Chapter 81 – The Frost Turtle (２)

The Eret Plateau.

That was the name of the field that appeared as he headed north of Eret.

On the Eret Plateau, monsters in the late 200s to early 300s range had started appearing.

‘The first time I fought the Generals of the Underworld in Tartaros, they were level 300.’

The monsters appearing now were a bit weaker than those Generals.

Of course, judging combat power by level alone wasn’t easy.

The Generals of the Underworld weren’t ordinary monsters.

They had been made even stronger by the power of the Monarchs.

‘Still, I’ve gotten a lot stronger now too.’

[Name: Jun]

[Class: Flame Seeker]

[Title]

-Dragon Slayer

>Grade: Legendary

>Attack Power +100%

>Magic Attack Power +100%

>HP Recovery Speed +50%

>MP Recovery Speed +50%

>Max HP +300%

>Max MP +300%

>All Stats +20

[Level : 180]

[Strength : 1+246]

[Agility : 1+246]

[Stamina : 1+256]

[Magic Power : 594+580]

[Special Stat]

-Fire Affinity : 165

Level 180, just like that.

His Magic Power had crossed a thousand long ago.

His other stats were all racing toward three hundred.

If I can’t hunt here, something’s wrong.

Unless they were the kind of players draped in hundreds of millions—billions—of stats.

Finding a player stronger than Gijun here? That wouldn’t be easy.

Then.

[They’re coming.]

Monsters charging from up ahead.

Their name: [Eret Sasquatch].

Yetis that lived on the Eret Plateau.

That brings back memories.

The Rotom Mountains, where he’d run into a Red Dragon.

That place had been a snowfield too, buried in white.

But things are different now.

Gijun was stronger now—so much stronger it wasn’t even a comparison.

Avatar Summon.

He summoned his Avatar first.

Gijun smirked as the Avatar materialized at his side.

Alone, maybe. But with the Avatar backing him up now, creatures like that were nothing to fear.

Gijun began casting Fireball.

A crescent-shaped Fireball took form.

Ten of them, naturally.

Whooooom!

The crescent Fireball spun furiously in the air, then stretched into a perfect disc.

Without hesitation, Gijun hurled the deformed Fireball at the charging Eret Sasquatch.

Sshhhhiiing!

Arcing through the air like a scythe, the ten deformed Fireballs were merciless as they streaked toward the Eret Sasquatch.

And then they struck.

Crunch! Sssssssssh!

The moment they touched, the creatures’ bodies were torn through without mercy.

But it didn’t end there.

Sssssssssssh!

The Fireballs didn’t vanish after piercing through once—they carved back through from the opposite direction.

Krrroooaaar!

In the blink of an eye, the Sasquatch were skewered front and back.

And even that wasn’t the end.

Sshhhhiiing—

The deformed Fireballs changed course instantly and struck the Sasquatch again…

Boom! Boom! Boom! Blam!

They finished their work with a violent explosion.

Krrrgh…, guh—

The Eret Sasquatch that had charged in so fiercely were nearly out of breath the moment the Fireballs disappeared.

Gijun approached them and cast Strong Wind.

The moment the wind swept in and engulfed them.

Splash!

They sprayed thick blood and collapsed to the ground.

Easy.

Having taken down five Level-300 monsters in an instant, Gijun pressed forward without slowing.

And now…

“I see them.”

Ahead, the Saint Guild members waiting for Gijun came into view.

Recognizing them wasn’t hard.

Hera had already described their appearances in advance.

“You’ve arrived.”

“Hello. I’m Jun.”

“I’m Horpa, from the Saint Guild.”

Gijun and the Saint Guild members exchanged brief greetings.

And then they looked at him with barely concealed surprise on their faces.

“You seem even stronger than we heard.”

They’d already gotten a rundown from Hera on Gijun’s combat prowess.

She’d said he was strong—but what they’d just witnessed was on a completely different level from what she’d described.

‘…He’s literally toying with the Eret Sasquatches.’

Eret Sasquatches were monsters that gave even Lv.300 players trouble.

Thanks to their thick hide.

Without serious penetrating power, even piercing that hide was no small feat.

On top of that, their Stamina was monstrous.

And that wasn’t all.

The frigid air slowed your movements down, and the accumulated snow made everything even worse.

All of which made the Eret Plateau one of the more dreaded hunting grounds.

‘…And yet….’

Gijun was walking across the snow as if it were nothing.

‘No footprints?’

And only then did they notice.

That on the path Gijun had walked, there wasn’t a single footprint of his.

‘Is that even possible?’

Game or not.

They couldn’t easily wrap their heads around how something like that could be done.

‘…She did say he was talented, but.’

This went way beyond talent, didn’t it?

No matter how gifted you were, it wasn’t like he was a martial arts master straight out of a wuxia novel.

‘What an astonishing guy.’

They couldn’t show it on their faces, but inwardly, there was nothing left but a stream of endless awe.

‘Well. Guess you’d have to be this good to push through the main story without being a Ranker.’

In that moment, all the lavish praise Hera had heaped on him started to make perfect, undeniable sense.

