The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-345

Chapter 345: Ballak (3)

The jungle on the 11th floor of Abyss tree was a dreadful environment reminiscent of the aftermath of the Red and Black Mountain Range.

Bone sucking mosquitoes, blood-sucking flies, vines armed with thorns like spears, heavy fruits like clubs, narrow and deep cliffs cunningly covered with rotten leaves, and so on…

For an ordinary person, not only traversing this forest but even enduring half a day would have been impossible.

Moreover, it was night at this moment.

It was a daring adventure even for the seasoned adventurers who usually resided in this forest to venture out carelessly.

However,

Crunch—

Vikir moved freely as if this forest were his own living room.

His fur coat was flying in the wind to deter other predators and found the hidden cliffs among the fallen leaves, crossing them. He even broke open an air sac of Bloodsoaked jade flower to deter venomous insects.

The spider silk emitted by the baby madam effortlessly bridged the gaps between cliffs that would take hours to traverse.

All of this was carried out skillfully and effortlessly, as if he had been living this way for decades.

Naturally, for Tudor, Sancho, Figgy, and Bianca following behind Vikir, it was nothing short of astonishing.

“Damn, it’s even more surprising than finding out that Vikir was Night hound. How does he move so well?”

“Even Basilios, the Mercenary King of the North, wouldn’t be able to do this…. WAIT wHAT?!”

“V-Vikir is night hound? Wait, what are you talking about?”

“When we fought him he wore the night hound mask. We’ll ask him about it later.”

Meanwhile, Vikir reminisced about his past life.

Two memories came to mind.

The era of destruction.

A harsh time when survival depended not only on swordsmanship but also on skills like herb gathering, surveillance, tracking, stealth, ambush, assassination, restraint, healing, cooking, and everything else.

And another memory was the two years spent in the Red and Black Mountains.

…Spot!

Vikir effortlessly split a rotting log blocking his path in half and passed through.

With a lightning-fast vibration from the edge of his blade, he effortlessly severed everything with his Graduator aura spinning at high speed.

And once again, Tudor, Sancho, Figgy, and Bianca were amazed by his strength.

“V-Vikir. What level are you?”

“My word! How much have you raised your stats?”

“You’ve been this strong since outside the Tower?”

“…He’s really a secretive one.”

Then,

…Pause!

Vikir, who had been walking ahead, stopped in his tracks.

He examined the footprints left in the mud on the ground, checked the direction of the wind, then lowered his body and turned back behind the bushes.

To conceal their scent.

Beyond the thick darkness, a faint beam of light could be seen.

About a dozen people were gathered around a small campfire.

Tudor whispered softly.

“Those guys. Savages. The ones who stole our food.”

The challengers of the Tower who had arrived on this floor before Tudor, Sancho, Figgy, and Bianca.

They were all warriors with robust builds.

Their faces smeared with mud, bodies covered in animal skins and leaves.

Tudor whispered softly from the side, “Those guys have laid dry branches similar to dry reeds near the camp area. Stepping on them makes a loud noise and breaks them.”

“I know. Let’s clear away the dry reeds and approach.”

Vikir cautiously approached, avoiding the scattered dry branches on the ground. Moving at a slow pace, barely covering a few meters in an hour, Vikir managed to get close to the food thieves.

Crunch!

Stepping over the dry branches and bushes, Vikir emerged right in front of the campfire.

“Hand over the food.”

Without a sound or warning, the attackers, taken aback by Vikir’s sudden appearance, grabbed their bows and arrows from the side.

Ping!

An arrow was shot immediately.

The attackers, each seemingly a master archer, effortlessly shot arrows with a familiar motion.

And seeing the arrows flying, Vikir was certain.

‘These are Ballak’s warriors.’

He had already heard through Cindiwendy’s report about their mysterious disappearance before entering the Tower. He had worried about where they might be, trapped in the depths of Amducius’ Abyss tree.

‘Nevertheless, it’s fortunate they’re alive.’

Vikir thought the problem would be unexpectedly easy to solve.

Eventually, Vikir removed his mask, revealing the tattoo on his shoulder representing Ballak’s hunting grounds.

“Stop. It’s me.”

The natives of Ballak, or rather the warriors of the indigenous tribe existing in the vicinity of the Red and Black Mountains, could not have been unaware of Vikir.

Wasn’t he the hero who saved all tribes from the terrifying plague of Red Death and the colossal flood?

…But.

Unexpectedly, trouble was brewing.

“…Who’s that guy?”

“Why does he have our tribe’s tattoo?”

“Does anyone know this guy?”

“Don’t know him. Just knock him down for now!”

The warriors of Ballak had absolutely no recollection of Vikir. Despite their considerable age, tattoos on their shoulders, archery skills, and faces adorned with black ash, it was evident they were from Ballak. Yet, they seemed to have no memory of Vikir.

Bang!

Avoiding the arrows now being shot in earnest, Vikir had to step back a few paces.

‘These warriors of this age don’t recognize me?’

With a hint of doubt, Vikir drew his sword.

“Do you still not recognize me?”

