Chapter 172: 172

Henrick had a serious dilemma. He kept pondering whether he should do what he wanted or not, but his laid-back, screw-it attitude prevented him from changing his mind. In the end, he ended up going ahead with it.

‘It’s not good to think too much sometimes…’ he thought as he pushed his hand between Iris’ soft breasts.

The intrusive, yet warm feeling woke Iris up. She slowly opened her eyes, staring at Henrick and saying, “Henrick.”

“What?” Henrick asked in response.

“Should I scream, or should I kick you right now?” Iris asked.

“I know what I’m doing is unforgivable, but please just stay still for a bit longer,” Henrick replied.

“Oh my god… Henrick…” Iris murmured with tears welling up in her eyes. She added, “I don’t wish to kill my friend.”

“I know the situation is easy to misunderstand, but this isn’t what you think it is,” Henrick grumbled before pulling his hand out from between her breasts. A small snake bound up in his mana threads followed soon after.

“Hiiisss…! Hissssss…!”

Iris smiled and said, “Omo, what a cute baby snake.”

“It’s venomous. You could’ve died, you know?” Henrick grumbled before taking out his sculpting knife and beheading the snake.

Iris’ eyes started to well up with tears once again, and she glared at Henrick and asked, “Henrick, can I kick you?”

“Do you want to get bitten by a venomous snake and die?” Henrick grumbled.

“It was just a baby. You could have just set it free,” Iris retorted.

“You should be more worried about this thing growing up and coming back for revenge instead of worrying about its life. It’s a small price to pay to keep us safe, you know?” Henrick grumbled in response.

“Hmph! Thank you for saving me, but Henrick is an idiot,” Iris said as she walked off.

Henrick shrugged and followed her. Soon after, they came across the undead army.

Kalriven, who had been sparring against ten undead, sheathed its sword and lowered its head before asking, “Have you had a pleasant rest, my lord’s comrades?”

“Hmph…! It was not pleasant at all,” Iris replied.

“Hey, are you going to keep that up?” Henrick grumbled.

Kalriven tilted its head in confusion.

Meanwhile, Shaneth was already up and preparing breakfast. She asked, “Did you two sleep well?”

Iris approached Shaneth with teary eyes, saying, “Shaneth, listen to what happened to me. Henrick, he… Heuk… Sniff…”

“Did something happen, unni?” Shaneth asked with a worried expression.

“Henrick grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping,” Iris said while crying.

“…” Shaneth looked at Henrick with a disgusted expression.

Henrick faked a cough and remarked, “What will become of me if you say it like that?”

Iris explained the whole situation, then glared at Henrick and said, “I am furious about what you said. You cannot simply take away a life just because it posed a threat. You should have thought about whether there could be another way instead of simply killing it.”

Shaneth thought for a while and began, “Unni.”

“What is it, Shaneth?” Iris responded.

“Snake meat is really delicious, you know?” Shaneth continued.

“Omo! Is that so?” Iris asked in response while smiling brightly.

“Don’t you think we know each other a bit too well now?” Henrick remarked, smiling in disbelief.

Shaneth let out a sigh and said, “Except for Kang Yoon-Soo’s past…”

It was at that moment that Iris’ ears twitched, and she said, “I hear something strange.”

“What is it?” Henrick asked.

Before Iris could even respond, loud hisses filled the air, and snakes started to crawl out from the crevices in the ground of the mineshaft. Shaneth, Iris, and Henrick immediately got up and climbed up a nearby wall.

“It’s turned into a snake pit down there!” Shaneth exclaimed.

“Damn it! We’ll get bitten if we fall down there!” Henrick cursed loudly.

“There is a lot of snake meat…” Iris muttered while drooling.

The ground was littered with snakes, but the undead rejoiced upon seeing that.

“Kuooh… Snakes! There are a lot of snakes…!”

“Snakes… Savory meat… and blood…”

“I will feast… on their meat… and drink… their blood…”

The undead started to pick the snakes up with their bare hands and devoured them. The snakes retaliated by biting the undead’s hands, but their poison had no effect on the dead.

Just then, loud voices rang out from the distance.

“Wahaha! Snakes!”

“How long has it been since we had meat? I don’t mind being poisoned for some good ol’ meat!”

“I can’t wait any longer! Let’s just eat them raw!”

The trio looked at each other.

“What was that…?” Shaneth asked.

