Chapter 201: Preparing for War

Although he had heard about it from Zeus, hearing the truth from those who had defended England, the Round Table, had made it all the more shocking.

“England has fallen.”

The meeting hall was silent.

“Europe has been reduced to rubble and is no longer…it’s no longer a place people can survive.”

Gawain was the one informing them about the state of Europe.

‘Lancelot is also dead.’

He also delivered the news of the deaths within the Knights of the Round Table.

Out of everyone there, the person who was shocked the most was Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“...”

Throughout the entire meeting, no one spoke other than Gawain, with only the sound of sobs breaking the silence.

‘England…’

England had been sunk under the ocean. Lancelot was dead.

‘So the past I knew already doesn’t exist anymore.’

Although Lancelot’s death wasn’t something he knew anything about in the future, at least for the fall of England, he knew that it was completely different from the history he had come from. In the future he knew, England had remained, and even the Round Table still existed fully after the cataclysm ended.

“

Whew…

”

But now, everything has been jumbled to pieces.

‘It's that, or my memory itself is wrong.’

Still, it was not as if he didn’t have doubts about what he knew either. In fact, he could no longer trust either the book of the Demon King or even his own memories.

Even if what he had known was still the truth, everything was still distorted, and it was possible that his memories had been distorted from the very beginning, aiming for some result of some kind.

Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke up. “So it seems we must move now according to the situation.”

Everyone nodded.

Every day would be different. In this world in which the cataclysm was still underway and no one knew what else would change, they had no choice but to move blindly, adjusting at every moment to the changing circumstances.

‘This might be better in the first place.’

“The most important thing is him.”

As Lee Jun-Kyeong calmed his beating heart, Merlin began to speak.

“The power of the man who sank England…it wasn’t human. Even Lord Zeus of Olympus has seen his strength.”

“Merlin is right. He’s a monster. Ah well, there are monsters everywhere on the planet now…” Zeus said with his characteristic mischievous laugh.

“Mmm, then, just like the others call us, should we say, a god?”

However, Merlin shook her head in response. "No. He’s not a god.”

There was a hint of hatred in her determined voice. Composing herself, she soon spoke again, looking at everyone with a cold gaze. “He’s a Demon King.”

“...”

“He’s a Demon King who has descended onto the human world.”

He had sunken England and slaughtered the Knights of the Round Table. Moreover, although Zeus hadn’t said it, Olympus had likely joined that battle as well. Thus, many Heroes had been lost.

The Demon King was only one person, but his very presence had destroyed nations and crushed Heroes. Although there wasn’t any other better way to refer to him, Lee Jun-Kyeong struggled to speak up, unable to say anything easily.

“...”

This had been his Hero, a Hero who had always supported him from his childhood even until now. But Lee Jun-Kyeong stopped and thought for a moment.

‘Maybe he really is a Demon King.’

Still, even as doubt dominated Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mind, the meeting had to proceed.

“We have to decide what to do right now.”

***

The Round Table had come to Korea from the fallen England and entered Gyeonggi-Do. Although it would have been impossible for them to even consider coming by plane, they still had another hidden way to enter Korea. Furthermore, it was a method that had allowed them to come to the province even through the cities that were covered by veils.

‘They actually traveled here through a gate.’

They had said that their hidden method had been to use the greatest threat to humanity since the advent of the Hunters, the gates. Even amidst the cataclysm, gates were constantly appearing.

Because it was inevitable for them to all collapse anyway, pouring out monsters, and because no one could dispatch any Hunters to begin closing the numerous gates like before, none of them had given a second thought about them so far.

Gates were even being actively created and broken even at this very moment. But Merlin had said that she was able to travel through a gate. It truly was amazing.

‘I can’t believe she has the ability to forcibly connect and open gates.’

Merlin’s ability, which was shrouded in secrecy, was much better than Lee Jun-Kyeong had thought. The Hunter could directly manipulate a gate and use them as a passageway by forcibly connecting the dimensions. Lee Jun-Kyeong had never even thought that such a thing would be possible.

