Chapter 372

Chapter 372
Chapter 372

—

The Hunter.

More than fifty thousand hours of Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule!

This was a staggering sum, one that effectively matched the combined wealth of the other five hundred participants.

However, the truly vital discovery was the presence of six ‘Intact Golden Rules’.

‘Breaking down a single Intact Golden Rule into shards would yield at least ten thousand hours.’

In specific scenarios, their worth could climb even higher than that 10,000-hour mark.

The reason was simple: while an Intact Golden Rule could be dismantled into fragments, no amount of fragments could ever be fused back into an ‘Intact Golden Rule’.

Because of this, provided I didn’t revert into ‘Randolph’, I could burn through any number of fragments here without feeling the slightest sting to my reserves.

Everyone else, conversely, was in a state of desperation.

Gracia was rumored to hold three thousand hours, but from my perspective, that was a paltry amount that offered no real security.

Furthermore, he clearly had zero intention of distributing his wealth to the others.

My strategy was different.

‘The profit in providing fragments goes beyond a simple debt.’

I had explicitly stated I would require a ‘contract’.

My plan involved utilizing ‘Winter (The Final Twilight)’ to ensure these agreements were ironclad and impossible to ignore.

Consequently, anyone who accepted my fragments would effectively become my subordinates.

This structural control was a prerequisite for clearing the coming ordeal.

The trial within the Black Dome, known as the ‘Bottom of the Abyss’, was fundamentally designed as a team-based conflict.

‘This challenge is on a vastly grander scale than the Island of God.’

On the Island of God, I had stood against the lords of the Abyss and various divine entities.

Had Isabella not made the choice to give her own life, I would have eventually been crushed.

Yet, the trial here was built on the necessity of a collective.

It wasn’t just our human contingent; the masters of the Abyss had arrived accompanied by legions of their own servants.

In short, we were no longer just survivors; we were soldiers in a war.

In warfare, the most critical element is ensuring the absolute loyalty of your own ranks.

I needed tools—arms and legs that would execute my commands without hesitation.

I needed people willing to lay down their lives for my cause!

‘It won’t be long before the lack of fragments causes them to turn on each other.’

That made this the perfect moment to act.

Currently, no one had fully processed the ‘worst-case scenario’.

They still believed there were other ways to acquire fragments besides the ‘World Tree Community’.

I hadn’t vocalized it yet, but a much more primal method existed.

Homicide.

Murdering the opposing Awakened and stripping them of their loot.

Once they realized they were alone and their clock was ticking toward zero, they would inevitably turn to such savagery.

I intended to provide a pressure valve to prevent them from reaching that breaking point.

By offering a mere 10 hours worth of fragments.

Through the leverage of a contract, I would bring them under my banner.

Additionally, there was another strategic advantage.

‘I will learn the aliases they use within the World Tree Community.’

To receive the fragments, they had to publish a guide, which I would then purchase.

While a buyer’s identity remains shielded, a seller is forced to expose their handle.

I would know their identities while remaining a ghost to them.

As my influence over them expanded, the possibility of them betraying me would shrink.

I would dominate this trial through a rigid hierarchy of debt.

Most of all, I was intensely curious about the name Arin used.

Settling my plan, I addressed the group.

“Anyone interested in a contract, step forward one at a time. I promise total discretion regarding the ‘nickname’ you employ within the ‘World Tree Community’.”

“Ah…!”

“I’ll go first then!”

Their last bit of hesitation crumbled.

The Community relied on the shield of anonymity.

There were undoubtedly many individuals desperate to keep their online personas private for a multitude of reasons.

I had already pulled five people aside and finalized their loans.

“…I… also… beg for your help…”

Choi Kang-nam.

The man crawled forward, looking utterly pathetic.

Considering he only had a measly 40 hours left, his desperation was logical.

I gave a casual shrug and posed the question.

“Before we sign, I have a question. What is your registered nickname in the World Tree Community?”

Five others had already gone through the process before him.

That should have been proof enough that I intended to keep my word.

“Do… do I really have to tell you?”

Choi Kang-nam paused, looking conflicted.

He was fidgeting restlessly, his face flushed a deep shade of crimson.

