Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 159

159. The Moon Caught in a Spiderweb (3)

As soon as the Lower Moon Spider arrived, it hovered in the air and shouted,

“Human! Who told you to use spiderwebs like that?!”

“You have to use everything you can. It’s not like I’m really going to become a spider, so it doesn’t matter.”

The Lower Moon Spider bared its teeth and glared at Hyun-woo.

It wasn’t wrong.

After all, their only goal was to maintain their sanity and approach the Queen’s Cocoon.

The Lower Moon Spider was speechless and just grumbled.

As they adapted to the pheromones, they also became almost familiar with handling spiderwebs.

They still couldn’t float in the air like the Lower Moon Spider, but they had no problem quickly stepping and leaping across the webs.

Since what they needed now was speed, not stealth, it was safe to say that the training was over.

The Lower Moon Spider crossed its arms and glared at Hyun-woo. Pheromone adaptation and spiderweb training were all finished. Now all that remained was entering the Queen’s Cocoon.

The Lower Moon Spider thought it was okay to be honest at this point.

“Human.”

“What now?”

“Well, um… Ha, okay. I’ll be honest. I was a little surprised. Not a lot, of course. It’s a natural result since a great genius like me taught you.”

Hyun-woo had a lot to say, but the Lower Moon Spider didn’t give him a chance and continued to speak.

“But I didn’t know that a human, who isn’t even a spider, could learn how to handle spiderwebs so quickly.”

“What? Did you realize that it was absurd yourself?”

“I was thinking that it was like teaching a wingless creature how to fly. That’s why I didn’t think it was very likely, even though it was my sister’s idea.”

“I see you weren’t completely stupid.”

“Stupid… I know, but I don’t want to hear it! My role and my sister’s role are clearly different!”

It seemed to be a weakness that she was surprisingly aware of.

Hyun-woo thought it was okay to reveal his true feelings at this point.

“I have something to say too.”

“What is it?”

Hyun-woo glared at the Lower Moon Spider with an almost hateful expression and said,

“You were a terrible teacher. I really don’t want to see you again, not even in my dreams. I’m sure the memory of being taught by you will remain a trauma for a long time. It will forever be the darkest memory of my school days.”

“…Can’t you tone it down a bit?”

“But even someone like you is still a teacher. I definitely learned something.”

“What?”

Hyun-woo continued calmly.

“I want to say thank you.”

At Hyun-woo’s words, the Lower Moon Spider opened its mouth wide, then shouted with an extremely disgusted expression.

“Ugh, ah! Don’t say such cheesy things so easily!”

“If you didn’t want to hear it, you shouldn’t have done anything to be thanked for.”

Hyun-woo shrugged and took out a caramel from his pocket. It was in celebration of a long-awaited success.

No pheromone, drug, or scent of crystallization could yet match the sweet taste of caramel enjoyed in a moment of victory.

The Lower Moon Spider raised its eyebrows as it watched Hyun-woo throw the caramel into his mouth.

“What’s that?”

“Caramel.”

“What’s that?”

Hyun-woo glanced at the Lower Moon Spider.

‘It’s annoying to explain.’

It looked like a human, but it was actually a spider. Could a spider digest caramel?

‘Well, it’s almost pure sugar, so I guess it doesn’t matter?’

Hyun-woo took out another caramel, thinking it wouldn’t kill it, and threw it to her.

The Lower Moon Spider took the caramel and struggled to open the wrapper. Then, like Hyun-woo, it tossed it into the air and caught it with its mouth.

She seemed to chew for a moment, then tilted her head.

“It’s just sweet and doesn’t taste like anything special. Why are you eating it like it’s the delicacy of the world?”

“That’s not the reaction I expected… Well, there’s a story behind everything. More importantly, let’s have another race.”

Winning once wasn’t enough. He needed to master it more perfectly.

The Lower Moon Spider nodded and followed Hyun-woo. As they reached the starting point, Hyun-woo felt the Lower Moon Spider tapping him on the back.

