Chapter 150
Untouchable Marshes...or is it?
Despite having been ambushed, the Rank-B Hunters were quick to react. They immediately formed a defensive formation with Connie in the middle.
Leyn was about to move when Connie stopped them with a firm gesture of her arm. “Let the others handle this. They seem capable enough.”
And indeed, they were. These were experienced Hunters. Different from the ones that were just starting out. Even from their stances, one could see that they have fought many monsters and perhaps, even Demons.
Blades and claws clashed. Though they were not as strong as the Demons, the Hunters overpowered their enemies by fighting them four to one.
Martell nodded in understanding. These were not Knights. These were Hunters. Fair was never their strong suit.
Soon, the battle was about to be over. Martell blinked and a thought came to him. “Spare one of them!” Martell shouted.
“What?!” Akula yelled back as she turned around and kicked the last Demon’s head right off his shoulders.
“Never mind,” Martell sighed.
With the ambush thwarted, Barney walked towards his employer while wiping his sword stained by the green blood of the Demons with a bunch of grass he grabbed from the ground.
“These ones are quite strong. Thankfully we don’t have C-Rankers, otherwise, they’d just be fodders,” Barney said as he approached Connie. He then remarked with a scoff. “So, worth the Gold you’re paying us?”
“It is worth it,” Connie said in response before turning to see the captive Dark Elves. “It seems that you neglected to mention an ambush, Miss Arryn.”
Arryn hurriedly wrote with a panicked look. We didn’t know that there would be Demons stationed here.
“I knew they could not be trusted!” Nick said angrily.
“I think they are telling the truth, Connie. The numbers are too little to be a proper ambush,” Illumca said while kicking a Demon’s body dismissively.
“I agree with Illumca. They seem to just be a recon team,” Martell said in support. “Which is a trouble on its own.”
“Then we better hurry,” Connie said as she threw a look at Calein.
“I agree,” Calein turned his horse around while nodding at Connie’s words. Then he noticed one of the Hunters kneeling in front of a dead Demon. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Extracting the Essence Crystals! They are worth a fortune!”
Hearing this, Connie said to the leader of the Bearkillers. “Tell your men to not slow us down. We leave now.”
“You hear the Lady! Get on your damn horses now!”
“But - !”
“Leave them. You’ll have more Gold than you know what to do with after this Quest!!”
The Hunters sighed and got on their horse, but not before throwing a last look at the bodies of the Demons scattered on the ground with regret.
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In his chamber, the Demon Bet-Zebek was in the middle of absorbing the Essence Crystal that once belonged to his rival. Strands of Mana wound flowed from the glowing crystal into the tips of ten maggot-eaten fingers. By absorbing it, he would obtain Bet-Huda’s power and rise to new heights.
Bet-Zebek winced, as at times a jolt of pain would strike him unaware. “Still fighting back, are you?” he said as he strengthened his control over the absorption.
“Aah, the Essence Crystal of a fellow Ur-Nagud is incomparable to that of a simple Named Demon. I can feel my power growing with each moment. Kekeke…”
He could see himself rising in rank, closer to the object of his adoration. The Demon King.
“But why stop there? I know that I can be better. Possibly even to the rank of Ged-Abinadab.”
Such thoughts caused his teeth to chatter in delight. But he knew that a Maluk-Sedi was far beyond his current power, both in status and strength. He would need to bide his time.
“But eventually. Yes…eventually, the King would look upon me with favor.”
His train of thoughts was suddenly disturbed by shouts from his chamber’s door, breaking his concentration. With it broken, he growled in annoyance and stopped what he was doing.
“Who dares disturb me?!”
“Master! It is me!”
Annoyed, Bet-Zebek waved his hand and the stone door opened. Half-stumbling, Merida entered and quickly fell to her knees.
A grunt of displeasure came from Bet-Zebek. “What gave you the bravery to disturb me in my chamber, Dark Elf?! And where are the humans I ordered you to bring?!”
“Forgive me, Master! The new Lady of Arleine and her people somehow knew our plan and foiled them! I have tried my best, but it is all I can do to return and bring this information to you!!” The traitorous Merida confessed while pushing blame away from her.
Bet-Zebek suddenly vanished from his throne and reappeared before Merida, leaving a trail of black smoke. He lifted her by the neck and let her dangle there for a good few seconds before talking with an eerie calm. “I am…disappointed. I should have never entrusted such an undertaking to one of the Races. Even if it was for the sake of Maluk-Sedi Ged-Abinadab’s experiments.”
Merida’s hands tried to take hold of the Demon’s fingers, but they were like ancient stone. Still and unmovable.
