Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

It was said that people should study until they die. In addition to studying in the traditional sense, which is by gathering as much knowledge as possible from sources like books, it also meant that people should not give up the mindset of always wanting to learn something new.

I juggled with the thoughts inside my head and tried to apply it to reality. Of course, the thoughts were about modifying the shelter in order to survive. In a way, this could also be called study. However, what the scarabs were doing was the real study.

"That’s interesting…”

They were currently looking at the tablet now. I had always wondered, what will dogs or cats do when they see the screen of a tablet or smartphone?

When Dingo saw the crossbow making videos, he immediately fell asleep, but the scarabs did not. The guys were clearly looking at the screen and studying. They nodded their heads and pointed to the screen with their front claws as if telling the others what they thought about it. When they kept trying to draw something on the cement floor, I brought a large piece of paper and a pen to help them. Then, the blueprint was drawn on the spot.

To my ears it sounded like the scarabs were quarreling like this.

-Wouldn’t it be better if we use metal as the material for the bow?

-The problem is the loading process! It will be hard to load a ballista on our own!

-Isn’t it possible for the owner?

-What about when he's not here? We should design it so not just the owner, but us would also be able to load it!

-By ‘us', does that include the wolf as well?

-That’s right. If we use some pulleys and gears…

I shook my head and came to my senses. What the hell was I thinking about. I was tired, so I must have heard a strange noise. In any case, the scarabs were enthusiastically discussing something about the design of the ballista. The structure was confirmed right away, but the blueprint was revised several times to tweak some smaller parts.

The other scarab nodded their heads as the captain took the action of whining and turning something.

“Is this because you don’t have enough strength?” At my question, they nodded as a group.

Maybe what I heard was true?

Anyway, it seemed like it was difficult for the scarabs to load some arrow to the ballista because they lacked the strength to do so. These guys were quite strong for their size, but in the end, there’s a limit because they were nothing but scarabs.

They looked at me and then took an interest in Dingo. A scarab stuck out its tongue and handed a piece of paper to the sleeping Dingo's snout.

At that time, I realized.

“You want Dingo to load the arrow?” I questioned. Well, the strength of Dingo's bite and pull was strong. Now that he had grown to the size of a small Jindo dog, it was difficult even for me to deal with him. (E/n: Jindo dog is one of the native breeds of South Korea, originated from Jindo Island. It is one of South Korea's Natural Treasures, famous for its loyalty and homing instinct)

When I glanced at the blueprint, it looked like gears and pulleys were added in order to multiply Dingo's pulling force.

“Are you guys perhaps dwarves in your previous life?” I said without thinking much. This world has turned into more fantasy than fantasy world itself, so I'm referring to the dwarven race, a race that is often related to the theme ‘fantasy', together with the elves and beastman.

At that moment, the scarabs stopped working and stared at me.

I thought I did something wrong, so I apologized immediately.

"Sorry….” I thought I did something wrong, so I apologized immediately. “So what do I need to prepare?”

The guys drew something on the paper. It was an instruction for me on what shape they wanted the wood to be. The guys did the design and other small parts while I took care of the big parts and assembly. In other words, it was a division of labour.

"Nice. However, before we start…” I'm tired today, so let's eat and sleep first before doing it. When I proposed, the scarabs looked at me and pointed towards the sweet potato flavored jelly.

It seems like they're asking ‘Can we eat that since we had worked hard today?’

I instantly gave them two packs of jelly.

"You did a good job today. Get a good night's sleep and start working again tomorrow."

The sleeping Dingo sniffed the air, jumped up and let out a short bark.

"Okay, Okay."

We got together, ate, and slept.

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The next day, me and the scarabs started working in earnest. We decided to recycle the old ebony sticks, which almost lost all its durability. It cannot be used as a weapon anymore, but the handle was still intact, so it’s still usable.

The scarabs who guided me around the forest picked a suitable tree. Seeing that some acorn-like fruit littered the ground around the tree, I wondered if it was something like an oak tree.

"Okay. Let’s do it.” I said as I started the chainsaw machine. I had to finish the task quickly before the monsters swarmed over here because of the noise.

Why did this forest, which was relatively peaceful except for the trouble the goblins bring, become like this, I wonder?

When I was on my way back to the shelter after cutting the wood into smaller size to fit the ballista, water drops start to pour from the sky. It didn't turn into snow because the temperature had risen quite a bit. However, it’s still not completely okay. Afterall, If I caught a cold in this kind of world, where clinics and hospitals are gone, I'd be the one suffering.

