Chapter 219. A Single Serpent Pt. 6

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!

The people were frightened by the tremors that seemed to resonate throughout Japan from whatever was happening in the center of Tokyo.

While some of the residents came out to the center out of curiosity, others locked the doors and hid just as they had done on that day.

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!

The vibrations grew stronger, and with every tremor, runes were being engraved into the air as if they were being stitched directly into space itself. The magic and spells of ordinary Hunters couldn’t hold a candle to what was happening at this moment.

They would cast magic using skills that they had received from their Sponsors. Their spells would only be used in the most simple ways, as if they could only use what they were given, how they were given.

In front of the Hunters, runes and geometric shapes spun slowly in the air. Only real Mages with systems of mana were able to do something like this. Moreover, all of this was done by Lee Jun-Kyeong on his own.

“You really did learn it perfectly.”

“Not only have you mastered elemental spearmanship, but to add magic on top of that… You really are him, Underdog,” Heracles joked.

“He also has his Familiars, too.”

“Ha. I guess I really can’t win against him then.”

Heracles and Odysseus conversed calmly as they looked at everything unfolding around them. Their expressions were calm and relaxed, most likely because they had been well-rested for the past few days.

Zzzt! Zzzt!! Zzzzzt!!!

The tremors continued to grow stronger.

“It really is incredible.”

Ordinary humans may not have been able to feel it, but the Hunters could see it for what it truly was. There were Hunters who had surrendered to Yashin without receiving power from Orochi and also Hunters who had hidden from Yashin’s tyranny joined Lee Jun-Kyeong’s party. They could also see and feel the incredible portal forming.

Their bodies shuddered as they sensed the amount of raw condensed mana before them.

“What sort of power is…”

Those who hadn’t seen the fierce battle between Orochi were terrified by the tremendous flow of power.

“...”

On the other hand, the Hunters who had seen the fierce battle with Orochi just stood with their heads hung heavy. Their confidence was in shambles. Each one could now see that being a Hunter meant nothing in the grand scheme of the world.

There was a sky above the sky before them, incomparable in might. There was a heaven before them that they could never reach.

Shine!!!!

“It’s coming,” said Heracles.

Everyone started to back away. As the air vibrated violently, the magic circle twisted and consumed the gathered mana. Space and time trembled as, finally, a blue gate appeared.

JING!!!

Unlike normal gates, runes were inscribed around the outer edges of this one, enclosing it in a circle.

“Back up!” Heracles shouted once more, and the people backed away even further.

Some of those that had gathered, not knowing exactly what was going on, were frightened by the sudden appearance of the gate. Then after some time, the entirety of Japan began to tremble as if an earthquake was shaking the islands.

“Ah!!!”

As the shocked Hunters shouted, the tremors grew stronger.

RUMBLE!!

Before the Hunters had even noticed it, something massive suddenly appeared from within the gate and slammed its head into the ground.

BOOM!

“A…a snake!”

“It’s Orochi! It’s Orochi!!! Run away!!”

While there were panic-stricken Hunters who were confused at what was happening, most of those who had gathered just accepted what was going on and stood still, watching. The head of a giant snake, so massive that it was able to swallow several buildings with one gulp, had appeared.

As none of those gathered prepared for battle, the snake’s massive jaws opened.

Whoosh!

From within it, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s voice resounded amidst the clamor of the murmuring people, “I’ve returned.”

***

People were constantly coming out of Jormungandr's jaws, carrying scarce luggage that was limited to food and daily necessities.

“There’s no end to them,” Heracles said, shaking his head as if he was already drained by the number of people that had already appeared.

It was truly endless as people and baggage came out of Jormungandr’s jaw with no end in sight.

“Just how long is this thing?”

According to Lee Jun-Kyeong, Jormungandr was currently connected to both Korea and Japan, spanning the gap in its entirety through the gate.

Because it was a journey that they had done before, they knew how long it took to pass through the passage in its entirety. It took several days, even at the speed of Hunters. However, Jormungandr had been able to cover that entire distance with its body alone.

“But, by the way…” Odysseus asked curiously. “If people are coming from there… um, well…”

“What?”

“I mean… if you want to get over here from Korea…it’s just…well…”

“Ah!!!!”

