Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Part 7

“Ugh... The stench...”

When they arrived at the center where the mountain of trash stood, Mincheol frowned even more.

The stench seemed worse than when he had come here before.

“Brother, are you okay...?”

Seeing Yugeon still wearing an expressionless face, Mincheol clicked his tongue in amazement.

How could he remain so calm in this stench that made it difficult even to breathe?

‘This is nothing.’

Before his regression, he had lived in a ruined world.

He had eaten meals and even slept in places filled with rotting corpses.

Compared to that, the mountain of trash almost smelled fragrant.

“Mincheol, let’s call the boss.”

“Yes.”

Wooooong!

At Yugeon’s words, Mincheol raised his hammer without hesitation.

Earth Shatter.

KRAAAAAANG!

Rrrrrrrrrumble!

When Mincheol activated the skill and slammed his hammer into the ground.

Just like on the twenty-third floor, the ground began shaking violently with a tremendous roar.

Earth Shatter also had a taunt effect, making it a good skill for calling out bosses like this.

Rumble.

Thump!

As Earth Shatter unfolded and the ground shook.

A gigantic Giant Toad burst out from the tall mountain of trash in the distance.

【Level 5】Pukel

The enormous Giant Toad opened its mouth wide and blinked its eyes.

Pukel, a toad-type monster.

Sharararak.

The boss monster of the fifth floor immediately began summoning its offspring.

“Brother, leave this place to me!”

Dash!

After readjusting his grip on his hammer, Mincheol charged forward.

In truth, there was no need for him to act so serious about it.

Mincheol was level 50, so there was no way he would lose to a mere level 5 boss.

Even if it was a boss monster.

A gap this extreme was an exception.

Whoooosh!

Bang!

BABABABABANG!

When Mincheol leapt into the air and slammed down his hammer.

A shockwave spread in every direction, causing all the summoned offspring to burst apart at once.

Rumble.

Haaaa.

In the end, Pukel began spewing poisonous smoke.

“Not a chance!”

Explosive Pressure.

BOOOOM!

As the poisonous smoke spread in every direction, Mincheol planted his shield into the ground.

Then immediately struck the back of the shield with his hammer, unleashing tremendous pressure.

Soon.

Whirl.

Dash-dash-dash!

After retrieving his shield, Mincheol charged toward Pukel at high speed.

Gape.

Whoooooosh!

Pukel also opened its enormous mouth wide and shot out its tongue.

It looked just like a toad trying to catch a fly.

Heavenly Rotation Smash.

Whirl!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!

Leaping into the air, Mincheol spun violently as he drove his hammer along the boss’s tongue.

“Kyaaaaaaa!!”

As its tongue was crushed, Pukel screamed and began thrashing wildly.

Whether from pain or rage, it went completely berserk.

“Die quietly.”

After crushing its tongue and closing in, Mincheol readjusted his grip on his hammer above Pukel’s head.

Then.

Whoooooosh!

KRAAAAAANG!

CRUNCH!

In a single blow, he smashed Pukel’s head down and burst it apart.

Rumble.

“I dealt with it, Brother.”

“Yeah, good work.”

Mincheol approached Yugeon with a smile.

In truth, he felt somewhat embarrassed that it had taken him this long.

Yugeon had killed Drogas in an instant.

Yet it had taken him dozens of seconds to kill a mere level 5 boss monster.

‘Hmm... I was planning to kill it myself at the end.’

Unlike Mincheol’s smile.

Yugeon felt disappointed inwardly.

Pukel’s level was 5.

And his current level was.

【Level 4】

4.

Exactly one level below Pukel.

Pukel would have made a truly excellent sparring opponent, so it was a shame.

“Should we only take that one’s mana stone too?”

“No. This time, take the poison sac as well.”

Pukel’s hide was not particularly useful, but its poison sac had many applications.

In particular, there was fairly high demand for it among Awakened who mainly used poison.

“I’ll go find the item on the mountain of trash and bring it back.”

“Yes.”

Squish. Squish.

As Yugeon climbed the mountain of trash, sticky sounds rang out.

All kinds of filth and garbage had mixed together, leaving it even stickier than glue.

‘While Mincheol was fighting the boss, I figured out where the item I need is.’

Swoosh.

Once Yugeon reached about halfway up the mountain of trash, he thrust his hand deep into the filth without hesitation.

Then.

Grab.

Pull!

He pulled out a weapon.

【Item: Rusted Old Scrap-Iron Sword】

Rank: Common

Type: Weapon

Clatter.

After confirming the item, Yugeon immediately came down from the mountain of trash.

“Is that what you were looking for?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

Mincheol scratched his cheek and tilted his head.

The blade was completely rusted, and the handle was broken.

It was literally trash.

Ordinarily, even common swords had descriptions attached to them, but that scrap-iron sword did not even have a brief description.

