Chapter 163: A New Strength Pt. 4

It had already been a week since they had gotten rid of Elfame. The original plan had been to slay the ruler of Incheon and head to Seoul quickly.

However, that plan quickly went awry.

Despite having slain the boss, Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party were left unable to head to Seoul.

“Seoul has been completely obstructed.”

The cataclysm had now begun in Seoul, and it had also been surrounded by an impenetrable veil as if it was refusing any intruders. It was an isolated situation where no one could enter or exit.

They had considered forcing their way through.

“I can’t seem to tell what’s going on in Seoul.” Jeong In-Chang said.

However, it was too dangerous.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party were spending time cleaning up monsters in Incheon and trying to rescue survivors.

"I'm going to go crazy."

However, they could never be comfortable with how things currently were.

“Where the hell could they have gone?” he continued with an impatient expression.

All of them were still antsy since the whereabouts of Ungnyeo and her party were still unknown.

“...”

“They should all be doing okay, right?” Jeong In-Chang continued to speak as if trying to erase his anxiety, but Lee Jun-Kyeong just sat with his eyes closed without saying a word.

“Are you not even worried, Mr. Lee?” Jeong In-Chang asked, frustrated.

Blink.

Only at that moment did Lee Jun-Kyeong open his eyes and look back at the Hunter.

“...”

Jeong In-Chang had spoken out of frustration, but he soon had a stiffened expression as he looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong staring back at him. He could see it. Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression was unusual, different from how the Hunter normally was as he opened his eyes.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was also worried.

Jeong In-Chang sheepishly apologized, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Lee Jun-Kyeong as stood up.

Although he was still trying to train his mana stream in this situation, there was no way that he wasn’t worried at all.

‘I can't concentrate.’

They were his companions who had been with him and fought alongside him.

‘There’s no way that I wouldn’t be worried knowing that their whereabouts are still unknown.’

However, there was still something he could be relieved by.

“They are still alive, so don’t worry.”

Hyeon-Mu and Fenrir were by their side, and they were also his familiars.

As a result, he was able to still feel some sort of relief through his vague grasp of their condition.

However, there was still a problem.

‘They aren’t doing great.’

Fenrir and Hyeon-Mu’s connection with him wasn’t consistent, as if they were injured. Although there was the possibility of this instability being a result of the veil, it was still inevitable that he would get more and more worried.

Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his inventory and took something out as if he was trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

“That’s…” Jeong In-Chang said as he looked at the object they had seen before. It was one of the spoils obtained from slaying Elfame.

“Mistilteinn…”

A blue window appeared briefly before Lee Jun-Kyeong’s eyes before disappearing. The window indicated the name of the item, but no other information emerged.

‘If the status window appeared…’

Although Lee Jun-Kyeong had the special ability,

Player

, it was still wasn’t easy for him to be able to examine the details of just any item. They had to be a special and rare item such as Muspel’s Spear.

Or.

“A Sponsor-Grade item.”

They would have to be a divinity-grade item sponsored by the Sponsors, such as the Bifrost or Zeus’ Lightning.

Thus, he had tried to uncover the identity of the item in front of him and its power.

"Did you find out something?" asked Jeong In-Chang.

He shook his head. "No."

However, there was no windfall of any kind.

He explained, “I can feel that it has a strong mana, but that’s all.”

“A strong mana…”

“The mana that is in this thing is, at the very least, the level of the Bifrost,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said, holding the item like a long stick.

“There must be a way or method to use this…”

He had no clue about its use.

He had tried to figure out its structure with his mana stream, even going so far as to imbue the item with mana, but nothing seemed to work.

‘I even tried to absorb the mana in Mistilteinn, but…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had tried to absorb Mistilteinn using the power of his dragon heart, Muspel’s Spear, and the Dragon’s Bloodstone. However, it had been no use, He eventually realized it was a waste of time.

“May I take a look?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong only had a single word as an answer.

“No.”

***

Around the time he was studying the power of Mistilteinn and the investigation into Seoul and the veil had continued, a sudden change occurred.

Zzzt.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had killed monsters and saved survivors today as well, and had noticed something as he was conducting his daily study of Mistilteinn.

‘Merlin’s Necklace is?’

