Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Opening a sealed shelter or bunker was tons of fun.
Whenever I imagined what was stored inside, my heart always jumped around.
Especially so if it was made by the US military.
After all, their weapon system was far superior to that of the Korean Army, so there must be something good among the pile.

I went around the bunker with Mi-kyung.
I lifted the concrete cover by myself utilizing the power of the ogre glove and farmed the materials inside to my heart’s content.
There was nothing special though, but it was fun to see the dimensional warehouse get fuller and fuller.

In our next escapade, we arrived at the US Army bunker.
And boy, a huge supply was waiting for us as soon as we got there.
Even if I add up all the military bunkers we’d farmed so far, I don’t think the amount would be comparable to the supplies stored here.

“The US Army is indeed amazing.”

“Are the Americans stronger than us?”

“They are above and beyond what our country can do.
It’s said that they spend 1 trillion won on national defense.”

“Eh.
A trillion won?”

“That’s why the world calls them superpower nations.” I shrugged.

Mi-kyung looked around the wooden box full of bunkers and said worriedly.

“If the USFK is at this level, it means that the army in America soil stockpiled an enormous amount of supplies…”

T/N USFK: United States Forces Korea

“Yeah, you are right…”

If the United States makes up its mind, it could certainly show the world their tremendous fighting power.
Only a few monsters could survive even if they only used the rifle and bazooka.
As for me, I could only hope that America was not our enemy.

However, while moving supplies, I suddenly became concerned about Mi-kyung’s clothes.
I don’t want to pay attention to women’s clothes too much, but aren’t shorts and tank tops in the apocalypse a bit too much?

Well, today was a really hot day and there’s no reason to fight, so I had nothing to say about wearing something comfortable.

The two of us worked hard to move the supplies, but Mi-kyung suddenly brought up a story from before.
A story about when she took Jang Won Taek to Hannam-dong.

“I was very scared back then.
That grandfather is alone in that spacious official residence.”

“We can’t help it.
He lost his subordinates and even laid down his will to live.

Much of the blame for what happened to him could be said as my responsibility.
Since I killed Kim Hyun-woo and Lee Beom-seok, it was as if I cut both of his arms off.
But I had no regrets at all.
Even if I go back to the past once again, I would do the same again.
The two clearly crossed the line, and they had to pay the price of their stupidity.

Mi-kyung sat next to me, fanning herself with her shirt.
“Oppa, give me some water.”

“Here.”

I pulled a water bottle out of the dimensional slot and gave it to her.
AFter gulping it down, she stared at me and jumped on top of my thighs.

“You girl…”

“I’m scared, oppa…”

I pushed her down and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Do you think you will be left alone like him?”

“Yes… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live like that…”

“There is nothing for you to be afraid of…”

Let’s not talk about something as gloomy as that.

Mikyung put her cheek to my chest and said.
“You know what, oppa? To-today, I dressed the same as I did a year ago.”

“A year ago? What are you doing at the time…”

It seemed that it was time when she’s preparing hard for the end.
It’s a bit early to call it a year ago, but it should be right.

“You saw my abs back then, aren’t you oppa?”

Ah so that time, huh?

“I didn’t mean to.”

When the lady from the beauty parlor next door came out from her store, she stretched out and her belly was exposed.
As a man, I couldn’t help it if my eyes darted towards there.

Mikyung laughed and wrapped her arms around my body.

“But since you are a girl, don’t go after a guy’s body recklessly.” I patted her on the shoulder.

“We are the only ones here.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t.”

“Tsk… Why are you so timid in times like this when you are always fighting monsters head on every single time?”

“This is what happens when you live with a tigress.”

We both know who the tigress in this conversation was.

“Do you know what that tigress said to me?” Mikyung pursed her lips.

“What is it?”

“She wants me to hurry up and do that… Because she wants to do that… quickly.”

Mikyung omitted a lot of words from those sentences, but I seemed to know what she meant.
After all, it’s the words that Da-jeong said.

“Don’t listen to Da-jeong.
She’s just joking.”

“She’s not.
Oppa, Do you know that she came into our cabin and pestered me every day?”

“Seriously?”

“She also touched Sooyeon unnie’s breasts, saying that they were just too big.”

I knew she was a pervert, but I didn’t know that she extended her magic to women.
Mikyung now put her arms around my neck and pulled it tight.
It was close enough for me to hear her breathing.

“Oppa, don’t ever leave me alone…”

“Why are you afraid that I will abandon you?”

“It’s an apocalypse… you don’t know what’s going to happen… I’m really scared.
I’m afraid I’ll be like that grandfather…”

“Just don’t betray us.”

She looked up at me and pursed her lips.

It smells kind of sweet.

“Really? Can I stay by your side?”

“Yes.”

“Oppa…”

Mikyung pulled my neck and kissed me.

I couldn’t deny her.

.
.
.

Margretha Pistel has been in trouble lately.
Three of her men had gone missing on a mission.
They all disappeared after leaving a final report on tracking down a talking ogre.

Even if it’s just that, it’s something that could make her explode in anger, but there was something even more amazing than that.
Someone was even taunting her through the whispering jewel of his three men.

