Chapter 161: A New Strength Pt. 2
Shhh.
Foam appeared over the gaping hole in Elfame’s throat as he tried to heal his wounds.
However, the foam soon lost its power and disappeared, but not before having at least some amount of effect as it allowed the fallen king to continue speaking out loud.
“They…”
The bastard was definitely dying after being pierced by Lee Jun-Kyeong.
The ruler of Incheon, the King of Alfheimr.
The bastard.
'The look in his eyes has changed.'
As Elfame suddenly began to speak, the look in his eyes was completely different from before. His gaze, which had seemed to be possessed by madness, had changed to a more gentle one at this moment.
“By they, do you mean the Sponsors?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.
‘I think he’ll answer me.’
It seemed that the ruler would answer all of his questions.
“If…they are the same beings…as I’m thinking of…then yes, that’s right…” Elfame whispered quietly. “Alfheim was unified by my hand after a long war… But during the era of peace after the war…”
It was an unbelievable statement, but the bastard continued to explain.
‘To think it would be a world where everything had been united.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong backtracked for a moment. It wouldn’t be believable if it had been a small one, but it would have made sense if after a great war had ended that it had been time to call for peace.
Almost like…
‘The world in my past.’
Earth in the era that he had lived in.
On that Earth, where everything had been unified by Eden, it could be said that there was peace in some ways on the outside.
However, on the inside, everything was festering.
“They had come to the festering world…so they were like saviors.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong was able to understand Elfame’s words.
“They…they made us a new common enemy…”
“A new enemy?”
“A connection…to another dimension…”
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong listened to Elfame’s explanations without asking any further questions.
Bubbles of blood continued to foam up on Elfame’s throat, but it was a fatal wound that couldn’t be treated by anything.
He wasn’t able to determine when he would stop talking.
“If you win…the dimensional war…” Elfame said.
He looked up at Lee Jun-Kyeong with a mocking smile.
He may have been the dying one, but that smile was that of an arrogant king.
“You can become a god…”
His lips had continued to move, but no words continued to come out. His eyes still held onto life, and they narrowed into a smile while the corners of his lips curled up.
“Hehe…”
Vomiting a burst of bleak laughter as the look in his eyes reverted back to the same light as before.
Thud.
He fell forward, and the sound of his breathing had stopped.
Just.
The sound of blood slowly pumping.
Drip.
On the ground, crimson, indigo blood pooled on the floor.
“Mr. Lee…”
Jeong In-Chang, who had felt that there was something strange about Lee Jun-Kyeong’s conversation with Elfame, hadn’t stepped up earlier, but now, he cautiously approached Lee Jun-Kyeong and spoke.
However, Lee Jun-Kyeong raised his hand to Jeong In-Chang, motioning for him to stop.
The situation regarding Elfame’s death.
He had obtained information, but it wasn’t to the level that he would be satisfied with.
At that time.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> looks over at you.]
He was finally hearing that bastard’s voice again after so long.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> looked down upon you with a satisfied smile.]
Lee Jun-Kyeong just quietly listened to its voice, waiting.
Soon.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> desires a sacrifice.]
[Would you like to make a sacrifice?]
The voice of the system brought a notification out of the blue.
‘Sacrifice.’
He would bet on it.
No one would have ever heard this term before, and no one would hear this term in the future.
Lee Jun-Kyeong looked up at the sky.
Incheon City Hall had been destroyed as a side effect of the battle. Looking up, there was an illusion in the sky, as if someone’s eye could be seen through the open ceiling.
“Wait,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to that eye in the sky.
“Hel.”
He summoned Hel, who had become his newest Familiar.
“Ahhh!”
Hel hadn’t appeared physically up until now, so when he appeared after being called, Jeong In-Chang shouted out of surprise, “A…a ghost!”
“Why are you acting like this after seeing their astral figures earlier?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked the shocked Jeong In-Chang.
A pale, translucently white astral figure appeared between Jeong In-Chang and Lee Jun-Kyeong. It was as if the figure was wearing a robe, and the only thing that could be seen clearly from within the white figure was its sparkling purple eyes.
–Master.
It was Hel.
Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded without saying a word.
Shhhh.
Something slowly emerged from Elfame’s body, along with a bleak breeze.
“What you want is this bastard’s body and strength, right?” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to someone unknown.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> licks its lips wistfully as if to express how regrettable.]
Soon.
[The sacrifice has been made.]
[You have completed ‘The Priest’ achievement.]
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> sponsors you ???.]
Lee Jun-Kyeong looked away from the sky, and before they knew it, Elfame had disappeared from the ground where he had fallen.
Instead.
“That’s…”
The unusual arrow that Elfame had shot at the end was in his place.
Lee Jun-Kyeong approached and picked it up.
Although Elfame had shot it as an arrow, what Lee Jun-Kyeong had picked up looked like something that was a little different.
It seemed more like a wooden sword.
[You have acquired the sword, Mistilteinn.[1]
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> shows a satisfied smile, revealing its bloody teeth.]
The name of the sponsored item in question marks was revealed, and the sound of the bastard’s satisfaction rang through the air.
***
“How long do you think it’ll take, Hel?”
In response to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s sudden question, Jeong In-Chang yelped in surprise.
“Damn it! Don’t do that!” he shouted as a hazy astral figure reappeared.
Hel glanced over at Jeong In-Chang before it spoke to Lee Jun-Kyeong.
–As it is a soul that holds so many things…it looks like it will take quite some time…
Hel had harvested Elfame’s soul, as it had the power to extract memories from an offered soul.
However, since Elfame’s memories and powers were so vast, it seemed like it would take a lot of time for Hel to bring them out completely.
