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Last Vacation (4)

The name of a gate was its identity. The other superhumans weren’t fools; they had searched the gate for a connection to its name. Yet despite their efforts, there were certain gates that would not reveal their secrets. Belatos was such a gate (until a certain someone arrived), and the Rose Garden was also proudly on that list of gates where its name’s origin remained a mystery.

“The first thing they thought to look for when they heard the name was a garden. So they scoured the land to look for any sign of it.”

“But they didn’t find it.”

“Because this gate has a limited time to stay. It is impossible to wander through all of this vast wasteland. Moreover, there are two restrictions on admission.” Most persistent gates had something called a dwelling time limit. When the time limit was exceeded, you would be automatically rejected from it to a random location.

‘The time limit is twelve, and I’ve already used four of them to make an artifact.’ Fortunately, he had succeeded in the first go; it would’ve been very difficult if he hadn’t. Of course, taming the wyvern was more important than attacking the gate in the first place. Luckily, they had also discovered a hidden element of the gate, so it would be best to capitalize on it to clear the gate.

“Then, what do you think? What does it mean?”

“A rose, of course.”

“…” Eleanor stared at Kang Shin-hyuk with her purple eyes, but it felt oddly cute because of the height difference.

“The main enemy here is the great worm, right? If you think of this as a garden where trees grow, what can that be substituted for?”

“An earthworm.” That was exactly right.

“But is the earthworm the boss?”

“…Do we need to avoid the great worms to figure out what’s hidden?” The boss of this gate was the Great Rock Worm. If you beat him, you would clear the gate. But if you ignored the great worms, that boss wouldn’t appear.

“But that’s nonsense.”

“What?”

“Shin-hyuk.” Eleanor spoke up, catching Shin-hyuk’s attention.

“That wasn’t in the attack information we had.”

“But in the end, none of this was. I made sure to read it too.”

“What if your hypothesis is wrong…?” Eleanor’s tone was cautious. Perhaps she was worried about saying he was wrong, but he didn’t feel like she needed to be so concerned.

“But the people who gathered that information could call the wyverns.”

“Huh?”

“What if the wyverns didn’t suddenly appear, but they’ve lived in the gate from the beginning?”

“Oh, I see.” She understood what he had been trying to say.

“The wyverns were also hunting the great worms here.”

“There wouldn’t be anything else for them here.” The wyverns were now recovering from their fight, flapping their wings in preparation to fly. They must’ve emptied their stomachs after fighting so vigorously, so perhaps they were going to find some great worms to eat. Kang Shin-hyuk quieted them down with just his stare as he talked.

“The wyverns have been hunting the great worms without anyone knowing. Maybe that is why the conditions haven’t been right…” If the great worms were like earthworms, then the wyverns were birds. Birds that harmed the field by pecking and eating the seeds and earthworms it contained.

“Okay…” After listening to his explanation, Eleanor was convinced.

“I think if we catch all of the wyverns, it will be solved.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple, considering the condition they appeared in.”

“…Meloy?” Kang Shin-hyuk nodded.

“Thanks to Meloy, we were able to form a good relationship with these guys. In other words, we can form a temporary party with them because we arrived with a wyvern.”

“That seems to be more thanks to your ability…” It wouldn’t have mattered if you brought a female wyvern and caused a dispute like they had, or a male one to ignite them. The important thing was to be accompanied by a wyvern that could gather the ones hiding in the gate.

“It’s a waste to just kill them. Above all, killing them won’t necessarily ensure that the gate’s clear conditions will be achieved.”

“The gate’s clear conditions…” The most obvious course of action in attacking a gate was to clear it. He doubted catching all of the wyverns would be enough, nor the great worms.

“Maybe a different monster?”

“I think so.” The only option that remained was the presence of a new boss monster. If he gathered the wyverns like this, maybe a boss monster worthy of the name Rose Garden would appear. He wasn’t sure yet, but he decided it would be worth the wait.

“We’ll use these wyverns to defeat the boss monster.”

“Huh… I think that would be normally impossible without you.” However, it was true that it was a good plan if it could be done. Eleanor decided to give up hunting the wyverns. Besides, it wouldn’t be pleasant to kill one in front of Meloy.

