Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 273

273. The Sky is Falling (4)

An undead Hunter shambled towards Seo-yeon Lee.

Seo-yeon Lee frowned and checked her equipment.

Having become an ability user only recently, her experience as a Hunter was minimal.

However, thanks to the rewards she received while serving the Starving Star, she possessed a disproportionate amount of power.

Seo-yeon Lee clenched and unclenched her fists, looking around.

There weren’t just one or two Hunters wandering on the Skywalk. Besides Russia and China, quite a few Hunters had climbed onto the Skywalk.

Seo-yeon Lee forced a smile and said,

“Do you like horror movies?”

“I don’t like horror movies with ghosts….”

One of the zombies lunged at Seo-yeon Lee. A running zombie, defying traditional narratives.

Just as Seo-yeon Lee was about to draw her weapon, Yoo-min extended her gun first. With a deafening blast, the zombie’s upper body vanished completely.

Organs and flesh rained down onto the Skywalk.

“I like slasher or gore movies.”

“Then you must like zombie movies too.”

Having dissected hundreds of monsters in the lab, it would be stranger if she were afraid of internal organs now.

The gunshot seemed to have attracted the attention of the zombies wandering on the Skywalk. As if the gunshot was a signal, Hunters who had turned into zombies began to rush from all directions.

Seo-yeon Lee unslung the armaments she had purchased for a hefty sum from her back.

Yoo-min wore a strange expression as she watched Seo-yeon Lee arm herself.

“Are you serious?”

“Why?”

Seo-yeon Lee retorted briefly, instantly smashing the approaching zombie with her mace. The mace, imbued with great force, instantly shoved the zombie’s head below its shoulders.

“Did you think I was just a showy person like my younger brother? How efficient is a mace in close combat situations?”

Seo-yeon Lee skillfully blocked attacks with her shield and struck the zombie’s abdomen with her mace, as if she had practiced quite a bit. The zombie, its spine severed, could not rise again.

It was a simple but clean movement that required no finesse.

The combination of a body strengthened by serving the Starving Star, a legendary shield, and a mace was quite decent.

“Especially when the opponent’s equipment is in good condition.”

Yoo-min couldn’t help but agree with that statement.

Fortunately, the zombies couldn’t use their stats or skills from when they were alive. The problem was their equipment.

As Hunters belonging to the top ranks of each country, their armaments were also top-tier. However, if they were hit by Seo-yeon Lee’s mace, they would become unable to move.

Even when the zombies rushed at her all at once, Seo-yeon Lee calmly blocked and repeated her strikes. Rather, she was becoming more and more skilled as time went on.

In any case, she was also the older sister of Lee Ji-tae, who was considered one of Korea’s best Hunters. She seemed to have a natural talent.

“Looks like you can’t do anything else, can you?”

After knocking down her eighth zombie, Seo-yeon Lee, seemingly confident, raised the corner of her mouth and asked Yoo-min.

Yoo-min simply shrugged. She was also taking down zombies one by one with magic bullets, but she couldn’t use them recklessly.

The number of bullets was limited.

And she couldn’t waste bullets carelessly, even to prepare for Seo-yeon Lee.

It was then.

Something roared fiercely from across the way and charged towards them.

Seo-yeon Lee’s expression hardened at the clearly faster movement than other zombies.

“It seems like an upgraded version of a zombie, what the hell….”

Before Seo-yeon Lee could finish her sentence, Yoo-min pulled the trigger.

The moment the gunshot rang out, it twisted its neck. Blood and fur flew up. The monster’s face was peeled off, but that was it.

Only then could the two recognize its form.

It was wearing a Hunter’s uniform, but half of its body was in the form of a three-meter-sized boar-like beast.

“Be careful, that’s a Hunter who died while using a transformation skill─”

As if to mock Yoo-min’s warning, the boar zombie rammed into Seo-yeon Lee, sending her flying into the air.

Seo-yeon Lee felt dizzy for a moment.

She was still near the edge of the Skywalk. Fortunately, instead of falling, she landed precariously on the Skywalk floor and tumbled across the ground.

“Yoo-min!”

Yoo-min was facing the boar-shaped zombie head-on.

She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger, piercing the opponent’s abdomen. However, it was impossible to defeat the zombified boar zombie with a single blow.

The boar zombie opened its mouth wide to bite Yoo-min.

At that moment, its movements suddenly stopped.