Despite that, Lee Jun-Kyeong was satisfied with the current situation.
“I don’t care how long it takes.”
The secret of the Sponsors that hadn’t been solved even in his history or the book of the Demon King–it was clear that Elfame had a piece of that fragment.
“Try to extract his memories without losing any.”
–Understood…
Hel answered in a ghastly voice as it disappeared again.
“Ha…it feels like my liver will fall out,” Jeong In-Chang said as he stroked his chest.[2]
“I mean, you saw the astral figures during the battle anyway, so why are you acting like that?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.
“Well, I was so agitated at that time, so…and also…”
Jeong In-Chang’s face turned red as he tried to make excuses.
Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled at his flustering as he thought to himself.
‘Elfame held a clue about the Sponsors.’
He was collecting all the information that he had heard from him.
Moreover.
‘The Demon King, Eden…’
He also came to a conclusion about what they had said about not knowing the identity of the Sponsors.
‘There’s a high probability that they knew the identities of the Sponsors as well.’
It was only that they hadn’t written it down. Basically, they had just lied about not knowing.
If it was them, then it was more likely that they knew about the identities of the Sponsors than not.
The main reason for this was the fact that even Elfame had knowledge of the identities of the Sponsors.
‘They were Hunters who would have fought against the rulers throughout history, so it would be ridiculous to think that they wouldn’t have spoken with them.’
Although Elfame seemed to have treated him specially, there was no confirmation that he wouldn’t have done the same to the other Hunters in his past.
Even if the King had said that he was special, Lee Jun-Kyeong felt that Elfame would have most likely told a similar tale to anyone else who was strong enough to have approached him.
‘Almost like he had no other choice.’
The reaction that Elfame had made was incredibly messy and boisterous, so much so that Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t understand why, no matter how special the ruler had thought that he was.
Almost as if he had had no other choice, the bastard had behaved incomprehensibly.
‘This means that the Hunters who had competed with the rulers in my past most likely knew about the secret of the Sponsors.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong felt convinced again at this moment that the Demon King hadn’t written down everything in the book.
As he organized his thoughts, Jeong In-Chang called out to him again.
“Mr. Lee…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong turned over to look at him.
‘He’s grown tremendously.’
He hadn’t been able to talk to the Hunter because he had been immersed in so many thoughts due to Elfame, but Lee Jun-Kyeong recognized that Jeong In-Chang had definitely grown considerably.
Even the power that he had shown, Gram.
Lee Jun-Kyeong was about to praise him but had to stop.
“That new subordinate of yours…”
He had no choice but to keep his mouth shut at Jeong In-Chang’s question.
“Is it a woman? Or is it a man?”
***
“Why are you curious about that?”
"Just…”
Thanks to Jeong In-Chang’s ridiculous question, the Hunter only received a scolding rather than any praise, all the way to Inha University from Incheon City Hall.
By the time the scolding had ended, they had already arrived near Inha University.
“...”
The reason they were able to relax like this was simple.
“Have you arrived?”
It was because they knew that the battle at Inha University had already ended.
The ruler had died, and an army without a leader was nothing more than a rabble.
In particular, for monsters who only lived on instinct alone, the fact that the ruler who had bolstered their strength and formed their strategy had died only meant complete defeat.
“Looks like things went well,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Yeo Seong-Gu, who had greeted them.
Yeo Seong-Gu was in a similar shape to Inha University.
“You look like a mess,” Lee Jun-Kyeong joked.
His armor was torn in various places, and his skin was red as if it had been soaked in blood.
‘He most likely held most of them back on his own.’
He most likely had fought the hardest.
“The ruler… Did you take it down?” Yeo Seong-Gu asked as he slowly approached Lee Jun-Kyeong.
The Hunters nearby were busy clearing up the ruins, but they all looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong as they heard Yeo Seong-Gu’s question.
They may have been able to infer the answer from the situation around them, but nothing was as comforting as hearing the confirmation out loud.
“Yes.”
It was a simple answer.
And then.
“Waaaaaaaa!”
"Oh, yeah! The Underdog is the best!”
“I told you, we’re okay now!”
The cheers of the Hunters erupted.
The battle had ended.
Smirk.
Yeo Seong-Gu, Lee Jun-Kyeong, and Jeong In-Chang also smiled at each other.
Then, as always.
Squeeze!
Yeo Seong-Gu hugged Lee Jun-Kyeong after the fierce fight.
The cataclysm in Incheon seemed to be over.
Lee Jun-Kyeong, after leaving Yeo Seong-Gu’s embrace, looked over at him.
"Thank you for your efforts."
"Good work."
As they praised each other, the survivors at Inha University also began to cheer in relief as they heard the news.
“Still, monsters will continue to appear. So we can't relax until everything is over,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.
“That’s true. Still, we most likely won’t be under threat as badly as this from now on, though.”
“That’s right.”
As the two looked over at each other for a while.
Zzt.
They felt the thrum of mana.
It was a trembling of mana that a low-level person could never feel.
Lee Jun-Kyeong noticed it was coming from Yeo Seong-Gu.
“Is that the Bifrost…?”
Since he had been with the Bifrost for quite some time, he had become aware of its unique mana signature.
Yeo Seong-Gu raised his hand for a moment and closed his eyes, resonating with the Bifrost.
Then.
“...”
His expression stiffened.
“It was a message from the outside.”
Before Lee Jun-Kyeong could ask, Yeo Seong-Gu stated gravely, “The cataclysm has begun in Seoul as well.”
1. Icelanding for Mistletoe, from the Hromundar saga Gripssonar. 👈
2. As mentioned in earlier chapters, the liver is where Koreans associate courage and bravery. 👈
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