Chapter 214 Ballista


    Ss leapt from tree to tree, using his kunai as footholds.


    It was seamless, the three silver kunai rushing through the air in weaving patterns. By the time Ss had jumped from one tree, there were already two more footholds waiting for him ahead.


    He skipped over all the beasts swiftly, and because of that, he traveled even faster than usual, closing in on the vige in the distance in less than a minute and with hardly a sound other than the THWACKs of his kunai piercing into the trees. But beneath the howling and chilling winds of the night, this hardly left an imprint on the world.


    Soon, he came to a stop, looming high in a tree that was just about 50 or so meters from the vige. He wrapped an arm around the thinning bark of the tree, bncing on a single foot as two kunai hovered behind him. Both he and the tree swayed in the cool wind, stoic and unabashed.


    The vige was much more substantial than what Ss had seen from the gnoll vige, so much so that he thought that he was looking at a human-led vige at first.


    This wouldn''t be quite what he was looking for, and would be quite disappointing. Even if there were benefits, he''d have no intention of massacring a vige of humans; that was beyond his bottom line.


    The walls were formed of a thick, tripleyer of logs that left their surfaces thick enough to walk around. There were four outposts facing four different directions, protected by what looked likerge crossbows: ballista. The vige''s depths were quiterge; it must have been at least 100 meters from end to end.


    It was by no means small, and unless he was wrong and the system had begun to spawn monstrous viges as soon as the Trial ended, then it was unlikely that this vige was anywhere near new.


    Ss pulled out his map and double-checked something.


    In order to scour the region, he had chosen a weave method that would take him about three or four trips toplete. He thought he''d be able to finish in a day, but the sudden hard-fought battle had dyed him.


    This vige was outside the range of his first weave zone, so that exined why he hadn''t run into them. But what wasn''t understandable was this vige''s reaction to such things.


    This vige was still rtively close to the Africor Continent portal. They should have noticed a change in the behavior of the animals they caught for food and sustenance.


    So why did this vige lookpletely normal without any changes to its behavioral patterns?


    That was when Ss remembered something.


    ''Cassarae was sent home like the rest of us after the Trial ended. She said that her vige would go into a bit of a dormant state until she returned, though this dormancy would onlyst for a short while. If she left it without a care for the timer, then there would be consequences.


    ''Is this what they call a dormant state? Where everything just functions as though nothing at all has happened? In that case, doesn''t that mean that I have no ability to conquer it?''


    Ss was having these thoughts when one of the patrolling guards crossed by one of the lit torches. When Ss got a good look at the humanoid figure, his gaze couldn''t help but narrow.


    It was hard to see in the darkness, and even if there was a full moon, there was no way to tell. It seemed to perpetually snow in this region, so the skies were always cloudy, obscuring much of the light.


    However, Ss was still able to tell thanks to the torch that this was no human.


    It was arge, burly, pig-like thing, with pale leather-like skin and a snout that seemed coughed in snot and dried blood.


    There was what Ss could only describe as a serrated meat cleaver on its back, and as it marched across the thick log walls, it carried around a crossbow that was ready to fire three arrows at any time.


    —


    [Grunthor (FF-)]


    [Level: 7]


    [Physical: 84]


    [Mental: 72]


    [Will: 87]


    —


    ''A Level 7 acting as a patrol? How deep do these waters run?''


    Ss decided to take the slow approach. He circled around the pig demon vige from 50 meters out, staying out of range of their lines of sight and traveling high in the trees even above their wall lines.


    In the end, he could only conclude that this vige was nothing to be trifled with.


    Just patrolling the walls alone, there were four Level 7''s. After checking the crossbows that hung from their outposts, the ones muchrger than the ones they carried around in their hands, he realized that they were devastating treasures.


    They took a while to load and took the hands of two at that, but when they fired, they could easily st a 1000 Damage-resistant shield to ash, let alone the fact Ss'' <King''s Shield> could only withstand 600 right now, and that was if he took the risk to fuse with the Basilisk King again. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to ess the Skill.


    On that note, there were even more guards in those outposts. He couldn''t see clearly at first, but after using his night vision goggles, he realized that there were actually two Level 8s apiece in all four outposts.


    This sort of lineup just to guard the vige painted apletely different image.


    One ofplete confidence.


    The good news was that they were all FF-''s. But since they were just guarding the vige, something told Ss that there were even stronger monsters on the inside.


    ''We could always take this one step at a time.''


    Ss'' mind began to churn. He had already made up his mind. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was going to have to take another risk.


    A cooling sensation ran through his mind, his eyes floating like two green orbs of death in the night.