From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 79: Giants

As Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang progressed, they couldn’t hide their shock at the desolation of China. China had become a land of ice, but it still had all of the remnants of its previous civilization intact.

“...”

“...”

They stood in front of a vast river, a river with no end in sight. Just as Qingdao had become a giant ice cube, this was another surprise on the way to their destination.

A river had appeared in a place that was unexpected.

‘It’s not even on the map.’

This vast river didn’t originally exist, but it had carved its way into the terrain. Furthermore, this river seemed highly unusual.

In this freezing weather, the water wasn’t frozen. Instead, the water looked incredibly clear.

“Oh, my god…”

It was so clear that one could see all the way into its depths. In this endlessly deep water were thousands of people who had yet to sink to the bottom of the river bed. Corpses had been buried alive in the torrents of the currents.

“...”

Even Lee Jun-Kyeong had no words after seeing that. He had not only heard about the event by word of mouth but also had seen it in writing. Despite that, he still couldn’t keep his jaw from dropping at the sight.

It was a scene full of cruelty. Misery.

“Mr. Lee…” Jeong In-Chang asked if he had made up his mind somewhat.

“This cataclysm you’ve been talking about…”

Tears welled up in his eyes, his hands clenched and trembling.

The teardrops dripped down his nostrils.

Crack.

They froze on the way down.

“You’re saying that the entire world would become like this, right?”

“...”

Jeong In-Chang pleaded, “Answer me, please.”

In the end, Lee Jun-Kyeong reluctantly nodded. “That’s right.”

“Just how…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, “It might be a little ridiculous to talk about the severity right now, but it will still be a bit less horrifying than this, and more people will be able to survive.”

China didn’t have the chance to prepare—no, it wouldn’t have been able to anyway.

The Hunters who could stop the gateization from spreading through a large tract of land and Hunters who could show powers beyond that of humans had had their hands tied. After all, the leadership of China refused to allow them to go.

They refused to let such people wander around recklessly. It had even gotten to the point where politicians had even imprisoned the Hunters with their own two hands, in case these Hunters had a different agenda than they did.

In the end, the result was that China, where there was already a lack of Heroes, fell into shambles. Furthermore, the Heroes that did exist had also been viciously killed in the later gateization phenomenon.

There were some survivors, but very few.

As for the outside world, the situation was completely different.

“There are Hunters in the outside world. Not only that, but there are also Heroes. It may be a daunting event, but there are also secret organizations,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Jeong In-Chang.

“Even if it’s only for their own survival, those organizations will try to stop it. Don’t worry about it too much,” he continued.

However, he secretly clenched his fists. Even if everyone tried, there was still a particular ending that needed to come true.

***

Crossing the river was too dangerous a task. Hyeon-Mu was the only one with water-related abilities, and naturally, monsters would inhabit this river. If there was a battle in the river, although he most likely wouldn’t lose, he wasn’t able to predict what sort of damage he would be left with.

Therefore, Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party took another detour, and they continued to walk along the river.

"…"

It was silent.

Bodies were strewn everywhere and the harsh ice had frozen these horrendous sights just in time for them to be preserved in a horrific manner.

Therefore, the group walked silently.

As if Fenrir and the princess had realized something, they followed their masters in silence.

“...”

“...”

Seeing their respectfully quiet appearances, the atmosphere relaxed a bit.

"Hmm…”

Eventually, they had found a place where they could still cross. It was a part of the river with the other side visible beyond the horizon. This place was unusually narrow compared to other sections, so it was their best bet.

Lee Jun-Kyeong suggested, "Let's take a look around."

Although it seemed as though they would be able to cross it in about an hour if they moved as fast as possible, nevertheless, Lee Jun-Kyeong was still cautious about the situation.

Jeong In-Chang nodded as he was reassured at the sight of his companion being careful.

Eventually, the party soon abandoned their search.

"There’s nothing we can do.”

No matter how hard they looked around, they couldn’t find anything. In the first place, there wouldn’t be anything like a ship in an area that shouldn’t have a river, and there was nothing that could be substituted for a boat.

If they wanted to, they could be able to make a ferry, but Lee Jun-Kyeong suggested a different method, “I’d rather just use Hyeon-Mu.”

“Do you think it’s possible?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

–It is possible. However, the master's mana consumption would be immense.

"Then let's do it."

Lee Jun-Kyeong had given his permission. He was attempting something he wouldn’t have been able to do if the level of his mana stream hadn’t risen, even with his naturally large reserve of available mana.

“Freeze it!” he commanded.

–Frozen.

At his order, a basic spell that most mage-type Hunters knew manifested. However, this river was a river that didn’t freeze, even in the midst of this cold. There was definitely a secret behind this phenomenon, and it would be futile if they tried to freeze the entire river.

Crackle!

What Lee Jun-Kyeong had chosen to do instead was make a bridge of ice. Hyeon-Mu shot a stream of water in advance and froze it as it fell while the group watched from behind. It was a way for them to cross the river without coming into contact with it.

A frozen road was created in front of them, a bridge connected to the ground, fragile enough and seemingly about to collapse at any moment.

"Fenrir."

Lee Jun-Kyeong got Fenrir ready, and the group got on top of his back. Then, he said to Hyeon-Mu, “Hyeon-Mu.”

–Yes, master.

Lee Jun-Kyeong warned in a way that sounded like a threat, “If you make a single mistake, that means we all die.”

They began to run forward after hearing that.

“Growl!!”

***

“Whew…”

They were lucky. Some time had passed before they had been discovered by the underwater monsters. The creatures had tried to attack the party, but the group was fortunate enough not to be in their battle zone, the water.

