Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 173

Lakes were the natural habitat of fairies, so naturally, there were some living in the underground lake.
Their kind was generally playful in nature, but underground fairies took that playfulness to an extreme.
They became so drunk on their naughty tricks that they ended up being corrupted.

The fairies snickered when they saw the group of humans arriving at the lake.

“Wow, such cute humans.”

“How did they reach all the way here? Anyway, it’s a good thing.
I’m bored of these underground creatures anyway.
Ahhh… I feel ecstatic just imagining making those humans forcefully submit.”

“I’ll gather a reverse harem of muscular, tough-looking men and make them my slaves!”

“Kihihihi…! I want to behead them and hang their heads on my wall!”

The fairies fluttered their black wings and sharpened their axes.

***

Meanwhile, the men could not take their eyes off Iris’ naked body.
She was so voluptuous and beautiful that they were completely entranced.
Silence filled the area for a moment, before they unfortunately had to run away from the very sight they had been dreaming of for years.

“Haa…
Haa… That’s the most wonderful body I’ve ever seen… Aghk! No! I-I shouldn’t look! The devil is tempting us!”

“T-This is driving me crazy! Everyone, stay calm! You’ll die if you don’t suppress your desires!”

“Agghkkk! I can’t do this anymore! I won’t be able to hold myself back any longer!”

The pale-faced men jumped into the lake, running away from the naked beauty in front of them.

Tears started welling up in Iris’ eyes, as she seemed to be hurt by the men’s actions.
She said while sniffling,

“The men are avoiding me.
Is it because I’m a monster…?”

“No, unni… Why don’t you come with me and bathe somewhere else…?” Shaneth offered, letting out a sigh and covering Iris’ body with a piece of cloth.

The blind swordmaster, Hekal, tapped the sword he also used as a cane on the ground and said, “I managed to avoid a disaster thanks to my blindness… but why do I feel so sad…?”

“I’m actually jealous of you! Aaaaaah! I’m going to go crazy because of what I saw a while ago!”

“Forget about it! We have to forget about it! Hurry up and wash your eyes!”

“Wahahaha! The water is so refreshing!”

The men scrubbed their bodies in the lake water.
The sensation of fresh water splashing onto them was welcome, as their bodies were riddled with muck and grime from not having washed for years.
They soon forgot about their worries, beginning to splash each other with water like a bunch of kids.
In the process, they began to disturb the entire lake’s surface

“Wahaha! Take this!”

“Childish fools! Do you want to die from drowning today? Take this!”

The men played a hundred times more roughly than the average person.

Henrick squinted while avoiding the waves generated by the childish men.
He washed himself roughly, then looked at Kang Yoon-Soo and asked, “Aren’t you going to wash up?”

“A bit later,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied while looking at something on the other end of the lake.

While the men were immersed in their play, Hekal, who was struggling to stay afloat from the waves, suddenly sniffed a few times.
He exclaimed, “Hmm? Something’s off.”

“What’s wrong?” the men asked.

“There’s a strange smell coming from somewhere,” Hekal replied.

“Smell…?” the men muttered, then also started sniffing.

They could smell the faintest scent of roses lingering in the air; initially subtle, it slowly started to grow stronger and stronger as a fog started to cover the lake.

“A fog on top of this scent?”

“Something’s fishy here.”

As the men became vigilant, a sweet voice spoke from within the fog.

“Ahh… Such handsome men!”

“My heart is fluttering!”

“We were lonely and missed the touch of humans… Would you men like to join us?”

A group of beautiful elves was waving at them from the other side of the lake.
They seemed to be naked, but their bodies were covered by the fog, making it difficult to properly see them.
However, the men would be able to see them fully if they went just a little closer into the fog.

Meanwhile, the corrupted fairies hid behind a rock while giggling, their axes at the ready.

“Kihihi! Those stupid men.
I’m sure they’re enthralled by the illusion we made.”

“We’ll behead them the instant they wander over here, overcome by their lust!”

The elves were nothing more than an illusion the corrupted fairies had created.
After all, they were not stupid.
They were fully aware that it would be inefficient for them to fight those powerful men head-on, which was why they had created an illusion to lure the men into a trap.

The corrupted fairies were excited at the thought of beheading a human after a long time.
However, the men did not enter the fog no matter how long they waited.

“What’s taking so long?”

“Argh! The elves we made are so beautiful and sexy! This is driving me mad!”

