Chapter 122

Ku kwa kwa bang!

The landworm started moving towards the surface. Normally it would move vertically upwards but this time, it moved diagonally to avoid disrupting traffic.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

Ignoring the wave of dirt rushing past my eyes, I opened the inventory. In any case, not even a speck of dust could reach me due to the strong earth attribute power.

‘Favor of the Goddess… is fine. There isn’t any legendary monsters anyway, so there’s no need for stage 3.’

Thanks to the Dragon Jade (30 days) purchased from the cash shop, Favor of the Goddess was fixed at Stage 2. Instead of filling up more favor, I changed equipment.

“Ah, every time I wear these clothes, I feel doubtful about it.” As mentioned repeatedly before, the Luck Set was carefully selected by me.

The eternal life items were all luck-based and had similar performance, so I chose purely based on appearance. The terrifying Sprout Set that turned humans into sprouts; the Sexy Santa Set where more was revealed than covered; the Heartbeat Meow-Meow Set which looked like just wearing a doll mask—these differed greatly from each other. At least, they wouldn’t be laughed at upon sight.

However…

‘It is strange.’

[Favorable Golden Crown +9 (Legendary).]

It had a great design but was too flashy to wear during battles. It was a helmet made entirely of gold with a large diamond reflecting thousands of rays, making it dazzling just to look at.

[Favorable Angel Wing Suit +9 (Legendary).]

At first glance, there was no problem with the ordinary suit-shaped clothing. However, take a look at the name:

‘Wing suit? Damn, it refers to the wingsuit for paragliding.’

Obviously, this wingsuit was different from before. Why else would it have ‘angel’ attached to its name? When wearing this suit, cute angel wings appeared on your back. The terrifying thing was that these wings also shone brightly.

‘At least there is no problem with the pants. It might be because they form a set with the top.’

[Lucky Glorious Light Shoes +9(Legendary)]

[Lucky Glorious Light Gloves +9(Legendary)]

There were no design issues with the shoes and gloves. They looked like ordinary white shoes and gloves. However…

They shine too much…

As evident by their names, these items originally glowed, but the light became stronger after being reinforced at level 9.

But the pièce de résistance had to be the weapon:

[Lucky Rabbit’s Foot Hammer +9(Legendary)]

Its adorable yet grotesque (?) appearance could only be described as bizarre. To make matters worse, it emitted a faint glow.

“Ah, despite all my careful selection…”

However, I can’t abandon this luck item. The difference between drop rates with and without equipping luck items is like comparing rainfall from a drizzle to a localized downpour.

Whoosh…

As I wallow momentarily, the surroundings suddenly brighten. It’s because the land worm has breached the surface. Naturally, chaos erupts above ground.

“Intruder…!”

“A massive enemy!”

“Spread out!”

“Annihilate it!”

All nearby elves responsible for managing the trees rush towards the scene. They have distinct professions such as High Elf Cleric of the Sacred Tree or High Elf Archer of the Sacred Tree.

Ting! Ting!

The barrage of arrows bounces off the Land Worm’s skin.

“Woah, they’re fearless. Shooting at me despite my size?”

Unlike the angel soldiers who overcome fear through their fanaticism towards God, these elves seem devoid of any emotion, almost robotic rather than living beings. Moreover…their skin is dark.

It seemed completely unaffected, as if any fear had been intensified. This creature was closer to a combat android than a living being. Moreover… its skin was dark.

‘A dark elf? I don’t remember this setting.’

Apparently, the World Tree found some means like the orc or Edward.

“No way, these things…”

Pakagagaak!

In an instant, there was a huge wave on the earth that barely registered even for me. The elves shooting arrows at the landworm were wiped out en masse.

“Ah! What are you doing now?! These item drops are shit!”

It goes without saying, but my luck stat didn’t provide any help against the pet’s attack. Well, it might be possible to trigger critical hits with a player’s stats when using the once-a-day pet skill.

[Then you’re just standing there to be hit?]

