The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 204
One day, a portrait appeared in Yoo Seong-Woon’s life.
“......”
It had artistic value.
A perfectly proportioned body, like the ideal human had been sculpted into a still frame — embalmed and eternally unchanging. Above all, eyes that could seduce just by existing, dragging people into a vast abyss.
Was it even possible not to be entranced?
No, it wasn’t.
“......”
Yoo Seong-Woon was a gardener. A curator. He had lived his whole life serving the garden, and that would not change. He revered, respected, and cherished the Portrait of Gio.
But could that be... a person?
Was that even possible?
“......”
What counted as a ‘person’?
“Yoo Seong-Woon...!!”
“......”
“Hey, fuck, Yoo Seong-Woon, what are you doing!!”
“......”
“You fucking bastard!!”
Yoo Seong-Woon blinked slowly. His eyes had taken on the color of glaciers.
“...It’s definitely a topic worth pondering.”
His superior, Bisa Beul, saw everything in life as either a piece of art or not. Lately, he had added a new category: “heroes.” But that wasn’t something Yoo Seong-Woon needed to worry about right now.
Still, even while cherishing his guild members as his collection, Bisa Beul had treated them as humans.
Yoo Seong-Woon followed that framework. So, was he seeing the subject as art, or as a person?
Or could both coexist?
Or not.
“This is troublesome.”
Yoo Seong-Woon wasn’t particularly fond of change within himself. His change meant a change in the garden, a deterioration of the art — and whenever he changed, there was always a price.
How many sacrifices would be needed this time?
“This is kind of unpleasant.”
Amid the ear-piercing noise, Yoo Seong-Woon readjusted his grip on the spear.
...You can’t freeze the ocean.
Especially not Earth’s salty oceans.
They didn’t freeze easily, and if they did, it hardened instantly, only to melt again just as fast. Yoo Seong-Woon decided to consider another method.
Fire.
What if he just evaporated it?
No, that’s not going to work.
This damned sea had already shown that through hail, it could even rule the skies. So even if they managed to evaporate the ocean water, it would just rain back down.
If the sea itself is the monster...
If freezing or burning didn’t work — if it would just return to its liquid form either way —
Then we have to seize control.
Just like the mermaids had done, someone else had to consume it.
“......”
It wasn’t that he didn’t know how. But Yoo Seong-Woon felt a twinge of guilt toward Jeong Yeong-Won.
“Ah, what should I do...”
“Yoo Seong-Woon, are you back with us?!”
“My ears are going to fall off. Back up when you talk.”
“If we don’t freeze this thing, it’s going to breach the interior! Get a grip and throw your spear!!”
“That’s not going to solve it right now.”
“Then what?! You want us all to die?! That thing’s a fucking monster!!”
“I’m saying let’s think.”
“Let someone else do the thinking — you move!!”
“So uncultured.”
Massaging his nearly deafened ears, Yoo Seong-Woon glanced at a hunter he knew.
“Go fetch Hunter Jeong Yeong-Won.”
“What? Why her?”
“Call all the tree-type hunters. And also...”
“You do know this is saltwater, right?”
Of course they had considered having the overflowing seawater absorbed by other plants. If they could just take control, the absorbed water would no longer be a threat.
How to restore the diminished sea afterward was a problem for later. For now, that was the best they could do. But unfortunately, the liquid they were dealing with was not just water — it was seawater.
“How are plants supposed to drink this?!”
Any ordinary plant would wither and die. And there weren’t many hunters who could cultivate plants that monstrous. After all, plants were still just plants.
“Well, if we just keep pumping them out nonstop, maybe we can win by sheer volume, but that’s just...”
“It’s frozen.”
“Huh?”
“This. It’s ice. We froze it, all of us.”
Thanks to the frost-type hunters blasting their skills nonstop, the sea had gradually turned into bitter, hard ice. But Yoo Seong-Woon hadn’t created that solid ice instantly. It had taken time to freeze.
I nearly died doing that.
Ice created too quickly isn’t durable. To form a strong glacier like this, you needed time. His mind was a little hazy, but what Yoo Seong-Woon meant to say was—
“The salt’s probably sunk to the bottom.”
It was common knowledge.
“That’s how seawater behaves.”
“What are you—wait, ah... Ah... Ah!!”
“I’m telling you.”
Water and salt freeze at different temperatures.
Water first, then salt.
If his assumption was correct, then the ocean around them had frozen into a vast tundra-like surface, while the salt had sunk. At least, that’s how Earth’s oceans behaved.
“We didn’t do this with that in mind, but...”
CRACK—
He pulled out the spear embedded in the ice.
“If we melt just the top layer, the plants should be able to feed.”
“Fuck. You’re right.”
“Go on now.”
“I’ll bring them right away.”
What they needed were tree-type hunters who could instantly grow flowers and trees, and fire-type hunters who could melt the upper layer of ice. Fortunately, they had all the personnel right here.
As he sent the runner off, Yoo Seong-Woon thought to himself:
There’s no way that mermaid doesn’t know this.
A doctor and researcher who had built achievements nearing that of an evil god, generating endless data.
And yet they didn’t make a move while all these humans froze the ocean?
Yoo Seong-Woon clicked his tongue.
“They’re underestimating us.”
It was both mercy and a condition. If the intelligent species couldn’t come up with even this much, then they didn’t deserve to live.
He said something like the Earth was too small to keep becoming Gio’s flowerpot... maybe this is a test before they leave forever, in whatever form that might be...
In this mind-numbingly difficult and chaotic situation, who could recall such common knowledge? But from the mermaids’ perspective, even that forgetfulness was pathetic. Yoo Seong-Woon felt utterly disgusted.
...A mass-murderer who doesn’t even know the value of life dares to be arrogant.
