When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 81
Only Krnovel
81. Classic
“What is this?”
Oh Hyeon-seong, who followed the old man, saw something unexpected.
A stone floating on top of a pile of earthen pillars like a small platform.
It felt like it had a strong energy for an ordinary stone.
Normally, he would have immediately concluded that it was a relic of the gate, but this time he didn’t.
“Could it be that you, sir, made this too?”
“That’s right. It blocks the outside air so that the outside air doesn’t pass through this area.”
‘…I didn’t know something like this was possible.’
Oh Hyeon-seong looked at the stone in surprise.
Although it was not a large area compared to the entire Misty Mountain, it was blocking all turbid energy from passing through his living radius.
The reason why people were able to live safely in the foggy mountains that were heavily polluted and eroded.
I’ve seen many relics over the years, but never anything like this.
‘The residual turbidity of the land still remains, but it is much better than the outside environment that has been distorted by erosion. If the elder had moved in a few months ago, it would have been around that time that the artifact had taken effect, but has it already seen this much effect?’
It not only blocks external turbidity, but also has the effect of suppressing internal erosion.
There was no way to artificially remove the turbid air from the already polluted land.
Just wait for it to decompose naturally without any warning.
If that were possible, there would be no way restricted areas around the world would still be left unattended.
There were restricted areas soaked in turbidity not only deep in the mountains but also in the middle of large cities such as New York, London, and Seoul.
There is a reason why these lands of enormous value are left untouched.
Of course, recently, Oh Hyun-seong created an environment completely free of evil spirits with the power of the spirits.
It’s one step ahead of the artifacts created by the old man.
But it was truly amazing that such a small stone could have such an effect.
It is to the extent that it can be seen as turning common sense of the world upside down.
It is also significant that an artifact created entirely by humans has produced this effect.
“Did you happen to encounter any monsters on your way here?”
“… I ran into him. There was one guy who was really strong.”
“Actually, there isn’t just one of them. I don’t know exactly when, but they settled here first. I only noticed their presence a few days after I settled down.”
“Are you saying there are several of those? But then why weren’t you running away right away? Why were you doing that?”
Oh Hyun-seong said as if it was absurd.
There are many monsters that are strong enough to be classified as bosses even in the S-rank gate, and they are wandering around the mountains.
If this is true, then the old man is actually making a spectacular suicide attempt every morning when he wakes up.
“I didn’t have to run away. And I felt like if I left this place alone, a great disaster would occur. I’ve been circling around this Misty Mountain for a while now, perhaps preferring this area, but you should know that if I make even one wrong move, a great disaster will occur. If those monsters start to trample on your country, the death toll will explode by the thousands or tens of thousands.”
“So the solution so far is to live next door?”
Blea, who had been listening silently from the side, snorted.
She knew that with that old man’s strength, he wouldn’t be able to catch even one of the remaining monsters at the upper gate.
“At least it was possible to tie up the monster so it couldn’t get out. Do you see this?”
The old man showed me another relic.
A rock that looked similar to the one just now, but gave off a distinctly different vibe, floated up.
His next words were quite surprising.
Two stones were installed, and the resulting invisible force field formed two circles, trapping monsters on either side.
“Unlike normal force fields, it has no effect on humans or Earth creatures. It only works on monsters.”
“How is it?”
“I don’t know the principle either.”
The old man answered simply.
It could be said to be a sound that made Kim disappear, but it was something that even the creator could not understand, and even the users who were directly using the power could not understand.
That was the relic.
These are objects whose very existence is far removed from common sense or the laws of physics.
“I’ve captured them as relics, but the presence of monsters is making me uncomfortable. Could you help me out?”
Thanks to the effects of the relic, they would not leave this place on their own or approach the old man.
However, the fog covers most of the area, and the elderly’s range of movement is greatly restricted.
The guest who had arrived at that moment was none other than Oh Hyeon-seong, so he wanted to ask him a favor.
“You want me to hunt for you?”
“Unlike most relics from the Gate, the one I created doesn’t last indefinitely. It consumes power the longer its effect lasts. The effect that holds them back won’t last indefinitely.”
The old man continued speaking.
“Aren’t you a hunter? You wouldn’t ask me to do it with my bare mouth.”
“I’m retired from being a hunter, but… well, that’s okay.”
Oh Hyun-seong nodded readily.
It wasn’t an easy task and I didn’t hear the compensation first, but at least I didn’t have to worry about dealing with him for it to be unprofitable.
*
“It’s been a while since I’ve hunted for someone else’s request.”
In the thick fog covering the mountain.
Oh Hyeon-seong muttered while climbing up the tree.
In the past, there was a time when I worked as a freelance mercenary while operating under an undercover identity in Eastern Europe.
A life where you live off your daily wages by hunting monsters in the field.
That was a country that was always covered in fog due to the aftermath of a certain gate, so the memories from that time came back vividly.
‘You showed up.’
A monster appeared in front of him.
A monster that looked very similar to the one I had encountered before walked towards me with four shining white eyes.
As Noya said, it was true that there were dozens of such entities roaming the Misty Mountains.
‘The weight class is at least that of a single named entity or boss, but it’s horrible to think that there would be several of them running around.’
Oh Hyeon-seong, who raised his dagger, kicked his foot without hesitation.
And then the battle began.
It wasn’t difficult since I had already faced him once.
