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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 92: Soul Reaper Hercules (3)
As I re-entered Eshtar, the city had already been restored.
The moment I stepped in, Hercules' voice rang out.
[You came quickly, Soul Reaper.]
"Where should I go?"
[Come this way.]
A crimson portal opened in the middle of the city.
"What is that?"
"Looks ominous..."
People murmured as they noticed the suddenly appearing portal.
A blood-red portal with a rather ominous aura.
Still, I had to go in.
Just as I took a step forward—
[Freya bestows upon the user the Blessing of Return.]
[The user's spirit will not be imprisoned.]
A pure white light descended from the sky.
Was she watching over me?
She didn’t stop me, but instead, she blessed me to return safely.
I appreciated that.
Receiving the blessing, I stepped into the portal.
The place I arrived at was the peak of a mountain.
I could see the entire landscape below at a glance.
Beyond, there was a place that looked like the magical city of Erundal.
"You’ve arrived."
Turning toward the voice, I saw a massive man standing there, easily around two meters tall.
His upper body was bare, revealing a muscular physique with bronze skin.
A large sword scar ran from his left eye down to his jaw, and a white sword was embedded in his chest, pointing directly forward.
His brown leather pants had a lion’s head engraved at the groin—was it the lion Hercules had slain?
His face bore a strong, heroic impression fitting for a legendary hero.
Rather than handsome, he had the look of a ruggedly attractive man.
"Sit."
With a flick of his hand, chairs and a round table rose from the ground.
I sat across from him.
"It’s been a while since I’ve manifested my human body like this."
"That sword?"
"The one stuck in my chest? That damned daughter of Hera stabbed me with it. Don't get married. I carved that lesson into myself every time I see this sword."
Ah.
According to Greek mythology, Hercules had reconciled with Hera after his great deeds in the Gigantomachy, and she had given him her daughter as a wife.
So, his wife must have betrayed him.
"Anyway."
As Hercules raised his hand, a golden barrier enveloped the mountain peak.
"I don’t like eavesdropping."
Then, crossing his legs, he sat back and studied me carefully.
He tilted his head.
"Hmm. You don’t seem like my descendant. But your aptitude is the worst I’ve ever seen."
Well, I had heard about my aptitude being terrible countless times before.
I asked in return,
"What about your aptitude?"
Hercules immediately lifted his chin, looking proud.
"I was 30/30/30."
30??
I was 3/3/3, meaning his stats were ten times mine.
Crazy... 30 was even possible?
"30? I thought 10 was the maximum."
"I was a son of a god back then. One of the many seeds that damned Zeus spread around."
Hercules scowled as he spoke.
Still puzzled, he asked,
"So, what’s your exact aptitude? Mind if I check?"
"Didn’t you already assess it by looking?"
"I need to touch to be certain."
"Not for free."
"What? Free? Hahaha!"
Boom!
Hercules laughed heartily and slammed the table.
The table was fine, but the entire mountain trembled.
Insane strength.
But so what?
If I die, I die.
Did he think I’d be scared just because he showed off his power?
When I just stared at him silently, Hercules smirked and nodded.
"Your eyes are decent, despite your lousy aptitude. Dying and coming back isn’t easy either. Fine. Ask me whatever you want first, then I'll check your aptitude."
"Alright. First—are we the only Soul Reapers?"
"As far as I know, yes. Over all these years, many have tried, but no other soul-type awakeners have appeared."
Hercules muttered, as if still curious about my aptitude.
"What Soul Reaper skills are there? Besides Soul Energy Emission, are there any other additions?"
"Oh, you’ve already reached that level? But for me, only the Soul Barrier skill was added."
Hercules gestured at the golden barrier surrounding the mountain.
Was that Soul Barrier?
"Even though it's SSS-rank, you only got one additional skill?"
"Soul Reaper isn’t my main class. You must be fully soul-type. You’re only B-rank, but you already have Soul Energy Emission."
"And you?"
"My main class is Lord of Chaos. Don't take on another class. The moment you do, your Soul class will stop progressing. I had no choice..."
Was that advice from a senior?
I hadn’t planned on choosing another class anyway, so I nodded.
Then, suddenly, Hercules stepped closer and placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Alright, let’s check your aptitude."
The moment he touched me, Hephaestus’s armor was forcibly unsummoned.
Now I was left wearing only a white t-shirt and shorts.
He grabbed my arms and torso, examining me all over.
Being groped by a man felt kind of uncomfortable.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long.
"Hmm... You’re the complete opposite of me."
"Everyone says my aptitude is the worst."
"Yeah. I was the best. You’re the worst. But we do have one thing in common."
"Common?"
"Our stats are exactly identical. Normally, aptitude has minor differences, even within the same rating. For example, someone might have Strength 3.0000001 and Agility 3.000211. But you? Yours are all exactly 3.0. Mine were exactly 30.0."
So aptitude was originally measured down to decimal points?
But since I had the lowest of the low, all my stats were a perfect 3.0.
And since Hercules had the highest of the high, his were 30.0.
"Was that the secret of soul-type awakeners? That all three aptitudes must be perfectly equal...?"
Hercules looked at me with interest.
"Anyway, that answers my curiosity. But your body also holds the power of the Order faction and Olympus. What’s that about? This power feels familiar..."
Hercules looked at me, puzzled.
Was he referring to the Soul Mediator?
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should tell him, but since he didn’t seem hostile, I decided to speak.
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HELHEIM SCANS
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"I also have the power of a Soul Mediator. I’ve received the Order faction’s blessing as well."
Hercules' eyes widened in shock.
“A Soul Mediator?! That was my project! Did it actually succeed?”
“That was your project?”
