From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 149: The Land of the Cataclysm

The man in the black robe approached them, holding Lee Jun-Kyeong in his arms.

“Mr. Lee!” Jeong In-Chang shouted as he rushed out, greatsword in hand.

Thud!

“Goongje!”

The princess also shifted into her combat form and ran forward. The two were stained with blood and marred with burns, but their eyes still showed a will to fight.

However.

“Leave it!” Yeo Seong-Gu shouted, stopping them.

Unfortunately, Jeong In-Chang and the princess, who was running forward, didn’t listen to his orders. Lee Jun-Kyeong was in the hands of the man in the black robe. They had to save him.

That was all that filled Jeong In-Chang’s mind.

“Goongje!”

As for the princess, the voice of Yeo Seong-Gu didn’t even register, as she followed the will of her master, responding to the emotions flowing across their bond.

“Ha-a-eup~”

A greatsword missing its tip plummeted down from the sky.

However.

Clang!

It just bounced off to the side.

The man in the black robe held onto Lee Jun-Kyeong with one hand while swinging his spear, batting away Jeong In-Chang’s greatsword.

Squelch!

“Princess!”

A spear was inserted into the princess' thigh.

“...”

The man in the black robe’s spear returned to his hand, just like Muspel’s Spear.

In an instant, Jeong In-Chang and the princess were on the ground, groaning, as they looked up at the man in the black robe.

“Leave it!” Yeo Seong-Gu shouted once again, stepping forward.

He stepped forward, also with a sword in hand, but the tip of his sword was facing the ground.

“We need to save Mr. Lee!” Jeong In-Chang howled as the White Tiger Clan members tried to make their move late.

Shing!

However, a rainbow veil appeared before they knew it, blocking the White Tiger Clan members, Jeong In-Chang, and the princess from moving.

The White Tiger Clan members were flustered and tried to break through the veil, but it wasn’t easy for them to get past the barrier.

"What are you doing?" Jeong In-Chang shouted as if he were enraged as Yeo Seong-Gu added more power into the veil, making it impossible for them to even make a sound.

The man in the black robe, holding Lee Jun-Kyeong, and Yeo Seong-Gu, faced each other.

However, the ends of their weapons were still facing the ground.

"Just why the hell..."

Yeo Seong-Gu reacted the same way Lee Jun-Kyeong had, saying the same thing that the Hunter had said before he collapsed.

His hand shaking, while Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t noticed at first, Yeo Seong-Gu was different.

"You... Why...”

He had spent a long time with the man in front of him, incomparably long as compared to Lee Jun-Kyeong. Yeo Seong-Gu could recognize his aura, as he had gone back and forth countless times with the man into his Territory.

Moreover, there was that weapon, as well.

He recognized Gungnir, one of the few weapons received by sponsorship in the world.

“Odin.”

He called out the name of the man in the black robe.

Swish.

Having been recognized, the man took off the robe, exposing his face.

Although he couldn’t hear anything due to the veil, Jeong In-Chang was shocked by the reveal.

An eye patch.

It was definitely Odin.

“Why on earth would you…”

Yeo Seong-Gu tried to question him, but Odin didn’t answer. The missing Association President just approached slowly with his spear. However, there was no hostility in his gait.

Thud.

He simply dropped Lee Jun-Kyeong to the floor.

Blood was streaming from Lee Jun-Kyeong’s arm as he lay on the floor, pooling around his body. Moreover, there were scales that seemed to have spread from his arm, even reaching his neck.

However, they were gradually disappearing before their eyes.

Step.

Odin took a step back, backing away as if to show he wasn’t an enemy.

Drop.

A small drop of blood fell from his body, falling from a point on his arm.

“...”!

As Yeo Seong-Gu’s eyes widened in surprise, Odin spoke.

“That brat is still somewhat useful,” he said in a different, somewhat alien voice.

“Did you abandon Asgard?” Yeo Seong-Gu asked.

“Keep him alive.”

Swish.

Before they knew it, there was only a single black crow feather left where Odin had stood.

***

Lee Jun-Kyeong was in terrible pain.

