Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 49

49. Cauldron Bottom (3)

Hyeon-woo approached the Orc without realizing it, but this one was distinctly different from any Orc he’d seen before.

*Current Goblin and Difficulty: The Goblins of Hell have a different appearance from others.*

The Orc was hollow, with only its skin remaining. The inside was filled with something like whitish cotton, like a grotesque taxidermy.

‘Even Hell wouldn’t look like this,’ Hyeon-woo thought.

“Boss, Kirke, let’s go.”

Kirson pulled Hyeon-woo’s hand, urging him onward. Only then did Hyeon-woo realize that this was the clearing where Kirson and Renian had mentioned the ‘big one’ resided. A small spider crawled out of the Orc’s hollow body.

‘Ah, it’s bait.’

Most likely, the ‘big one’ referred to the Widow Queen Spider. The Widow Queen Spider was nowhere to be seen. Since it hadn’t been spotted even once, it must be hiding itself well, surviving by using this Orc as bait to catch and devour any monsters that came looking for an easy meal.

“Boss.”

“Don’t rush me, kid. I’m fine.”

Since Mongstryl had spared him, the Widow Queen Spider likely wouldn’t attack him now. But it was still wise to avoid exposed places.

‘Since I rejected the offer, I can’t expect any more favors from Mongstryl,’ Hyeon-woo reasoned.

Hyeon-woo started to move.

“Kirke, where are we going, Boss?”

“Somewhere narrow with more than three exits.”

Since the mosquitoes were acting as the eyes and nose of Yogulem’s vassals, avoiding them was the priority. Hyeon-woo, wondering where such a place could be and if there was a way to block the mosquitoes, glanced at the glove on his left hand.

The appearance of Oshet’s Left Hand Grip had changed. The fur was gone, and it was larger, with a more ferocious shape like an animal’s paw.

The most noticeable thing was that it now had six fingers. Hyeon-woo quickly took out Ren the Admiral’s monocle and put it on.

[Oshet’s Six-Fingered Grip (Legendary/Genuine)]

[Category: Glove]

[Physical Defense: Medium, Magic Defense: Above Average, Evasion Rate: Medium]

[Special Ability: Increases the grip strength of the hand wearing this glove threefold. Also, it never releases the target it has grabbed until the user wishes or the glove is destroyed. Can be worn on either hand and extracts the Widow Queen Spider’s silk by consuming mana.]

[Note: Ironically, it is widely known that Magistrate Oshet is missing an arm, but it is unclear which arm he lost. This became even more complicated when the real Oshet’s glove was discovered. Oshet wore a glove that could be worn on either his right or left hand. This glove has the ability to spew the Widow Queen Spider’s web, which would have been useful for Oshet, who was missing an arm, to restrain suspects without ropes or handcuffs.]

[P.S.: Looking at the records, it seems to have been used more for the gallows than for restraints.]

‘Genuine?’

Hyeon-woo was dumbfounded by the title ‘Genuine’ next to the legendary tag. Only then did Hyeon-woo realize that the legendary weapons he had created were being treated as fakes, a kind of imitation.

‘It was just a form that imitated the genuine article,’ he mused.

‘Still, it’s a legendary weapon, yet it’s treated as an imitation. Judging by the name, there couldn’t be multiple genuine articles, so I guess it’s probably a ‘unique’ item.’

‘Then… is it a higher level than legendary?’

Hyeon-woo couldn’t be sure. It was a realm that no one had ever explored. Hyeon-woo had an extra thumb on the outside even though he was wearing the glove on his left hand. It looked unfamiliar and quite bizarre, but when he moved it, it moved as naturally as if it had always been there.

Not only in terms of stats but also in terms of function, having more fingers is advantageous. The thumb is especially useful for lifting or gripping something.

Considering that, Oshet’s Six-Fingered Grip had more utility than just being stronger.

‘No, Mongstryl wouldn’t have pushed it so hard just to give me a little more strength, would he?’

Hyeon-woo focused on another option: web generation.

