Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 123

“Huh?”

Mamos felt a weird presence. He had suddenly smelled a familiar scent coming from YuWon, who had been hunting the Big Cows.

‘Demonic energy?’

Mana and demonic energy had different characteristics. They might have seemed similar at first glance, but unlike mana, demonic energy had a more destructive nature to it. This was the inherent power of demons, just like how angels had holy power.

‘Surely not, right?’

Crash—!

As the last remaining Big Cows were incinerated by YuWon’s [Mana Blasts,] Mamos had a chilling thought. If it was one time, he could’ve ignored it as a mistake, but if one became two, the situation would change.

“What the… Really?” Mamos opened his eyes wide and looked closely at YuWon.

Swish, shwooo—

The unrestrained demonic energy from YuWon danced around his body.

Most people wouldn’t have been able to tell with their naked eyes, but being from a bloodline of a Demon King, Mamos could definitely feel it. Demonic energy was definitely flowing from YuWon.

“It doesn’t make sense…”

Mana and demonic energy. For there to be a player who could wield both of them to exist… Was it possible if they were a child of both a human and a demon?

No, that wasn’t it. Even if that was the case, it was still an impossibility. Blood would be mixed, and they were bound to be born inheriting the strength of the stronger blood.

The other teams seemingly hadn’t been able to deal with them yet as the test continued.

Mamos carefully approached YuWon. “What happened to you?”

Although it was a random question, YuWon immediately recognized why he asked. Although other people might not have noticed, it was obvious that Mamos would have been able to.

“I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know?”

“I became like this after getting a new skill.”

Hearing YuWon’s answer, Mamos was surprised. “Skill? It’s possible to handle demonic energy through a skill?”

“I’m curious about that as well.”

YuWon was also surprised.

Demonic energy. He hadn’t ever expected that he could acquire it through a skill.

[Demonic Body]

ᗌ Rank: S-

ᗌ Proficiency: 0.00%

ᗌ The body of demon. Can handle demonic energy.

ᗌ Able to acquire demon-exclusive skills.

ᗌ Demonic energy increased by 20.

[Demonic Energy: 20 (Special)]

ᗌ Can’t be increased by leveling up.

ᗌ Can be used by all skills.

After checking the skill and stat, YuWon could only let out a laugh.

What kind of skill was this?

‘A skill that creates a new stat. This is my first time seeing this type of skill.’

Demonic energy was a power only demons could control. This was a fact known by the Rankers who knew the systems of the Tower. This also included YuWon.

However, this skill created demonic energy just by learning it.

‘It can’t be increased by level-ups. So does it increase my stat by increasing the proficiency?’

With [Heaven-Slaying Star,] the stat increased with the completion rate. This might mean that [Demonic Body] also increased his stats through the same method.

‘It’s also possible to use this and another stat at the same time. The problem is increasing its proficiency…’

As it hadn’t been long since he acquired this skill, he also hadn’t gotten used to demonic energy yet.

This really was a gratuitous gain. It was fine to be satisfied with this right now.

Well, then…

“Let’s start finishing this. I’ve gotten what I wanted with this.”

“Huh? What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’.”

YuWon checked the points he acquired up until now.

[Points: 24355]

“Let’s finish this test.”

* * *

Translator - Jreaming

Proofreader - BringTheRayn

* * *

“Huah, haah—”

“It-It’s over…”

“Fuah—I thought I was going to die.”

Stage 13 had finally ended.

Mekkel and all his teammates fell on their backs in exhaustion. Thankfully there were no casualties, but for the first time, someone was injured.

“Next time might be really hard.”

“Dammit, is the test done for this time as well?”

“It’s too early to give up. We’ve gotten a lot of points this time as well.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

There was hope.

Thanks to the increased number of Big Cows summoned this time, they could obtain more points to summon them elsewhere. This time, they could probably summon twice the number of Big Cows.

“The other teams would be in the same situation, right?”

“Probably. I don’t think there’s a team that’s been eliminated either…”

“Maybe there are some teams that didn’t keep their promise and are saving their points?”

“Aren’t we the same as well?”

“Well, yeah, that’s true.”

There were still a decent amount of points they had saved up. They were the points to use against the other teams after Kim YuWon’s team was taken down.

However, after feeling threatened for the first time, their thinking changed.

Mekkel used all the points he had saved up.

“Don’t save any this time and use them all. Or don’t expect to survive to the next stage.”

“Ok.”

“Understood.”

“We’re also tired now.”

The team members used all their points as well.

Next round, the number of Big Cows summoned would probably be greater than all the other times they were summoned.

“You’re done for.”

With this, they would be able to eliminate Kim YuWon’s team.

Mekkel was sure of it.

But then…

[Stage 14 will start.]

Vwoong, vwoong-vwoong—

The white lights started to appear.

Mekkel didn’t think much of it since he had seen it thirteen times already.

However, there was a big difference.

“What the…”

“Just how many are gonna spawn?”

[Summoning ‘Big Cow.’]

[Summoning ‘Big Cow.’]

[Summoning…]

[Summoning…]

[…]

Messages started flooding in without stopping, one after the other.

Seeing the countless number of white lights and the endless herd of Big Cows, they could only then confirm that something was definitely wrong.

