From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 131: Set Pt. 6

Set stood, his scimitar in one hand and a sword made of sand in the other.

A horrid, dark red aura rose from all over him, the desiccating mana emanating from his body.

The hot heat enveloped the space around them.

“…”

Baldur's expression continued to harden.

He could sense that the power emitted by Set was dangerous.

Set had already been strong before, but now.

‘If I let up even a little, I’ll die.’

All he had planned to do was to stall, but by this point, he might have to put his life on the line.

–In the name of Odin.

Baldur’s purpose was to tie up Set, not until Lee Jun-Kyeong had wanted, but until Asgard’s meeting was over.

–Fight with him.

He received Odin’s orders.

Asgard, who had to have been looking at Set’s appearance at that very moment, had ordered Baldur to battle with the Hunter. He thought to himself.

‘If that’s the case, I guess I have to fight.’

The order of Asgard was absolute, and Baldur had no intention of defying Asgard's orders.

Even if all that awaited him at the end was death.

“I’ll have to jump right in, then.”

Somewhere along the line, Baldur began to smirk once again. However, it was different from before. Unlike the usual smirk from before, the smile on his face was something different.

Gooooo.

Light began to explode from his body. Just like the mana emanating from Set, an aura began to exude from Baldur.

The mana from his body vaporized as it exuded and turned into light, and after its transformation, the mana light filled the area.

“How trivial,” Set remarked.

His eyes sunk into his sockets, the whites disappearing. Set’s eyes had turned completely black, like dark obsidian, and they stared back at Baldur.

His aura suddenly amplified, turning into a huge force that seemed to almost consume the space around them.

“This really won’t be easy, it seems,” Baldur said leisurely while confronting such intense power. If his power was to be compared with Set’s, then Baldur knew it would surely have been his defeat.

However, he was still confident in at least buying some time at this point.

“Your only weakness is…”

As Set had done to Asgard, Asgard had also collected Set’s information. They had scratched at each other’s secrets in the name of cooperation.

That was the cooperation that occurred between huge organizations and powerful Hunters.

Baldur continued while revealing his stark, white teeth, “...That you don’t have your own territory.”

The space had changed around them all of a sudden.

They were in a beautiful city of light.

"Breidablik."

Baldur’s territory.

“The difference between those with and without a territory, I’ll show it to you,” said Baldur.

Set and Baldur moved at the same time.

Boom!

Within the city of lights, Breidablik, Baldur’s territory, a huge flash burst out.

***

'Lord Set's aura has disappeared.’

Anubis's expression hardened for a moment.

Set’s aura had been able to be felt boiling throughout the pyramid, but it had suddenly disappeared instead of amplifying further.

However, Anubis quickly recovered his composure.

‘Since it’s him, nothing big could have happened.’

Anubis’s belief in Set was nothing short of divine faith.

He hadn’t been able to play a proper role even after becoming a Hero, so it had been Set who had led and raised him.

However, the Nile seemed to only push away such a Set.

Anubis wanted to be of help to the Hunter.

“Whew…”

That was why he was trying so hard.

“Isis!” he cried toward Isis.

The balance of the battlefield had stabilized as compared to before. Moreover, as time went by, things would continue to become increasingly unfavorable for them. Although he and the Jackals were definitely strong in their own right, the Hunters of the Nile still stood, and the rest would be coming to this location even now.

‘Or, they’ll become burdens for Lord Set.’

Even if they weren’t all heading to this location, those that weren’t would be chasing after Set.

Anubis knew he had to destroy the fragile balance of the battlefield.

In order to do so, he had to focus on that woman.

All he would have to do was hold Isis back.

In front of him, all Anubis could see was Horus, who was sealed behind Isis’ back, and the Hunter who was treating him. They were thorns to him.

He could see that their auras were growing chaotically, and he knew that stalling for time would only make the situation more disadvantageous for the Jackals.

Therefore, he made his move.

“It is not my decision not to kill you!” Anubis shouted as he extended his hand toward Isis.

She was hiding behind an incredible defensive magic spell, and soon, black hands began to approach her.

“...”

Isis’ expression stiffened rather than displaying any bewilderment.

She had been blocking those black hands quite well so far. Moreover, she wasn’t inferior in any way to Anubis in the first place.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she had to protect Horus, then she was more than confident in taking down both Anubis and his Jackals on her own.

Therefore, while she was nervous about the situation, she wasn’t flustered.

Smirk.

That was, at least, until she saw Anubis laugh.

“...!”

The black hands were breaking through the shroud of protection she had made.

“Lady Isis!” cried out Inebu.

“Lady Isis!” Bastet and Numek, who they had barely managed to save, cried out as they ran toward her.

However, the black hands were quick, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

A voice followed the hands, almost like a representation of the false god, Anubis.

"The Scales of Hearts."

Boom!

The stone chamber vibrated.

Crash!

Numek and Bastet had been running toward Isis, but they fell over as they crashed into an invisible wall.

The invisible wall trapped Isis within its hold, formed by the black hands gathering together.

“...!”

Now flustered, Isis shouted and poured out all her strength resisting, but the invisible wall wasn’t affected in the least.

Boom!

Instead, with another resounding vibration, it seemed as though the world shifted once more.

Before anyone knew it, Isis found herself standing on one side of a scale.

“This is…”

Her body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and her mind was hazy, to the point where she felt as though she could faint on the spot.

She had never even dreamed that Anubis would have an ability like this.

To think he, with such a vast disparity in strength between them, was still able to seal someone like her.

