From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 95: Romance of the Three Kingdoms Pt. 5

Won-Hwa still hadn’t fully grasped the situation, so Lee Jun-Kyeong said, “You must hurry.”

“About what…” the physician asked.

Lee Jun-Kyeong gave a signal to Liu Bei, and the Hunters on Liu Bei’s side approached Won-Hwa.

“Please protect the humans with these people. It’s okay to gauge the situation and leave the fortress as well.”

Won-Hwa looked confused. "Pardon?"

"These are Hunters branded as traitors. If they go alone, the people may be terrified, so please go save the people yourself, Mr. Won-Hwa. If it’s you, the Won-Hwa who everyone has always had faith in, you will be able to rescue these people without much commotion."

“I don’t know what’s what…” Won-Hwa sighed and quietly nodded. “But okay.”

It was because he could clearly feel Lee Jun-Kyeong's desire to save people.

Moreover, although the Hunters in the black clothes had betrayed him and his people, it was clear that something important had happened while he was unconscious. Right when Won-Hwa was about to head to the residential area of the humans, he turned to look back at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Just answer one thing…” Time was running out, but Won-Hwa still wanted to ask this question. "How is your body?"

It wasn’t just a simple question asking about his physical condition. The internal qigong that he had been trying to pass on had caused a huge side effect, causing them to be caught in a vortex of immense mana, and they had nearly lost their lives.

However, they had both survived, and so Won-Hwa had wanted to know if his efforts had worked.

Of course, the Lee Jun-Kyeong in front of him looked fine, but the external appearance of a person wasn’t everything.

Won-Hwa waited for an answer anxiously.

“Of course…” Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled at the physician and continued, “It's the best it’s ever been."

As if satisfied, Won-Hwa hurriedly moved his feet.

“What an interesting person,” Thrymr said as he looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong and smiled.

“...”

Liu Bei's group nodded in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s direction as if they were grateful.

"Go ahead."

They began to advance again.

***

They faced the royal palace inside of Utgard Fortress. It was the residence of the King of the frost giants named Loki.

‘Loki…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong repeated the name over and over again. It was a name he had never heard of.

'It's not unfamiliar.'

He felt a sense of intimacy for an unknown reason. To think he would feel a familiarity with just a name, it was something that had never happened before except with Heimdall.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> furrows his brow.]

Furthermore, <The Sky of the Apocalypse>, that bastard's reaction, was also strange. It felt as though it was the reaction of someone who was trying to give a signal over and over again, but there was nothing that Lee Jun-Kyeong could glean from it.

Of course, this was the second time it had happened.

“So it seems a filthy turncoat has stepped foot again in the royal palace.”

This was only the second time that Lee Jun-Kyeong had met the king.

Thrymr and Lee Jun-Kyeong had arrived at the royal palace without shedding any blood. The giants guarding the royal palace had attacked Thrymr, but they had been suppressed without suffering a single wound. The defeated guards were then tossed out of the castle.

Therefore, the last remaining giant of the royal palace was…the King.

Thrymr looked at him and muttered softly, “Utgard-Loki.”

The king had arrived.

"Thrymr, I should have killed you sooner,” the king said. Even in front of hundreds of Nar warriors and human Hunters, the king was calm.

‘How ridiculous.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong could see why the king could stay so calm. He wondered if it was because he had grown a little further, but the power of the king seemed a little clearer.

He was strong.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had thought that he matched up well with Thrymr, but it was actually different.

The king was overwhelming, but he didn’t think it mattered.

‘There isn't much he can do when he’s this outnumbered.’

Even if the king was strong, Thrymr was also strong and confident in his chances, while there were also many people, including Fenrir, with him. It would be a tough fight, but their victory was already predestined.

"Are you regretting not killing me like Alvaldi?” Thrymr said coldly.

The king guffawed, “As expected… so that was what your betrayal was about.”

Thrymr snarled, “You bastard.”

An explosive energy began to emanate from him. Galdr had started to kick in. However, the king was still calm.

Shiiick.

Lee Jun-Kyeong stiffened from a sense of heterogeneity, tensing for a moment.

Then.

“Oorah…"

"Oorah!"

"Oorah…"

They began to hear strange voices. Clearly, this gigantic reverberating sound was clearly emanating from giants, but something was different.

It couldn’t be.

“The Nar…?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had been told that their names were the Nar, and they were the first giants he had ever seen. They were insane halfwits that had lost their sanity and obsessed over slaughter.

