Ranker Who Lives Twice

In the end, the envoy never got their answers since neither Yeon-woo nor Erlang Shen said anything about their conversation, as if they had made a vow of silence. Some of the godly envoys tried their luck and approached Erlang Shen, but they were only met with narrowed eyes. It seemed that Erlang Shen was determined not to leak out any information.

Only one thing was certain: the two had completed their transaction successfully. The biggest clue was that Erlang Shen's forces, which had hung back on the sidelines, grew very active.

[Erlang Shen has activated his ability, 'Dragon Water'!]

Sss! As soon as Erlang drew out his sword, the ground turned over, and the deep underground streams rose up to cause a huge tsunami that swept away the otherworld gods. They were sent reeling, unable to regain their bearings. With the otherworld gods in a vulnerable position, the half-giants rushed in and killed them one after the other.

Ding!

[You have successfully completed some of the scenario quest's conditions (Proof of Gods and Kings IV).]

[Number of territories occupied (6/7)]

[Number of temples built (3/6)]

Finally, there was only one territory left: the Crawling Chaos' Great Temple.

***

'Luckily, I remembered the Stone of Castitas (Purity). With it, I was able to make a more advantageous deal.' Yeon-woo had almost forgotten about the Stone of Castitas. It had previously been used to illuminate Hades' Temple of the King of the Underworld and was the source of Dis Pluto's strength.

Fortunately, when Persephone attacked with the Titans and Giants, the three Cyclops brothers managed to hide the Stone of Castitas from their enemies. Unfortunately, they hadn't escaped with it. The situation had been so desperate at the time that even the youngest Cyclops, Arges, the last living brother, had to die. If Yeon-woo had been selfish enough to try to take the Stone of Castitas, he might not have only lost his life, but also the other Soulstones in his possession. If that had happened: 'Mother Earth would have gained more strength.'

When his death was imminent, Arges managed to bury the Stone of Castitas in a secret place in the depths of the Temple of the King of the Underworld that only Hades and the three Cyclops brothers could access.

'I'm certain that Mother Earth and others don't know that the Stone of Castitas is located in Tartarus.' This was definitely an opportunity for Yeon-woo. He had to retake Tartarus anyway since he was the successor of the King of the Underworld. Also, he needed to pass through it in order to enter Erebus, where Athena and the others were. As a result, Yeon-woo thought he would use the Chan Sect to help him retake the holy territory and find his friends in Erebus. Yeon-woo and his warrior corps would assist the Chan Sect to find the Stone of Avaritia and, in exchange, the Chan Sect would assist Yeon-woo and his warrior corps find the Stone of Castitas.

'At the end of the day, we will exchange the two Soulstones.' It made more sense that way since the Stone of Castitas didn't mesh well with the Sin Stone, and the Stone of Avaritia wouldn't be a perfect fit for the Chan Sect.

Yeon-woo had received a quest to complete the Sin Stone. Although it didn't specify that the Soulstones had to have the same property, it was likely that using a Soulstone with a different property would diminish the Sin Stone's effectiveness.

The Stone of Castitas also didn't really fit in with the keywords "death" and "fight". Even Hades couldn't use it directly and had only used it to forge weapons. On the other hand, the Stone of Avaritia might become a burden to the godly Chan Sect. If they obtained the Stone of Castitas instead, the Chan Sect would possess a power beyond imagination if combined with the strength of the Jade Emperor.

In the end, Yeon-woo and Erlang Shen signed an agreement to help each other through any means until they obtained their respective Soulstones. The first part of the agreement was to awaken the warrior corps. Fortunately, unlike the other godly societies, there was no history or legend regarding conflict between the Chan Sect and the giant race, so the Chan Sect did not hesitate.

Erlang Shen was a warrior who had already reached a state of nirvana in combat through the control of water and his Dragon Water ability. Even Yeon-woo was surprised at how effective Erlang was against the otherworld gods, and he understood why Erlang was one of the three most powerful gods in the heavenly world.

However, Erlang's competence made the warrior corps suffer.

