Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 162

162. The Moon Caught in a Spiderweb (6)

The leaning building looked precarious.

Holding the building together, preventing its collapse, was the crystalline moss that covered almost its entirety.

The crystalline moss grew thicker towards the bottom, making the lower part appear especially bulky.

Yet, with every gust of wind, the steel frames screamed, producing a chilling sound.

Below the building, a red mist undulated eerily. It was the mosquito swarm that periodically swept the ground.

The mosquitoes gorged themselves on the fluids of the insects, and after some time, they flew back into the sky. Some, intoxicated by the scent of crystallization, remained behind.

“Let’s go.”

Hyeonmu and the human-faced spiders rose, watching the mosquito swarm depart.

“The insects won’t be able to move for a while. They’ve had their fluids drained and are busy laying eggs.”

Hyeonmu stretched his limbs, loosening his body.

“Let’s begin.”

The Upper Moon Spider nodded.

Long, sturdy spiderwebs were intricately connected to them and the building.

The Lower Moon Spider infused mana into the spiderweb that stretched to the point where the building began to thicken with crystalline moss.

Soon, a deafening roar accompanied the anticipated explosion.

Fragments of the building and crystalline moss flew in all directions.

Many of the spiderwebs leading to the building were severed, but a few strands remained.

It was enough for Hyeonmu to break through.

But there was something to prepare first.

“Breach.”

Hyeonmu sent his will to Khazrat. Khazrat, who had been waiting on the ground, struck the rumps of the lead ratmen with his staff.

“Run, you swine!”

“Squeeeeak!”

These were the ratmen who had rebelled in the shelter, only to be suppressed and modified.

They were twice as large as other ratmen, their bellies swollen as if they were about to burst.

The modified ratmen charged towards the building, making sounds like pigs.

The insects, having just had their blood sucked by the mosquitoes, couldn’t react much, and even the few motivated ones kept their distance from the ratmen’s foul stench.

The ratmen hurriedly climbed towards the hole created by the explosion. But no matter how well the ratmen could climb walls, it was difficult to climb with their bodies swollen almost into a sphere.

“This isn’t going to work.”

The Lower Moon Spider clicked her tongue and stood on the railing.

She reached out and waved her hand in the air. At some point, one of the modified ratmen floated up.

With a light flick of her hand, the Lower Moon Spider flung the modified ratman’s body towards the hole.

At that moment, a bang echoed, and black smoke billowed from inside the hole.

“Oh… that wasn’t exactly what I intended.”

The Lower Moon Spider looked at Hyeonmu with a bewildered expression.

“That’s exactly what I intended. Can you keep going?”

“Did you put some kind of flammable material inside them?”

“Something like that.”

To be precise, it was a diluted version of Hyeonmu’s blood mixed with things that could be used as fuel.

The modified ratmen were created with the intention of injecting Hyeonmu’s blood into them and having them charge into enemy territory to self-destruct in case of emergency.

Since Hyeonmu’s blood wasn’t infinite, they were made with the intention of keeping half of it in reserve. The venomous blood only maintained its effect inside living organisms.

They were, so to speak, ‘walking, venomous blood drums.’

‘Or venomous bugs… no, venomous rats, I guess.’

As more of the modified ratmen were thrown into the hole, the building now resembled a chimney.

If there were any monsters inside without resistance to the poison, they would be completely dead now.

But that wasn’t the only thing Hyeonmu intended.

Along with the black smoke, a terrible stench wafted from the building.

“Good. Now, let’s go in.”

It was a stench to mask the scent of crystallization as much as possible.

The smell would soon become familiar, and the scent of crystallization, infused with mana, would be ineffective once you got close enough.

But it would certainly help to get as close as possible.

“Like I said, wait here…”

At that moment, a ratman exploded near the hole with a deafening bang.

The explosion was much louder than when the hole was first made in the building. The spider sisters looked at Hyeonmu with surprised expressions.

“What, what was that just now…”

“Oh, damn it. Did someone miscalculate the amount of flammable material?”

The explosion occurred outside the building, so it didn’t cause much damage to the building itself. At most, it blew away the outer shell and windows. But the bigger problem was elsewhere.

The explosion had cleared away a significant amount of the crystalline moss.

Creak, creak, creak.

The building, barely supported by the crystalline moss, couldn’t withstand the weight from above and slowly began to buckle.

The spider sisters’ faces turned pale. At this rate, the building would collapse.

While the spider sisters were panicking, Kang Hyeonmu leaped and ran.

Before they could stop him, Hyeonmu ran along the spiderweb and disappeared into the black smoke in an instant. The Lower Moon Spider hurriedly tried to follow.

“Sister!”

“No.”

Seeing this, the Upper Moon Spider quickly grabbed the Lower Moon Spider.

She made a cold-blooded judgment. This situation was clearly a mistake. But that didn’t mean they could go into the collapsing building.

Even if they could withstand the impact, if they were buried and exposed to the scent of crystallization, there would be no turning back.

“The inside of the building is likely completely different from what we scouted. Besides, visibility is terrible in this black smoke. We need to stay here as planned.”

“But the human went alone! We have to help!”

The Upper Moon Spider’s inner thoughts became complicated.

The reason Hyeonmu jumped in without hesitation was that he had the ability to revive. But they didn’t have that ability.

The Upper Moon Spider had to fully consider the possibility that Hyeonmu might not be able to save the Widow Queen Spider, and what their lives would be like afterward.

But the Lower Moon Spider’s expression looked desperate. The Upper Moon Spider made a decision.

“I’ll go.”

“Sister, I’ll…”

“I can withstand the scent of crystallization longer than you. Even if I scatter into small spiders, my recovery is much faster. You’re only good at handling spiderwebs, but I’m better in terms of senses. If the human needs help, he’ll need my senses.”

