Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 102

102. Approaching Threat (3)

The Lycanthrope groaned and writhed. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but having his flesh pierced by chains and one eye destroyed was painful, even just breathing.

“So, what are you? Are you hostile to Orcs?”

“…Yes. I’ve already killed plenty of them.”

Hyeon-woo figured as much. Considering the Lycanthrope’s abilities, taking down three or four Orcs would be no problem. With repeated ambushes, he could probably wipe out a squad in an instant.

“Why?”

“Those arrogant bastards invaded my territory first.”

Hyeon-woo looked at Kirson. Kirson shook his head.

“The wolves’ territory is further away. He must have been driven out or escaped from there.”

“Driven out?”

“I heard the pack leader changed recently. When a new leader appears, the wolves kill the old leader’s offspring as well. Sometimes, they escape like this. Only Lycanthrope bloodlines can challenge the leader, so that must be it.”

Kirson looked at the Lycanthrope with a mocking expression.

“The reason wolves, despite their superior physical abilities, couldn’t escape being slaves of the Fallen Empire is because they maintain such primitive customs. Deciding the hierarchy by fighting with pure physical ability, without magic, equipment, tactics, or politics.”

“They’re way behind the times.”

Hyeon-woo and Kirson laughed and teased the Lycanthrope.

The Lycanthrope seemed to be on the verge of a fit, but there was no way to resist Hyeon-woo. Hyeon-woo pressed the dagger against his remaining eye before he could transform again.

“Are there any others besides you?”

“…No. But there are those tracking me.”

“If he’s a descendant of the former leader, there’s a high chance he has trackers. It’s quite a distance, but he must have thought he was safe and tried to settle here.”

Even Kirson looked down at the Lycanthrope with pity about this.

Hyeon-woo pondered how to use the Lycanthrope.

He had made him one-eyed, but he was still reasonably handsome. Of course, that was a useless trait in Difficulty: Hell, but it was different in the present.

He seemed a bit dim-witted, but he might be quite useful if used well. After a moment of thought, Hyeon-woo exchanged glances with Kirson and whispered a conversation.

The Lycanthrope watched them anxiously.

Hyeon-woo, having finished a brief consultation with Kirson, approached with a relieved expression and a smile.

“I’m interested in your abilities, mutt. More than anything, the fact that you can transform into a human seems quite useful to me when I need it. So, I’m thinking of bringing you to our side. What do you say? Can you obey me?”

The Lycanthrope’s face twitched. Cooperation was one thing, but obedience was out of the question.

“Obedience? What a joke. We Lycanthropes never obey any…”

“I thought so.”

Hyeon-woo cut off the Lycanthrope’s words and raised Tam. At the same time, Kirson grabbed the Lycanthrope’s hair from behind and pulled it back sharply.

The Lycanthrope’s head was forcibly pulled back, and his mouth opened involuntarily. He hurriedly tried to say something.

Tam’s blade pushed into his mouth. It was too late to transform again.

‘At least let me die like a warrior!’

The Lycanthrope desperately looked at Hyeon-woo. He had never imagined being executed so miserably, unarmed and helplessly restrained.

If he met such a shameful death, he would never be able to go to the glorious wilderness where his ancestors were.

But all Hyeon-woo’s eyes showed was ruthless murderous intent.

[The Shattering Star, Gaul, is watching you.]

“If you’re a dog, you should have thought twice before baring your teeth at a human.”

The blade brutally dug into his throat.

***

Three wolves were sniffing the ground with their noses.

The wolves found Orc corpses, traces of battle, and white fur, but they couldn’t find the target they were looking for.

A little later, two wolves that had been separated returned. As soon as they returned, the wolves transformed into bipedal forms.

“He’s not around here.”

It was a low rumble, more like a growl than human speech. But it was enough to be understood.

The other wolves also changed their forms. Only one transformed into a human form, and the rest transformed into bipedal forms. The wolf, who had transformed into a young woman, said.

“It’s clear he fought here, but he suddenly went berserk.”

“Against Orcs?”

The wolves tried to laugh, but the female shook her head.

