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Chapter 215: Olympus Raid (3)
“Ambush! We’re under ambush!”
“It’s the Soul God… the Soul God is here!”
All seven clones radiate light.
Unlike usual, SP isn’t unlimited—but still, each clone has 100 billion.
That’s more than enough to wipe out enemies in a short-term battle.
“That’s Lord Apollo’s sun’s power…!”
“Suppress the enemy!”
“Soul Barrier!”
The gods of Olympus summoned their weapons and charged all at once.
They attempted to attack the clones while activating Soul Barriers.
“Grrr…”
“We can’t even touch them…”
But it’s pointless.
Because they haven’t imbued soul energy, they don’t die—but one by one, their soul bodies are sealed, becoming small sealing stones that fall to the ground.
As the power difference becomes painfully clear in just a short time, the enemy’s reactions split.
“Keep pushing! He doesn’t have infinite power…!”
“No, we must return to Zeus quickly… We can’t fight this one.”
The enemies speak amongst themselves.
But the power of the sun god didn’t give them that much leeway.
“Ghh… ngh…”
“It’s no use. Jump into the Black Thunder!”
Those closest to the light were incinerated and turned into sealing stones.
As they fell, the others begin to turn to the Black Thunder as their last hope.
But I can’t let that happen.
Let’s finish this faster.
“How can he be this strong…!”
A god of Olympus, who was trying to reach the Black Thunder, vanishes\d after that last sentence.
Some defected to Zeus, but the rest were nearly completely suppressed.
This power really is strong.
Especially optimized for slaughtering enemies weaker than me.
[Everything’s being destroyed…]
“Well, they are gods, so it's hard to avoid damaging the buildings. And isn't it better if the Black Temples are wiped out anyway?”
[…True. Buildings can be rebuilt. But we don't know where the high gods might be imprisoned, so keep that in mind.]
“Of course. I’m already searching as I demolish them.”
The Black Temple melted away entirely.
But at its center, the Black Thunder remained unaffected by the sun god’s power.
Even when struck by light, it merely deflected it easily.
A massive bolt of lightning, over ten meters tall, reached from the ground to the temple’s peak, remaining majestically in place.
“That one’s tough.”
[It holds Zeus’s true power.]
“It looks even stronger than when you used Black Thunder. If that thing counterattacks, my clone could be destroyed instantly.”
The moment I said that, the Black Thunder flared.
“Soul Barrier!”
Thinking it was attacking my clones, they all activated their barriers.
But the Black Thunder wasn’t aiming at my clones.
[The ground! Look at the ground!]
It was touching the sealing stones of the gods scattered on the floor.
Damn.
Is it trying to absorb them?
“Retrieve them.”
I ordered the seven clones to withdraw their light and recover the stones.
The sealing stones, wrapped in light, began pulling back toward me.
Inevitably, they clashed with the Black Thunder trying to devour them.
Zzzzt—
The sealing stones held by the Black Thunder didn’t budge.
In that brief exchange, I clearly felt the difference in power.
Ah.
There's no way I can retrieve those.
With only 100 billion SP now, I can’t break its hold.
But for the sealing stones it hasn’t touched, it’s a different story.
The Black Thunder simply watched as I pulled them in.
Even with half the power it used to grab the stones, it could steal them all from me—but it didn’t.
It just focuses on the ones it's already captured.
I don’t know why, but…
For now, let’s just recover what we can.
“Generate bag.”
I created a bag and stored the sealing stones.
Ranging from dozens to hundreds, the stones fill the bag.
They're not very big, so they all fit in a backpack-sized container…
But the sheer number is staggering.
“Doesn’t look like the High gods are in here.”
[It doesn’t seem so. Or perhaps already absorbed by the Black Thunder.]
“Do all Black Temples have these Black Thunders?”
[Not all, but quite a few do.]
“Hm. Then we’ll just wipe them all out.”
They’d just become resources for Zeus anyway.
Might as well unleash the full power of the sun god and destroy them all.
[Won’t you run out of SP?]
“If I do, I’ll just remotely recharge. Simple.”
[You can do that…?]
“I’m the owner of the SP Exchange. Of course I can. I’ve just set limits so Zeus won’t track it, but resupplying is no problem.”
[Ha… Then this battle was unwinnable from the start.]
As Ares lamented, the solar bombardment continued.
Every Black Temple is incinerated, and any who resist are turned into sealing stones.
