I Tamed the First Rank Chapter 19

As if to prove that it was on a different level from the dungeon boss, when the hidden boss began to take shape, the dungeon itself vibrated and shook. Mana swirled like a whirlpool down to one point, where a crystal began to form clearly.

The location of that point was above the sea. In other words, the crystal stone was so large that it could be seen even by In Yoo-shin, who was floating in the air a long way away. The size of the crystal stone was usually proportional to the strength of the monster.

“Hahaha.”

Appalled, In Yoo-shin shook Hyeon Gyu-ha, who was just laughing out loud.

“D-don’t just laugh!”

“Then shall we cry?”

“Don’t even cry! What should we do about that?”

“I don’t know either. The hidden boss I expected and prepared to fight against was a legendary hero, not the Supreme Deity. If we compare this to Greek mythology, we were preparing for Odysseus, but Zeus suddenly appeared—this is like that.”

It was an explanation that stuck in my head right away, more so than an unfamiliar name. Thanks to this, In Yoo-shin screamed.

 “How do we beat Zeus!?”

“Haha. That’s what I’m saying.”

“I told you not to laugh!”

What do we do? What do we do? Should I run away quickly and call for reinforcements before it’s fully formed? No, but even if you call in a reinforcement of decent hunters, will they be able to beat Zeus? In order to defeat Zeus……!

“Gigantomachia!” (A/N: In Greek mythology, a war between the Giants and the gods of Olympus, including Zeus.)

“Calm down, Yoo-shin-ssi.”

“Isn’t there a dungeon somewhere on Earth with a titan or Gaia as a hidden boss? What if we summon the hidden boss and fight Zeus……!”

“It’s a good idea, but the thing before us now is Supreme Deity Atabeyra. It’s not actually Zeus.”

“Ah.”

“Get a grip and do as I say—calmly take deep breaths. Breathe quickly and then exhale slowly every third breath.”

“P-P-Phew……”

As In Yoo-shin followed Hyeon Gyu-ha’s breathing techniques, he gradually came to his senses.

“It worked. What was that? Next time when I have another mental breakdown, I’ll try to follow it.”

“Lamaze breathing.”

“……”

How does an unmarried man without a lover—that is, a real lover—know things like the Lamaze breathing method?

 Despite In Yoo-shin’s now lukewarm and subtle gaze, Hyun Gyu-ha turned his gaze forward, unaffected. He seemed to have completely given up, appearing as if he was merely observing the hidden boss taking shape.

Supreme Deity Atabeyra was slowly taking shape. She was a god with the body of a frog and the face of a woman.

“The basis of this dungeon is Columbus and Taino people, so I did some studying. Atabeyra is the first god and goddess of creation in the Taino religion, and she is also the mother of the gods. She’s both benevolent and cruel at the same time. You see that the body is of a frog, right? That frog is the sacred animal (聖獸) of Atabeyra.”

“That was a very useful exposition, but will it help us survive the dungeon?”

“Well……”

Hyeon Gyu-ha rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. He seemed to be quite reluctant about something.

“Don’t worry. Even if I die here, I’ll definitely send you out of the dungeon.”

“I…… don’t like that.”

In Yoo-shin shook his head with uncharacteristic resolve.

“I don’t want someone dying in front of me to protect me.”

“……”

“So, Gyu-ha-ssi, I hope you don’t even joke about saying that you’ll die just to protect me.”

“It wasn’t a joke, but I understand anyway.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha looked down for a moment with deeply sunken eyes, but then he roughly tousled Yoo-shin’s hair instead of asking any deeper questions.

Then the sun disappeared.

A figure so large that it blocked out the sunlight rose from the sea and opened its huge eyes.

A feeling of intimidation made me suffocate. It seemed like it was going to strike us with a ferocious and bloody force at any moment. In Yoo-shin was very nervous and grabbed Hyeon Gyu-ha’s clothes.

However, the hidden boss of the dungeon, Supreme Deity Atabeyra, just moved her eyes and looked at the ground. Rather than the black corpses of countless monsters covering the floor, the ground was haunted by the remnants of Taino illusions that made up the dungeon’s disconnected time. She saw them as they were mercilessly slaughtered.

They were dying.

They died after being shot, slashed with knives, stabbed with spears, and bitten by dogs. They were extorted of gold, sold into slavery, abused, and then they died.

【———!】

A mournful howl erupted. The god cried out in terrible sorrow and pain as her internal organs were torn apart. Her tears were the bloody tears of a god who had no choice but to watch with her own eyes as her children were brutally slaughtered.

An intense sadness rushed through him like a tidal wave.

“Ah……”

In Yoo-shin blinked his eyes blankly. After Hyeon Gyu-ha wiped his eyes, he realized that he had been crying. The sorrow and pain of the transforming god overwhelmed his own emotions.

“Don’t be too empathetic. After all, they’re all just remnants of the past.”

“Do you really want to fight a boss like that when it’s in so much pain? I heard that although it is extremely rare, a hidden boss sometimes lets go of hunters at its discretion.”

Even while they were whispering in a low voice, Atabeyra’s cries continued.

“You’re welcome, by the way. This is the worst and most dangerous situation.”

“Is it because she mistook us for the white people who slaughtered natives in the illusion earlier?”

“No. The identities of the people are now meaningless to that god.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha’s smile had suddenly disappeared at some point.

“Yoo-shin-ssi, are you feeling Atabeyra’s emotions right now?”

“She seems very sad and in pain.”

“That’s the problem. Gods are higher-dimensional beings compared to humans, but it’s unacceptable for us, as humans, to understand a god’s emotions.”

