Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 29

29. An Enemy on a Narrow Bridge (3)

He soon arrived at the collapsed subway entrance Renian had mentioned.

Below the large sinkhole, muddy water churned. An old goblin was mending something that looked like a net, probably to keep the fish he was raising from escaping.

Hyeon-woo approached him from behind. He silently closed in to within three steps when the goblin suddenly raised his head. Hyeon-woo, thinking that nothing ever went smoothly, swung his goblin knife.

“Kuruk……”

The old goblin made a blood-gurgling sound and clutched at the knife. Even with his throat cut, he staggered, trying not to let go of the knife.

He even tried to shove the knife further into his neck, managing to bite Hyeon-woo’s hand. The corners of Hyeon-woo’s lips quirked up.

“You’re saving me some trouble.”

Hyeon-woo felt the old goblin’s jaw slacken. Blisters rose, and pus began to flow. Hyeon-woo walked forward and dipped his hand into the water with the goblin elder’s body.

Hyeon-woo’s and the goblin’s blood mixed and spread on the water’s surface. Bubbles rose.

Soon, he saw fish gathering with splashes. Hyeon-woo watched the plump fish with satisfaction.

Fish the size of forearms swarmed, tearing at the goblin’s corpse with teeth as big as nails.

‘How on earth do they eat that and survive?’

It looked more like they would be eaten rather than doing the eating.

“Well, they won’t be eating it from today anyway.”

***

The next place he went was the second emergency exit. At first glance, it looked like a collapse site. It seemed just about wide enough for an adult man to squeeze through.

While a large monster would ignore it, it looked like a treasure hole to Hyeon-woo.

Hyeon-woo took out a purplish lump from his inventory. It was a slurry made by finely crushing crystal moss and mixing it with blood and water.

Water instead of blood might have worked, but Hyeon-woo, knowing the potency of his venomous blood, mixed it in just in case. The necessary function was next anyway.

The lighter was one of the many necessities he had brought from reality. Hyeon-woo started a fire at the entrance and threw in anything that would burn. When he smashed the lighter into it, the flames blazed even more fiercely. As the flames soared, he felt the heat on his face.

“Are you hunting raccoons?”

Renian asked from the side. He hadn’t even come close to the sinkhole earlier, but now that Hyeon-woo was just wandering around doing strange things without fighting, he must have felt safe enough to follow.

“If I could catch goblins by smoking them out like raccoons, I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble.”

They might have countermeasures for fires.

Hyeon-woo threw the crushed crystal moss slurry into the fire. In the blazing flames, the crystal moss sizzled and turned black. An unpleasant black smoke sank heavily. Hyeon-woo smiled faintly.

If he were to convert the amount of crystal moss burning now into the market price, it would be over 3 billion won [approximately $2.5 million USD]. Would even Lee Ji-tae be able to burn 3 billion won to catch goblins?

But to Hyeon-woo, it was no different from plucking weeds from the roadside and burning them.

“Talk about throwing money away.”

The black smoke poured into the dark cave.

Goblins lived in burrows, so there was hardly any lighting. They couldn’t light fires inside, nor could they use electricity. Moreover, the smoke from burning crystal moss smelled sweet rather than like burning.

It would be a little late for the goblins to notice. Furthermore, Hyeon-woo’s poison had infectious properties, so it would spread in an instant.

“Want me to tell you something interesting?”

“What?”

“As someone who used to be a gatherer, I’ve seen all sorts of things, so I’ll tell you. Crystal moss residue is so toxic that even a normal person touching it will have their limbs paralyzed. The smoke from burning crystal moss isn’t exactly immediate, but once you inhale it, it paralyzes your internal organs, killing you 100%.”

Hyeon-woo chuckled, watching the thick smoke settle.

“It’s hard to see goblins as normal people, so the effect might not be that strong, but can they continue to live in a village contaminated by this smoke and water? Especially with children? But it’s also awkward to go outside. They must be hiding here to avoid something.”

Hyeon-woo covered his mouth and chuckled. Renian stared at Hyeon-woo.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the butler so happy.”

“What? Was there anything else to be happy about?”

“I see. The butler is the type who enjoys driving weak people into a dead end.”

Hyeon-woo looked slightly abashed. It was certainly a bit subtle when viewed from the side.

But what about it? If you added up the number of times goblins had killed him, it might be similar to the total number of goblin lives in this village. And that was just the number of times.

‘My life is heavier and more precious than 10 billion goblins.’

It was an exchange ratio that didn’t even need to be considered. Hyeon-woo retorted.

“So what, are you upset?”

But Renian smiled brightly and replied.

“If the butler is happy, so is the fairy!”

***

The Black Hand Goblin—he had a name in the village, Kirson. Having finished his reconnaissance, he felt something was amiss even before reaching the village.

It was one thing that he hadn’t found the strange human he had been concerned about recently. That had been happening often lately. But today, even the occasional feeling of being watched was gone.

