Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 51

51. Cauldron Bottom (5)

Hyun-woo retreated for the moment.

There was no time to lament humanity’s fate or corruption. The most pressing issue was that Hyun-woo had encountered the enemy he feared most: an intelligent foe.

Moreover, the opponents were of equal level and trained soldiers.

‘Damn it, so that’s why the spiderweb didn’t work.’

The spiderweb was set up expecting ghouls, zombies, or gasters [mutated humans that emit poisonous gas].

An intelligent enemy with combat training would easily assess the situation and find or create another sewer exit that Hyun-woo didn’t know about.

‘Can I reason with them?’

No way. Hyun-woo judged that the Famished Ones were the end result of humans completely consumed by Yog-Sothoth [an Outer God in the Cthulhu Mythos, often associated with cosmic horror].

They had eaten something ‘delicious,’ become empowered as minions, and were now tormented by an insatiable desire for endless gluttony.

‘They’re no different from monsters.’

The problem was that they were smarter than any other monster.

Ta-tat-tat!

With the sound of gunfire, Hyun-woo’s hair was cut off. The Famished One with the green eyes he had seen earlier was aiming a gun at Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo cursed.

Another problem was added: they were using firearms.

“This is really too much!”

The gunshots rang out again. Even in an era where dungeons appeared and ability users wielded superpowers, firearms were still effective. Humans were weak against monsters, monsters were weak against ability users, but ability users were weak against humans with guns.

That was why society could maintain order despite the abundance of Hunters [individuals with special abilities who explore dungeons and fight monsters].

“Kuh!”

A bullet grazed Hyun-woo’s side. Blood gushed out. Hyun-woo’s expression turned pale.

At that moment, a strong wind blew. He hurriedly took out a potion, but the scent of blood quickly spread throughout the area.

The street, which had been filled with unknown noises, fell into silence.

Only for a moment. Sporadic coughs erupted from here and there. Groans flowed out in unison. Footsteps that shook the ground rapidly surged toward the alley where Hyun-woo was.

Starving deaths were rushing in.

In the narrow alley, zombies, ghouls, and gasters were in front, and humans who had fallen for the Famished Star’s enticement were rushing toward Hyun-woo from behind.

Hyun-woo’s teeth chattered. His gaze turned to the sky as if seeking salvation.

[Quest ends in 0 hours 46 minutes 49 seconds.]

Less than an hour remained, but it was enough time to die a hundred times over.

Especially since dying like this meant starting over from the beginning, which was terrifying.

Hyun-woo’s teeth trembled, but the corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

“It’s not as bad as I feared.”

He had been preparing the final act for this very moment.

The Famished Ones didn’t shoot, as if Hyun-woo’s blood was too precious to spill. Instead, they rushed toward Hyun-woo, scrambling over each other.

Unlike before, their hunger-filled appearance showed no trace of intelligence. Hyun-woo crushed a crystal stone from his inventory with his teeth and activated a skill.

“Dominate.”

And at the same time, zombies and ghouls charged at the gasters.

***

Hyun-woo hadn’t simply exchanged blood with the monsters.

Hyun-woo had only exchanged his blood with the blood of the gasters, his most powerful enemies.

He wasn’t controlling them directly. A mosquito can’t choose its target if it can’t see it. But Hyun-woo trusted the mosquito’s instincts.

A mosquito is a living creature. As much as it needs fresh blood, it would naturally target the gasters, which were still alive, rather than the rotting corpses of zombies and ghouls. Perhaps the Famished Ones were mixed in there too.

However, many gasters had received Hyun-woo’s blood, had their blood stolen, and were bitten by zombies and ghouls.

Even so, gasters were strong. They could easily survive even when wounded. But the zombies remembered the ‘taste’ of the gasters that had Hyun-woo’s blood mixed in.

It was similar to how a pet that had been domesticated and didn’t know the taste of blood would come to realize it.

