-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Start of the Infected Village Assault
-----------------------------------------------------------------
= But there are limitations.
"Limitations?"
= The infection effect of Jiangshi Blood doesn't last more than a day.
"Only a day?"
= Moreover, it takes about half a day for the jiangshi to recharge the Jiangshi Blood they used to infect with their infection ability.
"So how many creatures can one jiangshi infect? What's the method?"
= They can infect by injecting Jiangshi Blood into a creature, and the effect is immediate.
"Immediate? That's good."
= For bugs or beast creatures, it's about ten at most. For bipedal creatures above that level, it's two. This is because the amount of Jiangshi Blood used differs.
"Ten beast creatures, or two first-evolved creatures?"
= That's correct.
"Then infecting ten beast creatures is better. Two first-evolved creatures couldn't handle ten beast creatures."
= It depends on the situation, but I also judge that infecting ten beasts maximizes our forces.
"Hmm, alright. But that means one jiangshi can maintain infection on up to twenty beast creatures at most?"
It can infect ten at a time, and if it can recharge its Jiangshi Blood every twelve hours, it can perform two infections per day.
That way, it could theoretically maintain twenty infected bodies at all times.
Excluding Ilryeong, there were eight jiangshi, so that meant they could infect 160 beast creatures to use as allies.
Not bad.
Just like Ilryeong said, the thought alone made his chest swell with grandeur.
"What about continuously reinfecting a creature that's already been infected?"
= Once infected with Jiangshi Blood, they die after a day passes. And while the infected ones follow the jiangshi around, they can't receive specific commands or anything.
"So no communication?"
= That's right.
"That's a bit disappointing, but unavoidable. We'll look for improvements later."
= Yes, my lord.
"So now, the remaining step is turning that Jiangshi Blood with the infection ability into Jiangshi Pure Blood for me to absorb?"
Geon-woo could gain a jiangshi's abilities by absorbing Jiangshi Pure Blood with the Unka Gangsigong.
That's why he expected to acquire the infection ability as well.
= I have prepared it. But whether you can assimilate it with Gangsigong is still unknown.
Ilryeong said hesitantly with a worried expression.
"Don't worry. If it fails and I die, I can just remake the avatar. When a new avatar is created, the assimilated Jiangshi Pure Blood will vanish anyway. No harmful energy will linger in the body."
= But that would erase everything you've built up with Gangsigong so far. You'd have to relearn Gangsigong from scratch...
"That's a risk I have to take. For gaining the infection ability. Plus, with my high attainment in Unka Gangsigong, the side effects of assimilating the pure blood should be minimized."
Though Ilryeong worried, Geon-woo made it clear he wouldn't change his mind.
Ilryeong could no longer dissuade him.
With Geon-woo's high Gangsigong attainment, he wouldn't get infected anyway, and the Jiangshi Pure Blood with infection effects was a modified version from the jiangshi bodies.
In truth, the odds of problems were low.
"Ah, do the jiangshi absolutely need infected creatures to produce the infected Jiangshi Pure Blood?"
= No. The jiangshi can already produce infection blood on their own. They do need creature corpses to make Jiangshi Blood, but they don't have to be infected ones.
"I see?"
= Yes, my lord. And we're also looking into ways to imbue new jiangshi with infection abilities during refinement.
"That possible?"
= Since we have infection blood from the jiangshi, cultivating it should yield a method.
Ilryeong looked confident.
Geon-woo nodded.
Ilryeong was said to be a genius with jiangshi even among the Unka clan.
He could be trusted.
"Good. Then it's fine to wipe out the infected ones here now."
= Yes, my lord.
"Lord Kolon must be waiting impatiently for news, so let's wrap this up."
Geon-woo had come here at the request to exterminate the infected species.
In the meantime, Ilryeong had led the jiangshi in greatly reducing their numbers.
Their territorial expansion had halted, and their momentum was broken.
That alone would give Lord Kolon some breathing room.
But since the request was for total extermination, he needed to finish properly for the full reward.
* * *
Bugs and beast-type creatures posed no real threat to Geon-woo or the jiangshi.
Especially when Geon-woo used his earth manipulation to create a dome for divide-and-conquer tactics—hunting bugs and beasts felt like tedious chores.
But when humanoid creatures joined in, including those that had completed second evolution, the battle dynamics shifted.
Second-evolved creatures usually led packs as chieftains, great warriors, shamans, and such classes.
Among them, great warriors and shamans led small groups of hundreds of first-evolved creatures.
Chieftains gathered over a thousand first-evolved ones into packs and even subjugated a few great warriors and shamans as subordinates, despite being the same second-evolved kind.
At that scale, it became burdensome.
And the infected village Geon-woo was targeting now had over 5,000 first-evolved ones alone.
That was excluding bugs and beasts—an enormous force.