‘Yet she made it happen.’

At the very least, it meant that it was an unmistakable fact that Merlin was at the apex of mage-type Hunters. However, the cost to her wasn’t small, and she was forced to rest now in order to recuperate from mana exhaustion, depleted further by the aftermath of the battle.

They needed her to be stable in order to carry out any decisions and have her input through the meetings. Thus, many, including Won-Hwa, had been mobilized in order to help her recuperate.

This gave Lee Jun-Kyeong time.

“What are you doing?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked as he set aside his thoughts.

“What do you think I’m doing,” a blunt voice responded.

“I’m doing what you asked me to do.”

“You know, this really is the real deal?!”

A boy and girl who looked to be middle school students were examining Fenrir as their eyes were shining.

“Growl…”

Fenrir growled low as if he were uncomfortable, but he didn’t try to harm them. Instead, with an uncomfortable expression, he just glanced over to Lee Jun-Kyeong, asking for help.

“Pfft.”

Eventually, Lee Jun-Kyeong finally burst out into laughter, his tension completely relieved. Park Jae-Hyun and Park Yu-Jin both quipped back.

“What’s so funny that you’re chuckling by yourself over there?”

“What’s making that idiot laugh?”

The best blacksmiths in the world, Brokkr and Hephaestus, the brother and sister who had left each other, had finally met once again and were working together.[1]

“Be quiet for now!” Park Jae-Hyun shouted nervously as he took out his hammer.

Thud! Thud!

He started tapping Gleipnir, which was wrapped around Fenrir's body.

“...!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was observing the changes in Gleipnir for the first time and was surprised by what he saw. After being hit by Park Jae-Hyun’s hammer, it continued to change its shape and shift, moving like a snake. Its appearance of being almost alive was bizarre and repulsive.

Rattle. Rattle.

Gleipnir continued to move on its own and avoid the hammer strikes.

“Stop moving. Don’t think I won’t actually kill you.”

However, for some reason, the chain stopped moving at Park Yu-Jin’s sharp threat.

Clang! Clang!

Gleipnir now meekly accepted Park Jae-Hyun's hammering, and the chain twisted back and forth as if it was alive and could feel pain. It was an unusual sight, even in a world where monsters existed.

“As expected,” Park Jae-Hyun said, stowing away the hammer as if he had noticed something.

“You’ve endured well, mutt.”

“I’m not a mutt…” Fenrir muttered.

“You worked hard, Spot.”[2]

“...”

Park Jae-Hyun and Park Yu-Jin, who called Fenrir as they wished, turned their backs on him and approached Lee Jun-Kyeong. It had been a week since they had begun to investigate Gleipnir.

“We have some results.”

The legendary blacksmiths hadn’t betrayed Lee Jun-Kyeong’s trust.

Woosh!

Park Jae-Hyun picked up a sword lying on the floor instead of the hammer he had stowed away and threw it at Fenrir. The wolf boy watched the blade with a bored expression.

Clang!

The sword thrown at Fenrir ricocheted back and crashed into the wall. Fenrir hadn’t blocked the sword that Park Jae-Hyun had thrown.

Rattle. Rattle.

Rather, it had been Gleipnir, which raised its head like a snake and swayed side to side.

“You saw it, right?”

“Yes, but what…”

“And you still can’t figure it out?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong asked Park Jae-Hyun again, and it was only after the blacksmith’s explanation that he was able to understand what the smith was trying to say.

“Ah.”

He commented on the chain, now finally figuring out what the smiths had uncovered.

“It looks like Fenrir can never be destroyed.”

“

Growl?

” Fenrir responded.

“That’s right,” Park Jae-Hyun said, nodding his head as if it was something trivial.

“Originally, that Gleipnir or whatever was supposed to trap the mutt…”

“Spot.”

“I’m sorry, but his name is Fenrir…” Lee Jun-Kyeong meekly said.

“Whatever. Anyway, he wasn’t wrong, it was supposed to either imprison or kill him.”

