Chapter 4 – Sorcery (2)

Having confirmed the contamination source, Sun-woo shouted loudly enough for the entire group to hear.

“That guy isn’t the contamination source! The contamination source is the one inside the building!”

At Sun-woo’s shout, Michael’s expression brightened.

“Ha. You’re pretty useful. All the points this time are mine!”

Michael set his rifle to automatic fire and began spraying bullets at the old goblin.

That’s when it happened.

Rumble rumble rumble.

Earth walls shot up around the goblin shaman. And the bullets Michael fired couldn’t penetrate the earth walls.

“Damn! What the hell is this now!”

<Spirit of the Earth>

This earth wall was one of the goblin shaman’s spells. Michael was extremely bewildered, but Sun-woo, who knew the shaman’s spells, had expected the bullets to be blocked.

So far, things were proceeding according to Sun-woo’s plan. Next was Nan-seol’s turn. He shouted loudly toward Nan-seol.

“Miss Nan-seol, get away from him!”

The goblin that Nan-seol had been fighting had noticeably slowed down in movement speed from the moment the earth wall went up.

As expected, the goblin shaman couldn’t use two techniques simultaneously. It would be a fairly strong goblin, but once the shaman’s support was cut off, it would be over.

Nan-seol kicked off in mid-air and retreated backward.

“It’s my turn next, right?”

Hayden confidently spread his hand toward the goblin left alone.

When his hand spread, the goblin stopped abruptly, and Nan-seol’s sword struck toward the goblin. The goblin’s blood sprayed in all directions.

“Damn, it won’t break through!”

Until Nan-seol brought down the goblin, Michael continued shooting at the earth wall, but the earth wall remained unmovable. Instead, Michael ran out of bullets.

Michael stepped back and exploded in anger, and Nan-seol and Hayden also looked tensely at the high-rising earth wall.

The earth wall was solid. Hayden tried to break the earth wall with telekinesis, but soil kept being replenished, making it useless.

“My sword is useless too. Isn’t there some way?”

Nan-seol asked Sun-woo for the first time. The others’ gazes also turned toward Sun-woo. Now everyone finally acknowledged Sun-woo as part of the group.

Sun-woo pointed at the hut where Daniel had been buried.

“Our group isn’t four people, but five.”

Bang!

Daniel burst out through the hut. His body as he ran out looked much larger thanks to his swollen muscles.

He had used his technique <Physical Enhancement>.

Physical Enhancement was a technique that strengthened muscles and skin several times over, but it had the side effect of slowing down movement.

Daniel hadn’t used it much until now because of the side effects, but now was the time to use the technique.

Crash!

With a tremendous explosive sound, Daniel’s body penetrated through the earth wall created by the shaman.

The appearance of the shaman who had been inside the earth wall was revealed. The shaman was in the middle of drawing a spell circle on the ground.

He didn’t know what kind of spell it was, but it seemed he had been planning to perform large-scale sorcery. However, the shaman could no longer continue drawing the circle.

Slice!

Daniel’s sword had cut through the shaman’s waist. The shaman’s upper and lower body were separated and fell to the ground. At the same time, all the remaining earth walls collapsed to the ground.

“Phew, that’s fortunate.”

“Damn, I missed the biggest points again.”

Next to Nan-seol, who breathed a sigh of relief, Michael grumbled while kicking the innocent ground. Hayden looked at him with disdain.

“Still, Sun-woo’s help was really significant this time. Without him, we wouldn’t have succeeded.”

Daniel said as he approached. Nan-seol and Hayden also nodded at his words.

“Tch, it’s just luck anyway.”

Michael, bitter about missing the points, didn’t acknowledge Sun-woo’s help.

“More than that, why aren’t they calculating? Hurry up and give us the points.”

Michael now began getting angry at the voice.

While the group was talking to each other, the goblin shaman sprawled on the ground was out of everyone’s sight.

Twitch!

The shaman’s upper body flinched and moved. And the shaman’s hand began moving slowly toward the spell circle he had been drawing.

<Last Will of the Dead>

It was the final command the shaman had placed on his body. It was sorcery that allowed him to complete his last action in life before his soul left his body.

Just a little more drawing would complete the spell circle. Once the spell circle was completed, the blessing totems placed throughout the village would be reversed, turning this village into hell.

The shaman’s slowly moving hand was placed over the last drawn line.

But the hand couldn’t move from that spot. A foot was placed on top of the hand.

“I was watching just in case. Even with his body cut in two, he moves just fine. As expected, I shouldn’t think realistically.”

Sun-woo’s foot was stepping on the shaman’s hand. He had maintained his tension since checking the shaman’s spells. The spell names he had confirmed with his phone were not to be taken lightly.

Fortunately, Sun-woo’s thinking was correct and he was able to prevent the shaman’s final struggle.

Sun-woo struck down the shaman with the club he was holding.

Thud!

Everyone looked at Sun-woo in surprise.

“What? It wasn’t dead yet?”

Along with Michael’s incredulous voice, the mission completion announcement was finally heard.

[Thank you all for your hard work. You have safely completed the second mission. We will now calculate rewards.]

Leaving behind surprised expressions, everyone waited for the calculation results with joy. But unlike the others, Sun-woo had a bewildered expression.

It was because of the voice that came when he killed the boss. Since he had gained experience and rewards when killing ordinary goblins, he thought he would get them after eliminating the boss too, but the reward was different from before.

[You have eliminated a Level 2 contamination source. Grade achievement rate has increased significantly. The contamination source has skills. One skill will be awarded instead of points.]