「Ah! That damn god bastard stole my kill again! I had already announced that it was mine long ago!」

「If this goes on, won't that bastard receive all the glory and achievement for the battle?」

「Damn it! My Fruit of Good and Evil!」

「Someone stop that bastard! Valdebich, what the hell are you doing? Do something!」

The half-giants thought that Erlang Shen was intercepting their enemies, and their frustration and anger boiled over. They were happy about winning the battles but angry that they could not fight.

'I guess he's having a hard time dealing with his kin. It makes sense…this kind of rapid development in a few days is unheard of.' Yeon-woo glanced at Valdebich, who had turned his head and was pretending not to hear the protests of his kin. Yeon-woo then turned to Erlang Shen, who was doing his all to fulfill his side of the agreement.

「Is that Erlang Shen? Tsk, tsk. That guy is so sad. King Temper said he would give him some rice cakes, but the Erlang guy has no clue that he's not going to get anything in the end. Look how excited he is, running around like a little kid…ugh! I feel so bad for that guy.」 Shanon constantly clucked his tongue and shook his head.

A slight bulge started forming between Yeon-woo's eyes. "Why do you think I'm going to renege on the deal?" There was a rebuke in his words, but Shanon counterattacked.

「What are you talking about? My master isn't the type of person who's satisfied with a win-win scenario, right? Wouldn't you eat the whole thing if it's in front of you? Would you actually even consider sharing? If you felt that you couldn't eat something, I'm pretty sure you'd make sure that no one could, either.」

Yeon-woo was speechless.

「No? Am I wrong?」

'You're right.'

「See, I told you.」 Shanon snorted in satisfaction.

Yeon-woo had nothing to say for a moment as he pondered how he had become so predictable. In fact, he really had no intention of giving the Stone of Castitas to the Chan Sect. After absorbing as much of its powers as he could, he would simply pocket it himself. Even if he did give it to the Chan Sect, they would only have possession for a moment before Yeon-woo took it back. Shanon had truly seen through his thoughts.

「Be careful. You might exuviate with the qualities of ill temperament and deception.」

Yeon-woo thought very seriously about disciplining Shannon, who was pretending to be worried while teasing him. However, in the end, Yeon-woo just sighed and focused on the battlefield once more. The battle had just ended.

Beyond the Forest of Giants, there was an area covered in darkness. It was the holy territory of the Crawling Chaos, a place that no giant had ever stepped foot in. The Crawling Chaos still had not shown up.

'What the hell is he up to, and what is he thinking?' Yeon-woo could not figure out why the Crawling Chaos was choosing to stay back. The gods and demons who were observing the situation were wondering the same thing.

Since no one knew anything about this holy territory, they would have to go in blind from this point onward. 'I guess we'll learn as we go along.' Unlike the envoys, who sometimes showed signs of fear, Yeon-woo did not concern himself too much with what was ahead. He simply saw things as challenges to overcome. Since the Tutorial, he'd constantly pulled off the impossible, and the Crawling Chaos was just another of the supposedly impossible barriers. The warrior corps was also influenced by Yeon-woo's relaxed attitude towards the Crawling Chaos.

"Did you get enough rest?"

「Yes!」

「Yes, our king and god!」

"Then let's go. This is the final battle."

「This is the final battle!」

「Let's show our king and god the honor of the giants! Let us lead our enemies to their death!」

「We must bring victory to our king and god!」

Bam! Bam! Bam! Once again, as anticipation spread throughout the corps, the warriors began their march forward.

***

[You have entered the heart of the Crawling Chaos' holy territory, 'Holy Crawling Chaos Territory'.]

「The atmosphere here sucks.」

「How do the otherworld gods live in such a place like this? Do they like this kind of place?」

「It's so eerie and dark.」

「This place is really disturbing my senses.」

The half-giant warrior corps moved forward slowly, paying close attention to their surroundings with subdued attitudes—a huge change from when they had been running wild with excitement just a few hours ago.

