Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 224

224. When the Stars Cast Shadows (9)

The Cursed Ones fell silent.

Some dipped their fingers in the blood and lightly touched it to their lips. Tasting the blood, they frowned.

“Poisonous blood.”

This meant that Hyun-woo’s words were true. He couldn’t have created this much blood on his own.

At that moment, one of the Cursed Ones in the back spoke up.

“There’s a condition.”

“A condition?”

“You’re resting comfortably here while we’re the only ones getting exhausted. We can’t stand for that. You go out and fight too.”

It might really be out of spite, but there was another intention blatantly hidden.

It meant that if there wasn’t a home-field advantage, they could stab him in the back.

“Alright.”

However, Hyun-woo readily agreed.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard such a proposal anyway. Group 7, which had agreed earlier, had made the same suggestion.

‘It’s not just me, but they really lack originality. What are they going to do if they get dragged away like this?’

“I was planning to go out and fight anyway. Let’s just make one more group, the last one. I can’t draw any more blood anyway.”

“Then I agree.”

The one who had asked the question was the first to cast his vote in favor.

Once someone agreed, the other Cursed Ones also turned to an agreeing atmosphere, feeling somewhat deflated.

It wasn’t because they were yielding to threats, but because they judged that there was a high probability of them fighting among themselves if someone agreed.

However, Hyun-woo glared at the one who had first expressed his agreement.

He was also the one who had been observing from the very back and was the first to notice Hyun-woo’s trap.

‘There’s always one that stands out.’

Although he had produced 16 groups of the Cursed Ones, they didn’t all show the same reaction.

Just as there were those who agreed and those who ignored and rushed in, there were subtle differences even among the Cursed Ones.

Among them, there were some who were particularly outstanding. Their stats and temperaments were the same, but their judgment was different.

And the entire group would unknowingly follow the opinion of such an outstanding individual. Hyun-woo wondered if they might be his other branches.

‘Just like how the five stars are showing interest in me.’

The Cursed Ones who were strongly influenced by certain stars died early, while some survived.

Hyun-woo named the leader of the group that survived this time as No. 8.

“Alright. Then I’ll hand over a weapon to each of you, so take it.”

Hyun-woo showed the weapons that had been prepared in advance in the blind spot. He told them to take whatever they liked, but they were rare-grade weapons that were far below his expectations. There were also a few potions included.

Some of them had their eyes shining again once they held the weapons, but most of them had disappointed expressions.

“You want us to fight Apostles with this crap?”

“Shouldn’t you at least give us legendary-grade weapons?”

However, Hyun-woo’s reaction was cold.

“Then go empty-handed.”

These guys had cast their votes in favor, but they were always looking for an opportunity to stab him in the back.

“Catch them, level up, and acquire equipment. I won’t say anything about that. There are monsters swarming around now, and if a few of you join forces, you might not be able to take on an Apostle-level enemy, but you’ll be able to handle a decent one.”

Even if they were poorly equipped, if all the Cursed Ones fought against the Apostles, it might be a fight worth watching.

But that was something that would never happen, even in his dreams.

The Cursed Ones took the weapons with dissatisfied expressions and went outside. And as soon as they stepped outside, they quickly scattered and disappeared into the dungeon.

When most of the Cursed Ones had scattered, the last one remained and looked at Hyun-woo.

It was the one he had named No. 8.

He didn’t have any outstanding external features, but Hyun-woo remembered that he had taken a black dagger as his weapon.

“I have a question.”

“What?”

“How did you defeat us? It couldn’t have been easy.”

Hyun-woo chuckled at the question.

“That’s a stupid question.”

Hyun-woo glossed over the answer. But the guy seemed satisfied with that and looked at Hyun-woo before disappearing slyly.

Hyun-woo felt uncomfortable. There was a high probability that he had asked the question knowing that already.

He didn’t have to show his presence like that, so he might be a guy who was influenced by the Whispering Star.

‘What an attention seeker. How did I defeat you?’

The answer that Hyun-woo omitted was obvious.

‘Does it matter? Anyway, the one who survives will be the real one.’

Either way, Hyun-woo was in that place.

