Leveling with the Gods

C355

"Voracious Appetite. Did that guy show up too?"

YuWon looked at the gigantic entity covering the sky.

The creature that had swallowed Zeus' Lightning Bolt.

That creature, called Voracious Appetite, had devoured hundreds of Rankers in the era when YuWon existed.

It wasn't just that one.

There were numerous entities with different names.

'Confused Arrogance, Swampy Agony, Melancholic Confusion... More familiar faces have emerged than I thought.'

Foolish Chaos had planned this seriously.

He had probably created the rift to attract other entities, as he had limitations in using his own strength. But he never imagined he could bring so many.

Of course, Zeus' response was formidable as well.

"I told him to buy some time..."

Kwurr.

YuWon watched the spectacle unfolding before him.

"It seems he doesn't intend to hold back."

Cataclysm (Note: Another name: Celestial Punishment).

Zeus' supreme ability, the most powerful series of lightning bolts.

Using that meant he had no intention of limiting his strength or energy.

"Or maybe..."

Kwarrng.

The beginning of the Cataclysm.

"That means he trusts himself."

At this moment, YuWon decided to simply observe without doing anything else. To recover some depleted energy and magic, he needed to rest for now.

"Argh..."

As if expressing its dissatisfaction.

Danpung grabbed YuWon's cheek.

It urged him to go out and fight. YuWon opened his mouth as he muttered disdainfully.

"Stop it."

"Baat-"

"Ah, let me rest a bit."

Unlike other times, he now wanted to rest as much as possible.

Kwarrng.

A golden rain spread before his eyes.

As if not wanting to miss that scene, YuWon opened his eyes wide.

"Because I don't think I need to move right now."

Kwaoooh.

The rain of lightning swept the entities.

The energy bolts shot toward the rift. They went straight toward the enormous mouth that had appeared earlier.

Kwaooh, Kwarrng.

Voracious Appetite was dragged by the storm of lightning. At first, it opened its mouth as if to swallow the storm, but it was eventually devoured by its own appetite.

Jjeojeo, Jjeong-.

Its body was torn apart by the rain of lightning, and its figure was burnt by the storm.

Its form was no longer recognizable.

And not only Voracious Appetite was caught in the storm, but many other entities as well.

Chii, Peseok-!

Kwarrng, Kugugugung-.

The [Cataclysm] swept everything within Zeus' sight.

Like a natural disaster, it burned and destroyed everything in the world within a similar range.

No.

To be precise, everything under the sky turned purple.

Crack. Crackle-.

Zeus, with his golden eyes shining, observed the entities that had become piles of black ashes.

Some entities that were still writhing remained alive.

Voracious Appetite, the main target, no longer had a recognizable form, but among the black ashes, there were some living entities mixed in.

Confused Arrogance.

Swampy Agony.

They were Outer Gods with names to some extent.

Zeus reached out his hand toward the living Outer Gods.

And at the same time, Lightning Bolts shot out from his hand.

Kwaaoong-!

Thus, Zeus cut off the remaining entities' breath of life.

It only took a few minutes. The time it took to clear all the entities that had filled the sky.

YuWon looked at Zeus, who had several drops of sweat falling from his forehead.

Curiously, the place where YuWon was sitting was not affected by the [Cataclysm] at all.

Was it because he had been sitting there watching the fight with his arms crossed?

Unbeknownst to him, YuWon had become an Envoy of the Rank Classification Office.

"Rank 3... or should I say Rank 2?"

Zeus' power, confirmed through the [Cataclysm], was remarkable even among the High-Rankers YuWon had seen so far.

And that didn't just apply to the High-Rankers of the current era; it would also hold true in the future.

The King of Asgard, Odin, who was the second Ranker in the rankings, could be matched in power by Zeus.

"You've truly become a monster."

Jebak-.

YuWon's gaze turned to Foolish Chaos, who was advancing through the ashen land.

They were quite powerful steps. After resting for a while, YuWon stood up again.

"It seems you plan to keep going until the end."

If he had intended to flee after seeing Zeus' power, he would have done so long ago.

Even so, Foolish Chaos revealed his form once again before them.

That meant he had no intention of backing down from there.

"Baat-."

Foolish Chaos raised his arm.

At the same time, more Outer Gods started emerging from the rifts again.

Chwarr-.

Guduk, Ggudeudeu-.

The purple sky, which had turned faint for a moment, turned dark again.

Zeus' forehead, who had swept the world with a single [Cataclysm], gradually wrinkled.

"Persistent, very persistent..."

"That's why I clearly told you to buy some time."

Zeus turned his head toward the voice coming from his side.

YuWon, who jumped up using the Steps of Hermes, approached Zeus. His face looked better than before, perhaps due to the brief rest.

Of course, Zeus wasn't too pleased with YuWon's presence.

"It doesn't matter if you keep resting."

From his perspective, YuWon, who hadn't fully recovered his stamina, wasn't of much help.

"Don't worry, my body will take care of itself. Besides, I'm not fighting to help you."

YuWon wasn't fighting solely to win.

This battle was the first confrontation against the Outer Gods. And creatures outside the Tower were capable of nourishing Danpung, serving as the driving force for its growth.

And now, Foolish Chaos was targeting Danpung.

That fact alone was enough to dedicate time and effort to Danpung.

