The Novel’s Villain

70. Evil Protestantism (2)

Jin-woo moved to Olympus.

Each time he visited Olympus, it always had a different landscape. Now, it no longer had that “ancient temple” feel to it as it had become quite modern.

It had skyscrapers and buildings rising beyond the clouds, offering a unique city-like view. Considering there really was no need to stick to the olden architectural designs, they had decided modernizing this realm would be far more convenient.

The Gods of Olympus that he had sent to Earth for disciplinary reasons had also returned. Seemingly completely immersed in Earth’s culture, their appearances had become more modern than most.

Dionysus ran up to him as soon as he arrived.

“O’ God of Gods!”

“Hmm?”

“I made a hymn. Would you care to hear it?”

He didn’t know what happened to him, but his attire, composed of tight-fitting trousers and a leather jacket, looked unusual on him.

Jin-woo simply nodded, upon which Dionysus picked up his electric guitar and began singing in a very high-pitched tone.

The song’s name was “The God of Evil’s Power.”

It was a very popular gospel rock song glorifying the God of Evil on Helong, the music streaming site. Dionysus wrote its lyrics and composed it himself. Its genre was gospel rock, but the way he presented it made it seem more like death metal.

‘He’s handsome, and he sings well, so it’s bound to be popular…’

Dionysus was already famous enough to hold a solo concert despite being a new singer from Elonti Entertainment, which reappeared after working outside the spotlight for so long.

The song itself didn’t suit Jin-woo’s taste, but he had so much talent he still felt inclined to listen to it to the end.

The other gods also focused on their own agendas.

Artemis started working as a model, and Aphrodite focused on expanding the Church of Evil. She was so resourceful their religion quickly became huge. He couldn’t really say she had a great personality, but since she swore allegiance to him, he let her do what she wanted.

Her obsession with him had grown to quite dangerous levels, but she only seemed like a devout believer and businesswoman to others since he was the God of Evil. From what he had heard, she allegedly even had a meeting with the Church of Evil’s pope.

Hades and Persephone were still the same.

Jin-woo visited Hephaestus, who had been absorbing knowledge about science and technology while going back and forth between the underworld, New World, and Olympus.

From the beginning, his ability to make weapons was already unmatched, but it had become even more advanced now.

The New World players knew him as an event NPC that occasionally appeared to give unconventional upgrades to weapons.

In front of Hephaestus, he laid out the armaments he had gathered: Astrafe, Triana, Gungnir, and Mjölnir.

They could be called some of the best weapons to ever exist.

“I’ll start working on them immediately.”

Hephaestus had a workshop at Olympus, but he couldn’t work there.

“It’ll take a lot of heat to melt all of these weapons. It would be best to do it at the Sci-Fi World.”

“How long will it take?”

“Even working on the hottest star in the universe, it would take more than 100 days to liquefy them.”

It’d take much longer than Jin-woo expected.

However, it would be the smith of the gods who’d suffer the most. He would have to work from within the star.

Currently, the door to the Eastern World was slowly opening up. The God of Evil wanted the work to be finished before it could fully swing open since he didn’t know what variables it might present.

“If you could melt it right away, how long would it take to craft it?”

“A day.”

He pondered about it.

He had a place hotter than a star.

Although much of its fire had now disappeared… Muspelheim still existed.

“Pack your things.”

“Huh? Oh, alright.”

Hephaestus hurriedly grabbed his work tools. After fully preparing, Jin-Woo immediately opened a portal and headed to the Land of Flames with him.

Despite having a body powerful enough to allow him to survive inside a star, he unexpectedly feared its large size.

Whoosh!

Surprised, Hephaestus retreated. A fire had appeared, devouring the frames of the portal.

Jin-woo grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him inside.

“W-wait! Aaaahhhh!” The smith of the gods screamed until they arrived in Muspelheim, which had become far different from how it looked the last time Jin-woo came.

A lot of its flames had died out, and the realm itself had been completely shattered, almost as if bombs had been dropped on it.

Surtr, who had become as small as the palm of his hand, was sitting on the floor, crying tears made out of embers.

As Jin-Woo approached, Surtr got up from his seat in amazement.

“What the hell happened? How did this place get to this point?”

“Huhu… There was a flash… followed by an explosion…”

“Huh…”

Surtr’s personality had changed a lot, seemingly because he had gotten smaller.

Jin-woo looked at the traces of the explosion, finding the energy residue in its trail consuming the fires of Muspelheim. He was quite familiar with it. After all, it was his aura.

“Ah…”

Only then did he find out who the culprit was and what happened. Essentially, the aftermath of dealing with Cronus had reached all the way here.

After recovering his energy, he took out a bunch of mana stones and set them down on the ground. In doing so, he restored the Land of Fire’s former glory to some extent and reignited some of Surtr’s flames.

Observing the situation, Hephaestus immediately understood the situation.

“Ah! He’ll be our fire source! With him, we can start working now!”

The fire giant glanced at him, and the two quickly became friends. He placed the weapons on the workbench. Surtr then climbed on top of it and spewed out flames.

