From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 154: The Ruler of Incheon Pt. 4

Anger erupted on the faces of the Hunters as they looked down at the man who had fainted.

A human-eating monster.

More infuriatingly, this human-eating monster even used humans as tools.

Grit.

The sound of someone clenching their teeth hard rang throughout the group.

Jeong In-Chang was looking at the Incheon City Hall with blazing eyes. Although he looked as if he would go running in at any moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke, drawing his attention away.

“Let’s go back,” he said, suddenly proposing a complete retreat.

Although they were just around the corner from the Incheon City Hall, he was saying that they should return all the way back to Inha University.

"But…!"

There were not many of those in the party who were willing to accept Lee Jun-Kyeong’s orders to retreat in their current situation, where their goal was just around the corner.

However, Yeo Seong-Gu gave weight to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s decision.

“What Jun-Kyeong said is right.”

Everyone listened to the man in command.

“We won’t be able to make any sort of progress at this rate.”

Yeo Seong-Gu seemed to have also made the same judgment as Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“The bastards are attacking us using people as shields. Even at this moment, they continue to attack… At this rate, the survivors will be in danger.”

That was why they needed to retreat.

“I can’t accept this…”

Jeong In-Chang seemed furious that he had to turn around without being able to do anything while standing right in front of such monsters who had committed horrifying atrocities.

It wasn’t just him. Everyone felt the same way.

People were dying, screaming out in pain, and their appearance had filled the Hunters with a fiery rage.

“We aren’t going back empty-handed.”

At that time, Lee Jun-Kyeong took a step forward and spoke.

“What do you plan to do…?” Jeong In-Chang asked when he saw Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression, which seemed to be solemn, but Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t respond

Just.

Boom!

He raised his aura.

Earlier, he had leveled up by slaughtering the monsters, so his physical condition had recovered even more than before.

Also, just as the space around them was filling up with mana, which strengthened the monsters, the Hunters were also being strengthened.

The power of the Hunters who used mana was also being increased. The Hunters seemed to have no idea how to make use of the vast amounts of mana just yet, but Lee Jun-Kyeong was different.

He wasn’t using it with a fixed skill or power, but instead with an ability called the mana stream.

By combining it with the internal qigong and Galdr, he was able to control his power output and manipulate mana.

The space around him began to vibrate, almost collapsing, as Jeong In-Chang and the Hunters hurriedly moved the survivors away to the back.

Muspel’s Spear began to tremble back and forth and howl in his hand.

Zzzt.

The spear’s vibration heated the atmosphere around him.

Some of the Hunters, including Yeo Seong-Gu, who hadn’t pulled away from him, felt suffocated by the scorching heat emanating from his body.

‘I can’t use any flames,’ Lee Jun-Kyeong thought as he gathered his strength.

He knew he couldn’t use any flames in this blow.

If they were keeping people hostage, then it would be an obvious conclusion that they would have kept many people alive in Incheon City Hall.

Since his flames didn’t discriminate between allies and enemies, Lee Jun-Kyeong made sure he condensed it as much as possible.

“Ha-a-eup!”

He swung his arm with an incredible roar.

Zzt.

Muspel’s Spear then disappeared, accompanied by a slight sound of something tearing.

BOOM!

At the same time, a roar that seemed to break space itself burst outward, blasting away the atmosphere above them and creating a gale that pushed away the Hunters.[1]

"Let's go back."

Lee Jun-Kyeong, who had turned around somewhere along the line, had Muspel’s Spear in his hand again.

This time, the spear was coated in something red, almost like blood.

***

“Keughk…”

Elfame, the King of Alfheimr, was grasping his right shoulder.

There was a hole in his tough body, which had been covered in a hard armor made of rocks and wood.

He murmured to himself as he stemmed the flow of blood, “Have I been looking down on them too much…?”

The look in his eyes had changed, even though his mouth was distorted with pain.

Smirk.

His eyes formed a half-moon shape, red with pleasure.

He wondered, how long had it been…

“How long has it been since I’ve suffered from a wound…”

In the long years of his past, no one had been able to hurt him in the stagnant Kingdom of Alfheimr. Moreover, his world had collapsed later, trapping him in the gap between dimensions, where he had felt nothing, an absence of sense, let alone a wound.

Having recovered his body and his senses awakened, Elfame was only concerned with rediscovering his appetite and exploration.

He had finally suffered a wound.

“Hahaha…”

The pain, the pleasure.

The feelings that it gave were intense.

He could feel it.

He knew it.

He was alive.

After so many years, he finally felt alive again.

There was something else to his joy as well.

“How good. Exciting!”

He had found out that his enemy was strong, that the being these humans called Hunters were strong.

Although he had known that their abilities were great, he hadn’t realized it would be to this degree.

“They dare to hurt me?! Elfame, the King of Alfheim…”

He seemed to speak as if he was scolding someone, but a smile spread across his lips.

The blood that flowed along with his tears was pleasantly warm.

“I should give you an award.”

The King of Alfheimr raised himself up.

Rumble.

It was as if Incheon City Hall itself, which had turned into a fortress, was trembling.

He decided that he would give them an award.

To these bastards, who had dared to harm his body.

“I’ll give you a chance to be eaten by me!” the King of Alfheim, Elfame, exclaimed as he raised his hands.

BOOM!

It was as if thunder had struck the earth.

***

Meanwhile, the Hunters continued to retreat to Inha University.

As the monsters were persistent in chasing and the Hunters were laden with the burden of the survivors, the return to Inha University was filled with heavy and difficult steps.

