------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
Chapter 173: Asura’s Path (1)
“You’re saying I’ve obtained Asura’s Path?”
I looked at the skill description for Asura’s Path.
[Three Heads and Six Arms - Asura’s Path]
[SSS-Rank Skill]
[A fundamental skill of the Asura god.
It completely transforms the form of the soul body.
Through endless battles in the Asura’s Path realm, the range of development increases.
You can dispatch part of your soul body to Asura’s Path. The dispatched soul endlessly fights there, allowing the main body’s soul to grow.
Upon reaching the 44th rank in Asura’s Path, you can achieve the symbol of the Asura: Three Heads and Six Arms.
When the soul is transformed into the Three Heads and Six Arms form, part of Asura’s Path can be summoned into the current world.]
The last part caught my eye.
When transformed into the Three Heads and Six Arms form, it says a part of Asura’s Path can be summoned.
Is that what it meant?
“You’re talking about summoning Asura’s Path?”
[Yes.]
“So, even if I keep sending my soul body, I won’t reach the 44th rank?”
[It’s not easy to get past the top 500 with just a soul body. You have to face low-level gods at that point.]
I see.
No matter how strong my main body is, sending just 1% of it as a soul probably isn’t enough to beat a low-level god.
[So stop sending just your soul. Come yourself.]
“To Asura’s Path?”
[Yes. You need to create your domain.]
“What exactly does it mean to summon part of Asura’s Path?”
[You’ll understand once you come.]
So basically, I need to go there?
It’s possible, but...
“If I go, I’ll have to fight again, right?”
[You have to raise your rank in Asura’s Path.]
“Hmm. But it’s okay if I don’t go right this minute, right?”
[That’s true, but...]
“Then I’ll prepare a bit first.”
[Do that. But don’t take too long. If you could beat Apollo, you’re already strong enough. We don’t know how Zeus will move, so come as soon as you can.]
“Yes, understood.”
With that, Asura ended the communication, telling me to call him when I was ready.
This is going in a completely unexpected direction.
I was just trying to ask why Artemis from Asura popped out suddenly like my father had, but…
“Three Heads and Six Arms? Asura’s Path.”
For now, I used the Asura’s Path skill to summon a soul body.
Maybe because I sent it after reaching SS rank?
My soul body, which had stalled at a certain rank, suddenly rose quite a bit.
I was too busy fighting Apollo to check properly, but it didn’t get sealed or anything.
“Why’d you summon me already?”
Kim Jiho suddenly appeared in front of me.
He looked at me with a displeased expression.
This guy didn’t run?
“Why didn’t you run?”
“I can’t even leave my main body, so what would be the point of running?”
“Hmph. You give up quick.”
Then I should send you off without pain.
The moment I drew my soul sword, I felt something strange.
This is...
Something’s off.
My attitude toward death is way too calm.
I just came back from hell in Asura’s Path, and now I’m facing death like it’s nothing?
Me?
“Soul Disassemble.”
This current version of me is an SS-ranked clone.
I had a hunch, so I immediately used Soul Disassemble.
“Tch…!”
“I knew it!”
My clone’s soul was connected by a strange thread.
Very faint, but a pale white line.
An invisible, translucent thread that can only be seen with Soul Disassemble.
I felt it.
This was a soul relay.
That bastard was trying to escape using a soul relay just like I did in front of Apollo!
Shhhhk!
I instantly beheaded him with a tendril and absorbed his soul.
“Light, follow the thread.”
At the same time, I followed the soul relay he’d set up.
The thread was leading to my bedroom.
I quickly went inside, and—
“What the… a mosquito?”
Because his soul had been absorbed by me,
the soul relay line had weakened even further.
And it was connected to a mosquito.
“Stop.”
I stopped the mosquito and approached it.
Then a grating voice came from it.
[Ugh… Main body…!]
“You… a mosquito? That’s just sad. But I gotta respect your will to survive.”
Crunch!
I squashed the mosquito-me with my hand.
Only then did it feel like my soul had fully returned.
Wow…
I guess I really can’t afford to send any more soul bodies.
This soul relay thing—he used it even with such a tiny fraction of my soul?
That’s just nuts.
As soon as I fully absorbed him, a message popped up.
