Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 288

288. Whispering Star (10)

The crimson tide crashed down.

Gaul felt like he was drowning.

However, each droplet of that crimson wave was rust from the metals he had created, finely shattered pieces.

Gaul tried to melt this rust back into his body, but it was impossible.

Irrecoverable ruins. Materials that no longer held any value.

These red dust particles had been transformed into worthless substances that could no longer be used for any purpose.

And at the center of it was Kang Hyun-woo.

Blood flowed down along Kang Hyun-woo’s affected area. Each spot where blood fell bloomed with destruction.

Metal turned to rust, forms turned to dust, and anything capable of holding heat turned to ash.

Everything hurtled towards the void that all matter could ultimately reach.

Gaul thought about the awakening conditions for ability users’ traits.

Ability users awaken their traits when faced with a life-threatening crisis.

And all living beings, when faced with their limits, stir the memories in their genes to find a way out of the situation.

From their own memories to the experiences of their parents and ancestors from dozens of generations ago.

This is the most basic survival instinct.

DNA is the notepad of those experiences.

All records of survival are written within it.

Hyun-woo’s mana, Hyun-woo’s blood, was awakening the oldest memories of blood to overcome this situation.

***

[Beast’s blood.]

Gaul muttered as if groaning.

No, Gaul’s proxy felt confused.

These words were not his own. The Shattering Star was merely observing from behind, leaving his body for the proxy to control as it pleased.

These words were the first words that the ‘real’ Shattering Star, hidden somewhere beyond that nebula, had unknowingly uttered by borrowing the proxy’s body.

The Shattering Star, Gaul, was trembling.

A tremor mixed with fear, joy, and desire.

[Have I finally found ■■■■■■■? The priests, their struggles were meaningful after all.]

Gaul’s proxy struggled to control his mouth, which was moving on its own.

The Shattering Star, Gaul, seemed to realize that he was making a mistake and disappeared beneath the surface of consciousness.

Control of the body returned, but the situation remained unchanged.

Kang Hyun-woo was transforming into something else.

A beast of the apocalypse.

Gaul couldn’t even block this summoning.

Because Hyun-woo himself was becoming closer to the beast of the apocalypse.

At that moment, Hyun-woo suddenly vomited blood. Blood poured in clumps through his fingers.

The red dust became even denser, but Gaul realized that this state was also causing considerable damage to Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo was burning his own blood to turn the world to ashes. Ultimately, it was consuming his own life.

Gaul felt that Hyun-woo’s power was beyond imagination, but he could still withstand it with his regeneration ability.

Hyun-woo was still weak. The binding force of the leash Gaul had placed was still effective.

Unless he completely turned into a beast, Hyun-woo would eventually lose consciousness or collapse if he just stalled for time.

[Stop it, Kang Hyun-woo!]

Gaul shouted, glaring at Hyun-woo.

[Are you trying to commit suicide? Or are you planning to become another beast of the apocalypse yourself?]

Hyun-woo did not answer.

[I didn’t put a leash on you to restrain you! I tied you up to prevent you from going crazy…]

At that moment, Gaul noticed something strange. It looked like someone was behind Hyun-woo’s shoulder.

Something small, about the size of a palm.

Gaul thought it looked like a fairy with mosquito-like wings.

Gaul shouted in astonishment.

[You! How did you!]

Renian whispered something into Hyun-woo’s ear.

“The promised time has come.”

Gaul quickly summoned a giant spear with all his might and launched it. The spear was aimed precisely at Renian, not Hyun-woo.

“The beast promised to the apocalypse.”

Just before the spear was about to hit Renian directly, Hyun-woo raised his right arm and blocked the spear.

The spear seemed to pierce Hyun-woo’s right arm, but the red blood that spread out the moment it pierced his skin instantly incinerated the spear.

“To devour all living things in the world like locusts.”

[Don’t play tricks, beast! Do you think your master will come back if you do that!]

With Gaul’s rough roar, five, ten spears were continuously thrust in. Upper-level golems rushed in from all directions, thumping.

The masses, weighing enough to form a small mountain, instantly pounced on Hyun-woo. Even the minimum line of keeping Hyun-woo alive had disappeared from Gaul’s mind.

And at that moment, Renian whispered the last words.

“Come to devour like a swarm of locusts.”

Crack.

Gaul looked up at the sky at the bizarre roar.

The sky was tilting. Gaul was flustered by the sky, which was lower than ever.

The sky groaned eerily as it tilted. And soon, countless numbers of mosquitoes, flies, and locusts that had been floating in the sky poured down like a waterfall.

It was a waterfall of the apocalypse that washed everything away.

***

Gaul looked up at the sky.

It was a frighteningly blue sky. He couldn’t even remember when he had last seen a clear sky and sunlight without a single cloud.

The sun was still shining. Under the sunlight that seemed about to fall, Gaul felt naked.

No, in reality, he was as good as naked.

The moment the swarm of insects covered the ground, Gaul ‘separated’ himself from this world, abandoning everything and fleeing.

He threw away his equipment, the familiars he had gathered, and even the storm of summoned spears and blades.

He had to go that far.

The floor was full of red swarms of insects.

Even the upper-level golems that had rushed in like collapsing mountains were shattered and scattered into grains of sand.

If the separation from the world had been delayed even a little, Gaul would have become like that too.

Even the proxies were horrified and fled, and they did not dare to invade the promised land for fear of it starting again, ‘that’.

