Chapter 574: 11.100 First Green Star - Punishment World: 'Labyrinth - The Creepy Clown' (30)

After a short discussion of ideas and plans, the group of children who were considered targets of IT had decided to lead the way towards the abandoned mansion at 13th Street. Ye Xiajie and his team had come to accompany these children towards the entrance to the demon clown's territory.

Abandoned Mansion

13th Street

Everyone was standing in front of the abandoned mansion. They looked from above to below and observed the structure of the house. It looks so old that the house was about to fall by itself once hit by a powerful earthquake.

Eddie said, "Looks flaky right?"

"I just hope it won't bury us alive if it ever fell over," said Ben.

Richie spoke, "Dude! Don't say those words man. Now you're making me nervous."

Stanley, who noticed something from the walls of the house, grabbed it and gave it to the group. It was a missing person notice but the face imprinted on the paper is someone's familiar face. Seeing his own face on the paper Richie felt creeped out. Now he knew the feeling of being targeted. It feels extremely uncomfortable.

Bill patted his shoulder and said, "C-Congratulations~ you are now... Officially targeted as well."

"This does not make me happy!" said Richie as looked at the real missing paper in his hand which was now crumpled.

Han Ya hit Richie's head and said, "Don't be afraid. We are here. Just lead us to him and will defeat him for you."

"Really? Can you defeat him? But isn't he a demon? We are just humans..." said Richie.

Chu Mo spoke as he overheard their conversation and said, "Hah!? Since when did we say we are humans?"

"A-Are you... Not?" asked Bill.

While Ben, Beverly, and Mike recalled some. Words IT had said when they were rescued by Chu Mo and his teammates. Not even once did the demonic clown say these guys are humans like them.

Ye Xiajie, who was carrying his wife, commanded without any expression on his face, "Let's go and stop wasting time. Finish everything up as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir!" said his teammates.

Bill and Georgie were the ones leading the group. It is more like that it was Georgie who was showing them the right way to the Demonic Clown's territory. As expected, Georgie had pulled them towards the open well-like hole in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the abandoned mansion.

It was the very same hole that Chu Mo had found when he saved Eddie. Upon entering the mansion an announcement was heard by the players inside their heads.

DING. DONG.

{Congratulations! You had completed the side missions and the main mission route requirements had been fulfilled. Players are now able to enter the territory of the Final Boss.}

Chu Mo spoke, "Finally it's open."

Eddie spoke, "This hole is really the entrance? Are we going in? There are so many germs and it's murky. Can I not go inside?"

What Eddie had said caught the attention of Hei Anjing, he was so excited to enter his prey's territory just now but after hearing what Eddi just said, an OCDic person like him started to frown thinking of dirt surrounding him.

Hei Anjing looked at his husband and said, "Put me down for a moment, please."

"Okay," said Ye Xiajie with a doting gaze. He kissed Hei Anjing's cheeks first before he put him down.

Richie asked his friends, "What is that toddler going to do?"

"Hey! Watch your mouth," scolded Chu Mo.

Everyone watched as Hei Anjing walked toward the hole and all of a sudden he stopped and just stood near the hole. Then in front of their eyes, Hei Anjing awakened his Ice Elf bloodline, instantly transforming his current appearance into one. His size remained small and cute but his ears slightly became a bit pointed. Snowflakes hover around him. At this moment he looks like a sprite-like those in the stories the children read.

Georgie yells out, "Fairy. Brother, he is a fairy!"

"S-Shush~ Georgie," said Bill trying to calm down his younger brother.

Hei Anjing then waves his hand, the snowflakes follow his movements and fly towards the direction of the hole, away from their sight the children didn't know that Hei Anjing had frozen the whole sewer covering the filth and dirt with a thin veil of ice.

"Okay. This is better. It would be a bit colder inside but it's bearable don't worry. Shall we go in?" asked Hei Anjing with a mischievous smile on his face, his eyes crescented with mirth.

Those who didn't know would have thought he is here to go to some carnival or an amus.e.m.e.nt park.

Ye Xiajie once again picked him up and carried him in his arms, "Baby, I will carry you down."

"Sure~," said Hei Anjing. He then peek above Ye Xiajie's shoulder and said, "Carry them down too okay~"

"Yes, Sir."

Without any hesitation, Ye Xiajie took the lead and jumped into the hole. The other carried one child with them and jumped in as well. Only An Yuan who is small in size didn't have to carry one as Han Ya carried his target for him. Both Chu Mo and Zane carried two children while Lan She carried Beverly who the little is more comfortable sticking with as he is a doctor and looks a bit more gentle than the other guys.

