Leveling with the Gods

C373

Tremble, tremble...

The table vibrated.

Hargan and his team, who were about to start eating, abruptly stopped.

"An earthquake?"

"Suddenly?"

It was too short to call it an earthquake.

It was so brief that not even the most sensitive Players could have felt it.

However, some of the Rankers certainly felt it.

That the vibration started from very far away.

And the same was true for Hargan.

"What was that just now?"

Sweat ran down his back.

Although he wasn't sensitive to such subtle reactions, a feeling of anxiety twisted in his chest.

And indeed...

"It seems like it's not just here."

Paladinte, who was having soup, turned his Player Kit.

It was customary to browse his Kit during meals, reading posts from various communities.

There were several posts on Paladint's Kit.

[Floor 28: Is anyone on floor 28? I felt a tremor, am I the only one?]

└ Floor 28. I felt it too. Floor 31.

└ I'm from floor 42, and I felt it too.

└ Me too. Floor 17.

└ I'm from floor 3, but I felt it quite strongly here.

└ Look at how politely the person from floor 3 talks, haha.

"What's this...?"

From floor 3 to floor 42 and up to floor 91 where they were.

There were a series of vibrations that happened on various floors in succession. If the confirmed vibrations only reached from floor 3 to floor 91, practically all the floors had experienced these vibrations.

And that meant...

That the Tower they were standing in was shaking.

['The Wall of the World' is collapsing]

Crack...

The black wall collapsed.

The boundaries between the Tower and the Outside. The collapse of that violently shook the Tower.

That meant it had suffered a significant impact.

Even on the first floor, it was like that.

For a moment, the Players in their seats felt as if the ground was sinking or rising.

But it was also brief...

Kyaaaah...

The roar coming from the other side of the fallen wall left everyone stunned.

"What's that sound?"

"A roar?"

"A monster?"

Any Player who had climbed the Tower had experience fighting monsters.

Well, it was just a matter of experience difference since everyone who had obtained Player status had gone through the Tutorial.

And at the pinnacle of those Players were the Rankers.

But even those Rankers couldn't keep their calm in the face of the roar coming from the other side of the fallen wall.

Rather...

"What is this?"

"It's not just a roar."

"It's something different."

They were feeling it more clearly.

The roar coming from the other side was different from any monster they had fought before.

It wasn't simply a stronger monster.

It was something more fundamental.

It was a roar that awakened fear deep in their hearts.

On the other hand, YuWon heard the roar and observed the collapsed black wall, feeling a certain relief inside.

"Fortunately, it's not that big."

Could it be that the original plan had a weakness?

The wall wasn't as damaged as he feared. If the crack wasn't larger than this, even the power of the Outsiders had its limits.

However...

Tunk, tunk...

From among the debris walked a small goat.

Beee...

It was a small goat with purple fur.

At first glance, it didn't seem like much. The goat was so small that it even looked cute somewhere.

Maybe that's why.

Players who had been deceived by its appearance began to relax one by one.

"What's this?"

"It's just a goat, right?"

Swish...

One by one, the Players approached the goat.

They thought there was a vast field behind the wall.

But...

"What the hell..."

YuWon looked at the goat that had just appeared and muttered a curse before shouting.

"Get back!"

Fwoosh...

Whoaah!

Purple fire (YuWon's Holy Fire) rose between the goat and the Players. Players who were approaching the goat took a step back, startled, as they saw the flames.

"What?"

"Fire?"

"Ouch, it's hot!"

The nearest Player complained about the heat from being close to the fire. While some of the Players stepped back to avoid being caught by the flames, others thought something different.

"Does the goat have something special?"

"Could it be that the goat is...?"

"If that's the case..."

Kim YuWon stopped those who were trying to approach the goat.

Some Rankers who noticed this began to invoke their power.

And in the next moment...

Whoaah!

With energy enveloping their bodies, some of them used armor and shields created with skills.

Three Rankers leaped into the flames. Due to the wide extent of the fire, the Holy Fire summoned by YuWon wasn't powerful enough to take the lives of expert-level Rankers.

That was the reason.

They had bet on the adventure.

Fwooosh...

Three Rankers crossed the flames and jumped inside.

When they arrived on the other side of the fire...

"That thing is mine!"

"No, mine..."

"It's mine..."

Thump~

There, as if waiting, was the goat with its mouth open like a flytrap plant.

The goose that laid the golden eggs.

The Divine Beast (신수) imbued with the Administrator's Power.

The opportunity to elevate them further.

That's what they had thought.

Crunch...

The three Rankers were instantly swallowed by the goat. There was not even a scream mixed with the sound of being chewed to the bone.

YuWon was the first to witness this scene and pursed his lips.

"...Tsk."

There was nothing he could do if someone misunderstood his attempts to save them as an attempt to strangle them.

The fire YuWon had created gradually extinguished.

And so, the figure of the goat was revealed once again.

"What happened to the Rankers?"

"In that thing's mouth..."

