Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 14

14. Friend of Beginners (3)

Hyun-woo thought he could fight his opponent on equal terms even without the Battle Helper.

Of course, he was greatly mistaken.

The scarecrow had previously been based on boxing, but Dalian Level 3 began to incorporate more and more martial arts as time went on.

From Wushu to Muay Thai, Jujutsu, Wrestling, Capoeira, and Krav Maga.

[Battle Helper’s proficiency has increased.]

The narrator’s voice chimed in every time he encountered a martial art he had never seen before. When he started seeing unheard-of movements, he was confused as to whether it was a joke or for real.

The moment he had that thought, Hyun-woo was getting hit and knocked down.

Hyun-woo, momentarily careless and relying on the Battle Helper, had his neck broken and died in an instant without finding a way.

It was Hyun-woo’s big mistake to think that he wouldn’t die instantly against bare-handed martial arts.

He entered the third round of sparring with the scarecrow.

***

“Huff, heok!”

Hyun-woo was now able to start in Dalian Level 2 state without running the Battle Helper.

The body is trained through the process of muscles tearing and recovering. Muscles regenerate and become stronger, tougher, and more elastic. The overworked body skipped all the regeneration processes in an instant as it died and came back to life.

Thanks to this, Hyun-woo was able to fight the scarecrow well until the sixth hour.

‘I think I can fight all day long.’

It’s not just that his strength or stamina has increased. The body, which has already been pumped up with stats, doesn’t become noticeably stronger by simply training its strength. The only reason he could think of was.

‘It’s because of the Battle Helper.’

Hyun-woo wasn’t just fighting; he was running the Battle Helper as soon as he filled his mana. But as time went on, he became familiar with the movements even without using the Battle Helper. It felt like the muscles themselves were remembering the movements, not just the motion correction.

Of course, there was a difference in efficiency. If he exerted about 10 combat power when using the Battle Helper, it was about 6 to 7 when he didn’t use it. But that was enough to deal with the scarecrow.

The Battle Helper gets stronger and stronger as it matches the scarecrow’s movements. And the scarecrow also raises the Dalian level according to the Battle Helper.

And Hyun-woo, to be honest, felt like a dog tied to a leash being dragged along on a summer day, following the level of the two.

“Ugh!”

Hyun-woo wildly swung his fists, hoping it would be a little better if he screamed.

The scarecrow’s strange movements are embedded in his body. The hardened abdominal muscles were instilled with the teaching, ‘This is how you punch, baby.’

Hyun-woo gave it back to the scarecrow in the same way. He was so sad that the scarecrow couldn’t scream.

“Updating opponent information for the competition. Starting Dalian Level 4.”

Finally level 4. How many levels are there?

Before Hyun-woo could ask the question, the scarecrow kicked the floor. Dust and stone powder from the floor were sprinkled into his eyes. Unspeakable curses spewed out.

The moment he covered his eyes with his hands, fists flew into his empty abdomen one after another. The moment Hyun-woo secured his vision, the scarecrow’s two fingers stabbed into his eyes.

“Kaaaaaak!”

Hyun-woo screamed as his eyes were stabbed. He barely avoided eyeball rupture, but he couldn’t see anyway. Even with the Battle Helper, he couldn’t fight without securing his vision.

The scarecrow repeatedly struck Hyun-woo’s stomach. Even though he hadn’t eaten anything, something gushed out.

The smell of blood. And it seemed like some digestive fluid and intestines were mixed in as well. Hyun-woo thought he couldn’t do it and ran to the scarecrow and clung to it.

At that moment, he felt an unpleasant sensation, kwajik. Something was biting him. When the scarecrow couldn’t hit Hyun-woo, it opened its mouth and began to attack Hyun-woo. His ears fell off and his neck was bitten.

‘No, what. This is ridiculous…….’

Is this what Dalian Level 4 is like?

