Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

In the Lotus continent, a dimension away from Tokyo, Geom-in was still in his journey to dive deeper into the ruins. As he walked down the dark hallway, he felt the thought of wanting to go home grew stronger than ever. He longed for the shelter that had everything, from food, convenience, safety, and entertainment. However, he knew that everyone would be disappointed if he returned without gaining much.

Of course, what he had gained so far was already considerable, but…

Geom-in stopped and unpacked his dimensional backpack. It was full of resources he obtained here, such as ore, items, and crops. They were all things that would make the shelter and the members richer than ever. In particular, the Earth Chestnut impressed him the most.

「Earth Chestnut」

「Effect: Strength +2 for 3 minutes」

Although the duration was short, it’s not a big problem as it would increase significantly if it was raised correctly.

“Good good.”

Geom-in closed his backpack and continued his journey. He was following the scarab’s lead, but after some time, he couldn’t help but get suspicious. After all, there’s several occasions where he would have to crawl to get somewhere when there’s a big road next to it.

However, he couldn’t say anything about it. The scarab, who at the start of this delve was still considerably playful, was now unexpectedly solemn.

‘Just what’s going on…’

The scarabs have a pretty pleasant personality. This was a fact known only to Jiman and Geom-in, who often hung out with them. They did body gags among themselves when they were not working, which was quite funny. It was really strange that that jolly guy was just quietly sitting on his head while telling him the way using his hair.

‘It’s already been 3 days since I came here… I’m slowly getting used to it.’

He’d become quite proficient in living alone and hunting for food. Compared to his former self, he could say that he had become more mature now..

‘I grew up.’

He wanted to show it to the members of the shelter, but there was no way back right now. Seongho said that he would come up with a way when he finished his work, so he had no choice but to explore while waiting for him.

Geom-in proceeded carefully as the scarab kept telling him with the way. The air was thick down here so it was quite difficult to breathe. According to the scarab, there was originally an air conditioner down here, but it was no longer working.

“You guys are incredible. How did you guys even get cursed?”

Instead of explaining, the scarab just pulled some of his hair taut. Geom-in stopped in place and pointed the flash in his hand into the stone wall. Just then, a huge mural painted on top of the dark wall was revealed.

“What is this…”

The mural was expressing the appearance of a certain monster and everything under the sun… It probably refers to the race and civilization of Lotus. The monster in the mural was covering the sun and trying to swallow it all with its tentacles.

Geom-in looked silently and realized that its looks were similar to the characteristics of the nurse that Seongho spoke of.

“Ghoul flowers, too, have a lot of tentacles. Ouch.”

The scarab pulled his hair again. He then did what it wanted; lighting the corner with a flash. In that part of the mural, some people were reaching out to the monster.

“Are they… worshiping it? Ah, they were mentally manipulated by the monster…”

The scarab seemed to be very angry by his interpretation, so he slid down to the ground before starting to paint on the floor. According to the guy, this mural was the depiction of the destruction of the Lotus civilization. The identity of the monster was probably the same one as the monster which was said to be in the depths of the Great Labyrinth.

“The people who are praising it are people like programmer Ahn Geun-seok…”

Seeing people praising them to such an extent, it was clear that the monster had the ability to reach the spiritual realm.

“It’s a monster that destroyed a civilization… It will be hard to fight it.”

Then the scarab pounded Geom-in shoe with its front leg. It felt like it was telling him not to worry. Then he painted a new picture. It was a certain place in the southern part of the Lotus continent.

“Where is this?”

The scarab staggered while holding its head at that moment before standing once again and making an X with his hands.

“Oh, you mean to defend against mental attacks? Is there such an item here?”

Seongho also has a ring with a mental resistance option, but that would be different from the thing the scarab drew.

It’s not finished yet… A monster attacked the researchers while they were researching… So he didn’t know the details…

The picture seemed to say so.

Probably because it was the humans of the Lotus continent who did the research, the scarabs didn’t know about it.

Geom-in scratched his head.

“There are really humans in the Lotus continent? I have never seen it.” The owner of the leather bag that Seongho found was supposed to be a human, but they had never actually seen one.

The scarab pointed to Geom-in with its forelegs.

-Same as you.

The guy seemed to be saying that.

Geom-in suddenly came to his senses. They were very smart, so wouldn’t it be much easier to communicate if he taught them Hangul?

“Do you have any plans to learn Korean?”

The scarab clumsily drew Seongho’s face. He told Geom-in that at first he had planned to teach them to read it, but Seongho was so busy that he forgot.

“He must have forgotten because he was busy running around in Busan. Don’t worry, there are a lot of other people who can help now, and I will also teach you.”

Nod nod.

The scarab climbed again after that into his head. Geom-in took a picture of the mural with the smartphone that the shelter members handed over through the Auction House before leaving.

When he returned to the shelter, there’s a printer there, so he would be able to print it out.

