Leveling with the Gods

C315

Shortly after releasing the Giants...

"This place is a bit different from what I knew."

The voice came from Tartarus.

It was a voice he had never heard before, but it was not unfamiliar. It was familiar, as if it belonged to an old friend.

Immediately, YuWon knew to whom it belonged.

Tartarus.

Here, the King of the Dead approached YuWon and spoke to him in his own world.

"This is not the true Tartarus."

-Another world created by your System?

"Again, have you experienced this before?"

-I see you're not surprised by my voice at all.

'This world is you. Why should I be surprised that a king who controls hundreds of millions of dead can speak?'

This world imbued strength to his title.

YuWon realized that fact and decided to take advantage of it.

Tartarus was the king of this world.

Moreover.

Perhaps he was a forgotten Ranker who had existed since the ancient times of this Tower, older than Uranus.

Anyway, at this moment, he had to use his power.

"Do you want to kill Uranus?"

YuWon lifted his head and looked up.

-Then, will you help me?

It wouldn't be something that difficult.

Perhaps not anywhere else, but here.

Zuuuu...

YuWon's eyes began to darken.

And in the next moment.

"Please, help me..."

YuWon's mouth opened unnaturally.

"That's right, then."

Zuuuu...

Feeling like he was sharing his body with someone was not pleasant.

It was uncomfortable and caused intense rejection.

Tartarus entered YuWon's body. A kind of unknown power filled his body, and his immobile body began to move on its own.

Step~

YuWon, no.

Tartarus took a step towards Uranus.

"You... did this?"

Surrounded by the dead, Uranus glared at YuWon.

His eyes filled with intense hostility.

The dead held onto his two legs. Uranus gathered Arcane Power in his hands.

Pazhik-!

The lightning that erupted from his hands swept across the ground. For a moment, it seemed like the lightning extended, devouring the surrounding darkness and annihilating the bodies of the dead.

But that was just an instant.

Kwaaaak-.

The hands of the dead didn't release Uranus.

Uranus's eyes shook. In his eyes, he saw something he had never seen before.

Ssshhhh-.

Black waves gently swaying.

"The sea?"

For the first time, Uranus looked in bewilderment at the vast sea of the dead that resembled an ocean.

"Just with those bars?"

YuWon's mouth opened at that moment.

"You thought you had really trapped them in this world?"

Woosh, Uranus's head turned.

Suddenly, YuWon appeared right beside him.

Swoosh, Uranus's body was engulfed beneath the sea.

It was YuWon who stood in front of him.

"You've changed."

Blackened pupils. Uncontainable rage and a changed expression that couldn't be hidden.

And the atmosphere.

Uranus realized that YuWon had become someone completely different from before.

No wonder.

"You're perceptive."

YuWon didn't deny Uranus's words.

All of this was his doing. He broke the cage, summoned the dead to stop him.

It wasn't something an ordinary Ranker could do.

And now, facing YuWon, Uranus felt like he was confronting a giant wall that he could never overcome.

"Who are you?"

"The essence that made you exist, and the king of this world."

It was an enigmatic answer.

Could he even be a god?

During the brief conversation, Uranus's body was being dragged down by the spirits up to his thighs.

"You are a very large soul. You possess a soul that thousands of spirits could eat and still be left."

YuWon saw Uranus's soul in his eyes.

It was a soul that had fattened after devouring Ponto. Although it was insufficient considering the sins he had committed so far, it still had a satisfactory size.

"You will pay for the punishment of having devoured the citizens of my country, with your soul being torn apart by the pain of being eaten."

"You..."

With YuWon's words, Uranus was able to confirm his identity.

"So, you were Tartarus."

Swoosh, swoosh.

Uranus's body disappeared up to his waist.

If he continued like this, he would fall into the deep ocean and never come out.

However, Uranus didn't fight.

No, he couldn't fight.

That was because there were too many spirits holding onto his body.

"Why are you clinging to someone like him? A being like you?"

"I'm not doing this because I like it."

YuWon shrugged.

"My own mother created me this way, so there's no other choice. If I want to see the world even a little, I can only cling to someone else's body."

"My body...?"

"It's not that bad either. In the end, isn't it the same for both of us? Doesn't it mean we can break the rules of the system?"

"..."

"Don't beg for your life and don't become more miserable. Isn't that what the great lineage of Olympus does?"

Uranus's eyes snapped shut.

The fear of what was about to happen sent chills down his spine.

So Uranus closed his eyes entirely.

And thus, he submerged deeply, all the way down, into the waters of the ocean.

"There, at the bottom of the ocean, live forever."

YuWon, who watched the place where Uranus had disappeared, turned around.

The Giants escaped from the bars.

Odin.

Chronos.

They all looked at YuWon.

"Why are they like that?"

In the darkness, without a single light, within overwhelming darkness...

"Laugh. Isn't it a happy day?"

YuWon laughed brighter than ever.

Odin and Chronos returned to the palace of Olympus.

