Ranker Who Lives Twice

[You have made an achievement that is not easily accomplished. Additional karma will be provided.]

[You have acquired 150,000 karma.]

[You have acquired 200,000 additional karma.]

…

[You have been rewarded.]

Messages continued to pop up in his vision, but Yeon-woo's gaze was fixed elsewhere. Urrrng. Vigrid was shaking as if it wanted Yeon-woo to quickly take hold of it. However, Yeon-woo couldn't bring himself to touch it.

[The Cold-blooded trait has failed due to an unidentifiable reason!]

[Warning! Your mind is severely unstable. You are advised to quickly regain your composure.]

[Warning! Your mental resistance has been heavily weakened. You are advised to eliminate the cause and restore your trait.]

…

Yeon-woo felt as if Vigrid would disintegrate through his fingers if he tried to grab it. It was a baseless thought, but Yeon-woo's head was swarming with them. "Father…you always protected me."

Vigrid was a shadow of Kronos, the other half of the spring. It was a holy sword with the power of death containing the legends that he'd accumulated on Earth. The sword had fallen and been called a demonic sword. But after being passed down many hands, it finally reached Yeon-woo.

Vigrid had become Yeon-woo's closest friend and always protected him as if it were trying to fulfill a goal. Although Yeon-woo hadn't noticed, Vigrid was like a father trying to protect his son. It was why Yeon-woo couldn't touch Vigrid. He felt as though his heart would be torn out of his chest.

Vigrid continued to vibrate.

[The Cold-blooded trait has failed due to unidentifiable reasons!]

[The Cold-blooded trait has failed due to unidentifiable reasons!]

'I have to bring Father back.' Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes.

[The Cold-blooded trait has been restored!]

He suppressed his shaking emotions. His head grew cool, and his trembling eyes became steady once more. He could finally see what he needed to do. No matter how many times he called for his father, Kronos wouldn't return. Yeon-woo needed to find a way to bring him back, no matter what it took. Fortunately, he could think of a method, unlike Jeong-woo's situation. If he fixed the springs in Vigrid and the pocket watch, Kronos would open his eyes once more.

Most importantly, Kronos' true body was in the Tower. If Yeon-woo could summon the legends he'd seen, it might be possible to resurrect Kronos. Yeon-woo believed in the power of the title "Successor of the Black King." Just as he was about to touch Vigrid with a trembling hand, letters suddenly floated up and spun in the air.

Very nice! Very…!

Yeon-woo felt like he could see the Demonism smirking somewhere. As he instinctively withdrew his hand, Vigrid forced itself into Yeon-woo's grip. Swoosh! Ding!

[The continuation quest (Qualification Test II - Repairing the Springs) has been created.]

[Scenario Quest / Qualification Test II - Repairing the Springs]

[Description: You have successfully found Kronos' spring, which was buried under death. However, the spring you found has lost its function after being halved. Due to the absence of the spring, the other mechanisms are also broken, and it is unclear whether they will work again.

The impurity of the spring is the greatest factor preventing Kronos from awakening. Repair the broken spring and fix the supporting mechanisms. Kronos will reward you according to your achievement level if you successfully wake him up.]

[Qualifications: Successor of the Black King]

[Time Limit: -]

[Conditions for success:

1. Eliminate the impurity that prevents the spring from working properly and complete the repair process.

2. Fix the supporting mechanisms.]

[Rewards:

1. Kronos' holy power

2. Piece of clockwork

3. ???]

The impurity mentioned in the quest window was most definitely the Demonism. Shwoo. The energy of darkness bloomed above Vigrid and twisted to slowly take a humanoid form. At the same time, Yeon-woo's combination with the Demonism was released. He could feel the Demonism being sucked back into Vigrid. It felt like a part of his consciousness was being torn away from him.

『You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment, for this day. Keekeekeek!』 The Demonism soon became so large that he engulfed the entire world of Kronos' conscious mind, smiling evilly. As soon as Yeon-woo's eyes locked into the Demonism's, he realized what he had been missing: synchronization.

'I wasn't the only one who synchronized with Father, the Demonism did, as well!' Yeon-woo had managed to speak with his father for a short moment through the Demonism, and that meant the Demonism of the past and the Demonism of the future were synchronized.

The Demonism, which had grown weak from its separation from Kronos, had now returned to his original condition. Moreover, this was the world of Kronos' conscious mind, which was the perfect place for the Demonism!

'Was he aiming for this all along…!' Yeon-woo realized why the Demonism had been so interested in Vigrid and asked for the egos of the divine beings. He needed to stabilize his fading identity, and he liked the heroic legends in Vigrid because they were Kronos'.

『Your father was reckless and foolishly left, but now he's in my hands again. 』 Madness flashed in the Demonism's sharp eyes as he laughed coldly. 『His children shall also become mine again.』

Something that appeared to be lightning crashed down from the sky.

