Leveling with the Gods - Chapter 152

Lick—

YuWon felt something warm on his cheek.

He opened his eyes at the feeling. At that moment, he felt the warm touch of a tongue on his face again.

Lick—

“…It’s you.”

YuWon pushed away Cerberus’s face with his hand.

He frowned at the sticky, smelly saliva and then came back to his senses.

‘What happened?’

It had been a while since he’d felt this dazed.

“Whine, hng—”

The three heads approached YuWon at once. Although it was bothersome, the dog didn’t seem to hold any hostility.

Well, if it did, YuWon would’ve woken up to the feeling of his face being ripped off rather than being licked.

‘Ocean.’

His fragmented memories quickly returned. He had experienced an unknown world after being sucked further under the underground.

The place in which nothing existed. A true darkness.

The message had indicated that place as ‘Hell.’

‘Maybe I really went there and back.’

The place YuWon awoke was the same as before he was plunged into that place.

There were no traces that he had been sucked into that sub-underworld on the floor around him. It didn’t seem to be that of a physical displacement but maybe a hallucination or a projection of the conscience.

‘But why did I…?’

He felt suspicious of the sudden situation.

“Was it because of this?”

YuWon looked down at 「Kyneē」 equipped on his right hand.

He definitely remembered that he had activated it in the last moments. On top of that, ‘Hell’ was the name of a skill that 「Kyneē」 possessed.

The nearly endless dark-attribute mana that filled an ocean of darkness. That place had a similar quality to the power that 「Kyneē」 held.

‘The place that was the source of the Divine Dark Crystal’s power.’

He had thought about this multiple times before. Just where was the power that flowed out of 「Kyneē」 coming from?

There were no items that produced infinite power. The skills attached to an item usually used the player’s mana to activate.

But 「Kyneē」 was an anomaly. It emitted its own natural mana that it possessed. In this case, the item itself either had innate power or it was being supplied power from somewhere else.

‘If that is the case…’

YuWon thought back to the immense sea of darkness that was created from an incredible amount of mana.

“This is much more impressive than I thought.”

* * *

The next day, before YuWon had gone to the lower floor, in the place they had been talking before…

Hades was sitting across from Hargaan in the cave.

“I don’t know if I can really trust him.”

“But he didn’t say anything wrong, right?”

“That’s true.”

On the previous day, Hades had planned to only meet him for a short while, but he ended up having quite a long conversation with YuWon.

The Destruction of Olympus.

This was the plan that Poseidon and Hades had made together to drive out Zeus. Although the two had different purposes, they desired the same outcome.

“If everything that guy said is true, there is a possibility…”

Hades didn’t finish his sentence, and Hargaan let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“As I thought, it’s absurd, right?”

Under the assumption that the information YuWon brought was true, it wouldn’t be impossible to bring Hercules over to their side. However, the task preceding that was the problem.

Although this was what YuWon had gone to do, it was hard to have any positive expectations for it.

“If that was the case, then he wouldn’t have gone in the first place,” Hades said.

“Pardon?”

“It won’t be impossible.”

“Could I ask what your reasoning for this is?”

“Who do you think put Olympus in its current situation?”

At Hades’s question, Hargaan was speechless.

There was no need to think too long about it. The answer came quickly.

Kim YuWon. Just because of his existence, a lot of things had changed in Olympus.

But still, even if he acknowledged that fact, it would have been hard for everyone to say that YuWon had completely flipped Olympus on its head. Because such a thing was impossible for a single player or even a single high-ranker to accomplish.

“He saved Hephaestus from the 1st Floor and fought against a test examiner and won. Him obtaining the Divine Sea Crystal forced Zeus to keep Poseidon in check, and Poseidon has started to stand against Zeus.”

It was difficult to harm Olympus even if you gnawed at it bit by bit. But as those incidents began to pile up, Olympus began to collapse from within.

And it had already been half a year since one of the pillars of the “Big Three Gods” collapsed.

“The plan to destroy Asgard has also become a failure due to his interference. Zeus cut off Poseidon, a big part of the guild, to stop an all-out war against Asgard, but the stability of his own position is also suffering.”

Zeus didn’t want a direct confrontation with Asgard. His original plan was to use the giants and demons to destroy them. But as long as that was impossible, Zeus could only keep an eye on Asgard for now and make small moves.

“A single random player cut off one of the ‘Big Three Gods’ and tied Zeus’s hands.”

“Hearing it like that… It’s truly impressive.”

“That’s the reason I tested him. Rather than a test, I wanted to check with my own eyes. I wanted to know if he was able to accomplish all this because he actually had the skills to do so.”

Of course, the outcome was disappointing. There wasn’t much YuWon had shown as he suppressed the five Cerberus. The only thing he did show was the fact that he had indeed become proficient in [Gigantification.]

“Well, no matter the results, I still made the choice to invest in the history he’s making. Even if his skills are lacking, his results are definitely something.”

“Is that why you think this plan will also end with success?”

“Something like that.”

An uncertain but simple gut feeling.

YuWon had shown enough proof up to now.

“Well, for now, let’s trust him and do our own parts. You go meet the Apollon siblings.”

