Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 216

216. When the Star Casts a Shadow (1)

Thump, thump.

Even after his ultimate skill wore off, Hyun-woo continued to pummel his opponent’s head.

The opponent, struck repeatedly, was barely recognizable.

Yet, even then, it twitched, desperately trying to regenerate.

Hyun-woo, barely holding on, tore off the connected limbs, scattering them in all directions before finally stopping.

The creature only showed small convulsions now.

Its original flaming weapon was shattered and blackened, and fragments of broken armor were embedded all over its body.

Hyun-woo’s entire body was soaked with sweat and blood. He was covered in wounds, but none appeared fatal.

Exhausted, Hyun-woo slumped down, landing on his rear.

‘That was close.’

He felt it was a close call even after using his ultimate skill.

If the ultimate skill had ended even a little earlier, he would have missed his chance. But Hyun-woo had managed to overwhelm him beforehand, pinning his opponent down.

‘Or… am I just weak?’

Hyun-woo clenched and unclenched his fist, pondering.

When he first used his ultimate skill during the trial to upgrade Tam, Hyun-woo felt like he held the power to devour the world.

But for some reason, ever since he was forcibly interrupted, using the ultimate skill never felt as strong.

It wasn’t like before, when he held back to control the form. This time, he had given it his all.

It was as if something had shackled the rampaging beast.

It was a disturbing sensation.

‘Well, my basic abilities are getting stronger in return.’

Hyun-woo thought, conjuring black smoke at his fingertips.

He was now so accustomed to manipulating Gang-gi [a type of dark energy] that he didn’t even need to use the Battle Helper.

Considering that the areas covered in Gang-gi gained increased strength, attack power, and defense, his abilities were improving dramatically.

Overall, it felt like he was embodying what was once merely an ultimate skill throughout his entire body. And over time, it became so proficient that it was ingrained in his very breath.

‘I didn’t realize it because there was no one to compare myself to in Difficulty: Easy…’

At this rate, he felt he could easily subdue even Park Do-ryeong from the Northern Expedition.

“Feeling better, Boss?”

Just then, Kirson and Ha-hyun appeared, right on cue. Ha-hyun, for some reason, looked quite displeased.

“Yeah, it feels good to sweat after a long time. Everyone over there is just too bland.”

It looked like he had shed more blood than sweat, but it didn’t matter.

In Difficulty: Easy, which he referred to as ‘over there,’ there weren’t many opponents who could make him sweat.

But Hyun-woo wasn’t a battle maniac or someone driven by competitiveness, so he didn’t bother seeking out fights.

The important thing was winning, not the fight itself.

So it was natural for Kirson and Ha-hyun to find today’s fight strange.

Hyun-woo stood up, dusting off the dirt from his clothes.

His whole body ached from squeezing out his ultimate skill to its limit.

It was a strategy of simply pushing through with brute force, without bothering to assess the opponent’s strength.

He never doubted it would work. Fortunately, the enemy was weak enough to be crushed.

“You…”

The fallen enemy opened his mouth. He seemed to have barely managed to recreate his mouth and lungs by drawing on his regenerative abilities.

It was astonishing that he was still alive, considering the building he had been impaled into and smashed against was now little more than dust, but he didn’t seem to pose much of a threat.

“What… the…”

“Just sleep.”

Hyun-woo stomped on the barely regenerated mouth, crushing it. It squished like pudding, as if the mouth hadn’t been made very sturdy.

Ha-hyun, who had been watching, spoke up.

“What was that guy?”

“I don’t know. He was just wandering around, staring at me in a way that got on my nerves.”

“You don’t even know his level?”

“Nope.”

Then Kirson stepped forward.

“Al-Hugin. One of the apostles of the conquering star. I’ve seen him wandering around here before.”

***

“Apostle of the star? What’s that?”

Hyun-woo asked, puzzled. He felt like he had heard the term somewhere before.

