From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 155: The Second Skull

In the city of Incheon, where night had fallen, there were two people running through the streets.

Their bodies seemed to melt into the background as if they had assimilated into the darkness.

They had hidden their presence and identities using Merlin’s Necklace. It was something that couldn’t be done during their daytime charge, but now that it was just the two of them, Merlin’s Necklace was able to hide both Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang quite well.

Zzt.

Even down to their auras.

Step. Step. Step. Step.

They continued to go forward through the ashes.

“Mr. Lee…” Jeong In-Chang called out in a voice that was barely audible.

They stopped.

“The monsters...”

They looked outward in the dark. There were numerous monsters advancing toward Inha University. So many, in fact, that it could be said to be almost all of the monsters in Incheon.

However, they seemed to be advancing without even making a sound, most likely because they were monsters in the shape of trees and rocks.

Jeong In-Chang’s eyes trembled as if expressing his anxiety.

“Is there any way…”

He seemed to be able to ask if he could go back and inform them even now.

“Haven’t we already prepared for that?” Lee Jun-Kyeong answered.

Inha University had already prepared for an attack.

“But there’s no way that they would know that it’s this many. Look at them. There is no end to them.”

As Jeong In-Chang had said, the number of monsters advancing was so great that it was difficult for them to estimate.

However.

“Believe in them.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong took a step forward. He didn’t light his power of flame toward the monsters or give any signals to Inha University.

“We do our job, they will do theirs.”

They wouldn’t get involved in the monsters that were attacking Inha University.

Zzt.

“Mr. Lee…?”

The aura of Merlin’s Necklace, which had been concealing Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang, had disappeared before he knew it. Even in the darkness, they were clearly visible.

Then, the monsters advancing toward Inha University looked back at Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang for a moment.

But, soon.

Shhh.

They quickly turned their heads back toward where they had been heading and advanced toward Inha University.

Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Jeong In-Chang, “Let’s hurry.”

He quickly stepped forward as his next sentence entered Jeong In-Chang’s ear.

“Because we’ve already been caught.”

A far greater number of monsters than they had expected were heading to Inha University.

That could only mean one thing.

‘The ruler is waiting for me.’

The ruler of Incheon, that bastard, had deliberately emptied the Incheon City Hall to lure him in.

***

Crack!

Jeong In-Chang’s greatsword cleaved through the monster without any hesitation.

Unlike during the day, there were no Hunters they had to move together with and no ordinary humans they had to rescue. Their pace was rapid, and they were able to arrive at the Incheon City Hall, which hadn’t been far in the first place.

The fact that the distance between them and the city hall had been short only meant one thing.

Crack!

That the monsters would have also arrived at Inha University. Basically, they should have arrived at the university at the same time they would have arrived at the Incheon City Hall.

Jeong In-Chang’s greatsword cut through the monsters, moving faster and more nervously, most likely because he was concerned about the monsters’ arrival.

In the vicinity of the Incheon City Hall, there were far fewer monsters than they had expected.

That was proof that most of them had headed for Inha University.

“Ha-a-eup!”

Jeong In-Chang swung his sword with even more agitation.

Squelch!

Lee Jun-Kyeong also quickly stabbed out with Muspel’s Spear.

The assassination was already a failure.

If an enemy was luring him in, it meant that he was already fully prepared.

‘I have to hurry up and kill him.’

The most important part was for them to disrupt the attacking monsters.

Tadak! Tadak!

The sound of their footsteps as they relentlessly cut through the monsters rang through the Incheon night air.

Incheon City Hall had become a bizarre structure. It was a place where trees and rocks intertwined with concrete and iron and felt like it was a single breathing life form.

The monsters became corpses and disappeared.

“Damn it…!”

Crack!

However, soon, Incheon City Hall, not the monsters, started attacking them.

A patchwork of the wreckage of buildings, trees, and rocks, the city hall squirmed as if it were alive.

Clench!

It grabbed at Jeong In-Chang.

“Goongje!”

The princess moved faster than Lee Jun-Kyeong. Once she escaped from his arms, she quickly ballooned in size.

Crack!

She swiftly pounded the branch that was wrapped around Jeong In-Chang, turning it into splinters.

“Thank you, princess!” Jeong In-Chang said, urgently expressing his gratitude.

Crack!

The branches were besieging Jeong In-Chang, Lee Jun-Kyeong, and the princess.

Moreover.

Slither.

The branches seemed to regenerate endlessly.

Even the branch that the princess had broken a while ago had long since wriggled over on the ground, regenerating as it expanded once more.

“There will be no end to this,” Jeong In-Chang said with a harsh expression.

They couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Boom!

A loud explosion could be heard from far away, evidencing what they already knew—that Inha University was being attacked by monsters.

Inha’s Hunters weren’t weak, so they trusted the Hunters to hold the monsters at bay.

However.

‘The ordinary humans…’

It was a certain fact that many ordinary humans would be harmed in the process.

They had to defeat the ruler of Incheon and dismantle the monsters as soon as possible.

“…”

While Lee Jun-Kyeong thought of the death toll and circulated his strength, Jeong In-Chang shouted at Lee Jun-Kyeong, “Go!”

“I’ll take care of things here!” he continued as he raised his sword with both hands.

As if his words had given her strength, the princess also swelled up the muscles in her arms and readied her attack stance.

The branches wriggled as if they thought that the two would resume their attacks.

However.

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled and said to the Hunter, “But it seems as though the branches would attack me from over here anyway?”

The branches stemmed from the Incheon City Hall. Even if Jeong In-Chang stood, blocking this place, and Lee Jun-Kyeong moved quickly, the branches would just attack Lee Jun-Kyeong again from the other side.

His intentions were good, but they were meaningless.

