From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 136: The Desert’s Sun

The First Flame: Maelstrom.

As a skill used by the Demon King, it had a similar effect to the First Flame of concentrating all of the surrounding flames into a single point. However, there was an important difference in the usage of the concentrated flames, where the flames would rotate to form a huge vortex of fire.

Moreover, because it was a higher level of skill than the First Flame, it was almost impossible for him to use.

“Gasp…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong let out a rough breath.

Now that he had the power of Madness.

Now that he was determined not to control it.

He had decided to try to forcefully form the skill that would normally be impossible for him to use.

The result was a success.

The vortex had combined with the Saint Fire created by Horus, showing even more power than he had expected.

“Ugh…”

Set hadn’t made a single sound up until now, but was now groaning while forcefully keeping his sandstorm together.

Using his sandstorm, Set was struggling to forcefully push away the First Flame: Maelstrom away.

The swirl of sand and fire fought for power, repeatedly growing and shrinking back and forth.

However.

‘This is dangerous.’

It was all out of control.

The sand and flames intertwined together and began to grow great and greater.

Inside the narrow pyramid, the force of the combined sand and flames was too great to be contained within its walls.

Rrrip!

The sandstorm was quickly gnawing through the Temple of Ra.

Drip!!

Furthermore, the First Flame: Maelstrom was melting the pyramid after having merged with the Saint Fire.

“Get away from it!” shouted Lee Jun-Kyeong.

The vortex was growing out of control. He could feel his mana fading away like a low tide.

The party moved urgently.

Horus cried out as well, "Mother!"

Lee Jun-Kyeong was not the only one controlling the vortex.

As the Saint Fire of Horus was also mixed within the vortex, Lee Jun-Kyeong and Horus were controlling the flames and Saint Fire together.

He could feel Isis urgently spreading her strength behind him.

A huge curtain, a formation boundary, formed behind him.

“Ugh…”

Groaning, Lee Jun-Kyeong grabbed Merlin's Necklace.

The force contained within Merlin’s Necklace exuded forth and strengthened Isis’ boundary formation.

Flicker! Flicker!

There was a continuous collision of sand and flames.

As Isis’ boundary formation became firm, there was a large crashing noise.

Boom!

The ground.

“It’s collapsing!”

The massive pyramid in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, a pyramid that had existed before the Nile had made use of it, began to collapse under the burden of screams and the collision of sand and fire.

BOOM!

A huge explosion, followed by a series of even larger explosions due to the collapse, soon followed.

The Nile, the Temple of Ra, was falling.

***

“Ugh…”

Jeong In-Chang groaned and raised his reeling body.

Because of the thick dust clouds surrounding him, it was impossible to distinguish what was in front of him or what was behind him, let alone who was friend or foe.

Although it felt like someone was stabbing him in the head with an awl due to the impact of the collapse, Jeong In-Chang began to move.

“Ugh…”

He knew the pyramid had collapsed, and he knew that Isis and Lee Jun-Kyeong had created a boundary formation for their safety.

‘Considering how sturdy I am, it must have been?bad as even?I’m?in this sorry state.’

However, it hadn’t been enough to prevent all of the shock caused by the pyramid’s collapse.

Even he, with the body of a warrior and a Hero, had been shaken to the point that he was unable to control his body and passed out.

He had to look for Won-Hwa and the other Hunters.

Whoosh!

Jeong In-Chang swung around his greatsword, using his mana to remove the cloud of dust.

Some of the dust was lifted away by the wind.

Clang!

Although Jeong In-Chang felt like he could hear something in the distance, he couldn’t concentrate because he was worried about his colleagues.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Jeong In-Chang continued to move forward while swinging around his greatsword.

"Princess! Fenrir! Won-Hwa! Hyeon-Mu!"

Jeong In-Chang continued to move forward as he called out his companions’ names.

The scene that was revealed as the dust lifted was disastrous. The remains of the pyramids were scattered in chaos, and all he could hear were screams ringing continuously.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

His greatsword continued to swing from side to side.

Clang!

The dust cleared, and the sound he had heard earlier was now clear.

Flicker.

He could still feel the burning red flames and sand that were mixed in with the dust.

In the midst of that chaos.

“Mr. Lee…”

Jeong In-Chang saw a man with red eyes, a man with red eyes and a red gem set in his forehead, and finally, someone with a crimson aura wrapped around both hands that were still fighting even though the pyramid had collapsed.

Set was still fighting with Lee Jun-Kyeong and Horus.

“Mr… Jeong…”

Jeong In-Chang quickly turned his head at the sound of the voice and exclaimed, “Princess!”

It was Won-Hwa. On top of him was the princess.

The princess was in her massive form, protecting Won-Hwa and their other colleagues with her whole body.

“Goongje…”

The princess, bleeding, smiled at Jeong In-Chang.

***

[...]

Lee Jun-Kyeong could hear the voices of the Sponsors, but he had no time to care about them.

The First Flame: Maelstrom and the sandstorm controlled by Set combined and topped the pyramid.

Nevertheless.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The battle was still fierce.

Even as the pyramid fell around them, he thrust forward with his spear while Horus wielded his bandages. Set blocked their blows with scimitars in both hands.

The battle, which had begun inside the pyramid, continued during the collapse of the pyramid and still continued to this point even after the pyramid collapsed.

Roar!

Flames shot up, and Lee Jun-Kyeong’s spear knocked aside Set’s scimitar and aimed at Set’s face.

Set avoided it, folding at the waist and knocking the blow aside with his sword.

