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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 181: The Beginning of the Air Raid (3)
[Destination: Divine Realm has been reached.]
"Wow. That was really fast."
Triaina, which had flown up into the sky and opened a gate on its own, soared rapidly.
Looking at the map, it moved dozens of times faster than other legions and quickly reached the target planet.
The enemy legion was still far from arriving on screen.
We were floating above Mid-Level Divine Realm-142.
Just like when Poseidon hid in the outer skies in Asura’s Path.
Artemis, who was looking outside through the internal screen, let out an exclamation.
"When did Uncle Poseidon prepare all this? We really came straight to a divine realm."
"Yeah. Which divine realm was this again?"
"I heard it's related to African indigenous beliefs. I should be able to recognize it… but...?"
Kuuga, who was confidently talking while looking outside, trailed off at the end.
What's wrong?
I looked at the screen Kuuga was watching.
"Black lightning...?"
A huge mountain peak reaching to the sky.
Black lightning was striking it from all directions.
Relentlessly connecting the heavens and the earth without end—black lightning.
It was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong.
"Soul Disassembly."
I used a skill to analyze the black lightning.
The exact operating principle was too complex to analyze, but I could at least gauge the SP it contained.
It turned out to be weaker than expected.
Most of the black lightning ranked around A-grade, with a few carrying the power of mid-tier gods.
“We need to go down and assess the situation.”
“Yeah, let’s go together.”
“I’ll join you as well.”
Artemis, Kuuga, and I descended from Triaina.
Just like when we boarded it, a golden door opened, and we exited through the passage. Triaina then shrank back to its original size.
Returning to its original trident form, it gently flew over to me and leaned its shaft against my back.
“So that’s the black lightning…”
Artemis stared at the lightning with dazed eyes.
“It’s filled with malice. Zeus, who once reigned as king of the gods, wasn’t a benevolent god, but he wasn’t outright evil either. But what he’s doing now... it's no different than being an evil god.”
“Even before this chaos, wasn’t he always sowing his seeds all over in mythology? He even had a wife.”
“The gods of Olympus were free-spirited and unrestrained in that way. You can't call them evil gods just because of that.”
“Well… your mythology really has tangled family ties.”
“All the male gods were promiscuous. They ran wild without restraint, reflecting the male-dominated culture of the time. Zeus even excused his actions by saying he was raising descendants to stop the Gigantomachy. In contrast, goddesses weren’t granted the same freedom.”
As she spoke, Artemis pointed to herself with her finger.
Is she implying she was one of those restrained goddesses?
“Well… you are a virgin goddess, after all.”
“Ugh. Don’t call me that anymore. Just call me the goddess of the moon. What age are we in, still talking about chastity?”
“You said your mythology reflected the era. Back then, that stuff was important.”
“Yeah. Athena, me… We were forced into that. But times have changed. I’m going to change too.”
Then she stepped forward and stretched out her right hand.
A long bow appeared in her hand.
“Oh moonlight, born of the sun—gather and become my aim.”
An arrow began to form along the bowstring.
The silver arrow grew larger and larger until it stopped expanding.
“This world only has Zeus’s black lightning left anyway. I’ve looked around, and I can’t find any gods from the mid-level realm.”
She used the power of the sun god to investigate.
Just as she said, there were a few strange gods tainted by the black lightning, but no trace of normal divine souls.
“So I’m just going to wipe it all out. After what Zeus did to Apollo, I want to vent at least like this. You don’t mind, do you?”
Artemis asked for my permission before releasing the arrow.
Well, a warning shot should be fine.
“Just don’t overdo it. You probably don’t have enough SP to destroy everything.”
“Of course.”
Artemis released the bowstring.
The target: the sky.
The silver arrow stopped at the center of the sky and began to spread out like a billowing cloud.
Ssshhhhhhh—
The large silver mass began to break apart.
Then the light gathered into countless small arrows and started pouring down like rain.
Unlike normal rain, though, the arrows shot in every direction—except toward where we stood.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Silver arrows bombarded the earth.
They were imbued with soul energy emission, increasing their destructive power.
Ssssss.
The pillar-like black lightning caught fire when struck by the arrows.
Surprisingly, the black lightning burned easily.
Even those with divine energy on par with lower or mid-tier gods were consumed without resistance.
Wait, how is it this strong?
“You said you’d hold back… did you put your life into that shot?”
“N-no! I just fired lightly! What the heck? Why are they so weak? Jiho, is soul energy emission really that good?”
“Soul energy emission is powerful, but not even apostles of gods should get that much efficiency out of it…”
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the black lightning was completely consumed by white flames, the massive mountain shook.
The earth cracked in an instant.
Soil shot up into the sky, and clouds in the sky descended to the ground instead.
It was a scene where heaven and earth literally switched places.
Just by destroying the black lightning, the sky and ground reversed.
“What… what is this.”
“Lady Artemis… such power… you are incredible.”
“N-no… I just fired one arrow…”
Artemis was flustered.
She had just fired a shot in frustration, but suddenly, the world turned upside down.
Could this be related to the disappearance of the black lightning?
[A change has occurred in Okeanos. Would you like to check it?]
A system window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
When I clicked "Yes," a familiar map appeared again.
A legion advancing toward 10 points.
It looked just like before, but—
[Mid-Level Divine Realm-142 is being annihilated.]
[The large number of gods moving toward Mid-Level Divine Realm-142 have disappeared.]
