Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

If you compare me and Seokhyun in terms of combat power, I’m a little bit stronger than him. It’s an assessment based on the fact that I had dimensional wall and dimensional prison in my arsenal.

But, that combat power was nothing but a prepared strength. In order to maximize my performance, it was necessary for me to prepare various things such as buffs from Sooyeon, buff from the crops, and activating all the active skills I have.

On the other hand, Seokhyun didn’t have to prepare anything to reach the peak of his power. Even if he just woke up or after doing number 2, he could display 100% of his fighting power.

Just like right now.

Seokhyun held Ahn Geun-seok’s hand and spoke innocently.

“Gotchu~”

But his hand, which was wrapped in the Ogre Gloves, was not so innocent.

Before Ahn Geun-seok could even react, a fist was thrusted into his face.

Bam-!!

In my opinion, the saying that the palms must meet in order for sound to be produced was wrong. After all, even when Ahn Geun-seok didn’t have any desire to fight, there was still a loud sound echoing.

Ahn Geun-seok’s face, which was hit by Seokhyun’s first, was completely turned into mochi batter. But soon after, the momentum behind Seokhyun’s fist waned as he adjusted his strength. After all, he knew that they couldn’t just kill him since he would just revive.

“Keukk–!”

Ahn Geun-seok did not even think of running away, and only made faint pained moans.

It looks like he’s missing some teeth.

“Let’s do it once more.” Ahn Geun-seok’s back bent before his voice disappeared.

I didn’t want to see a man’s back bend like a bow like that.

Anyway, with just two punches, Ahn Geun-seok was completely unconscious.

Up to this point, Ahn Geun-seok was a human. But now, the monster Ahn Geun-seok would enter the fray.

After making eye contact with Da-jeong, I stepped back.

“Get back! The tentacles will come!”

Clearly imagining something, Da-jeong cupped her cheeks with her hands.

“But I like tentacle play!”

“It’s not that kind of tentacle!”

As soon as I finished my words, thick tentacles wriggled from Ahn Geun-seok’s mouth. Those things were much more disgusting than I thought.

But unlike me, Seokhyun didn’t care at all and put his hand on the tentacle. When he pulled his hand away, a grotesque sound echoed as bodily fluids and tentacles were ripped apart.

Now Ahn Geun-seok tilted his head back and began to stagger.

“Bring me another squid leg, please~” Seokhyun said as he squeezed the tentacle. “By the way? Will the tentacles still come out?”

“I can’t answer because I don’t know. But one thing is clear, we need to kill him.” But rather than reaping his lives, there’s something I want to try this time. It’s impossible to do it alone, but things might be different if I cooperate with Seokhyun.

“Then I’ll have to go into serious mode.” Seokhyun took off his panties.

I wanted to nag, but it was kind of hard to do so because I was the reason why he took off his panties.

Da-jeong ran to me and cheered him on.

“Rapwi! You can use your full power today!”

“SEEEEGGGGSSSSS!” Seok-hyun rushed at the fallen Ahn Geun-seok with his fists raised.

His body, which was covered in tentacles, wriggled violently. Then, countless tentacles finally came out of Ahn Geun-seok’s mouth again. They were so fast to the point they wrapped around Seokhyun’s limbs in an instant.

“Hmm!”

However, Seokhyun’s power with the Ogre Gloves was anything but a joke. When he grabbed the tentacles using a little force, Ahn Geun-seok’s body floated into the air.

“Eulachacha!”

Seokhyun slammed Ahn Geun-seok’s body into the ceiling, walls, and floor. However, the momentum of the tentacles did not diminish at all.

Just where on earth did the tentacles come from?

I checked Ahn Geun-seok’s status window at that moment.

In the buff column, Giudecca’s protection was written. As expected, those tentacles belonged to Giudecca, not Ahn Geun-seok. If so, it’s necessary to block the passage of that power.

I opened the dimensional warehouse and threw a mithril blade at Seokhyun.

“Cut his throat and throw him right at me!”

