Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 102

[Player Kim YuWon has passed the test.]

That was the message that appeared on the test examiner player kit.

For Theseus, who had been waiting for a long time, the message was like a lightning bolt out the blue.

‘He passed?’

His gaze shook slightly. He even checked again to see if he had seen something wrong, but it wasn’t an illusion.

“Something happen?”

Suhtahr didn’t miss the slight change in Theseus’s expression.

“Looks like something didn’t go like you wanted?”

“What damned…”

Before Theseus could swear, he stopped as he noticed Suhtahr had turned his head to the side.

“…?”

Theseus’s gaze also turned in the direction that Suhtahr’s had. It was in the direction of the ocean where the Sea Turtle was.

Shwooo—

The Sea Turtle’s head dropped, and Theseus doubted his eyes again. He had definitely confirmed the contents of the message just now, but seeing it with his own two eyes, he couldn’t believe reality.

Pang—!

The head of the Sea Turtle falling into the ocean created a great tsunami, and the sea water that shot upwards fell back down like rain.

Tshuu—

The rain soaked Theseus’s hair, and the cold water awoke him from his daze. He felt as if he had just barely returned to reality.

‘A 20th Floor player actually defeated…’

Just how many monsters must have been inside the body of the Sea Turtle? He couldn’t even begin to guess. There were probably thousands, no, tens of thousands in there.

To find the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 inside the body of such a beast, was it really possible?

‘That’s a test that not even Rankers are able to pass.’

He had naturally thought that even if Kim YuWon was incredible, he wouldn’t be able to pass this test. That was why Theseus thought to make his move after YuWon failed the test. If he interfered at that point, the Administrators wouldn’t interfere with him either. However…

‘Damn it.’

Crunch—

Theseus shouted, “Find Kim YuWon!”

“Yes, sir!”

Suhtahr didn’t stay still either.

“Stop them!”

“Yes!”

The Rankers from both the Giants and Olympus moved at once. As the Rankers from the Giants moved to stop him, Theseus glared at them in rage.

“If you don’t move aside now, history will repeat itself,” he said.

“If we move now, it will again be our defeat,” Suhtahr replied.

“Are you saying you don’t care if the Gigantomachy occurs again?”

“Wasn’t this in preparation for that? Don’t even think that such a threat will work on us.”

Suhtahr unsheathed his blade, the sword burning furiously with the fire that represented one of the highest-ranked High-Rankers and the person at the center of the great disaster Ragnarök, Surtr.

“Let’s put an end to this here, Theseus.”

Fwoosh—

The surrounding air became boiling in an instant. The sky turned crimson, and the ground that was cold from the rain became hot. The world started to heat up from Suhtahr’s Arcane Power.

‘He’s serious.’

Theseus suddenly thought back to the Gigantomachy. He had clashed against Suhtahr three times, but they could never finish the fight. Because the Giants were always on the losing side, Suhtahr couldn’t continue and would choose to retreat.

However, Thesues knew that the results of all those fights would have been in his loss. If he fought to the end, he wasn’t confident he could defeat Suhtahr.

“Suhtahr.”

“…?”

“History is repeating and unchanging.”

A crooked smile appeared on Theseus’s face.

And in that instant…

Bubble, bubble—

The center of the ocean started to boil.

Suhtahr, having had an ill-fated relationship with Olympus for a long time, remembered this scene like it was yesterday.

“No way…”

Psshk—!

A huge chariot flew up from under the ocean. It was thickly covered with gold. This chariot that wielded a fire as hot as Suhtahr’s was definitely much smaller than what he remembered, but he clearly recognised it.

“The Sun Chariot…”

“It’s a mass-produced replica, but it looks like you remember.”

It was a copy of the 「Sun Chariot」 that Apollo rode around on.

The 「Sun Chariot」 that shot upwards without a horse pulling it stopped in the sky. Then the doors of the Chariot opened, and ten Rankers stepped out of it.

Rumble—

“What the—Why is it like this here?”

“Hot damn, the weather’s hot.”

“It’s because of that guy.”

“No way, is that Surtr?”

“No, it’s not Surtr.”

“It’s understandable that you’re confused. The children of that guy all look pretty similar.”

“But he definitely changed a lot after becoming a demon.”

“How so?”

“He became more icky.”

The Rankers that got out of the 「Sun Chariot」 started to talk amongst themselves after seeing Suhtahr. They were the Rankers on the side of Poseidon who came after receiving a call from Theseus.

“How’s this?”

Theseus looked upon Suhtahr and the Giant Rankers that came with him and even the young Giants that were hiding behind them.

“Didn’t I say history repeats itself?”

“Theseus, you bastard…”

Crack—

Suhtahr ground his teeth.

“History repeats itself.”

He had heard that phrase from Theseus a disgusting amount of times. He said it in the final fight in the Gigantomachy. After not being able to overcome the difference in numbers, Suhtahr could always only choose to take his other Giant comrades and flee, and that phrase said by Theseus also echoed an untold number of times in his dreams as well.

“Aren’t you ashamed as a son of Poseidon?!”

“When did bastards like you ever take pride in my father? Don’t make me laugh.”

Theseus finally lifted his trident after becoming a bit more relaxed.

While gripping his burning blade, Suhtahr glared at the Rankers who stepped off the Sun Chariot.

There were exactly ten of them. As Rankers of Olympus, all of them were pretty powerful. Even if none of them were High-Rankers on par with Theseus, the other Giants wouldn’t be a match for them.

