NOVEL NEXT Chapter 163
Chapter 163: The Cave of Madness
Inside the cave, a chaotic storm of madness raged among the male creatures, all entangled in a sticky mess not by gender but by species.
And for that very reason, the air was thick with the scent of those bedbugs, yet all I could smell was a sweet fragrance wafting into my nostrils.
Unlike the others, here I was with a pair—a male and a female.
That was because I had Hua Eun tightly in my embrace.
Or should I say, it felt more like she was clinging to me for dear life?
As the screams from those creatures and the movements of the bedbugs echoed, Hua Eun, who had been latched onto me, held on even tighter.
‘So this is why they say to go watch horror films with your significant other.’
I felt like I was beginning to understand why the wise from my past life advised taking a romantic partner to a horror movie.
I wished this moment could last forever, but alas, that wish was not to be fulfilled.
The unpleasant sounds that had been emanating from where the Five Poisons Sect resided had suddenly ceased.
‘Why are they so fast?’
I needed to light a torch quickly.
Right now, those creatures were in a state where their sexual desires outweighed their hunger, driven by the pheromones scattered from the females around.
But once those pheromones dispersed completely into the air, they would no doubt switch their focus back to hunger.
“Hua Eun, we need to reignite the torch now. If we delay, they’ll come charging at us.”
“Yes… I understand. So-ryong.”
Struggling to lift my head in dismay at having to tell Hua Eun to let go, she finally loosened her grip.
Typically, she would have jumped back in shock at my suggestion, but instead, she gently released me, still clutching my sleeve tightly with her honey-dripping voice.
Though the embrace had started due to the bedbugs, my declaration of not tolerating those who insult and crave my woman seemed to have had a significant impact.
‘Like a butterfly flying, stinging like a bee! Ha… So-ryong, well done.’
-Swish.
-Whoosh.
Praising myself, I broke free from Hua Eun’s hold and quickly relit the torch at my feet.
As the revived torchlight illuminated the surroundings, I could see the bedbugs that had crept close scattering away in haste.
Had I delayed just a moment longer, it would have been quite a predicament.
After a quick shiver at their retreating figures, I stated, “First, let’s take care of that.”
“Yes. Understood.”
What I pointed out was the two female bedbugs I had thrown into gloves made from Yo-hwa’s thread earlier.
Chasing away the throng of male bedbugs with the torch, I headed towards the place where the Five Poisons Sect members lay defeated.
-Crush. Crush.
Approaching them gradually, I arrived at the scene, which was scratched and, no, gouged by madness, where three of the Five Poisons members lay dead, resembling a fruit salad doused in mayonnaise.
Their faces and bodies were mangled beyond recognition.
‘Seeing that makes me feel like I can never eat again; thank goodness there isn’t any fruit salad here…’
While I shuddered at the sight, I heard Hua Eun’s horrified voice beside me.
“What, what is this!?”
I hadn’t given Hua Eun a detailed explanation about “punishing them with what they liked,” so she was understandably shocked by their bizarre appearance.
As I pondered whether to reveal that the mayonnaise was, in fact, the bedbugs’ sperm, Hua Eun collected herself, grabbing a Flying Needle and squatting down before the corpses of the Five Poisons Sect.
“Is this another type of poison from the bedbugs? But how did it only target them? It seems related to the bedbugs I tossed earlier… So-ryong, you’re truly fascinating.”
Being from the Tang Clan, she mistakenly thought it was another type of poison and seemed eager to collect a sample.
I hastily grabbed her arm, startled. “N-no, that’s not poison.”
“It’s not poison? Then what is it?”
“Well, it’s… um, it’s the essence of the Insect Type.”
“Essence!?”
Upon revealing that the white substance was the bedbugs’ sperm, Hua Eun jumped back, gasping and then clutching my arm before quickly retreating again.
With a look of disbelief, she asked, “W-what on earth! Why is it like this… What’s this strange… why? What in the world?!”
Hua Eun bombarded me with a barrage of questions as though her brain had short-circuited.
It felt like I had to explain the meaning behind “punishing them with what they liked” in more detail.