“Give me…! Your help!” Merida gasped, the color of her face was starting to pale. “I will…! Make sure that I succeed…this time!”
“Hmm…” Bet-Zebek turned his head to the right, appearing to think about this. Seeing this, Merida’s face could not help but bloom into a smile of triumph. Only for her heart to instantly be crushed as the Demon’s teeth-filled eyes turned to her and said, “No.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Master…! Ur-Nagud - !”
“Silence!!”
With a single roar, Merida was frightened into silence. The pressure emitted by the Demon before her had grown so much that she could not muster the power to utter a word. Bet-Zebek released her, and the Dark Elf fell into a heap on the ground. She coughed in misery as she massaged her neck.
“I have told you the last time you failed me that there will not be a next time,” Bet-Zebek bent low until his teeth were so close that the maggots on his rotten face fell onto her. “And we Demons keep our promises.”
He snapped his fingers and the Demons guarding his chamber came in and grabbed her by the arms.
“You can’t!! Maluk-Sedi Ged Abinadab had promised us -!!” the woman tried to protest
“He did promise you, but I am the one in charge of this place. And my word is final!” the Ur-Nagud opened one of his eyes, causing Merida to involuntarily threw up. “Ah, but I will not kill you. No, that’s such a waste. After all, we are of the Bereaved Dead Banner. And we excel in experimentation,” Bet-Zebek turned to the Demon holding Merida’s left arm. “I remember that Duga has an ongoing one that piqued my interest.”
“Yes, Ur-Nagud. It is almost finished. He said that she’s just lacking an integral part…” The Demon paused as a slow realization dawned upon him. “…thank you, Ur-Nagud. Duga will appreciate your gift.”
“See that she does not fail me, as this Dark Elf did.”
“Yes, Ur-Nagud.”
“No! No! You can’t do this to me!! He promised us!! He promised !!!”
Merida’s begging and screaming fell into deaf ears as she was dragged out of the chamber unceremoniously.
“Hanad,” Bet-Zebek called.
A human-shaped Demon with half of his head missing came in and bowed. “Ur-Nagud.”
“Her failure had caused a disarray in our plans,” Bet-Zebek began as he gently took a finger from a tray of bones that had fallen to the stone floor during his outburst and regarded it with interest. “What do you think we should do?”
“In my opinion, it doesn’t matter. No one would be able to survive this Dungeon. Especially living beings. After all, there is a reason why none of the Races had managed to descend below the Fourth Level up to now. Even if they somehow managed to do so, the environment would have killed them before they managed to return to the surface.”
Bet-Zebek pondered this for a bit. He then put the bone on his hand into his eyes and bit into it.
“…Nevertheless, to err in the side of caution is preferable to the alternative. Execute our contingency plan. Do not let anyone disturb my chamber. Once I finished absorbing that damnable Bet-Huda’s Essence Crystal, nothing can stand in my way.”
“As you command, Ur-Nagud.”
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After an hour’s ride, the group saw their first glimpse of the dungeon named Untouchable Marshes and was flabbergasted by what they saw.
Akula squinted her eyes and looked at the mass of green in the middle of autumn greyness and commented. “Is it just me or does that place look wrong to you?”
“What’s wrong?” Connie asked.
“Does that look like marsh in autumn to you?” Illumca said. “None of the plants are even right for this region. There are no pines, no shrubberies. That marsh doesn’t make sense. No, it isn’t even a marsh! It’s a swamp!!”
“You’re right,” Caelin agreed with an offended look. “You can’t call a swamp a marsh. It’s like calling a grassland, a forest.”
While Illumca and Caelin explained to Connie about the difference between plants with a strangely heated emotion, Nick spat on the ground angrily.
“Dammit!” Nick groaned when he realized what he was seeing. “Is this the reason why no one’s been here?”
“Yeah. More or less,” The leader of the Bearkillers said. “But I think it’s been growing. The last time we were here, it ain’t reached that part of the valley.”
“What are you talking about, Nick?” Illumca asked.
“It’s a fucking Dungeon Break!!”
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Connie and the rest of the party entered the marshes after leaving the horses by the edge of the Untouchable Marshes. Those who had not been to the place were surprised with how different the environment inside and outside of it was.
“How is it possible for the air to be so hot and humid here?” Martell said in annoyance. “We are in the late autumn!”
“How is it so…suffocating here?!” Akula opened the front of her coat, revealing her bountiful endowments. She wiped her sweat with her sleeves. Her face showed much displeasure.
Connie could not help but take a glance at her and felt a certain heat bubbling up inside. But that was soon interrupted by a mosquito the size of her palm, flying straight at her. She disposed of it with a flick of her finger.
