Stagnant Water of Apocalypse
chapter-47

Woof-!! Woof-!! Woof-!!

When Dingo barked loudly, the goblins quickly ran towards him. Meanwhile, the hobgoblin who stayed back at the nest smashed his club to the ground while roaring. Seems like he’s issuing orders to his lackeys.

Kyaaakk-!!

Woof-!! Woof-!!

Dingo’s bark and the goblins’ roar went back and forth, filling the forest with roars. No matter how fast the goblins can run, they can never catch up with Dingo. He skilfully kept the distance between them constantly. I even wondered if he’s not a wolf but a shepherd dog. Unfortunately, even though he had done what I wanted wonderfully, I couldn’t give him beef anymore. Hopefully, there will be a wild boar cub caught in the trap.

As I started walking at the west side of the nest, I saw a mark written with the marker.

“As expected, those guys are smart.” They put the marker exactly at my eye level. It seems like it was best to maintain a friendly relationship with them. But it was something to think about later, as for now, I need to focus on the matter at hand. I checked my equipment for one last time. As long as I didn’t make any mistake, I should be able to subdue the nest without a scratch.

When I walked further, a goblin’s shiny bald head entices me. Giving up to temptation, I pulled the bow out of the quick slot and pulled the string. The arrow slithered through the air and buried itself deep in the goblin’s head. With a thud, it fell to the ground. But since the nest was quite chaotic and noisy, it was barely noticeable.

With bow in hand, I moved closer and closer to the nest. When I killed two more goblins, the hobgoblin finally noticed something. Though, he didn’t know where I was. I moved as carefully as possible. While Dingo’s bark went further and further, I took 2 firecrackers out of the bag and threw them into the nest.

With a boom, dazzling fire blazed in the nest. The goblins instantly froze in place, completely confused and didn’t know what to do. It’s only natural, since there’s a wolf howling outside while fire, smoke, and death were raging inside the nest. Without giving them any moment to think, I continued to shoot arrows around the nest. A group of goblins rushed out from the nest a moment after the hobgoblin roared. However, they all fell to my arrows.“My aim is pretty good today.”

I only practiced for one hour today, though?

Then suddenly, as if it couldn’t stand the situation anymore, the hobgoblin personally came out of the nest. Then, it immediately rushed towards where I was.

“Come on.” I said with a smirk as I unsheathed the orichalcon long knife and took out the shield from the slot. The hobgoblin’s brows furrowed. It seems like the guy was pretty surprised because I suddenly had another weapon with me. But the surprise didn’t last long as he rushed at me once again with a shout.

Roar-!!

“Why do you guys always roar?” Unfortunately for him, I was a different person from my past self back in Mt. Gaya. I had regained some of my old gamer senses after fighting for so many times. It’s not as good as RaPwi’s fighting sense, a man who fought by literally breaking everything, but it was still something which I had honed for 5,541 hours.

I jumped sideways and deflected the trajectory of the hobgoblin’s club, staggering it. Thanks to that, the hobgoblin opened a gap in its defense. I dug into the gap and swung my long knife, cutting through its shoulder and stomach in the process. However, even though the wound was wide open, it’s too shallow, not fatal at all.

The hobgoblin, who seems to be taken aback by my attack, retaliates by swinging its club wildly. However, it was too late. I already stepped back and went out of its range. When it saw that it didn’t manage to hit anything, the hobgoblin roared before rushing towards me again. I jumped to the side a moment before the hobgoblin tried to ram me. Without being able to stop, the guy slammed hard into the tree behind me.

Keuk-!!

The guy groaned.

“Now!” Without mercy, I stabbed the long knife into its back and twisted it sideways. Then, I rolled sideways and got away from it. The hobgoblin stumbled with a long knife still stuck in its body. In its current state, I only need one or two more attacks to kill it. Therefore, I took out the bow from the quick slot and aimed it towards its swaying head.

