Chapter 97: Dungeon Eater (5)
“What the hell is Psycho doing right now?”
Yoon Soo-ho muttered abruptly while exploring the dark underground temple alongside Choi Hee-yeon.
“Hmm… Our junior is probably searching for hidden pieces of information scattered throughout the dungeon rather than focusing on clearing it.”
Choi Hee-yeon recalled what Chae Jin-young had said before they entered the dungeon.
They needed to gather as much information as possible from this place.
She, too, had been helping Chae Jin-young by recording whatever details she could.
But Yoon Soo-ho couldn’t quite wrap his head around the whole information-gathering thing.
“Didn’t the trend of collecting dungeon intel already die out like three years ago? It’s rare to encounter the exact same background dungeon twice anyway, and even when you do, the information doesn’t really help much. That’s already been proven, hasn’t it?”
At his words, Choi Hee-yeon simply shrugged.
“Junior doesn’t even pretend to listen to opinions like that. He’s already decided he’s doing it his way.”
“…Yeah, fair enough. The guy lives exactly how he wants.”
Yoon Soo-ho had no choice but to nod in agreement at her response.
“It’s already been two days since we entered the dungeon.”
Choi Hee-yeon said while checking her watch.
They had been moving nonstop, so the time had slipped by unnoticed.
Even so, they still hadn’t located their main target—the cult leader.
“Then roughly six hours have passed on Earth.”
“Correct. We should pick up the pace from here.”
The two of them had followed the gaurds and spent quite a long time wandering this vast, maze-like place.
They had taken wrong turns and ended up fighting a group of fanatics, and they had also unexpectedly obtained fragments of a mysterious holy relic.
[Secondary Objective: Holy Relic Fragment Collection (3/3)]
Yet even after collecting all the fragments, the objective hadn’t been marked as complete, nor had they combined into one.
They figured they would have to try again after meeting the cult leader.
“That door, I think.”
Leading the way, Guard Captain Ulan pointed at a massive iron door and spoke.
A sinister, malevolent aura flowed out from within.
It seemed the cult leader was definitely beyond that door.
With a grave expression, Yoon Soo-ho stepped past Ulan and placed his hand on the iron door.
It was so enormous and heavy that no normal amount of force would budge it.
Tzzzzzt—
Channeling mana into both arms, Yoon Soo-ho applied strength.
Krrrrrrrng—
With a deafening groan, the huge iron door slowly swung open, revealing an expansive assembly hall.
They had expected something majestic since this was where the dungeon’s boss—the cult leader—resided.
“……”
Not only Yoon Soo-ho, but Choi Hee-yeon and the gaurds all froze with dumbfounded expressions.
The walls and floor of the assembly hall were pitted and cratered as if they had been bombed, with uncleared debris scattered everywhere in chaos.
And the demon presumed to be the cult leader was kneeling motionlessly, unable to move.
In midair floated grotesque tentacles radiating the same ominous power of GODS that they had felt in the streets of Nine City.
But there didn’t seem to be any real cause for alarm.
Because Chae Jin-young was standing there casually, completely at ease.
Beside him stood some female demon, though she didn’t appear threatening.
“Is it… already over?”
At Yoon Soo-ho’s question, Chae Jin-young shook his head.
“Cult leader, attack.”
The cult leader rose from its kneeling position.
Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon flinched and immediately prepared for combat.
They had anticipated fighting the cult leader eventually, but they never imagined the situation would unfold like this.
“Psycho, what are you trying to do?”
To Yoon Soo-ho’s question, Chae Jin-young replied,
“Giving our senior and the Association President some real combat experience, while also satisfying my personal desires. Killing two birds with one stone, you could say.”
“Personal desires?”
Yoon Soo-ho furrowed his brow.
At that moment—
Swoosh—!
A jet-black mana sword grazed dangerously close to Yoon Soo-ho’s cheek.
“If you keep standing around like that, you’re gonna get hurt, Soo-ho. You guys came here to raid, remember?”
“……”
Yoon Soo-ho shut his mouth and focused solely on confronting the cult leader.
Choi Hee-yeon took out the three holy relic fragments she had collected and held them in her hands.
The fragments floated into the air, emitting pure white light, and merged into one.
Paaah—!
They transformed into a golden chalice the size of a human head.
Intense light burst from the chalice and enveloped the cult leader’s entire body.
“Krrrrrrgh!”
The cult leader writhed in agony.
“Now!”
At Choi Hee-yeon’s shout, Yoon Soo-ho raised his mana.
