Episode 312: Hell Tree (6)

[grrrrr……]

Cerberus began to emit dark murderous energy.

“Long time no see.”

Vikir couldn’t help but think of the long-ago confrontation on the Red and Black Mountain.

His first monthly evaluation at the age of 8. His childhood in the wilds of the Red and Black Mountains.

Back then, he’d caught them with chocolate obtained from beating the Baskervilles’ triplets, a pit trap he’d spent days carving, and a combo move that utilized the venom of the Bloody Mamba he’d saved from its Cradle.

“Do you recognize this scent? It belongs to your kind.”

Vikir took out the hood of the picaresque mask he was wearing around his neck and took it out of his collar.

The hood was sewn from Cerberus’s hide.

It had been tanned countless times, but the dog’s scent had never completely disappeared.

Cerberus’s face contorted even more frighteningly when he smelled his own kind.

[Kwaaagh!]

Vikir stumbled backwards, dodging the teeth and claws of the charging Cerberus.

Kurrrr! Pug!

Beelzebub, coated in a sticky liquid aura, slammed into Cerberus’s side.

‘I felt it.’

It didn’t pierce the thick hide, but it did manage to drive the impact into it.

Probably cracked some bones.

But.

…Swash!

Cerberus swung its tail as soon as its side gave way, slamming into Vikir’s body.

When people think of Cerberus, they think of its three heads, but its real weapon is its tail.

The sharp spear at the tip of its tail and the venom that coats it are enough to instantly kill a Danger Class A or higher creature with a single stab.

Vikir himself was poisoned by the tip of his tail.

Hororok-

A young madam crawled out from the side, sucking the poison from Vikir’s wound.

Tsutsutsutsutsuts……

The basilisk’s regenerative ability makes the wound on its side heal in an instant.

Kang! Kaang- Ttang! Chaang-

Cerberus’ tail and Vikir’s sword began to clash fiercely.

A spark from the clash caught the bangs of the stunned Grenouille.

“Ouch! Hot! What is it! Hic!”

Upon opening his eyes, he saw Vikir and Cerberus clashing with terrifying force.

Sssh.

A long line of blood drew across Vikir’s cheek.

Seeing it, Grenouille exclaimed.

“That, look at that! How is he going to catch Cerberus with a body 100 times weaker……!”

But before he could finish his sentence.

Bam!

Vikir brought one of Cerberus’s heads up with his knee.

Cerberus’ middle head cackled, missing its lower jaw.

“……You caught it?”

Grenouille mumbles, looking dazed.

Even school professors fight on equal footing against a monster the size of a human, and with a body a hundred times weaker?

‘Ho, how can a level 1 be able to fight like that, who the hell is he?’

Just to be sure, Grenouille punches the wall with his fist, and it’s clear that his strength has been reduced by a hundredth.

Grenouille began to shudder at the thought of how strong Vikir’s original fighting power must have been before he was trapped in the tower.

Meanwhile. Vikir was slowly falling back.

Cerberus, with its poisonous spirit, was a much more difficult opponent to deal with than expected.

What’s more, the creature in front of him now, having been brought by the fairy straight from the depths of the Oil Fields, was much larger and more ferocious than the one he had faced on the Black Mountain.

Even if he somehow wins, this is still only the second level of the underground. At this rate, it would be a battle of attrition.

‘One chance.’

Vikir leapt toward Cerberus once again.

Boom.

Cerberus’s forepaws flew out.

It was a familiar demeanor, as if Cerberus had already figured out Vikir’s strength and speed after a few engagements.

However.

‘……Now!’

Just before Cerberus clashed with him, Vikir reached into his pocket and pulled out all of the strange candies that were inside.

Warglock-

The sensation of small, hard, round, sticky things in his grasp.

Red candies for strength, green candies for agility, and blue candies for stamina.

Vikir shoved them into his mouth and chewed.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

A salty, bitter, astringent flavor that reached the root of his tongue.

‘……I’ve heard that some people can’t eat them because of the taste.’

Even Vikir, who had a strong stomach, feel nauseous.

At the same time, the status window began to change.

<Vikir>.

-LV: 1 (%)

-Title: ‘Gutter Rat Hunter’

-Stats.

↳Strength: 178 (+52) = 230

↳Agility: 203 (+16) = 219

↳Stamina: 207 (+37) = 244

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

The stats have risen dramatically.

