Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 46

46. Becoming Delicious

Hyun-woo was slightly taken aback by Renian’s sudden question.

‘Come to think of it, Renian seems to be a kind of mosquito… He was even born from a mosquito egg. Would catching mosquitoes like this make him uncomfortable?’

Renian reached out towards the pile of mosquitoes on the floor. It looked as if he was about to caress a corpse, which bothered Hyun-woo.

However, Renian simply picked up the mosquito corpses, held them in both hands, and began to crunch on them.

“Why are you seducing mosquitoes? Isn’t being a fairy enough?”

“…I’m not hungry.”

“Hungry? Want to eat?”

Renian tore off a mosquito wing and offered it, but Hyun-woo politely declined.

Hyun-woo wondered if Renian eating mosquitoes was a form of cannibalism, but Renian was hard to compare to any race in the first place.

“So, if you’re not planning to use them as a snack, why are you seducing the mosquitoes?”

“I thought they might be useful for confusing the enemy.”

Hyun-woo gestured with his fingertip to the mosquitoes circling around. The mosquitoes, lacking the level of self-awareness that Hyun-woo possessed, immediately followed. They swarmed onto a broken streetlight that he had targeted.

“There aren’t many who can stay sane when mosquitoes the size of needles are sticking their stingers all over their body.”

Based on his experience with Kirson in the Cheonggye Dungeon, Hyun-woo thought that he could handle most opponents with just the Hell Mosquitoes. No, he was confident that he could clear the Cheonggye Dungeon with just twenty of these mosquitoes.

“Their low value as living beings is also an advantage. I can create as many as I want, and it’s not a waste to expend them.”

“These kids look hungry. What about food?”

“Haha, giving food to slaves is such a luxury…”

Renian said something unexpected to Hyun-woo, who thought of mosquitoes as mere expendable resources, not as allies. Hyun-woo, equipped with an excellent boss mindset, was about to scoff, but something flashed through his mind at that moment. Of course, it wasn’t a wholesome or virtuous thought.

‘How long could they last if I gave them my blood?’

Giving away his already scarce blood for free was too wasteful.

However, if the mosquitoes could drink Hyun-woo’s blood, they could transmit his venomous blood without him having to stab anyone directly. They would become deadly assassins in their own right.

Hyun-woo was shocked by this unexpected idea. What if even one mosquito survived after drinking his blood? And what if it transmitted that venomous blood to others? At least against opponents susceptible to the venomous blood, a terrible plague could be born.

Naturally, Hyun-woo rejoiced at the possibility.

‘This would work 100% in the real world.’

Of course, it was a matter that had to be handled with great care. Fortunately, Hyun-woo’s venomous blood was fast-acting.

It activated immediately without an incubation period and dissipated within a short time. This had already been confirmed. Park Hwi-soo, who had once been covered in venomous blood, was still alive.

In other words, a pandemic would not break out unless Hyun-woo wanted it to.

“I see. If they’re hungry, I should share some blood.”

As if surprised that Renian had such a kind heart, Hyun-woo held out his arm. Soon, the mosquitoes swarmed onto his arm, following his will.

The sight of twenty mosquitoes clinging to his arm was not something he wanted to look at for long. But Hyun-woo took out Ren Admiral’s monocle.

[Hell Mosquito (LV 3)]

[Attack: Lowest, Speed: Low, Durability: Lowest]

[Special Abilities: Bloodsucking, Low-Grade Poison Resistance, Noisy Wing Flapping.]

[Note: Mosquitoes that parasitize the bottom of Yogulem’s cauldron in the Starving Star. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about them except that they are terribly annoying and terribly noisy.]

Ren Admiral’s monocle worked on monsters as well. Hyun-woo focused on the low-grade poison resistance. Perhaps because of this, the mosquitoes seemed to resist the poison relatively well compared to the goblins.

However, a moment later, several mosquitoes with red, swollen bellies fell to the floor with a thud.

He had expected it. The venomous blood was quite potent. There would be some attrition.

But that was only for a moment. All twenty mosquitoes died with their bellies full.

Hyun-woo grimaced at the unnecessarily lethal venomous blood. But Renian didn’t seem to mind.

“Ah—that’s too bad.”

Renian grinned and tossed the mosquito corpses, swollen with Hyun-woo’s blood, into his mouth. Was this what he intended? Hyun-woo couldn’t help but admire the ruthless sight, the despicable act, to the point of feeling chills.

However, the venomous blood mosquitoes that Renian had suggested were too tempting to give up on. Hyun-woo sighed and turned his head.

Among the goblins, there were mutants like Kirson. There was no reason why there couldn’t be one among the mosquitoes. Since there were plenty of mosquitoes anyway, one of them might survive.

It seemed like Renian would have more snacks for a while.

[The Starving Star, Yogulem, is watching you.]

***

“If that’s the goal, you should have chosen one that didn’t die from the venomous blood in the first place.”

Renian’s advice stopped Hyun-woo before his condition, which had just been improved after dying and being revived, worsened due to anemia.

Hyun-woo paused and, instead of admitting that he had been foolish, came up with an excuse.

“Wouldn’t a guy who survived my poison develop some kind of resistance?”

“Then you should revive the ones that died and repeat the process.”

Just like Hyun-woo had done.

