Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 270

270. The Sky is Falling (1)

Mai Lunhai was baffled.

Hyun-woo and her team had moved simultaneously upon discovering the Sky Labyrinth. Russia’s swift response was understandable, given their homeland advantage and emergency protocols, but she was certain the South China Union was a close second.

“How did he get up here faster than a helicopter? Russia must have arrived before you,” she questioned.

“I have sturdy legs and hands,” Hyun-woo replied.

“What… are you saying?”

The Sky Labyrinth had thousands of long, trailing tendrils, some anchored to the ground.

Hyun-woo was implying he climbed those tendrils. It seemed impossible, yet there was no other explanation.

A chill ran down Mai Lunhai’s spine.

‘If that’s true, he’s as strong as, or stronger than, Lin Huimin.’

Especially considering Lin Huimin specialized in physical enhancement. If Hyun-woo possessed similar abilities, it would explain his speed.

Hyun-woo snatched a Russian hunter’s radio, clipped it to his chest, and stated, “Anyway, after questioning these Russian guys, it seems your goal isn’t exactly to stop the Sky Labyrinth. Well, that was obvious from how you were fighting even before getting on it.”

From the moment their aerial battle began, it was clear their objective wasn’t to neutralize the Sky Labyrinth, but to monopolize it.

Mai Lunhai realized Hyun-woo had either deduced their true intentions or shared them.

If that were the case, he needed to be eliminated.

‘The Sky Labyrinth must destroy more cities.’

The trial she received from the Starving Star was ‘King of Fear.’ Her task was to instill as much fear as possible in humanity, making them tremble and shudder.

There wasn’t a specific quota, but it was evident that the greater the fear, the greater the reward.

Fear is a lucrative commodity. People readily spend money for safety and security.

It was an effective way for the Starving Star and its followers to satiate their hunger. The monsters emerging from the Flood were merely a secondary benefit.

Regardless of Hyun-woo’s motives, Mai Lunhai had to eliminate all hunters with conflicting agendas to fulfill her trial.

Mai Lunhai subtly conveyed her will to her team members, all of whom were her vassals [individuals bound by loyalty and service].

The advantage of vassals was simplified communication, especially when radio communication was disrupted.

“Sorry, but we are a professional assassination team,” she muttered, clutching the head Hyun-woo had thrown.

“Professional assassination? Is there such a thing?” Hyun-woo questioned.

“Yes. Created to deal with exceptionally strong opponents like you…”

Suddenly, Hyun-woo’s hand moved in a peculiar way, winding thread around his hand and then snapping it taut.

The moment she felt an ominous premonition, she heard the faint ‘ting’ of several pins flying through the air.

Mai Lunhai’s gaze darted to the head Hyun-woo had tossed.

She now saw the grenades haphazardly stuffed into its mouth and interior.

Mai Lunhai frantically threw the head away, but the explosion detonated before it left her grasp.

Kwakwakwang.

Along with the blinding flash, she felt intense heat and pressure tearing through her body. Mai Lunhai was thrown backward, unable to even scream.

She could hear prolonged screams, some of which seemed to be falling from the Sky Labyrinth.

Mai Lunhai found it absurd. The distance between Hyun-woo and herself wasn’t significant, yet he had calmly detonated the explosives.

Mai Lunhai’s vision blurred, but she coughed up blood and attempted to rise.

However, she couldn’t support herself.

Both her arms were gone.

Along with the sound of wind whistling past, she heard more screams and the sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones.

The prolonged screams gradually faded.

Only when the surroundings quieted did Mai Lunhai manage to lift her torso slightly.

But at that moment, a heavy thud and sharp pain in her chest caused her to collapse again.

“Professional assassination team?” Hyun-woo repeated, his voice laced with amusement.

“I don’t think a real assassination team would announce themselves as one.”

“Cough, heuk,” Mai Lunhai choked, unable to respond due to the crushing pain in her chest.

The ribs beneath Hyun-woo’s foot were breaking with sickening cracks.

“By the way, you’re lucky to be alive after five grenades exploded right in front of you. Oh, is it because you’re an Apostle [a chosen follower of a powerful entity]? I’d understand if you didn’t take any damage at all. Hmm, maybe there’s a process where your physical structure completely changes over time.”

“S, save…”

“Professional assassination teams shouldn’t beg for their lives,” Hyun-woo retorted, increasing the pressure with his foot.