“Goodbye.” When the arrow stuck in the hobgoblin’s head, the guy fell to the ground, creating a slight tremor. However, even after taking out the hobgoblin, there are still a lot of goblins left. I wouldn’t leave this place before I eradicated each and every single one of them.

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“Aigoo, my shoulder…” I groaned.

Why does it feel like cleaning up the goblin corpses is more tiring than fighting them?

I gathered the goblin corpses in one place and cut their ankles off. If there were only one or two of them, I would just bury them without doing this extra work. But since there were 21 bodies, there was nothing I could do about it. It’s better than having bone creepers crawling to my shelter.

Once I finished cutting all of their ankles, I finally got to the fun part: looting. I walked around with Dingo and the scarabs that rode on my shoulders as the navigator to the bird’s farm. When I went to the back of a certain hut, I saw a clumsily built coop. Inside, there were several fat birds which resembled turkey roaming inside. When I looked at them, a window came up at their body.

「Hwajo」

“They are slightly smaller than turkey…” but still bigger than a chicken. Apart from them, there were also a few eggs rolling around in the corner. They were much bigger than special eggs you see at the supermarket. When Dingo barked, the birds all flailed and gathered in the corner.

“They can’t fly, huh?” Now I know why the goblins locked them up in a coop with no roof. Looking at their fat bodies, it seemed like they couldn’t even jump high.

“Hmm…” I think their meat would be pretty tasty. Should I raise them? The reason I didn’t bring chickens to this forest in the first place was because they were noisy. However, these hwajos fixed that problem as they were pretty quiet. On top of it, the shelter had also been completed, so I wouldn’t have to worry about wild predators eating them.

“Let’s raise it well and eat fried chicken later.” When I left the coop and entered the hut in front of it, I was greeted by a pile of animal corpses. I got out of the hut quickly, holding back my vomit as well as the cuss words which were threatening to come out.

When I checked the goblins’ pockets one by one, the contents inside were mainly the same. At best, it was decaying fruits, pieces of meat, and crude weapons. Fortunately, I found four poison frogs in the corner of the nest.

“This is how they procured the paralysis poison in the darts.” I put each of the four poison frogs in the pocket. If there were five of them in the shelter, I would be able to gather their poison quickly. Now that the time for goblins and other monsters to appear in real life is looming closer, it would be better to develop my tolerance in advance. If not, I would need to prepare a lot of things if I want to fight against them.

I searched all over the nest, but couldn’t find anything useful. Afterall, it was unreasonable to expect great things from a nest in the forest. Since the goblins in the game have their nest in the city, they used to have a lot of good things. However, it was difficult to farm such things in a forest. But at least there’s many edible things in the forest.

“I’m glad I found the hwajos and the frogs.” And more importantly, I decided to be satisfied with my safety. I tore down all the huts and ripped all the dry grass to cover the goblin corpses. Finally, I picked up the hwajo’s eggs and tied a rope around the hwajos’ neck.

“Come on, come on.” These guys were surprisingly docile. They didn’t make a lot of fuss on the road to my shelter.

“Now it’s your turn to fulfill your part of the deal.” I said to the Scarab Captain as I arrived at the shelter. The Scarab Captain nodded his head and jumped off my shoulder together with all the scarabs. Then they disappeared into the forest. Next time they come, they’ll bring 10 presents. After putting the hwajos and the frogs in a temporary place, I returned to the forest to check the trap. However, there was nothing there. When I returned to the shelter once again, I remodeled the warehouse, made a coop for the hwajos, and put them inside.

“It’s good that I managed to bring you guys here safely, but what should I feed you with…” As a test, I threw some rice at them. And they eat it very well. There would be no food problem for the time being since I have stockpiled enough grains…

“But I’ll have to look for some other food source soon.” If I go to the Garak Rice Center, it should still be full of things. After all, It’s a place where no one goes in and out, so there shouldn’t be any zombies. I could also use the chance to stockpile more rice. Thanks to spending a few hours hunting the goblins, the cabbages were fermented enough to be made into kimchi. It’s a bit strange to make kimchi after clearing the goblin’s nest. But for a Korean like me, kimchi was just as important as clearing a goblin’s nest.

