The Encounter
The destination was now clear. I had to head toward the ruins of the Abyss, as indicated by Henry’s mental map, and the center of the Yellow Spot, where the arrow of the pyeongon pointed. The remaining problem was the movements of the followers of the Good God.
‘Since there’s a guy with 777 Luck in their group, they probably dropped into the ruins of the Abyss, which is the easiest area...’
Based on a rough estimate, it was highly likely they started at the ruins. There was no way a group with that much luck would have started in the Trapped Nest, the area with the highest difficulty. ‘Unless they’re complete idiots, if they realized the advantages of the Abyss, they’d definitely be expanding their territory...’
It would be nice if they just ran into Henry’s torso and died, but that wasn’t going to happen. ‘Maybe Henry’s torso will get hunted instead... I should get to the ruins as quickly as possible and retrieve Henry’s body.’
It seemed better to recruit Henry before heading straight for the Yellow Spot. ‘Eila is more efficient when she holds a position, so she should guard the base. Palus is a bit of a... well, he’s useless. It’s best to take Mer and Henry and head into the center of the Yellow Spot.’
In truth, I couldn’t make a solid judgment. The strength of the Good God’s side, as relayed by Ella, Bella, and Helen, was formidable. Ella and Bella only mentioned that there were a few strong-looking individuals, but Helen knew their true identities—there were four or five powerhouses on the level of Cheshire or Palus on their side.
‘I don’t know how those guys will move...’
Their primary goal was to return Nick to normal. The problem was that I didn’t even know how to do that. If the method involved meeting the Seeker, they would raid the Crimson Zone where we were, and if their destination was the Yellow Spot, we might run into them on the way to the center.
‘The Crimson Zone hasn’t been fully explored yet, either... They might be somewhere around here.’
The Jet-Black Beetles were mapping the Crimson Zone with their swarms, but the area was so vast that it hadn’t been fully grasped. Therefore, there was a high possibility they had been dropped somewhere nearby. In short, I didn’t know when or where we would cross paths. If I left, they could raid our base, escape through the gate to Hyoseon Girls’ High School, and then ransack our main headquarters.
Conversely, it meant that while they were away, we could crush their base, head through their exit, and wipe out their entire stronghold, which supposedly housed thousands of survivors.
“For now, Eunji, Hwayoung, Mer, and Cheshire, come with me to the ruins. Eila, please guard the base. Juha and Harin, follow Sora and help with the purification work...”
For reference, Sora and the priests were currently conducting purification work in the Crimson Zone. We couldn’t fully purify the entire area for the sake of the parasitic humans, but it was better to secure a wide enough territory for us to settle in. Thus, the personnel to guard the base and protect Sora had to remain.
“What about me?”
“And me...?”
At that moment, Areum and Aram, who hadn’t been assigned roles, asked simultaneously. Honestly, I wanted both of them to stay...
“Uh... what do you guys want to do? You can stay here and guard the base, or come with me to the ruins.”
“I want to follow you.”
“Uh... I’ll stay...”
“No, sister. Let’s go too.”
“Areum. Sister is tired... I’m exhausted from the trip to the Black Market... let’s just go alone...”
Areum and Aram’s opinions were split. Since I had grouped them together, I couldn’t help it.
“Then Areum, come with us.”
“Yes!”
“Ah... I’m jealous.”
When Areum said she was coming with me, Harin seemed to want to join us too, looking envious. Seeing her tail drooping made me feel a bit sorry for her.
‘If it’s like this, the meaning of dividing the groups disappears... and there are too few people left to guard the base... but how can I leave them behind when they want to go...’
This meant too many people were heading to find Henry’s torso. Since we needed people to guard the base, I had to leave at least one person behind.
‘If I can just get Henry’s torso, I’ll immediately gain a force equivalent to Cheshire...’
I was planning to take a few mushroom humans and parasitic trees along the way anyway, so I decided to leave Cheshire behind.
“Cheshire. I’m sorry, but...”
