Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Episode 23. Pandemonium (3)

A truly shocking entrance: an army consisting of monsters mid-grade and higher that numbered well over a thousand was now blocking the dungeon’s entrance.

Every demon, Celestial, and awakened human cautiously stared at the dungeon. The attacks came to a halt, and only silence remained on the battlefield. Could the battle possibly be extended even further? All sorts of conjecture swirled in the heads of everyone present and fought a silent battle against each other.

Especially so with the demons – their interest in this event was far more obvious. The one possessing monsters of such quality in such a number could be counted in two hands. If it was a Duke, no, an Archduke, could such an army be possible? By occupying a high ground from the very start before making their first move, perhaps it would be possible to amass such a high number of monsters.

Even then, the true identity of the dungeon master was still shrouded in a veil of mystery. Only his monsters decided to show up. Who could the master be? Which faction did he belong to? As long as none of those were made known, the demons couldn’t afford to make a careless move. One mistake, and it’d be like poking a hornet’s nest.

Also, there was a possibility that this dungeon belonged to one of the demons present here today. That was why they were closely scrutinizing each other. As if asking “Is it you?,” their eyes shifted from one demon to another.

Of course, there was no way they could find out the truth so quickly. Everything was still stuck in the realm of speculation. If only those monsters made a move, then it’d be easier to guess the intention of the dungeon master. But…

The monsters were not making any move. They were standing stock still, standing guard and blocking the entrance of the dungeon. In a way, that was them declaring that they were not planning to intervene as long as the dungeon was left alone.

For sure, the silver-armored Golems M1 and M2 only fought the angels that attacked the dungeon’s barrier. Once the attacks ceased, they stopped their operation as well.

So, what should they do now?

The reason why the thirteen demons didn’t hesitate to attack Hashumal earlier was because they were more or less getting along with each other. The “angel hunt” was their shared common interest and that at least enabled them to act more freely.

However, they just couldn’t read the intention of that dungeon’s master. If that person was planning to ambush them, then obviously he’d only show up right towards the end. However, he deployed his full force after only a day. This was truly confusing.

Moreover, the monsters were not attacking them. The demons found themselves wondering what the true objective of the dungeon master was.

But, it wasn’t enough a reason to make any move. Even now, Hashumal was recovering her divinity. And by healing the other angels and having them join the offensive, yet another way-too-long day would have to be repeated.

Even if they did start attacking, the monsters of the dungeon remain a secondary concern. The demons would’ve treated the dungeon master as yet another competitor if those monsters attacked the angels and Hashumal, but they were not doing so, and that was the real issue.

The demons would prefer to avoid getting caught in a sneak attack. Witnessing the demon “Saman” getting killed by the maw of an electric dragon half a day ago made them that much more cautious.

“I do not know which faction you belong to, but you better come out! If not, I shall completely crush your dungeon first!”

Marquis Anastasia stepped up. And two other demons under Pandemonium’s banner lent their support as well. If three demons combined their strength, it would not be impossible to destroy the dungeon’s monster horde.

She was planning to nip it in the bud now rather than risk having a potential enemy waiting in the shadows. Additionally, she was declaring that the dungeon master didn’t belong to Pandemonium’s faction.

“Give me a break. You think I’ll fall for your little game?”

Marquis Delate made a sarcastic remark.

Demons gathered here didn’t like using the word “trust” that often. And these two factions didn’t enjoy the best of relations, so this sequence of events was not surprising.

“How dare you say it’s a game?! Do not try to pass judgment on everything with that narrow-minded head of yours.”

“Narrow-minded? Haha, fine! In that case, why don’t you attack the dungeon? Only then will I believe that your words and actions are sincere.”

Delate was trying to goad Anastasia into taking the responsibility since she dared to publicly announce her ambitions in the first place. However, all Anastasia could do was blush profusely. Although she said that she would completely crush the dungeon, it was nothing more than an empty threat. She was thinking of inciting the other demons and then pressure the dungeon master to appear, but her scheme fell through from the beginning.

