Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Seongho was strong. His current specs were superior to his character in the unknown monsters expansion pack. Currently, the only thing that he didn’t have compared to that time was only the tier 3 skills and items. However, considering that the current him his unique ability and buffs that the old him didn’t have, it’s safe to say he’s overall strength was stronger.

Even so, he still couldn’t say that the odds favor him against the monsters in front of him. The two big monster’s strength exceeded 100 and their other stats were all close to 80. To add more problems to his predicament, all of their skill slots were adorned with tier 3 skills.

Which means, a moderate attack would not be able to inflict even the slightest wound at them.

“You guys are complete monsters.”

“Of course… Do I need to remind you that we are our father’s child?”

After putting the two giant monsters in front of it, the female body waved its finger at Seongho.

“If you follow me obediently, you’ll feel no pain.”

“That might be a bit difficult…”

“Why?”

A mischievous smile crept across Seongho’s lips.

“Gudecca wants me. That means, I will be its son. Aren’t you guys Giudecca’s children? I can’t just follow the grandchildren’s words.”

The female body tilted her head.

“Aren’t grandparents usually love their grandchildren and treat them well?”

“Well usually, yes. But look at you guys… Do you think you guys are loved with that kind of appearance?”

The female body didn’t respond for a few seconds before bursting into an uncontrollable laugh. Unlike their sibling, though, the two giant male bodies only grunted. It seems that only the female body could think properly.

“Actually, I thought you guys would run away when you guys know we are coming. I never thought you would come out to meet us… Are you that confident?”

“I’ve been thinking about it. But, things will be messy if we fight in my home.”

“Why are you worried about that?”

“I, no. We will win.”

“Hehehehe… I don’t know about the others, but you will not be able to go home.”

“We need to do it first before we know.”

When Seongho boldly stated so, the female body smiled in satisfaction.

“Pure-blooded, great abilities, good physique… You are a really perfect match for me. If I change my looks, will you consider your stance?”

The moment she opened her arms, something amazing happened. Her blue skin turned white and transparent, and her hair grew thick and long. Her features were also set in place, and a beauty with a sharp appearance was completed.

But Seongho was indifferent.

“A ghoul again?”

“Ghoul or whatever, it’s enough if it can give you pleasure, right? Come to me… I’ll let you do whatever you want with this body.”

“I’m sorry, but I prefer people over ghouls. Have you ever heard of the smell of flesh?”

He had smelled it from Da-jeong and from Mikyung before. It was a smell that would never come from a ghoul.

“There is nothing we cannot imitate.”

“That’s the problem. It’s only an imitation. It’s not real.”

“It seems like we can’t reach a middle ground.”

“As always.”

Seongho often went through situations like this. Most of the time, he wouldn’t see the other person anymore. Both because he just didn’t want to meet them ever again or because they had settled their differences through a life and death battle.

In the current case he knew that the latter would apply as they were Giudecca’s subordinates who had never shy away from violence.

“Didn’t you say we earlier? Call them here.” The female body sighed and said.

“Since you didn’t attack us outright and gave us some time, looks like you guys are pretty relaxed.”

“Rather than relaxed, you could say we are confident. All of your abilities have been identified… So, there is no reason for us to lose.”

“Seokhyun, Margretha.”

The two walked out of the corner as Seongho called their name. The female body took a deep interest in Margretha as soon as she saw her.

“A survivor from Lotus… I never thought someone like you would be here.”

“There are various circumstances. You look like Giudecca’s subordinate.”

“Call me Giudecca’s daughter.”

She turned her gaze to Seongho.

“I’ll warn you one more time. I will not make it easy for you. Only after I kill you until your resurrection scroll runs out will I drag you to my father.”

Seongho stood up, sticking his overmetal sword into the ground.

“Should I warn you too? You guys, today is your death day. Since you don’t have any kids, there will be no ancestral rites held for you in the future.”

“Let’s start.” Giudecca’s daughter beckoned and the two huge, muscular male bodies trudged forward.

However, it was Seokhyun who attacked first. His fist hit one of the male bodies, and it flew backwards before crashing into a concrete wall. However, the male body only shook its head lightly as if he suffered no damage at all and stood back up.

