Leveling with the Gods

C411

Hercules' fights were always like raging bulls.

Crack!

His fists shattered even the intangible. Water, fire, wind, and even intangible energy forms were broken and disappeared before his overwhelming strength.

Thud!

The slimes protecting the slab burst and covered Hercules' torso.

Ignoring this, Hercules extended his foot forward once again, ready to swing his fist.

And at that moment, something grabbed Hercules' two legs.

He felt a gaze downward and saw something clinging to his legs.

It was the remains of the slimes he thought he had killed.

Kwung!

A Lightning Bolt passing by Hercules threw the approaching slimes off him.

"Stay alert."

"...Thanks."

Swish...

Hercules grasped his club.

He had concluded that facing these beings without weapons was ineffective.

Especially against these beings, facing them without weapons was virtually suicide.

"It's not easy."

The fight had only started a few minutes ago.

Each of the single-celled cells that looked like slimes did not have great power. Their bodies tore easily with just a punch's impact, so he initially underestimated them.

But...

As he punched more, pushed away the slimes blocking his path, and cleared a path, Hercules began to feel something different.

"My body feels heavier."

It was as if they were sapping the energy from his body.

It wasn't a difference he would have noticed had he not paid attention, but it definitely wasn't an illusion.

"Ubbo-Sathla absorbs the energy and vitality of living beings."

Information that YuWon had learned from his battle with Ubbo-Sathla.

"At first, it's so subtle that you barely feel it. But like clothes soaked in the rain, it eventually robs you of your energy and weakens you."

"Is it absorption-type? In that case..."

"It's not simple absorption. If it were, so many comrades wouldn't have died trying to take down Ubbo-Sathla."

That was true.

So far, there had been many comrades who had acted to take down Ubbo-Sathla.

But among them, no one had defeated Ubbo-Sathla, not even among those who returned alive from the nest.

Except for Daedalus, who was revealed as a traitor.

"Absorption. And then disappearance."

Extending two fingers, YuWon explained the fight with Ubbo-Sathla to his comrades.

"Just remember these two things for now."

Splash!

Hercules, who had punched the slimes blocking his way with his fist, frowned.

"Could they be gastric acid?"

One hand was occupied. The slimes lunged forward, repeatedly blocking Hercules' blows and causing him injuries with their strikes.

"It's different from that."

Tss, tss, tss...

YuWon reached out to the slimes lying before him.

"The property of these beings is closer to erasure than corrosion."

It felt similar to when the skin burned as if it were in contact with fire or when it was corroded by dark energy, but it was neither of the two.

The property of those slimes was erasure.

That's why.

[Tartaros is open]

Whoosh!

The darkness that sprang from the Uranus Heart swallowed the slimes. The ring he held in his hand instantly opened a door and trapped the slimes inside.

And in that short moment...

Crunch...

The remnants of the slimes clung to YuWon's body.

"It's pointless to cut them with a sword."

Thud, thud...

YuWon shook off the remnants that clung to his body.

They weren't fatally dangerous, but he thought it would be dangerous if this repeated.

A property that consumed and erased everything in the world, a type of absurd property.

"It's not good to prolong this."

It was dangerous to carry this into a long battle.

After realizing this, Hercules decided not to save more energy and fight with all his might.

Thump...

He gripped his club with both hands.

Although he had already used Complete Gigantification, he still had a method to further evolve Gigantification after obtaining Divinity.

"It has begun."

Vibrations that transmitted through the earth.

The myth that Hercules had been writing for a long time was the battle with the Giants.

It was the Gigantomachy itself.

Boooom...

Hercules' club fell to the ground.

[The 'Blessing of the Sea' resides within your body.]

YuWon's ring emitted a blue light and enveloped his body.

BAAAM!

Pillars of smoke rose into the air. The solid ground of the nest was flipped, and numerous slimes that obstructed the view suddenly disappeared.

YuWon was surprised once again at the sight before him.

"I'm amazed every time I see this."

Hercules, the Giant Slayer.

The name began to gain notoriety during the long war between Olympus and the Giants, the Gigantomachy, in which Hercules had a prominent role on multiple occasions.

And within that battle, Hercules created his own legend.

"Now I understand why Zeus coveted him so much."

Hercules had mentioned that at some point.

"It was because of me."

The Gigantomachy. He said that the reason hundreds of millions of Giants died was because of him.

"Father tried to create me. He used Gigantomachy to create a Myth, and within it, he intended to give life to a monster."

Gigantomachy was a war so massive in the Tower's history that it marked a before and after.

And the reason behind this war was Zeus.

