Leveling with the Gods - Chapter 131

Only Lancelot remained in this ruined training grounds. Watching YuWon’s back disappear further and further away into the distance, he scratched his chin.

“He didn’t even accept my greeting. What a cold guy.”

The smile on his face quickly disappeared like dropping a mask.

He turned his gaze to the corpses of Lollit and Thal.

The two knights of the Round Table had failed. And they weren’t even low-ranking knights but Rankers that had followed the King of Knights for a considerable amount of time. Even though both of them attacked the same person, they weren’t able to win.

‘It’s my mistake.’

Not two but three. No, he should’ve sent at least four. That would’ve made certain to eliminate Kim YuWon. It was his miscalculation thinking that only two would be enough to defeat him.

“How about showing yourself now,” he said.

Lancelot turned his head. He could feel a gaze from a fair distance away.

The instant he turned around, an afterimage appeared in front of his eyes.

“You made quite a commotion,” an old man with a white beard said.

Merlin looked around his surroundings. The training grounds had become a total mess.

“I was handling the commotion.”

Lancelot was respectful to Merlin since not even the “King of Knights” Arthur treated him carelessly.

Even though Lancelot was the king of Britain, there were a decent number of knights who secretly treated Merlin like Arthur. On top of that, he was the strongest High-Ranker in Britain.

Someone like that was watching Lancelot from some distance away.

“So, could I ask why you’re here? It’s quite late at night.”

“The night was too noisy.”

“It was because the knights caused a bit of trouble. I hope you understand.”

“Understand…”

Merlin stared at Lancelot for a second then waved his hand.

Then…

Rumble—

Crack, crraaack—

The ground was turned over, and the pit in the training grounds began to mend itself. It was intense enough that one would expect an earthquake, but no vibrations could be felt. As if it was all just an illusion, the ground moved silently like it was a painting.

The ground which had suffered some damage due to the battle was settled flat again.

“Sure. Alright.”

Shwooo—

Merlin, who had appeared like a mirage, disappeared from his spot again.

Lancelot looked at his surroundings that had been changed in an instant. The training grounds were returned to their original form in the blink of an eye.

It was truly incredible.

“He’s strong for an old man.”

A deep furrow formed on Lancelot’s forehead.

The Great Magician Merlin. He was the greatest obstacle for Lancelot, the king of Britain. However, as Merlin was a monster who had deep, sturdy roots, there were no methods that Lancelot could think of to displace him.

He looked at the spot where Merlin disappeared.

Now that he thought about it, this was probably the first time in a few years he had met Merlin inside Camelot.

‘Was he watching Kim YuWon?’

There were two reasons Lancelot just let YuWon go. The first was because of the threat of interference by the Administrator, and the second was the existence of Merlin.

Merlin didn’t usually interfere with outside matters. There were only rumors of him maintaining the garden within the castle, passing his time in leisure, so on and so forth.

However, Merlin had started to move as if he had woken up from a slumber.

‘If he really is starting to move…’ Lancelot’s gaze turned towards where YuWon disappeared off, ‘Why is he?’

* * *

YuWon took the path straight to his room.

His injuries weren’t great. It was enough to heal up enough with the medicine and bandages he had in his inventory.

“—Why!”

Vwoong—

Arthur’s voice echoed inside his head.

Just how many times was it now? At this point, a thought of putting Arthur back in 「Kyneē」 came to his mind, even though he had thought to keep him conscious, at least while he was in Britain.

“Then are you telling me to fight him now?”

“—Don’t state the obvi—”

“There would be one of only two outcomes. Either I die a dog’s death, or Lancelot is killed honorably.”

Hearing YuWon’s words, Arthur shut his mouth.

“Which one do you want? Please choose.”

“—That’s…”

He couldn’t pick either option, since he didn’t want either of them. The outcome Arthur wanted for Lancelot wasn’t an ordinary death like that.

An honorable death? That was too luxurious for Lancelot. If he died like that, Britain would erect a statue in his honor, and he would be worshipped by them.

“—Naturally, I can’t let that happen.”

“Then please wait a little longer.”

“—Damn it. Even still…”

“A little.” The look in YuWon’s eyes changed. “You only need to wait just a little.”

Lancelot.

Although he had heard many stories about him, the feeling he felt when in direct confrontation was more than he expected.

‘Disgusting.’

Lancelot was the type of person YuWon hated the most. His words were contradictory, and he never revealed his true feelings. Also, he used the people under him like tools, and when they became useless or did all they needed to do, he got rid of them without remorse.

Thal and Lollit. In the end, they were just throwaways in Lancelot’s hand.

Rip—

YuWon ripped the bandage with his teeth. His hand had swollen quite a bit after having taken Thal’s sword. As he wrapped it with bandages with his other hand, he collected his thoughts.

‘Lancelot moved first.’

YuWon already knew the person behind their actions from the moment the two came to find him, because only the King of Britain, Lancelot, had the power to order the knights of the Round Table.

The problem wasn’t Lancelot. It was the person in Olympus above Lancelot.

‘What is the big picture for Olympus to be aiming for me right now?’

He had obtained the 「Divine Sea Crystal.」 Because of this, Zeus would keep Poseidon in check, and due to Zeus’s interference, Poseidon wouldn’t be able to touch YuWon. Naturally, Zeus wouldn’t be able to make a move in that situation either.

However, Olympus had made a move, so this could only mean one thing.

‘So they chose to face him head-on in the end.’