One of the rare hunters who didn’t hate monsters, Yoo Seong-Woon ground his teeth.
“Tired, huh?”
This flowerpot had been chosen by Gio himself.
To doubt the choice of the Origin — how blasphemous.
***
“Wh-what is this...!!”
Other hunters were shocked, but none more than the priests of the Sun.
“This much solar energy...!!”
“Blasphemy! This must not be allowed!!”
“What the hell did that insane monster do?!”
From the enormous golden tree wrapping around the grand temple radiated unmistakable sunlight. And the priests of Earth’s Sun could feel it — countless “suns” gathered in one place.
That deranged monster had been devouring suns.
“......”
“...Fuck...”
Some hunters wore strange expressions of awe.
This... for a monster’s creation, it’s too...
Holy?
It was too beautiful. Their gazes were transfixed.
Sunlight, like falling gold dust, shone through every inch of the temple, lighting up treasures and gems until they sparkled so brilliantly it hurt to look. The rainbow brilliance made the hunters recoil slightly.
This... is the sun...
And you’re saying this isn’t divine?
It was a scene that seemed to have collected the purest, most precious light of the sun.
“...Haa...”
Kang Seodam pulled Cha I-Sol behind him.
“Stay with the other hunters.”
“I’m useless here?!”
“You’re not. But Brother Cha I-Sol’s position is a healer.”
“But what if you get hurt...!”
Pretending not to play favorites?
Well, if someone didn’t care at all for other people, they’d # Nоvеlight # be the Black Cloak.
Cha I-Sol clearly wanted to protect Kang Seodam more than any random stranger or fellow priest. That this tiny kid was the one protecting him — it was beyond shameful.
Kang Seodam hesitated but spoke firmly again.
“Cha I-Sol.”
“! Y-yes!”
“Back.”
“Understood...!”
They say even a rotting fish is still a croaker — but Cha I-Sol had never rotted. He was a rare gem. Still a student, but he grasped the situation and immediately followed Kang Seodam’s words.
Kang Seodam readjusted his staff.
That staff’s wood... it grew like that?
He had seen the mermaid Iser’s staff before. Its texture, like an antique wooden carving, was now shining golden. He also knew that staff had once belonged to “Giovanni.” ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com
Obsession, maybe?
The mermaids in this dungeon were too sentimental.
“I see you’ve finished your conversation.”
“Thanks for the courtesy.”
“I don’t want to cause an uncultured ruckus here.”
Iser stood in front of Sergio, who was still bound to the pope’s throne. His long, straight golden hair had some resemblance to Sergio’s — to Giovanni’s.
But the mermaid’s eyes were a piercing pearl blue, unbearably intense.
“Let me take him.”
Kang Seodam’s face tightened.
“You’re demanding a sacrifice.”
“A sacrifice? No, it’s a step forward.”
“Did Hunter Sergio agree to that step?”
“He promised to stay in place of the weak and incompetent humans.”
“That’s coercion. Brutal.”
“Didn’t expect to hear that from a human.”
Iser laughed, descending the steps.
“I’m pretty honest. I don’t do brutal things.”
“How very impressive.”
“Then I’ll offer a deal.”
“A deal? Now?”
“I was born with a weak body.”
“......”
“I’m still not strong.”
So Iser always relied on tricks.
“Let’s have a test.”
He spread his arms slightly, and the golden tree blazed with divine light like the sun.
“This tree will show them a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Could be a dream, a hallucination, fragments of the future or past. That will be decided by the order of nature, and the many suns, and themselves.”
“Sounds like nonsense.”
“If they wake up normally, they can fight me.”
“And if they don’t?”
“They’ll become fertilizer for the tree.”
“Can we refuse?”
“No.”
With a grin, the mermaid folded his hands behind his back and waved one hand.
“May the blessing of the sun be with you.”
And thus, the humans lost consciousness.
“......”
“......”
Except for one.
Like a strange silence behind the curtain after a stage play, two beings locked eyes.
Cha I-Sol’s pupils quivered.
“......”
“...Uh, uh, uh...”
“Cha I-Sol.”
“Why didn’t I fall asleep...?”
“Because I knew you’d wake up anyway.”
“Oh!”
Cha I-Sol’s face lit up.
“You’re talking casually now!”
“...Yeah.”
“We’re friends now?”
“Even now, you say that to me?”
“Eunha didn’t knock me out either...”
“That’s...”
Iser sighed.
“...How did two people like this get born in the same dimension.”
Sergio, and Cha I-Sol.
He slowly walked down the stairs. The golden priest robes he wore caught the sunlight, following him step by step. Soon, Iser kicked the unconscious humans out of his path and stood before Cha I-Sol.
He scolded him like a disobedient younger sibling.
“I told you to stay somewhere safe.”
“I didn’t want to be alone...!”
“Didn’t think you were the type to get lonely.”
“You’re the same.”
“......”
The mermaid was briefly speechless.
“...Me?”
“Aren’t you?”
“...I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“It’s been too long since I was with anyone.”
“Huh? Weren’t you with your brother?”
“Well... yeah, but...”
Eunha opened his mouth.
“......”
He spoke.
“...Yeah. I was lonely.”
This cold dungeon was cozy, damp, and quiet.
“So, would you talk with me a bit?”
“Talk about what?”
“Anything. This and that...”
Anything at all.
“It feels like this might be the last.”
“......”
Cha I-Sol nodded after a moment.
“Okay.”
He knew well enough that the mermaids had committed terrible, unforgivable massacres. Even now, they were doing the same.
But right now, in front of him stood Eunha — Cha I-Sol’s friend. Even if everything had been a lie, they had once been partners.
He can at least listen to a dying wish.
Since it really might be the last.
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