The unintelligent ones confused the taste of the gasters with Hyun-woo’s blood.

Hyun-woo hadn’t controlled the zombies and ghouls with Dominate. He had simply taught them, ‘The happiness you’re looking for, isn’t it right next to you?’

That short stimulus was enough for the zombies and ghouls to bite at the gasters. Hyun-woo only needed it to go that far. The attacked gasters would become enraged and sweep through the surroundings.

“Kalalalala!”

With a series of sneezes, a gaster crushed two zombies at once. But its body was covered in bite marks.

The zombies and ghouls, already excited by the scent of Hyun-woo’s blood, bit into the gaster’s flesh without hesitation.

Just as Hyun-woo had been bitten by mosquitoes, there was no match for numbers. The gasters were bloodied and disappeared like livestock collapsing under a swarm of ants.

Such situations were happening simultaneously everywhere.

“Hah, hah…!”

Hyun-woo staggered due to the rapidly draining mana. But he wasn’t about to collapse.

If he hadn’t increased his mana capacity, he would have fallen for sure. Even so, it seemed difficult to use skills for the time being.

The problem was what came next: the Famished Ones. He had no preparation for them at all.

“Slaughter him so he’s easy to eat!”

The Korean was so familiar it was almost welcome. But the brutality contained in the words made it anything but pleasant.

Hyun-woo, staggering from mana depletion, easily dodged the attack of the Famished One who was closest.

[The ‘Strongest in Hell’ title increases stats relative to level.]

He didn’t know exactly how much these stats increased, but one thing was certain: when there were multiple enemies, the increase was proportional to the level of the strongest monster among them. And there were still gasters remaining nearby.

‘Thanks to that, the Famished Ones are about goblin level… I guess.’

That meant it would be difficult to fight them as a group, but he could handle one or two at a time.

Bang!

If only they didn’t have guns.

The Famished One with green eyes was wearing a field cap. Was he a battalion commander from somewhere? Hyun-woo gave him the name ‘Battalion Commander.’

‘Battalion Commander’ seemed to have decent judgment. As soon as he realized Hyun-woo’s skills were considerable, he didn’t hesitate to pull out his gun. Even if Hyun-woo tried to target him, it wasn’t easy because of the relentlessly moving Famished Ones.

Bang, ta-tat!

The gunshots rang out again, but Hyun-woo used the Famished Ones as shields to block them.

At the same time, he stabbed them with his blood-soaked dagger, injected blood, and pushed them away. The Famished Ones didn’t hesitate to bite their own comrades.

Seeing normal humans biting each other made Hyun-woo’s face contort without him realizing it.

“…So this is the process they’ve been going through.”

He understood how desperate the remaining humans must have been.

They were no longer human. They were monsters.

Hyun-woo steeled himself once more.

Battalion Commander shouted something when Hyun-woo kept dodging the bullets and the Famished Ones didn’t follow his orders.

Then, some of the Famished Ones in the rear took out firearms they had been carrying on their backs.

“Damn it.”

Just as Hyun-woo was about to squeeze out the mana he had barely recovered and evade with Battle Helper, the front ranks of the Famished Ones suddenly scattered.

“Kireuk, Boss!”

It was Kirson. Kirson, who had instantly cut off the legs of two Famished Ones with the Winter Reaper’s scythe, immediately charged at Battalion Commander.

Battalion Commander screamed and aimed his gun at Kirson, but he couldn’t move as quickly as he thought due to the frostbite debuff. The Winter Reaper’s scythe pierced his shoulder.

“Save your thanks, Boss! Kireuk, I’ll be doing it a lot from now on!”

The one-armed Battalion Commander could no longer shoot. Hyun-woo was taken aback by Kirson’s unexpected performance.

Kirson quickly disappeared into a hole somewhere as the Famished Ones tried to launch an organized counterattack.

“That Kirson, stealing all the cool scenes.”

