Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 155

155. Red Pulp (4)

After being torn to pieces by the insects, Hyun-woo resurrected at the crossroads.

However, Hyun-woo didn’t move. He sat down, lost in thought, unable to understand the situation.

‘Why?’

It was his usual time for self-reflection after dying. But this time, his thoughts delved into deeper contemplation.

It wasn’t just because it had been a while since his last death. Hyun-woo couldn’t quite grasp the reason for this particular one.

To be precise, he couldn’t understand his mistake.

‘Was I careless?’

Perhaps. Things had been going too smoothly lately.

More accurately, he had minimized risks except during quests.

When his level was much lower, he could die facing anything, but now he could distinguish between what was dangerous and what was weak.

Now, this area could be considered Hyun-woo’s ‘territory.’ So, he didn’t encounter significant dangers and could proceed easily.

‘Careless, huh.’

Hyun-woo was tempted by that explanation.

The idea that he died because he forgot that insects liked fire was too foolish to use as an excuse… or so he thought.

But the problem was that there was no improvement to be made other than ‘be careful’ in this case.

There was only one way to confirm.

“Let’s try again.”

Hyun-woo headed back to the place where the crystallized flowers bloomed.

This time, he systematically cleared the insects from the outskirts as he advanced.

He deliberately scattered oil around and lit fires to attract attention.

As the acrid smoke covered the surroundings, the flames spewing from Hellburg’s Twisted Passion, which Hyun-woo wielded, weren’t very noticeable.

Hyun-woo advanced triumphantly. This time, he could go a little deeper.

A sweet scent wafted from somewhere.

‘Honey smell?’

It wasn’t a smell befitting the difficulty: Hell, but it was sweet enough to pique his curiosity.

Then, Hyun-woo discovered a bee with jaws larger than his torso in front of him.

The bee flew straight at Hyun-woo, intent on tearing him apart without a word. Hyun-woo jerked his body backward to dodge easily.

At that moment, Hyun-woo’s right foot kicked his left foot, and he fell backward.

The hornet didn’t miss the opportunity.

Hyun-woo got to see what his back looked like.

***

[You have died.]

[Total survival time: 0 days 03 hours 34 minutes 29 seconds.]

***

He was careless.

But it was an unnatural carelessness.

Hyun-woo had Battle Helper activated at the time. [An in-game assistance program.]

Battle Helper’s role was to compensate for mistakes. But it didn’t make sense that a mistake occurred. However, Hyun-woo couldn’t understand.

‘Is there something wrong with Battle Helper?’

Just in case, he tried confronting them without activating Battle Helper.

It was the same.

He even died faster this time.

Each time, as he approached when the sweet scent wafted, he died repeatedly, making mistakes and being careless in ways he couldn’t understand.

Since most of those mistakes happened at critical moments, even if he managed to avoid them once or twice, he inevitably died.

Hyun-woo was perplexed. He felt like he had suddenly become an idiot.

‘I don’t know what’s going on.’

Hyun-woo pondered.

Trial & error.

It was an essential process that had to be gone through when developing space, which seemed impossible. [Referring to game development or problem-solving.]

Finding problems through countless trials and errors and advancing towards a single goal.

Hyun-woo understood that this process was somewhat necessary even in difficulty: Hell.

But repeating mistakes that he couldn’t even understand himself only resulted in meaningless deaths without gaining any data.

‘Instead of reckless charging… let’s use Poison Blood.’

Among the Poison Blood traits, there was a ‘Contagion’ trait that he had but hadn’t used. [A special ability or skill.]

He had obtained it in the very early stages, but he hadn’t even considered using it in reality because it was extremely dangerous.

But in difficulty: Hell… could it get any more dangerous than this?

‘Let’s do it.’

Hyun-woo headed to the building where the crystallized flowers bloomed. This time, he included a few Ratmen who had been involved in the treasonous plot and then snitched. [A race of humanoid rat creatures.]

“If you perform meritorious deeds as warriors, I will forgive your sins.”

Hyun-woo coaxed them like that, but what Hyun-woo actually did was stab them in the back.

The corpses of the Ratmen, injected with Poison Blood, were placed around the buildings.

As expected, the insects that greedily pounced on the corpses were seen becoming infected.

Due to the ‘Parasitism’ trait, the poison didn’t take immediate effect but had an incubation period.

Hyun-woo waited for the Poison Blood to spread to some extent. After waiting for half a day, Hyun-woo released the incubated Poison Blood.

[Level up!]

As soon as he released it, he heard a message that he had leveled up. Looking down below the building, he saw monsters burning black and dying.

Even the ones that were sitting still without doing anything were infected with the poison and quickly died.

About 1/3 of the swarm of insects surrounding the building collapsed in an instant.

[Level up!]

He leveled up twice. It seemed that dealing with various types of monsters, rather than just one type, had a positive effect on experience acquisition.

‘Effective.’

As expected, this method suits him better than fighting directly.

Hyun-woo jumped off the building and headed towards the building. The sweet scent wafted again. It seemed to be coming from inside the building.

There were still insect monsters left, but it didn’t seem like this number would be a big problem.

Chik-chik-chik.

A monster with a mix of cockroach and grasshopper’s long legs approached from Hyun-woo’s right.

Judging by the fact that parts of its body were already discolored and it was staggering, it seemed like it would die soon. But whether it thought it would look better even after death if it ate before dying, it rushed towards Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo took out Tam. [Likely a weapon or tool.]

Kwajik!

