Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Dragon. It’s a creature that if they didn’t appear in a fantasy game or novel, the product would be badly criticized. And, now a revelation had been made that there were dragons on the Lotus continent.

To be exact, they existed in the past.

“But not in the present. It is presumed that they have been exterminated for unknown reasons.”

“Looking at my family’s old records, they are also researching the reason why the dragon became extinct. Which means, they really lived so far back.”

“Interestingly, over the years, the description of dragon size has become smaller and smaller. In the first records, it’s described as being almost the same size as the mountain. But in the most recent description, which was a thousand years ago, their size has shrunk to a size slightly larger than a drake.” Tibris talked excitedly like a child with a toy.

It’s a bit bigger than a drake or even as big as mountains… The size difference between the two descriptions was so great to the point I doubted if it was the same subject.

Margretha seemed to recall an old memory as she cast her gaze at me.

“It is said that in the days of the small kingdom before the birth of the empire, there was also a dragon rider. It was an era full of romance.” She explained.

However, Da-jeong’s face hardened. It seemed like she didn’t agree with Margretha’s sentiment.

“Just think about it… How can someone ride a dragon? After all, if they are really big, their growth period will span as long as several decades.”

“Well, not much has been studied about the lifespan of dragons, but it seems to be able to love for at least hundreds of years.”

“So. Even if we hatch this, you’re saying we’ll have to take care of it for decades. Shall we just fry it?”

“At this size, it will be able to fill the belly of several people.”

“…don’t you think the egg just moved?”

Margretta’s gaze was fixed on her egg.

Couldn it have heard of us?

Da-jeong pushed the egg with her leg and rolled it around. Looking at her action, Tibris became as white as a sheet. Fortunately, the egg did not break.

Anyway, there is some truth in what Da-jeong said. If a dragon hatched from an egg which was almost as big as a human torso, the dragon at the very least would be as big as a medium-sized dog.

Just how many years would it take to raise it from that size to a rideable size?

Maybe the only time we would be able to ride it was once we are just inches before our grave?

I couldn’t even guarantee that I would be alive until then.

“But still… We have to grow it. Let’s leave it to Jiman.”

“Is he something like mother of all?” Da-jeong chuckled.

When I put the looted items in the storage, Mikyung finally arrived. Before long we returned to the Korean shelter.

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Prior to the battle against the Giudecca church, Seongho had told the the group this:

-The fight will be between them and several of us. You who are not fighting need to find what you can do and do it.

The number of people involved in the battle were Seongho, Dajeong, Margretha, and Tibris. Meanwhile, Seokhyun and Geom-in went to Tokyo, and the rest of the members stayed in the Korea shelter.

Their role was to defend the shelter. However, in actuality, they had nothing to do. So, Hyung-Jun called the members for a meeting.

-You heard Seongho, right? Let’s do what we can together.

That was how the creation of the Lotus Shelter kicked off. They had planned it for several months now, and Seongho had even laid some groundwork in Lotus. However incidents broke out one after another, stifling the progress to a halt.

Since Seongho just left the dimensional door leading to Lotos open, Hyung-jun wants to finish it as much as possible. It’s more productive than doing nothing and just waiting for victory news.

Hyung-jun carried the materials and instructed the members what to do.

“Sooyeon ssi, please flatten the ground around here.”

“Okay.”

After twists and turns, the ground was finally compacted. The members could finally bring the materials into the area.

While everyone was sweating, Ji-man was doing other things. He’s moving the farms, vegetable gardens, orchards, and many other things. He was in charge of all the flora and fauna of the shelter, so he was one of those people who didn’t have to do anything else.

In fact, he had so many responsibilities to the point he would feel overwhelmed if he put other things on top of hundreds of cattle, ducks, hwajo, warthogs, and countless crops he was in charge of.

The reason he was the only one who was trusted by so many things was his Unique Skill. Bio-friendly. It was a powerful skill even at the lowest level. Yet, when it crossed level 25, it became even more so. Thanks to the additional effect the skill got, now the animals under Ji-man’s care did not have to suffer from any disease.

As Ji-man worked, he took a quick glance around the new shelter. He could see that the other members were paying attention to the auction house while working. That was because their fate would be determined by the direction of the battle with the church.

According to the words from the auction house, the church’s destination is the Korean Shelter. If Seongho was defeated, they could easily assume that there’s no one to stop them.

There were of course Seokhyun and Geom-in who went to Tokyo, but as powerful as they are, they weren’t enough to turn the tide of the war.