His Baskerville-style swordsmanship unfolded. It was something the warriors of Ballak, who had fought against Baskerville for their entire lives, couldn’t possibly not recognize.

However.

“This guy is using strange swordsmanship!”

“What!? Fangs??”

“I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“Don’t engage! Fight from a distance!”

The warriors of Ballak still didn’t recognize Vikir, only acting strangely agitated.

‘It doesn’t seem like a memory issue. Something’s off.’

Vikir furrowed his brow.

Certainly, the people in front of him were Ballak’s warriors. Yet, for some reason, they behaved as if they had no memory of Vikir, despite having no traces of any mental magic affecting them.

With a sense of resignation, Vikir said, “If you’ve forgotten, I’ll have to remind you. How a former foreign slave like me became your tribe’s hero.”

At the same time, Vikir took out an item.

It was the only hidden item that Vikir, who had always dismissed the need for items and received all rewards as candies, had ever desired.

– [True scale of equality] / Scale / S

Depending on the highest stat value, the values of other stats change. All stats gradually increase in accordance with the highest stat until all stats become equal.

With the golden scale in hand, Vikir opened his status window.

[Vikir]

– LV: 1 (%)

– Nickname: ‘Rat Hunter’, ‘Hell’s Dogmaster’, ‘Lumberjack’, ‘Majin Killer’, ‘Black Sea’s King Executioner’, ‘Dragon Trainer’ (NEW)

– Stats

↳ Strength: 798

↳ Agility: 92

↳ Stamina: 100

↳ Physical Resistance: 1

↳ Magical Resistance: 1

↳ Reflexes: 1

Originally, Vikir’s three main stats, Strength, Agility, and Stamina, were each set at 300, totaling 900. However, the sum of Vikir’s three main stats now totaled 990, with almost all of it being allocated to Strength.

This was because Vikir had exchanged all the stats he had gained so far in the “Lost Paradise” for candies, then absorbed them back and redistributed them.

“Here, there exists the Tower’s largest candy shop.

Challengers can exchange the items they possess here for candies.

Even the candies that have been consumed and stat-boosted can be regurgitated and turned into candies, especially for the residents of this floor!

If you regurgitate candies consumed before entering this floor, you’ll receive an additional candy for every 10 candies!”

Vikir hadn’t planned to use the store, but he exchanged his stats for candies and received extra candies for every 10 candies. Then, he consumed them all over again.

“…It’s like just removing the bait from the trap set by the demons.”

Probably, if Amdusias and his fairies caught wind of this, they would likely be hopping mad.

Vikir received the most common red candies based on probability. Although green candies boosting agility and blue candies boosting stamina hardly appeared, it turned out to be better for Vikir. It was because he possessed the “True scale of equality” as mentioned earlier.

The True scale of equality was an item that gradually increased all stats to match the highest stat’s value and would disappear once all stats became equal.

“It was originally an item I sought to raise the values of special three major stats, not the basic three major stats… But…”

Due to the slow rate at which stats increased by the scale, challengers rarely benefited from it. To fully utilize it at 120%, one had to spend an extremely long time inside the Tower, perhaps long enough to pass through all stages of youth and become elderly. What good would it be to become stronger only after becoming old?

“…But.”

“Fortunately, time flows like water in this forest.”

Vikir was aging rapidly.

His hair grew rapidly, his bones and muscles thickened.

His voice gradually deepened, and lines began to appear on his face.

And accordingly, naturally, the stats Vikir possessed also began to change.

– Ting!

[The item ‘True scale of equality’ begins forcibly adjusting the balance of stats!]

[The balance between ‘Strength’ stat and other stats is not matching!]

[Other stats are being forcibly adjusted based on the value of ‘Strength’ stat, which is ‘798’!]

[The ‘Agility’ stat has increased from ’92’ to ’93’! This change will continue until the ‘Agility’ stat reaches ‘798’!]

[The ‘Stamina’ stat has increased from ‘100’ to ‘101’! This change will continue until the ‘Stamina’ stat reaches ‘798’!]

[The ‘Physical Resistance’ stat has increased from ‘1’ to ‘2’! This change will continue until the ‘Physical Resistance’ stat reaches ‘798’!]

[The ‘Magical Resistance’ stat has increased from ‘1’ to ‘2’! This change will continue until the ‘Magical Resistance’ stat reaches ‘798’!]

[The ‘Reflexes’ stat has increased from ‘1’ to ‘2’! This change will continue until the ‘Reflexes’ stat reaches ‘798’!]

[The ‘Agility’ stat has increased from ’93’ to ’94’!]

[The ‘Stamina’ stat has increased from ‘101’ to ‘102’!]

[The ‘Physical Resistance’ stat has increased from ‘2’ to ‘3’!]

[The ‘Magical Resistance’ stat has increased from ‘2’ to ‘3’!]

[The ‘Reflexes’ stat has increased from ‘2’ to ‘3’!]

.

.

The value of the highest stat, Strength, is 798.

And all six stats Vikir has developed are increasing by 1 to match this value of 798.

[Underground 11th Floor. ‘River of Time’]

Waves of time flowing like a river.

It was entirely in favor of Vikir.