Underworld IV

Sizzleeeee!!!—

Pungent smoke started to fill up the tunnel.

Horrifying shrieks shook the eardrums.

"KaraAaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

The silver wires tangled up more intricately as the group of Reptilians wriggled from the pain.

Scratch! Scratch!—

The Reptilians struggled desperately. They tried using their bone awls to cut the wires, but only dull metallic sounds rang out from the scratches.

"It won't cut that easily, you know?"

Ohjin laughed as he looked at the struggling Reptilians.

As the wires were hardened with a mixture of starstones on top of being reinforced with large amounts of mana, there was no way they would snap from the mere attacks of Reptilians.

"KaaaaaaaaAAA!!"

It seemed like the group of Reptilians had also realized this fact as they started to back off into the tunnel cautiously.

The lucky Reptilians that weren't caught by the wires turned their bodies in an attempt to run away.

Then…

Baaaang!!!—

"KuRAaaaaaa!"

With a fierce shriek, the body of an escaping Reptilian was shot forwards like a cannon.

Dududuk!—

The intricately entangled wires shook from the powerful shock.

"That's…"

Ohjin turned his head at the monster that had thrown the Reptilian like a cannon.

The monster had dark red muscles covering its body and was more than two times larger than other Reptilians.

'Is it a Reptilian Champion?'

Blocking the path, the Reptilian Champion fiercely browbeat the Reptilians that were trying to run away. With expressions filled with horror, the Reptilians turned their body towards Ohjin once again.

"Gurkaaaa!"

Following the Reptilian Champion's command, the group of Reptilians gathered in one place and started to break through the tunnel.

The corpses of the tangled up Reptilians were pushed as the group of Reptilians used their combined strength to surge forwards.

Screech! Squeak!—

The silver wire shrieked out as it was pulled tight.

'It won't hold on any longer.'

Clicking his tongue, Ohjin sent into the shooter equipped on his wrist.

Whirrrrrrr!—

The wires returned to the shooter, shredding the Reptilians' corpses into pieces.

"KuRuuuuuuuUU!!"

Was it because they believed it to be an opportunity? The Reptilian Champion ripped out its enormous bone awl and roared.

The Reptilians that were pushing the corpses sprinted across the walls towards him.

[Fufu. These insignificant beings keep on struggling.] Vega ridiculed as she crossed her arms.

"I know, right."

Ohjin nodded his head and raised his spear.

Crack! Crackle!!—

Then, a brawl commenced.

Ohjin's spear fiercely swept across the group of Reptilians.

Bzzzzzzzt!!—

"KaraaaaaaAAAc!"

A Reptilian would drop dead to the ground every time he swung his lightning-condensed spear.

Thanks to the fact that so many Reptilians had met their ends to the wires, it wasn't all that dangerous even when all the remaining Reptilians charged towards him.

Bang!—

"GuRuAaaaaaa!!"

The Reptilian Champion stepped forward, as it could no longer bear to watch the unsightly scene.

"Too late; you should have joined in from the start."

Bang! Bang!—

A heavy vibration resonated through the tunnel every time the Reptilian Champion stomped its feet.

In the situation where the group of Reptilians had already been slaughtered, the lone Reptilian Champion charged in with his bone awl prodding out.

"Fuu."

Clang! Clang!—

After raising his spear to block the bone awl, Ohjin spun his body to swing his spear down low.

Pow!—

As the swiftly swung spear hit the Reptilian Champion's knee, its posture broke down.

"KAaaRacC!!!"

Screaming out an incomprehensible shriek, the Reptilian Champion retaliated.

With the goal of trying to create distance at all costs, it recklessly swung its bone awl while retreating.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Bang!—

A wire was shot with a loud sound.

Clang!—

The Reptilian Champion reacted quickly and struck the wire's weight as if striking a baseball with a bat.

As the wire was struck, it dug into the wall made of flesh.

"KuRarara!"

The Reptilian Champion that deflected the wire looked at Ohjin with a pompous expression.

"Bastard, are you getting cocky?"

Giggling, he pushed mana into the wire shooter on his left arm.

Whirrrrrrr!—

His body shot forward as the wire pulled tight.

Letting the force of the pull bring him through the air towards the Reptilian—

"Hmpf!"

—he fixed his grasp on the spear and thrusted forward with all his strength.

Crunch!—

"KaaaaaaAAAA!!"

The spear penetrated one of the Reptilian Champion's eyes; it shrieked out while grasping the spear.

It was the end.

"Blue Lightning."

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!—

"KraaaaaaRac!!!"

The Blue Lightning that rode through the spear burned the Reptilian Champion's brain.

Bang!—

The Reptilian Champion's large body fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Fuu."

He pulled out his spear while catching his breath that had become a little rough.

[You have become very proficient in using Blue Lightning.]

"I did practice hard for the past three weeks, after all."

In days without special events, he had continuously trained specifically the stigma of Lyra from every early dawn until the sun set down.

He couldn't use it as naturally as when he was 'blessed', but he had made remarkable progress compared to back then when he had half-forced the succession of the skill.

[Hm. It is not a skill that one can become proficient in by putting in hard work, though.]

Vega shrugged her shoulders, no longer having the energy left to be surprised every time.

"Well then, should we take the loot?"

Huhuhu!—

Ohjin giggled and placed his spear down on the ground.

He took out the knife on his thighs to rip apart the Reptilian's corpse.

'The size of the starstone… is mediocre.'

Ohjin, who had harvested the starstone from the Reptilian, clicked his tongue in shame.

High-ranked monsters wouldn't always possess large and high-quality starstones. In extreme cases, a 7~8-Star monster could throw up a starstone inferior to an Ant-horn.

'Well, these small crumbs don't matter that much.'