[You have reached rank 878 in Asura’s Path.]
[Partial soul body addition available. You can now form a fourth arm and a second head.]
I can get one more arm and one more head?
I used the skill again, and the shape came to mind automatically.
The default form was one arm and one head.
The right arm and a new head appeared next to my current ones.
I turned the new arm into a tendril for now…
As for the head?
I left it in default.
Riiiiip!
There was a tearing sound near my face.
My original face moved to the side, and my field of view suddenly shifted sideways.
At the same time, a new sight entered my vision.
I had four eyes now.
I turned my heads left and right.
And both fields of view came in at the same time.
At this point, I really felt like I’d completely left humanity behind.
Physical adaptation happened fast.
But mentally, it was hard to accept.
So I went to the bathroom to look in the mirror.
“This is a bit… worse than the arm.”
“...Worse than the arm.”
Two heads on one body.
Just one neck, but two faces are stuck together side by side.
“This doesn’t feel right.”
“This doesn’t feel right.”
When I open my mouth, both mouths open.
When I close my eyes, both sets shut simultaneously.
The two heads still can't be controlled separately.
Asura insisted this setup would be super efficient in combat, but seriously, there's no way I can live like this with two faces stuck together.
“Soul God. Huh? What is that form?”
“Artemis. When did you get here?”
I turned around at the voice from behind to see Artemis looking at me with curious eyes.
“You were originally human, right? You can change your soul form like that?”
“It’s a skill I got from Asura.”
“Asura… Oh, that war god with three faces and six arms? Changing the original form of your soul, huh? That’s a pretty handy skill.”
“Yeah. But I really can’t get used to having two faces.”
“Just the face? What about your arms?”
“I transformed them into tentacles.”
When I showed her the two tentacles, Artemis instinctively took a step back.
Wait, why are you backing away?
“Ugh. I don’t really like tentacles—traumatized by K'aai.”
“Ah, I see.”
“But if your original form was human, how can you make tentacles? It must be hard to adapt to something like that if your base is human… Is the skill that versatile?”
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
“That’s because I’m the Soul God. No matter how I transform, I adapt just fine.”
“Wow… That’s really cool. Then try changing the face, too. It’s kind of hard to keep looking at that.”
She subtly averted her gaze.
Even a deity finds this form hard to look at, huh?
“Yeah, I should. But I can’t really think of a good replacement.”
“For the head?”
“Yeah. What would you change it to if you were me?”
Artemis hummed, deep in thought.
“You’re keeping sight, hearing, and smell functions, right?”
“Right.”
“Then what fits that… hmm…”
She started to move her fingers, sketching a glowing crescent moon in the air.
Of course.
She just has to go with the moon.
Still, sight, hearing, and smell, huh…
[The sunlight is my eyes and my ears.]
I remembered when Apollo found me.
I stepped out into the sunlight from hiding, and he suddenly said that—it was terrifying.
“Artemis. Is the moonlight your eyes and ears too?”
“What are you talking about?”
“When Apollo was chasing me, that’s what he said.”
When I told her about it, Artemis shook her head firmly.
“That’s only because Apollo was going all out. There’s no way he lives like that all the time. Unless you’re a creator god or something.”
“Really? According to the description of the Sun God's Authority, you assimilate with light and gain its attributes.”
“Then you basically become light. You’d be seeing and hearing and feeling everything, right?”
So it was a power Apollo forced out, huh.
But if I use this second head, maybe I can draw out something similar.
“Soul Fusion.”
I tried it right away.
I offered up the Sun God's Authority.
Then I inserted the soul form that made up my second head.
“What are you doing?”
“Combining the Sun God’s Authority with the second head.”
“Whoa. That’s even possible?”
“The head’s been hard to make use of, so I’m just giving it a try.”
No real logic.
Maybe it's thanks to precognition, but I had a strange certainty that it would work.
[Soul Fusion successful.]
[Second head has been merged with the Sun God's Authority.]
[Your senses can now be projected through sunlight.]
Oho!
[Sun God’s Authority now holds immense foreign essence. Skill range is greatly reduced.]
[Increasing skill level will expand the range of the Sun God’s Authority.]
[More SP is required to level up the skill.]
Ugh...
