Leveling with the Gods

C385

After numerous Rankers joined forces to drive Shub-Niggurath out on the first floor, the busiest agency remained the Ranking Office.

Since that day, there were several changes in the rankings.

Odin's ranking didn't change at all.

The rankings of Zeus and Son OhGong increased significantly, to the point where their names were mentioned more frequently than anyone else in the world.

YuWon's ranking also increased.

Although he wasn't on the same level as High-Rankers like Zeus and Son OhGong, in terms of the increase in his ranking, YuWon clearly stood out.

He went from being ranked 50th to reaching the 38th position.

On the other hand...

There were High-Rankers whose rankings decreased due to the previous battle.

Satan was one of them.

Crunch-.

YuWon's grip closed around Satan's arm as the latter tried to strike him. YuWon, with his increased strength, bent Satan's arm in the opposite direction.

Crack-!

It sounded as if a thick tree trunk had snapped.

Satan screamed in pain as his arm was twisted.

"Argh!"

"They say your ranking dropped to 16th place."

Thump-!

Satan's foot collided with YuWon's chest.

YuWon was sent flying, although the impact was mitigated, and he didn't suffer serious damage.

["Blessing of the Sea" is activated in your body.]

There were means to protect his body during battle, so the impact wasn't as severe.

"You lost an arm and your wings."

The arm and wings.

Satan lost a lot in the last battle.

Losing the wings, in particular, was significant.

Both wings were the very source of his power, and their fall deeply affected his ranking.

Of course...

Even if that were true, a single-digit High-Ranker wouldn't be defeated so easily.

Crack-.

A long, shallow wound opened on YuWon's chest.

Blood splattered upward, almost at the same time as Satan's arm was being broken...

'It's fast.'

Even with just one wing, Satan was still Satan.

Although their bodies were completely opposite in terms of size, Satan's physical strength rivaled that of Hercules.

Or even more.

His body's endurance was probably even greater.

Krrrack-!

A Lightning Bolt fell from the sky.

Satan's body trembled momentarily. Taking advantage of that opportunity, YuWon retreated and watched Satan recover.

This wouldn't end easily.

He remained standing after being struck by a Lightning Bolt.

'This has no end.'

If they dragged this out for too long, they would eventually reach a conclusion. If he kept throwing Lightning Bolts and eroding Satan's body with Dark Arcane Power, openings would appear.

But before that happened, if he were the first to fall.

YuWon didn't want to fight uncertainly.

So.

"I've thought about it."

Swoosh-.

YuWon pulled out a shield made of mirrors from his inventory.

[Yata's Mirror]

A shield composed of numerous faces, a treasure coveted by the Three Precious Children.

And in his other hand...

"What method is there to get through your solid body?"

Buzz, buzz-.

An item that had slipped from Satan's hand.

Nir activated.

"Of course, the safest thing is this."

Ziiiiing-.

At the same time, the light emitted by Yata's Mirror.

['Yata's Chamber' has been created]

Ziing, Zzzhezzehzzehzz-.

Zzzhezzehzzehzz-.

Numerous mirrors formed around YuWon and Satan. Walls and ceilings made of mirrors. The numerous surfaces reflected YuWon's image holding Nir.

Thousands, tens of thousands of spears.

Satan's eyes widened at the sight.

"No!"

Zzzeung-!

Breaking a nearby mirror with his fist, Satan lunged at YuWon.

Nir was such a powerful item that it could tear through Satan's arm. It was obvious that the flow of the battle would change the moment it activated. But...

Zzzeeng, Zzzzeung, Zzzzezzz-!

No matter how many mirrors he shattered.

Satan couldn't find YuWon.

Instead, due to the shattered fragments, more images of YuWon became visible.

He couldn't keep breaking mirrors indefinitely with simple punches.

Finally, Satan changed tactics.

Tzztzztzztzztzz-.

Darkness emanated from Satan's body and began to devour the mirrors.

Light was necessary for the mirrors to function.

So, the mirrors were swallowed by darkness one by one, concealing YuWon's image within.

The mirrors disappeared into the darkness.

However...

Paz, Pazijizijzi-.

During that time, Nir was already prepared.

Woosh-.

Satan lunged toward YuWon.

He had to stop YuWon's movement before he started throwing the spear.

But...

-Don't call something like this so soon!

Swooosh-.

Until a moment ago, a strong wind blew from the mirror reflecting YuWon.

Swoosh-.

Amidst the gusts of wind, flashes of red light.

-It's Satan.

Kwuuuuuu-.

At that moment, Susanoo was preparing a skill while holding a Kusanagi with the Magatama Jewel.

"He seems like a delightful opponent."

Kwut-!

[Violent Storm]

A strong wind carried thousands and thousands of blades that surrounded and enveloped Satan's body.

Satan's advancing body was pushed back by the strong wind. The storms piled up on top of each other, forming a gigantic castle and leaving many marks on Satan's sturdy body.

Slash, slash, slash-.

They were small wounds, small enough to be considered scratches.

But as they accumulated and pierced, they finally managed to break through Satan's body.

Tsuuuuh-!

"Ah..."

Satan groaned as he trembled in pain from the wound on his waist.

The same spot had been cut dozens, even hundreds of times. However, the wounds were only deep enough to be considered the size of a fingernail.

And that was also possible thanks to Kusanagi's technique.

Susanoo, who used the skill, finally stuck out his tongue.