Hyun-woo grumbled. But the situation didn’t seem to have improved much. Before he knew it, the zombies and ghouls had devoured the gasters and were right in front of him. He was completely surrounded from all sides. But Hyun-woo still didn’t lose his smile.

“Finally, the time has come.”

Hyun-woo took out something that looked like a white poncho from his inventory. It was something he had made by weaving the spiderweb of the Overqueen Spider in the sewer, crudely but meticulously.

“Let’s start a free-for-all.”

The moment Hyun-woo draped the white raincoat over his shoulders, a swarm of hell mosquitoes covered the area.

***

Baaaaaa.

The swarm of hell mosquitoes that covered the area was like fog. They were the mosquitoes that had flown in, drawn by the scent of Hyun-woo’s blood.

In a situation that had become a chaotic free-for-all where it was difficult to see even an inch ahead, the zombies, ghouls, mosquitoes, and Famished Ones had no choice but to chase Hyun-woo by scent alone.

But the scent of blood was coming from everywhere. They couldn’t tell who was the enemy and who was the ally.

On the other hand, everyone was Hyun-woo’s enemy. He could just stab anyone.

“Keuk, gaak!”

The blood-soaked dagger pierced the zombie’s solar plexus and injected blood. Other zombies and mosquitoes swarmed that zombie like bees.

Several mosquitoes rushed at Hyun-woo as well, but they couldn’t penetrate the raincoat Hyun-woo had draped himself in.

Hundreds of mosquitoes were already stuck to Hyun-woo’s raincoat, dead, making it difficult to recognize him as human.

But it wasn’t that Hyun-woo wasn’t being bitten by mosquitoes. There were still mosquitoes sucking blood on his forearms. The mosquitoes that sucked Hyun-woo’s blood would fly back to other monsters, inject the blood, and bring that blood back to Hyun-woo.

‘The main target is the Famished Ones.’

Now that he had secured his vision, it was easier to control the minion mosquitoes. Moreover, the Famished Ones were living humans, so they wouldn’t have much resistance to the blood.

‘Not only that, but in this kind of free-for-all, just making it difficult to pinpoint my location will greatly reduce the pressure.’

The countless enemies were actually a benefit in this situation. Moreover, Kirson seemed to be subtly moving around in this chaos, as he could see zombies and ghouls twitching from frostbite.

It was the effect of the Winter Reaper’s scythe that Hyun-woo had given him: inflicting frostbite on everyone around him each time he inflicted a wound.

Hyun-woo felt that this situation was greatly advantageous to him. But Hyun-woo shook his head at the temptation.

‘Don’t forget. My goal isn’t to kill them all, but to survive for 48 hours.’

He just needed to survive as secretly as possible, without being noticed.

Crunch. At that moment, he felt the pain of flesh being torn from his calf. A zombie crawling on the ground had bitten Hyun-woo’s calf.

Hyun-woo’s face contorted in pain as flesh fell away. And once again, a terrible scent of blood spread.

[The Famished Star, Yog-Sothoth, is watching you.]

The moment he heard that the star was watching him, Hyun-woo instead wore a cold expression.

“Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll kill them all and survive for 48 hours.”

Hyun-woo gripped the Black Hand Dagger and the Blood-Soaked Dagger in both hands. Then, he awakened the blood of the Famished One that was dormant within his own blood.

Hyun-woo’s body rapidly contracted, his blood vessels standing on end and turning blue all over. Hyun-woo’s body, dominated by the blood of the Famished One, greedily drew in mana. Soon, a cough-like scream erupted.

Thwack, crunch!

Hyun-woo instantly shattered the ribs of the nearest ghoul and scattered its intestines. The moment he smelled the blood, an immense hunger struck him.

Hyun-woo didn’t hesitate to bite into the ghoul’s neck.

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

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

[The Monstrous Star, Augustro, is watching you.]

Look, watch all you want.

You might have been able to tame humans.

But see if you can really tame me!