------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
Chapter 140: Olympus Dungeon (2)
I stepped outside the building in my incorporeal state.
Floating in midair were the three of us—myself, Diana, and Drakina.
There is no need to search for the direction of City Hall.
The powerful energy of lightning is unmistakable.
"All three of us, move toward that lightning energy."
With the divine will activated, I gave the command.
Instantly, the three of us teleported to the vicinity of City Hall.
"Wow. So this is divine speech...? It's even better than draconic speech."
Drakina marveled.
Diana, fully armed, held her bow at the ready.
She scanned the surroundings.
"They said the humans evacuated, but not all of them. Is that... a helicopter?"
Diana pointed to the sky.
Several news helicopters hovered in the air, filming the lightning.
"This place has a lot of strange things."
"Hmm, let's go invisible for now."
Our forms vanished smoothly.
Our bodies became completely transparent.
This way, we wouldn’t be caught on camera.
Drakina, puzzled, asked,
"Aren't you trying to make the world recognize Kim Jiho as a god? Why hide?"
"We're just here for reconnaissance. There's no need to make a declaration as a god right now. It would just turn into gossip. It’s better to introduce myself gradually through the HunterNet."
Besides, if things go south, we might have to retreat.
No need to get caught in an embarrassing situation.
We approached cautiously while remaining invisible.
Lightning struck the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall.
Its scale was immense.
But despite its intensity, there was no visible damage.
Not just to people—there wasn't a single disruption to the plaza itself.
Though sharing the same space, the lightning seemed detached from the world.
Hmm.
I can definitely feel the energy of lightning, but...
"That thing doesn’t seem to have any effect."
"Lady Drakina is right. The energy is strong, but it’s disconnected from this world."
"Still, this is incredible energy… And it’s appearing in cities all over the world? What is the purpose of this?"
Drakina crept closer to examine the lightning.
"Looking at it like this doesn’t reveal anything..."
I slowly closed the distance.
Up close, it looked less like lightning and more like a pillar of light.
It was large enough to fit dozens of people inside.
At a glance, it didn’t seem dangerous...
But there's no way Zeus would do something meaningless.
"You two stay back for a moment. Soul Barrier."
I deployed Soul Barrier and approached.
Prepared to swap to an avatar if necessary, I remained on high alert.
I reached a distance where I could touch the lightning with my hand.
Yet nothing happened.
I didn't get electrocuted, nor did the temperature change.
What the hell is this?
[Kim Jiho, according to foreign news reports, a door-like shape has appeared inside the lightning.]
A message from Kang Shia.
A door?
"Do you see anything resembling a door?"
"Uh… Oh! It's forming over there!"
Diana pointed toward the ground.
At the point where the golden lightning met the earth, a white door had appeared.
[Keep me updated if you hear anything else about the door.]
[Understood.]
After instructing Kang Shia, I landed on the ground.
A fairly large door.
With the golden lightning surrounding it, it stood out even more.
I drew my spirit sword, maintained Soul Barrier, and cautiously approached the door.
I remained in a combat stance, watching carefully.
The door did not move.
Several minutes passed, yet nothing changed.
Diana and Drakina, who had been watching from above, descended to the ground.
"Jiho, should I send a spirit to investigate?"
"Yeah, good idea."
"Silime."
A green wind spirit materialized in the air.
Following Diana’s command, Silime approached the door.
It reached out toward the door but suddenly stopped.
Then, it turned to look at Diana, as if giving a report.
"Huh…? Really? Alright, come back, Silime."
After listening, Diana dismissed Silime, then turned to me with a baffled expression.
"Silime said a system message appeared when it tried to enter. It called this the entrance to Olympus Dungeon: Fragment of the Pantheon and said only those ranked C or higher can enter."
"That thing is a dungeon?"
That door inside the lightning—a dungeon?
Remaining on guard, I reached out and touched the door.
A message appeared.
[This is the entrance to Olympus Dungeon: Fragment of the Pantheon.]
[Created by the Imperfect Creator, Zeus. Since Zeus cannot achieve true creation, he has merged an existing dungeon with the Pantheon.]
The Pantheon... I remember that.
That’s the place I visited when I went to receive my skill.
