Chapter 89

Chapter 14. Flame of Life (5)

Those words.

To the remaining two, they came like a sudden rain in a dry spell.

"We are the same...!"

"I want to live! Please, just give me a chance! I beg you!"

Before one could even open his mouth, the other abruptly stood up and shouted.

The one who couldn't open his mouth stared at the other with wide eyes.

His expression was one of disbelief.

The two were friends, inseparable.

So he wanted to ask for a way to survive together.

But his friend easily crushed his hope, his eyes showing a look of apology.

And that was his last thought.

Bang!

Yeonwoo killed the one sitting and casually shook off the blood from the longsword.

He turned to look at the one standing.

"You said you can do anything, right?"

"Y-Yes. So p-please, just spare my life... I have children...!"

Yeonwoo extended his hand to cut off the man's words.

He didn't want to hear their stories. If he listened to all the stories in the world, he wouldn't be able to make a harsh decision in the tower.

"Those who told you where I am, tell them. If this happens again, I'll really wipe everyone out."

The man asked in a trembling voice, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Is... is that it?"

"Why? Do you need more?"

"N-No! I'll pass the message, no, the warning, to them! Just leave it to me!"

The man, fearing that Yeonwoo might change his mind, hurriedly ran in the opposite direction.

Swoosh-

At that moment, Nol appeared faintly above Yeonwoo's head.

"Chase him."

Nol nodded and disappeared again.

From now on, Nol would follow the man and target those who spread the information.

When the man meets a tail, Nol will chase that tail, and when another tail appears, Nol will chase it until he reaches the main body and takes action.

Yeonwoo never intended to leave those who touched or tried to use him alone.

He would cut them down as they appeared and root them out to prevent any trouble later.

Although the farther away from him, the less effective the power of the Sogui would be.

'But it allows for more independent action. The power won't be lacking either.'

He had already planned and strengthened them to this level.

Yeonwoo scanned his surroundings.

The gray mist had already cleared, revealing the forest.

The forest was in complete disarray.

Broken trees and burn marks were everywhere.

The scattered corpses all had their limbs twisted or necks broken in bizarre shapes.

But there was one common feature among the corpses.

Their faces were filled with terror.

Their eyes were deeply wrinkled and their hair had turned white.

A sight he had seen many times while traversing the forest.

From the first to the last, their appearances were the same.

"They really stuck together."

Yeonwoo extended his hand to collect the souls of the dead players with the black bracelet and clicked his tongue.

382.

The number of people who had just been killed by him and the Sogui.

The battle was one-sided from start to finish.

Bu spread the gray mist, tearing apart the clan alliance, and Kawa and Nol appeared to devour the enemies.

Yeonwoo quietly followed behind, cleaning up the remaining enemies.

It was a simple plan, but it was very effective.

The enemies, driven mad by fear, ended up destroying themselves.

The word 'massacre' didn't seem out of place.

However, there was a problem.

'I don't feel anything.'

Despite the large number, Yeonwoo couldn't feel anything.

The voice of the last man cursing as he died echoed in his ears.

Are you still human?

But that.

'I've heard that countless times in Africa too.'

It felt like he was just doing what he had to do.

The other side had sinned by attacking first, and he had simply repaid them.

Perhaps this tendency had become more pronounced since becoming a player in the tower. Or maybe he was always like this.

In fact, the codename 'Cain' was given to him because of this tendency.

'It doesn't seem like a good thing, though.'

Yeonwoo converted the collected souls into spirit beads and distributed them to the Sogui, then shook his hands.

'There's no need to dwell on this. I'll face many similar situations in the future.'

It would be pointless to keep holding onto trivial things.

'Or will there be more trouble in the future?'

Yeonwoo clicked his tongue and leaped into the air.

He had spent too much time dealing with the enemies. He needed to quickly go and gather the remaining materials.

* * *

"Why is there no news?"

At the Starlight Bar in the city of Barak.

The bartender, frowning, put the cup he had been wiping with a dry cloth on the shelf.

It had only been a few hours since he sent the news to the various clans in the city.

Currently, Barak was gathering several clans for the war preparations between the Red Dragon and Cheonghwa-do, and information about the glutton was very expensive.

The clans began forming group hunting parties to hunt the glutton.

Small-scale clans that couldn't afford the information fee agreed to share part of the loot they received after the hunt with the Starlight Bar.

This hunt was a crucial transaction for both the 11th floor's Starlight Bar and the bartender who provided the information.

'Even if the hunt fails, it's an opportunity to clearly understand how strong the glutton is. Such information will also be very expensive.'

In any case, it wasn't a losing deal for the bartender, so he was more curious about the outcome.

Right then.

Bang!

The door of the Starlight Bar was suddenly and violently opened.

The bartender immediately knew the result just by seeing it.

'It seems they failed.'

If they had succeeded, they would have entered leisurely, boasting.

Sure enough.

The one who entered was Seum, the leader of the Rangte clan, which was part of the alliance.

Seum was covered in dust, breathing heavily, and his eyes were filled with anger as he glared at the bartender.

"You, you...!"

The bartender flicked his fingers, indicating that he didn't need to hear more.

Then, five large men who had been waiting at the table stood up.

They were the cleanup crew, set up to deal with noisy customers.

