Leveling with the Gods - Chapter 153

A throne situated above a hundred steps.

A man was sitting on it, basking in the warm sunlight wearing armor adorned with gold.

“What’s this commotion?”

The man had a golden mane, clean-cut features, and smooth, bronze-colored skin.

The high-ranker who resided on the 40th Floor, the master of this temple, Ares opened his eyes, sensing the commotion coming from outside.

“Are you awake now?”

“Ah, yeah. What were we talking about?”

“About the welfare of the worshippers…”

“Right, something boring again.”

Ares, who had fallen asleep in the middle of the meeting because he was enjoying the warm sunlight, let out a big yawn and turned his head.

“I asked what the commotion is.”

“Eh? Commotion?”

“Can’t you hear them?”

Clang, ching—!

“The sound of clashing swords—”

Fwish—

“And of spilled blood.”

The sound grew closer.

The rankers who were leading the meeting and the players that were part of Ares’s temple turned their heads.

As the sounds got louder, they were able to hear it more clearly. Only then did the rankers realize there was a commotion happening outside and began to get nervous.

“Is it an invasion?”

“Wait, could it be Asgard?”

Everyone knew that the relationship between Olympus and Asgard hadn’t been that good recently. Because of this, one of the “Big Three Gods,” Poseidon, ended up being imprisoned in Asgard’s underground prison as well.

Fortunately, due to the fact that it was Zeus who had captured and handed Poseidon over, they could avoid war, but the situation seemed like an unstable bomb that could go off at any moment.

“No,” Ares continued to remain seated as he shook his head, “It’s only one person.”

Bang—!

The door didn’t open. It was broken in.

The broken door flew for a few meters and skidded on the floor. Then the corpses of the players guarding outside appeared, and the stench of blood filled the room.

Step—

Two people walked in through the broken entry. It was YuWon and Arthur.

“Two people…?”

As the two walked in, which was different from what Ares had said, the worshippers snuck glances at him. Ares had been wrong, and even they themselves could tell.

‘
Something was wrong.

“Look carefully, you idiots.” Noticing their glances, Ares clicked his tongue in disappointment and looked around at the people there. “It’s one person and an Undead.”

“An Undead…”

“Ah!”

Arthur stood next to YuWon. From the ice-attribute mana continuously leaking from his body, the stench of an Undead could be felt.

Only then did they realize what Ares meant by ‘one person.’ Arthur was simply YuWon’s summon.

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“But something’s weird.” Excitement returned to Ares’s eyes as he looked at YuWon. “I feel like I’ve seen that face before.”

“I asked to convey a message, but they just charged at me with their weapons.” YuWon flicked off the blood on his sword.

His eyes turned upwards, taking in the wide-open ceiling that was characteristic of Olympian temples.

And then his eyes met Ares’s, who was sitting in the highest seat.

“Who are you?”

“Kim YuWon.”

After revealing his name, YuWon pointed his sword at Ares.

“I came here to fight you.”

“What did you…?”

“Do you know who you are standing before!”

“If it’s Kim YuWon, isn’t he that fearless player who recently started picking fights with Olympus?”

“No matter how fearless…”

The rankers that were gathered there one by one began to draw out their mana, aiming hostility at YuWon. A few of them lashed out with their mana intentionally to attack YuWon too.

But…

“Then do you know who you are standing before?”

Crunch—!

Cr-Crack—!

Icy mana exploded out as Arthur took a step forward, freezing their strength. The hall instantly froze as if in the middle of a long winter, and silence took over the room.

‘
“Ice-attribute mana…”

“That sword!”

“Is it… the ‘King of Knights’?”

Due to some rankers recognizing Arthur, the tension in the air grew thicker.

On top of that, unlike YuWon who was a newly rising player, Arthur was a high-ranking ranker who founded Britain. The fact that Arthur was wielding his sword against them was definitely threatening.

“I’ve only heard the stories. It’s my first time seeing it.”

It was a known fact that Arthur had reappeared in Britain. At that time, the number of knights in The Round Table was over a hundred, and it was impossible to stop all of them from talking about it.

Including Olympus, many of the major guilds with outstanding information networks knew that YuWon had Arthur under him.

“Then, can I see this as a challenge from The Round Table?”

“Since The Round Table is under Asgard, this may be…”

“No, we need to view Arthur as a separate entity as he has become an Undead. In the end, this is just that fearless kid acting independently.”

“Tch. Are you doing this because you have Arthur?”

“Don’t you know where this is…”

Although they were saying that, none of them moved rashly from their seats. They knew that YuWon was an enemy of Olympus, but as long as Arthur was standing in front of him, he wouldn’t be an easy opponent.

However…

“Are your eyes just for show?” Ares himself wasn’t looking at Arthur but at YuWon behind him. “That guy looks easy to deal with, right?”

He stood up from his seat.

Ares’s face was much brighter than during the meeting. He seemed to find excitement in this situation filled with the smell of blood as he looked at YuWon with a much livelier expression.

“What brings you here? You came to fight me?”

“It’s good that at least you understand my words.” YuWon nodded. “That’s right. I’m here to fight you. I heard that within Olympus, you never turn down an opportunity to fight or go to war.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Because I love fighting.”

