Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 417 - The Subterranean World

It wasn’t just one.

At least dozens of monsters surrounded Ethan.

Sandar, who had been following slightly behind, was quite flustered.

He thought they would target him, the weakest, but the monsters surrounded and attacked Ethan as if he had been their goal from the start.

“Oh, no!”

No matter how strong Ethan was, he couldn’t possibly handle so many subterranean world monsters at once!

Moreover, these weren’t ordinary monsters. They were closer to souls, lacking physical form.

Sandar pulled out the massive axe he had been carrying on his back. This axe was specially made to combat the monsters of the subterranean world.

The monsters of this subterranean world are mostly made of miasma, generally lacking physical form.

Even attacks infused with mana don’t work well, so a special power is needed to attack them.

Sandar had created and brought an artifact-type axe imbued with such power.

With this, he could launch effective attacks against these creatures!

“Normal attacks won’t work, Master Ethan Whiskers!”

Sandar shouted loudly as he moved forward like an arrow.

“I’ll join the fight—”

Slash!

However, Ethan’s Frost Sword and Thunder Sword moved faster.

Clearly, attacks shouldn’t work on these subterranean world monsters.

Yet, Ethan was decisively cutting them down. He even sliced through multiple monsters with each swing.

“!”

Though it was dark, Sandar could see clearly.

Ethan’s swordsmanship was incredibly beautiful.

***

Slash!

With each step, monsters poured out. When cut, their forms disappeared as if they had died, but identical monsters kept appearing, inevitably dampening one’s spirit.

Sandar swung his axe from behind Ethan.

Swish!

“You’re so fast!”

Ethan made cutting down the subterranean world monsters look easy, but in reality, it wasn’t.

Although Sandar’s axe was an artifact capable of cutting spirits, he still couldn’t land proper hits on his opponents.

Slight wounds would heal immediately, and the monsters would grow even larger, pressuring Sandar.

“Aim for the space between their eyebrows.”

“Th-their eyebrows? Do these creatures even have eyes?!”

Sandar was bewildered. How could he aim for the eyebrows when it was so dark he could barely make out their shapes?

Nevertheless, Sandar swung his axe at where he thought the space between the eyebrows might be.

Thwack!

“…Huh?”

Following Ethan’s advice, he was suddenly able to take down the monster easily.

“That’s their weak point.”

“How did you…?”

Surely this was Ethan’s first time in the subterranean world.

“Let’s move forward.”

While Sandar fought five subterranean world monsters, Ethan had already taken down over a hundred monsters by himself and was advancing ahead.

Sandar recalled Ethan’s earlier words.

His instruction to keep up well and not fall behind wasn’t said without reason.

***

Starting with the small monsters they first encountered, various creatures began to appear.

All the subterranean world monsters lacked physical form, making it difficult to defeat them without targeting their weak points or continuously unleashing powerful attacks.

However, Ethan was perfectly exploiting the monsters’ weak points with minimal movement.

Boom!

A massive subterranean world monster toppled over.

Ethan walked through the gap between the falling and disappearing subterranean world monsters.

‘Not only infallibility, but Bihyeongrang’s power is also quite helpful.’

Ghost Power was emanating from Ethan’s body.

Moreover, numerous monsters were appearing here at once.

‘Enemy of Thousands is proving quite useful too.’

The strengths of the subterranean world monsters were completely ineffective against Ethan.

Rather, those strengths turned into weaknesses, allowing Ethan to easily break through the monsters’ encirclement.

“These kinds of monsters will keep coming. Be careful, as stronger ones will likely appear as we get closer to the Primordial Evil.”

Quite some time had passed since they entered the subterranean world.

By his estimation, they should be about halfway through the subterranean world by now. They had walked quite far, regardless of how large the subterranean world actually was.

Nevertheless, Sandar felt as if he were in the mines of Tartaros.

When they passed the entrance of the subterranean world and ventured deeper inside, he felt an immense pressure. The monsters surrounding them on all sides were also formidable.

Yet, Ethan had blocked and broken through all of that at the forefront.

Ethan Whiskers, the human who turned the subterranean world into something akin to a mine.

“M-Master Ethan Whiskers. Just how strong are you?”

Sandar had heard many stories about Ethan and knew of his reputation. But he didn’t know how strong Ethan actually was.

Reputation doesn’t always directly correlate with strength.

That’s why Ethan was a shock to Sandar.

“They were creatures without physical form. To deal with them, one would normally need to sprinkle holy water or use divine power… But the goddess of the Moonforce Order you believe in, Master, is a goddess who bestows the power of cold, not divine power, and yet…”

Even if it’s the power of a goddess, the power of cold alone shouldn’t be able to cut down the incorporeal monsters of the subterranean world.