“And I promised to kill you in exchange for information about you.”

Thud.

The broken ribs pierced her heart, and Mai Lunhai coughed up more blood. After a final tremor, she died. Hyun-woo acquired Mai Lunhai’s fragment [a piece of her soul or essence] and searched her belongings.

He hoped to find information.

During his search, Hyun-woo discovered something in Mai Lunhai’s gear.

It wasn’t information, but it explained why Mai Lunhai had brazenly claimed to be a professional assassination team.

***

Lin Huimin anxiously scanned the Sky Labyrinth.

The back of the Sky Labyrinth, a massive disc 18 kilometers in diameter, resembled a giant screen.

Colorful patterns shifted, disappeared, flashed, and darkened.

He felt transported to another world, not Earth, but quickly realized the back of the Sky Labyrinth was displaying the landscapes below.

It was broadcasting a live feed of St. Petersburg’s night view, anti-aircraft fire, helicopters, and raging fires.

Like staring too closely at a TV, the screen appeared distorted up close.

Lin Huimin was reminded that he stood on the back of a colossal creature.

But there was no time to dwell on that.

The number of flares launched immediately after arriving on the Sky Labyrinth was only five.

The flares were meant to confirm each other’s location and strength upon arrival, but the meager number was concerning.

Even if some were shot down, at least ten should have been visible.

Most worrying was the absence of Mai Lunhai’s flare.

Something was amiss.

“Lin Huimin, what do we do now?” one of his team members asked.

“We can’t delay any longer. The Russian bastards are moving much faster than us. We’ll pursue them immediately.”

“Understood.”

Lin Huimin, an Apostle of the Starving Star, had prior knowledge of the Sky Labyrinth’s emergence.

While he lacked specific details about its location and path, all Apostles knew something that spewed out monsters would appear. Followers of other stars likely possessed similar knowledge.

Therefore, he had a basic understanding of the Sky Labyrinth and its purpose.

“I found it! It’s a dungeon entrance.”

“There’s one here too.”

Dungeon entrances protruded like misplaced trees across the vast expanse of the Sky Labyrinth’s back.

More than ten dungeon entrances were visible from a slightly elevated position, suggesting dozens in total.

“We need to find the dungeon the Russian bastards entered, and the dungeon where ghouls and gasts [undead creatures] emerge. If you find those dungeons, assign at least two people to guard them and prevent anyone from damaging them.”

Zombies, ghouls, and gasts were representative kin of the Starving Star. Since the trial involved increasing their power, they needed to spread them further into the world.

Soon, Lin Huimin discovered a black basalt dungeon.

The dungeon, with its sharp angles, exuded a cold and harsh atmosphere.

In front of the dungeon, an X was marked in white chalk, indicating someone had already entered. It seemed to be a measure to prevent duplicate entries.

“Is this it?” one of the hunters asked, echoing Lin Huimin’s own question.

“I don’t know. There must be more than one dungeon the Russian bastards entered. But according to intelligence, they have a target they’re looking for. We have to claim it for ourselves.”

Lin Huimin stepped into the dungeon with a grim expression.

From now on, chaos would reign, making it impossible to predict the path ahead or the challenges they would face.

***

After eliminating Mai Lunhai’s team, Hyun-woo dealt with a few more teams from the People’s Front and followed the trail of Song Yeo-un’s group.

Song Yeo-un, Seo Ji-hoo, and Oh Dae-sung were working together to clear dungeons.

They were all promising individuals, but not yet capable of facing the Apostles. However, their dungeon clearing speed was unmatched.

Seo Ji-hoo and Song Yeo-un, in particular, were optimized for rapid dungeon conquest, thanks to Hyun-woo’s rigorous training methods.

“The dungeon itself was surprisingly short,” Song Yeo-un commented, puzzled.

“There aren’t many monsters either. It’s a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?”

There was a boss monster, but it was only at the level of a 4-star dungeon boss, posing no real challenge.

After conquering the dungeon, they found a red crystal the size of a forearm instead of a return stone [an item used to exit a dungeon].

Song Yeo-un examined the red crystal with curiosity.

“What is this? Is there anything special about it?”

“Ah, that’s called a crystal stone,” Hyun-woo said, immediately recognizing it.

Crystal moss is a type of salt crystal formed by condensed mana [magical energy]. Crystal stone was a highly concentrated form of crystal moss.

