The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, Grisia, Lei, and ThunderHamster. Special thanks to BeatJumper.

The place Weed and Smith arrived at after passing through a black gate was a jet-black stone mountain without a single growing tree .

It was definitely not going to be a normal stone mountain.

The stone was jet black with holes all over, and a river flowed through the area.

- Waaaaah.

- Save us. Save us.

- Let me escape from this pain.

The river cried out. It was wailing like a ghost.

'Is this the River of Lamentation?'

There were quite a number of sculptures on the stone mountain.

Like evil, murderous antagonists, they were sculptures creepy enough to make demons tremble!

The neck of a mother embracing her child was cut off. The mother and daughter were not Human, but Orcs. The Trolls were stabbing each other with spears. Humans were waging war en masse. Even a scene of a village being plundered and burned down was expressed through sculptures.

Following the flow of the river, groups of sculptures were lined up, and continued on endlessly.

“Ahem.”

It was enough to make even the likes of Weed grimace.

Some sculptures only depicted negative scenes that weren’t positive at all.

For a normal person, it was at a level where one couldn’t help but feel repulsed.

But the sculpture Weed liked and could understand was provokingly depicting a slaver.

The sculpture of the man was ignoring the scrawny kids and enjoying a steak by himself. The kids, who looked like slaves, were eating barley bread at most.

"If you don't have money then you will starve! They must be treating them well to give them barley bread..."

It was a sculpture evoking 100% of Weed’s sympathy!

Those kids might be considered lucky to be enslaved under the wicked trader. Because if it was Weed, he might not have even given them a single bowl of porridge!

The procession of sculptures continued endlessly down the River of Lamentation. The river made more rough and raspy groaning noises as it flowed downstream.

- Waaaaah.

- Kill me. Kill me.

When Weed looked after approaching the river, he saw it wasn’t normal water.

Deep inside the river, ghosts of all kinds of monsters and humans were intactly flowing down the river.

They had expressions of distress difficult to see even in the chilling horror of a haunted house.

Smith approached and said, “Maybe it’s the influence of the sculptures?”

“What?”

“I’m talking ‘bout the artwork. The basics of artwork is to move emotions. These sculptures are making the river wail.”

They were words Weed could relate to.

The sculptor’s feelings were buried into a sculpture. They all looked like the same sculptures, but they were actually very different.

A person who keeps waking up at night will definitely look haggard. But there’s no reason for a girl who receives a confession from someone she really loves to appear haggard.

Hopes and aspirations. Feelings full of affection!

Even if the subject was the same, a sculpture will convey a completely different mood depending on the feeling it was sculpted with.

It was something as natural as a poem written by a poet or an author’s writing conveying a different mood depending on their feelings.

A work of art can move the emotions.

If a person’s house was filled with gloomy drawings or sculptures, of course they would also feel depressed and wouldn’t be motivated, either. If their house was filled with negative sculptures, they wouldn’t even want to get up in the morning.

It might be a momentary impulse or simply a feeling, but after several years, several decades, it could definitely change a person.

“It’s the topography.”

“Huh?”

“Shall I say it’s similar to how an apartment overlooking the Han River is more expensive?”

“What do you mean?”

“The better the view, the more expensive the apartment gets. Well, it’s something like that.”

Weed thought he could understand.

If artwork could convey emotion, it was hard to see sculptures made with evil intent, could have given the river a good influence.

Sculptures created by the topography!

Weed was experiencing just about everything as he lived.

“Traditionally, there’s nothing as accurate as an apartment’s price. Besides, we should find out where this place is.”

It was at that time.

Ding!

“Oh my.”

Smith shrugged his shoulders.

“So this is the end of the human continent. I’ve never been here even while working as a mercenary… At least gimme a bottle of liquor. With this, the boasts you can make to your friends at drinking parties have grown. Haw-haw!”

Smith was delighted as he drank.

Weed exhaled a deep sigh.

After wandering here and there, he was now at the entrance of hell. And with a drunk, no less.

‘No wonder the surroundings looked so strange...’

The eerie atmosphere was slightly similar to when he went to Todeum!

He couldn’t feel any traces of humans, and it was incomparably desolate and bleak.

Weed tried pulling out a compass, but the needle just spun around and around without settling. He couldn’t even discern the position of the stars in the sky.

‘I won’t even be able to return like this...’

Weed walked along the River of Lamentation with Smith.