The spider web that was strong enough to easily block mosquitoes.

‘Since I rejected the easiest path… I have no choice but to take the path of effort.’

Mongstryl’s words, whispered like a haunting echo, came to mind. Or was Mongstryl whispering again? He wondered if he was starting to lose his mind.

Hyeon-woo thought he understood why people who heard auditory hallucinations went crazy and tried to forget it. Instead, Hyeon-woo was consumed by a desire for survival.

‘With this, I can lay the foundation for victory.’

No, the key was in Hyeon-woo’s hand from the beginning.

***

Gasts raised their noses high and sniffed, tracking the ‘delicious’ scent of the enemy. Gasts lived in the sunless underground, but their master was holding a delightful banquet.

Because it was a ‘delicious’ dish that was hard to taste these days, the Gasts who lived nearby willingly came above ground. But despite the hardship of enduring the stinging sunlight, the traces of the delicious fellow were hard to find.

“Kell, Kulok!”

The Gast let out a cough-like roar and set out to find the dish. He had heard that other Gasts had torn apart and eaten the delicious dish earlier.

When the Gast arrived, not a single piece of flesh or a drop of blood remained. The filthy gluttons had licked everything clean.

Angered, he tore off the head of a zombie that was nearby and ate it. He licked down to the throat to taste the blood, but it was just disgusting rotten juice.

‘Delicious thing, tasty thing,’ the Gast thought.

The Gast was thirsty. The dish hadn’t completely disappeared.

There were definitely guys who had eaten it before him, but the mosquitoes had discovered a new dish as soon as a day had passed. The Gast could also smell the scent floating in the air.

But even when he rushed over, he couldn’t see the guy. Even the mosquitoes couldn’t find the dish. The Gast was going crazy. He wasn’t in his right mind already, but it was painful to have a delicious smell all around him and nothing to eat. Yogulem’s dishes smell like they make you hungry even when you’re full.

“Kaak!”

Some Gasts couldn’t stand the hunger and were already eating each other.

It’s common for them to eat each other because they’re hungry no matter what they eat. As Yogulem’s vassals, sucking the marrow out of their bones gives them a weak ‘delicious’ taste.

But the Gast didn’t want to fill his belly with nonsense since he was eating a dish for the first time in a while. He regretted chewing on the zombie’s head earlier.

It was then.

The Gast straightened his hunched back and flared his nostrils. It’s a smell. It smells like something delicious. It was a fresh smell.

The Gast started running to secure the dish before it was too late this time. Some of the vassals seemed to have smelled the same scent.

‘Where is it? Where is it?’ The Gast was tracking the scent when he discovered a large drainpipe in the stream. It was big enough for even a large Gast to pass through. The smell was coming from there. Just as the Gast was about to jump in, another Gast jumped inside first.

“Kellok!”

The Gast burst into anger and chased after the guy. But their competition didn’t last long. Suddenly, the guy in front stopped abruptly as if he had gotten caught on something.

The guy thrashed around as if he was flustered, but his body gradually slowed down. The Gast discovered something like a thread tangled around the guy’s body.

No, it wasn’t even visible. Instead, he discovered countless swarms of mosquitoes tangled in the thread. Countless spider webs were tangled throughout the sewer.

The Gast became wary of the spider webs. Even in the world they lived in, spiders were something to be careful of. But the smell coming from inside the sewer was so alluring.

The Gast tried to ignore his fellow who was struggling to cut the spider web. Then the Gast discovered a mosquito sitting on his fellow’s arm and sucking blood.

It was a strange mosquito that was already full and red but was still sucking blood.

That’s when the Gast stopped abruptly. The delicious smell was coming from nearby. The dish is close.

‘It’s right next to me,’ the Gast realized.

The Gast’s gaze turned to his fellow. His fellow was just struggling to untangle the spider web.

The Gast thought it was strange, but he didn’t think deeply about it. There was something with a delicious smell in front of him, and it was caught in a spider web and couldn’t resist.

