Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Sponsored Chapter 16/30

(T/N How TF the sponsored count rise to 30…)

(E/n read this if you're confused about the scarab-stag beetle thingy. So on the last chap, there's actually new scarabs, who were still strangers to our MC, and stag beetles in the nest. Our scarabs, the ones who made bullets for our MC, asked our MC to save the other scarabs in the nest, but as it turns out, there are stag beetles in there too.)

“So you guys were fighting each other? Because of the tree sap?”

Nod~ Nod~

The new scarabs and the stag beetles nodded at my question. They are currently gathered at two different spots, with both of them being wary of each other.

By the way, these new scarabs were a bit smaller than the guys at the shelter. They were around the size of the shelter scarabs when I first met them while they're stealing my jellies. Seeing that they have grown in size after I took them in, these scarabs seem to be lacking in nutrition.

Meanwhile, at the first glance, the stag beetles did look like normal stag beetles, but it was clear that they're also sentient, like the scarabs.

“Hmmmm…” I observed the stag beetles up close. Their appearances and behavior were quite different from the scarabs. I'd say that they're kind of cheeky? I'm getting a feeling that they're looking down at me.

Anyway, there was one reason these guys were fighting. They were trying to occupy each other's tree, which still had unfrozen sap, which was their main source of food at the time. The scarabs claimed that they were the first to occupy it by drawing a picture in the ground. The stag beetles argued while showing an expression of absurdity.

-It's really ridiculous, we came first, didn't we?

What is this feeling…

I asked the two groups.

“Can you guys only eat tree saps? You can just go somewhere else, can't you?”

But turns out, that wasn't the case. The reason they were fighting for the tree sap was because the environment was so barren, and there were all kinds of monsters inside the forest. The safest place was where we are currently at, which was littered with piles of dirt and rocks. Well, it was a pretty justified reason. After all, except for a few trees, nothing else was intact, so no monsters will come.

“Would you like to come with us?”

I reached out to the scarabs. All five of them were startled and took a few steps back. Then, I looked at my scarabs. The guys were drawing a picture, explaining the condition of my shelter to them.

The shelter is spacious and full with food, and what… I am strong enough to defeat goblins, kobolds, as well as orcs?

Up to that point, the stag beetles were still reluctant to come. But when the scarab leader drew a honey jar, the story changed.

There's royal honey there?

(E/n sorry, I actually mistook emperor's honey as some kind of royal treasure of the insect empire, when it's actually just some royal honey)

The little scarab ran towards the scarab leader and seemingly asking so. Then the scarabs of my shelter nodded their heads simultaneously. By that alone, I could feel that the negotiation with them was concluded.

I looked at the stag beetles. “What are you guys going to do? If you have any special skills, I can invite you to my shelter.”

However, these guys certainly feel more awkward compared to the scarabs. Even when I asked, they weren't looking at me, and only stared at the scarab group. Well, my original purpose of going here was the scarabs, so it would still be good even if these guys rejected my offer.

When I waited for the scarabs to make their final decision. Ding-soon, who was yawning, sniffed the air and lowered her posture.

“What is it, a monster?” Instantly after saying that, I felt a tingling sensation pricking on my skin. The cause of it was no doubt, the lizardmen. They were hiding behind thick thickets and were looking this way. Although their physical ability was lower than that of an orc, since they know how to use tools like nets properly, it could be said that they were more dangerous than a werewolf.

“Unfortunately…” No matter how good they were, in the end, they were nothing but monsters. On top of that, I wouldn't have come here unprepared.

I slowly got up and opened the dimension slot. I saw the stag beetles startled when I took out the net gun and the adamantite spear from it.

Did these guys know what this is?

Even though the lizardmens were quite accustomed to hiding, they couldn't hide their unique breathing sounds. My Perception stat was so high to the point I could hear sounds which were normally inaudible.

I mustered all my strength in one of my arms and threw the adamantite spear in one direction.