The reason that he had tried to match the man in the black robe while knowing that he stood no chance was that he felt as though he could try by taking advantage of the unbridled power of Muspel’s Spear.

He had thought that with the weak dragon heart and his increased strength, he could have at least been able to take the robe from the man and escape without dying.

He had even thought of a way to deal with his reckless condition.

Shing!

Merlin’s Necklace was still shining at this point.

In addition, there was the mana stream, which had leveled up.

Finally, he also had the sponsorship received from <The Sky of the Apocalypse>.

Using those three things, he had even devised a way to overcome the devilish aura of Muspel’s Spear, which had left him lying here, slowly recovering.

“Ugh…”

If there was something he hadn’t anticipated, then it was that the devilish aura that Muspel’s Spear had consumed within it was larger than he had expected. Furthermore, the devilish aura had combined with Madness, multiplying.

However.

‘Odin…’

An aura had been released by a spear that had stabbed him in his right arm.

Despite losing consciousness, despite being overwhelmed by pain, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mind never stopped running.

He remembered Odin.

The man in the black robe, the man he had been chasing after.

It was Odin.

However, something seemed off.

‘No, it’s not him.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure of it.

The man in the black robe that he was thinking of was not Odin.

As he had that thought, slowly, the light began to shine through his eyelids.

“Ugh…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was barely able to lift his heavy eyelids.

He could see a bright light shining down on him.

Thump.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was on someone’s back, and they were moving somewhere. Slowly, he began to shift his position.

“Did you wake up?”

Jeong In-Chang was carrying him, and as the Hunter noticed that he had woken up, he said something to him.

“Please…put me down…” Lee Jun-Kyeong managed to croak out.

“Don’t worry about it, just get some more rest,” Jeong In-Chang said as he walked faster.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had no other choice but to accept it. His body was in shambles.

Whether it was Muspel’s Spear’s devilish aura, which had been more powerful than he had thought, or the man in the black robe…

Lee Jun-Kyeong exclaimed the man’s name aloud as if he had received a shock of electricity, “Odin…!”

Everyone looked at him.

As he looked back, he could see the White Tiger Clan members and the survivors in his sight. It seemed as though the survivors had also grown in number.

“Yes. I saw him too.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong heard a familiar voice from next to him.

He turned his head while still on Jeong In-Chang’s back.

It was Yeo Seong-Gu.

“So it really was Odin.”

Yeo Seong-Gu’s stiff expression proved that what Lee Jun-Kyeong had seen wasn’t a dream. The man who had worn a black robe at Incheon International Airport had definitely been Odin.

"What are you trying to do?” Jeong In-Chang asked as Lee Jun-Kyeong moved his hand, but Lee Jun-Kyeong simply took something out from his inventory without saying anything.

He pulled out two black pieces of cloth.

One was a piece of the black robe that he had found where Set had disappeared, and the other was a small piece he had saved from when he had fought with Odin.

Lee Jun-Kyeong closed his eyes.

There were traces of mana carved into the black pieces.

He had to concentrate.

Concentrate.

Like a swaying breeze, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mana swept through the two pieces.

“They’re the same…”

To his surprise, the mana from the two black pieces of cloth matched each other exactly.

“What?”

“What is?”

Yeo Seong-Gu and Jeong In-Chang shouted in surprise at the same time, but Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head.

“The two pieces are definitely the same. However, I’m sure they aren’t from the same person.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure.

Odin wasn’t the man in the black robe that he was looking for.

He speculated, “I think he had received a robe from the man in the black robe and wore it here.”

“What makes you so sure?”

While Yeo Seong-Gu also felt similarly to how Lee Jun-Kyeong did, he still had to ask.

“During the battle with Set, Odin was definitely hosting a meeting in Asgard with you, Hyung,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, his dry voice finally finding some vitality. “It was the same as when I went to China. For Odin to ever leave his space in Korea…”

Yeo Seong-Gu pointed out, “I mean, that’s something he can hide with his level of ability. What makes you so sure, though?”

“There’s another reason.”

