novelraw Chapter 63 : Human Farm (2)
Chapter 63 : Human Farm (2)
Chapter 63: Human Farm (2)
For a while, the subordinate manager had been quiet.
Priscilla’s voice was trembling noticeably.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
Yohan lowered his voice and moved a few steps away from the group.
—They’ve activated the “Catastrophe” protocol from above….
Catastrophe?
The way she trailed off clearly meant that whatever came next wasn’t good.
No way.
—At the “Natural Disaster” level.
This was insane.
It wasn’t at the “Apocalypse” level, so it wasn’t the absolute worst, but that didn’t make it any better.
The “Natural Disaster” level could wipe out the entire Daejeon area.
A subordinate manager couldn’t possibly trigger something like that.
At the very least, it had to be a Bureau Chief-level—or more likely, a high-ranking—administrator who got involved.
“Wait, why would they suddenly activate a disaster-level protocol? What, are they trying to kill everyone here?”
—I don’t know! It could be because of the Witch of the Maple Tree and that monster, or maybe it’s something else entirely. Sigh… I managed to stop things at the hospital for now, but I think they’ve caught wind of something. Anyway, I came to tell you right away!
He could tell she was straining herself just to deliver the information.
Of course, there was no way details of a high-level administrators’ meeting would reach Priscilla.
—And there’s one more problem. The Saintess has joined forces with some strange people and is selectively hunting monsters with at least “2nd-month” sanctity levels. She’s already taken down one and is going after another now… She’s acting fanatical.
What the hell…
The Saintess, who had already suffered a bitter defeat once, was moving again in this manner?
It would have made more sense for her to regroup and tend to her wounded.
But if she was acting this recklessly—
‘Did she realize what kind of Fortune Cookie I drew?’
Then acting out of vengeance would make sense.
—Eek! I-It’s nothing! I was just talking to myself. I’ve been really good at keeping myself entertained lately!
Her startled voice suddenly cut off.
Yohan’s eyes narrowed.
He hadn’t told even Vivian about the Great Misfortune.
If Priscilla had found that out, then…
Snap!
“Aagh!”
Reina clutched her head.
“Was it you?”
“What was?”
Just as Reina was about to pull out her weapon, Yohan added,
“Was it you who sold my information to the Saintess?”
“...Ah. That? Ahaha.”
Reina’s hand slowly dropped.
So it was you.
It had to be this damned agent, using her signature little spider to spy on him.
She must’ve taken her chance when he pulled out the Fortune Cookie to confirm it after killing the Gravedigger.
“Tell me what kind of deal you made with the Saintess. Otherwise, I’ll deal with you here first.”
“Come on, is this really the time to worry about something that trivial? Shouldn’t we focus on how to break through those trolls—”
Just then—
“Grrraaaah!”
“Raaaagh!”
The Cave Trolls suddenly roared in unison.
Kwagagagak!
Then, clutching massive icicles, they charged straight toward them.
The cave trembled as the over four-meter-tall creatures rampaged in fury.
If they fought head-on, at least half would die.
No, judging from their numbers, it could easily turn into total annihilation.
They had to run—but where?
“This way! This path leads to the storage area!”
An Seungchang pointed toward a crack in the ice wall.
“If we go a bit further inside, the passage narrows—trolls won’t be able to follow!”
Lee Danbi and Jo Jeongmu immediately bolted after him.
“What about us?”
What else?
“Run!”
Yohan made the decision instantly.
He opened a subspace and summoned Sambok.
“...Do it. Think you can handle it?”
“Heh! Leave it to me.”
Sambok nodded once and dashed toward the bubbling sulfur pit.
The group hurled themselves through the narrow crevice in the wall.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Faster! Move faster!”
They ran and ran again.
The trolls had closed the distance like mad and were right on their heels.
“How long do we have to keep running?”
“We’re almost there!”
Contrary to what had been said, the gap did not narrow at all.
If anything, it felt like it had widened a bit.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The trolls’ speed had gained proper acceleration as well.
There were now only a few meters left between them.
Kwahng!
A massive icicle slammed into the ground right in front of them.
Hands that looked like they could crush rock with one grip reached to snatch the back of their heads.
Screech! Pa-pa-pung!
Reina sent out a venomous spider, and Kang Yohan answered with spells.
“Grrraaah!”
Each time, trolls fell and tangled, but the problem was their numbers.
How many of those things had been imprisoned in this underground place? It was not ten—dozens of trolls were cramming forward.
The pressure felt like fleeing a monster wave.
