From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 235. To Advance Pt. 2

The truth that Saeynkaed had told them was about Gehenna.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was going to tell everyone gathered here what he had learned as they all needed to know this. He looked over at his audience: Ungnyeo, Fenrir, Sangun, and even…Heimdall…

Barring those four, everyone who had any relation to him stood before him. All of the Hunters that were necessary for the upcoming battle were here. If they were to join the battle and put their lives on the line, they all deserved to know. That was true regardless of whether or not it was easy for them to accept.

Lee Jun-Kyeong could feel everyone staring at him. Zeus’s eyes were the most piercing as he had heard the tale of Saeynkaed as well. At first, he had tried to dissuade Lee Jun-Kyeong, arguing that he wasn’t sure if these Hunters, these Heroes, could truly accept this truth right before the great battle.

Moreover, even if they could accept it, there was no way to predict how any of them would respond. However, Lee Jun-Kyeong had to tell them all because of that very reason.

After all, they would eventually discover the truth behind the existence of Gehenna or the purpose of the Sponsors.

He stated, “They’re here to steal your bodies. At the end of the cataclysm lies the final gate, Gehenna. That gate is an inescapable trap from where their ambitions will come to life.”

***

Whether it was when he had spoken to Saeynkaed or even at this very moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong had refused to hide from the gazes of the Sponsors. He remembered that someone had once said that the Sponsors were all the same.

‘They’re all terrible voyeurs.’

It was something that the other Hunters would often forget once their rate of sponsorship slowed down.

The gazes of the Sponsors were always upon their incarnations. Moreover, that was why they would improve the bodies of their Incarnations whenever the Hunters would do something or achieve something satisfactory.

Basically, the Sponsors were most definitely looking down upon them.

Although there may have only been two Sponsors when Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus had been speaking with Saeynkaed, it was an entirely different situation now. There were at least thirty different Sponsors watching them.

Despite that, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t stop talking.

“In the end, if you enter Gehenna, it’s a given that your Sponsors will take away your bodies.”

Having come this far and grown this much, Lee Jun-Kyeong now had the power to hide them all from the gazes of the Sponsors. As long as he completely drained this small space of all the mana in the vicinity, he was sure that the Sponsors wouldn’t be able to pierce through. After all, the method that the Sponsors used to examine them was through mana itself.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t do anything.

“However…isn’t it possible for us to just die without our bodies being taken away?” asked Thoth, who had kept stoically silent throughout the entire time Lee Jun-Kyeong had spoken.

None of them knew that Lee Jun-Kyeong had come from a different era, the future. It was a fact that few people knew. Still, Lee Jun-Kyeong had no intention of exposing that.

“No matter what happens, the end is the same. An apocalypse, and the final end of it all."

“...”

The entire room went silent. It wasn’t an easy topic for them all to suddenly believe.

“Is there any way you can prove it?” Arthur asked.

Creaaak.

As soon as he spoke with a heavy expression on his face, the door opened as if someone had been waiting for this very moment. A beautiful woman with long red hair walked through. She had come all this way with Lee Jun-Kyeong from the United States.

Although none of the gathered Heroes said it aloud, they all could feel it.

“So it’s her…”

“The Ruler…”

She was the most terrifying of monsters that they had fought up to now, and the power of the Rulers exuded from deep within her.

The gathered Hunters had heard rumors that she had told Lee Jun-Kyeong everything. Now, she was here.

“Everything is up to you all. You have the right to choose what to do next.”

What decisions they would make now and how they would act from this point on was dependent on them.

“It’s too dangerous of a task,” the witch, Merlin, said.

“Even at this very moment, the Sponsors are watching us. What I mean by that is that, as Lord Underdog has said, they are listening to and watching every move we make.”

The plan of the Sponsors had been created over eons, but now that success was right before their grasp, Lee Jun-Kyeong was trying to ruin it all.

[... is watching you.]

[... is watching you.]

[... is watching you.]

[... is watching you.]

[... is watching you.]

[...]

Right as Merlin finished speaking, notifications endlessly came in a terrifying manner. It was so fast that it was impossible for them to verify which Sponsors they were. They spread out to everyone gathered.

The faces of the Hunters all furrowed, paling with the realization.

Even those who had wanted to insist that Lee Jun-Kyeong prove it came to the same realization.