<Spirit of the Earth: You can move the earth in a certain area.>

This was the name that appeared in the phone’s skill window after the voice ended. And the method of using the sorcery poured into Sun-woo’s mind.

But there was no time to try using the sorcery. Point calculation had begun.

[Party member Min Sun-woo made the greatest contribution to eliminating the contamination source. 150 points are awarded. Points can be exchanged for ability enhancement, equipment, or money. The rewards given can be used anywhere.]

It seemed they acknowledged everything: finding the contamination source, commanding the group, and delivering the final blow.

“Only 60 points! Damn, if I hadn’t wasted bullets on that stupid earth wall, it would have been a jackpot.”

But Michael didn’t seem very satisfied. He was throwing a tantrum at the ground.

“You didn’t know that wall would appear, did you?” At Michael’s growling words, Sun-woo shook his head. Sun-woo hadn’t expected the earth wall to appear either. Of course, he had thought his attack would fail.

Subsequently, translucent windows visible only to each person appeared in front of them. It was the window Sun-woo had named the point shop.

[Min Sun-woo: 1 Star. Achievement Rate 53%]

[Additional Inventory 500p]

[Additional Skill Slot 500p]

[Additional Basic Recovery Potion 100p]

[Additional Basic Water 1p]

[100,000 won per point]

[Types increase as character level rises.]

[Current Points: 165p]

The achievement rate had risen considerably. Sun-woo could gain additional achievement rate by killing contamination sources and contaminated creatures in addition to the achievement rate gained from completing missions. There were more reasons to fight.

“Money isn’t urgent yet.”

Honestly, it was urgent. But rather than getting ten million won here, it was better to become stronger and earn more money next time.

Other rewards weren’t immediately necessary either. Then the only choice was skills. One slot remained. He had to choose carefully.

The others were also purchasing something now.

Daniel received gauntlets that popped out of the air and put them on his hands, and Nan-seol picked up a strange-looking talisman.

Hayden looked straight ahead with a regretful expression. It seemed he still didn’t have enough points.

“Damn, 40 points for basic bullet increase.”

Even Michael seemed to have increased the number of basic bullets provided.

In a situation where only clothes could be brought from the original world, Michael, who used consumable bullets, had no choice.

But Michael was just bitter that he couldn’t go back and have fun.

“Stephanie. Emma. My pretties! I can’t go see them all. Damn!”

Ignoring the lamenting Michael, Sun-woo once again swept over the group with his phone camera.

As his points increased, the abilities he could acquire increased.

But Sun-woo decided to hold off this time. It didn’t look easy to get consent, and he didn’t know what the next mission would be. If he obtained the wrong ability, he might lose his life in the next mission.

Nan-seol watched Sun-woo, who didn’t ask for her consent, with a strange expression, and soon the final voice was heard.

[Dimension Gamma. All contamination in the Dizer Mountains of the Southern Continent has been purified. Everyone will return in 30 seconds. The next expected summoning time is in three days.]

People exchanged farewells with each other. It seemed their perception of Sun-woo had changed from this mission. Not only Nan-seol and Daniel, but even Michael, who had ignored Sun-woo, waved his hand, and even Hayden sent an eye greeting.

As time passed, the group all disappeared from the village, and monsters began arriving one by one, attracted by the smell of blood, in the goblin village that had returned to its original color.

***

The day after returning home, Sun-woo went up to an empty clearing on the back mountain around dawn. This clearing, which was off the walking trail, was very desolate as no one had visited it.

“A bit cold?”

Breathing out white breath, Sun-woo tilted his head. The dawn mountain in early spring was very cold.

But Sun-woo, wearing only a tracksuit, didn’t seem to feel the cold much. After learning qigong, he had become less affected by cold and heat.

While Sun-woo was diligently going on missions, the world hadn’t changed much from before. Each country was groaning under abnormal weather, politics was fighting, and making a living was still tight.

Sun-woo took a deep breath facing the desolate clearing.

<Spirit of the Earth>

It was powerful sorcery that could erect earth walls capable of blocking even bullets. If he could properly use this sorcery, he would have a way to protect himself. For Sun-woo, it had to be somewhat of an expectation.

Sun-woo stretched out his hand forward and began calling the spiritual energies permeating the earth. The spirits began to move at his call.

Tap, tap tap.

With small sounds, the ground in front of Sun-woo began to raise dust. The spirits had begun moving the earth according to his words.

The dust continued forward, and after a while, a thin line was drawn straight in front of Sun-woo.

Sun-woo made an incredulous expression. He had used sorcery with all his might, but only traces like drawing a line with a stick remained. No matter how much it had fallen to 1 star, this was of no use.

“Damn, if I had received it as points, I could have bought something.”

Moreover, since they said to keep it secret outside dimensions, it was sorcery that couldn’t even be used as magic.

Holding his head in frustration, he began circulating qigong as he felt cold again.

At that moment, one thought occurred to him. He used sorcery once more.

Crash crash crash crash!

Piles of earth began shooting up into the sky. The chunks of earth rising at tremendous speed continued for several meters in the distance.

After a while, a ditch about 40 centimeters deep had newly formed in front of Sun-woo.

“Huff, huff, this really works?”

When he used sorcery together with qigong, the qigong was absorbed and the sorcery was strengthened. The internal energy he had was quickly depleted, but this was usable.

Sun-woo sat down and began refilling his qigong. Although he felt dizzy from consuming all his qigong, his mood was refreshing.

Sun-woo sat down, opened his phone, and pressed the button written as Three Talents Qigong.

<Three Talents Qigong 1 Star>

<You can upgrade the level with 50 points. Do you want to proceed?>

Of course. Sun-woo pressed the <Yes> button.