Bang! Bang!

As they began to melt, Hephaestus struck them with his hammer.

However, even with Surtr’s fires, they still didn’t melt that quickly. Witnessing the scene, Jin-woo got the gist of why it would take them the whole day.

He retrieved a sofa from his subspace and waited. Muspelheim was far too bright, though, since it was covered in blazes. He had to put on a sleeping mask and bury himself on the sofa before he could even get any form of comfort.

The God of Evil woke up after a while with a yawn, swiftly noticing that they were almost finished.

“Woah…”

The godly armaments had already been melted and merged together, taking a form that was no bigger than the size of his hand. Hephaestus continued to shape it, hammering it down until he had molded it to his desired result.

The three looked down at the finished product.

“Ugh!”

“Aww!”

Powerful energy emanated from it, shoving Hephaestus and Surtr backward.

However, the weapons’ original appearance itself was actually a rather plain-looking key. Jin-woo looked at it with the Devil’s Eye.

[Unmeasurable] Key of Truth

The key to unlocking the truth.

It is the prototype of the weapons the gods used. Its owner can wield all powers: fire and water, wind and earth, light and darkness.

When Jin-woo held it, it pushed itself into his hand, merging with the sanctuary and providing him enormous power.

[You have obtained the Key of Truth, unlocking the power of all sources.]

[You have acquired a large amount of experience.]

[Congratulations. Your rank has risen to an unmeasurable level for becoming a force beyond the reach of all dimensions in this reality, including the World of Gods.]

Rank was meaningless to Jin-woo now.

Its measurement was based on how much influence it could have on a dimension. To say one’s rank had become immeasurable meant that they had become powerful enough to eradicate all realms with ease.

Jin-woo had just become such a being, but he didn’t really feel that different.

However, even without weapons such as Astrafe or Triana, he now could freely use their powers, which he had to admit was quite convenient.

With a snap of his fingers, he covered Muspelheim in flames, returning it to its original form. Unfortunately, Surtr remained tiny, and it would most likely take him a hundred years before he could recover from Jin-woo’s attack.

“Great job.”

Hephaestus and Surtr blinked and smiled at the same time. Staring at Jin-woo, Hephaestus hesitantly spoke up.

“G-God of Evil… Is it alright if I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Well… Surtr is the only sentient being here in Muspelheim. It seems like he’s been here for eons…”

Jin-woo had thought about that.

Surtr was the source of fire. Before he came into his territory, he was huge enough to occupy all of this dimension. If such a being were to be sent outside, the World of Gods itself would be destroyed.

“Is it alright if he comes with us?”

“I don’t see any problems with that.”

It was fine now that he was no bigger than his hand.

But Surtr shook his head.

“There was a prophecy long ago. It is said that if I go out, I will inevitably destroy Asgard.”

“Is that why you never left this place?”

He nodded.

It had to have been shocking to receive a prophecy detailing that he’d be the reason behind an entire realm’s destruction. As a result, he showed hostility to everyone who tried to trespass into his land.

“It doesn’t matter if you leave.”

“But…”

“Asgard is already destroyed.”

“Huh?” Surtr blurted out, his eyes filled with confusion.

Asgard was destroyed by debt, which proved stronger than any flame that could sunder worlds.

After learning of what happened, the fire giant agreed to leave Muspelheim. Hephaestus then built a house for him while he generated infinite energy.

His presence alone brought limitless power!

Taking notice of him, Prof. Kim Dae-jin immediately began working on a huge engine using Surtr.

[The door to the Eastern World has slowly begun to open.]

An information window popped up thanks to his Devil’s Eye, which gave him more intel than the Magic Eye of Information.

‘I must go to the Eastern World.’

Its gates were connected to the Northern World. More accurately, it was linked to Midgard, one of the Nine Realms.

Although Jörmungandr surrounded its perimeter, it had a gigantic gate at the end of it that would lead him to his new destination. Since its doors had absorbed all the yang, the Eastern World was left with no other energy but a surplus of yin.

Jin-woo made his way to the end of Midgard.

When he arrived, Jörmungandr raised his huge head and looked at him.

He actually came from Earth, and his species was commonly called the magpie salmosa or chiljeomsa. More specifically, he was abducted from Korea.

‘I’ve seen them in the mountains before.’

That made the appearance of the Eastern World’s gate guardian quite familiar.

Jin-woo leaped forward and landed in front of the gates. A huge chain then fell to the ground, opening the path ever so slightly. Black energy erupted from the cracks, hovering around it instead of spreading to the surrounding area.

It was thanks to Jörmungandr’s poison.

Beyond that door was the Devil’s body, which didn’t at all sound like it would be passive.

‘I have to go in.’

Jin-Woo entered through the crack in the gates. They were just slightly ajar, but he still managed to slip past through them with ease due to their size.

As soon as he got in, red light dawned upon him, being shone by what seemed like the setting sun drenched in blood.

Jin-woo looked down, finding all sorts of monsters chaotically rushing around. Some of them were humanoids, but many looked like a combination of different animals.