The holy territory's environment was completely different from the territories they had conquered. Although the other areas had bizarre forests and swamps, they looked like they could support life to some extent. However, this territory was completely different. The atmosphere and the environment seemed to conspire to reject all forms of life, especially the half-giants.

「Even the ground we're stepping on feels weird. Damn it! It's hard to move forward.」

「Let's move slowly for now. We don't know what kind of things will pop out.」

As the half-giants carefully moved forward…

「Damn it! This chaos energy.」

「This is why I didn't want to visit this place…」

「It seems like our connection with the heavens have been cut off as well.」

「My connection to my true body has also grown weak. This is going to be a problem.」

The expressions of the gods and demons hardened as the thing they feared most seemed about to happen. When they connected to Yeon-woo through his keywords, they didn't have to deal with the laws of causality, but now they were suffering from the repercussions of maintaining their incarnations.

The unstable connections to the heavenly world made them feel anxious, especially since if they died without being properly connected to their true bodies, it would damage their ego. Also, if the Crawling Chaos managed to get hold of these connections and reverse engineer a way to go up to the heavens, there would be an unthinkable crisis.

They were also in the otherworld gods' natural environment, which was full of chaos and disorder. They couldn't understand how life could survive in such a place or how cosmic rulers like the otherworld gods could originate here. Even the demons, who didn't usually mind foreign environments, had hard expressions.

'Is this place rat poison for those who are used to the Tower's environment?' Yeon-woo's eyes narrowed. Although he had glimpsed the universe through the revelations, it was clear to him that he would have trouble understanding this place because he had spent his whole life on Earth and in the Tower. Even if he were to spend his entire life in this place, he probably would not understand it fully.

In particular, the way the spaces overlapped and disturbed his senses made it difficult to adapt. He couldn't properly control the release of his magic power, which made him feel handcuffed.

They'd already been in the holy territory for a while, but the otherworld gods still hadn't stirred, including the Crawling Chaos. Yeon-woo could sense his aura far away, but no matter how much Yeon-woo moved forward, he couldn't seem to bridge the distance between them. It was like running towards the moon.

As the terrain repeated over and over, Yeon-woo was beginning to wonder whether they were making any progress when he finally saw something towering over the gray fog in the distance. "A castle?"

It was a fortress with a size and shape that was typical of the Middle Ages. The closer they got, the larger it looked. The warriors and envoys looked at each other. They had no idea what they were looking at, so they became very suspicious.

「What should we do?」 Valdebich looked at Yeon-woo. He was asking for Yeon-woo's orders. Yeon-woo was about to respond when the Cast of the Black King vibrated violently. Zing!Clank! Clank! Yeon-woo felt like his arm was about to fall off. Even the chains leading to the void swayed from the shaking. This meant that Vigrid was about to become active once again.

「Hey…there's someone like you over there! Keekeekee! A tasty thing…!」 The Demonism's voice was abruptly cut off as he was once again buried in the void, but the Cast of the Black King resonated even more. Yeon-woo mulled over his words. 'Someone like me…?' What the hell does that mean? Perhaps…?'

Boom!

All of a sudden, the fortress' closed gate shook as violently as the Cast of the Black King. It opened wide as squeaking pulleys moved. A thick fog blew out from the inside. It was mixed with the properties of the void and even contained the Black King's scent.

Yeon-woo understood immediately what Demonism meant that someone like him was waiting inside.

「Mas…ter.」 In an instant, Boo appeared next to Yeon-woo and bowed his head.

Yeon-woo nodded heavily. "Let's go." He led the warriors and envoys to the gate. The closer they got, the stronger the Black King's scent became. It suffocated the warriors and envoys, but Yeon-woo felt refreshed. After they passed through the gates, they saw a being sitting on top of a large boulder.

Although he had Valdebich's appearance, his aura showed that he was a completely different entity. It was the Crawling Chaos. He smiled coldly. "Nice to meet you…"

"Valdebich." Yeon-woo said with an expressionless face as he cut off the Crawling Chaos. "Bring him here."

Flash! Valdebich disappeared and reappeared behind the Crawling Chaos' incarnation.