Chapter 94: Dungeon Eater (2)
Ding—
The sound of a bell ringing on the surface seeped down into the dim basement.
Slice—
Right after the bell tolled, a sound like something being severed echoed.
Splat.
Something wet and heavy fell to the floor, the viscous liquid splashing audibly.
“Next.”
Tsutsutsuts—
A low, deep voice accompanied the harsh screech of sharp metal scraping across the ground.
Thud thud.
Someone dragging metal along the floor came to a stop.
In the faint light slipping through the small barred window, the massive silhouette of a devil and an enormous greatsword were briefly illuminated.
Ding—
The bell rang once more.
The giant devil raised the greatsword high overhead in one swift motion.
Slice—
Like a guillotine, the blade dropped in an instant, cleanly severing the kneeling figure’s neck.
A butcher-like strike—cold, efficient, and flawless.
Splat.
Blood gushed across the floor, and the severed head rolled away.
Every severed head came to rest in the same spot.
A pile of heads gathered at the feet of a devil wearing a black robe.
Some belonged to devils, but most were from otherworldly beings.
The devil seated in a chair looked down at the pile of heads before calling out to the giant devil.
“Balrog.”
“Speak, Cult Leader.”
Balrog turned toward the black-robed devil—the Cult Leader.
The Cult Leader himself was about 1.5 times the size of an average adult male, yet Balrog appeared four times larger still.
Standing face-to-face, anyone would feel dwarfed by the sheer difference, but the Cult Leader spoke with calm composure.
“Come here.”
“Understood, Cult Leader.”
Like an obedient dog, Balrog immediately approached.
Dragging his greatsword along the floor.
The Cult Leader watched with visible displeasure before raising a finger.
Shuuut—
The scattered severed heads on the floor rose into the air all at once.
They floated before Balrog, who had come to a stop.
“Don’t move from there.”
“Understood, Cult Leader.”
Pukwakwakwak!
The heads suddenly burst in sprays of blood, crimson streams shooting toward Balrog.
The blood streams were instantly absorbed into his body, making his frame appear slightly larger.
His muscles visibly hardened further, and the demonic aura radiating from him grew thicker.
“Hm. Still not enough.”
Even though these were carefully selected heads, they fell short of what Balrog required.
He needed far more heads—or heads from much stronger beings.
The heads of the recently arrived otherworldly beings might suffice, but they were reserved as offerings for the Descent Ritual.
It wasn’t time to use them yet.
But if he wanted to contain the descended god within the vessel called Balrog, he needed to temper him even further.
“To make the Ruler of the Void mine, you need to become stronger.”
“I want to become stronger.”
Balrog exhaled heavily through his nose as he spoke.
He was a devil engineered for one purpose only: to grow ever stronger.
A monster born from collaboration between Red Industry and the Church.
If the main Church ever learned of this, they would immediately dispatch an Inquisitor.
But there was no chance of discovery.
The Void Church was thoroughly concealed deep beneath the complex underground of Nine City.
Even if someone knew of its existence, finding it would be like searching for a needle in a desert.
Moreover, with Red Industry’s protection, the Cult Leader could act more boldly than ever.
Just today, Balrog had consumed dozens of devils and otherworldly beings.
Something unimaginable in any other city.
“Hm. Shall we feed him just one of the new arrivals?”
“I want to eat.”
The Cult Leader watched Balrog tremble with excitement and pondered for a moment.
Even if the Descent Ritual succeeded, it would be meaningless if Balrog wasn’t ready.
That thought made the decision easy.
“We’ll capture the one who escaped alone and feed him to you.”
The Cult Leader recalled the otherworldly being for whom a wanted order had been issued.
According to the information, he was evaluated as the weakest among the three, yet even that level far surpassed most other otherworldly beings.
He would serve as sufficient nourishment for Balrog.
It might even allow them to accelerate the ritual.
“Muleta.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
At the Cult Leader’s call, a shadowy figure rippled faintly in the darkness before materializing.
