Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 106: Star, The Winter Palace (6)

‘It’s him. It’s definitely him!’ The Phantom Demon Jeong Yoo-Jin’s eyes shone coldly as she looked at the collapsing driftways.

Yoo-Jin believed Gwak Do-Woon’s killer was beyond those driftways—in the [Everlasting Ice Crystal] quarry—and that the killer was also the ‘Hahoe Mask,’ who had caused the Highoff Clan’s downfall. She hadn’t actually seen the man, but no one else from the punitive force was capable enough to accomplish such a feat, considering it was made up of idiots.

The Iron Witch Cha Ye-Eun was with them, but Yoo-Jin doubted it was her since she was busy leading the force. She was already running out of patience, but the collapsed driftway proved hard to break through and made her even more frustrated over time. Noticing Yoo-Jin’s state, the Highoff demonic beings continued to grill the Yetis.

“Move quickly, you slugs!”

“Worthless monsters! You’re all a bunch of lazy asses!”

The demonic beings couldn’t let someone else take away the [Everlasting Ice Crystal] either, which they had gone through so much trouble to find. Moreover, they wanted to take revenge on Chang-Sun for Do-Woon.

Ding!

Ding!

Meanwhile, two Dungeon Messages had been abruptly delivered to every Player who was in ‘Yeti Hill’ at that time.

“Wh-what…?”

“What do these mean?!”

Not even the Highoff remnants expected the Winter King to die.

“His Highness…?”

“... Has died…?”

The Yetis were the same. They had been concentrating on the collapsed driftway just as the Highoff remnants had ordered, but their eyes widened when they saw the messages. Even though they lived in such a cold and barren world, the Winter King gave them hope and encouraged them to lead happy lives. Hence, although the messages were telling the Yetis that their king—their beloved father—had died, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe it.

However, they knew the Dungeon Messages weren’t lying to them. The Yetis had been receiving a blessing called the [King’s Lead] for generations ever since the Frost Monarch’s rule. That blessing allowed them to overcome their instincts as monsters and gain a high level of intelligence and self-control.

The blessing also forced them to be absolutely loyal to their ruler, which could be seen as a disadvantage. The Yetis didn’t have a problem with it since their ruler was the gentle Winter King. However, his blessing had now faded away.

“W-what’s up with them?”

The Highoff demonic beings nervously whispered among themselves when the Yetis suddenly looked at the air with vacant eyes. They were about to crack their whips to make the Yetis resume working.

“… You said…” one of the Yetis mumbled just as the demonic beings were about to crack their whips to make them return to work. Due to deep fatigue, his voice croaked, making his voice inaudible.

“What? What are you saying?” one of the demonic beings belligerently asked.

“You people said… the king—our king could live if we listened to you…!” The Yeti suddenly stood up.

The demonic being was about to instinctively whip the Yeti but unwittingly flinched upon seeing how mad the Yeti looked. The Yeti was full of pent-up fury and emitted cold air.

The demonic being soon felt embarrassed for having been frightened by the Yeti, whom the demonic beings had enslaved. Hence, he swung his whip harder. “What the hell are you talking about, you monster!”

Swish!

However, before he could, the Yeti grabbed the whip and stopped him. Blood oozed out of the Yeti’s torn hand.

“Huh? Huhhh? Let go of it! Do you want to die?” The demonic being pulled the whip in an attempt to retrieve it from the Yeti.

“Sure, I’ll give it to you if you want it.” The Yeti threw the whip back to the demonic being with blazing eyes, smacking the demonic being’s head.

Crack!

“Arggh!!” The demonic being screamed as he collapsed with half of his head smashed.

Finally realizing how serious the situation was, the other demonic beings hurriedly pulled out weapons from their inventories. They could only enslave the Yetis because they had the Winter King as a hostage. Now that he had died, they no longer had any method to control the Yetis.

The Yetis stood up one by one and threw away the boulders they were holding onto the ground. They then turned in the opposite direction, their eyes shining coldly. All of them were in bad condition, having become scrawny and covered with wounds. However, the grief of losing their king and the desire to have revenge for the humiliation they suffered until now made none of it matter.

Woosh, woosh, woosh…!

[The ‘Yeti Snowstorm’ rages!]

With the Yetis in the center, a cold snowstorm began to rise.

“Kill them.” The Yeti who had volunteered to be their leader ordered. In response, all the Yetis flew at the demonic beings.

“S-s-stop them!”

“Fuck! Kill them!”

Realizing they had no control over the Yetis anymore, the demonic beings attacked them using skills. However, having enslaved the Yetis until now, they had forgotten about one thing: Yetis were highly intelligent creatures that were incomparably stronger than monsters of the same level. Moreover, they were exceptional hunters.

Paah―!

“Wh-where did they—?”

“You crazy fuck! Behind you!”

“Wh… Arggh!”

Before any of the demonic beings could even notice the Yetis’ Skill Effects, the heads of the demonic beings standing in front had already been smashed. Not only were the Yetis extremely fast. They were also fighting in such a narrow space. Hence, the Yetis could instantly take out the demonic beings. Although some of their opponents had successfully used skills, the Yetis had already sensed when the skills would be activated, allowing them to dodge ahead of time into the enemies’ blind spots and counterattack. As they repeatedly failed to attack the Yetis, the demonic beings fell one by one.

Not only were the Yetis furious with the demonic beings, but they had also lost self-control and begun to show strange symptoms now that the [King’s Lead] had been deactivated. Some pulled out the demonic beings' heads and drank the marrows from their spines, while some dug out their hearts and ate them.

The demonic beings at the back of the fray managed to quickly take out some of the Yetis, but the problem was that there were too many of those creatures in this small place since they brought as many as possible with them to hasten the driftways’ reconstruction. Yoo-Jin was the only reason the demonic beings were still alive.

