Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 106

The day the legacy of Susanoo was originally found would be a few hundred years later.

Among the “Three Precious Children,” Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi would continuously wander in search of the legacy of Susanoo, because they thought that only after finding his legacy would the Three Sacred Treasures become complete.

Even if not for that, the Three Precious Children were comrades in arms and family who had climbed the Tower together since long ago. If it was the legacy of one of their Three Precious Children, even if it was just a rotten stick, they had enough reason to seek it.

However…

‘But it’s my lunch.’

YuWon thought back to a saying from a famous survivalist* that he remembered from before and moved with light steps.

*TL/N: It’s Bear Grylls.

Vwoong—

The shaking floor—no, in reality, the floor wasn’t really shaking. It only felt like that for YuWon because the sword fragment of Tsurugi was reacting with the legacy of Susanoo.

‘The Three Precious Children had the fragment but didn’t know the location of the legacy. It took about a few hundred years until they reached this place with Totsuka no Tsurugi.’

YuWon had ended up bypassing the efforts they made for such a long time to gain the legacy in one fell swoop.

‘The Clock Movement was really good.’

Clang—

YuWon held the half-broken sword in a reverse grip and then stabbed it into the floor where the fragment was reacting.

Stab—

“…”

Initially, nothing happened. A long time passed, but the blade seemed to be sharp as the fragment was just stuck in the floor.

And so, after a moment…

‘Did something go wrong?’

Just when he was worrying that something had happened, a message appeared.

[You have discovered the Hidden Dungeon – Legacy of Susanoo.]

[Checking your qualifications.]

[You are qualified]

[Initiating admittance.]

Fwooosh—!

The world became white with the fragment of 「Totsuka no Tsurugi」 that was embedded in the ground as the center. His sight had lost all color, and right afterwards, the white world started to repaint itself.

Swish—

Swaaaaaa—

After quickly regaining color, the world wasn’t the same wasteland that he was in before.

It was a red wasteland with a huge tower that stretched high into the sky, and there were groups of red-furred hyenas spread around the area.

[Attack the tower.]

[Obtain the hidden legacy of Susanoo.]

[You may exit the dungeon only after you find the ‘key.’]

Ironically, you couldn’t leave a dungeon as you pleased after entering because the exit door was different from the entrance door.

Tap—

YuWon retrieved the fragment that was stuck in the ground.

The fragment currently wasn’t a weapon. Until he found the other piece and restored it to a whole sword, 「Totsuka no Tsurugi」 couldn’t perform its role as a weapon.

Grrr—

Rarf, rarararf—!

The hyenas that were spread out around the wasteland noticed YuWon and started barking at him. Seeing that they were licking their lips, they were probably pretty hungry.

‘The key and the legacy will probably be in there…’

YuWon looked up at the giant tower in front of him. It reached to the clouds with each floor being as big as the Colosseum. It was a pretty big dungeon.

‘I knew the location of the dungeon, but I couldn’t find any details about the inside.’

Slide—

YuWon pulled out his sword.

The number of hyenas that had gathered around him wasn’t normal. Only their appearance was like a hyena’s, but their size was like a tiger’s. They were monsters that would appear on the 40th Floor, Vampire Hyenas.

‘A species that drinks the blood of other lifeforms to increase their combat power. They have a tendency to move in packs…’

“They’re chock-full of EXP.”

A smile appeared on YuWon’s lips.

Bzzzzt—!

Mana burst out from 「Kyneē.」 He didn’t even need to use [Hell] because this wouldn’t be a fight. It would be a one-sided slaughter.

* * *

Translator – Jreaming

Proofreader – BringTheRayn

* * *

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate did not increase.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate did not increase.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate has increased by 0.001%.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate…]

Even though the completion rate didn’t increase, he didn’t feel bad about it.

From the start, YuWon never expected the completion rate that hadn’t risen in a while to suddenly increase against mobs like these.

‘About 0.003%?’

Drip—

YuWon lightly flicked off the blood dripping from his sword.

Slash—

Drops of blood fell on the wasteland.

He left behind the hyenas piled up on the ground, and YuWon checked the completion rate of his [Heaven-Slaying Star.]

[Completion Rate: 99.546%]

The completion rate didn’t budge at all.

It was honestly a blessing that it rose by 0.5% after slaying the Sea Turtle on the 20th Floor.

He had secretly wanted the completion rate to get to 100% at that moment.

‘Is it too early?’

Maybe after he felt the inadequacy of his stats, YuWon had started to look forward to the completion of [Heaven-Slaying Star] more.

[Heaven-Slaying Star] was a skill that increased his stats as its completion rate increased. If he was able to complete it, he felt that he might be able to fill in the lacking stats.

[Name: Kim YuWon]

[Level: 80]

[Strength: 90]

[Dexterity: 80]

[Constitution: 83]

[Perception: 87]

[Arcane Power: 100]

[……]

As his level increased and the [Heaven-Slaying Star’s] completion rate neared its end, his stats had increased quite considerably. He had also just gotten to Level 80 after defeating the Sea Turtle. The other stats were high as well, but Perception was especially showing a steep increase.

[Perception: 87]

His once lowest stat had suddenly become his third highest. As the stat was low originally, he had continuously increased it with each level up. It was natural that higher stats would increase more slowly, through both elixirs and level-ups, and so his Arcane Power stat had completely stopped at 100.

‘Seven stats have increased thanks to Sensory Field. I might even be able to get Perception to triple digits before the other stats.’

The tower before him was gigantic. The number of monsters inside it was probably quite large as well.

He had packed enough food and water in his inventory, and YuWon hoped to get Level 100 in this dungeon if possible.

