LIGHTNOVELSTORY chapter 30
30
＜Remaining Return Time: 4 hours, 5 minutes, 12 seconds＞
The time spent in the real world to procure supplies was about 12 hours from Saturday evening to Sunday morning.
However, the time spent crossing over to this world in the meantime was over a week.
During that time, preparations for the expedition were steadily underway.
The work of attaching the star metal blades to the spear shafts was also completed with all the blacksmiths in the castle mobilized.
In 25 days, the full moon will rise.
There is no more time to delay if we are to succeed in the uprising by poisoning Teidon’s alcohol before the dragon comes to Asdel.
We will depart in 3 days.
Dong-
Dong-
The sound of drums echoed.
Before embarking on their expedition, the expeditionary force soldiers received a final inspection from Min-hyuk.
They all had star daggers on their waists.
And they had star spears in their hands.
The quiver was densely packed with crossbow bolts made of star metal,
And the backpack was amply stocked with recovery and enhancement potions.
In addition, each of them carried a poncho raincoat.
These were not ordinary poncho raincoats.
They were designed by Minhyuk and crafted by David using the hide of a volcanic lizard.
Therefore, they could block not only rain but also flames.
Since the refrigerator was small, it was difficult to procure armor or shields, so they came up with the idea of a compact poncho raincoat.
There was no need to dismantle Minhyuk’s armor to obtain the rare lizard hide.
They acquired expensive flame-retardant armor that some nobles possessed, stripped off only the lizard hide, and made a poncho raincoat.
And when they put it in the refrigerator,
The poncho raincoat turned into a pencil with an eraser.
So it was easy to procure.
And so it was born.
An elite force of 4,000 armed with star metal and capable of withstanding flames.
General Drake exclaimed in admiration,
“Throughout the history of the Lania continent, there has never been such a powerful elite force! At this level, they could even face dragons!”
After the inspection, Minhyuk gave his soldiers a two-day and one-night break.
It was time for them to spend with their families before embarking on the expedition.
No one could guarantee how many of them would survive once the arduous journey was over.
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That night, the soldiers enjoyed dinner with their families with the meat and alcohol their commander had given them.
Minhyuk also rested at the mansion.
Tres, the imperial chef, had prepared delicious food for Minhyuk.
Minhyuk called for Alfredo and instructed him,
“Let’s all eat together tonight.”
“Yes, Commander.”
A separate table was set near Minhyuk’s dining table, and all the vassals, including Alfredo, gathered around it.
Verona asked Minhyuk,
“Commander, don’t you have a family?”
Tres hinted at her daughter, but Verona continued to look at Minhyuk with eyes that showed she was genuinely curious.
Minhyuk nodded at Verona with a smile.
Minhyuk was a loner, not only here but also in the real world.
“Then I’ll be your family.”
Minhyuk chuckled at Verona’s goodwill and replied,
“What kind of family exactly? Are you going to abandon your father and become my daughter?”
Verona thought seriously about Minhyuk’s playful question and answered,
“That won’t do. My father says he only lives because of me. If I become the Commander’s daughter, my father might die.”
hahahahaha-
At the little one’s response, laughter erupted from everyone’s mouth.
Tres looked at his daughter with affectionate eyes.
“Let’s raise our cups together, praying for the commander’s fortune.”
At Alfredo’s toast, everyone raised their glasses high.
“For the commander’s safety and the success of the expedition!”
For-
Everyone except Verona gulped down the honey wine.
Minhyuk also took a shot coolly.
Then Alfredo approached with a bottle of wine and filled Minhyuk’s glass.
The glass was full, but Minhyuk’s heart felt empty.
It wasn’t because of the loneliness of having no family.
‘I want to flex for myself!’
He had carried a backpack full of bundles of hundred-thousand-won bills and walked the streets of Seoul for nearly 12 hours.
But he had only spent money and time buying the supplies he needed for the expedition, and had done nothing for himself.
He currently had about 4 hours of return time.
‘Should I do something with the remaining time?’
It was currently 9 am on Sunday in the real world.
What could he spend a lot of money on in the morning?
Besides, he was currently in a greenhouse farm.
Although it was in the suburbs of Seoul, it was a development restriction area, so there wasn’t even a convenience store nearby.
Let alone flexing, he would have to go back to Seoul to buy even a bowl of spicy pork bone soup.
However, he couldn’t waste time buying a bowl of noodles when he didn’t know what he might need in the future.
He had to keep the return time he currently had as an emergency.
‘Let’s just endure it for a bit.’
Once he had accumulated enough return time for at least 2 or 3 days, he would go shopping for himself and buy delicious food.
***
The day the expedition finally set off dawned.
Soldiers gathered in the square in front of the Imperial Palace.
The emperor blessed them.
“I, as the representative of all of the Asdel Empire, will bless the expedition. Oh, God! Please grant courage to the children of Asdel! Please show them mercy on their path!”
Ta-da-
With the sound of trumpets, the expedition procession began to move.
Pew-
Bang, bang, bang-
While they headed towards the city gate, firecrackers burst in the sky in succession.
