Chapter 241
[A new praise, [Hands So Cold Brr, Feet So Cold Brr], has been generated.]
‘Ooh?’
A crisp message popped up before his eyes.
At the sight of it, Lloyd swallowed.
Then he turned his gaze.
In the direction he looked, a Lava Giant was collapsing, hacked into hundreds of pieces.
…Gurgle!
The giant’s death rattle rang out harshly, then faded, never to be heard again.
In its place, the shattered chunks of rock struck the ground and thundered.
Rumble! Crash! Boom!
Most of them were half-solidified chunks of red-hot rock.
They no longer looked capable of bubbling back together and fusing as one.
‘They’ve cooled too much for that.’
Lloyd clenched his fist tight.
This time, it was real.
The Lava Giant’s body had cooled enough, and Javier’s sword had struck true.
Because of that, the giant was truly finished.
The message before his eyes proved it.
‘Let’s see.’
Lloyd steadied his breathing and read the message.
[Hands So Cold Brr, Feet So Cold Brr]
[Praise Grade: Hellish Fable]
Lava Giants are terrifying. Lava Giants are hot. Lava Giants are violent. So hush, don’t provoke that giant. That was all we knew to survive.
The King of Hell was busy. The Hell Knights were close to retirement and hated hard work. We didn’t even dare think of calling them, so we just lived while getting beaten down. We thought enduring it quietly was the only answer.
But it wasn’t. There was a way after all. Lloyd Frontera, that human. I never imagined that human would pull off something like that. What was it, you ask?
If you want to hear, close that door first. The cold draft coming in from there… Ah, ah-choo!
[Praise Effect: You played a decisive role in annihilating the Lava Giant, the most dangerous and violent being in Hell. At the time, thousands of Satans clearly witnessed your feat, and this heroic tale will spread far and wide to every corner of Hell. As a result, you will receive fear and respect from the Satans of Hell comparable to that given to the Hell Knights. In addition, you will not suffer from hypothermia in any extreme cold and will not freeze to death.]
[Praise Region: All regions of Hell, and all regions with an average annual temperature of 0°C or below]
[Praise Duration: 120 years (Human Realm) / 100,000 years (Hell)]
[The praise’s effect is applied 24/7 within the designated region and duration. Furthermore, the region and duration of the praise may expand or extend, or shrink or shorten, depending on your future deeds.]
[Monthly CP granted by the praise: 6]
[Current CP Held: 1,142]
‘Wow.’
The corners of Lloyd’s mouth curled all the way up without him realizing it.
He couldn’t help it.
‘This new praise has another ridiculously sweet perk.’
The moment he saw its effect, he could tell how useful it was.
‘First, the part where I get fear and respect from Hell’s Satans on the same level as the Hell Knights. That’s going to be a huge help for the remaining construction.’
Railroad construction was never easy.
Hell’s unique environment. The peculiar laborers, the Satans. Trying to carry out ordinary construction in a place like this was literally construction on Hell difficulty.
‘Of course it is. The ground keeps becoming unstable because of the lava, and those Satan bastards are foul-mouthed and disobedient. Just thinking about it makes my hair fall out from stress.’
That was the hidden hardship he had been suffering through for the past three months of construction.
Among those problems, controlling the Satans had been especially difficult.
Because the bastards really would not listen.
‘If it weren’t for Javier watching them everywhere, 20,000 out of the 30,000 would’ve run off already.’
Satans were incorrigible by nature.
To make them work, coercion was unavoidable.
The problem was that this also put a burden on his side.
‘The moment I let my guard down, I’d lose control of the site.’
And once that happened, the worksite would fall into chaos in no time.
In the worst cases, the entire project could go down the drain.
Even back in South Korea, Lloyd had occasionally seen or heard of sites collapsing like that.
‘But now, I barely need to worry about that anymore.’
In Hell, the Hell Knights were second only to the King of Hell.
And now, thanks to this new praise, Lloyd had authority on par with theirs.
From now on, controlling the Satans would be much easier.
‘And on top of that, immunity to hypothermia and freezing to death. That’s another sweet perk.’
It was useless in Hell, where heat boiled everywhere.
But what if he ever went to some region of extreme cold?
Then its real value would shine.
‘I already learned that firsthand when I came to Hell.’
Lloyd recalled the praise he had earned in the Sultanate while building the Qanat Aqueduct, [The Stagnant Water of the Young Master from the Western Country].
The effect of that praise had been similar to this one.
‘It kept me from suffering dehydration in all desert regions and in all places with an average annual temperature of 40°C or higher.’
Thanks to that effect, he had endured in Hell until now.
He could stay perfectly fine in this place, where even Javier was drenched in sweat from the heat.
At least here, it was an insanely sweet perk.
But the effect of the praise he had just gained?
‘You never know when life will throw you into some freezing place.’
