Kwaang-!
The Gergos fell with a massive shockwave, blood gushing from its severed neck.
Ian took a step back, avoiding the scattered debris.
The fierce gaze that once belonged to the creature was now hollow and empty.
‘Hoo.’
Ian finally let out a sigh of relief.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure what would happen when the entire party froze up.
‘… To make such a ridiculous mistake.’
If the Gergos hadn’t been observing Ian’s movements with curiosity as he tried to protect the party members, the outcome would surely have been disastrous.
In short, they were lucky.
Ian looked back at his party members.
“Ha… Ha…”
They all seemed to have relaxed a little, finally slumping to the ground.
He felt a bit sorry for his party members.
Ian scratched his head and brought the bracelet to the Gergos’s corpse.
– Ding!
With a rather cheerful sound, coins were rewarded.
A total of 800 coins were awarded.
Since Ian’s party agreed to divide it equally, each person received 200 coins.
Ian racked his memory.
‘I think around 400 coins were needed for a certain promotion.’
This was only the first day before promotion.
Given the harvest in just one day, it’s highly likely they ranked up quickly.
‘Not a bad start.’
Moreover, the objective for coming here wasn’t just to gain coins, so the result was even better.
After all, the main purposes were quick movement to the island’s center and obtaining mystic items.
Shall they head out to acquire the mystic items now?
As Ian was about to get up, Danya approached him.
“I’m sorry, Nyah…”
Ian looked at Danya.
Her eyebrows were drooping diagonally.
Her eyes had a slight moisture.
She was holding onto the bottom of her top and looking quite dejected.
Why is she acting like this?
“A-Are you okay? Because of me…”
Danya pointed at Ian’s left arm.
Only then did Ian properly check the condition of his arm.
There were deep abrasions scattered everywhere.
Blood was flowing out, dripping steadily.
‘… I didn’t realize.’
Surprisingly, he hadn’t felt it.
It must have been because of the adrenaline rush from the unexpected situation.
While blood was flowing, it wasn’t an immediate life-or-death issue. At this level, it would be suitable for testing Super Regeneration.
Danya’s eyes shone with concern.
Ian understood why she was apologizing.
‘She must think that I got hurt because I took such risks.’
Ian shook his head.
Such guilt is unnecessary.
The root of the problem was his own judgment mistake from the beginning.
It was remarkable to not freeze up in front of an opponent radiating ‘fear’ and instead take such bold actions.
But Danya, despite her rough words, had a gentle nature inside.
Ian hesitated to pat her on the head.
‘… She told me not to.’
Instead, he spoke gently.
“No. It was actually a very good decision. Thanks to you, we shortened the strategy time.”
“But if things had gone wrong, you might have been hurt even worse…”
“Isn’t that just showing how much you trusted me? Thank you for trusting me.”
“Well, that’s…”
Danya looked down.
Her body was trembling.
After hearing Ian’s response, Danya had to desperately suppress her instincts.
‘How unfair.’
It felt unfair.
Ian, not scolding her but rather praising her even in this situation.
If this keeps up, she really… might not be able to hold on anymore.
Her lower abdomen ached.
She wanted to pounce on Ian sitting on the rock right then and there.
But at that moment, Ian got up.
Elena rushed over to tend to Ian’s wounds.
Ian shook his head.
‘It’s a good opportunity to test the mystic items anyway.’
The distance to the mystic items wasn’t far.
They would be in the monster’s lair.
“Let’s move for now.”
Soon after, a cave appeared. It was a large opening, just the size that Gergos had used to come and go.
— Swoosh!
Nearby, the sound of underground water flowing could be heard.
There might be wooden logs scattered around here unexpectedly.
Ian looked around.
“… What are you doing, Brother?”
Ian gave instructions to Elena, who had been following him closely.
“There should be some logs around here. Could you make a raft out of them?”
“A… raft?”
“Yes. Ah, there they are.”
Logs of a suitable size for making a raft were found.
“Make it well. I’ll go down for a bit.”
Leaving the brief instruction, Ian walked into the depths of the cave.
◆
Inside the Gergos’s lair, it was damp and dark.
Using the magical torches he had requested from Lina, he carefully made his way forward.
“Where could it be.”
After wandering through the spacious lair, which was as vast as Gergos’s enormous size, Ian soon found a faintly glowing pile of grass.
‘This area feels warmer for some reason.’
As he pushed aside the pile of grass, a fluorescent pattern became clearly visible.
So the Gergos was using the mystic items as a substitute for a heater.
With such extraordinary regenerative powers, perhaps the Gergos had made this place his resting spot.
Ian looked at it for a moment.