“I can’t buy your guide if I don’t know who you are, can I?”

“The secret… you’re certain you won’t tell a soul?”

“Relax. I’m not as small-minded as you are.”

“Especially to Vice-President Arin, you can’t…!”

He was the first person to make such a spectacle out of a simple name.

What kind of handle could he possibly be using?

“If it’s too much for you, don’t say it. I’ll just keep my fragments.”

“N-no! I’ll tell you! I’ll say it. My name is…”

Choi Kang-nam stumbled over his words as he finally confessed his alias.

And upon hearing it.

“….”

I found myself completely speechless.

《A contract forged by ‘Winter (The Final Twilight)’ has been branded upon 11 souls.》
《This pact overrides all preceding agreements.》
《The terms mandate the fulfillment of a single ‘request’ upon demand.》
《The weight of the ‘request’ intensifies as the contracts accumulate.》
《Violation of the terms will result in the immediate freezing of the body.》

‘Winter’ possessed the unique trait of nullifying lower-tier pacts to establish its own dominance.

Its authority was final.

Usually, a contract requires the willing participation of both parties.

Normally, no one would gamble with their life for a mere 10 hours of fragments.

However, the dynamic shifts when those contracts are ‘stacked’.

I had inserted a specific condition: the weight of the debt would compound with every subsequent loan.

A person who repeatedly came to me for fragments would eventually find themselves in a position where they had to risk death to satisfy the contract.

“….”

I glanced over at Choi Kang-nam, who remained hunched over with his head down.

Ever since the contract was signed, he hadn’t been able to meet anyone’s eyes.

The reason was obvious.

The name Choi Kang-nam used in the World Tree Community was far more vulgar than I could have imagined.

‘…Panty Mask.’

Even having heard it, I still found it hard to believe.

If that name ever got out, he’d be labeled a degenerate by the entire world, and he wouldn’t even have a defense.

I hadn’t asked for this burden, but I now held his most humiliating secret.

“Finally—we’ve made it.”

After evading a relentless chase, the group finally reached their objective.

Fwoooosh!

A peak engulfed in eternal flames.

The Mountain of Fire, the domain where the Fire Elemental King Agnis reigned in madness.

The moment we stepped onto its slopes, a notification appeared.

【Entry into the ‘Mountain of Fire’ requires a pact with a ‘Rampaging Fire Elemental’.】
【A contractor of a ‘Rampaging Fire Elemental’ may escort four non-contracted guests.】
【An ‘Elemental Pact’ is restricted to one per elemental type.】
【Accepting a contract with a ‘Rampaging Elemental’ will trigger constant hostility from said elemental.】

It was just as I suspected.

The prerequisite for entering this domain was designed to demand a sacrifice from the very start.

Predictably, everyone hesitated to volunteer.

However, my eyes were already locked onto a specific target.

“…God dammit.”

Choi Kang-nam’s face drained of color as he realized what I was thinking.

“Aaaargh! Burning! I’m burning!”

Choi Kang-nam’s screams echoed through the air.

The moment he linked himself to the chaotic fire elemental, he became a living wick, constantly scorched by the elemental’s fury.

But the torture didn’t stop there.

“Why is everything targeting me!”

Swaaaaa!

Fwhoooosh!

The vast majority of the wild fire elementals ignored the rest of us, focusing their wrath solely on the contractor.

Though the rest of the group tried to provide cover, the sheer volume of attackers was overwhelming.

By the time the initial wave subsided, Choi Kang-nam had been picked clean of every hair on his head.

And that was merely the opening act.

“Searing. Searing. Searing.”

“Agony. Agony. Agony.”

Charred remains littered the path—the victims of previous attempts.

Those blackened corpses began to twitch and stand, launching themselves at us.

They were the reanimated failures of those who had tried to scale this peak before us.

Boom! Boom! Kaboom!

They acted as living bombs, detonating the moment they closed the distance.

Our only option was a desperate, high-speed ascent.

Midway up the Mountain of Fire, the pressure suddenly eased.

“Is… is it over?”

“The elementals are gone?”

“No more corpses either!”

The group let out collective breaths of relief.

Choi Kang-nam slumped to the dirt, weeping with the sheer joy of being alive.