The basketball-sized starstone that could be called the main dish was waiting for him anyways.

[This starstone also possesses an unpleasant color.]

The starstone harvested from the Reptilian Champion was black, as expected.

—A mutant's starstone.

It was the starstone that could only be harvested from mutant monsters that appeared extremely rarely inside dungeons.

'Though it doesn't seem to appear rarely anymore.'

Because he had bumped into so many mutants recently, black starstones felt more familiar than the common blue ones.

"Do you feel the unpleasant energy you felt from this as well?" he asked while holding out the black starstone towards Vega.

She held the black starstone with both arms and started to observe it.

[Although faint, the energy from before can be felt.]

"Hm."

Ohjin studied the black starstone with his eyes narrowed.

'As expected, there's some kind of connection between the Black Star's power and mutants.'

The Black Slimes he met in the cave before also possessed black starstones.

Saying that mutant monsters appearing in bulk inside dungeons where a star relic imbued with the Black Star's power laid dormant is a 'coincidence' would make no sense.

'Then does that mean a star relic imbued with the Black Star's power lies buried here as well?'

He wasn't certain yet, as he had only seen the monster causing mayhem inside Lee Shinhyuk's memories.

[Hmm. This area feels uneasy in many ways.]

Vega narrowed her eyes while observing the tunnel covered with flesh.

"Yeah."

Ohjin, who had been contemplating with the black starstone in his grasp, soon clicked his tongue and stood up.

He decided to stop thinking about the identity of the black starstones for the time being.

'It's not something I can figure out with my head right now.'

There was no reason to keep wasting his time with useless thoughts.

"Let's go."

After he finished harvesting starstones inside the Reptilians' corpses scattered around the tunnel, Ohjin headed deeper inside.

Something felt off, but…

'It doesn't matter if it makes money.'

Whether it was blue or black didn't matter.

With mutant starstones being sold at a higher price, mutants appearing more frequently was something to be welcomed instead.

'I can also absorb the Black Star's power.'

He wasn't sure of what the Black Star's power was, but he was at least sure of the fact that it could become a big strength for his current self.

Stick, stick—

He followed the tunnel deeper inside.

Groups of Reptilians ambushed him a couple of times during the trip, but he was able to wipe them out without further trouble.

And when he continued to walk for around 30 minutes…

"Ooh."

The end of the tunnel.

In the middle of the cavity covered in dark red flesh was a giant made out of chunks of meat that was rolled into itself like a pupa.

The flesh giant didn't move an inch; its eyes were closed as if it had fallen into a deep slumber.

'Holy crap, it really is no joke looking at it this close.'

Its size was around 10 meters.

It was a lot smaller than the size inside Lee Shinhyuk's memories, but immense amounts of pressure still radiated out.

—That monster is seriously fucking strong.

Was the intuition that flashed through his head.

"Fuu."

He took in large breaths and calmed down his beating heart.

Raising his left arm, he aimed the wire shooter towards the flesh giant.

Bang! Bang Bang!!—

The wires shot with powerful recoil and stuck into the giant's body.

Drip—

Although dark red blood poured out of spots the wire dug into, the flesh giant didn't react in any way.

'Blue Lightning.'

Bzzzzzzzzztt!!!—

Blue Lightning flowed through the wire, causing the flesh giant to burn, but as expected, the flesh giant didn't move a muscle this time either.

"Huhu, what can you do even if you're strong? Huh?"

Ohjin's lips curved upwards.

The overwhelming pressure that radiated out of the flesh giant was enough to make one lose the strength in their legs with just a glance, but—

'So what.'

—It was currently nothing but a fool that was sealed in a state where it couldn't move a finger anyways.

No matter how large its size, or suffocating pressure it radiated, there was no reason to be afraid.

[So that is the sealed monster.]

"Yeah. It's the main culprit of Seoul Station's destruction in the 1st Round."

Ohjin moved towards the curled-up flesh giant while nodding his head.

"However… as you can see, it's nothing but a pushover right now!"

He looked up towards the monster with greedy eyes.

'That Lee Shinhyuk guy really has many uses. To be able to get my hands on this starstone so easily…'

"Now, let's kill it swiftly."

Ohjin grasped the silver spear while activating his stigma.

"Here we go!!!"

He approached it and thrusted his spear.

Puk!—

Blood splattered out as its flesh ripped apart.

"Hyap! Hyat! Ch-hat!"

He yelled while continuing his combo that flowed like water.

Cutting, stabbing, slashing.

Blood and flesh would splatter every time his spear was swung.

'This is pretty fun. Something like the feeling of beating up an extremely realistic sandbag? No, it feels closer to that of beating up a punching machine at the arcade.'

"Die, you chunk of flesh!"

It felt like stress was getting relieved on its own as he excitedly beat up the powerless chunk of flesh.

'Relieving stress and making money! What a great day! Thank you, Shinhyuk!! I can live happily thanks to you!!'

"Hahahahaha!!"

When he was excitedly swinging his spear away—

"Huh?"

Ohjin's expression stiffened.

'What's wrong with this bastard? Why did its eyes open all of a sudden.'

[My child. Didn't you say that the monster was sealed?]

"Y-Yeah! Of course!"

He urgently nodded his head.

"Only the eyes of that bastard opened; it can't actually move!"

It appeared that the seal Lee Shinhyuk referred to was a kind of seal that restricted movements with the conscious intact.

'That's right. Having just the conscious remaining doesn't ma—'

Krrrrrrrrr!!—

The flesh giant raised its body.

A kind of terrifying howl that you would hear from some pseudo-religion's seance that worshipped a devil from hell echoed out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!—

Four arms that sprouted out of the chunk of flesh fiercely hit the wall.

"Huh, holy shit?"

'Why can this bitch move?'