So the more accolades and useful effects like these, the better.
Like antibodies gained through vaccination.
If you have them, they’ll definitely come in handy someday.
Satisfied, Lloyd tucked away the new praise.
And that wasn’t the only good news.
‘We can keep the construction going.’
It was a project he had painstakingly pushed forward for three months.
He had already finished the roadbed and was in the middle of laying the tracks.
In other words, it was a project where he could already see the finish line with just one or two more months of work.
And now he had managed to keep it from being overturned.
He could safely continue construction.
Only then did the pounding in his chest finally calm a little.
Feeling relieved, Lloyd ran over to Javier first.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Yes, fortunately.”
In the wreckage-strewn scene where the Lava Giant’s remains lay scattered everywhere, Javier stood there, catching his breath.
His whole body was drenched in sweat.
Which made sense.
‘Even with cold wind blowing in from Hellgate… in a place packed with lava and flame, with the air itself acrid, he ran, rolled, and fought like that. Still, thank god he doesn’t look hurt.’
Lloyd looked Javier over with worried eyes.
But the words that came out of his mouth were the exact opposite.
“Hot?”
“Yes, a little.”
“Tsk. Weakling.”
“……”
“What good is being a Grand Master and tossing Aura around everywhere? You can’t even handle this much heat. You’re sweating like a pot of beef-bone broth at a rolling boil. Pathetic.”
Lloyd smirked as he threw out the insults.
Javier, drenched in sweat, brushed back the bangs plastered to his forehead and shot back calmly.
“I am sweating quite a bit, but now that I think about it, I believe I am still in a better position than you, Lloyd-nim.”
“What? Better position? Than me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because even drenched in sweat and covered in volcanic ash like this, I am still more handsome than you, Lloyd-nim, standing there all neat and tidy.”
“……”
“It is always thrilling to realize it again. Ever fresh. Being handsome truly is the best.”
“……”
Damn handsome bastards. I hope every last one of you gets hemorrhoids. Is this what it feels like to smugly fire a slingshot, only to get smashed in the crown by a 14-ton GBU-57 MOP bunker buster?
Lloyd swallowed back the tears rising from his tragic sense of injustice.
“Hey, is now really the time to be chatting like this?”
“……”
“Can’t you see the site’s a wreck? We need to clean it up right away. Is this really the time to sit around catching your breath?”
“……”
“Come on, move. Hurry up.”
“……”
He forcibly hauled up the man who had been sitting there recovering.
Then he relentlessly shoved him from behind and set about cleaning up the site.
Even so, the faint smile on Lloyd’s lips did not disappear.
They had made it safely through an unexpected crisis.
Javier was safe too.
That was enough.
Now it was time to clean up.
♣
The site was cleaned up in no time.
Even though more than a thousand Satans had died. Even though Lloyd secretly felt sorry and heartsick over that. Even though around 300 meters of roadbed, crushed by the Lava Giant, had collapsed and been swept away.
Still, many Satans had survived.
The damaged roadbed was quickly restored as well.
On top of that, a worker of unprecedented size had joined them.
The Bone Dragon.
Creak! Crrrk!
The Bone Dragon, who had arrived late to the group, worked harder than anyone else.
It lived by the undead principle of no wages and no rest.
All day long, it moved only for the sake of earning Lloyd’s praise.
“Hey?”
Creak!
“Can you scoop out that pool of lava over there?”
Creak!
“Good, nicely done. Now fill that pit back in with volcanic ash too. And make sure to compact it properly by stomping it down.”
Creak! Crrrk!
“Oh, you’re doing great. Should I give you a name as a reward? How about Yongyong?”
Creak! Crrrk!
Yongyong(?), having received a name as a reward, burned with even greater motivation for labor.
And thanks to that, the motivation of the fantasy species around him also shot up.
“Ppodong! Bangul! Hamang! Ggoming!”
Only a few months ago, they had fought the Bone Dragon in a life-and-death battle.
But now?
The Bone Dragon was being called Yongyong and had been reborn as the site’s giant idol.
From the fantasy species’ point of view, that naturally ignited their competitive spirit.
They could not let some newcomer steal their place.
They had to show what they could really do.
So they threw themselves into the work.
“Ppodong! Ppo-do-dong!”
Ppodong clung even more diligently to handling the leftover soil in the sections where roadbed formation had already been completed.
Blowing on the hot volcanic ash with little puffs, it stuffed it into its cheek pouches.
It ran and flew until its feet practically caught fire.
Bangul also pushed steel bar production even harder.
“Bangul! Bba-bangul!”
No matter how hot this place was, there were still spots where steel bars were needed.
They were mainly used to bond the joints between the rails made from Centipede Shell.
Like squeezing out a silicone gun on a construction site.
Like sticking materials together with heat-melted silicone.
Here, steel bars played that adhesive role.
Hamang likewise did his best in his own role.
