Chapter 46

He looked around .

In this wasteland, there was a material he had to take before anyone else .

‘Hedley’s Kow . ’

A unique fairy that could transform into any shape and could possess all the stats its target had .

When Hedley’s Kow’s life was at risk, it would transform into a phoenix and escape .

The phoenix was a mirage rank monster .

It was extremely rare and just as strong .

However, the phoenix Hedley’s Kow transforms into was something Muyoung could definitely catch .

It would be the best material if only he could get it…

‘First, I need to figure out where exactly it is . ’

He was certain that Hedley’s Kow would be here in 5 years but was unsure if it was here now .

So he had to first survey his surroundings and figure out who the ruler of this area was .

As it was a Demon God’s territory, if he accidentally met a strong monster, he could lose his life .

Currently, Muyoung’s strength was only considered average .

Caww! Caaawwww!

Crows the size of a man’s chest were flying around the mountains .

‘Blood . ’

He also smelled a thick scent of blood .

Muyoung slowly moved towards the place reeking of blood .

Grrrrawrrr!

An incomparably large black dinosaur-like monster let out a cry .

In front of it were giants covered in flames which grabbed the dinosaur’s neck and were toying with it as they burned its whole body .

The black dinosaur was a high ranked monster known as the Aquitora .

It had a fierce and aggressive temper and a tendency to hunt for fun so it was the culprit in destroying the surrounding ecosystem .

The Aquitora was a creature at the top of the food chain but it was currently the one being hunted .

It couldn’t even fight back .

It had no choice .

The giants covered in flames were the bane of living creatures .

Fire Tar .

A giant of flames .

With a height of 10m, they were the top among the high ranked monsters!

Although there weren’t many, they were a warrior tribe that lived in harsh conditions with a lifespan of a thousand years .

The five Fire Tars who were toying with the Aquitora broke its neck and made their hands sharp as knives to skin the beast .

They then roasted the meat and ate it .

The flames of the Fire Tar would only burn their enemies .

‘Is this the territory of the Fire Tars?’

Muyoung who gazed at this scene from a far couldn’t help but become nervous .

If this was the Fire Tars’ territory, then it would become a huge restriction on his movements .

First, unlike their size, the Fire Tar were agile and sensitive .

It was difficult for Muyoung to escape at his current level . Even with the help of the Hellhorse, there was a limit .

‘What to do . ’

He couldn’t beat the Fire Tars right now .

Even with the help of all his undead .

From the start, the undead were weak against fire .

“Hmm…? An ant’s hiding here . ”

Thuuuud .

One of the five Fire Tars moved .

Muyoung’s face distorted .

He tried his best to hide but was unable to fool the Fire Tars’ senses .

Different from humans, they were able to use the surrounding temperature to detect living creatures .

If this wasn’t the Fire Tars’ territory, he would have been able to walk away leisurely without getting caught .

‘If I use the undead to buy some time, I can leave . ’

Muyoung became tense as he took the lead .

Just when Muyoung held talismans and was about to use them, the Fire Tar who had seen Muyoung tilted his head .

“A goblin? What, did you lose your pack?”

Goblin?

Ahah .

Muyoung nodded his head .

‘Six Paths . ’

That was right .

Didn’t Muyoung’s appearance change to that of a goblin king after being enlightened by the Six Paths?

It wasn’t weird for the Fire Tar to make a mistake .

When Muyoung didn’t reply, the Fire Tar pointed towards a direction and spoke .

“Your pack moved towards the west . To hold a ceremony for the ‘Advent of Oom’ or something . If you go now, you should be able to catch up . ”

He didn’t sense any ill will from the Fire Tar .

It felt like he was giving directions not to an enemy or a friend but to a passing civilian .

It seemed like the relationship between the Fire Tars and the goblins weren’t bad .

‘The Advent of Oom?’

He had never heard of that name before .

