Chapter 167 – The Spirit Forest

Min Do-jun’s eyes flashed at Shin Kyung-min’s suggestion to enter together.

‘Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to kill him…!’

With no witnesses around, entering the dungeon together and striking from behind would cleanly complete his revenge.

‘It’s certainly a tempting opportunity that’s hard to refuse. But…’

His intuition was telling him otherwise.

That if he made a move now, it might complicate his other revenge plans.

That the situation could become entangled in various ways.

Moreover, he wasn’t confident that he could win cleanly even with a surprise attack.

‘I’m not yet skilled enough to overwhelm Shin Kyung-min.’

Though he had recovered combat power equivalent to his past rank 1 self, he still couldn’t see Shin Kyung-min’s weakness.

In other words, the current level 3,500 Shin Kyung-min was stronger than Min Do-jun’s past level 5,000 self.

‘To others I might seem like a monster, but the real monster is someone else.’

While Min Do-jun was a monster for reaching this level at 2,500, it turned out Shin Kyung-min was no less of a monster himself.

‘If he hadn’t had that period of inactivity, he would have easily claimed the world’s top rank.’

That’s why he felt there was still too much risk in attacking from behind.

His Intuition characteristic was also telling him it wasn’t the right time yet.

“It’s fine. I can conquer it alone.”

“Is that so? Well, I managed it alone too, so there’s no reason you couldn’t, right?”

It didn’t sound like mere flattery but genuine sincerity.

‘Does he also recognize it? That I’m at a similar level to him?’

After all, with such an overwhelming score taking first place in the Tower of Infinity, it would be impossible to underestimate him even if one wanted to.

“How long do you think it will take? I’ll come pick you up at the right time.”

Min Do-jun, who found Shin Kyung-min’s kindness irritating, waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s fine. I don’t know how long it will take either. Just go, and I’ll take a taxi back on my own.”

“Oh, you will? Alright then. Go ahead in. I’ll cover the portal with the rock again.”

Min Do-jun nodded at Shin Kyung-min’s words.

It didn’t matter to him since he wasn’t the type who couldn’t get out just because the entrance was covered with a rock.

“Thank you. I’ll be going now.”

With that, Min Do-jun disappeared into the portal, leaving Shin Kyung-min behind.

* * *

Min Do-jun appeared in the middle of a forest bathed in warm sunlight.

“This place still has such nice sunshine.”

The Spirit Forest wasn’t like other dungeons with a rough, wild feel.

It was a forest that warmed the heart just by looking at it, always bright with sunshine whenever one entered.

“But it’s still just a habitat for monsters, nothing more, nothing less.”

The Spirit Forest was home to elementals of the four primary elements: fire, water, earth, and wind.

Though they looked too cute and pretty to be called monsters, they were clearly creatures that killed humans for energy.

‘Anyway, receiving the Spirit Forest as a personal dungeon is fortunate.’

As it happened, the Spirit Forest was a dungeon he had planned to enter once he reached level 2,500.

The reason was simple.

‘If I can obtain the Life Water Tree Stem here, I can make another elixir.’

By defeating the occasionally appearing Bizarre Tree Elemental and obtaining the Life Water Tree Stem, he could make another Life Elixir like the one that saved Hwang Da-yeon.

‘Even if I can’t use it myself, it’s not bad to have.’

The efficacy of the Life Elixir had already been proven through Hwang Da-yeon.

As an item that could revive dead awakened individuals, it would surely be useful in the future.

‘The problem is that obtaining the Life Water Tree Stem isn’t easy.’

Not only was the drop rate low, but encountering the Bizarre Tree Elemental was also difficult.

It was so rare that rumors claimed it was harder to find than the boss.

‘Of course, it’s generally difficult to find.’

The Bizarre Tree Elemental was hard to find only because people didn’t know how to summon it.

‘If you know the method, you can catch it anytime.’

Of course, currently, the only person who knew this method was Min Do-jun, the regressor.

Swoosh-

As Min Do-jun walked through the forest, he discovered a waterfall.

It was a beautiful waterfall with a rainbow arched across it.

Splash-

Without hesitation, he entered the waterfall and found a cave.

‘Shall I start with the water elemental?’

The cave hidden within the waterfall was the habitat of water elementals.

As he went deeper, sure enough.

Water elementals were floating through the air like ghosts.

[Flowing Water Elemental]

-Description: An elemental made entirely of water. Physical attacks are ineffective.

-Combat Style: Targets the head or body with Water Ball magic from a distance, and when in close proximity, attaches to the head to drown.

-Weakness: Wind attribute magic

Being an elemental, it was immune to physical damage.

Like the ghosts from the Ghost Island he had conquered in the past.

‘If I were a warrior, this would be troublesome, but I’m a Magic Swordsman.’

For Min Do-jun, who could wield magic more powerful than a mage, such elementals were nothing more than one-hit kills.

‘But I won’t kill it.’

Swoosh-

Min Do-jun easily dodged the Water Ball thrown by the water elemental and slowly backed away.

While doing so, he lured it outside the waterfall.

‘It’s following well.’

Though he could kill it with one skill, he didn’t.

The one who would kill it, or rather the elemental that would, was elsewhere.

‘Here we are.’