Whether the Cursed One replaced Hyun-woo, or Hyun-woo really killed them all, the conclusion was that the ‘real one’ had to increase the number of Cursed Ones through blood sprinkling.

So, he had agreed.

If he had to sprinkle blood anyway, it would be better to take the ‘real’ one after everything was over.

All the other Nos. 1 to 7 would have thought the same and agreed.

Rather than taking the real one now and becoming a target, they could just deliver the final blow after everything was over.

“Let’s go all the way, stars.”

Hyun-woo poured the last 17th blood vessel onto the floor.

***

The clean sewer wall cracked with a thud. With each repeated thud, the cracks grew larger and larger.

Soon, the radius of the crack became the size of a human head, and a swaying figure emerged from the hole.

It was clearly a creature with flesh, but at the same time, it had a bizarre texture that was almost liquid.

It stretched its body out like a snake and wriggled out of the hole.

Its white skin was covered with blood-soaked wounds and burn scars.

“Damn charcoal-burning warmongers.”

It was Itwaro, a member of the Starving Star.

Itwaro could enter anywhere as long as there was a gap the size of a small girl’s head, so she was able to escape from the fight with Lampel.

Itwaro gnashed her teeth as she looked at the wounds that were not easily healing. They were wounds she had suffered in the battle with Lampel.

It was a battle between Apostles, but basically, the members of the Conquering Star were skilled in combat and strategy. Moreover, Lampel had brought 50 elite Iron-Blooded soldiers from the Centurion.

It was not a fight that Itwaro could win.

She had managed to kill about four or five Iron-Blooded soldiers, but she herself had also suffered many injuries.

‘Besides, what the hell did the Wailing Star do…?’

Itwaro still believed that the undead cluster in the subway station was a prank played by the Wailing Star.

But whatever trick he had played on that prank, the wounds showed no signs of healing at all.

No, they were actually festering.

Such a poison that surpassed the Apostle’s recovery power was serious if it was true.

Among the stars, there were stars that possessed such poison.

The Starving Star was one of them. The Wailing Star also had poison, but she didn’t know if it had such a strong poison.

‘If it’s corpse poison, of all things, it shouldn’t work on me?’

Due to their nature, the members who couldn’t bear hunger often ate corpses. The types of corpse poison they had collected through them were considerable.

Although she couldn’t identify it now, if she went to the Starving Star’s vast treasure trove, there would definitely be an antidote.

Itwaro decided to report the poison and request treatment.

“But… where is this?”

She had seen the army of the dead pressing down from above while digging through the ground.

Since there were no traces of the undead here, it seemed that she had come down quite deep.

However, the regular vibrations of the walls told her that this place would soon be occupied as well.

Fighting the Wailing Star was a loss the more she fought. The dead became the enemy’s forces as they were.

The Conquering Star might be ecstatic, but she, a member of the Starving Star, was different.

It was better to quickly take what she could and get out.

‘I need to go out and see Lord Kawaro soon.’

Itwaro slowly crawled along the ceiling so as not to be easily detected.

It was difficult to recognize her thin, elongated figure in the dark. But she had no choice but to stop before long.

Disbelief crossed Itwaro’s eyes.

‘What is that?’

A man was standing at the corner, as if ambushing someone while waiting. He matched the ‘target’ she had heard from Kawaro.

The only human who had survived without being chosen by any star yet, Kang Hyun-woo.

Surviving in the difficulty level: Hell, where one could not survive without becoming a member of someone, meant that he had considerable skill and poison resistance.

‘His skills are so-so, but in the end, there’s a limit to what a human can do alone.’

She didn’t know how he was alive with the favor of the stars, but in the end, he would end up in someone’s hands.

And he was now exposed defenselessly under Itwaro’s head. Itwaro was rather troubled by his unnaturally defenseless appearance.

‘……Is it a trap?’

Itwaro watched Hyun-woo for a long time. Then, a few ghouls ran from the end of the sewer.

Hyun-woo waited behind the corner and quickly ambushed the ghouls with the long sword he had taken out.

While watching Hyun-woo kill the ghouls, Itwaro felt a sense of futility.

‘He was hiding to hunt down such small fries?’

