Chapter 142

Chapter 142 – The Frozen Land (1)

1 .

The endless snow that was falling down was swept up by cold winds . It was as if the whole world was shivering .

Hweeeeeng!

The sound of the winds made one’s ears numb . The world had turned white, which blinded one’s vision . The only thing one could smell was the coldness .

During all of this, a User dared to to step onto the snowfield .

Pooh-poohk .

The white snowfield became the white predator . Accompanying a terrifying sound, the intruder was swallowed up to his knees .

“Fire!”

– I have no visuals at all!

In such a ridiculous stage, Sohank was blocking an Ice Bear with his single shield . It was a 10 meters long bear made out of ice, and it wasn’t easy to block it .

‘This is crazy . ’

Sohank repeated those words until he was sick of it . He was about to repeat it again, when the Ice Bear let out a roar .

Koo-oh-oh .

‘It’s coming . ’

Sohank was nervous, but he readied himself .

Unlike its prior attacks, the Ice Bear used all of its strength to use its Bodyslam .

Ggwah-ahng!

Sohank felt an incredible amount of force transferred from across his shield . Sohank’s body was pushed backwards .

He had barely avoided falling over . He had maintained his stance as he endured the Bodyslam . Sohank busily grinded his teeth inside .

‘It this was a grassy plains, this bear bastard would… . ’

Ice Bear .

This was his first time facing this monster . It was large, but it wasn’t too difficult to face it in a vacuum . Basically, it didn’t have any special skills . It also didn’t possess incredible strength or incredible Battle AI compared to its size . Moreover, it was fairly easy to maintain the aggro .

The problem was the environment . The snow was up to his knees, and the ground was covered in ice . It thoroughly vexed Sohank .

Sohank could always rely on the ground being steady, but he never expected his lack of footing would making him feel so weak . He be skeptical of the ground he was standing on . He never expected such a thing to happen, and it made a chill run up his spine .

“Fire!”

Sohank yelled out again . He wasn’t shouting out an order as the commander of the group . His shout was almost close to a plea for help . In his life as a gamer, Sohank would be hard to find an experience that was as humiliating as the one right now .

– We really can’t see anything! If we use our magic, you might be swept up in it!

However, it wasn’t easy to help him either . Magician’s had to be judicious with their magic . They had to avoid harming their allies . However, the magicians could barely see the tip of their noses . No matter how accurate these magicians were, it was an impossible situation where they couldn’t fully use their abilities .

“Fire!”

However, Sohank yelled out again .

– I’m sending it!

In the end, a magician gave an answer, and at the same time, he threw the ball of fire in his hand forward .

The ball of fire thrown by the magician started to roll forward . As it rolled forward, it started to expand, and in moments, it took the form of an enormous bear .

Koo-wah-ahng!

Flame Bear .

This scary magical spell was charging forward as it melted the snow away .

However, Sohank was the one in the path of the charging Flame Bear .

‘Aigo . ’

He was the one that had ordered the use of the magic, but he never expected the Flame Bear to charge at him from his rear .

Sohank took short breaths . The important part will start now . If he did nothing, he would be sandwiched by the two bears .

It was the moment of truth . Sohank moved when he saw an opportunity . The Ice Bear had been continuously ramming into his shield . Sohank lashed out at the Ice Bear with his shield .

Ggwah-ahng!

A loud sound exploded forth, and the Ice Bear’s body was shifted slightly to the side .

Koo-roo-roo… .

The Ice Bear had been about to let out a roar, but now it was letting out a low growl . It was a sound made when a beast has reached the peak of its anger .

However, when the Ice Bear reorientated its head to express its anger, Sohank had disappeared from its field of vision . When he hit the Ice Bear on the head, Sohank had immediately escaped from his current location .

Sohank had leaped into the air, and he landed on the Ice Bear’s nape .

As he landed, Sohank took out the dagger equipped on his leg, and he stabbed it into the neck of the Ice Bear .

Pah-kahk!

The dagger was planted inside the Ice Bear’s neck . It was in only up to the depth of the middle knuckle . It couldn’t be considered to be a deep wound .

Koo-ah-ah!

However, it was enough to drive the Ice Bear into a rage .

The Ice Bear suddenly stood up . At the same time, it turned to look towards its back . Sohank was hanging on by grabbing onto his dagger . Instead of shaking Sohank off, it planned on biting him .

Koo-oh-oh!

It was great timing . The Flame Bear threw itself at the Ice Bear, and it swung its paw .

Puh-uhng!

The Flame Bear’s front paw let out a rough sound as it violently struck the Ice Bear’s head .

Hweeek!

The Ice Bear’s head snapped to the side, and a terrifying claw mark appeared on its face .

At that moment, the Ice Bear’s anger wasn’t directed at Sohank at all . It was directed towards the Flame Bear . The two bears immediately started to fight each other . The two bears stood on their hind legs, and they used their front paws to strike at each other . Neither bear backed down, but it wasn’t a good battle to watch .