“It’s not even tickling me, yet you’re crying out loud. If you keep this up, I won’t feed you?”

[I’m talking about food. Look closely. Do those things seem likely to drop metal equipment?]

His words left me speechless. He was completely right.

“You know too much, damn it…”

As he said, the elf drops rarely contained any metal items. Mostly, they were cloth clothes or bows. There were some metal weapons, but most of them were daggers.

[Kill them quickly before I move.]

His words sounded twisted, but there was no choice. After all, it was true that I hadn’t been feeding him lately compared to what he had done recently.

“Ah, since you’ve been working hard lately, I’ll let it pass.” I kicked off his head and jumped down. Now, the elf warriors finally noticed me and rushed over.

Naturally, they couldn’t match me.

[Fatal Blow!] [Fatal Blow!] [Fatal Blow!] [Fatal Blow!] [Fatal Blow!]

The rabbit foot hammer swung like a whip, smashing every head it touched. The elves couldn’t block or avoid the attacks with their incredible strength and speed.

”…What is this?”

However, there was a strange sensation at my fingertips.

“Human enemy! Die… Gak!”

I grabbed the neck of an approaching high-level elf assassin from the Divine Tree. The texture of the skin under my hand felt hard.

“No, what is this…? It isn’t a dryad so why does its skin feel like wood?”

Since the Ice Queen incident, I had been doing my best to gather information even against opponents that seemed invincible. However, this detail wasn’t present in the monster information found on fan sites.

Crunch!

As I tore out its throat, it died with fluids spilling everywhere. I looked at the piece of wood that was torn out.

‘Ebony.’

No wonder these elf bastards had dark skin—it was due to the nature of their material.

‘The World Tree has strengthened its high-level soldiers in its own way.’

Ebony is very hard and dense, making it almost as difficult to carve as stone. It’s classified as Ironwood because it is as solid as metal, and when thrown into water, it sinks.

‘With this type of skin, not only would arrows be ineffective, but there would also be tremendous resistance against swords.’

Of course, none of this matters to me.

[Critical Hit!] [Critical Hit!] [Critical Hit!] [Critical Hit!] [Critical Hit!]

The World Tree strengthened its army using its own method like Edward, but it couldn’t avoid the slaughter. I was an exceptional existence after spending 10 billion won. It was impossible to narrow the gap with this level of reinforcement.

“Waaaah!”

After killing many elves, a new group appeared. They were elves as well, but the situation was different from before.

“They aren’t monsters.”

The distinction was simple. Titles and ranks appeared above the heads of monsters. The normally appearing elf warriors existed solely to be ‘executed’.

“Ah, there is an item factory here too.”

It was too easy gimmick, so the special monster had absolute control over its subordinate monsters.

‘There is no need to deal with them.’

After confirming that my stacks of Hundred Simultaneous Cuts and Heaven and Earth Shaking Sword were full, I ignored the charging Ahjins and moved to the dungeon.

[World Tree’s Garden (Advanced~Hero)]

As I entered the dense forest, bullets rained down on me.

Tutututu!

I easily blocked or deflected them. Turning around, I saw swarms of enemies approaching.

Foreign Elf Sniper (Rare) Lefetiya

“Ah, it’s this guy.”

An elite monster with a high probability of dropping bullets and an extremely rare chance of dropping a machine gun. It was likely because I killed one of these monsters and obtained ammunition that I could craft Hellain’s rifle.

“Enemy confirmed! Lay down fire!”

“Scatter!”

Unlike previous elves, their reactions conveyed intelligence.

However, I didn’t intend to drag out this battle for long.

Bang!

With a loud explosion that couldn’t be dampened by footwork, my body shot forward. Then, an inevitable disaster occurred:

[Hundred Man Slash – Heavenly Sword] [Sword of Ten Directions]

Land Breaker.

Crack!

The entire forest shook as Lefetiya’s head burst from being struck by Rabbit’s Foot. All the elves, including the boss, were killed instantly. It wasn’t just a flower point but a full-on strike. There were no survivors possible.