Renian nodded, picking up a mosquito swollen with blood. It was the last of the familiar mosquito corpses that Hyun-woo had created. Hyun-woo quickly snatched it away. Renian fluttered his wings rapidly in protest.

“You don’t take food away from someone who’s eating, butler!”

“You’ll get fat.”

Hyun-woo ignored Renian and revived the dead mosquito with the Familiar skill. The mosquito twitched, absorbing Hyun-woo’s mana, and began to flap its wings again.

It looked like it would be difficult to fly with its swollen belly. It didn’t seem to make sense to let it drink blood in this state.

“Throw it up.”

Hyun-woo ordered it to pour the blood onto the floor. The venomous blood flowed back out through the mosquito’s proboscis [a tubular mouthpart used for feeding].

A mosquito that vomits blood instead of sucking it. It was ironic, but it proved that a venomous blood mosquito was possible.

“Good. Now, drink it again…”

Hyun-woo stopped as he was about to offer blood, seeing the mosquito flying around.

‘It’s alive?’

From the moment he revived it, the mosquito had been carrying Hyun-woo’s venomous blood. If it had no resistance, it should have died again in that state. Hyun-woo quickly put on Ren Admiral’s monocle.

[Hell Mosquito (LV 3)]

[Attack: Low, Speed: Lowest, Durability: Lowest]

[Special Abilities: Bloodsucking, Mid-Grade Poison Resistance, Noisy Wing Flapping, Blood Vomit]

To reduce mana consumption, he omitted the trivial explanations. Hyun-woo confirmed that the Hell Mosquito’s stats had increased and a special ability had been added.

‘The attack has increased to Low grade, it has Mid-Grade Poison Resistance, and it has a skill called Blood Vomit?’

Of course, the speed had dropped to the lowest. But the fact that it was possible to hold the poison was encouraging.

‘Just reviving it from the dead makes it like this?’

The situation of dying and coming back to life was certainly unusual, but he didn’t expect such rapid improvement to be possible.

But Hyun-woo soon calmed down. It wasn’t a groundbreaking development. The mosquito had become easier to hit as it had slowed down.

Besides, it lacked intelligence, so he could only control it within sight.

‘Still… I can’t help but be excited.’

It was like being able to apply a debuff [a negative status effect] to opponents who had no resistance to poison before fighting.

Hyun-woo was steadily climbing up the food chain of hell.

***

And finally, on the 9th day. Shelter.

After completing his resupply in the real world, Hyun-woo was preparing for the quests that would soon occur. He had focused on becoming as strong as possible in recent days, but he had also looked into information about rank advancement.

However, Renian didn’t know anything, and he couldn’t find any suitable information.

‘I hope I can find some clues in this quest.’

[Quest Generated!]

[The ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ quest has begun.]

[There are those who are tracking you.]

[Survive for 48 hours from them.]

As soon as he heard the quest conditions, Hyun-woo immediately realized that it was different from the quests so far.

Until now, he didn’t care whether he died or not until the quest was completed. But survive for 48 hours? Hyun-woo wondered if failing here would mean the end.

‘No, considering the first quest, there’s a high probability that I’ll start over from the beginning.’

If so, was it a rehash of the first quest? It was too bland to see it that way. Surviving for a few days was easy now. Hyun-woo focused on the fact that there were trackers. Finding out their identities was the priority.

At that time, the narrator’s voice was heard.

[The Starving Star, Yogulem, is watching you.]

[The Starving Star, Yogulem, wants to give you a trial.]

[If you accept the trial, the difficulty will increase, but the rewards will be enhanced.]

“…A trial?”

This was a condition he had never heard of before. He had noticed that Yogulem had been watching him particularly often lately. And now this new form of intervention?

It was a new intervention following the Whispering Star and the Shattering Star. Hyun-woo wondered how he should accept this.

The difficulty increases, but the rewards are enhanced. Difficulty: The difficulty of hell was already insane. Hyun-woo had never cleared a quest without dying even once.

But to raise the difficulty even further? And a quest that had to be cleared without dying?

‘No, but that might be even more reason to accept the trial.’

If the difficulty was already a mess, it wouldn’t matter if it was raised further. He had been breaking through quests by crashing into them until now. It didn’t seem like anything would change by accepting the trial. Besides, hadn’t he made thorough preparations this time?

He had strengthened his legendary items, skills, and familiars. Confidence naturally followed.

‘Maybe it will give me a clue about rank advancement or level advancement.’

What Hyun-woo was most thirsty for was this, rank advancement. Hyun-woo, who had no intention of staying at 1-star level 20, had to find a way to raise his rank somehow.

Hyun-woo hesitated and answered.

“I accept.”

[The Wailing Star, Verderg, is watching you.]

[The Shattering Star, Gaul, is watching you.]

[The Whispering Star, Monstrill, is watching you.]

[The Conquering Star, Ardan, is watching you.]

[The Star of Monsters, Augustro, is watching you.]

[The Thrashing Star, Ergunan, is watching you.]

The reaction came back faster than the narrator. Hyun-woo was flustered. This was the first time he had received such attention since he discovered the Star Fragment. Besides, there were stars he had never seen before.

[Quest Generated!]

[The ‘Bottom of the Cauldron’ quest has begun.]

[Yogulem’s familiars are tracking you.]

[Survive for 48 hours.]

[Curse: Deliciousness Granted.]

[You will become delicious while the curse is maintained.]

Hyun-woo could only mutter one word.

“What?”