A place filled with statues from the Order faction, originating from Olympus.
Fragments of that place…
[Upon clearing the dungeon, ‘Zeus’s Lightning’ will be lifted.]
[Would you like to enter?]
So, the lightning will disappear if I clear the dungeon?
It seems suspicious, but since it’s a system message, it shouldn’t be a trick.
I calmed my mind and looked at the door.
No danger detection was triggered, and I didn’t feel any particular sense of threat.
“Jiho-nim, I’ll go in first.”
“No, I’ll go. You two should return to the Apostle’s Garden for now.”
“It could be dangerous…”
“No, don’t worry. It doesn’t seem that dangerous.”
I dismissed Diana, who was worried, and Drakina, who didn’t seem to care much.
Then, I pressed "Yes" on the system prompt asking if I wanted to enter, and my body started being pulled into the door.
My vision turned bright white before returning to normal.
The floor was made of pure white marble.
White mist floated around the area.
This definitely resembled the grand temple where I had received a skill long ago.
And between the thick mist, I could glimpse marble statues.
Back then, I admired their craftsmanship, thinking, Wow, these are well-made!
But now, those well-made marble statues were glaring at me menacingly.
“Intruder detected.”
“Eliminate and turn them into a thunder spirit.”
The statues were modeled after various races—elves, dwarves, humans, and more.
Around a hundred statues moved in unison and charged toward me.
Straight into battle, huh?
“Kill.”
“If you die here, you shall become a servant of Zeus.”
They even had a formation as they attacked.
But…
Their movements were slow—so slow it made me want to yawn.
“Shatter.”
I didn’t even use a skill, just gave a command.
Cracks began forming, and the statues turned to dust, disappearing completely.
“All too easy.”
At this level, even Diana or Drakina could have easily handled them.
The system message said only C-rank and above could enter, right?
So this is the expected difficulty level?
Still, I shouldn’t let my guard down.
Who knows what that cunning Zeus might be up to?
I was about to proceed with my Soul Barrier activated—
Until I saw this message.
[‘Fragment of the Grand Temple’ dungeon has been cleared.]
[‘Zeus’s Lightning’ has been lifted.]
That’s it?
Already?
A flash of light, and I was back at Seoul City Hall.
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
That was way too easy.
Zzzzt, zzzzt.
As soon as I returned, the lightning that had been connected to the sky rapidly shrank.
It had been silent before, but now it crackled noisily before disappearing.
So, that’s all there was to it?
This thing only looked powerful on the outside but was actually just an empty shell.
[The lightning over Seoul has vanished. Did you do this, Jiho-nim?]
[Yeah. I followed a gate and found a one-room dungeon. There were about a hundred moving statues, but they were only C-rank at best.]
[That lightning was a dungeon? Um… Can I report this to the Hunter Association?]
[Yeah, that’s a good idea. Just note that my assessment of the statues’ strength might be off—they were way too weak.]
[Understood. I’ll take that into account in my report.]
[Also, where’s the nearest lightning strike now? I’ll take care of it.]
[Busan.]
[Got it.]
Busan…
I remember going there once when an A-rank dungeon appeared.
“Let’s go to Busan.”
I decided to test if Divine Speech could handle this.
The moment I spoke, my body lifted off the ground and started flying on its own.
Heading south with ease.
Completely automatic, just from saying the words.
The ride was incredibly smooth.
The scenery flew past.
After some time, multiple messages popped up from Kang Shia.
[The lightning in Beijing has been cleared by a lower-ranked Taoist deity entering the dungeon and destroying it.]
[The New York dungeon has been dismantled by the Awakened of the U.S. Hunter Association.]
[The Paris dungeon has disappeared due to the intervention of the Valkyrie Legion.]
One by one, the lightning strikes were vanishing.
Thankfully, it seemed the dungeons weren’t too high in difficulty.
By the time I received reports on about fifteen cleared dungeons,
A massive bolt of lightning came into view.
The lightning over Busan felt different from the one in Seoul.
A group of people had gathered in front of the dungeon gate.
They were clearly Awakened, just by looking at them.
Did they gather people after hearing reports about the cleared dungeons in other countries?
But why weren’t they going inside?
