Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Even though the building was called Magic tower, in all reality it was not actually a tower. Before the apocalypse, the magic research institute centre was called the Magic Tower, and the name had only been passed down.

However, Seongho, who did not know about that, grumbled as it was not really a tower.

“What kind of buildings is this?”

The space inside the Mage Tower was vastly different from how he envisioned it after looking at it from the outside. When he felt he was moving upstairs, he was downstairs when he got back to his senses.

“Damn, it confuses me.”

Is it because it’s a place where magicians live?

Seongho gave up on searching for more supplies and decided to secure only the ones he could reach. After all, with all the ruckus he had caused, the magicians were bound to know about his existence unless they were idiots. if he failed to run away at that time, he would be in trouble.

“Thankfully, everyone is sleeping.”

To be frank, It wasn’t like there’s no magicians who was awake. However, Seongho sent them into the floor using the paralysis stinger. Thanks to that, he was able to take care of the shelves, bookshelves, and supplies contained in jars.

On top of that all, he also found a sword and a shield in a display case.

“Magicians make things like this too?”

「Overmetal Sword: Increased Strength, Ether Resistance, Ether conductivity」

「Titan Shield: Increased Strength, Elemental Resistance, Physical Resistance」

Seongho picked up the sword that was neither a shortsowrd nor a longsword.

“It will be a good weapon when using the Ether Blade.”

According to Margretha, a normal sword couldn’t last long against an ether blade. At most, it could only hold for about ten seconds. Which means, it wasn’t suitable for a long drawn fight. Of course, normal swords made of magic metal by great blacksmiths could last quite a while.

From Seongho’s point of view, this overmetal sword seemed to be of that type. He wanted to know what overmetal is, but it makes sense when he thought of it as a kind of mixed metal.

“The shield is also very good…” It had two resistance options and also had the options to increase the strength stats. So it will be very strong. It might even survive the attack of the monster of the 13th floor.

“I will be the one who wears the black one.” For the shield, I would give it to Margretha. After all, Seokhyun was good at ether fist, not ether blade, and Da-jeong was not good at using shields at all.

For a second he thought that it would be nice to get a sturdy gauntlet somewhere…

Seongho, who was randomly throwing supplies into the dimensional warehouse, suddenly noticed a gauntlet stuck in the corner.

「Overmetal Gauntlet: Increase strength and ether resistance. Able to transfer options of other gauntlet-type items」

“Is this an ogre glove?” Seokhyun’s Ogre Gloves had great options but had low durability. Well, the original material for it was a leather glove, so it was inevitable.

What if they moved that option into the gauntlet he just got?

“This glove will last a long time.”

Since it had an ether resistance option, it would hold up well even if he used an ether fist on top of it. Which means, It’s truly an item optimized for Seokhyun.

“…Isn’t there anything for Da-jeong?”

Unlike Seongho and Seokhyun, she couldn’t materialize the ether. She said she didn’t care about it, but Seongho could feel that she was subtly upset.

“Eh, whatever…” Seongho put down his thoughts and shoved everything into his dimensional warehouse without sorting. The more supplies he got, the more he found it cumbersome to sort it out. In the end, he just decided to throw the bookshelf itself.

While Seongho continued to throw things around, loud noises could be heard everywhere. At the same time, his supersensory skill was activated and he felt chills creeping on his back.

“It’s not just one or two guys.” He decided he would leave as soon as he finished throwing everything in the room he’s currently out at that moment. He didn’t know where the owner of the room was, but once they found out later, they would definitely cry.

When he put a book the size of a shield, an old man with a long white beard appeared on the stairs. As soon as he saw him, he raised a staff encrusted with colorful jewels.

However, Seongho was no longer there. It was because Margretha taught her how to deal with wizards.

-Someone who can fight always has a good habit of observing. Even more so for magicians. Therefore, if you encounter a magician as an enemy, just blow their head off first. Think about it later.

Her advice matched Seongho’s personality perfectly. Thus, the old man, who must have been a magician, faced the misfortune of his head being separated from his body before he could even activate his magic.