Withdrawing and re-emitting light to block the Black Thunder from recovering the stones—this cycle repeats.
With just 10 clones, the entire Olympus is being reduced to ashes.
“These sealing stones are the problem.”
[Why so?]
“It won’t go into the inventory.”
The sealing stones keep piling up neatly.
There are just too many—handling them is becoming difficult.
They can't be consumed by Black Thunder, so I have to carry them myself.
[Why not just have one of your clones return with all the sealing stones?]
“Would return even work? This is Zeus’s domain.”
We needed Triaina to break in, but for returning, maybe Heimdall’s Return could work.
But if Zeus is blocking the way with his power as the Creator, then the return path would essentially be closed.
[Didn’t you get in through Triaina without any problems? Just give it a try now.]
Right.
Nothing to lose anyway.
I loaded one of my clones with all the sealing stones and used Heimdall’s Return.
The clone vanished into light.
Moments later, it arrived by my side and handed me the sealing stones.
No interference at all.
“Nice. Good job. You’re reverse summoned now.”
Kim Jiho No. 9 nodded and disappeared.
Looking at the sealing stones—there are truly a lot.
I need to organize these somehow.
Watching the sealing stones closely with my true body, I notice something different compared to when I was using a clone: I can now see a solution.
The space within the sealing stones is terribly inefficient, but I think I can compress them somehow.
Crunch.
[W-What are you trying to do? Are you going to break the sealing stones?]
“No, it’s just that they’re too inefficient.”
It’s something only a Soul God can do.
I gather the sealing stones together and compress them completely.
Ares’ sealing stone was already an appropriate size, but for S and SS-grade gods, there’s no need for such large stones.
By combining over a thousand gods into one, the resulting stone is only the size of my fist.
[Are… they alright in there?]
“Yeah, yeah. I just reduced the inefficient space. The sealing stone functions exactly the same.”
[Well, if you say so…]
Going forward, I should compress them like this.
With the number of Olympus clones now reduced to nine, I continue the scorched-earth campaign.
Even as their world was exploding around them, Zeus remained unresponsive.
Meanwhile, I completely cleared out the Black Temples and sealed the gods, collecting more sealing stones.
“Were there always this many of you? Why isn’t the number going down?”
[…No more should appear now.]
“But even after all this destruction, why is Zeus just standing by?”
[I wonder that too. It’s not like him to just ignore something like this.]
All areas except for the white central temple have been completely destroyed.
So many sealing stones popped out, I had to return twice to recombine them.
With so many sealed, I now have five sealing stones.
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Since I sealed one per thousand gods, that means I’ve sealed nearly five thousand.
They’re all low and mid-tier gods, though—no high-tier ones.
“So the rest must be in the white temple.”
I overlooked the land from the sky above Olympus.
All the Black Temples are destroyed, and in their place stands only Black Thunder rising from the earth.
Only the white central temple remained.
[The heart of Olympus. That’s where Zeus’s palace is. Athena should be guarding it.]
“Hmm. Athena…”
Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I heard from her.
Back then, when I used Hephaestus’s repair kit, it had Hera’s power, and it showed an X mark.
But now there shouldn’t be anything like that...
“Aegis Shield.”
I summoned the Aegis Shield.
I checked around to see if there’s any message—but there’s nothing specific.
[Why are you looking at Aegis?]
“Just… checking something.”
No special message.
Hmm.
Has Athena gone missing too?
[Wait… from the shield…]
Just as I was about to reverse-summon Aegis,
A message slowly begins forming from the shield.
[Soul God. Come to Zeus’s palace and fight me. Don’t hold back.]
Suddenly, Athena wanted to fight.
That was the end of the message.
[You… were cooperating with Athena all this time?]
“Hm? Didn’t you already know?”
[I only suspected it. I had no proof.]
“That’s strange. There was a power blocking messages from Athena’s shield, and it said ‘Hera’ on it. I figured if Hera knew, you’d know too…”
[Mother…? That can’t be…]
“What, you really didn’t know?”
[I truly didn’t.]
He really has no clue.
Ares, huh.
Doesn’t seem like he has any important intel.
Same with Apollo, same with Ares—they don’t seem to know anything vital.
“Honestly, I don’t even know if Athena is truly on my side. She never explained her actions.”
[Athena is… devious.]
Maybe it’s because he always lost to her in myths.
That’s what Ares said.
“Still, there’s nothing else to investigate now. Guess I have to head to the central temple.”
