Ark Volume 01 - Japtem

by Yoo Seong

When his combined attacking power rose, he’s hunting speed rose exponentially.

  With a full health bar, he was able to hunt two hundred Mice with ease.

  After going into the cave five or six times like that, the entrance to the cave was jet-black with Mouse corpses. To make a rough estimate, a thousand of them had fallen over and died.

  He had killed so many that his level had gone up to 6 as well.

  Ark pushed past the disgusting Mouse corpses and went into the cave.

  Just then, something deep within the cave sparkled.

  When he got closer and looked, it was a body with only bones left.

  If a user dies, his corpse disappeared with his revival.

  ‘So that must mean this is the corpse of an NPC.’

  Then there was a big possibility that his quest information would be updated.

  Ark sifted through the remains and discovered a small piece of parchment on the inside.

  It may have been something the corpse had written; there was minute handwriting written on the surface.

  - ‘Unfortunate Traveler’s left-behind piece of parchment’ has been acquired. 3 years have passed since I received Sir Viscount Havestein’s command and set out searching for its trails. And with divine intervention, I was able to find what I was searching for by pure chance. But to think such an unimaginable demon would be living within the cave.

  I was extremely caught off guard. If that was here, then I should have definitely anticipated trouble… Everything is my fault. Because I’ve already come carelessly into the cave, I’ve suffered a huge wound. Is the Viscount’s desire going to come to an end like this?

  I am so bitter. It’s regretful but the secret within the darkness of this cave will be…

  Whatever was written in continuation of the parchment had been gnawed away by Mice.

  ‘I can smell that there’s more to this somewhere.’

  As he’d thought, the cave wasn’t simply a Mouse cavern.

  He couldn’t understand the contents of the parchment, but there was definitely something inside the cave. The probability that the mentioned ‘that’ was an item was high. Ark’s motivation swelled inside him. He tucked the parchment away and continued into the cave.

  “Euurgghh!”

  With one blow, Ark threw three or four Mice to the floor.

  There were only Mice within the cave. The Mice at the entrance had been nothing. Wherever he went, there were Mice running at him from all directions.

  The number of Mice that were cut down and cut again seemed to increase more and more. But who was Ark? In Harun, he had cleared hundreds of Mice requests, and he had struck down as many as one thousand Mice and had earned the title of Mouse Hunter.

  “You bastards, today you’ve really met your match. SPIRIT OF THE CAT!”

  He may have been driven into a corner, but at least there was no risk of death.

  When it became dangerous, he immediately used the Spirit of the Cat to paralyze the Mice and escaped from the cave.

  Ark crazily ran in and out of the cave and slowly stepped further and further into the cave. After 3 hours had passed, yet another problem emerged.

  ‘I underestimated it because it was just a beginner dungeon, but it’s deeper than I thought. But I only have 10 wheat breads left now.’

  The problem was the wheat bread. If his satiety dropped, the rate of health restoration would severely decrease. If it dropped to below half, his stats would fall temporarily, and if it fell to the zero, in the worst case scenario, he could even die. If he ran out of wheat bread, there’d be no way for him to continue exploring.

  ‘Do I have to go back to the village and stock up on wheat bread?’

  That was a problem in itself. Even if you cleared monsters, after a certain amount of time they spawned again. And the smaller they were, the faster they respawned. Though he’d advanced hundreds of meters into the cave, if he went back to the village and came back, he’d have to start from the beginning.

  ‘I’m gonna go crazy. If I knew it’d be like this I wouldn’t have sold the wheat bread….’

  As Ark was having those thoughts, a brilliant plan surfaced in his mind.

  ‘Could it be possible?’

  Ark thought about it for a moment and stood up.

  ‘Well, there’s probably nothing to lose by trying.’

  « o »

  *Swish, smack!*

  Ark was struck by a Wolf wandering on the outskirts of the cave.

  The Wolf snarled and leapt at him. Now, Wolves and the like were no match for Ark.