Once he did so, Seongho rushed to the window and met someone there. He’s a sharp-eyed man wearing a long robe and a cape. Behind the man, he could see a muscular priest looking straight at him.

‘He must be Koleos…’

He was the Heretic Inquisitor who led the combat priests.

Isn’t it strange to have the position of Heretic Inquisitor when there is only one religion?

Maybe they see Earth’s survivors as targets for their evangelism.

“I feel an amazing ether from you. You must be the protagonist who fought Lady Pistel.” Koleos smiled as he said so.

Without saying a word, Seongho took out a shotgun from the dimension slot and shot it out.

Bang-!!

Koleos was riddled by shotgun ammunition in an instant, but to Seongho’s surprise he was alive. Blood evaporated from his body and he rose to his feet as black smoke came out from the wounds.

“Haha… you can’t attack without thinking. What an impatient brother. If you welcome Giudecca, you will be a little calmer.”

The remark infuriated Seongho. After all, he was the one who hated Giudecca more than anyone else.

Koleos spread his arms from side to side.

“Gudecca’s apostles, let’s greet the heathens.”

“For Giudecca.”

The battle priests stepped forward with a shout. However, what greeted them next was not an ordinary weapon, but an M72 anti-tank rocket.

Click-!

Bang-!

Warheads exploded in the cramped room. Without giving them an inch, Soengho threw the battle priests and Koleos out the window.

“Kughh!”

Koleos wasn’t hit directly because he was behind the priests, but he was still hurt. As he rolled on the floor, Seongho stood on the dimensional wall and was holding onto the elderwood rope.

“You bastard!”

Koleos recklessly jumped at him even though his wounds had not yet healed. Seongho just watched it and calmly swung the mithril blade.

His forearm was severed and Koleos fell 20 meters to the ground. It was something which would kill an ordinary person in an instant. But Koleos was anything but normal people. He just grabbed his forearm and trembled. At the same time, light emanated from wounds on his hands.

“It’s not tentacles?”

It was clear that Koleos was not human. It just makes Seongho even more sure that there’s no such thing as human among those who were related to Giudecca.

The griffon controlled by Da-jung flapped its wings vigorously at that moment. Belatedly, all sorts of magic flew up, but it only grazed the air.

After all, Seongho had disappeared into the night.

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“What the fuck is that in the middle of the night?”

“I know right?”

After robbing the ether stone mine, Dajeong and I came out to a shelter in Korea. I wanted to rob more, but the fervor of Ezekium guys was no joke. There’s no murderer system there, but it was a bit too much for my liking to kill soldiers who couldn’t even resist properly.

Still, he was relieved that he had brought enough Ether Stone. With this, they would be able to craft a weapon that had given Giudecca a wound.

When they came out to the shelter, people were waiting for them. AMongst them, Tibris came out awkwardly.

“Uh… can I call you Seongho? My name is Tibris. I am the exclusive magician of the Marquis Pistel.”

“That’s enough. But what is that?”

What Tibris held out was a processed Aether Stone. On the outside, it’s no different from a dimensional jewel, but he’s sure it was something else.

Margretha removed the jewel embedded at the gauntlet of the shackles and said, “This gauntlet has different options depending on which jewels are attached to it. There’s something T-Bris made in a hurry…”

When she took a new jewel from her bosom and put it on, the options really changed.

「Emission Gauntlet: Helps to release the wearer’s ether」

“Is this that? I can use Ether Blade without help now?”

Tibris hurriedly came out.

“Let me explain briefly. This is the Marquis’s…”

“I’m not a marquis or anything anymore, so just call me Marie.”

“Ah… then, I will do that. Marquis, no Marie… Anyway, this thing is Marie’s Ether Pass embodied in Ether Stone. Long story short, you can use that Ether Blaze without her help for a minute or two.”

“Ether Blaze?”

Not blade?