By the way…

“I want to go home…”

The scarab tapped him on the head as if telling him to get stronger right away.

With a sigh, Geom-in forced his body to move forward.

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Most living things had an instinct to protect their younglings. Gryphons–which was an apex predator–was no exception. It was furious when it saw a human dared to try to steal its egg.

Kiaaaaaaakkk-!!

The gryphon descended straight down, trying to grab the human with its claws. However, the human used its own egg as a shield and jumped here and there to dodge.

It really couldn’t be more angry.

Hiding behind my precious egg!

As the gryphon was about to land on the roof, the human began to push the egg.

“Kiaaak!!!”

When the gryphon tried to approach the human, oddly enough, the egg and the human disappeared. The gryphon tilted its head without knowing what to do.

Meanwhile, Seongho, who entered the portal, lost his strength and fell to the ground. The eggs started rolling and commotion instantly broke out in the shelter.

“What is that!”

“UWAAAAH! Something is rolling!”

With Mikyung’s scream as a cue, people rushed out and stopped the egg. Only when the rolling egg was stopped did everyone realized that Seongho was also there.

“Hyung, what is this?” Yoohyeon asked.

“Just what are you doing outside?” Said Sooyeon while sighing.

“That’s a gryphon’s egg.” Seongho dusted the dirt on his ass and got up. He then called Jiman. “Take care of this. Even in the shelter, I must have a mount.”

“But I can’t control monsters, though?”

“Da-jeong will take care of that part.”

“You kept giving him more work. Jiman is busy gardening, catching fish and raising animals.”

They live together, but the workload was particularly concentrated on Jiman. He went to bed late and woke up early as he had a lot of work to do, but Seongho couldn’t help it. After all, Jiman himself said he was enjoying it.

Seongho patted Jiman on the shoulder.

“Can you do it?”

“Of course. More importantly, Hyung. Look at the hornbills.”

As Jiman whistled, two small ostrich-like birds ran towards them. Seongho couldn’t keep his mouth open as he looked at them.

Aren’t these hornbills born only a few days ago?

“How can they grow so fast?”

“I guess it was their species’ traits. Look at them, their fit is good. They are so cute, aren’t they?”

“Their name?”

“This guy here is Beaky and this one is Leggy.”

“Your naming sense is just as bad as mine…”

Anyway, the shelter was running without any problems.

Seongho opened the portal again and looked outside. The Japanese who followed him up to the roof were being harassed by the gryphon.

“ACKKKK!”

“H-help me! Keuukk-”

The sight could only be seen by him at the moment, so no one in the shelter knows what’s happening.

Seongho took advantage of the gryphon’s killing spree and went out of the portal. But as soon as the gryphon found him, it roared angrily.

Kiaaaaaak-!!

It was a roar that felt like it vowed to chase him even if he ran away to hell.

Seongho went down to the ground and took out his motorcycle. When he started the engine, the gryphon was jumping to the sky with its eyes on him.

Vrrrrooommmm-!!

As the motorcycle ran, the gryphon began to follow it.

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Seokhyun and Yuzuka were waiting for someone in front of the Frontier Building. In fact, Yuzuka had never seen a gryphon before, so she was quite looking forward to it.

“How do you catch a gryphon? Yuzuka is curious.”

“We will jump on top of it and tame it, though, not really killing it.”

“Is that possible?”

“There is this very scary woman called the Queen of Monsters. She will do the taming part.”

“I have heard about her, but I didn’t know it was possible to tame such a big monster.”

Seokhyun just shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure either. Gryphon is a high level monster, after all.”

“Yuzuka is…”

When she was about to say something, Seokhyun suddenly put one of his arms in front of her.

“He’s here.”

“Where… ah!”

The two found a motorcycle and a giant gryphon running down the Ariake Bridge. The guy on the sky was clearly angry, judging by the fact it intermittently folded its wings in an attempt to attack Seongho. However, the motorcycle dodged the attack skillfully. When its attack missed, the gryphon turned over and flew back into the sky.

Yuzuka was mesmerized at the scene.

“Wow…”

It was like a scene from a movie.

“Get ready!”

When Seongho shouted, Seokhyun started to spin the rope he had tied beforehand.

What are you trying to do?

While Yuzuka was curious, a motorcycle passed the two of them.

Kiaaaakkk-!!

It was at that time that the gryphon attempted a dive. Seokhyun threw the rope around the gryphon’s neck at that moment. When the gryphon went back to the sky, Seokhyun’s body was swept away by the power.

“It’s dangerous!”

Seokhyun pulled the rope and got on the gryphon’s neck using the recoil without listening to Yuzuka’s concerned scream. He then smashed his fist into the back of its head.

“Fall!”

Kiaaaaakk-!!

The gryphon, who was beaten on top of being ridden by a human out of nowhere, lost its mind. However, before it could retaliate in anger, the gryphon lost its strength from several more punches and fell to the ground.