“That’s the biggest mosquito I’ve ever seen!” Akula made a distressed look.
“Is that a monster?” Illumca asked.
“No, it’s just a regular mosquito. The Dungeon Break has a strange effect on the regular animals here, including insects,” Caelin commented. “And this is not even the dungeon yet.”
“Can you explain to me more about Dungeon Break?” Martell asked the Elf.
“Yeah, I guess you’ve never seen one before, eh?” Nick said as he stopped Martell from walking over a suspiciously colorful flower. He let out a small sigh. “The one we’ve been to before was managed well.”
Caelin used his sword to cut off an obstructing branch and explained while making his advance. “It’s what happens when the contents of Dungeon spill over and affect the environment around it. When we have people diving in and killing the monsters inside, the Dungeon will have to expend some power to regenerate them. Which is why monsters inside Dungeons never seem to run out.”
He looked at Leyn, who pointed to his left, before continuing. “Without people culling those monsters, the Dungeon will have excess power. And all that power needs someplace to go. Like a bowl overflowing with water, all that power would then spill outside.”
“You’ve seen this happen before?”
“Yeah, t’s a rare phenomenon. But I have never seen something this bad. We need to be careful. Don’t touch anything if you can help it.”
“By the way, Connie’s been awfully quiet. Where is she -?”
Caelin’s question suddenly turned into horror when he saw a half-bitten mushroom with a stalk the size of baby’s arm in her hand. Its exposed inner flesh looked mushy and had started to turn blue from exposure to the air.
“T-that’s…Death Bog Mushroom!” Caelin panicked. “Quick, spit it out! If we can get a High Antidote in you, we might be able to save your life!!”
“Aah!! My leg!!” Before Caelin managed to take out the High Antidote from his Item Ring, one of the Bearkillers let out a scream as he bent down in pain. A spike had pierced through the thick leather sole of his shoe. He fell onto the swamp floor and his color soon began to turn purple, and bubbles started to form on his lips.
“Marko!!”
“Chen!” Connie shouted. The Poison Slime jumped out of her robe and attacked the ground where the Hunter named Marko had trod on. Blood seeped out of the otherwise ordinary swamp floor. Chen pulled whatever his tentacle had caught and a Toad-like creature the size of a human’s head, with spikes as long as man’s fingers all over its back came out. Its body was still jerking involuntarily even though it had died from Chen’s attack.
“Quite the nasty thing, aren’t you?” Connie examined the creature with a budding interest. “A new monster I’ve never seen before. With a poison strong enough to cause a grown man to the brink of death within minutes. Now, this is what I’m talking about!!”
“Dammit! The Antidote’s not going in!” Caelin said as he tried to make the dying man to take the Antidote. However, his jaw and throat were so taut that they ended up spilling uselessly to the side.
Mergell Toad! That man is a dead man. Arryn wrote to Illumca.
Illumca only raised an eyebrow and said with confidence. “Not if Connie wants him to live.”
“You bitch! Why are you so happy looking at one of my men dying?!” Barney shouted as he moved to grab his employer’s collar.
However, Connie simply moved him aside and bent down to look at the man. She hit three different points on his neck and jaw, resulting in the immediate relaxation of the jaw before putting in a blue-colored Pill. Within minutes, the seizure subsides and his body relaxed.
“W-wha - ?” The Hunters could not believe what just happened.
“Connie…how…did you do that? A - and how are you not dead yet? You just ate a Death Bog Mushroom!” the man scratched his head belligerently. All traces of her usual suaveness gone.
“Ah, now you know how it feels working with Milady,” Nick smiled knowingly.
“Calm down, Mister Caelin. Take a deep breath,” Martell said to calm the Elf. “My Mistress merely has some…peculiar abilities.”
“Are you…immune to poison?” he asked after catching Martell’s meaning.
“Haha, please,” she said jovially as she brought her arm around his neck and gestured grandly. “You see, my friend. This Dungeon might look like a dangerous place to you. But to me, this swamp is a treasure trove!” she laughed. “Ready to be exploited…mercilessly.”
Martell coughed. “Mistress. Let’s not forget what we are here for.”
Connie caught the look on Martell and glanced at Illumca’s whose face was still, but her look gave her chills. “Ah, ahem. Alright, let’s move on. TIme is of the essence!!”
With that little episode finished, the party move forward with greater confidence now that they had seen Connie’s ability.
As they walked, Connie stealthily let Chen out, who then proceeded to separate from the team to engorge himself with the feast that was…the Untouchable Marshes.