Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 24

Yolche remained silent for a while. Breaking through the ceiling of the Tower? It was something she had never even imagined.

For someone like her who had remained in the middle floors for the longest time due to not being selected by the Tower, something like becoming a Ranker was nothing more than a dream.

The king that led her people was a Ranker that she greatly admired. But to YuWon, her dream was merely a process.

“What kind of nonsense is—?!”

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Yolche was interrupted by Hargaan, who YuWon had buried in the Parasite Dragon.

Hargaan got up, growling like an animal and glaring at YuWon. He was baring his fangs, but he held himself back from attacking YuWon.

Seeing Hargaan’s response, YuWon shrugged his shoulders as he said, “You were coming at me so ferociously, I thought you were attacking me.”

“I was only trying to catch you.”

At the start of the 5th Tutorial, Hargaan had failed to catch YuWon. That event must have left a lasting impression on him, but YuWon didn’t care about his feelings.

“Anyone would get scared when you jump at them like that.”

“Oh…”

After hearing YuWon’s response, Hargaan scratched his head and nodded in agreement.

“I guess that’s true. I’m sorry.”

It was a surprisingly lukewarm response. YuWon had expected Hargaan to react more furiously.

Then Hargaan smiled widely and reached out his hand.

“Setting that aside, you should join our team.”

This was an offer Hargaan was making to the guy that just pummeled his head into a monster. YuWon wondered if he had no pride. He felt annoyed, wondering if he should repeat himself.

“That guy can tell you…”

“I know. I heard.”

“You heard?”

“I think you said something really fascinating. ‘To break through the ceiling.’ The idea is absolutely electrifying.”

Vzzt, crackle—

Electricity started emitting from Hagaan’s body. It was a sign that he was extremely excited. Also, Hargaan was pretty tough. He looked fine despite having taken a hard impact to the head.

“I heard it from my father before. That there is a greater power outside of the Tower.”

“From your father?”

“You wouldn’t know who he is, but he’s an incredibly important person,” Hargaan said with a smug look on his face.

It was apparent that he was immensely proud of his father, which wasn’t all that surprising, because his father was Zeus, the king of Olympus, and one of the highest Rankers. With power that rivaled an Administrator, he was one of the few beings capable of controlling the humongous Tower.

“That’s right. A sardine can’t swim with a whale, but don’t think of me as just a little fish. One day, I’m going to become the king of Olympus.”

The person surprised by the grand declaration wasn’t YuWon, but Yolche. She, like YuWon, knew the gravity the name “Olympus” carried. It was a faction comprised of numerous Rankers and High Rankers. They were godlike beings that ruled over multiple floors in the Tower. And Hargaan was here and now claiming he’d become their king.

“You got some pretty big aspirations,” YuWon said, smirking.

However, the smile on YuWon’s face didn’t last long. He thought, ‘Becoming the king… is that why…?’

YuWon observed Hargaan, who was beaming with confidence. It didn’t appear like he was joking. According to that event that YuWon remembered, Hargaan had the potential to be a pretty big wildcard.

‘A direct descendant of Olympus…’

YuWon knew that changing his plans wasn’t necessarily a great idea, but he also thought, ‘The future has to change.’

Hargaan could be a pretty useful ace up his sleeve.

‘What should I do…’

While YuWon was lost in thought, Hargaan said, “If you really don’t believe me, why don’t I prove myself?”

YuWon responded with skepticism, “Prove what?”

“Let’s make a bet. See who can defeat the boss first and who racks up more CP. You’re welcome to form your own team with as many people as you want.”

“What about you guys?”

“Our team has nine people in total, and we won’t be recruiting any more people.”

It was a very appealing offer. YuWon was allowed to defeat the boss with a team of dozens or even hundreds of people, but they would try to do the same with only a nine-member team.

“However, if I win, you need to join our team.”

This certainly piqued YuWon’s interest. YuWon decided to take this opportunity and asked with a smug look on his face, “And if I win?”

“I’ll serve you as my hyung-nim.”

“That’s not necessary. I don’t need a li’l brother like you.”

After taking a moment to think, YuWon nodded his head.

“Instead, if I win, help me just once when I need it.”

“Just once?”

“You have a problem with that?”

“No. I was just wondering if that’s actually enough, but alright. I accept. As long as it’s not too ridiculous of a request, I’ll do anything. If you want, I’ll even give you my items.”

Hargaan was beaming with confidence. He seemed pretty certain that he would win no matter what.

YuWon nodded his head in approval hearing him say ‘items.’

“That doesn’t sound all that bad.”

As an Olympus Pure-Blood, Hargaan was sure to have some amazing items. And once he completed the Tutorial and entered the Tower, his influence would grow far stronger, so his assistance would be immensely helpful.

“So do we have a bet?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome. Hehehe.”

Bam—

Hargaan couldn’t stop laughing in excitement as he smashed his fists together. He seemed completely unphased by the fact that YuWon had hit him in the head just moments ago.

“I’ll be seeing you on the 1st Floor, so prepare yourself,” Hargaan told YuWon as he turned around and walked back to his group.

Watching Hargaan walk away, YuWon scratched his head, having gotten an idea of how tough Hargaan actually was.

‘No wonder he was able to finish the Tutorial in 10 days.’

Hargaan was as straight as an arrow. In about a week from now, with his current team, he’d obtain enough power to defeat the boss.