The necklace had been well hidden in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s chest, dangling from his neck, but it was spewing light everywhere.

Considering that he hadn’t done anything to it himself, the change in the necklace could only mean one thing.

–Can you hear me?

That its owner had been the one to influence it.

Merlin’s voice came into Lee Jun-Kyeong’s head.

“Merlin…!” Lee Jun-Kyeong said with wide eyes.

They were currently in a situation where no communication was possible due to the veil except through the Bifrost. In other words, in his hands right now, there was another means of contacting the outside world.

Lee Jun-Kyeong held Merlin’s Necklace tightly in his hands, worried that the voice would cut off.

“Merlin! Merlin!”

The necklace didn’t answer Lee Jun-Kyeong’s call for a while.

Just as he started to become anxious…

–The connection…isn’t…complete…

Intermittently, he could hear Merlin’s voice.

Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly looked around.

'Merlin's Necklace is being affected by something.’

That could be the only explanation as to why the connection had suddenly been made and why for some reason, the connection had now just disconnected momentarily.

As he looked around, he realized something.

‘Mistilteinn!’

He realized that he had put Mistilteinn, which he had been studying so far, back into his inventory.

Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly opened his inventory and withdrew Mistilteinn, holding it in one hand as the other held onto Merlin’s Necklace.

–Can you hear me?”

That was the answer.

He exclaimed, “I can hear you!”

–Something is affecting my necklace. The connection is now stable.

Lee Jun-Kyeong could hear Merlin’s calm voice again. He looked down at Mistilteinn in his other hand for a moment and then asked, "How's the situation over there?"

Although it was clear that Mistilteinn had some sort of effect on the necklace, there was no guarantee that it would last.

‘Seong-Gu Hyeong had said…’

The Hunter had said that his connection with the European side had been completely cut off as well. That was why, this was the perfect chance to ask about the current state of Europe, right as he’d gotten connected with Merlin.

‘I can hear about the situation regarding the Round Table and Olympus.’

They were the two secret organizations that operated on the European side.

This was his opportunity to hear about their situation and the overall cataclysm unfolding in Europe.

–It's...it's not very good here.

Lee Jun-Kyeong felt as if his heart was stopping at her every word.

“Europe..." he muttered.

Europe was strong. With two large secret organizations on its back, Europe should have been able to survive the cataclysm and emerge from its grasp.

However, he didn’t expect to hear such a thing from Merlin’s mouth.

–What you called the cataclysm… It was more dangerous and difficult than I thought. Here, the cities are all isolated, and the Round Table is responding quickly to the situation.

"That's a relief."

–But...

Lee Jun-Kyeong swallowed while waiting for Merlin to continue.

–There is a problem with Olympus.

“…”

The secret organization with powers comparable to that of Asgard.

Moreover, that was the place where

she

had headed.

Park Jae-Hyun’s younger sibling.

‘Park Yu-Jin.’

Somehow, there was a problem with Olympus.

Even before Lee Jun-Kyeong could ask, Merlin continued quickly.

–They say that Zeus has disappeared. No one from Olympus is able to properly handle any rescue or anything as they are trying to locate Zeus in the midst of the cataclysm.

The sound of her voice was getting smaller and smaller.

–That’s why we…after conducting the rescue response within England, tried to contact Olympus and…

Zzt.

Before Merlin was able to finish, the necklace stopped spewing its light, quieting down. Although the powers in the necklace still remained the same, it had disconnected once again.

Lee Jun-Kyeong tried to facilitate the connection again and contact her somehow by bringing Mistilteinn closer to the necklace.

“Damn, it…”

However, it was no use.

Merlin’s Necklace soon lost its strength again, and Lee Jun-Kyeong just turned to look at Mistilteinn with faint eyes.

A voice rang throughout his head.

‘Zeus is gone.’

That ominous sentence made him think of something

He had gone through the same thing a while ago, and had even met that person who had disappeared as well.

"Odin..."

Lee Jun-Kyeong realized he would have to meet up with Yeo Seong-Gu again.

***

"We're finally going home today."

"Everyone, take care of your stuff!"

“Are we leaving anything behind?”

Korea was a small land.

