Chapter 69
"Aaaaargh...!!"
"S-Save me!! Kyaaaah!!"
They were the size of grown humans.
Dozens of Hellhounds poured in from every direction.
Their fangs tore mercilessly through flesh, spraying blood across the ground.
The entire area descended into chaos.
Screams filled the space.
Serves them right.
A night of madness! Kyahaha!
(frowning) This seems a little too brutal ;;
Nah, these guys deserve it lol
All the lurkers suddenly came out of hiding hahaha
Getting to watch the Underworld firsthand is pretty rare though ㅇㅇ
[Evil-aligned Constellations cheer at the bloody carnage!]
[Even good-aligned Constellations nod, saying that punishment for sinners is only natural.]
Grrrrr! Grrr!
Chunks of chewed flesh rolled across the floor.
The Hellhounds didn't distinguish between friend and foe.
They lunged at anything they could see.
Kim Jeonghyeon watched the scene with his back to me.
He looked tense, but there was something almost familiar in his expression.
"Haha... no matter how many times I see it, I never get tired of this."
He glanced over his shoulder.
"They'll reach this side soon."
"If you want to live, Lee Suhyeok, you'd better group up with us."
Rustle.
Kim Jeonghyeon's people split into pairs with practiced movements and spread throughout the area.
At that moment, several Hellhounds spotted us and charged.
Crunch!
"Keugh...!! Everyone, hold your ground!!"
One of the beasts tore into Kim Jeonghyeon's arm.
Even as chunks of flesh were ripped away, he refused to move.
The others did the same.
"Hold out a little longer!! If one arm gets torn up, block with the other...!!"
"Hah! This much doesn't even hurt anymore...!!"
Something about the situation was strange.
Each pair only attracted one or two Hellhounds.
The rest rushed toward the people panicking elsewhere.
...So that's how it works.
Getting bitten was unavoidable.
Which meant these people had chosen the next best solution.
They split apart into small groups to scatter the Hellhounds' attention.
The Hellhounds were still monsters.
Naturally, most would head toward the larger groups of prey.
"P-Please, let us join you too-!"
Bam!
"Get lost, you bastards! Go die somewhere else!"
While one person sacrificed an arm to hold off a Hellhound, the other shoved away anyone trying to approach.
The moment those people fell...
The Hellhounds pounced.
Grrr! Kraaagh!
"Aaaaaaargh...!! F-Fuck!!"
Trying to group up now was pointless.
Their clumsy movements only created more confusion.
The Hellhounds weren't going to overlook that.
[ T-That's cruel, nya! They're all humans, aren't they?! Couldn't they just spread out together? That's way too cruel, nya.... ]
Intelligent creatures are always the same. Once they fall into the gutter, they become identical everywhere. Heh.
The privileged are always the minority. Everyone else exists to be trampled.
The more I watch, the more disgusting this gets.
(looking unusually serious) Truly unpleasant to watch.
I kind of hope they all die lol
The many sacrificed so that the few could survive.
It was a structure that existed in countless human societies.
Perhaps it was simply part of human instinct.
They split into pairs in case everyone tried grouping together.
This must all be your idea, Kim Jeonghyeon.
Then several people in the distance began running toward us.
Kim Jeonghyeon, still struggling with a Hellhound, shouted,
"Keugh! Push them away if they come closer...!! We can't let more people gather here, keugh! Kaa...!!"
"..."
They were already close.
I stepped forward without a word.
I grabbed the Hellhound biting into Kim Jeonghyeon's arm by the back of its neck.
Then I threw it.
Grrrr....
"Th-Thank you...!!"
Before long, we were surrounded in a corner.
Kim Jeonghyeon clutched his injured arm and clicked his tongue.
"Tch, damn it...! If I'd known this would happen, I would've just let them get torn apart."
He grimaced.
"Fuck... now the whole plan's falling apart...."
I already knew.
There was no reason for him to help me out of simple goodwill.
Especially when I was one of the people responsible for his death.
Which meant he had another objective.
I'd find out what it was soon enough.
Krrr... KRAAAGH!!
One Hellhound suddenly leaped into the air, jaws wide open, ready to tear someone apart.
Everyone assumed there was no way to stop it.
Grab.
Kek?!
I caught it by the neck.
Then slammed it straight into the ground.
BOOM!
Cracks spread across the floor like a spiderweb.
And then...
CRUNCH!
I stomped on its head.
Its skull shattered, blood splattering outward.
The Hellhounds that had been charging toward us suddenly stopped.
Then began backing away.
"H-How can a dead soul kill a Hellhound that easily...?"
Kim Jeonghyeon stared at me in disbelief.
I casually brushed off my hands.
"Because I'm not dead."
"...!!"
I hadn't helped them out of sympathy.
Everyone here had committed murder and countless other filthy crimes inside the Tower.
Most weren't worth saving.
Kim Jeonghyeon was one of the worst.
I had another reason for helping.
[Death Energy is surging from the target.]
[Would you like to absorb the energy of ‘Hellhound (Lv.24)’?]
"Absorb."
Black energy flowed through my hand and entered my body.
For a moment, my eyes glowed red.
The energy was far denser than anything I'd absorbed before.
As expected.
[Death Energy successfully absorbed.]
[You gain random bonus stats.]
[Strength +4, Agility +4]
Purple energy suddenly flowed in from somewhere and wrapped around me.
[Due to the influence of the Underworld, the effect is doubled.]
[Additional Stats +2]
Leon had been right.
The Underworld was different from the outside world.
A place where the dead far outnumbered the living.
Which meant the amount of experience I could gain through Death Energy was also different.
LMAOOOOOOOO
So those things are basically walking experience points to him now lol
They're all trembling in fear hahaha
(licking his lips) Hehehe. Beasts learn through a beating.
It's weird seeing Hellhounds acting scared like normal dogs lol
I slowly surveyed the entire area.
About forty remained.
Even without equipment, that wasn't enough to be a problem.
"Hoo... Lee Suhyeok."
Kim Jeonghyeon looked at me.
"You're not seriously planning to win by beating every single one of those damn dogs to death, are you?"
I said nothing.
He let out a rough breath and smirked.
"Then... can I actually look forward to this?"
"Depends on how useful you are."
I glanced at him.
"Right now, it'd probably be easier to leave you behind."
"Heh... haa, haa...!"
Kim Jeonghyeon laughed weakly.
"Don't worry about that."
"I'll tell you everything you need to know to get out of here."
Before he even finished, I clenched my fists and walked forward.
"Then I'll expect something useful."
BOOM!
