From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 217. A Single Serpent Pt. 4

In the pitch-black darkness, something even darker squirmed and moved about.

Slither.

Whenever the sound of a snake crawling on the ground began to appear, without fail, Lee Jun-Kyeong would soon feel a shock that reverberated through his entire body.

Bang!

In this darkness, where nothing could be seen, Set had become a snake.

'Apophis.'

In the past, when he had fought Set in Egypt, Set had also used these unknown powers. It was a dark power and a power of immortality.

Although Set had still escaped from Lee Jun-Kyeong’s attack with the aid of the Demon King, there was something about his innate power that seemed to be impossible to extinguish. At least in Set’s case, it effectively made him immortal.

Horus, who had fought alongside him, had called it The Dark Side of the Sun, calling it the power of Apophis.

Slither.

Hearing the scales scrape as they flew through the air, Lee Jun-Kyeong spun his spear, blocking them from approaching him.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Behind each blow was an incredible amount of force.

‘The Immortal Snake.’

Set had turned into the snake itself.[1]

Bang!

With another explosion, Lee Jun-Kyeong was pushed backward again. The darkness was so dark that it was impossible to see. Furthermore, he was in the Andlangr that favored Set, so Lee Jun-Kyeong had to find ways to evade his attacks.

‘I have to win.’

Even if it was just for what Set had said to him. In order to obtain his power, he would have to defeat Set.

However, there was not enough mana in Andlangr for him to crush his opponent using his greatest strength, his terrifying mana. Furthermore, the darkness was too bleak for him to be able to beat Set using any quick movements.

Bang!

Another shock had shaken his body to the core.

Slither.

Bang!

Lee Jun-Kyeong closed his eyes. There was no reason for him to keep his eyes open in such a dark world. He just had to close his eyes and focus on the sound.

Slither.

Bang!

Lee Jun-Kyeong succeeded in fully defending against Set’s attack, now realizing that it was the monster’s tail.

Ssssss.

At the same time, Lee Jun-Kyeong released the mana he had accumulated in his body all at once. It was risky as he was in Andlangr, where he wouldn’t be able to absorb and restore any mana. However, he still had to defeat Set quickly, as his store of mana was finite.

The scattered mana existed in Andlangr for a moment, but even in that short time, Lee Jun-Kyeong was able to see the world around him clearly with closed eyes.

Ssss.

The mana he had scattered worked like an echo, coating Set’s body and providing Lee Jun-Kyeong with a semblance of vision.

Swish!

The spear he now stabbed finally was able to reach Set.

Squelch!

Muspel’s Spear didn’t emit any flames as Lee Jun-Kyeong had concentrated all of the fire and his mana onto the tip of the spear, focusing on its penetration ability.

–ROAR!!!!

Amid the screams of the Set-snake, Lee Jun-Kyeong released his mana once again.

Sssss.

Mana scattered from Muspel’s Spear as the spear was plunged into Set’s body, quickly expanding. The mana contained in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s dragon heart rapidly flowed out.

‘In one blow.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t afford to have this fight last long, so he had to subdue Set in a single blow.

Cr—aack.

The sound of something breaking began to spread as Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his eyes. In the space where nothing could be seen, in front of him, he saw a massive burning hand.

ROAR!

It seemed as though his hands had grown with a flickering flame, increasing in size to those of a giant. The hand holding Muspel’s Spear was becoming more and more embedded into Set’s body.

–ROAR!

Although the snake struggled, emitting a dark aura, it was to no avail. In the midst of Set’s space, his Territory, his Andlangr, a fire giant began to rule.

[You have succeeded in shaping a part of Surtr’s body.]

***

BOOM!

An incredible tremor rang throughout Andlangr. The forgotten and abandoned dimension, whose size was impossible to guess, shook with the massive tremor.

BOOM!

Then, the trembling space, which had shook as if it had just undergone an earthquake, gradually began to brighten.

Flicker.

Even as the giant’s arm grew crimson from its temperature, the flames burning from it continued to grow stronger and stronger.

Roar!

The darkness had seemed so dark that nothing could be seen in it now began to lighten. In that space, without a single light, a sun had risen.

ROAR!!

The sun, just like the arm of the giant, had begun to create light while clearing out the darkness.

–ROAR!

A gigantic snake that seemed almost as large as the space they were confined in was screaming as it collapsed, its nape held by the fire giant.

