The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound

Chapter 311 Abyss Tree (5)

“I’ll just kill them all.”

Vikir spoke towards the hellhounds in front of him.

Granola’s response to this was short and concise.

“…Have you lost your mind?”

It was natural for Granola to react this way.

Each of the hellhounds in front of them possessed strong bones and sturdy muscles.

Their teeth and claws were sharper than most swords, and the sulfur flowing from their eyes and mouths would incinerate and melt anything it touched.

Moreover, their numbers were too vast to be comprehended at a glance.

In such a situation, what could one possibly do alone?

However, Vikir remained indifferent throughout.

“I already knew the hellhounds would show up.”

Vikir had noticed the luxury items left behind in the ruins of the academy, such as perfumes, cigarettes, and cosmetics.

The deliberate placement of these items that blatantly stimulated the sense of smell was undoubtedly a warning of traps to come.

Vikir tried to think of a few creatures with an unusually sensitive sense of smell, but there weren’t many.

‘Gnolls are too easy to toy with. Goblins aren’t a challenge either. If anything, creatures like land sharks or hellhounds with sensitive noses might show up.’

Every piece of equipment and terrain was touched by the demon’s intentions, and meddling with them carelessly would incur significant consequences.

…Crunch!

Vikir drew his demonic sword, Beelzebub, and faced the pack of hellhounds.

Swish!

With confidence in the pack’s strength, one brave hellhound rushed forward only to end up with a severely injured nose.

A massive nose and a chunk of flesh the size of a fist fell to the ground.

[Crack! Yip! Screeeech-]

The hellhound, with its nose and snout sliced off, recoiled, spraying hot blood and grease as it struggled backward.

Seizing the opportunity, Vikir sliced the lower jaw of another hellhound attempting to bite into his flank.

And the one that had tried to claw Vikir’s buttocks lost nearly half of its right front leg, while the one beside it was impaled through the throat, ending its life.

[Grrrrrr……]

[Screech! Yip!]

[Screeeech-]

The hellhounds finally caught on.

Their opponent wasn’t trying to kill them but rather create chaos.

Of course, this was all part of Vikir’s meticulously planned performance.

“Hellhounds are rare to encounter in the early floors. The rewards for hunting them are quite generous.”

Vikir heard the notification sound ringing in his ears.

-Ding!

[“Level 1 Warrior” Vikir has successfully hunted a ‘B+ Rank Monster Hellhound’ in the tutorial zone, becoming the first to do so!]

[Rewards for the ‘Difficult’ achievement will be issued!]

Just by killing one, rewards were granted.

Clattering…

It was a red bead. A ‘Strange Candy’ that increased Strength stat by 1.

“I wonder what reward I’ll get if I kill them all.”

There was no mention in the memoirs of the heroes of the past of anyone killing all these monsters.

In other words, Vikir was now challenging a task no one had dared to attempt before.

In pursuit of an unprecedented and immense reward!

Thunk! Splat! Squelch!

Vikir moved with incredible speed.

He meticulously protected essential parts for mobility, such as fingers, toes, joints, and internal organs.

Non-essential parts for combat were sacrificed boldly, while he made sure to target the opponent’s eyes, tongue, legs, and neck.

Granola’s expression behind him turned grim as he watched Vikir’s terrifying figure fighting as if possessed by a demon.

“What, what’s with him? He’s Level 1 like us, right? Why is he fighting so well…?”

He had always thought Vikir was extraordinary since the university league, but he never expected this level of prowess.

If he’s this formidable now, weakened by a hundredfold, how strong was he originally? How much of his skill was he hiding?

…But debuffs were debuffs indeed. Vikir’s entire body was soon covered in blood.

Meanwhile, the hellhounds were still mostly intact.

Despite being injured, they, too, stood against Vikir with the insane vitality and determination, typical of monsters.

“Indeed. Being weakened by a hundredfold is exhausting. I might have to resort to some tricks.”

Vikir stepped back, nodding to himself.

Then he addressed Granola behind him.

“Alright, I’ve cleared the path. Run that way.”

“What? Where’s the path…?”

Before Granola could finish his sentence.

Slash-

Vikir rushed towards a limping hellhound behind him, severing its upper and lower jaws simultaneously.

As the wounded hellhound retreated with a whimper, a gap opened in the encircling net.

“Let’s go.”

“Eek!”

Grabbing Granola by the scruff of his neck, Vikir hurled him forward and followed suit.

“Hoeyeyeyeyeyeyeyey!”

As Granola fled, screaming in terror, he proved to be an excellent decoy, luring other nearby hellhounds towards them.

“Seems like he’s got some talent after all.”

Vikir thought, watching Granola’s back, who was unwittingly becoming the target of the monsters.

Well, more prey meant a good thing for Vikir.

Eventually, Vikir and Granola arrived at the previous marketplace.

“Hey, hey! Where are we running to? That’s the waste disposal area! There’s no cover!”

Granola shouted, his face twisted in dismay.

