Leveling with the Gods

C303

Thump-.

His contracted heart screamed for help.

Even the sound of his breathing resonated loudly, so much so that Hargan unconsciously clenched his mouth shut. (Note: Harggan changed to Hargan)

'What's going on?'

It was none other than a man in a robe. But there was something else that made his body freeze completely.

Although his existence or form couldn't be discerned.

'There's something else.'

He was sure that it wasn't just the man in the robe in front of him.

No.

Although only he appeared before his eyes, there were actually others there.

"Once again, just an empty shell."

Once again.

Hargan turned his head and looked at Zeus.

He could feel how the oppression in his chest eased upon hearing his voice. At the same time, through his words, he could realize that Zeus knew the man in the robe standing before them.

"That's how things are."

"Stop pretending to be polite. We're no longer on the same boat."

"I see."

Laughter mingled in the voice coming from the robe.

"Well, I suppose you're right."

A tone high or low.

A voice that couldn't be discerned as masculine or feminine. Sometimes, it even seemed like he was receiving the words directly as they were, rather than hearing the voice itself.

As if...

'I feel like I'm talking to the System.'

It was a fleeting thought that passed through his mind, but nothing could resemble it more.

A language like that of the System.

It was as if they were facing an absolute existence against which they couldn't stand.

"Have you come to capture me?"

"I would have liked to come personally, but I couldn't."

"So there's a reason why you can't move right away."

"That's right."

"Well, I don't care."

Flash-!

In an instant, all the colors of the world disappeared.

The sky and the earth were bathed in golden light. Sounds were heard belatedly.

Crack-!

Zzzz-.

Hargan stared in awe at the lightning that seemed to blind his eyes and ears.

What the hell had happened before his eyes?

The lightning that struck the ground was completely different from what Hargan had been seeing for the past few days.

"Come yourself instead of sending your lackeys. It'll be more interesting that way."

Chik-chik, chi-jiik-.

The ground was filled with thick smoke and persistent streams of Golden Lightning.

Hargan watched it with tense eyes.

And then...

-You know nothing about us.

A different voice resonated compared to moments before.

Undoubtedly, it was the voice of the same entity. However, the way the voice was perceived felt different than before.

But the situation wasn't important enough to pay attention to that.

Squirm-.

A wave of purple light surged from the slowly dissipating smoke.

The moment he confirmed it with his own eyes, Hargan understood the true nature of the fear that had oppressed his chest until now.

"Keep a clear head."

Crack-.

Perhaps not having expected too much from that single blow, Zeus raised the lightning once again.

"Putting aside strong or weak, they are beings different from what you knew before."

"...Yes."

When you're with someone fearless, you become brave.

Thanks to Zeus's advice, Hargan was able to see more clearly the creatures that appeared before him, suppressing his pounding heart.

They were creatures formed with tentacles, sometimes resembling viscous slimes.

They had diverse shapes, and their presence felt different from what Hargan had known until now.

They were beings made of something that wasn't magic or magical power.

From now on, he would have to fight against such beings.

"Don't avoid them and look at them directly."

Chichizhik-.

The gathered lightning in his hand converged at a single point.

"From now on, those beings will be the 'enemies' you have to overcome."

Golden light burst forth, and the whistle of battle resounded.

Crack-!

A dazzling light cut through the purple waves.

The tentacles wrapped in lightning writhed and then burned to black.

Hundreds, thousands of tentacles approached, but none of them reached Zeus.

In fact, what arrived was something completely different.

Squirm~.

A twisting shadow below.

Zeus was aware that the color of his shadow had changed.

And at that moment...

Chaaaah-.

A purple aura enveloped Zeus's body from below.

Flash-!

A blue lightning bolt shot out from Zeus's body.

Crack-!

The blue lightning erased the color without a trace. As he looked at the blue lightning in his fist, Zeus remembered a person.

"Inefficient."

Indra.

Rank 6 among the High-Rankers, he was the natural enemy of Dragons and used blue lightning in his fights.

He fought by swinging the lightning contained in his fist.

A close-quarters battle.

It was far from the fighting style Zeus sought.

However, that didn't mean there was nothing to learn.

"Certainly..."

Buuung-.

Zeus's fist extended forward.

"I wonder why that guy or Thor use it this way."

Rare!

The lightning extended forward along with the fist.

The blue lightning, carried by the fist, swept away the purple wave blocking its path, exploding with a roar.

Although its range was narrow, it was truly destructive.

Indra's lightning might not be as versatile as Zeus's, but its destructive power within a limited range was much greater.

Buuung-.

Bang-!

Naturally, Zeus extended his fist as if water flowed.

And Hargan looked at him with his mouth agape.

"This... isn't a fight."

At first, he was afraid.

They were beings he had never seen before in his life. Regardless of whether they were strong or weak, he felt a strong aversion toward beings that challenged his common sense until now.

But even that was nothing compared to Zeus.

Flicker-.

Hargan's gaze scanned the surroundings.

The figure of the Robed One, who initially challenged Zeus, and the image of Foolish Chaos were no longer visible.