'There won't be another opportunity like this.'

Thud, crack.

The Predator opened its mouths everywhere.

[The Predator devours the remains of 'Voracious Appetite']

[The Predator devours the remains of 'Swampy Agony']

[The Predator devours the remains of 'Melancholic Confusion'...]

[Growth rate increased by 1.02%]

[Growth rate increased by 0.89%]

[Growth rate...]

They were remains that were already so dead that it was difficult even to find their corpses.

Perhaps because of that, even the corpses of quite famous Outer Gods couldn't increase Danpung's growth rate by much.

But maybe it was because there were so many of them.

When the Predator swallowed all the bodies of the Outer Gods that had become corpses, the growth rate increased by over 7%, and YuWon could even feel that the missing mana had been replenished quite a bit.

[Arcane Power increased by 1]

A significant increase in stats by over 100 points held great significance.

Especially in a battle situation like the current one, a stat increase of 1 recovered almost half of the previously depleted Arcane Power.

And that was precisely the reason YuWon moved again.

"This is enough."

The Arcane Power increased once more.

Ssss...

At the same time, the power of the Golden Cinder Eyes shone again in YuWon's eyes.

Just after YuWon's eyes and Foolish Chaos' eyes met...

"Charge."

Foolish Chaos gave the order to the new Outer Gods that had been deployed.

Crackle, crackle...

A new beam of lightning formed around Zeus once more.

Thus, the collision began again.

[Uranus Heart generates Lightning Bolts]

Crackle, crackle...

A spear materialized in his hand.

Although it was created in an instant, it was quite large and had an impressive shape, although it might be modest compared to Zeus' spear before him.

Crackle...

YuWon's spear possessed two attributes.

Thump!

The lightning bolt grasped in his hand exploded as it flew. The spear that swept the tentacles left holes in the clouds.

"Now it's quite usable."

Zeus' evaluation of YuWon's Lightning Bolt.

Since the beginning of the fight, he had always been dissatisfied with YuWon's Lightning Bolt.

It was the first compliment. It meant that YuWon's ability to create Lightning Bolt had improved.

"But even with the help of that item, you're still far from enough."

"Well, then..."

Clang.

A black spear appeared in YuWon's hand.

"How about this?"

Whoosh...

The spear flew from YuWon's fingertips, grazing Zeus' head.

In the next moment...

Swish!

Nir stabbed into Foolish Chaos' shoulder, who had extended his hand towards Zeus' back.

[Nir has not fully activated]

[Recovery is delayed due to incomplete activation]

Nir had regained his energy just a few minutes earlier.

Without hesitation, YuWon threw him.

It was greedy to expect a proper start in a battlefield like this. Foolish Chaos, who received the impact from Nir, staggered briefly but then recovered and attacked YuWon again.

No.

He attempted to attack.

Kwung!

A pillar of lightning blocked his path.

Foolish Chaos reached out his hand and forced a path through it.

"Have you developed some affection for him?"

"He's still just a fledgling, that's all."

Zeus glanced at YuWon, who had begun fighting other Outer Gods while leaving Foolish Chaos in his care.

"I intend to make him grow a little more."

Zeus wasn't evaluating YuWon at this moment.

There were many High-Rankers in the Tower stronger than YuWon.

Even his own son, Hercules, and other High-Rankers like Sun Wukong and Odin, all ranked within the Top 10, had much stronger abilities than YuWon.

But what would happen in 5 or 10 years?

Zeus couldn't easily imagine how far YuWon would grow.

"If you don't want to get out of the way-"

Fwooosh-.

A strange purple flame spread from Foolish Chaos' hand.

"I'll force you out of the way."

"Try it."

Clang!

Zeus and Foolish Chaos clashed.

Foolish Chaos, who seemed to disintegrate and disappear after being repeatedly hit by lightning, didn't die in the end.

'It's like a dream.'

There was no enemy that would revive even after being killed many times.

Even if it was the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, who possessed the power of immortality, he would receive injuries and eventually fall exhausted.

Although Zeus was clearly winning, the more he fought, the more he had the strange feeling of sinking into a deep swamp.

Ssshh-.

At that moment...

The entire field of vision in front of Zeus vanished, and in an instant, a blurry figure appeared before him.

Black hair and beard.

A man who looked much like him.

"Chron...".

Chron, what was his name?

He couldn't remember his name properly, but a strange sense of fear twisted his chest.

And right at that moment...

"Long... live..."

From somewhere far away.

Small but threatening voices could be heard.

Fwooosh-.

Along with the purple mist covering his vision, the figure of the man disappeared.

And then, the faint voices he had heard became clearer.

"Long live, Long live, Long live!"

"Wooooow!"

Although they were still quite far away.

Zeus could feel the footsteps of numerous presences coming closer and closer.

The corner of Zeus' lips curved slightly.

Now he understood why YuWon had tried to buy time.

"So this is what you were waiting for."

The followers of the Heavenly Demon Cult, crowding from afar, to assist their Young Leader and...

"That way!"

"Do I smell blood?"

"It seems a bit different."

"No matter, it's a fight."

Even the most belligerent race in the Tower, which would go mad for a fight, was present.

Heavenly Demon Cult.

And the Demon Kings.

Both Guilds, arrived just in time to fight against the Outer Gods...