“Do you think they found out our location?” Jeong In-Chang asked, as he noticed that the monsters had furthered their range of attack, even beginning to reach near Inha University.

As the monsters seemed to have located their home base, Jeong In-Chang’s question was a matter of course.

“They most likely already knew where we were,” Lee Jun-Kyeong responded.

It was meaningless.

The huge aura that Lee Jun-Kyeong had felt at the Incheon City Hall, the ruler of Incheon who had already begun its command of the roaming monsters, would have already known that this place was a base for the Hunters.

It just simply hadn’t touched this place so far.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong turned his gaze over to the Hunters.

They were exhausted.

The Hunters had been fending off the continued attacks of the monsters. Even though none of them had gotten harmed, they were incredibly fatigued.

Their blood, sweat, and tears was taking a toll on their bodies.

“What sort of…”

“Have you already returned?” a hopeful and questioning voice said from Inha University.

It seemed to be questioning if those who had left to deal with the ruler had already returned.

Then.

“What in the…!”

They couldn’t help but be surprised again at the sight of so many ordinary humans.

"It seems that there are a large number of survivors in Incheon City Hall," Yeo Seong-Gu said on behalf of the party.

“...”

The faces of the Hunters who had stayed behind to protect the base distorted as Yeo Seong-Gu continued to explain.

It was a tale about monsters who were using humans as shields and prey–it was only natural for them to get angry.

However.

“Keep quiet about the details,” Yeo Seong-Gu said, ordering everyone to remain silent.

"Also help the rescued survivors heal and recover in a separate area."

It was time to quarantine them. They would be isolating the rescued survivors from the existing ones.

"Why..."

“It will cause distress.”

When Jeong In-Chang asked a question, Lee Jun-Kyeong responded for Yeo Seong-Gu.

“When the people in Inha University learn about the stark reality of Incheon, any of them who even had the smallest bit of hope will be shaken and fall to despair. Seong-Gu Hyung’s choice is right.”

“...”

“Still…”

The Hunters began to direct the survivors.

“We’ll be in trouble at this rate,” Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, looking at the moving survivors while seeming calm.

“...”

However, Jeong In-Chang, who had been with Lee Jun-Kyeong for a long time, could feel it.

Feel what was emitting off of Lee Jun-Kyeong.

His burning rage.

***

“I’m here.”

Yeo Seong-Gu had come out to the gymnasium to meet with Lee Jun-Kyeong with a tired expression.

It was the middle of the night.

After they had transported all of the survivors that had been rescued and started treatment, they began to feel the aura of the monsters attacking again. Lee Jun-Kyeong called out only Yeo Seong-Gu and Jeong In-Chang from the rest.

“Mr. Lee.”

Following behind Yeo Seong-Gu, Jeong In-Chang had also arrived at the gymnasium.

“You’ve arrived.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong realized that all of the people he had called out had gathered and looked out toward the city.

The electricity had been cut off by the cataclysm, and the streets were full of darkness with a bleak aura spreading out like a suffocating fog.

Before Lee Jun-Kyeong could bring it up, Yeo Seong-Gu spoke up instead, “Are we going right now?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong replied simply, “Yes.”

“I mean, we were planning for it anyway, right princess?”

“Goongje!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had only called them to the gymnasium, but Yeo Seong-Gu and Jeong In-Chang seemed to already know what he had wanted them for.

“Mr. Lee isn’t the type of person to just sit and just take something like that.”

They had set out to take down the ruler of Incheon, but had returned without any results.

The Lee Jun-Kyeong that Jeong In-Chang knew could never move on just like this.

“We have to return as much as we received,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.

After all, the Lee Jun-Kyeong that he knew was a more petty man than one would think.

Yeo Seong-Gu and Jeong In-Chang smiled, and the anger that had subsided over the day raised its head once again.

“Seong-Gu Hyung, please stay here.”

“What?”

“As you saw what happened during the day, the enemy isn’t an ordinary monster. It’s hard to compare it with any other monster that isn’t able to use its brains,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he drew Muspel’s Spear.

“They will begin the raids again.”

“...”

“You’re feeling it too already, aren’t you, Hyung?”

“The Hunters at Inha University will be enough.”

They could feel the aura of the monsters.

Those bastards were preparing for a raid as they waited for the night to be over.

Everyone in the encampment knew it already, and the Hunters of Inha University had long been prepared for the attack.

“No, they aren't.”

The greatest help Yeo Seong-Gu could do was to help keep Inha University safe. There was something that only he could do, a backup plan in case something went wrong.

“You have to stay behind because you have the Bifrost, Hyung.”

Because he was the one with the divine item.

Yeo Seong-Gu nodded with a heavy expression. One of the great advantages of Yeo Seong-Gu was that he didn’t require a lot of persuasion.

“Do you really plan on trying with just the two of you?”

Although Yeo Seong-Gu asked them anxiously, Lee Jun-Kyeong nonchalantly answered after tying his shoelaces, “We aren’t trying; we’re going to succeed.”

Step.

“There should still be countless people in the Incheon City Hall. There will only be more and more deaths as time goes by. We have to finish it quickly…”

So.

“I’ll be back.”

“We’ll be back.”

Hearing even Jeong In-Chang answering, Yeo Seong-Gu eventually turned his head away and went back to Inha University.

He hadn’t even said goodbye.

Smirk.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang faced each other, smiles on their faces.

“So what are we going to do now?” asked Jeong In-Chang, who never complained about Lee Jun-Kyeong’s decision.

What they had to do today was.

“An assassination.”

1. If you’ve ever watched Fire Force, this is what basically just happened. ????