[Your inventory weight exceeds 75%!]

[Your movement speed is slowed due to exceeding 75% inventory weight!]

[Your inventory weight exceeds 100%!]

[Your movement speed is extremely slow, and stamina, health, and mana will gradually decrease due to exceeding 100% inventory weight!]

Suddenly, I emerged from the dungeon and saw items pouring out everywhere.

[The World Tree’s Garden (Advanced~Hero) Hell Difficulty has been cleared!]

[Guilds can apply for a siege if they meet the conditions first!]

[A shabby Saturn (General) will appear!]

“Light! It is light!”

“Be careful! There might be enemies!”

“Shield wielders to the front!”

At that moment, Ahjins appeared from a distant hole. They were extremely nervous as they came outside but all they saw were bodies scattered around and items still falling. I took out the Large Parasol (Advanced), classified as a blunt instrument in my inventory.

Tududuudu! Tuting! Tadang! Kang!

The overflowing items bounced off the parasol and scattered in various directions.

“T-this, this… exactly…”

“My God…”

“Hold on. Why is equipment falling from the sky?”

“Ah?! These are bullets! Bullets! The bullets are pouring out! They were so hard to obtain—why?!”

As I got wet from the rain, I watched the Ahins emerging from holes. Unexpectedly, endless numbers of Ahins were pouring through the tunnels created by the landworm.

They are all coming out now?

Despite having eaten and rested enough to regain their stamina, they still seemed quite helpless. It was unclear what they intended with such a large gathering of monsters.

“Hellain.”

“Eh! Oh! Wow! Yes! W-we’re ready to fight too! No matter how much damage occurs…!”

After confirming that the rain had stopped, I folded up the Large Parasol (Advanced) and put it back into my inventory before giving instructions:

“Come and sort the equipment by type.”

“Huh?” The Hellain who was preparing with their rifle made a dumb expression. Regardless of them, I turned around towards the newly revealed castle and sprinted forward.

The process from here on out was simple. Walking straight ahead, I kicked down the castle gates. Then, swinging my Rabbit’s Foot Hammer, I massacred the monsters guarding the castle. Finally, at the end, I used the combo of Hundred Simultaneous Cuts and Ten Directions Sword.

[Congratulations! A guild has occupied the World Tree’s Garden!]

[New Castle Lord: Han Jae-yeon.]

After finishing everything, I returned to the Ahin tribe members. Elves, dwarves, water people… In addition to the 100,000 underground, there were now prisoners above ground, making a total of approximately 150,000 Ahin tribe members silently watching me.

Thud. Thud.

I crossed through their midst and moved to the center.

There was a deathly silence as the Ahins dared not open their mouths, simply staring at me. It wasn’t surprising. If giving them wild boar hind legs was akin to a divine miracle, then my current display of power resembled that of a demon’s might. The strength to kill over 10,000 with a single strike—it must have been profoundly shocking for these Ardenians, who weren’t from Earth like the Hellains.

Grrrumble!

A land worm erupted beneath my feet, raising its head several dozen meters high.

“Ahhh…”

“Ugh!”

“H-how can such a massive creature move so swiftly…?!”

As screams erupted around me, I sat down atop the land worm. Despite the vast crowd of 150,000—enough to fill a large sports stadium—they all came into view since I was perched on the worm’s head.

It was getting darker and darker, but my body emitted a faint light. The light… I paused, realizing something as countless eyes stared blankly at me.

‘My clothes…’

I should’ve changed immediately after the battle ended, not because they were uncomfortable but because I forgot. However, it wasn’t possible to change clothes amidst this grand atmosphere with 150,000 Ahins watching. Instead, I subtly placed the rabbit’s foot hammer into my inventory and activated a luxurious drink using elements from the void.

Word, Pressure, Opening Heavy Gates - Emperor’s Declaration.

“I formally introduce myself again. I am Han Jae-yeon, the emperor of the Human Empire.”

Standing before 150,000 Ahins, I began my speech.