Even at his peak, Tiwanaku was not able to overcome Kronos. Furthermore, Tiwanaku had fallen to a decrepit physical state wherein he could not even stabilize and maintain his ego. Thus, with only a few fragments of darkness, could he be any match for Yeon-woo?
It was clear that Tiwanaku would not even be able to handle Kronos, who had recovered most of the skills and abilities he enjoyed when he was alive. Hence, Yeon-woo did not feel the need to put in much effort to confront Tiwanaku, especially not as much as he gave when confronting Zeus.
By simply flinging Sword Thunder strikes, Tiwanaku was being ripped into pieces. Tiwanaku kept regenerating, but…he just continued to be torn apart due to Yeon-woo’s lightning storm. ‘I want to live…’ Tiwanaku looked at Yeon-woo with yearning eyes.
However… Splat! Yeon-woo relentlessly swung Scythe and slashed Tiwanaku’s spirit body down to its essence.
[The divine domain of death encroaches upon ‘Tiwanaku’!]
[Power, ‘Hades’ Spirit Eating Sword’ attempts to devour.]
Clack! Clack! Chomp! Chomp! Thick shadows appeared on the slashes where Yeon-woo’s blade had passed. Soon, the shadows entirely covered Tiwanaku. When the jagged teeth devoured the last remains of the god’s flesh, the instance dungeon collapsed.
And after the collapse, the Sahara Desert was once again revealed. Whoosh! At the same time, heavy rain poured down from the sky. The amount of rainfall was so great that the visibility was virtually nil. The sky had seemingly become black.
The desert area, which did not see much rainfall anyway, became inundated by rain. It seemed that the rainfall had accumulated during the past ten years, ever since the area became restricted as a magic region. Thanks to this, the surrounding air that had been heated by the Sword Thunder strikes quickly cooled down.
『The magic region may be bad for humans, but the accumulation of natural resources that are released once the restrictions are lifted is significant. It seems that a completely different ecosystem will come about from this development.』 Since Kronos had repeated many past lives in various parts of the Earth for a long period of time, he recalled a couple of memories he had of the Sahara. So, it was natural that he wanted Earth, the Sahara in this case, to remain beautiful.
Unlike Yeon-woo, who simply moved with the singular thought of recovering the fragments of darkness, Kronos yearned to keep his home planet beautiful.『Alright. Where to next? The Middle East?』
***
[You have entered ‘Eurynome’, the great holy territory of Olympus.]
“Ugh. How could that person appear so unannounced and cause me such suffering?” Returning to the holy territory with the rest of the Olympus gods, Ares deeply sighed.
Even though they had been sealed in the Tower for a long time, their home, Eurynome, which was still intact even after the passage of tens of thousands of years, was still as majestic as ever. However, the beauty and splendor of Eurynome were currently not entering Ares’ eyes.
All of Olympus’ gods had been shocked and surprised by the sudden return of their king, Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo had magically appeared without any warning. Moreover, considering that their society was almost destroyed due to the actions committed by their mortal apostles on Earth, the returning gods could not help but feel a sense of fright and nervousness.
『Hahaha.』 At that time, Zeus, who had returned with Ares and the others, chuckled sinisterly.
The eyes of all the gods automatically turned towards Zeus’ direction. Each of the gods showed a different response. Zeus was a past King of Gods that they had served at one point in the past, but for Zeus to have been put into such a wretched, unseemly condition… They could not help but feel a bit sorry.
At Kronos’ earnest request, Yeon-woo sent Zeus to Olympus. Although Zeus’ body was broken down, Kronos requested that Zeus be with his other brothers.『To think that the almighty Olympus would become subservient to a mere mortal dog.』 Even though his reservoir of divine power was running low, Zeus still maintained his divine speech. Though he lost his eyes and lost his dignity, Zeus was determined not to lose his lofty and prideful attitude as a god.
“…Father.” Ares had no choice but to look at Zeus with a complicated gaze.
『Yes, son. Though I have lost my eyes and don’t know where you are, I can clearly imagine what kind of expression you’re probably making. Many of my other children must be present here as well.』
At those words, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus turned their heads away. Only Hermes and Hercules looked at Zeus with strange, curiosity-filled eyes.