“Give me one more.”

“…You dirty freeloader.”

He thought it wasn’t really an insult since the other person was a bug, and Hyun-woo took out another caramel.

***

“Sister.”

Night. The Upper Moon Spider’s voice came to the Lower Moon Spider, who was lying on an invisible web bed, looking up at the sky.

The Upper Moon Spider came to the Lower Moon Spider’s side without a sound.

“What are you looking at?”

“Stars.”

The Upper Moon Spider lay down next to the Lower Moon Spider.

The sky, covered with mosquitoes and swarms of bugs, not to mention stars, was still wriggling with a bleak red light.

In fact, it was even ambiguous whether it was night or not. It was a world where nothing was clearly distinguished except for enemies and allies.

“Where’s the human?”

The Lower Moon Spider asked.

“He went to sleep.”

“Even in the midst of all this, he eats everything he needs to eat and sleeps when he needs to sleep… He’s got some nerve.”

“He’s healthy.”

“He might be trapped in the Queen’s Cocoon soon and never come out.”

The Lower Moon Spider raised its finger and drew a line in the air. It looked like it was drawing a picture in the air.

As she scribbled something that left nothing behind, the Lower Moon Spider opened her mouth.

“Do you remember when we could still see the constellations, Sister?”

“No.”

The memories of that time were faint. The Upper Moon and Lower Moon were the same.

Their names were taken from the names of the moon, but it had been so long since they had seen the moon directly that they couldn’t even guess when it was. Everything felt faint, like a tombstone where even the inscriptions had been weathered away. The Lower Moon Spider opened her mouth with a sigh.

“About the human…”

“Yeah.”

“I felt like I was seeing stars for the first time in a long time.”

The Upper Moon Spider turned to look at the Lower Moon Spider. The Lower Moon Spider was still scribbling in the air.

“Not the owners of the stars, but real stars. The ones that are dotted in the black sky and shine.”

“I know what you mean. I think I know what you felt too.”

The dim streetlights, the sky that was so transparent it was almost black, the neon lights that dyed the clouds, and the occasional stars and satellites.

The memories of when all of that was still intact.

In the difficulty level: Hell, stained with madness and death, Hyun-woo’s existence was a strangely vibrant one.

Enough to remind the two sisters of the old scenery they had long forgotten.

“But Sister, you know?”

The Upper Moon Spider said in a whisper.

“Remember what those stars we wished on really were. They were terrifyingly creepy beings that we couldn’t handle.”

“I don’t know. Sister. That human, Hyun-woo… He didn’t seem as bad as he did in my first impression. What do you think? You were the one who brought him here because you thought he would be helpful to us.”

“I just thought it would be helpful to each other.”

The Upper Moon Spider said soothingly to the Lower Moon Spider and paused for a moment.

She had been dealing with Hyun-woo’s mental side, so she often looked into his deeper side.

But when she looked into Hyun-woo’s mind, she often felt a strange sense of incongruity for a moment.

Hyun-woo’s mental walls weren’t as high as other people’s, and he was quite transparent.

But once you got deep enough into his inner self, there was a deep, dark place where it was hard to even set foot.

It was an abyss where nothing could live.

There were cases where it was difficult to look into someone’s mind because they had built mental walls to hide their true feelings, but this was the first time she had seen such an abyss.

It was precisely because of this that the Upper Moon Spider couldn’t blindly trust Hyun-woo.

The irony of having to entrust the Queen’s life to him soon, but not being able to fully trust him, complicated the Upper Moon Spider’s feelings.

As the Upper Moon Spider fell into thought, the Lower Moon Spider hugged her tightly.

“I don’t really know anyway. Sister. It’s always been like that. You do the thinking, and I do the physical work. I think that human is a pretty good guy, but in the end, I’ll follow whatever you want to do. You’ve always been right.”

“…Okay.”

The Upper Moon Spider hugged her back.

It wasn’t strange that the Lower Moon Spider felt ‘stars’ from Hyun-woo.