It was a different situation than what he expected. No matter if Poseidon was one of the “Big Three” gods, in this situation where he hadn’t been able to obtain the 「Divine Sea Crystal,」 he wouldn’t be able to match Zeus.

But no one had expected Poseidon to ignore Zeus’s warnings and attack him. Not YuWon, not Hercules, not anyone.

“An external influence is interfering.”

Well, he had expected something like this to happen at least once. Not everything would go to plan just because he wanted to. Even if he knew the future and had the knowledge squeezed out by the High-Rankers who had dominated the Tower, it was impossible for everything to fall into place and solve itself like a math equation.

‘Nothing will change just because Poseidon made a move. Even though I knew Poseidon and I would become enemies, the Divine Sea Crystal was something I needed to obtain anyway.’

If a variable appeared, he just needed to overcome it as well. That was what YuWon had to do.

He pieced together an image in his head.

Right now, he didn’t have any allies like Son OhGong, Asura, Hercules, or Odin. Since they couldn’t sit together and think with him, he needed to think by himself.

And the conclusion he came to…

‘This might be better in the end.’

…Was that the scenario wasn’t too bad.

This would become a catalyst that would increase the intensity between Poseidon and Zeus, and only getting this injured for something like that was quite a boon.

Tighten—

YuWon tightly wound the bandage and shook his head.

Olympus was a mess to deal with later. Right now, he needed to deal with the thing in front of him.

“Since I got hit…”

YuWon stretched out his wounded hand.

“It’s time for payback.”

No one noticed the commotion that had happened in the night.

Even though the training grounds were far away, it was still quite odd for it to be this quiet after having that much mana move about.

Lancelot probably did something.

Of course, it’s not like no one noticed anything.

“Is the ground a bit different?”

“Huh? You’re right.”

“Was yesterday the day for grounds cleanup?”

“From what I know, we still had a few days left.”

The first ones to notice something different were the knights that used the training grounds. Since they used the grounds every day, any small change to the ground felt bigger to them.

However, there was not one person who considered this a sign of battle. Not even the ones looking for Thal and Lollit.

Knock, knock—

The Royal Knight of Britain, Milton, knocked on the door by order of King Lancelot.

“…?”

There was no reaction for quite a while.

Milton knocked on the door again.

Knock, knock, knock—

“Sir Kim YuWon. His Highness seeks an audience with you.”

But still, it was just a quiet room with no reaction.

Milton frowned a little. There was no time to hesitate like this on an order from the king.

“The sun is already high in the sky. Is he still sleeping…?”

Bang, bang, bang—

“Sir Kim YuWon! If you don’t open up now, I will excuse myself and open the door and come in…”

Then…

Creak—

The door suddenly opened.

The guest he was waiting for walked outside.

“Sir Kim Yu—”

“Let’s go.”

“…?”

Just what was he so confident about? In a situation like this, most people would ask about who called them or for what. On top of that, he should be surprised by the fact that the king of Britain called for him.

‘Was it a prior arrangement? Or has he experienced something like this multiple times before?’

Kim YuWon was a super rookie that had received invitations from many of the big guilds.

Even Milton, who reached an impressive floor in his own right, wouldn’t compare against Kim YuWon as a player.

‘So he’s used to it.’

Well, it was odd from the start that a mere player like him was invited to the castle and treated like a noble.

Because of this, a rumor was going around in the castle that Lancelot was taking time and effort to entice Kim YuWon to become a knight of the Round Table.

Even if that wasn’t the case, there was no reason to not have a good relationship with him since he was practically guaranteed to become a High-Ranker in the future.

Milton didn’t mind YuWon’s reaction that much. All he had to do was just guide him.

“Follow me.”

Step—

YuWon walked behind Milton into the corridor to the throne room.

As he approached his destination, he could see the knights stationed here and there around the castle.

The wealthy knights of the kingdom were wearing armor plated with gold. They were the Royal Knights of the British royal family.

‘They’re all players who’ve reached high floors. Some might be close to becoming Rankers.’

Britain was a huge nation and guild. Many players who longed for chivalry wished to make their names known as one of the knights of the Round Table.

All the people here were part of The Round Table and also knights of Britain. And all of them were the hands and feet of Lancelot.

After walking through the long corridor, they finally reached the room at the highest point of the palace.

“This way.”

Chnk—

The knights that were guarding the gate parted to both sides. They were probably given the order from inside already.

Creak—

Before YuWon even walked up, the gates opened wide. The other side of the door was unexpectedly narrow and deep.

Inside was a huge circular table. It was a way to talk with many people sitting opposite each other.

Step—

But the thing that greeted YuWon were only two chairs that sat opposite each other.

Boom—

The doors closed behind him. He didn’t pay it any mind.

Since there was a feast atop the table, this wouldn’t end with just a short talk.

“You’re here?”

Creak—

YuWon sat in front of the man who greeted him with a wide smile and looked at the man who had invited him here.

“I don’t think we’re so close as to greet each other with a smile.”

Lancelot. The King of Britain and the Guildmaster of The Round Table.

However, he was only the king of Britain, not the king of YuWon.

Since they were trying to kill each other, there was no need for politeness between them, and as he wasn’t a member of The Round Table, just because he wasn’t respectful enough, there wouldn’t be repercussions from British law.

Lancelot maintained his smile as he continued to look at YuWon.

Tomorrow would be the day of the Round Table Conference.

____