When Ji-man turned his attention to his own auction house window, he could see comments pouring in. After all, someone who had big enough balls was relaying the battle he watched from a building near the battlefield.

-This is no joke. Duck was firing bombs while riding on her Gryphon, while Gimbap turned into a monster and attacked those lunatics.
-Please relay in detail.
-What kind of sports broadcast is this?
-I mean, watching a fight was always fun…
-Bro, can you talk about that in front of Gimbap?

As always, the comment section was always full of chaos. Everyone was excited, so harsh words were exchanged.

Then, when the person who relayed the battle in earnest, everyone become quiet.

-A Lightning struck from the sky, and a female knight reflected it with her shield. Just what in the world is that ability!
-What happened to the reflection?
-It hits the priest! But it’s really hard to put it in words… You really have to see this for yourself.
-What kind of broadcast is this! Is this the only one?
-Gimbap started running! Ah, the enemy team is no match against him. They just can’t stop him!

People cheered when they heard that the number of people and monsters that were fighting was almost 100.

As the relay continue, something happened.

-Huh… is that a real human?
-Seeing it in person, it’s thrilling and not a joke. So far our fights have been child’s play.
-Is the monster Seongho? How did he transform?
-People in the shelter will know.

-But that big man in a white priest robe… Isn’t he fighting on an equal footing with Seongho nim?
-No not equal, he was pushed by Gimbap.
-Guys, what if there’s someone around level 25 between them?
-Dead in One hit I bet.

-AAAAAAANNDDDDDD! A Fireball!
-It’s on a different level from Fireball in phone games.
-Ah, I want to see it too!

Then, Seongho drew the Ether Blaze and delivered the final blow. The comment section was littered with screams and cheers.

-OHHHHHH!!! FIREEEEEEE!
-Eh no, not fire… It’s a sword aura?
-What are you talking about?
-Sword aura is like a sword made of chi, but isn’t that one more sinister?
-The fuck is that the problem? Now our Seongho has become a sword master!
-Since when Gimbap become our Seongho?
-From today onwards, If Seongho tell me to licks his feet, I will lick it. I need to ask him to teach me blacksmithing.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point. What was important was that Seongho had blown the head of the bald priest with what the auction house called ‘sword aura’.

At that moment, news came to the auction house that the first three people who were caught by Giudecca Church. They were somewhat injured, but arrived at a shelter in South Korea without any danger to their lives.

The auction house literally turned into a crucible of festivities. Among them, there were quite a few people who wanted to enter Korea Shelter.

-I don’t think that’s possible. Korea shelters do not accept anyone.
-Why? In the past, I was told to come anytime.
-Things are a bit different now. It was due to several things…

There were times when the shelter was almost divided into two. And there were also times when the leadership was on the verge of being destroyed.

Everyone sighed heavily when news came that Gimbap was in charge of the current shelter in Korea and he had no plan to increase the number of staff in the near future.

-People who entered earlier are really lucky. It’s probably the safest place in the world.
-I know, right?
-Ah, I’m envious… I also want to fight together with Gimbap.
-It seems like you have to be at least level 40 to fight together with him.
-Really?

-By the way, what should we do now… The monsters are beginning to be too much, and yet there’s also attacks from the other world…
-Does anyone know what monster will appear after the ogre?
-Very few people know that. I mean, back in the game, Ogre appear nearly around the end of the game.
-It was at a time when only the four stagnant waters were the players. And during the expansion pack days, everyone but Gimbap quit the game and he was the only one who attacked the Brutra.

-How do you know that?
-I am with the developer team. There was no one there at the time, I also the one who posted a server shutdown notice.

People at the auction house were in shock.

Doesn’t that mean that the commenter was the main culprit that brought the current situation?

But he stressed that he was also a victim.

-We didn’t bring disaster and create monsters. We are no different from you.
-Aren’t you Giudecca’s subordinate? People in Korea shelters hate you.
-I was. Not now, though. We decided to break up with Giudecca and came out of the Great Labyrinth. Now I want to hold hands with you.
-Who would believe that? Just a while ago, you fought a bloody battle with Seongho.
-The past is just the past. Giudecca is not a god with absolute power, and he is not even the king of monsters. We realized that and now we are about to wake up from the dream.
-In that respect, we are looking for people who will join us. You don’t have to worry about our feud with Seongho because we will work it out.

Not only the people at the auction house, the people of Korea shelter was also shocked by the declaration. After all, the person who posted the comment was definitely Ahn Geun Seok and Go Ho-kyung. They couldn’t believe that they had broken up with Giudecca.

