Leveling with the Gods

C443

Beeh-.

Beeh-.

The sheep around Shub-Niggurath began to bleat.

The sound of their bleating was much softer than at first, and it couldn't extend beyond a wall.

Within the Black Woods.

The mother surrounded by the sheep opened her mouth.

-Calm down. Nothing will happen.

Despite the words of the gigantic demon-horned goat, the unease of the sheep didn't easily disappear.

It was a natural reaction.

The mother surrounding them showed anxiety they hadn't seen before, and the offspring that identified with that emotion, how could they not feel triple the anxiety that Shub-Niggurath faintly felt?

-Saying that is useless.

Shub-Niggurath blinked slowly and looked at YuWon and Zeus, who were somewhere in the Black Woods.

Shub-Niggurath had clearly confined Zeus within the boundaries of the Black Woods. The woods ruled by Shub-Niggurath was so vast that, no matter how powerful Zeus was, he couldn't simply disrupt it all, and she thought that was enough to get Zeus out of the battlefield.

Zeus was as dangerous a figure as Odin, who wielded Yggdrasil, so it was a natural choice.

However...

-Where did that guy suddenly come from...?

Shub-Niggurath's gaze focused on YuWon.

He had probably entered her woods along with Zeus. But she had no memory of inviting YuWon into her woods.

That meant that YuWon had entered the woods of his own accord.

That was something that even Shub-Niggurath, who had encountered all sorts of incomprehensible things, couldn't easily understand.

Moreover...

Beeh-.

Beeh-.

The sheep were restless at his arrival.

It was an unease that wasn't related to Shub-Niggurath, the mother.

But that didn't mean she didn't understand the anxiety of the offspring.

The reason the little sheep trembled and bleated.

That was due to some sort of threat emanating from the human body called Kim YuWon.

She suddenly remembered the story of Foolish Chaos.

YuWon's description was exactly like...

-Is this our natural enemy?

She felt a strange sensation.

It wasn't just a simple feeling. The woods was trembling due to the sensation coming from YuWon.

He was her enemy. The energy flowing from him proved it.

Although for now, the energy was just beginning to bloom.

-It could become a dangerous sprout if it grows a little more.

Perhaps Foolish Chaos intended for her to handle him by sending him.

He was a guy with foolish ideas. She also understood why more and more people followed him outside the Tower.

However...

Sshh-.

The gaze of the gigantic goat turned to the little boy who was hovering under YuWon.

She had always been thinking about it.

And she was still thinking about it now.

Her throat trembled. Although she was now fully regenerated, she still felt pain. The one who bit her throat as he made his way through the wall...

It was that little one.

-I just hope... it's not him.

Beeh-.

Beeh-.

Beeh-.

Was it because of Shub-Niggurath's anxiety?

The sheep's bleating became more intense. Realizing her mistake, she stopped paying attention to YuWon and the child by his side.

She had lost too many sheep.

She had to fill those gaps as soon as possible.

-Wait a little longer.

Shub-Niggurath comforted the little sheep.

-We'll replenish your siblings soon.

The battlefield fell into a temporary calm due to Shub-Niggurath's silence.

The sheep that had fought on the battlefield had dispersed into the woods at some point. The exhausted Rankers had abandoned the pursuit of the sheep they had knocked down during the battle, and Miguel and Lee Rangjin, who led them, couldn't ignore their own fatigue either.

Ching...

Lee Rangjin stomped the ground with his sword. Immediately, he began to inspect the corpses of the sheep that the Rankers had brought down during the battle.

"About five hundred, I guess."

That was the number of sheep whose corpses had been found. If the sheep whose bodies left no trace were added, the figure would be much higher.

A prominent example would be the sheep that had been torn into pieces by the four-handed Asura wielding swords and clubs, leaving no trace of their bodies.

"Oddly, you don't seem to be resting."

Sshh...

Miguel approached Lee Rangjin.

He sat down beside the corpse of a sheep that had been next to him and looked around, surveying the Black Woods.

"Although our bodies are resting, it seems our minds are still fatigued."

"Why did they suddenly withdraw?"

"Well, perhaps they're catching their breath?"

"They outnumbered us."

Lee Rangjin nodded heavily at Miguel's words.

Unfortunately, they couldn't stop all the sheep. Neither Lee Rangjin nor High-Rankers like Miguel could consider themselves in difficulty, but for regular Rankers and higher-level players, each sheep was a calamity.

It took dozens of positioned Rankers to fight for a long time to become an opponent. And they could only resist thanks to Asura's amazing abilities that swept the battlefield.

"So, there must be another reason."

"The other side is doing a good job."

"I hope they continue to do so."

Lee Rangjin looked around.

He saw his exhausted comrades. Both the veteran leaders of the Celestial Realm and others were exhausted.

And among them...

Lee Rangjin approached Brunhilde, who was tending to the injured Valkyries.

"Are the Valkyries all right?"

"They're okay."

Brunhilde, who had nodded, bit her lower lip as if she couldn't take it anymore.

"...Although I would like to say that, the damage is great."

