Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Hidden Piece (2)

If you left them alone, they were going to die anyways . It made no sense in accepting those two .

However, Muyoung interpreted the situation differently .

‘Quite fierce . ’

The young girl knew by instinct that following Muyoung was her only way to survive .

She had quick wits and was a fast decision maker .

Age was not a problem . No one here could match up to his standards anyways .

If that’s the case, it would be better to choose someone fast-witted .

“Anyone else?”

“What do you mean by explore the surroundings?” a man who didn’t belong to either side asked .

Muyoung calmly replied, “For three to four hours everyday, you will explore the surroundings and gather anything essential . You will hunt if necessary . ”

What they could earn at the temple was extremely limited .

To earn something, you must be willing to accept the risks that follow .

The more risks you take; the more profits you could gain .

There was nothing you can get for free, at least in the Underworld .

“I will volunteer as well . ”

Surprisingly, Taehwan made his move . It was quite unexpected as Muyoung thought he would continue his rivalry with Jooyoung .

“Are you sure? We’re not going out to play,” he replied sarcastically .

To him, seeing the two sides fighting each other was no different than bantering children .

Taehwan nodded his head .

“I know it’s a job with my life on the line . I also thought it was about time to explore the surrounding areas . It’s not safe to continue to stay in this place we know nothing about . ”

He thought of others before himself before he made his decision .

His kind normally didn’t last long .

Nosy people like Taehwan were usually the first to die .

‘But if he survives, he will grow to become a great influence . ’

The Dragon Lord was like that .

Everyone acknowledged that he had the talent of a real soldier .

If he didn’t die by Muyoung’s hands, he would have made a great difference .

However, it was very rare to find someone like the Dragon Lord .

Even if they did survive, in the abyss like the Underworld, 99% of them will eventually have a changed personality .

Muyoung was skeptical that Taehwan would survive .

‘Things that can be obtained outside the temple . ’

The reason why Muyoung was gathering people was simple .

The rewards he could obtain outside were greater than what he could earn here .

Moving luggage, searching and even sleeping, these are better done in a group than by himself .

Also, it was better to hunt for monsters outside than killing them during the raids .

Primarily, people raise their skills better when they strive for it .

By fighting monsters at the temple, their skills will rise quickly in the beginning, but it will slowly stagnate .

If you didn’t constantly improve your abilities, you wouldn’t be able to survive the harsh realities of the Underworld .

It was a struggle to stay alive… but for now, it was more important to find the magical items hidden outside the temple .

‘A magical item with movement abilities and a storage type talisman, Hell Hound’s Dagger, Despair Scout’s Gloves, and the Mask of Arrogance… I’ll find as many as I can . ’

Although Muyoung lost many important things by going back to the past, he was able to keep his knowledge and experience . After killing each of his thousands of targets, he would always read and memorize their history .

There were many objects to find outside the temple .

It was time to get started .

*

In total, five people volunteered .

Muyoung gave each of them a torch .

The ends of the torches were smeared with oil .

The oil was made by boiling the carcasses of the monsters .

“Never lose the torches and the oil can, unless you want to end up as monster fodder . ”

Unlike the modern world, with bright neon lights everywhere to brighten up even the darkest nights, here, they could only rely on the torches to see .

Most monsters fear fire .

At the very least, going around with a torch meant that they would be less likely to be ambushed .

A man, who received a torch, asked, “Aren’t we just looking around for 3 to 4 hours?”

It was currently early morning .

If they were to explore for 3 to 4 hours, the sun will be at its highest .

It seemed like he felt uncomfortable with the preparations for the night .

But Muyoung said with a firm voice, “We don’t know what kind of situation we will come across . Also, every midnight, the surrounding topography will change and if we don’t have the torches then, we won’t be able to find our way out . ”

“What do… you mean our surroundings change?”

This time, it was Taehwan who asked .

Of course, they didn’t know .

Muyoung decided to use their misunderstanding to his advantage .

“Like you all thought, I am someone who has been living here for a while . ”

“So that rumour was true . ”

When everyone was confused, Muyoung acted as if he knew what was going to happen .

This is why people assumed that he arrived here before them and had lived at the temple for a while .

He told them, “Outside the temple is wilderness itself . We won’t have the time to help those who fall behind . ”

And then, as if he was looking to see their resolve, he examine each of them .

He especially carefully examined the young girl, Bae Suzy, and her crippled father for a long time .

