Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 114: Frozen World (1)

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Snow fell in the abandoned small town we are currently in. The tame snow slowly turned into heavy snow and the whole world was colored in white. And after some time passed, the snow piled up as high as an adult’s calves.

“It’s snow, snow!”

Woof-!! Woof-!!

Da-jeong, who had a similar mental age with Dingo, ran out of the house with the silver wolf. Born and raised in Daegu, I don’t think she’d ever seen snow before. And I believed that if the apocalypse didn’t strike, she might never leave her hometown.

Fwooosh-!!

A freezing wind blew against my body. Even though I was wearing several layers of clothes and a thick padding, the wind that came through the holes on my buttons still felt cold enough to freeze my bone.

“It’s really cold…” Even after wearing the scarf with a cold-resistance option, it’s still freezing. Just how cold is it for other people, or even Da-jeong, who is currently running around outside, playing in the snow?

I put more things into the bonfire and added more black charcoal in the mix. Normally, it would be dangerous to make a fire in this kind of world. However, it was not the case anymore, as the monsters should have their activity reduced because of the cold.

“Why is the snow falling so heavily like this…”

The scenery outside the window was filled with nothing but white. I couldn’t even dare to remove the snow or go anywhere through the piled up snow, which now had reached up to around my thighs.

Neither movement nor combat was possible in this kind of weather. Literally all movement would be stopped. Even the plant monsters in the oil warehouse were no exception. It wouldn’t show any movement anytime soon. It was as if a temporary peace agreement had been signed.

“And our Da-jeong is doing that…”

I sipped some warm coffee and waited for her. After 10 minutes passed, Da-jeong and Dingo entered the building, soaking wet.

“How was it?”

“…I’ve been thinking about it, but I think it’s better if it doesn’t snow.”

“But didn’t you just run around outside because you liked it?”

“It’s cold.” Da-jeong said as Dingo sat right next to her.

“Take off your clothes and warm yourself by the fire.” She took off her clothes and leaned her body on me.

Crackle-!! Crackle-!!

The fire makes a sound and burns brightly. I thought it wasn’t necessarily a good idea to cover the black charcoal with kerosene before putting it in the fire. But surprisingly, there’s no black smoke rising from the fire.

Anyway, she must be cold. I opened the portal and brought a bunch of towels and blankets. As if waiting, Ding-soon came out of the portal and started licking Dingo’s fur.

“It’s crazy how she takes care of her groom.” Da-jeong looked at me as she said those words.

“Guess I’ll have to take care of my bride too.”

“Didn’t you already do it? You brought a lot of blankets.”

“Oh… So you agreed that you’re my bride?”

“Sh-shut up.”

I wiped Da-jeong’s wet body with a dry towel and wrapped the blankets around her. Da-jeong said that it was warm and buried her body even deeper, only revealing her face.

“What are the others doing right now, I wonder?”

“Well, they should be shivering while wearing padding or a blanket. Those who lived inside a shelter would be in a little better situation than them.”

It won’t be much different with the others though, since it wouldn’t be possible to light a fire inside a shelter, lest they want to be suffocated to death.

“Then, are we the only ones staying warm in this winter?”

“Maybe? But it’s a lot warmer when you enter the portal. It’s currently spring over there.” It’s very comfy and easy to fall asleep when exposed to the sunlight.

Da-jeong trembled when she heard that. “I want to take you on a bus on our way to Seoul…”

She was expecting an additional effect of ‘allowing others to enter and exit the portal’ at levels 25 or 30. If that didn’t happen, and I got a different additional effect, she would be crestfallen.

“We can’t do that because of the weather. Let’s just eat.”

I went into the shelter and prepared a meal. It’s a cold day, so I’d like some hot soup, but what should I make, I wonder…

“Yeah. Banquet noodles will be good.” Because noodles have a long shelf life, it was still edible at this point. I also don’t have to worry about the expiration date of the pocket broth. I can also easily make the garnish by plucking some ripe vegetables from the garden or from the hwajos.

“Adding some sesame oil on the kimchi will probably be good…” It’s a perfect food to eat in this cold weather.

While I was busy cutting vegetables, the scarab leader, who was busy making bullets, jumped up and came next to me.

“Are things going well?”

Instead of nodding his head, the guy drew a picture of scarabs on the ground.

Why are you drawing this?

When I tilted my head, the guy seemed to feel that he needed more explanation, so he even drew the iron bars.

“Ah, about rescuing the other scarabs? Let’s finish all the work that has to be done today and then begin the rescue mission.”

The guy threw his hands into the air and ran back to his mates with the good news. I can’t do anything on Earth because of the heavy snow anyway, so why shouldn’t I finish the tasks that need to be done here?

Da-jeong will surely protest, but what can I do?