But Vikir silently headed towards the waste disposal area.

There were various sacks sorted with different kinds of garbage.

‘…There was a kind security grandpa here.’

Sure enough, in grandpa’s room, there were now old brooms, broken trash bins, and the like.

But there was no time to admire the scenery.

[GRAHHHH!]

It was because multiple hellhounds were charging towards Vikir.

Right at that moment.

Swish-

Vikir lifted the bulging sacks beside brooms and trash bins, tore open his side with a knife, and then hurled the contents at the hellhounds.

“Here, have some of this.”

The contents of the sacks poured over the heads of the hellhounds.

They were fruits with furry yellow shells.

And as the hellhounds turned them over, they began screaming and writhing as if mad.

[Crack! Crunch! Splat!]

[Roar! Splutter! Gag-]

[Whine! Thud!]

Granola, seeing the hellhounds clutching their noses and retching, wore a dumbfounded expression.

“…Savik?”

Indeed. The dozens of sacks piled in the waste disposal area were none other than banks.

Known for their effectiveness against bugs, banks were commonly planted along avenues. However, their only drawback was the foul-smelling fruit that fell onto the roads with each passing season.

Moreover, these were particularly pungent “Savik” fruit berries. Their scent was so strong that it could instantly overpower the smell of Durian.

One could always find these piled on platforms at the school’s waste disposal area.

Squelch-

As several hellhounds stepped on the bank fruits, yellow juice sprayed out, intensifying the already potent smell.

Unable to withstand this foul odor, the hellhounds began to vomit.

It was then that Vikir drew his knife.

…Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk!

Every time the crimson spear swung back and forth, a hellhound would roll its eyes back and stick out its tongue.

While some hellhounds attempted to retaliate, the continuous flow of sulfur from their eyes and noses made proper combat impossible.

Roll… roll… thunk-roll-

With each hellhound he killed, more candies for stats continued to drop.

Red candies for boosting strength. Green candies for agility. Blue candies for increasing stamina.

Red candies were the most common, followed by blue candies, and then green candies.

“Boosting agility stats is really tough.”

Vikir thought, looking at the pile of candies in front of him.

“If a candy shop opens later, I could exchange 300 candies for one candy of a higher level. I should probably collect as many candies as possible in preparation for that.”

Right at that moment.

The fairy appeared before Vikir.

While it was usual for it to appear suddenly, this time the entrance was even more abrupt.

[“Wow! Are you the one who killed all these monsters? You’re quite irregular?”]

The fairy glanced at the abundance of hellhound corpses covering the floor of the waste disposal area, then curled it’s tongue in contemplation.

Eventually, it offered Vikir a choice in a subtle voice.

[“You’ve accomplished a remarkable feat, so I’ll grant you a remarkable reward, shall I?”]

At the same time, something appeared before Vikir.

-Ding!

[“Warrior of Level 1, Vikir, you have successfully hunted down a ‘B+ Rank Hellhound Pack’ in the tutorial zone!”]

[“Reward for the ‘remarkable’ achievement has been granted!”]

[“Mission difficulty adjustment is now available for one-time use.”]

[“Would you like to increase the difficulty?”]

[“Increased difficulty missions correspond to ‘bonus stages’.”]

[“Clearing the ‘bonus stage’ will grant additional rewards!”]

A question about increasing the difficulty.

In other words, having slain the entire hellhound pack, it was asking whether he would permit the appearance of even more dangerous monsters.

“As if he’d permit that, you fool!”

Granola shouted towards the fairy, raising both hands in protest.

But standing next to him, Vikir made a completely different choice.

“Yes. Send whatever you’ve got.”

The arrival of a stronger boss monster was exactly what Vikir desired.

Capturing stronger and more dangerous monsters would naturally yield more valuable and generous rewards.

As Granola grimaced beside him, the fairy chuckled smugly.

[“Great, great, so very great! Are you really that confident? Then, shall we begin right away?”]

At that moment, a cavernous hole appeared behind the fairy.

Similar to when the hellhounds were summoned earlier, it had the same feeling, but there was only one, and it was much wider in diameter.

And then.

Crunch- Crack!

Eventually, the monster with the adjusted difficulty began to reveal itself before Vikir.

“…Ah. This must be a dream.”

Granola, who had managed to hold on somehow until now, was also on the verge of losing his mind due to the overwhelming pressure.

However, Vikir’s comment on this matter was brief.

“Long time no see.”

Three heads protruding from outside the gate.

One beast.

Cerberus

Danger Level: A+

Size: 7m

Discovery Location: Red and Black Mountain Range, 7th Ridge

– Also known as the ‘Hellhound of Hell’ – Shows no interest in spirits trying to enter hell, but immediately tears apart any spirits attempting to escape hell.

Inhabits the deepest part of the underworld, where all spirits ultimately converge, serving as the ultimate form of underworld monsters.

The boss of the bonus stage, ‘Cerberus’.

The creature was glaring at Vikir with eyes akin to flames of destruction.