Seokhyun grasped the flying blade without looking and said, “Leave it to me!”

The tentacles were certainly strong, but not strong enough to withstand Seokhyun’s power coupled with a mithril blade. In an instant, several tentacles flew into the air, before Ahn Geun-seok’s head followed suit.

Seokhyun grabbed the body by the leg and threw it in front of me. At that moment, the phenomenon of transformation happened again. The area around Ahn Geun-seok’s body changed into something like muscle tissue before a large tentacle protruded out.

Without a delay, I grabbed Ahn Geun-seok’s ankle and threw him into the dimensional warehouse. The tentacles searched for Ahn Geun-seok’s body, but could only find his head, not his body, which went into the dimensional warehouse.

All that remained now were tentacles which were still wriggling and traces of bodily fluids.

Da-jung asked shyly.

“…Did you put the body in the dimensional warehouse?”

“I didn’t really want to do it. But, it’s the only way I can think of.”

If I’m going to kill anyway, doing it as clean as possible was my preference. However, the case of Ahn Geun-seok was a little different. He wanted my body for some reason, and he was ready to do anything for it. Therefore, I should pay him back.

Now, his resurrection was impossible as long as his body was still inside the dimensional warehouse.

“By the way, it’s strange that he didn’t even have a resurrection scroll with him.”

“Maybe he never expects us to come here?”

Well, that’s also something I never expected.

How the hell did they get here?

I held my curiosity back and opened the dimensional door.

“Mikyung-ah, go inside first.”

Mi-kyung, who was standing still like a scarecrow, was about to go inside, but Da-jeong grabbed her wrist.

“How are you, albino? Did you help Seongho a lot?”

“Yes. I worked very hard.”

“Then, did you sleep with him?”

“D-don’t say things like that…”

“WHAT! I deliberately left the shelter to help you! What is this! With that face and body, huh? What a waste. You said you like Seongho too.”

“Unnie!”

“Now that I think about it, Sooyeon unnie must have done nothing too. Rapwi-ah. What should I do to these people?”

“Just push them right away!”

“Should I?”

As soon as Mi-kyung joined, she was embarrassed by the two who suddenly rushed forward. It had been peaceful and quiet for some time now, but it seemed that the shelter would become noisy once again.

Shaking my head, I entered the dimensional warehouse. The rentacles did not come out of the wounds in the body. After all, inside this place, everything was suspended except me.

“Even the Great Demon King is not strong enough to oppose the system.” It also meant that there was hope of killing him someday.

I put Ahn Geun-seok’s body inside a duffle bag. It didn’t smell, so it was no different from normal luggage.

“It’s a little bit iffy to keep holding him like this… I have to compromise in moderation.” But, I would only part ways with him if the other side paid a heavy price.

I came out and put my arms around Seokhyun and Da-jeong’s shoulders.

“Now tell me. How did you guys get here?”

Da-jeong quickly showed me a scroll which was torn in half.

“Can you tell what this is?”

“It’s a scroll. But it’s the first time I see those characters.”

Scroll-type items show options when it was intact, but when it was torn, only the original characters it was written in were shown.

Da-jeong moved the scroll up and down, and made a fuss.

“This is a teleportation scroll! We found it when we looked around the lab.”

“Teleport? Well, there’s Blink, so it’s not surprising that teleportation exists… But why are you the only ones here? Where’s Geom-in?”

Seokhyun hit his forehead. “He was playing with some kind of doll. That’s why the two of us ripped it to test it.”

“What doll? Mi-kyung, let’s go inside.”

“Yes…·”

We went inside the portal and talked in detail. The shelter members who also listened to the story were amazed to hear what they had experienced in Lotus.

The flames that completely covered the Elfni Royal Palace were actually strange to me as well.

“I searched the lab and found this. It’s a teleportation scroll, but Geom-in was separated from us because he was touching some doll.”

“Well, what happened to Ahn Geun-seok?”

Sooyeon asked and I opened the dimensional warehouse.

