On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons-Chapter 175: #Dungeon Raiding Yu Il-Shin (2)

“...Well, this is awkward. What do we do now?”

—That’s weird. This has never happened in any of the previous regressions.

A Milvus, clutching a mouse in its talons, saw me and fled in terror. Understandable, because it saw a human making a call in the sky. The signal in the mountains was terrible. So, I used a certain skill from Demon Lord’s books to fly and call Kang Woo.

—Let me see if there are any other variables involved.

“Okay, hit me up as soon as you have any updates.”

I ended the call and returned to the dungeon in question. Something told me this was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Usually, dungeons were the symbol of apocalypse, from which horrifying monsters would emerge. Yet, in front of me was a dungeon the size of a rat hole.

“You can stop now, Ms. Lilith.”

Lilith was squirming and trying to stick her head down the hole.

As they said, every cloud had a silver lining.

It’s so cute.

Ssss!

A faint, black mist came out of the small hole, reminiscent of a whistling, steaming rice cooker. I got on all fours and peered into the hole, but all I saw was bleak darkness. Just what kind of monster would come out of there?

“I’m guessing, maybe a rat monster?”

Since it was my first dungeon, I had high expectations, hoping to get something valuable out of it. My hope was dashed. During one of his regressions, Kang Woo had lured SSS-rank Hunter Royce to this dungeon, using the raid rights as bait. Pretty sure it wasn’t a rat hole back then. So, what went wrong here?

Well, I did get a bad feeling since the car accident earlier.

Sword Demon flinched when our eyes met. There was nothing else I could do besides waiting for Kang Woo to call me back.

Grooowl!

Just then, I heard a stomach rumble overhead—it was Lilith.

“Are you hungry?”

Lilith nodded, cupping her blushing cheeks with her tiny hands.

Hmm, I’m feeling peckish, too.

“Mr. Sword Demon, did you bring any food?”

In response, he went pale as if the world had fallen apart. Pretty sure he’d prepared quite a bit for the dungeon raid, but they probably got burned along with the supercar.

“Please wait a moment, Mr. Sword God! I will bring back a wild boar if I have to!”

“No, you don’t have to.” I stopped Sword Demon from going off hunting.

I had Choi Bong-Shik’s skill on hand. It’d be a bit of a hassle, but I could just teleport to the convenience store to get some food for us.

I really do like this new skill.

“I’ll be right back. Skill Sharing, Choi Bong-Shik’s Ruler of Space.”

Flash!

The space around me warped, and I was about to be transported to a convenience store near my house.

Ding!

[Warning! Warning!]

[Causality distortion has occurred!]

Suddenly, God-Maker reacted.

Huh? What’s this?

While I was taken aback, the air before me ripped open, and a black hole appeared in front of me. Tentacles extended from it, entangling me like a spider’s web.

Swoosh!

“M-Mr. Sword God!”

-Kyaa!

Leaving behind the screaming Sword Demon and Lilith, I was dragged into a mysterious abyss.

***

“Where am I?”

Until just a moment ago, I was still in Mount Jiri. But now, I found myself standing before a bizarre-looking cave.

The reddish walls wriggled as if it were alive, reminiscent of a beast’s guts. They were sticky with liquid and felt warm to the touch—almost alive. Once, I’d attempted to write a genre novel with a Hunter protagonist and did a huge research for it. I found a dungeon description that perfectly fit this one.

Ding!

[You have entered the dungeon: God of Harmony's Ruins.]

As if confirming my guess, God-Maker responded accordingly. My attempt to find a phone signal went exactly as expected. The dungeon was an anomaly on its own, blocking out all radio waves.

But God-Maker is working just fine?! What kind of logic is this?!

Once again, I found myself wondering about the identity of this mysterious APP that appeared out of the blue. As always, there were no answers.

I should get out of here first.

Staying in the cave alone gave me the chills.

“Skill Sharing, Choi Bong-Shik’s Ruler of Space!” I tried to get out of the cave using Choi Bong-Shik’s childish skill.

Ding!

[Skill Sharing has failed.]

“Huh?”

I tried a few more times just to be sure, but the same message appeared on God-Maker.

Can I not use teleportation skills in dungeons?

I did hear something about this before. Then, I had no choice but to rely on my legs like everyone else since the dawn of time.

Turning on my phone’s flashlight, I scanned the cave for any exits. Twenty minutes passed, the cave had changed, revealing greyish stone walls. They were carved with strange murals like the interior of an Egyptian pyramid.

What paintings are these?

