Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Chapter 138: When a Whale Gets Caught In a Fight Between Shrimps (1)

After we returned to the shelter, we directly went into the planning phase to hunt the wyvern. But, as soon as Da-Jeong heard my explanation, skeptical looks appeared on her face.

“Can we pierce the wyvern skin with bullets alone?”

“You look down on modernization too much. If it weren’t for the corrosive disease, a lot of monsters would fall prey to machine guns.” Well, except for high tier monsters like ogres.

“If that’s the case, once the corrosive disease subsides, we should really be careful, huh? We never know when a sniper will suddenly shoot a bullet at us.”

Not a lot of people have guns, but there’s nothing wrong with being careful anyway.

“Always go with the ghouls, and if you have something to do, always do it inside a building. On the windowless side. You should also hold on to this.” I hand her a resurrection scroll. It was a really valuable item that served as additional life.

Then, I flew the drone. It was to use a wild boar as bait to hunt the wyvern. Even if the drone was enough to do the trick to seduce the wyvern, a tasty bait was still needed to make them come down. After that, the ghouls will attack and render its ability to fly. A wyvern was little different from a gryphon, so without good bait, it would rarely come down.

Da-jeong looked at the laptop screen in amazement. “You’ve been hunting in this way, huh?”

“Well, I didn’t do it these days since I have a lot of things to eat already.” For example, supplies from Joo Seungcheol’s shelter. I flew the drone over the potato field. Unsurprisingly, a herd of wild boar was currently having a raw potato party.

“Those are the potatoes I planted. There are several fields like that in this forest.”

“Are you using those potatoes to lure the wild boars?” Da-jeong asked. “Isn’t it wasteful?”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how well crops grow in this forest.”

“How well then?”

“After only two nights, a lettuce will fully ripen.”

“Re-really?” She couldn’t believe it at all. Well, I just need to show her later.

“Da-jeong, If you look at the trees around the spring, there are some trees which have white paint on them. You just need to follow it. Take Dingsoon with you, she will lead you to that potato field.”

“Okay. You just sit there and wait.”

“You have to catch the wild boar alive, okay?”

Da-jeong nodded and went out with the ghouls. The reason I entrusted the work to Da-jeong was because it was hard for me to catch it alive. It’s not impossible, but I’d rather leave it to her and do something else.

“By the way, I don’t know if there are any skill slots left.” I called the status window and checked the skill box. There are a total of 12 skills listed on the list right now because the neck warmer with the Cold Resistance skill was now used by Da-jeong. Among them, the Light Gait was a skill that was attached to my shoes, so it was possible to take it on and off.

“Nice.” I flew the second drone after reaffirming the skill list. The wyvern was still looking for us. It would be nice if the Elemental Resistance skill appeared once I killed it. It increases resistance to non-physical attacks such as fire and electricity. I’m looking forward to how many people will have such an attack as their main offensive means in the apocalypse because even amongst us stagnant waters, it was quite rare.

“Before, that Chinese girl also had a wind controlling-type of unique ability…” since then, I had never seen a person with the same ability type as her ever again. But I’ll probably see people with similar abilities again soon. Due to the fact, it was better to get the Elemental Resistance skill beforehand.

“Wyvern, please don’t give me Hard Skin skill, okay?” It would be nice to have my hard skin skill level up to 3, but I don’t want to hunt a wyvern just to get that skill.

I checked my armament. The pepper bomb coating problem has been solved neatly, I just have to go to Earth to froze it. The AK-47 was also ready. With those two things, I should wrap up the situation once the wyvern descends. Otherwise, the surrounding area will be devastated by its struggle.

After all preparations were completed, Da-jeong brought a wild boar alive to me. The guy was squeaking. Probably because one of its legs was hurt.

“Silence it for now. When I signal, hit it with a stick to make it squeal.”

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“To get the wyvern’s attention, right?”

“Exactly.”

Da-jeong ordered the ghouls to shut the wild boar’s mouth. Now, it’s time to call the wyvern. I steered the drone to get close to the wyvern that was roaming around. It opened its mouth and screeched, evident that it didn’t like the drones flying around it.

I quickly moved the drone to the vacant lot where the wild boar was. The speed of the wyvern far exceeded the speed of the drone, but it didn’t matter because the distance to the vacant lot was close.

Kieeeekkk-!!

I could hear the wyvern’s roar from above.

“Da-jeong, now!”

The wild boar jumped up and howled as Da-jeong hit it. The sound echoed through the forest. And as if the wyvern heard it, it folded its wings and descended.

Thud-!!