At least a thousand sculptures were grouped thematically along the river.

He couldn’t find any positive sculpture no matter how hard he looked. When he approached a sculpture of a beautiful and adorable lady, the moment he took a closer look, he was able to confirm a shocking scene.

That cute lady was spitting! She was also clutching a frog in her hand.

It was an indescribable scene, plunging him into an emotional shock.

There was also a grotesque scene of muscular women playing soccer. Of course, the soccer ball was an Ogre’s head!

Weed identified to check the information of the sculptures.

“Identify!”

Ding!

- Waaaaaaaaaah.

The groaning sound of the River of Lamentations only amplified as they continued down the river.

On the second day at the River of Lamentations, Weed found some ruins.

The temple of the Matallost Church!

The temple of the church which was thought to have completely disappeared from the face of the continent was here.

The building, which he estimated to be made out of marble, was completely no more than a ruin. It was hazardously built like it was going to collapse at any moment, so it made him worry about entering.

“Summon Death Knight!”

Death Knight appeared with a puff of smoke and raised his sword.

“You called. Master.”

“You, go in there. If there are any living humans or monsters, come out immediately and report.”

“Understood.”

It might lower his Intimacy with Death Knight a little, but seeing they had spent a long time in each other’s company, they were connected through sticky and tough situations.

After searching the temple interior thoroughly, Death Knight came out.

“There is no one inside. Master.”

“Really?”

Weed went inside the temple.

Inside, there were only stone statues worshipping the God who put the enormous temple’s entrance to shame.

“The temple remains but all of the Priests are gone.”

Weed soon came out of the Matallost temple.

There was not a single item left in the Priests’ quarters. His clothes only got smudged with a ton of dust inside the temple.

* * *

The third day on the River of Lamentation!

In a place not very far from the temple, Weed found over 100 Priests and Dark Knights.

“The Embinyu Church!”

A sound like a groan escaped Weed’s mouth.

Even in the region where the Bone Dragon had been, he had found traces of the Embinyu Church. He remembered getting rid of them, with the help of the expedition, Seoyoon, and Alveron.

Weed’s face hardened with seriousness.

“So the Embinyu Church is involved again!”

For him to find the Embinyu Church who had influenced the fall of the Niflheim Empire here, the situation was serious.

For now, Weed hid himself.

There had been over 1,000 Demonic Spirits gathered near the Priests and Knights of the Embinyu Church.

Mighty power indeed!

Moreover, they were performing a grave ritual.

“Kehhh. Do not leave. Take revenge on those who made you like this!”

“Painful and agonizing feelings. Awaken the meaning of despair!”

“Return once more to take your revenge.”

They were performing a Ritual of Slaughter downstream the River of Lamentation.

The river sloshed every time a lamb or deer was offered as a sacrifice. The water spurted high like a fountain and surged like it was going to swallow them.

Every time it happened, the Priests of the Embinyu Church hurried to escape the river.

“Erupt the bitter feelings, endless sorrow, and boiling anger!”

It was when the Ritualists offered the heart of a lamb.

Wooooosh!

The river’s waters sloshed like they were going to reverse direction, and gushed up 10 meters high.

The dirty and murky waste water!

Ghosts made groaning noises while making extremely distorted expressions in the river.

“Looks like they’re doing something… Death Knight.”

“Speak. Master.”

“Defend Smith here.”

“Got it.”

He planned on leaving Smith and Death Knight to try infiltrating alone.

Smith came forward.

“Woah, no. I’ll help. It’s ridiculous to leave recon to a fledgling Sculptor like you.”

“...”

“Where do you think you’re going without me, a first-class mercenary. Trust me.”

Weed threw him the remaining whiskey, about half of what he’d had.

“Ahh! Luxury whiskey! Sure enough, it tastes real good.”

Drinking the liquor thoroughly erased Smith’s thoughts of following the recon. Weed solved the luggage lump problem and infiltrated the Embinyu Church area alone.

‘Infiltrating’ was an exaggeration. In reality, he was just climbing the rock mountain while slowly approaching them!

Every time he crawled, stone debris fell down. When the Priests and Dark Knights of the Embinyu looked like they were going to turn their eyes, he quickly crouched and hid.

The wind blew through the holes in the rock, letting out an eerie ghostly sounding wails.

Weed climbed as near as he could towards the Embinyu Church at the top of the rocky mountain.

It wasn’t enough to eavesdrop on the conversation or activities of the Priests, but he was able to hear what the Dark Knights on guard were saying.

