Chapter 39: Infinite Proliferation (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: Infinite Proliferation (1)
With the sound of liquid being gulped down, the life-saving blood donation (?) was finally over.
"Ah. That was delicious."
Alice wiped the drops of blood from her lips with a handkerchief, looking thoroughly satisfied.
Meanwhile, Jinhyuk caressed the two bite marks on his neck with a complicated expression.
Man, I'm actually feeling dizzy.
Just how much blood did this girl drink?
"Seriously, if you don't pull your weight, I'm locking you in that ring for a month."
"Don't worry. With this much mana, I feel like I could blow away all the bugs in the basement."
"You certainly talk a big game."
Clicking his tongue, Jinhyuk immediately accessed the [Tower of Trials] community. Then, he uploaded the video he had recorded earlier.
[The video has been uploaded.]
Although he had been featured on the Hall of Fame several times, this was his first time uploading a video himself.
Since I'm starting out as a rookie streamer, I won't get any perks like top exposure or banner events.
But it didn't matter.
Those destined to succeed always find a way.
As long as the content was solid, a good video was bound to get noticed eventually. In this industry, once a video gained even a little word-of-mouth, views would skyrocket in no time.
Alright, that's done.
Next, it was time to shop at the 'Coin Exchange'.
Jinhyuk's eyes darted rapidly across the screen. To achieve everything he wanted down below, there were a few items he had to buy.
[Giant Pill (C): 11,500]
[Unknown Cube (D): 2,500]
[Ability Booster (D): 5,000]
[Sticky Glue (F) x 4: 400]
[Kalturis Forest Cobweb (F): 300]
[Twin-Head Ogre's Snot 100mg (F): 300]
Jinhyuk purchased the items in the blink of an eye. Since he had already decided what to buy, he didn't hesitate.
"You bought a bunch of useless-looking things."
Alice tilted her head. Her face practically screamed, 'Why are you spending so many Coins on this garbage?'
Indeed, to anyone else, it would look like a complete waste of Coins.
"Just wait and see."
With a smirk, Jinhyuk walked toward the edge of the abyss.
"Are you going down?"
"Yeah. From here on out, we're going to be incredibly busy."
It was going to be a highly productive day. He had to reach the end of the first basement floor today.
With that, Jinhyuk took a step forward.
* * *
Whooooosh!
The wind battered his entire body.
It was a gale so fierce that he couldn't even maintain 'Fire Element'. As a result, his eyes had long since ceased to function properly.
"Do you even have a plan?! Why aren't you saying anything? Answer me! Y-You're not... planning to commit suicide, are you?!"
Alice screamed, clutching Jinhyuk's shoulders.
As a True Ancestor, she would be perfectly fine even if she clung to a meteor and crashed into Earth. But a human body was different. At best, he would die from full-body fractures. At worst, he would die without even leaving a trace behind.
Gravity magic or flight magic is out of the question too.
How could she keep pouring out mana when she didn't even know where the bottom was?
It might be possible if she manifested in her true form, but with her current body, it was impossible.
Yet, despite Alice's frantic urging, Jinhyuk did not answer. He simply kept counting in his head.
17 minutes 13 seconds... 17 minutes 20 seconds... 17 minutes 44 seconds.
Like a precise clock, he tracked the ticking second hand in his mind.
And finally...
"Now!"
The silent Jinhyuk roared.
[Alice activates Lv?? 'Reverse Gravity'!]
Instantly, Jinhyuk's body defied gravity.
The gravity magic had been activated barely a meter above the ground. If he had been even a fraction of a second late, he would have met a gruesome end.
"We're good. It's low enough to jump down now, so you can stop the magic."
"Huh? Oh, okay..."
Alice waved her hand. Gravity returned to normal, and Jinhyuk landed safely on the ground.
First, I need to light up the area.
Since not a single ray of light penetrated this place, the darkness was absolute.
Whoosh!
[Lv4 'Fire Element' has been activated.]
Four fireballs illuminated the surroundings.
A place made of damp mud and steep cliffs. This was the deepest part of the Tower of Trials.
However...
"What are you doing?"
Alice, who should have been on his shoulder, was fluttering in the air. She wore a thoroughly pouting expression.
"Don't hide it this time, you have to tell me. How on earth did you know where the ground was?"
"Is that what was bothering you?"
"O-Of course it is! This makes absolutely no sense! How could you possibly know the exact timing?"
"Instinct."
"Huh?"
"I just guessed."
In truth, he had memorized it.
Back when he was getting bored of the Tower of Trials, he had attempted all sorts of crazy stunts in search of a new thrill. Like triggering an avalanche from the peak of a 3-kilometer-high snowy mountain and sledding down. Or entering a dragon's lair bare-handed to tie a bell around a sleeping dragon's neck. Or surviving inside the belly of a narwhal for a week.
He had done all kinds of adrenaline-pumping things. Of course, diving bare-bodied down this pit was one of them.
By the time he had attempted the dive about two hundred times... his body had memorized it, whether he liked it or not. Exactly how deep this pit was.
"Oh, seriously! Stop with the 'instinct' and 'guessing' nonsense and tell me the truth. You've been hiding so much from me since we first met. Partners shouldn't keep secrets like this!"
"I'll tell you later, depending on how you behave."
Alice kept pestering him, but Jinhyuk waved her off dismissively.
Right then...
"..."
"...This is!"
The two of them reacted at the same time.
Simultaneously.
Ruuuumble!
Screeech! Grrrr!
Suddenly, the mud began to churn and writhe. The creatures resting in the damp, wet filth had reacted to devour the prey that had entered their territory.
Shring.
Jinhyuk drew his dagger.
Giant Worms, huh...