Finally, the wyvern landed. The moment it noticed the wild boar and paid its full attention to it, Da-jeong snapped her finger.

Roar-!!

30 ghouls rushed towards the wyvern. The overall stats of the wyvern was similar to Gryphon. However, unlike before, the ghouls were now stronger than before. On top of it, there’s a Grasshopper ghoul amidst the wave of ghouls, therefore the wyvern wouldn’t be able to withstand the attack.

“Good job!”

As I ran forward, I put two pepper bombs on my slings and released it towards the wyvern. The pepper bomb exploded right in front of the wyvern’s nose and sprinkled the powder contained inside.

The wyvern, which flinched for a moment, soon suffered terrible pain. It then rubs its head on the dirt below, seemingly to have completely lost its mind.

I pointed the rifle at the guy’s head and shouted. “Get rid of the ghouls!”

Da-jeong commanded her ghouls to back off and I pulled the trigger.

TATATATATATTATA-!!

The wyvern’s hide, which seemed to be able to endure even storms, was pierced easily. The wyvern, who had been hit by a rain of bullets for about two seconds, vomited blood and dropped to the ground.

「You have earned 50 points」

「You have acquired Elemental Resistance skill」

As soon as I got it, I felt the air around me getting cooler. The Elemental Resistance skill makes the forest’s heat cool off. The jungle hat I wore also changed into an item. A skill wasn’t attached to the hat, but it looked pretty useful as it still had two stats attached to it.

“Did Elemental Resistance skill come out?”

“Yeah. And this thing became an item.”

I took off my hat and put it on Da-jeong. She seemed quite impressed because of my actions.

“I thought you were the only one who would get everything every day, but you also know how to do me a favor, huh?”

“If you use it, it won’t get hot while you work. Now we have to build a hut.”

“What did you say?” She got on my back and choked me with her arms.

Without minding her, I took a saw from a bag sitting on one side of the lot and cut the wyvern’s claws.

“Where are you going to use it?”

“I want to sell it.”

“Why would people use a claw when they have a long sword?”

“Because there are some people who prefer claws. I’ve sold owlbear claws before, so I think these claws will also sell well.”

Some people prefer this to a long knife. Though, long knife was better in terms of performance. However, if I priced it low enough, I have no doubt that buyers would appear. There were 16 claws in total, so at least 1600 points would come to my pocket.

“Can’t we eat the wyvern meat?”

“Nope.”

Gryphon’s meat could be eaten once it was thoroughly cooked, but wyvern meat would still be tough no matter how long it was cooked. And although it was weak, it was still poisonous, so it was better not to eat it.

The ghouls joined forces and dragged the wyvern’s corpse far away. It was to prevent monsters from flocking into the corpse as a big monster’s corpse was a very good bait for other monsters to gather.

Anyway, I need to do some tidying up here. I took the wild boar which was still busy squealing by the throat and cut it throat. Then I hang it on a tree to draw the blood away.

“Let’s cook some soup with that.”

“I’ll take care of that. You just have to focus on building a hut and put a pump in the valley.”

Da-jeong tilted her head. “Doesn’t it seem like our roles have been reversed?”

“I can’t build huts because I have to keep moving.”

“Wait a minute, how exactly does the portal function work? What will happen to me if you close the portal and move?”

I explained about the portal in detail. “Ah… so if you stayed inside the portal and I moved around on Earth, you would also be moved too, as the location of the portal on Earth would follow my location. It was like you were marching with me.”

“It’s a scam! A scam!!”

Well, now that other people can enter, scam was an understatement. Imagine being able to move 30 reinforced ghouls without leaving a trace. If Seokhyun joins, it would become even more dangerous–truly a moving, hidden fortress.

I went into the cave and put my hand into the fire burning inside the brazier. Da-jeong was startled even though she knew that I would be able to withstand it. She probably didn’t know that I would test it this way. Although the fire of the brazier engulfed my hand, I didn’t feel anything. Of course,that state wouldn’t last forever, as it will start burning me if I put my hand on it for a bit longer. When I took my hand out, everything was fine except for a slight tan line on my hand.

This is good.

We put our heads together and reviewed the plans for the cabin. Da-jeong, who usually agrees with my opinions, showed her stubbornness at this moment.

“It’s a house I’m making, so I’m matching it to my taste, okay?”

“Do it as you wish then.”

Though, it was still worrying that she wanted to make the bathroom unnecessarily big. Afterall, we’d have to go outside to urinate anyway. Da-jeong asked the scarabs to build a large bathtub for two people. They rubbed their claws and drew a picture to say that it was a bit difficult to do it. But they fell for the temptation in the end, after she said that she would find more royal honey for them.