  Brandishing his sword like lightning, Ark put the Wolf into a near death. But when it came to the final blow, he put away his sword. While being careful not to kill the Wolf, he controlled his strength and struck it with his foot.

  *Yelp!*

  The Wolf whimpered as he kicked it aside.

  However, Ark held no mercy for it. He stared at it as it panted, when it seemed to get a little better he beat it, and after doing this for three minutes the Wolf finally went into a frenzy.

  *Awooo!*

  The forest violently shook, as the Wolf cried out with all of its remaining strength.

  A dozen Wolves who heard the heartrending story of their comrade rushed out at him.

  ‘It’s done!’

  Ark had a smile full of satisfaction on his face as he rapidly fled towards the cave.

  Ark quickly used Spirit of the Cat to paralyze the Mice and went deeper into the cave. When he reached a place where there were less Mice, the paralyzation wore off and the Mice piled themselves layer upon layer on Ark.

  ‘I might even die if I fail!’

  Ark didn’t pull out his sword and concentrated on using all his strength to evade the attacks. But because there were so many Mice attacking him, he felt as if his life was getting sucked out with a straw. To top it all, the Wolves were pitching in too, so in an instant, he was bitten an extreme number of times.

  However, soon after, the Wolves stopped attacking him. The Mice had started to attack the Wolves too.

  The Wolf horde was startled when the enormous swarm of Mice ran at them. However, they were Wolves; the Wolves couldn’t just tuck their tails and flee.

  The Wolves bared their fangs and started attacking the Mice.

  “Yes, just as planned!” Ark shouted in delight.

  New World boasted a system that had few differences with reality. That meant whether they were animals or monsters, it was the same.

  In fact, even when Ark came to New World, he had seen instances of Wolves catching and eating rabbits and field Mice. That meant that natural enemies applied too.

  Ark, who had figured that out, had purposely gathered the Wolves and lured them into the cave.

  The result was a huge success. The best, most perfect situation had opened up for Ark. In the middle of the cave, the Wolf horde were leaping and bucking and the Mice were enveloped in chaos. Since the Mice must have judged the Wolves to be more dangerous than Ark, they were all running at the Wolves.

  Ark took a step back and watched the Mice and Wolves fight at his leisure. Each time his mana was restored, he used Spirit of the Cat.

  After 10 minutes had passed in that manner, the Mice were almost gone.

  “Hu hu hu. You did well.”

  With a satisfied smile, Ark took care of the staggering Wolves.

  Although they were in a dying state, the Wolves still gave the proper amount of experience.

  Simply put, it was like taking a candy from a child!

  To earn this unexpected benefit… It was like killing two birds with one stone.

  ‘Am I perhaps a genius?’

  Although he’d thought of it himself, it was truly a brilliant method. There were no restrictions on what methods you used to solve a quest. You could even go as far as to kill the person who gave you the request.

  Of course, in that case, the penalties attached were extreme, but the near infinite degree of freedom was one of New World’s charmin
g centerpoints.

  Even after that, Ark gathered all the Wolves in the area and had them fight with the Mice. Then he cleared off the Mice and Wolves that were left. Thanks to that, his level went up and up and he reached level 8, and although he’d only consumed 2 wheat breads, he was able to go deeper into the cave.

  ‘This is a really deep cave. Though I think I’ve gone really deep into the cave, I don’t see any worthwhile items… surely it’s not going to end with just Mice all the way to the end?’

  Bit by bit, anxiety reared his head.

  It was when Ark was having those thoughts, that all of a sudden, with a thud sound, the Mice that had been running at him crazily, abruptly flinched and ran, scattering left and right.

  ‘Huh? What’s this?’

  Ark, who had been turning his head back and forth with an incredulous look, took in a sudden breath. From within the darkness, on the other side of where the Mice had fled, were a pair of red orbs.

  “W-What is this bastard?”

  The slowly approaching red orbs took form.

  Surprisingly, the orbs were the eyes of a Mouse.