“One down.” As it was thrown strongly, the adamantine spear quickly shot out and pierced one of the lizardmen's chest.

The three lizardmen, who failed the ambush, stood up and hissed. All the scarabs were startled and hid behind me. In the meantime, Ding-soon barked at the three lizardmens.

“Ding-soon, go!” As soon as she heard my words, she blitzed towards the lizardmen. On the other camp, the lizardmen were very wary of the silver wolf and pointed their trident at them.

Unfortunately for them, Ding-soon was an experienced fighter, unlike Dingo. Hence, once they were bitten by her, it would be the end for them.

But, instead of focusing on Ding-soon alone, the three of them seemed to have decided to disperse their attention. One marked Ding-soon, and the other two ran to me. They took the net from their back and grabbed the piece of wood tied at the end of the net, then threw it towards me.

But there is one thing that these lizardmens don't know.

“This net gun has a much longer range than your throwing net.” With a popping sound, the compressed nitrogen contained in the capsule pushed the net away. One lizardman was caught in the net in an instant and fell over, while the other one halted in their step, surprised.

“You must be vigilant, lizard.”

I pulled out several weapons from the dimension slot and threw them towards the lizardmen. After receiving the baptism of weapons, the lizardman died with weapons stuck all over its body. Even though lizardmen had a superb regenerative ability, if their skull were smashed, that ability wouldn't matter.

I approached the corpse, retrieved the weapons, and stabbed the lizardman that got caught in the net to death.

Keeek-!!

Hiss-!!

When I finished, I looked at the last lizardmen. Surprisingly, Ding-soon was standing her ground without being pushed back. As the lizardman swung his trident, Ding-soon dodged then immediately bit the lizardman before running away once again.

Although lizardmen were considered fairly powerful monsters, it had a glaring weakness: They are slow. They supplemented it by using a long weapon like a trident and also throwing nets to distract their enemy, or catch prey, but this time, it was not enough since their enemy, a silver wolf, was one that can be considered as a counter to their species.

I jumped in while Ding-soon bit it's trident and held it in place.

Pak-!!

I hit the lizardman's head with my fist. Since the skill Resolute Strike and Lethal Strike overlapped, it was by no means an ordinary punch. The guy staggered as it spewed saliva from its snout. Without giving it any more time, I kicked its stomach with a soccer kick before finishing its misery by swinging my long sword, cutting its neck.

「You have earned 100 points」

「You have acquired Underwater Breathing skill」

“Among all the lizardmen's skill, why does it have to be this one?”

It's a good skill for catching fish, but it's not very helpful in battle. Still, let's be satisfied because it would still be a very useful skill. Because, in case I somehow got into a fight with a monster far stronger than me, I can just jump into a lake or sea, and just hide under the surface, playing dead.

I cut off the lizardman's ankle and retrieved the trident and the net. The net was made by weaving vines together, so it looked quite dense and sturdy.

“The trident… Is made of ebony…” It means that there was an ebony tree near the lizardmen's habitat. I no longer have any use for ebony-made wooden weapons, but since the wood itself was very sturdy, it can be used for a lot of other purposes other than creating weapons.

After putting everything in the backpack, I could feel the gaze of the stag beetles was slightly different from before. I ignored them and approached the new scarabs.

“Would you like to go to my shelter? If you help me, I'll give you something in return. I won't force you, of course."

They looked at the scarab leader and nodded. I guess they must be thinking that it was way better than being involved in a never-ending fight with the stag beetles just for a tree sap.

I put them in a side dish bin and loaded them into the ATV trunk. Just as I was about to put Ding-soon on and leave, the stag beetles came. All six of them.

“What do you need?”

A guy with a colorful pincer drew on the floor. The guy's drawing was quite elaborate, unlike the drawing of the scarabs.

I turned off the engine and looked at the pictures. “Hmm… if I give you something to eat, you are willing to help me?”