Previously, crystal stones were only found in Difficulty: Hell dungeons and exclusively controlled by Hyun-woo, but they were now slowly appearing in the Sky Labyrinth, though they would be difficult to obtain.

“Crystal stone? Is it good for the body?” Song Yeo-un asked.

“I don’t know if it’s good for the body, but I think it’s harmful to humans,” Hyun-woo replied, not intending to discourage her.

The bottom of the crystal stone reflected the surrounding environment, similar to the back of the Sky Labyrinth.

At one point, the bottom turned green before becoming transparent again. Hyun-woo sensed that the mana within the crystal stone had slightly diminished.

“It seems the Flood is occurring here in real time. Instead of monsters being created inside the dungeon, they are being discharged outside the Sky Labyrinth. Since ghouls and gasts came out of this dungeon, they must be falling out.”

“Ah, so that’s why the dungeon was so easy?” Song Yeo-un quickly understood.

Hyun-woo shattered the crystal stone with a single punch.

The crystal stone shattered, and the surroundings turned blurry black and white.

“Now this dungeon will no longer function. It won’t be able to discharge monsters anymore.”

“Huh? Dungeons don’t have their return stones broken, and monsters never stop appearing forever, do they?”

Hyun-woo pondered how to explain this concept.

“Um, so… this is a kind of monster clone production room, and the mana contained in that crystal stone is used as power. The same goes for dungeons. If there is too much mana inside the dungeon, a mass outbreak of monsters like the Flood occurs, and if it is depleted, they no longer appear.”

The depleted result is a barren wasteland like the Difficulty: Hell dungeon.

That meant that one day, a massive Flood would occur, depleting all the mana in all the dungeons around the world.

Right now, it was limited to one Sky Labyrinth, and it could be sealed by destroying the crystal stone, but if left unchecked, it would inevitably become like hell.

‘I need to see the results before that.’

Hyun-woo instructed the other hunters to do the same.

“Break the crystal stone as soon as you find it. Anyway… um, it’s nothing.”

Hyun-woo was a star himself, but also a newborn star, unable to claim existing monsters as his kin from birth.

Only monsters who voluntarily swore allegiance, like Kazat and Kirson, could become his kin.

So, unfortunately, the Flood occurring in the Sky Labyrinth offered no benefit to Hyun-woo.

“Break and burn everything. And collect the crystal stone fragments carefully.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s expensive. It will all be your bonus.”

The hunters cheered and began to move even faster.

Hyun-woo decided to separate from Song Yeo-un’s group. He had met her not to support her, but to deliver something to her.

After delivering the item, Hyun-woo headed straight to another dungeon.

‘The other guys must be desperately looking for the basalt dungeon by now.’

The dungeon made of basalt served a different function from other dungeons.

It controlled the Sky Labyrinth itself.

Each dungeon could be controlled in a different way, requiring direct interaction to understand its specific function.

But according to the records he had seen, there was no need to rush.

Rather, the important thing wasn’t the basalt dungeon, but another place. If he failed to secure that, everything would be in vain.

Hyun-woo headed to the second dungeon. But as soon as he entered, he was taken aback.

Hunters were scattered throughout the passages inside the dungeon, groaning and sobbing in pain.

“…What is this?” Hyun-woo muttered.

He assessed the condition of the fallen hunters.

They were all Russian hunters, suffering severe injuries beyond broken limbs, yet none were dead.

Hyun-woo found this even more perplexing.

If monsters had attacked them, there should have been no survivors. But they had only been incapacitated.

Someone other than himself was interfering with the People’s Front.

‘Someone with overwhelming skill, too.’

Hyun-woo gave a potion to the hunter who appeared to be in the best condition. As the hunter’s condition improved, he looked at Hyun-woo with gratitude.

Suddenly, Hyun-woo kicked the hunter in the stomach.

“Cough, uh!” The hunter vomited the potion.

When the recovery ceased, Hyun-woo knelt down and questioned the hunter. “Hey, who did this to you?”

The hunter moved his mouth as if trying to speak, but his words were unintelligible.

Hyun-woo wondered if he should have been more gentle, but the thought of the other person being an enemy made him act impulsively.

Hyun-woo decided to encourage him more kindly.

“The next time I kick you, what comes out won’t be a potion, but your insides.”

Only then did the hunter muster all his strength and repeat the word with difficulty.

Hyun-woo’s expression turned strange upon hearing the word.

“Mask?”