Those guys are really easy.

I dismantled the wild boar and started smoking the meat. It was better to do it this way since it could be stored for a long time.

Da-jeong came over and rested her head on my shoulder.

“This is a really good place.”

I think so too.

.

.

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The sun rose and the cold December finally ended. I pulled out a shelf made of metal, not nails and went to Earth to check whether the corrosive disease has disappeared or not.

The shelf still held its shape while I was moving to Gwangju. When I touch it with a minimum force, it only bends, but does not break.

“Almost disappeared completely.” Probably, starting next month, some metal tools like pots or shovels would be usable. Guns should be available around March, though.

“It was quite a long time.” The corrosive disease took metal away from the grasp of mankind for nearly six months. Even if it disappeared now, the supply of metal would only become scarcer in the future. So, it was important to be able to make it.

“It is difficult unless people have a blast furnace…” Very few places, including government shelters, have such facilities. Though, the metal they could make would be nothing but junk compared to the metal tools  from before the apocalypse.

“Didn’t the scarabs say they could make a blast furnace?” The identities of those scarabs became even more certain. A race that could freely handle metal and make a blast furnace came to mind. Though, their side, which likes to eat jelly and royal honey doesn’t fit the image of the race I have in mind, so let’s just assume that it was a side effect of turning into a scarab.

“I need to get some iron sand.” To be exact, the remaining iron from the destroyed iron and metal tools that got turned into dust by the corrosive disease. But not just any iron sand, but a pure iron sand that does not mix with impurities. There would be a lot of it in the shipyards. After checking all over Gwangju, I was planning to stop by the Gunsan Shipyard as I headed north.

“The weather must have cleared up by then, so I need to go to Incheon and rob the time shelter and the spare shelter…”

Inside the portal, Da-jeong was diligently expanding the shelter, so the space problem could be said as non-existent as of now. I packed my things and set out with Dingo. I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings because there’s nothing to get from all the buildings, but it was clear that it was quite messy.

Seems like it was because a large number of Chinese people who had landed on the west coast had come in droves. Though, from the information I got from the Auction House, Gwangju wasn’t the only place suffering from the Chinese, since most cities around the west coast were also devastated.

I want to tell them to leave this country, but will they even hear me?

Even at this moment, in the Auction House, a fight was in full swing between the Koreans who told the Chinese to leave and the Chinese who told Koreans to not talk bullshit.

-How can you Koreans treat us this way? Do you know how nice we are to you?

-The only thing China gave us was fine dust and illegal fishing boats, you bastards.

-This Joseon bastard is talking nonsense.

-The only good chinks are dead chinks.

-Fuck you, we were able to defeat the Japanese in the war without your help! So just go away!

-Tsk Tsk Tsk,,, You don’t know shit. At that time, without the help of the Ming Dynasty, you guys will now be known as Japanese, not Koreans.

When Koreans started fighting over facts, the Chinese argued and told them that it was wrong history.

“Why has the Auction House become like this?”

I took advantage of the night time and sat around Chonnam University. It was as noisy as Seoul because there were a lot of survivors around. And since they were concentrated in a small area, zombie raids happened non-stop, and the screams from both camps were resounding everyday.

Looking at the Auction House, the eastern part of Seoul was also in a mess. Though it wasn’t because of the Chinese, but due to the Lizardmen who were coming up from the Yeongsan River to hunt survivors.

“It’s a mayhem.”

And my destination, the time shelter was located in the basement of the department store there. Most of the entrances have been drilled, leaving only the last door. However, it was not easy to break through the sealing gate because there were too many people and monsters in that narrow area. The Auction House was overflowing with words saying they should stop fighting and break through it together.

A stupid notion.

When I finished thinking about that and was about to have some meal, I felt a small presence on the floor below. Had it not been for the high awareness, I would never have discovered it.

I hid in the portal with the growling Dingo. After a while, three people appeared cautiously.

“There’s nothing?”

“Seems like that Ahjussi ran away.”

“Are you sure it was the first time you saw him?”

“Yes. It was the first time I had seen him in this area. He has a very big body.”

“M-maybe it’s I Love Gimbap? They say he’s big too.”

“Why is he here? He was at Sindorim Station a few days ago. Don’t you know about the labyrinth case?”

“It’s very famous.”

The man who appeared to be the captain looked around.

“It is clear that he is still here. He has no angle to run away with blink.”

“Did he use stealth?”

“Perhaps… Hey, Ahjussi! Listen well. I don’t know the reason why you are here, but you should be careful. Shrimps will die if they are caught up between the fights of whales.”

You sure I’m the shrimp?