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Chapter 186: Odin’s Familiars Pt. 3

Lee Jun-Kyeong could feel that something had crossed through the veil, taking advantage of his carelessness.

“Master!”

–Master!

The situation continued to worsen.

Swoosh!

Lee Jun-Kyeong's gaze looked straight ahead, facing eyes as big as a man’s height.

Caw!

Muninn was plunging its beak toward Lee Jun-Kyeong, flashing its green feathers. In that instant, in that second drawn into hours, Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly stabbed forward with Muspel’s Spear. He could see Muspel’s Spear piercing through the air, its mana almost palpable.

At the same time, he could also see Muninn’s beak coming toward him. At that moment, as everything seemed to pass slowly, a terrifying cracking sound occurred, and time seemed to speed back up, coming together at the sound of something breaking.

Squelch!

Crack!

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked ahead. Muspel's spear pierced Muninn's chest deeply.

“...!”

However, he didn’t come out of the trade unscathed. Muninn’s huge beak had touched Lee Jun-Kyeong’s chest, but the beak hadn’t yet pierced his body. However, everything started to feel hazy.

“Mas…ter…”

Muninn’s beak was still moving closer to Lee Jun-Kyeong. The raven continued to thrust its beak forward as if it had to carry out its last orders.

Squelch.

“...!”

Muninn’s beak was passing through Lee Jun-Kyeong’s body.

Smirk.

As the beak of the green raven entered his chest, Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that Muninn’s huge, bizarre eyes were almost smiling at him.

Sssssh.

At the same time, the world seemed to collapse around him. Lee Jun-Kyeong blinked for a moment as the world melted around him like flowing water. As he opened his eyes again, space itself seemed to have changed.

“...”

He was in a world full of darkness, a space where it was impossible for him to distinguish even an inch ahead. There, a green raven appeared. It wasn’t as gigantic as it had been before. This time, it was the regular size of a small animal that anyone would have been able to recognize, slowly moving toward Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Swoop.

The beast stopped and looked down at Lee Jun-Kyeong as the Hunter found himself unable to move in the dark.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

All he could do was watch the green raven melt away, pooling on the floor like a puddle before beginning to change its appearance. The pool bubbled and bubbled before erupting like an explosion.

“...!”

Then, he found himself looking at himself.

Lee Jun-Kyeong mumbled, not believing what he saw in front of him.

“You’re…”

Although the figure before him was dyed green, its visage was clear.

“You’re me…!”

It wasn’t his new appearance that he had transformed into after signing a contract with The Sky of the Apocalypse and returning to the Age of Heroes in the Past.

No.

This person had sagging shoulders, a pitiful face, and even the sound of breathing mixed with despair, as if he had given up on everything.

‘That’s…my original…’

It was the Lee Jun-Kyeong from before returning to the past.

***

The world of darkness seemed to collapse as soon as he saw himself, and Lee Jun-Kyeong found himself in the middle of an endless fall.

Woosh!

Now, in a world distorted with all kinds of colors, Lee Jun-Kyeong was falling.

‘How…’

He was sure that the appearance of the raven had changed to his former self, the image of himself when he had been suffering from the Hunters as he had no power. Maybe because it had been a long time since he had last seen his old self, but Lee Jun-Kyeong was unable to think properly due to the shock.

‘I… I used to look like that…?’

Indeed, the old image he hadn't seen in a long time was very unfamiliar to Lee Jun-Kyeong. That self had been with him for a longer time than his newly acquired self, but now, that self seemed to be causing his entire body to distort. Not even Lee Jun-Kyeong could understand what was going on.

‘It seems like everything is collapsing.’

It was bizarre. No, it was incongruent.

Like that, Lee Jun-Kyeong fell for a while, trapped in his own dissonance. Just as his sanity slowly began to drift beneath the waves, he started to hear someone’s voice.

–Jun… Kyeong…

A voice was calling his name repeatedly.

–Jun… Kyeong…

'Fenrir.'

Lee Jun-Kyeong realized that the voice belonged to Fenrir, and only then did his mind begin to clear. He had something he had to do.

Lee Jun-Kyeong opened his eyes and looked around. It was a world dyed in many colors, like the brush strokes of a mad painter.

‘Odin’s Familiars…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked around and recalled his memories. He wasn’t dead, and Muninn’s attack had done no damage to his body. It hadn’t gone for his body.

‘It came for my mind.’

Muninn had risked death in order to infiltrate his mind. But why? No, more like how?

Thinking through it all, Lee Jun-Kyeong searched through his memories. The story of Odin often appeared in the Book of the Demon King, including his abilities and any special Familiars under his thrall.

Among Odin’s Familiars, there were three that were the most famous: Muninn and Huginn, and one other. Lee Jun-Kyeong had to remember the two green ravens.

‘Muninn’s ability.’

He had to remember the ability of Muninn, the raven that had attacked him. Odin’s Familiars were special. They were stronger than Hunters and possessed a strange Authority that Hunters didn’t have.

Time continued to pass as Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to search through his memories. However, he couldn’t easily figure it out.