It was as if this place had become the incarnation of nightmares itself.

There were far too many of them. According to his Devil’s Eye, they exceeded billions. Nevertheless, he easily eradicated those charging towards him with a wave of his hand.

However, it didn’t take long for the energy coming from the ground to resurrect them.

‘This…’

They weren’t just monsters.

Boom!

Though not strong enough to push him back, Jin-woo sensed a powerful presence.

He slowly lifted his head and directed his attention to where it was coming from.

A gigantic hand soon pierced through the ground. When it lifted its entire body out of its burrow, it divided the earth and skies and shattered the blood-like sunset, causing its fragments to fall.

A headless black giant had revealed its entirety.

Its Cimmerian physique was studded with halos that looked like galaxies. Monsters constantly spewed out of it, adding up to the already large number of beasts around them.

[Unmeasurable] Devil’s Body

A being who keeps the truth.

It no longer has its head, however, as the God of Evil had absorbed some of its demonic power.

The Devil’s Body had made its entrance.

As the description stated, since Jin-woo had devoured some of its power, it had lost its head. However, its physique was still intact.

The monsters it released began swarming towards the door.

If they were to break free from this dimension, the World of Gods wouldn’t be the only realm affected.

They’d destroy all dimensions.

The monsters naturally had no chance of winning against Jin-woo, but the same couldn’t be said about the Devil’s Body. No matter how powerful he was, it still overwhelmed him.

While dealing against it, he would have no room to care about the countless minions it constantly created.

‘This is…!’

The black giant had finally sensed him.

As it began to move, its creations also flocked towards him.

Jin-woo quickly came out of the gates and pushed them.

Ggiirrrggggg!

Unable to handle his power, Midgard began sustaining damages. The gates closed little by little, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to close them in time.

Keeeeeeek!

Jörmungandr rose, its gigantic body rushing towards the entrance headfirst.

Bang!

If it weren’t for the snake, he wouldn’t have managed to close them.

Jin-woo exhaled deeply, then turned his attention to the colossal serpent. When he raised his thumb at it, it made a heart shape using its tongue.

Without Jörmungandr, the World of Gods would’ve been completely devastated before they could prepare against the incoming invasion. They couldn’t completely close the door, but they still managed to buy some time.

“Loki brought you here, right?”

It nodded.

The god of mischief’s trolling tendencies just prevented the destruction of all realms.

They had to create countermeasures urgently, though. This crisis was simply on an entirely different level.

Jin-woo summoned his executive-ranked subordinates to Olympus. It had been a long time since they had all been together like this, and there were far more of them now than before. The God of Evil’s Temple was full.

After he explained the situation to them, Prof. Kim Dae-jin spoke with a serious tone.

“Considering their numbers, we’ll have to mobilize everyone.”

“I’ll have to wake up my clan members who have gone into hibernation, then,” Faro said, responding to his plan.

Even if they deployed the existing New World players, they’d still be needing more people.

Yoo-na had a brief conversation with Luna, then she turned to Jin-woo.

“Why don’t you try using the Church of Evil?”

“Church of Evil?”

“Yes. On Another Earth alone, there are about 2.6 billion Followers of Evil. The same goes for the New World players’ Earth. How about recruiting them as well?”

There would be no problem deploying the New World players and humans from the original Earth, but Another Earth’s inhabitants were ordinary people.

They had no fightinig capability.

Luna provided a supplementary explanation.

“Belief has the potential to provide infinite power. It is essentially the strength of a person’s soul, derived from their hope and faith. Currently, they can be granted abilities according to their faith through trust. I’ll help you.”

Luna knew this side best.

They had to take advantage of everything that was available to them. This was an interdimensional predicament, after all.

Agreeing with her plan, he turned to Yoo-na.

“Gather all those who can fight from every realm.”

“Alright.”

“Bread Jam. Luna. Follow me.”

Sitting blankly, Bread Jam looked at Jin-woo in surprise.

As a goddess, he had become so famous that he was often mentioned in the Bible.

* * *

Vatican City.

The Vatican was a city-state located in Rome, Italy. It was also a place where the long history and culture of the God of Evil religion remained documented and preserved.

In the Church of Evil’s case, the Holy See’s orders were absolute. The Church of Evil was divided into numerous sects, but they all belonged to the Holy See.

Every God of Evil follower wanted to visit the Vatican. After all, it housed the Holy See and the Pope, who could be considered the apex of the Church of Evil.

The Pope held an evening mass about the God of Evil, commemorating the miracle that fed 5,000 people with only five chickens and two bottles of alcohol. He then ended with a prayer, as always. They thanked the God of Evil for taking away all the darkness and malice from the world and bringing light into it.

“Akmen.”

Afterward, the Pope returned to his room, knelt, offered another prayer to his god, and headed to bed.

“Huh?”

However, blinding brilliance poured down from the ceiling before he could, causing his eyes to widen and his jaw to drop.

“Ahhh…”

Amid it was a beautiful goddess exuding a divine presence.

Goddess Lee Jae-mi stared at the Pope with a kind smile.