Chapter 192: Big Guy and Little Guy 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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Upon seeing the enormous ashen tree that feeds on the undead to mass-produce doppelgngers, I suddenly realized something.
It seemed that, rather than undead yielding mana stones, we were mostly encountering doppelgngers that left behind nothing but corpses.
Doesn't this part blatantly reveal the malicious intent of the game developers?
It's clear that since the temple forces began to assist players, the developers have locked down farming to strain players' finances.
Thanks to me, and due to the ruthless full squad party of 5, 4, and 3 companions, Han Se-ah has climbed without rest.
However, other parties spend a long time on one floor, grinding guild missions to upgrade their 1 and 2 companions to 3 and to acquire equipment.
'BB Games, these guys are quite vicious...?'
The 35th floor, a base where it's unnecessary to travel back and forth through gates, but the cost of living is slightly higher.
Additionally, the doppelgnger gangs reduce the mana stone supply rate by more than half.
If hunting doesn't yield mana stones, the only way to earn money is through guild missions, most of which involve hunting the undead.
With the mob regeneration rate at about half the usual, adventurers in need of money are forced into hard labor on the 35th floor.
Isn't the monster setup, clearly designed to ramp up the difficulty every 30 floors, exceptionally malicious?
"We'll take care of the gang. Roland, break the middle of that tree!"
"Should I make a path? Or just jump over?"
"Run over the undead and roots. Hanna, help the others deal with them."
Shivering at BB Games' nefarious scheme, I leap over the doppelgngers struggling to rise from the sticky mucus-covered dirt path.
Whether other gamers curse BB Games' management to the heavens or wish for their resignation, it's none of my concern.
I have gold saved up for 10 years, and I'm willing to support Han Se-ah with it, enough to make her viewers swear at her.
Suddenly, the doppelgngers, previously rushing towards Katie while spewing obscenities and drawing their swords, change their expressions to emotionless and start chasing after me.
"Roland! They're all running towards you!"
"It seems they're trying to protect their production facility! Let's deal with them quickly!"
Even if Katie is fast, it takes time to handle a dozen doppelgngers turning their backs and running.
Still, they couldn't catch up to me and interfere. 𝗳re𝗲𝚠e𝐛n𝗼v𝗲l.c𝐨𝐦
The tree, as big as an apartment, with roots sprawling as wide as an apartment complex's parking lot.
Dozens of undead entangled in the roots, sucked dry of their essence, leaving no mana stones in the wide space.
My physical abilities, merely at the level of an intermediate adventurer, couldn't be matched.
The doppelgngers, once spewing lewd comments, now fall one by one with arrows and blades in their backs, resembling creatures from a horror movie mimicking humans.
If it were smaller, I'd have to control my strength, but the target is a huge, mature tree as tall as an apartment building.
Even if I strike the base with all my might, a tree of roughly 50 meters won't shatter into pieces, so I infuse my warhammer with ample mana.
Even if an explosion slightly larger than when I hunted the Full Moon Wolf occurs, about 10 meters of the top will remain, right?
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Raei Translations
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It did not turn out not as expected.
Damn.
"Uh, um, ...sorry about that. It seems I might have miscalculated my strength."
Grace hurried over to comfort me, noticing the grimace on my face, while Irene chimed in supportively.
"Um, Roland? Considering the scarce number of undead and the amount of monsters transforming into humans, there must be more trees like that one."
"Right, uprooting a tree that spawns such evil is just. You shouldn't feel sorry for that."
The temple said that doppelgngers don't react to divine energy so I thoughtlessly used it.
When I struck the base of the tree, a strange wave spread out, disintegrating everything from the roots entwined with the undead to the branches housing doppelgngers.
It felt like watching a well-made Lego statue collapse, as if I had removed a wrist piece only to realize it was actually a domino setup.
As a result, in the desolate toxic swamp, there were only undead, paralyzed and groaning, and the cold corpses of doppelgngers.
Not even a piece of bark was left to submit to the temple as evidence, let alone for research at the Magic Tower.
"Still, if we tell the brothers at the temple, they will believe us."
"Definitely, if theres one in the corner of the 37th floor, there must be others elsewhere. We should cooperate with the temple to find and deal with all of them."
"They won't keep appearing infinitely like other monsters, right?"
