Chapter 78
The color drained from Joo Sarang’s face as she saw the depths of The Chamber of Gu Poison.
Her breathing grew ragged, and her trembling intensified.
“U… Uugh…!”
Before long, she clamped a hand over her mouth and began to retch.
I silently waited for her to calm down.
Thanks to the light pouring down from above, the depths of the dungeon were somewhat visible, unlike the pitch-black exterior.
That was why the nauseating sight ahead was all too clear.
In the game, there was a cinematic showing exactly how this scene had come to be.
The dungeon’s depths resembled a colossal ant nest.
From the central core branched countless tunnels spreading in all directions, and the starving monsters, lured by the descending light as if it were salvation, staggered forward in a trance.
Then they waged war against every creature they encountered, devouring and being devoured in turn.
Because of that, the bottom of the cavern was covered with blood and corpses piled into a massive mound, and by the time one reached the heart of the dungeon, half-torn monsters were feasting upon one another — a literal depiction of hell.
The monsters before my eyes looked like a massive, writhing sphere.
They devoured and regurgitated one another endlessly, flowing together as if forming a single current.
Like a planet spinning on its axis, the swarm rotated in one unified direction.
And that flow was all converging toward a radiant object floating high above, shining with an almost divine brilliance.
The reward of this place — “Star of Art.”
Just by using it, one could grant allies resistance against abnormal status effects.
More importantly, the Star of Art served as a crafting material for one of the ultimate endgame items — something extremely valuable to possess.
However, that wasn’t the reason I had come here.
That item was the natural enemy of one of Berid’s subordinates — the Demon of Indulgence.
Since it completely nullified countless debuffs, it made eliminating one of his minions far easier.
It was, in fact, the perfect signal flare to bring Berid down.
However…
I turned toward Joo Sarang, who had stopped retching but was still gasping for breath.
She hung her head low, still unable to steady her mind.
I shook my head and shifted my gaze back to the monster swarm.
There was no point pondering unsolvable problems right now — the best course was to handle what could be dealt with immediately.
Taking a deep breath, I drew upon the Demonic Power.
【Spear of the Giant.】
From the darkness, a crude spear of stone slowly emerged and solidified in my grasp.
Even as the weapon appeared, the monstrous mass continued devouring itself, too mesmerized by the Star of Art’s glow to notice me.
Could I take them all down?
Probably not.
Not only was the chamber far larger than the previous passage, but my mana reserves were running dangerously low.
Moreover, the way those creatures devoured each other without regard for their own broken bodies suggested that their minds—or even their souls—had been tampered with.
Simply crushing them with a giant spear didn’t guarantee they’d die.
Then, Joo Sarang, now somewhat composed, spoke.
“What’s wrong? Why are you just standing there with your spear?”
“The number of them is too great for the mana I’ve got left.”
“How many times can you still use a skill like the one from before?”
“With this one included… maybe three times. No, two at best.”
Combining two Powers consumed tremendous amounts of mana.
If I wanted to fight comfortably, I needed to find a way to boost my mana pool soon.
“Then we’ll just have to cut down their numbers as much as we can, right?”
“Right. Do you have a plan for that?”
“If I use my ability, I can gather them all into one spot.”
“Your ability?”
I recalled her fighting earlier — the way she’d turned the ground into liquid and then solid again to restrict the monsters’ movement.
“If I use my ability, Material Transformation, at the center of that corpse heap, I can draw them all together.”
“True.”
In the game, Joo Sarang had always died before she could reveal her powers, so I never knew what her ability was.
But now that I saw it — material manipulation — it was an incredibly broken ability.
Just as she said, there was a real chance this could work.
The problem was getting her to the top of that monstrous pile… and whether she could handle it mentally.
The reason she’d retched earlier clearly wasn’t just because of what she’d seen.
She’d been raised as a living weapon — piles of corpses alone wouldn’t shake her stomach.
“You sure you’re up for this?”
“What, are you actually worried about me?”
“Do I look like I wouldn’t be? What if you get caught in the blast from my spear?”
“……”
At my response, her cheeks flushed slightly.
Embarrassed, huh.
“I’ll manage. Don’t worry.”
“Really?”
“Just keep your eyes open and watch. I won’t be tripping you up like before.”
With that, she leaped straight into the writhing mass of monsters.
Almost instantly, black Demonic Energy began to flow from her body, announcing her presence to all.
I focused my Dragon Eyes on her movements.
Her combat was extraordinary.
The moment her hand touched a monster’s body, it began to harden—slowly turning to stone.
Statues of beasts made from stone, gold, and wood lined the path she tread, and with a single sweep of her arm, their heads were severed cleanly.
At this rate, she wasn’t just a high-ranking demon — she could easily be considered a Greater Demon.
It struck me again how fortunate it was that, in the game, she had been eliminated before ever fighting seriously.
Before long, she reached the top of the mountain of monsters.
Seeing that, I tightened my grip on the Spear of the Giant and invoked the Power of Mighty Strength.
