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Chapter 155: Suicide Squad (2)
“The Suicide Squad has already been assembled?”
[Yeah. I was going to recruit them with incentives, and if that didn’t work, forcefully conscript them. But after seeing yesterday’s outcome, more resources came in.]
“You mean yesterday’s results...”
[The gods whose names were forgotten performed quite well yesterday, didn’t they?]
Is he talking about the five Apostle Gods I received?
“Come on. All we did was handle a bit of Zeus’s lightning.”
[The fact that forgotten gods made such a move is a big deal. Those five gods traveled across the world.]
“Ah, I see.”
[Even among the major religions, there are always lower-tier gods who get sidelined. Many are just barely maintaining their soul forms with tiny bits of SP.]
When you look at it like this, gods and humans aren’t so different after all.
[However, they had two conditions.]
“What are they?”
[First, they want to retain their Apostle positions for one month after the Kalvine invasion ends.]
“A month? Trying to gather some intermediate SP commission or something?”
[Yeah.]
That's reasonable enough.
If I rise to SS-rank, the SP profit cap will go up too.
If I get Apostle buffs from them, that’s good for me.
[Second, they want to be allowed to return to their original divine realms after ending their Apostle contracts.]
“Well, of course. There’s no way the divine realms would tolerate me keeping them.”
[Hmm… well, the major divine realms have plenty of gods, so they probably don’t care too much. Losing a few lower gods for the sake of relations with the Soul God is a price they’re willing to pay. They know that too, which is why they’re asking for these conditions.]
So they’re worried I won’t let them go, huh?
“Tell them not to worry. I’ll be recruiting gods who are just short of being sealed anyway. Let them know not to start dragging their feet and refusing to leave after a month.”
[Hahaha. If the SP revenue is good, there might actually be some who won’t want to leave. Anyway, you're okay with both conditions, right?]
“Yeah.”
[Then once you’ve gathered your Apostles, I’ll open a portal. Come through then.]
Not long after communication with Loki ended, my father contacted me.
[Those five gods did pretty well yesterday.]
“News travels fast among the gods, huh.”
[What happens to Zeus’s lightning could decide our fate. You held it back well. After seeing the forgotten gods take action, more are expressing interest in becoming your Apostles.]
Oho.
I’m glad those Apostle Gods shouted “Apostle of Soul God Kim Jiho” in front of Zeus’s lightning.
“How many are we talking?”
[Five, for now.]
“So that makes ten, including the current ones. Sounds good.”
[Alright. I’ll send them your way. Also, please take care of the angels participating in the Kalvine expedition. Michael always felt bad for not being able to pay attention to them while focusing on restoring Heaven.]
“Ah, so Loki made a proposal to the Christian side as well. How many are coming?”
[Loki recruited up to five from each divine realm. We’re sending five.]
So five angels from Christianity are coming.
If each religion sends five, this is turning into a multinational coalition.
“Loki said he’ll open the portal once I gather the gods, so tell the five who want to join me to go there directly.”
[Ah, right. Will do.]
That makes the total fighting force 60.
50 in the suicide squad, and 10 Apostle Gods.
We probably won’t head out immediately since there’s no SP yet, so I’ll let them gather SP for a few days first.
Wiiiiing.
A few hours later, a blue portal opened before me.
A vast space paved with white marble.
Loki stood at the front, and behind him, 55 gods were lined up in perfect rows.
Each god had a different form and size.
The angels with their wings spread wide stood out first, followed by giants with iron-colored skin.
Aside from those two types, most of the rest had human-like soul forms.
With skin tones and clothing styles all varying, it felt like a mishmash of the world’s religions.
But the atmosphere was far from divine—it was gloomy, to say the least.
They looked more like new recruits arriving at boot camp than gods.
“Why is the mood so gloomy? Weren’t they volunteers?”
It felt more like they’d been drafted than volunteered.
Loki gave a wry smile and waved his hand as if to deny it.
“No, to become your Apostle, they had to first withdraw from their current divine realms.”
“Right.”
“Once they withdrew, their names disappeared.”
“Like the forgotten gods? What does withdrawal have to do with losing their names?”
“When you're part of a divine realm, even if you're nearly sealed, your name still exists. The divine realms have a strong presence, after all.”
So without that backing, even their names vanish?
I looked around at the gods once again.
Their appearances were impressive—some handsome, others fierce—definitely god-tier.
Even as lower-tier gods, their presence far surpassed that of A or B ranks.
But none of them looked familiar enough to immediately identify.
Well… except for that one.
Long black beard that could sweep the floor.
A massive red-skinned man in steel armor, holding a long guandao.
He was huge, and his armor just made him seem even more massive.
He looked like...
“Hey, isn’t that Guan Yu?”
“You recognize just one god out of 55? Well, Guan Yu is pretty famous in East Asia.”
“For real? That’s actually him?”
The moment I said his name, the other gods all turned to look at Guan Yu.
Receiving their stares, Guan Yu gave me a slight bow with his hands in a respectful martial salute.
“I am now a forgotten god. Please call me simply ‘Guan, a nameless one.’”
Come to think of it, Guan Yu was once selected for execution during a ritual in Asgard, wasn’t he?
He survived thanks to Odin being replaced with Skuld, under Zeus’s rule, but I never thought I’d see him here.
With that grudge, you’d think he’d want to chop Loki to pieces, but he didn’t seem too bothered.
