You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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17

 

 

Wastewater Treatment Zone G-17.

 

The location on the map overlapped with old sewers on the city outskirts.

 

When I arrived at the marked location, there was just a single manhole sitting there.

 

If it weren’t for the police line and no entry signs, I would have passed by without knowing that place was a dungeon.

 

That didn’t mean management was neglectful though.

 

They just made it look that way.

 

The police line hanging loosely around the manhole was some kind of mana barrier used by the Association, though I don’t know who developed it.

 

Of course, it didn’t look like this from the beginning.

 

Initially, they completely sealed off the entrance itself with steel doors.

 

Back then, there was some awareness about the dangers of dungeons.

 

But after the Association was established and manuals for things like dungeon breaks were created, awareness of the dangers gradually declined.

 

Then, with complaints pouring in asking why they needed to advertise that a dungeon had appeared, the barrier was eventually changed to its current form.

 

“Safety insensitivity…”

 

After scanning the issued hunter license, I slipped my body inside the police line.

 

When I opened the manhole cover, the appearance of an ordinary sewer was revealed.

 

While climbing down the steel ladder, the stuffy smell characteristic of air trapped underground wafted up.

 

When I reached the floor, a massive circular hatch door that was hard to believe belonged in a sewer appeared.

 

Opening the hatch door and entering inside, a massive underground waterway completely different from the surface revealed itself before me.

 

At the same time, the humid and warm stench characteristic of sewers came crashing over me.

 

“Ugh!”

 

I frowned and reflexively covered my nose.

 

The slime abandoned factory had been a gentleman’s game.

 

The peculiar green-tinted wastewater flowing in the center was the source of this waterway’s stench and humidity.

 

‘Now I understand why everyone avoids this place.’

 

The dirty and humid underground dungeon was exhausting in itself.

 

It wasn’t simply because of the smell.

 

The wastewater flowing so violently it made your ears feel stuffy,

The sticky humidity that clung to your skin despite it not being hot.

 

All of these things combined to create discomfort.

 

I drew Galmu and gripped it in my hand.

 

All I wanted was to deal with this as quickly as possible and escape this place.

 

I wrapped myself in karmic fire more weakly than usual.

 

In closed-type dungeons, fire could be both a weapon and a cause of accidents.

 

While carefully moving forward,

I heard the sound of water splitting with a splash.

 

My sixth sense reacted quickly to match the crisis situation.

 

Straight ahead, a large fish-type monster burst up from the contaminated green water surface.

 

It was a Gruger.

 

A monster that was ambiguous to call a fishman, being a giant fish with human legs attached.

 

Befitting the monster species, its characteristic feature was long, sharply grown teeth.

 

As if it had gained momentum from underwater, it flew toward me at high speed, thrusting its sharp teeth forward.

 

There was plenty of time to react.

 

I swung Galmu as it was.

 

Flames flowed briefly,

And the blade passed through the Gruger’s snout and split it clean in half in midair.

 

Then the entrails and filth from the split Gruger’s body came crashing over me.

 

The split corpse pieces fell limply to the floor.

At the same time, a rotten fishy smell exploded upward.

 

“…”

 

I wiped my eyes with my hand and shook off the filth.

 

“…I’ll have to burn it all.”

 

At that thought, I ignited Karmic Fire throughout my entire body.

 

For the first time, I was grateful that my unique ability was fire.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

Splash! Splash! Splash!

 

The water surface erupted.

 

Five, no, six.

 

Gruggers leaped up simultaneously.

 

“Tsk…”

 

After clicking my tongue to shake off my irritation, I gripped Galmu tighter.

 

Like a wildfire spreading, Karmic Fire wrapped around my entire body at incredible speed.

 

The filth on my clothes burned away in an instant.

 

I brought Galmu down toward the Grugger charging at me from the front.

 

From snout to tail, it split apart in an instant.

 

The Grugger’s blood and filth evaporated from the Karmic Fire before they could touch my body.

 

The one that leaped up behind it let out a short roar.

 

“Kieeeeek!”

 

I wondered how something without vocal cords could make sound, but then again, it was already strange that a fish had human arms and legs yet couldn’t make noise.

 

I twisted my waist and swept my sword horizontally.

 

Flames followed the sword’s trajectory as Galmu drew a semicircle.

 

Three were cut down simultaneously.

 

It felt like cutting through chunks of fat rather than flesh.

 

I unleashed even more Karmic Fire.

 

The Gruggers flew toward me at high speed, but before they could even touch my body, half of them had already turned to ash and disappeared.

 

Breathing sounds, roaring sounds, splashing sounds.

When all sounds quieted down and only the sound of burning remained, I lowered Galmu.

 

The Gruggers that had charged so boldly had turned to ash without leaving a single trace, becoming part of the sewage flowing away.

 

I should have just burned them from the start…

 

It was clean.

 

No dirty blood or flesh splattered on me, and no rotting Grugger corpses remained.

 

Plus, my vision had improved.