True to their classification as medium-sized species, their massive five-meter-long bodies were impressive. Naturally, because their hides were so thick, ordinary attacks wouldn't even scratch them. Especially with a small dagger.
In that case...
[Unique Ability 'Grave of Swords' has been activated!]
Crackle!
A blue light flickered along the blade. With sword qi capable of cutting through anything, no amount of thick fat would save them.
"Bind them all as they come from the front."
"Got it."
He had already synchronized with Alice hundreds of times. This meant that even with his eyes closed, he knew exactly how she would control the space and close in.
Boom!
Jinhyuk kicked off the ground and dashed forward.
"Krooooo!"
Rumble!
The worms' mouths split wide open. Revealing dozens of razor-sharp teeth, filthy saliva dripped down.
But just before they could swallow their prey, their movements ground to a sudden halt.
Drip! Drip!
Thousands of thin lines made of red blood droplets appeared. Alice's binding magic had been activated.
Jinhyuk accelerated even further. Weaving through the dozens of worms, he swung his dagger.
Slash! Squish!
He felt a heavy, satisfying sensation in his hands. Chunks of flesh a meter in diameter slid apart vertically.
Now that their movements were restricted, the worms were nothing more than oversized targets. What followed was a one-sided massacre.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The pit quickly filled with severed chunks of flesh. By the time he had slaughtered more than half of them...
"Kraaa!"
"Krooo!"
The worms began to thrash frantically. Though bound by the thin threads, they twisted their bodies wildly as if it didn't matter.
Geez, talk about self-harm.
No matter how much they struggled, they wouldn't be able to escape.
Did they seriously think they could escape by sacrificing parts of their own bodies?
A True Ancestor's binding was not something that could be broken so easily.
Watching the worms tear themselves apart, Jinhyuk wore a bitter smile.
Crash!
It was at that moment that a loud crash echoed from the cliffside. Insects resembling scorpions and spiders crawled out from the crevices.
"Kieeeek!"
"Keek!"
There was an overwhelming number of them. Moreover, flying species with wings were mixed among them. In an instant, the insects packed the ground and the air.
"Wow. Can you handle this many all by yourself?"
Alice's eyes widened in surprise.
However...
"Is that even a question?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Jinhyuk channeled mana into his dagger.
Crackle!
The blue sword qi soon dyed itself pitch black. And a moment later, the materialized energy took shape.
A black moon, Black Moon Night.
The highlight of any raid is, of course, AoE skills.
Ruuuuuumble!
The ultimate skill that had defeated Cheon Yu-seong in a single blow swallowed the enemies whole.
* * *
A vision dyed in black.
Faced with impending death, the insects couldn't even twitch an antenna.
Here in the underground, they had always been the apex predators. Other species were merely prey to be devoured whenever they were hungry.
But for the first and last time... they realized that their deadly fangs, claws, and even their overwhelming numbers meant absolutely nothing before this human.
Where the storm had swept through,
Sssssss!
Heat rose from the red-hot ground. Not a single living creature remained. It was a total annihilation.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
Thanks to wiping out such a massive number of monsters, he leveled up twice.
Throb!
Having just used a major skill, his muscles groaned throughout his entire body. His veins burned as if on fire.
But...
It's definitely better.
His current mana was 41. He could feel the effects of absorbing the 'Frozen Tear' throughout his entire body. At this rate, he could easily use Black Moon Night up to three times.
Whew.
His heaving chest calmed down. Jinhyuk spoke out into the darkness.
"Why don't you show yourself now? No matter how many low-grade bugs you send, it's useless... shouldn't you have realized that by now?"
The reason he had put on such a flashy performance was precisely to draw out the master of this underground.
It was then that a low, heavy voice echoed.
"Ho. Do you know of me?"
Someone answered from the darkness.
Tingle!
Just hearing the voice sent a wave of pressure prickling across his skin. It was a pressure similar to when he had first encountered Alice.
As expected of a vessel that once held a god.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart began to beat rapidly. He had been bored fighting nothing but weaklings, but it looked like he could finally have some real fun.
"Answer me. I asked if you know of me."
The mana infused in the voice grew even denser.
"Of course I do. I've heard about the hound roaming the desert so many times my ears are practically bleeding."
The hound of the desert. That was a derogatory term used to refer to the Egyptian deity, Anubis.
"Since you are the first human to come here, I intended to have a brief chat before killing you, but you hasten your own demise."
"I'm not here to chat, so just bring it on. Only when you show yourself will your nest be able to function properly, right?"
The special item that could infinitely multiply insects, the 'Hive'. This was exactly why the 1st basement floor was considered the ultimate hunting ground.
"Surprising. To think you even knew of that."
"I know a lot more than that. If possible, to save us both some time, I'd prefer if you stopped hiding behind bugs and stepped up yourself."
"Puhahaha! You expect me to step forward personally against a mere insect like you?"
A wild burst of laughter erupted, as if the notion was utterly absurd.
Well, this reaction was only natural. From his perspective, I was still nothing more than a trivial creature. Ultimately, to copy his ability, I had to provoke him even more obnoxiously.
[Judgment of Anubis]
[Details: When Anubis asks three questions and the target answers them, a 'Curse' is triggered. The cursed target will have all stats reduced by 50%, and their unique abilities and skills will be sealed for 1 minute.]
A broken unique ability with an absolute judgment effect. And to obtain that ability...
[Copy Condition: Exhaust Anubis's patience and destroy the vessel containing his consciousness.]
Even if he was merely a statue manifesting a fraction of his consciousness rather than his true self, making a god lose his patience was close to impossible.
However, if he could overcome those abyssal odds and fulfill the condition...
I will obtain the power to ask the most powerful questions in this world.