“It’s fine. I can just stay here and guard the place with Eila.”
In the end, Cheshire decided to stay, and I added Harin to our group. With that, Eunji, Hwayoung, Areum, Harin, Mer, and I were set to head to the ruins.
“I’ll be back. Everyone, be careful.”
“You be careful too, Jun.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll guard the place well.”
Leaving behind the encouragement of Eila and Cheshire, I moved forward with my party in the direction Henry indicated.
It had been five hours since Nick’s party entered the Crimson Zone. They still hadn’t escaped it. In fact, they were even further away than Jojun’s party, who had just started moving toward the ruins. This was because the Trapped Nest itself was extremely far from the ruins where Henry’s torso was located.
“We’re still far, right?”
“We have to go a bit further.”
“Ugh...”
At the answer of Beast Hunter Killian, Anna shuddered as if she were disgusted. She couldn’t get used to the foul stench wafting from the flesh walls. Furthermore, the endless walls made of meat made Anna feel like she was going to lose her mind. She felt like she was developing germophobia she never had before.
“I don’t know how much longer we have to walk...”
This time, Dragon-Blood Knight Aran complained for no reason. Unlike Anna, he didn’t have many complaints about the Crimson Zone itself being made of flesh walls. He was just bored to death, which made him irritable. As a battle-crazed warrior, he was itching to fight the headless contractor. However, if he increased the speed, the rest of the party couldn’t keep up, and if he abandoned them, Killian was the only one who knew the way to the ruins. Killian was also notoriously bad with directions, so he was bound to get lost, leaving Aran stuck, venting his stress through complaints.
Of course, those around him were under extreme stress from his chatter... but everyone endured it because hearing his laments, annoyance, and complaints was far better than watching him go berserk. Above all, Aran was considered the strongest in the party, so no one could say anything.
“Sigh... Aran, please be patient. Even if you keep nagging, there’s no way...”
-Wooooooo...!!
“That sound just now... what was it?”
Giant Slayer Dante, who had been about to say something to the Dragon-Blood Knight who complained every ten minutes, stopped in his tracks at the strange sound coming from afar. The same went for the rest of the party.
“Looks like... there’s something...”
Heretic Tracker Caesar muttered, staring in the direction the sound came from. He pulled a rosary from his pocket to prepare for battle. However, Michael tapped Caesar’s shoulder and shook his head. It meant they should avoid it.
‘Are those parasitic humans finally appearing...’
Michael thought it would be better to avoid them than to engage. Just as they had been avoiding them well until now, he thought it was better to let them pass rather than drawing their attention by running into them unnecessarily. Michael warned the others, feeling slightly tense.
“They’re beings with connected minds... so a huge swarm might come. Let’s avoid engaging them as much as possible. It will take too much time to kill them one by one.”
“Hmm...”
“Aran... I know you’re bored... but the headless contractor will be more satisfying to kill than those idiots.”
“That’s true. I guess I have no choice but to endure it...”
At Michael’s persuasion, the party hid in a corner and observed the approaching enemies.
“Huh?”
Michael, who had been observing the enemies using his insight, was flustered to see monsters that looked completely different from what he had expected.
‘Mushrooms...? Those aren’t parasitic humans... what is this?’
The description of the parasitic humans he had seen while observing the Crimson Zone was that of monsters with white skin and bizarre appearances. But the beings in front of him were giant mushrooms. Michael immediately grasped the detailed information of the walking mushrooms.
[Mushroom Human: Unlike their appearance, their muscle strength is very high, and they deflect most blunt attacks. Slashing or piercing attacks are suitable. Spores flow from their corpses, so be careful as toxins accumulate in the body if inhaled.]
[Status Effect - Slave Brand]
“Mushroom humans and a Slave Brand...”
“Spores, what? Slave?”
At Michael’s muttering, Roy asked what that meant. Since Michael, the Great Sage, always knew everything, Roy asked naturally, but Michael couldn’t give a proper answer. The detailed description of the Slave Brand was not visible. It was as if a black veil had been cast over it.
