Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 312

312. Pandemonium (4)

Krrrrrr.

As if answering the Teacher’s cry, the mountain began to tremble.

It wasn’t an earthquake.

With a massive tremor, the mountain they stood on began to rise and move.

It was a colossal beast, its form unrecognizable while they were on it.

As the soil, fallen leaves, and trees on the beast, which had likely been there for ages, were swept away, parts of its hide were revealed.

It resembled black snakeskin, with crystal moss growing in patches like a dungeon.

“Go.”

With the Teacher’s brief command, the beast raised its long neck and roared.

It was a beast with a wolf’s head on a snake-like neck.

Amidst the pandemonium, those prepared to sacrifice their lives for humanity plunged through the clouds.

Toward the best possible future.

“Lee Ji-tae, we’re going ahead!”

Park Do-ryeong waved at Lee Ji-tae.

If this beast and the allies were the main force, Park Do-ryeong and Lee Ji-tae were to act as the vanguard.

Lee Ji-tae nodded and was about to run.

Then, he suddenly realized he was still clutching the coin.

It was obvious that the coin was heads without even opening his hand, but a faint sense of unease flickered through him.

Why did the Teacher say it was heads when he hadn’t even opened his hand?

Just as Lee Ji-tae was about to open his hand, he heard Park Do-ryeong urging him on.

Lee Ji-tae, with his superior mobility, needed to hurry. Lee Ji-tae dismissed the thought that there was any point in checking and shoved the coin into his pocket.

The Teacher chooses the future.

If it came up tails, he would go back and repeat the process until it came up heads.

Until it came up heads.

***

Adam’s eyes darted around, wide with frenzy.

It seemed she had dealt with yet another wave of ambushers.

This time, the opponent wasn’t easy. She thought she had killed them all, but she missed one.

It was a guy who was good at escaping.

He seemed to be an apostle-level [a powerful, high-ranking individual] from some star, and she could barely sense his presence.

Only when he got close and swung his sword did Adam barely detect his killing intent.

The result was a cut on her neck. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t deep, but she almost lost her mind.

Adam repeatedly stomped on the mangled remains of the last Hunter, breathing heavily.

She knew it was unlike her, but she had to soothe the monster inside her somehow.

‘Don’t bark.’

A growling voice chided her.

‘Only bark when I tell you to, and only bite when I tell you to bite.’

The voice had Kang Hyun-woo’s tone.

Right. Until the Leviathan mission was over, she would serve Kang Hyun-woo like a master.

If things still didn’t go well, she could dispose of Kang Hyun-woo then.

The world wouldn’t end just because the Leviathan failed.

‘Anyway, it’s better than killing everyone and committing suicide, like Professor Keller said.’

But Adam found it hard to calm down. She wasn’t sure how long she could last in this state.

Her body was wet and covered in mud, she was hungry, sleepy, it had been dozens of hours since she had seen Professor Keller, she was wondering what Professor Keller was doing, she was worried about whether Professor Keller was eating properly, Professor Keller was… Anyway, she couldn’t help but be on edge.

And on top of that, the neck wound.

The monster was trembling, eager to rampage at any moment.

Just then, someone held her hand tightly. It was a sobbing child.

She had heard from Hyun-woo that this child was a hallucination, but she was still half-doubtful.

It felt too real. Adam suppressed the monster and stroked the child’s hair.

Splash.

It was then.

The monster’s heightened senses awakened her own. Someone was approaching.

Adam, already on edge, suspected that another Hunter was still alive and was about to swing her arm.

“Adam!”

The monster’s movements froze for a moment at the sound of the voice that rang out. The momentary burst of physical force created a roar as it deflected the raindrops.

Hyun-woo appeared from the rain.

“What a mess. I took care of your threat.”

The moment Adam heard Hyun-woo’s voice, she felt the monster calm down completely.

At the same time, she felt a sense of emptiness at the monster’s reaction. It wouldn’t listen to her own voice trying to regain reason, yet it wagged its tail at that upstart who had only claimed to be her master for 24 hours.