Of course, it wasn’t easy to kill him because he was at least at the level of an S-rank boss, but it was just a matter of time.
It was impossible to withstand the combined attack of Oh Hyeonseong and Jeongryung.
Still!
The corpse of the monster, roasted to a golden brown, was split in two and rolled on the floor.
But as he approached the guy, his gaze suddenly turned to a terrifying, tearing sound.
“As expected… you’ve noticed my presence now.”
Sounds of things approaching quickly.
The monsters within the foggy mountain were rushing toward him.
When a monster of the S-rank boss level swarms like that, it is no different from telling the hunter who has to deal with it to die.
But Oh Hyeon-seong, without being shaken at all, stabbed the dagger into his waist.
‘No matter how big the country is, it’s impossible to deal with them all at once, but there’s no need to deal with them all at the same time.’
Pfft!
He quickly fled the scene and hid in the thick fog surrounding the mountain.
Monsters in the field, not in gates or nests.
Moreover, since they were only forced to a limited area, Oh Hyeon-seong had no need to rush at all.
Just catch them one by one and hunt them slowly.
Just like a true hunter would do.
*
Thud!
“All monsters have been dealt with.”
Oh Hyun-seong said as he put down the corpse of a large monster.
Dozens of monster corpses piled up in front of the old man’s cabin.
I returned after defeating all the monsters within the Misty Mountain by catching the split monsters one by one.
His clothes were dirty with blood and rainwater, as if he had been through quite a bit, but he himself was not injured.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
There are dozens of S-rank boss level monsters.
It would be a miracle just to face those monsters and come back alive.
But the old man had a calm attitude.
This is of course because he knows Oh Hyeon-seong in his prime.
“It took longer than I thought.”
“It’s difficult to think back to my active days.”
If it was the Oh Hyeonseong he knew, he would have swept away the monsters much faster than he did now.
However, now it takes much more time to capture them one by one by capturing their attack points.
I spent almost a whole day hunting monsters around the Misty Mountains.
“But why did you ask me to bring you the monster corpses? It’s not like you need evidence, and if you leave them like this, it’ll be a hassle to clean them up.”
“These are the materials I will use for my work.”
“… a monster corpse?”
Oh Hyeon-seong tilted his head at his words.
It is a basic common sense in this world that monsters are useless anywhere.
It could not eat meat, could not process bones or leather, and did not spit out power sources such as magic stones.
Rather, it only polluted the Earth’s environment by emitting a foul odor from its dead body.
They were almost the worst beings for humanity.
“Let me see the weapon for a moment.”
“Here it is.”
The old man accepted the dagger from Oh Hyeon-seong.
He nodded, looking with satisfaction at one of the 13 weapons he had created in the past.
“Even now, it looks like it’s a well-made thing. But its limitations are also clear.”
“I am quite satisfied.”
“No, times have changed, so how can the weapons remain the same? I will adjust them to suit you.”
The old man went into the workshop with a dagger in his hand.
He didn’t like anyone coming into his studio, so he didn’t follow them in.
“Just rest comfortably and wait. It’ll take quite some time.”
“All right.”
Oh Hyeon-seong entered the room.
No matter how sturdy the hunter’s body was, he felt tired after having a hard time trekking through the mountains in the rain.
He sat down on his seat and took off his damp coat.
Then he tried to ask Blea to dry his clothes.
The guy’s fire could dry clothes fluffily in an instant without burning them.
But then I realized too late that the guy wasn’t on my shoulder.
“Where are you wandering around?”
Oh Hyun-seong got up from his seat and looked for Blea.
Since we were connected by a contract, it wasn’t difficult to find him.
Blea was wandering around the warehouse.
It had the appearance of a fox, and its head was buried between the shelves and boxes in the warehouse.
Oh Hyun-seong, who looked at the guy as if he was dumbfounded, took the guy out and lifted him up, and Blea, who was covered in dust, sneezed loudly and shook her head.
“What are you doing here?”
“There are a lot of interesting things here. Come take a look.”
A guy with an innocent face and a wagging tail.
Oh Hyeon-seong shook his head and put the guy down.
“I came in a hurry just in case the cabin was burned down.”
“What? Do I look like an idiot?”
“If not, then that’s fortunate.”
Oh Hyeon-seong looked around twice.
Indeed, as she said, this warehouse was a world of curious things.
It was piled up tightly with all kinds of artifacts that Noya had created.
A pile of not only good items, but also a bunch of half-baked failures.
It clearly showed how silently he had been carrying out numerous tasks.
“This is…”
At that moment, Oh Hyeon-seong’s gaze was fixed on a stone with a bluish tint.
Among the numerous relics in the warehouse, there was one that had been particularly noticeable since a while ago.
Oh Hyeon-seong unconsciously reached out and placed his hand on that strange, alien energy that was very different from that of other artifacts.
Hwaaaaak!
At that moment, a bluish light poured out from the stone.
The energy of light flowed into Oh Hyeonseong in an instant.
“What… what is it?”
Oh Hyeon-seong flinched back in embarrassment.
It starts working on its own without even starting it by pouring in horsepower.
But there was no time to worry about that.
Strange letters began to appear before his eyes, making him literally doubt his own eyes.
[Name – Oh Hyun-seong]
[Body Activation Rate – 34%]
[Current fatigue level – 74]
[Tag pollution level – 45]
[Mental Pollution Level – 0]
…
“…What is this?”
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