Leveling with the Gods

C311

Despite the urgent situation they were in, Chronos looked considerably worried.

It was a pressing situation, but YuWon and Odin didn't press him.

And in that wait, Chronos reanimated as he nodded his head.

"... We must return to Olympus."

Upon Chronos' words, Odin traced a symbol in the air with his hand.

Along with the magical symbol that appeared following his gesture, the three people disappeared from the place.

The landscape changed in the blink of an eye.

Although they hadn't traveled a great distance, they returned to Olympus once more.

And not at the center of the city.

'The royal palace, is it this?'

They arrived at a majestic palace surrounded by high walls.

YuWon had visited the royal palace of Olympus several times. However, the palace that soared up to the sky and the palace in front of him seemed to have completely opposite natures.

'It's vast.'

The royal palace of Olympus was located on the outskirts of the city.

It was large enough to believe it was not just a palace but a small city.

Step, step~

Chronos headed towards the entrance of the palace without saying a word.

YuWon and Odin followed him.

And then...

"Wait."

The Rankers guarding the entrance of the palace blocked Chronos' path.

There was no one who didn't know Chronos among the Rankers. Chronos also knew their faces.

But still, they stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"The King has given us orders."

"The King? Do you mean the Great Father?"

"Yes."

"Has he ordered not to let us pass? Me and everyone else?"

"Yes. That's what he has ordered."

It was an incomprehensible order.

Olympus doesn't belong to anyone. This was Olympus, a land where everyone was equal and free.

Especially at a time like this.

"... He has already started to move."

Step~

Chronos started advancing again.

The Rankers stumbled backward from the force. The startled Rankers raised their voices.

"Prince!"

"Get out of my way, I don't want to hurt you."

"You can't do this..."

"It's the Great Father who shouldn't be doing this!"

Grrrrr...

The Rankers' legs trembled. Chronos, who looked at them as they knelt and fell to the ground, passed through the palace gate.

Odin made a gesture to the gate guards.

Then, the gate guards fell into slumber. It was the best way to silently pass unnoticed.

"We've already intervened."

"So we can consider that there's no one inside the castle."

Entering the interior of the castle, YuWon felt perplexed by the tranquil atmosphere that was perceived.

"But why here?"

He was sure that Uranus' next target would be Tartarus.

However, Chronos had returned to the castle instead of going to Tartarus.

Why?

"We should hurry and go up to the 44th floor, don't you think? We don't have time to be here now."

"What are you talking about?"

As if saying something absurd, Odin looked at YuWon.

"This is the 44th floor."

"What?"

With a dull thud, he felt something fall on his head.

The floor where the ancient Olympus was located was the 44th floor.

The 44th floor that YuWon knew was so desolate and dark that it was known as the "Hell."

Most Players considered it merely as a path to the upper world, as it was extremely difficult to live there.

The only Ranker who managed to adapt and live in that hell was Hades.

But...

'Is this the Hell?'

This realm?

The interior of the majestic castle, composed of beautiful paintings and shining marble, came into YuWon's view.

And not just here.

Outside the castle were countless people, and all of them had smiles on their faces.

The sky was blue, and beautiful flowers bloomed all over the village. This world full of life didn't fit at all with the concept of a Hell.

'Now that I think about it...'

A scene passed fleetingly through YuWon's mind.

"Before, it wasn't like this." (Chronos)

The 44th Floor.

That was what Chronos had murmured during the battle against the Outer Gods in Hell.

At that time, he didn't pay much attention to those words. After all, many worlds had been left in ruins due to the battle against the Outer Gods, so it wasn't something worth worrying about.

Moreover, Hell couldn't get any worse.

'It seems this is what he meant by those words.'

Hell was a much more habitable world than YuWon had realized.

The ancient Olympus. It was not much different from other floors and even turned out to be a much more pleasant place to live.

Something had happened in this land.

An event so significant that it would change an entire world.

And at the end of that event...

'What the hell happened here?'

This world would soon turn into that "Hell" that YuWon knew.

Step, step~

Footsteps echoed against the ceiling.

Chronos' steps quickened.

"There's not even a rat here."

That's what Odin, who was following them, said.

The stairs led to the palace's underground. No matter how much they descended, the end of the stairs was not in sight.

"How far have we descended?"

"It must be at least hundreds of floors."

YuWon answered Odin's question.

Although the exact depth was unknown, the stairs leading to the underground extended so long that if they pointed upwards, they would probably reach the clouds.

Why had they excavated so deeply underground?

Chronos, who had been silent all the time, opened his mouth at that moment.

"What I will show you from now on is the greatest peculiarity of Olympus."

Peculiarity.

Chronos, whom YuWon knew, was as proud a person as anyone.

Although he was not as righteous as Hercules, he had done nothing to be ashamed of, and he had enough courage to sacrifice himself in the end.

If Chronos said it was a peculiarity, it meant that something significant was hidden in Tartarus.

Sssshhh...