“... Did what?”

“Today… seems like... reported they did that many.”

“To utilize the sculptures… It’s an excellent plan.”

“The Versailles Continent into misery… our goal.”

The words he heard in fragments! Bits and pieces were cut off because of the wind.

Weed tried putting the pieces together to get the meaning of the conversation.

His life was one of his survival senses. By simply seeing the boss’ expression, he could tell if his wage was going to come safely or be withheld.

‘They did that many. Dunno know what that is, but seems like it was about they what were doing with the ghosts in the River of Lamentations… Utilize the sculptures. They’re probably using them to give evil power to the ghosts in the River of Lamentations.’

There could be no other reason for them to be using the sculptures.

The River of Lamentations was becoming increasingly filthy downstream and the spirits were suffering. He had to assume they were interfering with the negative power the sculptures gave off.

“.. Time is like this.”

“Replacement… get a break.”

“Fresh sheep’s blood…”

The Dark Knights’ guard duty was rotated.

Weed silently waited as the next Dark Knights stood guard.

“The wind is strong.”

“The weather is bad… Caltrops emerged…”

They only spoke one or two words in an hour! And they were only talking about things unrelated to the ritual the Priests were performing.

Weed withdrew to the place where Death Knight and Smith were hiding. And when he took out the figure of Death, he saw it was shedding tears.

“No way... Identify!”

It looked like a horse. The relic of the Matallost church opened its mouth. The voice of an old man could be heard.

- Listen.

Ding!

Weed’s eyes brightened.

“Looks like this is the start of yet another chain quest.”

A Sculptor quest!

it was a following quest he received after getting the Statue of Death.

If he accepted this quest and succeeded, a chain quest would continue after he interfered with and destroyed the Embinyu Church’s ritual.

It also meant this was really the starting point of the quest.

Weed did not reject the challenge.

“I will attempt it.”

* * *

The River of Lamentation’s basin!

Monsters and Demonic Spirits were overflowing even a little way off the riverside. It was no exaggeration to say this was the worst hunting ground.

Thin physiques so scrawny, there were only bones left and monsters with dark blue skin radiating electricity!

Hellish monsters were wandering about en masse.

Since the monsters and Demonic Spirits were fighting, Weed couldn’t escape to a safe spot in the riverside either.

“Though the monsters are at the very least in their late 300s…”

The weakest monsters on the river bank were about that level.

The weather was drab, and if there was fog in the air, the electricity the monsters radiated would be formidable in power.

Weed tried an experiment.

“Death Knight, attack!”

“Okay. Master!”

He verified Death Knight couldn’t last 10 minutes before dying after engaging two or three of them!

Since he couldn’t leave the area near the River of Lamentations, it was impossible to guess what kind of monsters he would encounter if he traveled further.

Death Knight could keep reviving since he was a Knight of Death, but he was severely weakened for awhile.

Weed meekly raised his carving knife.

“I should do this slowly, step by step.”

He went to work on the mother Orc with the chopped off head who was holding the child.

The work of creating and attaching the mother Orc’s head!

Since he had to positively change nearly a thousand sculptures on the River of Lamentation’s basin, even Weed could call this a great work in history.

It was when he was making a warmly laughing mother Orc’s head.

The Orc’s eyes gained a sharp, piercing look, and hunger surged in the eyes as they looked down on the child.

Eyes that looked like it wanted to eat its own child!

Its head looked like it was going to make the baby Orc die of a heart attack while breast feeding it.

He had ascertained plenty of the unique sense of beauty with Orc Karichwi, but because his head was full of distracting thoughts, he couldn’t make the sculptures like he wanted.

“This won’t do.”

Weed set down his carving knife.

It wasn’t because he didn’t dare change the thousand sculptures on the River of Lamentation’s basin, or because the ghosts within the river were wailing and the sculptures looked terrifying on the foggy riverside.

The monsters!

He couldn’t ignore the Embinyu Church’s Priests and Dark Knights and while sculpting. It was like telling a growing elementary school kid in his prime to ignore the meat on his plate and only eat the vegetables.

Desire for experience and items. It boiled within Weed until he couldn’t bear it anymore.

Copious strong monsters and items. He couldn’t leave those monsters alone and sculpt an Orc’s head.

With explosively rising thirst, Weed raised his carving knife again. His plan wasn’t to correct the sculptures on the River of Lamentations basin, but to create an entirely new sculpture.