At the same time, she felt her own weakness, unable to endure without a master to restrain her.

It was the result of Professor Keller’s work, but in the end, she couldn’t hold back the monster without someone to bind her.

“Did you take care of Helen?”

Adam asked, not betraying her inner thoughts. Hyun-woo grinned and took out what he was holding in both hands.

They were human arms.

“Of course. I’ve been wanting this so badly.”

“…Disgusting.”

“Don’t just look at the outside, look at the inside. The inside. With this, I can get a lot of things that might violate the law, and I don’t have to worry when I’m smuggling, right? I can also hide bodies.”

“The inside feels even darker.”

Hyun-woo roughly stuffed the arms into his inventory. Adam, who was watching, looked puzzled.

“Come to think of it, even if you kill Helen, the skill isn’t released? I’d understand if it was an item, but to maintain it even after the arm is separated from the body…”

“Ah, the ‘Warehouse Keeper’ skill seems to be treated as a kind of key. It wouldn’t make sense to lose the key if the skill user dies. Then the warehouse owner would be sad. And I didn’t kill Helen. I just took her arms.”

“You just took her arms? Why?”

“Well… it seemed more gruesome?”

Hyun-woo had extorted [obtained something through force or threats], and the wealth he would extort in the future was endless, and the interest would be calculated on Helen.

Helen might think she was lucky to have saved her life, or she might think it was hopeless, but it was certain that she would not be a threat, at least for now.

Kugugugung.

A roar came from somewhere. Hyun-woo felt a presence rushing towards them.

“Adaaaam!!”

A voice that seemed to tear his throat. Hyun-woo soon realized the approaching figure.

It was a Hunter with Chrome’s patch [a symbol indicating affiliation with the Chrome organization].

He was a very young Hunter.

He was hurt and injured all over. Nevertheless, he didn’t run away and seemed to be chasing Adam.

And at the same time, he was doing things that Adam hadn’t done, his whole body covered in blood.

For example, he was killing all the subordinates inside the shadow. Eventually, he would be left alone.

But Hyun-woo didn’t feel any particularly strong power from the young Hunter.

‘Then what was that vibration I felt just now?’

The young Hunter shouted, breathing heavily.

“What the hell are you doing! Professor Keller believed in you so much!”

The young Hunter limped towards Adam.

He looked like he was about to grab her by the collar, but Adam didn’t let him.

Adam slapped the Hunter with an intangible arm, sending him flying dozens of meters.

He could tell that Adam was being lenient just by the fact that his upper and lower body weren’t separated, but he didn’t seem to think so.

The young Hunter let out a cry that seemed to spit out blood.

“You monster!”

“That’s right.”

Adam nodded. She had never denied it.

Professor Keller had always raised her as a monster.

And he was ordering her to become a monster here, and to die as a monster.

Why would she have any reason to reject the title of monster?

“I’ll kill you and save the world!”

“That’s such a comic book line. Does Chrome teach lines like that?”

Hyun-woo frowned and whispered to Adam.

Adam shook her head.

“He tells me not to talk at all if possible.”

The Hunter couldn’t even hear Adam and Hyun-woo whispering and took something out.

It was a bow and arrow. The same spear-like arrow that had sniped at Adam.

He murmured, sounding like he was crying.

“I respected you.”

“What a sad unrequited love.”

At the same time as Hyun-woo’s short comment, the arrow flew.

Hyun-woo sighed and quickly snatched the arrow. Compared to an Ego Weapon [a weapon with its own will or personality], it was slow enough to make him sigh.

The arrow certainly seemed like an unusual object, but it only mattered if it hit.

The young Hunter was flustered and tried to reload the bowstring.

Then Hyun-woo felt another vibration again. The vibration that shook the ground was getting closer and closer.

Until now, he thought it was the afterglow of thunder, but the roar was steadily getting closer. Adam also sensed something unusual and looked around.