Having quick wits was more helpful than others with ambiguous skills, but there was the question of them being able to keep up in the harsh conditions .

As she obviously knew what he meant, Suzy gritted her teeth and said, “I’ll do my best . So I won’t be a burden to anyone…”

After all, there were no other options for her if she wanted to survive .

If she was to lose the chance at being by Muyoung’s side, there wouldn’t be anyone else who would take care of the father-daughter pair .

She made up her mind that even if she was to die, she wanted to at least attempt to live .

‘She has quite the backbone for her age . ’

It seemed like she always had a sense of responsibility .

Along with her fast wits and decisive decisions, it was surprising to see her adapt so fast for her age .

That’s why it was a little unfortunate .

If she was a bit older, with a little help, she would have been able to rise to considerable heights .

However the Underworld was not a place that a young girl could easily survive on her own .

‘Even I don’t have the time to take care of others . ’

It was a bit unfortunate, but that was it .

After examining each and every one of them, he turned his back .

“If you don’t want to die, don’t argue with my orders . Don’t get curious . Follow me unconditionally . Understand?”

Everyone solemnly nodded their heads .

There was nothing more important than words from an expert .

Especially after seeing what Muyoung was capable of, at least in the survival aspect, he was a pro .

“Then let’s head out . ”

After preparing their weapons and packing some tools, the torch, and the oil can, they started to move .

*

Crunch!

Muyoung stomped on a huge ant that was targeting his feet .

As the fist sized ant exploded, its juices flew everywhere .

‘Dark Red Fighter Ant . ’

It was a big ant that produced neurotoxins . If someone was to get bitten, the bite will swell up to multiple times its size and the area would become paralyzed .

“Crush every one you see . ”

He gave out a warning .

Although they weren’t life-threatening, if they couldn’t move, they would eventually die .

Gulp!

Six people, including Muyoung, cautiously stepped into the forest .

They were constantly on high alert and paid sharp attention to their surroundings .

“They are already like that . ”

It was good that they were alert, but if they tried to keep it up for hours, they would be mentally and physically exhausted .

Even if Muyoung told them that, they wouldn’t listen .

It was because this place was a total mystery to them .

It was faster for them to learn from their experiences .

“Mister, there’s an item here . ”

Suzy brought a magical item to him .

She found it after crushing a few Dark Red Fighter Ants .

‘Paralysis Inducing Magical Item . ’

It contained the neurotoxin produced by the Dark Red Fighter Ants .

In a slightly more refined form .

Muyoung grabbed the magical item with one hand and told everyone, “After killing monsters outside the temple, there will occasionally be items like these . For those that wish to use the item can do so by holding the item with their hands . ”

He brought out the Water Producing Magical Item and once he held it in his other hand, water began to slowly trickle out .

“This is water, but the other one contains neurotoxins . It could affect your body, so be careful when handling it . ”

Afterwards, Muyoung handed the magical item back to Suzy .

Suzy tilted her head slightly .

“I can keep it?”

“Of course . You’re the one who found it, therefore it’s yours . ”

He drew a clear line .

Everyone had to be responsible for their own items that they find .

After walking for a bit, Muyoung pointed towards a tree .

“If you look carefully, you will find trees with exceptionally green and round leaves . All the things growing from this tree are beneficial . However, you must look carefully as there are similar looking trees that are poisonous . ”

He took couple of the mushrooms growing on the tree and placed it in his storage bag .

It was a white moss-like mushroom that helped with blood circulation .

Taehwan spoke .

“Can we grab them?”

“Store as much as you can . ”

It was a rare tree found in this forest known as the ‘Sacred Tree . ’

‘We were lucky . ’

It was uncertain if they will see this tree again .

They had to take as many as they could while they had the chance .

“Look dad, it’s a mushroom . ”

“I think it will be delicious if we grill it . ”

“I’ll cook it into something tasty for you . ”

Suzy excitedly stored lots of mushrooms in her bag .

‘Footsteps . ’

As others hurried to grab the mushrooms, Muyoung had already finished gathering and looked for any traces around the tree with his hands .

He then found a scratch made by an animal with three claws .

‘It must be the territory of the Three-clawed Shrewmouse . ’

The topography changes every midnight .

If they had simply remembered the places they have been, they would be screwed .

So it was a must to check whose territory they were in .

Also, because the Three-clawed Shrewmice moved in groups, they were quite hard to deal with .

Even though they were only about knee-high, they had sharp teeth and were very fast .

