Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 131

Nell combed his long white beard with one hand while staring intently at Kang Yoon-Soo. Eventually, he asked, “Do you even have experience fishing?”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What’s the biggest achievement you’ve had while fishing, for you to be bragging like that?” Nell asked.

“I once fished in a crater,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Then you must have caught a creature that lives in lava. What did you catch?” Nell asked.

“The Dragon of Destruction,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied nonchalantly.

“It must have felt awesome catching that. What did you use as bait?” Nell asked.

“I tied up a corrupted fairy that was still alive and used it as bait,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied calmly.

“A fairy or a spirit would be excellent bait when fishing for mystical creatures. I guess you aren’t bluffing,” Nell said.

Yan asked his father in disbelief, “Father, have you ever used a fairy as bait?”

“There was a time back when I was younger when I used a fairy’s corpse as bait with the permission of the Fairy Queen,” Nell replied casually.

“What did you catch with that?” Yan asked.

“I caught a demon after fishing in a rift for four days and nights,” Nell replied.

“Ah, a demon?” Yan asked in surprise.

“There’s nothing to get so worked up about. It was only a bottom-tier demon that was greatly weakened thanks to the Fairy Queen’s powers. I just caught it, and it was the fairies who killed it,” Nell explained.

The stories told by Kang Yoon-Soo and Nell were so unbelievable that anyone would think they were lying, but these two stubborn men were not the sort of people who would lie about such things.

Shaneth gulped and asked in a whisper, “Is it true? Is it true that you caught the Dragon of Destruction?”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

It was something that had happened in his previous life. He had successfully caught the Dragon of Destruction, but had almost died when it attacked him shortly after.

Kang Yoon-Soo touched the amulet on his neck and said, “We’ll go to the lair of the Dragon of Destruction eventually.”

“…You’re kidding, right?” Shaneth asked with a horror-stricken expression.

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. Shaneth looked devastated all of a sudden when she heard his answer.

Nell rubbed his fishing rod for a while and said, “I decided a long time ago that I was going to pass on this fishing rod if I met an excellent fisherman; otherwise, I would just pass it down to my son.”

Yan immediately waved his hands in protest and said, “It would be like giving a holy sword to a back-alley street urchin if you gave that fishing rod to me. It would be better to give it to someone who can really use it properly.”

Henrick rubbed his chin and inspected Nell’s fishing rod before saying, “It does look a bit strange, and pretty unique. I’m guessing it’s not just an ordinary high-quality fishing rod?”

“I traveled around the continent to find materials to make this fishing rod. There isn’t a thing I haven’t caught with this rod—except for that guy,” Nell said, pointing down at the water his fishing line disappeared into. The line trembled or moved from time to time, but that was about it. He looked at Kang Yoon-Soo and continued, “But still, I can’t give you my fishing rod just based on your words. I want you to prove you have the right to inherit this fishing rod from me.”

“Okay,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“It’ll suffice if you help me catch that plesiosaur. I’m certain that you’ll be a great help, if it’s someone like you who’s had such unique experiences,” Nell said.

“Okay,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied with his usual curtness.

Shaneth was on the verge of crying as she complained, “So it turned out like this in the end… A plesiosaur hunt…”

“These kinds of things always happen to me,” Yan said, sounding exhausted.

“You too? This is a daily occurrence for us,” Shaneth said.

“It’s a daily occurrence for me too. There was a time when I was almost married off to a mermaid my father caught…” Yan replied.

“Oh, is that it? There was a time when we ate food laced with sleeping pills and were kidnapped…” Shaneth said.

Shaneth and Yan went back and forth to see who had the more difficult experiences for quite a while. Henrick, on the other hand, went and talked to Iris, who was still sulking in one corner of the cave.

“Hey, what are you doing just sitting around?” Henrick asked.

“Mung Bean is no longer here,” Iris replied, sniffling.

Henrick clicked his tongue and remarked, “Hey, wasn’t that turtle swallowed alive? Kang Yoon-Soo said it would take four hours for the turtle to be digested, right?”

“I know,” Iris replied.

“Then won’t it be fine if we catch the plesiosaur within four hours and cut its stomach open before the turtle gets digested? It was eaten alive, so it should still be alive,” Henrick said.

Iris’ eyes shot wide open and she exclaimed, “Henrick is a genius!”

“Then are you a moron?” Henrick grumbled.

“I am not a moron,” Iris retorted.

“Then I’m not a genius,” Henrick replied.

The two had an incomprehensible conversation.

Iris suddenly stood up and cried, “We have to catch the owner of the island if we want to save Mung Bean!”

Nell looked perplexed and asked, “The owner of the island?”

“They say the plesiosaur is the owner of this island,” Yan explained.

“No wonder that guy was just hiding underwater and not going anywhere,” Nell muttered.