Nod Nod.

In addition to that, they also asked for a few more things: Spacious and comfortable house, dyes and brush for painting, and a garden to grow crops.

“You guys really aren't holding back on your demands…” After hearing my words, the stag beetles discussed it for a while and then erased the picture of the spacious and comfortable house.

Oho, did they cancel one of their demands?

I crossed my arms and said to the guys. “If I can provide it to you, what will you give me?”

The chief stag pointed to the trident in my backpack. When I pulled it out and handed it to them, they immediately cut it short and processed it into arrows.

…

The trident is made of strong ebony wood, not just any normal wood, yet they managed to process that wood this quick?

Of course, the scarab could also process wood, but they were beaten by miles in terms of speed compared to the stag beetles. It was due to the fact that wood is not their specialty.

So when I saw that they asked for a garden, I thought they would do a better job than the scarabs.

When I saw the scarabs in the trunk, they made an X on the white flag and waved them. Well, I understand their thoughts. It would be absurd to go into a shelter with the guys they'd fought with until just a few minutes ago.

“The shelter is large enough, so it should be okay.”

I looked at the guy with a colorful pincer, let's just call him chief stag beetle from now on. “I will accept your condition. But I will only give you a half-trust. It means that if you don't work properly, or make some trouble in the shelter, you'll get kicked out. Got it?"

They didn't seem to like it, but in the end, they still accepted my offer. I offered another side dish container for them, but the guys refused. They instead got on the ATV and took a seat in the trunk. Meanwhile, the scarabs, who had already swarmed into one group and occupied one side of the trunk, were all staring intently at the stag beetles.

Is that some kind of nerve war?

“If you fight, I'll throw you into the forest.”

When I threatened them, the tense atmosphere on the trunk instantly disappeared.

I drove the ATV and returned to the shelter.

The stag beetles were certainly different from the scarabs. They were not satisfied with the nest I made, and decided to build a new house for them to live in. However, they did it with the dried, high-quality wood that I had stored.

Watching them process and assemble wood like a carpenter makes me admire them, but I was still a bit angry.

“I didn’t say that you can use it, did I?” It was wood of good quality, so I was going to turn them into arrows, but it ended up as their home instead. At that moment, a black stag beetle came to me and asked for a piece of paper and a writing instrument. As it seemed like he wanted to tell me something, I gave it to him. And then, the guy drew a map of the area in an instant.

"Hey…" They sure are good at drawing. It was incomparable to the drawing of the scarabs, and it was far more sophisticated than my own drawing. Once the map was finished, he drew a few circles near the northern forest.

“Flowers…fruits…mushrooms…is this something that you want to give me?”

Nod nod.

Are you going to use this to pay for the wood you guys used?

I put him on the palm of my hand. Contrary to the scarabs, which were not bothered by my touch, this guy struggled and tried to get off my hand.

“Now that we are a family, if you want to use the supplies, you can. But you have to ask my permission first. After all, we can't just use something important that can't be replaced, can we?”

The guy looked at me intently. It was the kind of gaze which would surely land him a few punches if he showed that to people in Korea.

I declared to him. “If you don’t like that, I don't think we will be able to live together. You don't have to get along with the scarabs, but at least, you should respect the already established rule, don't you think?"

The guy thought for a while, then nodded his head as if he had no other choice but to do it. It seemed to mean that he agrees to the conditions for now, since he doesn't want to leave this place. At that moment, I realized that these stags were very prideful.

I took Ding-soon and went out of the portal. Once I crossed over, I saw Da-jeong looking out the window with Dingo before turning around towards me.

“Did you find the scarabs?”

“Yeah. But they were not the only ones I found. I found stag beetles too. And those guys had a very annoying attitude…"

“What kind of attitude? Show them to me!”

“They didn’t listen to me very well…”

She frowned.

“Then why in the world did you take them in? Kick their ass and chase them away.”

