Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 72

72. Nine-Headed Rat (1)

Hyeon-woo shook off the bits of Ratman flesh clinging to him.

He was relieved he’d attached a spider web to Yo-han as a precaution before diving into the Ratman horde.

Hyeon-woo had jumped into the wave of Ratmen, watching for the opportune moment to cross over to Hell. But he felt it was irresponsible to simply vanish, so he kept an eye on things.

The grinder [a term for a situation where enemies are continuously defeated] centered around Priest Yo-han’s team was impressive, but it was sure to collapse when faced with an unexpectedly strong enemy.

Hyeon-woo couldn’t stand the thought of Yo-han getting hurt. He ended up jumping in to save him, and as soon as he did, he was dragged into Hell.

“But… why isn’t the quest starting?”

Hyeon-woo looked up at the sky.

[Time remaining until the next quest: 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds.]

The time for the quest to start had arrived, but nothing was happening.

He wondered what they were doing, dragging him to Hell for a quest and then doing nothing. But there was no one to ask.

Hyeon-woo pondered this and tried to return to reality using the Return Stone.

But that didn’t work either.

“What is this?”

Hyeon-woo felt a sudden chill. It was like going into the bathroom without his phone and finding the door locked and unopenable. Of course, the situation was a bit more serious than that.

‘Am I going to have to live in Hell forever like this?’

He was slowly getting used to Hell, and his body and mind were getting stronger, but he still preferred the mortal realm.

In an instant, Yu-min’s face and all the material wealth he had accumulated in reality flashed through his mind. He didn’t think he was particularly greedy, but he realized he was more materialistic than he thought.

But at that moment, an alert sounded, reassuring Hyeon-woo.

[Quest generated!]

[The ‘Nine-Headed Rat’ quest will begin.]

[Stop the last struggle of the Fallen Empire.]

[Move to the quest location? (Y/N)]

‘Move to the quest location?’

He wondered if this time it wasn’t a mission where Hyeon-woo had to find and carry out the task himself, but rather a system that would throw him directly into a stage.

Hyeon-woo had a bad feeling, but since everything in Hell gave him a bad feeling, it wasn’t anything new.

Hyeon-woo chose Y, hoping that this quest wouldn’t be too long.

Hyeon-woo’s vision began to blur like a mirage. It felt similar to entering a dungeon.

The thought that if there were dungeons in Hell, they would be anything but easy, made his body tense.

‘This quest feels strange.’

Abnormal situations kept occurring.

From the quest delay to the location transfer and dungeon entry. But since it had already started, there was nothing he could do.

His vision soon cleared, and something came into focus.

Hyeon-woo was standing on a barren hill. Before him was a huge castle made of black stone.

It was so enormous that he wondered if it had been carved directly out of the mountain.

Hundreds of sharp spires soared like needles, and in the center stood the largest tower, seemingly piercing the sky. Something was constantly moving along the ramparts.

Hyeon-woo suddenly smelled gunpowder. Soon, fierce explosions rang out. The cannons that lined the ramparts were firing indiscriminately at something.

‘A war?’

Hyeon-woo realized that the figures within the black castle were Ratmen. And he recalled that the Ratmen who often roamed the sewers had names like ‘Fallen Empire Ratman Conscript’.

‘So this is the Fallen Empire.’

Hyeon-woo suddenly saw the horizon undulating. Countless skeleton soldiers filled the horizon, swarming towards the black castle.

The black castle, which he had thought was huge just a moment ago, looked like a tiny island in the middle of the ocean compared to the enormous army. Just counting the number of gray flags fluttering in the undead army, there seemed to be millions, if not tens of millions.

‘No, crazy. How am I supposed to break through that?’

The skeleton soldiers alone were diverse, including those walking, riding horses, riding chariots, and riding lumps of flesh of unknown origin.

Hyeon-woo could tell without looking at their levels that they were at a level that could easily overwhelm him.

At that moment, a green flash shot from the huge tower in the center of the black castle.

The green flash, which instantly pierced the sky, wrapped around the clouds and dyed the area with an ominous green color.

Soon, destruction began.

The clouds contaminated by the green flash swept through the undead army. The areas swept by the clouds left behind only melted lumps, as if a wave had passed through.

The undead army, which had seemed ready to capture the black castle at any moment, was reduced to only half its size by that single attack.

“…Oh my god.”

It was a gruesome sight. But it was too early to feel relief.

Already, more troops than the dead undead army were seen pouring in from beyond the horizon.

Hyeon-woo realized that the area that the green cloud had just swept through was the very place he had to jump into. There was no other way to get close to the black castle.

Hyeon-woo cursed and started running.