“He’s inside. Neither dead nor alive.”

“Ah…”

Guessing his condition, she covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, clearly nauseous. She’s quite used to the apocalypse, but probably not immune to this messy situation.

But I was different.

To deal with monsters, you have to become a monster.

Da-jeong’s story continued at that moment.

“By the way, Geom-in is alone now. He must have a hard time since there’s only my monsters around.”

“Geom-in is always alone anyway.”

“So pitiful…”

Spending time with a friendly monster in a lonely place without a single person… It wouldn’t be a very good feeling.

By the way, the time has come to make a decision. I made up my mind and said, “There is something I would like to tell all of you. I want to move the shelter to the mainland.”

Yeowool was surprised and asked.

“Moving to Lotus? The whole shelter?”

“This place is also Lotus, you know? Well, it’s inconvenient to work here because of how far this place is. We have to go right now, but there is no way to do so.”

Both Seokhyun and Da-jeong still have work to do. It was to find the main body of Elderwood and check its condition. There would be many other things to do in the future, but it would be difficult to respond if we were stuck in boonies like this place.

Yoohyeon and Jiman completely agreed with what I said.

“It’s nice that this place is close to the sea, but it’s indeed too far away from the mainland.”

“Why don’t we move near the Wood Elves’ forest?”

Well, they definitely won’t feel that happy. Being treated as a guest for a while and being an immigrant were two different things.

Sangshin scratched his cheek.

“They won’t like us. No one likes strangers.”

“I heard that nomads like guests…”

Mi-kyung raised her voice, but Seokhyun shot her opinion down.

“That’s because it’s only a couple guests staying for a few days. To nomads, guests are precious beings who deliver news from the outside. But if you say you want to live with them, the story will be different.”

Right… Seokhyun is right. Immigrants were not treated well anywhere. It’s best to just stick together and live together with familiar people.

I unfolded the map of the Lotus continent. Looking around the Velond Forest where the elves live and the Ruat Kingdom, I saw a lake. It was a size that would not be strange even if it was the sea.

“This place looks good.”

Da-jeong chimed in as soon as she saw the place I pointed at.

“Actually, we took a short break around this lake as we headed north. There are a lot of fish there and the scenery is really good! However, there is one problem…”

“There’s a lot of monsters around?”

“How did you know?”

“There should be many animals around the lake. So, it’s natural that there will be a lot of monsters around.”

“I guess so.”

An environment that was good for us to live in was also a haven for monsters. According to Seokhyun, even in an area a little away from the lakeside, it was still hell. We don’t have the power to change the environment, but we can do enough to build.

People who saw the map added a couple comments.

“It’s nice to have a mountain behind us. It’s like dividend payment.”

“If the lake was this big, the ecosystem would have settled in pretty nicely. I agree.”

“I don’t care where I go.”

Everyone expressed their approval.

I looked through the shelter and told people.

“Moving is a very difficult and burdensome task, but what can we do? There is no moving center, so we have to do it. The first thing to do is…” To dismantle all the huts and live in tents. It’s better to put all the pretty things in the dimensional warehouse.

Yoohyeon pulled out his hair, saying that the waterwheels, pumps, and water pipes installed in the valley had to be dismantled as well.

“You have to work hard. I will help install it again when we arrive there.”

“Ahaha…”

“Let’s do it together. I will help you.”

Sooyeon patted the drooping guy on the shoulder.

“I want to say let’s move right away, but since these guys just came, let’s take a break for now. I have to talk with Geom-in too.”

I talked to Geom-in through the auction house.

-It’s blazing hot here, but it’s manageable.

It’s like being inside a bonfire, so how can you be fine?

I decided to send the body armor with fire resistance and Seokhyun’s cape to him. With those two items, he should be able to sleep with a smile even in the flames.

Geom-in said thank you and brought up an unusual story.

-This doll I found is very pretty. It seemed like they were experimenting with something, but I don’t know the details yet.

-The scarab and stag beetle know hangul, right? Can you ask them to translate?

