Free Web NovelWhen he thought about it, he had had a bad feeling from the very beginning.
He should have realized it the moment he entered and found himself not in Tartarus, but at the entrance to the river of the underworld.
Su-ho stroked his chin for a moment as he thought.
His deliberation did not last long.
"Alright, I've decided."
"Decided what?"
"Since it turned out like this anyway, while I'm at it, I'm taking Cronos and the Titans with me too. And if possible, even Nyx."
"What?"
Had he lost his mind?
Leaving aside Cronos and the Titans, who had driven them into this state, he was even saying he would take Nyx with him?
So shocked that she could not help herself, Hera stepped in.
"That's impossible."
"Why is it impossible?"
"The only reason you can say that so easily is because you don't know what kind of existence Nyx is."
"I do know. Nyx, the goddess of night. I've studied your mythology enough to know what I need to know. So what?"
"So what? It's Nyx! Nyx, of all beings!"
"So what? To you, she's Grandma Nyx with degrees of kinship and all that. To me, she's just another indigenous sub-Constellation-class god, same as the rest of you."
"...!"
Zeus's eyes widened.
Now that his memory had been restored and he recognized that he was not a true god but an indigenous sub-Constellation-class god reconstructed by the system, he immediately understood those words.
Hera was the same.
"And I'm not who I used to be, back when I couldn't even kill a god without a conditional quest. The Heracles you all know became a Constellation because of me. And in that process, he finally gave me a skill that lets me kill gods."
"What?"
"That Heracles?!"
"Then did you really think I came all the way here without any plan?"
Su-ho grinned.
He had no desire to pull that childish sort of stunt where you hide your power only to reveal it at the decisive moment. frёeωebɳovel.com
These gods were stubborn enough as it was.
He wanted to persuade them in one shot with the firmest grounds possible and take them along without unnecessary trouble.
'It's not like they're my lovers. There's no need to give them a surprise.'
Su-ho continued,
"For the same reason, by my standards, Cronos, the Titans, and Nyx honestly aren't that different. Of course, I have no idea how strong Nyx actually is, but who knows? Losing because I can't kill her and losing because my strength falls short are entirely different kinds of problems."
Su-ho summoned Cheolma.
"So stop worrying about pointless things and let's hurry up, rescue the rest of the gods, and get out of here. I don't want to stay in this unpleasant place a second longer either."
"Understood."
"Then get moving, bat. Find the nearest gods from here first."
Flap flap!
The bat flew.
Su-ho followed behind it, and Zeus and Hera exchanged a glance before flying up and joining him as well.
***
"Urghhh!!"
"Kgyagyagyagyagya!!"
Slash!
"Gaaahhh!!"
A scream rang out.
It belonged to Ares.
Unfortunately, he was alone, and even more unfortunate was the fact that he was surrounded by Titan Resentment Soldiers.
Ares's condition was not good.
He had already been hacked to pieces by the Resentment Soldiers over a dozen times, as if being toyed with.
There was no way to escape.
Cronos and the Titans had ordered that whenever the Olympians were found, they were to be tormented and made to suffer for as long as possible, then dragged in at the end in a ridiculous state and humiliated.
Thanks to that, Ares felt like he was dying.
If at least one fellow god had been with him, his suffering might have been a little lessened, but for several days now, he had not encountered anyone at all besides the Resentment Soldiers.
The one saving grace was that even though Su-ho had decapitated him and Jack had blown apart his body, the divine race's inherent healing power and regenerative ability had restored his body the moment he arrived in Tartarus.
But by now, he could no longer even tell whether that was fortunate or unfortunate.
'Damn it... If only I still had my sword...!'
It was infuriating.
On the surface world, he had been called the god of war and wielded martial might greater than anyone, yet when he came here he had even lost his sword, and now he was being toyed with without once being able to properly display the power worthy of the title god of war.
Ah, was this the hell he had only ever imagined?
Just when he began wondering whether there was no more hope and whether he should simply lose his reason—
Flash!
Suddenly, light flashed.
And then.
Kwa-rurururureung!!
Out of nowhere, lightning erupted before his eyes, and the Resentment Soldiers were flung in all directions like bowling pins.
"Father?"
Lightning in this place, dark beyond compare?
As far as he knew, there was only one being who could wield the power of lightning.
His father, Zeus.
That was why the word Father had come out of his mouth without thinking.
But the reply that came back to that call was something utterly unexpected.
"Wrong!"
Wrong?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
When he raised his head toward the direction the voice had come from, Ares was startled.
Because instead of his father Zeus, the one who had appeared riding an iron Pegasus was his hated enemy and younger brother, the very one who had decapitated him—Heracles.
"You!! No, before that, how are you using Father's lightning—!"
The moment he saw Heracles, the one who had humiliated him, Ares flared up in anger.
But his anger lasted only a moment. The instant he saw Heracles, a headache struck him, and suddenly all his memories returned.
Causality had been adjusted.
"What is this...?"
By then, Zeus and Hera, who had been following behind, also came into view.
They had wanted to match Su-ho's speed if possible, but in Tartarus they could not bring out their unique divine power, so their movement speed had dropped greatly.
Su-ho got off Cheolma and used healing skills on Ares.
Hwaaa!
The light of healing washed over Ares.
He recovered quickly, and Su-ho held out a hand to help him up.
"Your memory all back now?"
"What in the world is going on here...?"
"Ares!"
"My son!"
Zeus and Hera, who had joined them late, pulled Ares into an embrace.
A tearful family reunion.
Su-ho left them alone so they could enjoy it, then drew the Blood Sword and walked toward the Titan Resentment Soldiers who still had not died.
Slash!
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
......