The scenario they had been dreading all this time had appeared before them.

“Mooooooo—!”

Rumble, rumble, rumble—!

Hundreds of cows shook the earth. It was on an entirely different scale to the previous thirteenth stage. It was at least three, no, four times as many.

Baffled at seeing the sea of Big Cows laid out before him, Mekkel muttered to himself. “This… Nah.”

* * *

Atop the corpses of the Big Cows, YuWon waited for the messages.

And soon…

[Team 1 has been eliminated.]

[Team 4 has been eliminated.]

[Team 7 has…]

The messages he had been waiting for continued.

‘200 per team. I think one team might survive.’

This was a possibility. Even if they weren’t of high-quality bloodlines like Hargaan or Mamos, if a player with a decent level of skill was on a team, it wasn’t that impossible to survive.

But even then, the outcome would still have been the same.

Just as he predicted…

[Team 10 has been eliminated.]

Although it was far later than the other teams, the final team was eliminated from the test.

While blocking the wave of monsters, they were probably thinking about the next stage.

‘If we block this time, then we’ll advance to the next stage, then the next, then the next…’

With all the other teams being eliminated, as the only team left against YuWon’s team, which had survived while all the other eight teams were there, they didn’t have the confidence to be able to win.

[You have passed the test of the 24th Floor.]

[You obtained 50,000 points.]

[You obtained an additional 54,360 points.]

[You have obtained Cloudwalk.]

The test pass message.

The rewards weren’t that interesting. The additional points YuWon had acquired were twice the amount of points he had accumulated. Just above 100,000 points in total.

Although it wasn’t bad, the following reward wasn’t that good.

‘Cloudwalk. A skill that upon use instantly makes your feet light and creates an invisible path in the sky.’ YuWon let out a sigh. ‘It’s a lower ranking skill than Hermes’s Treads. This will just eat into my mana.’

Although this skill might see use once or twice sometime in the future, in necessary situations, it would be better to use [Hermes’s Treads] instead.

In the end, the only thing he obtained after passing the 24th Floor’s test was 100,000 points.

[Moving to the 25th Floor.]

Shwooo—

The figures of all the players who passed started to fade.

It was the same for YuWon.

They could see something like the scene changing right in front of their eyes. With the authority to move to the next floor given to them, the other players were being moved as well.

Shwaaaaa—

The feeling of ascending through the Tower was always interesting no matter how many times he did it. It was the same feeling as when one went on a long journey, like a young child who only lived in a small town or city getting to know the wider world. It was as if the world he could perceive and step into had widened.

“Oh…”

“Is this the 25th Floor?”

“Britain is known for its good tourist spots.”

“This is Britain?”

“Is it?”

The players who just arrived at the 25th Floor started to look around as if they were tourists, seemingly having forgotten the test they just endured.

The first thing they noticed was the sky that was clearer and bluer than any other floor. Small, snow-like motes of clouds, clean and refreshing air. The gentle cries of birds and the verdant mountain range that could be seen in the distance. It was truly a beautiful world.

The place the players had arrived at was atop an altar. And at the top of this altar stood statues that represented Britain.

“Woah…”

“So are these the famous Knights of the Round Table?”

“It’s pretty cool.”

Close to 150 bronze statues surrounded the altar. They were the knights that represented Britain. Every single one of them was a Ranker, the swords and shields that protected Britain. And among them, stood the biggest bronze statue.

“That statue…” Mamos pointed at the bronze figure that stood out the most. “Is that person King Arthur?”

The great knight who was holding up the brilliant sword Excalibur. The man with flowing blonde hair atop the white horse was but a statue, but one could feel his majesty just from looking at it.

It started to feel real.

Arthur. The one called the “King of Knights.” The great master of The Round Table who established Britain. Right now…

“—That’s right. That was my body.”

He was inside 「Kyneē,」 still desiring a new body.

‘Have you not gotten over such a petty thing?’

“—It’s not petty! Is it that difficult for you to procure me a body that’s at least a bit human-like?”

‘If you’re fine with the cow I hunted earlier…’

“—Cough.”

Arthur quickly closed his mouth.

Rather than a quadruped like that monster, he seemed to still prefer something biped like the Orc.

“That’s probably it.”

“I heard that the current king of Britain is Lancelot, but I guess they haven’t changed the statue yet.”

“He’s still just a temporary king.”

After Arthur disappeared, the vacant seat of the King of Britain was given to Lancelot. But at the end of the day, it was still a temporary position until Arthur returned.

The throne of Britain had been in a state of vacancy for the past thousand years.

“Still, I am a bit curious.”

Mamos looked around at the world of Britain that was more beautiful than any other world. Being born a demon, he had only recently realized that such beautiful worlds existed.

“Arthur, who created this world, and Lancelot, who ruled for over a thousand years. I wonder what kind of people they are…”

“That won’t be difficult.”

“Pardon?”

Clip, clop—

Noisy clopping was heard, and YuWon turned his attention to the path that led up to the altar.

“You’ll see him soon.”

Three white horses and the knights wearing heavy plate armor riding them. Their horses were making noise as they went up the road, approaching the players who had just arrived in their world.

“The Round Table I know doesn't just sit around.”