  It wasn’t a Mouse the likes of which Ark had faced until now. It was easily 10 times bigger than a Wolf — a massive Mouse monster. Enraged that some bastard had intruded, it ROARED and the entire cave shook.

  This terrible fear!

  Ark’s legs trembled and the strength went right out of him.

  Terrified, the Wolves tucked their tails and fled out of the cave.

  “Oh my god. No way, this bastard….”

  Was the identity of the demon written of on the parchment this monster?

  It was highly likely.

  He had written that he’d gotten a fatal wound in the cave. And the place where he had died hadn’t been far from the entrance. For he who had traveled a distance after receiving a command from an Aristocrat, to have been unable to escape the cave with a fatal wound… that had been an inconsistency.

  ‘He went all the way into the cave and met this demon. Then, while inflicted with a fatal wound, he ran away only to be attacked by a swarm of Mice, and he collapsed. That’s what happened.’

  If he thought like that, there were no inconsistencies. And it was highly likely that Ark would be punished with the same fate.

  The dread Ark felt when he had first met a Wolf was incomparable to the horror that drowned him now. At this critical moment, the contents of the quest were updated.

  - Boss monster ‘Black Bear Mouse’ has appeared.

  The quest has been updated. Unknown cave exploration → The mysterious organism living within the cave.

  You discovered a massive demon Mouse while exploring the cave.

  There’s no doubt this demon Mouse has been controlling all the other Mice.

  Escape the cave quickly and tell this truth to the bar owner Kraydon.

  Level of difficulty: F

  As expected, there wasn’t any mention of having to kill the demon Mouse. That was probably because at his current level, that was impossible. Moreover, just relaying the information about the demon Mouse had a difficulty level of F.

  To be sure, he saw a large possibility that the pitch black Mouse swarm was going out of the cave to avoid the demon Mouse. All of the possible situations were the worst, but Ark’s eyes were actually glowing instead.

  ‘Then that means this Mouse is an lump of experience and items!’

  His greed exceeded his horror.

  An avaricious light sparkled in Ark’s eyes.

  A boss monster was no different from a treasure chest that gave all adventurers the honor of finding it!

  It was the first boss monster he’d met. He couldn’t just withdraw without fighting it.

  ‘Running away is gonna be tough anyways. Then let’s see, let’s find out how strong you are and fight once!’

  Ark courageously raised his sword and charged. However, in the next moment, his expression changed to one of embarrassment. He had swung the rusted sword with all his strength, but the demon Mouse didn’t even register the blow.

  The thick leather covering the body had deflected the sword.

  *Squeek, kiayaa!*

  The huge Mouse lashed out with its front paw.

  When he blocked it with his sword, his palm throbbed from the impact.

  ‘Oh my god, I blocked it with my sword but my stamina was still cut!’

  A full bite from a Wolf cut his health by 30 points. Even though he’d blocked the attack from the demon Mouse, 30 health had been cut away. If he was really hit, he wouldn’t be able to endure two or three hits.

  “Damn it, Spirit of the Cat!”

  Nyaaaaaaaaaaa!

  When Ark used this as the last measure, the regular Mice were paralyzed. Shortly after, the demon Mouse roared and the Mice quickly regained consciousness.

  ‘Oh my god, Spirit of the Cat doesn’t work!’

  Ark completely lost his previous ambition and turned his body away. In that moment, the Mouse swarm attacked him from all directions. While Ark was struggling in the Mouse swarm, a heavy blow connected with his back and pain exploded.

  - You have been stunned. All movements are blocked for five seconds.

  Immediately, his health was cut by 50 and his consciousness became fuzzy. Before his consciousness could return, he was hit by another attack. At last his health reached rock bottom, and Ark collapsed to the floor.

  « o »

  “Damn it!”

  Ark fumed and went inside the bar.

  After the demon Mouse’s attacks, Ark lost his life. When he opened his eyes, he was back at the Quartermaster at the entrance of Harun village. However, the quest had updated, he had to stop by the tavern to give necessary reports.