I fixed the wood on the woodworking tools and worked it out. Turning the lever to cut the wood was nothing but tedious task. Nevertheless, I could not neglect it because the orcs and other monsters would definitely come soon.

With the forest becoming more and more chaotic, who's going to guarantee that werewolves wouldn’t appear next?

“That’s why, I have to do something.” While talking to myself and cutting the wood, the shape finally came to form. Starting from now, it’s up to the scarabs to refine it to perfection. When I squinted in their direction, they were watching the video while touching the tablet screen with their forelegs.

"Ho…." Their act was proof that they had a clear understanding of what a tablet is and what the screen was explaining. I decided to ignore them and give up understanding what the scarabs were doing.

“I'll just confuse myself if I keep thinking about it…”

While they were making metal bows, I started making the stands for the ballista. Looking at the blueprint, it seems that it was a fixed type. In fact, it’s better to operate such a ballista in a fixed stand rather than trying to make it moveable. Since the shelter itself is circular, most of the directions would be covered just by rotating it.

“It’s hard to move this big thing in the first place.”

When I thought how great the power of the ballista would be, I instantly got excited. It would definitely be powerful enough to deal some damage to orcs and werewolves. Though, I still need something to restrain werewolves' movement first so they wouldn't be able to dodge. But for now, let’s not think about it.

“If only the bull peppers grew a little faster, I would have no worry.” There are only a few monsters who can't use their sense of smell, such as zombies and plant-type monsters. Keepers and bone creepers also couldn't use their sense of smell, but since they're special cases, let's make an exception.

Anyway, it means that if I stocked up a lot of bull pepper bombs, I could deal with almost any monster.

“It is important to recognize them and prepare for countermeasure beforehand.” The worst thing that could happen was not being prepared to deal with unexpected things.

After a lot of work, a stand was created. The shape was sloppy, but it fills all specifications required by the scarabs. Now, I needed some pillar to hold it in place. I dug the ground and planted some timber quite deeply. I put a few boards with 4 holes on them and they didn't move even if I pushed them with my feet.

“Is this okay?” When I called the scarab leader and showed it to him, he looked satisfied. The next thing I would have to do was assembling the parts, but… when I looked at the scarabs, it seemed that the scarabs were having a hard time making the parts. They had made the bow, but they were having problems with the string.

Dingo would bite and pull it without mercy, so it had to be strong and resilient.

"How about this?" I said to them as I gave them strings I looted from a hardware store before the end. It was made of stainless steel, therefore, it’s very strong and bends relatively well. The scarabs instantly gathered and admired the wire.

Behold, this is the technology of Korea, the modern nation.

Anyway, the wire seems to have solved the big problem as the scarabs began to work diligently again. When I saw them moving like that, I pondered what to do next.

“How should I even respond to werewolves and other monsters…” The problem was that there was nothing preventing more monsters from appearing. Especially flying monsters. Although rare, griffons were extremely dangerous. It could dive from above the sky and snatch people.

Come to think of it, there were such scenes in horror movies. People were suddenly caught by their claws and got flown away, then they were thrown into the nest, screaming, and eaten alive by their younglings. They couldn't even run away because when the griffon grabbed their limbs, it also broke them because of how strong their grip was. Of course, a lot of people died horribly when they were caught by monsters, but being caught by a griffon was more frightening than them all, because they built nests in very high places, denying all kinds of escape methods.

I looked around the shelter. At the very first glance, it was obvious that this place did not has enough defence to fend flying monsters. But I was not worried at all. After all, there was no suitable place for the flying monster to use as a nest around the area. Although the trees were quite tall here, it’s still not big and tall enough to support their size and weight.

“Still, I couldn’t be completely sure.” They might suddenly expand their range of activities due to lack of prey. It was a common occurrence in animal documentaries.

“By the way, I heard that a griffon cub is delicious.” It was one of the few monsters that could be eaten because its meat is non-toxic. The eggs were also large and had a very strong taste, so it was considered a delicacy. In the original game, they were nothing more than a protein shuttle which we stagnant waters used to bet on. But in reality, it would different. If something goes wrong, we would instantly be caught by its claws and dragged to their nest.

“To prepare for their threat…” It seems like I had to make a place to hide, something akin to a bunker, in the shelter. It would be perfect if I made it around the ballista.

I looked around the ballista stand. “I’m going to have to make two.”

Let's say that one day, while I was working, I noticed a griffon’s attack. I have to hide myself within just a span of seconds. So, if the hiding place was too far away, I would be caught by it while running.

“Sandwich panels can't be considered as a defense.” The warehouse where I store my supplies seems sturdy at first glance, but it shakes even when I push and pull it. If it was something as large as a griffon, it would be destroyed immediately.