 

The light emanating from the Karmic Fire was illuminating the dim underground waterway.

 

I was about to take another step after quickly scanning the surroundings.

 

Rumble rumble rumble.

 

The ground began to vibrate, and a massive wave started rolling in from the distance.

No, looking closer, it was a swarm of Gruggers forming that massive wave.

 

“Did I become a squid boat’s lighting or something?”

 

Like an Anglerfish’s lure in the middle of the deep sea, the light from my Karmic Fire seemed to have attracted the Gruggers.

 

I exhaled lightly and gripped Galmu with both hands.

 

The same stance as back then.

The day I awakened Karmic Fire in the training manual, that Slashing Strike that blew away the mountain.

 

Of course, I held back more power than that time.

 

If I messed up, I might end up buried along with this waterway.

 

I didn’t want this filth reeking of Grugger stench to become my grave.

 

‘Let me gather just enough so it won’t collapse.’

 

Karmic Fire gathered in Galmu as the sword’s form took shape.

 

When the Gruggers forming the wave of filth came close enough for me to see them,

 

I brought Galmu straight down.

 

With a brief ‘crack’ sound, the entire underground waterway was bathed in pure white light.

 

In that moment.

Sound disappeared.

 

The Gruggers’ cries, the sound of flowing water, even my own breathing.

 

In the middle of that silence

 

Crack— A small sound of something splitting echoed softly.

 

One beat after the light passed,

 

Kuguuuuuung!

 

The delayed sound swept over the entire underground waterway.

 

The Grugger was swept away by the Karmic Fire and evaporated.

 

Water, mud, moss, stone—everything that comprised the underground waterway lost its weight in a short time, absorbed the light, and—

 

Was erased.

 

“Hah, really…”

 

I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

 

I had definitely tried to control my strength, but the entire section where I swung Galmu was pierced straight through in a line.

 

If I had put in just a little more force, the waterway would have collapsed.

 

‘I’ll need to enter the training manual once more when I get back.’

 

It seemed like the underground waterway was completely cleared now, but…

I couldn’t be certain.

 

I couldn’t let my first regular raid request fail because of one or two lucky Gruggers.

 

‘I can’t struggle this much only to get cursed at.’

 

I looked around, planning to just scout to the end of the waterway and return.

 

‘The existing path is unusable for now.’

 

The path that ran alongside the waterway had collapsed long ago.

 

The only thing that hadn’t collapsed and could be used as a passage was the waterway where water used to flow.

 

I wrapped Galmu in Karmic Fire like a torch and jumped into the waterway.

 

It was quiet.

No debris, no fishy smell, no traces remained.

 

I quietly moved forward.

The tip of Galmu, brightened like a torch with Karmic Fire, was grazing the walls.

 

I avoided the broken path and went deeper following the waterway.

 

The floor where water used to flow had completely evaporated due to the Karmic Fire.

Thanks to that, the moss, filth, and mud that had been stuck to the walls were all stripped away.

 

Until I reached the end of the waterway, there were no surviving Gruggers.

 

It seemed the boss-level monster had also been caught up in that earlier strike.

 

This could be considered a clean clear.

 

“Shall I head back now?”

 

Just as I was about to return, something unfamiliar caught my eye.

 

One side of the waterway wall.

Between the burn marks, I could see something like a pattern.

 

Collapsed debris was clumsily covering it, but it was clearly a trace carved by someone.

 

When I swung Galmu to clear away the pile of stones, it became even more apparent.

 

Repeated curves and straight lines that seemed carved by human hands.

Moreover, mana was flowing over those lines.

 

A unique door carved with strange patterns.

 

I tapped that door with the tip of my sword.

 

A hollow sound echoed through the underground waterway.

 

“…It’s empty inside.”

 

That meant it was connected to somewhere.

 

There might be new rewards beyond that door, but I couldn’t be purely happy about it.

 

There could be dangerous things instead of rewards.

 

But returning was also difficult.

 

Once an anomaly was discovered, it was Association protocol for at least one of the discoverers to guard it.

 

‘If Jin-woo were here, I could have him report to the Association while I stand guard…’

 

If I hadn’t noticed it, I would have just passed by, but having discovered it, I had no choice but to go in and investigate.

 

“Tsk…”

 

I clicked my tongue briefly and concentrated Karmic Fire at the tip of Galmu.

 

I pressed with force aimed precisely at the center of the pattern.

 

Crack.

 

The floor shook.

 

Soon it began to crack as if something was breaking—

The area below the pattern crumbled down.

 

Dust rose up, and debris from the floor poured inward.

 

A staircase that had been carved at an angle revealed itself.

 

Just then,

 

Gulp.

 

The sound of someone swallowing came through.

 

I looked at Galmu with an incredulous expression.

 

Galmu seemed to sense my gaze and showed an earnest expression.

 

Well, a dagger couldn’t actually make expressions, but it gave off that kind of aura.

 

I pondered for a moment, then said,

 

“I guess we have no choice but to go in.”

 

I stepped into the staircase.

 

***

 

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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