Swish!

Horus’ bandage shot forward, searching for an opening.

Set wasn’t able to find any opening to attack in the midst of a series of delays from the combination of blows.

He was being pushed back.

However.

“...”

“...”

Horus and Lee Jun-Kyeong looked pale.

They were worried that their colleagues might have been hurt by the collapse of the pyramid.

“He still…”

“Is he still not showing us everything he has…”

Moreover, they could feel a power Set had hidden.

Crash!

From where Lee Jun-Kyeong and Horus stepped back, the front paw of an animal crashed down.

“...!”

Before Lee Jun-Kyeong could even try to see what it was, he heard a piercing scream.

“Agh!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong hurriedly looked to the side.

"Lord Horus!"

Horus had been bitten by an unknown beast.

Horus struggled, but the mouth of the beast stayed shut as if it refused to release its prey.

Crack!

Something even approached Lee Jun-Kyeong with a strange sound.

He quickly raised Muspel’s Spear.

Chomp!

A dark jaw shut in front of him as if to tear into him.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had shoved his spear into the jaws vertically so that whatever was attacking him couldn’t bite through him.

He could feel the blood flowing down, and it was the blood from the jaws that attacked him.

And.

“Ugh.”

His own blood as well.

Muspel’s Spear hadn’t been able to block the attack entirely.

Drip.

In his shoulders, a tooth the size of a stake had plunged itself.

Lee Jun-Kyeong urgently stirred up his mana, and the mana flames rose up like an aura, the temperature rising up enough to burn the very air.

The jaws backed up, and Lee Jun-Kyeong saw clearly what had attacked him as he landed on the ground.

“...”

It was Set.

In front of him, the Hunter’s arms had morphed into the upper body of the giant beasts that had just attacked him and Horus.

Horus had just been struck by the beast of Set, so he was standing beside him on one knee, breathing heavily.

“Gasp…gasp…”

Possibly having occurred in the aftermath of the attack just now, the bandages that had been wrapped all over Horus’ body had loosened.

His exposed body, dry and twisted, was barely standing as his mummy-like body shook as he exhaled.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Horus made eye contact.

"Set..."

They looked over at Set.

A dark crimson aura emanated from Set’s entire body.

This was the real power he had been hiding.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Horus, witnessing the power, were in despair.

From the beginning, the end of this fight had been decided.

“This…”

They could never win.

Lee Jun-Kyeong could see why Baldur had disappeared—the Hunter should have seen that power.

That dark crimson aura looked as though it had the power of an abyss that would endlessly torrent over them just by looking over at it.

He felt fear.

He was terrified.

He wanted to run away.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was being eroded by horrifying emotions.

He chewed on his lower lip, and in the meantime, the First Flame: Maelstrom had disappeared, and the dust cloud was clearing up.

Shing!

Through the dust, the sun shone.

The relentless sun of the desert was blazing over the battlefield.

This was an unwinnable battle.

However.

‘We can’t back down.’

Neither Lee Jun-Kyeong nor Horus could leave now.

Shift.

Horus raised his tired body, and Lee Jun-Kyeong lifted his spear again.

Although they were fighting a monster, this was their task.

[The Desert’s…]

A voice they hadn’t been able to decipher earlier began to make its existence known.

[<The Desert’s Sun> shines down upon you.]

ZZZT!

The dust was completely cleared.

The sun, which had been hidden by the pyramid and couldn’t be seen, fell strongly upon Lee Jun-Kyeong, Set, and Horus.

Someone murmured as they saw the ray of light fall upon them, “The glory of Ra…”

Even in the midst of the collapse of the pyramid, the Hunters, most of whom seemed as though they had survived, were looking at the battlefield with their bleeding bodies.

One of them knelt down and bowed his head.

Thud!

They couldn’t tell if it was because of exhaustion or out of his own free will.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In the midst of the remains of the pyramid, in the stone chamber, the Hunters fell on their knees and prostrated themselves.

“The glory of Ra!”

The glory of Ra.

Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t easily understand what they were doing, but by looking at Horus, he could understand their reaction.

“...!”

The sun was shining down on one spot.

Horus’ back was exposed by the loosening of the bandages.

It intermixed with the Saint Fire Horus exuded and his bandages.

“Wings…”

They were turning into wings of light.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was mesmerized by the scene.

The power that he felt from the wings of mana was more than he could have ever expected.

This was Horus’ second awakening.

Nevertheless, Set didn’t make a move.

“H…how?!”

The voices of astonished Hunters became a clamor around them, and Lee Jun-Kyeong began to circulate his strength without even knowing why.

“Huh…?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was raising his strength in preparation for the battle, made a confused sound.

Something was different.

Before he even noticed what was going on, he heard Jeong In-Chang state in a flustered voice, “Mr. Lee…?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked back at everyone who was looking toward him now.

Moreover.

“...”

Even Horus was staring at him as well.

"Is this Ra's decision?"

He could even see Set smirking with a mysterious smile.

Lee Jun-Kyeong slowly raised his head.

The sun glared down upon him, and in the midst of its rays, a voice could be heard.

[<The Desert’s Sun> has sponsored you.]

As Lee Jun-Kyeong’s face twisted in bewilderment, Set swung his arm that had morphed into a beast.

Boom!

Lee Jun-Kyeong hurriedly escaped the blow while, before his very eyes, a great force burst forward.

Whoosh!

Horus, unfolding his wings of great light, was flying furiously toward Set.

1. The author has Set continually switching from one sword to two. It’s because Set can form swords from sand continuously.