“Alright now. You all heard that, right? Let’s get a move on. We’re on a tight schedule,” Hargaan said to his teammates, corralling them out of the boss room.

After checking the time, YuWon shouted to Hargaan and his team, “There’s no need to hurry so much.”

Hargaan turned around in confusion. What did YuWon mean by “there was no need to hurry” when they’d just made a bet?

YuWon shrugged his shoulders, explaining, “Check the time.”

“The time…?”

“Why does he want us to… Huh?”

Hargaan and his teammates were all shocked after checking the time limit for the Tutorial.

“What’s going on?”

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 07 : 46]

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 07 : 46]

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 07 : 46]

[……]

The time wasn’t ticking down.

None of them saw this coming, including Hargaan, who thought he had the most information as an Olympus Pure-Blood.

What was going on?

YuWon, reading Hargaan’s face, answered the question on his mind.

“Barragánda isn’t an island.”

The Tutorial wasn’t taking place on an artificially created island.

“It’s a mythical beast.”

The Tutorial was happening on the back of a giant beast as large as a small country.

Hearing YuWon’s response made Hargaan take another look at all the corpses of the centipede-like monsters littering the ground.

A thought came to Hargaan’s mind. “Does that mean that they are…”

“Parasites. They made a home inside this giant creature, and they were tormenting it by slowly sapping away its strength. Barragánda couldn’t stand them anymore, which is why it decided to submerge itself, since the seawater would drown the parasites.”

“So was this giant monster the king of these parasites?”

“Something like that. It was the one giving birth and raising more parasites.”

Hargaan wasn’t sure whether or not he should believe what YuWon was saying. It was something that not even Olympus knew about, so how did a mysterious Tutorial participant know about all this?

“So now…”

YuWon smirked and nodded his head.

“The time limit is obsolete.”

“The 5th Tutorial is a fight against time. It’s a matter of defeating the boss with as much time remaining as possible.

“So how did I defeat the boss within a week? I’m only going to say this because of the circumstances, but it actually wasn’t a week.

“Barragánda is actually…”

This was the secret to how Odin was able to defeat the 5th Tutorial’s boss in under a week. It was all thanks to this hidden piece.

“If enough time passes by, the Administrator or a Lackey will probably intervene, since they wouldn’t want the Tutorial to last forever.”

Having taken a long enough break, YuWon got back up.

“That’s when I’ll finish this Tutorial.”

The time limit stopped counting down.

One by one, the participants of the Tutorial started noticing.

“What’s wrong with this? Is this an error?”

“It isn’t just me, right?”

“The time’s not going to just suddenly decrease all of a sudden, will it?”

“It’ll probably start working again soon.”

The participants went back to hunting. Within the time limit, they had to level up and gain as much CP as possible.

The participants of the 5th Tutorial were the Tower’s players-in-training, having made it through an extremely slim survival rate. They were thinking about the future as they learned how to grow stronger.

Meanwhile…

* * *

> “He killed the Parasite Dragon… No one’s managed to do this since Odin.”

> “What about the Administrator? Has he received the news yet?”

> “He recently got into a confrontation with Olympus. He’s currently very busy because of that.”

The Lackeys wanted to kill themselves. The mechanism they had prepared for the Tutorial was defeated. Because of that, the Tutorial was in a state of ‘error,’ but there was no way to solve it right now.

> “Someone, please contact the Administrator!”

> “That wasn’t in a place where it could be easily discovered…”

> “Damn it. This hasn’t happened since Odin.”

The Lackeys were in utter chaos. They were trying their best to correct the course of the Tutorial, but because of the Administrator’s absence, that didn’t seem to be possible any time soon.

And just like that, the time limit remained frozen.

* * *

Thud—

Flap, flap, flap—

A loud noise shook the forest, and a flock of birds flew up into the sky to escape from the heat that had engulfed the area.

A large Orc fell to the ground.

“Gurruk—”

“Tchwik, chief!”

“Tchwik, human! Tchweek!”

“Tchwik, he’s—tchwik—a monster!”

A horde of Red Orcs slowly walked backwards, trying to retreat.

They were in fear.

In the center of the burning forest, a giant, four-meter-tall Orc laid dead. And on top of that Orc stood a man.

“Who are you guys calling a monster?”

Sshlk—

YuWon pulled out his sword from the Orc Chief’s head and looked towards the horde.

“Tchwik! Danger! Tchwik! Run away!”

“Tchweek!”

The few surviving Orcs started running away in a hurry.

“Damn.”

YuWon sounded his disapproval in the middle of the chaos. Normally, he would have gone after the Orcs, but now wasn’t the time for that.

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 01 : 12]

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 01 : 11]

[TIME LIMIT : 632 : 01 : 10]

[……]

While he was hunting the Red Orc Chief, the time limit had started counting down again.

It appeared that the Lackeys had managed to fix the broken ecosystem of the Tutorial, and this time, it would probably take more than just hunting the Parasite Dragon.

‘There’s no way they would just place the same broken mechanism back in.’

So once again, it was another race against time.

‘I managed to earn myself about four days.’

It was actually more time than he had originally expected, which ended up being plenty of time.

“Now…”

Only

YuWon started heading towards the top of the island.

“… I think it’s about time I made my way.”

To the Tower where Gods lived.

____