These exact same giants were appearing all over the royal palace.

Grit.

A terrifying sound came from Thrymr's mouth.

"What the hell did you do… no way… ."

The Nar.

It was said that the grotesque Nar that Lee Jun-Kyeong had seen were those born in the aftermath of the epidemic.

He had heard that those of the Nar that Thrymr had taken away that had lost their sanity due to the plague had either been granted eternal rest or were banished to wander the earth.

‘They said that it was similar to the side effects of the internal qigong…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the approaching Nar–no, the insane giants. Their appearance and conditions seemed to be the same as the giants that Lee Jun-Kyeong had seen. However, when it came to their strength, it was completely different. They were all radiating immense strength.

Of course, it wasn’t something comparable to Thrymr, the king, or even himself, but compared to the ordinary giant warriors, it was strong enough to take the advantage.

They were clearly different from the giants he had seen in the icy wasteland. In addition, unlike the banished roamers, who were ignorant and driven mad by bloodlust, these giants were under the command of the King, Utgard-Loki.

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at them carefully, and over to the side, he could hear the voice of the startled Thrymr.

“There’s no way…!”

Boom!

At the same time, Thrymr kicked off the floor of the royal palace using his explosive Galdr and rushed toward the king. He rushed in without even taking down the enemy’s frontlines. It was a reckless charge, but it was brought on as he was furious enough to lose his temper.

Boom!

Something collided, and alongside that collision was a huge sound that filled the royal palace.

However, Thrymr wasn’t able to reach the king.

The King of the giants, Loki, sneered and said, "I needed an army that obeyed only me, and what an honor it is for them to fulfill this duty,"

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong's expression hardened.

The words that Utgard-Loki had just said had led him to make an assumption, and the more he thought about it, the more that assumption had become fact. All the puzzle pieces had come together, and Lee Jun-Kyeong finally knew what had happened.

Thrymr had been the first to notice, while it took Liu Bei and his party quite some time to notice. Amidst the shocking truth, everyone’s expression hardened.

"My loyal soldiers. Tear the limbs of those traitors!" the king ordered.

“Ooah… ooah…”

The insane giants started attacking at the king's orders.

***

"Mr. Lee!" Jeong In-Chang called out to Lee Jun-Kyeong, dodging the attack of an insane giant.

Squelch!

Lee Jun-Kyeong pulled out Muspel's spear from a giant's chest and looked over at him.

“What the hell is this sort of situation?!” Jeong In-Chang complained, as if he didn't understand the reason for what was going on.

Some, including Lee Jun-Kyeong, had realized the seriousness of the situation. On the other hand, many people, including Jeong In-Chang, struggled to understand this situation.

Boom!

The royal palace was in chaos, and the battle against the monstrous giants summoned by the king began.

The giants were fighting by destroying everything as if they had specialized in street fighting. The number of insane giants were smaller than that of the Nar, but their strength was more than expected.

“By chance...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang faced each other.

What Jeong In-Chang was asking wasn’t why the battle had suddenly started, but rather, what the hell did the king do to make everyone astonished?

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Jeong In-Chang talked even though they were surrounded by giants.

"That being over there, the king of those giants… He seems to be the culprit behind the strange giants we saw in the icy wasteland."

"Pardon?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

Lee Jun-Kyeong continued, “I’m not sure how, but the king needed more powerful giants, so it seemed as though the insane giants were born in the process of creating those giants. The giants from the outside were the failures of his experiments."

The insane giants were basically a species of giant that didn’t exist originally. Created in the aftermath of the plague, these giants did not exist before Utgard had appeared on Earth. They had said that the plague had spread to giants after they had arrived on Earth, and that was how the insane giants were formed.

‘It seems as though it must have something to do with internal qigong.’

However, Won-Hwa had said that it was related to the side effects of internal qigong.

They were madmen as they suffered a disease of insanity instead of obtaining great power.

Lee Jun-Kyeong realized that was probably the case.

"What kind of experiment did he do?!” Jeong In-Chang exclaimed.

“It’s clear that the king of the giants over there had wanted to start a war and wanted to raise an army that obeyed only his orders. He must have known that some of the Chinese Hunters had special powers, and wanted to make use of them,” Lee Jun-Kyeong explained.