For Yuzuka, what she was currently seeing felt like a dream. She couldn’t figure out what had happened or how it’s going to go.

“Yuzuka!”

Seongho, who passed her with a motorcycle a few moments ago, returned and extended her arms to her. The moment Yuzuka stretched out her arms, he effortlessly pulled her and swung her into the passenger seat. They then drove to the stunned gryphon.

“I think you hit it too hard?”

When Seongho said so, Seokhyun scratched his head.

“I mean, it’s not dead.”

“Well, we should feed it some potions or we are doomed.”

Seongho opened the portal and summoned Da-jeong. Yuzuka already knew everything, so he didn’t feel the need to hide it. She must have a lot of questions, but seeing that she endured to not ask until the end, she’s indeed a very wise person.

The moment Da-jeong walked out and saw the gryphon, she screamed.

“My gryphon! WHO DID THIS TO YOU! IT MUST BE YOU!!”

“I failed to control my power.”

Surprisingly, Da-jeong did not kick his ass this time around.

“I’ll let it slide since you have worked hard this time.”

Da-jeong placed her hand on the gryphon’s beak, and a golden glow covered her hand and the beak. After that, she took a potion and fed it to the gryphon.

“Good boy~ Drink this and cheer up.”

The gryphon’s eyes widened as if it heard her wish. It then stood up and spread its wings wide. The eyes that were staring at Seongho as if to kill him had also disappeared.

Da-jeong, who was excited, climbed onto the gryphon’s neck.

“Hop on!”

As the three of them climbed onto its back, the guy flapped its wings vigorously and flew away. Although it had been hit by Seokhyun’s fist, it recovered quickly due to Da-jeong’s unique skill, as well as its additional effects. Moreover, its physical abilities were also greatly strengthened.

The four watched the sky over Tokyo from the back of the gryphon.

Yuzuka was blown away by the wind and couldn’t open her eyes, but at some point she opened her eyes wide. The reason was because the road began to collapse. It wasn’t just a part of it, it was happening all over Tokyo. Monsters and people alike were screaming on top of their lungs as they were caught up in the collapse.

In the end, the Midtown Tower, which had stood firm in the face of an earthquake with a magnitude of 8, the huge tower that had even survived the corrosive disease, fell to the ground. When the entire 54-story building collapsed, the ground shook.

“Tokyo is…!”

Seongho silently watched Tokyo being destroyed. He had expected it to happen, but he never thought it would happen this fast. However, it happened not only in Tokyo, but in all places with ghoul flowers.

The ground was turned over, buildings were collapsing, and traces of humanity gradually disappeared. Soon, there would be no more trace of modern civilization, as the ecosystem of the Lotus Continent would take its place.

The only safe place from this disaster was the part of Seoul where ghoul flowers were actively culled.

Seongho said to Da-jeong.

“Let’s go to the entrance of the Great Labyrinth.”

“Are we going home already? Okay.”

She turned the gryphon’s head. Upon receiving her command, the gryphon flapped its wings vigorously.

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Before leaving Japan. I went through their Auction House and bought all the elderwood sold there. The Japanese didn’t know about the totem, so they don’t know what those are used for. Some cite the elderwood longbow as an example and say that the price would rise later, but few have shown interest.

Therefore, the ‘useless’ elderwood was sold at a not-so-expensive price.

“Only four …”

I put the elderwood stick into my backpack. The area in front of the Great Labyrinth portal was now open. It was because the nearby building collapsed, and both humans and monsters had to evacuate themselves. Thanks to that, we were able to return to Korea without any trouble.

“Nowz let’s go home.”

Da-jeong, who had been crouching, got up.

“Aren’t the Auction House kids funny? It’s not our fault that things become like this.”

“Don’t worry about them, they’re all going to die anyway.”

“Someone persuaded a lot of them to go to Korea just now.”

“They have to enter the Great Labyrinth first if they want to go to Korea. With that kind of mindset, the monsters will kill all of them. Don’t mind them.”

“Hmm…”

“Let’s hurry. It’s a waste of time to stay here any longer.”

Seokhyun was right.

We entered the Great Labyrinth portal one after another. After going out in Seoul and breathing in the air, I felt reassured that I was finally home. However, the explosion of the ghoul flower also happened here. Cracks could be seen in the remaining building as well in the ground.

Da-jeong looked at me and sighed.

“I came to see someone else’s house being destroyed, yet my house is suffering the same fate…”

“I know, right.”

But what can we do? We just have to adapt.

We moved to an empty lot close to the portal and took the gryphon out of the dimensional warehouse. The guy came to his senses and looked around.

“Let’s go home!”

After a while, we were already flying in the sky above Seoul. Seeing from the sky like this, the trace of the tragedy was crystal clear. The whole city was boiling, like water boiling in a pot. Though, the confusion was not out of hand. Perhaps thanks to the information provided by the Korean Shelter.

We flew over the overturned city and headed to the Korean Shelter.