Margretha winked, and Tibris patted his mouth with the palm of his hand and said, “Suddenly, there is a lot to explain… Anyway, Ether Blaze is an overflowing phenomenon. In the case of ordinary transcendental knights and Marie, purified ether is used. However, Seongho is not able to do that as your ether is in a state of overflowing. The destructive power will be perfect at that state, but there will be a lot of waste.”

“Ah…”

To make an analogy, If someone suddenly poured a lot of water into a small bucket, it would overflow. Even with Margretha’s help, the overflow was still a lot.

When I looked at Tibris, he looked like he was dying to measure the amount of my ether.

“It shouldn’t be for long. But c-can I measure your ether?”

“The purity of his ether was amazing. The amount will certainly be substantial.” Margretha added.

At his request, I nodded. It was unpleasant to have a guy touch my breast, but I would have to let it slide since we had to measure my ether.

Before long, Tibris put his hand on my chest and made a happy face.

“This feeling as if I was drowning in the sea… ah, it’s really amazing… it’s very clear and deep…”

“How great is that?”

“The ether of any other transcendental knight couldn’t compare against yours… It was just like moonlight and fireflies can’t be compared…”

“So you’re saying he’s better than me.” Margretha seemed a little resentful, but she soon let go of her expression.

Yeah, that’s not what’s important now.

“How about mine?”

“…”

Tibris looked at the rabbit monster who asked that question. He might be wondering whether the man in front of him was a human or a monster.

“I will not eat you.”

“Well, then…”

Tibris, who put his hand on his chest, was startled again.

“Uh, it’s also amazing… However, compared to Seongho, it lags behind a bit…”

“I want to be measured too!” Da-jeong joined as she thrust her chest towards Tibris. Unfortunately for her, Tibris couldn’t stand it and ran away. He must have been frightened to see a woman thrust her breasts at him, a young man with raging hormones, without fear.

“Look at him running away! Did he think he’ll be alright?”

I hold Da-jeong and force her to calm down. Then I proceeded to ask Seokhyun.

“There’s no news yet?”

“Someone said they heard screams on the third floor of the Great Labyrinth.”

“3rd Floor? Someone was hunting there? Who?”

“People from our shelter. For now, they have withdrawn to the entrance of the Great Labyrinth. There is no one there now.”

Seokhyun’s words contained two meanings. The first was that the monsters might soon come up from the 13th floor. The second was that our shelter members had already gone down as far as the third floor.

Even though we had cleared the 6th floor, it was limited to some members. Excluding me, Seokhyun, Da-jeong, Geomin, and Sangshin, no one could even break the second floor properly.

But now, they were already on the third floor. If we managed to pass the current predicament, it seemed that I would be able to entrust the battle to them in the future.

I opened the dimensional warehouse and took out a few items. Overmetal Gauntlet for Seokhyun and Titan Shield for Margretha.

Both of their mouths split open.

“This is great. Can I really transfer ogre glove’s options into this?”

“Maybe? You can just try it.”

As I expected, the options were moved. Seokhyun then proceeds to put on the ogre gauntlet. It looked much stronger and better than before.

“Seeeeeggss!”

Margretha was taken aback by the sudden exclamation.

“Wha-what?”

“He’s just saying it, don’t worry about it.”

I said so before clapping my hands.

“Guys, can I have your attention for a moment? Although we had looted some items from the magic tower and got Tibris’ cooperation, we are still not ready. As of the current time, please evacuate from the Korea Shelter. The only ones who should remain are me, Seokhyun, Margretha, Tibris, and Yuzuka.”

Dajeong pursed her lips at my words.

“Why should I evacuate when Yuzuka should stay all of a sudden?”

“It’s because Yuzuka is the only person I can entrust the etheric arrow to.”

“Tsk… I’m good at archery too.”

“Not as good as her.. It’s an urgent situation so I can’t help but make such a decision.”

The arrowhead that could create ether overload which was created by Tibris, would be used by Yuzuka to shoot at the monsters. After all, her unique ability was related to archery. As she passed level 25, her accuracy reached 100%. Even if it’s fired backwards, the arrow would hit the target no matter what, so it should be regarded as a guided missile. That was the reason why I could entrust her with the ether arrows, which were in short supply.

