Ranker Who Lives Twice

Chapter 310 Tartarus (10)

Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (☆/12)

Brontes looked from Yeon-woo to the pocket watch. Then, he clicked his tongue.

『It isn’t an item to deliver to Lord Hades.』

“It’s a personal item..”

『Mm. Is that so?』

Brontes’ eyes were filled with regret. If they could’ve had this along with the Stone of Castitas, it would’ve been a great help to Hades. But they couldn’t.

『Can I take a look at it?』

However, since he was now working with Yeon-woo, he had to help him. Brontes stretched his hand out.

Yeon-woo nodded and pushed the pocket watch towards him. His hands were trembling with nervousness.

Brontes examined the pocket watch carefully. He had fallen to the status of a Monster Portent, but the knowledge from his life hadn’t disappeared.

No, because he was a blacksmith god, he didn’t have to worry about his godly level like other gods did in the first place.

『Mm.』

Brontes returned the pocket watch.

Yeon-woo carefully accepted it and looked at him. His throat was choked up, and he couldn’t speak properly.

“How is it?”

『You said this watch was broken, correct?』

“Yes, that’s right.”

『No. That’s not it. It isn’t broken.』

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. The watch wasn’t broken?

“Then…..?”

『It would be better to say it’s sealed. Except for a few functions, the rest of the functions are all locked. It seems like this was done on purpose.』

“……!”

Yeon-woo’s eyes hardened. He felt like the questions in his head were finally being answered.

He hadn’t been able to find what was wrong with the pocket watch with his Draconic Eyes, and he was at a loss for what to do.

Although he had an outstanding amount of knowledge in alchemy and magic, having completed the Philosopher’s Stone, he couldn’t figure out the watch.

Because he couldn’t figure out how to repair the pocket watch, he just thought his brother had reached an extraordinary peak during his lifetime.

‘That wasn’t the case?’

The way he tried to resolve the issue was the problem.

If it was sealed instead of broken, then it made sense that he hadn’t been able to figure out what to do with it. Repairing and unsealing required completely different knowledge.

On one hand, he felt like a blindfold was lifted from his eyes.

If only he knew the reason, he would’ve been able to find the solution faster. He felt excited.

“Then can it be repair….. no, unsealed?”

『No. It’s too difficult..』

But contrary to Yeon-woo’s expectations, Brontes shook his head.

“There are items you can’t fix too?”

『I’m not perfect. And I don’t know what they did, but the fact that they used the Soulstone in the first place means they’re as skilled as me. Amazing. It looks like it’s the work of a mortal, but their knowledge was greater than a supernatural’s…..! Can I know where the person who made this item is?』

Brontes seemed passionate about it. It seemed like his curiosity about the outstanding blacksmith ran as deep as his desire for revenge.

Yeon-woo smiled bitterly. He was proud his brother was judged so highly, but he also felt sad.

He knew a part of the functions Brontes was speaking about was the diary. Then what were the other sealed functions? Also, why had his brother equipped the stone with them?

Had Yeon-woo’s sad thoughts been relayed to Brontes?

Brontes glanced at Yeon-woo and took a closer look at the pocket watch. Then, he spoke again.

『Of course, it’s just I can’t unseal it by myself.』

Yeon-woo abruptly turned his head to look at Brontes.

『Let’s make a deal. Nothing will change that much. You’ve already accepted the quest from Lady Persephone, correct? Help us to calm down Tartarus as the quest says. If you do, I’ll gather my brothers and do whatever I can to unseal it.』

He was basically telling him to head to Tartarus quickly.

『How’s that?』

Yeon-woo had no reason to refuse.

“I accept.”

He gripped the pocket watch, and his heart started to beat faster.

* * *

[Sudden Quest / Persephone’s Long-time Wish]

Summary: (Omitted) While on the way to clear the ten gates on Persephone’s request, you have succeeded in discovering traces of the three Cyclops brothers who disappeared during their search for Hades.

However, you have only succeeded in finding the oldest Cyclops, Brontes, and you haven’t found the other two.

On the other hand, the other side has become wary of you.

Quickly find the other two Cyclopes. The sooner you find them, the higher the rewards will be.

‘The other side has started to become wary of me?’

Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes, seeing the updated quest information.

Was the other side the Titans and Giants? It seemed like he had been detected by them after defeating the ghost monsters.

『To be exact, it’ll probably be the whoever is contacting Tartarus from the outside.』

Brontes read Yeon-woo’s thoughts and spoke.

Yeon-woo looked over at him.

“Do you know who they are?”

Brontes smiled bitterly and shook his head.

『I don’t know either. We were just being chased. However, I’m sure of one thing.』

His eyes were dark.

『They were somewhere nearby at the time.』

Brontes clenched his teeth.

『There was definitely a traitor. If not, something like this wouldn’t have occurred. So….. be careful.』

Yeon-woo nodded. Like what Brontes said, if the Titans and Giants stepped up themselves, it definitely wouldn’t be easy. No, aside from that, interfering in a war between gods as a mortal was a lot of pressure in itself.

『We couldn’t take care of something like this ourselves and had to ask for the help of mortals like you….. How humiliating.』

Brontes disappeared into the Soul Collection. This situation was embarrassing to him. He was also planning on taking a rest, having exhausted himself from using his holy power to wait.

Yeon-woo spread his wings of fire apart and began to move again. As more time passed, his wings of fire became more like a skill.

[You have entered the seventh gate, ‘Hell of Great Solutions.’]

[You have entered the eighth gate, ‘Hell of Iron Beds.’]

……

In the seventh gate, fierce winds whirled around him, and in the eighth gate, he had to clear through the boiling iron ground.