“Now that’s out of the way, you guys calm down.”

-Gurururuuuu!

-Quooo!

Kang Shin-hyuk tossed some food to the wyverns, who were groaning that he wouldn’t let them hunt. It was a lump of meat from some monsters that had been piling up in his inventory from the gate clearing he had done with Shin Eunah. Kang Shin-hyuk had realized that five inventory slots wouldn’t be enough when he had been hunting, so he had purchased ten new slots, for a total of fifteen, when they had been hunting. Now he could store up to three tons of cargo. Half of the HP he had obtained from that tour had also been spent, though.

“It’s such a great artifact to hold so much space. If I could find such a thing…!”

“Don’t worry too much about it, senior Eleanor.”

-Gurururururuu!

The wyverns were somewhat dissatisfied with Kang Shin-hyuk’s appeasement at first, but their loyalty to him rose as they devoured the meat of various monsters that were incomparable to the great worms. At this point, they probably wouldn’t want to eat earthworms anymore. He climbed onto the back of the flame wyvern as they engorged themselves. It was a bit uncomfortable as he had no saddle, but his martial arts training allowed him to find his balance quickly.

“Then, let’s take a look from the sky.”

“Ah… alright.” Eleanor made a strange look as she watched him ride atop the flame wyvern. Before he could ask her what was wrong, however, she shook her head and hurried back to Meloy.

“Then let’s go up.”

-Quoooh!

At Kang Shin-hyuk’s direction, the flame wyvern flew into the sky with its red wings spread wide. The sight of the wyverns flying behind him, the information was truly spectacular. And Meloy flew quietly behind them with an expression that said, ‘I have nothing to do with these guys.’

“It’s a pretty good feeling…”

-Quoooh!

The flame wyvern soared hundreds of meters into the sky in an instant. Kang Shin-hyuk smiled at the rush of air, looking out at the vast wilderness landscape under him. It was a completely different feeling than it had been when he was hanging onto Eleanor on the back of Meloy. His body was shaking a bit violently as he had no saddle, but he wondered if it would be possible to fight like this if he could get used to it.

-Hero Universe sells riding combat skill stones. Just 3.5 million HP! They can be purchased with a bonus of the administrator’s smile for 3.5 million HP!

“I’ll pass on the skill stone, just give me a smile.”

-3,000HP bonus!

Sometimes he wondered if the administrator was too easy. He had replied as a joke, but it might actually be a good idea to consider purchasing such a skill stone sooner or later. He had no plans to fight on the flame wyvern, but maybe he could use it for the blue cow.

‘Is it possible that skill is included under my trait?’ Dragon’s Fan Dance was a skill capable of dealing with all forms of martial arts that existed in the world, at least in theory. Mounted combat was also a type of martial art with a clear purpose. He had never been in such a situation before, but perhaps…

“Well, I think it will be fine.” After balancing himself on the wyvern’s back, he brandished his Godslayer sword and swung it several times before coming to that conclusion. He just needed to learn the trick of it. As he wasn’t on the ground, everything from wielding a sword to managing his position and guard had changed. If he could get used to it, perhaps his destructive power would soar.

-A 2,000HP bonus for a talented member!

“I feel like these bonuses are getting more dangerous by the day. Are you okay?”

Only

-2,500HP bonus!

“Okay, I was wrong.” It was then he felt the atmosphere vibrating slightly. Turning his gaze down, he saw the earth shaking below.

“Are you still with me?”

“You were right.” Eleanor’s eyes sparkled as she raised her lance up to a point into the distance. The image of a princess knight riding on the back of a wyvern with a lance was exceptionally cool. Kang Shin-hyuk thought so as she followed to where she was pointing, noticing a dark brown tree trunk growing through the ground.

“It started quickly.”

“Maybe it began the second you took control of the wyverns.” The tree trunk was growing rapidly as great worms swarmed to it. In fact, they were growing rapidly all over the wilderness. Before long, a bright red rosebud formed on one of them, eliciting a smile from Shin-hyuk. The earthquake stopped as soon as it bloomed.

The rosebud opened, a red mist erupting from within. The red mist blanketed the ground, covering the great worms.

All that came into contact with it shriveled up and started to die.