“Eh? What do you mean by hiding?” Yan asked, tilting his head in confusion.

It was then that the fishing line suddenly tensed up as something pulled on it, and Nell was quickly dragged toward the water.

“The plesiosaur has started moving!” Iris shouted in surprise.

Nell anchored his legs firmly on the ground, but he was still dragged nonetheless. He held tightly onto his fishing rod, large veins bulging in his arms.

Yan ran up to his father and grabbed him from behind, and Shaneth ran over and held Yan from behind in turn. Then, Iris ran over to grab the fishing rod, pulling with all her might.

“It’s too strong!” Shaneth shouted.

The fishing rod showed no sign of being pulled back even though three of them had gone to help. In fact, it seemed as if all four of them would be dragged into the water along with the fishing rod.

Henrick bit his lips and grumbled, “I have a bad feeling about this, but I guess I have no choice…” He took out his summoning box and pulled Rick out of it.

The little girl looked at Henrick with dazed eyes and muttered, “I want to rip your stomach open…”

“Shut up, you punk!” Henrick snapped while furrowing his brows, then moved his mana threads.

After Rick went to help the others out with her immense strength, the rate at which the fishing rod was being dragged into the water greatly slowed down.

Kang Yoon-Soo, on the other hand, leisurely walked toward the water and dipped his Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword in. His blood started to spread and taint the water through the sword, and the pulling miraculously stopped. The fishing line loosened all of a sudden, as if the plesiosaur had suddenly stopped moving.

Yan let out a sigh of relief before releasing his father’s waist and said, “Phew… That’s a relief. Maybe it got tired after trying to run away?”

“It’s not over yet,” Nell muttered while staring intently into the water.

Yan asked, perplexed, “What?”

There was no reason for Nell to respond to his son’s question, as the water’s calm surface suddenly started to thrash violently and bulge outward. The limestone cave started to tremble uncontrollably, and soon after, a large figure shot out from the water.

“Grrrruowww!”?With a roar, a large mouth with razor-sharp teeth snapped at Kang Yoon-Soo, but he deftly avoided it by jumping back.

Kwachik!

The jaw only managed to bite thin air as it missed its target, but Kang Yoon-Soo would definitely have been ripped to pieces if he had avoided it a split second too late. The plesiosaur, which had come up after smelling Kang Yoon-Soo’s blood, dove back down and lurked beneath the surface, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Yan exclaimed in shock, “How do you even plan to catch something that gigantic and vicious?!”

However, Nell showed no signs of giving up despite his son’s desperate pleas.

“Summon Acle,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered.

“Yawn!?Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?” Acle complained, rubbing his eyes.

Then, the plesiosaur suddenly shot out of the water once again, trying to eat the spirit. Acle quickly jumped back while screaming as he clung to Kang Yoon-Soo. He cried, “Euaak!?Help me!”

“Let go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“H-How can you be colder than an ice spirit?!” Acle wailed, tears welling up in his eyes.

Kang Yoon-Soo silently took out the Frozen Crown and placed it on Acle’s head, but Acle narrowed his eyes and looked at him as if to say he would no longer be fooled by that anymore.

“What are you going to try and make me do this time? I. Won’t. Do. It,” Acle said firmly.

“Freeze it when it comes out of the water,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“…Freeze what?” Acle asked nervously.

“The owner of the island,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied while pointing at the plesiosaur.

Acle folded his arms and smirked arrogantly, yelling, “Ha! Piece of cake!”

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around and looked at Nell, saying, “We have to pull it out of the water.”

Nell nodded and adjusted his stance, then said, “Let go of me.”

“What? But won’t you lack strength?” Shaneth asked.

However, Nell shook his head. The party members slowly let go of his waist. Nell threw his straw hat aside and breathed in before saying, “It’s been twenty years since I last used my real skills.”

He gripped the fishing rod in both hands and anchored his feet on the ground, but the veteran fisherman did not display any superhuman strength to pull the plesiosaur out of the water. Instead, he moved his hands and the fishing rod flamboyantly. Surprisingly, the movements of his fishing rod seemed to be controlling the movement of the plesiosaur; still, that did not seem to be enough to fish it out of the water.

It was then that something no less than a miracle happened, making the others’ jaws drop in shock.

“Grwwouuuh!”?The plesiosaur let out a violent roar before jumping out of the water. Even if it was only for a short moment, the creature’s body was fully revealed.

Acle immediately extended his hands and shouted, “Ice Storm!”

A freezing cold gust blew and froze the water into a thick sheet of ice. The plesiosaur was stuck, with half of its body in the water and the other half out of it. It thrashed around violently, trying to break free.

“Grrrrrrrrrrr…!”

“Euk!?Why the hell is this guy so strong?” Acle complained.

The thick sheet of ice slowly started to crack, and the plesiosaurus seemed about to dive back in and hide underwater. However, Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Iris and said, ”Zap it.”

