There Is No World For ■■
Chapter 152: The Path Leading To The Cold Hell (3)

* * *

Absurd rumors had begun circulating throughout Dreitherial in the last few days.

[There’s a secret vault left behind by the Soviets somewhere in the sewers.]

From the back-alley bars to the factories in the east, and even the theaters frequented by Mages and merchants in the western district.

The rumors spread rapidly, almost as if someone was intentionally sowing them.

Naturally, those with common sense casually dismissed the idea. How long had it been since the Soviets abandoned this city? So, why did it just appear right now?

And even if, by some miracle, such a vault did exist, it would have already been looted by the previous Count Palatines long ago.

There was no need to dwell on it any further.

But as was often the case with this city’s gossip, rebuttals from the sensible ones were quick to be drowned out.

There were too few rational thinkers and far too many drunks willing to spread rumors for the price of a drink.

[The rumored Magic Tower Master’s Arcane Relic and the World Tree’s crystal—they all supposedly came from the secret vault!]

[The outsiders who came searching for treasures? They’re all secretly from the communist party! That elf who wrecked the building last time was the proof!]

[I heard that the Count Palatines destroyed the northern station on purpose! They say it was to prevent those trying to escape with the Arcane Relic. You ask if I have any proof? If you don’t believe me, never mind then.]

Was it merely a sheer coincidence that all these strange events had occurred in quick succession? Or was it all just the overactive imaginations of drunkards?

Whatever the cause, the rumors snowballed uncontrollably, growing larger and spreading faster than the original instigator could have anticipated.

Soon, the question ‘What if?’ hovered over the heads of all the city’s gullible citizens, and the secret vault became the talk of every gathering.

And when rumors reached such a fever pitch, those in power had to inevitably take action.

[As a Count Palatine responsible for maintaining order, I cannot allow such baseless rumors to persist.]

The first to take action was Western Count Palatine, Joe Pantoliano.

With the city’s most powerful Mage Corps under his command, he declared that anyone spreading such lies, regardless of status, would be severely punished. That seemed enough to make the rumors die down.

However, that was only until the next round of gossip began.

[The Western Count Palatine is scheming to monopolize the vault.]

[They’re digging beneath the Pantoliano Building every night, and monsters are involved!]

Though even more absurd than the initial rumors, the truth hardly mattered to the citizens.

Some spread the rumors for amusement, others out of frustration over losing their jobs due to the terror attack on the railway, and some simply because they disliked the Count Palatine.

United in spirit, they all took pleasure in slandering the Western Count Palatine.

- Why is he behaving like that now? That man usually only protects the West. He always turns a blind eye to the state of affairs in other districts, even when serial murders take place!

- The rich always want more—he’s probably scheming to snatch the vault for himself!

- Someone swore they actually saw a monster with a pig’s head in the vicinity of the building!

Being unpopular to begin with, suspicions against the Western Count Palatine quickly solidified into certainty.

With even the mages under his command subtly inquiring about the vault’s existence, what more proof was needed?

At that point, even the Western Count Palatine could no longer remain passive.

Under the guise of maintaining order, he sealed off the western sewer with his Mage Corps and dispatched guards to arrest anyone spreading the rumors.

Though some citizens protested against the blatant intimidation, fists tend to prevail over reason—especially when the fists belong to those enforcing the law.

After a few unfortunate individuals lacking wit were detained, no one else dared to question what was happening beneath the Western Count Palatine’s building.

Yet all these actions only served to solidify one belief in the minds of the people:

- The Soviet secret vault… must be real. If not, why else would the Western Count Palatine go to such lengths?

And as the saying went, rats always moved quickly once they caught the scent of food.

And in less than half a day, that certainty turned into action.

Unemployed workers, drunkards, thugs, vagrants, and even mages flocked to the sewers in droves.

The void left behind by the severed railway was quickly filled with chaos as countless people descended into the sewers, swarming in like the settlers of a second Western Expansion era.

Despite the repeated warnings from the Western Count Palatine asking his fellow Count Palatines to keep the citizens in check, as if to mock him, the Southern and Eastern Count Palatines opened access to their sewers instead.

The result that followed was unprecedented: the city’s sewer system had transformed into a battlefield of fierce and violent competition.

And it had only been a week since the first rumors began to spread.

* * *

Bang!

Neti instinctively ducked as the sound of a gunshot reverberated through the sewer. It seemed that yet another lunatic had fired their weapon.

Damn it, again?

As if the gunshot were a signal, a battle began to unfold in the sewer where she stood.

Vagrants clutching broken liquor bottles and spewing curses, Rat Beastfolks squeaking, and thugs armed with pistols sold by Joseph —they all clashed, swinging weapons, shedding blood, and screaming at the top of their lungs. It looked like a scene straight out of a war movie.