For a long time, he had intended to use Gigantomachy to create Hercules' own Myth, a condition for achieving higher Divinity.

"Why didn't he write it himself?"

"He had already been writing the Myth of the 'King of Olympus' for a long time. There was no need for another Myth."

"But why bother?"

"It was because of succession."

Zeus was the King of Olympus.

He had always been thinking about his succession.

"It was all for the good of Olympus."

That was how the monster was created according to Zeus's plans.

Hercules was not grateful for the Giant blood flowing through his veins.

He wasn't someone who was born but rather someone who had been created.

Hercules regarded his surroundings as cursed.

But it was thanks to that that he had been perfected.

"Without a single Arcane Power, this strength..."

Ubbo-Sathla, which consumed both Arcane Power and vitality.

The only person capable of confronting such power without using a hint of Arcane Power and still wield such strength was Hercules.

"Thanks to that, everything is clearer."

Woosh...

When the rising smoke finally dissipated, the vibration stopped.

YuWon and Hercules looked beyond the defeated slimes that had fallen next to the club and observed the shape that surrounded the slab.

From the beginning, they had been targeting the slab with the club.

Drip...

The drops of water around the slab began to move. What had previously lacked a definite shape now formed eyes, mouths, and continuously changed shape.

A monster whose appearance couldn't be clearly defined, with dozens of eyes, mouths, and limbs that looked like tails or legs but couldn't be said for sure.

Hercules frowned as he looked at it.

"It looks pretty repugnant."

"All of them are."

Most entities in this world had vague and indistinct forms that were difficult to describe with a single name.

And among them, Ubbo-Sathla was especially so.

That's why it was given the nickname "The Unbegotten Source."

Aaaa, aaaa~

A chilling cry spread from the center of Ubbo-Sathla. It sounded similar to a human wail, shaking the eardrums of YuWon and Hercules.

A cry mixed with the voices of countless people.

Twisting~

One of Ubbo-Sathla's numerous tails moved.

And at that moment...

Juwaack!

Hercules raised his arm against the rapidly extending tail.

And at that moment...

Scaaat...

YuWon drew his sword first.

Schwack...

The tail was cut long following the sword's trajectory.

Chiiiiik...

YuWon pushed Hercules' body backward, away from Ubbo-Sathla.

It seemed as if Hercules was asking why YuWon was interfering. Then, Hercules frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"I told you not to clash with it."

"We should face it at least once to understand it."

"In the fight, both Son OhGong and you are equally ignorant."

"I've already finished talking..."

How did they know?

So, among the countless mixed voices, YuWon and Hercules looked at Ubbo-Sathla. The being that had protected the slab began to blink its numerous eyes irregularly.

How did they know?

Among the many mixed voices, YuWon and Hercules could distinguish the presence of a familiar voice.

"...Siegfried?"

"It's not just him."

["Sensory Field" activated.]

["Audition" in the process of activation.]

A voice divided into hundreds.

In YuWon's ears, Ubbo-Sathla's voice sounded fragmented, one by one.

Reply.

Reply.

Reply.

Reply.

And, as expected.

YuWon looked at the eyes and mouths of Ubbo-Sathla that appeared in front of him.

"Are all those who were believed to be dead there?"

Ubbo-Sathla absorbed the Arcane Power and vitality of living beings.

This information was quite well-known to YuWon and his companions up to this point. However, Hercules, who faced Ubbo-Sathla directly, didn't have sensory abilities like YuWon.

More than that, Hercules had never directly heard Ubbo-Sathla's voice.

That's why they couldn't obtain this information.

"Is that what happens if that guy eats you?"

"We need to catch it as soon as possible."

Zas...

The tendons in Hercules' forehead tensed.

Normally, he didn't get angry easily. And when he did, it was even more terrifying.

Hercules seemed unable to bear the idea that Ubbo-Sathla would eat his companions and treat them like this.

But...

"Try to calm down a bit."

YuWon approached Ubbo-Sathla.

Ubbo-Sathla had revealed its form to protect the slab.

If the entire nest was Ubbo-Sathla's body, then what was in front of them was like the source of all the creatures it had accumulated so far.

It was as if the tastiest prey had just appeared.

"There was someone waiting for a long time."

"…?"

Someone waiting.

Here, only YuWon and Hercules were present. Moreover, there was no time to wait for anyone else.

What was he thinking?

Chuk...

It was at that moment...

Behind YuWon.

A large mouth with sharp teeth appeared, revealing its razor-sharp fangs.

['Amorphous Chaos' shows its teeth]

['Egg' squirms]

The mouth that had devoured Satan.

The creature that had been roaring its hungry belly since it entered the nest had finally entered the world.