From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 133: Horus Pt. 2

Flutter.

The bandages wrapped around Horus that had loosened waved as if they were being moved by a breeze from the mana emanating from his body.

It wasn’t that all of the bandages that had been wrapped around Horus’ entire body had unraveled.

It was only the bandages on his forearms that had been loosened.

His exposed arms were so thin that they looked as though they would shatter immediately with a single touch.

However.

“...”

Everyone was silent as they stared at them.

A huge aura began to emanate from those frail arms.

“Ugh…”

Jeong In-Chang rubbed his arms as if he could feel the goosebumps rising all over his body.

It was a terrifying mana, strong enough to cause goosebumps.

Perhaps it was because of how long he had been sealed, but Horus seemed unable to control his mana well, so everyone was subject to feeling the weight of his power.

Eventually.

Thud.

He moved.

It was only a single step forward.

Flicker!

However, Anubis’ reapers of death, who were burning to embers in front of him, began to return to rest once more.

They screamed and bellowed indecipherably, while at the same time, Anubis also cried out in pain.

“Keugahhhhh!”

He was suffering from the backlash of the destruction of the Scale of Hearts and had become drained of all power after losing the strength of Isis.

As each reaper died, he was subjected to pain over and over.

“Keugah! No… no more!” Anubis screamed.

“Ha-a-eup!”

Right at that moment, the Jackals, who had been retreating little by little, had reorganized their offensive once more and rushed toward Horus. They clearly believed that this would be their only chance as it hadn’t been very long since the Hunter had woken from the seal.

“Lord Horus!" Inebu shouted as he swung a huge spear at the two Jackals.

Clang!

One of the two Jackals dropped their sword.

Squelch!

The other had their shoulder pierced through by Inebu’s spear.

“Keugahh!”

The Jackal screeched in pain.

However, he smirked as he grabbed Inebu’s spear with both hands. The Hunter tried to withdraw his spear, but it was grasped firmly by the dying Jackal.

“You…you purposefully…!”

The Jackal had deliberately allowed himself to be pierced as he was intent on keeping Inebu busy.

They only had a small opportunity to attack Horus.

They would have to sacrifice everything in order to eliminate any possible variable that could keep them from completing their mission.

The other Jackals also ran straight to Horus as they watched for any movements around them.

Their scimitars moved quickly, and one blade quickly became dozens, turning into a mirage of flashes.

They became a rain of blades, pouring down over the awakened Horus.

Jeong In-Chang and Won-Hwa tried to intercept the Jackals, but they found themselves blocked and unable to take a step.

“Keugah!!”

Fenrir and the princess were keeping Anubis, who was still suffering from the backlash, at bay.

As such.

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

The rain of blades turned into a sandstorm, heading straight for Horus.

As they were on the verge of penetrating through his body, Isis exclaimed, terrified, thinking that the son she had just barely gotten back might be taken away again.

“Horus!”

All Isis could do was shout as her powers hadn’t recovered yet from being stripped from her through the Scale of Hearts.

Finally.

Squelch.

A cruel sound crushed the atmosphere in the stone chamber.

Smirks seemed to barely pass through the gaps of the masks worn by the Jackals, almost as if it had been an illusion.

However, the Jackals were assassins to their very core. Despite seeing their blades striking all over Horus, they continued forward as they wouldn’t stop until the Hunter was torn into shreds.

Then, suddenly.

“Huh…?”

The party heard the Jackals exclaim in surprise, and this was the first time they were hearing them speak rather than scream.

Screech.

Then they heard something that resembled the sound of the gears of a machine screeching as the blades shrieked. Then, the blades, just as they pierced into Horus’ body, shot out back to where they came from, raining over the Jackals in return.

Thoom thoom thoom thoom!

The flesh that could be seen through the torn bandages that covered Horus instantly regenerated before their eyes.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the flesh that was regenerated.

“The bandages…”

It was almost as if the bandages that were wrapped around his body were an extension of his being. In fact, the bandages regenerated, wrapping over his body once more.

The Jackals groaned in pain, pierced by their own blades.

However, Horus’ anger didn’t stop there.

Swish!

The bandages that had come loose around his arms suddenly hardened into a blade and sliced through the Jackals.