*Slice* *Slice*!

He was making a sculpture by hewing the darkness.

Making a huge sculpture out of stone was the method he was used to. Unexpectedly, he couldn’t cut the brittle, porous stone easily.

“I must make a mount first.”

He recalled back when he had been a Skeleton Knight.

The Skeleton Knight alone had managed the battle he’d been transported to from the Tower of Heroes.

The tremendous acceleration he’d had while riding his horse on the plains in the historical Palrangka battle!

There was no obstacle for a Knight’s gallop.

When he charged, his attack cleaved through monsters. Given a horse, Knights became at least 3 or 4 times more powerful.

“I may be a Sculptor, but I can run.”

He didn’t have a special skill like a Knight did, but even if he didn’t have a skill that allows him to become one with a horse, he was still able to run.

It was also common for Mercenaries to have their own horse once they grew to some extent.

“Even so, I don’t need to bother to sculpt a horse.”

Weed did not want something weak like a horse.

A horse was fast, but didn’t have very high endurance. They behaved differently in variable moods. They were also often afraid of fire, lightning, ghosts, and the like.

He wasn’t a Knight specialized in horses anyway.

“The best of mounts is that after all.”

Weed was a Korean citizen.

The livestock that had appeased people’s pain numerous times in Korea’s lengthy, winding history!

There was no reason to sculpt a horse when there was a strong and firm livestock possessing immense, leathery muscular strength he was so familiar with.

Our cow.

Korean beef!

Weed sculpted the special rock, the jet-black darkness.

The legs were thick and solid. The thigh muscles were incomparably delicate, and the entire body was completely muscular.

If a normal cow raised on grain was dangling with fat for the sake of the meat, the cow he was sculpting right now was different.

This one could enter Versailles Continent’s Mister Bull Olympiad!

If hunk-loving heifers were to see him, they would immediately shake their short tails as they lied down.

“It won’t do to blindly develop muscles.”

Weed even demonstrated the virtue of self-control.

A muscular body might have strong bursts of power, but it had the disadvantage of lackluster endurance and agility.

“I have to minimize the unnecessary muscles and optimize the muscular strength and endurance.”

Weed paid attention to even the bull’s beauty.

Before he won his sculpting victory from Death Hand, he had intentionally made a failed bull to appear weak. He had gained experience while losing Fame. It was why he couldn’t help but be much more skillful as he sculpted the bull.

He sculpted the size of the horns to be around 30 cm (~1 ft) long with its tips sharp enough to penetrate a steel plate, and also made its face broad.

It was a muscular bull, but its butt was expansive.

“The face of Korean cattle must be broad. The bigger the butt, the better. The eyes have to be round.”

His deep-rooted bias concerning cows!

Weed finally completed the sculpture.

“Yellowy.”

It was a black cow right now, but he planned on dying it yellow afterwards.

Weed nodded his head as he looked at the 5 meter (~16 ft) mass of darkness inspiring awe and horror.

“The name ‘Yellowy’ really is perfect for a cow.”

Ding!

Weed was satisfied.

“There is no other livestock that understands our people so well and has rewarded us like the cow has.”

His gratitude towards cattle!

If cattles hadn’t existed in the past, it would have been difficult to farm and many people might have struggled with starvation.

Cattle had supplied the Korean food industry with endless assistance until the development of agricultural machinery.

Weed immediately returned the favor.

It was a waste to simply appreciate a sculpture this awesome. Plus, this was a place normal people couldn’t come to!

“Sculpture Life Bestowal!”

Yellowy!

Light flashed in its jet-black eyes.

He raised his cow head as he dug into the ground with his hind leg.

Mooooo!

It was the sound of Yellowy’s dignified bellow.

Weed was also very satisfied. It would have been more ideal if the rock material was good, but for a mount it was first-class!

“Yellowy.”

Yellowy blinked his innocent eyes.

He was an enormous bull full of muscle, but his eyes were good-natured.

Yellowy opened his mouth. Then he said.

"Yellowy is my name?"

"Yes."

The bull communicated with his feelings. It wasn’t very surprising, either. Even if it was made out of a sculpture, Bingryong and the Wyverns also spoke.

Communication was possible because they had mental connection with Weed. They could understand the words of other people too, but there were many cases where they would ignore them or be unable to express their intentions.

Unless they had outstanding intelligence like Bingryong or Gold Man, communication with a Human or Elf was impossible.

