Leveling with the Gods

C485

Bang, boom!

A deafening noise echoed in YuWon's ears.

As he slowly opened his eyes, the first thing that came into YuWon's view was Pandora's face.

She opened her mouth to ask something. But YuWon's ears felt as if they had been filled with water, and everything sounded muffled.

As the blurry vision slowly returned, beyond Pandora's shoulder, a purple sky appeared.

It was evident that she was inside Ubbo-Sathla.

YuWon had no idea how much time had passed.

"Are you okay?"

It was at that moment that Pandora's faint voice began to become audible.

Somehow, her way of speaking had been the same for a while.

She seemed to be continuously concerned about his condition.

"What about Hercules?"

Judging by the fact that her voice didn't tremble, she seemed to be in good physical condition.

Well, why would her body be tired after such an intense fight? The problem was the mind, not the body.

"Hercules is..."

"I'm here."

Whizz-.

Something flew over YuWon's head.

It wasn't just one. YuWon quickly extended both hands to catch it.

Two slabs.

Out of the three slabs of Ubbo-Sathla, two gathered here.

"You'd better hurry. It seems it won't stop until we break it."

Thud-!

Boom-.

Son OhGong, and the copies of Son OhGong, pushed the enormous whale flying in the sky with the Ru Yi Bang.

Perhaps because its path was interrupted, the whale in the sky, Ubbo-Sathla, opened a large mouth and emitted a lament.

-Woahhh-!

It was a roar so loud that it echoed in the sky and shook eardrums.

Some Rankers, already weakened by the injuries caused by the sound, even lost consciousness.

Ubbo-Sathla.

It was moving to retrieve the slabs that YuWon held in his hands, ignoring external impacts.

'Can it not be killed by external impact?'

Whether it was an immortal entity or not didn't matter. The only sure way to kill Ubbo-Sathla was to destroy the slabs, that was clear.

But with the possibility that there were secrets about the Outers written on the slabs, and moreover, YuWon's instinct insisted that he should never break the slabs.

'The other...'

While YuWon searched for the last slab wandering with his head...

Swoosh-.

Pandora handed him another slab.

The first one she had obtained.

It was the first time that all three slabs gathered in one place. Since the slabs had irregular shapes, they formed a quite regular and circular shape.

"You really got them all."

YuWon looked at Hercules with surprise.

Although he had some burns and wounds like Pandora's hands all over, he seemed quite unharmed after the fierce battle.

When YuWon's eyes met Hercules's, the corners of his mouth lifted.

Although he seemed tired, Hercules, sweating, responded to YuWon's question.

"You more or less told me the location. Thank Pandora. Because she carried you the whole time."

"Really?"

YuWon looked at Pandora. Tipping his head in gratitude, he thanked her.

'It couldn't have been easy.'

Although Hercules said she only carried him, it probably wasn't that simple.

Inside Ubbo-Sathla's body, many Outers lived as parasites. Even if Hercules was a great fighter, he couldn't deal with all of them while searching for the slabs.

Probably, Pandora's role was to block them and protect him.

And probably, it was Hercules who gathered the three slabs.

The raid on Ubbo-Sathla was carried out in teams. Fortunately, now they knew the location of the slabs, which were considered Ubbo-Sathla's body, but it wasn't a raid that could be done alone.

Still, Hercules succeeded in protecting himself and retrieving the three slabs while YuWon 'slept'.

While he had felt it before.

'It would have been better if Zeus had returned.'

Looking at Hercules's strength, that thought became even stronger.

If Zeus were alive in his future.

And if, instead of him, Zeus had come to the past, it probably would have been a little easier.

Since YuWon learned of Hercules's strength, he started to think about it even more.

Hercules looked at him with slightly strange eyes.

When their eyes met, he asked with a somewhat strange expression.

"Are you okay now?"

He must be worried after suddenly passing out.

"My body is fine. No need to worry."

"No, it's not the body."

Toc, toc-.

Hercules pointed to his head.

"Here is what I mean."

"The head?"

"For a while now, your mind hasn't been present, and you've been muttering incomprehensible words."

"Did I?"

"It was a kind of language that not only this side but also the System couldn't understand."

Bang-!

It was at that moment that a lightning sound was heard.

Quite far away. The distance to which the sound reached could be assumed, even riding on the Flying Nimbus, it would take several minutes.

It was at the same time as the sound...

Hercules became nervous.

"Now that you're awake, I'm leaving."

Saying that, Hercules turned around.

YuWon, who responded like this, saw Hercules's back.

The leather clothing melted halfway sticking to his skin. At a glance, he seemed to be fine, but that was only from the front.

'Of course. He couldn't be fine.'

Even if it was Hercules, the fight with Ubbo-Sathla was intense.

Surely, he needed rest. Even while losing consciousness, Hercules probably fought in life-or-death situations several times.

Puk-.

'I am pathetic.'

Blood flowed as YuWon's lips tore.