“You are strong. Let’s fight prop…” Seokhyun flashed a smile at it. But, before he could finish his words, the male body jumped in and swatted Seokhyun in the stomach.

He flew back and hit a pile of concrete. Even after a few seconds had passed, Seokhyun stayed unmoving.

“You are weak.” As the male body sighed, Seokhyun finally stood up, shaking off the dust. However, his legs remained trembling, and he seemed to be in no small amount of shock.

Seokhyun clenched his fist, wiping the blood from his mouth. Then, golden ether start to colour his gloves.

“Let’s die.”

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The fight had begun. Seokhyun and Margretha took one male body each and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. But from what I could see, they stood a little to no chance of beating them. That calculation had even factored the fact that Seokhyun used the ether fist.

Each of his blows was heavy, but the male body recovered from the wounds even quicker. As a result, Seokhyun, who was in the offense for most of the time, grew exhausted.

On the other front, Margretha was helpless as her opponent transformed its arms into blades and used it to attack her. Fortunately, she was equipped with the Titan Shield, so the amount of effort she had to put on defending was greatly reduced.

After parrying and avoiding her opponent’s attack, she occasionally pulled out an ether blade and swung it, but it didn’t hit. After all, despite their massive size, Giudecca’s monsters moved as light as butterflies.

Margretha couldn’t rest and had to keep defending herself.

Bang-!! Bang-!! Bang-!!

“Kuk!”

The shield itself was intact, but the arm and the knees that held the shield were shaking furiously. Anyone could see that she wouldn’t last long.

I would have to finish this soon.

I gripped the overmetal sword with my right hand which was wrapped in by the Emission Glove. Everything must be done within 1 minute. So, what I needed to do was to be bold. Even if I had to die here, I must finish the three with my own hands.

What if they come back to life with a resurrection scroll?

According to Tibris, ether overload not only causes them to lose consciousness, but also nullifies their items and abilities. It seemed that items including scrolls were included in the ether system. It’s good until this far, but it would be difficult if this method leaked out.

Giudecca’s daughter approached me slowly. In an instant, its fingernails grew long.

“I wonder what are you thinking about.”

“This and that?”

“So, did you come up with a strategy to beat us?”

“Not yet. But you will find out soon.”

It moved its fingernails towards its face, and then leaned her head on it.

“It reminds me of a certain movie. We will find the answer. It was always like that… But this time it’s different.”

“Well, I can’t trust your words as you are Giudecca’s subordinate. What kind of monster watches movies?”

“Shut up.” she growled. “The reason Giudecca kept you alive was because he needed that crappy body. You should be grateful.”

“Didn’t you say that I have a great body, earlier?”

“I’ll take it back.”

Suddenly a storm blew up. However, it was not a normal water, wind, and lightning storm but a blade storm that could instantly cut any limbs just by brushing against it.

My body reacted instinctively and jumped to the side. In the meantime, a warm feeling wrapped around my shoulders. If I hadn’t drunk the elderwood sap earlier, I would be assaulted by pain right now.

Giudecca’s daughter smiled contentedly at the blood flowing from my shoulder.

“That attack just now is just 70% of what I can do. I’m just testing your evasion ability.”

“70%? What is it? A game?”

“We’re inside a game, didn’t you know?”

She moved again. It was so fast to the point that the attack became invisible. By the time I noticed her movements with my perception, the attack had already ended.

I could only swear and roll on the floor. Bluescale didn’t help much either.

She lashed out at me with her fingernails. “Looks like you ate a lot of good things! Your resilience is monstrous!”

“Keuk!”

I took advantage of its advance to open the dimensional prison. But it ended up as a failure. Her arms spread out to the left and right, and her chin was caught in the entrance of the dimensional prison.

Damn, that’s not good.

She slowly pulled herself out of the dimensional prison.

“Isn’t the Lotus continent that my father wanted inside?”

“That’s right.” As I answered its question, I pulled a rocket launcher from my dimension slot and shot it out. But before the fuse could even work, it was split apart by a single swing of a fingernail. It was an amazing reaction time.

