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Chapter 182: Ares' Army (1)
Unsa?
That name sounds familiar...
Following his lead, a modern-style building came into view.
The surrounding scenery looked like a utopia, but the lone skyscraper stood out awkwardly.
As we approached the building, there was a large glass door and even a revolving door.
A typical high-rise building you could see anywhere.
“Please, come in.”
When Unsa waved his hand, a blue portal gate appeared in front of the glass door.
Even when viewed through soul disassembly, the portal didn’t seem suspicious.
It didn’t look like a trap, so I followed Unsa into the portal.
On the other side was a large room.
In front of us was a huge glass window, showing the utopian view from earlier.
The remaining space was filled with a large desk and various electronic devices—it felt less like the divine realm and more like the office of an IT company CEO.
“Welcome to our divine realm, Soul God.”
A man stood up from behind the desk.
Wearing a black suit and tie, he was a handsome older man.
Aside from the long black beard that reached his chest, his attire was perfectly modern.
He extended his hand for a handshake, and I responded in kind.
“Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Kim Jiho.”
“I am Hwanung. Pleased to meet you.”
Hwanung?
Ah, now I remember where I heard "Unsa"—it’s from Korean mythology.
“Hwanung… As in, the one from Korean mythology?”
“That’s right. So you did know.”
Hwanung is Dangun’s father, right?
He’s basically the founding ancestor of the Korean people—it felt odd to hear him using honorifics with me.
“I thought being part of Korean mythology would make you a major pantheon…”
“Ha ha. That’s because you were born in Korea, Soul God. Out of the world’s population, how many even know of us? A pantheon’s size depends on the number of followers and recognition. We fall quite short in both.”
“I see.”
“In fact, the position I hold now is like that too. Strictly speaking, I’m not the supreme deity in our mythology, but due to my relative fame, I took on the role.”
That makes sense, since it’s about global recognition.
Even Artemis beside me nodded in agreement.
Still, hearing honorifics from Hwanung made my skin crawl a little.
But I had to propose he become an Apostle God soon—it felt weird to ask him to drop the formalities.
I decided to just endure the awkwardness.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Are you aware that Zeus’ Olympus Legion is currently on the move?”
“Olympus, you say?”
Hwanung received my words with a calm expression, not looking particularly surprised.
He looked at me and stroked his beard.
Something seemed off…
Did he already know?
“What? You knew?”
Artemis immediately asked him.
Her voice had a slightly sharp edge.
“Did you really come all this way just to deliver that piece of news, without permission? I’ve already heard it from Asura.”
Instead of answering Artemis, Hwanung turned the question back on us.
The atmosphere was becoming strange, but I pressed on with the purpose of our visit.
Zeus was reaching out to minor pantheons to become his subordinates, but that would only lead to disaster.
I added that we had already visited four such pantheons, all of which were easily destroyed after becoming black thunder gods.
Hwanung, who had been listening with little interest, reacted when I mentioned the destruction of four pantheons.
“Four pantheons were destroyed?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, did they receive no protection from Olympus?”
“I have videos of it.”
Kuuga, who had been standing behind, stepped forward.
Oh?
When did he record them?
Everyone turned their attention to him, and he scratched his head.
“I wanted to record Lord Jiho’s dazzling presence…”
“Good thinking. Show us.”
“Yes, sir!”
Videos of the second, third, and fourth pantheons—excluding Artemis’—began to play.
Each one fell swiftly to the power of the sun god.
Hwanung and Unsa watched the worlds crumble with shocked expressions.
“This is… completely defenseless.”
“They had no protection at all.”
“Did you, Soul God, also use solar authority? It looks overwhelmingly powerful… Could it be too strong, perhaps…?”
“I acquired the power of the sun from Apollo.”
“Hmm…”
Hwanung stood, tapping on his desk thoughtfully.
Next to him, Unsa cautiously opened his mouth.
Was he trying to send a message?
After a moment of contemplation, Hwanung spoke again.
“Soul God. What you’ve shown is truly remarkable. Actually, we also received a proposal from them.”
“From Zeus?”
“Not directly from Zeus. Rather, it came from Ares, the god of war under Olympus.”
Ares?
That name came up before when the black thunder disappeared…
Is he the one behind all this?
“Soul God, how much do you know about the situation of minor pantheons?”
“I don’t know in detail, but I’ve heard that it’s hard to maintain a pantheon due to lack of SP.”
“Are you aware of the oppression from the major pantheons?”
“Oppression?”
Hwanung gestured toward a monitor beside his desk.
The monitor turned on and played a commercial.
‘Would you like to carry on the glorious legacy of the Korean people with us?’
Hwanung appeared in a suit, using TV shopping-style gestures.
The commercial emphasized ethnicity and spirit, but it ended within ten seconds.
As someone who leans toward individualism, the ethnic-nationalist tone didn’t resonate with me.
Perhaps noticing my expression, Hwanung gave a bitter smile.
“Ads emphasizing Korean heritage… In today’s terms, they’re what you’d call ‘nationalist cringe,’ right?”
Hearing “nationalist cringe” from Hwanung was surreal…
“You know a lot of internet slang.”
“I’ve studied public opinion to help maintain our pantheon. In any case, these kinds of nationalist ads… they don’t work at all in this era. But we had no choice.”
“What do you mean?”
Hwanung patiently explained.
“The major pantheons recently made an agreement. Not to grant excessive blessings to a single human.”
“And?”
He explained in detail.
“Minor pantheons like ours can’t compete with the major ones in terms of blessings. So to differentiate ourselves, we have two options—grant massive benefits to a select few, or accept those with lower potential. However…”
“However?”