Boom!

The arm that held the snake by the nape exploded with force as the fire giant imbued more strength into its arm. The snake wasn’t even able to scream anymore.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The master of the giant’s arm, Lee Jun-Kyeong, listened to the sound of his heart pounding with fire. The mana contained in the dragon heart, created from the Dragon’s Bloodstone, had become fuel for the blaze, constantly pumping. Burning flames rode down his arms and weighed down Set.

BOOM!

The fallen snake began to struggle against the oppressive force. It moved its tail that was longer than a train, and wrapped itself around the fire giant’s arm. Just as the light that shone through the dimension seemed to be about to disappear, something began to crack once more.

Crack!!

The tail of the snake that was blocking the light from emitting began to split open, and between the torn scales, flames began to swirl as if they had penetrated through the snake’s body.

ROAR!

The mana contained in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s pounding heart was larger than he had thought. It was seemingly able to match the mana contained in a city—no, an entire dimension. All of it was burning, focused on defeating a single beating.

–ROAR!

All he had to do was continuously supply it. However, soon, the snake had been crushed to the point where it could no longer resist. The black darkness lifted, and the dimension of darkness, Set’s Andlangr, was no longer shrouded in darkness.

ROAR!!!!

Nothing could be hidden under the light of the bright sun. There was a huge snake that seemed to be able to wrap itself around the universe, and an arm of flame that caught and crushed that very snake. Lee Jun-Kyeong seemed to be too small to stand among those giants.

However, that very same Lee Jun-Kyeong was the owner of the arm.

“AGHHH!” Lee Jun-Kyeong roared as he circulated his mana even faster.

As if refusing to be pushed back, he emitted even more mana than before. As the blazing sun grew thicker, notifications began to ring in his ears.

[Mana reserves are depleted.]

His mana wasn’t adequate. The incredible amount of mana that he possessed was beginning to run out.

[Mana reserves are depleted.]

The warning sounded again.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

His heart beat even more violently. Even still, the snake, seemingly at its deathbed, still refused to fall down. It was the immortal snake.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that perfect immortality did not exist. Just like the Immortal Siegfried, any power of immortality inherited from a Sponsor was never perfect. The same should be true for Set.

Although Egypt’s Heroes feared it as it was known as the immortal snake, Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure of it.

“Screw off!”

Set was also not completely immortal. He, too, would be subject to mortality. Finally, the arm of flame twisted the snake’s neck, breaking through its scales.

CRACK!!!

As the skin of the snake split, Andlangr began to crack open.

Rip!!!

Then, just as the earth began to split open, as the crack spread before Lee Jun-Kyeong’s eyes, he heard the ring of a final warning.

[Mana reserves have been depleted.]

This was a situation where he could no longer circulate any mana. Surtr’s Arms had been ablaze with flame, but they lost their strength as a notification rang through the air.

[The ceremony has been completed.]

***

Thud.

The crushed head of a snake-headed man fell to the ground and turned into a corpse before it had even landed. It was even able to take a last breath.

“What, have we handled everything by now?” said Heracles with a tired complexion as he brushed the blood from his gauntlets. His whole body was stained with blue blood.

“Whew…”

Around him, numerous corpses of snake humans were strewn about. Unlike the snake humanoid monsters, also called Nagas, these were a type of monster he had never seen before, with white bodies wrapped in cotton robes.

They had continued to come out endlessly from the location of the ceremony, which was the pillar of darkness that lay before them.

“I guess we can just wait now.”

It had already been a day since Lee Jun-Kyeong had been sucked into that place.

When Lee Jun-Kyeong had first gotten sucked into that place with Yamata no Orochi, he had thought that his heart would stop. However, Heracles was soon able to calm down thanks to Hyeon-Mu and Hel, who seemed to stay calm without any worries as they took their positions.

He wondered if it was because they both belonged to Lee Jun-Kyeong, but they had an incredible amount of trust in their master. Their owner had been sucked into a pillar of darkness where they couldn’t see an inch ahead of them, but they still seemed to remain calm.

Heracles and Odysseus tried several times to break through the pillar of darkness to try to save Lee Jun-Kyeong, but the solid pillar of darkness was impossible to pierce through.

“Hissss.”

“Looks like there are still some left.”