『I want to ask you all something. Are you all children born from me? Do you really think that living like this is right as a proudful god?』 Zeus looked around as if he had eyes.『Athena. Where is Athena, the child I cherished and loved the most? The child who was the first to bow her head to a mere mortal dog. How can she continue living knowing that her father is in this state? What is she thinking?』
“…”
“…”
“…”
No one offered up an answer.
Hermes, who had remained silent, stepped forward to speak. “Father.”
『Right, Hermes. The idiot who was the second of my offspring to bow his head down to a mere mortal dog. What excuse are you going to give this father of yours? From what I heard, you were the first to extend your hand to that mortal dog, the first to open Olympus’ doors to him, and the main god who persuaded the other foolish gods to join hands with…』
“The times have changed.”
『…What?』
“I’m saying that your glory days are over.”
『This bastard child…!』 Zeus’ skinny face became distorted.
However, Hermes continued speaking in a calm tone. “You’re saying that it’s beneath gods to become subservient to a mere mortal, no? That statement is wrong. Only those with bloodlines and power sit upon the throne. Ever since our great-grandfather, Uranus, united the various societies to form Olympus, hasn’t it been our tradition that the strongest occupy the throne?”
Because Uranus was strong enough to wage war against Mother Earth, Uranus was able to establish Olympus and bring in numerous followers. Kronos was able to sit on the throne after winning successive civil wars against his brothers. The qualities and power that Kronos exhibited had been so outstanding that he was given the title King of Gods. In addition, Zeus, who brought Kronos down and sat upon the throne himself, was able to claim fame to this day due to his achievements.
“To be frank, father, you lost out to the Heavenly Demon and allowed us all to become imprisoned in the Tower. Then you collapsed after coming down with the Heavenly Demon Disease, and in the end, you couldn’t even contend against Vivasvat.”
Hermes’ every word became sword strikes that slashed at Zeus’ heart.
“On the other hand, our new king has freed us from our imprisonment in the Tower, set us free, and has imbued us with power to now stand at the forefront of all transcendent beings. He’s done what other King of Gods had done in the past.”
『…!』
“When comparing you and him, isn’t it obvious where we stand?”
『…』
“That’s our answer.”
At the time when Zeus fell into a deep sleep due to the Heavenly Demon Disease, there was a great conflict between Zeus’ generation and Hermes’ generation within Olympus. The conflict was so great that it seemed likely that a civil war would break out between the two groups.
While Zeus’ generation cried to maintain stability and correct the precarious order of the world, Hermes’ generation sought change, arguing that one had to lead by example in times of chaos. This conflict reached a climax when Hermes’ generation wanted to commemorate Kronos, a past King of Gods. After all, for Zeus’ generation, Kronos was the symbolization of everything they were fighting against.
“Technically, you’re my biological father, but… As you know, the heavenly world isn’t a place where power is shared amongst family members.”
Just as Zeus dragged Kronos down from the throne, Hermes was stating that it should not be unusual that he was placing Yeon-woo, not Zeus, upon the throne.
『…You!』 Zeus tried to shout something out of anger, but his voice was muffled by the blood that rose from his internal injuries. The damage Zeus suffered from his fight with Yeon-woo had not yet healed, so the tantrum he was now having further exacerbated his precarious physical state. He felt like his world was spinning round and round…
***
When Zeus came to his senses…
“Have you regained your consciousness?”
Upon hearing a familiar voice, Zeus sneered.『Ah…who is this? Isn’t my ugly older brother, no?』
Poseidon laughed bitterly. “If you say it out loud like that, there’s nothing I can say as a retort.”
『Huh? Are you really Poseidon?』 Zeus made an exasperated expression. The Poseidon he remembered always boasted a vicious temper. Poseidon had always carried a strong sense of pride in being a ‘god’. In the past, Zeus had always conflicted with Poseidon on how to lead Olympus.
“Whether it’s a god or a mortal, when one’s power runs out, everyone becomes the same. Either one’s personality softens or one never escapes from the past and disappears alone.”
After being rescued by Yeon-woo in Erebus, Poseidon had sneered at Yeon-woo and stated that he did not need his help, but in the end, it turned out that his sneer was his last opposition towards Yeon-woo.
After that incident, Poseidon had been pushed into the society’s backroom due to his diminished level of power and was treated like an elder of the society. At first, Poseidon lamented his situation. He detested Yeon-woo for putting him in that position and vowed to seek revenge against him. However, as time went on, Poseidon changed his mind.