“I don’t think the name is very good. Do you think it matches my rough behavior?”

Yellowy furrowed deeply into the ground with his hind leg.

The ground crumbled as pebbles flew back.

He was a bull with great strength indeed!

“But Yellowy is a good name with feeling. From now on, your name is Yellowy.”

“You are a master I really do not like,” Yellowy said roughly.

He was a loyal cow, but he displayed wariness in the beginning. He was inspecting Weed like a fearful baby calf. He gave off the feeling he was going to decide his attitude after looking at Weed’s subsequent actions.

“What do you plan to do with me from here on? I want to graze on a wide grassland, meet a pretty heifer, have calves, and live peacefully.”

Yellowy dreamt of grazing freely!

Weed shook his head.

“I’m going to ride you and hunt monsters.”

“...”

Yellowy’s brow furrowed severely.

It seemed he possessed reluctance to hunt or fight because of a cow’s nature.

Weed felt the need to teach this naive cow the way of the world.

"Do you think freedom is so easily obtained? Do you have money?"

“I don’t.”

“You spoke of grassland, but have you got land on a wide grassland?”

“I don’t.”

“No money, no land, but you think a pretty heifer is going to like you? Tsk tsk. Heifers these days are very shrewd.”

“...”

“How will you raise your baby cows. Do you want your children to grow up eating weeds their entire lives? You’re going to need something to feed them nutrient-rich hay.”

Weed was informing a cow about the bitterness of society!

Yellowy’s high spirits fell and he became meek.

“Looks like I will need money in life. I understand why I must hunt monsters.”

Yellowy was soon persuaded. He possessed obedience because Weed was his master.

However, Yellowy made a dissatisfied expression when he looked back at his own body. Because on the side of the perfectly muscular body, about one handspan of flab was attached.

Every time he walked, the flab jiggled.

“Master, what is this?”

“That’s rib-eye.”

“...”

Weed considered the rib-eye and shanks important!

Yellow furrowed the ground with his hind leg, showing his obvious displeasure. He was protesting with force.

It was a completely ineffective action.

Weed said in a low voice.

“Yellowy, I see there’s no end to your arrogance.”

“Gasp.”

“I’ll pierce your nose tomorrow and start dragging you around with it.”

“...”

“I’ll make you do field work. Do you want to farm? Wanna plow the wilderness?”

“...”

“I’ll butcher you, nom nom nom, and swallow you. You know soy paste isn’t spread on cooked beef, right? Just as raw beef…”

"How can you say such horrible things...!"

“I’m not one to leave behind a tailbone even for the broth.”

For Weed, making threats for 2 days and 3 nights was possible if he so desired.

At some point, Yellowy furtively bowed his head.

Obedience!

With that, Yellowy’s fate was decided.

* * *

Weed felt Yellowy alone was lacking and made another sculpture.

A sculpture made of light.

His proficiency had increased after making the Wings of Light, and it was a sculpture he attempted with painstaking care.

Blazing bright red color.

The concentration darkened as if flames were taking form.

He made a giant bird.

Since it was a sculpture made of light, making a small figure was much harder. His technique wasn’t perfect, so he won with size over details.

Phoenix!

He created a sculpture of red light and granted it life.

The sculpture came out as a Masterpiece instead of a Magnum Opus of light, but that alone wasn’t too bad of a success. The Phoenix’s special characteric was especially awesome.

The awesome appearance of the Phoenix Down!

[T/N: Phoenix Down is a revival item from Final Fantasy.]

Strength was important for sculptures made by Weed, but the durability of Health was more valuable than anything else.

Necromancers could steadily raise undeads if they had a bit of Mana and a corpse. But every time Weed gave life to a sculpture, it consumed his level and art stats.

So even if he carved a sculpture and made something stronger than an undead, it was over if it died!

Sculptures were faithful, independent individuals.

If they were destroyed, he wouldn’t be able to recover his losses.

Longevity.

Sculptures granted life weren’t consumables, but family he had to develop together while backing their shortcomings.

“The Phoenix is alright.”

Weed made a total of 5 Phoenixes.

Since they were sculptures with the same appearance, they only came out as Fine pieces when he sculpted them again.

Their final level was 400.

“You will be known as the Five Phoenix Brothers!”

“We understand. Master.”

The Phoenixes folded their wings and bowed.

Weed received the bow of the Phoenixes while atop Yellowy.