Lee Danbi, whose stamina was actually dropping, had nearly been caught several times.
“If we break through that door, it’s our destination!”
Screeeek!
An Seungchang forced the frozen door open.
And when the door finally opened….
The worst imaginable thing had occurred.
“What… what is this?”
Reina stammered.
It was inevitable.
The place they had fled to was a perfect deathtrap.
‘A hunting ground, huh.’
Kang Yohan quickly scanned the surroundings.
He could see countless skulls rolling about.
Fresh blood and chunks of flesh were stuck on the chains and stairs.
At least several dozen people must have been sacrificed here.
“Hah. This is disgustingly tiring.”
“Still, we pulled it off perfectly. Our Danbi—your acting was killer, huh?”
“Hee-haha! Fooling dumbasses like that was nothing.”
An Seungchang, Jo Jeongmu, and Lee Danbi slapped high fives.
“You lunatics! How dare you trick me?”
Reina glared at the three with blazing eyes.
“It was a hobby. Gimyung oppa already gave me permission. When we heard you escaped from the furniture store, we prepared the hunt.”
“I still thought it was too easy—a bit of a shame. If you hadn’t let us out and left, we could’ve shown you a more interesting way to hunt.”
Feigning weakness, pretending to be allies, approaching the prey—and then striking the back of their heads at the end.
That thrilling dopamine was far more stimulating than alcohol or gambling.
“Hah, this is fun. Thinking that herding you into a place like this would make you think three of you could do anything.”
Peeing!
Reina had produced a flashy yoyo.
He had expected something like spikes or needles, but this was unexpected.
“Sorry, but I don’t like crude slugging matches. I prefer watching safely from a distance.”
Lee Danbi blew a strangely shaped whistle.
Peeww!
The trolls that followed immediately assumed the same posture.
They blocked the entrance and pointed the tips of their sharp icicles to one side.
Only one profession could pull off something like that.
“Tamer…”
A rare profession that could tame certain monsters.
They were troll trainers.
With perfect timing, stagecraft, and driving the hunt—this was not the work of novices.
They had probably worked together for a long time, not only in this mart but earlier as well.
What rotten luck.
A vampire follower and a tamer.
Meeting one of the two was hard enough—meeting both as a set, and as enemies, was unbelievably unlucky.
Kang Yohan quietly took a notebook from his pocket.
[Each run tended to have lucky and unlucky characters. This time, in terms of chance or Hidden Piece it’s a legendary lucky character, but this situational misfortune feels like a record-breaking unlucky character. winter is coming.]
“Are you writing your will? If you get eaten, only shit will be left of you.”
An Seungchang sneered.
“Mind your own. It’s one of my hobbies.”
He reviewed the past to correct future mistakes.
Although the next run had already vanished, the act of leaving traces itself served as proof of life.
Squeak.
The three patiently waited for his notes to finish.
They were sure they had no variables to lose.
Above all, they planned to finish the hunt only after Kang Yohan’s composed face had contorted with fear.
Because lively prey always felt better to the hands.
Plop.
Kang Yohan closed the notebook.
“Before we start, I want to know if that is indeed where the Pure Blood is stored—how sure are we?”
A long glass window about ten meters up stood in the cliff face.
From inside, one could see out, but from here the inside could not be seen.
It must have been some kind of magic mirror.
“Yes. It’s stored in there.”
Lee Danbi grinned and nodded.
“You actually guided us properly?”
“It’s more fun that way. Watching faces despair with the goal right before them—ah. It never gets old.”
She blushed and trembled her body thinly.
They were real psychopaths.
Would one rot from so much dopamine?
Still, he was relieved.
“I don’t think I’ll feel guilty killing all of you.”
No matter it was for survival, killing people was never pleasant.
But if they weren’t really people, then it didn’t matter.
“Ha-ha-ha! You’re one confident friend.”
“Oh my. This one is hilarious. Among the prey I’ve seen in recent years, this one’s the craziest.”
“Hey. Do you see all these cave trolls as mere screens to you? Want a thick icicle stuck in your belly?”
Kuuung!
One cave troll massively drew its shoulder back.
If the command fell, it would throw that huge weapon whole.
Paaaang!
But a half-beat faster, the yoyo sliced through the air.
Screech!
An icicle two meters long was neatly cut off.
“Smart thinking. The answer is to leave none of these guys alive.”
Reina played the yoyo with dazzling hand movements.
Judging from how she cut that thick ice in one go, its cutting power was tremendous.
The situation, however, was not easy.
Kwoong! Thud!