Despite moving with the intention to capture Ubbo-Sathla, he pathetically collapsed and was only a burden.

"Pandora."

"Yes."

"You said you could read this, right?"

YuWon showed Pandora the side of the slab with letters.

Pandora double-checked the letters and nodded.

"I've made interpretations when I could."

"So please do it. As quickly as possible."

It couldn't be known what record was inside the slabs.

But something was clear.

['Amorphous Chaos' is interested in the record of 'Amorphous Idiot']

The name Danpung had.

The name that was like the natural enemy of the Outers was interested in the slab in front of them.

Booom-!

A lightning bolt shot up.

In the middle of a completely purple sky. The only place where the sun shone was over the land where the lightning bolt fell.

In the distance, the entire place Hercules could see was filled with golden light.

When the lightning bolt struck his body, Hercules could clearly see how great that power was.

'My father doesn't have this much power.'

Hercules was not aware that, in his mind, Zeus was called his father.

He had only one thing on his mind.

YuWon's story about Zeus was the only thing going around in his head.

"It's probably hard for Zeus to resist for long."

"... Hard? What do you mean?"

"I mean he might die."

During the meal, Hercules almost grabbed YuWon's neck.

Suddenly, why does he say Zeus will die?

Holding the fork and breaking it, Hercules asked.

"Explain it properly."

"The power of the Outers doesn't mix with Arcane Power. The two energies don't mix and, instead, one consumes the other. In short, they become poisonous to each other."

"So, does that mean Arcane Power could win?"

"I don't think the guy I know did anything beneficial for Zeus. He probably injected him with the power of a higher being that Zeus couldn't withstand."

YuWon muttered "probably..." as if remembering something.

Of course, Hercules didn't care who that being was.

Anyway, most of the Outers were unknown even if you heard their Names.

The important thing was time.

"How long can he last?"

"If it's long, ten years. Short, around a year."

"Can a solution be found in that time?"

"I don't know how to kill that thing. Even if we do, I don't know if Zeus will survive."

Originally, YuWon didn't bring up this topic to discuss how to save Zeus.

"Prepare yourself mentally."

If he couldn't bear Zeus's death, he wouldn't know.

The Hercules YuWon knows has as much love as hatred for Zeus.

The Hercules from the future regretted several times for expelling Zeus with his own hands and vowed that he would make the same choice even if he returned to the past.

Hercules could never be indifferent to Zeus's death.

And even more so because the current Zeus was different from the Zeus the future Hercules knew.

Kwak-.

Strength transmitted to his hands.

He wasn't aware of it.

On the contrary, his heart became calmer.

It was then that the lightning bolt exploded.

Crack-!

Bam-!

The lightning bolt that rose into the sky instantly caused a gust of wind.

Although it was the same lightning bolt, it was different in scale.

Hercules slowly stepped back, protecting his body from Zeus's lightning bolt by crossing his arms.

What could be happening at the center of that lightning bolt?

'Father...?'

Is he alive?

Plop-.

Hercules walked slowly toward the center of the lightning bolt.

Unintentionally, with eyes that flashed in gold, Hercules looked toward where Zeus was.

Crack, crack-.

Where the lightning bolt had struck...

Gradually, amid the golden light, the figure of Zeus standing in the middle of it was revealed.

There was no movement.

With one hand outstretched forward, he stood there with no expression on his face.

Where is his opponent?

"...."

Hercules approached Zeus.

Given his large size, Hercules's steps were quite noisy. Therefore, he usually worried about walking with quieter steps.

But not this time.

As if saying "please, listen and look in this direction."

Hercules approached Zeus with louder steps than usual.

"Too late."

A voice that sounded a bit tired.

It wasn't Zeus's voice.

"Way too late."

Hercules paid no attention to that voice.

Instead, he stood in front of Zeus and looked at him.

His eyes, which once shone in gold, had become opaque gray. Although Hercules's body blocked his view, Zeus didn't move.

'Was his stature always this small?'

Somehow, his father felt small today.

His height, his back.

Although Hercules knew he was taller than him in both aspects, he always felt like he was looking up whenever they met.

'I hate my father.'

Looking at Zeus, whose breath had ceased with a calm expression, Hercules almost felt sorry for him.

"Are you angry?"

The one who had killed Zeus, Foolish Chaos, asked.

"... No."

Hercules shook his head.

Zeus was the one who ordered Ares to kill his own mother.

Therefore, he wasn't sad about his death, even after he was dead.

Not a bit.

Not even a bit.

"Then why did you come running?"

"I didn't come running."

Hercules definitely walked.

Surely, his steps were not rushed at all. Therefore, he didn't care at all about Zeus's life.

There was only one reason he came this far.

"Why did you come?"

Crack, crack-.

The Golden Lightning Bolt flowing from Hercules's body.

With his club in hand, he shouted at Foolish Chaos.

"I came to fight, you damn bastard!"