Chapter 25 Deal. (6) (1/2)

Yeon-woo’s expression sank deeply as he recalled the traces of players he had found earlier at the entrance. This was the end players must have met after being captured by the monsters. This place was used to keep humans trapped like livestock.

Although it wasn’t revealed because he was wearing a mask, he himself was also seething with anger.

The hidden piece, ‘Hargan’s Lair’ is literally the lair of the Lizard King, Hargan, and the Queen, Taragan. It’s their home. At this point in time, they are rigidly keeping watch to protect their newborn babies. Plus, in order to feed their babies, they would often hunt players and bring them over to their lair.

These scattered body parts in front of Yeon-woo were the scraps left after their predation. In other words, this place was used as storage to keep their food and have it prepared for their children.

‘Be it in Earth or here, at the end of the day it’s all the same.’

Similar scenes were often seen when he was serving in the military in the past. Scenes of the weak being kidnapped and made into slaves. Kids were brainwashed and made to shoot rifles, the elderly were forced to become suicide bombers, women were taken as sexual slaves, and many more tragic scenes could be seen during his missions.

The situation here was not much different from that. The only difference was that the victims here weren’t treated as slaves but as livestock or food, and that the perpetrators were Lizardmen, not humans. There was no difference at its core. No, maybe this wasn’t even part of the Lizardmen’s customs.

‘Between people’s treatment towards pigs and cows and their treatment towards people, was there any difference?’

The people were yelling for help, but if looked from another angle, they were just like cows tearing up before being dragged into a slaughterhouse.

Yeon-woo calmly sorted out the situation.

‘If we waste our time rescuing them, we won’t have enough time to take the crown from the female.’

Most importantly, the players here had brought this crisis to themselves.

The strong survive and the weak perish. This was common sense in The Tower. Those people had failed to realize their limits and participated in the trials in hope of becoming gods. Their actions were merely a thoughtless act of bravado.

“The queen could show up anytime soon. I’ll go find her so you should go hide yourself.”

But when Yeon-woo took a glimpse at Doyle, he noticed Doyle was standing rooted to the spot. Yeon-woo then completely turned around expecting the worst.

As far as he was concerned, Doyle had always been reasonable and he knew how to restrain himself, except for that one moment when he saw the traces of players being attacked. And sure enough, his expression was now stiff and his clenched fist was quivering with anger.

“Don’t you… get angry?”

His teary eyes looked at Yeon-woo.

“Angry?”

“Yes, angry. How can you be so calm after seeing this?”

Yeon-woo was a little disappointed. Doyle was just a kid after all.

“I am also a person. One wouldn’t be a person if they didn’t get mad at this.”

“Then why are you…!”

“But if we save them, Kahn will be in danger.”

“…!”

Doyle was left in shock.

Yeon-woo turned on his heel.

“Don’t forget. Kahn is still fighting with Hargan at this very moment. He can’t deal with Hargan alone, and the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it gets.”

“….”

“Pull yourself together and think about your priorities. But if you still want to act at your own discretion, I will be putting myself out of this business. You two can die for all I care.”

Doyle bit his lower lip. His eyes were shaking due to his continuous inner conflicts.

Yeon-woo squinted at Doyle. In his eyes, Doyle’s agonized look overlapped with the image of his comrades back in the military.

‘Does he have a trauma? It must be PTSD.’

Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD for short. It is a mental health problem that can occur after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event.

Something from his past must be triggering his emotions. But Yeon-woo didn’t know what Doyle had been through. What he could tell, was that he had experienced something similar to this in the past and that he was being hindered by that exact memory.

“….”

After a short silence.

*Slap*

Doyle slapped himself hard on the cheek with both hands, leaving a couple of red handprints on his pure white skin. His once furious looking eyes were now filled with determination, as if he had made a firm resolve in his mind.

Doyle soon looked up at Yeon-woo and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I was being thoughtless.”

Yeon-woo realized that Doyle had suppressed his trauma and managed to prioritize Kahn. Perhaps this would have a great impact on him, widening his view of the world in the future.