Taking aim in a throwing stance, I pointed the spear straight toward the peak of the corpse mountain.
Joo Sarang knelt, pressing her hand against the mound of corpses.
The Demonic Energy flowing from her body multiplied severalfold, spreading over the entire mountain.
Gwoooorrrl!
With a grotesque, liquid-like sound, the center of the mountain began to cave in.
The core of the mass turned fluid, drawing in the surrounding monsters as if it were a whirlpool.
The beasts that had been tearing at each other’s limbs were sucked into the black, viscous liquid, flailing helplessly before sinking beneath it, unable even to scream as the fluid filled their lungs instead of their stomachs.
Now.
I leaped into the air and hurled the Spear of the Giant.
Its immense mass ripped through the air and plummeted toward them.
Kwagagagagakang!
The vortex created by the liquefied corpses pulled countless more monsters into its depths once again.
The monsters kept drawing one another in, and again, one monster pulled another closer...
Upon that endless chain of entanglement, the Spear of the Giant grew even larger, crushing the creatures beneath it.
Then, with a thunderous explosion, a massive pillar of water surged upward.
I quickly searched for Joo Sarang.
Fortunately, she had transformed the wall of corpses into a barrier to shield herself.
At least she could protect herself, that much was clear.
The surviving monsters had already been scattered in every direction by the earlier strike of the Spear of the Giant.
If any of them survived and decided to attack…
Even if their numbers had been greatly reduced, for both me and Joo Sarang—drained of mana and stamina—it would be difficult to handle.
So...
Once more, I squeezed out the last remnants of my mana and summoned a sword using Demonic Power.
The jet-black blade began to shift, its surface dyed in crimson light.
【Levatein.】
I leapt into the air, landing atop the Spear of the Giant embedded in the ground.
Then, without hesitation, I drove Levatein into the spear.
The moment the sword containing the Flames of Gehenna pierced it, a massive blaze erupted.
The flames of Gehenna engulfed the spear in an instant, spreading infernal fire in all directions.
Rumble!
‘Damn, my mana’s running low…’
Because the Spear of the Giant was a construct formed of mana, maintaining its form consumed far more energy than expected.
Suppressing a groan, I carefully controlled the flames of Gehenna.
Normally, the Flames of Gehenna were purely destructive — a force that burned everything indiscriminately.
But I had applied a domain within them.
A refined art that allowed me to distinguish between what to burn and what not to within the area, controlling the flames with precision.
Finally, when the flames completely wrapped around the Spear of the Giant,
I released the mana maintaining the spear’s form.
At once, the spear exploded as if it had been waiting for that command, scattering chunks of stone in every direction.
Kwagagagagang!
The enormous blast shook the entire cavern.
Joo Sarang, having landed on the ground, clicked her tongue in disbelief as she looked around.
“Ha… insane.”
I knew the power would be great since it was a combination of two Powers, even if not a full synthesis… but this was nearly like a direct hit from a meteor.
I could no longer sense the presence of any surviving monsters.
Joo Sarang, her face smeared with soot from the charred corpses, approached me.
“They’re really all dead… But if all the monsters are gone, why isn’t anything happening? Isn’t this a wave-type dungeon?”
Despite all the monsters being dead, she looked around the still uncleared dungeon in confusion, checking to see if anything still lived.
So it had come to this after all.
There were no living monsters left in this place.
I calmly answered her.
“The clear condition for this dungeon is that only one living being remains inside.”
“…What?”
Joo Sarang’s face twisted in shock.
But I didn’t bother to respond further.
Her trembling eyes said it all—she wasn’t asking because she hadn’t heard me. She just didn’t want to believe it.
Damn it.
Joo Sarang’s involvement hadn’t been part of the plan.
Who would’ve imagined she’d follow me here in secret?
Normally, I might have tolerated such mischief.
But the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“So that means, unless one of us dies…”
“We’ll be trapped here forever.”
“……”
She lowered her head, murmuring something I couldn’t make out.
It seemed the sudden situation had thrown her thoughts into chaos.
In truth, the solution was simple.
All I had to do was kill her myself.
If I drew upon the mana I’d stored from Lia, using Levatein again wouldn’t be impossible.
And Joo Sarang, having used her ability to transmute the corpse mountain, surely didn’t have much mana left either.
But… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Partly because of the lingering memories in my body—revulsion, hesitation—and partly because, looking into those confused eyes, I couldn’t imagine driving my sword through her chest.
Releasing all my Powers, I sank to the ground with a heavy sigh.
Was there really no other way?
Then, my eyes met hers.
Her gaze was dull, lifeless.
She approached me slowly.
“Well, maybe it’s better this way. If we’re here, even Pandemonium can’t reach us.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden…?”
Then, without warning, Joo Sarang lunged at me, turning my clothes to stone and pinning me down.
It happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to react.
“Let’s not go back. Let’s just live here together.”
“Hey, wait, what—hey!”
But my words no longer reached her.
A dangerous glint flickered in Joo Sarang’s eyes.