Pick Me Up!

Chapter 200: The Black Seed (8) (1)

I squinted my eyes.

A massive fortress was blocking the narrow canyon.

It had towering walls, various magical cannons, and even a moat.

Its completeness was hard to believe for something built in such a short time.

‘Hmm.’

If things had gone according to the normal scenario, I would have attacked that fortress with the Assinis expeditionary force.

But things got tangled up.

A sparrow at my feet chirped.

“I know.”

Such forces for just one person. How flattering.

‘The mission objective is…’

I glanced to the side of my vision.

[Floor 44.]

[Mission Type – Siege]

[Objective – Break through the fortress!]

The disappeared mission objective had returned.

As the sparrow said, it wasn’t completely off course yet.

To some extent, the game rules were being maintained.

The problem was that the reinforcements had disappeared.

‘A solo infiltration, huh.’

The final key was hidden deep underground in the floating island.

We searched for a place to infiltrate from the cave we were in, but we couldn’t find one in the end.

Well, if there was such an entrance, there would be no need to build that fortress or for the expedition to prepare for war. The practical entrance to the underground temple was only beyond the canyon blocked by that fortress.

I reviewed the current situation again.

One hero, me. And one sparrow that can’t do anything.

I left Pria in the cave. I thought about bringing her, but it would be too inefficient to fight while protecting her. I’m planning to cause havoc.

The enemy’s forces included one boss-level entity and hundreds to thousands of underlings.

They were stalling for time inside the fortress.

“……Ha.”

It was stressful just thinking about it again.

It would be nice if there was an object that could call allies like in previous missions.

If this mission was a trap set by them, it was likely that there wouldn’t be one.

I would probably have to proceed through this section alone.

‘Well, technically, not alone.’

There was a sparrow chattering incessantly beside me.

I snapped my fingers.

[‘Han (★★★★)’ requests an ‘Emergency Healing Potion’. Upon purchase, the hero will acquire the ‘Healing Potion’. 500 gems will be consumed, and it can be purchased ‘only once’ in this mission. Do you wish to purchase it?]

[Yes / No]

A red potion appeared along with the purchase prompt on Anytng’s interface. It was an emergency healing potion sold in the combat shop.

Of course, there was a penalty.

It could only be bought once per battle, and despite its low efficiency, it was extremely expensive.

A whopping 500 gems. The amount to pull a premium draw once.

[Yes(Selected) / No]

[Emergency Healing Potion has been granted to ‘Han (★★★★)!’]

Flash.

A light shone above my head, and a red potion bottle fell.

I caught the potion bottle and put it in my belt pouch.

In the end, Anytng bought it.

An absurd item that no one buys.

After logging into the game and assessing the situation, Anytng neither reported it to the headquarters nor posted on the forums.

He just sent one mail to my email account.

After contacting Iselle through the sparrow, I wrote a reply suggesting it would be better to watch the situation a bit more.

‘You can report it if I die. Until then, I’ll handle it myself.’

A week.

The time I spent here after the expedition was annihilated.

I had stayed quite a while. I was busy training.

There was no trickery.

Even after discussing with Pria and the sparrow and running multiple simulations.

The conclusion was that any method, like disguising as a soldier or sneaking in via a supply wagon, wouldn’t work.

“…….”

Therefore,

There was only one method left.

I nodded.

A week was enough stalling.

Any longer and it would be dangerous.

‘It won’t take long.’

Either I die.

Or the mission ends.

One of the two.

“Let’s go.”

I dashed out of the bushes.

Then I walked up to the large iron gate fortified with steel.

If infiltration is difficult, there’s no need to hide.

“Stop!”

Someone shouted from atop the wall.

I looked up. A soldier in armor was looking down at me.

“Are you Han? We have a message from Lord Perseine.”

I kicked a stone at my feet.

Then grabbed it with my right hand.

“The lord says she’s giving you one last chance. To achieve glorious liberation with us…!”

Thwack!

The stone I threw pierced the officer’s helmet and smashed his skull.

Since I had long surpassed human limits, my stone-throwing was no different from a bullet.

“This, this bastard… Prepare for attack!”

A man who seemed to be the officer’s deputy drew his sword.

Archers dozens deep drew their bows. The muzzles of magical cannons aimed at me.

“You don’t say?”

Strictly speaking, it’s foolish.

Even calling it a strategy is embarrassing.

But… what can I do if there’s no other way?

“Shoot!”

Papapapapapapapap!

Hundreds of arrows flew at once.

Then,

Boom!

The muzzles spewed fire.

“Let’s go.”

Simultaneously, the sparrow spread its wings.

Sizzle. Dark red lightning sprang from the sparrow’s beak and wrapped around my left arm.

“I know.”

I extended my left hand.

[Unique Skill, ‘Black Dragon Scale’ activated!]

Swish.

Scales sprouted on my left arm.

Immediately after, arrows and cannonballs rained down.

[This hero is immune to physical attacks!]

[This hero is immune to physical attacks!]

[This hero is immune to physical…!]

“What, what is that?! Just shoot! Turn him to dust!”

‘Activate.’

[‘Han (★★★★)’ enters Ascend mode!]

Crunch.

The feeling of my entire body’s bones shifting had become familiar.

I lightly stomped my foot. The scene of the gate dozens of meters ahead quickly zoomed in.

‘They said it’s beyond the monster’s limits.’

This side is no different.

“…….”

Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam!

All the magical bombardment was neutralized.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!