“Beats me… Was there someone else this deep in the mine, aside from us?” Henrick asked.

“It sounds like a group of men,” Iris added.

The owners of the voices soon appeared from the other end of the mineshaft.

“Well, would you look at that…”

“What the hell are those?”

“Aren’t those undead? We can’t eat those since their flesh has already decayed.”

The undead and the group of men, who were so dirty that they looked no different from the undead, stared at each other from opposite ends of the mineshaft.

“Kwuaaaahk…!”

“They look dangerous… Kill…!”

Kalriven unsheathed its sword and asked in a commanding, hostile voice, “Who are you people? State your identity.”

The men seemed taken aback by the Death General’s words.

“State our what? Ha! It’s my first time hearing that from an undead being.”

“It’s been a while since I last fought the dead.”

“I’m sure it’ll be boring to fight against these half-decayed corpses…”

Just as they were about to charge into battle against each other…

Whistle…!

Someone suddenly began whistling. The snakes that were covering the ground stopped moving as soon as they heard the whistle, like cobras before a snake charmer’s flute. Then, they moved to either side of the mineshaft, leaving a path in between.

“Stop it,” called a voice.

Both parties looked at the source of the voice.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked through the gap created by the snakes and continued, “We’re on the same side.”

***

The men and undead quietly roasted the snakes after introducing themselves to each other.

Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo removed the snakes’ fangs and poured their venom into a bottle. He thought, ‘The snakes in this place have various kinds of venom in them.’

It was possible to apply different kinds of toxins—such as paralyzing toxin, hemorrhaging toxin, or nerve toxin—to weapons or arrows, resulting in great harm to one’s enemies. However, the men who had been abducted were so powerful that they were already resistant against most kinds of poisons.

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In fact, the assassin Recifer even dipped his roasted snake meat in poison before eating it.

Ramel grimaced and asked, “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“Not at all. I’ve built up a resistance against poison from being poisoned so many times in my life. That’s why I purposely take other poisons, to build my resistance against them,” Recifer replied.

“Does it taste good if you eat it like that…?” Ramel asked.

“It’s not bad at all. Although, you might experience some numbing on your tongue. Sometimes it goes all the way down to the elbow. Do you want a bite?” Recifer asked.

“I shall politely refuse your offer,” Ramel replied.

These men defied logic… Or, rather, logic did not apply to them at all.

As Shaneth watched the men, she tilted her head and asked, “So, you mean… These are powerful men who were locked up in the mine?”

“They look pretty messy and disheveled... and the way they act seems far from ‘powerful men’, don’t you think?” Henrick remarked while watching the men devour the roasted snake meat like a bunch of hungry dogs.

“We killed those armor-wearing ogres a while ago,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied casually while roasting snake meat on the campfire.

“Hoo… Is that so?” Henrick replied, observing the men while rubbing his chin.

“The snake meat looks really good,” Iris said with a serious expression while drooling.

Meanwhile, the men were stealing glances at Kang Yoon-Soo’s party as well, and the subject of their interest seemed quite obvious.

Swemer gulped and asked, “Can someone hold me down?”

“What is it all of a sudden?” Harpoon asked.

“I feel as if I won’t be able to suppress my instincts,” Swemer replied.

“Go do your dirty business somewhere else,” Harpoon said.

“Damn it… Am I the only one?” Swemer grumbled with a grimace.

The men let out a sigh while looking at Shaneth and Iris. Shaneth looked very beautiful to them despite the small burn mark on her cheek, and Iris charmed them with her innocent yet glamorous appearance. The sight of the two beautiful women was agony to them.

“I’m not that kind of person, but I’m having all sorts of thoughts right now…”

“Ehem! I’m sure you can’t help it, since the first women you saw after being locked up for many years were such beauties…”

It had been quite a long time since they saw such beautiful ladies, but unfortunately, these women were out of their reach. They could only smile bitterly and be content with being able to look at beautiful women after such a long time.

Harpoon rummaged through his backpack while saying, “Well, I think it’s a good thing that we had this restriction placed on us. Imagine if we didn’t. Some of us would already have tried to force themselves on those two or something.”

Danesh nodded and said, “Harpoon is right. We’ll have to work together with them from now on, and something like that would make things very awkward for all of us. Besides, you guys are already aware, right? We’ll die if we do it anyway.”

