From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 230. The Goddess of the Battlefield Pt. 5

The massive flames of Surtr ruled the sky as the arms of the flame giant exuded an overwhelming presence. At this moment, the blazing hand was about to tear the heart of the Red Dragon out from the confines of its chest.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked down at everyone from the sky as silence fell across the battlefield.

The Stone Giant was bigger than either Thjazi or Thrymr. In fact, it was bigger than the two of them combined, had died with Gram impaled through its heart.

Lee Jun-Kyeong watched his companions who had taken down the Stone Giant, taking note of their appearances.

Thrymr gasped for breath as his body looked as if it had pieces literally torn from his flesh as Thjazi was passed out off to the side with a huge crater on his chest.

Jeong In-Chang knelt on the Stone Giant’s chest, unconscious as he desperately gripped Gram’s handle as Won-Hwa was quickly treating the wounded.

‘They’ve become stronger than I thought.’

Liu Bei and his two brothers were also lying on the ground with injuries. Each wound was a testament to the part they had played in the battle.

Heracles held a wounded Odysseus with one hand. On the other side, he could see a figure completely incinerated to death.

‘He really is strong.’

Fortunately, it wasn’t the figure of an ally. Instead, it was the Ruler that resembled a human. Having fought with Zeus, it was turned into a charred corpse by Zeus’ Thunderbolt.

To think, Zeus’ lightning was stronger than that of the Ruler. As expected, Zeus wasn’t the same Zeus that he had used to be.

Finally, he turned toward the dwarf Ruler with the twin swords.

‘Her title suits her, it seems.’

It had been pierced through by the spear in Athena’s grasp, breathing its final gasp. Quite honestly, its appearance was unsightly, completely unbefitting of something called a Ruler. Still, it contrasted nicely with Athena, who was holding the dwarf aloft, pierced through by her spear. It was a sight that nicely suited her title.

“The Goddess of the Battlefield.”

Anyone who saw her on the battlefield would say so when they saw her fight. She had an overwhelming charisma that no one could match.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked around and saw the landscape they had created. The ground was torn, destroyed, and turned into a scorched earth of death.

“It’s my turn to reap what you have sown.”

Surtr’s arm finally made contact with the Red Dragon’s chest. But then, at that moment, he heard something unbelievable.

–M… master.

Lee Jun-Kyeong took a step back, bewildered. It definitely came from the bastard he was dealing with. That was definitely the Red Dragon’s trembling voice.

***

Pat, pat, pat.

“What a mess,” said Zeus, dusting off his scorched clothes that were rustled and crumbled.

Zeus, who had the same attributes as his opponent, had crushed his enemy with electricity. However, that didn’t mean he had been able to win the fight unscathed.

“To think my clothes would be this ruined. Looks like I’ll have to get used to this power, too.”

Zeus looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong before continuing, “However, I have no intention of doing anything as insane as what you did.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled slightly at Zeus’ resolute expression, after which he responded, “You didn’t even show everything this time.”

“That’s what I’m saying! I didn’t use that because I didn’t have the confidence to control it. It’s not like I have any intention of incinerating everything around us.”

After saying that, Zeus looked around at the destroyed landscape and the appearances of his companions, who seemed to have started to recover little by little.

“Still, it’s reached a level I can be happy with,” Zeus said, looking at the palm of his hand as he evoked a current of electricity.

The blue current crackled and flared up before disappearing as the Hunter grinned mischievously. It was the first battle he had fought properly after absorbing Chi-Woo’s powers, so his emotions were understandable.

“I can help with your re-acclimation.”

“Then, I’ll be in your care.”

Zeus didn’t refuse Lee Jun-Kyeong's offer, as becoming even a little bit stronger meant they could save another person. Both of their gazes then turned over to the girl who was looking over at the two of them.

“Athena.”

“Athena.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus spoke at the same time.

Her appearance was baffling beyond belief. It hadn’t been easy to notice while they had been on the battlefield, but her body was covered in blood. In addition, her clothes were nothing but rags, as countless wounds could be seen through the tears.

“Put this on,” Zeus said, throwing his cloak over to her.