‘If I remember correctly, there should be a high grade storage type magical item in their territory . ’

Storage type magical items were very important .

Depending on their grade, the amount of items one could store varied .

If people didn’t store their belongings in a storage type magical item, they could easily be targeted by others .

Of course, the Shrewmice didn’t just live in a single territory . They lived in a few different areas so he couldn’t be sure if he would find it here, but it was still worth a try .

‘This might be a bit annoying . ’

Muyoung knitted his brow after seeing all the traces nearby .

By the looks of it, it seemed like there weren’t just a few tens, or a few hundreds even .

He estimated that there were at least three thousand of these Shrewmice living in this territory .

It was best to quickly accomplish his goals and leave .

“If you’re all done gathering, we should start moving . ”

Muyoung told them to hurry up .

*

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

“Get the fuck away! Fuck off!”

Two men who fell behind were swinging their swords and screaming out loud .

A brief moment of inattentiveness led them to be surrounded by Shrewmice .

Tsk .

Muyoung clicked his tongue .

If it was him in the past, he would have noticed these things in an instant .

Unfortunately, it was impossible in his current state .

‘Maybe, it was for the best . ’

He couldn’t avoid it .

Therefore, it was better to use it as an advantage .

Especially when some stats increase more rapidly in these type of situations .

If he looked at it simply as a way to temper his body, it was actually more beneficial .

Muyoung raised his scimitar .

“Bring it on!”

He shouted loudly to get their attention .

It was a dangerous move, but he thought that if he fought with all he had, it wasn’t impossible to win .

Screech . Screech .

One of the Shrewmice fell down from above .

While falling, the mice raised its claws in attempt to cut Muyoung’s neck .

Slash!

Starting by leaving an air hole in the belly of the mouse, Muyoung started to kill mercilessly .

A number a bit less than 150 .

He had to take out one mouse per strike .

Muyoung started to collect all the magical items that poured out as he killed the Shrewmice one by one .

Name: Shrewmouse’s Strike

Rank: F

Classification: Single Use

Effect: For one time only, you can have the same effect as a Shrewmouse’s scratch .

It was just an F rank .

It was the lowest rank with barely any effect .

On average, one dropped for every two Shrewmice he killed .

The reason why he made an effort to even collect these magical items while killing the Shrewmouse was because they stacked up . If you look at the item individually, they are useless, however, when you collect 5, the story changes .

The name changed as well as their rank .

‘Spell enchantment . ’

In the Underworld, people referred it as ‘Spell enchantment’ .

By collecting 5 of the same magical item, it allowed the item to evolve into an item with a much stronger effect, or sometimes an item with much different effect .

‘Not yet . ’

However, it wasn’t an item he was pleased with .

Screech!

He couldn’t afford to waste anymore time in this situation .

His shirt was torn near his bellybutton by a Shrewmouse and his skin showed through .

Blood dripped from the red streaks that appeared all over his body .

However, he didn’t care .

Muyoung was used to these life threatening battles .

He pushed himself further .

Even though he was able to dodge all their attacks easily, he waited for their attacks and counterattacked them only when they were very close to him .

‘If you endure these dangers, your Agility will increase . ’

Agility stats didn’t just increase your ability to move faster .

It was considered the 3rd eye .

The commonly known, ‘sixth sense’, was a part of agility .

To increase his Agility stat, he had to put more pressure on himself in these situations .

Creak!

Screech!

The Shrewmouse started to focus on Muyoung and gathered towards him .

They recognized that Muyoung was the most dangerous one out of them .

Muyoung kicked their carcasses in order to create a makeshift barrier .

Being vulnerable all around was the worst . He needed to at least keep a side blocked to stop them from coming at him on all sides .

He slashed his scimitar without even turning around .

Gaak!

The mouse that tried to bite down with his wide mouth had the scimitar pierced through his neck .

Slash!

As he pulled out his scimitar, blood scattered everywhere .

Muyoung was getting exhausted .

However, Muyoung didn’t stop . He moved faster and fiercer when more and more Shrewmice gathered around him .

Even though he was smothered in blood and had plenty of wounds, Muyoung’s movements were still the same .

His instincts took over the body as he lost half his sense of reason .

And so, he was able to kill more than 70 Shrewmice .

Waaaaaaaang .

A small sound emitted from the magical item .

At the same time, the Shrewmouse who heard this sound became sluggish .

‘There we go . ’

The corners of his mouth lifted to form a sly smile .