I shone the light on the walls. I saw good-looking men and women with pointy ears dancing and singing merrily, harvesting fruits and grains from the bountiful forests and fields. A goddess watched over them with a motherly look. In her hands were a scale with flames symbolizing light and darkness.

It was heaven.

Seeing the childlike, innocent smiles on the faces of her worshippers, I couldn’t help but smile as well. I went to take a closer look, and saw that the beautiful murals changed at some point. Horrific silhouettes of monsters appeared from the sky, the ground, and the sea. They devoured the humans, who fled in terror. The humans prayed in tears, begging for help, but it went unanswered.

“What...is this...?” I unknowingly stopped in my tracks.

There it was. A ceiling-to-floor mural of a monster that was the embodiment of calamity. It parted its jaw wide, ready to devour everything. The goddess was being sucked into it. Despite her incoming death, she cried tears of blood for her fallen, butchered worshippers.

“Bleeegh!” I sank to the floor in disgust at the shocking image I saw.

It was as if the artist had sold their soul to paint that mural. It was so vivid and gruesome, I could almost see the entire timeline happening right before my eyes. Above all, the monster reminded me of the God of Destroyer, which made me feel even worse.

Click! Click!

It took me a few moments to regain my composure. Then, I took a picture of the mural, hoping to show it to Kang Woo later and get some more information. However, the camera flashes seemed to have irritated the dwellers here.

Squeak squeak! Squeak squeak!

The annoying squeak of rats grew closer to my ear. At first, I didn’t think much of it, of course there’d be a couple of rats in such a dreary place. But it turned out to be no normal rat.

Sss—!

A huge shadow loomed over me.

Back then, didn’t I say, “I’m guessing, maybe a rat monster?”

I jinxed it, didn’t I?

“F-fuck!”

A rat monster really appeared. It was huge, probably three times my size, and walked on two legs like a human. As if that wasn’t enough, it was armed to the teeth with rusted armor and a sharp spear.

-Squeaaak!

The monster snarled, glaring at me, its eyes blazing. It seemed to be saying something, and I had no clue what it was—well, maybe I did.

Judging from the ravenous look it was giving me, and the drool dripping from the corners of its mouth, it probably saw me as a tasty piece of meat it discovered on the side of the road.

“You rat bastard! Know your place!”

I was initially stunned by its look, but I wasn’t the same person I used to be! I was now a Mid-tier God, so how could I be intimidated by it?!

“I’ll make jerky out of you!” I raised my index finger at the monster. “Crushing Forefinger of God!”

Soon enough, the monster was crushed, splattering before me—not.

Huh?

-Squeak?

The rat monster looked down at me, seemingly saying, “What is the food doing?”

“C-Crushing Forefinger of God! Convicting Middle Finger of God!”

I hastily activated my power again in panic. Again, nothing happened. Was it because the monster was way bigger than expected? I tried summoning Yi-Shin with my multiplying skill, but that also didn’t work.

“Skill Sharing. Sung Mi-Ri, Lightning!”

Ding!

[Skill Sharing has failed.]

Even my Skill Sharing failed. All my skills had been sealed. That’d explain why I couldn’t use Choi Bong-Shik’s skill earlier to get out.

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Chills ran down my spine. What was I without my own or my followers’ powers? Yes. A third-rate writer pressured by deadlines...

“Squeak squeak! Squeak squeak!”

...And the most likely prey for that hungry rat monster!

“Aaargh! Save me!” I screamed, running for my life.

However, the rat caught up instantly, its speed seeming to bounce off the walls.

“Squeak!”

Swoosh!

It hurled the sharp spear at my neck with tremendous speed!

I-I’m going to die!

I never thought I’d meet my end at the hands of a rat monster in a dubious dungeon. The faces of my sister, niece, followers, disciples, and Anty and the people of Gayami Nation flashed across my mind.

“Muuuuscles! Punch!”

Ah, yes. And Il-Ho, who’s climbing the Tower of Warriors... Huh?

For a flashback, his voice sounded far too vivid, as if he were standing right in front of me.

Thud!

Somehow, the rat monster’s head was smashed, its headless corpse fell to the ground before me. What the hell was happening?

“I made it to you just in time! Are you alright?” the muscle man asked, wiping off blood from his fists. He looked familiar.

A shiny, bald head. Monstrous muscles that looked ready to burst at any moment. A cute, three-head-tall body proportion. Above all, that strange, dumbbell-shaped sword strapped to his back.

“...Il-Ho?” I instinctively called out the name.

Hey, why are you here?