Chapter 18. The End of Yeomma
Thud!
From the dark passage where nothing inside could be seen, a trembling hand reached out, desperately clawing at the empty floor.
It was like a scene from a zombie movie or drama, where a person struggles to escape after being bitten, desperately feeling around for something to hold onto. Eventually, that hand grasped the only support nearby—my shoe.
Immediately, a desperate and intense strength clamped onto my leg, and soon a figure emerged from the darkness.
His entire body was covered in red burns, parts of his skin melted away from toxic gas exposure, and his face, stained with tears, mucus, and urine, was a familiar one.
“You made it. So, it really was you, Yeomma Lee Ji-hyung.”
“Ugh…”
Lee Ji-hyung was too consumed by fear and pain to speak coherently.
All he could do was drag his battered body along the ground, trying to escape the terrifying traps that had cornered him.
His mind had completely shattered, effectively rendering him dead already. The fact that he had forgotten about following us secretly, not even using his stealth skill, showed just how broken he had become.
‘Did I go too far?’
Still, he needed to be able to talk so I could at least find out who sent him.
I clicked my tongue and pulled the sword I had embedded into the ground, stepping directly in his path.
“Ugh… monster! It’s a monster! Please, spare me. Spare me. I didn’t mean it. It was a mistake. Please, kill me. It hurts. I’m scared. Hahaha… I’ll kill them all… No, it’s a mistake. I’ll kill you… No, I didn’t mean that.”
His words became a nonsensical jumble, as if suffering from a split personality, causing Seo Mina to frown as she watched him.
“As I suspected, it’s Lee Ji-hyung. But how did he even get in here?”
“If not through you, then he must have been tailing me. And it looks like he underestimated the boss’s strength when he first encountered it, opening the door without realizing just how strong it would be. Foolish or simply stupid.”
I didn’t need to hear it from him to understand what he must have been thinking or feeling.
‘He must have been displeased with me, so he released the boss to mess with us. When Seo Mina faced danger, he panicked and fled.’
I clicked my tongue.
It was hard to believe that such a pathetic fool would later become the infamous officer known as Yeomma among the demons.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to kill him. We can’t leave any loose ends. Besides, even if we let him live, he seems on the brink of death.”
I said this while taking a glowing stone and a ring from his hand.
“A teleportation stone, the lowest grade. It would take at least 100 magic stones to activate. And this ring—it allows him to use a stealth skill.”
It was unlikely that Lee Ji-hyung, still just a promising young talent with no real field experience, had purchased an expensive item like this stealth-enhancing ring with his own money.
‘The Starcloud Guild must have given it to him, instructing him to kill me.’
In truth, they had likely suggested he offer a contract full of restrictive terms before resorting to this, but that part would remain a mystery.
‘So, we’ve become enemies.’
It seemed they held a grudge against me for tarnishing the image and reputation of their precious talent they had invested heavily in.
They even ordered an assassination, equipping him with all these valuable items, despite the fact that he had already lost to me once.
‘Thanks to the Curse of Misfortune, making enemies is never a good thing.’
But there was no way I could let Lee Ji-hyung leave here alive. Even though his mind was shattered, he might recover and escape the hidden stage since he had cleared the second floor.
‘Better this way. I was worried he might find a way to escape, so I waited here to deal with him the moment he emerged.’
“If you want, I can do it. If it’s hard for you, I’ll take care of it.”
Perhaps thinking I was hesitating over the act of killing, Seo Mina approached me, showing the spear at her side with a calm expression.
But I didn’t need her to. Ignoring her trembling hands, I raised my sword.
“Goodbye. Don’t hold a grudge—it’s all because of your own choices.”
To survive, I couldn’t leave any threats behind.
Stab!
As my sword pierced his heart, the two abilities that had never activated before both manifested fully.
Fwoosh! Crack!
The left side of his body burned while the right side froze solid.
“……!!”
And thus, the one who would have been known as Yeomma, a notorious figure among the demonic officers, met his end here, in such a pitiful manner.
***
We left his body on the second floor and ascended to the third.
〚Hidden Stage: Pyramid’s Third Floor – The Floor of the Dead〛
On the third floor, mummies appeared as monsters, refusing death and clinging to life in the darkness.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Their stats were only slightly higher than the Black Dogs we encountered on the first floor.
With the monsters posing no significant threat and without Lee Ji-hyung’s interference, we could leisurely clear the third floor.
After defeating the boss, both Seo Mina and I reached level 9.
As I used the spare points from each level-up to boost my Mugeuk stat, it now reached 34, and it seemed like it would hit 35 right at level 10.
While resting beside the fallen boss, I frowned.
‘No reward from the Indomitable stat, no message that the Curse of Misfortune has exhausted its power.’
The Indomitable stat grants rewards when overcoming the Curse of Misfortune, offering additional stat points and spare points. Typically, once the misfortune was fully spent, it would give a warning before retreating.
But this time, even after dealing with the misfortune that was Lee Ji-hyung… there was no message at all.
Which meant…
‘It’s not over yet, is it?’
I felt a surge of frustration as a headache throbbed in my temple. Was it because I had been too on edge, keeping my senses sharp and focused?
A sigh escaped me as the headache persisted.
“Seriously, how annoying.”
“What’s bothering you? Is it because you regret killing Lee Ji-hyung? You did what you had to. He tried to kill us first, and I almost died. You did the right thing.”
Her words, attempting to comfort me, brought a smile to my face despite myself.
Right, worrying won’t change anything, will it?
If misfortune is destined to come, all I need to do is be more cautious and respond even more powerfully. It’s something I’ve faced countless times before.