Once they all jumped down, as they reached the end of the hole what welcomed them was a dumpster. A mountain of ruins but it wasn't a pile of trash but instead a pile of dead bodies of children. Some of it was even floating toward the sky but the ceiling itself was locked by some kind of cage.

The children NPC who were with them couldn't help but pukes at the scene. It was a surreal scene yet it seems to be a reality as well.

Then another announcement rang in their heads once again. This time the requirements for completing the main mission were listed.

{Final Boss. The Clown from h.e.l.l, Pennywise. Main Mission requirements for completion.

*Players must protect the 8 targets during the fight. The demon clown would be targeting the children that were with you. Single death of the children would mean failure of the mission and the players would forever be prisoned in this dungeon.

*Destroy the real vessel of the Demon Clown Pennywise.

*Put the victimized children to eternal rest to free their souls.

As long as all requirements above are fulfilled the dungeon would be deemed complete.

Do your best!}

Pukes~ urgh!! URK!!

Richie mumbled, "This isn't real. Those are not real. No dead bodies. Nothing flies." Then he fainted at it. It was indeed too much for children to bear this kind of scene.

"Richie! Wake up! Don't sleep here!" said Eddie and the rest.

The children huddle up together in some corner as they drag the unconscious Richie with them.

Hei Anjing happily jumped down from his husband's arm and approached the mountain of corpses with excitement. Ye Xiajie on the other hand started issuing some commands.

"An Yuan and Pri... Lan She to the rear. Protect the children no matter what."

"Understood."

"Chu Mo, Han Ya, and Zane. Fly and gather the floating children and place them on the ground. Catch every single one of them."

"Affirmative!"

"Leave the clown to my wife and me," said Ye Xiajie.

Everyone followed the orders and awakened their bloodlines as it is. Ye Xiajie opened up his domain of darkness covering the whole area in the dark. Some white fire wisps scatter in the area illuminating the whole place.

The other children were stunned by the scenes unfolding before them. As the domain of darkness spreads inside the sewers all light from the outside world has disappeared instead small white fireb.a.l.l.s float all over the place brightening the whole place. These fire wisps work as a lantern in the dark.

Inside the domain of darkness, the restrictions placed on the players were rebukes and their original sizes as adults. Bill saw the guys whom they call big brothers suddenly become adults in front of their eyes. They were shocked that their eyes had widened and they couldn't even close their mouths.

Richie exclaimed, "They were adults!"

"How come they were so small before? Looking somewhat of the same age as we do," said Eddie.

Ben commented, "Restrictions. IT placed some restrictions on them to prevent the group from saving us. But even then they were so powerful that we were rescued on time."

"If they were adults all this time then it's no wonder that they weren't afraid of the clown," said Mike.

Beverly's amazing voice suddenly rings in their ears, "Wow~ he is so gorgeous!" her eyes were directed at Hei Anjing who was in front of the mountain of corpses. He was in his Ice Elf form when he suddenly became bigger. His original features were now seen by the children. Within this group of adults, they could hardly move away from their eyes from Hei Anjing.

Hei Anjing heard the children's exclamations and gasps. So he turned around and smiled at them, with a silent gesture directed to the children, regardless of age everyone got attracted to him as usual.

The cheeks of the children had all turned red as apples. They collectively lowered their heads in shyness and embarra.s.sment.

Zane commented, "Wow~ he could even seduce children~"

"Idiot! You are not afraid of death aren't you.!?" said Chu Mo.

"Ouch!"

Han Ya said, "Stop playing around and let's do our task quickly."

"Indeed. Let's complete before Lord Hei destroys the whole area while playing..." said Chu Mo.

All three of them had awakened their bloodlines. They need it to be able to fly around and gather the floating corpses of the dead children. Lan She also morphed into his Valkyrie form and erected a hoky barrier around the children.

Lan She said, "Don't get out of my barrier. The demon won't be able to touch you inside my holy s.h.i.+eld."

"Angel. You're an angel!?" said Stanley.

"Urg~ why are you so loud, Stan?" Richie said as he groggily woke up and saw the new appearance of Lan She and An Yuan. "He had wings. He had white wings. An Angel? Did I die? Did you come here for me?"

"No," said Lan She.

An Yuan hit Richie's and had to wake him up completely. "Wake up. You're not dead."