Yet Ethan had utterly destroyed all the subterranean world monsters with that power.

“I came to face the Primordial Evil. It wouldn’t do to be unable to handle its underlings.”

Ethan said with a smile.

“From now on, there will be many surprising things. If you’re surprised by each one, you’ll fall behind. And if you fall behind, I’ll leave you.”

“I-I’m sorry! I’ll make sure to keep up!”

***

As they ventured deeper into the subterranean world, the darkness grew thicker. The light from Sandar’s lantern was now meaningless, and they essentially had to rely on their senses to move forward.

“It seems impossible to advance any further!”

It was so dark that they couldn’t even tell which direction was forward or backward.

Even for Ethan, finding the way in this state was extremely difficult.

‘Thanks to the Eye of Horus, it’s not completely invisible, but…’

Even so, finding the path didn’t seem easy at all.

Ethan briefly considered whether it was time to use the Prophet’s Flame.

But he soon dismissed the thought.

‘It’s not time to reveal that yet.’

The flame was his trump card. Ethan first took out the fragment of the subterranean world he had received from Sigma.

Wriggle wriggle-!

Perhaps because it was inside the subterranean world where it had lived, it was in a much more active state.

“Th-that… Did you bring that?”

“Yes, this fragment isn’t just from any monster. It’s a fragment of the Primordial Evil. So we’ll use this fragment to find where the Primordial Evil is.”

It’s a fragment left behind by the Primordial Evil, the master of this subterranean world.

Ethan placed his hand on the fragment.

-Using Moonlight Tracking!

The power of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, began to reveal traces of where this fragment had come from.

Whoosh-.

Even in this darkness, Artemis’s power worked clearly.

‘I can see the path.’

Though very faint, Moonlight Tracking was precisely indicating the source of the fragment.

“I’ve found the way.” (+) ^[1] TLN: He found da wae guys.

“You found it?”

It was a darkness where they couldn’t see even an inch ahead. With their vision completely blocked, they had to rely solely on their senses to deal with monsters, no matter where they came from.

“Master Ethan Whiskers, can we really defeat the Primordial Evil?”

“Don’t worry. There is no eternal darkness.”

“…”

It was clearly a boastful statement, but despite that, Sandar felt reassured by those words. Normally, this would be the moment to get angry.

“I’ll believe in you.”

Having come this far, it would be difficult to turn back anyway. In the end, he had no choice but to trust Ethan.

“Being in this darkness for so long really makes me want to create a shining armor. An armor that sparkles like morning even at night.”

***

How much further in had they gone? The darkness made it impossible to tell how much time had passed. In this situation, Ethan discovered an astonishing trace.

‘The traces visible through Moonlight Tracking number at least in the thousands.’

Boom-.

The ground shook.

“M-Master Ethan Whiskers! There’s something ahead!”

“Sandar, do not cross this line under any circumstances.”

Ethan drew a line for Sandar. That line was just behind the traces visible through Moonlight Tracking.

It seemed that whatever was ahead wouldn’t cross over to this side.

‘That means its range extends to here.’

Boom-!

Splash-. Splash-. Splash-.

“The Primordial Evil is ahead.”

“!”

Sandar’s face was gripped with terror.

The sensation of something constricting his entire body made it difficult to breathe. Sandar fell to his knees on the spot.

‘The pressure emanating from the Primordial Evil.’

Powerful pressure.

And… presence.

Blink. Blink.

Something round and blue blinked beyond the darkness.

It wasn’t just one.

Hundreds blinked simultaneously and repeatedly.

They were eyes.

Blue eyes glowing in the darkness.

Thousands of tentacles writhed, targeting Ethan.

Ethan lightly cut the frontmost tentacle before spinning and advancing forward.

Slash- Slash-!

-The effect of infallibility is activated!

‘This is why the Tower Lord left infallibility.’

“How long did you think you could hide in the darkness?”

Ethan raised his hand high.

Then, flames enveloped his hand and began to drive away the darkness.

“Ah…”

Sandar, who had been on the verge of losing consciousness due to the pressure emanating from the Primordial Evil, slowly opened his eyes.

Light was spreading from Ethan’s hand.

That light was so warm that it seemed to push away all the surrounding darkness.

But then.

The Primordial Evil, which had been cowering, writhed as if in mockery.

Countless beings had come to this subterranean world before.

They had tried to eliminate the darkness, the greatest power of the subterranean world, but they were all devoured by this darkness.

Kirruk-. Kiruk-.

This place is darkness. Its domain.

As if asking how dare one emit light here, tentacles flew like arrows.

However, the tentacles targeting Ethan froze in place.

This light, it’s different somehow.

“Go ahead, keep laughing.”

• 1. TLN: He found da wae guys.