Realizing what Odysseus was struggling to ask, Heracles said to Lee Jun-Kyeong, “Then are people entering through Jormungandr’s asshole and coming out of its mouth?”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Odysseus clapped his hands in glee as if he had finally experienced relief after a great amount of constipation. Lee Jun-Kyeong was dumbfounded for a moment at the absurd question.

Shlick.

Jormungandr glared at Heracles in displeasure.

“Ugh.”

Being stared at by huge eyes the size of a building gave off an aura of intimidation, even for someone whose courage would be second to none like Heracles. The Hunter was at the point of shivering.

Lee Jun-Kyeong laughed at the sight and continued, “Because the gate is connected to the inside of Jormungandr, you don’t have to worry about something like that.”

“Is that even possible?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Jormungandr. “It seemed to work.”

It hadn’t been that long since Jormungandr had become one of Lee Jun-Kyeong’s Familiars, and even he didn’t know exactly what or how much the snake could do. To make things more confusing, Jormungandr itself also didn’t know.

[I will hurry as much as possible, Master.]

A booming voice rang in his head.

‘The last child of ...’

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Jormungandr, thinking of the notification he had heard before. Clearly, it had been said that Jormungandr was the child of the Sky of the Apocalypse.

The first child, according to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s knowledge, had been Fenrir. The second was Jormungandr. However, there was something that Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t understood.

[You have found all of the children left behind by .]

He had heard that after Jormungandr had been accepted as a Familiar.

[Hel has been accepted as a child of .]

[Hyeon-Mu has been accepted as a child of .]

His other two Familiars had also been acknowledged by as its children. But, on what basis could the Sponsor just accept them as its children? Although he didn’t exactly understand what had happened, he was still happy with what he saw looking back at him.

He had been a little upset when there had been no sponsorship after he had found all of ’s children. However, looking at it now, there was a support he had never expected.

“Master.”

It was just that the sponsorship had been focused on these brats instead. Hyeon-Mu was now completely human and had the appearance of a young man at that.

Woosh.

And as for Hel, although the Familiar was still translucent, it could now form a complete body at will. Moreover, there was something even more surprising about its transformation.

"Master," Hel said, kneeling down and bowing her head.

“Was…was Hel always a woman?” Heracles shouted.

The Familiar’s gender had been clarified after her additional sponsorship.

“The two of you focus on figuring out your newly acquired power.”

“I have received your order, Master.”

“Understood, Master.”

As Lee Jun-Kyeong’s Familiars rose and disappeared, Heracles still looked dazed, shocked that Hel was a woman.

Leaving Heracles to gawk, Odysseus walked over to speak to Lee Jun-Kyeong, “Do you have any information about the others?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had returned to Japan from Korea. If there was a party that had finished the job that they had been entrusted with, he would have run into them. However, Lee Jun-Kyeong just shook his head in silence.

“...”

His silence spoke volumes, expressing that they had been the only ones who succeeded in their mission. At this moment, everyone else was still in the process of completing their missions.

“Still, I received some news about Ungnyeo. It seems that she had sent quite a few people to Gyeonggi-Do.”

The number of people that had come out of Jormungandr’s mouth was much larger than there would have been in the entirety of Gyeonggi-Do. Ungnyeo’s mission had been to gather the Korean survivors and send them all to Gyeonggi-Do, and Lee Jun-Kyeong had been able to hear news about Ungnyeo from the people he had met as they traveled out from Gyeonggi-do.

From what he heard from the survivors, he had no doubts that she would soon join up with the party as she was given a relatively easy task. However, the fact that no one was close to completing their missions other than her still bothered Lee Jun-Kyeong.

‘Mr. Jeong…’

What worried him the most was those who had gone to China.

“What do you plan to do?” Heracles said after nodding his head firmly, as if he had finally accepted Hel’s gender.

He was asking whether or not they would go to help the others.

“We wait.” However, Lee Jun-Kyeong had no intention of going to help them. “It's something they have to do themselves.”

The others had been given relatively easy missions.

If even a mission like what had been assigned couldn’t be solved, then only harder things awaited them. Therefore, all he could do was just believe in them and wait.

“I believe in everyone.”