“I’d like to do that as well. But I thought they were going to be useful. They are good at drawing, and also very good at woodworking.”

“I see." Da-jeong nodded."By the way, how long have you decided for us to stay here?”

"Well…" I leaned towards the window and looked outside. Unlike before, the snow was no longer falling.

Da-jeong folded her arms. “You came here to get oil. Now that we already got it, we can return.”

But, the problem lies in the situation. If the snowstorm suddenly came again in the middle of our way back, we would be in trouble. Even eating winter strawberries, as well as using the cold resistance scarf was not enough to block the cold wind and snow.

But staying here is not a good choice either. According to Da-jeong, several people attacked this place while I was away.

“The snow melts when we light a bonfire. They came to check it. And when they saw me, they rushed in towards me, as if they had nothing to lose.”

“You didn’t kill them?”

“I hit a few of them and threw them away. But they will surely come again.”

It's going to be annoying. It was a problem that could be solved if Da-jeong could be brought into the portal, but it was impossible at the moment.

I pondered for a while and came to a conclusion. “Let’s go to Incheon. I can make a sled and have your ghouls pull it.”

“You are doing this to get rid of me, aren't you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You are trying to kill me and take in another woman by getting me freezing to death in the sled!”

I tapped her shoulder.

“You can rest assured. We'll frame the sled, cover it with cloth, and cover the front with plastic. It will be warm, so you'll sleep well."

“Huh? Can you really make something like that?”

“Of course I can't. But I know guys who can.” I went into the cave and explained the situation to the stag beetles.

“I need a two-person sled with a frame. If you make it, I will listen to one of your requests.”

They caught my rather heavy voice and started a discussion. I don't know what they were talking about, though. But since it's my first request, I know that they realized that it's not good if they decline it. Because if they do so, I will have a reason to kick them out of the shelter.

After a while, the stag beetle came forward and drew a picture of the sled on paper.

“It is difficult to balance when the seats are placed left and right. So, it would be better to put it front and back?"

“There is no need for a luggage compartment, just make it for two people to ride.”

We put our heads together to design the sled. When the final design finally came out, other stag beetles went into production immediately.

Hmm… They are definitely different from the scarabs, as antique decorations were carved throughout the sled parts.

“The things the scarabs made were devoid of any decoration…” As I murmured, the guys made a disgusted expression, as if they're disgusted that they're being compared to the scarabs.

“But for me, scarabs and stag beetles are similar…” Eventually, the stag beetles stopped working and protested to me. These guys might even start a protest union later… So, let's stop the teasing.

Anyway, since I was in a hurry, I gave them solar apples to comfort them. The scarabs, who were tasked to make the steel runner parts of the sled, came with a finished product. As I touched the parts, the stag beetles looked at me with disapproving eyes.

Those picky guys…

Two hours later, an old-fashioned snow sled, that normally used by high-ranking nobles in stories, was created.

"Why am I feeling unworthy to ride it…"

But as I was the one who created it, of course I'll ride it.

I opened the portal and pushed the snow sled through it. Da-jeong, who was waiting, was startled.

“What??? Did you make this?”

“It’s a collaboration between me, the stag beetles, and even the scarabs. After seeing this, doesn't it make you want to be dragged?"

“I deserve a seat because I am a queen.”

Of course, of course.

I put a thick vinyl in front and wrapped some fabric around the sled. And when I was tying ropes to the ghouls, Da-jeong meddled next to me.

“If I make them pull this heavy sled, their energy consumption would multiply by a lot. We have to go to Incheon as soon as possible.”

“Let’s just go. You can just throw these guys away and find new ghouls.”

“Now it feels like we are of one heart.”

I don't really want to share my heart to someone else. We jumped into the sled; Da-jeong was the one in the front. As she leaned on my chest, and snapped her finger, the ghouls started running.

This is it.

The snow sled glided along the hard frozen ground.

We are now heading to Incheon.