Of course, there wasn’t a lot of information about the life of goblins but it did seem likely that they would have a few strange ceremonies .

Anyways, he knew the Fire Tars weren’t hostile .

‘I have to use this chance . ’

Muyoung calmed his heartbeat as much as he could .

Since the Fire Tar might find something weird if his body temperature rose due to anxiety .

‘Three belts made from tree trunks wrapped around his waist . ’

There were ranks among the Fire Tar and a unique trait was that their ranks would be indicated by the amount of tree trunk belts around their waists .

And if one had three belts, it meant he had the second highest rank .

“Vice-chieftain of the Fire Tars! Do you know of Hedley’s Kow?”

The language was automatically interpreted by the Status Viewer .

The accent was different but the Fire Tar replied without being suspicious .

It was because the Fire Tar believed that he could only be a goblin since he had recognized that he was the vice-chieftain .

“Hedley’s Kow? I haven’t heard of it . Have you guys heard of it?”

The other four Fire Tars shook their heads .

He had only asked just in case but it was like he thought .

“They say they haven’t either . ”

“Then… could I receive some meat from you?”

The Fire Tar vice-chieftain thought over the sudden request and nodded his head .

“It’s not like the amount a small goblin eats would leave a mark so do what you want . ”

Aquitora, the dinosaur shaped monster, was huge .

Even then, it was only enough to fill the five Fire Tar’s bellies .

Muyoung walked in an honorable manner and sliced off a hunk of Aquitora meat .

Then he ate as gluttonously as he could .

‘The Fire Tar’s territory is vast . If I can’t leave it, then I have to blend in . ’

There was no guarantee that there was only one Fire Tar tribe .

There could be others that were more hostile to others, so it difficult to expect the rest to treat a goblin with good will .

And eating together gave a sense of attachment to a group .

In this moment, Muyoung was acting as if he belonged to the same group as the five Fire Tars .

The vice-chieftain looked at his figure with interest .

“A goblin would usually be shocked and scared at the sight of us, you’re quite an interesting one . ”

It was like he watching a small animal’s cute tricks .

Muyoung wiped the grease off his lips and said .

“I came from a very far place . Don’t group me with other goblins . ”

“All goblins are the same, what could be different . ”

Muyoung’s expression distorted .

“I am different . But this land is too harsh to me . I want to get stronger by catching prey that are my level . If you tell me a method, I will compensate you the best I can . ”

The Fire Tars had been here the longest .

They would know exactly what lived where .

There was a limit to exploring by himself .

Since he might meet an opponent too difficult to handle like now .

He was lucky this time . However, he couldn’t always be lucky .

“Hmm, this land is too barren for a lone goblin to live by himself…”

The vice-chieftain rubbed his chin as he continued .

“There are bugs that gnaw on the trunk of the ‘Poom tree’ . They dig holes in the ground so it’s hard for us to hunt them . If you can deal with them, I’ll tell you a way,”

He offered a deal .

‘Not bad . ’

It wasn’t bad to cooperate with the rulers of this territory .

If he was to gain their trust, he would be able to find Hedley’s Kow .

It was foolish to move without any information but it wasn’t good to stay still either .

Muyoung had to get stronger .

Multiple times what he was now .

“Okay . I’ll handle that for you . ”

They made a deal .

The vice-chieftain said it without any expectations .

The Poom tree was one of the trees the Fire Tars took care of and although it couldn’t compare to the world’s largest, it was an enormous tree .

It was the size of a small mountain so there were a large number of bugs gnawing on its trunk .

There wasn’t ten or twenty thousand but a number easily exceeding a hundred thousand .

And it was impossible for a single goblin to ‘handle’ them all .

Although it was a joke, the Fire Tars only thought to pull a prank on this oblivious goblin .

‘No way a goblin could handle this troublesome problem that even we Fire Tars couldn’t handle . ’

The Poom tree played a crucial role in the lives of the Fire Tars .

