Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 95

95. Debut Stage (3)

Yoo Seong-yeon looked shocked at Hyunmu’s words.

“Dungeon Flood? The Taean Dungeon is flooding? That’s impossible! The Taean Dungeon is fixed, and this is already the third flood in our country. The probability is absurd…”

Yoo Seong-yeon tried to deny reality, but Hyunmu cut him off.

“Quiet.”

Creak, creeeak. Squeak, squeak.

Across the clearing where the return stone was located, sounds of beasts came from the jungle. Sweat beaded on Yoo Seong-yeon’s forehead. Hyunmu whispered into Yoo Seong-yeon’s ear.

“What’s that sound?”

“J-Jungle Trolls…”

“What are they?”

The Taean Dungeon strategy videos Hyunmu had watched barely mentioned Jungle Trolls. They were just… there.

“They’re similar to trolls, but their arms are longer, and they’re better at climbing trees. The problem is they act as a group, but they’re usually far from the strategy route, so we ignore them. The risk isn’t worth the reward.”

“Dangerous?”

“Are you going to fight them? There will be casualties. I have a return scroll, so we should leave together…”

“So they’re strong. What if we don’t fight? Just leave?”

Yoo Seong-yeon realized what Hyunmu was saying. The Taean Dungeon had little security because it was fixed and located in a sparsely populated area.

There were no resident hunters on standby. Since Taesung managed it, teams visited frequently, so everyone believed it was safe.

If a flood occurred in this situation, the soldiers on guard and the residents in the area would be defenseless.

Moreover, a 4-star dungeon flood could endanger the entire region if not stopped early. Yoo Seong-yeon muttered in despair.

“Why, without any warning…”

If a flood occurs during an expedition, the principle is to use a return scroll immediately. If an expedition team can’t escape, they are usually presumed dead because they usually have no chance of survival.

Hyunmu saw from Yoo Seong-yeon’s reaction that he was unprepared. At best, it was a five-man team.

Their purpose was to monitor and guard, not to suppress a flood.

“Ha. But why isn’t the return stone working?”

“How should I know?”

Hyunmu pushed Yoo Seong-yeon back and started walking forward.

“Use the return scroll. Go and report that a flood has occurred.”

“B-But, Hunter Kang Hyunmu!”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Huh?”

“T-That’s not it… The return scroll isn’t working either!”

When Hyunmu turned around, he saw the torn return scroll and the ashen faces of the hunters. Yoo Seong-yeon’s face was the palest of all.

Hyunmu looked at Yoo Seong-yeon in disbelief.

“You didn’t tear it as soon as I said ‘use the return scroll,’ did you?”

“Swift action is directly linked to survival!”

He wasn’t wrong. But usually, wouldn’t you try to stop me at least once? Or say something like wishing me luck?

Hyunmu felt absurd, but he pondered how to resolve this situation.

Probably, like with the Guillotine Dungeon, he could clear [攻略: conquer] the dungeon up to the third objective and then erase the damn magic circle. He didn’t know why the return scroll wasn’t working.

But the guys here might all die while he was away.

After a long deliberation, Hyunmu slowly opened his mouth.

“I didn’t want to do anything this nice.”

Hyunmu looked at the hunters with gloomy eyes.

“From now on, no one is allowed to enter the forest.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not responsible for anyone who accidentally steps in and dies. And whatever you find between the trees, think you saw it wrong and forget it. No, forget everything you see from now on.”

Hyunmu didn’t answer the hunters’ questions and strode forward.

Song Yeo-un and Yoo Seong-yeon looked at each other, not knowing what was happening. Then, a tremendous roar erupted from the forest.

A roar that chilled the blood, as if it were not of this world.

“W-What is that? A boss monster?”

“I’ve never heard that sound before. What on earth…”

None of the hunters could move their feet. Ominous shadows moved quickly between the trees.

Subtle noises that made one feel uneasy echoed. Yoo Seong-yeon suddenly realized that the voices of the Jungle Trolls were disappearing one by one.

The moment Yoo Seong-yeon, unable to overcome his curiosity, tried to take a step,

Thud, something flew and landed at his feet. It was the head of a Jungle Troll, roughly butchered and cut off.

The cross-section looked like it had been made by hacking wildly with a very short dagger.

Seeing the convulsing head of the Jungle Troll, none of the hunters could move their feet.

Song Yeo-un and Yoo Seong-yeon looked at each other, not knowing what was happening. Then, a tremendous roar erupted from the forest.

A roar that chilled the blood, as if it were not of this world.

Whatever was happening, there was something other than Kang Hyunmu in the forest.

A monster was hunting monsters.

***

“Kirson.”

Following Hyunmu’s light gesture, Kirson roared loudly.

Taking the hunting signal, three or four goblins rushed towards the trolls in the trees.

The goblins mercilessly slaughtered the Jungle Trolls, who were in their late level 30s.

The traces of the goblins’ hunt were messy. They randomly cut up the Jungle Trolls and threw them around, and corpses hung on the trees here and there.

Among them, Kirson acted particularly cruelly.

“Khazrat.”

This time, Khazrat, the newly tamed Ratman Sorcerer, quietly obeyed Hyunmu’s command.

Having been soaked in tar once, Khazrat maintained a jet-black fur color all over his body after being given a name, as if he had undergone some change.

When hiding in the shadows, nothing could be seen except for his yellow eyes.

Khazrat shook the staff with the bell hanging from it. Every time the clanging sound echoed, Jungle Trolls fell from the trees. Having heard some sound, they twisted their limbs, foamed at the mouth, and died.

Khazrat didn’t stop there and tapped the corpses with his staff. After a while, the Jungle Trolls’ stomachs bubbled, and countless swarms of rats burst out, tearing through their bellies.