“Then, Uncle, you will…”

“I…”

As if saying he could no longer stay here wasting time, Hades stood up from his seat.

“…Will go to Asgard.”

The 40th Floor.

Known as the world above the clouds, the complete opposite world to the 42nd Floor.

Step—

A white expanse of ground, no, sky.

YuWon looked at the top of the white clouds that stretched far and wide and muttered, “It’s pretty.”

The buildings built on top of clouds and the faces of the people living in them were bright and busy. Unlike Hell, night didn’t exist, and it looked as if there were no such thing as suffering in this world.

An unrealistically beautiful world.

The 40th Floor was also the floor on which Olympus held the most influence.

“—What are you admiring so suddenly?”

YuWon turned to his side to look at his companion who had covered his body in a robe and covered his face.

It was Arthur.

“—Did you forget where we’re going right now?”

He had already set the tone and was readying his combat capabilities. It was a weird reaction, somewhere between excitement and nervousness at being able to fight after a long time.

“Have you been here before?”

“—After the founding of Britain, I had come here to meet with a ranker from Olympus.”

“Then you’ll know the path well.”

“—Who knows. It’s been a long time…”

So in the end, he wouldn’t be of much help.

There was no need to talk any more. Right now, all they could do was to find a path with the limited information they had and admire the beautiful scenery different from that of Hell.

And after YuWon walked like that with Arthur for a bit, he suddenly thought of something. “Where do the dead go?”

“—What?”

“Do you perhaps remember something?”

Although it was a question that could’ve been asked, he hadn’t until now.

The Arthur that YuWon knew was a specter and an Undead.

[The dead worship you.]

The message he heard when he was summoned to ‘Hell.’

There was no way to find the meaning to that message, but now that he thought about it, the Arthur in front of him was also one of the ‘dead.’ Maybe he knew something.

Maybe Arthur had been to that ocean as well.

But his expectation was shattered instantly.

“—I have no memory of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“—Right after I died, I was bound by Susanoo and stuck in the boundary between this world and the next. So not even I know what happens after one dies.”

“…Really?” YuWon let out a sigh and shook his head. “That doesn’t help.”

“—…My apologies.”

After hesitating for a second, Arthur spoke.

“—But I felt that I faintly saw an ocean of sorts for a moment.”

“An ocean?”

YuWon’s eyes sparkled.

Although it was only for a moment, since he had experienced it himself, it was probably true. On top of that, the image that Arthur spoke of was quite similar to what YuWon experienced.

“—Yes. But as it was truly for only a moment. I cannot confirm it.”

“No,” YuWon shook his head, “that’s enough.”

‘An ocean.’ That vague answer gave certainty to the vague speculation he had. And that was enough.

There was a big difference between a speculation and certainty even if they were of the same idea.

As YuWon was entertaining this thought…

“—I can see over there.”

Atop a wide stretch of cloud, a single towering temple could be seen. No, rather than a temple, it was more like a huge wall-less castle.

Hundreds of steps. A low ceiling and wide base reminiscent of the Colosseum.

YuWon sped up his footsteps towards the place that had just come into view.

Step—

He came to the first steps of the staircase.

To the left and right of the stairs were many players standing in lines behind each other.

“There are too many people.”

“—It’s Olympus.”

The people lining up on the stairs looked oddly at YuWon.

No, to be precise, it was because of Arthur who was standing next to him.

“You do look suspicious.”

“—Are you talking about me?”

“You’re covering yourself from head to toe, so it’s understandable that you draw suspicion.”

As expected…

“Stop right there.”

A player that had been observing YuWon and Arthur for a while approached the two and blocked their way.

“You don’t look to be a believer here. What are you here for?”

YuWon looked at the players on top of the stairs that were looking down at them.

They wore priestly clothes that didn’t match the swords and spears they wielded.

The fact that at a temple, the symbol of Olympus, there were players who were armed, meant only one thing.

“We came to the right place.”

“What?”

“This is the temple of Ares, right?”

“What…”

“You dare say his name so carelessly!”’

“An unforgivable sin!”

“Reveal your name and rank now! If not, you’ll have to pay the price for what you just did!”

Cling, clang—!

The players each drew their weapons.

This was why zealots were scary. They always had the same reactions.

YuWon let out a deep sigh and looked around the top of the temple.

A temple built like the Colosseum. It truly fit Ares.

“Olympus really has a lot of money. They made a building like this for a guy who only just became a high-ranker.”

It was understandable. Ares was the direct descendent of Zeus and Hera. Just looking at his parentage, he was in the highest ranking bloodline among Zeus’s children. It was obvious that he would receive a high position due to coming from two high-rankers with the highest influence in Olympus.

And he was also a skilled player who had become a ranker the fastest in Olympus before Hercules and Hargaan appeared.

In a sense, he had been born with a diamond spoon in his mouth.

“If you really hate your master being insulted, then go send a message to the top.”

The players under the command of Ares had something in common—they were all aggressive and prideful.

“That the Ruler of War and Combat…”

And…

“…Is being challenged by Kim YuWon.”

They never avoided any challenge of combat.