“Yes! I was in charge of it when I was an SS-rank god in Olympus. Since it was a soul-related class, I oversaw the entire project. Ha… So it actually succeeded?”
Hercules stroked his chin and paced around.
Tilting his head while staring at the ground, he wore an expression of deep seriousness.
Should I not have mentioned it?
“Hmmm… To think I get to see the fruits of a project I poured my heart and soul into with many gods. Fascinating. Can you mediate a soul for me?”
“For you?”
“Yes, for me—the ‘Lone Colossus.’”
“It’s not free. Every time I perform soul mediating, I receive a hefty price.”
Hercules looked at me as if he had just heard something ridiculous.
Clenching his fists and trembling for a moment, he then took a deep breath.
“Haa… Calm down. Alright, alright. Nothing in this world is free. In return, I’ll tell you the secret of the Soul Mediation skill.”
A secret?
That piqued my interest.
“What is it?”
“Open the Soul Mediation window. You can at least do that, right?”
“Yeah.”
I opened the Soul Mediation window.
At the top were Zeus, Hermes, and Athena.
Below them were the Six Gods of Asgard.
Further down, there were Elprian and Drakia.
A total of 11 gods were currently in mediation with me.
There were four empty slots remaining.
“All right, first things first. Do you have any empty slots?”
“Yeah, four.”
“Good. Now, click on the name section of an empty slot.”
“The name?”
“Yes. Not just once—tap it as fast as you can, multiple times.”
Following Hercules’ instructions, I rapidly tapped on the name section of the empty slot.
But nothing seemed to change.
“It’s not working.”
“Is that the best speed you’ve got? There’s too much of a physical difference between us. You’ll need to tap for an hour straight.”
Then, Hercules demonstrated.
He placed his index finger on a desk he had just created.
Visually, nothing seemed different, but the sound of rapid tapping—du-du-du-du-du-du—echoed, and the desk was crushed inward.
…Seriously?
Super-speed tapping?
What the hell.
He’d be good at mobile games.
Fine.
Let’s go all out and pour all my magic into this.
“Focus Enhancement. Hermes’ Acceleration.”
Along with that, I heavily consumed mana using the power of the Dragon Heart to boost my agility.
Here we go!
Du-du-du-du-du-du-du!
“Oh? Annoying Hermes and the power of a dragon… To think you’ve come this far with such mediocre talent. Impressive. I’ll cut the time down for you.”
That sounded like a compliment, but for some reason, it felt like mockery.
Ignoring him, I kept tapping frantically.
How much time had passed?
Just when Hercules started yawning out of boredom, a new message window suddenly popped up.
[Soul Mediation Window - Administrator Mode Unlocked. Please enter the mediation target.]
“Oh? What’s this?”
“Haah… Finally done? That’s a secret administrator mode I secretly created. Seems my framework is still intact. Hmm… Mediation target? It’s asking you to enter something, right?”
“Yeah, that’s what it says.”
“You can enter a planet there.”
Mediate a planet?
Whoa.
That’s insane.
“Of course, since you’re B-rank and your Soul Mediation level is low, there’ll be limits. But it’ll be far better than mediating with other gods. Try entering ‘Earth.’”
With trembling hands, I opened the input field.
I typed ‘Earth’ with my fingers.
[Earth has been designated as a mediation target.]
The Soul Mediation window then closed.
So this is how planetary mediation works?
“Wow… This is huge.”
“This should be enough compensation, right? Now, form a Soul Mediation contract with me.”
His words snapped me back to reality.
It made sense to agree after learning such a valuable secret, but something felt off.
After all, he was the Lord of Chaos.
Wasn’t he the one trying to destroy Earth?
I had mediated a soul for Hades before, but that was after I had neutralized Kevrian, so I wasn’t too worried.
But just because Kevrian was taken care of didn’t mean Earth had stopped heading toward destruction…
Wouldn’t mediating a soul for the mastermind of Chaos accelerate Earth’s downfall?
“Well, that’s the thing… Aren’t you ultimately Earth’s enemy? It feels like helping you would be aiding its destruction.”
At those words, Hercules slammed the table in fury.
It was the most terrifying expression I had seen on him so far.
“You bastard! I told you in advance, and you dare mock me?!”
Kuuuuuuuu!
His enraged fists shook mountains and the earth itself.
Flocks of birds scattered in fear, and the ground cracked apart from his sheer strength.
The terrifying part was that despite all this destruction, the mountain peak and table remained perfectly intact.
Landslides erupted, the ground quaked, and yet, this place felt as if it were floating in the air, untouched.
Damn.
He had been civil until now, but was he finally losing his temper?
He was powerful.
But I couldn’t back down here.
“I mean, I still have slots left, so it’d be nice to fill them. But if I help you, won’t that just speed up Chaos’ descent? That would mean I’m aiding Earth’s destruction. I can’t do that.”
“Hahaha! If you want to prevent Earth’s destruction, then you must stop their nonsense!”
Hercules stopped pounding the table and burst into laughter.
Then, he pointed to the sky.
“Kill Zeus with your own hands. Kill Odin. Erase them completely, and put an end to their madness. Only then will Chaos retreat!”
“You want me to kill the Supreme Gods? Is that even possible?!”
At my rebuttal, Hercules’ eyes gleamed with interest.
“Oh? You don’t see it as blasphemy? Instead, you’re asking if it’s possible?”
“Blasphemy? My ass. They’ve backstabbed me more times than I can count. I don’t consider them my gods.”
The rage in Hercules’ eyes slowly faded.
His expression shifted to one of intrigue.
This guy… What’s with his mood swings?
As I stared at him, puzzled, he spoke again.
“You… Why don’t you join me? Let me mentor you.”
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HELHEIM SCANS
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