“Go, it’s time to ruin this bountiful land.”

Khazrat whispered quietly. As nearly a hundred rats poured out per Jungle Troll, the jungle was soon covered in a wave of rats. The amount of rats that one Sorcerer could control was a thousand.

The Jungle Trolls caught, crushed, and ate the rats, but the rats were no ordinary rats.

[Summoned Faminefang Rats (LV 14)]

There were more rats that pierced the skin and burrowed into the body than rats that were caught and killed.

Soon, the rampaging Jungle Trolls quieted down, shuddering with only their hides left, and then spewed out countless swarms of rats again.

‘I can only summon this much due to the current limit on the number of familiars I can accommodate.’

Kirson, three goblins, Khazrat, and a few mosquitoes. It was efficient because Khazrat knew how to use summoning magic. If he could bring the entire goblin village, it would be better than most clans.

‘Still, to be able to overwhelm them like this despite the large level difference… the stats of monsters must vary depending on the difficulty.’

Even the same level 1 monster would be different in difficulty between hell and tutorial. Just like Hyunmu was exerting much stronger power against monsters now.

What surprised Hyunmu was Khazrat. The moment he fully accepted the Ratman Sorcerer as his familiar and gave him a proper name, he began to change.

He became as black as if tar had been applied directly to his fur, and his level also rose to 36. It was the same change that Kirson had experienced. Kirson was now around level 31 as well.

The stronger Hyunmu became, the stronger his familiars became.

‘At this rate, there should be no problem suppressing the flood.’

Hyunmu ordered Kirson and the goblins to clear the area around the hunters and to silence anyone who entered.

‘But don’t do anything unnecessarily cruel.’

He could sense the goblins’ delight. Hyunmu warned clearly. There was no need to show consideration for those who violated the warning.

Hyunmu instructed Khazrat to release the swarm of rats widely to find the boss monster.

The thousand rats spread out widely and began to spread throughout the forest.

If those swarms of rats had been scattered everywhere when Hyunmu entered the Black Beak Fortress, he wouldn’t have been able to approach it.

But those rats were temporary summoned monsters. After 10 minutes, they were destined to disappear into a puddle of blood.

‘I found the Giant Troll.’

Not long after, a message was delivered from Khazrat. Hyunmu took out Tham and ran towards that direction. But it was already too late when he arrived.

The Giant Troll, its might was pathetic, its skin was already bubbling with rats inside.

It was making some kind of unintelligible moan and waving its hands around, but it seemed unable to find anything because its eyes had already disappeared.

Hyunmu sighed and swung Tham. With a slicing sound, the Giant Troll’s knees were cut off.

As the Giant Troll fell, Hyunmu swung Tham again and cut off its neck. This time, as with the Guillotine Dungeon, he felt almost no sensation of cutting.

“The second objective has been achieved… Now I need to find the third objective.”

He didn’t know what the external situation was like now, but it would be troublesome if monsters were already coming out. He might have to face monsters as soon as he went outside.

He didn’t mind, but the hunters he had raised with such effort couldn’t be harmed.

Like many other dungeons, the third objective of the Taean Dungeon had not been revealed.

‘Come to think of it, the area where Jungle Trolls mainly live is said to be far from the expedition route.’

There seemed to be something there.

Hyunmu first sent Khazrat back in that direction. Thanks to the flood, Jungle Trolls continued to appear, so there was no shortage of rats.

‘Why did this happen in the first place?’

Hyunmu referred to the White Bone Records a lot when predicting the future, but he didn’t believe in them absolutely.

The future is bound to deviate from the moment it is recognized. Hyunmu had already advanced the Guillotine Dungeon flood by two months.

He thought there would be some anomalies. But so far, only the timing was different, and the recorded events were happening without much change.

‘But there was no mention of a flood occurring in the Taean Dungeon at all.’

What caused the flood?

Hyunmu found it hard to believe that it was unrelated to him.

***

Finding the third objective didn’t take as long as he thought.

Unlike the closed Guillotine Dungeon, the Taean Dungeon was an open type consisting of a forest.

“Guooooooo!”

A giant lizard roared at Hyunmu. Every drop of poison sprayed around was covered with Faminefang Rats, stuck like rat pups on flypaper.

[Overgrown Venom Lizard (LV 45)]

It looked quite different from the other monsters he had met so far. Until now, the monsters had been mainly from fantasy novels.

It used venom to prevent the rats on the ground from approaching, and it tried to change its skin color to match the large tree it was clinging to.

But a few rats that had crossed over on the branches had already stuck to it, making it difficult to hide.

“I will handle it. Great one.”

Khazrat whispered in a gloomy voice. But Hyunmu shook his head.

“No, I want some of that sticky stuff.”

“…Yes?”

“If I’ve gone through all this trouble, I should get something out of it.”

Hyunmu put Tham into his inventory. There was no need to cut it. Hyunmu sent a mosquito filled with his blood.

The moment the mosquito tried to land on the lizard’s head, it stuck out its tongue and snatched the mosquito.

“Oh dear.”

Hyunmu exclaimed, feeling sorry without realizing it.

He didn’t know if lizards had expressions, but the color of its skin began to change rapidly.

The lizard, which was changing colors like a broken traffic light, soon fell to the ground without being able to resist.

As if the inside had already melted, it burst as soon as it touched the ground, and black fluid spread everywhere.

“…I thought it would make good glue for repairing walls.”

Anyway, he had achieved the third objective in less than 30 minutes since the 4-star dungeon flood occurred.

Now all he had to do was erase the magic circle— the moment he thought that, a message rang out.

[Achieved a Monumental Feat!]