Considering its strength stat, the dimensional wall would be useless aganist its attack. If I make a mistake, the wall would break and I would be impaled by those fingernails.

I looked left and right.

Seokhyun was at a slight disadvantage, and Margretha was barely holding on. Without the Titan Shield, she would have been a cold corpse by now.

Well, that’s the only way.

I grabbed my overmetal sword and ran towards my friends. I heard a laugh exploded behind me.

“Have you given up? Are you planning on committing suicide?”

Follow me, I’ll show you heaven.

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Da-jeong, Yoohyeon, and Yuzuka were watching the fight while hiding on the roof of a cerain building. They waited patiently for Seongho’s signal, but it seemed like there was no chance for it to happen.

Seokhyun was engaged in a bloody hand-to-hand fight with a rice cake-like monster while Margretha was desperately holding on for her life. However, Seongho’s situation was even worse. The claw of the monster that he faced was so fast to the point that it was invisible to the eyes of the three.

“It’s so ridiculous… how do you fight something like that?” Yoohyeon squeezed the back of his neck, fearing that the monster would stare at him. It was a monster that even Seongho couldn’t attack properly. Knowing how strong he was, Yoohyeon couldn’t help but become nervous.

“It’s really fast. The attack will come before you even notice it. It’s fortunate that he recovers quickly…” If he hadn’t acquired the ogre’s primordial life skill, he wouldn’t have lasted even a few seconds. Anyway, in Da-jeong’s eyes, the situation of the three was precarious. She couldn’t think of a way for them to win after the rocket bullets ricocheted off.

At that time, Seongho started running towards the party. Da-jeong instantly gave Yuzuka a look.

“Are you ready?”

“Yuzuka is fully prepared.”

“You sure you can hit them? The three of them.”

Yuzuka, who had let her hair grow, nodded her head with confidence.

“Of course.”

The additional effects she got beyond level 25 were namely multiple arrows and sure fire arrows. Multiple arrows allow her to shoot several arrows at the same time, while sure fire arrows allow her arrows to fly like guided missiles. As long as it was within Yuzuka’s field of view, the hit was a certainty. But that alone didn’t mean victory. Their win would depend on how effective the ether arrow she was holding in her hand was.

Da-jeong did not completely trust Tibris, who looked too jumpy for his own good.

‘In case of an emergency, I have to call all my monsters to buy time.’

Her role was to support the fight. However, she knew that her monster wouldn’t even possessed a challenge against the rice cake-like monster. But it could at the very least buy them a few seconds.

‘Though, the best outcome would be killing all of them with ether blaze…’

However, seeing that Seokhyun’s Ether Fist didn’t work properly, she didn’t expect much. Even if they killed those monsters, there was a high possibility that bastard Giudecca would pop out.

Da-jeong heard someone’s voice calling at them while trying to summon the monsters around her. Turns out, Tibris had contacted them through the Jewel of Whispers.

-Someone’s there?

-What’s the matter?

-This is Tibris. I just made something… I called it a greater ether bomb. I connected them so that 100 of them could explode at the same time.

It was the result of hard work that Seongho and Da-jeong rooted did in the ether mine.

-What can we do with it?

-If, by any chance, Giudecca appears, of course it will be in a pseudo-body, not the main body. Either way, it can do a lot of damage to it.

-It can hurt Giudecca?

Someone had told him that Giudecca appeared from time to time. According to Tibris’ explanation, the bomb was unstable because it was made hastily.
But the effect was certain.

-According to you guys’ story, I conclude that Giudecca is an ether-based existence. If it was connected to its temporary vessel and get caught in a powerful explosion, the main body would also take a hit. Undoubtedly.

-How big is that ether bomb?

-I made it longer…and bigger. It’s about the length of an arm…

Da-jeong almost cursed at his answer. They can’t use it as an arrow when it’s that big!

Throwing was also out of question. After all, they need it to explode inside the body. That’s why Seongho called for Yuzuka’s help.

Da-jeong remembered something at that moment.

If it’s a big arrow, there’s one in the shelter, right?

-Albin- no, Mi-kyung, the white-skinned kid is there, right?