"The Valkyries were the first to fight them. Everyone will remember their sacrifice."

"...I just hope their deaths will be glorious."

When Brunhilde was disconsolate, Lee Rangjin patted her on the shoulder.

In this battle, regardless of what anyone said, Asgard suffered the most. Odin knew what was going to happen today and planned the Day of Reunion to draw everyone in.

Furthermore, he chose the heart of Asgard as the battlefield, which was as important as Valhalla.

'If it were elsewhere, there would have been a backlash against Asgard.'

Odin had abandoned Asgard.

Moreover, he planned to fight Shub-Niggurath himself by throwing his own body into the battle.

Lee Rangjin was also an ancient High-Ranker.

'I can't help but respect him.'

After Lee Rangjin had patted Brunhilde's shoulder for a moment.

Mmm...

Among the exhausted comrades who had fallen, a light step approached.

"Are you the one they call Lee Rangjin-gun?"

A boy's voice came from behind Lee Rangjin.

Lee Rangjin was preparing to turn around in response to the voice, but suddenly realized that the voice was closer than he thought.

"When?"

Lee Rangjin involuntarily stepped back, feeling a shiver. Quickly raising his weapon in the direction of the voice.

Then, a somewhat familiar face caught his attention.

It was a young man with light green hair and a youthful appearance. Lee Rangjin initially mistook him for Vishnu due to his unusual light green hair, but his black eyes proved he was not Vishnu.

"Why are you so alert?"

"How could I not be?"

"Really? I guess you could have been quite surprised."

The man awkwardly scratched his head. He raised his hands as if to show he had no intention of attacking.

"I thought I might have taken the wrong path."

"Path?"

"Yes, I'm looking for someone."

The man looked around the Black Woods as he shook his head.

Amidst the absolute silence of the woods...

"Where is Shub-Niggurath?"

He spoke the name of the monster that appeared in Valhalla.

The crunch of dry leaves broke with every step.

The surroundings were quiet.

It felt like they were entering a cage of silently lurking beasts.

"It seems like everyone has scattered at some point."

Zeus commented as he followed YuWon deeper into the woods.

Odin responded to the implicit question about what was happening.

"Since this woods appeared."

"What does the appearance of the woods have to do with it?"

"The spatial location has changed. As if they were separate blocks."

"It's astonishing."

"There's nothing impossible in this Tower. Much less for a guy like that who comes from the outside."

"True."

Zeus nodded in agreement.

So, while the two of them were briefly conversing...

Crackle-.

YuWon felt a presence in front of him.

A hand that brushed aside the dry leaves without a hint of moisture. Odin pointed the Gungnir spear towards that hand, or rather, towards that presence.

But then...

"There's no need to do that."

Zeus stopped Odin.

YuWon, who was leading the way, was not alert either.

Odin wondered what was going on.

"How did you get here?"

In response to YuWon's question, a palm the size of Odin's head appeared among the bushes.

Crackle-.

"I guess I came to the right place."

Hercules, covered in black ash on his face, appeared before them. He should have definitely scattered due to the appearance of the Black Woods, but how the hell did he get here?

"You came to the right place. It shouldn't have been easy to find the way."

"I just knew. Although I'm not sure why."

"Probably thanks to the Lightning."

Hercules' gaze sharpened at Zeus's words.

"...Yeah, thanks to the 'Lightning'."

A face and tone that seemed somewhat angry. When the two people's eyes clashed in the middle, YuWon wondered what was going on for a moment and then shook his head.

"It looks like they're about to fight again."

He already knew that their relationship was not good. It was surprising to YuWon that Hercules had acquired the power of Lightning.

It seems that the insurance Zeus was talking about was Hercules.

"I wonder how much stronger he has become."

Hercules, who had only had brute strength, now possessed a quite mature Lightning power. This was probably what Zeus had prepared to face Shub-Niggurath.

"I'm looking forward to seeing it."

YuWon had never seen Hercules use that new power in a fight. So, he was quite interested in how he would deploy that power while carrying the Lightning and unleash his strength with his powerful fist.

Beeh-.

Beeh-.

The sound came right after Hercules joined.

Beyond the woods, sheep arms passed by. Hercules, who had just come out of there, turned his head.

"Another noisy group has arrived."

"They are just kids."

Craaack-le-.

Zeus created Lightning in his hand. Hercules also started gathering Lightning power in his hand little by little.

And at that moment...

"Rest for a moment."

YuWon suddenly began to walk towards where the bleating of the sheep could be heard.

"Rest?"

Hercules shook his head as if it were absurd.

Zeus also seemed annoyed by YuWon's actions.

"There are quite a few of them."

"It will only take me a moment."

In YuWon's pupils, a group of sheep could be seen gathered on the other side of the bushes.

Shub-Niggurath's offspring.

['The Otherworld Opponent' bares its fangs at the 'Black Goat of the Woods'].

It was a message that he recalled when he first wielded the Predator.

Curious, YuWon looked at the sheep with eyes full of curiosity.

"...I need to check something for a moment."

KO-FI