Chapter 379: Ragnarok (1)

Translator: miraclerifle

Ju-Heon's body tilted back as if he was falling down.

The world started to crumble. It felt as if time was slowing down as if he was moving in slow motion.

The noise around him started to slow down and his vision became blurry. But there was something he could still see clearly.

“Captain-ni....m!”

“Captain!”

It was the face of his shocked team members as they looked at him. But Ju-Heon was calm.

This was a world he needed to forget anyway. He was only thrown into this world and stayed to get the Cradle.

He had some regrets but he was pretty satisfied.

These punks in their thirties...

He was happy just to be able to see these punks he shared those memorable years in TKBM with once again.

That wasn't all. He was able to do something he had not been able to do in his past life as well.

‘I really wanted to throw a letter of resignation at least once.’

Living a new life in this world would be fun in its own way now that he got rid of his worst enemies, but...

‘This is not the place I really need to be.’

The apocalypse artifacts.

He needed to go back and get rid of those bastards.

‘It is a bit disappointing to just leave like this though.’

But as Ju-Heon was about to close his eyes without any regrets...

“Alright, let’s all go on a trip without the stupid Captain! Kakaka! Bye~~~! See you never, you shitty Captain!”

“?!”

'What did that son of a bitch just say?!’

An angered Ju-Heon was about to get up when everything changed.

“!”

He now saw a barren wasteland that resembled a desert.

[You have returned to your original timeline.]

‘I'm back?’

As Ju-Heon was about to look around...

Boom! Boom boom!

He could hear explosions nearby. It sounded as if there was a war going on.

‘!’

As the noises got closer...

Ju-Heon frowned.

“Hold...!”

Bang!

Ju-Heon quickly got up and rolled to the side. Explosions soon followed.

Bababababaaaaang!

“Ugh!”

Ju-Heon's body was flung away because of the strength of the explosion. He could have lost a leg if he had been even a bit slower.

It was so strong that the area he had been was now scorched. The radius of the scorched area was quite large.

Ju-Heon brushed the sand off his body as he stood up.

"Where is this? Did I fall into a desert?”

Something pulled at his arm at that moment.

[$##$&!]

“!”

It was the rope. The fact that the thread had returned to its original appearance must mean that he was back, but...

“Hmm?”

Ju-Heon's eyes opened wide as he looked toward where the rope was pointing. That was to be expected.

“The Statue of Liberty?”

Ju-Heon looked around and scoffed.

“What the hell? This is New York?”

He thought it was the Gobi Desert or something.

Of course, it wasn't that there were no buildings in the city. He almost missed them, but they were definitely there.

There were still some buildings that were not destroyed.

But at that moment...

"Wait, what is that?”

Ju-Heon pulled out a pair of artifact binoculars from his pocket as if he questioned his eyes.

Ju-Heon’s jaw dropped after seeing something.

His reaction was to be expected.

“Holy shit, isn't that the Great Wall of China?”

That was right.

Asian architecture that should not be visible in New York were visible as if they had switched continents.

It looked as if the entire continent had moved......!

“What the hell? Did these sons of bitches move the continent?”

[It looks as if the apocalypse artifacts have moved land masses.]

“!”

[The apocalypse artifacts seem to be using continents to play a game of territory picking.]

‘These motherfuckers.’

Ju-Heon scoffed in disbelief and pulled out his phone.

However...

“Tsk, it’s a useless brick now.”

Well, his phone wouldn’t have worked even if it was not broken.

Why?

The current world was in a giant war that looked like a scene out of an apocalypse movie.

There were no chances of towers and base stations remaining intact.

Ju-Heon became concerned as he started walking.

‘We're not filming something like the Planet of the Apes, right?’

He hoped it wasn't some shitty situation where tens of years had passed or something while he was in the other timeline.

The rope came back with something at that moment.

[$$&!]

It was a newspaper. It was only a ripped part of it, but it didn't matter. The date was still visible.

“Good girl.”

Ju-Heon couldn't believe what he saw.

‘Holy shit, 2120?!’

Did 100 years really pass?

Ju-Heon had to think hard about this.

‘June did say that the other world would be easier. Did that punk say this knowing what was going on here?’

As Ju-Heon frowned and was about to call out the Cradle to confirm the date...

“Mr. Ju-Heon!”

“!”

He quickly turned his head after hearing a familiar voice.

This was definitely Irene’s voice!

He noticed Irene running toward him.

“You really are Mr. Ju-Heon, right?!”

Ju-Heon was extremely relieved. Irene looked the same as before he had left.

Irene hugged Ju-Heon as soon as she saw him. Ju-Heon was happy to see her and tightly hugged her back.

“Mr. Ju-Heon, I missed you!”

As for Ju-Heon, well...he did see her on the other side as well...

“...Mr. Ju-Heon, I was worried ab...ahhh!”

Irene let out a quiet moan. It was because Ju-Heon was groping her firm butt while hugging her.

"Wait, Mr. Ju-Heon! Ahhh....!”

It wasn’t as good as feeling her naked butt because she was wearing clothes, but it didn’t matter.

Ju-Heon was happy to feel the supple sensation in his hand.

‘Yes, this is it.’

He must have been disappointed(?) that he couldn't do this to the Irene on the other side.

"W, wait, Mr. Ju-Heon...!”

"Okay... These and these are the same as well.”

“Aaah! Ahh wait, not there!”

“What the hell? Not that much time has passed.”

“E, excuse me?”

As Ju-Heon was ‘confirming the amount of time that had passed’ using who knows what methods...

“Damn it, go die you damn Captain!”

He heard Jaeha’s voice as well.

He was huffing while walking toward Ju-Heon.

