Chapter 624

[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 624: Slaughterhouse (2)

—W-What… did you just say…? Family?

The lizardman froze, wearing a blank expression for a moment.

Seeing this, Yeongwoo kindly repeated himself.

“Do you have any money at home?”

—W-What on earth are you talking about?

The lizardman looked as though he had just seen something indescribably terrifying.

In contrast, Yeongwoo continued to look at him calmly.

“There’s no rule that a team has to be exactly two people. I spared your life, so I should get something out of it too, right?”

—So… you’re asking me for money?

“Of course. We’ll even draw up a contract.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yeongwoo leaped toward the ceiling and drew Aratubank.

Kwaak!

“You’re at least the child of a prestigious family, aren’t you? Then you must have plenty of money.”

At those words, the lizardman made an awkward face.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

—No, I just…

“Just what?”

—…I’m the head of the family.

“What?”

This was a background Yeongwoo hadn’t even imagined.

Judging by the scars covering his body, he’d assumed the lizardman was no ordinary fighter—but still…

“You’re the family head? You?”

When Yeongwoo asked again in disbelief, the lizardman reacted with irritation.

—Is that really something worth questioning so intensely?

“It’s just that this is the first time I’ve seen a family head personally enter a dungeon.”

Of course, even as he said that, Yeongwoo himself was also a family head.

“Then… are you the head of a prestigious family? No, that can’t be right.”

Yeongwoo muttered to himself.

At least among the prestigious families Yeongwoo knew, their heads were beings of far higher standing than the creature in front of him.

Even Yeongwoo, who prided himself on having grown considerably stronger, still couldn’t hope to match them.

“Then what family are you the head of?”

It was an extremely rude question—but the initiative was firmly in Yeongwoo’s hands.

So the lizardman had no choice but to answer.

—…Liga.

“Liga?”

—I am Gehika, head of the Liga family.

“You were really a family head…”

That the lizard in front of him was responsible for an entire household and its retainers made Yeongwoo see him in a new light.

“How did you end up in a place like this? If you, a family head, die here—”

As he continued speaking, Yeongwoo felt his thoughts gradually coming together.

After all, wasn’t he himself also a family head who had personally entered a dungeon?

And Yeongwoo’s family, Renaissance, was still—

“Ah. So Liga must be a minor family. One where the head has to personally earn money and equipment.”

—There’s no need to say that out loud. It’s just you and me here, and I already know it.

“You’ve got a real talent for delivering insults at great length.”

—If you weren’t holding a sword, I could’ve said it much more briefly and directly.

“You’re an interesting guy.”

Yeongwoo snorted, then looked Gehika up and down.

“So basically, you’re poor.”

If that was the case, he’d at least need to loot the equipment from the ones he’d killed earlier.

“……”

As soon as Yeongwoo turned his gaze toward the corpses sprawled across the floor, every body and all the ownerless equipment were converted into holograms and vanished.

“Huh? What the hell—those were my things!”

「Team formation has been completed.」

「The bodies and belongings of eliminated participants have been separately recovered and delivered to their next of kin.」

“What the—this is the Slaughterhouse. Is that kind of customer service really necessary?”

As Yeongwoo complained to the empty air, a large number appeared instead.

「2」

It probably meant that this team consisted of two members.

「We will now begin guidance for the second Slaughter Phase.」

“Second Slaughter Phase? Don’t tell me they’re cutting the numbers in half again?”

—Now the teams will fight each other.

The moment Gehika finished speaking, the next announcement followed.

「Each team, please select your position.」

A massive interface appeared in midair at the center of the room.

[Blood Battle]

| Your current location and team size will be revealed to all participants.

| Base score: 100

| Per participant kill: 20

[Invasion]

| Move through the Slaughterhouse and ambush other participants.

| Base score: 60

| Per participant kill: 20

[Preservation]

| Remain in one area without revealing your location or team size.

| Base score: 30

| Per participant kill: 15

“Oh, so it’s a point system.”

The moment Yeongwoo saw the options, he grasped the dungeon’s structure.

“The dungeon must be huge. Just revealing your location earns bonus points?”

Which meant that without location disclosure, the odds of being discovered by others were low.

That explained why an option like Preservation existed.

—You catch on quickly.

“Well, I’m the head of a minor family too. I’ve been through my share of hardships.”

—You’re a family head…?

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“What, you are one too. Why wouldn’t I be?”