“Okay,” Iris replied. She slowly walked toward the plesiosaur before extending both hands. Then, bolts of black lightning shot out from both of her palms, striking the plesiosaur with loud, thundering booms. As she mercilessly rained black lightning on it, she shouted, “Give me back my Mung Bean!”

Yan was greatly surprised to see Iris’ power. He then asked her, “Are you a monster as well…?”

“Oh, my! How did you know?” Iris replied in surprise.

“Huh? What?” Yan was confused by her response.

Pak!

Henrick flicked Iris’ forehead, causing her to sulk.

Eventually, Iris’ black lightning dissipated and she said, “I am out of mana...”

“Try to control your mana if you’ll be using magic from now on,” Henrick said, clicking his tongue.

He then moved his mana threads and sent Rick to climb atop the plesiosaur’s body, which had just been burned by black lightning. The beautiful little girl nonchalantly dug her hand into the plesiosaur’s eye socket and pulled out its eyeball.

“Krrrrruuu!”?The plesiosaur roared in agony.

“Hihi! Look at this! It’s an eyeball!” Rick cried excitedly while giggling like a little child.

“I’m so proud of you. Why don’t you try and pull out another ball next time? Well… The only other ball in the body aside from the eyeball is… Hmm… I can only think of something only men have. I wonder if that plesiosaur has those as well?” Henrick mumbled.

“Are you so free that you have time to joke around?” Shaneth rebuked him before slashing down at the plesiosaur with her blazing scythe. She cut open a portion of its stomach, spilling some of its guts.

The plesiosaur opened its mouth and roared wildly. “Krrwaaaaah!”

Then, dozens of large larvae wriggled and crawled out of the plesiosaur’s mouth, vomiting gobs of sticky liquid. Shaneth immediately jumped back, and the spot she had just been standing in instantly melted away as a larva’s vomit hit it.

Yan shouted in surprise, “The larvae are spitting acid!”

“My son,” Nell called out.

“What is it, father?” Yan asked.

“I have eyes too,” Nell replied.

Yan was dumbstruck by his father’s casual response.

Nell called out loudly, “Please retrieve the fishing hook.”

Henrick sent Rick to pull out the fishing hook stuck between the plesiosaur’s teeth. Nell pulled back his fishing line, then cast it outward again. His fishing hook stitched together the dozens of larvae that had been vomiting out acid.

“I respect you, Father!” Yan shouted loudly before throwing his harpoon with all his strength. The larvae spat out a final gob of green acid before dying all at once.

“Grrruo!”?The plesiosaur roared and thrashed wildly.

However, Acle gritted his teeth and continuously refroze the cracking ice, while the other party members unleashed constant attacks against the plesiosaur.

It was at that moment that Kang Yoon-Soo, who had been watching from afar the entire time, finally drew his sword again. The blade emitted a threatening red glow.

[The Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword has started to suck its owner’s blood.]

[Your blood offering has unleashed the mad swordsmanship of the Vampire Lord!]

Kang Yoon-Soo had been observing the plesiosaur’s decreasing life force, thinking, ‘It went easier than I thought it?would.’

The situation felt all too strange for him. The plesiosaur was a monster that was usually incredibly difficult to raid. He had originally expected the ice to break, causing the battle to move underwater.

‘But it’s different this time,’?he thought.

There were moments when Acle’s ice came close to being broken, but in the end, it remained intact. It bought enough time and provided enough openings for the other party members to unleash a barrage of attacks against the plesiosaur. They were all aware of what their roles were, and they gradually began to actually relax while maintaining focus and vigilance. The situation unfolded so well that Kang Yoon-Soo did not really have to join the battle, and that was not merely because they had been able to fish the plesiosaur out of the water.

‘Why is it… Why did it become like this…?’?Kang Yoon-Soo wondered. Was it because he had chosen the most efficient, yet perilous path? Or was it because they had gone through numerous life-and-death situations while building up their teamwork?

Kang Yoon-Soo gripped his sword firmly and told himself, ‘Stop thinking of useless?things. What’s important right now is to kill the Demon Lord.’

He ran across the thick ice that was on the verge of cracking, then jumped high into the air. Right as the plesiosaur opened its jaws wide to attack him, he swung down with the magic sword that had feasted on his blood.

Sukeok!

“Grrruuoo!”?The plesiosaurus let out a final roar before being cut in half like a piece of paper. Its large body sank, filling the water with blood.

[You have killed the owner of the island, the Plesiosaur Waterchemedon.]

[Your level has risen.]

[The aquatic creatures that were being suppressed on the island have finally been liberated.]

As Henrick watched the scene of Kang Yoon-Soo killing the plesiosaur, he suddenly asked, “Why did that guy only show up at the last minute to take the kill…?”