It was not likely that the perpetrator had stolen it from the transcendence knight, so it was clear that he had accidentally acquired it somewhere.
Which means that the transcendence knight dropped the whispering jewel somewhere.

Thud-!!

Margretha’s fist pounded her desk.
Her emerald eyes were quivering with rage.

“I will not forgive them…”

At this point, it felt like the finder of the whispering jewel was trying to make fun of her.
On top of it, the people around her also start to blame her for the missing three knights.

-It is something that happened under the jurisdiction of the vice-captain.
isn’t it?
-I am clearly opposed to the plan…
-Stop.
I don’t want to hear your excuses.
This is your responsibility.
The reputation of the Marquis of Pistel has fallen to the ground.

Unbeknownst to others, Margretha gritted her teeth.
Her goddamned superior had evaded the responsibility for looking for the three missing knights even after he took all of her achievements as his.

However, that was not the reason why the transcendental knights did not look favorably on Margretha.
The cause of their jealousy was because of her family.

Margretha secretly let out a sigh of her own.

‘The power of bloodline is truly frightening…’ She did not undergo the same enhancement procedure like what the transcendence knights receive.
It was her lineage, passed down from generation to generation, that made her strong.
That fact was something that twisted the guts of the transcendence knights.

Nonetheless, Margretha’s skill was still far above that of any of the knights even without the painful procedure.
The ether blade coming out from her sword was the purest among the Transcendence Knights.

However, she wasn’t the strongest.
There were many monsters that transcended common sense in the world, and there were also a few transcendence knights who showed amazing adaptability to strengthening procedures.

‘I have to find them.’

Margretha’s gaze fell upon the list of the missing men.
The relationship between them was anything but cordial.
But, subordinates were subordinates; She had to search for them regardless of her own feelings.
However, in this kind of problem, the church rarely gives them their permission.

Church of Giudecca.
It boasted the most powerful force in the newborn Ezekium.
It was known that the combined strength of the Archbishops.
cardinals, and the priest which was led by Pope Van Dire, could easily surpass the power of the Transcendence Knights corps.

That was why The Transcendence Knights corps and the Mage Tower were in a situation where they had to take one step back every time they had to face the Church.
The fact had made the church’s nose so high they could pierce the sky.

‘Let’s talk to them.”

Margretha donned her robes and went out of her office.
She then visited the church and applied for a meeting.
As she waited in the reception room, someone walked in.
That someone was Koleos, a Heretic Inquisitor.

Considering her position as vice-captain of the Transcendence Knights, at least someone in the cardinal position was the one who should have greeted her.
The reception that she got now was a reflection on how the Church regards her as a person.

‘It always happens.’ Margretha maintained a poker face in front of the cruelty hidden inside a well reception shown to her by the church.

Heretic Inquisitor Koleos smiled and sat in front of her.

“Nice to meet you, beautiful sister.”

Margretha, with her platinum blonde hair, was momentarily stunned because of his words, but she managed to hold it from showing it in his face.

“I came because I had a request.”

“It must be regarding the missing brothers, yes?”

“Yes.
It’s been days since three of my men went missing.
We need to find their whereabouts.”

“Hmm…”

Koleos looked into her eyes for a long while.
Without fliching, she met his gaze straight on.

“Heretic Inquisitor Koleos, what do you want to say?”

“I don’t know if you have heard the news or not.
Two strangers had got caught in the ether field outside Ezekium…”

“I never heard that information.”

“Ah, it seems the news didn’t reach you.”

As Margretha sighed, Koleos shook his head and said, “Of course, I don’t mean that the Mage Tower hides information from you.
It seems there was a mistake.”

“So what do you want to say?”

“The strangers… I guess they want to quarrel with us.
They’ve been working in the ether field for the pst few days, but now they’re attacking us with a flying paper.”

“Doesn’t that mean they are nearby? Let’s go right now…”

As Margretha tried to stand up, Koless smiled.

“Those two I just mentioned… I think they’re talented.
Their ether concentration was also quite high.”

“They should be as strong as that if they dare to pick a fight against us.”

“At that level, they should be able to subdue a transcendence knight, right?”

Margretha’s eyes widened at his words.

“Could it be that the missing knights have something to do with them?”

“The Pope wants to capture them alive.
Secretly if you can.”

“…wasn’t it the church that prevented us from having contact with the strangers?”

Ezekium had noticed the existence of a distant world even before their world came to end.
And after the apocalypse, quite a few people followed in the footsteps.
But everyone kept it under a wrap.
The reason was to prevent the church from punishing them.

However, the situation changed rapidly.

“The appearance of irregular gates is increasing day by day.
Means, in the future we will have a situation that can no longer be hidden.”

“Are you telling me that you want to…”

“The Pope has special expectations for you Lord Pistel.” Heretic Inquisitor Koles chimed in before she could even finish her words.

To Margretha, those words from Koleos didn’t feel pleasant at all.
Even though he conveyed it as ‘Expectation’ it was more of like a threat.
After all, she knew that the reason Koleos asked her to do the mission, not her commander, was because she had no one else.
He must have judged that it was easy to monitor her because she had no one to get along with except for a few direct subordinates.

