Leveling with the Gods - Chapter 142
Chapter 142
”On the one who will be sent back to the past.”
The meeting started.
They had narrowed it down to three candidates.
The hero of the Gigantomachy, Hercules.
The High-Ranker called “The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal” as well as “Victorious Fighting Buddha,” Son OhGong.
And the High-Ranker that appeared out of nowhere without any achievements or stories about him, Kim YuWon.
The one who was selected after the meeting concluded was YuWon.
There was only one reason.
“Who cares what happened in the past? The one who killed the most Outers should go.”
A simple but concrete truth.
If they were sending someone back to fight against the Outer Gods, they needed to send the one who had killed the highest number of them.
The tasks that needed to be done after going back in time were already clarified, and so the meeting ended like that.
Shwoooo—
And with that, the world reflected in the resonance of the [Cinder Eyes] faded as well.
Pulse—
His eye throbbed.
[The proficiency of Cinder Eyes has greatly increased.]
Maybe it was because of the resonance with [Golden Cinder Eyes,] but this was the first time the abilities of [Cinder Eyes] were enhanced this much. Thanks to this, its proficiency increased greatly, and he felt the side effects of [Cinder Eyes] for the first time in a while.
YuWon covered his throbbing eye with one hand and said, “That’s the gist of it.”
“You…”
Since this much was revealed, there was no way not even Son OhGong couldn’t know.
“…Came from the future.”
“That’s right.”
YuWon nodded.
The aching in his eyes slowly faded.
“The incident in Britain was also another task I needed to do. Lancelot created a huge scene later down the line.”
“So you’re saying, this is all part of that plan you guys cooked up?”
“That’s right.”
“How’s the progress?”
“So little that I can’t even call it progress yet. Right now, I’m only at the stage of patching up holes.”
Hearing YuWon’s words, Son OhGong let out a sigh.
A future that had already been doomed once, and the present that now needed to be changed.
“What are the odds?”
“The odds of winning?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. Right now, it may or may not be 1%.”
“Just that much?”
“It’s important that we even have a possibility now. I just said it—right now, I’m only at the stage of patching holes.”
“Wow, damn. This is really too complicated.” Son OhGong scratched his head as he scrunched his face. “If my main body was here right now…”
An utterance of regret.
Then…
“Your main body is on the 50th Floor, right?”
Son OhGong was shocked. This was information that no one should currently have had.
“How do you know that?”
“…Looks like the clone is the dumber one. How do you think I know?”
“Ah, right. You would be able to know.”
YuWon had come from the future. On top of that, Son OhGong had just found out how YuWon was able to come back to the past.
All the information the many High-Rankers that had controlled the Tower had was inside YuWon’s head right now.
Shiver—
As he finally fully understood what this meant, Son OhGong felt a chill up his spine.
Just looking at strength alone, his current self would be fine, even though he was still just a clone…
‘Just what is going on inside his head?’
…But YuWon was no different from a complete specimen created by the heart and soul of countless Rankers.
“What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Son OhGong scratched his head again. “So, I just remembered. Back then, you said you’ll help me, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Did you also say that because you know what situation my main body is in?”
YuWon nodded.
It was obvious. There was a major reason he had been selected and not Son OhGong. That was because, even if Son OhGong was to be sent to the past, there really wasn’t much he could do.
“You’re trapped inside the Marble Mountains.”
“Damn it. Now I can’t not trust you.”
Son OhGong was an immortal existence. At least, there wasn’t anything inside the Tower that could kill him. So, in the end, the Heavenly Realms that were fighting him had decided to seal him away.
However, there were only a few people even in the Heavenly Realm who knew of The Great Sage’s whereabouts.
“I’ll help you. In return, you’ll help me.”
At this, Son OhGong was dumbfounded.
“But I already helped you once?”
“That’s not enough.”
Saving Son OhGong, who had been sealed by the Heavenly Realm, and blocking one [Lighting Bolt] from Zeus were two different magnitudes of effort.
Son OhGong also knew the calculations didn’t match up.
“Then, don’t you need to climb to the 50th Floor first?”
“That’s true.”
“From what I know, you just got to the 25th Floor.”
“I’ll get there in no time. Don’t worry.”
Hearing YuWon’s confident tone, Son OhGong shook his head. Maybe it would’ve been difficult for other players, but for YuWon, the 50th Floor wasn’t that hard to get to. YuWon was also currently more skilled than most Rankers.
“Well, let’s leave it at that…”
No matter how fast he could climb, the 50th Floor was still a long ways away.
There were multiple worlds on each floor, and there were still a lot of things YuWon needed to do in between. Climbing wasn’t the most important thing to him right now.
“Then, what’s next?”
“Next…”
Rumble—
The cloudless sky quaked.
Noticing the rumbling earth and shifting sky, YuWon smirked.
“Just in time.”
Crack—
The sky opened, and through it descended a vast army.
Neigh—!
Clack—
Many white horses ran through the sky.
“Oh, that’s…”
“The guardian guild of The Round Table.”
There was only one guild that would come down to a lower floor riding white horses.
“Asgard.”
Long ago, Arthur received a sponsorship from Asgard and built a guild. From that point onwards, The Round Table became the hands and feet of Asgard, and they were able to construct Britain on the world of the 25th Floor at a rapid pace.
The inclinations of the two guilds were quite similar. Asgard, which desired order, justice, and peace. And The Round Table, which upheld chivalry.
