Underworld III

Before entering Seoul Station, Ohjin entered a nearby shop to gather the items that were necessary for emergencies.

'First of all, two sets of smokescreens and flares.'

He inserted the smokescreens and flares into the belt he was wearing. Smokescreens and flares were items that could at least be of use when modern weapons didn't work against monsters.

'Next up…'

He equipped a knife holster on both of his thighs and inserted three throwing knives into each one of them.

"Ah, I gotta take this as well."

He picked up a headlight located in the corner of the rack as it was an item necessary for exploring sewers.

'And for last…'

Shiver—

His hands shook as he reached towards the rack.

He could feel his insides turning just from looking at the price tag, but he had no choice.

'Three mid-grade potions.'

It was a necessity.

"Two sets of smokescreens and flares, six starstone-coated knives, one LED headlight, and three mid-grade potions."

As he brought them to the counter, the cashier started to scan the barcodes and added the total up.

"The total comes up to $7320 dollars, thank you very much~"

"Oi, you fucking daylight robbers."

A price that made bile rise in one's throat.

Even worse, $6000 out of the $7320 were the potions.

'Goddamn drug lords.'

The prices of potions were that expensive when they were no more than ointments with fast effects.

'Fuck.'

He still didn't have a choice in the matter since the difference between having at least that additional effect or not was too large.

"Excuse me? What did you…"

"Ah, I said that the knives look very nice in the daylight."

-Ring!

"Lame Excuse Lv2" is activated.

'Shut up.'

"Haha! Our store's products are famous for having good quality, after all, ~" the employee nodded with a bright smile.

It appeared that the employee hadn't heard Ohjin thanks to the fact that he had mumbled in a quiet voice.

"Will you pay by card?"

"I'll pay with cash. Ah! But what to do… I only have exactly $6000…"

He flapped the cash he had prepared in advance while letting out a sigh.

Smile—

The employee put on a smile.

"The total is $7320, thank you."

"Can't you help me out a little… I'm paying with cash…"

"Exactly seven thousand, three hundred, and twenty dollars, thank you."

"Is this how you treat regular customers?! Do you know how many years I've been using this store!!!"

"Our store opened a week ago."

'Fuck.'

"I meant that I'll become a regular for years on end in the future, well, something like that."

"…haa."

The employee breathed out a deep sigh and nodded his head.

"I can do $7000 for you."

"$6500."

"I seriously can't cut it down any further for you."

"Meet me in the middle at $6600?"

"How is that the middle?"

At the end of the long pestering, he was able to buy the items at the price of $6700.

'Damn, I could have cut more off.'

But he felt like the extra time needed for that wouldn't be worth it.

[…You're quite extreme when it comes to money.]

"You should save money when there's money to be saved."

He didn't have any plans on holding back for the 'Paradise', but he thought it was best to save money when buying trifling equipment.

[Hmm. This lady would have prepared it somehow if she knew how important money was to you… Sorry for being unable to give any help.]

"Haha. I've already received enough."

They weren't empty words as he truly had earned mouth-opening amounts of money after becoming her apostle.

[Still…]

Vega furrowed her brow as if it was a shame.

'I guess our Goddess has tremendous amounts of love for her apostle.'

Ohjin smiled and turned around.

"Let's go."

Ohjin, who had finished his preparation, followed the sewer map he received from the Association and headed towards Seoul Station's undergrounds.

[By the way, can you really face the flesh monster said to be under Seoul Station?] asked Vega with a concerned voice.

He unconsciously recalled the appearance of the flesh monster within Lee Shinhyuk's memories.

Its body was a whopping 20 meters long, it had eight destructive arms, and it was the monster that destroyed the entirety of Seoul Station while controlling hundreds of monsters.

'Well, of course, I'll die if I fight with that monster right now.'

However…

"It's in a sealed state."

[Sealed?]

No matter how dangerous the monster was, the situation was completely different if it was in a sealed state.

The meaning 'sealed' meant that it was tied up in a state where it couldn't move a muscle—whether a monster was strong or not wouldn't have any meaning if it simply couldn't retaliate at all.

'It's just a big punching bag.'

He organized Lee Shinhyuk'smemories in his head once again.

'Lee Shinhyuk definitely said that he could have prevented it if he knew that it was sealed in advance.'

If that were true, there was no reason Ohjin would be unable to do the same.

Deducting from fragmental information, it was clear that he was far stronger than Lee Shinhyuk at the time of the 1st Round.

[Hoo. So that's why you were so confident… you were planning on dealing with the sealed monster before it awakens!]

Vega continuously nodded her head as if she was saying that she had expected such a unique plan from a Regressor.

"Anyways, let's go find it."

[Do you not know of his precise location?]

"This entire area was already destroyed when his seal was undone in the 1st Round."

[Indeed. It would definitely be difficult to know in that case.]

"I'm sure it's somewhere under Seoul Station anyways."

He was certain that he would at least find a clue if he searched diligently.

Drag—

He opened the manhole and went into the sewers.

"Uk."

A foul smell stabbed his nose as he entered the sewers.

[It truly is an unpleasant smell.]

Vega also furrowed her brow and pinched her nose.

"You can stay inside if it's difficult."

[No. We don't know if this lady could be of help. As the restriction hasn't been taken into serious effect yet, this lady will stay with you.]

'Better for me.'

"Let's start by heading down this way."

[Okay.]

They went down the sewers that were intertwined like some complicated maze.

Although he wanted to use the stigma of the Hunting Dogs to track it down, he didn't have the courage to activate it inside the foul odour.

'I'll just have to resort to it once it's hopeless.'

Stick, stick—

He could feel the extremely unpleasant sensation of his shoe sticking to the sewage on the floor.