Although it had been burned in the fight, it was enough to cover at least the important parts.

“Thank you," she said as she caught it and put it on.

“Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at her without saying a word. This was the first time he would be interacting with both of them on the same side. Although he had met her briefly in Korea, he had never actually seen her fight before.

“You’ve worked hard,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said with some difficulty.

‘Heimdall!’

In his eyes, overlapping with her figure, was the sight of her stabbing her spear forward while screaming Yeo Seong-Gu’s title. She was the reason he had been sent back to the past. If he had to try to describe their relationship, at the very least, it wasn’t a good one.

Also, Lee Jun-Kyeong just remembered, hadn’t she tried to kill him on the day he had met Heracles?

“...”

Athena also lowered her head as if she was also thinking back to their past interactions. Lee Jun-Kyeong had a lot to speak about with her, especially about things regarding Seong-Gu hyung.

Seemingly embarrassed, she turned the conversation in a different direction, “The mission wasn’t completely a success. I tried my best to save them, but most of the Hunters were already…”

“Athena.”

“Yes. Guild leader.”

This was a completely different view of the girl, as there hadn’t been any hint of embarrassment or fluster on her face when they had stormed onto the battlefield.

It made sense.

She was the Goddess of the Battlefield and the Iron-Blooded Empress. Only Athena was fit for such a title.

“Considering you saved this many people, you’ve done more than enough. You even tried to fight four Rulers on your own to buy time. You’ve done enough.”

She bowed her head lightly at Zeus’ words. Soon after, her head turned.

“They…”

She looked over at the gathered bodies of the Rulers as Hel stood over them.

“The souls of the Rulers are being extracted. Although there isn’t much concern over them reviving even if we left them alone, as the cataclysm is coming to an end, their souls should be of great aid to us.”

A slain Ruler was essentially a gold mine. Everything down to their corpses had its own uses, as their weapons had already been long recovered.

‘I’ll have to check on what happened to Mistilteinn when I bring them to the two Park twins.’

The weapons would be repurposed for the Hunters. However, the most important part remained.

“...”

“...”

Hel was extracting the souls of three corpses, as one of the four was missing.

–Heeung…

That one missing Ruler, the Red Dragon, was moaning softly as it was tied up off to the side in the wilderness. In a hurry, Lee Jun-Kyeong had just left it with Muspel’s Spear plunged into its tail.

Muspel’s Spear continued to absorb its mana, slowing its recovery. If it had tried to do anything stupid, then it would have been incinerated from the inside out.

“That…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was also a little flustered at the moment.

“Let’s at least talk to it first.”

He, along with Zeus, began to approach the pitiful figure.

***

Hel already had experience in extracting the soul of a Ruler as she had extracted the soul of Elfame. He had wanted to extract information from Elfame’s soul.

Specifically, the truth that no one else knew—no, the secrets, the entire truth that someone had hidden.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had assumed that at least the Rulers would have information regarding it.

However, that process had been a failure. Hel had said that after absorption, not only had she not been able to absorb Elfame’s soul in its entirety, but that it had also already been in pieces in the first place. Basically, any information she extracted was useless in the first place.

For example, it would only result in information about the world that Elfame had ruled. While that information was good to have, the important things that they were looking for were different.

‘The Sponsors.’

Moreover, they needed information about why the gates had been created in the first place. Why did the Sponsors sponsor and empower people in the first place?

Finally, there was the question of the identities of the Sponsors. Those were all the things Lee Jun-Kyeong was curious about. That was why he wanted to gather information from the souls of the Rulers they had slain this time.

It was certain that they would be broken into pieces this time as well, but there was always a chance for something to change. Even if they weren’t able to get any information either, Hel would absorb those souls in the process and become stronger anyway.

However, even having gone into this battle with that plan in mind, Lee Jun-Kyeong was completely bewildered at the moment.

“To think that a complete Ruler would swear obedience to us.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t heard any messages, so the beast before him hadn’t been chosen as a Familiar, either.