After descending even further, at a moment when no ray of light entered, and they could only feel the touch under their feet, YuWon felt the familiar presence of magic.

"We have arrived."

Chak...

YuWon stopped his steps as he descended the stairs.

It was no longer meaningful to keep walking.

"It's Tartarus."

Ssshhhh...

The stairs that kept going down disappeared. Although the surroundings remained dark, YuWon could sense that there had been a change around him.

This place was not inside the palace or an underground connected by stairs.

The three had arrived in a completely different world, as if they were going up and down the Tower.

And this place was...

[You have entered 'Tartarus']

This was the place YuWon had desired to go so much.

'I didn't expect it to be like this.'

It was not the real Tartarus. It was simply a place created by Uranus' memories and the power of the system.

But if Uranus had been in the real Tartarus, and Chronos knew of the existence of Tartarus, then this place would not be very different from the real Tartarus.

"It gives an unpleasant feeling."

YuWon nodded at Odin's murmur.

It would probably be even more uncomfortable for Odin, who specialized in light and electricity magic.

Mana existed everywhere in the world. Even in seemingly empty air, in water, in fire, in earth and rocks. Even in time. Everything was composed of mana.

Therefore, mana could turn into anything.

But in this Tartarus, only one type of mana was felt.

Darkness.

A place where you felt as if you were being sucked, sucking your mind, just by entering it.

It felt suffocating, as if you couldn't breathe. YuWon had experienced this same feeling before.

Woosh-.

['Golden Cinder Eyes' illuminate the path]

No matter how dark it was, there was always a way to find the path.

Light sprouted from YuWon's eyes. A vast and flat land of red fire and sparkling golden pupils entered his vision.

Odin and Chronos also illuminated their vision in their own way.

Within the illuminated vision, the three could see with greater clarity than before.

The ceiling and the floor were completely black like tar.

At the same time, what caught their attention were the horizontally extending bars.

'A prison?'

An unsettling feeling emanated from the narrow and tight bars.

YuWon and Odin peered inside.

What was inside?

At that moment, there were movements within the bars.

"The son of Uranus, Chronos, greets the Elder Uncles."

Thud.

A heavy sound made the bars tremble.

Eyes appeared behind the bars.

Those eyes were at a much higher height than YuWon, Odin, and Chronos.

-Uranus...

-Did you say Uranus?

-How dare you say that name...

-The son of that man?

Dark souls writhed. As emotions intensified, the images of the Giants trapped in the darkness of Tartarus became clearer.

There were about ten Giants.

It wasn't a large number. YuWon had seen several giants before, and he had even fought an army of Giants in Ragnarok that numbered in the tens of thousands.

Even so, the strength of these Giants was special.

Each of them possessed power similar to that of Gigäntes.

If these Giants were to come out into the outside world, there would be a drastic change in the Tower's ranking.

All the Giants here could occupy the top one hundred positions in the ranking.

Thud, thud.

-It's you again, Chronos!

-Come here!

-You should be locked up here too!

-Bring Uranus! He must know this pain!

-From Tartarus, we...!

Shouts like heart-wrenching cries resonated in their ears. Feelings of injustice and resentment mingled with those cries and seeped through the bars.

Chronos opened his mouth with a voice that seemed like he was about to vomit.

"They are my father's brothers."

The brothers of Uranus were trapped in Tartarus.

Born as Giants, they were trapped in Tartarus after being defeated in the war against Olympus, and they were eventually devoured by Uranus.

A truly tragic fate.

In the history of Olympus, they were recorded as traitors of Olympus and not as "giants" but as "monsters."

"At first, I also thought these individuals were wrong, that they were too powerful and abused their power; that's what I was taught."

Not only Chronos.

It was a fact known to all Players living in Olympus.

But...

"That wasn't the case."

Chronos later discovered the distorted truth of the history of the other Giants.

And here...

He entered Tartarus and confirmed that fact.

"We used them to establish Olympus. We squeezed them dry and then left them abandoned here."

"But why did you stay silent until now?"

Odin narrowed his eyes.

It was a reproachful gaze asking why, knowing all that, he remained silent.

"I suppose it's too late for regrets now."

However...

Chronos had his reasons too.

"If these individuals get out, Olympus will fall."

He saw a more distant future.

He saw what would happen when the Giants of Tartarus were released.

"There will be bloodshed. There will be war. The Gigantomachy. My father's prophecies about the future will come true."

A war that would lead to the destruction of Olympus. Thinking about it, Chronos couldn't free the Giants of Tartarus.

It was then.

Step~

"…?"

YuWon took a step towards the bars.

What is he trying to do?

Chronos and Odin's gazes turned to YuWon.

YuWon extended his hand toward the bars.

[The dead adore you].

[Tartarus adores the 'King of the Dead'].

Gigantomachy?

The fall of Olympus?

'It's all over anyway.'

If everything continues like this, those events will surely occur.

Tartarus must be freed.

That was the only way to overcome this Trial.

THUD!