This all happened within an instant. Before anyone could react, the only surviving Jackals were the ones either penetrated by Inebu’s spear or those who were far away from Horus, blocking the approaching Hunters.

“...”

It was an overwhelming victory.

“This isn’t the end,” Horus said as his bandages shot forward again.

Squelch!

It was an eerie sound.

“KEUGAHHHHH!”

Horus’ bandage was firmly pierced into one of the eyes of Anubis, who had been mindlessly rampaging about in pain.

He then recited a prayer.

“Return to Ra.”

At the same time, Flames spread all over Anubis, who was in the shape of a black jackal.

Although Anubis’ life force was fading away, Horus didn’t finish him off, and soon, the fire went out.

“Gasp… gasp…”

Anubis collapsed and gasped, barely able to take a breath.

“I’ve done as you asked,” Horus said as he turned away.

“Thank you,” said Lee Jun-Kyeong in response as he looked back at the Hunter. He had recovered slightly.

At the same time, suddenly, everyone felt absolutely shocked.

BOOM!

Another horrifying burst of mana had blasted through the whole pyramid.

Horus looked up at the ceiling and began to speak, his voice trembling, “My father, he…”

Something had happened.

Something, something that shouldn’t have disappeared, had vanished.

It was the loss of life force.

“He has passed…”

Osiris had died.

Boom.

As the sound of the pyramid trembled around them, Horus spoke again.

“He will come.”

Set was coming.

***

“Ah!!”

Horus had been released from the seal, and the pyramid, the entire structure, rang with a powerful aura.

Then, another cry rang out.

"Ah!"

If the Nile’s Hunters had exclaimed in joy the first time after feeling the energy of Horus, then their second cry was different.

It was a cry of sorrow.

“Dear Lord Osiris…”

It could be said that Osiris had been an idol and a true Hero to the Hunters of the Nile, and his energy, which had just become weaker than before, had suddenly just disappeared.

Then, immediately after that.

“...”

They all could feel an indescribably horrifying aura.

“We…we’ve been defeated.”

The death of Osiris.

The awakening of Set.

The Hunters of the Nile lamented their sorrows and blamed themselves for their defeat. Even though they knew they were under a rebellion, they had just lost their Pharaoh in their own home.

Morale began to drop sharply.

However.

“...No, not yet,” somebody murmured.

The Hunters who heard the voice raised their heads.

“Lord Horus has awoken.”

Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis.

Osiris had united the Nile, which had been divided into three branches that had been fighting for power. For a short time, he had led the Nile brilliantly.

Now, that being’s son had awoken from his seal.

"Let's go,” cried the Hunter who had originally spoken.

They could feel the auras moving. The massive auras that engulfed the entire pyramid were beginning to head toward each other and collide.

"Let's go!"

The Hunters began to move.

They had not been defeated yet.

Their Pharaoh had died, but the one who would become the new Pharaoh still remained.

No matter who it ended up being, they had decided.

They would see to the end to see who it would be.

But then, someone else cried out.

“Memphis will withdraw from the battle,” shouted the head of the Memphis, Thoth.

Many Hunters of Memphis had been lost due to the attack of the Jackals. He didn’t want to see his people struggle any further, and he also had no confidence in their ability to win.

“What are you going to do, Hermopolis?” he cried out to Sekhmet, the head of the Hermopolis branch.

Hermopolis was a branch that did not get along with Heliopolis, which was the branch that Osiris originally headed. Osiris had only integrated the three branches by force, so conflicts had still continued within the integrated Nile. Sekhmet, the head of Hermopolis, had continued to be extremely belligerent.

"Hermopolis will...”

Sekhmet mused for a moment, after which she began to speak as if she had made her decision, “We will fight against the tyranny of Set. As for the gutless cowards of Memphis, you all can leave.”

The Hunters of Hermopolis gathered behind Sekhmet's back.

“I refuse to see the Nile fall in this manner.”

“...”

Thoth was silenced at Sekhmet’s response. Although he hadn’t expected this, their destinations were still the same.

“Let’s go.”

Regardless of if they would join the battle or not, regardless of who won, they need to go to the site of action.