This quest was not going to be easy.

***

The walls of the Fallen Empire were high, but infiltrating them was not as difficult as he had thought.

Thanks to the undead being wiped out in this area, the Ratmen were relatively concentrated on the opposite side where the enemies were swarming, and Hyeon-woo was able to crawl up through the gaps in the walls created by the undead army.

Of course, it may sound easy when summarized like this, but Hyeon-woo felt like he had narrowly escaped death five times.

Behind the curtains in the corridor connecting the spires, a group of Ratmen in heavy armor hurried past.

The way they maintained their ranks even while running seemed to show how thoroughly they had been trained.

Only after they had passed did Hyeon-woo carefully reveal himself from behind the curtain.

“No, what’s with the level of these Ratmen…?”

Hyeon-woo was speechless after seeing the level of the heavily armored Ratman he had just seen.

[Fallen Empire Ratman Stormtrooper (LV 44)]

That’s a 4-star Hunter level. During the Trial of the Starving Star, he was able to overcome the trial by using it in reverse, but the guys who appeared this time were intelligent, trained, and had enormous numbers. It was literally an army.

‘Isn’t this harder than the trial?’

It wasn’t a new thing that the balance was off, but it felt like it was getting too much.

It reminded him of the way black companies [exploitative companies with poor working conditions] operate, assigning impossible tasks to people and then taking those impossible standards for granted from then on.

‘Damn it, the one who’s desperate has to bow down.’

Since he knew that even if he died, the time in reality would flow according to Hyeon-woo’s survival time, he wasn’t too worried for now. Hyeon-woo hurried on his way.

The Fallen Empire’s castle was so elaborate that it was hard to believe that Ratmen had built it.

They casually climbed the walls and carved sculptures on the ceilings and high walls.

Intricately woven flags were also hung everywhere. It was a picture of a red rat with nine heads spreading its wings on a black cloth.

‘…The atmosphere is like something I saw in a World War II movie.’

They were Ratmen with heavy armor, cannons, and crossbows, but they somehow exuded a totalitarian dictatorship vibe.

As you could feel from the name Empire, it seemed to be a powerful central governing system. That meant they had a relatively sophisticated system.

‘No, but how am I supposed to stop the last struggle of these guys alone?’

Thump. At that moment, one of the spires collapsed beyond the window. The Ratmen riding the spire fell and were crushed under the rubble. The undead’s attacks seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

Hyeon-woo thought that the quest hadn’t just dropped without any thought.

No one would have time to care about a single human in the fight between rats and corpses.

Hyeon-woo wondered where the rats’ last struggle was taking place.

‘After all, the guys who rule in such dictatorial central political systems… like high and fancy places.’

Hyeon-woo looked at the highest tower in the middle of the countless spires. A thin green flash was still shooting out from there, piercing the sky.

He didn’t know what they were doing, but it gave off a strong feeling of ‘something important is happening’.

Hyeon-woo started running towards it.

***

One day later.

After searching all night, they were able to find a few more Hunters.

But the results were not good.

Most of the Hunters they found were affiliated with the Omnipotence Union, and many were seriously injured or dead. The dead Hunters were in unspeakable conditions.

But even in the midst of all this, they still hadn’t found Kang Hyeon-woo.

“Team Leader Yoo Seong-yeon!”

One of the only Hunters found in serious condition was Yoo Seong-yeon, the team leader of the Obsidian Team.

The Obsidian Team, who had been depressed at the thought of losing their team leader, cheered and supported him. Yo-han’s healing helped Yoo Seong-yeon get through the crisis, but he couldn’t move as quickly as before because of an injury that almost cost him his leg.

“Have you seen any other Hunters?”

“About five… were alive. I don’t know where they went.”

Jeok-nabi could understand the situation.

Perhaps the Obsidian Team had tried to fight the enemies, but there came a moment when they couldn’t handle it. Then Yoo Seong-yeon was injured, and it seemed like they had no choice but to leave him behind.

It was a miracle that Yoo Seong-yeon had survived in that situation.

“…Let’s go. There are still many people we need to find.”

Jeok-nabi urged, but Seo Tae-kyung didn’t move. Instead, he took out a Return Scroll from his pocket. Jeok-nabi’s expression hardened.

“We’ve searched enough.”

The Return Scroll was also called an Escape Scroll because even if there was only one, all the Hunters in the area could move to the dungeon entrance.

For Seo Tae-kyung to take out the Return Scroll meant that he was declaring a halt to the expedition and returning.

“Seo Tae-kyung!”

“Look at reality.”

Seo Tae-kyung said, gritting his teeth.