Boom!

[6th-step Dragon Body awakening]

[All powers have been released]

[Sky Wings]

Yeon-woo quickly flapped his Sky Wings apart and escaped. Crash! The lightning bolts barely missed him—only it wasn't lightning. It was the Demonism's hand. The giant Demonism had tried to grab Yeon-woo. The world of Kronos' conscious mind split like curtains and the rest of the Demonism appeared.

Dududu…!

It looked as if a giant mountain were moving or a tornado was surging toward Yeon-woo. The Demonism's pressure bore down on Yeon-woo. As Yeon-woo observed the situation unfold, he became certain. The complete Demonism was so strong that even the Crawling Chaos couldn't compare to him. He might even be on the same level as Kronos during his prime.

『Shall we get started with round two?』 The Demonism sprang up, intending to swallow Yeon-woo in order to complete his body.

* * *

"What is going on?" Athena looked fearfully at the shaking Kronos' corpse. The others had the same expression as she did.

"This is insane."

"It's already been a while since he entered…what's taking so long?"

Hercules and Area clenched their fists. Several hours had passed since Yeon-woo entered the corpse. There was no sign of him coming out any time soon, and they grew more frustrated and anxious as time passed.

Suddenly a destructive and turbulent earthquake shook the ground, and Kronos' corpse looked as though it would be destroyed. The sand and stones over Kronos' corpse poured to the ground, and black light beamed out of the cracks of the body. Steam floated up as liquid seeped out, as though Kronos' body were a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Of course, even if the corpse shook like this, the gods wouldn't be injured if they flew up to the sky and cast a barrier around themselves. However, it was their first time to see anything like this, and they couldn't help feeling tense.

Kronos' corpse had always been a controversial issue in Olympus. Although he had led Olympus to a golden age, they had been forced to imprison him after he became a lunatic tyrant. There was much debate about his body. They were certain he was dead, but they didn't know whether they should get rid of his body or just toss it into Tartarus and ignore it.

However, their debate had ended as soon as Hades, the owner of Tartarus at the time, spoke up. "How unpleasant." It was only a single sentence, but it was clear that no one would be able to step into his territory without his permission.

At the time, no one could argue with Hades and Zeus, so they decided to respect Hades' opinion and leave Kronos' corpse in Tartarus. However, the stubborn Zeus was still furious at Kronos, so Hades and Zeus came to a compromise. If Kronos' corpse produced any strange phenomena, they would have to report it to Olympus right away. However, nothing strange had occurred until now.

It was clear that Yeon-woo had done something inside, but the divine beings looking on were frustrated because they didn't know what he had done.

『This won't do. I'll go in.』

Woof!

『You'll only be a bother…fine. I'll take this guy with me.』

Agares and Fenrir became impatient. A strange madness was swirling in Agares' eyes as he looked at Kronos' body.

Prince Nezha stepped up with a concerned expression. "It'll be dangerous. You don't know what's in there, and our laws won't work there."

『Hmph! That only applies to the fearful and weak. Do you think any trap in there will affect me? 』

Woof, woof!

Agares stuck his nose in the air and Fenrir barked in agreement, his tail wagging vigorously. Prince Nezha was about to speak when Athena stepped up with a determined face. "No. I'll go."

Agares stiffened. 『What can you do…!』

"Even though he was brought down, Kronos was once a king of Olympus. Not an ordinary god but the king of gods. And you want to enter? You're not in the same society, and you're not even gods. Do you want to be swallowed by emptiness that badly?"

Agares' and Fenrir's faces stiffened. Athena wasn't wrong. Anything could happen in the corpse, and there was nothing more foolish than a demon walking inside a place brimming with holy power. However, Agares and Fenrir weren't ordinary demons.

『Do you want to bet whether or not we'll be swallowed?』 Agares's frightening grin didn't belong on his cute childish face. He had just bared his teeth when suddenly, both Athena and Agares looked up. Fenrir's hair stood on edge as if he were meeting a mortal enemy.

[A god of <Olympus>, Persephone, is descending!]

Rumble! Boom! Dark lighting crashed down between them. Athena quickly distanced herself from the intense heat. Persephone smiled at them from the spot where the lightning had struck.

"Persephone…!"

"Goodness. So many familiar faces. And people I haven't even met yet." Persephone greeted Athena and Hercules in a good-natured manner even though they were glaring at her.

Athena's stiff face tensed even more. If Persephone disrupted them while Yeon-woo was still in the body, things would become difficult. More importantly, her hands were supposed to be full with the war between the Titans and Gigantes. How did she manage to find the time to come here? Were the Gigantes attempting some kind of subterfuge?

"How…?"

As if she could read Athena's mind, Persephone smiled brightly. "Oh, are you wondering why I managed to come here? That's simple." Persephone tossed something down onto the ground. Roll. "The rebellion is over."

It was Theia's decapitated head.