Even if there were monsters all over the city, it was a simple matter to clean it all up, especially now that they had joined up with all the Hunters and the ruler had been slain. The monsters in the city quickly disappeared.

Although they were still limited to the areas where the Hunters could be active as the city was still in shambles, the residents of Incheon were all ready to go home.

"We’re going back!"

"It's all thanks to the Underdog."

"Thank you!"

Things were stabilizing here. Although the cataclysm had arrived, Incheon’s problem was resolving quickly.

"Thank you."

Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party watched the people who continued to thank them.

"The number of new Hunters is close to five hundred,” said one of the League Guild members. He was a Hunter who was in charge of Incheon until they found another suitable person to take his role.

“There are monsters everywhere…”

He continued as he pointed towards the sky.

“And everyone is growing quickly because of the cataclysm, and the eyes of their Sponsors are avidly watching as well.”

The cataclysm.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had said it before.

‘The birth and growth of Hunters would explode.’

The cataclysm caused quite a few changes due to monsters, but it was also accompanied by the birth and growth of Hunters. In the end, the only thing that mattered would be whether or not one was able to overcome the cataclysm.

“That’s great.”

"It's all thanks to you, Mr. Underdog,” the Hunter said. Even he, as a League Guild member, looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong with respect.

The Hunters would often go back and forth near Incheon City Hall, and they had all seen it.

“That terrifying…aftermath is…”

All around the building were the vast traces of the aftermath of the fight between Lee Jun-Kyeong and Elfame.

Since the Hunters were familiar with their levels of power, all of them had realized how powerful Lee Jun-Kyeong really was. Thus, they were all grateful that he had used it in the right direction.

Lee Jun-Kyeong realized these people hadn’t rotted inside yet.

“You seem quite popular,” Yeo Seong-Gu said as he scratched his flashing bald head.

Since Lee Jun-Kyeong was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do, Yeo Seong-Gu soon also expressed his gratitude to Jeong In-Chang as well.

"Thank you, Siegfried."

"Of course... Wait, what?"

“Thanks to your kind heart that worked for the people, we were able to rescue countless survivors. Siegfried, you have become a great example for us.”

Siegfried.

Shhhh!

When Yeo Seong-Gu gave a thank you message to Jeong In-Chang, the young Hunter’s face quickly heated up like a kettle, right about to spray steam everywhere.

"That's great. And after all those times you had said you wanted to be famous,” Lee Jun-Kyeong teased as he poked him in the waist.

While Jeong In-Chang bowed his head shyly, the League Guild member gave a small smile and said his goodbyes.

“Let’s go!”

He was going in order to lead the people.

Some people were going home, while others hadn’t been able to find their homes yet.

Although there were some people whose homes weren’t in Incheon and were left to resort to looking at those who left with envious eyes, even they all had something similar in their eyes.

“Hope.”

Hope that they, too, could go home as well.

Thus, those who would leave and those who would stay have been decided.

Still, both sides would gather together and come up with a plan so that they could all live on.

“We should go too,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.

The survivors weren’t the only ones who were leaving.

Yeo Seong-Gu replied, “Okay.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong, Yeo Seong-Gu, and Jeong In-Chang were also leaving today as well.

After pondering for a long time, they had finally decided on a destination.

“Ungnyeo is…”

They had received news that she and her party were headed to Gyeonggi-Do.

Yeo Seong-Gu had received the information from a League Guild member from beyond the veil that the party had been found in Gyeonggi-Do.

‘Seoul will be able to endure somehow.’

It was the city with the most and the strongest Hunters of Korea.

Therefore, rather than them heading to Seoul, it made more sense for them to go where there were fewer Hunters with a large amount of land to cover.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

‘And Gyeonggi-Do, where it would be like hell…’

It was only right for them to go there, and it was even more of a natural choice as it would allow them to join Ungnyeo’s party.

"Let's go home."

Thus, Lee Jun-Kyeong and his group were part of the group leaving for home.

Then.

.

Ssss.

“Oh, shi–!” cried out Jeong In-Chang as Hel, the new Familiar, also appeared out of nowhere.

“Are you still getting scared by it?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

“I know, right…”

Jeong In-Chang lowered his head in embarrassment.

“

Hiccup

.”

Yeo Seong-Gu started to hiccup.