“Let’s get back to work. Kahn is still waiting for us outside.”

When Doyle was about to move on,

‘Wait a second.’

Yeon-woo had another great idea. The reason why Hargan made this human farm was to feed their children. Then, they could also use that to their advantage.

“Hold still.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve just come up with a good idea. Can I modify our plan a little bit? If it goes well, we can also save the people here.”

“…?”

Doyle opened his eyes wide. Even though he had chosen Kahn as his top priority, a part of him was still holding onto hope, and to his surprise, Yeon-woo was talking about a plan to save them all.

Doyle’s eyes glistened with curiosity.

“I need you to summon the flamebugs you showed me last night.”

Under the mask Yeon-woo let out a cold laugh.

* * *

Queen Taragan unleashed her boiling anger.

“Humans! How dare humans enter my lair!”

She swung her club and crushed the head of a Lizardman in front of her. The royal guard who had only come to report was killed all of a sudden, but the other guards didn’t try to stop Taragan.

Even Hargan couldn’t do anything when she became hysterical. In times like this, they knew they had to leave her alone to avoid further damage.

“My babies! They must have come after my babies!”

Taragan had laid fourteen eggs in total. From those, three of them weren’t able to break out of their shells, and another three were eaten by other monsters outside the lair. Again, another three suffered from an unknown disease and eventually slowly met their deaths.

For this reason, the five remaining hatchlings were so special to the couple, that the lair had to be kept safe from any threat no matter the cost. But right now, she was told that humans came into their lair. Not as the food tied in chains, but as intruders holding swords.They were the ones that had fled before.

Taragan raised herself with the blood dripping club on her hand.

“You! You! You! Protect my babies! Even if you die, protect my babies!”

Her obsession towards her hatchlings made her believe that the humans would go after them. If so, she, who was stronger than her husband, had to step up and fend off the intruders.

The guards also knew about her obsession, so they positively answered. They knew that if her babies suffered the smallest wound, their heads would be the next ones to be crushed.

*Kung* *Kung*

Every time her three-meter-tall body moved, the floor shook violently.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Taragan. Blazing eyes underneath a white mask. It was Yeon-woo, he was holding a leather pouch with unknown contents in his right hand.

“Human! I will kill you!”

Taragan roared at the human who dared to fearlessly show himself. Her ferocious roar rang throughout the entire lair. But Yeon-woo spoke to her with a smile on his face.

“Hey, Lizard Queen.”

“What!”

“Do you like fireworks?”

“What are you…!”

When she was about to stomp on Yeon-woo and his nonsense, Yeon-woo suddenly threw the leather pouch into the room where the hatchlings were.

Taragan felt a sense of crisis, quickly swung her club and burst the pouch in midair. With a pop, the red powder came out of the pouch and spread like fog, obscuring Taragan’s sight. It was the powder made from the monsters he had endlessly hunted in the Room of Frost and Flames.

“Doyle!”

On Yeon-woo’s signal, Doyle, who was hiding in a corner, quickly commanded the flamebugs towards the powder.

A wild explosion engulfed Taragan.

*Kwang*

*Swish*

Yeon-woo and Doyle then quickly ran into the room.

“Kuaaah! You vermins!”

From the spot where the explosion had swept through, Taragan turned towards the room as she forcefully clove her way through the fire.

One of her eyes was destroyed and her burnt skin was festering. She had serious injuries on the upper half of her body, but she couldn’t just stand there crying in pain. Humans were after her babies. She had to go protect her babies. But when she rushed into the room, Yeon-woo and Doyle had already eliminated the guards and each one of them was holding a hatchling.

Yeon-woo, in particular, raised the one he was holding to give her a better view of what was going to happen next. And with a cold smile, he sliced its neck with his dagger.

*Spurt*

“Aaaaack! Humaan! Hooow! How dare yooou!”

Madness took control over Taragan’s mind. As she lost her reason, she charged towards Yeon-woo like a bull. The only thing left in her head was the thought of tearing Yeon-woo to death.