“There’s something different about you.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the whimpering Red Dragon as he spoke. A Ruler was an overwhelming force that was created within the veil erected by the cataclysm. That meant that the Ruler was bound to the veil itself, or at least bound to something.

However, this bastard was different.

‘Is it because of the fusing of the veils?’

Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered if it had anything to do with the fusion of the five veils. No, that couldn’t be true as the other Rulers weren’t like this. Only this one was different.

“Why have you been released?”

This Ruler had been freed of its bondage, but it hadn’t been released from the beginning. When the battle had started, there had definitely been a feeling of it being tied down to something like the other Rulers.

“It was then.”

However, as soon as he had manifested Surtr’s arms when he had been about to tear its heart from its chest, that bondage, that thing that had held it back, had disappeared. It was something that couldn’t be expressed in words. Something almost like the system.

The Ruler slowly opened its mouth.

–That’s…

Its voice trembled with pain.

–At that time…your powers…

An intermittently trembling voice slowly emerged from the Red Dragon’s mouth.

–The flame of the beginning…it’s because…because I saw that power…

Although the Ruler was speaking as if it would die soon, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression soured.

“Hmm.”

The Red Dragon and Zeus both made puzzled expressions at Lee Jun-Kyeong’s sigh.

Then, Lee Jun-Kyeong said, “I was sure you said you would swear obedience, right?”

–...?

“Your tone is a little lacking, don’t you think?”

–You…you dare?! I am…! I am the ancient one who has lived for 30,000 years…! –”

BANG!

Before the Red Dragon had finished its words, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s fist slammed violently toward a mouth.

Towards the mouth of the “dying” Red Dragon.

***

The hierarchical relationship had to be made clear, and it was something that had to be done even more so if the one being accepted was also a being of great strength. Accepting such a powerful being without establishing one’s might was just asking for a problem later down the road. Thus, this was a necessary evil.

–I… I’m…sorry…

Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered for a moment.

A dragon’s molars were called dragon fangs, right?[1]

He had no idea what the front canines would be called, but he was sure that Park Jae-Hyun would love those pillar-like white fangs.[2]

The dragon continued begging in a servile tone.

–I… I… I will obey….

It had definitely said that it would obey, so all Lee Jun-Kyeong was doing was educating it to clearly act the part.

“You really are quite hard to please,” Zeus said sarcastically as he crossed his arms and shook his head.

He was sure that it would be near impossible for him to see someone beating a dying Red Dragon with his bare fists like he was seeing right now. The Red Dragon looked over at Zeus for a while as if it really was pitiful. However, it snorted furiously at Zeus’ following words.

“Still, thank you for allowing me to see such a rare sight.”

The beast in front of them was definitely a Red Dragon. Even among them, it was a dragon of the highest rank, strong enough to become a Ruler.

The reason for beating—no, educating it wasn’t just to simply establish a hierarchical relationship. The bastard was acting like it was dying.

Even though its mana was being consumed by Muspel’s Spear, even though its wounds from the battle were catastrophic, a dragon was still a dragon. The Ruler before them boasted an impossibly tenacious vitality, so much so that it almost seemed as though it was boasting that it was the origin of the Dragon’s Bloodstone.

Even though it was a Red Dragon, Lee Jun-Kyeong had definitely been beating it with fists infused with mana. If it were any other being, being beaten this one-sidedly in this manner would have meant an instant knockout.

“Are you ready to give a straight answer now?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked once again.

—Ye…yes, sir.

It was all a matter of dragon pride. The Red Dragon, who had boasted of the grandness of the dragon and insisted on refusing to speak politely even if it died, was now speaking politely and meekly, albeit with a little protest.

“So, what’s the answer to my question?”

There was something about the dragon that they couldn’t see. Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to know if it had escaped from what he thought was the system.

–Well, that’s…

The dragon raised its massive head and spoke, this time, unlike before, its words were clear and precise.

–It is because the power that you showed is related to the source of the beginning of the world.

1. A reference to the Hanmun. The Hanmun for dragon fangs (龍牙) and molars (大牙) both use the same fang character as the modifier. ☜

2. Canines in Korean use a different character (犬齿), hence why he’s confused. ☜