I felt an urgency to explain, or I might leave her with permanent brain damage.
I cautiously began to elaborate on the reproduction habits of bedbugs, how they breed, and how I had punished them.
I even threw in a hint about how terrifying I could be when I got angry.
“Cough… So that’s how it is…”
As my brief explanation concluded, Hua Eun’s face had turned bright red.
It was evident that it wasn’t merely because of the flickering torchlight.
“Is that what that meant?”
Unable to meet my gaze, she only showed half her face as she spoke with a shy voice to express her gratitude.
“T-thank you, So-ryong.”
Hua Eun’s bashful expression while thanking me hit all the right points.
I decided to capitalize on that moment.
Given the good vibes we had, I thought tonight might just be the night to press forward.
After all, we were in a dark, dingy place that reminded me of a movie theater.
Isn’t the first kiss supposed to happen at the movies?
Sure, there were some weird things scattered around, but if I just closed my eyes, I wouldn’t see them.
“Thank you? It’s only natural; I was just doing what I should. After all, you’re mine.”
“Ugh…”
-Boom!
Just then, as I replied, Hua Eun wore that adorably flustered expression, a loud explosion echoed from the entrance of the cave.
‘Timing, really…’
I thought I might get the chance to share a kiss with the Golden Hair Bee King, but my hopes came crashing down with that thunderous noise.
As our eyes locked, the sound reminded Hua Eun of a previously forgotten memory.
“It seems Chao has arrived!”
“Oh! Older Sister Seol!”
Recalling Hua Eun’s image, it dawned on me that Chao was indeed due to arrive.
Together with Hua Eun, I dashed towards the entrance using my Lightness Skill.
Clearly, a fight had broken out between the remaining members of the Centipede Division, Older Sister Seol, and Chao, as mentioned by the Deputy Commander.
Of course, I quickly tossed the Yo-hwa thread gloves I had been holding into an open cage as we sprinted toward the entrance.
With the two female bedbugs still in the gloves, if I stored the remaining two females in the cage, the males would gradually come flocking to it.
Once they all gathered, I planned to either poison them or set fire to the remaining ones left behind.
Since I already had the paralysis poison from Yo-hwa and Yeon-du, I wasn’t too bummed about that, but carrying the mutated bedbugs from the Five Poisons Sect as biological weapons felt a bit risky.
Moreover, seeing those creatures eyeing Hua Eun made me consider leaving a few behind to teach them a lesson if a similar incident occurred again.
-Zip!
As I contemplated their treatment, upon reaching the entrance of the cave, we heard Chao’s screams from outside.
Then, Older Sister Seol’s voice followed.
“Chao! Hit them!”
-Crunch! Smash!
“Geh…”
“Be careful! Keep your distance!”
As Older Sister Seol shouted, we leapt into the light at the cave’s entrance.
Having just emerged from the dark cave, my eyes squinted at the sudden brightness.
Once my eyes adjusted, I finally spotted Chao dashing about like a tiger among a pack of wolves, and Older Sister Seol standing in battle.
Surrounded by about twenty warriors from the Five Poisons Sect, Older Sister Seol and Chao were engaged in a fierce struggle.
Several of the Sect’s warriors were already down and out, and Chao had ropes tangled around her, hanging loosely.
“Chao! Older Sister Seol!”
As Hua Eun threw her Flying Needle at the back of the Five Poisons Sect warriors without mercy, I joined her with my Flying Dagger and moved straight toward Older Sister Seol.
“Are you alright, Older Sister Seol?”
“So-ryong! Hua Eun! Are you okay!?”
“We’re fine! What about you?”
“We’re good. We were just about to wrap this up. Chao! Jump over there and bite that one!”
While speaking with us, Older Sister Seol continued to issue commands to Chao.
Upon receiving the order, Chao dashed toward the marked direction and pounced, tackling one of the enemies to the ground.
-Zip!
-Bang!
Chao’s momentum completely disrupted the formation of the enemies.