“There are things that even you don’t know, Mr. Lee.”

However, Jeong In-chang, who glared at the branches and spoke, was acting unusually.

Explosive mana emanated from his body.

“...!”

His mana expanded to an extent such that Lee Jun-Kyeong was shocked. It wrapped around the branches and took control over the space around them.

"How…?”

He had always been right next to him, but Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t noticed. Although he knew that Jeong In-Chang had grown up, he didn’t expect it to be this much.

Jeong In-Chang looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong, whose eyes were wide open in surprise.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled. As if he had deliberately been hiding it from Lee Jun-Kyeong until now, he exploded all of his mana at once.

Then, acting as if he was happy that he had been able to pull one over on Lee Jun-Kyeong, his mana spread out.

“I’m…not done yet.”

Still breathing with a bit of difficulty, he raised his aura once more.

“Whew…”

“...!”

He had already been surprised earlier, but Lee Jun-Kyeong could not help but be astonished once again.

The mana that had expanded explosively gathered again and headed toward Jeong In-Chang.

“Mana stream!” Lee Jun-Kyeong shouted loudly in surprise.

It was an application of mana that was only possible if one fully mastered the mana stream.

That wasn’t it either.

“I also practiced internal qigong a lot as well…”

As if all the mana had been gathered using the mana stream, the mana around them flowed across Jeong In-Chang The exploding mana compressed, increasing in density and wrapping around him.

Crack.

Then, he…

“That’s…”

His body soon began to change.

Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered if he had just forgotten, or if, because he had thought that the Hunter’s growth had been taking too long, that he hadn’t had any expectations for him.

But, there it was, right in front of him.

“Siegfried…”

It was Siegfried, a Hero from history.

The dragon slayer.

A man who had slain the Demon King’s dragon and spread his fame across the world.

A man who had built his reputation in Korea, where there were many outstanding Hunters.

Dragon Slayer Siegfried.

Right now, at this very moment…

Crack.

…Jeong In-Chang had become the true Siegfried.

“I completed the Dragon’s Bloodstone. When I went back to Korea before you, I hunted like crazy.”

Jeong In-Chang, who had just spoken to Lee Jun-Kyeong, was no longer struggling to contain the mana.

Rather, he had trampled on and forcefully subdued it.

His body and his greatsword had completely changed.

His greatsword, which had a few chips on it from its long use, had restored its edge and hardened. It became covered with scales. In addition, it had completely been absorbed into his hand, even rising up to its forearm.

His appearance looked like he was completely one with the sword, and it seemed contrary to his historical nickname.

‘A dragon.’

He resembled a dragon tightly grasping a big claw.

“Goongje!”

The princess smiled at Lee Jun-Kyeong and spoke as if to say, ‘Look at this!’

Jeong In-Chang didn’t talk anymore.

Cleave!

Instead, he plunged the greatsword that had become one with his arm into the ground.

His mouth opened slowly.

“Gram…”[1]

A vision seemed to appear on the ground where the greatsword had been pierced, an illusion of a dragon and an ogre, fighting to the death.

“Activate.”

***

Tadak! Tadak!

Behind Lee Jun-Kyeong and his fast-moving footsteps, he heard something that resembled a scream.

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!

The branches—no, more than that, the entire Incheon City Hall seemed to be crying out.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had heard about it before.

‘Gram…’

That was Jeong In-Chang’s technique that the Hunter had shown Lee Jun-Kyeong right before he had taken off.

It was obviously not perfect yet and immature in development, and it was a skill that seemed as though it took quite a bit of effort just to activate it.

However.

‘It’s the skill that had killed the Demon King’s dragon.’

A smile spread across Lee Jun-Kyeong's lips as he ran quickly.

Inha University was under attack, and Jeong In-Chang was struggling along against the Incheon City Hall, which had turned into a monster.

However, he laughed nonetheless.

‘He’s grown.’

Jeong In-Chang really had grown a lot.

Moreover, he had truly become a dependable companion.

Lee Jun-Kyeong’s head was full of too many things and extremely confused due to not only the ongoing fight, but the cataclysm that had occurred faster than he had expected without any warning.

But, although he was said to have been burdened by great anguish and agony, his confused mind seemed to be at ease at this moment.

A reliable companion had become stronger.

Moreover, he had even surpassed expectations and become stronger and faster than he had in the history of Lee Jun-Kyeong’s time.

“I guess…!” Lee Jun-Kyeong shouted as he ran. “I wasn’t just a bad influence…!”

The things he had done in the name of returning to the past and saving the world had caused many things to change. Because of that, many people had to suffer as a result.

Thus, Lee Jun-Kyeong had always hidden a vague sense of guilt deep within his heart.

However, now, that guilt had gone away a little bit.

He wasn’t only a bad influence.

He had made the world, the people who would save others, stronger and faster than they had gotten their strength before.

Tadak! Tadak!

Goosebumps of joy broke out all over Lee Jun-Kyeong as he ran.

Contrary to his expectations, Jeong In-Chang had definitely been able to keep the branches in check.

They didn’t attack Lee Jun-Kyeong anymore, and Jeong In-Chang was doing a great job keeping them occupied.

'Gram.'

An ability of pulverization.

Jeong In-Chang was demonstrating its power against the entire Incheon City Hall by completely erasing and consuming the regenerating branches.

And with that thought, Lee Jun-Kyeong had arrived.

“Gasp…”

Incheon City Hall had become much bigger than before, with a large door in a medieval style that didn’t seem to fit its original decor.

Behind this was the ruler of Incheon.

Then.

[A Skull That Contains Souls has finished processing.]

As always, the timing was perfect.

1. Siegfried’s sword in Norse and Germanic mythos, the sword he received to slay a dragon. ????