Because his words were difficult to understand, Hyeon Gyu-ha whispered in a low voice to In Yoo-shin, who tilted his head.

“It’s a crude metaphor, but do flying insects or earthworms understand human emotions? Can they understand human emotions and share joy or sorrow together?”

“…… They can’t.”

“But both you and I understood Atabeyra’s feelings. This means that god is crazy. It means it’s fallen so far from grace, utterly corrupted and insane, that it now dares to possess a mind a human can even comprehend.”

The corner of Hyeon Gyu-ha’s lips twitched sardonically.

“The Taino people who served Atabeyra were massacred by the arriving white people, cutting off their roots and destroying their religion and culture. There was no way she wouldn’t have gone crazy.”

What they had to deal with was a god who had gone mad after terrible sorrow and pain.

Atabeyra remembered.

Forgetting is a blessing given by gods who cannot forget to human beings, their creatures, and children. A god who cannot forget remembers everything.

Therefore, Atabeyra, the goddess of the moon, fresh water, and fertility, remembered.

When her son, Yokahu, god of the sea and cassava, created the first human being. When the hero Deminan overcame the pain of his swollen back to continue the bloodline of Karakaracol, which connected gods and humans. Thus, there were moments that allowed her to look at humans more closely.

Her children who served her were brutally slaughtered by the white men who came from the east. The cries of her children, who desperately searched for her and begged her to save them. Her child whose arms held a simple statue, carved in the image of his god, even in his tragic dying moments. The last remaining child spat out his last breath in hatred towards the gods who could not protect him.

Atabeyra remembered everything.

The sky shook and the earth roared. A god who had lost all her believers and lost her faith and gone crazy could not control her divine power and manifest miracles. She was just blindly angered without any reason, so she just blindly struck.

Nevertheless, the attack of the huge body blocking the sun was a deadly weapon in itself. With each swing of her arm, the earth shook, and with each stamp of her foot, the ocean boiled as if a volcano had erupted from the bottom of the sea.

“Huaaah!”

The water boiling from the sea rose up like a sharp spear blade. The moment In Yoo-shin screamed in surprise, Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had wrapped his arms around his waist, had already avoided the spot and moved around to the back of Atabeyra.

Kuuung! Her heavy arms flew out as if chasing away flying insects. Atabeyra’s hand passed under Hyeon Gyu-ha’s legs as he leaped through the air and pressed down on the ground cluttered with the corpses of monsters. Their bodies were crushed, pieces sent flying, and the bloody smell became thicker.

Hyeon Gyu-ha, who was swerving his body here and there, pulled out an anti-tank firearm from his inventory and shot her straight away. In Yoo-shin briefly had hopes for the rocket bomb explosions, but it was in vain. As the thick smoke cleared, Atabeyra’s huge body was revealed to be intact, without a single wound.

She’s still a god, even if she’s insane, unable to control divine power, and nothing more than a falsehood. Gods could not be harmed by the crude weapons that humans had created.

“Well, that didn’t work either. I bought it at a high price directly from the US military.”

“T-then what should we do?”

“What do you mean by that? We have to survive.”

“What?”

“Let’s just hold on until we lose all our strength.”

Hyeon Gyu-ha held In Yoo-shin’s waist and launched himself into the sky beyond Atabeyra’s head.

【———!】

Atabeyra on the ground cried out, but her arms could not reach them. Even the shockwaves that shook the sky were all bounced away when a force field using psychokinesis was applied.

Hyeon Gyu-ha, who placed In Yoo-shin down, lay diagonally in the air and gazed down indifferently.

“Since it’s not a true god but an imaginary god, it’ll get tired at some point. As long as we’re in the dungeon, the boss won’t be able to get out. After I’ve diminished its strength, I’ll carefully maneuver Yoo-shin-ssi out of harm’s way.”

“Then, what about Gyu-ha-ssi……? Gyu-ha-ssi’s mana isn’t infinite either.”

“Well, I guess I’ll work out something.”

“……”

“I should’ve brought something so Yoo-shin-ssi wouldn’t get bored waiting.”

In Yoo-shin suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu as he stared at Atabeyra, who was running wild in anger, throwing out her arms and stamping her feet. It was those pupils. The gaze that I encountered at the bank, steeped in sheer boredom.

In Yoo-shin quietly brought up the status window.

[Current Status: Murderous. Intrigued. Bored.]

That was it. Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had gone through the initial shock of meeting the Supreme Deity, had now calmed down and lost any emotional agitation. Did he always feel this way while going into battle? Even though he might die?

No matter how cool you were, there were limits to your mana and abilities. Keep Atabeyra locked in the dungeon until it reaches its limit, and then what? What if you ran out of mana? What if your brain, overloaded, could no longer use psychokinesis, Hyeon Gyu-ha?

In Yoo-shin became very anxious.

“…… Yoo-shin-ssi.”

Suddenly, Hyeon Gyu-ha stretched out his hand. The hand that grazed his chin gently touched the nape of In Yoo-shin’s neck. Thump, thump, thump. The pounding of his anxious heart was clearly conveyed to him, and Hyeon Gyu-ha’s complexion suddenly changed.

[Current Status: Murderous. Intrigued. Anxious. Anxious. Anxious. Anxious.]

In Yoo-shin was the only being who erased Hyeon Gyu-ha’s boredom and made him anxious.

PA : I like how panickly Yoo-shin is, while Gyu-ha was jas all chill and relaxed until he got extreme anxiety.

 Editor M: Do dungeon bosses have pronouns?

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Credits:

Translator: Hoshi Miya

Editor/Proofreader: Editor M

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