“It doesn’t seem like Orcs. Not bite marks or claw marks. It’s like the Orcs fought among themselves, or something else happened. Besides, even without a pack, Yerdenarsk wouldn’t be defeated by Orcs.”

“Then did he die to something unknown?”

It was a common occurrence in this world. Wolves who strayed from the pack being slaughtered by something unknown.

The wolves felt a chill at the Lycanthrope’s, a member of the royal bloodline, demise, but they also felt relieved.

If they completed the mission, they would be able to return to the pack.

But the female werewolf glared at the other wolves and said.

“Don’t even dream of returning until you recover the body. The chieftain ordered us to bring back his head. At least gather his skull.”

The wolves were intimidated.

A large Orc pack was also discovered nearby. One werewolf could easily handle four or five Orcs, but that was an army-level force.

In a battle between packs, not individuals, the outcome was determined by tactics and numbers rather than individual skill. Therefore, they had to be as careful as possible to avoid conflict.

“Whatever attacked Yerdenarsk isn’t easy. First, let’s follow the traces as much as possible…”

At that moment, the wolves who had transformed into bipedal forms all raised their noses. The female werewolf realized they had smelled something and hurriedly changed her form. Soon, she could smell it too.

It was the smell of blood.

The smell of their kin’s blood.

The wolves hurriedly ran towards the direction the blood smell was coming from. They were able to find the source of the smell not far away. A Lycanthrope with pure white fur was lying dead, horribly mangled. His fur, as bright as moonlight, was stained with blood.

“Yerdenarsk…”

And behind the corpse stood a human man. The smell of Yerdenarsk was so strong that it was hard to smell anything else, but he didn’t seem to be a werewolf. He was too short.

“Were you chasing this guy?”

The human opened his mouth without hesitation. The werewolves exchanged glances secretly. Several tried to circle around behind the human, but the human raised his hand as if to tell them to stop.

Instantly, chattering noises and yellow eyes appeared from the ruined buildings around them. It was countless swarms of rats.

A Ratman Sorcerer walked out from behind the human, tapping his staff.

“The Fallen Empire…!”

Agitation spread among the werewolves. The Ratmen, like the Orcs, were no match for the werewolves individually. But the Fallen Empire was a symbol of terror for the werewolves.

The conflict between Orcs and werewolves was a fight between warriors, but the Ratmen of the Fallen Empire mechanically and industrially slaughtered and dismantled them.

‘I thought they were destroyed, but are there remnants left?’

It was a possibility. All that was visible was one Sorcerer, but there was an eerie atmosphere about him. The pungent tar smell and dark fur color were unlike any Ratman they had ever seen. The human waved his hand.

“Let’s refrain from unnecessary conflict.”

The female werewolf retreated the other wolves who were about to move.

“Who are you?”

“Kang Hyeon-woo. Ah, I don’t need to know your names. I’ve memorized you as Spot, Whitey, and Blackie.”

The werewolves growled as if they couldn’t bear this insulting attitude.

“You’re a dirty fur supremacist!”

“…Ah? Was that the problem? Well, I guess. Calling you by your fur color does sound a bit discriminatory. I apologize. But it doesn’t matter. I won’t have many chances to call your names anyway.”

The human, who identified himself as Kang Hyeon-woo, kicked Yerdenarsk’s body.

“Take him away.”

Amidst the werewolves’ wary atmosphere, the female werewolf stepped forward first. Everyone wanted to stop her, but nothing happened until she dragged Yerdenarsk’s body away.

“What do you want?”

They could run away as is, but she was curious about the human’s intentions.

No, from the beginning, a human.

Few among the tribesmen had seen a human. They thought they were already extinct, but a human leading a remnant group of the Fallen Empire had suddenly appeared.

For a moment, the female werewolf felt a slight chill.

The cause of the Fallen Empire’s sudden demise had not been properly revealed.

The stars were silent, and there were no survivors.

The prevailing theory was that one of the other stars had intervened and destroyed them in an instant, and if that conjecture was correct, the human in front of them was not someone to be taken lightly.

“May I ask which star you serve?”

[The Whispering Star, Monstrill, is watching you.]

Hyeon-woo didn’t care about hearing the message that Monstrill was watching him at a strange time.