“Anyway, let’s move. While we were scouring the continent on the Guild Master’s orders, we found something we think might be useful to you, Master Jun.”

As he said this, the group’s leader turned his gaze toward one spot.

“If we head that way, there’s a stone statue of unknown origin.”

“A statue?”

“Yes. Actually, it’s been a kind of landmark for players who come to hunt in the Eret Plateau.”

“But I’m guessing there’s more to it.”

“Yes. After trailing it continuously, we concluded the statue’s form seems to be modeled after something.”

“Hoh….”

Interest flickered to life.

A statue modeled after something.

What could it be?

“We’ll explain once we get there.”

And with that, they were on the move again.

*

After a long march, they finally reached the statue.

The statue was enormous.

From the looks of it, it stood about five meters tall.

And its width was just as substantial.

At first glance, it was a statue in the form of a turtle.

“It really felt… alien.”

A statue like this, standing on one of the highest plateaus.

And impossibly detailed at that.

Someone had poured an enormous amount of effort into crafting it. There was no other explanation.

A statue like that, sitting alone on this remote plateau — it was suspicious, plain and simple.

“To be honest, a lot of players have wondered if there might be some kind of Quest tied to it. But so far, no one’s ever found one.”

The leader kept explaining.

“Then we remembered — this statue looks like a certain Monster.”

“A Monster?”

“Yes. About a year ago, our guild hunted a Boss Monster. A creature called the Millennial Turtle of the Hamur Great Swamp.”

Gijun remembered watching a video of that fight.

It was a massive Boss Monster — one of the Saint guild’s main Raids, with viewership already nearing a billion.

“When we took it down, there was one Item that dropped.”

The man reached into his inventory and pulled something out.

It was a small orb.

“This is…?”

“An Item called Ancient Ice Crystal. And…”

He pressed it against the forehead of the turtle statue.

“Huh?”

“Yes. As you can see — it’s a perfect match. We were sure it had to be connected to some Quest. We put in a lot of effort, but it all came to nothing.”

The man looked back at Gijun.

“Maybe… you’re the key.”

With that, he held the orb out to Gijun.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. It was the Guild Master’s decision. To us, it’s a worthless Item. It’s only right that it goes to someone who can actually use it.”

…

Gijun took it with a look of humble gratitude.

[Ancient Ice Crystal]

– Grade : Primordial

– A fragment of ice that split off alongside the Primordial.

That was the entire description.

Then he heard Libre’s voice.

[So that’s how it is.]

Libre sounded like she knew something.

[The owners of the power needed for the Sain-geom must be those beings called Primordial Fragments.]

‘Primordial Fragments?’

To Gijun, of course, it was an unfamiliar story.

[When the Ancient God created this world, there were five forces brought forth first. Fire and Water, Wind and Wood, and Earth. Their owners — they are the Monarchs, like myself.]

[That was how I and the five Monarchs were born alongside the Ancient God’s will. For a very long time, we existed in an empty void. We fought, we mingled, and in doing so, we scattered our fragments across the world.]

A fascinating story.

In a way, this was the creation myth of the world called Real Spirit.

[Those fragments grew into beings of their own, without any of us knowing. The beings that grew from those fragments… Those, Master, are likely the ones you must fight to complete the Sain-geom.]

‘Then could I get to meet the other Monarchs too?’

That thought crossed his mind.

So far, the only Monarchs Jun had met were Libre and Hamal.

That meant the Wind Monarch, the Wood Monarch, and the Ice Monarch were still out there.

Maybe they too were sealed away somewhere, just like Hamal and Libre.

Just then, as if reading his thoughts, Libre’s voice echoed in his mind again.

[The other three don’t exist in this world right now.]

“….”

[The moment the Ancient God closed its eyes alongside the evil, they vanished too. But they will open their eyes again, without a doubt. That is your task, my master — what you must do.]

‘I see.’

Jun gave a small nod.

He felt like he was inching closer to the secret of this game.

“First… if you would, try placing that orb inside this.”

The man’s voice trembled slightly.

Hearing that, Jun slowly pressed the orb against the tortoise statue’s forehead.

At the same time, a message flashed before his eyes.

[Seeker-exclusive Achievement has been triggered.]

– Follow the path the Tortoise Statue leads

– Reward: Class Quest

‘…There it is.’

The moment Jun set the orb into the statue’s forehead, it was the Seeker-exclusive Achievement that surfaced.

The reward: a Class Quest.

No doubt about it.

Something was waiting here.

Then, something incredible happened.

A deep rumble shook the ground. Grooooan—

The tortoise statue began to move.

“Wh-what?”

“Holy shit…”

The Saint guild players stumbled back a step, startled.

“So it was true.”

“…Unbelievable.”

In that instant, the mystery that had shrouded the relationship between the orb and the statue for so long was finally solved.

And then the statue opened its eyes.

“Hah…”

Its eyes rolled slowly in their sockets, and it opened its mouth.

And spoke.

“Follow… me…”

“….”

Gulp.

Jun swallowed hard.

Grooaaan—

At a glacial pace, the tortoise statue began to move.

“Well… I’d better go.”

“Yes. We’ll come with you.”

Jun and the Saint guild players followed the tortoise.