After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 101 - One Day (3)

"Shit!"

Sabnak quickly swung the black blade he made with the Authority of Blades. He needed to silence the screeching baby Hellhound as soon as possible.

Slash!!!

The black blade cut the baby Hellhound from head to chest.

"Krrrk! Whine..."

The baby Hellhound died in one blow, unbecoming of its reputation as the strongest predator in the First Hell. Sabnak glared at Oh Kang-Woo after killing the baby.

"You crazy son of a bitch!! Do you want to be devoured by a Hellhound who lost its baby?!"

"H-Hehe," Kang-Woo snickered. "Whether the Hellhound kills me or you, it\'s all the same, dammit."

"..."

Sabnak couldn\'t refute Kang-Woo\'s logic. He remained silent because he was planning on killing the human and eating his heart

Sabnak narrowed his eyes. Although the Hellhound was one of the most powerful demonic beasts in the First Hell, he was a demon with an Authority; it was not like he didn\'t stand a chance. No, he had a higher chance of victory.

\'But it\'s too dangerous.\'

Sabnak could win if the Hellhound were in a normal state but not even he could handle a Hellhound blind with rage because it would charge at him with the intent to kill without a care for its life. Sabnak may win if he were lucky but would likely die from the injuries he suffered in the battle.

"Dammit," Sabnak cursed and frowned.

The baby Hellhound was dead, making the battle impossible to avoid. The Hellhound, blinded by rage, would continue to chase his scent until it killed him.

\'Then before that...\'

He would kill the human and devour his heart. No one had any idea why but the humans who had been appearing throughout the First Hell lately drastically boosted the demonic energy of those who ate their hearts.

"I can\'t believe I\'m being forced to deal with this shit just because of a mere human insect." Sabnak glared at Kang-Woo with a frown. "I\'ll have you pay for this with your life, human."

"What a load of shit."

Kang-Woo smiled as he panted heavily. Such lines weren\'t even used in mediocre martial arts novels these days.

"And I told you, didn\'t I?" Kang-Woo smirked as he slowly crouched. "If I die, I\'m taking you with me. No, you\'re the only one who\'s gonna die."

"What?" Sabnak\'s eyebrows crumpled.

Kang-Woo stuffed his left hand into the baby Hellhound\'s split chest.

\'Here it is.\'

He felt something squishy in his hand. He grabbed it and pulled out the baby Hellhound\'s stopped heart.

"..."

Kang-Woo gulped as he stared at the black blood trickling down his left arm. He wanted to quench his thirst with the black blood more than anything.

\'Endure it.\'

It would be over for him the moment he drank the blood. To be more specific, he would become the target of the mother Hellhound the moment the blood got on his body.

\'Their sense of smell is highly developed.\'

Kang-Woo recalled how he wasn\'t detected by the Hellhound when he was covered in poop. Just like dogs, they relied on their sense of smell to distinguish friend and foe.

\'In that case.\'

The mother Hellhound would naturally attack the one whom she could smell her baby\'s blood from.

"..."

Kang-Woo looked down at himself. His left arm was soaked in the black blood from shoving his arm into the baby Hellhound\'s eye and pulling out its heart from its chest.

\'But nowhere else.\'

The blood did not splatter anywhere else thanks to him being on the baby Hellhound\'s back when Sabnak killed the baby. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and looked down at the baby Hellhound\'s heart in his left hand. He chuckled at the idea he had just thought of.

\'It\'s insane.\'

However, he wouldn\'t survive in this place unless he was insane.

"Huuu, huuu, huuu!"

Kang-Woo\'s heart beat rapidly due to the massive anxiety crushing him. He panted heavily and lowered his stance.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

He squeezed out what remained of his strength to charge at Sabnak.

"What the...?"

Sabnak stepped back in confusion, not expecting the human to charge at him first, and reflexively raised his arm. The black blade gleamed as it swung toward the human.

"NOW!!!"

Kang-Woo smiled as he stared at the black blade.

\'If only my left arm is covered in the baby Hellhound\'s blood, I just have to cut it off!!!\'

Kang-Woo swung his left arm holding the baby Hellhound\'s heart with all his might at the black blade, so sharp that it could likely slice rocks like tofu.

Slash—!!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Kang-Woo screamed. The gut-wrenching pain traveling up his left arm drove him crazy. "IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!!!"

His cheeks were doused with tears. He wondered if this was how it felt to be scalded with a hot iron. Overwhelming pain he had never experienced before turned his mind blank.

"A-Arghhh."

Kang-Woo suppressed his screams with all his might and stared at his left arm. It was spewing so much red blood that it was hard to believe he had been suffering from severe dehydration. At this rate, he would die from blood loss instead of by the Hellhound.

"Huff, huff, huff!"