“Hmmung! Hmmu-mung!”
Pshhh!
Hamang gulped down hot spring water from all over Hell.
In an instant, he transformed into a giant 70-meter roller.
Then he rolled all around the site, firmly compacting every area that needed to be tamped down solid.
Ggoming also worked up a sweat every single day.
“Alright, Ggoming? Let’s go!”
“Ggoming!”
Every day, Ggoming flew Lloyd around the site until sweatbands seemed ready to form at the joints of his wings.
And the Satans, too, worked with even greater enthusiasm than before.
Now that Lloyd possessed authority comparable to the Hell Knights, none of them dared refuse any order he gave, not even overtime.
Thanks to that, the restoration of the destroyed site was completed in the blink of an eye.
Track construction also advanced at an even smoother pace.
The gravel track bed was firmly compacted.
Sleepers were laid in the transverse sleeper method to maintain the gauge and distribute the train’s load.
Centipede Shell was processed into standard 25-meter fixed-length rails and fitted into the ground. Then the joints were bonded as though welded, using melted steel bars.
The final step was station construction.
That part was not especially difficult or complicated either.
‘There are only two places that need stations anyway. Hell Castle and the edge of Hell.’
The point of departure and the point of arrival.
They only had to build stations at either end.
For the sake of construction speed and easy maintenance, Lloyd designed the stations in the simplest form possible.
‘No need to overcomplicate things. Tracks on both sides and a hardened concrete platform in the middle will do. It’s not like we’re dealing with picky passengers. All we need is a place where large amounts of souls can be loaded and unloaded efficiently.’
He focused on making the platform space as wide as possible.
There would be countless souls.
There would also be countless Satan stevedores loading and unloading them.
So he made the space absurdly wide to keep their work paths and movement routes from overlapping.
An enormous amount of steel bars and volcanic-ash concrete was poured in.
The blood, sweat, and tears of the Satans, who had no such thing as quitting time, were shed.
For a full month, they devoted themselves completely to platform construction.
And thanks to that, at both Hell Castle and the edge of Hell, supermassive platforms measuring 300 meters long and 100 meters wide were completed.
The project Lloyd had proposed to the King of Hell five months earlier, Hell Railroad 666.
At last, the moment had come when Hell’s first railway, stretching a total of 110 kilometers, was completed.
“Finally! It’s done!”
“Waaaah!”
“We’re free now!”
“We can go home!”
“We can go back to lazing around and irritating our parents again!”
“Hooray!”
On the day the railway was finally completed, the ones who were happiest were none other than the Satans on the site.
The emotion of finishing a construction project that would go down in Hell’s history?
They had absolutely none of that.
They were simply overjoyed that they could finally stop living as slave laborers.
That they could go back to being lazy good-for-nothings.
Everyone celebrated in tears.
Of course, they did not forget to demand compensation.
Quite shrewdly, they elected a unicorn Satan as their representative and sent him to negotiate with Lloyd.
“Lloyd-nim! We have something to say!”
“What is it?”
“We worked our bones off this whole time, didn’t we?!”
“Huh. Did you?”
“Yes! Therefore, we demand wages! Please pay us all the daily wages that have piled up!”
“No. Get lost.”
“Thank you!”
……And just like that, the negotiations ended in failure.
After receiving Lloyd’s answer through the unicorn Satan, all the Satans let out sighs of admiration and nodded in unison.
Each of them engraved a firm resolution into their hearts.
If they ever got the chance to boss other Satans around someday, they would follow Lloyd’s example and become just such an outstandingly wicked employer.
Then they all returned to their hometowns.
Only after that did Lloyd carry out some additional work alone.
Clang! Clank! Clang!
Right after the Satan laborers dispersed, in one corner of the now quiet, desolate platform at the edge of Hell, Lloyd picked up a hammer and chisel by himself.
He hammered away at volcanic rock he had brought from somewhere.
The shape was simple and crude.
There was no delicate craftsmanship in it.
He just hammered, chiseled, and carved an inscription into it, pouring quiet sincerity into every strike.
[This memorial is erected for all Satans who sacrificed themselves for the construction of the Hell Railroad.]
It was a monument of sorts.
A memorial honoring the Satans who had lost their lives during construction in the sudden attack by the Lava Giant.
‘This should do.’
Lloyd looked at the completed memorial with a solemn expression.
He had set it up in secret, worried that the Satans might criticize him, or stare at him in disappointment after finding out he had this unexpectedly soft side.
‘Still, this makes me feel a little better.’
Satans or not, they had still worked for him, and they had still died violent deaths.
At the very least, he wanted to honor them in this way.
Even if it was nothing more than self-satisfaction.
He felt that doing at least this much was the bare minimum of decency.
After secretly setting up the memorial, Lloyd headed for Hell Castle.
Now it was time to collect the construction payment from the King of Hell.