Delate smirked dismissively and raised his right hand. “What a waste of time. You keep up with your empty threats. In the meantime, I shall be the one to take Hashumal’s head.”

He then extended his hand to signal the forward charge. Monsters aimed for Hashumal once more and pounced on her.

That was a smart decision. Delate didn’t panic and analyzed the unfolding battlefield calmly. This was the perfect time for those hesitating demons caught on the back foot to become his meat shield.

However, their numbers were too low. It was not possible to strongly pressure Hashumal this way.

All they could do was interrupt her recovery attempts. But it was important to note that his actions created a rift among the demons, as well. The ones who were not concerned about the dungeon emerged to start attacking the angels.

On the other hand, some of them grew even more suspicious.

Slice!

A Death Knight sliced apart an Orc Shaman reciting an incantation on the ground. Then, while riding on the steed of death, the monster swept past everything in its path and attacked Delate.

Clang!

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Delate barely managed to fend off the attack and glared murderously at Anastasia. He already knew from the very beginning that the master of the Death Knight was none other than Anastasia.

“This is simply too suspicious. Either that’s your dungeon, or one that belongs to your faction. You were planning to tie all of us down and monopolize the points, weren’t you?”

“You dumb b*tch! You’ve finally lost your damn mind!”

Curses leaped out of Delate’s mouth.

It wasn’t strange to see them attack each other because of the bad blood between them. The opportunity to kill off their competition is too good to be wasted. However, the attack against Delate when their common enemy, Hashumal, was right in front of them, could not be considered a rational action.

Every demon would naturally hold a grudge against the Celestials. Sure, this only proved how complicated this situation had become, but still…

Madness flooded Delate’s eyes. “Fine, I shall kill you, then! Allow me to rip you to shreds first!”

This was the turning point.

A sliver of suspicion split the demons. The main forces were withdrawn and each demon protected their surroundings religiously. Instances of demons fighting each other broke out, too. Monsters tangled up with one another and the battlefield fell into an even deeper quagmire.

It was right then…

“Protect the angels!”

“Wipe the monsters out!”

The awakened, able to breathe again, began to push forward with everything they had.

The corner of my lips curled up. For a plan cooked up in a haste, it worked out pretty well.

The relationship between different factions were at their absolute worst. Only through the existence of a common enemy called the Celestials did they forcibly start cooperating. Such a flimsy connection could be severed so easily with a moment’s confusion.

The main gist of this plan hinged on how many monsters Krithli managed to preserve. Thankfully, it seemed that she had managed to achieve an overwhelming victory against the Celestials.

The demons who wanted to eliminate my monsters first risk straying further away from the event’s goal, not to mention the possibility of losing their important combat force in the process. But leaving them alone was too risky, as well. Simply put, this whole thing was like a pain in the ass.

Suspicion naturally bloomed in the demons’ hearts and the connections between them were severed.

Just one among these thirteen… no, twelve, demons needed to go off the script, and that would be it. And I managed to bait Anastasia.

And with the awakened jumping into the fray, the true pandemonium was complete.

“Excellent work.”

I praised Krithli, who couldn’t be here with me. Honestly, I thought it’d already be a great success if she managed to preserve half the monsters. But to think she didn’t even lose one-third. Her contribution this time was truly immense.

Thanks to her, the confusion was aggravated even further.

At this time, when every monster became an important commodity, hundreds of human awakened should prove to be a big help to the Celestials. At the very least, they should be able to buy Hashumal and the angels some time to recover their wounds.

“We have only one job. Endure! There is no need to push yourselves too hard!”

My loud yell landed very clearly in the ears of the awakened.

The difference in the level of difficulty between fighting and simply enduring was huge. They should be able to pull this off.

Up in the air, Hashumal was staring at me with unreadable eyes.

The sun hung high in the sky.