Kang-Woo tied the T-shirt he had used to collect the Hellhound poop to stop the bleeding, albeit poorly. He then turned around to look at Sabnak. The plan he had in mind had succeeded.

"Wh-What in the...?"

The left arm Kang-Woo had swung as if throwing it had flown toward Sabnak after being sliced off. It collided with Sabnak\'s chest and the baby Hellhound\'s heart burst with blood from the impact.

"I-It can\'t be." Sabnak stared at Kang-Woo in disbelief. "You..."

Sabnak knew how sensitive a Hellhound\'s sense of smell was, and he was covered in the baby Hellhound\'s blood.

"Son of a..."

Sabnak stared at Kang-Woo with trembling eyes. The human had swung his arm toward Sabnak\'s blade to throw the baby Hellhound\'s heart at Sabnak. It wasn\'t something anyone sane could do.

"Kuh!!"

Sabnak bit his lip and charged at the human. Now that it had come to this, he needed to kill the human as quickly as possible.

BOOM—!!!

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

However, before Sabnak could swing his blade, the mother Hellhound battling the horned wolves returned to her nest with a thunderous roar. She was covered in wounds likely made from the battle against the wolves.

"D-Dammit!"

Sabnak quickly turned to the Hellhound. Nothing was more terrifying in the First Hell than a Hellhound blinded by rage.

Split!

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Sabnak did not have time to bother with the human. Another black blade sprouted from his other hand as he prepared to face the Hellhound charging at him.

"GRRR! WOOF!!"

"Kurgh!!!"

Befitting of its title as the most powerful predator in the First Hell, the Hellhound\'s physical strength was extraordinary. The earth shook with each step the Hellhound took and she bared her sharp fangs at Sabnak.

"ARGHHHHH!!! MOTHERFUCKING HUMAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!" Sabnak screamed in fury as he faced the Hellhound.

The Hellhound was focused only on Sabnak as if she couldn\'t even see Kang-Woo. It was only natural; not only was Kang-Woo not covered in her baby\'s blood, he was also covered in Hellhound poop. Although Kang-Woo\'s blood was dripping from his severed left arm, that was not important to the Hellhound who just lost her baby.

"Haaa, haaa," Kang-Woo panted heavily and crouched as he watched the battle between two monsters.

\'If I chose to fight those monsters...\'

Chills ran down his spine.

\'First, I should...\'

Kang-Woo crawled to escape from where Sabnak and the Hellhound were fighting, making as little sound as possible.

"A-Arghh."

Tears flowed down his cheeks. Sharp pain radiated from the stump of his left arm. His vision blurred with even the slightest movement.

"Huff, huff, huff."

Kang-Woo bit his lip and held on to the string connected to his consciousness with all his might.

"Kurgh."

He could just crawl away but instead crawled up a rock about three meters tall. Despite being this high, the Hellhound was so large that he still needed to look up.

\'He\'s fighting a lot better than the wolves.\'

Sabnak was only a little taller than Kang-Woo but thankfully he, with his sharp black blades, was fighting on par with the Hellhound despite the massive size difference.

"Kurgh."

Kang-Woo endured the pain shooting from his left arm and grabbed one of the small rocks around the area. He had not crawled up this rock to observe the battle from above.

\'Even if I run away, I\'ll die soon enough.\'

Running away in starvation and exhaustion would not last him long.

\'In that case.\'

Kang-Woo couldn\'t do anything about his severed arm but he at least needed to find something to eat and drink here.

"I\'ll... kill both of them here."

He, of course, was nowhere near strong enough to kill either of the monsters.

\'But I can at least keep the battle neck and neck.\'

Kang-Woo gripped the rock and raised his arm high.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" Sabnak roared as he ferociously swung his black blades against the Hellhound.

The Hellhound was already tired as if she had been in a battle before this. If that was the case, Sabnak had a chance to win.

"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Bash!

Just then, a rock flew out of nowhere and hit his head.

"Gah! Wh-What the—?!"

Sabnak swayed and momentarily stopped.

"ROOOOOOOOAR!!"

The Hellhound did not miss that chance and smashed Sabnak with her front foot.

"Kurgh! Urgh!"

Sabnak looked up even while being blown backward. On one of the rocks was the human who covered him with the baby Hellhound\'s blood, with a rock in his hand.

"YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!!"

Sabnak gave the human a death glare.

"Pfft! Hahahahaha!!" Kang-Woo burst into laughter despite being in immense pain.

\'Ahh, yeah.\'

Even as the pain was turning his mind blank, he couldn\'t stop laughing as he stared at the demon glaring at him.

\'I\'m gonna survive.\'

No matter how pathetic, desperate, cowardly, unsightly, and low he needed to act...

\'I...\' Kang-Woo gritted his teeth. \'Will survive this goddamn Hell.\'