Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 75

75. The Nine-Headed Rat (4)

Hyeon-woo didn’t rush in just because his hands were free. He simply stared elsewhere, assessing the situation. The Sorcerer Seo glared at Hyeon-woo and strode menacingly towards him.

“What did you just say? ‘A little more’ what? Do you think this is a joke?”

The Sorcerer Seo advanced, brandishing a red-hot poker. Just as he was about to press the poker against Hyeon-woo’s cheek, something slipped into his mouth.

The Sorcerer Seo tried to spit it out, gagging and sputtering. But the mosquito successfully injected Hyeon-woo’s poison into his throat.

Instantly, his throat swelled. It wasn’t enough to kill the Sorcerer Seo outright, but he felt the searing pain of his esophagus burning and the agonizing sensation of suffocation simultaneously.

Hyeon-woo didn’t miss his chance. He slashed the Sorcerer Seo’s neck with his black hand dagger.

The gushing blood bubbled and boiled inside his throat. Unable to breathe, he couldn’t chant a spell. Hyeon-woo swiftly severed the tendons in his armpits to immobilize him. Then, he grabbed his hair and dragged him to the front of the brazier.

“Do you know how many seconds I screamed for?”

Hyeon-woo asked, looking the Sorcerer Seo directly in the eye. The Sorcerer Seo looked blank, as if he didn’t understand. Hyeon-woo grinned and said,

“One minute and eighteen seconds.”

The Sorcerer Seo’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

He tried to struggle, but with his arm muscles severed, he couldn’t resist. Hyeon-woo’s whisper followed.

“But I’m the kind of person who needs to get at least three times the revenge when I hold a grudge.”

The Sorcerer Seo’s face was shoved into the brazier. The Sorcerer Seo couldn’t scream like Hyeon-woo had.

“How mature.”

Three minutes later, Hyeon-woo, who had waited for the time it takes to cook a cup of ramen, pulled the Sorcerer Seo out of the brazier.

It hadn’t reached the target of 3 minutes and 54 seconds, but it didn’t matter because the Sorcerer Seo was already dead.

It was certain when a message popped up indicating he had just leveled up.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. Hyeon-woo laid him face down and mounted him, casting ‘Thrall’.

The Sorcerer Seo, who had met death, opened his eyes wide and came back to life.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”

The wound on his neck, which had been inflicted by Hyeon-woo, was also healed. Hyeon-woo pressed down hard on his head and cast Dominate.

The Sorcerer Seo couldn’t see Hyeon-woo, so he couldn’t cast spells either.

“There are still about 2 minutes left, should I fill it up and start, or will you just listen to me?”

There were 54 seconds left, but Hyeon-woo subtly inflated the number. As expected, the Sorcerer Seo nodded frantically.

“I will! I will listen!”

“I don’t feel your sincerity. I think you need to taste the brazier of truth a little more…”

“Ugh! To get to the Central Tower, you need the fangs of a Sorcerer rank or a Guard rank! Only those with those fangs will not be rejected by the bridge to the Central Tower!”

“How can I believe that? Are you just saying anything?”

The Sorcerer Seo suddenly slammed his teeth into the floor. Then, he shook his head wildly, breaking his own teeth. Hyeon-woo picked up the fang.

“You can pass with that. Please… !”

“You betray so easily. I can’t trust you anymore.”

The Sorcerer Seo wanted to ask what he was supposed to do.

Of course, Hyeon-woo believed him. His reaction wasn’t a lie. It was too coherent to be just saying anything out of fear. He was just trying to gauge his reaction.

“I, I didn’t like Yahnok Marx’s ideals from the beginning! Only we are superior fangs in the world, and the rest are inferior fangs, so all beasts except rats should be enslaved or exterminated! I didn’t believe Chief of Propaganda Oergil’s nonsense that we are always winning either! My colleagues really believed it, but what nonsense is that when the world is like this?”

He thought they were just monsters, but it seems there is also an ideological struggle. But Hyeon-woo didn’t care much.

‘It’s just a fight between beasts anyway.’

“Yahnok Marx, that fat, short-tailed guy, is driving all the Ratmen to ruin! If your goal is to kill that bastard, I will actively cooperate! Please!”

“You’re already cooperating hard. It’s a matter of whether it’s helpful or not.”

“Then, are you interested in the underground prison? President Yahnok is extracting blood from the fangs to summon the Nine-Headed Rat. Of course, I didn’t approve of such evil deeds…”

Hyeon-woo’s eyes twinkled. He didn’t care about the prison or mass executions, but if they were drawing power from there, there must be a way to interfere.