The Ice Bear was much more stronger than the Flame Bear . The Flame Bear could only leave scratches and wounds on the Ice Bear’s body . The Ice Bear’s attacks took chunks off of the Flame Bear’s body .

The two bears exchanged about 10 blows in total, and the Flame Bear became mangled . It started to disappear into the snowstorm .

During all of this, Sohank created wounds on the Ice Bear’s back and waist . Again, the wound wasn’t deep, but the location from where he struck was exquisite . He was at a location where the Ice Bear’s limbs and teeth couldn’t reach him . He was basically in its blind spot .

From such a location, Sohank yelled out again .

“Fire!”

Instead of answering back, the magicians used more magical spells . Accompanying the incantation of the magicians, fireballs and thunder strikes headed towards the Ice Bear . Moreover, it was also coming towards Sohank, who was sticking close to the Ice Bear’s body .

Koo-oh-oh!

The Ice Bear let out a roar as it struggled . As the Ice Bear flailed, Sohank started to accumulate a significant amount of damage . Sohank continued to attack it to keep the aggro on him .

This really was a gambit where Sohank had put his life on the line .

In such a battle, the rest of the party could do nothing . Natal, who was the leader of this party, didn’t say anything . At this moment, he couldn’t even come up with a word of encouragement for Sohank .

‘Shit . ’

Natal couldn’t do anything . He could only regret over his decision .

His regret started 8 days ago . It was when they first arrived at this frozen land . As if by magic, the snowstorm had appeared, and Natal was conflicted as to how he should proceed . He wondered if he should allow the group an adjustment time period before they earnestly started their search . On the flip side, they could start searching first, then they could get used to everything… . .

In truth, they planned on following the former plan . They were going to start their search after they got acclimated to this place .

However, the problem was the urgent news he received .

‘If it wasn’t for the Big Smiles… . ’

The urgent news said a large contingent of Big Smiles guild members had crossed the Terube castle wall .

In truth, this was within the realm of possibilities they had postulated . If one had a decent head on one’s shoulder, it was easy to connect the dot between the Northland and the third Main Scenario Quest .

‘No . If it wasn’t for Sinclair…’

Sinclair was within this group .

He wasn’t known to the world, but he was a User that was on par or better than the officers of the 30 great guilds . He was also a person that had received aggressive love calls from all the 30 great guilds, yet he was unwavering in switching his affiliation .

Yet he was wearing a Big Smiles guild symbol now . Moreover, Natal received information that Sinclair was one of the figures leading the group . Natal couldn’t help, but be thrown into a state of confusion .

This put a lot of pressure on him . If it was just the Big Smile, he could just treat them as a big dog that moved into the neighborhood . However, this was the Big Smiles guild with Sinclair included in the party . A feral beast had just moved into the neighborhood .

In the end, Natal decided to accelerate their timeline in finishing the Quest instead of facing off against the Big Smiles guild .

However, the frozen ground was starting to cause significant delays .

‘If things head along this way, they’ll definitely catch up to us . ’

They were in a obstacle race, and they were having a hard time getting past the obstacles . They were pretty much stuck .

Of course, they would be caught by the latecomers .

– We got it! Stop!

At that moment, Sohank’s voice was heard in Natal’s ears . At the same time, the Priests ran towards Sohank . They used the Healing skills to quickly mend the wounds . Then they started putting the Buff skills on him as a precaution for the unforeseen circumstances that might occur .

“Natal!”

As he was receiving the skills from the Priests, Sohank immediately called out to Natal .

Natal approached Sohank, and he gave orders to his subordinates through Voice Talk .

“Listen! We don’t have much time, so we’ll be brief in taking footage for data . Once you guys finish filming, we’ll immediately butcher the monster . Clean up after yourselves . Don’t leave behind any Ingredient Coins . ”

“Yes . ”

“I’ll say this again . We can’t leave behind any trace . The Ingredient Coins won’t disappear .

“Yes . ”

His warnings were almost approaching the level of nagging . Even though, he had given his warnings, Natal didn’t look to be in a good mood . His expression was screwed up as he started a conversation with Sohank .

2 .

Poo-oohk!

A wide and nimble sword was embedded deep within the Hammerhead’s single sharp eyes . The Hammerhead’s body started to shake . It was such a deep wound that the Hammerhead couldn’t even let out a scream .

Kooh-oohng!

In the end, the Hammerhead weakly fell to the ground as if it was a large piece of log . A User descended using the fallen Hammerhead’s body as a staircase . Sinclair immediately flipped over the Hammerhead’s body .

Swhoook!

After flipping it over, he immediately extracted his sword from the Hammerhead’s single eye . Sinclair sheathed his sword . It was the surest gesture that signified the end of a battle .

Everyone, who had been watching the battle, let out exclamations .