‘This is for real.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong, the Underdog, had been telling the truth. The undivided attention of all of the Sponsors of the Hunters gathered was all there. The Sponsors were very interested in their meeting, and that fact alone was enough proof.

Silence uncomfortably descended on the room as they all were shocked and quiet for quite some time.

Finally, it was Horus who spoke next. “I can’t believe it.”

The man who called Lee Jun-Kyeong a dear brother spoke up as his eyes were filled with betrayal, anger, and unmistakable chaos as a conflicting deluge of emotions poured over him.

“Our Lord, the Desert’s Sun…” The words were branded into his mind as Horus turned around and continued, “The Lord would never use us like that…”

He had ascended to the throne at a young age. Throughout his entire life, he had been a devout believer in the Desert’s Sun. It was impossible for him to reconcile such conflict against his faith.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had expected as much. Horus stormed out of the room. Everyone gathered their thoughts in silence as Lee Jun-Kyeong lowered his head.

“Whew…”

***

“You always make sure to leave behind a massive wave every time you come back,” someone said. His tone was a bit mocking, but his expression was extremely expressionless.

Regardless of whatever happened, regardless of whatever truth he would learn, the speaker was always the same.

“You really always stay the same, don’t you?” Lee Jun-Kyeong commented.

“Tsk. If you’re going to speak nonsense, stop wasting my time.”

“The reason he’s talking like that is because he’s a little shy, Junnie,” Park Yu-Jin said.

Lee Jun-Kyeong stood before a brother and sister duo. They were both seemingly around the age of a middle-schooler as they worked hard before a forge.

The two in front of him were nothing if not consistent. No matter what mission he had been on, no matter whether or not he had returned, the two were always handling flames as they forged weapons out of their bare hands.

“You both really are heavenly blacksmiths,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said offhandedly, a compliment that he had never voiced aloud before.

“W…what?”

“W…what…!”

From their embarrassed appearances to even their speech and mannerisms, the both of them were almost indistinguishable.

“I’m just teasing.”

Park Jae-Hyun and Park Yu-Jin’s noses both furrowed, but the two relaxed their expressions soon after.

“Tsk.”

Park Jae-Hyun clicked his tongue as he gestured toward Park Yu-Jin. The girl smiled inexplicably and headed over somewhere.

“Have you prepared some kind of great gift?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

“Just wait quietly,” Park Jae-Hyun simply said as he continued what he was doing.

Time passed as Lee Jun-Kyeong sat quietly and watched Park Jae-Hyun handling the fire.

It was always amazing for him to watch someone focus so much on one thing and put all of their effort into it.

Flicker!

At that time, the flame that Park Jae-Hyun was handling began to burn with a deeper color, and the blacksmith floundered for a moment.

He plunged his weapon into the blazing fire, which had now turned a stark white as he opened his mouth.

“Is this your doing?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t answer.

However, Park Jae-Hyun smiled in turn.

“As expected, I keep telling her that you never disappoint me.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had now fully become one with the Authority Reign of Fire. He was now the true Ruler of fire. He could command flames to change their appearance and was able to utilize all of their traits fully.

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled and stretched out his hand again.

"This…!”

Even Park Jae-Hyun looks surprised by what happened next.

Although the flames continued to burn as brightly as they had been, the heat they gave off changed drastically.

“Is this mana…?”

Even the flames held within his grasp had also completely changed. What Lee Jun-Kyeong could do now was exactly what Park Jae-Hyun had been looking for.

“If it’s this, it’s more than enough!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll find out if you just wait!” Park Jae-Hyun shouted boisterously

Park Yu-Jin approached as she called out, “Oppa.”

There was something in her hand. It was an object that resembled an ungainly, thin wooden staff. However, Lee Jun-Kyeong knew exactly what it was from a single glance.

“Mistilteinn…”

It had used to be the massive wooden pillar that Elfame had shot like an arrow. Now, it had become almost paltry, easily held in the palm of Park Yu-Jin’s hand. However, the only thing that had become paltry about it was its appearance.

“As expected, you recognize it.”

“Just how…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong struggled to speak under the intensity of his bewilderment.

The Mistilteinn that he had given them could have just been said to be a massive wooden trunk that contained tremendous mana.