“It’s getting harder to survive as time goes on. Even Team Leader Yoo Seong-yeon needs treatment from the outside right away. We couldn’t last a day even when we were intact. We barely lasted a day, and I doubt we can last any longer. We need to use the Return Scroll immediately.”

Jeok-nabi approached, enraged. But Seo Tae-kyung clutched the Return Scroll with both hands.

If he tore the scroll like this, Jeok-nabi would have no choice but to return.

Jeok-nabi wondered if Seo Tae-kyung was panicking, but his face was calm.

Seo Tae-kyung was stating what was obvious as the delegated expedition leader.

It might be cruel, but if the situation was this bad, it was natural to return in order to save the lives of the remaining expedition members.

Of course, the fate of the Hunters left in the dungeon without supplies would be obvious.

Because of this, the other Hunters could only make angry expressions and couldn’t say anything to Seo Tae-kyung.

“Leave the remaining Return Scroll behind. We’ll continue the search among ourselves.”

“We lost our luggage, so we only have one Return Scroll left. The principle is to store them in several places, not all in one place.”

Return Scrolls, which cost ten million won per sheet [approximately $7,500 USD], are usually carried with only one, or at most three.

“Do you think I feel good about leaving my colleagues behind? We have no choice if we want to save even the remaining people. We’ve already exceeded the emergency escape conditions set in the regulations!”

“Kang Hyeon-woo was at the forefront when the Ratmen swarmed in to buy us time. He even saved Priest Yo-han at the end. We came in with such strong Hunters, what do you think people will think of Seo Tae-kyung if we go back like this? They’ll think you ran away in fear, not that you had no choice but to escape.”

Seo Tae-kyung bit his lip.

Jeok-nabi’s words were correct. Even if he tried to sugarcoat it by saying that he had no choice, no one would listen to him. But he had already made up his mind.

“I have a duty to save as many expedition members as possible.”

‘Selfish bastard.’

Jeok-nabi almost spat those words out, but barely swallowed them.

It was then. Yoo Seong-yeon, the team leader of the Obsidian Team who was being treated by Yo-han, staggered to his feet.

He was having a hard time moving his legs properly, but he limped over and stood next to Jeok-nabi.

His face was full of fatigue, but he let out a long sigh and patted Jeok-nabi on the shoulder. It was a sign that he was supporting her decision.

Seo Tae-kyung’s face contorted.

“Hey, Yoo Seong-yeon! What nonsense are you talking about when you can’t even move properly!”

“What does having intact legs have to do with it? There’s a guy with three dicks who’s too scared to move.”

The moment Seo Tae-kyung made a dumbfounded expression, Yoo Seong-yeon raised the corners of his lips.

“Oh, to call it three is actually a bit of a modest size, isn’t it? It seems to have already shrunk and become sunken inward. Tae-sung doesn’t leave a single team member in the dungeon.”

Seo Tae-kyung’s face turned red and purple.

Jeok-nabi was grateful that Yoo Seong-yeon supported her decision, but she decided that there was no point in causing trouble.

Just as she was about to stop him, another person stepped forward.

It was Yo-han.

Of course, Yo-han’s bodyguard followed, and a few Hunters from the Obsidian Team also sighed and stood on Yoo Seong-yeon’s side.

Only the Omnipotence Union team was left. A commotion spread within the Omnipotence Union as well. The atmosphere was not good as it was.

But Jeok-nabi still saw the Return Scroll in Seo Tae-kyung’s hand.

If Seo Tae-kyung tore the Return Scroll, they would all be dragged away as well.

Jeok-nabi opened her mouth after much deliberation.

“Give us three days.”

“What?”

“Let’s try to clear the dungeon with these people in three days. Then the people in the dungeon will naturally come out. If it seems too difficult, we’ll come back and return together within that time. Wouldn’t that be better than just the four of you leaving?”

It was nonsense.

It was difficult just to endure, let alone advance. The dungeon that Plude was running was still dangerous in terms of terrain, and fatigue was accumulating due to the overflowing monsters.

Seo Tae-kyung took a deep breath and then let out a long sigh.

“…Two days.”

“Branch Manager.”

But Seo Tae-kyung was firm.

“It’s two days. After that, I’ll use the Return Scroll even if you don’t come back. However, the Omnipotence Union team will not join the expedition. Tae-sung seems to be able to move, but we have many Hunters who are difficult to recover even with healing skills. They’ll only be a burden, so I’ll wait with the corpses.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry. I’ve found a good location to defend. Damn it, it sounds like I’m a dropout when I say this, but be sure to come back without getting hurt. We’re not people who can risk our lives as easily as you.”