"Blood..."

The three Rankers rushed towards the goat.

The missing Rankers and bloodstains in the goat's mouth.

Anyone could understand the situation. A purple-furred goat from the 'Outside' of the collapsed wall had devoured the Rankers.

"What is that thing?"

YuWon turned his head to the voice coming from behind.

About a head taller than YuWon. Clean and penetrating voice and golden hair that shimmered even in the dark atmosphere.

It was Zeus.

"It's related to S####."

"What?"

In response to YuWon's answer, Zeus replied with an inquisitive look.

It wasn't because the name was unknown.

It was because YuWon's voice sounded so strained and unnatural, as if it were going through some kind of sound filter.

And in response to Zeus's reaction, YuWon nodded.

"I see I can't say it directly."

"Then, speak in another way. So I can understand."

"It's the 'Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young'."

Beee...

Perhaps because it had heard its mother's name, the goat called out in YuWon's direction.

Beee, beee, beee...

Beee...

The goat's bleating gradually spread.

Calls from various individuals.

And upon hearing that bleating, YuWon felt sure.

"That thing is probably one of the 'Thousand Young'."

Thump...

The goat's mouth opened to an unreal size.

From its mouth, several times larger than its own body, another goat emerged. And that goat, in turn, spit out another goat.

From one to two. From two to three. From three to four.

The number of goat rapidly grew.

Beee, beee...

Beee...

The bleating of the goat echoed in the sky. A bewildered Zeus took a Lightning Bolt in his hand.

At that moment...

"Stop."

Crack...

The Lightning Bolt Zeus held in his hand began to dissipate.

The ring on YuWon's hand. The Uranus Heart had interfered with the Lightning Bolt in Zeus's hand.

Although he could have resisted, Zeus looked at YuWon without doing so, as if asking him why.

"If we attack the unborn young, their mother might move."

"Mother?"

YuWon furrowed his brow.

Beyond the goat that kept multiplying.

Through the collapsed wall, red pupils were seen.

"...Do you mean that guy?"

He definitely looked dangerous.

It was to the point where his presence could be felt beyond the dimensional rift.

"If so. I'm not sure he can get through a rift that size."

"Then, it doesn't matter, right?"

"Perhaps, although the possibility is remote."

YuWon shook his head.

"If something like that happens, everyone here will die."

"I didn't know you were as cowardly as to think even of the 'maybe'."

"That just means he's someone so dangerous that I think of the worst possibility to the end."

The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.

It was just one of the many names given to it.

It was hard not to see motherhood in someone who carried so many youngs. However, strangely, the Black Goat of the Woods seemed to have a strong affection for the 'newborns'.

The reason YuWon stopped Zeus was also because of this.

Truly, even if there was only a small chance.

If the Black Goat of the Woods, unable to contain its wrath, passed through the collapsed wall, everyone here would lose their lives.

'It's not the time to face it yet.'

Fortunately, if the Black Goat of the Woods crossed, there would surely be some issue on its side as well.

Through an opening of this size, its power would also decrease significantly, and the waste of Points due to overload would be considerable.

A situation in which both sides would lose.

Therefore, YuWon waited.

Until the eyes of the Black Goat of the Woods closed completely.

And after a while...

Zshh...

Through the gap in the wall.

The eyes of the Black Goat of the Woods, which had been looking this way, closed. It couldn't wish for bread it couldn't eat for a lifetime.

And that was the beginning and the end of motherhood for the newly born young.

Beee...

Beee, bee, bee, bee...

The bleating of the goat echoed in the world. Outer Energy mingled in that bleating.

An energy entirely different from magic and Arcane Power.

The many goat with the same purple fur looked like a giant monster with hundreds of heads attached to a single body.

Zshhh...

Flop...

"What, what is this?"

"Hey, why are they like this?!"

"We have to run! Run...!"

In the face of monsters that were beyond recognition, the Players turned and fled in a mass.

But that too lasted only a moment.

Among the Players who encountered the goat, those with low mental resistance had their eyes turned upside down one by one and collapsed, losing consciousness.

Thud...

Thus, approximately half of the Players lost consciousness.

Most of them were lower-level Players.

Since most of them had been near the first floor without any special means of transportation, it was a natural outcome that they rushed here.

Squish, squelch...

Crunch-!

The goat began to chew on those unconscious Players.

The time for predation had come.

For the hungry newborns, the players in front of them were nothing more than a tasty meal.

And so...

"Baa!"

The same happened to this one.

"With this, you should be able to fill your stomach."

Grrrr...

A hungry sound echoed from above.

Droplets of Danpung's saliva fell on YuWon's head.

The goat that appeared in front of him seemed like a rather delicious meal in Danpung's eyes.

The Black Goat of the Woods began to show interest in this side.

There was no longer any reason to resist.

Thump...

Temporarily leaving Chronos behind, YuWon began to move alongside Danpung.

To fill the last 0.01 percent of hunger that remained in Danpung.