A large magic circle, measuring 1 meter by 1 meter, was drawn on the floor.
The method to obtain the mystic item was simple.
Just step onto it.
‘But before entering.’
Ian looked down at his bracelet.
The current health value displayed on the bracelet was 39.
Considering the initial health value was 96, the battle with the Gergos had been quite intense.
“Alright then.”
With the number 39 noted in his mind, Ian stepped onto the magic circle.
— Whoooosh!
A sudden activation sound.
At the same time, a column of fluorescent light shot up to the ceiling.
A dazzling display of light.
Ian reflexively closed his eyes and then opened them slightly.
“… Oh.”
The mass of light that had surged up was slowly being absorbed along his fingertips.
And a fluorescent pattern, about 3 cm in diameter, was engraved on his left arm.
It matched the pattern of the mystic item that had been glowing on the floor earlier.
That thought was brief.
A warm, gentle breeze wrapped around his body…
— Swoosh
The wounds on his body began to heal slowly.
“Wow…”
The large wounds on his arms and legs gradually closed up.
[ 43 ]
[ 44 ]
.
[ 45 ]
.
.
[ 46 ]
The health displayed on the bracelet also increased slowly.
Perhaps wounds heal faster when they are more critical?
Although the rate of health increase decreased as time went on, it continued to rise steadily.
After waiting for about 5 minutes.
[ 71 ]
The health value stopped increasing beyond that point.
Ian looked down at his body.
Most of the wounds that seemed like they would need dozens of stitches had healed.
The aching in his waist and muscles had also subsided.
“This is incredible.”
Ian moved his body around.
He felt like a troll with incredible regenerative powers from a game.
Is there no limit to regeneration?
“Hmm.”
The regenerative pattern on his forearm.
What had been fully filled at first was now stained black at the end.
This must be some kind of limit.
Ian nodded.
A limitation like this is fine as long as the healing happens automatically.
Moreover, the effect of ‘Super Regeneration’ doesn’t end with mere healing.
It also synergizes with the ‘Berserker’s Guardian Shield.’
With health hovering around 10%, he would be able to utilize the skills of the Berserker’s Shield effectively.
‘More experimentation is needed.’
However, it is a bit troublesome.
He needs to anticipate situations where health drops below 10%.
He’ll have to wait for a crisis situation to see.
Though he hopes such a situation never arises, the enhanced ability to overcome crises is a significant benefit.
“Alright then.”
With that conclusion, Ian left the Gergos’s lair.
The atmosphere at the entrance felt oddly strange.
Lina, who seemed exhausted, was collapsed.
Elena, looking embarrassed with a red face, had her head bowed.
Danya, with a strangely languid expression, looked up at Ian with wide eyes.
Yet her gaze remained oddly relaxed.
“Ian, you’re all healed up, meow.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. There were some potions that the lizard didn’t digest and spat out.”
Danya muttered the prepared excuse.
“Ahh…”
Danya let out a sigh filled with heat.
Ian tilted his head.
“Isn’t there a sweet smell coming from somewhere?”
Danya suddenly clasped her legs together.
Elena, who had been crouching on the ground, approached and flapped about in a panic.
“Th… Brother, you’re a p*rvert.”
“What are you talking about?”
Squish.
Perhaps due to the water nearby?
There was a lot of water spilled on the floor.
Elena hurriedly dragged Ian to the underground riverbank.
“Anyway! The raft you requested is all done!”
“Oh.”
Elena proudly presented the raft.
It looked like a decent raft on the outside.
“You can trust me and board it!”
Hmm.
Ian examined the raft for a moment before nodding.
“Where are we going with this?”
Lina, who had approached unnoticed, tilted her head.
“We’re heading straight to the island’s center. There’s a river surrounding the island’s center, right? This is the upstream of that.”
“…Here? But we’re underground.”
To be precise, they were below the mountain.
In other words, they were at a higher elevation than the river surrounding the island’s center.
Following this underground river would allow them to reach the island’s central area directly.
That’s not the only advantage.
There would surely be obstacles on the surface.
There would be bridges blocking the way to the island’s center.
Utilizing this river would neutralize all of that.
“Let’s go.”
Ian led the way and boarded the raft.
◆
The ‘Rock Hill’ checkpoint controlled by Emilia’s party.
A necessary path for those heading to the island’s center from the west.
In the underbrush at the entrance of the path, a young student was hiding.
Her identity was Sharon.
Sharon had concluded that Emilia would be monitoring Ian.
She was therefore here waiting for Ian.
To help him.
“…”
But Ian was nowhere to be seen.
Before she knew it, the veil of devastation had come into close range.
What could have happened?
Sharon’s anxiety only increased.