"Wow, we were worried because the apocalypse artifacts threw you out but how can you do that as soon as you wake back up... I'm so... jealous... I mean, do you even know what is going on right now?! Huh?! You unscrupulous bastard!”

But he was still happy to see Ju-Heon.

“Anyway, Captain-nim, I'm so relieved that you are okay...”

Ju-Heon just punched Jaeha.

Pow!

“?!”

He was extremely shocked to get punched all of a sudden.

"Why?! What did I do wrong?!”

Pow! Pow! Pow!

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Damn it, what the hell did I do...?!”

“You deserve to be beaten.”

“But why?!”

“Why don't you ask your future, no, your past bastard of a self?”

“?!”

Ju-Heon wiped his hand off without caring whether Jaeha felt wronged or not.

“Anyway, explain the current situation. Exactly what happened while I was in the other...no, while I was unconscious. Actually, before that...”

Ju-Heon held out the newspaper in his hand.

“What is this about 2120? Has it really been 100 years?”

"Ah, don’t worry about that. The time artifact did some crazy shit for a bit... but only three days have passed.”

‘I got scared for no reason.’

Ju-Heon chucked the newspaper. Even the mighty Ju-Heon seemed to have actually been scared.

It would have been shocking for anybody.

‘......I thought at least one week would have passed.’

It was because he had been on the other side for about that long.

‘I'm glad only a few days have passed.’

“We were all looking for you because the apocalypse artifacts chucked your body, Mr. Ju-Heon.”

"Then the apocalypse artifacts started causing havoc in the world...they stuck the US and North Korea next to each other, Europe and Australia, anyway, everything is quite the mess right now!”

"And people?”

“Most of them have evacuated to the shelters you created in the past, Mr. Ju-Heon.”

Ju-Heon had created shelters around the world in order to lower the casualties from Tomb Appearances.

Ju-Heon would never take shortcuts for such things so even the apocalypse artifacts were having trouble breaking through the barriers of these shelters.

“They’re angrily destroying cities in response.”

Jaeha showed some pictures he screenshotted before the news stations went down. There were some familiar beasts in the photos.

One showed a destroyed village, while another showed the large serpent from Norse mythology curled up in the middle of a city.

‘Jörmungandr.’

That bastard was not the only one. The famous evil beasts that brought Ragnarok as well as the monster from the days of Revelations in the Bible...

The disaster artifacts from all myths were pretty much there in full force.

"These bastards are having the time of their lives aren't they.”

Ju-Heon’s artifacts started shaking after noticing the change in his tone. Even Jaeha and Irene were scared.

It was because the Crow's aura coming out of Ju-Heon's body was extremely chaotic.

Most importantly...

"Captain-nim, you seem a bit different...”

That was right.

Ju-Heon was giving off a stronger aura than before now that he had the Cradle.

Ju-Heon sneered and asked.

"Where are the others?”

“Ah, that!”

They urgently grabbed Ju-Heon.

“We don't have time for this right now.”

“What?”

“Joy!”

“Fuck, it really is harder to get any closer than this!”

Somewhere in Africa... Well...it might not be right to call it Africa since Mt. Everest was visible from here now, but anyway...

A suspicious palace had appeared in the middle of the desert.

This was Odin’s Valhalla where the Majesty’s Throne, Hlidskjalf was located.

The former Majesty and the apocalypse artifacts were inside.

This was currently a palace of monsters. Julian and the others had snuck in like rats into this palace where everybody was dying.

“Those motherfucking apocalypse artifacts...!”

“I really don’t think anybody can handle those things.”

"But we need to get past them to save Joy...”

Julian frowned after hearing Dan and Seol-A's comments.

They had Joy taken from them just one day ago.

They didn’t make it easy for the apocalypse artifacts.

But there had been an unexpected variable.

“That motherfucking old bat...!”

That was right.

Kwon Hyuk Soo.

“Why did that old bastard have to surrender to the apocalypse artifacts?! Does he have no pride as a human?! He’s supposed to be one of the Four Emperors!”

The Monarchs around the world had claimed that they would capture the apocalypse artifacts when they appeared.

They thought that they could defeat Ju-Heon and become the Majesty if they had such strong artifacts.

But forget capturing them...

‘Aaaaaaaaaah!’

Those fools who were going wild without knowing anything died horrible deaths as soon as they touched any of the apocalypse artifacts.

The apocalypse artifacts then started their human selection process in their quest to leave the minimum number of humans alive.

They seemed to mainly be selecting scholars who will record a new history about them or artifact users with Affinity to serve them.

The other talented people were all prey.

That was when Kwon Hyuk Soo had shown up.

Nobody knew whether he was scared of being murdered by the apocalypse artifacts or if he was tempted by the Majesty position now that Ju-Heon was gone.

He sucked up to the apocalypse artifacts saying that he would find Joy for them.

That was how he became the master of Valhalla. It was easy for Kwon Hyuk Soo to find Joy.

“I'm certain of it. They took the Akashic records out of the Captain's body so Kwon Hyuk Soo can turn Joy into the Majesty.”

“The apocalypse artifacts will turn Joy into a corpse similar to the former Majesty...!”

Julian, who was feeling responsible as the Vice Captain, frowned.

“We need to save Joy before Ju-Heon gets back...!”

Otherwise, Ju-Heon might kill them all once he returns.

That wasn't all.

‘What the hell? This is all you guys were capable of? Your punishment is to be my slave forever.’

He would completely look down on them and use them as he pleased for the rest of their lives!

“There’s no way that damn Captain would brush this off...”

Part of this was for Joy's safety, but......

‘We must save her before Ju-Heon gets here.”

But at that moment...

“Oh reaaaally? But can you really do it before I get here?”

“?!”