Of course, it was natural to block the invaders since his entire hideout had been occupied by monsters.

But if the lord of the castle had to fight directly in the castle, wouldn’t everything be over anyway?

From Itwaro’s point of view, who was covered in wounds from searching for Hyun-woo, she could only feel futility.

‘I don’t need to see any more.’

Itwaro jumped down from the ceiling as if attacking and wrapped around Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo was startled and turned his body. But it was already too late. There was no time for Hyun-woo to swing his sword.

Itwaro lightly gave strength and broke a few of Hyun-woo’s bones.

With a cracking sound, Hyun-woo vomited blood.

“I can just drag him away like this.”

He would revive again at the crossroads if he was killed. She already knew that much information.

Since the crossroads was almost occupied by the army of the dead, she had to find a gap to escape without killing him in order not to hand him over to the Wailing Star.

“First, I need to go to Lord Kawaro……”

It was at that moment. She felt a stinging pain in her waist. The moment Itwaro turned her head, she doubted her eyes.

There was another Kang Hyun-woo.

“Snake bastard…… No, an Apostle!”

Thud, thwack! At the same time, Hyun-woo’s with the same appearance appeared from somewhere and pierced Itwaro’s body.

There was a difference in level between Hyun-woo and her, but Itwaro was exhausted and injured. Moreover, multiple targets were making her panic.

“What is this…… Such petty tricks!”

Itwaro immediately judged that these Hyun-woo’s were fake. She broke the bones of the Hyun-woo she had in her body and killed him in an instant.

The blood that burst out at that moment soaked her entire body. That sight confirmed Itwaro’s suspicion.

It’s fake.

“Do you think you can play with me with such childish tricks?”

Itwaro fiercely swung her arms and attacked the Hyun-woo’s.

But the Hyun-woo’s lightly dodged and simultaneously sequentially stabbed weapons into Itwaro’s body.

The strength enhanced by the Enslaved One Yul was inflicting valid wounds on Itwaro’s body even with rare weapons.

Itwaro realized that each and every one of them was not easy to deal with.

They were not the kind of things that could be defeated with a random attack as if sweeping away mobs.

‘What is this!’

It’s not a hallucination, nor is it a clone. If it were a clone, the control would be insufficient or weak, but each and every one of these guys is top-notch.

“An Apostle!”

“Kill him!”

The problem was that such guys didn’t stop there and kept popping out.

Like hunters who set traps and hunt.

The moment she thought that, Itwaro was dumbfounded. These guys know they’re being targeted.

So, they were using each other as traps and using each other as pitfalls. A strategy that could not be devised with simple clones.

‘Could it be that all of these are real?’

As the number of Hyun-woo’s reached double digits, Itwaro felt that she could no longer handle it. At the same time, she felt that her body had become strangely heavy.

‘Poison?’

Itwaro realized that the blood of Hyun-woo that had burst out from her body was seeping into her wounds.

There, the Hyun-woo’s were all smearing red blood on their weapons.

Itwaro recalled the memory that the guy named Kang Hyun-woo had ‘poisonous blood’.

“This crazy bastard!”

Itwaro screamed and struggled as if she couldn’t stand it.

“What the hell are you doing!”

***

Somewhere in the underground sewer.

Hyun-woo raised the corners of his lips after hearing the screams coming from somewhere far away along the sewer.

“They’re having a hard time.”

[Level Up!]

Hyun-woo stretched his body at the notification that he heard once again.

The Shattering Star, Gaul, had given him a trial. But that trial was not unconditionally disadvantageous to Hyun-woo.

Quid pro quo [something for something; a fair exchange].

Whenever the Cursed Ones died, they returned to a handful of blood. But they didn’t just disappear.

From the beginning, they were just branches extending from the central stem called Kang Hyun-woo.

The branches absorb nutrients from the main stream until they are broken and die.

But is that all?

Branches also have their own functions. They sprout leaves, grow by directly facing the hot sun and rain, and shed their leaves when the time comes.

The roots grow again by using the leaves as nutrients.

The Cursed Ones were the same. In the end, they were destined to return to the main stream.

The Cursed Ones also return the experience they had gathered to Hyun-woo.

Right at the moment they die.