“Grraa.”
“Grrraa!”
Trolls squeezed through the narrow entrance.
Their number easily exceeded thirty.
It would be impossible to control them with mere taming ability alone.
Had the vampires given them some item?
“All right. Try struggling hard from now on. The prey these days are lame—I want them to heat up properly.”
“I was already planning to heat things up.”
Kang Yohan lifted his head.
This ice cave itself resembled a faithfully recreated version of an existing region.
Let’s see.
The 199th run.
It had been when he learned about ‘waves.’
He drew an imaginary circle of 2.25 meters in diameter centered on a point.
Flare!
Small fireballs rose and exploded at the point thirty centimeters to the right of the origin.
Thud!
He targeted the point where the wave of fire would maximize and struck again. And again.
Finally, when the gathered force dissipated, he would apply the hottest heat…!
Hm.
“It won’t work.”
“Hahaha! What are you thinking? Trying to melt the ceiling with that pathetic tinder? What, you plan to escape through that hole?”
Lee Danbi held her stomach in laughter.
Don’t mock him too much.
Life was hard to do alone—that was why companions existed.
“Hehe! Master! Ready!”
A familiar voice rang from above.
＊
Kukukuku.
The sound of liquid violently churning.
At that strange roar, An Seungchang’s face immediately turned pale.
“No way…!”
A chilling warning echoed in his head, but it was already too late.
The waves that had disappeared moments before suddenly began to amplify by dozens of times.
Kwa-duh-duh-duh….
Hard ice and snow fractured.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle!
The ceiling collapsed and a tremendous amount of red water flooded down.
The waterfall of boiling sulfur engulfed the cave trolls in an instant.
“Gaaah!”
Jo Jeongmu could not escape that tragedy either.
Red water began to rise in an instant, and places to stand were rapidly disappearing.
“N-no way. You’ve mapped the flow in the sulfur pool exactly?”
An Seungchang was horrified.
He did not even know this place well.
How could he claim that on his first visit?
But finding an answer to that question was not important now.
They had to get out.
Otherwise, they would all die.
An Seungchang and Lee Danbi tried to go back the way they had come.
But—
“Ehei. That won’t do.”
With Kang Yohan’s words another explosion shook the cave.
Kwaa kwaa kwaa kwang!
Falling rocks erased the path they had come by completely.
“What are you doing! You’ll die if this keeps up!”
“Hmm? Why would I die?”
He wasn’t stupid.
Would the one who laid the trap be swept away with it?
Plop.
Thud.
Kang Yohan grabbed Reina’s web and dangled in midair.
Of course, there was no place for the two of them.
The situation had been totally reversed.
The looters who had been laughing moments ago needed only seconds to become groveling.
The two of them were already clinging to the wall to avoid the water that had reached their ankles.
Their arms and legs trembled.
Seeing blood flow from broken fingernails, they wouldn’t last long.
“P-please spare us.”
“Please. Take us with you!”
How ironic.
“Have you ever saved beggars like you?”
If he’d smashed their skulls he would have done it. He did not think they would have been let go laughing after looting.
“Well….”
“…….”
As expected, they could not answer that question.
“But I am different from you. If you hand over only the loot you stored in your subspace, I’ll lower a rope for you.”
Looters who killed people for fun shared one trait.
They had a lot of belongings.
They had robbed what others had painfully gathered, so they must have had a hefty haul.
Especially these guys, who were skilled—each of them must have had a solid share.
“E-everything?”
“Half! I’ll hand over exactly half!”
Tsk tsk.
They still hadn’t come to their senses.
“Hehe. Master, should I pour more water?”
“This one seems lukewarm. If there’s a hotter pool, pour it on generously.”
If Jo Jeongmu and the cave trolls missed their previous plunge, let them have what they wanted.
Soon their bodies and minds would be very warm.
“All right! All right, I get it!”
In the end they raised the white flag.
They emptied everything they had into Kang Yohan’s subspace.
“Now get us out of here!”
“Hurry… I’m at my limit. I can’t hold on!”
An Seungchang and Lee Danbi bit their teeth tight.
As if promising they would never forget this.
Kang Yohan leisurely reached the window and, as promised, lowered a rope twisted from thread.
But—
The rope that came down was too thin and flimsy.
It would not possibly support a human’s weight.
“What is this?”
“You fucking bastard. Are you kidding?”
“I learned that you should lower a rotten rope for tigers.”
Sorry, but he did not leave loose ends.
Especially if they were looters who had killed countless people, there was even less reason to save them.