While I was boiling the broth and preparing the garnish, the scarabs clipped three finished bullets and looked at me.

They seem to be saying “We did everything we needed to do today!”

Although my greed tempted me to make them work more by offering emperor honey, the scarabs were not robots, so I couldn’t force them to. Moreover, making bullets requires a lot of energy and concentration, so it’s difficult to work on that for a long period of time.

“Let’s take some rest first and set off to find other scarabs in the afternoon.”

The location where the other scarabs were held captive was quite far in the north, so it seemed impossible to find it in a day. When the night comes, I can just come out of the portal and sleep on Earth.

I took the cured boar meat as well as the noodles with broth soup out. As soon as I handed Da-jeong one of the bowls, she gulped the broth.

“Ah… it feels like my body is melting…”

“I have work to do this afternoon.”

“What kind of work?”

Da-jeong’s eyes twinkled when I told her I was going to look for other scarabs.

“Ah, so you’re going to go find their friends? In a dangerous forest?”

“Dangerous forest? Well, I’ll be going to the forest in the north, so it’s true that it would be dangerous…”

Based on the snow mountains, the atmosphere of the northern forest was quite different from the area around the shelter. It was dark for some reason, and there’s also a swamp near it. There seems to be various kinds of monsters living there.

Da-jeong waved her hand.

“Go. I will be here harassing Dingo.”

Dingo, who had been licking bones together with Ding-soon, jumped up.

“If you bother him too much, you’ll get it back later. Don’t you know how big a silver wolf can be?”

“Well, he’ll probably grow up around as big as Ding-soon.”

“No, Ding-soon is a female and is on the small side. The last time I met a pack of silver wolves, the males were almost the same size as bulls.”

“WOOOOW!! Then he’s going to poop a lot, right?”

“His fighting power will be very high.” An adult silver wolf will be able to kill an adult wild boar alone, let alone small monsters. And even though it couldn’t defeat medium-sized monsters, such as orcs, alone, it can definitely distract them using their size, claws, and fangs.

In the middle of eating, Da-jeong suddenly snapped her fingers. “Right, right. You’ll have to give this to Rapwi as well. It’s a bit unfair if we’re the only ones eating these.”

“He’s not really using the Auction House. How will we send it to him?”

“At least we should try!”

Da-jeong wrote a comment on an item she auctioned before focusing once again at slurping the noodles. After a while, Da-jeong checked the comment again and made quite a fuss.

“Hey, Seongho. Rapwi wants to give us his scroll!”

“What scroll?”

“The resurrection scroll he got from the last event.”

“But rather than giving it to us…”

Seokhyun… He surprised me… Though, I understand his sentiment. He doesn’t need the resurrection scroll, as his unique skill has the same effect as the scroll. So, he wants us to have it.

“Should I buy it rather than taking it for free? If that’s the case, should I ask him to sell it for 10,000 points so no one else can buy it?”

“Do that. After all, you have a lot of points, and Rapwi really needs points. The more he dies, the more points he needs.” She nodded her head, and a few moments later, a resurrection scroll appeared wrapped in light, proof that a transaction had been made.

She frowned as she took the resurrection scroll with her hand.

“It smells musty…”

“Well, knowing him, he probably put the scroll inside his panty?”

“Ugh, it’s dirty.”

Why did you throw it at me?

I picked it up with my clothes and put it inside my backpack. Then I went to the shelter, prepared a meal, and put it up for auction. The noodles disappeared quickly, and Seokhyun’s comment was posted.

-I’ll eat well.

-Is that enough for you?

I put in almost 3 servings in that one meal, so it should be enough.

-It’s enough. And for the time being, you better be careful. There are people watching you.

-Who?

-The President, his right hand man, and someone who can use paper airplanes to spy on others.

-It’s probably not Yoohyeon… but it looks like there are other people with the same skill.

-Though, those guys won’t be able to monitor you anymore.

What? Don’t tell me…

-You didn’t kill them, didn’t you?

– I just warned them.

-Thanks. But how long will you be staying in the shelter?

-You need a gun right? Then I’ll be staying here until I get it.

-Seokhyun-ah, I’m just saying this just in case. But please don’t make a mess there just to get a gun.

-I know that much.

Then Da-jeong intervened.

-No! Just do it! Build your power and become a king! Take on all the guys you don’t like and beat them!

-I don’t do such savage things.

-Then do you prefer to kill them outright?

-I prefer to break one of their legs and arms and make them walk in all four for 1 hour.

That’s actually worse…

Seokhyun left a comment saying the noodles were delicious. Although we were in a different place, we were eating the same meal.

.

.

.

“The snow doesn’t stop…”

“Yeah.”