Although the phrase “great misfortune” does irritate me a bit, in the end, I will overcome it, survive, and continue my stubbornly persistent life.
‘I refuse to die miserably like Lee Ji-hyung in a place like this!’
As I solidified my resolve, my mind cleared, and a slight smile formed on my lips.
“Let’s go up. Quickly.”
Seo Mina and I immediately entered the fourth floor.
〚Hidden Stage: Pyramid of the Sun’s Rest 4th Floor – The Floor of Despair〛
Screeeeech! Screeeeech! Crrrrraaack!
As soon as we stepped into the floor, a despairing wail struck our ears. The cries and despair of those who lingered as vengeful spirits filled this floor.
〚Unique Ability: Ultimate Soul and Stat: Indomitable completely defend against mental attacks.〛
A message appeared, and the attacks from the vengeful spirits became nothing more than irritating noise.
But that was only true for me.
“Aaah!!”
Seeing Seo Mina clutching her ears in agony, I quickly opened my inventory and pulled out a potion.
I uncorked the bottle and poured it into her mouth, and she eagerly drank it down. After finishing the entire bottle, she seemed to regain her composure, releasing her grip on her ears with a drained expression.
“Thank you. I thought I was going to go mad. The moment I heard the sound, every negative feeling intensified… it made me feel like I wanted to die.”
This floor seemed to be one that tested the mind. A cruel trial designed to make one give up in the face of despair.
However, I had a unique ability and stats that rendered me nearly invincible against mental attacks, and the high-grade S-rank mental protection potion ensured Seo Mina’s safety.
“Let’s go. This should be easy.”
“You’re right… I feel much better.”
We crossed the field leisurely. How long did we travel?
Just as the mental protection effect on her wore off, the message declaring the floor clear appeared, accompanied by our rewards, followed by another choice.
“I’m going up to the fifth floor.”
〚Hidden Stage: Pyramid of the Sun’s Rest 5th Floor – The Floor of Infinity〛
〚Protect the only flame within the pyramid from the infinite waves of monsters.〛
Fwoosh!
The moment we entered, a single flame ignited brilliantly behind us, slightly pushing back the darkness.
“It’s so bright!”
“Ugh!”
After relying on a faint light in the darkness, the sight of a true, radiant flame felt almost blinding—but not unpleasant.
〚The first wave will begin in 10 minutes!〛
However, that joy quickly turned into tension as I saw creatures rising from the distant sand.
‘Ten of them!’
It was a number I could handle alone, so I quickly made a decision.
“I’ll go forward and stop them before they get too close to the flame. Seo Mina, you take out any that slip past me!”
“Got it!”
Fighting alongside her, I had realized that, thanks to the power of Heavenly Fortune, she had experienced some kind of awakening. Her bursts of damage were several levels above mine.
It’s probably due to her Energy Stat. But my Physical Stat is overwhelmingly stronger, and I can endure much longer.
‘That’s why I’m taking the front.’
I didn’t know how many waves there would be or how strong the creatures might become. She needed to conserve her strength and focus on the boss.
With a leap, I launched myself forward, facing the sand-made Tou creatures that rushed toward me.
“Die!”
I struck down the cores of each creature detected by my senses with a single slash. The first wave ended after exactly ten swings.
“They’re weak. And the experience points are stingy too.”
We were given a 10-minute break, and so we began to fight and rest in turns, protecting the flame.
.
.
.
〚The 99th wave is beginning! 99 creatures and the mid-boss, Undead Sandman, have appeared!〛
-Urghhhhhhh!!!
“Huff… Huff… The end is near. Damn it.”
With each wave, the number of creatures increased by one, and from the 90th wave onward, 99 creatures and a mid-boss appeared.
The problem was that my level hadn’t increased since the 32nd wave when I reached level 10. As a result, my Mugeuk stat reached 35, but I was running low on stamina.
After downing a recovery potion that Seo Mina gave me, I gripped my sword again.
“Just two more waves to go, then it’s over.”
It seemed that there would be a total of 100 waves. With my sword clenched tightly, I pushed off the ground and began slashing at the incoming enemies.
〚You have successfully completed the 99th wave.〛
〚You are granted a 10-minute rest period!〛
〚Warning! A boss will appear in the 100th wave!〛
Watching the mid-boss dissolve back into sand, I collapsed onto the ground.
The creatures appearing in the waves were all Tou (sand-made dolls) composed of sand and cores.
As the wave number increased, stronger and more multi-cored Tou appeared, and the mid-boss I just defeated had as many as 11 cores.
“Damn it, I almost died because I didn’t have time to drink a sensory buff potion.”
There were no serious injuries. I hadn’t sustained any critical hits throughout the 99 waves.
It was mostly minor cuts and scratches, but they had accumulated to the point where my clothes were soaked in blood, making me feel sticky and uncomfortable.
Seo Mina wasn’t in much better shape. No matter how strong I was, it wasn’t possible to handle 100 creatures alone, so inevitably some slipped through, and she fought desperately to prevent any from reaching the flame.
“Is this finally the last one?”
Ten minutes flew by as I caught my breath and consumed a sensory buff potion along with four physical buff potions.
“Hah… This is great!”
I felt power surging through my body, a sense of euphoria that made me feel like I could do anything.
Thanks to the increase in the number of items I could take out from my inventory with each level, I could freely use the potions stored in the Golden Treasure Vault.
Currently, the ownership of the first floor stood at 9.9%, just shy of 10%. It seemed like there was a condition for advancing beyond that, and something significant would likely happen once I reached 10%.
“Well then, let’s get started.”
With my sword held tightly, I charged toward the massive Tou awakening from the sands in the distance.
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Comment