The palace of Uranus imprisoned in Tartarus was like an ownerless empty house. Orders not to enter had been issued, and the two took YuWon to a room and laid him down.

It was at that moment when YuWon, who had lost consciousness for a moment, opened his eyes.

He looked around as if confused for a moment, but there was nothing unusual, so he got up as if nothing had happened.

"Thanks for bringing me here comfortably."

"Are you okay?"

At Odin's question, YuWon met his gaze and pointed at his head with his finger.

"My body? Or this place?"

"Both."

"I'm fine. Both. My memories are clear too."

He never thought it would come to this.

Sharing his body with Tartarus.

No matter how many worlds he had encountered in his own world, he never thought it would go this far.

The power of Tartarus that had suppressed Uranus using the power of the dead was so astonishing that even YuWon, who had shared his body, was surprised.

'I'll have to be careful.'

If he tried to resist, he could have done it.

YuWon didn't think that Tartarus had taken over his body.

He had handed it over himself.

But anyway, the fact that someone else was moving his body was a dangerous sign.

It was possible that they could take his body and turn him into someone's puppet.

Especially considering Uranus's words, Tartarus was clearly a dangerous existence.

'However, the results aren't bad.'

Uranus was trapped in Tartarus.

The Giants couldn't get out. The moment they tried to leave, an invisible barrier blocked them.

Tartarus was somewhere between life and death.

The Giants who had already become dead couldn't cross that boundary without the help of a Necromancer.

"Are you satisfied with the outcome?"

YuWon opened his mouth as he saw Odin and Chronos pause.

The world came to a halt.

After all, it was a virtual world created by the System, so it was possible.

And at that moment...

"This is cheating."

Uranus, who had disappeared into Tartarus, appeared in front of YuWon.

"I never expected Tartarus to be inside you. I would have never imagined."

"So, that's cheating, huh?"

"That's right, it's cheating."

"I also had one of the abilities. Don't you have several abilities if you have a title?"

Uranus nodded at YuWon's words.

Indeed, in terms of the number of titles he possessed, Uranus had many more.

Vice Lord of the Celestial Demon Sect and King of the Dead.

Although YuWon had two titles, Uranus was a High-Ranker who possessed many more titles than that.

There were no excuses to justify what was clearly cheating.

"Besides, if I hadn't stopped you there, I wouldn't have had any chance of winning."

Kiiing-.

One of YuWon's eyes turned golden. His ability, Golden Cinder Eyes, penetrated the true nature of Uranus.

Uranus was so monstrous that even through the Golden Cinder Eyes, the limit of his power couldn't be seen.

"Ponto, the Giants of Tartarus, even the ancient Olympus."

Uranus, who had consumed all that, was completely different from the Uranus locked up in Tartarus.

"Anyway, did I pass the Trial?"

"Yes, perfectly."

Kiiing-.

Kiiingg-.

The surrounding landscape disappeared. Everything vanished as if the curtains had been drawn, and the environment turned white.

[You have passed the 'Memory of Uranus'.]

[Your control will be evaluated based on your actions.]

[You have stopped Uranus.]

[You have perfectly passed the 'Memory of Uranus'.]

[You have obtained control of the 'Uranus Heart'.]

Kiiing-.

The gloves glowed again. The items that had stopped functioning during the Trial regained their original power.

He had gained control.

A significant difference still couldn't be seen.

"Don't get too excited. Even though you have what I've obtained, you won't be able to use everything right away."

"Actually, that's better."

"Better?"

"Yes, because that means the items have even greater value."

Divine Dark Crystal, Divine Sea Crystal, and even Zeus's Divine Sky Crystal.

Those were divine items that everyone in the past had told him to collect without fail before going back to the past.

Even if only considering the value of each separately, what kind of object would be created when they were combined?

Everyone had expectations, and finally, the result was born from YuWon's hands.

"You're very presumptuous."

The landscape around him quickly changed.

Over the white background, the area near the rocky mountain where YuWon originally stood appeared.

"Don't get too excited."

Kiiing-.

The sky remained bright. It was as if it were broad daylight.

It was as if he had never changed locations from the beginning. YuWon even briefly wondered if this was all just a dream he had because nothing seemed to have changed.

But clearly, it wasn't a dream.

"We've gained a lot."

YuWon looked again at Uranus Heart in his hand, which had regained its power.

The Uranus Heart.

Tartarus.

King of the Dead.

All were achievements he had gained in this Trial.

"Wait..."

Crack-.

A golden ray flowed through the gloves.

[The 'Uranus Heart' generates a lightning bolt.]

Crackling-!

A spear of golden lightning formed in YuWon's hand.

When he infused power into Uranus Heart and visualized its shape, the lightning formed easily.

He didn't know how long Uranus had been waiting, but for now, he had to confirm what he had obtained in this trial.

However...

[You have obtained control of the 'Uranus Heart'.]

[You can configure the form of the 'Uranus Heart'.]

"The form...?"

With an unexpected message, YuWon's eyes sparkled.

KO-FIBUY ME A COFEE