‘Muninn… Muninn…’

But, at that moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong realized what was wrong.

‘Since when did it start…’

He couldn’t recall anything about the memories he had. Neither the Book of the Demon King nor the information about history was clear.

It wasn’t because of Muninn. In fact, from some point, his memories had become mixed.

‘My memories… they’re blurring together…’

He couldn’t tell what was real or what was fake. Was he in the past? The present? The future? He couldn't tell.

In the midst of all his confusion, Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to sort through his memories. He closed his eyes and imagined. There were numerous threads, tangled threads. One of them was the information that he wanted, so he had to find what he wanted in the midst of the intertwined threads.

Woosh…

Then, Lee Jun-Kyeong, who continued to fall, finally remembered Muninn’s ability.

“Memory!”

The raven read a Hunter’s memories and trapped its target within them. Then, with that sudden thought, the world flickered and exploded.

Boom!!!

***

“Sangun!”

At the same time, somewhere else, something similar to what Lee Jun-Kyeong had experienced was happening. Another green raven, Huginn, was piercing Sangun's neck with its beak.

“Sangun—!”

Jeong In-Chang and Won-Hwa were quickly running toward Sangun, with Hunters blocking their way.

Squelch.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty. Jeong In-Chang and Won-Hwa, who had been unconsciously holding back as they were facing people, were now cutting them down to open the path. As Jeong In-Chang’s greatsword moved, countless Hunters were cleaved through all at once.

“Sangun!”

Jeong In-Chang arrived first, plunging his greatsword into Huginn’s torso to try to save Sangun.

Shick!

“...!”

However, Jeong In-Chang’s greatsword only passed through Huginn’s blurred body.

“Mr. Jeong! Sangun!”

Won-Hwa, who appeared next, hadn’t seen what had just occurred.

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

Hundreds of needles shot forth from his hands toward Huginn.

Shick!

However, they, too, were ineffective, unable to touch Huginn and just scattering through the Familiar. The needles fell to the ground helplessly alongside the greatsword.

Won-Hwa and Jeong In-Chang looked at each other.

“Just what is this…?!”

They tried to take action quickly, whether it be by fist or mana, to try to stop Huginn, but it was to no avail. Everything they tried just passed through the Familiar like water without causing any damage, even if their methods were infused with mana.

“Keughk…”

Through their efforts, Sangun’s cries could be heard, the beast’s cries sounding like he was having a nightmare. They had a problem.

“Sangun’s body can be touched.”

In the middle of enemy lines, while their foe was incorporeal and couldn’t be touched, Sangun was still tangible. That could only mean one thing.

Clench!

They would have to fight while protecting Sangun on this hellish battlefield. They couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on between Huginn and Sangun. However, they didn’t have to.

“We will believe in Sangun…”

“And keep him safe.”

A man holding needles and a man wielding a greatsword stood guard over the half-man, half-beast, and a green raven. Numerous Hunters looked over at them even as they splattered blood on the battlefield, their gazes sparkling. The enemies were approaching, aiming for Sangun.

“Protect them!”

As for their allies, they all moved forward to protect them. The aspect of the battle was changing to a single existence.

“When Sangun wakes up…”

Whatever happened, things would change again.

“Let’s protect him.”

Whether it would be a good change or a bad one, now, they had no choice but to protect him.

***

“…”

Odin smiled faintly as Ungnyeo continued to face ever-rising anxiety.

'I’m almost done.'

She was focused on seizing her chance of escape. Odin’s restriction really was hellish. Just his restraints alone, which were the fragments of his power that she could sense, made Odin look like a true monster.

However, she knew that she could escape them. In the cataclysm that had changed everything, Ungnyeo had also changed. The growth of the monsters was accompanied by the growth of the Hunters, and Ungnyeo was both a Hunter and a Hero. Her strength had grown so powerful that it was incomparable to before.

Shhhh.

While it was true that even with such power, she wasn’t able to do anything about Odin, if she continued to only focus on breaking through her restraints after such a long time, she could do it. She had grown to a point where she was capable of doing it.

“It started.” Odin's voice was heard. “Memories that have become the truth…”

Odin's voice sounded like a death sentence. “And true instinct.”

The smile Odin had been wearing all along disappeared as he looked straight at Ungnyeo.

Click.

“What…!”

Then, the restraints that Ungnyeo had been trying so hard to be free of were released. Odin had let her go.

“I have already achieved everything I wanted. So, now…”

Odin picked up his coat from the chair and put it on. It was a long black coat, and it was a bit too thick to wear for the current season.

“It's my turn.”

He started walking towards the door after freeing Ungnyeo and leaving her alone.

Ungnyeo put her hand into her sleeve without hesitation, grasping a bronze sword. The bronze sword, filled with a blue aura, was thrust toward the back of Odin’s head.

“If you stab me like that.”

However, she stopped moving at the power behind his voice.

“Everything you hold dear will die.”

“Is that a threat?” she asked.

“No, not a threat.”

Odin looked at Ungnyeo with his one intact eye.

“Mercy.”