“If only a wild boar was caught, I’d be able to cook a Suyuk, right?” Dingo rested his front paw on my arm as I said that. I think he’s asking for something… I went into the hwajo coop and came out with an egg. When I broke it in a bowl, it looked so delicious, its yolk was dark yellow. Dingo then ate all of it quickly.

“Is it delicious?”

Woof-!!

As expected…

I’m looking forward to the day where I would be able to eat both the egg and the birds.

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In August, extreme heat comes. The air reminded me of a sauna. Even if I stood still, sweat kept dripping down to my body. Had the media still existed, they would have reported the current weather as the worst heatwave ever.

“They are holding up very well.” Zombies were different from humans. Since they were dominated by spores, they could withstand the heat relatively well. Until July, there was still movement from survivors to hunt zombies. But now, it has completely stopped. In this hot weather, if someone was brave enough to hunt zombies, they’re going to die because of the heat, not zombies.

“It’s cold in the forest and it’s hot in Earth…” If I had to choose, I prefer to stay in the forest. Even if it’s cold, it could be solved easily by putting on more layers of clothes and making a fire in the brazier. But cooling off heat was difficult. Even if I brought ice from the forest to cool off the room in my house, it would only last for a short time. Even Dingo had no intention of coming out of the forest at all. After all, for a guy with long hair, Siberia would be better than a sauna room.

“Just stay there like that.” I said as I thought about Dingo. I emptied my backpack and headed to the Rice Centre in Gangseo-gu. After 30 minutes of running and hiding from the zombies, my body was wet with sweat.

“Short break…” After entering the portal, cooling off, and coming out again, I feel a little better. By the way, when I went out to the suburbs, the number of zombies around the area was low. Should I just move and live here?

“Though, it is difficult to farm here.” Even when all the buildings had collapsed and there were a lot of zombies, living in the city was comfortable. There’s a lot of places to hide and a lot of things to loot. But one day, I will have to get out of this city. There’s a limit to food availability in one city.

“I can buy food at the Store, but…” It’s too expensive so it’s not worth it. You have to kill 10 zombies to buy a loaf of biscuits the size of your palm. Even before that, it would only be purchasable after you kill a specific monster.

“Was it a goblin?” Moreover, it’s more convenient to loot the food that the goblins often carry in their pockets rather than to buy them from the store. But I wondered if people would actually try it. It’s only expressed as a piece of meat in the game, but the actual meat carried by the goblins would be in very bad shape.

“Still, if you roast it, it should be quite edible.” If not, you’ll have to search around for more food. After thinking for a little while, I arrived at the half-collapsed Rice Centre. It was located in such a secluded place, so no zombies could be seen around. It seems that the zombie apocalypse broke out when all the employees were at their respective homes.

“Let’s see…” There’s nothing to see in the processing facility itself. What I want is the rice, not the crumbled equipment. When I went to the warehouse, it was a jackpot. Hundreds of bags of rice were placed on a row of plastic pallets.

“Nice! This is what I should be looting.” I quickly make rounds around the warehouse. It was overflowing with all kinds of food, not just rice. It seemed like I wouldn’t starve to death if I managed to acquire all of this.

“I can also sell it later.” The problem was, the space in the shelter was limited. With so many things already stockpiled, there’s not much space left. But, I still pushed all the pallets to the portal and lined it up in the warehouse.

“Let’s be satisfied with this today.” Seeing all of the materials piled up in the warehouse made me feel reassured. With this much grain and rice, even if there were about a thousand hwajo and any kind of birds, they wouldn’t be starving. When I returned home, Yoohyeon’s paper airplane was waiting for me.

―Hyung, Sooyeon noona came here. She said for the time being, she will be staying at the Rio officetel.