“...”

Gleipnir was supposed to strangle Fenrir to death.

“It’s pretty much a mana tool that’s supposed to grow by stealing its host’s power. Well, although I have a lot of things to say about that thing called Gleipnir or whatever…” Park Jae-Hyun began to explain.

“That’s not what’s important right now,” Lee Jun-Kyeong finished.

“Yeah. Well, you can call it a parasite that’s supposed to kill its host.”

Rattle, rattle.

Gleipnir moved its body as if it was upset by what they were saying.

“But, it’s changed a little.”

“...”

“I don’t understand exactly why. It might have been because the mutt was much stronger than expected, or maybe because of some other reason, but the important thing is that the chain had changed its purpose arbitrarily.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, “You’re talking about it protecting Fenrir?”

“Yeah. Maybe it realized that when its host dies, its usefulness would run out?”

Park Jae-Hyun’s eyes shook a little as he looked at the dancing chain.

“If that’s not it…”

Park Jae-Hyun continued with sadness in his eyes.

“It might also want revenge against its maker who created it?”

“...”

“Although we’ll have to study it further, that thing was created in a way that’s more horrible and more cruel than anything we can imagine—no, than anything a human being could ever think of. As you’ve noticed yourself, it’s not wrong to say that it’s actually alive.”

Seeing Park Jae-Hyun’s serious expression after so long gave Lee Jun-Kyeong a new feeling. However, his curiosity about Gleipnir was even greater.

“How was it made?”

“To put it simply…” Park Jae-Hyun trailed off.

“They used humans.”

“...?”

Park Yu-Jin continued, explaining on behalf of her brother to the puzzled Lee Jun-Kyeong. She spoke harshly, as if she wanted to make sure her point was made.

“I’m not saying that they used people’s labor or something. Human beings were literally used to make it.”

She then emphasized, “This is a mana tool made from human bodies.”

“...!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was shocked.

“Moreover, they were all Hunters. This was created by melting Hero-Grade Hunters into molten metal,” she continued grimly. “That’s why it’s alive and has a level of mana incomparable to any ordinary items…”

“It’s an item that can grow.”

To think Odin had even made a growth item. After all, Lee Jun-Kyeong also had a growth item.

‘Muspel’s Spear.’

However, Gleipnir was a completely different type of item. It was made using the lives of Heroes. Moreover, such a barbaric item had been against Fenrir, and Odin had even fled without retrieving it. Park Jae-Hyun was likely right. The item had likely betrayed its maker out of a desire for vengeance.

“I mean, as expected.”

A little rage could be seen on Park Jae-Hyun’s face as he answered while looking at Gleipnir. Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered if that was the spirit of an artisan.

“Then what should we do?” he asked.

Still, Gleipnir was clearly a dangerous object. While it would be right to remove it if it were still to harm Fenrir, the two blacksmiths instead presented unexpectedly hopeful possibilities.

“Let’s just leave it and see.”

“I don’t think there’s much to really be worried about.”

“Then for now…should I be saying we were lucky or something?”

Although Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke with a bitter smile, the important thing was that there wouldn’t be any projected harm to Fenrir.

“By the way…”

“So…”

At that moment, Park Jae-Hyun and Park Yu-Jin both spoke as they looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong at the same time.

“Do you have anything else? Because Gleipnir only needs to be watched for the time being, so…”

“It would be nice for us to be able to spend that time researching something sort of different.”

The two really fit well together. Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that it really was a type of friendship that he was completely lost as to how they could have borne to be apart for such a long time. He quickly forgot about his worries on Gleipnir when he saw the two’s reaction.

“Of course I do.”

He lived up to their expectations and withdrew an unsightly tree branch from within his inventory.

"It's called Mistilteinn."

1. The author says Dvergr and Hephaestus, but Dvergr seems to be a typo as it’s a human-hybrid race and not a title. 👈

2. Literally “Spotty” in Korean. A nickname for dogs. 👈