And the absurd catalyst for all this madness? A small pouch of gold was found in the sewer—or, more precisely, one that Neti had deliberately scattered there.

Is this city full of nothing but lunatics?

Though it wasn’t her place to complain, given that she was the one who scattered the gold in the first place, Neti couldn’t help but frown at the scene unfolding before her eyes. It seemed like there was no concept of restraint in this city.

The group that had delved into the sewer as one immediately turned on each other the moment they spotted the pouch of gold. A fierce brawl erupted without hesitation—murder became trivial, and betrayal the standard.

Neti couldn’t comprehend it.

Hadn’t they originally come down to the sewers to find the Soviet secret vault? So why were they fighting the moment they saw the gold? That gold was just scattered there to make sure no one left the sewers empty-handed.

In fact, she had asked her sister the same question that morning. Seti’s answer was simple.

Compensation mentality. It felt frustrating to leave the sewers empty-handed, but sharing what they found was even more infuriating, so they fought.

And as if to prove her sister’s point, Dreitherial’s citizens showed no hesitation in taking each other’s lives.

“Everyone get lost! This belongs to the Black Patch Gang!”

The lunatic who had fired the gun earlier began shooting again, shouting as he did so. His madness was overwhelming, as he fired the pistol wildly without the slightest understanding of aim, let alone worrying about potential ricochets.

Yet, since they were the first to discover the gold pouch, the vagrants didn’t retreat that easily.

For these vagrants, that gold represented a chance to change their lives. Even as they were shot or mauled by Rat Beastfolks, they refused to turn tail.

“Can’t you see the gun? I said, get lost!”

No matter how much he threatened, the others didn’t back down, so the thug with the gun began yelling in panic. The sweat running down his forehead was clear evidence of his distress.

A Rat Beastfolk, who was in the midst of mauling the vagrant, sneered at him.

“Squeak! Squeak! Bullets! How many are left, you gold t-thief?”

“How many? Enough to take out the lot of you, you rat bastard.”

“A p-pistol Squeak! maybe only has ten… fifteen bullets max! O-once bullets are gone, you’re dead!”

The Rat Beastfolk cackled, flaunting its supposed knowledge regarding firearms like some military expert.

Sensing something was off, Neti narrowed her eyes just as the thug’s gun made a hollow clicking sound.

The echo of the empty chamber was a clear sign that he had emptied his magazine.

“Squeak! H-he’s out of bullets! Attack!”

At the Rat Beastfolk’s cry, the vagrants and Rat Beastfolks rushed forward, swarming the thugs like a tide.

Even without guns, thugs were still thugs. Backed against the sewer wall and tightly grouped, they held out surprisingly well against the swarm.

…Well, they won’t last much longer.

Thought Neti as she adjusted the hem of her invisibility cloak. How much longer did she have to keep doing this?

Although her sister had said ‘until her brother-in-law’ woke up, it had already been a week since he had fallen into his trance. All the preparations to overturn the game were complete, yet the one meant to flip the board remained unconscious.

And so, here she was, scattering gold around just to lure people into the sewers—

At that very moment, she sensed another group—about a few dozen—approaching from deep within the sewer.

Were they another group of vagrants?

However, the moment Neti turned her head, her expression immediately hardened like stone.

The incoming group wasn’t just vagrants. After all, no vagrant had blood-red eyes or drooled like that.

And certainly, no vagrant walked alongside abominations with pig and cow heads.

Shepherds and zombies…?

Neti involuntarily took a step back, which was the instinctive reaction of a sheep when facing a shepherd.

Were it not for the Invisibility Cloak masking her presence, she might have bolted in fear.

I need to inform Unnie. The Shepherds have finally left the West.

As she slowly crept away, the battle between vagrants, Rat Beastfolks, and thugs began winding down.

Most of the thugs were either dead or incapacitated, leaving only the Rat Beastfolks and vagrants locked in a standoff over the gold pouch.

That was when the cow-headed Shepherd spoke.

“Bring the guns. Eliminate all witnesses.”

The eerie voice of the Shepherd echoed throughout the sewer, and at his command, the zombies began their charge. The thunderous sound of countless feet pounding against the floor filled the air like war drums.

“What the hell are those?”

Noticing the zombies a beat too late, the vagrants panicked. The Rat Beastfolk, who was boasting loudly earlier about guns, let out a shrill cry of recognition.

“S-squeak! Zombies! Zombies!”

“Zombies? Shit, everyone run!”

The sewer quickly descended into chaos. The method used to create the zombies was unknown, but the ones controlled by the shepherds were far faster than the fleeing vagrants and Rat Beastfolks.

And the next moment, the sounds of grotesque screams filled the sewers.

Kyaa-aah!

The zombies easily overtook the fleeing Rat Beastfolks and vagrants with terrifying speed. Expecting a bloodbath, Neti squeezed her eyes shut.

However, the sound of splattering blood or tearing flesh never came.