The Gast’s sharp teeth instantly tore into his fellow’s neck. Sweet blood soaked his tongue.

***

Deep in the sewer.

It was dark and narrow, but what was happening at the entrance was clearly being conveyed to Hyeon-woo.

The Widow Queen Spider’s web wasn’t just tough and strong; it also served as an alarm.

The vibrations transmitted to the web were also clearly transmitted to Oshet’s Six-Fingered Grip that Hyeon-woo was wearing.

“A little more…”

Hyeon-woo clenched and unclenched his hand to encourage better blood circulation. Mosquitoes were sucking plenty of blood from his arm.

These were mosquitoes that Hyeon-woo had modified to withstand the poisonous blood so he could use them as vassals.

The mosquitoes, filled with blood, soon flew towards the entrance. Now they would inject the blood into the Gasts wandering around this area.

Since it was a small amount of blood, the smell was weak, but the Gasts who were already blinded by hunger tore at each other’s flesh without hesitation.

‘It’s hard to control them accurately since they’re not in my sight,’ Hyeon-woo thought.

If they were as intelligent as Kirson, he could explain it to them, but the mosquitoes had no choice but to rely on instinct. Still, it was possible to patrol specific areas.

“…Ha, still, it’s a relief that these ghoul bastards are just as stupid.”

“Kirke, strong guys don’t need to use their heads,” Kirson said boastfully. Certainly, Gasts were even more stupid than Goblins. He had wondered if the higher-level Gasts were more stupid, but Kirson’s words were convincing. If the already weak Goblins didn’t have brains, they would have gone extinct long ago.

“Yeah, thanks to you, I found a place like this.”

The sewer that Kirson found seemed to have been used for a long time, and fortunately or unfortunately, it didn’t smell. Kirson said it was safe because the other side had collapsed and the entrance was hidden, so there were no monsters hiding there.

Hyeon-woo felt regret as he thought about the Yogulem’s vassals who were dying outside. If all of that had been checked as kills for him, he would have been leveling up tremendously. It would be difficult anyway because of the level limit.

Besides, there were the subsidiary materials that fell from their bodies. But those guys meticulously ate everything, even the bones. There would be nothing left.

‘Useless greed is enough, I hope I can last 48 hours like this.’

But there was a limit to Hyeon-woo’s blood. The amount of blood each mosquito took was not small. At this rate, his body was likely to be damaged first.

‘I need to find a way to last longer.’

Hyeon-woo got up. Kirson looked at him with a flustered expression.

“Wouldn’t it be better not to move, Boss?”

“I can’t last 48 hours like this. And the rate at which those guys are finding this place is increasing. They’ll swarm in someday. I have to find even just the time I can last.”

He already had a rough idea in mind. Staying in the sewer now was just an intermediate step to get there. Hyeon-woo headed towards the sewer entrance.

He saw a Gast there tearing apart and eating his fellow. Hyeon-woo took out Ren the Admiral’s monocle, being careful to move as quietly as possible.

[Mad Gast (LV 41)]

[Attack: Medium, Speed: Medium, Durability: High]

[Special Ability: Enhanced Sense of Smell, Enhanced Leap, Enhanced Strength, No Picky Eating.]

[Note: Beings that dwell in the Three-Forked Underground of Yan. Originally part of some race, it is speculated that they were mutated by exposure to the starving star’s environment. They come above ground at night to attack the living or eat creatures that are unlucky enough to enter the underground world. They are enormous eaters, but their digestion and absorption are fast, and they can endure being hungry for a long time.]

‘Even if I can kill it, it’s high level and low intelligence, so it’s useless to make it a vassal. I’ll be the one who gets hurt.’

Hyeon-woo sent a mosquito towards the Gast. To control the mosquito delicately rather than with simple commands, he had no choice but to keep it in sight. The mosquito safely landed on the Gast’s arm.

‘Good.’

Under Hyeon-woo’s direction, the mosquito began to suck up the Gast’s bodily fluids.