Woosh!

“Fucking monsters…!” Yoo-Jin gritted her teeth.

Yoo-Jin gained the title ‘Phantom Demon’ because she was exceptionally good at Phantom magic, but it wasn’t the only thing Yoo-Jin could do. She was born to be a wizard, and she was a demonic being who had drunk a high-ranking devil’s blood. Demonic energy was easy to use since it didn’t require calculations or incantations to cast magic.

Thud!

When Yoo-Jin slammed the end of her staff on the ground, an ominous-looking purple fire rose high and surrounded her. She was using [Hellfire Song], which summoned the flames flowing in hell. Lamashtu, Gwak Do-Woon’s Guardian, had given her the spell as a bonus reward to help Yoo-Jin, who mostly used phantom magic.

It was naturally very strong, but she couldn’t freely use the spell since it required vital force, not mana. Hence, she had only planned to use it against the Hahoe Mask, the one who ruined everything. However, having run out of options, she had to somehow get rid of these Yeti vermins even if it mean showing her cards now.

[The Celestial ‘Weeping Mōryō’ is with you!]

“Die!” Yoo-Jin shouted as a large fireball of fire appeared in the air and spread like hailstones, dropping on the Yetis’ heads.

Boom, boom, boom!

Rumble, rumble―!

Woosh, woosh, woosh…!

The flame was so strong that it created a very deep pit and instantly melted down the Yetis. They couldn’t even scream as they burned to death. The scattered embers started fires again, killing the other Yetis too. However, it also provoked the others again.

“That human.”

“Let’s kill that human first.”

“Yes, that human put our king into that state…!”

The Yetis changed targets. From concentrating their efforts on taking out the humans before them, they now focused on killing Yoo-Jin.

“We’ll make you suffer as we did!” The Yetis shouted.

The demonic beings used all means to stop the Yetis, but it was impossible to stop all of them now that their lids had been flipped. Even if they lost their limbs, they tenaciously went after Yoo-Jin. Although Yoo-Jin threw fireballs in every direction, she was greatly outnumbered.

“Clan leader! You should get out of here first!” One of the Highoff executives pulled Yoo-Jin’s sleeve when he realized they were losing.

Yoo-Jin was the center of the Highoff Clan, so he thought she should survive no matter what.

However, Yoo-Jin firmly shook off the executive’s hand. “What’re you talking about?! Da—Assistant Leader Gwak’s killer is over there somewhere, so why would I go?! I am not leaving until I get the [Everlasting Ice Crystal].”

The thought of getting revenge on Do-Woon’s behalf even if she had to kill every Yeti in this place filled her head. Her lid had also been flipped.

“Clan leader!” The executive desperately spoke.

Her reaction made the demonic beings agonize since they could see the cracks spreading on the ice wall as the fight continued. They were in the relatively stable driftway, but it could still collapse any minute. Before they worried about getting surrounded by the Yetis, they had to worry about getting buried alive first. However, Yoo-Jin was stubborn. As they considered knocking her out…

Rumble…!

The Highoff executives who were far away from the driftway could vaguely detect it, but the Yetis and demonic beings remained unaware of how the suddenly collapsed driftway began to shake. Everyone began to feel it soon, however. The earthquake was very strong, and the heat spreading through fallen rocks was too intense. It was incomparable to Yoo-Jin’s [Hellfire Song], which she had received from the deity!

Bang!

The site of the rockslide that was blocking the collapsed driftway soon exploded, causing all the rocks to burst like fireworks. It sent numerous rock fragments flying, cutting both the Yetis and the demonic beings. Simultaneously, the wind mixed in with the fire that had spread all over the place, turning the already dangerous location even more unstable.

“Arggh!”

“Urgh! It’s hot! It’s hot!”

“Save me…!”

It was pandemonium, and everyone had been thrown into chaos. However, Yoo-Jin still managed to open her eyes and raise her head. “Hahoe Mask! You’re here!”

She saw Chang-sun folding the Jigwi’s wings and plummeting. To draw her attention and make her furious, he wore the Hahoe mask.

“How dare you show up here when all my men are here? I’ll kill you!” Yoo-Jin drew up her mana, believing Chang-Sun was being arrogant.

The [Hellfire Song] became stronger and quickly spread to devour Chang-Sun. As the Jigwi’s blood-colored Eon Fire and the purple fire chaotically tangled up, Chang-Sun reached Yoo-Jin.

“I finally got you,” he said.

Clang!

With difficulty, she managed to block [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] with her staff. Looking into Chang-Sun’s eyes, which she could see through the gaps of the Hahoe Mask, she growled. “What do you mean you got me? Do you really think you’re safe here, right in the middle of all of—!”

“You’ll see.” Chang-Sun smiled behind the Hahoe mask.

“What?” Noticing his smile, Yoo-Jin thought he was scheming something. Hence, she tried to distance herself. However…

[24 hours have passed.]

[The Curse ‘Changgwi Cave’ has been activated!]

Pzzzz―!

With Chang-Sun in the center, the gloomy, gray fog rose and surrounded Chang-Sun and Yoo-Jin at the same time.

Woosh!

The world shone, and incomprehensible messages showed up before Yoo-Jin.

[You have entered the Instance Dungeon ‘Changgwi Cave.’]

[Day 7 Dungeon Quest has begun.]

[Survive for 24 hours. The timer starts now.]

[24:00:00]

[23:59:59:99]

[23:59:59:98]

……

[Current Location: The Twenty-Fourth Sector of the Second Floor.]

Swoosh―!

Yoo-Jin didn’t even have time to understand what was going on. After all, she had to face the Hongsal King, who was already coming for her neck.

Slash!

Yoo-Jin’s mutilated left arm flew in the air.