After arriving at the shelter and handing the egg over to Jiman, Seongho frowned.

“What the fuck is this guy talking about?”

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A big incident happened in Tokyo, Japan. An ogre appeared near Ikebukuro Station. The dense jungle thumped and many monsters got out of the way. Even the very few survivors around the area were in a situation where their level was far too low to fight it.

Meanwhile, In the newly opened New Japan bunker, the mouths of a lot of people watered at the appearance of the ogre.

-If we hunt that ogre, it will be of great help in our future work.
-Mobilize all available forces. Some sacrifices are unavoidable. We must hunt the ogre.

The reason why the people of the New Japan bunker decide to come out like that was simple. They want to show their presence to all the survivors in Japan. After all, up until now the New Japan Bunker was ignored despite the lull of big power in Tokyo.

The reason the Japanese auction house ignored them was simple. It was because they hid for 1 year up until now.

-Haven’t you guys been stuck in a bunker for a year? You guys are cowards.
-We had endured the apocalypse for a year. It’s not a place for kids to come out.
-For that matter, the monster association had been completely destroyed not too long ago… There were rumors that the culprit was a Korean.
-If you were stuck in a bunker, your level would be low. Do you know what the shackles of the battlefield are? Stupid guys.
-Moreover, the government must have received information from the Korean government. Yet, they didn’t tell us anything.
-Bunch of bastards…
-I heard there are quite a lot of supplies stored in the bunker. Let’s watch them a little bit more.
-The Shiraishis? What are you guys going to do by bringing the royal bloodline from decades ago?

The plan of the New Japan Bunker was also heavily criticized by the Japanese. Even when it became known that they had guns, the public opinion did not change. After all, the high-level survivors who frequent the auction house were suspicious of them.

-They have a lot of guns and supplies… Which means, we don’t have to look like beggars anymore.
-But will they treat us well?
-On the surface, they promise the best treatment, but…
-Who knows what those guys who didn’t tell us jackshit about the apocalypse will do to us? It’s a relief if we don’t get treated as consumables.

When public opinion was not good, the New Japan bunker hurriedly started to evolve. Former Prime Minister Takahiro Ikeda showed off his goodwill by meeting high-level survivors and demonstrating the power of firearms.

He put up an item in the auction house and declared:

-It has been a year since the end. I think we must learn the wisdom of the future from the lessons of the past with a calm mind.

-Looking back to a year ago, the Korean government was hiding many things from us. Even now they are not friendly to Japan. Not long ago, an accident occurred in which our elite agents who entered the Great Labyrinth were murdered by them. It’s really unfortunate.

-So, we want to gather momentum and form a force to defend ourselves! Everyone, please lend me your strength in the New Japan Bunker.

If Koreans who knew the situation saw the message, they would have no words to say. Not because it’s the truth, but because of how ridiculous the claim is. But to the Japanese, they look at Takahiro Ikeda’s plea quite favorably.

Following the declaration, Anonymous J, who was treated as a high-level survivor at the auction house, said:

-it’s about time we gather. We can’t live like this forever.

He was the only survivor in Tokyo who was over level 30. Everyone at the auction house was anonymous, but he was the only one who posted the actual situation, so his presence was quite big.

So, when he joined the New Japan bunker, several high-level survivors followed. Thus, the ogre encirclement was completed.

While everyone was holding their breath and observing the ecology of the ogre, Seokhyun and Geom-in came out from the entrance of the Great Labyrinth. While scouting the area with a drone, the two spotted the ogre in question.

Geom-in nervously made a mark on the map.

“This is a big deal… I heard from the auction house that the New Japan Government issued a hunt order to the Ogre.”

“They want to hunt it? But that ogre is Duck’s.”

Seokhyun remembered the day the ogre first appeared. A sense of familiarity washed over him as soon as he saw it. It felt like he saw a friend after not seeing each other for so long. That’s why he quickly jumped towards the ogre to play with it.

That was also the reason why he killed it even though he knew that Da-jeong’s fighting power had weakened recently.

“We wanted it, but whether they would give it to us is another matter.”

“We can just make them.”

Seokhyun jumped up and the swordsman was frightened.

“Hey, we can’t go now. We have to wait for Seongho.”

“If we wait for Seongho, the ogre will die.”

He jumped right out and charged into the jungle.

“Why are you doing this to me!!!” Geom-in pulled his hair and chased after him.