"I will not kill you, Isis. Instead…!" exclaimed Anubis in an insidious voice. “Stay trapped in there and become my strength.”

As he finished, everyone was astounded by what happened next.

The scale began to creak and move, and when the scale on which Isis stood rose high, Anubis began to change.

Goooo!

A strange sound began to come out.

Squelch.

Anubis’s body began to twist about, and a powerful force began gushing out.

However, even with these changes, the party wasn’t that surprised.

“Lady Isis’ strength is…?” Inebu murmured.

Instead, they were astounded that Isis’ power had begun to exude from Anubis. The power that had been supporting and assisting them until now was suddenly coming from the enemy.

"Oh, my God, that’s completely absurd…” Jeong In-Chang muttered as he looked behind him.

Still, Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to only consume the bubbling liquid, gurgling forth from the inserted spear that was pierced into Horus’ stomach.

“Damn it…”

The Jackals alone were already difficult to deal with, but now Anubis was also using the power of Isis.

Moreover.

“Grr… I’ll hurry up and deal with you, and…”

The man had completely changed his appearance, and he was now staring at the party after morphing into a completely black Jackal.

Not only did he have a strange appearance and a massively enlarged size, but his strength had also increased to hideous proportions.

However, to be quite honest, this was better for them than before.

“What a relief,” Jeong In-Chang said with a smirk.

His response was one where anyone could say that he was crazy. In this tough situation, their enemy had become even stronger than before.

Nevertheless, Jeong In-Chang–no, he and even Won-Hwa, laughed.

"Why are you...?"

As Inebu looked at them with a bewildered gaze, two voices came from behind them.

“Grrr.”

"Goongje.”

Anubis had broken the space around them as he morphed. Furthermore, Isis had been sealed, so they didn't need to worry about hurting her either when they went wild.

“Princess! Fenrir! Just make sure to give us enough space to fight!”

As Jeong In-Chang shouted instructions to them, huge footsteps began to rush toward Anubis.

Thud, Thud, Thud!

***

“How insane…”

Baldur couldn't believe the situation.

His territory was a space that gave absolute power to the owner.

Even if there was an extreme gap in power, a territory was something that could fill in that gap.

But.

“Breidablik was…”

It had been destroyed.

Although his territory hadn’t disappeared, Set had already torn his way out of its area.

He had forcibly broken past the territory’s ability to contain him and escaped its grasp.

“Gr…”

Set, who was expressing his voice with a guttural, almost monstrous sound, glared over at Baldur.

Even though it was only for a moment, Baldur felt something he hadn’t ever anticipated he would ever feel in this place.

Fear.

This was something he had only felt with Odin—no.

He had only felt fearful of two people, but it had risen its head once again, even if it was only for a moment.

As Baldur and Set were still in Baldur’s territory, Baldur quickly released Breidablik, and the two were standing back in the pyramid again before they knew it.

“Whew…”

Set was turning their surroundings into the sand just by exhaling.

Baldur could feel it.

He would die.

He couldn’t use his territory anymore, so he would die unconditionally if he fought Set now.

–In the name of Odin.

Baldur contacted Asgard urgently. He had one last remaining way to deal with Set.

–May I use it?

It was a power that required Odin's permission. He had reached out to ask for permission, but Asgard’s response was negative.

–Back off.

Asgard’s meeting seemed to have been over.

–It seems to be a losing business. We will give up on the Nile. Move to withdraw.

Withdrawal.

That was Asgard’s decision.

–Take the Underdog and withdraw.

Although Baldur’s expression briefly froze, he took one step, then another, as he slowly began to recede.

–I’ve received your orders.

"Is that Asgard’s decision?" asked Set.

Somewhere along the line, as Baldur contacted Asgard, Set had become a little more human again.

His appearance starkly contrasted with what he looked like before. A normal face that was almost impossible to imagine was constantly emitting enormous power earlier.

Baldur nodded, quickly realizing that Asgard's choice was right.

"I'll let you go,” Set continued.

“…”

"Asgard made the right choice,” he finished, smiling as he spoke with his teeth exposed.

Baldur was ashamed for a moment, but still quickly pulled back.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t obtained anything at all, either.

"Whew..."

Set breathed out as he suppressed his strength again.

Baldur really was a very fast man.

He had disappeared before Set had realized it, moving so fast that it would take a high degree of concentration to even grasp the traces of his aura.

Set had no intention of chasing after him.

Step.

Shhhhh.

The ground on which Set stepped turned into sand and scattered. The power which he had shown to destroy the territory wasn’t something that was complete yet. He had only expressed that strength in order to give Asgard a warning.

Now that he had fulfilled his intentions, he didn’t need that power any further.

‘After all I need to do is kill my brother.’

Shhhhh.

Eventually, Set stopped.

In front of him was another huge stone chamber. The stone chamber was decorated with gold and jewels as if to show power and wealth. He had arrived at the top of the pyramid.

Set slowly grabbed the door handle.

Shhhh.

An immeasurable amount of gold and jewels that had an incredible value had all disappeared into the sand.

There was nothing left in his wake, absolutely nothing of value.

“Nothing is left in the face of power,” he remarked.

Set looked ahead.

As the door to the stone chamber had disappeared into sand, the stone chamber was plainly exposed.

There.

"You're here… My little brother…”

A shabby old man was sitting on a throne as he stared down at Set.

Someone who had been so healthy not too long ago–no, someone who hadn’t looked much different from the Set now, had somehow turned into this.

“Was this by your decision, Hyungnim?” Set asked Osiris, who was sitting on the throne.

Then.

Boom!

The pyramid began to ring.