Thunder and lightning erupted beyond the horizon. Hyun-woo suddenly noticed a strange shadow beyond the clouds.

It was a silhouette he seemed to have seen somewhere.

“You were someone I believed was different from other humans!!”

Even in the midst of all this, the young Hunter was so focused on Adam that he didn’t notice anything.

“No, it’s not the time to be doing that now…”

Krrrrrrrr!

In an instant, something that quickly covered the young Hunter was crushed in an instant.

A huge pillar-like thing grazed the ground, grinding the young Hunter like a tank in an instant.

There seemed to be several such pillars around.

The pillars left hideous traces on the ground as if plowing a field, passing by Adam and Hyun-woo.

The flesh of the Hunter, who had become a mass of blood, stretched out along the traces and disappeared.

Hyun-woo and Adam stared blankly at the huge thing.

“What is that? Is it a monster that appeared because of the Leviathan mission? The inside of the shadow is becoming more and more like hell.”

Adam muttered and turned to Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo had a troubled expression as if he had figured something out. At the same time, he muttered as if he couldn’t understand.

“Why is that thing here?”

“What is it?”

“Well…”

Hyun-woo was about to answer, but he realized that it would be very difficult if he answered this.

It wouldn’t be enough to explain to Adam. It was then. A beam of light tearing through the clouds caught Hyun-woo’s eye.

“It’s a UFO!”

Hyun-woo thought his skill in changing the subject was terrible.

But anyway, Adam turned her head towards it.

The beam of light, which had split the clouds into dozens of pieces in an instant, quickly plunged down in front of them.

Adam looked at Hyun-woo with a contemptuous expression.

“It’s Lee Ji-tae.”

“Ah, disappointingly, it was Lee Ji-tae. I was expecting something else.”

Lee Ji-tae was flustered when Hyun-woo and Adam were immediately disappointed as soon as he appeared.

But anyway, Lee Ji-tae was faithful to his own duty.

“Kang Hyun-woo, the Teacher is coming.”

At his words, the sky began to clear.

Light began to seep through the clouds that Lee Ji-tae had torn apart.

In the dim rain clouds and fog, a huge figure finally revealed itself.

A huge beast like a mountain dragged its body, shaking the earth, and revealed itself.

Adam thought it was the same monster that had passed them earlier, but it wasn’t. The silhouette itself was different.

“Someone’s riding on top.”

Hyun-woo could recognize the silhouette even from afar.

Along with a group of people, the Teacher was standing there with a broken mask. Hyun-woo seemed to know what kind of dramatic effect the Teacher was aiming for.

“At the end of the long rain that submerges the world, God sent a dove to inform those on the ark that the water had receded… I wonder how much of an attention seeker he is.”

Hyun-woo couldn’t help but smile bitterly because he knew the Teacher’s identity.

Of course, the solar eclipse was still in progress in the sky, so it didn’t look as sacred as the Teacher had expected.

The clouds were still wriggling without any sign of disappearing.

But the fact that the beam of light was only illuminating the Teacher and his group had a plausible effect.

“Okay, Adam. Get ready. The grand finale is just around the corner…”

“Branch Manager!”

It was then.

Hyun-woo heard Song Yeo-un’s voice. The Omnipotence Society Hunters were running towards them.

Seeing them, Hyun-woo felt that the Teacher hadn’t simply used Lee Ji-tae as a dove to create a dramatic effect.

This beam of light that had split the sky would gather countless Hunters, subordinates, and monsters.

He didn’t know what the Teacher was planning to do by scraping them together.

‘Most of them are in a state of power annihilation anyway…?’

The Omnipotence Society Hunters quickly arrived next to Hyun-woo.

“I knew you’d be here. I felt an unusual atmosphere… Oh, what’s that? The final boss?”

Song Yeo-un asked, looking puzzled at the approaching Teacher.

Hyun-woo was about to instruct them to scatter and wait, rather than explain. But before that, Song Yeo-un’s mouth opened first.

“Oh, it’s the Teacher! Wow, what brings him here?”