"If that were the case, creatures like the last attack of the pale tentacles, fiends of the Demon King in human disguise, would have invaded the 35th floor."
I had expected some part of the root and branches to remain when I struck the base.
Those parts were crucial for absorbing the undead's mana and birthing doppelgngers.
My companions, trying to comfort me with other topics, as I awkwardly tried to hide my embarrassment.
But what truly baffled me wasn't their attempts to divert the conversation but the viewers, who were quick to react.
-True to a 6, that was brutal.
-LOL, the look on his face! The tree vanished without a trace, he seemed so shocked.
-Just one hit and it's gone?
-Is the tree a production base and weak, or is Roland just too strong for a tank?
-LOL A tree as tall as a 20-story apartment building, logically it should have a huge health pool.
"Hey, don't tease our Roland. Maybe he's feeling a bit like that ugly... celebrity meme. You know, 'poor and weak*' kind of thoughts?"
The moment I struck the tree, and it vanished with a wave, my eyes widened in surprise.
My companions, who were facing away, didn't see it, but the camera Han Se-ah cleverly moved caught my bewildered expression and broadcasted it close-up to the viewers.
Ah, so this is what it feels like to be the butt of the joke, like Han Se-ah...
Caught up in unexpected self-reflection and empathy, I couldn't afford to stay dazed for long.
Drawing my sword, I assisted Katie in crushing the monsters that, despite the roots being gone, still struggled to rise from the ground.
"These creatures aren't dropping mana stones."
"It seems that the roots were indeed absorbing the mana."
"To think these monsters absorb mana to transform into human-like doppelgngers, they are truly disgusting. It's like they exist solely to mock the Goddess of Life."
Is that really the case?
After all, the Goddess Faith is a religion that venerates life.
The fact that undead are affected by divine energy damage, but regular monsters are not, proves it.
In front of such a faith, the Demon King emerged, endlessly regenerating monsters inside the tower that merely mimic the shells of living beings, and now, creating doppelgngers in human guise.
All these acts seem filled with contempt for the Goddess of Life.
Well, that must be why a holy war was declared against that massive tree that devours divine energy.
The temple, which had not shown anger towards the Full Moon Wolf that attacked the city or the orcs that invaded the sanctuary, had finally acted.
"What should we do now? Should we search for the passage to the 40th floor again, or should Han Se-ah mark this place with her magic and then head back to the temple on the 35th floor?"
"But, with the tree gone without a trace, is there a reason to mark this place?"
"Who knows, maybe that thing will grow back here, just like monsters that keep appearing."
My companions, who had been talking amongst themselves, now turned to look at me, or rather at me and Han Se-ah.
They were clearly flustered by the unexpected turn of events on the 37th floor, when they had thought reaching the 40th floor would solve everything.
Han Se-ah, who had been teasing me with the viewers, couldnt ignore the party's questions and spoke up.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind some website-terrorism right now, given how annoying she's being.
Maybe there's a weapon like the website-shaking HALC-AS Unit 1* from my previous life in this world too.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, but we should probably head back to the 35th floor and inform the temple. We haven't been here long, but given the situation, it's best we head down again."
"Indeed, that's probably wise. We might need the assistance of the brothers at the temple."
"Yeah... There might be other gigantic trees on different floors. We should notify the temple and the guild to search for any unusually large trees."
The consensus was to inform the temple and thoroughly search from the 31st to the 39th floors for any similar trees.
It seemed everyone shared similar concerns about these human-replicating trees.
After all, hadn't we witnessed an adventuring party openly committing vile acts on our way here?
Confronting doppelgngers and indulging in lewd actions might not be classified as a sexual crime per se, but it's almost a given fact that such actions can later lead to corruption and other villainous acts.
With this in mind, we decided to head back down to the 35th floor.
The tree that vanished without a trace, the doppelgngers that left behind only corpses, and the undead that collapsed, drained of all mana to the point of not leaving any mana stones there was nothing left to salvage.
So we promptly descended to the 36th floor, only to be greeted by the sight of an adventuring party attempting another attack on us.
"Isn't that the same guy who was attacking the doppelgngers earlier?"
The adventuring party, with divine symbols engraved on their forearms.
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*LOL no clue what meme this is
*HALC-AS Unit 1 was in english. Nothing comes up from searching it..
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