She had a higher chance of coming back alive.

The Lower Moon Spider was good at handling spiderwebs, but that wasn’t a necessary skill inside a burning building.

But the Upper Moon Spider had definitely mastered the necessary skills.

“But…”

“We can’t be a burden if we can’t help the human, right?”

“Yeah…”

“And there’s something you can do outside.”

The Upper Moon Spider whispered something in her ear. The Lower Moon Spider’s eyes widened.

“Can you do it?”

“Uh, uh… it’ll be tough, but I’ll try! I have to! I’m the only one who can do it!”

It seemed like she had diverted her attention appropriately. The Upper Moon Spider smiled and ran into the black smoke after Hyeonmu.

A terrible smell and stinging smoke assaulted her senses.

She began to advance, weaving spiderwebs densely to create a path that Hyeonmu could follow even in the pitch-black darkness.

***

Hyeonmu, having shaken off the spider sisters and entered the building, paused to see if there were any signs of them following.

He was worried that the Lower Moon Spider would follow immediately, but fortunately, it seemed that the Upper Moon Spider had stopped her.

‘I need to hurry.’

This explosion was intentionally caused by Hyeonmu.

He had deliberately increased the explosive ratio of one of the modified ratmen.

It was all to shake off the spider sisters. He had planned to enter alone, but this was the only way to avoid the Upper Moon Spider’s suspicion.

[The ‘Red Pulp’ quest has begun.]

[Defeat the Widow Queen Spider.]

This was the quest Hyeonmu had received.

Breaking his promise with the spider sisters was not a pleasant thing, but in the end, Hyeonmu, who could not escape the difficulty: Hell forever unless he completed the quest, had no choice.

But he didn’t want to turn the spider sisters into enemies either. Whether for practical or emotional reasons, it was the same.

‘After taking the Crystallization, I’ll kill the Widow Queen Spider while faking a building collapse.’

This was the plan Hyeonmu had made.

He could have just killed the Widow Queen Spider without doing this and said, ‘I arrived and she was dead,’ but it didn’t seem like they would accept it so easily. So, it was best to bury it by making the scale bigger.

‘I’m getting soft.’

To go through such a troublesome process just to save a monster.

They had even killed him several times.

Even though it was with consent, they were the only two who had killed him and not faced a life-threatening crisis.

At that moment, something assailed Hyeonmu’s nose. Hyeonmu immediately held his breath. It was the scent of crystallization.

Considering the time he could hold his breath, the limit he could withstand the scent of crystallization was about 4 minutes. That was the limit. Hyeonmu hurriedly began to run.

Although the path had been cleared by the explosion, the crystalline moss gradually became thicker as he approached the womb.

But Hyeonmu’s body was not yet weakened. Hyeonmu broke through the crystalline moss and ran forward.

Bang. Crack.

The crystalline moss shattered, and as the movements became more intense, his breathing became more labored.

Hyeonmu exhaled and then inhaled deeply, focusing. If he made a ridiculous mistake here and died, it would all be over.

‘Damn it, where the hell is the Crystallization?’

The small spiders that the spider sisters had sent disappeared as soon as they approached the womb, so he could only guess the approximate location, but he didn’t know the exact location.

Hyeonmu held his breath in the darkness and black smoke, breaking the crystalline moss, and was looking for the room where the Crystallization was hidden somewhere in that ambiguous place.

Thwack. Tear.

It was then.

The moment Hyeonmu struck a certain space, a red light leaked out from the darkness.

Hyeonmu desperately struck the wall in succession.

As soon as a space large enough for his body to pass through was created, his breathing became rapid. Hyeonmu exhaled again and inhaled.

At that moment, he felt the scent of crystallization permeating him so intensely that it struck his head.

“Kuh…”

Hyeonmu felt like he was being subjugated like a dog.

The scent he smelled right in front of the Crystallization was on a different level. No, not just the scent, but even the light that leaked out was sweet.

“Uaaaaaagh!”

Hyeonmu screamed and stabbed his leg with Tham [his weapon].

Blood spurted out, but he was able to barely regain his senses for a moment. Hyeonmu quickly pushed his body into the hole.

The moment he passed through the wall, something sticky clung to his body.

‘Blood?’

No.

To be precise, it was something like a soup of bodily fluids, melted flesh, and bones.

The terrible thing was that they were still alive.

Even though they had lost their shape and were limp, they were wriggling and functioning as part of the body, mixed together and alive like a single living organism.

Hyeonmu stabbed Tham into his thigh once again.

If he didn’t come to his senses, he would become like these guys.

Hyeonmu turned his head towards the center of the room. There, the bluish light of the crystalline moss, the Crystallization, bloomed like a crown.

‘I thought it would be red since it’s called Red Pulp?’

But he couldn’t see anything else.

Suddenly, he wondered if ‘Red Pulp’ referred to the flesh and fluids of the numerous living organisms surrounding the womb, and the enormous amount of crystalline moss.

No, these weren’t crystalline moss. They were crystalline stones.

These were the pulp. And the Crystallization was the seed.

There was no time to worry about anything else. Hyeonmu had less than 30 seconds to hold out.

Hyeonmu pulled himself out of the sticky fluids and barely reached out his hand towards the Crystallization.

Just before Hyeonmu’s hand touched the Crystallization, something grabbed it.

“Karrhk.”

It was something with the vague form of a woman.

Trapped inside a torn cocoon, she was moving her indistinguishable fingers and tightly gripping Hyeonmu’s hand.

No status window or warning sound appeared, but Hyeonmu knew immediately.

It was the Widow Queen Spider.