Ranker Who Lives Twice

Thomas Lee's face flushed red. 'What? The Untouchable is telling Ares to come down?'

Ares was the god Thomas served. Although Thomas never considered himself a devout follower, he was still very proud of the god he served. Moreover, Ares occupied one of the highest positions in Greek and Roman mythology, and his legends were famous enough that virtually everyone on Earth knew about Ares. Furthermore, among Zeus' numerous children, Ares had been born from Hera, so Ares was a direct and recognized descendent of Zeus.

Although there were rumors that Ares was a fool, in the days of ancient Rome, when Ares' fame and prestige had reached its height, Ares, under the name of 'Mars' boasted a level of faith equal to that of Zeus. Thus, the Untouchable's seemingly flippant way of speaking down on Ares, as if he was speaking to a subordinate, caused Thomas' blood to boil.

Seeing both Cain and Sesha acting and speaking so flippantly towards the gods of Olympus, Thomas thought that the two had probably gone mad. Did something happen to their brains during the gate break?

"Three." However, with seemingly no care for anyone's thoughts, Yeon-woo counted down from three with a stern expression.

Thomas Lee was about to curse at Cain, but then…

『What? Why is the Channel's connection so unstable and shaky? Did something happen? Hey! What the hell did you…!』 Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice rang in Thomas' mind.

Thomas widened his eyes. Even after becoming Ares' Apostle, he had never directly heard Ares' voice before. He had heard that the other apostles often conversed with the gods they served, but Thomas had never received any oracles or revelations from his god. Regardless, Thomas never took this as a bad thing. He had always just thought that his god was testing him. But, at this moment, he was finally hearing his god's voice.

At first, Thomas momentarily wondered if someone was playing a trick on him, but he soon understood intuitively that the voice speaking within his mind was the god he served, Ares. The Channel trembled uncontrollably, and Thomas' soul started resonating as well.

His god was angry! Thomas was about to explain to his god about the undignified being who was tarnishing Ares' name, but Ares suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, only silence ensued.

Wondering if something happened, Thomas focused on the Channel…

Hiccup! It was a very faint sound.

'A…hiccup? Doesn't one usually hiccup when one becomes startled after realizing something that one has never considered?'

"Two."

『W-Why is h-he t-there? I-I'm c-certain Athena's Apostle was s-supposed t-to notify us when h-he awakens…!』

'M-My lord?'

Ares' voice was trembling violently as if he had seen something he never expected. Thomas Lee was able to accurately read Ares' emotions through their Channel connection—astonishment, shock, fear.

'M-My lord?' His god was exhibiting such an emotional upheaval, and through the Channel, Thomas Lee was equally feeling those dramatic emotional sways. Currently, Thomas felt like his mind was about to explode. Thus, he had called out to Ares multiple times to understand the reason for this emotional rollercoaster. However, Ares did not seem to hear what his Apostle was saying.

"Ah, you punk. You're going to take your sweet time, huh? Fine then. One." In the meantime, Yeon-woo had steadily counted down to one.

『Ack!』 Ares' shocked scream shook Thomas' mind violently.

The Channel vibrated violently before it became crystal clear. Thomas Lee felt his mind and spirit being pushed to the background as a great spirit took over his body. This was the descent of a god!

With the sound of air whipping across the area, a strong wind blew. Soon, a huge and majestic divine being descended. The players around Thomas all exclaimed in amazement.

"A g-god is descending!"

"All of a sudden? Here?"

"If it's the captain's god, wouldn't it be Ares? Ares is showing up? Why…?"

However, leaving all their questions unanswered, a light halo appeared above Thomas Lee's head. It blazed brightly for a moment and then quickly faded away.

The Hell Hound players gulped down hard with nervous expressions on their faces. Some actually expressed joy. No matter how well-prepared they were, if a god were to directly help them in their operation, the chances of the operation succeeding would drastically increase. They were all the more certain of victory. Soon their god would punish that blasphemous being…!