From then, the stages became so difficult that even Yeon-woo couldn’t breeze through them.

It was a dangerous area where high rankers came to train themselves.

Moreover.

Pupupng—

The attacks of the enemies who were trying to catch Yeon-woo became even more direct. Like the warning in the quest, the Titans and Giants had begun to show their other cards.

All kinds of strange monsters began to appear.

The ghost monsters in the sixth gate paled in terms of strength.

They were definitely made of different ghosts, but because they were connected by a strange shadow, it was hard to deal with them.

A few of them had holiness, albeit a small amount.

‘Even when trapped in prisons, gods are still gods…..’

Yeon-woo worked harder the more hurdles came his way.

Although the Titans and Giants had been trapped inside of Tartarus, they were still strong gods who had fought against the Olympian gods.

Kwoooo—

Just then, a large shadow tentacle came flying at him.

The ashy fog that had been following Yeon-woo around like a tail gathered in front of him as a barrier. It was an army of tens of thousands of souls.

Kwakwakwang!

The shadow tentacle couldn’t pierce the ashy fog and was flicked away. In that process, several thousands of souls were destroyed, but the Soul Collection quickly replenished the souls that were gone.

Shanon and Hanryeong both used their signature skills.〈Volcano〉 and 〈Sword Whirlwind〉lashed at the shadow tentacle, and it was separated from its body.

Rebecca jumped in and activated magic, and high above in the sky, Boo raised the Crystal Bead to cast spells.

Krrrng, kwakwang!

Nemesis became one with darkness, and Nike transformed into fire to shred the rest of its body.

Kwang!

“Cain, now!”

Creutz shouted, holding the monster’s ankle down forcefully.

Yeon-woo nodded and tossed his body to where the being twisting in pain was.

He activated four of his Authorities and used their buffs to his advantage.

[Hero – Unyielding]

[Villain – Destroying]

Vigrid cried out as if it was going to crack any moment, and a bright light exploded at the same time.

[Wave of Fire]

[72 Bian – Yeol, Pa, Cham]

Krrrrrng—

The monster squirmed to extinguish the fire. Every time it moved, the gate shook like it was going to break, but the fire just grew bigger.

Holy Fire.

The fire of Nike wouldn’t lose to the monster. Also, Yeon-woo combined different powers into it. Auror, Wave of Fire, draconic magic power, holy power, demonic energy, 72 Bian, and Residual Poison Blood.

Because of his Demonic Divine Dragon Body and the title ‘Blessed by Mana,’ he was unaffected from using all of them.

The monster toppled over, unable to withstand the barrage.

Boom—

Its body was so colossal that the entire stage shook, although it had only fallen over.

“Heok, heok heok…..”

Yeon-woo brought Vigrid down and gasped. His entire body felt hot. It was a result of overusing his Magic Circuit. His health depleted at a rapid pace.

Just then, fire shot out from the monster’s corpse and flew at Yeon-woo in the form of a bird.

『Did I do well?』

“Yes. Good job.”

『Hehe. Nike is strong!』

Nike climbed atop Yeon-woo’s arm and folded his wings to flex his muscles.

Yeon-woo stroked Nike’s adorable head and turned his head at Nemesis’s voice.

『……Master.』

“What?”

Nemesis’s voice was filled with concern.

『How was that monster just now?』

“Strong.”

『Is that it?』

“If it wasn’t for the difference in properties, it would’ve been hard.”

『You’re right. It was something you never would’ve been able to catch under normal conditions. Even with all our powers combined.』

Nemesis continued in a heavy voice.

『It’s called Medusa. And in Tartarus….. there are plenty of monsters like that roaming around. Do you have to go there right now? Don’t you know that my previous master was unable to get that far either?』

Yeon-woo nodded heavily.

It seemed like that place was our limit. The monsters that kept on appearing from the eighth gate caused us to lose hope.

The difficulty of each gate was hard enough, but crazy monsters appeared on top of that.

We promised we would come back and left the hidden stage. On one hand, I felt it was a shame.

I wanted to see the entrance of Tartarus even though I couldn’t enter it.

In one of the few locations of gods in the lower world.

『I know you think you have to gain the Black King’s power and of your resolve to fix the pocket watch by gathering Brontes and the others. It’s not too late to…….』

Nemesis did whatever he could to stop Yeon-woo. Tartarus was somewhere a mortal couldn’t approach. And Yeon-woo was going to challenge it without any preparation?

He also wanted to gain power and fix the pocket watch like Yeon-woo said. However, now wasn’t the time. Compared to the gods, Yeon-woo was far too weak. This place was somewhere one should only challenge after clearing the 50th floor.

Jeong-woo had stopped at the eighth gate, even with Arthia’s support. Then what should Yeon-woo, who didn’t have a team, do? And especially now, with him discovered by Titans and Giants?

Shanon and Hanryeong, who couldn’t be exhausted, were already feeling tired.

However.

“No. I’m going.”

Yeon-woo shook his head. This was an opportunity hard to come by. It was a chance to find clues related to his brother. No, he might’ve even been able to meet his brother again.

What if he pushed this back to do it later and something happened? Also, once he pushed it back, he could continue to push it back again and again. He didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to miss this chance.

Also.

There was something Yeon-woo wanted to say to his brother. He couldn’t stop until he did.

‘Never.’

Yeon-woo absorbed the strength of Medusa and the rest of the monsters through Bathory’s Vampiric Sword, and he moved on.

Nemesis looked at Yeon-woo disappointingly.

Yeon-woo’s eyes were blazing with greed.

‘I have to meet him. No matter what.’