Wow-
The people lined up on the side of the street waved their hands at the soldiers and cheered.
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The expedition left through the eastern gate and exited the territory of Gaho.
And crossed the swamp.
There weren’t many that attacked because they had hunted and killed a huge number of swamp vipers during the night training.
Even so, those that did attack had their necks cut off by the star daggers swung by the soldiers.
＜Your subordinate has slain a swamp viper.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
＜Your subordinate has slain a swamp viper.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
＜Your subordinate has slain a swamp viper.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
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＜Return time in possession: 5 hours, 7 minutes, and 22 seconds＞
Over an hour of return time was accumulated just from crossing the swamp.
Swish-
Swish, swish-
The soldiers who entered the forest cut away the grass and tree branches to create a path.
Grrr-
A pack of wolves appeared and pounced on them, but they soon ended up as skewers pierced by spears.
It may be difficult for a single spearman to fend off a wolf, but if 100 spearmen form a defensive line, they could easily defeat 100 wolves.
Not only wolves, but goblins and hyenas also appeared and attacked the soldiers.
They, too, were slaughtered by the soldiers’ swords and spears.
＜Your subordinate has slain a one-horned dire wolf.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
＜Your subordinate has slain a goblin.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
＜Your subordinate has slain a forest hyena.＞
＜10 seconds of return time has been accumulated as a reward.＞
The return time was increasing rapidly.
Min-hyuk wasn’t just watching either.
He hunted the beasts at the forefront.
Swish-
Clang, clang-
Moving at an incredible speed, he single-handedly annihilated the beasts that came within his radius.
Wow-
The morale of the soldiers watching such a commanding officer soared through the roof.
General Drake also played a great role, as befitting the ‘First Sword of Asdel’.
The princess also took part by shooting a crossbow at the goblins.
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.
.
How much time had passed?
The monsters that had been attacking the expedition were either dead or had fled, and the battle had entered a lull.
Everyone took a moment to catch their breath.
Then an officer ran up to Minhyuk.
“Commander!”
He was holding something in his hand.
It looked like a dragon fruit, but much smaller.
Information about it popped up in front of Minhyuk’s eyes.
＜Pukari Fruit＞
-Poisonous and cannot be eaten raw.
-If consumed in large quantities by large beasts, it can cause them to fall into a deep sleep.
It was the fruit that they had been planning to use to drug the Teidon.
They had been told that they would need about 100,000 Pukari Fruits to put the Teidon to sleep.
Professor Raymon told Minhyuk, “According to the book, there are Pukari trees growing near Fort Tamirn!”
Fort Tamirn was an outpost where Asdel’s forces had been stationed at the beginning of the Great Flood.
It had been large enough to house not only soldiers, but also their families and merchants.
However, as the area under the Guardians’ control shrank, it became impossible to defend the fort from the beasts.
So, decades ago, all the soldiers and civilians had abandoned the fort and retreated.
Now, goblins had made their nests there.
In order to collect the Pukari Fruits as safely as possible, they would have to retake the fort and use it as a rear base for the expedition.
Minhyuk took the Pukari Fruit from the officer.
‘What would happen if I put this in the refrigerator?’
If it turned into something like matchsticks or small clips, they wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of collecting Pukari Fruits.
They could just use the refrigerator to get a large supply, and it would be easy.
“Inventory.”
Minhyuk put the Pukari Fruit in the refrigerator.
“Return.”
Pop-
With a flash of light, he returned to the van’s cargo bay.
He immediately opened the refrigerator door and looked inside.
Wow-
It was filled with something he had seen many times before.
Well, to be exact, it was something he ‘used to’ see a lot.
‘These are real bullets?’
The Pukari Fruits had been transformed into 5.56mm ammunition.
They were the bullets used in the South Korean military’s main rifle.
Minhyuk, who had been discharged from the military as a sergeant, would have recognized these bullets anywhere.
‘Bullets are a no-go!’
If you so much as gesture towards trying to buy 5.56mm ammo on the dark web,
you’d end up not just being targeted by the police, but also put on a terrorist watchlist by the National Intelligence Service.
If that happens, your life would be completely ruined, if not outright destroyed.
So, I can’t use the refrigerator to get Pookari Berries.
There’s no other way.
I have to retake Tamryn Fortress.
Minhyuk picked the most elite soldiers from the special forces and sent them to scout out Tamryn Fortress.
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The scouts returned to Minhyuk after inspecting the fortress entrance.
“We estimate that there are at least 10,000 goblins in the fortress’s basement.”
Goblin bastards, like cockroaches, love to hole up deep in caves or underground.
If you count the number of them you can see above ground, you can roughly guess how many there are underground.
There must be over ten thousand goblins in the basement of Tamryn Fortress.
Exterminating them and retaking the fortress was the first hurdle for the expedition.
Plus, killing all those goblins would earn us a huge amount of return time.
‘Ten thousand would be a million seconds.’
Converted to hours, that’s over 27 hours.
Minhyuk shouted to his soldiers, his eyes blazing.
“We will retake Tamryn Fortress within two days!”
Waa-
The expedition’s war cry echoed through the forest.