Poseidon reflected on his self-righteous personality and all the things he had been missing, all the things he was blind to at the time. He could see how hastily he had lived throughout his life and the many things he had ignored. Also, his thoughts regarding his father, Kronos, and his mother, Rhea, started to change… Maybe he and his parents were both just victims of these trying times.
Thus, Poseidon decided that someday, if he were to ever meet Kronos again, he would share some heartfelt words with his father. Though Poseidon and Kronos would probably not be able to smooth out all their grudges, they would at least understand each other a bit more. Additionally, Poseidon also contemplated on whether to slowly assimilate into the world like the old elders of Olympus.
『I heard you were imprisoned. I guess what I heard was right. You’ve become a tamed pet after leaving the confines of the Tower.』 Zeus growled at Poseidon.
“Rather than saying that, wouldn’t it be more proper to state that I made my choice?”
『Are the others around?』
“They’re all right next to me.”
『Hahaha! Alright then. I see that you’ve all forgotten what Kronos had done to all of us. Rather than fight for our lives, you all have embraced…』 In the midst of ranting, Zeus suddenly stopped speaking.『Fine. If that’s your choice, then so be it. A tamed pet can’t return to the wild anyway. You’ve all become livestock, and you know what happens to livestock… They all get butchered and eaten.』
Feeling something strange, Poseidon frowned. “What do you mean?”
『Well, how you interpret my words is up to you, right? Hahaha.』
Listening to Zeus’ maniacal laughter, Poseidon continued to stare at Zeus quietly while suppressing an ominous fire that was burning from his chest.
***
After resolving the Sahara Desert, Yeon-woo visited the Middle East steppes and the South Pacific, eliminating the rulers of each magic region.
Like Tiwanaku, the beings were gods who had great ranks in the past but had fallen to a state of disrepair, so most of them coveted the fragments of darkness to try and relive their glory days. Each of them shouted out their names and muttered bizarre phrases…like how they would become the masters of darkness. They had all become intoxicated by darkness and yearned for greater power.
And whenever this situation occurred, Yeon-woo lightly cut them down and burned the magic region to bring an end to their hysteria. However, there was something that he felt while bringing down the three rulers of the magic regions.
‘I think there’s someone behind all this…’ Yeon-woo questioned whether the birth of the magic regions had simply been due to the greed of these old beings.
The three magic regions had several things in common. The first is that the rulers of each region tried to attract faith by artificially creating a magic region and exerting a powerful influence on the Earth’s natural environment. The second point was that each ruler did not end with just gathering the fragments of darkness, but also reached out to try and accumulate the vitality of Earth.
‘Earth is where the Heavenly Demon forcibly put the Black King to sleep. In another dimension, one which mortal humans could not perceive, the Tower was built… For these beings to try and gather the vitality of Earth…this isn’t something that was done just by chance.’
The magic regions were just camouflage. To be more precise, the magic region was probably a factory facility to increase the power of its owners. Something like this could not just be built. One or two may be a coincidence, but considering the location of the magic regions and the Earth’s vitality located in each location, it was clear that the magic regions were an organized movement. ‘It’s like they’re creating farms. I don’t like it.’
Though Yeon-woo did not know who the culprits were, in any case, Yeon-woo was thinking of killing the people who were ruling over the magic regions first. However, Yeon-woo had a question: Were the rulers of the magic regions aware of the existence of a mastermind? Or were they just being used? If they were just being used…
‘Why did Vimalacitra become a ruler of a magic region?’ As soon as this thought crossed his mind…
[You have received a message from Vimalacitra.]
[Message: You’re finally here. Do you know how long I’ve been looking forward to you coming here? Welcome, my friend.]
Whoosh! Above Yeon-woo’s head, just as Yeon-woo was about to step out of the void-opening, a huge beam of light fell after traversing the vast sky. Vimalacitra had fired a sword strike.
『That crazy bastard! Is he planning on destroying the entire Earth?!』
Even for Yeon-woo, the oncoming attack was not something he could easily ignore, so Yeon-woo thought about avoiding it for a moment, but, as Kronos screamed, the Earth would be ripped in half if he avoided the strike. So, Yeon-woo raised Scythe.
Bam! At that moment, a huge shockwave spread out in all directions. As if a meteorite had fallen, a huge tsunami, tens of meters high, in the middle of the South Pacific spread out in all directions.