  “Oh! Ark, you have returned safe and sound!”

  As per usual, Kraydon greeted Ark gladly.

  Ark immediately took a look around and shut his mouth before giving his report.

  Inside the tavern, some users were sitting and eyeing them. Because Ark did not want anyone else to know about the existence of the cave, he called Kraydon out to the warehouse.

  Kraydon’s face turned pale after Ark had told him what he had encountered inside the cave.

  “The cave has been inhabited by a terrifying monster.”

  “If that’s the case, this is no time to be standing around like this. Before the bastard comes and brings danger to the village, we have to tell Lord the truth. I’ll also ask him to send soldiers at once, to deal with the bastard.”

  “Ah, you can’t!”

  Ark shouted indignantly.

  “What? Why not? What do you mean?”

  “Um… Well, you know…”

  ‘Damn, I shouldn’t have talked about it.’

  If the Lord dispatched Soldiers, then of course the users would also come to know of it.

  If that happened, Ark will no longer have monopoly over the treasures of the cave. Soldiers might take it, or give onlooking players an opportunity to take it.

  That would make Ark feel jealous to death.

  ‘That can’t happen, absolutely not! The cave is mine. Up until now, how much time have I invested in order to obtain treasures inside the cave? Now there’s one demon Mouse to kill, they can’t just come waltzing in at the last moment!’

  However, he could not say his thoughts out loud.

  After contemplating on what to do, Ark put his hopes on his intimacy with Kraydon and spoke.

  “This is a job you requested of me. You believed in me and entrusted it to me, right? To repay your trust, I want to solve this with my own hands. So please give me a little more time. I will certainly repay your trust in me.”

  “Yes, I didn’t know you cared that much about me. Of course, I believe in you. However, this isn’t a matter I can decide on by myself. The safety of the whole village is hanging on this. Even if we barely miss the timing, everything could become dangerous. I’m saying this can’t wait until you’ve become a worthy warrior.”

  “I
’m begging you. Give me a chance to restore my honor.”

  Ark said it with an imploring light in his eyes.

  Truthfully, he wasn’t the type of person to say those apologetic words to anyone. However, he was facing an NPC. Even though he acted almost exactly like a human, in the end he was still a computer-generated artificial intelligence. There was no reason for his pride to turn sour over saying such sorry words to an AI.

  As Ark begged pathetically, Kraydon deliberated with an uncomfortable look.

  “For you of all people to say such things, I can’t stay stubborn. That this village is peaceful right now is all thanks to you, after all. Alright, then let’s do it like this. For now I’ll give you ten days. If I don’t hear from you after that, I’ll ask Lord Jackson for help. Will that do?”

  “Ten days…..”

  One day in real life was three in the game.

  So to speak, one week was three days in real life.

  The time it had taken to clear the cave until now was already precious. Furthermore, to play the game he couldn’t give up his job, so even if he reduced his sleeping time to the maximum, the time he had left was a little more than a day.

  And Kraydon was wearing an resolute expression that said he couldn’t make anymore exceptions. In the end, Ark nodded.

  Though it was too much to ask… There was nothing he could do but to try.

  “I understand. Let’s do that to put the village’s safety first.”

  “I’m glad you understand. Then I’ll believe and entrust this to you.”

  The quest has been updated. The mysterious organism living within the cave: After hearing about the demon Mouse in the hidden cave, Kraydon has asked you to defeat the demon Mouse.

  Stipulation, this request has a time limit of ten days. If you do not clear the demon Mouse within this time, Kraydon will tell the truth to the Lord, and the request will be automatically cancelled.

  Level of difficulty: +F

  As he’d anticipated, the quest that involved personally slaying the demon Mouse had a ‘+’ attached to the difficulty level. ‘+’ indicated an elite quest, something that had to be completed with a party.

  F difficulty level was roughly for level 15 and below. That meant that this was a request that could be resolved with a party of users at level 15.