if I flew by myself, but...’

It was better for every party member to go together since not all of them could fly.

“Yeah?” Echidna asked.

“Turn back to your true form and take us to Velen.”

“Hm! Hm! Got it!” Finally having gotten something to do, Echidna clenched her fists and nodded. “Just a second, Kang-Woo.”

Black light poured out from Echidna, which turned even brighter as she grew bigger. Once the black light disappeared, all that was left was the intimidating demonic dragon. It had been a while since Kang-Woo had seen Echidna’s true form.

“Huh? Is it just me or have you grown?” Kang-Woo asked.

[Hm! It’s all thanks to you.]

Likely having been influenced by Kang-Woo’s growth in power, Echidna was far bigger than what she used to be when he first met her.

“Right, let’s go.”

Kang-Woo’s party climbed on to Echidna’s back and grabbed hold of her scales that popped out like thorns on her back.

“Urgh...” Yeon-Joo’s face paled. She said anxiously, “D-Don’t fly so rough this time, okay, brat?”

She seemed to have recalled the nightmare of when she got on Echidna for the very first time.

[I’m not a brat,] Echidna said angrily as she spread her wings out.

She soared into the sky at incredible speed.

“Kyaaaaaaaahh!!” Yeon-Joo screamed.

‘Let’s see.’

Kang-Woo hid Echidna using an Authority and looked down at the forest that was stretched out endlessly, befitting the name of Nightmare Forest.

“Eh?”

The forest was being destroyed at breakneck speed.

“Kurgh! Move! I will be with hyung-nim!”

“My kiiiiiiiiiiiing!!”

Si-Hun and Balrog were running amok to the point that the entire forest would be destroyed. Kang-Woo could feel their blazing passion from all the way up in the sky.

[Oh, come to think of it, I forgot to wait for th—]

“Go.” Kang-Woo said, while sensing their blazing passion, “Just go.”

[Huh?]

Leave them behind, please.