I'd also like to build a strong guard post.

“How should I build it…” Stacking bricks seemed best. But, since I have to shoot the ballista too, I'll have to dig a small hole to use as a passage. I instantly sketched out the blueprint. However, there were a few things I must do before building it.

“It’s killing zombies.” Of course, zombies and monsters were something I killed every time. However, at this moment, there was a need to focus on the zombies, which were about to turn into ghouls.

By the way, they were easy to distinguish from normal zombies because they were slower and only walked alone.

“At the end of evolution, they look like a person who is crouching in a corner.” Not everyone knows exactly what the moment of evolution was like. I was no exception to that as it happened when I was still a beginner. At that time, there were simply so many other dangerous monsters I needed to pay attention to.

After I gave the scarabs another jelly pack, I grabbed my backpack and called Dingo.

“Let’s go hunting.”

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“Woah…” I said as I went up to the roof of my hideout building. I didn't expect Junho and Dohyung could handle things this well. Ropes were stretched from my building to the other buildings in the surrounding. If I was in a hurry, I could just use it.

“I wasn’t expecting something like this.” They did a lot better than I ever expected. The ropes I gave to them shouldn’t have been enough to do it all, but I guess they looted ropes from many places. Seems like, next time we meet, I should treat them to some meal.

“I see some bastards who are evolving into ghouls.” I murmured as I leaned against the roof structure and looked down. They had some characteristic which were not well known to others. The first one was that they always closed their eyes.

Is it because they lose sight when they become a ghoul?

Their other senses were also dulled, so their movement itself had becomes dull. However, when they finished evolving, their hearing would be very enhanced to the point of superhuman hearing. It feels like a trade-off, because their sense of smell and sight would worsen to the point where they wouldn't be able to see or smell anything. If I had to exaggerate a little, their hearing could even pick up a human heartbeat from a few meters away.

“Thankfully, not all zombies would evolve to ghouls, so they wouldn't be too spread.” Not only that, mid-grade monsters such as orcs and werewolves aren't that many in numbers either. Even when ogres appear later, the monster survivors would often encounter would still be goblins and zombies.

By the way, this matter was also written in the strategy the government spread, albeit vaguely.

“A quick-witted person should be able to get it…” When I entered the Auction House, there was a discussi- no, a fight on the subject.

-Has everyone been hunting for ghouls? It's best to kill them before they change. What will you do if you later turn into an enhanced ghoul?

-At that time, the Tier 1 Store will also open, so we can just hunt them then.

-Are you saying that those who didn't manage to unlock the Store can only wait for their death?

-Sorry, is there anyone who is less than level 10 right now?

-There are plenty.

-There’s not a lot in Seoul, but if you go to other cities, there will be a lot of people who don't even know that there are additional effects on unique abilities.

-Wow…

-Anyway, it is useless to force people to do it, let's just hunt the zombies around us. You can just think of it as earning points, right?

-It's a bit slow and was traveling alone, so it's easy to hunt it. But watch out for the guy crawling around corners. They are the ones that will soon evolve into a ghoul.

-Don’t wanna.

-?

-Why?

-If they evolved into a ghoul, you’ll get more points from killing it. Why should I kill them now and give up points?

-What a selfish bastard.

-Are you an idiot? What is more important than points in the apocalypse?

-Give me your ID, you idiot.

-HAHAHA… ID? What are you going to do with it?

Well, I was essentially no different from that person who didn’t want to hunt the ghoul. But I just decided that it's better to deal with them before they turn into ghouls because I'm physically weak. In short, I have to choose wisely which situation is beneficial to me.

“It would be dangerous if there are a lot of ghouls.” Although its size was small, it’s agile and could easily enter survivors' hideouts. And when it evolved to the final stage, enhanced ghoul, even encountering it would be very dangerous. However, in this reality, things would be different as there were unique abilities here which were not present in the game. And except for Rapwi, the fact that everyone had only one life was also a variable.

I proceed to spend some points to check the IDs of the people in the comment.

“But what did I come here for again?” Oh right. I came here to deliver the cipher text to Rapwi. For some reason, he’s living a quiet life in Jinju. Once I hear anything from him, I'll come find him right away.

“I have to find that man who flees to the south too…” I have a lot of work to do. However, my job right now was to find and destroy any zombies which would become ghouls. Dingo was good at smelling, so if I didn't notice them, he'd be able to find them.

“Dingo, come up here.” The guy jumped over the backpack as I called him. Then, I rode down the rope.

Now, the hunt begins.