-Yeah. We are currently interpreting things we found in the palace, like research journals and people diaries.

-It won’t be boring. I’ll be there soon, so wait for me.

-Come slowly. I’ll be looking for something useful in the palace in the meantime.

Geom-in didn’t seem to care much, perhaps because him being alone was a daily occurrence.

As I turned off the auction house, Da-jeong was sitting on a bench and looking at me with a smile on her face.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“There is a lot to do. The hut has to be dismantled… and supplies have to be moved.”

“Didn’t you promise me something before?”

“Can’t we do it later?”

I tried to sneak past her, but she instantly turned to a hawk that was hungry for prey.

“What about me? Do you know how many days I starved? I can’t stand it anymore. Come here.”

.

.

.

Go Ho-kyung opened her eyes and got up from the bathtub. As usual, she touched her neck. The tip of her finger touched the wound surface. At the same time, she recalled her end.

She thought she was really done when a mithril blade pierced her belly and hit her neck.

She gnashed her teeth at the thought of Seongho. She had fought until she broke through her limits, but she still lost in the end.

But in the future, the story will be different.

‘If only that person comes back…’

Once Ahn Geun-seok returned, she was going to start planning to kill him again. However, he didn’t come back. She put her clothes on, thinking that he was still fighting, but there was no news no matter how much she waited.

‘It’s strange.’

The shadows of Giudecca were united in spirit. Telepathy was a basic means of communication for them.

Why didn’t he mention the follow-up measures when he just needs to concentrate a little bit?

Go Ho-kyung continued to try contacting Ahn Geun-seok and was surprised to see tentacles protruding from the hallway. It’s a sight she sees every day, but today was a little different.

Giudecca was calling.

“I’ll be there soon, master.”

The tentacles disappeared into the wall and Go Ho-kyung took off her clothes. The 15th floor of the Great Labyrinth was where the main body of Giudecca was located. Everything on the 15th floor looked as if it had been arranged for the wounded King of All Beasts.

The wriggling muscular tentacle swallowed Go Ho-kyung in one breath.

‘No…’

Since she was still a human, she hated closed and small spaces. The muscles twitched and sent her somewhere. And after a while, Go Ho-kyung fell on the mucous membrane.

As she barely raised her upper body, a gust of hot wind blew in. Something was lurking within the myriad tentacles and muscle tissue.

Giudecca.

The King of All Beasts, the Harbinger of The End, and the Illegitimate Son of an Unfortunate Experiment.

Although he was wounded and sealed in the Great Labyrinth, he still possessed immense power. His consciousness inspected Go Ho-kyung’s brain.

She trembled at the illusion that countless insects were crawling on her body.

-My right arm has disappeared from surveillance, it seems.

The right arm it talked about was Ahn Geun-seok. Although Giudecca was not a human, it was fond of him for taking its side.

“I…It won’t be long before he’s found.”

-If he’s alive, he will be healed through me. And if he’s dead, he would have entered me.

“No healing was sent to me either…”

-Then there is only one answer. Someone took his body.

“That…”

Go Ho-kyung recalled Seongho’s ability. It’s an ability to spread space to block attacks and twist space to enter Lotus. It wouldn’t be strange to say that he also had the ability to create space which blocks out outside influences.

-Among the idiots in Lotus, there was someone with such an ability. It was a really nasty ability.

“Tell me what to do.”

-Go find that person and negotiate. Bring me my right arm.

Go Ho-kyung swallowed dry saliva while lying on his stomach.

Go directly to the Korean shelter?

It was impossible without mobilizing the monsters on the 13th floor.

Tentacles stretched out in front of Go Ho-kyung’s frightened face at that moment.

-Rough means will not be tolerated. Bring him back by all means.

Go Ho-kyung hesitated.

“You will have to give up a lot…”

-Does not matter. After all, he’s precious to me

She felt something rise from deep within her chest.

This is it.

That’s why she bowed her head to Giudecca and became a monster.

“I will definitely bring him back.”