“That’s a secret. What I need is a little cooperation.”

“We will help if it’s something we can do. But our tribe serves the Roaring Star, Hirmas, so please understand that we can only cooperate to a reasonable extent.”

“It’s nothing much. I’m just trying to catch a few Orcs.”

A puzzled atmosphere spread at the word Orc. Could Orcs really be a problem that he needed their cooperation?

The female werewolf began to wonder if the human in front of her was less impressive than she thought.

The female quietly sensed the surroundings. She was too surprised when the Ratman first appeared to check properly, but the countless presences nearby were all swarms of rats, not Ratmen. A swarm of rats would die if she just let out a roar and stopped their hearts.

Just as she was about to explode in anger at the thought of being deceived, Hyeon-woo opened his mouth.

“Ah, you guys just need to stay still. It’s not a big deal. If my goal was just to kill 100 Orcs, I could ask for your cooperation, but it’s a quest where I have to kill them all myself. So, I can’t borrow anyone else’s hands.”

Crack! Blood splattered from behind her. Yerdenarsk, who they thought was dead, had risen and was biting the neck of one of the werewolves.

As everyone was shocked, the female werewolf hurriedly rushed towards him.

“To pretend to be dead and then ambush from behind! Have you abandoned your pride as a warrior, Yerdenarsk!”

Instead of an answer, a frenzied howl erupted. The blood of all the werewolves in that place ran cold. Swarms of rats, Ratmen, and Goblins began to rush in.

The female werewolf looked into Yerdenarsk’s eyes. Only hunger and madness filled those eyes.

She bit her lip tightly, resolving to make this child comfortable even if she died, and swung her claws.

***

The severed head of the female werewolf was hanging on a long pole.

The Orc chieftain stared at the head for a long time before gesturing. The Orcs ran up and pulled the head down.

Besides the female werewolf, four other werewolves were dead nearby.

The corpses were discovered in the morning. The scouting party had discovered the corpses while returning to the encampment.

The Orcs discussed the corpses for a long time before finally starting to drag them into the encampment.

Hyeon-woo, who was watching the scene from afar, looked at the Lycanthrope, Yerdenarsk, sitting next to him, and said.

“You should say thank you, right?”

Instead of answering, Yerdenarsk growled and glared at Hyeon-woo. But because of the restraints of the covenant around his neck, he could not take any active action other than petty resistance.

“I saved your life and killed the guys who were chasing you. What’s the problem?”

“You… defiled the pride of a warrior…”

“Yeah. Kid. I know that the pride of a warrior is a really good thing, but it doesn’t seem to help much in life.”

Hyeon-woo stroked Yerdenarsk’s head.

“I don’t know if your dad was a warrior, but I don’t know if the person who killed your dad was a warrior either. At least, I don’t think the guys who mercilessly catch and kill even the cubs have any right to say that. That’s not the pride of a warrior, it’s barbarism.”

Yerdenarsk did not answer. It was a satisfactory silence for Hyeon-woo.

When he thought enough time had passed, he sent a signal to his rear. The Orc, revived as a subordinate, nodded as if he was ready. Hyeon-woo touched the mortar shell and asked.

“Is it aimed?”

“Squeak, yes.”

The Orc loaded the mortar shell and fired. The moment the firing sound rang out, Hyeon-woo watched the trajectory of the shell. The mortar shell flew and directly struck the Orcs’ encampment.

With the explosion, Orcs flew everywhere. But the fallen Orcs didn’t seem to have taken much damage.

Hyeon-woo fired the shell again. But the mortar shell provided shock but could not deal much damage. The limitations of modern weapons that have not been itemized meant they could not deal great damage to monsters.

And when he reached the last three shells, he said to Yerdenarsk as if he couldn’t help it.

“Well, that doesn’t mean that civilization is necessarily better. But one thing is certain.”

Bang. The fired shell drew a long trajectory and fell to a certain point.

At that moment, a huge explosion occurred.

In an instant, fragments of something that had sprung up from the center of the explosion riddled the Orcs. Hyeon-woo smiled at the sight.

“It kills better.”

[Eliminate 100 Orcs.

(76/100)]