‘Did that guy finally leave for good?’

Kirson thought that would be better. It was inevitable that he would resurrect no matter how many times he was killed. He couldn’t question every incomprehensible thing in this world.

It was enough that he had prevented him from approaching the village.

‘He’s not only has a resurrection ability but is also treacherous. I must never let him approach.’

He couldn’t allow any more damage.

However, as Kirson approached the village, he realized that his thoughts were wrong. He gritted his teeth as he saw the corpse of the goblin elder floating on the surface of the water below the collapsed sinkhole.

The goblin elder’s body was so torn apart by fish that it was hard to recognize, but a dagger was conspicuously stuck in his neck.

It was the dagger of the scout who had died at the hands of that human.

Before he could get angry, Kirson broke out in a cold sweat. That guy was near the village.

‘Was he tracking me?’

There had been signs of that before. He had turned back dozens of times or even ambushed him in reverse to shake him off, but in the end, he had been discovered.

Instead of thinking complicatedly, Kirson hurried towards the village’s secret passage. That guy would never come through the main gate.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the secret passage, he saw traces of something burning. Kirson tried to smell what had been burned, but he quickly covered his nose when he smelled a sweet scent.

It was the scent of burning crystal moss.

As a trained warrior, Kirson was not strongly affected by mana contamination. But that didn’t mean it was completely absent. Kirson immediately thought of his son in the village.

From then on, he didn’t think he was running with a clear head.

In no time, Kirson had entered the village. The villagers had already noticed the anomaly and were evacuating.

Because the village was dark, they hadn’t easily detected the black smoke, and it was only when the goblins guarding the main gate urgently raised the alarm that they began to flee.

But by the time the smoke had reached their ankles at the main gate, it had already reached their waists inside the village.

However, the villagers were still at a loss near the subway station entrance. They didn’t know which was more dangerous, the warning not to wander outside or the village filled with smoke.

“Kirson!”

One of the remaining scouts saw him and called out urgently. According to the situation report, many goblins were in bad condition after drinking water.

And it seemed that those goblins who were lying down had inhaled the smoke and their condition had worsened.

Kirson’s eyes blazed at the mention of them drinking water and ending up like this. The corpse that had been dead in the sinkhole earlier came to mind.

The water was poisoned.

The blisters were weaker than the traces left on his fellow goblin scouts, but the symptoms were similar.

Again, someone called his name and ran over. They told him that they had found a corpse in the alley.

It was clear that the corpse had been ambushed and killed while trying to escape the village due to the smoke and find a place to hide.

Goblins who were not scouts feared walking outside like this during the day.

Goblins who had escaped the village tried to hide in the most secluded places possible, and those places were perfect for ambushes.

There were three such corpses.

That guy was hunting isolated and terrified goblins. Kirson felt his mind growing darker and darker.

They had never been attacked like this before. Usually, when an overwhelming and irresistible monster entered, they would flee as if being chased. And when they felt safe, they would come back and set up countermeasures.

But the water source as well as the village were contaminated with toxic smoke. They could no longer live here.

Kirson’s mind went blank at the fact that the sanctuary he had barely created had been destroyed by just one human.

That guy. That human guy.

He should have killed him a hundred, a thousand times.

Just as his mind was about to go crazy with anger, Kirson heard someone calling him desperately. It was a small voice, but he couldn’t miss it.

One of his subordinates was running towards him, holding his son in his arms. He could see his son coughing weakly, limp.

His son was calling him. Blisters were appearing on his hands and feet.

Kirson roared loudly.

***

The goblin was walking stealthily, holding his breath. His eyes were full of fear.

He shouldn’t be wandering around at this time. But having escaped the village, he couldn’t just stroll along the open road.

The goblin hurriedly looked for a place to hide. He saw a pile of garbage piled up in the alley. It smelled disgusting, but it seemed enough to hide his scent.

As the goblin approached the garbage pile, he heard a buzzing sound like a mosquito flapping its wings. The sharp sound that pierced his eardrums terrified him, and something suddenly struck the back of his arm.

“Squeak!”

Thud, thud! At the same time as the scream, he heard something running from behind.

The goblin quickly turned around.

‘Human!’

The goblin had faced other humans, though not the one in front of him. They were weak and insignificant.

He tried to draw his dagger, but his arm wouldn’t listen. His arm, quickly turning black and necrotic, convulsed.

Hyeon-woo’s right hand, clad in Kanggi [a type of protective energy or armor], smashed the head of the hiding goblin.

Thwack! The goblin tried to grab Hyeon-woo but collapsed powerlessly.

For Hyeon-woo, who had been trained in the fight against the Black Hand Goblin, it was no longer difficult to face ordinary goblins.

If the scouts’ levels were around 18 to 20, then ordinary goblins were about the same level as Hyeon-woo.

[Level Up!]

Hyeon-woo had a proud expression. It had been a while since he had heard the level-up message.