Leveling with the Gods

Passth, passth, passth-.

Lightning mixed with seawater shook the ground.

Various types of mana became entangled and shrieked. The mana in the air dissipated and the ground transformed into an intricate array of colors.

In a Sun Chariot.

Hargaan watched the spectacle.

'Out of this world.

Born and raised in Olympus, Hargaan had seen many Rankers.

Among them, there were several beings close to High Rankers. At this moment, even his own mother was a Ranker who had reached the top of the tower.

But this fight before him, this battle, was something completely different.

Rankers among Rankers.

A battle between beings who had risen to the top of their ranks, among the top of their ranks.

There was no place for him in such a fight.

But....

"There is only one thing you can do."

"A fragment of Zeus' Lightning Bolt. Grab it."

A fragment of Lightning.

The power behind Zeus, possessing the power of the Lightning Attribute.

YuWon only had a small fragment, but Hargaan's was quite large.

Even though he's not even a Ranker, he's still not able to fully manifest it, but....

'If they are the same kind of power, the story is different.'

He wondered if he really inherited half of Zeus.

Did Zeus really shower that kind of affection on him?

He was curious.

He wanted to find out.

Phagejit-.

Arcane Power pulsed across the battlefield.

Reaching out toward him, Hargaan recalled YuWon's words.

"In my world, there was a thing called a lightning rod, you will become that."

* * *

Crackle-!

"......!"

Poseidon's body flew through the air.

The marks of Poseidon's trident remained on Zeus' golden armored body. But it could not pierce Zeus' armor after all.

Kak-.

Hades returned to Zeus.

The Arcane Power of Hell enveloped Zeus' body, binding him for a brief instant and restricting his movements.

Immediately after.

['Lightning Fragment' reacts with 'Kyneē']

From the sky rained down a black lightning bolt.

Kwareung-!

A rain of lightning rained down on Zeus' head.

Zeus' figure could be seen reflected in YuWon's Ash Eyes, which went up and poured it down.

'It doesn't work after all.'

The armor pierced by Poseidon's trident.

He thought he had aimed right in the middle, but the armor returned to its original state.

A lightning armor enveloped Zeus' body.

It was not a special item, but an ability made with Zeus' Arcane Power.

Its defenses were ridiculously high, and you could take lightning damage just by getting close to it.

It also regenerated incredibly fast, so it wasn't easy to get through it.

The reason Hades' Darkness didn't work was her armor.

"My father's greatest strength is that impenetrable armor."

"Not the Thunderbolt (Lightning)?"

"The Thunderbolt (Lightning) is not just a weapon. It's also a spear, a shield, armor, and my father's very power."

The Thunderbolt.

The world knew it as the Spear of the All-Piercing Lightning, and it was an object of Zeus himself.

No.

To call it an object in the first place was an understatement.

That's why when Hercules talked about Zeus, he always said.

"Unless you go through that armor, you'll never be able to reach my father."

Absolute defense.

Zeus, who possessed the strongest spear, unjustly possessed the strongest armor.

[Golden Eyes' are watching you.]

Eye contact.

Upon discovering YuWon, Zeus was relentless.

Tak-!

In an instant, the two were at eye level.

Zeus had a spear in his hand.

Flash-!

['Sensory Field' is activated]

['Demonic Energy' opens up]

['Sensory Field' is strengthened]

A single spear grazed past Yuwon's body.

It narrowly missed.

If he hadn't dodged it, Zeus' Lightning would have pierced YuWon's body.

'I expected a certain amount of hindering, but...'

Zeus was rapidly approaching.

Despite using both his Sensory Field and his Ash Eyes, Zeus' movements were too fast for his eyes to follow.

'It's a little later than expected.'

Boom!

Zeus' fist and Pandora's fist collided.

Pandora's body trembled. It must have hurt, but she lunged at Zeus again as if she didn't feel the pain.

The collision did not last long.

Pajik-.

As if Zeus had no interest in her, she soon approached Yuwon.

That was when...

"Too late."

Boom-.

Twack!

After colliding with Zeus' fist, another fist appeared that he couldn't push back.

Boom, boom, boom.

A wave of Arcane Power created by the collision of the two fists pushed YuWon's body.

As expected from that guy.

'The only one in Olympus who can face Zeus and not be pushed back.'

The strongest hand prepared by YuWon for this occasion.

"Don't be too hard on me. I've had a hard enough time on my own."

Using only his bare fists, he pushed Zeus' body back.

He was above Zeus at least in terms of brute strength, not to mention Rank.

Then, his gaze turned to Zeus.

"Finally we meet."

A burly man with a lion mask on his head and holding a wooden stick in his hand.

"Father."

Hercules, looking at Zeus, said.

Zeus' expression became serious.

The man who had at first driven back his troops and had tried to hunt him with Thunderbolts from behind, had defied them all to get this far.

It was through the interference of Hades and Poseidon.

Two of the Three Gods, plus Pandora, plus Hercules.

Now it was really an awkward situation for him.

'With this, the odds of winning increase to 30%.

It's a game made to catch a single digit Ranker, but it's still not enough.

I didn't know if it was Hercules at the time of the Second Gigantomachy, but Hercules at this point had not yet reached Zeus.

