Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 275

275. The Sky is Falling (6)

As soon as Lee Seoyeon saw the Heart of Cheonru, she immediately knew it was something extraordinary.

She might not have felt much difference when she wasn’t an ability user, but it was different now.

A tremendous amount of mana, enough to make her heart pound, was pulsating within the crystal.

“…Is this the only one?”

“Yes. The crystal looked different from other dungeons, so we were investigating. Monsters weren’t appearing either.”

Perhaps that was why Lin Huimin and his hunters hadn’t left this place.

Her gaze immediately turned back.

She knew that Yumin and the hunters from the Jeonneungryeon [a fictional Korean hunter association] were following her.

Sure enough, Song Yeowoon was seen deploying hunters for a surprise attack.

“Intruders!”

Lee Seoyeon preemptively shouted first.

Song Yeowoon clicked his tongue and gave up the surprise attack. Now, there was no choice but a full-scale battle.

Lee Seoyeon looked at Yumin’s frozen face. Judging by her expression, she didn’t seem like she would easily give up after failing the surprise attack.

‘Was this Yumin’s purpose?’

It was an item that could easily fetch hundreds of billions, no, trillions of won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to millions/billions of USD] even if sold. But there was no way Yumin would come here herself just for money.

‘If this is something related to Cheonru’s function?’

Then the value of this crystal would be beyond imagination.

“What, who are you guys!”

“They’re Korean bastards!”

The South Chinese hunters immediately formed ranks and took out their weapons when the Jeonneungryeon hunters appeared.

After all, on Cheonru, everyone who wasn’t on their side was an enemy. A tense atmosphere, as if blood would be shed at any moment, filled the air.

“Wait.”

At that moment, Lee Seoyeon quickly held out her hand.

Although she had revealed Song Yeowoon’s location to prevent the surprise attack, Lee Seoyeon had no intention of fighting the Jeonneungryeon at all.

It wasn’t because she was afraid of losing. Even without Lin Huimin, the hunters gathered here were all top-tier hunters from the South China Alliance.

She thought their average level was superior to the Jeonneungryeon.

But if something happened to Yumin, her connection with Kang Hyunmu would be immediately cut off.

‘Even if it’s cut off eventually, it can’t be like this right now.’

She hadn’t proven enough value to the Starving Star.

Her relationship with Kang Hyunmu was also being evaluated as useful to Helen.

But if they became enemies like this, there was a high possibility she would be branded as worthless.

The unknown crystal and her relationship with Kang Hyunmu.

It wasn’t difficult to weigh which of the two was more valuable.

Lee Seoyeon opened her mouth before the atmosphere became even more awkward.

“…They are not enemies. They are allies.”

“Yes?”

The South Chinese hunters asked with bewildered expressions.

Some of them had already fought with Jeonneungryeon hunters. There was even someone who was there when Kang Hyunmu set Lin Huimin’s body on fire in the bar.

“They are carrying out my orders. They came to find this crystal and check its function.”

“What are you talking about? Those bastards are Kang Hyunmu’s underlings! They must be after this crystal…”

“Anyway, this crystal is just a somewhat expensive and pretty stone to us. But if you’re still suspicious, we can check it out.”

Lee Seoyeon stared at Yumin. Yumin would have understood what she meant right away.

Of course, Yumin understood.

It meant that if she lowered her head for a moment in this place, she would hand over the authority to investigate the crystal.

Lee Seoyeon would save face in front of her newly acquired subordinates, and Yumin would get the crystal.

It was a simple problem.

Substance or reputation.

Both sides could solve it simply without bloodshed, but she had to endure a slight loss of face.

It was a proposal that Kang Hyunmu, who wouldn’t bow his head to anyone, let alone Lee Seoyeon, wouldn’t even make.

But Yumin would…

Yumin smiled and opened her mouth.

“Lee Seoyeon-nim [formal Korean title]. I feel sorry that you arrived here first.”

“Try to hurry next time.”

Yumin put away her gun first, and the hunters on the Jeonneungryeon side hesitated before putting away their weapons.