“What?”
The forces that seemed to be invading us… disappeared?
Hmm… could it be…
“The group of gods headed here—were they not an invading force but rather a returning one?”
“What do you mean?”
“The group coming toward this realm vanished. After you destroyed the black lightning.”
“Oh, really? Then those gods were somehow connected to that lightning?”
“That’s how it looks. With the black lightning gone, the gods outside disappeared too…”
The sky fell, and the ground floated up.
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Dirt and rocks were flying toward us.
What was once a divine realm was now vanishing in an instant.
[You discover fragments of a shattered god.]
[Absorbing SP.]
[Absorbing soul power.]
Messages floated before my eyes.
Checking my status window, I saw my SP and soul power rising rapidly.
Not as much as when I absorbed Apollo or Poseidon, but still quite a decent gain.
Was I absorbing the remnants of a divine realm as it collapsed?
If I had destroyed the Black Thunder myself, I might have absorbed even more.
Shouldn’t have asked Artemis to shoot it.
Then again, who could have predicted it would collapse so easily?
As I silently absorbed the SP, Artemis spoke.
“There’s no need to stay here any longer, is there?”
“That’s right. And if the world collapses completely, staying here wouldn’t be ideal either. Perhaps it’s best to retreat for now?”
“Hm. I just want to absorb a little more. Go on ahead. Triaina, transform like before.”
Triaina jumped out from behind me and, as before, turned into a large submarine made of light.
A staircase appeared, and Artemis and Kuuga climbed up.
“You’re really staying behind?”
“Yeah. Head inside. I’ve marked Triaina’s return coordinates. I’ll absorb some more soul power and return.”
The two obediently entered.
Triaina waited for me, but I waved my hand, signaling it to ascend into the sky.
Crackle. Crackle.
The world was rapidly shrinking.
Standing at the boundary, I flew toward the center of the world to absorb energy more efficiently.
[Who… who… are you…?]
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the middle of the collapsing world.
A man’s voice.
A god belonging to this divine realm?
[Why is our divine realm…! Aaaaahhh!]
He let out a loud scream, which turned into a shriek.
At the same time, my SP shot up quickly.
I looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn’t find anything.
[Ugh… Ah… Ares… you broke your promise…! You said you would protect us…! Ghh… Ghhh…!]
Ares promised protection?
I thought he was crying out to Zeus, but instead, an unexpected name.
Then, silence.
He disappeared without saying a word about me, just screaming into the void.
And with that, the world began collapsing rapidly.
SP had stopped rising too…
“Heimdall’s Return.”
I activated return and went back to Triaina.
“You have returned, my lord.”
“Hmm. Nothing unusual?”
“Enemy troop movements remain unchanged on the monitor.”
“Then let’s head to the next divine realm.”
I was curious why they were calling out to Ares, but I figured I’d find out as I kept exploring.
We began touring the divine realms that had halted when we appeared.
But…
The second one—
“This place is the same.”
Third—
“Only Black Thunder here, too.”
Up to the fourth—
“Same here as well.”
All looked similar to the first divine realm.
Each had a slightly different form, but all were filled with Black Thunder.
And they all shattered with a light tap.
This time, instead of letting Artemis handle it, I demolished them myself and collected the SP and soul power.
And, as before, the realms collapsed.
At the center of each, a similar scream echoed.
[Ares… Ares…!]
[I trusted you…!]
They all cried out Ares’ name, not Zeus.
“Why do they keep calling out to Ares?”
“Yeah… I don’t get it either…”
Even Artemis seemed puzzled.
“Enemy troops have disappeared again.”
“When the Black Thunder vanishes, so do they. Is it the source of their power?”
“Then we’re basically looting empty houses.”
“It’s convenient how easily they fall… but it feels like the mid- and lower-tier divine realms are being wiped out too easily.”
“Yeah. Let’s try the next realm. This one didn’t react when we made contact, right?”
We moved to the fifth divine realm of the ten targets.
Four had reacted and paused when we made contact, but the others just kept moving as normal.
Maybe this one will be different?
And then we arrived at the fifth realm.
It was completely different from the others.
“There’s no Black Thunder here.”
I stepped out of Triaina and surveyed the realm.
Without the Black Thunder, it actually looked like a proper place.
There was no land—just a divine realm floating among the clouds.
It looked just like the heaven we often imagine.
“Let’s head in a bit more.”
Was I finally about to meet actual gods from the mid- and lower-tier realms?
We entered the inner space of the realm from the sky.
A world filled with clouds.
Oriental-style buildings and flowering trees stood beautifully atop the clouds.
With the disgusting black lightning gone, I could finally appreciate the scenery.
Whooooosh.
A sudden gust of wind blew strongly.
From the clear blue sky where we stood, clouds billowed up.
And from within the clouds, a human-like figure appeared.
“Where have you come from?”
The figure had a lower body made of white mist and the upper body of an old man resembling a Taoist sage.
He bowed his head respectfully upon seeing us.
“Ah, you must be… the God of Souls. To visit our divine realm without notice…”
He recognized me.
Well, I was pretty well-known by now.
“Yes. Zeus is currently invading. I came to give you a heads-up.”
“Hm… Zeus, you say… I’ll inform the High God.”
The old man moved his lips slightly.
After a moment, seemingly done with communication, he bowed again.
“The High God invites the honored guest. I, Unsa, will escort you.”
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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