Seven clones remained.
I recharged SP back up to 100 billion and made full preparations.
Just in case Zeus suddenly shows up, I braced myself for the possibility of self-destruction.
“Sun God’s Authority.”
My seven clones radiated light and surrounded Zeus’s palace from all sides.
Light pressed down from the sky.
Before, touching this light would instantly set the temple ablaze—but this time, it’s different.
Whoooosh.
The surface burned.
As the plaster pillar was consumed by fire, what remained was black lightning.
As if the outer appearance was just deception, the foundation and structure were formed of dark thunder.
“Turns out this place was a den of evil.”
[……I did not expect that.]
“Then someone might be imprisoned here……”
Whoosh!
A spear suddenly flew in.
A dark aura swirled around the spear.
Too fast to dodge.
“Soul Barrier.”
I hastily threw up a barrier…
But the protective shield burst into flames in an instant.
A point began to break through, and the doppelgänger’s SP vanished rapidly.
I was able to somewhat withstand Ares’ attacks after getting used to them.
Athena’s is similar, but even harder to block.
Once the 100 billion dropped to 90 billion...
[Soul Barrier has been destroyed.]
[This is an irreparable attack.]
Thunk!
The spear pierced straight into the chest.
An attack that pierced the barrier in one blow.
I thought I’d be destroyed instantly, but the doppelgänger didn’t vanish.
Instead, the spear began to absorb the doppelgänger’s SP.
Damn…!
SP absorption?
I’ve never dealt with an attack like this.
That's basically 90 billion going down the drain for free.
“God of Souls. Coming in person relying only on SP… your arrogance knows no bounds. That power… should be offered to Zeus.”
Athena appeared from the sky without a hint of presence.
Standing confidently, her black hair tied back.
Both of her arms were dyed with ominous black lightning.
“So you’ve accepted Zeus’ power too, Athena.”
[Seems that way.]
“She seems stronger than you, though?”
[Nonsense! That woman stayed in Olympus, gathering power while I fought in wars. I was on the battlefield, and she even refused calls to arms! She holed herself up in Olympus, so she looks stronger now, but—!]
“Yeah, yeah, got it, buddy.”
Ares getting riled up again.
He always gets emotional when Athena’s involved.
“How weak. A god of souls, helplessly letting his SP be drained. Truly pitiful.”
Athena slowly floated toward the doppelgänger with the spear in its chest.
In her right arm, the Aegis emits a dark glow.
“Even approaching like this, no one attacks me, and the ‘god of souls’ is letting SP be stolen so easily… My only weapon is a single spear, yet it’s more than enough.”
Even while gliding toward me, she doesn’t stop talking.
Hmm…
She’s obviously saying this for me to hear.
You’re the god of souls—can’t you stop SP absorption?
I only have one weapon, just a spear.
Why aren’t you attacking me while I move?
“That’s what she means, right?”
[Of course. Athena never talks in battle… she just punches.]
I took another look at the doppelgänger with the spear embedded in it.
SP: 86 billion.
Already 4 billion drained.
But from another perspective, only 4 billion has been drained.
It was a powerful attack that pierced the Soul Barrier instantly, yet the absorption is slow.
Maybe because it’s the doppelgänger of the god of souls…
Whether or not Athena is going easy on me, who knows.
But if that’s the case, no reason to just let her take SP.
“Attack.”
I ordered the remaining doppelgängers to strike, while I personally micro-managed the one pierced by the spear.
The process of SP absorption.
Well-designed, sure…
But it’s like showing off in front of a master.
I blocked the SP flow being drained and instead started pulling SP from the spear.
Athena’s spear had top-tier destructive power, but its absorption ability only slightly exceeded that of a demigod—so this was possible.
And the other six doppelgängers launched pressure attacks using the power of the sun and Astrape, closing in on Athena.
Blocking all attacks with her shield, Athena shouted at me:
“How cowardly, God of Souls, attacking me when I have no weapon!”
Her face slightly flushed, her expression awkward.
Aegis, imbued with black thunder.
With that immense defensive power, she didn’t seem like she’d fall behind at all…
“Ah! Such power!”
Suddenly, she acted shocked and flung herself far back.
Wait, she was holding firm just a second ago…
“…Her acting is awful. Zeus is definitely gonna see through that.”
[Ha… I can't bear to watch anymore. Still, pursue her. It seems she’s guiding us on purpose.]
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Thus began the strange pursuit.
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