“Tell me more.”

***

Around the corner, shadows danced with flickering lights.

Red Butterfly raised her hand to stop the hunters and surveyed the atmosphere.

Ratmen were circling around a fiercely burning fire. There were also a few who appeared to be Ratmen Sorcerers.

And at the highest seat on the platform, a werewolf with a white mane was looking down at the bonfire.

And in the middle of the burning flames, a towering Return Stone was placed.

Red Butterfly’s heart began to pound.

‘Finally…’

The existence of the Return Stone meant it was a boss room.

It had been a day since she found the map in the Ratman Sorcerer’s robe.

They had experienced several transformations of the dungeon structure in the meantime, but the path engraved on the map had not changed.

They had finally arrived here after repeatedly going down and down.

The white-maned werewolf must be the boss monster ‘Werewolf Warrior’ that rarely appears in the Guillotine Dungeon.

Then, Red Butterfly suddenly realized that what she thought was a bonfire was somehow strange. There was no firewood that should have been there.

It was just burning alone on the bare stone floor without fuel. It felt magical.

Red Butterfly retreated and shared her observations with the other hunters.

“There is a Return Stone inside. And for some reason, they are lighting a fire around it and dancing.”

Everyone was relieved to hear that there was a Return Stone. If there was only a Return Stone, they could return to the ground even without Seo Tae-kyung’s Return Scroll. But the fact that the Ratmen were dancing was still strange.

“Could they be performing some kind of ritual?”

“It’s a bit primitive… a ritual that feels like that. I don’t know what they want.”

The primitive altar that the Ratmen had set up was crude, but it was clear that it had some kind of magical effect.

There was no reason for the bonfire to burn without firewood. But that wasn’t important now.

“And there are at least thirty Ratmen, three Ratmen Sorcerers, and a Werewolf Warrior. I think they will be the goal of the Guillotine Dungeon, at least the secondary goal.”

However, the expressions on their faces became heavy at the number of enemies Red Butterfly mentioned.

The Obsidian Team Hunter opened his mouth.

“Ratmen are not a big burden. But Ratmen Sorcerers… it might be difficult if those guys blow their horns or shoot magic again.”

“How strong is the Werewolf Warrior?”

“I heard it’s similar to a young Minotaur, so our team of three can handle it.”

The Obsidian Team Hunter raised his hand.

They had already participated in the capture of a 4-star dungeon, so if things hadn’t turned out this way, they could have skillfully cleared the Guillotine Dungeon.

“Then the problem is still that horn…”

The other guys can’t think of blowing the horn even if they have it. They just blindly follow the guy who blows the horn. Then a hunter raised his hand.

“I brought it just in case…”

It was a Ratman horn. Everyone had the method that came to mind, but no one wanted to do it.

“We can lure them with this.”

The problem was what would happen to the person who lured them.

Unless there was someone like Kang Hyeon-woo, they would surely die if they faced countless Ratmen, Sorcerers, and Werewolves.

If there was someone who had a chance of surviving even after facing those guys…

Their eyes naturally turned to Priest Johann. Strictly speaking, it was subtle to bring in Johann, who was in the position of advisor and protector, but he had already given up that position.

There was no other way. A hunter carefully opened his mouth.

“Could Priest Johann go inside and shoot them all dead with a pistol in an instant?”

“Why don’t you just ask him to detonate the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?”

“Oh my god, do you have something like that?”

“Someone tell this guy to watch movies moderately.”

No one answered the hunter. When you think about it, they itemized bullets, so there’s no reason why they couldn’t make grenades.

Strictly speaking, only the warhead of the bullet is an item, so wouldn’t it be possible to itemize only the fragments of the grenade?

While those disjointed thoughts were passing by, Johann reached out and snatched the horn that the hunter was holding.

They didn’t think Johann would understand the conversation. But he would be able to read the atmosphere.

Anyway, that was the only way to solve the situation.

Everyone watched Johann.

Just as Johann was about to say something, Red Butterfly grabbed his hand as if to stop him.

“No.”

Red Butterfly said, her eyes shining.

“There is a way to subdue them without using that horn.”

***

The road to the underground prison had to go through the Central Tower.

The guide was Sorcerer Seo. Since Sorcerer Seo belonged to Hyeon-woo’s thrall, it was impossible to escape. If he escaped, he could just be summoned again.