This was the sight of the apocalypse sweeping through.

After a short time, the swarm of insects began to soar back into the sky.

Red pillars rose massively wherever his eyes reached. Gaul felt a chill as he watched the sky fill with red.

Perhaps other stars and other proxies watching this scene would have felt similar emotions.

Because the apocalypse, which they had said would never start again, had temporarily covered the world.

Gaul reassembled himself, who had been temporarily separated from the world, with a stiff expression.

There were still a few fist-sized locusts left on the floor, rustling. Gaul stepped on the locusts with a look of disgust.

The burst body fluids stained the floor black. Each one was so weak, but once the apocalypse started, it was difficult to survive unless you were a proxy level.

Even worse, if not only those in the sky but also the beasts beyond ‘the boundary’ came over, it would be the end.

But even in the midst of all this, the Sang-hyun and Ha-hyun sisters were safe.

The swarm of insects seemed to have avoided only that place and then flown away.

Lee Seo-yeon was nowhere to be seen, having run away in the meantime. He couldn’t chase her again now, nor did he have the strength to do so.

Gaul silently turned his gaze.

He saw Kang Hyun-woo standing there like a tombstone.

He seemed to have already lost consciousness while standing. His complexion was pale, perhaps due to the large amount of bleeding.

Gaul summoned a small dagger in his hand.

If Kang Hyun-woo had really turned into a beast, he had to admit the failure of the plan and kill him now.

His gaze turned to the return stone.

He could create another opportunity. But if he didn’t kill Kang Hyun-woo now, he would never be able to kill him.

Gaul stabbed the dagger into Hyun-woo’s heart without hesitation. But at that moment, Kang Hyun-woo’s hand snatched the dagger and twisted it.

Gaul looked at Hyun-woo with surprised eyes. Hyun-woo was smiling roundly with opaque eyes.

“The butler is sleeping.”

[……]

Gaul twisted the dagger again and pulled it out. It was not Hyun-woo but something else that was moving Kang Hyun-woo now.

Gaul, who had been suspiciously wondering if he had really become a beast, dismissed his suspicion.

It was something different from a beast.

[Are you the beast of the apocalypse from earlier? Why can the beast of the apocalypse cross the boundary and stay here? It’s not the promised time yet.]

“The promised time.”

Renian, borrowing Hyun-woo’s body, smiled and whispered.

“The time when Master returns is the promised time.”

Renian said that and tapped Hyun-woo’s chest.

“Until then, the butler is diligently managing the house. Let the butler work hard.”

[…Kang Hyun-woo hasn’t become a beast yet?]

“Unfortunately, not yet.”

Gaul stopped the convulsions of his thorns at Renian’s answer.

He had felt that Kang Hyun-woo had been drawn to the Star of the Apocalypse at an unusually fast pace.

He thought there was someone’s temptation. And he thought it was the work of the Whispering Star, who had once made him the Star of the Apocalypse in this world.

But it wasn’t.

It was a pet beast dreaming of the Star of the Apocalypse’s return that had guided him.

Gaul groaned as if sighing.

[Sad beast. Your master abandoned you. But now, do you think you can play the role of your master again if you pick up just anyone? Do you think the stars will condone that?]

“It’s good to babble about anything.”

Renian pointed to one side of the horizon with a grin. Gaul’s neck turned towards it.

“Rather than a beast abandoned by others, the beast you abandoned is coming back now, so why don’t you run away again before you get torn to shreds?”

Thump, rumble…

A sandstorm was raging beyond the horizon, and space was distorted.

Space was mixed and crushed, blowing away the sand dunes. Heat was rushing in, enough to melt the scorched sand dunes into glass.

Gaul made a sound of tearing metal.

[Whispering Star… Did you call it?]

Gaul asked Monstrill, who was not there, but of course there was no answer.

But it seemed like he could hear the Whispering Star sneering from somewhere.

Whispering Star’s ability is to whisper and incite messages to someone. She could even move the proxies of other stars.

Especially if the stars are intertwined with interests.

Ooooooooo!

A huge roar erupted, creating a sandstorm in an instant.

Gaul stood upright and faced the sandstorm.

[It’s none of your business, monster! There’s nothing more you can do!]

Ooooooooo!

[Just stay asleep!]

Gaul gathered all his strength and tried to create a barrier against the approaching monster.

It was a barrier close to the separation of the world, which no one could invade. But before the barrier was completed, a powerful blow struck Gaul’s solar plexus.

A round crack spread through Gaul’s body.

Crack.

The impact sound was heard belatedly. In an instant, Gaul’s body was already soaring thousands of meters into the sky.

Gaul disappeared as if his existence was a lie.

The aftershock of that bounce swept away the dust from the area.

Hyun-woo’s body staggered and collapsed. The intersection, which had been like a sandy beach, regained the silhouette of a city.

And a huge fox appeared from the sandstorm.

It was a fox engulfed in a strange black smoke, burning bright yellow eyes.

But every time the fox stepped, the space distorted and its appearance changed.

What had been a fox became a spider, then an owl, then a centipede, then a strange shape that could not even be identified. Every place it stepped on crumbled and melted.

Standing in front of Kang Hyun-woo, it stared intently at Hyun-woo.

And as if imitating that appearance, it began to change its body again.

Finally, having taken on a human form, it had the appearance of a human woman.

“You’re dreaming. Kang Hyun-woo.”

[Augustro, the Star of Monsters, is watching you.]