Was it Shaojie? He had said he would kill 100,000 people in Pyongyang and take the seat of an apostle.

At the time, Shaojie seemed like a madman, so he had dismissed it, but hearing it from Kirson made it sound like a real thing.

“The term ‘retinue’ refers to all those who follow a star, but it also refers to the lowest rank. Apostles are special individuals among the retinue. There are no more than five of them, and all were once human. A close example would be the Widow Queen Spider.”

“Is that different from Ha-hyun?”

“This young lady is a retinue member. Power isn’t always proportional to rank, so there are retinue members stronger than apostles… but those who have received a lot of the star’s power are usually above average.”

“An apostle can be weaker than a retinue member? Really?”

“The owner of a dog isn’t always stronger than the dog, but the dog obeys the owner. It’s obvious.”

Hyun-woo looked down at the apostle, Al… whatever his name was, lying on the ground.

He might say they could be weaker, but this guy was strong. At least stronger than Ha-hyun.

It was clear from the fact that he was still alive even after being struck with an ultimate skill.

Considering how easily he had killed the Iron-Blooded Centurion during the trial to upgrade Tam, it was clear that this guy was not an easy opponent.

“Are there ranks above apostle?”

“Above that are called proxies. They are, as the name suggests, the star’s proxy. There is only one, and needless to say, they are the strongest of all the star’s retinue. In the first place, it’s hard to get there without the star’s blessing. That’s all. They hardly ever show themselves, and even apostle-level individuals rarely see them directly.”

Hyun-woo thought of Kawaro.

His face was now a blur, but he vividly remembered the luxurious palanquin [a covered litter for transporting passengers] and bizarre procession he had brought when he underwent the Trial of the Starving Star.

He must have been one of the highest-ranking apostles or a proxy.

Hyun-woo looked at Kirson with a dumbfounded expression.

“You… you know a lot for someone who looks like you do.”

“If you’re weak, you have to know a lot. And your excellent subordinate Kirson is the leader of the reconnaissance unit. I have to know everything that’s going on around me.”

Kirson was always like this, but he seemed particularly confident. It seemed that more than just his body had changed.

Hyun-woo kicked Al-Hugin, who was lying on the ground.

“So what do we do with this guy? According to you, we can’t just leave him here. He’s hard to kill.”

“The apostles of the conquering star only come out when they smell war. He must have something planned.”

“Should we torture him? I don’t think torture would work on him.”

Hyun-woo checked the guy’s level, belatedly.

Level 83.

He was the highest-level monster Hyun-woo had ever caught.

The Widow Queen Spider was similar, but she was not in a normal state, so he decided to make an exception.

Being a high level and a member of another star’s retinue meant he couldn’t just make him a subordinate.

‘I was really lucky.’

Hyun-woo thought, reviewing the fight he had with this guy.

He had used his ultimate skill and rushed in as soon as they met, not giving the guy time to react properly.

Even in that state, he had almost allowed some powerful attacks that could have shaken Hyun-woo.

If he had approached the fight cautiously, it might have been equal, or even in the opponent’s favor.

“Well, the star might be upset, but it’s better to take the time to kill him. If the other guys find out that an apostle has been turned into mincemeat, they won’t stay still.”

Kirson took out his scythe.

But Hyun-woo looked down at Al-Hugin and raised his hand. His hand, enveloped in black smoke, plunged into Al-Hugin’s heart area in an instant.

He could feel the trembling and convulsions of the muscles.

“Hey, snap out of it. Let’s talk.”

Al-Hugin trembled and barely regenerated his crushed mouth.

At this rate of regeneration, it seemed like he would soon return to his original state, but the armor fragments embedded all over his body seemed to be hindering the process.

“What are you? Why were you loitering around here?”

Al-Hugin didn’t want to open his mouth.

But when Hyun-woo pressed down hard on the armor fragments embedded in Al-Hugin’s heart, the guy barely managed to open his trembling mouth.