By then, the group that started off the battle with five hundred people had been reduced to less than half. This was a sink or swim situation – it almost felt like hitting a boulder with an egg, but that was how intense the battle had been.

I was equipped with a rare-grade sword instead of my usual weapon, “Rage.” While raising this sword high, I roared out, “We are the final ray of hope for this nation. If all of these angels die, then the next to be pillaged and raped by the monsters will be your town, your relatives, and your parents! So, protect them!”

How funny it was for me to talk about South Korea’s hope. However, this was necessary. At the very least, it should be enough to plant a small spark of flame within these awakened.

The humans needed to hold the tide back for as long as possible. Not to forget, Lee Jihye, Yoo Eunhye, and Edward would fall deeper into danger as the number of the awakened decreased. I couldn’t afford to lose these three in a place like this. The goal of this battlefield was their growth, so their demise was definitely out of the question.

Of course, I could have defended them if I wanted to. But doing so will increase the possibility of my identity being exposed. In every sense of the word, this situation was the worst.

“Goddammit. I’ll do it. I’ll protect them without you telling me to!”

“Uwaaah!”

The awakened, already riddled with wounds, regained a just a bit of vitality after hearing my speech. Hope. What a wonderful word that was.

Even though their forcibly attached leg dangled around ungainly and their wounds were so deep that their facial bone could be seen, despite all their sufferings, the awakened still made their moves. Losing themselves to desperation, they kept cutting down the monsters.

They were no longer thinking straight. Fighting for over one and a half days had worn many of them down. Their limit had been exceeded a long time ago after pushing forward nonstop without taking a break. Although food and drink had been brought along, situations that didn’t permit such luxury continued to occur one after the other. They should be praised simply for managing to stand up on their two feet.

I, too, “outwardly” fought with everything I had.

Swiiiish!

Boom!

Spears of light permeating with an incredible level of divinity bombarded the ground.

“It’s done.”

I slightly nodded my head.

It was Hashumal. Her golden eyes emitting pure light were now glaring at her enemies with pure contempt. She had finally recharged her batteries, in other words.

The curtains on the real second round finally lifted.

Around the time the demons realized that something was wrong…

Monsters that previously numbered more than ten thousand had been reduced to somewhere near five thousand by then. Many high-grade monsters, who were the main combat force, had been killed off as well.

Only then did the twelve demons stop their squabbles.

Hashumal, with her recharged divinity, was truly strong. It felt as if she had gotten even stronger than when she first showed up. The demons came to a silent, tacit agreement of a temporary truce, and recognized the need to combine their attacks against her.

The thing was, it had become far too late to pull out of this battle now.

If they wanted to recover the losses incurred until this point, they needed to obsessively earn a lot of points for the next six to twelve months. If not, there was no other way but to hunt down as many angels as possible today.

What if they couldn’t even do that?

It’d be their downfall. Hadn’t their competitors already more or less figure out the capacity of each other’s monster army in this place? There was little doubt that they would be unable to sit still, worried sick of a potential invasion that might happen at any given moment.

Both Marquis Delate and Anastasia understood this fact as well.

Since the level of the monsters each of them possessed was too similar, their fight didn’t come to a resounding conclusion, leading the two to shudder away while spitting out various colorful insults. Some of their reasoning had returned and that helped them to realize stopping Hashumal was far more important right now.

“You son of a b*tch!”

“Whore!”

As crass as those insults were, they were already too injured to care. Their armors were sliced apart and countless injuries filled their flesh. Their eyes were filled with madness, and with the way their hair came undone and whipped about, they came across as a “crazed couple.”

Nevertheless, their conflict had finally come to a halt. At the same time, every demon began thinking about the same thing.

“We mustn’t drag this out any longer.”

“Once the sun sets, we’ll decide the winner.”

The deciding battle!

No good would come about by dragging things on. So, it was going to be “attack with everything you have.”

And so, as the sun in the heavens slowly tilted towards the horizon, the moment of the deciding battle drew closer and closer.