“Heh. This guy’s pretty famous in China, so why’s he only S-rank?”
“He says he can’t outrank his older brother. He’s a weird god, honestly.”
Did Liu Bei become a god too?
Feels like that'd be a stretch...
"Still, with his fame, he probably never had trouble gathering SP."
“Haha. I gave him plenty of massages to make it easier for you to execute him. Right up until the seal.”
Loki clenched his fist as he said this.
He really is Guan Yu’s nemesis.
But Guan Yu showed no reaction to Loki’s actions.
“It was due to my own shortcomings.”
He simply stroked his beard and spoke calmly.
Next to Guan Yu stood a sword-wielding Taoist and a warrior in military attire.
Couldn’t tell who they were just by looking.
"Let’s accept them all for now."
I signed contracts with fifty gods and apostles.
With them, I performed the special kind of contract Loki had mentioned.
None of the gods revealed their names.
Even Guan Yu was contracted without his name being disclosed.
“I’ll gather some SP in the Apostle's Garden first. Three days should do.”
“Yes, understood.”
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All gods from the Ten Divine Realms were sent to the Apostle’s Garden, and I met with the five gods who wished to join me directly.
They each wore different attire, suggesting they came from various divine realms.
Three appeared male, and two female.
As I approached, all five knelt in unison.
“We wish to entrust our soul forms to the God of Souls.”
“The generosity of the Soul God is already well known among our kin.”
“Please accept us.”
I’m not even that generous, but I’ve got a good rep somehow.
Do gods usually treat their apostles that harshly?
Anyway, since five more offered themselves, I happily accepted them.
“Very well. I look forward to working with you.”
I integrated them too and sent them to the Apostle’s Garden.
The garden now housed sixty gods.
Fifty of them would eventually depart, but still—what a reassuring sight.
“Time to recover some SP and launch the invasion.”
“Right. We can’t attack because of the treaty with Olympus, but I’ll scout other planets. Who knows where Zeus might be colonizing next.”
“Got it. Now that I think about it, wasn’t Hercules driven out of Eshtar? Maybe that’s a candidate too.”
“Eshtar… I tried going there casually once, but the defenses were tight. I’ll check it out seriously this time.”
Loki, telling me to leave it to him, saw me off.
I returned home to prepare for deployment.
The first task: aid in the gods’ recovery.
To help the lower-tier gods recover quickly, I set the SP recovery rate to the minimum.
The SP generated by 60 gods would be substantial, but…
Now is the time for maximum combat strength.
No point hoarding SP—let it all return to the gods.
[Sixty low-tier gods? Quite the feat...]
“Though they’re gods whose names has been forgotten.”
[Still, you said they’d recover in a few days. Your five apostle gods already scoured Earth. Kalvine is smaller than Earth. With their addition, your power will be immense.]
“Yes. That’s why I’m aiming for a decisive strike this time. But with such numbers, we risk being discovered…”
[That can’t be helped. It’s a suicide squad, after all. They volunteered, ready to die. In return, they gain immense SP and escape the threat of being sealed. Risk is part of everything.]
“True. Still, I want to save as many as I can. If we time it well, we can strike without casualties.”
[Understood. I’ll prepare as well.]
After finishing my communication with Drakia, I checked if there was anything more I needed to do.
Nothing pressing for the moment, but…
Oh.
Should I ask Athena?
I couldn’t message her the first time since it had to be a secret attack, but now that we’ve already struck once, asking questions should be fine.
“Aegis Shield.”
As I summoned the shield, I saw messages that hadn’t shown before.
Information that could refine my plan.
The second invasion of Kalvine.
Once again, I began alone.
I stepped through the portal Drakia opened and arrived at a vast plain, where columns of lightning struck down.
Compared to before, the density and thickness of the lightning masses were far greater.
Where previously bolts had simply jutted up here and there, now it felt like the pillars of lightning were propping up the very sky.
“This land feels different from last time.”
[That’s the Eastern Plain. It’s the breadbasket of the Holy Empire.]
“If it’s deeper in, is the enemy more alert?”
[I checked several times—didn’t see any. Just as your intel said.]
Drakia added with some curiosity.
[Your intel is incredibly specific. You were right that Apollo watches over the planet by day and Artemis by night. And that the standard time zone is based on this land.]
“There’s no sign of enemy forces now... but it’s too early to be certain.”
Athena’s information.
It contained more valuable details than I imagined.
Kalvine is ruled by Apollo and Artemis.
They guard the planet in shifts—day and night—and this plain, the Eastern Plain, is their time zone reference.
The least-guarded time is during sunset.
[But didn’t your intel say dawn is also loosely guarded? Since it’s when the moon sets and the sun rises.]
“Correct. But sunset marks the start of Artemis’ watch, and dawn the start of Apollo’s. They say Artemis is the better option.”
[True, the sun god is more troublesome.]
Drakia nodded in agreement.
[So, is it time to begin?]
“Yes. Please look after Drakina.”
[Haha. With all the gods you’ve got, I doubt we’ll be needed.]
True.
Even though Drakina is a descendant of the dragon god, she’s no match for gods.
Still, once summoned, she’ll pull her weight.
“Apostle summoning.”
Sixty gods and one dragon appear.
As the gods began to materialize one by one, I summoned my soul sword.
The first objective is to destroy the lightning columns.
But thanks to Athena’s intel, I now had another goal.
That is...
To slay Artemis.
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