'It's strange.'

Kwaaak-.

Hargan clenched his fist and struck the tentacles approaching from above.

Crack-!

The tentacle burst. If it were a normal creature, it would have splattered blood, but the tentacle turned into smoke and vanished.

'It's too easy.'

Was the sense of danger he felt at first a deception?

Not just because of Zeus's overwhelming strength, but also in comparison to his initial impression, it seemed too easy.

He was sure.

The true nature of the anxiety he felt at first had not yet been revealed.

And right at that moment...

Hwaaa-.

The sky was dyed purple, and a gigantic demonic form descended slowly while absorbing that color.

Gulp-.

Tension stained Hargan's face as he looked at that figure.

Finally, it appeared.

The presence that stirred his fear.

Avoiding the gaze of that presence, Hargan searched for Zeus.

"F-Father..."

"What do you see with your eyes?"

"What?"

"Look at it directly."

Upon hearing those words, Hargan tightly closed his eyes and then opened them, looking up at the sky again.

It was a horrifying demon. Its claws were as long as its head, and its face was grotesque, devoid of any trace of blood.

As Hargan stared into the empty eyes of the demon descending from the sky, he felt his entire body stiffen.

It was difficult to keep looking.

Before he could properly recognize its form, Hargan turned his head and Zeus clicked his tongue as if disappointed.

"You're still insignificant."

At that moment...

"Just watch."

Zap-!

His body filled with blue lightning.

To avoid being engulfed by it, Hargan quickly stepped aside.

Crack-!

Zeus ascended to the sky.

Kurung, kurung-!

Blue lightning spread across the sky.

From a distance, the scene was observed by Foolish Chaos, who muttered.

"It's more than I expected."

Fighting against Zeus was a being that Foolish Chaos had managed to attract thanks to the busy movement of entering this Tower.

[Despair That Reaches The Skies][하늘을 덮는 절망]

A being that feeds on despair and fear to grow stronger and has no fixed form.

A being that came from outside the Tower, like himself, and was completely different from the Rankers of this World. It was Despair That Reaches The Skies.

However...

Facing that Despair, Zeus was dominating it.

Crack-!

Zeus's lightning rose from bottom to top. Despair screamed, and its cry filled the forest.

Despair That Reaches The Skies had prepared that strike to trap Zeus.

He didn't believe that Despair alone would be enough, but there was indeed a difference up to this point.

"Is this the limit of what one can think?"

Foolish Chaos couldn't stop thinking about how much stronger Zeus must have become with Indra's heart in his hands.

Zeus was being watched because he was aware of his existence and had a threatening strength. He was the most cautious target alongside Odin. Foolish Chaos wanted to make sure to eliminate him in this opportunity if possible.

"I might have to use quite a bit of power here."

Foolish Chaos murmured with regret and turned his head.

With a silent, fixed gaze at a certain place, he made eye contact with someone who had been observing him from the forest.

"So, there's one more."

Gooo-.

The tip of a spear aimed at his head.

Although it was far away, the sharp tip of the spear was undoubtedly heading toward him.

"Kim YuWon."

Not much was known about him.

In terms of ability, he still didn't pose a significant level of threat. It wasn't easy to consider him as someone fully aware of his existence, like Zeus, and his influence within the Tower wasn't as impressive.

A bud that would grow into a great figure in the future. Perhaps not just a great figure, but a World Leader.

Someone who, alongside Zeus, must be eliminated.

That was Kim YuWon.

"It's strange."

Every time he thought of him, his mind was muddled.

YuWon could do things that he definitely couldn't do, and he often disrupted everything Foolish Chaos planned for the Tower.

At first, he attributed it simply to coincidence.

But when it happened a second and third time, he could no longer attribute it to coincidence.

It was a result with a clear cause.

The problem was what lay behind YuWon, how he could achieve all these things.

"Maybe he's even more dangerous than Zeus," he thought.

That's why it took so long.

They had to capture not only Zeus but also YuWon at this moment.

YuWon was the only presence that ruined the image he had painted.

There was no other choice.

"As expected, my intuition was not wrong."

The head of Foolish Chaos turned in the opposite direction of where YuWon was.

Then...

Fwoosh-.

At a much closer distance than YuWon.

There were a pair of eyes shining with a bright red light.

Its opposite eye flashed a golden color.

Huaaaaah-.

An obvious killing intent transmitted through both pupils. The Arcane Power that had not erupted but was stirring inside boiled with rage.

"Great Sage, Heaven's Equal."

One of the most powerful High-Rankers who had turned the Celestial Realm into a battlefield. He never expected that he would be here. It was obvious why Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, whose intelligence was so poor as to be nicknamed the "stone monkey," was here.

Kim YuWon...

Once again, he had shaken the stage that Foolish Chaos had set.

"It's an interesting scene."

It wasn't his intention, but he thought it was better this way.

After all, this was just the beginning of something that had been planned for a long time and should have happened someday...

The start of the first battle between the Outer Gods and the Inside.