Although they were left just waiting, just like what was happening now, all that emerged from the pillar of darkness were the white snake humans. All the party could do now that Lee Jun-Kyeong had disappeared was to clear out these emerging snake humans as they tried to restore stability to Tokyo.

Oddly enough, the Japanese Hunters who had been on Yashin’s side had all lost consciousness when the pillar of darkness appeared. Whereas the rest of the Hunters who had been hidden in the city all lost their nerve and surrendered when the party showed their overwhelming power.

“Hurry up and come out,” Heracles grumbled.

“Just wait a little. You’re being too hasty, Heracles,” Odysseus responded.

As everything had been essentially handled on their side, all they had left to do was wait for Lee Jun-Kyeong to come out.

“It’s not that I’m being impatient, but I think my reaction is the normal one. Have you already become addicted to fighting those things? Calm down my foot.”

“Well…it’s because it doesn’t seem like there would be any problems yet.”

Heracles and Odysseus looked at the pillar of darkness together. It was a pitch-black darkness that seemed like one’s soul would be sucked into it.

“What if the monster comes back and the Underdog is nowhere to be seen?”

"Then…” Odysseus shrugged at Heracles' question. “We’ll just have to fight again.”

“Where is this change coming from? I thought you’d be the one to tell me that we’d have to run away,” Heracles teased.

Odysseus pointed out, “Don’t you want to fight? I can’t run away by myself and leave an idiot here to die.”

“Hmph.”

The two had relaxed to the point of exchanging jokes. Still, their eyes were locked on the pillar of darkness. The two of them waited for a long time, catching and killing the snake humans that would still emerge from the pillar from time to time.

Rumble.

Finally, something began to change. The ground shook and the mana trembled.

“It’s moving.”

The pillar of darkness began to tremble little by little. At this point, the party was certain. Whatever was going on in the pillar had finished, and everything had been settled.

“It would be nice if Underdog came out, but…”

If that monster showed up again, then they would have to put their lives on the line and fight once more. As the two Hunters adjusted their stance, Hel and Hyeon-Mu also came to stand by their sides.

Lee Jun-Kyeong’s Familiars seemed to have grown rapidly through the repeated battles. Because they dealt in souls and corpses, there was ample opportunity for both of them to grow here.

As the four of them waited with an expectation that this round would be a little better than before, they watched, ready, as the pillar of darkness began to fracture.

Crack!

As the pillar shook and the light slowly began to reveal itself in the fading darkness, Odysseus chewed his lip and said quietly, “Damn it…”

They could see something clearly coming out of the cracked pillar of darkness clearly.

“I guess we’re going to die here.”

It was a white serpent. Contrary to what they had expected, it seemed that the Underdog had failed.

Rumble!

They knew that the pillar of darkness, now trembling even more violently, would soon shatter, and the monster that had consumed the Underdog would appear and destroy everything.

"Odysseus." Heracles opened his mouth slowly. “You go back.”

"What?"

“Someone has to inform Olympus about what happened in Japan. At this rate, Japan is going to be the birthplace of a completely new monster,” Heracles said, smiling wryly.

“For everything…”

It was a side of Heracles that hadn’t ever been seen before.

“Thank you.”

BOOM!

As an incredible aura exploded forth from Heracles’ body, the sound of earth and space being torn apart rang through the air.

CRACKK!

The white serpent had finally broken through the pillar. Orochi looked different from before. Unlike before, when it had looked like a serpent, now, it really looked more like a dragon.

Its scales seemed so hard they were nigh impenetrable, and a long horn had sprouted from its head.

–ROAR!!!

With a cry that seemed to shake the heavens and the earth, the monster started racing toward them.

“Go! Quickly!”

As it started to slither toward them, Heracles also started to run toward the monster.

“I’ll buy you time!”

His red glowing gauntlet resonating with his aura, Heracles charged forward like a lion. However, contrary to the party’s expectations, after emerging from the pillar, Orochi’s head only just fell to the ground, right in front of where Heracles was about to run to.

“...!”

Boom!

As the ground shook from the collapse of the serpent, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s voice rang out as he appeared, holding onto the horn on Orochi’s head.

“I’m home.”

1. The God Set’s duty in Egyptian Mythos was to be the vanguard for Ra’s eternal battle against Apophis. However, there are some myths that detail the fall of Set into darkness, sometimes depicting him to be an incarnation of the Lord of Chaos. ☜