If it’s Rio officetel, it’s located in the crossroads. It was close to the gym-no, now it should be called academy since they aren’t using the gym anymore,but the academy.

“There is no reason for her to stay in that villa anymore.” I shrugged. By the way, it’s really hot. I took off my suit and applied an ice pack on my body. I feel sorry that I’m the only one enjoying this luxury when other people can only imagine it.

“Will people buy ice if I sell it?” a thought came to my mind. Even if they don’t want to, when they see a lukewarm coke, they will immediately think of ice. So, why don’t I try selling it at a minimum price? If it doesn’t sell, I can just take it down. I went into the shelter in the forest and chopped the ice with a jigsaw. Then I put it in a plastic bag and tied it with a cable tie, and it became a makeshift ice pack.

“Auction registration…”

「Do you want to register an ice bag?」

The auction notification went up. I quickly agreed to it. After a while, some comments were posted in the ice bag post. It’s all criticism. I really don’t get why they cursed me. If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t.

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A small commotion broke out in the Auction House with several people in it. The cause was because someone had put up an ice bag in the auction.

-OMG. It’s ice

-Wow, did the seller really sell this at an auction?

-But where does the seller get this? There would be no cold place in Korea right now.

Initially, Survival Life was a game which was only playable in Korea. So even if there were people who survived in other countries, they would not be on the level to enter the Auction House. The chance is also high that they wouldn’t even awaken at all. However, people didn’t even think about that as they were busy accusing the seller because they have to pay 5 points for the ice bag.

-I will never buy it.

-Right! Do you know how hard it is to catch zombies these days? 5 points is ridiculous.

-But if you buy this, you can drink a cold coke…

-Oh, don’t say that.

-Isn’t the person who registered this cheating?

-Let’s go ahead and report this.

However, there was a person who just watched quietly as the others poured out their complaints. Her name was Choi Da-jeong. As she was enduring her heat among her zombie subordinates, she immediately pressed the purchase without hesitation. Five points disappeared from her balance and an ice bag appeared on her desk.

“It’s real?” Da-jeong tilted her head. The bag in front of her was filled with a very cold ice to the point she could feel the cold aura from a distance. Unknowingly, she placed the ice pack on her neck.

“Ah… that’s cool…” It was the first cool feeling she felt after the zombie apocalypse. She quickly ordered one of her zombies to bring the lukewarm coke and a can of lukewarm water. “Put it there.”

While waiting for them to turn cold, Da-jeong checked the comments with a smile.

-Wow, you’re crazy to buy it.-They buy ice for 5 points?

-Who are you really?

“Five packs may be big for you, but it’s only a spare change for me.” Da-jeong took off her shoes and dipped her feet in the tub.

“Ohhh…” A moan escaped her lips. Her feet seemed to melt. After enjoying it, a thought came to her mind. Who put the ice on the Auction House? She had never met people after the apocalypse began, so she imagined that people would have the ability to make ice.

“Won’t it be useless in winter?” she thought. Or probably, it will change to another skill when winter arrives. Da-jeong continued to rub the ice onto her toes. As her unique ability enables her to control zombies, points will keep coming in even when she’s standing still. If she can feel the fresh freezing sensation of ice in this kind of weather, even if it’s only temporary, she would gladly invest 5 points.

“It’s slowly getting cooler.” Da-jeong opened the cap of the coke and drank it with excitement like in a commercial. Foam ran down her neck and chest, but she didn’t care. Once she finished, she burped out loud.

“Ah…” Now that she had put her feet in the cold water, she wanted to dunk her whole body into the cold water. Her body trembled as she imagined pouring the ice into a large basin. She couldn’t stand it and quickly posted a comment on the ice bag post auction that had ended.

– Do you have any more ice?

However, no answer came. At first she was angry as she felt like she was being ignored. But as time passed, she began to plead inwardly. I’ll buy it for any price, so please sell it!

That day, Da-jeong waited all day for the ice to appear at the Auction House.