Its gaze was fixed on Seo-yeon Lee. Seo-yeon Lee was glaring at the boar Hunter with her mace lowered and her eyes wide open.

Skill: Evil Eye.

It was the only skill she possessed.

It had the advantage of being able to exert various effects depending on the characteristic, but the only characteristic she currently had was ‘Overwhelm’.

“Get out of the way!”

The skill would end if she blinked. And even if she didn’t blink, her mana was decreasing in real-time.

But Yoo-min didn’t back down. Instead, she dropped her gun and clenched her right arm tightly.

At that moment, Seo-yeon Lee saw Yoo-min’s right arm being submerged in black smoke. Seo-yeon Lee was so surprised by the sight that she blinked.

Skill: Beast of the Apocalypse.

The boar zombie tried to bite Yoo-min as soon as it was released from Seo-yeon Lee’s Overwhelm. But Yoo-min’s right arm pierced the boar zombie’s body faster.

It was a much smaller wound compared to a bullet. But the moment Yoo-min pulled something out from within, the boar zombie’s body stiffened and slowly fell to the side.

Seo-yeon Lee approached with a surprised face.

“What is that? A finishing move?”

“It’s just something you could do too if you’ve dissected a lot of monsters like I have.”

Due to the undead characteristic, the boar Hunter didn’t die, but it seemed that the organs that allowed it to move were completely destroyed.

Seo-yeon Lee looked at Yoo-min’s right arm and asked.

“What the heck is that right hand?”

“The Black Flame Dragon I sealed away in middle school.”

“Did you go to another world in middle school or something?”

Seo-yeon Lee spoke in a grumbling tone, but she remembered that a similar aura had emanated from Hyun-woo.

They were an incomprehensible couple, but at least she could tell that Yoo-min wasn’t just relying on items or Hyun-woo.

“It’s a waste for a girl like you to be stuck with an animal like Kang Hyun-woo.”

Yoo-min replied with a dumbfounded expression.

“You’re one to talk, it doesn’t seem like you’re incapable enough to leech off your brother?”

Those were words that Kang Hyun-woo would ask why they were being so mean to him if he heard them, but a temporary consensus had been formed.

It seemed like it would be okay to be with her for the short time they were staying here.

***

“Shh, just a moment.”

Hyun-woo raised his hand and signaled. Lee Ji-tae, who was following behind, staggered as he stopped abruptly.

Lee Ji-tae glared at Hyun-woo with an unpleasant expression.

“What is it now?”

“I just felt like someone was talking behind my back. Was it you?”

“Well, considering your usual behavior, I don’t think I’m the only candidate.”

“No, what’s wrong with me?”

“……A statement that shows no conscience whatsoever.”

Lee Ji-tae glared at Hyun-woo with a contemptuous expression. He looked like he wanted to stab Hyun-woo right away.

Hyun-woo knew that the hatred was genuine, but he calmly entrusted his back to him.

No, he was deliberately placing him behind his back as if to provoke him.

But Hyun-woo knew that Lee Ji-tae would never stab him in the back.

That was because Lee Ji-tae was an excessively diligent person.

It had become a bit spicy, but a person’s nature doesn’t change that easily.

Besides, he knew that he was an important part of the teacher’s plan, so he had to take this opportunity to tease him.

“If you think I can’t kill you…….”

As if seeing through Hyun-woo’s psychology, Lee Ji-tae whispered.

“……You should know that even if I kill you, it’s also included in the teacher’s plan. Because the teacher’s teaching is that if the allies act according to their beliefs, they will ultimately move towards the best, no matter what they do.”

“You’re unnecessarily serious. I miss the old SF otaku [SF enthusiast] Lee Ji-tae.”

Just as Lee Ji-tae’s expression was about to harden, Hyun-woo subtly gestured towards the corner.

“Petrovich is inside there. It’s the dungeon core that the Russian side occupied first.”

At Hyun-woo’s words, Lee Ji-tae approached the corner, hiding his presence as much as possible.

At that moment, the two Hunters at the corner who were on guard made eye contact with Lee Ji-tae.

But Lee Ji-tae snapping the necks of the two was faster than them realizing who he was.

Lee Ji-tae glared at Hyun-woo, knowing that Hyun-woo had deliberately not told him that there were guards.

Hyun-woo just smiled.

But it was also true that as soon as they passed the two, Russian Hunters were busily moving around.