It’s not wrong though, so she got depressed.

“If you don’t want to, I will ask the knight commander…”

Margretha said hastily.

“No, I will do as you asked.”

Nothing was more urgent than to catch strangers who were likely to be related to disappearances of her subordinates.

“If Lord Pistel takes care of it, I will be reassured.
We will spare no support.”

“Somehow, you may have to open the gate.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“I will prepare first, then.” She stood up and leave.

.
.
.

I was scouting the Ezekium Garrison with Dajeong.
Even though we called it reconnaissance, the main purpose of the operation was to make them angry by provoking them rather than gathering information.

Yoohyeon’s paper plane glided easily on the sky, as if the range of Ether Field didn’t affect the sky.

Da-jeong rested her chin on her hand while lying face down on the hill.

“It seems that they didn’t even think that they would be attacked from the sky, huh?”

“Well, they probably think that since they couldn’t do it, no one else will be able to do it.”

The civilization of Lotos, including the Ezekium Empire, obviously handled ether much better than we do.
However, they were by no means perfect.
The prime example was the fact that they left the sky unguarded.
That means we had a chance to win against them.

Yoohyeon’s paper airplanes slammed into a certain tall building and exploded at that moment.

“Should I go and pull some aggro?” Da-jeong quietly rose to her feet and asked.

“Wait a bit.
I think that much is enough.
Look at them, they are furious.”

The building they had just attack seemed to be a very important building.
When I asked Yoohyeon about what the people over there were talking about, he said that people were shouting Giudecca’s name.

Dajeong’s eyebrows furrowed as he wrote the report.

“Why are they calling Giudecca? Isn’t it a Demon King to them too?”

“I know right?”

Do they perhaps see Giudecca as a god?

How can that be? It’s clearly written in Ruat’s research journal that Giudecca was no god.

Perhaps, the upper echelon of the Ezekium Empire was hiding the fact?

“You know what to do when they cross over, right?”

“I need to use the net guns, pepper bombs, and guns.
Yeah, I remember..”

The place where I opened the dimensional gate was at a Battle Royale battlefield.
Since the shackles of the battle were not released yet at that place, it was clear that they would be affected by it.

But, even though I was quite sure about my plan, I couldn’t help but to think about a worst case scenario.

“I think… they have an item that can nullify the effect of shackles of the battle.”

“They can nullify a nullifying ability? They had a lot, didn’t they?” Da-jeong grumbled.

The possibility was there, however, in my opinion, they could do it as long as whatever device they used to nullify it was generated and maintained.
That means, we need to subdue at once.
No mistakes could be made on our part.

“If that happens, you run away right away.
I will take care of it.”

“By transforming into Bomi Unnie?”

“Please just call it Abomination.
By the way, I think they send someone who can use an etherblade too.”

Etherblade.
It was a sword that looked similar to a shining sword made of lasers from a certain movie.
It also had great cutting power.
Some people had it as an ability, but there were some talented people who could use it as an item.

I remembered Geom-in comments as soon as I told him about it.

-To put it simply, they are swordmaster.
They build up ether in their heart and make it into a ring.
Depending on how many rings they have, the grade is different.
If they have more than 10 rings, they will be called a Grand Sword Master.

To be honest, I’m not sure where the hell he picked that setting up.

“To be honest, I want to try transforming into Abomination myself this time.”

“The aftereffect is so bad, so you can’t.”

In fact, not too long ago, Geom-in wore the bracelet and transformed.
As soon as the duration ran out, the guy passed out.
Even the absurdly strong Seokhyun said he couldn’t do it twice, so I was the only one who could endure doing it more than once.

While we chatted while waiting, the door on the outer wall of the Ezekium Garrison suddenly opened and a group of knights poured out.
There were also a few people in robes at the rear.

“They are out.”

“I’ll go in first.”

Da-jeong disappeared into the portal as I got up.

“They know that we are here.”

The one who was in front of the procession sprinted towards the hill where I was.
Looking through the telescope, it was a female knight with platinum hair.

“I’d like to have one round against them, but…”

The number of people who I presumed to be wizards make me think that I shouldn’t do so.
After all, I didn’t know what kind of magic they could use as I couldn’t see their status window due to the distance between us.

Then, I would have to cut their power down a bit now.

I took out a sniper rifle from the dimension slot and lined up the red dot towards one of the mages.

“I hope the murderer system doesn’t apply.”

I steadied my breath and pulled the trigger.
But unfortunately, it missed.
In the first place, It was impossible for me, who was untrained, to hit an object that moved that fast.
However, that one shot didn’t all go to waste.
It confused the enemy quite a bit after all.

The knights began to spread out, and the wizard in the back raised their hands into the sky.
In an instant, my eyes flashed.
I felt something sharp piercing me from the top of my head to my toes.

Smoke rose from my body as soon as the sensation went away as all of my skills were activated.

“These bastards…”

Let’s have a go then, you bastards!