Cerberus was startled by the sudden surge in strength and speed of Vikir and tried to retreat, but it was already too late.

Pugg!

Vikir’s sword pierced Cerberus’ skull.

The sword sliced through the tough leather, pierced the eyeball, and stabbed the brain inside.

‘But this won’t kill it completely.’

Monsters with a Danger Rating of A+ or higher have an incredible amount of vitality.

This is especially true for a creature like Cerberus.

Pugg, Pugg, Pugg!

Vikir twisted the sword inserted into the crevice of the skull sharply from side to side.

Only then did the foreign sensation on the back of his hand completely dissipate.

The inner muscle fibers, nerve bundles, and brain had been completely crushed.

[Kaeng-grrrrrrrr……]

As one of the three skulls went limp, the other two went on a mad rampage.

Vikir stepped back and grabbed Grenouille by the scruff of the neck from the floor.

‘This one still has use.’

Vikir said briefly to Grenouille, who looked on in horror.

“Enough of this. Let’s get out of here.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Grab your sack.”

Vikir gave Grenouille a swift kick on the butt and lunged forward.

“Wait! Aaaah! What did I do to get you so pissed off!”

Grenouille was running with a tearful face on his face, but remained clutching the sack containing ginkgo sabik fruit as Vikir had instructed.

Then Vikir ran into the ruins of a shop.

Cerberus followed him in, sulfurous fire blazing from all sides of its body.

A threat to burn down the entire ruined city.

“Sow the ginkgo.”

At Vikir’s order, Grenouille closed his eyes and threw away the sack.

Whack- whack- whack- whack- whack-.

The foul-smelling sabik ginkgo berries scattered across the shop floor.

Unlike a hellhound, Cerberus merely wrinkled its nose and furrowed its brow, but didn’t gag or drop to the floor in disgust.

“You’ve got a pretty nasty nose for a high-level monster.”

As Vikir admired, Cerberus bared his teeth and claws.

The spear at the tip of its tail was also aimed at Vikir.

Grenouille cried out in horror.

“Ugh, what’s with the ginkgo? It doesn’t work!”

The stench of the Sabik Ginkgo’s fruit, though foul, appeared to be tolerable to Cerberus.

But.

“Let’s see if this one holds up.”

Vikir held his breath and swung his sword.

Not at Cerberus, but at a dusty shelf.

A quick stroke sliced through the walls, cupboards, and shelves of the shop.

Crash, crash, crash, crash!

Glass bottles shattered everywhere.

Grenouille stared down in disbelief at the shattering glass and red, blue, and clear liquids before him.

The colorful liquids scattered into the air and landed on the ground where the sabik ginkgo fruits were scattered.

Cheolpuk- Cheolpuduk- Pompompompompomp……

A scent passing by the tip of his nose, and words written on a broken glass bottle

Grenouille stammered and read it.

“……Béatrice Newell. Brand new?”

They were perfumes of all kinds.

At the same time.

“Uh-weh-weh-weh!”

Grenouille vomited up everything in his stomach with a tearful snort.

What was this horrible smell!

‘Nose, my nose feels like it’s rotting, my brain feels like it’s melting!’

One day, someone walked into the classroom after stepping on a ginkgo.

The smell of the ginkgo pressed into the soles of his shoes, combined with the scent of everyone else’s perfume, made the room smell like it had been sprayed with poison gas, and even the stern Professor Morg Banshee had to cancel class.

And now, without exaggeration, it smelled exactly 100 times worse than it did then.

A level of fierce scent that not even Grenouille from Leviathan had ever smelled before.

Even perfume is fragrant when it’s subtle, but when it’s mixed with so many concentrated liquids, it’s a headache-inducing stench.

Even the foul-smelling sabic ginkgo berries.

To add insult to injury.

Patter-patter-patter-patter-

Outside, it began to rain.

[Gwe-Weeeeeeeek!]

The prey began to react.

Cerberus is the highest ranking member of the canine family of monsters.

Its acute sense of smell makes this series of scents much more recognizable.

[Guaagh! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Weeegh!]

It shook its two remaining heads from side to side trying to figure out if it was getting a headache from trying to digest what was in its stomach.

And then.

“Well, I can’t wait to see what the fairy has in store for me.”

In front of Cerberus, Vikir stood with an expressionless face, with cotton pads stuffed into both nostrils.

Completely prepared to kill the prey.