Only Song Yeowoon glared at the hunters before reluctantly putting away his whip after being kicked in the shin by Seo Jihoo.

Yumin stepped forward, approached Lee Seoyeon, bowed slightly, and shook hands.

Yumin whispered softly.

“Know that you owe me one.”

“You’re the one who owes me.”

Only after seeing that did the hunters of the South China Alliance awkwardly put away their weapons.

There was no reason to insist when the highest authority told them not to fight.

Yumin stood in front of the crystal and slowly scanned it. Lee Seoyeon carefully whispered.

“Do you think you know what it is?”

“Look at you, dropping formalities as soon as I play along a little. Yeah. I came to find this, so of course.”

Lee Seoyeon anxiously looked at the crystal. It couldn’t be too valuable.

“It’s the Heart of Cheonru. Recently, my brother asked me to estimate the location of the heart, but once it was finished, he was in a place where I couldn’t reach him. But I didn’t expect to find it first. I thought the location was similar, but.”

“The Heart of Cheonru?”

“So, if you think of other crystals as car steering wheels or tires, this is a kind of…”

At that moment, without any warning, Cheonru suddenly shook violently.

Even the hunters who were standing lost their balance and fell to the floor.

Lee Seoyeon stumbled and grabbed the crystal with her hand. At that moment, her right hand, which was holding the crystal, trembled.

At the same time, the glove and sleeve covering her right hand were torn apart and disintegrated. There was no time to do anything.

Yumin tackled Lee Seoyeon and knocked her to the ground. Lee Seoyeon’s clothes were disintegrated up to her elbow.

At that moment, Yumin realized for a brief moment that Lee Seoyeon’s right arm was not human.

The moment a sense of bewilderment passed by, Lee Seoyeon hurriedly covered her right hand with her coat and hid it.

“You…”

Yumin tried to open her mouth, but Lee Seoyeon looked at her watch and shouted urgently.

“The altitude is decreasing!”

Lee Seoyeon’s watch was a special pilot’s watch with various functions built in.

She didn’t really want it to happen, but it was something she brought with this situation in mind.

The hunters who understood the meaning of her words had pale faces.

Cheonru was falling.

Lee Seoyeon looked at Yumin.

“Damn it, what happens if Cheonru crashes here? It didn’t seem that high when we came up. We’ll be safe, right?”

“What’s the altitude now?”

Lee Seoyeon glanced at her watch and said.

“Altitude 1,726m… It keeps falling!”

Yumin made an absurd expression at those words.

“Are you perhaps the kind of person who believes that if you jump before a falling elevator hits the ground, you’ll be safe?”

“Damn it, then do something! This is the Heart of Cheonru! Then you can do anything!”

However, Yumin had only come to tell Hyunmu the location of the Heart of Cheonru, and from then on, it was completely unknown territory.

But she had heard something from Hyunmu.

“He said the Heart of Cheonru is the most important part of Cheonru. It’s the huge power source that allows that huge body to float in the air.”

“Okay, then we can make it float again since it’s falling!”

“It’s not falling.”

“What?”

Yumin replied with an annoyed expression.

“It’s not falling, it’s high-speed descending towards the surface. But how do I fix the engine here? Should I smash it? It’s just turning a high-speed descent into a real crash, isn’t it?”

***

Lee Jitae quickly reached out and touched the crystal. At that moment, a strong headache pounded his brain.

“What’s wrong?”

It was Petrovich who answered Hyunmu’s question.

“It’s useless! Cheonru is already under my control. Unless you kill me, control will not return!”

Petrovich, who made Cheonru sprint towards the second largest city in his country with that control, laughed like crazy.

It was impossible to know whether it was a self-abandoning laugh or a laugh coming from the joy of being able to kill his enemies.

“Then die.”

Hyunmu swung Tam towards Petrovich.

The laughter stopped abruptly the moment Petrovich’s neck, who was laughing like crazy, was cut off.

But before that head could fall in the air, there was a hand snatching the head.

It was Petrovich’s severed hand.

At the same time, Petrovich’s flesh changed into a hazy mist as if it were vaporizing.

The severed head held on the severed hand shouted like crazy.