“Amazing . You are really amazing . ”

“Sinclair-nim! You are really incredible!”

Then there were those, who swallowed their exclamations .

‘How preposterous . He just climbed atop the Hammerhead’s head? If it went awry, he would have been swept up in the Head-butt… . I’ll never be able to do such a thing . ”

‘I know he has the Items, but it is also his incredible skills . Why haven’t such a skilled User gained any notoriety yet?’

‘Why did such a skilled User enter our guild?’

Of course, not everyone was letting out or swallowing exclamations .

“You did well . ”

Instead of an exclamation, Apollo spoke as if he was a noble giving praise to his subordinate . He spoke in a disinterested tone . Sinclair also responded in a disinterested manner . He slightly nodded his head .

Apollo’s expression crumpled a little bit . His presence was being continuously marginalized, so it seemed Apollo didn’t welcome the current situation .

Sinclair also didn’t like the situation he was in .

‘I know this is a job, but I can’t believe I have to lower my head to this guy . ’

He had operated without publicizing his face in the past, but Sinclair had been treated with utmost respect and care by everyone as a Helper from the Hands guild . Apollo was nothing if he didn’t have his father’s influence .

Of course, he didn’t look kindly to Apollo holding a role of being his superior .

‘Be patient . This will come to an end soon . ’

He knew the importance of this job, so Sinclair firmly preached patience to himself .

‘It won’t be too long . ’

After they moved beyond the Terube castle wall, Sinclair led the Big Smiles guild member in a chase after the Hydra guild . They had only one purpose . They were going to start a guild battle against the Hyrdra guild .

Of course, they didn’t plan on fighting a full scale battle . From the Hydra guild’s perspective, they weren’t keen on a full scale battle either . They would work to avoid that outcome . Reinforcements weren’t anywhere near them, and there were no castles or towns beyond the Terube wall . If they performed a fullscale war, it would be basically be akin to a suicide bombing .

In the end, they’ll decide do a 1on1 battle . A great match would ensue, and this was the result wanted by Sinclair .

‘If I kill Sohank, everything will change . ’

Sohank was the strongest User in the Hydra guild . What was the worth of winning a 1on1 battle against him?

He had no idea .

It was incalculable, but just the thought of it was enough to make him smile .

A smile formed on Sinclair’s lips . One User saw his smile, so the User spoke up .

“It seems you are in a good mood . ”

“Huh?”

“Nothing . I just saw you smiling, so I… . ”

The one that asked the question was Cho-oohroong . He was the one that had built an affinity with Bagel by playing on the Battlefield stage . He was also the one that was able to receive the Northland Exploration Quest .

Unlike Apollo, Sinclair had a high opinion of Cho-oohroong . Cho-oohroong had helped out Sinclair in various ways, so Sinclair treated him well .

“I’ll be fighting a skilled User soon . The anticipation I have for the fight must have revealed itself through my expression . ”

This was why Sinclair revealed some of his true feelings in front of Cho-oohroong .

“As expected, you are incredible . ”

Cho-oohroong had an expression filled with admiration as he looked at Sinclair . Sinclair’s smile deepened when he saw this particular expression .

This is what he wanted . He didn’t want everyone to look at him as just some nobody . He wanted them to look at him with respect . He didn’t want to be the expert that only other experts knew about . We wanted to become world famous .

“Sinclair-nim is probably the only one in this game that feels happy about the prospect of fighting Sohank . ”

“I’m flattered . However, if I don’t win, this would have all been an act of reckless bravado . ”

“No . From what I just saw now, you will definitely win . Of course, this is assuming the other side doesn’t do anything foul . ”

The dayy will come soon . Even people, who didn’t know Sinclair, would look up to him!

Sinclair’s smile deepened further . It was so deep that his smile couldn’t get any more broader .

It happened at that moment… .

“Uh? There is a Coin here!”

“What?”

The atmosphere suddenly changed . Everyone gathered in a single location when they heard the word Coin .

“Did you just say Coins?”

“Yes . ”

“Try picking it up . ”

“Here it is . ”

Sinclair immediately held the Coin, and he checked the Coin’s information on the Holographic Window .

[Deadwood Monkey’s Skin]

[Deadwood Monkey’s Skin]

[Deadwood Monkey’s Bone]

It was the Ingredient Coins from the Deadwood Monkeys .

“Isn’t this the 20th one we found?”

“We are finding fallen Coins every time we are about to forget about it . ”

“It seems there is a hole in the Coin Pouch carried by the Hydra guild . It seems they are leaving behind a trail . ”

Ingredient Coins was a trace that could only be left behind by Users .

“All of a sudden, we are like Hansel and Gretel following after the breadcrumbs . ”

Obviously, this tracks was left behind by the Hydra guild . In other words, the Big Smiles guild was on the right path in chasing down the Hydra guild .

However, Sinclair no longer had a smile on his face . He spoke in an earnest tone .

“Let us move faster . ”