'I would have bought rubber boots as well if I knew it would be like this.'

He followed the light of the headlight deeper down the sewers.

Around when he was close to the lowest floor…

[My child. There is some kind of unpleasant energy coming from that area.]

"Hm?"

Vega raised her hand and pointed in a direction.

He opened up the map to confirm the path.

'There's no path in that direction?'

It was a dead-end, according to the map.

"Let's try finding our way there."

At any rate, there was no way he wouldn't confirm it when Vega was the one saying that she felt unpleasant energy.

"By the way, is it the same energy you felt back at the cave?"

[This lady cannot say that it's completely the same… but it is similar.]

Vega shook her head. Soon she crossed her arms and continued.

[If the energy back then was like viscous energy sticking to the surface of the skin… this energy is more like needles pricking the skin.]

"Is that so?"

In any case, it meant that they were both unpleasant energies.

'If that's the case…'

He thought about the possibility of it also being connected to the Black Star's power.

'Even the basket-ball-sized starstone stuck to the head of that flesh was black.'

The reason why the rare starstones of mutants were being discovered so often recently could also be connected to the Black Star's power.

"Let's go and confirm it directly."

After taking out and grasping his spear, he started to move his feet.

When he reached the dead-end—

Krr—

"This is…"

—in place of what should have been blocked off with a dead-end was a tunnel made out of pieces of dark red flesh.

Ohjin's lips curved into a smile.

'Bingo.'

It seemed like he had come to the right place.

It was then…

Kerr, Krrrrrr—

Low growls came from two dark red lizards as they crawled from the tunnel made of flesh.

Even though it was called a lizard, only its face resembled a lizard, with its body being similar to that of a human.

'Reptilian.'

A 3-Star monster that frequently appeared inside gates.

'…Is that also a mutant?'

Compared to normal Reptilians that were green, their skin was coloured with blood-like dark red.

"Krrrrrrrrrrr!!!"

Before he could continue his thought, the two Reptilians shrieked out while slurping their long tongues.

Rip!—

A pure-white bone shaped like a pick spiked out of the back of the Reptilians' hands.

"Perfect for some warm-up."

Ohjin smirked while grasping his silver spear.

It was the debut of his newly prepared weapon.

His heart thumped on its own from the anticipation.

"GuRuuuuuu!!"

With a bizarre shriek, the two Reptilians sprinted along the walls.

Their speed was certainly incomparably faster when compared to mere Ant-horns.

But…

It wasn't a threat to Ohjin, who had developed at a speed that left a North Star's celestial astonished.

Swoosh!!—

A silver spear was thrust forward, aimed at a Reptilian's neck.

Jump!—

The Reptilian that was sprinting on the wall jumped while extending forward its bone awl.

KKang!!—

"Krrrraaaaaaa!!"

Simultaneously blocking the silver spear with its bone awl, it tried to turn its body to lash out its tail towards Ohjin, but—

"No can do."

Crackleeeeeeee!!!!!—

"Kaaaaaaa!!!!!"

—a blazing blue lightning twisted around the spear.

Blue lightning didn't only focus on the spear's blade like with Lee Shinhyuk's spear but instead evenly spread across the entire spear, electrically shocking the Reptilian through the bone awl and causing the Reptilian's body to cook from the inside out.

The Reptilian was sent flying back as it screamed a horrifying shriek.

"Karu…!"

The other charging Reptilian stopped in its tracks; its yellow pupils moved around cautiously while it started to back off one step at a time.

"Hm? Got cold feet already?"

"karaaaa."

As Ohjin approached with a smile, the Reptilian turned its body around and ran back into the tunnel made of flesh.

[Won't you chase after them?]

"There's no reason to."

[Hm?]

Vega tilted her head while looking at him.

"Wait a bit and you'll see."

Reptilians were fundamentally social monsters; they had a somewhat organized structure and also possessed moderate amounts of intelligence.

The chances that the two Reptilians loitering at the entrance had been scouts were high.

'And if that's the case…'

It was obvious what actions the Reptilian that fled the moment its partner died would take.

"What a perfect situation for fishing."

[Fishing?]

"Well, I guess it is closer to cast-net fishing."

Ohjin cackled while aiming his wire shooter towards the wall.

Bang! Bang! Bang!—

Three shots each from his left and right. A total of six lines were made.

[So this is what you meant.]

Vega lightly giggled like she had understood what Ohjin was planning to do.

After waiting around three minutes in that state…

Dudududududu!!!—

"KAraaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"GruAaaaaaa!!"

With horrifying shrieks, the tunnel started to shake.

Starting from the end of the tunnel, dozens of Reptilians fiercely sprinted along the wall towards him.

"Well, even if they possess a bit of intelligence, a monster is still a monster."

Ohjin smirked while looking towards the charging group of Reptilians.

He crossed his widely spread-out arms into an X while flowing mana into them.

Whirrrrrrrrr!!!—

With a rough metallic sound, the six wires stuck to the walls encompassed the tunnel.

"Kraaaa?"

Although the Reptilians that had sensed that something was wrong urgently stopped their tracks, they were pushed forwards by the dozens of Reptilians charging behind them.

The six wires wrapped around the group of Reptilians like a net.

And then.

'Blue Lightning.'

The Blue Lightning that travelled through the wires fiercely blazed up.

A foul stench of burning flesh spread throughout the tunnel.

"Kaaraaaaaaaa!!!"

"Grururururururu!!"

Although the Reptilians wriggled and tried to set themselves free from the wires, the six wires started to entangle them in a more complicated manner instead.

Ohjin watched the burning Reptilians tied up in wires with a satisfied expression.

'Kya! This works great!'