-She is poking my side with her finger right now… She said she was curious about what we were talking about.

-Can you tell her to come to the roof of the convenience store at the entrance of the Great Labyrinth right now?

-I don’t know what a convenience store is, but I will do so.

After a while, Mikyung appeared. At nearly the same time, colorful fireworks bloomed in the clearing. The four of them couldn’t keep their mouths shut when they saw it.

It was an Ether Blaze.

A golden flower bloomed on Seongho’s sword. And right after, the arms of the female monster that had been pushing him just before exploded and scattered.

“Aaaagh!” She cried out and rolled over, and the male body quickly looked at her.

Invincibility. Seongho was currently in a state where he would not receive any damage for 1 minute. The two male monsters who noticed it moved to block Seongho with their bodies, but Seokhyun grabbed one of the monsters’ ankles and pulled it.

“You can’t go! Your opponent is me!” Seokhyun’s face and body were stained with blood as he said that.

“Yuzuka!”

Seongho shouted, and the arrow that rested in the string flew away. The three arrows soared into the air and struck both the female and male bodies in a beautiful arc.

Puck-!!

As it was something that they deemed as anything but lethal, the three didn’t bother to evade it and just let it hit them. However, the explosion that occurred inside the body after the arrow hit them was by no means an ordinary explosion. The Ether Stone, which served as an arrowhead, exploded and completely neutralized their Ether Pass.

The waves of the ether spread widely and Giudecca’s children lost their minds and went limp. A phenomenon similar to that of electromagnetic wave pulses burning nearby electronic circuits occurred inside their bodies. It erased the resurrection function imprinted on the body of the three Giudecca’s children.

At that moment, Seongho’s Ether Blade shone.

Papapat-!!

In an instant, the heads of the three flew away. Their limbs were severed, their bodies exploded and they turned into something like rags. The three met a complete death without even being resurrected.

But that wasn’t the end. The flesh that had been scattered in all directions suddenly came together and formed a single shape. But before it could do more, Seongho stabbed it with the raging ether blaze.

Then, a familiar voice echoed in the clearing.

-Marvelous.

Seongho gritted his teeth and tried to wring out the ether blaze, but an arm formed from the meaty mass and prevented him from doing so.

-Destroying the ether system itself with ether waves, huh? Lotos has developed a lot since I destroyed it.

“Ugh, I just need to pull this out.”

-Can you really finish me just by doing that?

At some point, Giudecca let the Ether Blaze get pulled out. And then, the chunk of meat took on the shape of a complete female body.

She, Giudecca, greeted Seong-ho politely.

“Now I will not bring you despair myself.”

Margretha, covered in blood, stood next to Seongho. She was exhausted from enduring the hand-to-hand combat with the monster. Then, Giudecca’s gaze fell to her.

“A native of Lotus… as long as they adapt to the system, it will fulfill the role as a vessel.”

“That wouldn’t happen.”

As Seongho spit out the words, Giudecca put a smile on its lips.

“Certainly, the ether that comes out from your sword is amazing. But I won’t die from the same ether explosion earlier. All of your means have already been figured out.”

Just then, Seokhyun grabbed Giudecca from its back.

“You can’t run away anymore!”

“What a useless thing to do.”

Countless tentacles pierced Seokhyun at that moment. He gnashed his teeth while vomiting blood. But then, he exclaimed

“Second dimension door, open!”

Seongho reflexively opened the second dimension door at Seokhyun’s shout. But after opening it, he couldn’t hide his concern. After all, the second dimension gate led to the forest where Jimani gathered foods and went fishing.

However, unlike his worry, what protruded from the dimension door was a large bolt with 100 Aether Stones tied to it. A bolt that was shot by Da-jeong through the ballista instantly slithered through the air and shot towards Giudecca.

Tentacles rushed out from its body, but all of it was blocked by Seongho’s dimensional wall. The bolt gulped the distance between them in an instant and pierced Giudecca’s chest.

Then, it exploded.

Giudecca’s body shattered as the ground sank.

At the same time, an indescribable scream rang out from the entrance of the Great Labyrinth.