“Christianity and Islam began absorbing a large number of people of lesser qualifications. Even ordinary folks and dying old men were accepted as believers. In contrast, other divine factions—like Buddhism and Asgard—granted benefits only to a select few. And they even imposed restrictions, insisting that one must not give more benefits than they allow.”
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Wow.
Bunch of thieves, huh?
One side sweeps up everyone they didn’t even bother with before…
The other side won’t even let us go all-in on our elite.
In times like these, if the major divine factions and the minor ones offered the same terms, even I would choose the major ones.
“What are the minor gods supposed to do?”
“They told us to just manage the believers we had already gathered. But the minor gods have always had less religious fervor compared to the major factions. How are we supposed to manage with that...? They were basically telling us to dry up and die.”
Hwanung let out a sigh.
“And then there were the gods from Asgard, who claimed they came to protect us. They were just absurd.”
“What? Why? What did they do?”
“They demanded protection money.”
“...Protection money?”
These bastards.
Are they gangsters?
“Yes. They said since they were here to protect a small divine realm like ours, it was only natural to expect payment in return. Asgard, after all, once colluded with Olympus... They showed no remorse and just took all the SP we had managed to gather. And we were lucky. Other divine realms were told their goddesses had to serve them in bed. We tried to appeal to the major factions about this, but they completely ignored us. They’re all in it together.”
I was speechless.
The major gods...
They act so friendly in front of me—probably because of the Soul Mediation.
But they’re ruthless to the weak.
They made goddesses serve them in bed?
That’s some outrageous abuse of power.
Unbelievable...
“And then…”
Hwanung glanced at me.
Why me?
“Even the gods you took in as Apostle Gods under the Soul God aren’t responding to messages anymore.”
“What? Me?”
“Yes. Among the gods selected as Apostle Gods, some were discarded, but there were others who were seen as rising stars in the minor divine factions, possibly future major deities. Yet most of them cut off contact, saying they’d rather remain under the Soul God.”
“Kuuga. The other Apostle Gods said that?”
How much of a taste did they get of Soul Mediation?
When I asked Kuuga, his eyes widened and he nodded.
“Guardian God. Of course. SP pours in overnight like a flood.”
“I’ll admit that. Even I didn’t want to go independent after seeing the SP increase. If I’m getting this much, then just how much is our Guardian God earning from Soul Mediation?”
“Well, a fair bit.”
“Hmm... So, several tens of millions per day?”
“You think that’s a lot?”
“Only that? That’s barely anything?”
“As expected of our Guardian God. Your scale is on another level.”
Artemis’s eyes widened in awe.
Kuuga looked up at me with endless admiration.
Wait, was that really such a high number?
Better not disclose my exact income.
“The gods from other realms are desperate for SP. And you’ve been generous to your Apostle Gods. With the SP flowing endlessly, no one wants to leave this comfortable Garden of Apostles.”
“Because of all these things, we were withering away. We thought our entire divine realm would be sealed off eventually—losing gods, SP sources drying up, and the major factions exploiting us... We were bracing ourselves for extinction. That’s when... Ares contacted us.”
Ares?
I remembered when we destroyed a divine realm made of black thunder.
[Ugh... Ares... How could you break your promise...? You said you’d protect us...! Grgh... Grrgh...!]
The voice that cursed Ares from the heart of a collapsing divine realm.
So it was Ares who was involved in this mess among the Olympian gods?
“Ares saw right through our situation and tried to persuade us to side with Olympus. He promised us a stable SP supply and eternal immunity.”
“Tempting offer, but it doesn’t make sense. They’re Olympus. The ones who sealed off all the gods and caused this disaster. How could you trust them?”
“Ares staked himself on it.”
Thump.
Hwanung pounded his chest with his fist.
“The son of Zeus and Hera. The most noble bloodline of Olympus. The god of war, Ares, staked his own immortality. He pledged on the system that our safety and SP would be guaranteed. We had no choice but to believe.”
“Tch. Noble bloodline, my ass... All of Zeus’s kids are the same.”
Artemis muttered beside me, annoyed.
Even after cutting ties with Zeus, she still seems sensitive about that stuff, huh?
“But if that’s true, something’s off. We’ve already destroyed four divine realms. Wouldn’t that mean Ares violated the contract and should be penalized by the system...?”
“If a realm is destroyed, the penalty should be huge. He might even be forcibly sealed…”
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen the system video myself. But Usa checked—it turns out Ares is perfectly fine. And… so am I.”
Hwanung pointed to himself.
“Hwanung, wait... did you test it yourself?”
“If Ares didn’t receive a penalty, then even if I break the non-disclosure terms of our secret contract, I shouldn’t be penalized either. Haha. I’ve now told you the terms of our deal, and yet nothing’s happened to me.”
“Wait a sec. Hwanung, you said this was a system-backed contract. You’re sure it was done through the system?”
“Of course, Artemis. Do you think I’d take a contract that affects the fate of an entire divine realm lightly?”
“Then... you’re saying it’s possible to cheat using a system contract? That’s something even a high god shouldn’t be able to do…”
Was this Zeus’s doing?
Forging a system contract… That’s just outright fraud.
What won’t they do?
Is this something only someone with an EX-rank can pull off?
“A scam, in the end. Hah. We were totally fooled…”
Hwanung let out a bitter laugh.
Then, with a grim expression, he looked at us.
“At this point, I can speak without hesitation.”
“…”
“Ares’s final target is Asgard.”
Asgard...
Is it because their alliance pact is standing in the way?
“They’re trying to use the Black Thunder to trigger Ragnarok.”
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