Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Corpse Den Carnage
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Pillars forming the dungeon walls and arch-shaped passages.
And the stench wafting from everywhere in the passages, along with chunks of corpses.
Even the floor, slick and unclean from a total lack of maintenance.
This was the upper dungeon, the Corpse Layer.
The main Phantasmal Beasts here were undead types.
Ghouls with ragged flesh clumsily clinging to their bones.
Skeletons left with nothing but pristine white bones.
Various lineages of undead were densely distributed like this.
The Transcendent Church had used this place as a corpse disposal site.
They dumped the remains left over after the apostles fed.
Those would naturally turn into ghouls and wander the Corpse Den.
"Ugh, ughhh... This place is just... way too gross."
Hanok grimaced as he stepped on the floor sticky with flesh chunks.
This was exactly why Leyzon said he'd never eat again.
The Corpse Layer reeked horribly, and the gruesome surroundings were a total mess.
Eating here would surely make anyone hurl on the spot.
But to Leyzon, the Corpse Layer couldn't have been more welcome.
And why? Because it held an incredibly important skill.
"Hanok, sorry, but we're gonna be grinding this Corpse Layer day and night from now on. Get used to it."
"Hiiik!"
Hanok screamed and swallowed back tears.
It pained Leyzon to put his sensitive nose through this, but it couldn't be helped.
The next stage after Fierce Poison Fury [A].
As a Poison Necromancer, the time had come to pursue it.
Beyond that, there were tons of other useful skills too.
He knew dungeon skills fed on the nutrients of transcendent bodies.
But he couldn't just pass up what he could gain.
Since he was being treated like a parasite anyway, he'd become the ultimate one.
"Don't worry."
Leyzon raised the Staff of Abundance.
Thud—
"Greeeeek."
At that moment, chunks of flesh rained down as the wall split open.
What emerged from the cracked wall was a swarm of ghouls.
Ghouls were ranked by the color of the corpse grime on their bodies.
Green foam bubbled up from the ghouls' bodies, bursting with corpse poison.
Green grade.
But they'd picked the wrong opponents.
Leyzon's staff was already aimed right at them.
"These guys are kind enough to carry a ton of poison in themselves."
Leyzon swung his staff.
Fierce Poison Mixture Aura [SS]
Alters poison types to suit the situation
This skill was originally for efficiently altering poison to match circumstances.
But Leyzon had no need to change the poison type itself.
All that mattered was intervening in it.
The moment Leyzon seized control of the poison spreading here...
"Fierce Poison Fury."
Leyzon activated the skill without hesitation.
Purple light poured from the ghouls' bodies all at once.
Boom!
They shattered into pieces simultaneously.
Ghouls were packed full of poison in their own bodies.
They carried raw biological toxins but had no idea how to wield them.
Leyzon advanced, swinging his staff.
"Fierce Poison Fury."
Every time, the ghouls exploded into fragments.
Leyzon passed through as lightly as if he were on a picnic stroll.
"Fierce Poison Fury!"
But to the ghouls, nothing could be a greater catastrophe.
Even locking eyes with him made their bodies burst apart.
It was no different from calamity taking a leisurely walk.
The ghouls met their ends without so much as a sound.
"Fierce Poison."
Leyzon paused mid-rampage as he gleefully blew them all up.
"Shadow Execution."
At the same time, a shadow surged up from beneath his feet.
Clang!
A bone arrow was blocked by the shadow wall and rolled across the floor.
Amid the shattered ghouls stood a skeleton archer, different from before.
Green grade, skeleton type.
Skeleton archer.
It wasn't just one.
Bones assembled here and there, spawning countless skeletons.
Unlike ghouls, they carried no poison.
"Hanok."
That's why he'd brought Hanok along.
Hearing Leyzon's call, Hanok kicked off the ground and shot forward.
The skeleton knights raised shields and swords to counter him.
But they'd forgotten they were made of bone.
A gale swirled around Hanok's spear.
With it, his spear spun freely.
Bang!
One skeleton shattered like it'd been smashed by solid iron.
Hanok didn't stop there, harnessing the spear's rotational force fully.
Elasticity and flexibility.
Using those two, Hanok bounced around, weaving through the skeletons.
Every time, the skeletons invariably scattered into pieces.
'As expected of the gale build.'
Leyzon nodded in satisfaction.
The Hanok who'd been grossed out by the Corpse Den moments ago was gone.
In his place, a hunter dominated the Corpse Den freely.
Hanok used the slippery floor piled with corpses to accelerate.
He'd turned the surroundings into his own advantage too.
"Even Syria thinks so, right?"
Leyzon grinned smugly.
Hanok had clearly awakened to a whole new level.
The result of adding a build that fit his hands perfectly.
"Alright, let's push hard then."
Leyzon shattered ghouls with a single spell.
Hanok smashed skeletons with his gale spear.
The two advanced relentlessly, dividing roles seamlessly.
Before long, they'd reached the midpoint of the Corpse Den.
'About time.'
The Corpse Den had one fatal trap.
Twitch—
Hanok's ears perked up instinctively.
He started scanning the surroundings.
The other undead had already warned Leyzon.
But Leyzon said nothing special.
They had to pass through here to reach the end of the Corpse Den anyway.
Hanok took the lead, spear pointed forward.
His resolute figure suited the vanguard perfectly.
Though his tail, stiff with caution, ruined the image a bit.
Soon, an open space appeared.
What emerged was an endlessly long stone bridge.
A rainbow-arced bridge.
Blue light seeped from various spots, illuminating the area.
The Corpse Den had been endlessly dark until now.
The light dazzled the eyes but soothed the heart.