"Zero…!"

『Stoooop!』At that moment, when Yeon-woo was just about to finish his count, Thomas Lee jumped up and fell flat in front of Yeon-woo. No, to be precise, it was Ares who possessed the body of Thomas Lee who was lying flat on the ground.『A-Ares welcomes god Cha Yeon-woo…!』

"You're late."

Ares tried to shout something in a hurry, but the tip of Yeon-woo's lips had already curled up. Yeon-woo lightly waved his hand in the air. It was like a simple motion to shoo away some flies.

However, the result of his simple action was nothing but simple.

Boom!

『Ugh!』Suddenly, a shadow rose abruptly from the ground and slapped Ares wildly. Ares made a squealing noise as he bounced off and rolled across the ground.

"…"

"…"

"…"

While this was occurring, the players watching the scene were all staring blankly. What the hell did they just see? Were they experiencing hallucinations? Everyone had thoroughly dumbfounded expressions. Of course, everyone knew that illusions could not occur within their restrictive Illusory Barrier.

"I'll count down from three once more. The first five will get off easily. Five."

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Boom!

['Hercules' is descending!]

['Dionysus' is descending!]

['Apollo' is descending!]

['Artemis' is descending!]

['Charites' is descending!]

It seemed that the players had gone beyond a state of being dumbfounded. It seemed like they had all lost their spirits. Their gods were not simply descending but directly assuming the large costs of the law of causality to descend onto Earth. All the descended gods exuded intense spiritual pressure, which made the players' skins crawl just by being next to them… However, the problem was that all these great beings were rushing to fall flat in front of Yeon-woo.

Olympus was widely known as a godly society of 'good' gods focused on correcting and maintaining order on Earth and protecting the Association. Not surprisingly, most Hell Hound players received help from Olympus' gods. To see such high-ranking divine beings bowing their heads like this…? However, the larger problem was…

[Momus is descending!]

[Eris is descending!]

…

Soon, the gods of Olympus successively appeared in a rush. Suddenly, the space they were in was being crushed under the sudden tremendous spirit pressure.

However, Yeon-woo looked around at the scene as if it was quite natural and spoke briefly to those who appeared late. "I want all those who appeared after Charites to gather together. Charites, and those who came before Charites, are exempted."

At those words, Momus and the other gods showed visible expressions of anxiousness. Charites and the other gods who descended before Yeon-woo let out sighs of relief.

***

"Heads on the ground with your asses in the air. If you lose your posture or show any signs of using your divine powers, I'll take it as your desire to enter into my shadows."

"Ugh…!"

"Uh…!"

The gods of Olympus obediently following Yeon-woo's command was a shocking sight to see. The players just wanted to pass out. They were lost on what to do in this situation. Of course, they had all long ago given up on the idea of defying or facing up to Yeon-woo.

"What? You guys are planning on doing something? That suits me as well." The cynical words Yeon-woo casually threw out to the remaining Hell Hound players were enough to cause their hearts to skip a beat. It was a threat. Yeon-woo was stating that, if they weren't careful, and not factoring Yeon-woo himself, the players would have to contend against all the descended gods of Olympus. The gazes of the Olympus gods, glaring at them, were filled with serious killing intent.

Of course, if a war were to occur, it would not be a simple war. It would bring the end of the world. Therefore, the Hell Hound players immediately disarmed themselves and had no other choice but to anxiously wait for the Olympus gods to finish whatever they needed to do.

At the same time, the players grew curious. What was Yeon-woo's true identity? Apparently, his identity as the missing 'Cain' seemed to be correct, but the players could not understand why the gods of Olympus were acting in such a weird, subservient manner. Based on their common sense, there was a vast difference between mortals and transcendent beings, and it was impossible to imagine transcendents prostrating themselves to a mere human like themselves.

If the Association later heard of these facts…and once it became known to the world, what kind of uproar would it cause? They couldn't even fathom a guess. Of course, surviving here was their most urgent priority.