Step—

The entrance was a relatively small door only two meters tall. It looked like Susanoo never expected the possibility of Giants to come here in the first place.

Creak—

As he opened the door that was rusted by time, a dense layer of dust lifted.

YuWon looked inside the first floor. Unlike the tiny door, the ceiling was quite tall. The size of each floor was probably ten meters, but of course there was no rule that said every floor had to have the same height.

YuWon looked left and right.

‘Compared to the height, it isn’t that wide. Is it a maze-type dungeon?’

And as he was trying to confirm the interior of the dungeon…

[You have entered Susanoo’s Dungeon.]

[Reach the 100th floor.]

[Pass ‘Susanoo’s test.’]

Just like the test on each floor, Susanoo’s legacy had a test as well.

There were two objectives—reaching the 100th floor and passing ‘Susanoo’s test.’

‘It’s as if he had miniaturized the real Tower.’

YuWon had never met Susanoo. However, from hearing about him from his comrades, YuWon could roughly guess what kind of person he had been.

“Susanoo? No one under the heavens is worse than him.”

“The worst. Do I have to explain any further?”

“I wanted to fight him. I heard his swordsmanship was like art.”

“If you were to pick out the person who killed the most humans, there’s a chance it would be that guy.”

These were the evaluations from his comrades.

From the people with a definite sense of justice, like Odin and Hercules, they talked of him with contempt. Asura ignited his fighting spirit thinking of Susanoo, and Chronos was quite objective in his assessment. Most of their evaluations made him look bad, but one thing was certain.

None could deny Susanoo’s strength.

Step—

YuWon took a step towards Susanoo’s Dungeon.

Creak, boom—!

The door closed with a loud noise.

YuWon didn’t turn to look. He never had the thought to because there was another problem.

Shwooo—

A purplish fog appeared around the entrance. He felt it was quite peculiar. It wasn’t like he felt a special mana, but when he looked at it, he got goosebumps on his back for some reason.

It was something he didn’t even feel when he faced 《Yamata no Orochi.》

‘It’s not Arcane Power, not the aura of demons, nor is it the power of the Outer Gods……’

YuWon thought about why this energy felt familiar, then he narrowed his eyes.

‘Is it just killing intent?’

The purplish fog started to clump together in that spot for a while, and afterwards, from inside YuWon’s inventory, some red smoke leaked out.

Shshshsh—

It was the smoke coming from the fragment of 「Totsuka no Tsurugi.」

The red smoke met the purple and tangled together to form an image. It didn’t have any mass or energy, but it was ‘something’ that had been created by the condensation of killing intent.

“> What’s this?”

It was a small purple doll that was as big as his palm. It was a samurai with a sword on its hip that looked like an errand boy, and it opened its eyes and looked at its immediate surroundings.

“> Where is this? The small tower?”

Small tower. It was another name for Susanoo’s Dungeon. That name was probably first given to this tower by the small samurai standing in front of YuWon. Which meant…

‘Is this guy Susanoo?’

There was a small thought of ‘No way,’ but with everything here, this was probably the most likely because it would be able to explain the killing intent that was chilling his whole body.

“> That’s right. I died.”

Susanoo was in a dazed state for a second but muttered to himself after realizing the situation.

Then his eyes turned to YuWon.

The tiny body looked as if it would disappear if YuWon were to slap it with his hand. It was small, and there wasn’t any energy coming off it either. It was just a bundle of smoke.

However, the killing intent felt from this wicked manifested thought made YuWon uneasy.

“> Are you the one who brought Totsuka no Tsurugi?”

“Yeah.”

“> Yeah?”

Susanoo’s eyebrows shifted.

In the end, it was still just a small doll that was frowning. An incredible amount of killing intent was pouring out, but YuWon had already experienced killing intent like this before. It was bearable, and because the small samurai in front of him was frowning, it was even funny.

There was nothing to fear.

“> Looks like you don’t know who I am. I am—”

“Name, Susanoo. One of the ‘Three Precious Children.’ A master swordsman and necromancer. A killer recognised by the Tower. Top rank of 57 while alive.”

YuWon continued to spill all the information about Susanoo.

“Died while fighting Yamata no Orochi.”

“> …”

“He was an incredible person. But I want to ask if he wants to receive respect after having lived like that.”

At YuWon’s words, Susanoo was dazed for a second before a small smile appeared on his face.

“> So you know who I am and are still acting like that… Goodness, some weird things have happened since I died.”

It was a reaction of amusement.

If it was the living Susanoo, he probably would’ve slain YuWon in a single slash right then. However, he didn’t have the power to do that right now. Because now, he was just an evil thought that was just barely able to manifest.

“> I don’t care about your respect. I didn’t leave my thoughts behind for something like that either. But from the things you said, I will correct one thing.”

He looked to be reminiscing his past, and Susanoo put on the most joyous smile YuWon had seen since meeting him.

“> It wasn’t just ‘like that.’ My life was the best.”

“You’re bragging about having killed a lot of people…” YuWon nodded. It was as he heard before. “It’s a relief you died early.”

What would have happened if Susanoo was still alive? If so, then he would probably have been one of the top Rankers that YuWon would’ve needed to kill, and it would’ve been a bit more tiring to have the 57th-ranked High-Ranker as another enemy.

“> But you, you don’t look like a Ranker from my faction. Where are you from?”

“I’m not from anywhere.” YuWon lifted his player kit and showed his number. “Well, I’m not a Ranker either.”

“> …What?”

After confirming the number, Susanoo’s eyes were filled with disappointment.

[21]

“> Just that?”