I thought it was a perfect upgrade, but there are still drawbacks.
I guess I can accept the higher SP cost, but the reduced range sucks.
Still, it said I could increase the range by leveling it up, so I immediately tried upgrading the Sun God’s Authority.
“Whoa. 300 million?”
It drained 300 million SP each time.
Absolutely monstrous consumption.
And even then, the skill stopped leveling up.
It capped at level 5.
[Cannot raise the skill level further. You must absorb more of the Sun God’s power.]
I did share Apollo’s power with Zeus, so I guess that’s why...
Tsk.
Too bad, but I should stop for now.
“Sun God’s Authority.”
I activated the ability as a test.
“Whoa...!”
My senses were completely amplified.
Anywhere the light touched inside the house, I could see, hear, and feel everything.
At first, it was just the house.
But then, the range began to expand outward.
Through this apartment building, my perception stretched outward.
Whoa, this is getting too wide.
We always talked about gods and stuff, but now that my senses are tied to sunlight, I really feel like a divine being.
Anywhere the light reaches—I can see, hear, and even touch it.
“Lalalala…”
A pot-bellied man lathering himself with a shower towel.
Because the light touches his entire body, it’s like I’m touching him myself.
Ugh.
That’s... a lot.
“Woooow, those idols are amazing…”
A schoolgirl watching a boy band on TV with a dreamy look.
Her too.
Light is everywhere, so if I want to perceive, I can.
“Ugh… this is…”
Countless people, animals, and objects—I can see, hear, and feel them all.
The sheer flood of information threatens to sweep me away.
If I weren’t a godlike entity, the information overload alone would have fried my brain.
“Gotta regulate… Let’s limit to SP 100 and above.”
I decided only to perceive targets with SP 100 or higher, and instantly, all the unimportant info got filtered out.
Ordinary people?
Gone.
No more accidentally caressing middle-aged men.
Same for animals and plants.
All regular objects?
Cut off.
With only SP 100+ as the filter, the number of perceived targets dropped dramatically.
What does that leave?
Maybe E or D-rank hunters?
Only groups of hunters are occasionally detected.
"Did it work?"
"Yeah..."
Artemis looked at me with a curious expression and asked.
Just as I was about to answer her, I realized that the light was also touching her.
As the light touched her, information flooded in automatically—sight, touch, and hearing.
Artemis, dressed in a pure white one-piece dress.
I hadn’t intended to, but I ended up scanning her entire body.
Ahem.
Artemis... she's in soul form, so why the curves...?
No wonder she looked bigger than before.
"What? What's wrong? Why aren’t you answering?"
"Ah, the information load was just too much… Deactivating the power of the Sun God."
As I deactivated the power, I felt like I was back to being human from a god.
Wow.
That really felt like being an all-powerful deity.
"How long was I like that?"
"How long? You were spacing out for about a minute."
"6 million gone in one minute."
"SP drains that fast? Whoa. That’s rough."
So it consumes 100,000 SP per second.
I really shouldn’t be using this recklessly.
Gotta save it for battle.
Alright, now that I’ve tested this skill…
“Time to head to Asura’s Path.”
“Why there?”
After I gave her a rough explanation, Artemis nodded.
“Then I guess you won’t need my help?”
“I’ll try going alone for now.”
“Got it. I was going to suggest you check out the inside of the temple, but it sounds like this comes first. Then I’ll finish it up how I like and show it to you.”
“Okay. Just don’t make it too weird.”
With a “hmph,” Artemis vanished.
Sigh, I left Kang Shia there, so it should be fine.
If I don’t like it, I can always rebuild it…
Right now, Asura’s Path comes first.
Before heading out, I checked my status window.
[Name ? Kim Jiho
Class ? God of Souls
Title ? Godslayer
Soul Power – 22,341
SP ? 6.2 Billion]
A simplified status window.
At the end of S-rank, the soul power limit was 10,000, but my rank increased and after the battle with Apollo, it surged.
Upgrading the Sun God's power to level 5 cost me 1.2 billion, but I still have 6.2 billion SP left.
"This should be more than enough."
Even before absorbing Apollo, I could take on demigod-level enemies, and now I’ve got his power too.
Alright.
Let’s go.
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