“You don’t have to remind us,” Hawk said while picking his yellow teeth.

The men let out sighs once again.

Shaneth tilted her head in confusion while looking at the men dejectedly whispering to each other. She asked, “What’s wrong with them…?”

“The Dragon of Destruction placed a restriction on them, so they’ll die the moment they have sex,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly explained.

“…”

Shaneth blushed, while Iris seemed to be so absorbed in the snake meat she was eating that she did not hear him.

Henrick clicked his tongue and said, “I can already roughly tell this Dragon of Destruction’s personality.”

“We’ll kill the Dragon of Destruction alongside them, and they’ll be freed from their restriction then,” Kang Yoon-Soo said in a low voice.

Henrick picked up a stone on the ground and carved it with his sculpting knife while saying, “That’s one motive that will keep them going.”

***

Everyone got up after they finished eating.

Danesh stepped forward as the representative of the men and shook hands with Henrick.

“We will have to work together from now on. We both have the same objective so I hope we will get along from now on,” Danesh said.

“I heard your circumstances. Let’s kill that dragon and make sure that you guys will be able to have sexual intercourse again,” Henrick said.

“…”

Danesh grimaced, while Henrick shrugged brazenly.

“Don’t you think you were being too blunt from the start…?” Shaneth whispered.

“The stronger the opponent is, the more important it is to take the initiative,” Henrick replied.

“So, where are we going now?” Danesh asked with a forced, bitter smile.

“The Dragon of Destruction’s lair,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Where would that be…?” Danesh asked.

“We have to go deeper,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

They continued making their way deeper through the mine. It was not difficult for them to breathe, as they burned the air-producing trees whenever one appeared. A few wild monsters appeared, but they posed no threat to the party with the powerful men accompanying them.

Kalriven sheathed its sword and said, “Your fighting styles are quite sharp and aggressive. It is truly surprising that you men can exert such destructiveness with such a small group.”

The men were perplexed by the Death General’s praise; it was the first time they had heard of an undead being praising the living.

Swemer laughed and nudged Kalriven with his elbow, replying, “You’re pretty strong yourself. It’s my first time seeing such amazing swordsmanship from an undead being.”

“My swordsmanship is good enough that I would not lose even if you all ganged up on me,” Kalriven said confidently.

The Death General’s boast set fire to the men’s competitiveness.

“Hoo… Is that so?”

“Such an arrogant undead.”

“Then, shall we have a go at it?!”

However, Kang Yoon-Soo doused their competitive spirit, saying, “Don’t waste your strength.”

When they reached the hundredth floor, Kang Yoon-Soo approached Hawk.

“What is it?” Hawk asked.

“Lend me your Golden Compass,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“My Golden Compass? It’s certainly a rare tool, but it’s not going to be of much help down here,” Hawk replied.

“We’ll need that to find our way from now on,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Hawk took out his Golden Compass without asking any further questions and handed it over to Kang Yoon-Soo. The compass was made out of pure gold, and its needle was studded with jewels. It was an item Kang Yoon-Soo needed to find the secret jewel mines mentioned in the legendary quest.

“It’s a tool that shows the way when you’re in a sticky situation. I usually used it when out on the ocean, but now it only keeps pointing downward when I use it. Perhaps it’s because the Dragon of Destruction is deeper underground?” Hawk said.

The needle on the compass started to spin uncontrollably the moment Kang Yoon-Soo grabbed it, without showing any signs of stopping.

Hawk was taken aback upon seeing the Golden Compass’ sudden reaction. He exclaimed, “Huh? This is the first time the needle’s ever gone haywire like that… What’s wrong with it?”

Kang Yoon-Soo did not reply, and just continued walking while holding the compass.

The mineshaft eventually came to an end, and the party arrived at a cave.

Iris’ ears perked up and she said, “I can hear water.”

“Water?” Shaneth asked, tilting her head in confusion.

When they went deeper into the cave, a crystal-clear lake appeared before them. The lake was fed by the water from an underground spring.

Henrick dipped his hand into the lake and tasted the water, then said, “It’s really clean water. We won’t have any issues drinking and bathing with it.”

The men rejoiced. They were extremely dirty, as they had not had the chance to wash ever since they were abducted.

Right as they replenished their water canteens and were about to wash up, however, Iris suddenly smiled brightly and said, “It is a relief that we found water to wash with.”

Then, she took her top off.

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