Leveling with the Gods

C346

"Now we really must stop."

The Giants sat by the mountain.

Amidst their commotion, an elder opened his mouth.

The inside of the room instantly became silent. All eyes turned to the Giant who had just spoken.

It was Urpha.

"After such a long time, you came here to say something... Is that all?"

"A noble who stayed buried in a rural village. Why did you suddenly come here?"

"Urpha, I'm warning you, if you say something like that again... I'll break your legs with a single blow."

The Giants gathered there were all High-Rankers who held a place among the Giants.

None of them were afraid of Urpha.

In fact, some even mocked him among themselves.

Anyway, he was just a former High-Ranker who had retired long ago and whose name was being forgotten.

"The fight is already over. Continuing will only shed more blood."

"Urpha!"

"I told you to stop!"

"Have you forgotten? You lost your comrades to Poseidon, that bastard."

Indeed, Urpha lost a lot in the fight against Poseidon.

Many Giants were submerged in the water and crushed by the water pressure. Those events were still a nightmare for Urpha.

It was a past he definitely couldn't forget.

"But that doesn't mean..."

However, that couldn't be the reason to continue with the Gigantomachy.

"I can't let the children who are still alive die too, can I?"

Urpha's voice showed no hesitation.

The fact that he came here after a long time since the end of the Gigantomachy demonstrated his determination.

The other Giants knew it too, so no more long words were needed.

"It seems there's no other option."

"If we don't agree, there's nothing we can do. Urpha, if you came here to convince us, you should go back."

"Yes. Even if that means preventing something really dangerous from happening."

Their responses made Urpha's eyes momentarily filled with regret.

Was there really no other option?

The relationship between Olympus and the Giants had deteriorated too much to be resolved through dialogue.

Now it was like a river that could no longer be turned back.

"It's a disappointing end."

It was then that an unfamiliar voice was heard.

The gazes of the Giants, who were looking at Urpha with stern eyes, turned toward the direction of the voice.

Though he couldn't be compared to the giants, among the humans, he was quite tall and burly, dressed in heavy armor covered in battle scars.

Somewhere, he seemed to have suffered some injury, as the armor he wore was completely full of dents.

"If only we could have resolved this by talking, we could have ended it without anyone getting hurt," the man said.

"Who the hell are you...?"

"Wait a moment..."

As some Giants tried to get up from their seats, the largest Giant sitting in their midst opened his mouth.

"Don't move. None of you."

Silence~

With just one word, he halted the movements of the other Giants.

That giant was about the size of a mountain.

Gigäntes.

Of the three most powerful Giants, who held a position similar to the Three Great Gods in Olympus.

He was just one of them.

"I heard you, Zeus, were exiled from Olympus."

Zeus and Gigäntes.

The two had been fighting for a long time. Their relationship had been tense long before the start of the Gigantomachy.

But...

Zeus, who was exiled, had come alone to the Giant's World.

"That's right."

"Did you come back to reclaim the Olympus you abandoned?"

Undoubtedly, Zeus had been eliminated from this fight. He was exiled from Olympus. Hades and Hercules led that, and the fallen king was no longer a king.

"No, there's nothing regrettable that ties me there."

"And then?"

"I came by someone's request."

Crackle...

Zeus began to unleash a Golden Lightning Bolt from the tips of his fingers.

"I hate accumulating debts. Especially many debts."

"This guy..."

"How dare you come here?"

The Giants stood up from their seats.

The frenzy of the Giants was unleashed instantly against Zeus. There were over ten High-Ranker Giants and a large army of Giants surrounding him, ready for battle.

This was the enemy's battlefield.

"You came to fight against us?"

Gigäntes did not stop the other Giants.

It was Zeus who first prepared for the fight and provoked the Bolt.

If possible, he didn't want to make him an enemy again, but there was no reason to avoid the impending battle.

And then...

"If necessary."

Zeus had come here to fight.

He had already made his mental preparation, even if they didn't understand.

Zeus had already left behind any hesitation about Olympus. It was strange that he had returned, but it was even stranger that he came back at someone's request.

Who was Zeus?

He was the one who turned Olympus into a Grand Guild. Zeus was not someone who acted at someone else's request.

"What were you asked to do?"

"I was asked to leave them alone. To prevent the Gigantomachy from happening again."

"You want to stop the Gigantomachy? You, of all others?"

Gigäntes' strange words made Zeus nod.

"That's right."

Normally, Zeus would have considered this request absurd.

But this time was different.

Flash!

"No one else but me, Zeus...!"

A Golden Lightning Bolt flowed from the tips of his fingers.

The power of the Bolt quickly expanded among the giants.

Flash!

Crackle!

...

The sound was muffled.