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Yeo Seong-Gu with tired eyes as he spoke.

The reason that he was talking about.

“I can feel it in my gut.”

“...”

“There’s something I’ve already discerned about the identity of the man in the black robe. Also, Odin could never be the man in the black robe that I’m chasing.”

Yeo Seong-Gu nodded cautiously as he then asked a question.

“Then the black robes mean…”

“Either Odin is on the side of the man in the black robe…”

“...”

“Or, for some reason, he’s cooperating with the man in the black robe for the moment,” Lee Jun-Kyeong finished.

There was something they couldn’t forget.

Odin.

“Because he’s a maniac when it comes to curiosity.”

“Because he’s a heuristic madman,” they said at the same time.

Yeo Seong-Gu nodded as if he was convinced.

“Still, even with that, Asgard…to think he would throw away everything he had achieved. What on Earth would make him do that?”

Incheon International Airport had burned down.

There was no way that Odin wouldn’t have figured out the situation in Korea or that the cataclysm had begun.

In a situation where he should have also been in a hurry to come forward and settle these crises, he had thrown it all away and followed the man in the black robe.

Everything he had achieved and all of his ambition had been jetted away.

No matter how much one could say that he was a deranged madman when it came to his pursuit of knowledge, to think he could go so far as to throw it all away.

“Also, he let you live.”

“...”

There was no need to remind him. Although it could be said that he had been consumed by the devilish aura, Lee Jun-Kyeong had still maintained his sanity to some extent.

His memory of the battle was vivid, and he knew that he had been defeated by Odin. Thus, it was only natural that it could be assumed that Odin had let him live.

“Moreover…he also helped me, as well.”

In addition, Lee Jun-Kyeong had been in the process of being overwhelmed by the devilish aura that had been stronger than he had expected.

But, Odin had stopped it with his power, stabbing him with his spear into his shoulder.

If it weren’t for that, then it would have taken quite a while for Lee Jun-Kyeong to fully wake up.

“Whew…”

All that remained were questions. However, there was something more important right at this moment.

"Where are we going?” Lee Jun-Kyeong said from Jeong In-Chang’s back.

Thud.

He could feel the people around him stop.

The White Tiger Clan members were at the front, and the survivors were standing behind him, as Jeong In-Chang and Lee Jun-Kyeong were in the middle.

Because he was being carried on Jeong In-Chang’s back, the scenery around him wasn’t properly visible, hidden behind people’s backs.

Only sunlight and a bright red light filled his vision.

As they waited for those that had stopped, Jeong In-Chang responded to him, “We are going to Seoul.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to wait as he then asked again, “Where are Hyeon-Mu, Ungnyeo, and Won-Hwa?”

He had asked for the whereabouts of the others.

"They are in Seoul."

Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded.

It was natural for them to go meet up with their companions in this situation.

“I’ve also gotten in touch with some of the members of Asgard. I can’t go through all of Asgard because of Odin, but I’ve made my own preparations as well,” Yeo Seong-Gu said.

This was the reason why Lee Jun-Kyeong had given the information about the cataclysm to Yeo Seong-Gu in advance. He seemed to have made his own preparations, just as Lee Jun-Kyeong had expected.

“Also, we should be able to meet up with the League Guild on our way.”

Yeo Seong-Gu’s laughter gave Lee Jun-Kyeong strength.

"Can you move?" Jeong In-Chang asked Lee Jun-Kyeong, turning a question back to him, who was asking them for all of the answers.

Lee Jun-Kyeong slowly nodded and began to get off of Jeong In-Chang’s back.

‘The aftereffects of my battle still linger, but is the power of Immortality starting to take effect?’

He looked down at the other heart that was now fully seated in the place of his own heart.

The Dragon Heart.

Made through the power of the Dragon’s Bloodstone, it gave him a vitality close to that of immortality, just like the Authority that Siegfried had in his past.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was being healed quickly, even at this very moment.

"Thank you."

Lee Jun-Kyeong stepped on the ground, the scenery around him opening up because he had finally stood up.

“...”

All he could see was a world in flames, where all that was left were ashes.