Activating his ‘Purification Power’ ability, his blue mana instantly turned pure white.
Whoooong—
Just as the Destroyer, wrapped in radiant white mana, was about to smash into the cult leader’s head—
BOOM!
A jet-black barrier suddenly unfolded and barely managed to block Yoon Soo-ho’s strike.
But the barrier shattered into pieces from that single blow.
Watching the scene, Chae Jin-young let out an admiring murmur.
“Holy power really does work well against it. Looks like this’ll be no problem.”
“Psycho!”
Yoon Soo-ho shouted, but Chae Jin-young didn’t even pretend to listen as he spoke.
“Let’s make our senior suffer just until she reaches 1st Grade Awakener.”
“……?”
A question mark floated across Choi Hee-yeon’s face at those words, but she quickly grasped Chae Jin-young’s intention.
A resolute light shone in her eyes.
Pzzzzzt—
She raised her mana, determined not to let this opportunity slip away.
***
“Haa… haa……”
Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon were utterly exhausted.
The gaurds couldn’t even dream of joining the fight—the battle had been that intense.
Thanks to completing the holy relic called the chalice, which was especially effective against demons, and combined with Yoon Soo-ho’s Purification Power, the outcome should have been one-sided.
The cult leader, already drained by Jin-young, appeared to be helplessly defeated.
But the tentacles forcibly pumped power into the cult leader, making it impossible to easily determine a clear victor.
“The magic circle?”
At Jin-young’s question, the cult leader—panting heavily—answered.
“…It is prepared.”
While the battle raged, the cult leader had drawn a magic circle using Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon’s blood.
A magic circle meant to summon the god worshipped by the Hell God Religion—the Demon King.
Jin-young was curious whether, if this magic circle were properly activated inside the dungeon, the Demon King would truly descend.
Of course, he had no intention of letting it happen.
If he did, Yoon Soo-ho and Choi Hee-yeon would be put in danger.
Just as Jin-young rose from the throne and approached the magic circle—
“Huff… Isn’t it about time you explained things?”
Yoon Soo-ho, catching his breath, suddenly spoke up.
“Explain what?”
“Why the cult leader is obeying you. What this magic circle is. And the identity of those black-mana tentacles. Everything.”
“Explaining everything would take too long. I’ll tell you just one thing simply for now.”
Standing atop the red magic circle, Jin-young opened a black portal in midair.
Another black tentacle emerged through the portal.
“I’m going to eat this dungeon starting now.”
“What?”
Gulp— gurgle—
The tentacle wriggled and began to sweep across the magic circle on the floor.
‘How about it? Is this enough to absorb Nine City?’
『It’s sufficient. I’m not sure if we can truly descend a deity with this, but the precision and completion level are impressive.』
The tentacle examined the magic circle and expressed admiration.
‘But if we swallow all of Nine City at once, what happens to us?’
『No need to worry about that. Only things affected by the hellfire pipelines will be absorbed into the sub-space. The hunters will be safe.』
The hellfire power plant, the buildings connected by its pipelines, and the demons as well.
Only those under the tentacle’s influence would be selectively absorbed into sub-space.
Outsiders like Jin-young, Yoon Soo-ho, and Choi Hee-yeon would suffer no harm.
Although he called it “eating the dungeon,” in reality he was only absorbing Nine City, so the dungeon itself wouldn’t disappear.
Still, just in case, he had prepared safety measures.
『Then I’ll begin.』
Black mana flowed out from the tentacle and covered the magic circle.
Watching the scene, Yoon Soo-ho muttered a single line.
“I’m not even surprised anymore.”
The moment the tentacle dyed the magic circle black—
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—
The entire underground temple shook violently as an enormous amount of mana exploded outward in every direction.
It spread throughout all of Nine City, then a brief silence fell.
Jin-young looked at Choi Hee-yeon and said,
“Senior, keep that chalice safe. It’ll probably come in handy.”
“Understood.”
Choi Hee-yeon carefully stored the chalice in her sub-space backpack.
『Now.』
The instant the tentacle spoke—
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
A tremendous roar erupted from far away, and the black mana that had spread out began to be sucked back into the magic circle.
Along with it, hellstones, buildings, demons, and everything else on the outskirts of Nine City vanished into the magic circle in an instant.
Deciding the time had come, Jin-young spoke to the cult leader.
“You said there’s another Psionic successor in Gehenna, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Go ahead.”
Crunch— crack-crack!
With psychokinesis, Jin-young instantly compressed the cult leader.