The corrupted fairies peeked out from behind the rock, and saw that the men were overcome with rage and not with lust as the fairies had initially expected them to be.

The men shouted protests, brandishing weapons while naked as they prepared to unleash their wrath on the pranksters.

“Tsk! I’m seeing things now!”

“Is someone making fun of us right now? How is this different from asking someone without a tongue to taste delicious food? This is driving me mad!”

“You stupid bastards! These kinds of seduction won’t work on us!”

The corrupted fairies were stunned by the sight before them.
To think there were men who had enough self-control to shun the seduction of the opposite sex!

“They’re braver than they look.
I’m starting to think that they’re pretty cool.”

“They’re making me want to enslave them even more now! Submit to me!”

“I’ll cut your heads off!”

The fairies flew toward the men while wielding axes much larger than their bodies.
Their combat style was not simply to swing their axes at their enemies, however.
They used all sorts of illusion magic and summoned hundreds of venomous wasps.

However, the men were not that easy to deal with.
They let out a deafening battle cry as they entered combat against their winged foes.
Recifer used his agility to massacre the venomous wasps summoned by the fairies, and Ramel cut apart three fairies with one swing of his greatsword.

“Recifer! Are you alright?” Ramel shouted.

“Haven’t I told you before? I’m resistant to poison.
I was stung a few times on my arms and face, but it’s not even itchy!” Recifer replied.

“Wahaha! To think you would pick a fight against me in the water! I’m not sure whether you’re brave or stupid!” Hawk shouted.
He lived up to his reputation as a Deep Sea Treasure Hunter, being quite adept at fighting in water.
He swam so quickly that he caught up easily to the flying fairies before cutting them in half with his scimitar.

Henrick took out Rick from his summoning box while the men were fighting.
Rick stared at the axes the corrupted fairies were using and said, “Henrick, I want one of those axes.”

“Hoo, have you decided to become a lumberjack?” Henrick asked.

Rick had wanted a class for some time, but she shook her head and replied, “They look nice and efficient for chopping heads off.”

“I had a feeling you would say that… Let’s fight for now and talk later!” Henrick replied, then began controlling Rick with his mana threads.

Meanwhile, while the others were busy fighting the corrupted fairies, Kang Yoon-Soo stayed at the back just observing the situation.

The corrupted fairies were much stronger than normal fairies, and the amount of mana they had was astounding.
However, they were severely weak against light, and that was the main reason why they had established a habitat in the underground lake.

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his right hand and muttered, “Summon Light.”

Light and Sharp appeared hand-in-hand.

“Hurray! I’ve been summoned again!” Light exclaimed with her usual cheer.

Meanwhile, Sharp cried with his usual melancholy, “Huu… I’ve been dragged out again…!”

It was time for the newly created spirits to make their debut in combat.
Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at the spirits and commanded them, “Go fight.”

“Fight…? I don’t want to do something like that! I want to be friends with them!” Light protested.

“Uhhh…! F-Fight…? That’s too scary for me…” Sharp said, shrinking back.

Light ran toward the corrupted fairies with Sharp in tow and opened her arms wide, then said, “Hi! My name is Light! I want to be your friend!”

The corrupted fairies scoffed and replied, “Friend? Ha! Don’t make us laugh! Who would want to be friends with someone like you?!”

Light tilted her head in confusion and asked, “You don’t want to become friends with me…?”

“Kihihi! Of course! You should just have your head cut off and become another decoration on my wall!” a corrupted fairy cried, flying toward Light with its ax.

Sharp trembled in fear, while Light seemed to be deep in thought.

Just as the corrupted fairy was about to swing its ax, its wing was severed like a piece of paper.

“Kyaahk!” the fairy cried out in agony.

Light raised her hand, firing a powerful, radiant beam.
She said, “Hmm… Alright! If you don’t want to be friends, I can just kill you then.” Afterward, she aimed her hand at another fairy.

“W-What…?” the corrupted fairy muttered in confusion.

Zziiiing!

The blinding beam the light spirit shot out of her hand swept across the corrupted fairies.
As they were weak against light, they immediately disintegrated when the light hit them.

Light laughed cheerfully while shooting beams all over the place, exclaiming, “Kyahahaha! Die! Die!”

The corrupted fairies were scared out of their wits at the sight of Light acting like a lunatic.

“C-Crazy…! It’s a crazy spirit!”

“It’s massacring us while laughing! Look!”