“Do you know where he is right now?”
“His exact location hasn’t been pinpointed yet, but it’s certain he hasn’t left the city.”
A woman’s voice flowed from the shadows.
Once someone fled, if they remained within Nine City, they were no different from a rat trapped in a cage.
The Church wasn’t unable to find fugitives—they simply hadn’t bothered to search actively yet.
Their eyes and ears were hidden throughout every corner of the city.
“Find him and bring him here.”
“Yes. Thirty minutes will be sufficient.”
Muleta melted back into the darkness and vanished.
“Balrog.”
“Speak, Cult Leader.”
“The day we conquer hell together with the Ruler of the Void is not far off.”
The Cult Leader smiled faintly in the shadows.
***
‘This is interesting.’
Jin-young watched as the heads of the police officers—who had clashed with the Watchmen—exploded.
It felt as though it were happening right in front of him, though the physical distance was considerable.
He was sharing consciousness with the tentacle, which had spread throughout the city via the pipes and was serving as his surveillance cameras.
The tentacle was like thousands of cameras, while Jin-young’s mind acted as the monitor switching between channels.
The tentacle still wrapped around the steam engine facility continued to pump its mana through the pipes, steadily taking control of the entire city.
In other words, surveillance cameras were now being installed across Nine City.
『There are plenty of suspicious individuals, but I still can’t identify who belongs to the Void Church or who the Cult Leader is.』
While installing surveillance across the city, the tentacle was also meticulously scanning everyone suspected of being connected to the Void Church.
‘Anyway, someone like the Cult Leader is probably holed up in a basement somewhere. Finding the Church itself isn’t the main objective.’
Jin-young didn’t think a 1st-grade dungeon would be resolved so easily.
Although energy pipes ran throughout the entire city, it was highly likely the Cult Leader had hidden in a place that avoided them.
At that moment—
『Could this be the Cult Leader?』
The tentacle shared another view from a different part of the city with Jin-young.
As a human with only one consciousness and field of view, Jin-young couldn’t observe the entire city simultaneously like the tentacle could.
There were thousands of surveillance feeds, but he had to switch between them like changing channels on a single monitor.
The tentacle showed him an alley in the city.
There, two devils wearing black hoods were conversing.
To eavesdrop on their conversation, the tentacle concentrated a bit more mana in that area.
***
“Have you located the fugitive?”
“We traced him from the checkpoint, but the trail suddenly cut off. It’s as if he evaporated.”
At Muleta’s question, the follower answered.
Dissatisfied with the response, Muleta’s voice sharpened.
“So you’re saying you can’t find him?”
“No. With a detailed search, we can locate him within thirty minutes.”
“Bring him to me immediately.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The follower bowed and vanished from the spot.
Once a target was set, the Void Church’s tracking unit pursued relentlessly to the end.
Since becoming its captain, Muleta had never once failed.
She was one of the Church’s most capable talents, and the Cult Leader trusted her completely.
Allowing even the slightest blemish on that trust was absolutely unacceptable.
To realize her ambitions, she had to remain an indispensable, razor-sharp sword for the Cult Leader.
Only then—when the Void Church completed its revenge against the main Church and conquered all of hell—could she obtain what she desired.
The trivial, insignificant lives being sacrificed throughout the city right now were merely small steps toward that future.
“How dare he hide from my eyes. If he appears before me, I’ll tear his limbs apart.”
As long as he was still breathing, whether she severed his arms or shattered his legs didn’t matter.
Just as Muleta was about to leave, she suddenly sensed something strange and turned her head.
The next instant—
Shhh—
A black portal opened right in front of her, and a tentacle shot out.
“……!”
Sss…
Even in her shock, Muleta dispersed her body like smoke to evade the tentacle’s strike.
The black mist swiftly retreated and reformed into Muleta’s figure.
“This can’t be… No way.”
She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the tentacle.
She definitely felt a familiar aura, yet something about it felt off.
Tsutsuts—
Another portal opened right in front of her. This time, instead of a tentacle, an otherworldly being stepped through.