The war that was going on now was a war they had to see and witness.

Thud, thud, thud!

The pyramid rang once more with the sound of the Hunters’ departure. There were no more Jackals standing in their way. They, too, had gone to move to the location of the final battle, sensing their master’s conflicts.

‘The Temple of Ra.’

The place where everyone was gathering was a temple dedicated to the God they served, and he was a God they worshiped even before the existence of the Sponsors appeared.

It was the most important location in the Nile as it was where the Emblem of the Nile was placed.

For someone who wanted to be the Pharaoh of the Nile, it was a place they would have to go.

The remaining Hunters of the Nile.

Set and his Jackals.

Even Horus and Lee Jun-Kyeong’s party.

They all began to gather in a single place.

***

"Are you okay?" Jeong In-Chang and Won-Hwa asked as they clung to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was walking unsteadily as if he was drunk.

‘I think I’m going crazy.’

His vision was spinning, and his head felt like it was going to explode.

He had attempted to absorb Horus' Madness. Although he hadn’t been able to absorb all of it, he had still been able to absorb half of the energy.

Horus had lost some of that power because of Lee Jun-Kyeong, the Hunter had still obtained an incredible amount of strength.

On the other hand, Lee Jun-Kyeong had glimpsed a taste of death in that calamity.

“I think I’m going to die.”

However, with that feeling of death, half of that incredible strength was sleeping within him.

He knew that the strength he had consumed deliberately by reversing the flow of the Dragon’s Bloodstone would help him one day.

As long as his level went up, he would eventually be able to use it someday.

He would dominate it, the Madness.

Smirk.

That was the reason why Lee Jun-Kyeong could still laugh even though he was feeling so much pain that he felt like he would die.

The power of Madness was as overwhelming as its side effects horrifying. It was like a drug.

Once someone tasted this power, even if they knew the side effects, they would have no choice but to reach out for it once again.

Moreover.

‘What kind of Madness was he even given?’

The Madness that Horus had absorbed wasn’t just any ordinary strand of the red gem, either.

It was incredibly condensed.

The side effects and power the Madness granted were entirely different from what he had prepared to deal with Heracles.

“For now, we’ll conduct emergency treatment. You’re suffering from qi deviation,” Won-Hwa said as he started treating Lee Jun-Kyeong’s body with acupuncture.

The treatment didn’t restrict his movement and simply suppressed the reverse flow of his qi.

“Thank you…” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, thanking him in a tired voice.

Won-Hwa and Jeong In-Chang smiled at him.

"You did it,” Jeong In-Chang said to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

No matter how hard the process had been, they had finally done it. They had only been able to say that they had finished it because they had completed such a difficult task.

"That's what I’m saying," Lee Jun-Kyeong said. His gaze went past Jeong In-Chang afterward.

He looked at a withered man, still wrapped in bandages, that stood with Isis and Inebu.

The three of them were walking forward, flanked by Bastet and Numek.

From the man exuded a huge force, almost as if it was exploding outward.

‘It seems I’ve caused a sandstorm in the Nile.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong walked as he gazed upon what he had accomplished.

Smirk.

He laughed.

“Snort.”

Fenrir rubbed his snout on Lee Jun-Kyeong’s body anxiously, concerned.

Shhhh.

As for the princess, she was dragging something at Lee Jun-Kyeong’s request.

“Ugh…”

She was dragging Anubis, whom they had kept alive.

He had lost even his own appearance due to Horus’ flames and was being dragged by the princess, who was holding him by the hair like a sack of luggage.

Thump.

Somewhere along the line, Horus stopped.

“Hyeon-Mu. Guard Anubis with Fenrir,” Lee Jun-Kyeong ordered to the skull, standing on his own again.

“Master, for what…”

Hyeon-Mu couldn’t understand why they kept Anubis alive, and it further couldn’t understand why Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted it even to protect him.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Hyeon-Mu and said in a bitter tone, “Because I’m in the middle of thinking about something.”

“What could…what…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong straightened up completely, holding onto Muspel’s Spear.

His eyes, still crimson, turned over to the moaning Anubis.

“Whether I should make you a sibling. Or maybe, I shouldn’t.”