I called Yuzuka, who was waiting at her dormitory, and entrusted my Elderwood Long War Bow to her.

“I ask for your support. If you can, please only use one arrow per monster.”

“Yuzuka will do my best.”

“Margretha, go to Tibris and ask for an ether arrowhead.”

“I will ask him to make it as fast as possible.”

“Seokhyun and I will wait here.”

“I hope they come soon.” I shared the same sentiment as Seokhyun. I also wanted it to end soon.

Once the people left, the shelter became quiet. Not long after that, news came from Yoohyeon, who was scouting the entrance to the Great Labyrinth.

-Three monsters have appeared, hyung!

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-My child…

Giudecca’s voice echoed in a room on the thirteenth floor.

-My child…

The large cocoon hanging from the ceiling began to move bit by bit after hearing that voice.

-Wake up…

Finally, the three cocoons tore apart and a blue creature fell to the ground. They all resemble humans. Two of the creatures were well over two meters tall and had muscular, stocky bodies. They were also bald, had very long arms, and didn’t have any black on their eyes.

The creature in front of the two was rather small in comparison. Its body would remind anyone who saw it of a woman. Although it’s also bald and has the same creepy full white eyes.

“Father…·”

As the female called silently, Giudecca replied.

-I created all of you in order to make a vessel. However, it has proven to be difficult to make vessels with you guys.

The female body looked up at the ceiling.

“Are we not good enough?”

-I want him. Bring me his body, or his seed. That’s your mission.

“Hehehe…”

“Now I can meet him…”

The two male figures bent their necks to the side and growled. With

With fighting power superior to that of an ogre, they had heard Giudecca’s voice ever since they were inside the cocoon.

-You must be pure above all else…
-That is my goal for creating you guys…
-Failure, failure, more failure… It was a mistake on my part for using thos impure humans as your base from the beginning…
-I won’t expect anything from you anymore…

Thus, the three had tasted humiliation and inferiority before they were even born. It makes them feel resentful towards the human that their father, Giudecca, wanted.

The two male bodies went mad because the anger reached their head, and the female body was barely able to get rid of it.

Today, too, Giudecca asked for him.

-If you succeed in bringing him alive to me, I will give you freedom…

“I don’t want any freedom. I just want your love, father.” The female body said so, but Giudecca said nothing.

Not long after that, the door of the room opened. Giudecca’s child left the thirteenth floor and started to go up. When they finally left the Great Labyrinth, someone greeted them.

“You guys look better than I expected.” It was Seongho who said that. That was not a lie either as that was precisely what passed through his thoughts after seeing the Giudecca’s children.

The one that looked like a female body looked pretty human and had a beautiful body. If she had only been wearing a wig, she would have been mistaken for a foreign model.

The female body smiled.

“It’s been a while since we last met.”

“I’m seeing you for the first time today, though?”

“We met back in the Russian boat incident. The rubber boat.”

“Ah…” Seongho recalled an old memory at that moment. Back then, he had run into a person wearing a full black attire when he was about to leave the boat.

“I thought you were human, but it seemed like I was wrong.”

“I was once human. Although, thanks to Giudecca’s protection, I had changed into such a wonderful person.” She said as she raised her arms to show off.

But Seongho only shook his head.

“I don’t know what the hell happened, but, what a pity.”

“Why do you say so? We are happy now. On top of that, we are glad that we will be able to take you to our father.”

“Father? What a shitshow. I have no intention of going to that monster, so scram!”

She secretly seduced Seongho.

“Do we really need to fight? If I accept your seed, everyone will be happy.”

“What bullshit.”

Seongho pointed the overmetal sword at her.

“I don’t want to do it with you even if you are the last woman on Earth, so go away.”

“Huhuhuh…” She laughed. She then took a few steps back as the two huge male bodies stepped forwards.

“These two are soldiers Ahn Geun-suk gave to father. They are stronger than an ogre, so you’d better be careful.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

Seongho glared at them.

The real monsters had finally appeared.