On top of that, Suhtahr was sure that he was caught by Theseus as well.

‘So again, in the end…’

It was then…

“Gyaaaaaah—!”

A monstrous screech was heard from the direction of the Sea Turtle’s corpse. It was the screams of the sea monsters.

“How noisy.”

“Is it the Sea Snakes?”

“I do see them the most, but that’s not all.”

“I see an Aqua Dragon as well.”

It wasn’t too unusual of a situation. Since there was a fight near the ocean, and the ocean had warmed up considerably because of Suhtahr and the 「Sun Chariot,」 it wasn’t strange to have drawn the attention of the monsters.

There was no need to be alarmed. In the end, they were only monsters that appeared on the 20th Floor. Even if dozens or hundreds of Sea Snakes attacked a single Ranker, it wouldn’t be a difficult task for the Ranker.

However…

“Am I seeing it wrong right now?”

“Why are there so many of them?”

“Are those… all… Sea Snakes?”

…The story changed if the number wasn’t in dozens or hundreds but in the thousands and tens of thousands.

Shwoooosh—

It looked like a tidal wave as the number grew larger and larger.

* * *

Translator – Jreaming

Proofreader – BringTheRayn

* * *

A black wave of Sea Snakes was quickly approaching them.

Inside, there was an occasional Aqua Dragon, Lightning Eel, Angler Fish, Sea Mantis, and other such common monsters mixed in between. On top of that…

“Wh-What’s that?”

“Leviathan! It’s Leviathan!”

“What? Really?”

“What the hell? What’s going on here?”

Leviathan. It was a monster that only appeared a few times in the entirety of the 20th Floor. Normally, it was an entity that was seen on much higher floors, and yet a monster that could be a named boss-rank on the 20th Floor had appeared in a mess like this.

This was a disaster, a disaster that had never happened before.

There was no way these monsters that would kill and be killed by each other would move in unison like this.

‘No way…’

Theseus recalled a legend.

“The one who finds the Stone of the Sea will become the god of the sea.”

It was a legend that had been passed down for a very long time.

When he first heard this, Theseus had snorted. Wasn’t it just an item in the end? No matter how impressive an item was, there was no way one could achieve a level of power befitting that of a god. He had treated it as nonse.

But…

‘It was true.’

The power to rule over everything in the ocean. That was truly none other than the power of the god of the sea.

A flash of greed passed through Theseus’s eyes. He finally understood a little more why Poseidon had searched for the Stone so much. Most legends were nonsensical, but this one had been an exception.

“Gyaaaaaah—!”

A huge snake thrashed against the ocean and flew up into the clouds.

The Leviathan that was also called the Imoogi* of the Sea wasn’t lacking itself in any way to be called the ruler of the sea.

*PR/N: An imoogi is a proto-dragon, a great, hornless lizard comparable to a sea serpent from Korean mythology.

This was Theseus’s first time facing it, and he completely understood that even if he didn’t have the penalty, he wasn’t fully confident he could hunt that beast.

It was then…

Shwaaaaa—

The ocean split in two, and through the middle, someone could be seen leisurely walking out.

“I apologize for saying this while everyone is working hard…”

Step—

“But as you can see, I’m quite tired right now.”

YuWon’s visage that was drenched half in salt water and half in blood was quite amusing. His entire body from his hair to his toes had been drenched, and he looked like a rat dunked in water.

“So I’ll appreciate it if everyone pisses off.”

Vwoong—

A blue light leaked out between the fingers of his fist.

Theseus realized what it was, and his eyes went wide.

‘The Stone of the Sea.’

The item that his father, Poseidon, had looked for for so long and the item that would make him Poseidon’s successor was right there in his hands…

“Let go of it—!”

Bzzzzt—

The penalty flowed through Theseus’s body. It was in reaction to raising his mana and showing hostility against YuWon, a target who wasn’t a Ranker.

Shwaaa—

The water pulled from the ocean started to gather under Theseus’s feet, and after getting on the formed wave, Theseus swiftly glided towards YuWon.

“Theseus—!”

The penalty that started to flow through Theseus’s body wasn’t normal.

He was thinking to grab the Stone from YuWon, no matter if an Administrator was watching or not.

Suhtahr tried to swing his burning blade to stop Theseus in his tracks, but that was only for an instant.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Block Suhtahr!”

The Rankers from the 「Sun Chariot」 all came together to stop Suhtahr’s path, but Suhtahr didn’t hesitate as he swung his sword.

Fwoosh—

The flames that enveloped the sword were as big as a house. An attack that could cleave through a small mountain was coming from Suhtahr’s sword.

“Move, you small fry!”

Thwaack—!

The fierce flame drew a single line and flew at the Rankers blocking Suhtahr’s path, mangling one of their bodies in an instant.

But the difference in numbers couldn’t be overcome that easily.

Bang—!

Suhtahr’s blade couldn’t break through the defense formation of all the Rankers in the end. No matter how strong he was, he still couldn’t defeat ten Rankers with a single strike.

“Damn it!”

Suhtahr quickly retracted his sword, but the Rankers didn’t seem to have any intention of counter-attacking in the first place and solidly stood their ground.

He wouldn’t be able to get through them fast enough at this rate.

‘Since that guy went and passed the test for me, I can’t let the Stone get stolen here…’

Suhtahr looked over at Theseus and YuWon. And in that moment, he saw an unbelievable scene.

“What…?”

Theseus was dropped to the floor with a dazed expression of disbelief on his face, and he saw the form of YuWon standing before Theseus, looking down on him.