Upon reaching a hill outside the forest where the wind was blowing, an elemental came out to greet him.

[Cool Wind Elemental]

The wind elemental charged fiercely toward the human who had invaded its territory.

However.

Sruruuk-

When Min Do-jun concealed himself with invisibility, the wind elemental, having lost its target, looked around in confusion.

But that didn’t last long.

Upon discovering the water elemental, the wind elemental changed its target.

Wheeeeee-

The wind elemental enveloped the water elemental.

Unable to withstand the opposing element, the water elemental disintegrated and disappeared.

It had been absorbed by the wind elemental.

‘Good.’

The water elemental he had brought was absorbed by the wind elemental.

This was, of course, an intentional situation.

‘The wind elemental’s color has deepened.’

Only then did Min Do-jun dispel his invisibility and draw the wind elemental’s aggro.

‘Now, let’s take this one to find an earth elemental.’

The method to summon the Bizarre Tree Elemental was simple.

‘Just have opposing elements absorb each other in sequence.’

Elementals had the common trait of attacking humans, but that didn’t mean they could gather together.

‘Because their elements are different.’

That’s also why elementals didn’t leave their territories.

‘But if I become the bait myself?’

As he was doing now, he could lure an elemental captivated by a human outside its territory.

By doing so, he could make opposing elementals meet when they normally wouldn’t.

‘Just like now, the opposing elemental absorbs the lower elemental.’

Then, he would take that absorbed elemental to another opposing elemental for further absorption.

‘Water, wind, earth, fire. This sequence is perfect.’

The order didn’t particularly matter, but in terms of movement, that was the best.

‘After the final absorption, defeating that elemental will cause it to be reborn as a Bizarre Tree Elemental.’

The occasional rumors of elementals transforming into Bizarre Tree Elementals when defeated were due to this process.

‘Of course, such natural combinations are extremely rare.’

It would only be possible if elementals met by chance at the boundaries of their territories and were absorbed repeatedly.

But if Min Do-jun directly lured and combined the elementals, summoning a Bizarre Tree Elemental would be easy.

“Come along quickly.”

Min Do-jun, leading the wind elemental to the rocky area beside the hill, discovered the next elemental.

[Solid Earth Elemental]

After having the wind elemental absorbed by it, he moved to a parched land where the sun’s light blazed fiercely.

[Burning Fire Elemental]

Only after offering the earth elemental as a sacrifice to the fire elemental did he complete all preparations.

“The fire elemental’s color has deepened.”

Perhaps due to the multiple absorptions, its color seemed several times more intense than before.

Flare-

The fire elemental continuously spewed flames while looking at Min Do-jun.

Min Do-jun sneered at the sight.

“You’re no match for me.”

Min Do-jun summoned Gust Blade and severed the fire elemental’s limbs.

Then, instead of experience points, a bizarre cry was heard, and a tree elemental appeared in its place.

“You too.”

As soon as the Bizarre Tree Elemental appeared, Min Do-jun hit it with Magnum Burst.

The tree elemental was instantly torn apart and screamed as it vanished.

[Experience +165,000]

‘That’s an enormous amount of experience!’

Though he had recently achieved first place in the Tower of Infinity and received an experience bonus, this was exceptionally high for defeating a regular monster.

‘It’s even more than what I get from killing S-rank monsters?’

It seemed this was due to the absorption of the elementals.

‘Well, considering all the effort I put into traveling around the entire area just to summon a Bizarre Tree Elemental, this much is deserved.’

Satisfied with the experience, Min Do-jun opened the conquest window.

-Conquest Progress: 1/1,000 elementals

-Time Remaining: 23 hours 49 minutes 19 seconds

Despite combining four elementals, it only counted as one.

‘One elemental in 10 minutes… At this rate, I won’t be able to finish in time.’

It took longer, but in exchange, he had killed one nutritious elemental with inflated experience.

‘By the way, there’s a message I haven’t seen before.’

[Soul stored.]

[Number of stored souls: 1/10]

[You can view the list of stored souls or converse with them through the skill window.]

This message appeared right after killing the tree elemental and gaining experience.

‘Is this because I learned the Soul Extraction skill?’

It was unfamiliar since he had never learned this skill in his past life.

‘It says I can converse with them…’

Curious, Min Do-jun opened the skill window.

Below the Soul Extraction skill information, a list of souls was displayed.

[1. Bizarre Tree Elemental]

[2. Empty]

[3. Empty]

…

…

When he touched the tree elemental, a message appeared.

[You can converse with the stored soul internally.]

[You can block the soul’s speech by touching its name.]

[Touch once more to proceed with conversation.]

‘To think I can converse with monsters…’

Min Do-jun touched the name with a tense expression.

However.

[Grrrr… Gugugeo…]

Contrary to his expectations, conversation was impossible.

‘Well, to converse, I’d need to understand the monster’s language.’

Min Do-jun, who had hoped there might be automatic translation, blocked the conversation in disappointment.

‘I’ll try using the skill after collecting all the souls.’

Creating Bizarre Tree Elementals was time-consuming, but there was a solution.

‘Awoo.’

[Growl.]

‘I’m counting on you.’

[Kuheung!]

After all, he had an excellent driver at his disposal.