[The cult leader of the Void Church has been killed]
[Main Objective Achieved]
[Dungeon: Valley of Hell Cleared]
He had wanted to keep the cult leader alive longer to use as a research subject, but clearing the dungeon left him no choice.
Tzzzzzt—
[Return Portal Generated]
Blue portals appeared in front of Chae Jin-young, Yoon Soo-ho, and Choi Hee-yeon respectively.
[Dungeon Exit: Clear Rewards Will Be Distributed]
“You two go ahead first. I’ll follow soon.”
At Jin-young’s words, Choi Hee-yeon nodded and stepped into the return portal.
Yoon Soo-ho still wore an expression full of doubt, but escape came first, so he too stepped into the portal and returned.
Chae Jin-young was left alone in the underground temple.
Or so he thought—but a few demons still remained.
The pursuit captain of the Void Church, Muleta, along with the gaurds.
“What happens to us now?”
At Guard Captain Ulan’s question, Jin-young answered.
“You’ll probably end up living in real hell instead of this fake one.”
“What does that mea—”
But before the question could finish—
Shwaaaaak—
The demons still lingering in the underground temple were likewise sucked into the magic circle.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Unable to withstand the tremendous surge of power, the underground temple began to collapse.
In any case, the Void Church’s temple had only minimal influence from the tentacles, making absorption difficult—and it wasn’t particularly useful anyway.
Just as the ceiling caved in to crush Jin-young—
Shwaat—
His figure vanished beyond the portal.
***
Sssss…
A man dressed in a traditional Japanese robe, with a sword at his waist, slowly raised his head from beneath the water.
Eyes still closed, he stood up, lightly gripped the Japanese sword at his hip, and—
Slash—
In an instant, the drawn blade sliced through empty air.
Tzz…
A very faint crack appeared and then closed again.
“Huu…”
Sheathing the blade once more, the man took a short, deep breath.
Shwooooo—
The water of the pond he stood in rose up and wrapped around his body.
“Association President.”
Someone approached Tachibana Yutaro, the Japanese Association President, who had been immersed in training in the garden.
Sssss…
Shaking off the water enveloping him, Yutaro turned to the man in a suit.
“Yamakawa Shinichi.”
The man called Shinichi bowed respectfully and continued.
“We have confirmed that both the Korean Association President and the Zero-Grade secret agent are currently absent.”
“That again.”
Yutaro frowned upon hearing Shinichi’s report.
“Association President. This is not about declaring war on Korea. If we’ve been wronged, we repay it in kind. Isn’t that the true way of the warrior?”
“Your bushido seems to start with cowardice.”
“It’s realism.”
There was only one reason Shinichi was saying such things.
Not long ago, at the Federation General Assembly held in Kaesong, Korea.
There, the Japanese Association President had been humiliated by an unidentified Zero-Grade secret agent.
Though the assembly had been closed-door, the hundred or so hunters present had all witnessed it.
Japan’s pride—Tachibana Yutaro, the gentlest and most restrained among Zero-Grade hunters—being treated worse than a dog.
Shinichi, the Association President’s loyal retainer, had not been present himself, but even hearing about it secondhand filled him with shame.
So he had made up his mind.
He would take revenge on Korea no matter what.
Even if he was called a coward, he didn’t care.
“It’s foolish. Korea is no longer an easy target. Revenge only begets more revenge.”
The one actually involved—Yutaro—spoke with a calm expression.
Of course, even he wasn’t entirely at ease.
But there was nothing he could do.
‘I should have realized it back when Liu Qinglong was acting like a tame dog. That lunatic has already stepped beyond the bounds of humanity.’
For someone ranked among the world’s top two to be cowering like that was no small matter.
Of course, if Yutaro fought Liu Qinglong to the death, he was confident he could win—though he would have to be prepared to die as well.
But Korea’s secret agent was an existence completely outside such ambiguous rankings—an irregularity beyond standards.
Shinichi, never having faced it personally, spoke lightly.
“Association President. You’ve become far too soft.”
Shinichi simply believed Yutaro was still shaken from the shock and had grown weak.
“Shinichi, let me give you one piece of advice. Cherish your life.”
In the past, Shinichi would have taken Yutaro’s warning to heart.
“If that’s how the Association President feels, then I’m sorry.”
Leaving behind an ambiguous remark, he turned and left.
As he departed Yutaro’s garden, he activated a secret communication through his wireless earpiece.
“This is Shinichi. It seems the Association President won’t be joining us.”
A displeased voice came from the other side.
―Doesn’t matter. We’ll start carefully from Busan anyway.
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