Armed with blankets, Da-jeong and I stood by the window and looked out. The snow continued to pile up and turn to ice. A few buildings, which were still standing albeit in poor condition, rattled precariously because of the weight of the piling-up snow above it. If more snow accumulates, it will surely collapse.

In a world where everything was frozen, only the ghouls of Da-jeong moved. As a level 20 additional effect, various resistances were given to her ghouls.

“I’m the owner of those guys, and yet I’m the one shivering from the cold.”

Instead of answering, I put a moktoshi and some winter strawberries in her hand.

“Try to hold on with this while I’m away.”

“You aren’t running away somewhere, are you?”

“Didn’t I already tell you that I’m going to find the other scarabs? I will return here at night.”

“I bet it was because it was way better to be here with me rather than camping in the forest at night, right?”

Well… I had to admit that it was true. I took Ding-soon and entered the portal. Slinging my backpack to my shoulder and putting two scarabs on my shoulders, I was now ready.

“Because they told me I had to go north of the snowy mountain…” It would be better to use the ATV. I was worried about the suspension, because it will run through very rough terrain, but should be strong enough to withstand that level of bumpiness.

When I started the engine and turned the lever, the ATV ran through the forest. After a while, the bright and lively atmosphere darkened. It’s probably not simply just because the thick branches and leaves covered the sky, blocking the sun, since the color of the bushes and the ground itself was also black for some reason.

“It is truly the black forest.”

I stopped the ATV and flew the drone. The snowy mountains look very warm and peaceful, but this forest is the complete opposite.

“The lizardmen are here because the forest is like this…” Since it would be hard to find them in this kind of place, an advantage they would surely love. Here, they were more dangerous than orcs, because they usually formed a group and used all kinds of tools skillfully to hunt their prey. Blocking enemy’s attack with a trident and restricting its enemy’s movement with a net were Lizardman’s main specialty.

“Their nets are especially dangerous…” And even though they have very poor eyesight and no ears, they were able to sense vibrations incredibly well. It was sensitive enough to the point they could detect the vibration in the air and pinpoint the location of their prey.

When I walked around the nearby wetland, I found a piece of their scale in the ground. It signifies that this place was also the realm of Lizardmen.

“Ding-soon, smell this.” I said as I handed the scale towards her snout. She sniffed the scales from all directions and then sat quietly next to me.

Weird guy.

Now, if the smell of Lizardman was carried by the wind, she can smell it and alert me about it. I pat Ding-soon’s hand and headed into the direction the scarabs were pointing.

The place we finally arrived at was a mess of rocks and dirt.

“Is this a carpet bombing site?”

The two scarabs came down from my shoulders and crawled to some place. They stopped in front of a pillar and pointed their claws at it. The pillar was about half my height, but it didn’t seem like it was formed naturally.

“I think someone made it… maybe?”

The scarab leader pointed to a hole in the pile of dirt. Inside, several eyes were looking at me.

Are those scarabs?

The white flag prepared by the scarab leader flew, but the guys inside the hole didn’t even try to come out. I guess they refused to put their guard down. Therefore, I changed my tactics. I left the jelly Da-jeong looted near the hole, and the blinking eyes inside the hole stared at the jelly.

“Try it. It is delicious. It’s not poisoned.”

The scarab leader took the jelly from me and pretended to eat it.

“Hey, you can’t just pretend to eat it.”

At my words, the guy scratched his head and ate the jelly. A few eyes looked startled.

Isn’t that poisonous? It is probably what their expressions imply. But the guys did not release their vigilance and chose not to go out.

“There must have been something that made them like that…”

As I looked around, I noticed that there were holes all over the place.

“It’s not that big…” At best, it’s just big enough for a scarab to fit in.

I put down my backpack and dug it with a shovel. However, after digging for quite awhile, I realized that the hole actually ran quite deep.

“Damn, just how deep is this hole!” As I was about to dig into the ground with a shovel, something suddenly appeared from the hole.

“Scarab?”

As soon as it saw me, it retreated further to the back. Somehow, they look different from the guys in my shelter. Carefully digging nearby, a large pincher suddenly popped out and bit into my finger.

“Ouch.” The pain wasn’t what made me jump but the surprise. It hurriedly pulled its pincher from me and hid in the hole. At this point, it was impossible for me to not see them face-to-face.

“Today, I’ll definitely see you guys!”

I chewed on a solar apple and dug up all the holes in the area with a shovel. The two scarabs next to me waved the flags and cheered me on.

At some point, what finally appeared was a large stag beetle. When the soil collapsed, they were locked up in a large room. However, they still threatened me with their pincers.

“Look at these guys.”

Because I didn’t want to be bitten again, I worked so hard to pull out one of them with wooden chopsticks. Before long, the scarabs came out of the hole in the pillar and pointed their claws at the other scarabs.

That’s them! they seemed to say.

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