This is not martial arts. It’s just a dogfight that takes place under the assumption that you’re not armed. Of course, I know that a dogfight with highly trained martial arts skills is called ‘real combat’ in other words.

Hyun-woo admitted that he was foolish. In the end, the loser has no words. Even if the dead are kicked, they cannot resist.

But Hyun-woo will come back.

***

5th round.

Fortunately, Dalian Level ended at Level 4.

It was difficult to fight a cowardly fight against a scarecrow that had no sand to sprinkle, no eyes to stab, no testicles to grab and burst, no skin to bite, and no hair to pull.

To be honest, he was so angry that he thought about climbing up to a suitably high place and throwing it away. Nevertheless, Hyun-woo won.

“Ugh!”

Hyun-woo roared on top of the fallen scarecrow until his throat burst. After Dalian Level 4, the scarecrow was no longer Hyun-woo’s opponent.

“Is it over?! Huh? Is it over!”

One of the stupidest things in the world is to get angry at a machine, but Hyun-woo was a person who was ready to get angry at even nature if it was an opponent who had screwed him over.

The scarecrow did not show a satisfactory reaction as a loser.

“The sparring has ended.”

The scarecrow just stood there blankly and then stopped.

[Defeated Beginner Scarecrow (1/5)]

And the narrator announced the quest update. Hyun-woo stopped and watched the message. Does this count as defeating it? There were many ways to smash it easily, but the quest was telling him that this roundabout way was right.

“Huh, geez.”

Hyun-woo was somewhat dumbfounded, but he thought that this was the correct intention of the quest. Hyun-woo suddenly wondered for the first time who was giving this quest.

Ability users would just assume that’s how it is, or they didn’t have time to think about it, so they just moved on…….

Anyway, if this is the right way to do it, the next step is set.

Hyun-woo turned his head and looked at the place where the scarecrows were tied. A 1:1 fight and a fight against many would be completely different. Hyun-woo took a breath and took a step closer.

***

9th round.

The scarecrow stretched out its fist towards Hyun-woo. A fist swung from the front is no longer a problem. He can see it and dodge it as much as he wants.

But the fists coming from the blind spot must be avoided only by feeling. Five attacks coming in at the same time. Hyun-woo’s five senses screamed, announcing the attack trajectory. Hyun-woo twisted his limbs and threw his body into the air.

Sweat and blood splattered everywhere. If someone had seen the scene, they would have mistaken it for a dance movement; it was such a beautiful and elaborate movement.

The scarecrows were relentless. Five scarecrows at Dalian Level 4 pushed Hyun-woo with a joint attack that could only be seen in martial arts novels.

Sneaky techniques no longer worked for Hyun-woo.

All the movements that Hyun-woo dodged as if he already knew when the scarecrows stabbed in at the exact timing were like a well-matched and skilled military dance.

Of course, the problem is that the person involved will have his limbs broken if he makes a mistake even for a moment.

Hyun-woo also thought he was dancing.

His partner was death. Death licked its tongue, waiting for Hyun-woo to make a mistake.

But Hyun-woo, who had already died nine times at the hands of the scarecrows, was skillfully dancing the dance of death.

Death and pain are shitty but excellent teachers.

‘Quickly.’

Hyun-woo, the lead and conductor, forced the scarecrows and himself to speed up.

‘A little faster.’

Hyun-woo forcibly accelerated his body. Hyun-woo had not leveled up since entering this gym, so there was no reason for his speed to increase itself.

But his muscles squeezed out speed by omitting unnecessary movements and stopping breathing. A subtle disruption occurred in the dance of death.

The weak ripple that Hyun-woo threw caused confusion in the scarecrows’ unified movements.

‘Now.’

Hyun-woo kicked the air. At the same time as the air-splitting sound, the scarecrows were sucked into Hyun-woo’s path as if they were being sucked in.

Starting with one scarecrow being kicked and falling out, the balance was broken. When a crack appeared in the formation, Hyun-woo forcibly squeezed into the gap.