The Resentment Soldiers died off rapidly.
At the sight, Ares's mouth fell open as if he could not believe it.
"H-how is all of this even...!"
"Shh. Get the details from your parents. I'm busy, so come after me right away."
Leaving those words behind, Su-ho immediately moved after the bat.
There was not much time.
There was not just one or two gods he had to rescue, and if he had to hear every circumstance, explain everything, and deal with everyone's emotional shifts every single time they met, that alone would take forever.
After Su-ho left, Hera explained the situation in his place, just as he had said.
Why Su-ho had come here, and why he was rescuing them.
After hearing the story, Ares looked stunned once more and asked back,
"But Cronos and Nyx have this entire place locked down, don't they?"
"He must have something to rely on if he's acting like that. So for now, let's trust him. Even if that child fails, what matters first is that we regroup."
At Hera's reassurance, Ares's eyes shone and he nodded.
"Understood, Mother. This time, I will definitely protect you."
"Yes, Ares. How dependable."
Having quickly grasped the situation, Ares began following after Su-ho together with his parents.
***
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
[ You have defeated Typhon's Resentment Soldier. ]
......
There were no surprises.
If they followed the bat, they found Olympian gods, and most of them were either alone or in pairs.
They were surrounded by Resentment Soldiers, and for as short as a day or two, or as long as several days, they had been ravaged as though toyed with by spears, blades, claws, and teeth.
Those in particularly serious condition had nearly lost their reason altogether and were half out of their minds.
Of course, he rescued every last one of them.
For simple injuries, he used healing skills, and if their minds were broken, he treated them with the Ring of Joy and Sorrow.
In his heart, he almost wished everything would reset if they died once, like some immortal character from a movie, but apparently that did not work for mental problems, so he had to treat those one by one.
There was no need for a long explanation.
Naturally, the moment they saw Su-ho, causality adjusted and all their memories returned, and after that, the gods who had joined earlier handled the explanations.
"Let's go, bat."
Flap flap!
The bat did its job very well.
It never got caught by the Resentment Soldiers, and while Su-ho was fighting, it circled in the sky on its own and waited.
The rescued Olympian gods watched Su-ho with amazement and merely followed behind him.
Around the time they had rescued another god and were about to move again, Su-ho asked Hera,
"How many are left now?"
"About half."
"There are still half left?"
Man, I didn't notice when I was fighting them, but now that I'm rescuing them, there really are a lot of heads to count.
Still, he decided to think positively.
Just as it's more positive to say There's still half left rather than There's only half left, the fact that there were many gods left to rescue also meant there would be that many reinforcements for the East-West War.
But then it happened.
Kwa-rurururureung!!
Just as he was about to mount Cheolma and take off, a blue lightning bolt struck the bat flying ahead of them.
"Ah! Bat!!"
The moment he saw the bat get swept up in the lightning, Su-ho shouted without thinking.
Here in Tartarus, the bat was more useful and precious than the gods following behind him.
"Which bastard did that...?!"
He looked up at the sky where the lightning had fallen, searching for the owner of the blue lightning.
Then, from the sky above, certain beings slowly descended like spaceships coming in for a landing.
Amazingly, it was not just one, but several.
Su-ho recognized who they were at once.
Because one very familiar face stood prominently at their center.
It was Cronos.
'I was wondering when we'd run into each other, and we meet like this?'
The timing was good.
It was a shame the bat had died, but instead, much bigger fish had all entered the net at once.
Still, that old man Cronos looked much younger here than when he had been with Seolmundae Halmang, so apparently this was another version of Cronos again.
At this point, he was starting to grow curious.
If so many indigenous sub-Constellation-class gods were being used like toys in different versions like this, then which one of them was the true original?
Deciding to set that curiosity aside for now, Su-ho prepared to greet them.
Cronos had descended from the sky together with his brothers.
"Cronos!"
Zeus, having spotted Cronos, shouted in a furious voice.
But Cronos did not so much as glance at Zeus and looked only at Su-ho.
"The Resentment Soldiers suddenly started disappearing in chunks, and I was wondering what was going on. So you were the cause of all this."
"Good to see you. This is the first time we're meeting like this, right?"
When Su-ho greeted him warmly, Cronos's expression twisted even further.
"How did a mere Player like you get in here? There was not a single order given to us involving you."
"Life is full of things you can't see an inch ahead. Anyway, since you broke my one and only Olympus detector, you're going to have to help me find the rest of the gods."
"I don't know how you managed to enter this place, but since you came here on your own without so much as a single quest, you won't be leaving alive."
"Really?"
Instead of answering, Cronos snapped his fingers.
At once, black smoke rose up from the ground, and an incalculable number of Resentment Soldiers were summoned.
At a glance, their numbers were almost enough to rival the Shadow Knights of the Black Army.
"Wow."
So this was why he had been acting so confident—he was relying on sheer numbers?
Well, I guess since I came here without a quest, no information got passed along separately.
Then I guess it's time for me to show what I prepared too.
Su-ho raised his hand.
[ Subspace House is activated. ]
The moment he raised his hand, a huge entrance leading into the Subspace House appeared.
At the same time, he shouted,
"Jack!"
- Okay!
At Su-ho's signal, Jack spread shadow magic and created countless shadow grasping hands.
Then he seized the Olympian gods and dragged them into the Subspace House.
The gods were startled and resisted, but they could not budge against Jack's grasp.
Seeing that, Cronos asked,
"What exactly are you trying to do right now?"
"You'll see."
Then, after removing all the obstacles, Su-ho activated the techniques that had once swept across the Olympomachy.
[ Rage Field is activated. ]
[ Frenzy Valhalla is activated. ]
Those very techniques that made them kill one another.