The Fire Tars were unstable lifeforms .

Unless they calmed the flames with the roots of the Poom tree, they would one day be consumed by their own flames and die .

And obviously, once the Poom tree disappeared, the Fire Tars would move their territory .

‘3 years from now…’

The vice-chieftain shook his head .

In 3 years, the Poom tree would be eaten by the bugs and die . And the Fire Tars had no way to stop it .

There was no way they could burn the Poom tree to kill bugs that lived deep in its roots .

It was a problem they just tossed to a unique goblin that had appeared .

They never expected that a small and weak goblin could handle this problem .

Crush!

He stomped on the bug that was crawling out .

The bug instantly exploded and green liquids sprayed out everywhere .

‘There’s no end to this . ’

There was a countless amount of small fist-sized bugs .

There looked to be hundreds of bugs crawling out around the mountain-sized tree .

Even if he caught them all, it would be difficult to get all the bugs that were below .

‘They look similar to treebeard bugs . ’

Although they looked similar to the treebeard bugs that gnawed on trees, their sizes were significantly larger .

Was it because they gnawed on the Poom tree?

What was more, it was hard to find a place where they had reproduced to such levels .

“Please give, me your orders . ”

Muyoung summoned all his undead .

Then the Blazing Spear Soldier kneeled and asked while the rest quietly looked at Muyoung .

‘The Black Sun Warrior . ’

He turned his head to looked at the warrior wearing full black armor .

He was the strongest out of all the undead he had made until now .

If he was created when Horus was alive, it would have been hard for him to have become a ‘Death Warrior’ .

Points were added because he was a warrior of death .

Muyoung ordered all his undead .

“Get rid of all the surrounding bugs . Provided, you don’t burn the tree . ”

The Poom tree was of utmost importance to the Fire Tars .

It almost to the point of deification . It would be a problem if he burned it .

And since the Fire Tars’ village was close, they would rush here the moment the tree started to burn .

“I will, follow, your orders . ”

Knock . Knock .

All the undead moved quickly and started to kill the bugs .

They killed tens of bugs a second .

Just like that, they killed bugs until night but there was no end in sight .

‘Let’s change the method . ’

It seemed that recklessly killing bugs wasn’t the answer .

With this much, it seemed likely that they reproduced extremely quickly .

Muyoung understood his mistake and looked at it from a different angle .

‘Treebeard bugs dig a tunnel and lay eggs in one place . ’

As soon as he came to that thought, Muyoung quickly opened his mouth .

“Look for their tunnel . If you search around the tree, there should be a large area dug out . Go in and get rid of all the eggs . ”

There would be no end by simply killing the bugs .

He had to get rid of the eggs to stop them from reproducing .

However, it didn’t take long for him to realize that this method was wrong as well .

Exactly three days later .

Muyoung gave up .

There were too many eggs .

It was the same with the tunnels .

‘Just where did this reproducing ability come from?’

Muyoung looked around .

Perhaps it was because the Fire Tars’ village wasn’t far from here but no monsters came to this place .

The only things here were the Poom tree and the bugs .

However, the thing that was becoming the bug’s food was the tree’s roots .

Their numbers infinitely increased by eating the roots .

‘I have to handle this . If I can curry favor with the Fire Tars, it will be easier for me in the future . ’

The Fire Tars were the top among the high ranked monsters .

It was a chance to earn their protection .

Although they were monsters, he didn’t care .

Since there were humans who were less than monsters .

Above all, they were flaming warriors and he was very interested in their spoils of war .

If he was lucky, he might even be able to obtain useful equipment .

‘There are only bugs . ’

Muyoung thought carefully .

He pondered while even reducing his sleep .

A reproduction ability that exceeded common sense . To get rid of the bugs, he had to handle the root cause .

After two days, a thought suddenly pierced his mind .

There were only bugs .

Then…

‘There weren’t any natural predators . ’