She herself had been reminded of the starry night sky in his black abyss.

But that was why the Upper Moon Spider tried to be even more careful of Hyun-woo.

“Sister, stars should always be distant. The moment you keep them close, they’ll just burn you.”

“Oh, I think I just saw a shooting star. Did you see it? Or was it just bug poop instead of a shooting star?”

“…….”

***

The next day, when Hyun-woo came to the meeting place again to meet the spiders, he found the spider sisters gathered in one place.

“What, are you having a graduation ceremony or something?”

The Lower Moon Spider’s expression changed strangely. She seemed to be smiling and dumbfounded at the same time.

“Something like that.”

“That’s great. It would be nice to rent a big party hall if possible, but I guess a buffet would be better since our food preferences don’t match. I’m not really into raw food.”

“Human, please, just listen quietly for a moment, even if it’s just for a moment.”

The spider sisters exchanged glances and moved slightly apart.

Hyun-woo felt strange and had a strange feeling. They had been training together for dozens of days, but it was the first time they had gathered together like this.

Most of the conversations were handled by the Upper Moon Spider, and the Lower Moon Spider was the one who made snide remarks.

Then, Hyun-woo suddenly realized what this strange distance meant.

It was the optimal distance for combat.

“Human.”

The Upper Moon Spider opened her mouth.

“This is the last training session. Do your best with what we’ve taught you.”

Before Hyun-woo could answer, an alarm went off fiercely.

[Upper Moon Human-faced Spider (LV 61)]

[Lower Moon Human-faced Spider (LV 63)]

[The ‘Hell’s Strongest’ title increases stats relative to level.]

Chwaaaaaak.

With the sound of skin tearing, the arms of the human-faced spiders split open, and another arm appeared from within.

It wasn’t a human arm, but a sharp spider leg.

Four arms and four legs.

The two human-faced spiders, transformed into a form optimized for combat, attacked Hyun-woo at the same time.

Crack! The sound of the floor breaking was chilling.

Thanks to activating the Battle Helper, he was able to barely avoid it.

However, from the beginning, it seemed that the two of them had no intention of making the first attack fatal to Hyun-woo. The Lower Moon Spider alone was much faster than this.

But the second attack was different.

The moment the Lower Moon Spider’s crescent-shaped hand narrowly grazed his neck, Hyun-woo realized that they were really going to kill him.

Well, what did it matter since he would be resurrected even if he died? Hyun-woo had already been killed by them several times during the training process.

“This is a rough graduation ceremony.”

“Shut your mouth!”

The Lower Moon Spider shouted and pushed Hyun-woo.

Kwack, Kwajik.

The Upper Moon Spider moved sharply the moment he barely avoided getting hit by a leg.

In an instant, Hyun-woo’s right shoulder was pierced.

Fast.

Moreover, even though she was right in front of him, her presence was so faint that it was difficult to even be aware of her.

“Don’t show such a disappointing appearance, human!”

The Upper Moon Spider shouted sternly. Hyun-woo gritted his teeth.

Even fighting one of them alone was difficult in a head-on battle. But two of them, who were perfectly in sync, were pushing him at the same time.

The possibility of winning was hitting rock bottom.

In the first place, Hyun-woo didn’t just stroll up without any preparation when fighting an opponent he couldn’t handle.

But the ‘graduation ceremony’ had already begun. At this rate, he would just die helplessly.

Kwajijijik, Kung! Before long, Hyun-woo was stabbed in the right upper arm by the Lower Moon Spider’s leg.

The Lower Moon Spider whipped Hyun-woo around like a whip and slammed him against the wall.

A pain that made him feel like he was going to faint swept over his body.

The Lower Moon Spider grabbed Hyun-woo’s neck and whispered menacingly.

“What have you learned from me so far? Elegance? Nobility?”

Hyun-woo barely gasped for breath and grabbed the Lower Moon Spider’s arm.

“Patience.”

At that moment, purple flames blazed in Hyun-woo’s eyes.