"The pain is real. I'm still alive?" murmured Richie.

Lan She chose to ignore the children for a while and said to An Yuan.

"An An, go find the core or the real vessel of the NPC Boss. I will protect you," said Lan She.

"Okay. I will concentrate on finding him first," said An Yuan as he activated his eyes and looked around the area. His eyes were glowing in purple with runes as he a.n.a.lyzed his surroundings.

Unknown to them, Hei Anjing wasn't that bad at detecting his targets. He looked at the mountain and stared at the center point of the huge corpse of children then the corner of his mouth suddenly curled in joy.

Hei Anjing says, "Found you~ How long are you going to keep on hiding in there? ~"

Zane who saw Hei Anjing approaching the mountain of corpses with a smile, "Eh? What is he going to do?"

Everyone saw Hei Anjing approach the mountain of corpses even closer than before. Within his hands, a scythe made of ice materialized out of thin air. With a single wave of his weapon, he had cleanly cut the mountain of corpses into half revealing what was hidden inside.

It was Pennywise the demon clown. Shocked to his core as he looks at Hei Anjing in disbelief. Only he knew how thick that mountain of remains is, it was refined by him for a very long time that it was hard for ordinary weapons to cut it into half.

Pennywise saw the Ice scythe crumble into dust, this shows how hard the mountain of corpses is seeing that the player's weapon before him had broken apart.

Kekekeke~

"So what if you had found me? Your weapon is already broken!" said Pennywise while sn.i.g.g.e.ring at Hei Anjing.

There is silence in the area and no one dared to speak out. The children were afraid as the demonic clown looked even creepier at this moment. He looks like a distorted monster who used the appearance of a clown. Covered in blood with his sharp teeth peeking out as he grins widely.

Hei Anjing suddenly grabs his neck and he feels a choking force that prevents him from speaking more than he could.

Choke! URK!

Pennywise was stunned. He had expected that the players this round would be different from the rest who had come over before. But never would he have thought that even within his domain effect which restricts the original abilities of the players down to 10 percent. He would still be helpless in front of this pure soul.

Now that he is seeing Hei Anjing up close, he was so sure that he didn't see him wrong. This is a pure soul fragment. It was injured to the point it could barely hold on from fading. But despite that, he is no different than an insect in front of this soul.

With a playful grin on Hei Anjing's face, he said to Pennywise, "As a clown, you are as boring as h.e.l.l~" Pennywise met those pair of deep blue eyes. The depth of it was icy and calm, he couldn't even cause a ripple within those eyes.

Snapped!

His neck was snapped but he didn't instantly die. His whole body slowly turned into ice and he couldn't even scream as his throat was completely broken. Once his whole body was covered in ice, Pennywise couldn't even die even if he wished to. He is forever frozen within the unmelting eternal ice.

Ye Xiajie also made his move. He waves his hands and black flames engulf all the corpses including the ones Han Ya, Chu Mo, and Zane had pulled down. Once the black flames cremated all the bodies countless specks of souls materialized and thank the group for freeing them.

A loud announcement was heard in the area. This time even the NPC heard the world announcement.

PING. PONG. PING

{Congratulations to Player Hei Anjing and his team. You had defeated the Final Boss and broke the time loop within the dungeon.

Pennywise is a demonic clown that escaped from h.e.l.l. He couldn't get his fill in the underworld and go to the realm of mortals. He feeds on children's souls, flesh and blood but his real purpose is to gather their fear before they die.

After killing everyone in this world Pennywise could no longer get the fear that he used as his source of strength. So he put the town itself into a loop and let the souls he gathers attract some players and feed on their souls as well.

Players who were eaten were forced to stay in the dungeon playing the role of NPCs. Now that the time loop is broken. They can finally live their own lives inside the dungeons and their former memories and original appearances would return to normal.

Congratulations! You had conquered the dungeon owned by the Clown from h.e.l.l.

The rewards would be given after you've exited the dungeon.}

When Chu Mo and the rest turned around to check on the children, they saw that those groups of children who came with them were replaced with the souls of adults. Just based on their clothing and appearance they must be the souls of the players who failed to conquer the dungeon and were enslaved by Pennywise in this place. They were being controlled against their will. Killed multiple times. They were dead but can never be really free. They become p.a.w.ns for the final boss.

Now that the dungeon was conquered the control of their souls was removed. They were now free souls who could live in this dungeon without someone controlling them. This place is their new home as they knew that they could never leave this place anymore.

"Thank you for giving us back our freedom!"