Lee Jun-Kyeong used his flames to kill the monsters as they hurried across. Finally, they were able to arrive across the river without any significant issues.

“It looks like we’ve arrived.”

–Gasp… gasp… Master, I’ll just rest for a mom…

“Rest.”

With its master’s permission, Hyeon-Mu returned to the bracelet that it had originally appeared from.

“Do skeletons get tired too?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

Lee Jun-Kyeong shrugged. “I don’t know, either.”

Fenrir was also extremely exhausted. Sprinting while walking over the ice bridges that Hyeon-Mu had been creating on the spot ate up not only a lot of mana but also mental strength.

“Fenrir, get some rest,” Lee Jun-Kyeong ordered.

“Ok.”

Fenrir immediately returned to his boy form and began to doze off next to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“From this point on, we’ll have to go all out.”

Even Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t expect such a change as the river. But, as he had said many times before, whether it was the book or the Demon King or what he knew about the future, there were many things that weren’t included within them.

This river was one of those missing bits of information.

‘The entire thing was probably a shift from the future anyway.’

He silently wondered if the past would really be the same as the future. Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head. Already, so much had gone wrong and changed from what he knew.

There was only one thing that he needed to stay the same.

‘As long as the main path doesn’t change, then it’s okay.’

Because only then would he be able to overturn the main path completely. The process would never be smooth, and it would be impossible to say that the way would be easy, but he had to try.

Fortunately, there had been no changes to the main path as of yet.

“From this point on?” Jeong In-Chang responded.

“From now, if we move quickly, it’ll take a day or three days at the latest,” he clarified.

“And where in the world are we going?” asked Jeong In-Chang.

Although he had only just now begun asking for the location, Lee Jun-Kyeong answered promptly, “Guangdong Province.”

Jeong In-Chang frowned slightly. “Guangdong Province?”

“You should understand it a little better if I say we’re heading to Guangzhou.”

Jeong In-Chang nodded. It seemed as though their destination had been Guangzhou from the very beginning.

After all, there were survivors there.

Although there could have been survivors elsewhere in the vast land that was China, there was only one place that Lee Jun-Kyeong knew held survivors for sure. It was the place where the Demon King had landed and where he had seen them.

‘I have to find that person there.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had been hiding the pain and holding it in up until this point, but the black beads had clearly been growing. It wasn’t a matter of size; it felt as though the power they contained was increasing.

Fortunately, as the level of his mana stream rose, the level of pain decreased. Apparently, the black beads could be suppressed slightly.

‘For some reason, it feels like they still grew even more.’

On the other hand, as the level of his mana stream rose, it felt like the black beads had stored even more power. Something felt peculiar about it.

He had to hurry up and find that person and return.

"Then who the hell are we looking for?" Jeong In-Chang asked.

They had gone to even a land annihilated like this to find someone. Jeong In-Chang wondered how great that person could be that made coming to this place worth it to find them.

Although he did have a desire to save people, if he was being honest, Jeong In-Chang struggled to imagine that there would be any survivors.

That was why he had assumed that the person would be a non-human being, like Hyeon-Mu or Fenrir.

“It’s a man,” Lee Jun-Kyeong responded clearly. "Let’s hurry.”

***

After crossing the river, they rode on Fenrir’s back less frequently. Instead, they traveled on foot, jumping and running over any obstacles.

Lee Jun-Kyeong explained, “From this point on, we can’t ride Fenrir. It could lead to getting some unwanted attention.”

It was easy to see how a white wolf galloping across the icy plain could attract the attention of many different groups.

"Hmm…"

Jeong In-Chang’s expression changed as he ran.

"It's warm again."

They could feel a change in the weather again. Unlike before, in the freezing cold, the more they advanced, the more the cold receded. Of course, that was in comparison to the places around them. So it wasn’t as if it was as warm as it was on Mt. Baekdu.

"It means we are going in the right direction."

This time, Jeong In-Chang just nodded in response to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s words.

The weather changing meant that they were approaching a place where people could survive. Furthermore, there was another reason that they thought they were heading in the right direction.

Jeong In-Chang commented, “There also aren’t any monsters.”

The more they progressed, the fewer monsters they encountered. There was other evidence that humans could exist around here as well.

“...”

Specifically, the fact that there were traces.

There were no monsters, nor were there any corpses.

However, there were blood stains everywhere. It looked as though corpses had been dragged by something as there were long bloodstains traveling in the same direction as where the party was heading.

Jeong In-Chang felt an inexplicable ominous feeling, but he didn’t bring it up to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

He would figure it out once they arrived.

They continued to progress through the bloodstains, ruins, and ice when Jeong In-Chang, who was a little ahead, pointed at something with his finger.

“Over there!”

It was faint, but there was a black speck on the white landscape.

“It looks like a human!"

From a distance, it looked like something in the shape of a human being. It had hair and even clothes.

It clearly looked like a human from his perspective, but Lee Jun-Kyeong pulled out Muspel’s Spear with a hardened expression.

“Take out your weapons,” he ordered.

“What is going on? Is it similar to Fenrir again?” Jeong In-Chang asked as he drew his greatsword. He silently told himself that he shouldn’t be deceived any longer by something’s outward appearance again,

“No, this is different from Fenrir,” Lee Jun-Kyeong responded.

"…"

"Mr. Jeong."

Even now, as the two of them were talking, the humanoid form was getting closer and closer.

“Do you really think that it would be possible for us to see a person with our naked eyes from this distance?”

“...!”

The shape that seemed so far away had gotten close enough that he was able to see it clearly.

The thing that was in the shape of a person, it was unbelievably massive.

“From this point on, it’s the land of giants.”