Hercules.

He was only really complete when he got his hands on a certain weapon, not just a wooden club like that.

Crunch, crunch.

Hercules' muscles expanded and swelled with the Mana contained within them.

The muscles of his entire body that came to life.

[You are witnessing a 'complete gigantization']

[The Giant's power cries out for battle]

[The 'Gigantization' responds]

As if reacting to that power, Yuwon's abilities twisted inside him.

As if telling him: please let me fight.

Of course, it was impossible.

'This is not my fight.'

Gigantization was definitely a great skill.

From partial Gigantization to full-body Gigantization, YuWon's Gigantization still had a long way to go.

Moreover, the gap between Hercules and YuWon was as wide as heaven and earth in terms of stats alone.

No matter how much his Arcane Power stat increased, unless one's basic physical strength was up to par, he would only be able to reach such heights.

Kwajik-.

Hercules' feet pressed against the ground.

For a moment, the ground shook like an earthquake.

Boom-.

Hercules' club flew towards Zeus' head.

A blow that could easily bring down a mountain.

The power of a giant within him swung with the sole intention of crushing Zeus' head.

Boom!

A Lightning Bolt from Zeus' hand knocked back Hercules' club.

It was just an ordinary club made of carved wood.

Even if it had been strengthened by infusing it with immense Arcane Power, it could not withstand Zeus' strength.

Creack~

The club cracked.

Hercules immediately shook his fist.

And through the gap.

Thud-.

Poseidon's spear and Hades' grip flew, aiming at Zeus' left and right respectively.

Gulp-.

Relieved of the tension, YuWon swallowed saliva for a moment and stared at Zeus. He had not backed down before the two Gods and Hercules.

The power of the Thunderbolt was still intact, and the three were unable to pierce Zeus' armor.

'It is a battle to see which of the three will fall first through exhaustion, or if the Arcane Power of Zeus is exhausted.'

However, the possibility of the latter was not very high.

Even if it wasn't Thunderbolts, he must have some sort of near infinite supply of power.

Hence the importance of this matter.

'It's time to move.'

YuWon's eyes moved skyward.

Hargaan.

That was the signal.

With the arrival of Hercules, all preparations were complete.

There was not much Arcane Power left.

Now it was Hargaan's turn.

Pah-.

A small yellow light flashed in the sky.

['Lightning Fragment' reacts to a new fragment].

Pajik, Pajik-!

The light grew stronger and stronger.

Now even Zeus, who was not aware of it, noticed it.

He stopped in the middle of the fight and looked up at the illuminated sky.

"...Hargaan?"

The voice sounded a bit grim.

His guess was not wrong.

[Waiting for the 'Lightning Fragment' to return to its original form]

[The 'Lightning Fragment' will select its master].

The powers that were originally one began to merge again.

There were now three of them, including YuWon's, but that was only a very small part.

The real halves were separated.

"Hargaan!"

Zeus shouted as he looked at Hargan.

The Thunderbolts surrounding his body dissipated. The power that had enveloped him was released and it surged towards Hargaan.

This is what happens when every fragment manifests its power.

Hargaan was now defying the power of Zeus' Lightning.

Trying to mask its true owner.

'Normally, I would be able to hold out for a few minutes with half a shard, but...'

Because of this, Hargaan managed to destroy Olympus in the distant future.

Unlike now, when he was already a High Rank.

'Now there is no time.'

Since he had just acquired the level power of a Ranker, he didn't know how long he could maintain that power no matter how much he possessed half of the Lightning.

A dozen seconds at most.

Maybe a few seconds.

It wouldn't take long for the Lightning to find its original owner. After all, Hargaan was only an insignificant player compared to Zeus.

But at least for that short time, Zeus would be naked, literally naked, without the Lightning Power.

Just as expected.

Pook-.

Poseidon's trident had pierced Zeus' shoulder.

"Without the Thunderbolt, you are nothing."

"...Did it look like that to you?"

Thwack-.

Zeus grabbed the trident embedded in his shoulder.

Pook-.

Boom-, quang-!

After pulling the trident out of his shoulder, Zeus thrust it into Poseidon's body against the ground. Poseidon's eyes rolled back in his head at what had happened, and he buried himself deep in the earth.

"Even if I wasn't, I'm stronger than you, brother."

"I see... even if your teeth are missing, you're still a tiger."

Swoosh-.

Hades' darkness enveloped Zeus' body.

He was not like Poseidon.

In the absence of the Thunderbolt, Hades using the power of darkness was an opponent to be wary of.

"But still, it doesn't change the fact that the teeth are missing."

The direction the voice was coming from.

Zeus stretched his hand in the opposite direction.

"Is that so?"

Tang-.

Zeus' hand grabbed Hades' grip.

Kuk-.

The grip bent the other way.

"But that doesn't mean I won't lose to a fox."

"Even if you are a tiger..."

Hades, leaping out of the darkness, his hand broken, smiled.

"If you're unlucky, you might get bitten by a rat."

An overwhelming sense of unease.

Zeus realized he was missing something.

"The Thunderbolt you had..."

The same place on the other side, from where Hades' voice came....

"I'll take it."

From there, YuWon's hand reached out.