At the center of it was President Petrovich, who had been ruling Russia for a long time.

“How did you know Petrovich was here?”

“The first thing I did as soon as I came up to the Skywalk was to track the location of the Russian Hunters, you idiot. In case of an emergency, I would have to stop what I was doing and run straight to them.”

He could ask where the Russian Hunters went by interrogating them, but he had to find the heart of the Skywalk himself.

Hyun-woo had simply prioritized the latter.

Instead of rashly jumping in, Lee Ji-tae watched what they were doing.

Petrovich was staring at a red crystal stone placed in the middle of a basalt hall.

Around him, four or five Russian Hunters were collapsed. Petrovich’s face was full of bewilderment and sweat. Something didn’t seem to be going his way.

“You, come here and touch it.”

“Yes.”

The Hunter hesitated, but his body, which was imprinted with obedience, was already moving.

The moment the Hunter approached and placed his hand on the crystal stone, the Skywalk shook greatly.

Lee Ji-tae realized the meaning of the vibrations he had occasionally felt while coming here.

“……They’re trying to move the Skywalk.”

“Yeah. The dungeon made of basalt has attachments that control the functions of the Skywalk, and other than that, there’s a dungeon with monsters that the Skywalk spews out. Petrovich is planning to remove the Skywalk from Saint Petersburg first, and then occupy the remaining dungeons.”

Even if they lost all the dungeons, occupying just one Skywalk would be like creating an aerial city where they could build ten airports.

As a military power like Russia, they couldn’t help but covet it.

It wasn’t just for that purpose, though.

“Ugh, ugh.”

The Skywalk seemed to have moved for a very short time. But the Hunter who had placed his hand on the crystal stone soon began to groan and drool with blood-mixed saliva from his mouth.

Before even a few seconds had passed, the Hunter collapsed on the floor, looking emaciated.

Petrovich frowned even more deeply.

“How did this happen? Why…….”

“President, it seems that the hypothesis we established is true.”

A bald, burly man next to Petrovich said.

“If this is the Skywalk we know, the synchronization process should already be completed. But we don’t see the team that completed the synchronization process, and the dungeon structure is also different. It’s unbelievable, but…… this is not the Pailun we found in northern Siberia.”

Pailun was the name the Russian side used to refer to the Skywalk, meaning the god of thunder in Russian mythology.

Petrovich distorted his face, but the bald man repeatedly stated the fact that he didn’t want to admit.

“This is…… the second Pailun.”

***

Lee Ji-tae was not surprised by the bald man’s words. He just quietly looked back at Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo was not surprised either.

“It’s not surprising that you already knew.”

“If you’re going to be surprised by things like that every time you’re with me, your heart will get worse.”

Hyun-woo already knew about the appearance of the second Skywalk through the White Bone Records.

Unlike the first one, the appearance of the second Skywalk was clear, so Hyun-woo could calmly come and wait in advance.

Petrovich shouted, bursting with frustration.

“We were the first to discover Pailun! We poured so much budget and time into figuring out how to use it, but now you’re saying it’s the second one? Then where did the first one go?”

President Petrovich judged that an anomaly had occurred when the Skywalk suddenly appeared in the sky above Saint Petersburg.

An anomaly such as the Hunters of the Skywalk in the sky above Kazakhstan rebelling or becoming uncontrollable.

It was more rational than thinking that a second Skywalk had appeared. Even from his perspective of trying to use the Skywalk, it was a terrible tool.

That’s why he thought that all the problems would be solved once he occupied this place. But now he had to start all over again from scratch.

Petrovich stared at the crystal stone for a moment and opened his mouth.

“Who was the one who succeeded in synchronizing the first Pailun?”

“It was Baba Yaga [a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking old woman in Slavic folklore]. But…….”

“There’s no choice. I’ll do it.”

The bald man closed his mouth. It was a dangerous task, but he couldn’t just leave it as it was.

It would be the worst if someone from another force occupied it.

Petrovich was the only Russian ability user comparable to Baba Yaga, who had succeeded in controlling the first Skywalk.

Petrovich rolled up his sleeves and slowly placed his hand on it. At that moment, his vision went dark as if the blood was draining from his head.

The senses of his eyes and ears deteriorated, and his hands and feet became cold. Petrovich soon fell into a state of ecstasy.

The temporary dulling of all his senses was a kind of luck for him.

Because he didn’t feel the pain of having both arms cut off.