However, the fact remained that it wasn’t just any ordinary tree trunk, but a manifestation of Elfame’s kingdom. The trunk had been a branch of Alfheimr’s World Tree, and the mana it contained belied common sense, so Lee Jun-Kyeong had handed it over with high expectations.

However, what he saw in front of him was ridiculous.

“It’s even better than I expected.”

It had completely changed, so much so that it was difficult for Lee Jun-Kyeong to figure out the nature of its new form. Although he could at least recognize how much mana it now had, even that was ridiculous beyond belief.

‘It’s at least three times more than before…’

Mistilteinn had already possessed a monstrous amount of mana before, but it was now spewing out at least three times that.

But what about its characteristics? At a minimum, it seemed as though it would never break. It still had the shape of a tree trunk, but at this point, it wasn’t something that could be called a tree, either.

“It was a surprise for us, too. Its current form is its original one.”

“It’s original form?”

“Yes. Although we didn’t even realize it at first…”

Park Jae-Hyun wrung both wrists and stretched his neck as if he were dumbfounded.

“It was talking to Yu-Jin and me.”

“Talking to you? Are you saying it has an ego?”

Ego was a term that referred to weapons with sentience. Weapons of this category were difficult to use because of that, but they had extraordinary abilities to match. However, the response was different from what Lee Jun-Kyeong had expected.

“Not exactly?”

“No, that’s not it.”

The two shook their heads as if to tell him to stop guessing randomly.

“It’s not that it has an ego. The memories of its original form were reaching out to us.”

“The World Tree?”

“Exactly.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded as he listened to those seemingly incomprehensible words.

“Either way, although it may have completely disappeared by now, we processed it the way that it told us to. After we engraved it with the magic circles, it…”

“Changed into that form?”

“Exactly. However, there is a bit of a problem.”

Park Jae-Hyun stretched out a hand and made a gesture as if he was beckoning for something.

“Ah…!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong seemed to have realized something as he began searching through his inventory, pulling out countless things from the subspace.

Swords, spears, shields—everything from ores to something that even appeared to be a corpse.

“Hey, hey, hey! What the hell are you doing?” Park Jae-Hyun shouted at him.

“Aren’t you asking for something in return? I know it may look useless, but these things are stuff I took from the Rulers… That over there is the right arm of the Stone Giant… While it’s my first time seeing those ores, too. And…”

“Who the hell asked for stuff like that?!” Park Jae-Hyun yelled as he waved his hands.

Flash!

However, even as the smith was complaining, with a flash, all of the stuff Lee Jun-Kyeong had taken out disappeared so quickly that Lee Jun-Kyeong had almost missed them.

“Ahem. Well, I mean, if you’re offering, it would be rude for us not to accept them.”

As he made a feeble excuse, Park Jae-Hyun handed over what he had gathered to Park Yu-Jin.

“Hand over Muspel’s Spear.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Lee Jun-Kyeong realize what Park Jae-Hyun wanted, so he handed over Muspel’s Spear to the smith. Park Jae-Hyun and Park Yu-Jin both inspected the spear as if they were filled with interest.

“As expected…”

“It really can’t anymore, can it?”

The two muttered among themselves while leaving Lee Jun-Kyeong off to the side. Lee Jun-Kyeong stood quietly, unbothered, as he waited for them to say something.

“You’ve grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you. Is it because of that sexy nuna you brought over?”

Park Jae-Hyun was clearly referring to Saeynkaed.

“Yes.”

“Good, good. In any case, it seemed as though Muspel’s Spear has reached its end.”

"I beg your pardon?"

“It shouldn’t be able to evolve any further. No, to be frank, at this point, it can’t even properly contain the strength you have anymore. Although it’s true that this little brat grew all this way with you…”

Park Jae-Hyun looked over at Muspel’s Spear with misty eyes.

“It’ll be difficult for it to keep up with you any longer.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong’s face hardened. It was true, he had noticed it, too. Muspel’s Spear couldn’t handle his strength any longer.

It was the first weapon that Park Jae-Hyun had made for him and had been a growth-type weapon that had come all this way. However, it was still incontestable that it was an incomplete weapon.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had asked himself, even if he were to be given another weapon, could he even accept it?

As he wrapped himself with guilt and confusion, a voice he had never heard before rang in his ears.

–It’s okay.