—……

“Anyway, hand over whatever money you’ve got. In return, I’ll make sure we achieve the highest score in this dungeon.”

As Yeongwoo rubbed his fingers together, Gehika made a troubled expression.

—How much do you want? I came here to earn money myself… I can’t give you much.

“Then how about 10 billion?”

—…What?

The amount was so absurd that despair spread across Gehika’s face.

—How am I supposed to give you 10 billion? Do you even have that much?

“Well, I—”

Amazingly, Yeongwoo did have 10 billion in cash—but Gehika clearly didn’t.

“Is paying 10 billion as your life price too much? How much money does your family even have?”

—The unit alone is ridiculous. At most, I was thinking around 1 billion.

“1 billion? Who’s that supposed to satisfy?”

Yeongwoo instinctively pressed a hand to his forehead.

Then again, all the people he’d extorted money from so far had been heirs of prestigious families.

Maybe it was Yeongwoo who had lost his sense of reality.

“1 billion… Fine. Hand that over, at least.”

Yeongwoo slashed the air with his blade, forming a contract that stipulated payment of 1 billion upon successful dungeon completion.

Gehika hesitated in front of the contract, as if even that amount was painful.

—The money I can earn from this dungeon probably won’t even reach 1 billion.

“What are you talking about? If you’re on the same team as me, first place is basically guaranteed. You’ll earn far more than that.”

—First place? This is a Unique Dungeon. Have you forgotten that?

“If it’s a dungeon where you have to risk your life, shouldn’t you aim for first place by default? Don’t tell me you were planning to pick Preservation and just run out the clock?”

—……

Judging by his silence, that might really have been the plan.

—Choosing Preservation doesn’t mean we won’t fight. Someone could still find us.

“But you can forget about getting the highest score. That option’s for people who already lost their nerve during team formation.”

—…So what are you planning to choose?

“Obviously, Blood Battle. If we reveal our location, the ‘points’ will come looking for us on their own.”

It was an utterly tyrannical line of thinking.

—You’re completely insane.

A tense Gehika rubbed his neck, then tried to propose a compromise.

—Invasion isn’t bad either. We can choose when to fight.

[Invasion]

| Move through the Slaughterhouse and ambush other participants.

| Base score: 60

| Per participant kill: 20

—If we choose Invasion, we get a lot more options. We could strike Blood Battle teams while they’re already fighting, or hide and rest if things get bad. Tactically, isn’t that far superior?

“But we start with 40 fewer points. That means we’d need to kill two extra participants just to tie Blood Battle.”

—…That’s true, but—

“You hesitate because you’re imagining losing to another team.”

—We could lose. This is a Unique Dungeon.

“From what I saw during team formation, I don’t think I’ll lose easily.”

There would definitely be differences in strength between teams, and those who chose Blood Battle wouldn’t be pushovers.

But even accounting for that, Yeongwoo judged it manageable.

‘I didn’t even need half my strength to subdue our team. Even if there’s an incredibly strong team out there… it’ll still be a fight worth taking.’

And Gehika wasn’t a complete burden either—he’d be of some help.

“We’re going with Blood Battle. If we die, we die together anyway. Just sign the contract already.”

As Yeongwoo extended the palm holding the contract, Gehika reluctantly nodded.

—That logic… does have some merit. Since we’re already on the same team, we’ll either live together or die together.

Soon after, Gehika signed the contract, and Yeongwoo immediately selected the team’s position.

“Alright, Blood Battle it is. We wipe out anyone who comes for us, and if there’s another Blood Battle team nearby, we go to them.”

[Blood Battle]

| Your current location and team size will be revealed to all participants.

| Base score: 100

| Per participant kill: 20

A rule set that guaranteed nonstop combat.

Of course, weaker teams might deliberately avoid Blood Battle teams—but that wasn’t a given.

Beeeeep!

The moment Yeongwoo confirmed Blood Battle, the doors on both sides of the room opened, and the interior was bathed in red light.

“What, is our area marked with red lighting?”

When Yeongwoo stepped into the empty room across the hall, that room too turned red.

For a two-person team, both members’ locations were marked in red.

Then—

Beeeeep!

From somewhere far away, a signal echoed that clearly belonged to Yeongwoo’s team.

「A new team has selected Blood Battle.」

At the same time, a red arrow appeared in the vision of both Yeongwoo and Gehika.

“Oh. Looks like it’s hunting time.”

[Translator - Night]

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