She had never seen an otherworldly being capable of handling portals like this, so she was momentarily startled—but her expression quickly changed.
“You’re…”
It was the exact face of the fugitive with the wanted order issued against him.
“Coming straight to me on your own. Quite the gutsy otherworldly being.”
“Are you the Cult Leader?”
At the fugitive’s blunt question, Muleta curled her lip in a sneer.
“You’re looking for the Cult Leader? What a coincidence. He happens to be looking for you too.”
“Oh? Then lead the way.”
Muleta smiled outwardly at the insolent fugitive’s attitude, but anger slowly smoldered in her eyes.
“But you won’t be going peacefully.”
Shssss—
Once again, she transformed into black smoke and vanished.
Even until that moment, the fugitive didn’t react. He simply stood there blankly.
‘Limbs should be enough.’
With a light heart, Muleta released her mana.
Tsutsutsuts—
Immediately, massive crescent-shaped blades appeared from all directions.
Tsukwakwakwakwa!
They spun at tremendous speed, tearing through the surrounding air with a vicious sound.
The air itself cracked faintly from the sheer force.
Each blade was forged from refined Flameheart Stone and infused with powerful mana, granting them cutting power capable of slicing through any metal.
The fugitive’s limbs should have been severed in the blink of an eye.
But before the blades could even touch him—
Kwazuzuz—
As if blocked by an invisible wall, the blades sparked violently in midair and spun uselessly.
The fugitive looked at the four spinning blades right in front of his nose and spoke.
“Metal of this level is hard to come by. This dungeon has so much good farming material—nice.”
Muttering something incomprehensible, he continued.
Kwakwakwakwak!
The four blades were suddenly pulled together into one mass, then crumpled like paper.
And just like trash tossed into a bin, the balled-up blades were sucked into a portal.
Seeing this, Muleta had no choice but to completely revise her plan.
These blades were forged from Flameheart Stone—the hardest ore in hell.
Even a monster like Balrog couldn’t crumple them like paper.
The otherworldly being before her was absolutely not someone to take lightly.
He might even surpass a monster.
But she had no intention of backing down now.
Muleta had never been the type to settle things with brute force anyway.
“I wanted you to feel the pain of having your limbs severed while fully conscious. Looks like that won’t be possible.”
The moment her words ended, a suspicious aura blanketed the alley.
Colorless, odorless gas began filling the entire area.
Even the slightest contact would instantly induce anesthesia.
She had no idea how much would be needed against a monster like this, so she released the maximum amount.
Her perfectionism allowed no room for error.
But she didn’t realize—
No matter how perfectly she executed her plan, it was meaningless in front of a being who transcended common sense.
“Sniff sniff. What’s this? There’s gas?”
The fugitive flared his nostrils as if just noticing, then spoke casually.
From Muleta’s perspective, he was clearly inhaling the gas. With every word he spoke, he was gulping down huge amounts.
Yet far from being anesthetized, he looked like he was enjoying it.
“Back in the day, the Emperor tried to kill me once. He mobilized the entire Imperial Assassination Unit and every top assassination guild in Renard. They used sleep gas like this too. Ah—of course, what you’re using is way stronger. If theirs was makgeolli, this is like vodka?”
“……”
Muleta couldn’t respond, but the fugitive kept talking.
“Once your mental fortitude gets strong enough, you become immune to petty tricks like this. But you still haven’t noticed, have you?”
“What…”
At his final words, Muleta suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
He hadn’t inflicted any direct harm yet, but his words alone were already overwhelming her presence.
“Look. You didn’t even realize your mind was being eroded. This is exactly why you need to train your mental strength.”
“……?”
Only then did Muleta belatedly look down at herself.
Her body, which had turned into smoke, was now completely wrapped in black tentacles.
Yet she didn’t feel bad at all.
Instead, an overwhelming sense of faith welled up inside her.
“Ahh… O God…”
“That’s right. Since God has come, lead me to the Cult Leader.”
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