-He's quite resilient.

The Violent Storm was Susanoo's most destructive ability. It consumed a significant amount of Arcane Power, and Susanoo unleashed the skill at its maximum power without worrying about the amount of Arcane Power he had.

YuWon, who had a large reserve of Arcane Power, had enough Arcane Power for it.

In that way, for a brief period...

While Susanoo continued to delay time.

Crack-.

[Nir is activating]

In the distance, a spear that would pierce Satan's body was ready.

Flash-!

[Satan disappears from the rankings. What did he hope to achieve...?]

[Zeus, the supreme god, returns to Olympus. Hades suddenly disappears, saying, "It's time to go higher."]

[Is Satan's death the work of someone? Some believe it was a secret act of a Hidden High-Ranker.]

News reports multiplied.

All because of Satan's corpse lying on the 93rd floor.

And among other news.

[Kim YuWon, the High-Ranker, advances to the 93rd floor. Enters the 94th floor in the shortest time]

[A 'true' High-Ranker stands before us. About Kim YuWon...]

YuWon had barely responded to journalists' interviews until now.

Therefore, a series of articles based on speculations and unconfirmed facts started.

[An unexpected rise in the rankings. Kim YuWon dethrones Satan]

[Kim YuWon enters the top 20 of the rankings. A meteoric rise]

[Interview! Meeting with Kim YuWon. In his homeland 'Earth,' he is...]

There were reports claiming that they encountered YuWon unexpectedly, and others speculated about why his ranking was rising.

Who was the Ranker who defeated Satan?

The truth about it was ambiguous.

"If it really was Kim YuWon who caught him, shouldn't he be ranked even higher than 20th place?"

"His increase in ranking is too sudden. Could the Administration be intervening?"

"Intervening? Who are those Administration guys anyway?"

"That's right. How many times have the Great Guilds tried to bribe them? Not even a single coin got through."

"So what are we supposed to do...?"

While opinions about YuWon's ranking were diverse.

"Damn idiots!"

The shouts echoed in the headquarters of the Ranking Office.

"What kind of nonsense are they talking about whether Kim YuWon killed Satan or not? What the hell is going on?"

"There's evidence, but..."

"What evidence? Shouldn't there be a record in the system?"

"Yes, there's a record. That's what complicates things."

"Complicates things?"

The Administration was also in a state of confusion. (Note: From now on, I'll refer to the Ranking Office as the Administration)

It was evident that YuWon and Satan had fought. The problem was whether the fight was one-on-one, one against many, or in what condition Satan was.

With an Administrator dead and the Outer Gods beginning to move officially, the Administration was understaffed and under-resourced. The only way to verify was through the system records and the "eyes" scattered throughout the Tower by some Envoys.

"Damn... So does that mean they raised Kim YuWon's ranking this way because they couldn't do it properly?"

"What else could we do? We couldn't just not increase his ranking."

"Are you saying we should do it now? Hey!"

"It's not about that... Uh, uh!"

As a result, there was a great commotion in the Administration because of this.

The Envoys who handled the 93rd floor were disciplined as a group, and especially the Envoy who last encountered YuWon was demoted to the more challenging world, the "Hell."

And at that moment...

[You have passed the 94th-Floor Trial.]

YuWon continued to advance, floor after floor.

And so, he climbed the Tower.

[You have passed the 95th-Floor Trial.]

[You have passed the 96th-Floor Trial...]

[You have passed the 97th-Floor Trial...]

[...]

[You have reached the 99th floor.]

Finally, YuWon challenged the Tower's last Trial.

"You've climbed quickly."

The Administrator of the 99th Floor.

The one overseeing the most challenging Trial known so far.

YuWon stepped forward to him.

"Let's begin at once."

From the 93rd floor to the 99th floor.

YuWon continued to ascend the Tower, facing the Administrators' Trials without pause.

He scored perfectly on all Trials. His determination to climb the Tower without stopping was like an unstoppable locomotive.

"There's no time, right?"

The Administrator also acknowledged YuWon's urgency.

Tsutsu, tsutsutsu...

The world centered around the Administrator and YuWon began to take on a different color.

A phenomenon that heralded the beginning of the Trial.

"Perhaps this Trial is a bit different from what you knew."

The 99th Floor Trial was a Trial that distinguished between normal players and Rankers.

More than half of the Players who reached the 99th floor failed to pass this Trial and fell into despair or, worse, died.

Furthermore, the difficulty of the Trial varied for each player, and simply being strong did not guarantee becoming a Ranker.

That's why Rankers were sometimes called that in the Tower.

The Chosen Ones.

Gooo...

Before YuWon's eyes appeared a gigantic goat-like creature.

Although it was slightly different in size and shape, the creature's appearance resembled the Outer God that appeared on the 1st floor, Shub-Niggurath.

And in the next moment...

"I hope you pass the Trial..."

Szzz...

A red line was drawn vertically on the body of the gigantic goat.

Chaaa...

The form of the creature that had appeared as an opponent in the Trial disappeared completely. This meant its complete annihilation as an opponent in the Trial.

And at that moment...

[You have passed the 99th-Floor Trial.]

[You have obtained 1,000,000 points.]

[You have passed all Tower Trials.]

[You have reached the 100th floor in the shortest possible time.]

[You have obtained 5,000,000 points...]

[...]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your ranking will be measured by the Administration.]

[Your ranking already exists.]

YuWon officially became a Ranker.