The two were in a symbiotic relationship for a long time, and that relationship continued to this day.
“But why is Asgard here?”
“It’s because Lancelot made contact with Olympus.”
“The Valkyrie were sent just because of that?”
This was not at all a minor issue. However, Asgard was also famous for being slow to act. It was because when they moved, it would be for of an incident that could shatter the order of the Tower.
“If it was simply that The Round Table went over to Olympus’s side… then they wouldn’t have moved.”
“Then?”
“Ragnarok.”
“Ragnarok?”
Hearing a new word, Son OhGong had a curious expression.
“It is expected to start here.”
“The start of Ragnarok was probably when The Round Table fought against the giants?”
“Is there a Ranker from The Round Table here?”
Ragnarok.
The incident that led Asgard to its destruction.
Demons and giants and Asgard. The war between them started absurdly because of The Round Table, the guild that they sponsored.
The Round Table attacked the demons and giants, and this turned into a huge fight, which it seemed like they were expecting.
“Why did The Round Table attack the giants?”
“Because Lancelot was the guild leader of The Round Table at that time.”
“So what?”
“Olympus. Does that explain it a bit more?”
“Ah, those bastards again…”
Asgard was one of the biggest competing guilds against Olympus. Also, they were the only guild to advocate for peace and order. It was natural for Asgard to then become a nuisance in the eyes of Olympus. This was why Olypmus planned ‘Ragnarok’ to eliminate Asgard.
‘Use Lancelot to make The Round Table fight against the demons and giants. If Asgard intervenes in that fight, then an all-out war will officially start.’
The number of Rankers from Asgard, demons, and giants that perished in that war was so many that one could say this great war dealt a huge blow to the total combat capabilities of the Tower itself.
‘But with this, we’ve avoided one incident.’
Since the demons and giants weren’t completely taken care of yet, Ragnarok couldn’t be said to have been completely stopped. However the catalyst that would have been used had been dealt with.
In the castle where Lancelot stayed, there were piles of documents detailing the disputes they’ve had with the demons that had been mentioned during The Round Table Conferences. It also contained many items that were obtained through the illicit connection with Olympus as well.
‘Since he’s a smart guy, he’ll know what to do next.’
Among the people YuWon knew, Odin was the smartest of them all.
Since he’d done this much for Odin already, he should already have determined what to do next.
YuWon turned away.
The direction he looked to was different from the direction the Valkyries were coming from.
“What, aren’t you going to meet the people from Asgard?”
“I’ve done what I needed to do here. There isn’t much I can do if I interact with Asgard right now anyway.”
“Weren’t you going to go fight Olympus? This is a good opportunity.”
“Who cares if a fight happens? It’s not like a fight between the major guilds will happen on the lower floors.”
“…That’s true.”
Currently, YuWon had obtained the authority to climb the 25th Floor. Even if the war between Asgard and Olympus were to commence right now, it was impossible for YuWon to participate in it.
“And… the war probably won’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Asgard won’t declare war even if they have conclusive evidence. They’ll try to end it with the least amount of damage and cost. Even if a war were to break out, that would only happen after a few years or even a few decades from now.”
“Then you’re saying they will end up going to war?”
“No.” YuWon shook his head. “I’ll take them them down before that happens.”
The cracks had already started to appear.
Asgard had confirmed who their enemies were, and the planned efforts that Olympus had piled up were starting to crumble.
After having the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 stolen, Poseidon and Zeus, the “Big Three” gods and the core of Olympus, were too busy keeping each other in check.
A lot of things had changed.
YuWon finally felt that he had taken a new first step.
Although his reunion with Merlin was joyous, he couldn’t stay any longer. He had rested as much as he could and had honestly wasted more time than expected.
It was time to climb again.
“But is there a test today?”
“Probably not.”
“Then?”
YuWon said while looking at the empty training grounds, “That isn’t the only way of going up.”
Rumble—
The floor of the training grounds shook.
Just as when the sky opened when the Valkyries of Asgard appeared, the ground cracked open.
[You have requested a private meeting with the Administrator.]
The flow of mana that shook the earth felt familiar.
“An Administrator, huh?”
Having figured it out already, Son OhGong looked into the space that had been split open.
[You used 1,000 points.]
[The Administrator is deliberating.]
[……]
[The Administrator accepts your request for a meeting.]
A slow decision.
Well. A thousand points was an amount that was unbelievably small to call upon an Administrator on the 25th Floor.
However…
‘Looks like he at least has a conscience.’
Because of this incident, the Administrator owed a small debt to YuWon. Which meant, no matter how low the price was, he couldn’t reject the request.
“This is the first time I’ve been in such a ridiculous situation. Accepting a private meeting for only a thousand points…”
Boom—
A large man in a bit of a shabby outfit walked out of the rift in space.
He looked between YuWon and Son OhGong multiple times, then looked to the Valkyries of Asgard that were descending from the sky in the distance.
“The Great Sage and Valkyries as well. What a disaster.”
It definitely wasn’t a scene one should be able to see on the 25th Floor.
However, the Administrator stopped caring about it because the one who called him right now wasn’t Son OhGong or the Valkyries.
“Well, whatever.” The Administrator’s gaze finally landed on YuWon. “Why did you call me?”
At the question, YuWon answered, “The test.”
Another method of climbing the Tower without taking the set test on that floor.
“I want to take it directly from you.”
Because from the beginning, all tests originated from the Administrators.
____