A fortress with a breached wall had no choice but to collapse.

One scarecrow fell with each movement. As he knocked down the scarecrows in a trance, Hyun-woo suddenly felt a tickling sensation in his stomach.

Hyun-woo was so focused on the battle that he couldn’t be aware of it, but something that came up from his stomach stretched out through his fist.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The moment the last scarecrow fell, Hyun-woo roared for a long time.

All five scarecrows fell and did not get up. It finally meant that the sparring was over.

Hyun-woo’s body, which had won, was more battered than the scarecrows. He can’t win this kind of fight against many unless he gets hit. But he had to endure by getting hit less painfully or by getting hit at an angle.

[Quest successful!]

[The ‘Friend of Beginners’ quest has been successfully completed.]

[One ‘Silver Box’ is provided as a reward.]

[The reward is increased due to level-to-difficulty correction.]

[One ‘Silver Box’ is transformed into one ‘Gold Box’.]

[The return stone is activated until the next quest.]

[Time remaining until the next quest: 21 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds.]

When he heard the quest success notification, Hyun-woo felt a sense of accomplishment. Unlike the last quest, which only required him to endure, this time it was an achievement he had made entirely with his own blood and sweat, without any tricks.

His efforts were being proven by the back of his hand.

Hyun-woo’s hand, which had repeatedly destroyed and regenerated the scarecrow to the point where the skin was peeled off and the bones were exposed, was now trained like a hammer.

It was something that couldn’t happen in a short period of time, but it was thanks to skipping the recovery time through resurrection.

“Ha, damn…….”

Hyun-woo finally took out a caramel from his pocket and put it in his mouth. The taste spread in his tongue and vibrated throughout his body.

He eats caramel every time he achieves something, so now the caramel itself seems like a great reward. Is it like the Pavlov’s dog effect [a conditioned response]?

“Oh, right. I wasn’t supposed to break them like this.”

Hyun-woo thought he had made a mistake as he watched the scarecrows stand up again. In fact, Hyun-woo was planning to learn not only how to fight against multiple scarecrows, but also weapon techniques.

Hyun-woo hesitated for a while, looking at the scarecrows. Even if he fought like this, the scarecrows would start sparring again.

‘No.’

Hyun-woo shook his head. It’s good to learn weapon techniques, but all he has now is a wooden stick. And it will break if he swings it a few times.

He didn’t seem to need to learn the wrong weapon. Besides, Hyun-woo was already feeling that his fist would be better than most weapons.

‘I don’t know how strong the scarecrows are, though.’

When he thought about it, the scarecrows had only sparred according to Hyun-woo’s level.

Now that Hyun-woo has outstanding skills, he will be able to cover up to a certain level, but it was clear that there would be an unbridgeable gap if the stat difference became too large.

‘I’ve finally got the basics.’

He felt like he was being forcibly ‘injected’ with basic skills by the scarecrow.

Hyun-woo decided to look around a little more before returning. There were things he wanted to take from the shelter.

“Ah, I have to open the reward first.”

Hyun-woo took out a golden box from his inventory. Ten cards came out of the golden box.

[The reward is increased due to the influence of the ‘SSS-Class Luck’ title.]

The progress was similar to last time. Seven silver cards and three gold cards. And one card after another began to burn.

Hyun-woo, who was anxiously watching as if his fingers were burning, shouted when the last card remained.

The golden card remained in Hyun-woo’s hand.

30% is not a low probability, but he couldn’t believe that he had been so lucky to win in a row. Anyway, it’s okay to make a fuss after seeing the reward.

Hyun-woo brought his trembling hand to the golden card. The golden card emitted a brilliant light and slowly began to change shape.

What appeared next was in the form of a wrapping cloth.

[Heavenly Cradle (Legendary): Promotes growth or perfectly regenerates lost body parts.]

“……Promotes growth?”