‘But why does it feel so ominous?’

Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t shake off that little feeling of anxiety. He looked up at the sky.

‘One way or another, I found all of your children. Even if you won’t give me any proper support…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong stared at the heavens while he desperately made a wish.

‘Please, at least help my companions.’

***

“Cough!!!!”

The blood that Jeong In-Chang vomited had formed a puddle. Although there wasn’t any visible trauma, he coughed up blood again.

“Cough!!”

Zzt! Zzzt!!!

A blue electric current flowed through Jeong In-Chang’s body. Every time a raindrop fell from the sky and hit his body, his entire body seemed to tingle and tremble.

“Th…then…”

Jeong In-Chang carefully opened his mouth to speak, but his mouth was full of blood. Above him, the princess had become Jeong In-Chang’s umbrella, sheltering him from the rain. However, the princess' condition wasn’t much different.

“Princess…hurting…”

Little by little, the princess had begun to speak the Human language. However, to hear that she was hurting…

“Just hold on a little more…” Jeong In-Chang felt a sharp pain in his chest.

Although he had tried to intervene in the clash and do something about the battle, the result was readily apparent. The only ones who were still conscious were him and the princess. The giants, including Thrymr, the Chinese Hunters, and Won-Hwa, had all collapsed like flies and lost consciousness.

“That’s why I told you not to interfere, you idiot.”

Jeong In-Chang came to his senses as he heard the voice speak to him.

“Well, either way, you really have a persistent vitality. Are you immortal? It wouldn’t have been strange for you to have died dozens of times by this point,” the man said, blocking in front of Jeong In-Chang with his gray hair flying in the wind.

“Zeus…”

However, that gray hair was also soaked in blood, and Zeus’ appearance was completely disheveled. “Haven’t you heard that you’d only see blood if you get in the middle of a fight between brothers? You should have run away when I told you to.”

Jeong In-Chang came to his senses once again. He had been so surprised when he had met Chi-Woo, but what had surprised him even more was when Zeus, who had said that he was going to Seoul, appeared right in front of them.

‘There was no reason for me to go to Seoul.’

Zeus had said that he would go and find where Odin and the Demon King were. However, his words had felt like he had decided to head to Seoul to find Chi-Woo, not the two others. Just like he had hinted, it was true that he had gone to Seoul to find Chi-Woo.

“Is it really okay for you to beat your younger brother like this?” Zeus teased.

‘Chi-Woo is…’

Just like the shocking words that had come from the mouth of Zeus, the very Chi-Woo before them, was the brother of Zeus.

“How funny that sounds, coming from the mouth of someone who not once had called me Hyung.”

It was a truth that no one had known. The fact that Zeus and Chi-Woo were brothers was something that even Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t know.

Jeong In-Chang looked at the two with clear eyes. Maybe it was a side effect of having lost so much blood, but his mind seemed even clearer than before.

The two clashed, a raging thunderstorm circling around them as thunder roared incessantly.

Crackk!!!

Chi-Woo and Zeus faced each other.

'A big one is coming.'

Jeong In-Chang was convinced by the storm of mana that he felt. Chi-Woo and Zeus were trying to put an end to this battle that had lasted for days. Both were tired, and both were wounded. The strongest Hunters, the two brothers, didn’t have the strength to fight any longer.

“I know I said that I’d try to drag this away from the people, but…” Zeus looked at Jeong In-Chang, his eyes slightly glazed over, and said, “I think I’ll need your help if we want to keep everyone from dying.”

At his simple request, Jeong In-Chang shouted as loud as he could, “GRAM!!!”

BOOM!!!

Thunder struck the ground even harder.

CRACK!!!!

The light from the bolt of lightning, which had flashed through the air and struck the ground, was so strong that the entire landscape turned white. Jeong In-Chang hefted his greatsword without any hesitation, driving Gram deep into the ground. As he concentrated every drop of mana in his being, there was an impact, almost as if two nuclear warheads had just collided with each other.

“Let’s become one, Hyung.”

“Now, hand your power over to me, little brother.”

Zeus and Chi-Woo.

No.

'Thor.'

The title of Chi-Woo that Zeus had told Jeong In-Chang about.

The two masters of lightning who had reached the level of gods collided.