It was a very bizarre sight.

“Today, two gods will appear on this land! One name is Death, and the other name will be Winter, a name that will bring a new dawn!”

“Crazy.”

Hyunmu, whose hand touched the fog, felt a cool frost forming on his skin.

Petrovich’s body was undergoing a huge change.

No, it seemed like it had already changed, but it was hiding under the skin of a human.

‘Is he about a proxy level?’

Hyunmu was convinced that Petrovich was a proxy level he was seeing for the first time since coming to this land. Or an existence close to it.

Difficulty: It was far weaker compared to his experience in hell, but it wasn’t bad compared to other apostles.

Lee Jitae quickly kicked off the ground and plunged into the fog.

His quick movements alone were enough to stir up Petrovich’s fog. But he couldn’t cut Petrovich.

It was because his body had become too light due to the sudden acceleration of the fall.

Lee Jitae’s sword, whose joints were starting to freeze, was slower than expected, and Petrovich dodged with ease.

“Do not hasten your fate, mortals. Kneel before the true master of the world, Death. Then you will be able to face the dawn of the new world with your own eyes.”

“You’ve become a poet since you revealed your true colors.”

“The Tepes Case will start soon, Petrovich.”

At that time, Lee Jitae, who had barely escaped from the restraints of the ice, muttered with difficulty.

Because of Cheonru’s fall, he could no longer stand properly without holding on to something.

“Then you die here too. Chrome will use any means to completely eliminate Cheonru’s function.”

“Ah, the Tepes Case. Another name for destruction.”

Petrovich smacked his lips as if it were sweet and muttered.

“Do you think you are the first ones, Adam Fault, who tried to kill me? Four years ago, I was poisoned, shot, castrated, and thrown into a frozen river. But I met the true master in that cold and dark place.”

“Ah, damn it. Lee Jitae, you’re giving him a chance to talk for no reason, so he’s talking too much again.”

Petrovich ignored Hyunmu’s mutterings and continued.

“The Wailing Star showed me a world corrupted by fire and blood, greed and arrogance, conspiracy and lies, and awakened me to my calling. My destiny is to awaken the true nature of mankind… and Adam Fault is only ‘War’ among the four horsemen leading that destruction.”

Petrovich’s words were interesting.

A guy who believes he has won tends to talk a lot.

If you think the other person is going to die anyway, you end up saying things you shouldn’t say.

But Hyunmu decided to end it here. He didn’t want to chat while falling from the sky.

“I want to hear a more solid future plan, but…”

Hyunmu let out a long sigh.

“I’ll make your future plans anyway.”

Black smoke poured out of Hyunmu’s body like an explosion.

Petrovich sneered at the black smoke that soared as if to devour the pure white cold air.

“Ha, all futures lead to death! How dare you laugh at fate…”

But at that moment, the black smoke pierced through Petrovich’s white fog as if stabbing into it.

Petrovich was convinced that no attack could kill him in one blow.

But the moment he saw the beast that popped out of the black fog, he felt goosebumps all over his body, even though he no longer had skin.

Petrovich dodged with all his might in an instant.

The fog shattered and scattered in all directions. The huge claw marks on the floor sent chills down his spine.

A beast that devours even death had just licked his neck.

“Death is also said to be another beginning.”

Hyunmu’s voice was heard from the black smoke.

But it was not only the voice of Hyunmu alone, but also the cries of countless crowds, the growls of beasts, or the sound of wind blowing eerily in the void.

The countless beings were combined in the black smoke, and a writhing beast was standing there.

In the form of Kang Hyunmu.

“Maggots eat corpses, birds eat maggots, hunters eat those birds, and death turns hunters into corpses.”

Death is just a natural process that can only exist in a natural cycle.

“But there are also things that devour the cycle itself.”

What is high becomes low, what is hot becomes cold, wood becomes ash, and scattered scents do not return.

“They usually call it the second law of thermodynamics.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very poetic expression.

He didn’t intend to package it plausibly.

Because usually the person who hears this far has little chance of being alive.

Hyunmu raised his huge claws again.

Petrovich had found his god.