A brief, unnatural silence blanketed the sewer.

Curious, Neti cautiously opened her eyes, only to see a stranger standing amidst the zombies and Rat Beastfolks.

Kyaaaaah!

The silence didn’t last. The zombies, drooling profusely, charged at the man. And this time, Neti didn’t avert her gaze.

That sword…

The man swiftly drew his sword horizontally without saying a word. As the familiar blade flashed, the heads of five zombies fell simultaneously with a dull thud.

The cow-headed Shepherd shouted in alarm.

“That guy is from Earth! He’s a Superhuman!”

Obviously, he is a Superhuman. Neti gulped hard as she watched the man leap into the air lightly. He had thrown himself right in the middle of the zombie horde.

The zombies rushed at him all at once, but he stomped on their heads with ease, crushing them as he dashed forward. It was then that Neti realized his intended target wasn’t the zombies, but the Shepherds behind them.

“Stop him! He knows who we are!”

Unlike the panicking pig-headed Shepherds, the cow-headed one opened his jaws wide the moment he understood the man’s intent.

Mana twisted, and a crimson beam began to gather within the cow-headed Shepherd’s open mouth.

The man didn’t make any attempt to dodge. Instead, he stomped on a zombie and leaped high into the air.

No, don’t jump towards that light! Just as Neti was taken by surprise, a red beam erupted from the mouth of the cow-headed figure.

Kyaaaah!

The beam struck the man directly—Red Light of Death, a mid-tier curse magic.

The man … remained unharmed. From his waist, a brilliant, multicolored light radiated, deflecting the beam entirely.

“…A unicorn horn?”

The cow-headed Shepherd faltered in panic. The pig-headed ones began to chant new spells belatedly, but none were able to act faster than the man’s descent.

The man swung his sword swiftly, its pale yellow glow slicing through one of the pig-headed Shepherds’ necks effortlessly.

Splat! Blood sprayed as one of the Shepherds became a headless corpse. And before his blood could even hit the ground, the cow-headed Shepherd swung a fist, and the pig-headed one drew a pistol.

Had the man anticipated this? The man retrieved his sword and swung it horizontally once again. It wasn’t just a fast strike—it was a precise swordmanship, one that he could wield with familiarity against the shepherds.

His blade severed the cow-headed Shepherd’s arm and split the pistol-wielding pig-headed one at the waist.

As the severed arm hung in the air, the pig-headed one’s body split open and the pistol clattered to the ground.

“Grrrraaagh…!”

With the final guttural cry of the pig-headed Shepherd, all but one of the Shepherds lay dead on the ground.

“W-Who are you?”

The man didn’t reply. Instead, he simply swung his sword in the air, shaking off the dirty blood of Shepherds and zombies, and stepped toward the remaining cow-headed Shepherd.

The battle was as good as over, but the cow-headed Shepherd refused to give up. His repulsive bloodshot eyes gleamed dangerously as he prepared one final spell.

The spell he wove was simple and efficient— Corpse Explosion, using the dead pig-headed Shepherds and his own body as the materials.

It was so blatant that even Neti, hiding behind the Invisibility Cloak, was able to notice it, but the real issue was the speed. The spell didn’t take long to prepare and it could be completed with just a few words.

“Die—!”

However, the cow-headed Shepherd never got the chance to complete his spell. The moment he began to chant, an ice spike waiting behind his head pierced right through his skull.

…What the hell?

Neti unconsciously swallowed nervously. He had taken down all those Shepherds that easily? Who on earth was this guy? Had such a person always been in this city?

As she wrestled with her own thoughts, the man turned his head sharply in her direction. His gaze locked onto her exact position.

Could it be…

Neti held her breath and pressed herself flat against the sewer wall. The now-masterless zombies were loitering aimlessly, blocking any potential escape routes.

Step.

The man began walking toward her. How was he able to see her through the Invisibility Cloak? No, that wasn’t the point. What now? Should she fight? Run?

As her mind raced, the man casually sheathed his sword and began rubbing his face with his hand.

One smooth motion, as if he was wiping something away—and when he lowered his hand, his face had transformed into someone she knew.

“…Oh my, it’s you, brother-in-law?”

Neti spoke in a voice filled with equal parts disbelief and surprise.

Yeomyeong was about to answer with a laugh, but sensing something, he hurriedly raised his index finger and pressed it against his lips. It was a gesture asking her to stay quiet.

Like the obedient sibling she was, Neti immediately clamped her mouth shut. And in the meantime, Yeomyeong’s face shifted back to the unfamiliar visage.

What was he doing? Neti wondered, tilting her head in confusion, when a familiar voice echoed from the direction the Rat Beastfolks had fled.

“I’d like to take some of those monsters’ corpses off your hands. How much would that cost me?”

The voice belonged to none other than Eastern Count Palatine Bykov.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.