It felt like we had survived the worst of it.

At least, that was the hope.

Ssss. Ssssssss.

A noise drifted through the air.

The sickening sound of something wet and heavy being dragged across the stone.

“Ugh!”

“What is that stench…!”

A revolting odor filled the air, so thick it was physically suffocating.

In an instant.

Arin’s features turned deathly pale.

She wasn’t the only one.

Gracia and the other elites were paralyzed with dread.

“What in the world is that…?”

They stared in pure terror at the ‘thing’ that had just slithered into view.

At the base of the Mountain of Fire.

A legion of nearly a thousand yakshas came to a halt, staring up at the path.

“Lady Blood Moon Priestess. The offerings have begun their ascent. Shall we follow?”

Standing at the heart of the host was the Blood Moon Priestess.

She slowly shook her head.

“It is a shame, but that path is closed to us.”

“Closed? What resides up there?”

“Ah. Something so foul that even the other lords of the Abyss refuse to disturb it.”

The Mountain of Fire was a dead zone.

Because ‘it’ had claimed it.

The total absence of any other Abyssal masters or their minions in the vicinity was a testament to the danger.

Even the Heavenly Demon had marked this territory as ‘taboo’.

“What… is it exactly?”

The yaksha’s question prompted a sharp click of the Priestess’s tongue.

“Tsk. The ‘Unborn Being’ makes its nest there.”

“The… the Unborn Being…!”

“The great scavenger of the Abyss. The one that consumes all.”

The yakshas recoiled in visible horror at the name.

The ‘Unborn Being’ was a legendary horror within the Abyss—a monstrosity that stood apart from all others.

There was nothing it couldn’t digest.

It had already feasted upon several masters of the Abyss who were foolish enough to cross its path.

The only saving grace was its lack of a higher mind.

As long as one stayed far away and never drew its attention, one remained safe.

“…None of them will return.”

“We were too slow. There’s nothing to be done.”

The humans had put up a more spirited fight than anticipated.

By the time the Blood Moon Priestess had closed in, they had already vanished into the mountain.

Still, she preferred them being devoured by the ‘Unborn Being’ rather than falling into the hands of the ‘Ice Moon Priestess’.

With that creature present, their survival was an impossibility.

‘To choose the Mountain of Fire of all places… what wretched luck.’

They had picked the path to their own extinction.

Not that she cared anymore.

“We are leaving.”

The Blood Moon Priestess turned away, her head shaking in pity.

The entire group saw ‘it’.

They were standing face-to-face with the nightmare.

The penalty for witnessing something that defies the natural order is always blood.

They knew it in their marrow.

Once that creature began its meal, it wouldn’t stop.

Not until every living soul on this mountain was inside its gut.

“Run…!”

Arin’s voice was a frantic whip-crack.

She understood exactly what they were looking at.

One of the Kings of the Abyss, and arguably the most repulsive entity among them.

‘Why is the Unborn Being here…?’

She had wondered why their entry into the mountain had seemed so simple.

The monster had turned this place into its slaughterhouse.

Facing it now, victory was a fantasy.

If she were in her true form as the Seventh Lord, Basara, there might have been a chance. But now, she was just Arin.

A human body could not withstand such a creature.

The only hope was to distract the beast and pray that even one person could slip away.

‘No, that won’t work.’

‘It’s already over.’

The truth settled in her mind.

The moment their eyes met its form, their fate was sealed.

They had seen the forbidden; there was no escaping the consequence.

This was the curtain call.

‘I’m going to die here.’

It seemed her time playing at being human had reached its end.

If this group was slaughtered, the Earth was doomed as well.

The birth of the Chaos Elemental King would bring ruin to both Pangenia and the human world.

They had stumbled directly into the one thing that should have been avoided at all costs.

…It was as she stared at the ‘Unborn Being’ with hollow eyes.

Ssk.

Ssssssk.

“It’s… it’s moving away?”

“What’s happening?”

Without warning.

Unexpectedly.

The Unborn Being began to retreat.

It was an impossible sight.

The scavenger of the Abyss never walked away from a meal that was already cornered.

Furthermore, its movements looked strangely familiar.

‘Doesn’t it look like it’s recoiling… in pure terror…?’