In an instant, one of the peaks of the mountains where the Giants were resting disappeared. The Giants who were screaming lost consciousness and collapsed in place with their bodies charred.

It was truly an event that occurred in the blink of an eye.

Although the fight had begun, the place fell completely silent.

No one dared to rush toward Zeus immediately. That included Gigäntes, who had fought against Zeus for a long time.

Tap~

Zeus, casting a Bolt from the tips of his fingers, moved even closer to the Giants.

"I came here to warn you."

It was an arrogance in itself.

However, no one dared to point out Zeus as arrogant.

"Now it's your turn to choose."

Crack, Thud.

Thick dark clouds covered the sun in the sky.

From there, loud thunders roared down.

Crack, Crackle~

Golden streams flowed from Zeus's body.

It wasn't the first time they had seen this.

They had even seen it several times, even in their dreams.

Zeus's Bolt was like a symbol of terror to the Giants.

But...

'It's become even more monstrous.'

As much as it was like that, it wasn't enough.

Kurung, Kururur.

A loud rumble echoed in the sky.

Gigäntes realized.

It wasn't just a simple natural disaster. All these thunders and lightning in the sky were like an innumerable number of spears in Zeus's hands.

"Are you going to fight me?"

Zeus, who had infiltrated alone into the territory of the Giants.

Holding countless spears, he spoke to them.

"Or will you stop here?"

Zeus moved to stop the Giants.

After learning that fact, Hercules calmed down in a way that seemed unrecognizable.

As he moved in the Sun Chariot, Hercules closed his eyes to rest his tired body.

The wound on his arm where the medicine had been applied had improved considerably in just a day. The flesh that was clinging and the bones that were exposed had properly healed and were no longer bleeding.

"You should recognize at least one thing about your resilient body."

No matter when he saw it, his physique was astonishing.

It couldn't be described how tough he was, and his recovery ability was remarkably fast, as if he had used a skill.

Of course, that didn't please him either.

Booong.

Hercules shook his bandaged arm.

A rather strong wind blew along his arm. The wound that had barely closed opened up, and blood gushed out between the bandages.

"Hey, what...?"

"There's still a long way to go."

Booong.

Once again.

Hercules shook his arm.

Thus, once again, he made an expression he didn't like.

"As I thought."

"..."

Has any desire for power arisen from this incident?

If that's the case, it would be welcome.

If there was a maximum flaw in Hercules, it might be that he had no desires.

Thud-.

The Sun Chariot landed on the ground.

Above, a dark sky could be seen. A nauseating and damp smell. And below, the black earth that looked as black as the night sky.

They had arrived.

To Hell.

"Let's go."

Yu Won took the first step.

"Yes."

Hercules followed.

YuWon looked around Hell. He didn't know he would come back here.

The most inhospitable land for life in this Tower.

That was Hell, and YuWon also avoided this world.

Thud, thud-.

Hercules followed Yu Won's quick steps to somewhere.

"Do you know where you're going?"

The last of Hercules' Twelve Labors was to defeat King Cerberus.

It was unknown whether the hunt itself was difficult or easy, but the problem was that there was no immediate way to know where King Cerberus was.

But YuWon took confident steps as if the path was predetermined.

"I don't know where King Cerberus is."

"Then..."

"However, there's someone who might know."

"Someone who might know?"

A man who knows where King Cerberus is.

Yu Won descended into the Underworld without fully answering Hercules' question. In any case, he would find out everything once he arrived.

One step after another.

The path leading underground.

Hercules felt a familiar sensation somewhere.

"It's the place I've been before."

It was a long time ago.

When he climbed the Tower and finally reached Hell.

It was the path he trod to meet his grandfather, Hades.

At that time, numerous Cerberus pounced on him.

He fought for three days and three nights, subduing them all.

And before that Hercules.

"Are you Hercules?" (Hades)

One of the Three Gods of Olympus.

Hades revealed himself.

As if waiting for Hercules to subdue all the Cerberus.

"Zeus must be proud of you."

That was the first encounter between Hercules and Hades.

How much nervousness he had felt at the appearance of the God of Death he had only heard about. Until that moment, Hades and Hercules were as different as heaven and earth.

Grrrr.

Grr.

Cerberus could be seen baring their fangs towards Hercules and YuWon from various places.

They were fearful.

Hercules, who had subdued them a long time ago.

And YuWon, who had written the same history.

Being together was enough to instill fear in them.

But...

'They don't run away.'

Although the Cerberus were afraid, they didn't hesitate to show their fangs.

And finally, Hercules realized.

Clack.

Stopping his steps, he looked at the Cerberus baring their fangs at them.

"It was real."

The presence guarded by the countless Cerberus beneath the floor of Hell.

He finally had certainty.

"He's still alive."