On the other hand, Sharp also seemed to be scared.
He cried, “L-Light…! I’m scared…!”

“Don’t be scared, Sharp! I’m here!” Light replied.

“B-But! Isn’t it scary killing the fairies…? Is it alright for you to laugh while killing them?” Sharp asked.

“It’s alright.
They’re not my friends anyway,” Light replied with a shrug.

Sharp felt goosebumps cover his body upon hearing Light’s indifferent response.

The corrupted fairies were dealt with in an instant, due to the combined efforts of the party members.
Those that managed to survive the massacre tried to flee from the madness before them.

Kang Yoon-Soo picked up one of the corrupted fairies as it tried to crawl across the floor with its wings torn off.

“Human-nim! Please! Please spare me! I’ll become your slave and do whatever you ask me to!” the fairy pleaded while crying.

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied, “I need booze.”

“W-What…? Booze…?” the corrupted fairy muttered in surprise.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded.
They had already run out of the alcohol they brought from aboveground.

The corrupted fairy trembled and replied, “T-There’s some alcohol that we made in our house… I’ll give you all of that! So, please! Please spare me!”

Kang Yoon-Soo took out a glass bottle and shoved the fairy into it.
The fairy knocked on the glass, but to no avail.
Fairies lost all their strength and mana if their wings were torn off; they could regrow their wings eventually, but that would take a very long time.

The corrupted spirit sniffled and cried, saying, “M-My name is Quishow.
Quishow is a cute and beautiful baby fairy… All I ever wanted was to have a few handsome slaves of my own… So please, human-nim.
Please let me go…”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo refused flatly.

“Kyaaahk! Please spare me!” Quishow cried.

Kang Yoon-Soo ignored the corrupted fairy and stuffed the glass bottle containing it into his pocket.

Meanwhile, Light ran toward Rick, whom she was meeting for the first time, and said, “Hi! My name is Light!”

“My name is Rick,” Rick replied.

“Rick! I’m so, so, so glad to meet you! Do you want to become my friend?” Light asked.

Rick looked Light up and down, then brought her finger to her lips and thought for a moment.
Eventually, she replied, “I have a feeling that we’re the same…”

“In what way?” Light asked.

“We’re both crazy bitches,” Rick nonchalantly replied.

Henrick laughed in disbelief and said, “So they can recognize their own kind…”

The men seemed to be disappointed as they put on their clothes.

“Is it already over? I haven’t even digested the snakes we ate a while ago.”

“That’s because you shoved them down like a pig.”

“These fairies were too weak.”

Quishow could not hide its shock upon hearing their conversation from within the glass bottle.
The corrupted fairies could play with large underground creatures, killing them whenever they got bored.
In fact, at times they had tamed drakes to keep as pets out of boredom.
And yet, these guys considered them weak? It was impossible for Quishow to fathom how strong and stupid they were.

Kang Yoon-Soo called the undead that were waiting outside the lake area.
Meanwhile, Shaneth and Iris returned from their bath.

“The lake water is really refreshing,” Iris said.

“It feels really good to wash up after a long time,” Shaneth added.

The men had solemn expressions when the two beauties returned.

Afterward, the party crossed the lake and ventured deeper into the hundredth floor.
They followed Kang Yoon-Soo for quite a while before arriving at a stone door that blocked their way.

Danesh glared threateningly at the corrupted fairy trapped inside the glass bottle and yelled, “Hey! How do we open this?!”

“T-That is…!” Quishow exclaimed in fright.

“Don’t even think about pulling any tricks.
I’ll punch you to death if you don’t answer me truthfully!” Danesh growled while cracking his knuckles.

Quishow replied while trembling, “This is a passage connecting to our house, but we need a key to open the stone door.
It’s a small golden jewel, but our boss has the only one.”

The men shook their heads.

“Haa… Should we have chased after the fairies a while ago?”

“Does it even matter? We can just go and catch them right now.”

“Why don’t we just break the door down?”

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “We don’t have time for that.”

There was a round keyhole in the stone door; he inserted the Golden Compass into it.
The compass fit perfectly into the keyhole, and the door opened slowly with a loud rumble.
When it opened fully, it revealed a vast and grand area.

“Oh my god…!”

“What is this place…?”

A mine with countless jewels embedded in its walls appeared before the party, leaving them astounded by the sight before them.

The corrupted fairies had been living in a secret jewel mine.