With one guy isolated due to the overwhelming presence of Chao, Older Sister Seol lunged at him, grabbing his neck and ripping it apart.
“Argh!”
“Tell the King of Hell you were sent by the Snow Leopard from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace!”
I had heard of that Snow Leopard from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace from before, hadn’t I?
The Deputy Commander from the Centipede Division had boasted about being confident against Chao, as if he had some secret weapon.
Looking at it now, it was clear that was just empty talk, especially as we witnessed Older Sister Seol and Chao dominating the fight.
Just then, as one of the members attempted to cast a spell at Older Sister Seol, a frantic shout erupted.
“It’s a spell! Chao, block it!”
True to the order, Chao swiftly positioned herself in front of Older Sister Seol.
Their teamwork was so extraordinary that I felt a twinge of disappointment.
‘Why does my daughter match so well with Older Sister Seol? And why do I feel left out? And what about that Deputy Commander from the Centipede Division? Seems like he was just bluffing.’
Thinking about how that Deputy Commander of the Centipede Division was clearly bluffing, I quickly came to understand why Older Sister Seol and Chao were overwhelming this situation with her precise commands.
Older Sister Seol had been cultivating martial arts alongside beasts from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace since her childhood.
If you liken her to a versatile operator in a mecha anime, Older Sister Seol was the technician operating a multi-purpose machine, and now she’d been paired with Chao, a top-tier SSS-class unit. How could the game possibly turn out in any other way?
This was practically a game that was already over in my eyes.
The pressure and strength radiating from Chao’s towering six-meter form were immense.
On top of that, with the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace’s ferocious beast training technique, Older Sister Seol executed a level of synergy with Chao that I never even imagined.
From grabbing a warrior and flying into the air to dropping them, or throwing them at others, the high-level partnerships they displayed were beyond my wildest thoughts.
With the detailed directions from Older Sister Seol guiding Chao’s moves, she wasn’t just rampaging blindly; instead, they were tactically overpowering the opponents one by one.
As the Five Poisons Sect’s defeat became inevitable, Hua Eun suddenly threw out a cold ultimatum toward the remaining opponents.
“With the Deputy Commander of the Centipede Division dead, it would be wise to give up on any hope of surviving here!”
“T-the Deputy Commander!?”
-Bang!
“Geh…”
Even without seeing, once the cave from which the Deputy Commander came collapsed, they should’ve realized something.
Upon hearing the Deputy Commander of the Centipede Division was dead, the remaining warriors finally began to panic.
As a few of them fell in an instant, the remaining ones exchanged looks before they hastily took off in all directions.
“Everyone scatter and notify the others!”
And that’s how the battle in the cave came to an end.
*
Chao and Older Sister Seol managed to take out a few stragglers, but they couldn’t eliminate every last member of the Five Poisons Sect.
A few ultimately managed to escape, and upon my return to the base, I sent a letter through Lee Tae to quickly inform the Martial Forest Alliance of the situation.
Though the Five Poisons Sect wouldn’t return since their main base was in another country, it was essential to clean up the surrounding threats with the alliance’s help.
While the remaining bedbugs would die off in time, I needed to raise awareness with the Martial Forest Alliance about what the Five Poisons Sect had done and who they truly were.
It was evident that whatever the Five Poisons Sect was up to was quite severe.
As the ship repairs concluded, we waited for about two weeks when the Martial Forest Alliance’s investigative team finally arrived.
Among them were familiar faces.
“So-ryong!”
“Little brother! How have you been?”
“No way, Earth Dragon? Big brothers?”
The familiar figures included Earth Dragon Jeong Yeong-cheon and the trio of the Sword Dragon, Music Phoenix, and Bow Phoenix.
Once we exchanged warm greetings, Earth Dragon approached me discreetly.
“So-ryong the Junior Hero, is there any chance you have some Kiss Balm to spare?”
‘Kiss Balm? What a ridiculous name… Wait, has he used all of them already?’
Even with a name like Lipstick, the ridiculous title seemed to fit, so it seemed I might have to instruct Earth Dragon and Music Phoenix on the proper way to use it without eating it.