“Will our Busan branch alone be enough?”
“Some countries’ hunters aren’t taking action at all…”
“The only places that succeeded with just Hunters are cities with strong Hunter branches, like New York or London.”
“Shouldn’t we wait a bit longer? Let’s request more elites from Seoul.”
“Yeah. I heard someone in Seoul cleared it.”
Well…
They were too scared to go in.
There were about ten of them.
All of them were C-rank Hunters.
If they had gone in…
Hmm.
They probably would have lost.
Even though we’re both C-rank, it would have been a battle of ten against a hundred.
Their caution worked in their favor.
I landed on the ground and released my invisibility.
After drawing my soul sword and activating my Soul Barrier to fully prepare myself, I strode toward them.
The sudden appearance of me startled them.
“W-Who are you?”
“This area is off-limits. Step back!”
Ignoring their words, I continued walking.
A large man reached out to grab my shoulder.
“Didn’t you hear me say this place is off-limits?”
“Stop.”
At my single word, he froze in place.
Seeing their comrade unable to move, the others assumed a defensive stance.
“You…! What did you do to him?”
“He’s not an ordinary person. Fall back and stay on guard!”
Like a bunch of hedgehogs, they bristled with hostility.
Maybe I shouldn’t have dropped my invisibility.
But staying invisible makes it tricky to be fully combat-ready…
The dungeon earlier was low-level, but there’s no telling when a strong one might suddenly pop up.
“Just stay still for ten minutes.”
With my command, they all froze completely.
Leaving them behind, I opened the bright white gate crackling with yellow lightning.
[Entrance to Olympus Dungeon: ‘Fragment of the Pantheon.’]
[Clearing the dungeon will disable ‘Zeus’s Lightning.’]
[Would you like to enter?]
I selected “Yes,” and my body was sucked in.
The scenery was exactly the same as before.
Marble floors.
A view as if floating within the clouds.
One hundred marble statues.
“An intruder. Detected.”
“Eliminate and turn them into a thunder spirit.”
Even their lines were identical.
“Just die. Shatter.”
As I spoke lightly, the marble statues gathering to surround me instantly shattered into dust.
Soldiers of various races crumbled, unable to resist the will of the gods.
[‘Fragment of the Pantheon’ Dungeon has been cleared.]
[‘Zeus’s Lightning’ has been disabled.]
Well, that was easy.
Even after exiting the dungeon, the frozen people were still stiff as statues.
“Has it not been ten minutes yet? Alright, release.”
At my words, they regained movement.
At first, they were looking away, but the moment they could move again, they spun around toward me.
“What the… You!”
“Hey! Calm down! Excuse me… who are you?”
The big guy who had grabbed my shoulder earlier started getting worked up again, but his comrades held him back.
I mean, come on.
I just incapacitated ten C-rank Hunters with a single word.
Picking a fight is a bad idea.
“I’m the god who just disabled the Lightning Dungeon in Seoul.”
“Wha…? A… god?”
“Quit messing around! You’re obviously Korean! How could you be a god?!”
“Look it up on HunterNet later. See ya.”
Leaving the easily agitated big guy behind, I took off into the sky again.
Hmm… Where should I go next?
I should probably disable every instance of Zeus’s Lightning I come across.
The dungeon isn’t that tough, so there’s no point in leaving it be.
“Take me to the nearest Zeus’s Lightning.”
My body began soaring on its own.
This is pretty cool.
Flying high, I started crossing the sea.
South of Busan… Japan, huh?
Well, I’ll just keep disabling them as I go.
[Who do you think you are?]
[Bakayarō!]
Even in Japan, I got called an idiot while disabling another one.
Boom! Boom!
[Conventional weapons are useless! We need to disable that—Huh?]
Continuing south, I disabled more Lightning in Southeast Asian countries.
Even as artillery rained down, I slipped through and took them out effortlessly.
By the time I’d completed my route from Busan to Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, a whole day had passed.
Then, as I was letting my divine speech guide me to yet another location…
My body suddenly stopped.
And then, a system message popped up.
[There are 11 remaining instances of Zeus’s Lightning in the next 24 hours.]
[Zeus’s Lightning is activating.]
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