The moment he ripped open the belly of the monster that jumped high, countless white masses poured out along with bodily fluids.

Hyun-woo cursed and distanced himself. The cockroach with its belly torn apart twitched and then slumped.

“…I’d rather deal with werewolves or orcs; insects are too harmful to the mind.”

At that moment, the cockroach twitched. Wondering if it was still alive, Hyun-woo started guarding again.

Then, the cockroach’s belly burst in all directions, and countless tiny cockroaches appeared, jumping around.

“This is bullshit.”

The cockroaches swarmed Hyun-woo in an instant. Hyun-woo immediately summoned flames and burned everything around him.

Since he was immune to flames, he didn’t hesitate to burn himself directly.

However, the swarm of cockroaches crawled inside his body, making wounds all over his body and gnawing at him.

None of them were fatal, but it was a creepy experience that made him just want to die.

Hyun-woo saw new baby cockroaches being born inside the cockroach’s body and just started running. And the things happening around him caught his eye.

Everywhere, the bodies of insects were bursting open, and new insects were being born.

What Hyun-woo couldn’t understand was that this was happening in most of the dead insects’ bodies.

The insects that died from Poison Blood were now all spawning grounds.

‘Are they all… female?’

No, before that, even the conceived offspring should have died from Poison Blood. At that moment, a chilling hypothesis came to Hyun-woo’s mind.

Immunity.

Hyun-woo quickly checked the abilities of the new insects.

Almost all of the moving ones had Poison Blood Resistance (Intermediate).

At that moment, Hyun-woo decided that he had to run. Once the ones with Poison Blood Resistance covered the building, this opportunity would never come again.

“Damn it.”

Hyun-woo immediately ran towards the building. Most of the lower part was covered with crystallized moss, and he couldn’t find a place to enter.

However, there was a part where the sweet smell was particularly strong. Hyun-woo soon found a part where the crystallized moss was thinly covered and smashed it.

The inside was dark, and the sweet smell was flowing out so intensely that it made his head hurt.

Hyun-woo put his body inside without hesitation.

***

Hyun-woo opened his eyes to a stinging pain. He belatedly realized that he had stopped and started moving again.

His head was dizzy. The sweet scent seemed to put a leash around Hyun-woo’s neck and drag him along.

‘Where is this?’

The space that was enough to crouch in when he first entered the building now felt cramped even when lying down. He felt his skin being cut.

The building, thickly covered with crystallized moss, was densely filled with small tunnels.

Most of them were dark, and the little light that leaked in was reflected erratically by the crystallized moss, creating bizarre colors.

And the scent.

The sweet scent, like burning sugar, seemed to prick his brain. He couldn’t think of anything. Only the thought that he had to move forward.

‘If I go a little further…….’

Hyun-woo felt like he had become a baby as he crawled on his stomach on the floor.

His arms and legs were too short. The weight of his body itself was too light.

In the crystallized moss containing crumbling light, Hyun-woo could faintly see his body.

It was like a pebble eroded by waves for hundreds of millions of years.

The areas cut off by the crystallized moss were not just clothes.

The arms and legs with only the stumps remaining, and the torso covered in red wounds, looked grotesque.

It was like a peeled tomato.

But there was no pain.

The sweet smell wafted again from somewhere.

Not far. Soon.

Then, he heard very small chattering sounds. It was a sound so small that it would normally be drowned out by the wind.

But now, Hyun-woo was hearing the sounds echoing throughout the building as if he had his ear to someone’s stomach.

Even the movement of the intestines, the flow of blood vessels, and the beating of the heart.

The chattering sounds grew louder and louder.

“What is it?”

“Human.”

“There’s still a human left?”

“I’ve seen this guy before.”

“The Queen protected him when he was being chased by the ogres.”

“I saw him die. But he came back.”

“Resurrected? Is he a vassal?”

“Maybe. But why did he come?”

“He must be heading to the womb.”

“Do you think he’ll arrive alive?”

“No way. He’s too damaged.”

“He’ll resurrect anyway, right?”

“Then.”

The conversation stopped abruptly. In a moment of silence, suddenly the sound came again.

“For the Queen, let’s bet on this guy.”

Something touched his head. It felt like slender fingers were stroking his hair.

Hyun-woo suddenly felt comfortable. And then, the gentle touch suddenly turned into pain. It was a brief moment.

***

[You have died.]

[Total survival time: 1 day 09 hours 41 minutes 09 seconds.]

***

Again, a time for self-reflection.

Hyun-woo seemed to know roughly what the problem was.

The sweet smell.

The closer he got to the place where the crystallization was, the stronger the smell that seemed to pierce his brain became.

It seemed that there was something causing that smell.

Every time he smelled it, his judgment became clouded, he became careless, and in the end, he turned into a larva. [Referring to a stage of insect development.]

‘I need to find out more about that smell.’

If he knew where the smell was coming from and what was causing it, it would be easier to find a way to deal with it.

Hyun-woo stood up. Then someone blocked his path.

It was Kazat. [A character’s name.]

“G-Great one.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m sorry, but you can’t go any further.”

Hyun-woo frowned. Kazat was blocking his way? He wouldn’t expect Kazat to do this, let alone Kirson. [Another character’s name.]

But Kazat was standing in front of him, trembling while holding the staff that Hyun-woo had given him. Hyun-woo looked down at him for a moment and then sighed deeply.

Then he said to the empty air.

“Lenian, if you have something to say, come out and say it yourself.” [Another character’s name.]