He paused before continuing, “As a side effect, the plague spread and the giants died. Those who survived had become experimental subjects, and later, the insane giants. If that’s not the case either, then it was a lie that the giants had died because of the plague from the beginning, or…”

There was also the possibility that the king had used giants in experiments by telling the public that they had died from the plague.

"Are you saying that he killed and tested on his own people?" Jeong In-Chang asked in disbelief.

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong responded in a firm manner, "Because he is the king."

The king, and the power granted by that name. Many kings saw their people as mere tools, which was why the king in front of them had thought he could use them as he pleased.

Jeong In-Chang frowned and looked at the king. “What a psychopath.”

He was standing far away, and approached where they were while being protected by mad giants.

“He’s a monster,” Lee Jun-Kyeong commented, thrusting Muspel's spear at the giant guarding the front.

“Well, he’s a psychopath as well, too,” he corrected himself.

An insane giant caught fire and began to run rampant.

"Let's talk more about it later! I’ll trust this side to you!”

“Mr. Lee!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was unable to respond to Jeong In-Chang’s cry, as he quickly moved through the gaps of the colossal giants.

‘There won’t be an end if things keep going this way.’

No, it would be a defeat for the Nar if things kept going this way. Even now, the Nar were being pushed back, and the insane giants of Utgard rushed forward like berserkers, even if they were wounded.

The solution was simple.

‘I have to overturn everything.’

The easiest way to do that was in front of him.

“Take down the king.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong passed the giants and arrived at the king's level. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had this thought.

“We were enemies before, but this time, it seems we’ve come and combined our strength.”

Liu Bei and the two Hunters had also appeared.

“Oooooah!!!”

Moreover, even Thrymr, entrenched in anger and sorrow, exploded forth while casting a Galdr.

It was a strange combination of allies, but they were all headed for the King.

“Oooah… oooah…”

However, the king still had hidden giants in reserve. Because of the giants that were attacking them from every nook and cranny, like swarms of zombies, Lee Jun-Kyeong and his party struggled to advance any further.

Thrymr, Lee Jun-Kyeong, even Liu Bei and his two fellow Hunters pushed back the giants with all their might, but it wasn’t easy.

"Have a good time,” said the king as he watched Lee Jun-Kyeong struggle, smirking as he turned around. He was returning to the royal palace.

“We can’t let him enter the royal palace!” Thrymr exclaimed.

“If he enters the royal palace, it’ll become harder to defeat him! Once he’s inside the royal palace of Utgard, his power grows stronger!”

Flicker!

At Thrymr’s cry, a huge flame erupted and blocked the entrance to the castle. It was an incredible blaze, Lee Jun-Kyeong had used an incredible amount of mana to strengthen the fire.

Drip, drip. Drip.

The entrance to the royal palace melted into molten ore and dripped to the ground.

“...”

The king looked at it with an angry expression.

“I bought us some time, but it won’t last long,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Thrymr and Liu Bei.

Although the blaze was being powered by mana that had been increased so much that it could be said to be overwhelming through the help of Won-Hwa, it wasn’t an easy task for Lee Jun-Kyeong to strengthen the blaze enough to hold back the king of giants.

Now, even at this moment, the mana that was flowing into the fire like a river was rapidly disappearing.

“Grahhh!”

Thrymr began to move even more furiously and cut through a path.

“Little brothers!”

“Yes, Hyungnim!”

Liu Bei and the others also made use of their cooperation and took down more giants.

‘It’s not going to work.’

Nevertheless, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t think they would be able to clear the path. The insane giants that were being pushed back and taken down continued to flock to them and blocked the path to the king even as they were being cut down.

To make matters worse, the Nar that could have helped were in a bad situation at this point as well.

Boom!

An explosion was heard from behind them.

They felt the approach of many auras.

“Ooooah!!!!”

Out of those auras, Lee Jun-Kyeong felt one that was familiar. He turned around, and he saw a being standing there. It was a giant who wore white fur and shed tears of sorrow with bloodshot eyes.

The Warguard Leader of the blue frost giants, Thjazi, and the warguard of Utgard.

They, no Thjazi, with tears in his eyes, spoke out.

"The path… I will open it!"

Boom!

The giant warriors began to draw their axes and throw them, their axes piercing into the mad giants.

As the axes flew through the air and collided with the giants, soon, Thjazi’s voice boomed out again, "The road is open."

1. Lee Jun-Kyeong is fixating on the name Loki, which does not clarify whether he’s fixating on the god Loki or the Jotnar Loki.