“To attend… a war council…”

“War council?”

“Yes… a meeting held once every 10 years… I came all the way from afar… I heard there were only insignificant guys here… why is someone like you…”

“A war council is held once every 10 years? What kind of event is that?”

“Ah, this.”

It was Kirson who muttered softly. He seemed to know something.

Kirson quickly approached Hyun-woo and whispered.

“Boss, I don’t think this is a coincidence.”

“What do you mean?”

“Actually, I heard that the Pilgrimage of the Dead from the northern region has changed direction and is gathering nearby. I thought it was just a common gathering, but it’s a bit early. And there have been reports of the Hungry Ones engaging in mass feasting in the southeast.”

“What’s that? So you’re saying monsters keep gathering in one place?”

Since Hyun-woo completed Tam’s trial and mastered his ultimate skill, the area around the crossroads had become quiet.

Hyun-woo had thought it was because he had mastered his ultimate skill, making his subordinates much stronger and becoming a higher-level predator. But it seemed that other things were happening behind the scenes.

“The Dead and the Hungry Ones often have such gatherings. But it’s surprising that the army of the conquering star is holding a war council. They are usually too busy fighting internal wars to hold meetings.”

Hyun-woo thought about what Kirson and Al-Hugin had said. Soon, he could find their common ground.

“Coincidentally, they’re all involved with Tam.”

The Starving Star, Yogulem.

The Wailing Star, Berd.

The Conquering Star, Ardan.

All three had been betting on Tam. And recently, there had been an anomaly in that game.

The winner of the game, who was supposed to be Berd, was someone else entirely.

And perhaps that fact had stimulated something in them.

“This is starting to look interesting.”

“Are you happy that the three most powerful forces in the area are gathering monsters and preparing for war?”

“Of course. What else can I do if it’s not fun?”

Hyun-woo grinned and turned his gaze to Al-Hugin. In a situation where they might soon be at war, he had suddenly captured one of the enemy’s leaders.

It was an extremely coincidental event, but Hyun-woo pondered how to handle it.

Just killing him would be boring.

“Let’s keep this guy alive.”

“Excuse me?”

Kirson asked back, but Hyun-woo didn’t answer. Instead, he looked down at Al-Hugin with eyes gleaming with curiosity and thirst.

Killing Al-Hugin here would only result in slightly weakening the enemy’s forces.

Hyun-woo couldn’t be satisfied with that. Now that he had obtained the weakness called Al-Hugin, he wanted to inject venom through that hole and stab at their insides until they were satisfied.

***

Hyun-woo brought Al-Hugin to the shelter, chained him up, and left him there.

Because his flesh and bones were pierced and connected by the chains, he couldn’t escape even if he regenerated.

The fact that he didn’t have to worry about him dying allowed Hyun-woo to commit ruthless acts without hesitation.

Hyun-woo, who had taken off his torn clothes from fighting him and was looking for something to change into, suddenly saw himself in the mirror. And he noticed something slightly disturbing.

The Restrainer Yul [a mysterious entity or force] was encroaching further on Hyun-woo’s body.

The Restrainer Yul, which had initially only encroached up to his upper arm, now covered his shoulder and even his left chest.

He couldn’t imagine what the inside looked like, but at least it didn’t seem like his blood vessels would be blocked, causing him to die.

‘The encroachment seems to be happening particularly fast lately.’

Hyun-woo thought, examining the part of him that had been encroached upon by Yul.

‘But if this keeps up, it’ll reach my heart.’

He wondered what would happen if the Restrainer Yul covered his heart.

Nothing had happened to other parts, so maybe nothing would happen, but he didn’t want to become an inhuman being.

‘No need to worry too much. There won’t be any bad consequences.’

At that moment, something that was clearly not Hyun-woo’s own thought popped into his head.

Hyun-woo frowned and shook his head.

‘Monstrill.’