Seum's face hardened as he read the bartender's mind. Just as he was about to run, a Sogui appeared above his head.

The bartender and the cleanup crew's expressions hardened at the sight of the unfamiliar Sogui, and Seum, reading Yeonwoo's mind, screamed.

But in that moment, the black aura that followed Nol and the remotely designated fire skill combined, and the explosion that followed quickly drowned out Seum's scream.

Boom!

The explosion not only knocked the bartender and others off their feet but also destroyed over a dozen buildings in the area.

And.

The city of Barak fell into chaos due to the sudden terrorist attack.

* * *

It was about four days later when Yeonwoo returned to Phoenix's back.

"You took a bit longer than expected."

Phoenix looked at the slightly tired Yeonwoo and spoke in a surprised tone.

Yeonwoo smiled bitterly.

"There were a lot of troublesome people."

"Something happened, I see."

Yeonwoo nodded without a word.

After wiping out the clan alliance, the 11th floor residents' suspicion of Yeonwoo grew even more.

Several clans that suffered losses even put a bounty on him and formed tracking teams to chase after him.

As a result, Yeonwoo had to clean up the troublesome tails several times while moving quietly.

'Thanks to which, the Sogui only fed.'

The notoriety of the glutton in the 11th floor stage spread widely, which was an added bonus.

Moreover, there was another reason.

"Manticore, they were stronger than I thought. And I didn't expect them to live in groups."

"Indeed. Manticore do live in groups, which is a bit of a headache. I had momentarily forgotten that."

After shaking off the tails and entering the dungeon, it was still a headache.

Breaking through to the 10th underground floor wasn't particularly difficult. Although it was quite troublesome, Yeonwoo's skills far exceeded those of the lower-level players, and the Sogui were constantly strengthened, making it possible to handle the monsters.

However, what troubled Yeonwoo was that Manticore live in groups.

A male Manticore leads 20 or more females, and below them, over 100 young Manticore are positioned.

Even one Manticore is classified as an upper species, so a group of them was a significant challenge.

The problem was that the younger brother only wrote in the diary that they "live with several others" without providing more details.

'Or perhaps the group had grown significantly in the meantime.'

Regardless of the reason, hunting many Manticore alone was a daunting task.

However.

'It wasn't all bad. In fact, the benefits were greater.'

Yeonwoo had never fought at full strength from the tutorial to the 11th floor.

So he had been struggling to properly gauge how much stronger he had become.

Especially after obtaining the Despair of the Black King and Aegis, his power had increased dramatically.

'Even with consistent training, it's hard to have an objective standard.'

But this time was different.

He deployed the Sogui to handle the females and young, and he took out Vigrid and Aegis to clash with the male Manticore at full strength.

Six out of ten Sogui were torn apart, and Vigrid was significantly damaged. The connection with Aegis was severed, causing a severe headache.

The dungeon was almost destroyed by the wind pressure and fire from the clash.

However, in the process.

Yeonwoo felt a sense of clarity.

He gained the confidence that he now held true power.

'Thanks to which, I have quite a few artifacts to repair.'

Yeonwoo thought he would soon have to pick up the hammer and anvil again.

Using the Dragon Eye, it was difficult to create but easy to repair.

'The Sogui's stats have also improved significantly.'

The most significant gain was probably the strengthening of the Sogui.

Although more than half were destroyed, the remaining ones became that much stronger.

They had consumed a massive amount of souls while passing through the dungeon and, in the end, devoured the ghosts of the Manticore.

As a result, Bu, Kawa, and Nol had grown to the maximum capabilities a Sogui could reach.

What were once insignificant beings had grown to two meters in size, carrying a thick layer of gray mist, making even Yeonwoo feel a bit uneasy.

"Still, it seems you've obtained everything you wanted."

"Coming here, I've gained much more."

"That's good to hear."

Phoenix laughed lightly, looking much happier at Yeonwoo's words.

"Shall we start then?"

"Yes."

Yeonwoo nodded and placed the backpack on his shoulder on the ground.

The backpack untied itself and the items inside floated up into the air.

"Hmm. You've gathered only the finest materials. In this aspect, you are quite meticulous."

[Hidden Quest (Flame of Life) completed.]

[You have achieved an accomplishment that few can easily accomplish. Additional merit points are granted.]

[You have gained 5,000 merit points.]

[You have gained an additional 3,000 merit points.]

[As a reward, you have obtained 'Phoenix's Favor'.]

[Your affinity with Phoenix has greatly increased. Jjikjik is very pleased by this.]

[Your affinity with fire has increased by 30.]

[Your affinity with wind has increased by 30.]

[The effect of the contract with the divine beast is stronger. The suspicion of all revenants, including monsters, will decrease, and affinity will increase.]

...

[Phoenix begins the creation of the Flame of Life.]

Whoosh-

White flames rose above the floating items.

The sacred fire that makes up Phoenix.

The sacred fire, exuding a holy aura, devoured the various materials offered.

Gradually, they gathered at one point, rising to the height of a person.

Whoosh!

[The 'Advanced Flame of Life' has been completed. Phoenix has transferred part of his soul into the flame, making it emit a more brilliant light.]

[As a reward, you have obtained the 'Advanced Flame of Life'.]

"Is it good? I haven't used much power in a while."

Phoenix's slightly boastful voice