Michael felt something was wrong. “I don’t know... it says Slave Brand... are those things livestock for the parasitic humans?”
The moment Michael guessed about the Slave Brand, the mushroom humans tore through the flesh walls, dragged out the parasitic humans hiding inside, and began to beat them to death.
-Splat!!! -Crackle!!!
-Kieeeeeee!!!!
Two parasitic humans let out painful screams and turned into minced meat. ‘Judging by the way they’re beating them to death, they don’t seem to be livestock for the parasitic humans... Slave Brand, you say...’
Michael thought that they were moving according to someone’s orders, and that the owner of the mushroom humans might be cleaning up the Crimson Zone right now. And as far as he knew, there was only one human who would crawl into the Abyss and do such a thing.
‘Cultist... so he was raising monsters like that...’
Michael shuddered as he checked the number of mushroom humans. There were at least seven mushroom humans beating the parasitic humans to death. Maybe there were even more. Thinking that, Michael’s vision went dark.
‘As expected... if we run into him, we have to kill him. The Cultist is too dangerous...’
Michael made that resolve and waited for the mushroom humans, who had achieved their goal, to leave. However, the mushroom humans didn’t leave; they were waiting for something.
‘What are they waiting for...? Don’t tell me... is the Cultist coming here in person? If so... this is a golden opportunity to kill him...’
However, what the mushroom humans were waiting for wasn’t their master, Jojun. They were waiting for the cleanup crew.
-Kishashasha.... -Uooooo...
Behind the mushroom humans, a swarm of tiny insects swarmed in and tore at the flesh of the dead parasitic humans, and red roots crawled into the remaining bones and settled in. Then, a skeleton entangled with roots and bones rose from the spot.
‘Parasitic tree subspecies...? And... what are those Jet-Black Beetle larvae? Abyss creatures? On top of that, they’re all in a slave state... those things... all of them... are the Cultist’s subordinates...? F, fuck...’
Monsters that multiplied on their own. Michael sensed that they were screwed. Just then...
“Wait! Come with me!”
Women’s voices were heard from behind the monsters.
“Haa... haa... everyone... you’re too fast.”
“Hey, hey, aren’t you just too slow?”
“J, Juha Onee-chan... Ah, Unni-chan? Anyway, let’s go together. I’m slower than those sisters.”
“Hmph... you gutsless Japanese girl.”
“Yawn... Onee-chan, you say... Sora, point deduction. And Juha, you’re using that North Korean accent again... point deduction.”
“N, no! Aram Unni!”
“Isn’t that too much! Brother isn’t even here! Stop evaluating us!”
“Hehe... both of you are cute...”
Michael’s head went blank. He couldn’t understand their conversation at all because it wasn’t in English, but the atmosphere they exuded was very peaceful.
‘No... such a peaceful conversation in the Abyss...’
Michael worried about what to do with them. It was right to kill them, but there was too much risk of a counterattack if he touched them wrongly now, before even returning Nick to normal. If it had been the Cultist himself, he would have attacked, but Michael judged that the risk of exposing their location or identity just to kill his subordinates was too high. Since the enemies hadn’t yet grasped their location, it would be easier to handle them by ambushing them from behind.
So, Michael tried to lead his party and quietly slip away to the side path.
“Hmm.”
However, Dragon-Blood Knight Aran seemed to have a different thought.
“Hey! You guys!”
The Dragon-Blood Knight stepped forward.
“This looks quite fun.”
He drew his greatsword and shouted.
“Come out and let’s kill each other!!!”
He was a very self-centered person. Michael prepared for battle, harboring murderous intent toward Aran. There were many things he wanted to say to him, but he was the strongest in the team, so he couldn’t dare say anything.
“What are those things...”
Aram, who hadn’t followed Jojun because she didn’t want to work... ended up in trouble because she decided to stay at the base for no reason.