Meanwhile, Thomas Lee, who had led and brought the Hell Hounds, felt as though he was on the brink of death.

『You would have been a worthless thing if it wasn't for me…! But what have you done? Who have you insulted? Were you praying to die as soon as possible?』

Thomas wasn't facing a sense of death because of Yeon-woo. It was because of Ares, who still occupied his body. As the murderous intent emanating from Ares was fiercely boiling within him, Thomas' soul trembled precariously as if it was about to collapse at any moment. What he felt proved how angry Ares was.

A simpleton human had dared to disturb Yeon-woo. Even Yeon-woo of ten years ago was a difficult existence for the Olympus gods to deal with, especially after he had achieved the god of kings title. Moreover, since Yeon-woo absorbed the power of darkness and awakened, Ares had no idea how much stronger and more powerful Yeon-woo had become.

Of course, since Ares was also Yeon-woo's Apostle, whenever Yeon-woo gained power, Ares would also enjoy a positive effect, but there was a limit to his increased powers since a subordinate could never gain greater power to the extent of one's master.

'Ugh, ugh…!' Because of this, Thomas Lee completely lost his mind at some point and virtually became an idiot.

『Anyway, I'll deal with you later. You're gonna regret…!』 Of course, Ares was not thinking of stopping just yet. Ares was thoroughly angered by Thomas.

When Ares was on the brink of destroying Thomas' soul, Yeon-woo, who now stood in front of Ares, opened his mouth to speak. "…So, Olympus has been supporting the Association or whatever it's called to calm down and bring order to the chaos that occurred on Earth, right?"

『That's right…!』

"Speak directly with your voice, not with divine speech. My ears are ringing."

"Yes! You're right!" Ares jumped up and vigorously nodded his head.

"Who told you to get up?"

"Uh!" Ares quietly returned to a prostrated position.

Seeing Ares return to his original position, Yeon-woo lightly clicked his tongue. Yeon-woo had already roughly heard from Ananta about what happened during his absence, but he had never heard about the heavenly world's movements. Now, he finally grasped the general situation.

After the great escape, Night had continuously tried to enter this universe, and Day, centered around Cha Jeong-woo, fought against them. And Olympus, according to the will of Yeon-woo and Uranus, the first leader of Olympus, joined the side of Day. However, while contending against the Night, the gods of Olympus also tried to protect Earth, where Yeon-woo was presumed to be asleep, or to be more exact, where the Black King was asleep.

Of course, the gods had no time to care about Earth because they had to fully focus on their war against the Night. In the meantime, the Association seemed to be trying to maintain order on Earth. Thus, Olympus had given them their support. Even if the Association would not be able to stop all the gods and demons who were causing trouble on Earth, the Association could at least handle the gates.

And, on the other hand, if there were any traces or existences related to Yeon-woo, the Association would be able to immediately notify Olympus, as this was what the Association was instructed to do.

'But these guys thought that Olympus was targeting me, so they were trying to raid and dispatch me on Olympus' behalf, right?'

Olympus did not see a need to explain in detail their relationship with Yeon-woo to individual followers and apostles, so they must have left only a set of basic instructions. Humans, who tend to mistake themselves as special beings 'chosen by god', were probably too slow to understand the underlying messages and orders their gods had left for them.

But thanks to that, Yeon-woo seemed to understand things that he had not been able to understand for a while. However, there was still something that bothered him…

"So…the gate and all the strange ordeals that subsequently appeared were all caused by the reverberations of the darkness, right?"

"Yes! Yes! The problem is that this phenomenon is happening not only here on Earth, but also on several planets and civilizations throughout the universe."

"Hmm."

Ares felt anxious when Yeon-woo frowned as if he did not like something. However, Yeon-woo was immersed in other thoughts. Ever since he opened his eyes, he wondered why Earth had changed in such a strange and unexpected way. 'All this chaos is because of me, right?' Having this thought…Yeon-woo felt a little bit sorry.