Anyone who knew its true nature wouldn't feel that way, though.
The clinging lights flickered once, then reignited.
For a moment, it felt like a blackout, but no.
The lights kept blinking repeatedly.
Just like eyelids fluttering.
"L-Leyzon, sir... That light couldn't be..."
Hanok's eyes widened as he realized what it was.
Shrrr—
A creepy sound scratched at human instincts, echoing around.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, lights on a whole other scale blazed, lighting up everything.
Revealing the true nature of the small flames that had brightened the place.
Countless tentacles crawled along the walls.
Each bore a grotesque eye.
Blue glows leaking from those eyes.
That was the source of the blue light.
And that wasn't all.
Leyzon shaped shadow sunglasses and looked up at the ceiling.
The massive light source illuminating this place.
A colossal skull clung to the ceiling there.
An entity blasting fierce glows from its hollow sockets.
Red grade, Noxious Tentacles.
Red Grade: Noxious Tentacles
The Corpse Den's most dangerous Phantasmal Beast
The most perilous Phantasmal Beast in the Corpse Den.
Thud!
The Noxious Tentacles detected the intruders.
Its tentacles detached from the walls and began moving.
This plaza was all Noxious Tentacles except for the bridge.
Beyond the bridge lay a door even the Noxious Tentacles couldn't touch.
The challenge here was reaching that door without getting caught.
So.
"Hanok."
Leyzon formed a Bone Broom and mounted it.
"Run."
Leyzon shot forward with Attribute Fusion Dragon Scales.
"L-Leyzon, sir!"
Hanok hurriedly kicked off and chased after him.
Whoosh!
At that instant, a massive tentacle swung toward the bridge.
Leyzon deftly rolled his Bone Broom to dodge it.
Rumble!
The tentacle swept over the bridge and passed by swiftly.
A gale followed in its wake.
But Leyzon blocked the wind with Dragon Scales.
Syria bared her killing intent toward the entity daring to attack Leyzon.
But Leyzon shook his head.
In dungeons, he minimized help from his undead.
One big reason for dungeon runs was to fill ascension EXP.
But experience itself was even more crucial.
The world had changed drastically.
If things went wrong, there might come a time when undead couldn't protect him.
So Leyzon needed experience to advance alone.
Dungeons were best cleared with one's own strength as much as possible.
"It's fine. No need yet. That guy's got a use."
As mentioned, this was the heart of the Corpse Den.
Meaning they had as much left to go as they'd come to reach the end.
The moment they hit the bridge's center...
Leyzon halted his Bone Broom abruptly.
Hanok, not noticing, nearly overshot before stopping.
"L-Leyzon, sir?"
Hanok asked why the sudden stop, tapping in place on the bridge.
"Hanok."
Leyzon grinned toothily at him.
"Let's go."
"Y-Yes? Where to?"
Hanok panicked.
Leyzon pointed downward matter-of-factly.
"The shortcut."
Leyzon leaped off the bridge with his Bone Broom without hesitation.
A shadow had already coiled around Hanok's waist.
The moment Hanok's face went pale...
The shadow yanked, pulling him along.
Hanok was forcibly loaded onto Leyzon's Bone Broom.
Buoyancy enveloped their bodies.
Hanok's scream echoed from behind Leyzon.
But Leyzon's staff moved first.
"Attribute Fusion, Dragon Scales."
Wind acceleration layered onto the Bone Broom once more.
Rumble!
Tentacles flew at airborne Leyzon from all directions.
Each one dwarfed a human.
One hit would shatter bones.
But Leyzon had mastered Bone Broom control.
He dodged them all like an acrobat.
He ignored Hanok's freaked-out yells from behind.
Leyzon rapidly descended to the plaza floor.
A massive pile of corpses loomed below.
Even among the same Phantasmal Beasts, Noxious Tentacles attacked intruders in their domain.
Ghouls, with broken brains, often took wrong turns.
As a result, they got snatched by Noxious Tentacles and plummeted here routinely.
Thus, corpse piles formed below the plaza.
And that meant...
To Leyzon, it was no different from a stockpile of perfect explosives.
Black energy swirled around him.
Fierce Poison Mixture Aura [SS]
Alteration in progress
Fierce Poison Mixture Aura [SS] shifted the poison's properties.
"Attribute Fusion Blood Crystal, Attribute Fusion Shadow Execution, Attribute Fusion Deception Burst."
Leyzon stacked Attribute Fusions onto the poison repeatedly.
Thud!
A tentacle whipped in, clipping the Bone Broom's end.
The broom shattered.
But they'd come far enough.
No more Bone Broom needed.
"Hanok, get ready."
Leyzon signaled the explosion to Hanok and aimed his staff.
Hanok hurriedly ramped up Halon's Defense.
The moment Attribute Fusion magic filled the plaza below...
"Fierce Poison Fury."
The explosion obliterated the plaza floor along with everything.
The Noxious Tentacles' tentacles were swept up and blown away.
"Gyyyaaaaah!"
The Noxious Tentacles screamed, losing masses of tentacles.
Meanwhile, Leyzon plummeted once more through the shattered floor.
Leyzon grabbed Hanok, activated Dragon Scales, and soared leisurely through the sky.
Soon, a vast plaza stretched below the floor.
An entity ablaze head to toe in red flames stared at the unexpected intruder in bewilderment.
Corpse Den Leader
Flame of Eternal Rest
Abyss Crystals scattered from Leyzon's embrace.
A necromancer who could fight without undead.
Leyzon greeted the Flame of Eternal Rest cheerfully, as if to demonstrate.
"Fierce Poison Fury."
Boom!
Explosions from start to finish. Pure blast path.