“That’s a relief. Those guys over there tried to stop me from meeting you.”

“Those lowly ones did something unnecessary. I would’ve faced you if they had just guided you here. Haha!”

In any case, Ares seemed to welcome YuWon’s visit. Although hundreds of his subordinates had spilled their blood and died, that was just an afterthought to him. He just found this situation fun.

“But will you be alright? Unlike those guys outside, there are a lot of rankers here.”

There were more than ten rankers. Other than them, there were also about forty or so players who had been brought from outside. They did outnumber him by quite a bit, and their skills were nothing to scoff at either.

YuWon looked around at them and then shrugged. “Let’s fight without the small fry.”

“What…?!”

“You really don’t know how high the heavens are, brat!”

“Sir Ares! There’s no need for you to fight yourself! We will…”

Bang—!

Rumble—

The heavy impact shook the temple. Ares’s subordinates were startled and lifted their heads.

‘
“What do I hate the most in the world?”

The white of his eyes turned red. His eyes were filled with anger as he looked around the hall emitting waves of bloodlust.

“It’s interfering in my fight. Don’t you know?”

“W-We apologize.”

“Y-yeah. Let’s be careful.”

Step, step—

Ares walked down the stairs.

As he descended the one hundred steps one by one, the pressure in the room grew heavier and heavier. Due to the weight that was pushing down on their shoulders, some lowered their bodies and even had to kneel.

He had probably finished preparing to fight.

After coming down all the steps, Ares looked at YuWon at the entryway. Arthur stepped aside from in front of him, and their eyes met.

“You want to fight me?”

“Not just fight.”

“Then?”

“The winner will get everything the loser has.”

“Everything?” Ares looked uninterested. “I don’t have anything I want from you though?”

“Looks like you’re truly not that smart, just like the rumors say.”

“What?”

“There’s no way you don’t know what I have, right?”

“What you have…”

Ares’s eyes flashed open.

The eyes of all the rankers that were there widened as well.

Among the things that YuWon possessed, there was one that even high-rankers desired. The item that the God of the Sea Poseidon wanted, the item that was rumored to bestow the power of a god to the owner.

The 「Stone of the Sea,」 the 「Divine Sea Crystal.」

The fact that YuWon had that item was known to all rankers of Olympus.

“You’ll really put that on the line?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like you’re confident in your victory. Well, since you came here risking your life, an item is nothing.”

There was greed in Ares’s eyes for the first time. He, who had been born to Zeus and Hera, had lived his entire life getting everything he wanted. However, not even he could simply obtain the 「Stone of the Sea」 just because he wanted to.

“Sure, alright.”

Naturally, he could only accept.

“It’s customary to take spoils of war. I’ll kill you and take the Stone of the Sea off your body as proof.”

Boom—

Ares stomped his foot.

‘
“Everyone, stand back. I want to fight that guy alone.”

It was as YuWon had heard.

An aggressive and prideful personality. He enjoyed fighting and was stupidly courageous.

At Ares’s command, the few subordinates that were hesitating moved, and a big circle was formed in the middle of the temple.

“Alright. This should be enough.”

YuWon looked at Ares who seemed to be smiling with satisfaction. He held a sword and a short spear in his hands and was leisurely humming a tune.

Ares. The high-ranker of Olympus who symbolized war and combat.

Although he had enough influence to create a faction within Olympus, it hadn’t even been ten years since he had become a high-ranker. Of course, in regards to talent, he was within the top five rankers of Olympus, but his ranking wasn’t that much more impressive compared to rankers of other factions.

“Arthur.”

“Yes.”

“Swat away all the ones that try to interfere.”

“I heed your command.”

Arthur bowed at the waist and then kept the rankers nearby in check. Although there were more than ten of them, it wasn’t so much that Arthur couldn’t handle them. He had obtained Lancelot’s body and had sworn complete loyalty with his soul on the line. At least until YuWon ran out of mana, Arthur would be able to fight at the full capacity of his prime.

“What, the ‘King of Knights’ isn’t fighting with you?” Ares seemed a little disappointed.

His eyes turned to look at Arthur who was keeping vigilance against his subordinates.

The “King of Knights.” The historical ranker who had established The Round Table and founded Britain.

Ares wanted to clash swords with him once.

“It’ll be a little disappointing facing just you.”

There was no need to even talk about YuWon’s skills at this point.

The amount of damage he had done to Olympus was incomparable within the last few thousand years of its history. But compared to the damage, it was still unknown if YuWon had the level of skill similar to that of a high-ranker.

“Why don’t you use your Undead? Aren’t you a necromancer?”

Necromancy was a rare ability. There probably weren’t even a dozen if you searched the entire Tower.

That was why, once YuWon’s ability became known, Olympus could only predict YuWon’s potential to be many times higher than average.

That was the reason Ares found YuWon interesting as well. However…

“No.”

YuWon didn’t have any intention of calling upon the dead or using the abilities of “King of the Dead.”

“I would be cheating if I used that.”

There were two reasons. The first was that he was confident he could win even if he didn’t use those abilities. And second…

“There’s a pretty strong one.”

Just as he said, it really would be cheating. That one still needed to be hidden for now.