The problem was attacking Hyeon-woo when he encountered other Ratmen.

Hyeon-woo was being dragged along, bound by Sorcerer Seo. Of course, the rope could be untied at any time, and Hyeon-woo was walking behind him so that he couldn’t see him.

As they approached the bridge to the Central Tower, they discovered Ratmen in black armor guarding the area, whom they had never seen before.

[Fallen Empire Ratman Guard (LV 48)]

“Stop. Who is that guy?”

Naturally, they were wary of the human they were seeing for the first time.

Hyeon-woo had put a mosquito in the Sorcerer Seo’s mouth in preparation for the Sorcerer Seo betraying him.

If the mosquito, full of Hyeon-woo’s poison blood, burst in his mouth, the Sorcerer Seo would be possessed by parasitism and attack his allies.

In the meantime, Hyeon-woo could escape towards the Central Tower.

“Chief of Propaganda Oergil wants to interrogate this guy directly! Move!”

But the Sorcerer Seo shouted without showing any fear.

The guards frowned at the arrogant Sorcerer Seo. But they couldn’t stand up to the authority of the Chief of Propaganda. It’s a problem that arises when you have someone who prioritizes their own authority over the security of the group as their boss.

“This guy must be that guy.”

They had already heard about the human appearing in the Black Beak Fortress several times.

Hyeon-woo felt a tickling sensation on the back of his neck. If they suspected him even a little and attacked, Hyeon-woo would have no choice but to die. But they just let Hyeon-woo and the Sorcerer Seo pass.

From the moment he first stepped into the Central Tower, it was a path that kept going down.

If he went up, he would be able to meet the guy named President Yahnok Marx, who was directly performing the ritual, but there was no chance of fighting fairly.

“What are you doing underground?”

“The fangs…”

The Sorcerer Seo mumbled as if he was about to say something.

“You’ll see.”

“Want to die?”

“Ah, no, it’s because I lack the ability to explain. I mean, it’s easier to understand if you see it yourself. President Yahnok called this the ‘Final Plan’.”

Hyeon-woo felt that the Sorcerer Seo seemed ashamed of what was happening in the underground prison. But he still continued to lead Hyeon-woo.

Is it a trap?

He had such doubts, but even when the Sorcerer Seo encountered Ratmen by chance, he didn’t hesitate to shout loudly and guide Hyeon-woo.

As if he wanted him to see that place.

How long had it been? Hyeon-woo knew that he was almost there when he started to see no windows around him.

The foul smell of blood was wafting in the air. And the smell of animal fur and leather, and chemicals were mixed and flowing out.

“What is that?”

He encountered another guard standing at the entrance to the prison.

“Chief of Propaganda Oergil told me to offer this guy as a sacrifice!”

But this guard didn’t easily fall for such a shout that borrowed authority.

He looked at Hyeon-woo with a suspicious expression, then opened Hyeon-woo’s lips and lifted them up.

“This guy is human. Humans have fangs that are too small to be useful. The dirtiest fangs. You can’t offer him as a sacrifice. Chief of Propaganda Oergil sent this guy down?”

“Are you doubting the Chief of Propaganda’s orders now?”

The guard looked suspicious, then picked up something hanging on the wall. It seemed to be a tool for communicating somewhere.

The guard was about to say something into it, but he couldn’t utter any sound.

Instead, he spat out a handful of rats from his mouth.

The guard, seeing the rats swarming out, looked at the Sorcerer Seo in shock.

“You…!”

But what he faced was Hyeon-woo, who had already untied the rope and rushed in.

Hyeon-woo stabbed the immobile guard. But the level of the Ratman Guard was far superior to Hyeon-woo.

Hyeon-woo immediately summoned the Ratman Conscript, whom he had made a thrall, and activated the Absorption trait.

[The thrall ‘Absorption’ trait has been activated.]

[Stats increase.]

[The Omnivore skill has been temporarily acquired.]

Only after his stats increased was he finally able to pierce the Ratman Guard’s skin.

What followed was a brutal butchery. It was easy to cut off the head of the guard who couldn’t move because he was spitting out rats.

The corpse was kicked aside. His gaze turned to the Sorcerer Seo.

The Sorcerer Seo trembled as he watched what he had done.

Was it because he was afraid that his mistake would be revealed, or because he wanted Hyeon-woo to arrive at the underground prison?

Either way, it didn’t matter. Hyeon-woo patted the Sorcerer Seo’s back and pushed him.

“Keep leading the way.”