"At least it's not third-evolved. If the infected became demons, it'd be a real headache."
= Indeed. It wouldn't matter to you or us, but it'd be a disaster for regular players and natives.
"That one there is probably a mutant chieftain among the second-evolved—a great chieftain, the rare kind that occasionally appears among chieftains."
Geon-woo said, eyeing the large village encircled by a wooden palisade.
It was the infected boss's village.
Infected species originally infected indiscriminately, turning targets into kin.
As those infected grew, their intelligence developed bit by bit, along with stronger control over lower infected.
The settlement Geon-woo saw was a village built by such grown, intelligent infected.
= They've deliberately gathered their subordinates. Almost no first-evolved infected roam outside. They've only left the bugs and beast infected as is.
As Geon-woo finished his Gangsigong training and began serious hunting, many small infected villages vanished.
That led to boss infected seeking out and attacking Geon-woo's group several times.
But each assault ended in total annihilation of the attackers, with no gains.
Eventually, the infected boss summoned all humanoid infected in the territory to the center, forming the village now before them.
"When numbers grow too large, control gets hard. Bugs and beast infected would just hinder fights if mixed in there."
The infected planned to defend using the palisade.
Thus.
= Hiding behind such a narrow palisade for a siege makes it hard to accommodate bugs or beasts. So, what will you do? There are nearly 5,000 infected inside.
Ilryeong thought even Geon-woo and the jiangshi couldn't handle 5,000.
Geon-woo shared that view.
"Charging in head-on is suicide. We'd die of exhaustion. The jiangshi's Jiangshi Blood isn't infinite either."
Even jiangshi consumed accumulated energy in battle.
That energy was none other than Jiangshi Blood.
They could absorb energy from slain creature corpses mid-fight to make more.
But recovering enough for intense combat was impossible.
Absorbed energy needed time to refine inside the body into proper Jiangshi Blood.
It wasn't instant recovery; it took time, so no workaround.
They had no choice but to rest until Jiangshi Blood replenished.
Even without fatigue from dead bodies, jiangshi couldn't fight endlessly.
= Exactly. So, what then?
Ilryeong looked at Geon-woo, wondering if he had a plan.
"If they won't come out, we switch to attrition warfare from now on."
= Attrition?
"Using the palisade as a defense means they're trapped inside. Chipping away at their numbers bit by bit ensures our victory."
= Won't that be boring?
"It won't drag on that long. Once we fight like that, the great chieftain will catch on. It'll have no choice but to lead its elites out—to catch me."
= So you'll lure them out?
"Reducing the second-evolved infected is key first. Eliminate them, and the fight's as good as won. So let's hope they come out soon."
The priority was eliminating the infected command units.
With that goal, Geon-woo began the battle.
* * *
The infected village before Geon-woo likely held multiple second-evolved.
There'd be only one mutant great chieftain, but under it, two or three chieftains, each with two or three great warriors and shamans.
That put over twenty second-evolved at minimum.
"So we must force the second-evolved to come out, no full-frontal assault. Alright, let's go."
Geon-woo stepped forward ahead of the jiangshi.
= My lord, wouldn't it be better to just use Gungryeong to thin their numbers?
Long-range attacks seemed the surest method now, Ilryeong thought.
But Geon-woo glared as if it were absurd.
"What are you saying? Would that give them a sense of crisis?"
= Even so, charging in like this is basically starting a full battle—what's the difference?
Ilryeong asked, thinking it too reckless.
"We fight a bit, then pull back depending on the situation. Use earth manipulation to hold out longer if possible."
Of course, Geon-woo had no intention of truly facing over 5,000 in open battle.
= Shamans could disrupt earth manipulation. Even without that, warriors or chieftains could easily smash an earth wall.
Earth manipulation, controlling soil freely, could be interfered with by similar psychokinetic powers.
Shamanic magic was the prime example.
"That's why we pull back at the right moment. Just right."
= ....
Geon-woo resumed walking.
Ilryeong started to say more but shut his mouth as Gungryeong loosed arrows, starting the fight.
Words weren't needed now—action was.
Shooo! Shoooosh! Puk-puk-puk!
Thud! Clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang!
As Gungryeong fired arrows, dozens more flew back from the palisade.
But regular arrows bounced off the magic armor worn by Geon-woo and the jiangshi.
In contrast, Gungryeong's arrows felled infected creatures exposing their upper bodies atop the palisade one by one.
Kwaaang! Kwang! Krurrrr!
As Geon-woo and the jiangshi came under attack, the beast infected made by the jiangshi roared and charged the palisade.
Recognizing Geon-woo and jiangshi as allies, the infected viewed the palisade infected as enemies upon attack and struck back.
"Good! Let's charge too!"
Geon-woo powered his legs and followed the beast infected.
The jiangshi dashed alongside him, left and right.