“You look like you’re wondering why I searched for this.”

“Yes. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand why you picked that up, Brother. It doesn’t look usable as a weapon at all.”

“In its current state, that’s true.”

“?”

Whoosh!

Crack!

Yugeon destroyed the sword without hesitation.

It was already completely corroded, so when he struck it hard with his palm, it crumbled apart immediately.

Then.

Shaaaaaa.

With an enormous burst of light, the shattered remains of the sword began reconstructing themselves.

‘Even the first owner who obtained this sword didn’t know the weapon had a secret like this.’

The owner who had possessed this sword discarded it on Floor 57, [Cultivation Chamber], while trying to get rid of some trash.

The scrap-iron sword entered the cultivation fluid that dissolved objects and was eventually reborn in a new form.

【Item: Godslaying Sword】

Rank: Mythic

Type: Weapon

There was one who asked whether even a god could die.

The sage did not answer and merely pointed to a single sword.

The foolish laughed upon seeing it, while the wise remained silent.

And when the blood of a god stained the earth, no one ever asked that question again.

-Weapon Trait-

Indestructible.

“From now on, I am your master.”

Yugeon smiled as he took the sword.

Before his regression.

How desperately had he wanted this sword?

When fighting the god, he had desperately needed this sword.

But before his regression, the owner of this sword had been another Awakened.

And that person had even been annihilated together with the sword, making it impossible to find afterward.

But now, the Godslaying Sword had fallen into his hands.

__________

Clank.

“What the hell did you do here...?”

Hwang Mungi, who had brought twenty pickaxes with him, stared at the canyon with his mouth hanging open.

He had trusted Yugeon’s claim that all the monsters had been dealt with and entered.

But the entire canyon looked like it had been bombarded.

There was even an enormous hole in the ground.

“It looks like some kind of Giant Worm burst out of there.”

Fortunately, there was only a hole.

No monster appeared from it.

“Haa... I shouldn’t have made this deal...”

Clank.

With a sigh, Hwang Mungi picked up one of the pickaxes.

When he was discharged from the military, he had sworn never to touch another pickaxe again...

Yet here he was, holding one once more.

“That bastard... He doesn’t know I served in the engineering corps and made me do this on purpose, right?”

Grumbling, Hwang Mungi began digging through the canyon.

____________

[Breaking news. Yesterday morning, a level 88 boss monster named ‘Baroden’ appeared at the Stagnant Pool on Floor 4 of Area 1.]

[Baroden caused numerous casualties, and an individual believed to be a Colossus reportedly appeared, eliminated the monster, and then disappeared.]

[We will now connect with reporter Kim Munjeong at the scene.]

[Yes, this is reporter Kim Munjeong at the scene. Behind me, the surviving Awakened are currently receiving treatment under the guidance of the Association. We will speak with some of the Awakened who were present at the scene.]

-I’m telling you, it’s true! Some guy suddenly appeared and killed Baroden in one blow! There wasn’t even a fight or anything. He just attacked once, and it went down immediately.

-I didn’t get a good look at his face. But since he spoke Korean, I don’t think he was a foreigner. He was an Awakened I’d never seen before.

-People are guessing he was a Colossus, but I’m honestly not sure. I’m a fan of the Colossi, so I know the faces of all ten of them... but I had never seen that man before.

-The strangest thing is that he didn’t even take the by-products. For something like Baroden, the by-products alone should have been worth an enormous amount... He just told us to take them and left.

“Could that be...”

Watching the news, Mincheol tilted his head.

He killed Baroden in a single blow...?

A sudden sense of déjà vu struck him.

Baroden was a Fragment of the Abyss.

A Rift Boss, not an ordinary floor boss.

It was not merely a strong monster, but an existence that was nearly impossible to kill.

‘Even a Colossus can’t kill a Fragment of the Abyss.’

Because of that, even the Colossi fled first whenever a Fragment of the Abyss appeared.

Fragments of the Abyss were not immortal, but their level of strength was on an entirely different scale.

Several years ago, one of the Colossi had formed a party and challenged a Fragment of the Abyss in an attempt to kill it.

The result had been devastating.

Ten minutes.

In just ten minutes, every member of the party, including the Colossus, had died.

And that had only been against a level 70 Fragment of the Abyss.

‘But someone killed a level 88 Fragment of the Abyss in one blow?’

Someone immediately came to mind.

At that moment.

Ding-dong.

Flinch.

Lost in thought, Mincheol jumped at the sound of the doorbell.

“Yes. I’m coming, Brother!”

Coming to his senses, Mincheol quickly ran to the front door and opened it.

The only guest expected today was Han Yugeon.

Click.

“Come in, Brother.”

Mincheol smiled as he guided Yugeon inside.

Today was finally the day his mother would be treated.

Brother had said he needed some materials and had gone somewhere for a while.