Leveling with the Gods

Twack!

YuWon's fist struck the cage.

Kirik-.

It definitely bent, but one hit wasn't enough.

[Unlocking 'Tartarus']

Ssshhh-.

Fazizik-!

Arcane Power burst between his hands.

He needed a little more mana to break through this solid iron cage.

Kkk-!

Crunch-.

The iron bars bent, creating a gap.

This was enough.

Kak-.

YuWon entered the cage and handed the Peach to the Bull Demon King.

After looking at it for a moment, the Bull Demon King opened his mouth and began devouring it.

Wagjak-.

Wagjak-.

The Peach disappeared in an instant.

After swallowing the peel and seeds without hesitation, the Bull Demon King quickly closed his eyes.

He was converting the mana contained in the Peach into his own.

Ssshhhh-.

Kkudeudeuk, kkudeudeuk-.

His muscles, which hadn't been used in a long time, began to swell.

That's when...

Kwaddup-.

The chains binding the Bull Demon King's body began to crack.

"He must have used the recovered mana to restore his body."

The chains that bound the Bull Demon King's body had the power to suck his mana.

However, the mana that the Peach had suddenly returned to him had not been absorbed by the chains.

Kuddle, kuddle-.

The chain gradually broke.

YuWon unsheathed his sword towards the chains that were starting to break.

"It's time..."

Siaat-.

A crimson light erupted from the dimly lit underground.

The Kusanagi Sword.

Its blade precisely cut through the cracks.

Piit-.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

The loose chains fell to the ground and echoed throughout the underground.

The Bull Demon King rose from his place.

Perhaps because his entire body had been bound for over a thousand years, he first loosened his stiff shoulders and neck.

"You have a very nice sword."

"It's a cheat item"

"Cheat item?"

"It's a word people nowadays use to indicate that one's ability mainly comes from equipment or objects."

"It seems like the world has changed a lot."

A long time has passed.

The Bull Demon King felt his body free for the first time in a long time.

Free.

Something he hadn't wanted until now because he hadn't needed to, but not anymore.

Opening his eyes, which had remained closed for a moment, the Bull Demon King looked up.

"They're coming."

Just now, the amount of Arcane Power that YuWon had used to break the bars was considerable.

At that moment, the Rankers who were outside the prison and in the vicinity might have noticed.

Reports must have increased, and the higher levels of the Celestial Realm, who mistrust the Bull Demon King, must have begun to move.

"We don't have much time. Have you thought of anything else?"

The Bull Demon King's condition was not good.

Even if he had regained his mana by eating the Immortal Peach, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount he originally possessed.

If the Celestial Realm's army were to attack right now, escaping wouldn't be so easy.

"It's not like I haven't thought of something."

A smile appeared on YuWon's face.

Raising his head and looking upward, YuWon's eyes turned red.

And when the Bull Demon King saw it, he asked in surprise.

"Those eyes..."

No, he was about to ask.

Kwang-!

The ground beneath him cracked, and a long staff descended.

Woosh-.

[Cinder Eyes resonate]

"A bit late."

Internally, he was nervous.

What if he arrived too late?

But luckily, he arrived just in time.

Also.

['The First Eyes of the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal (齊天大聖)' are watching you]

The most reliable one.

'The first...'

Even among alter egos, there was a hierarchy.

He had heard that the closer the alter ego was to the main body, the more powerful it was, which meant this one was the strongest of them all.

A long staff extended to the ground.

At its end, above the clouds, Son OhGong poked his head out.

"What are you doing, big brother?"

As if saying, "Hurry up," Son OhGong waved his hand.

"Let's go."

Flying Nimbus. (Note: It's actually called Jīndǒuyún (Geundum in Korean), but as a DBZ fan, I'll call it that, haha)

One of the many items in Son OhGong's arsenal, it was said to be the fastest mode of transportation in the entire Tower.

Even if it belonged to an alter ego.

YuWon and the Bull Demon King rode on the Flying Nimbus. YuWon, who had ridden the Flying Nimbus of the twelfth Son OhGong, felt that the seat was more spacious than before.

"Is this because it's also the first alter ego?"

Turning his head, he could see an army from the Celestial Realm behind him.

"There!"

"On the cloud, above the cloud!"

"Is it the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal?!"

"No, it's an alter ego!"

"Don't be afraid!"

After the Bull Demon King's escape, the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal appeared.

Even if he was just an alter ego, he was still a nightmare for the soldiers and Rankers of the Celestial Realm.

The distance widened.

As the distance widened to a certain extent, Son OhGong placed his hand on his chest.

"Eat this."

A beautiful fruit appeared in Son OhGong's hand.

The Bull Demon King looked at it and asked incredulously.

"Do you have an Immortal Peach too?"

"Also?"

"I ate one before, but it's still not enough..."

After looking back and forth between YuWon and Son OhGong, the Bull Demon King reached out his hand and grabbed the fruit.

"I'll eat it."

Pak-.

The Bull Demon King stuffed another Immortal Peach into his mouth and chewed.

"Eat slowly."

Son OhGong reached into his chest again.

Somehow, the inside of his robe seemed bulging, and he pulled out several more dough balls.

"There's still plenty left."

"...The Immortal Peach Garden seems to be poorly managed these days."

"When I went earlier, it had already been robbed, so I took some leftovers."

Son OhGong and the Bull Demon King's gazes naturally turned to YuWon.

Under their gazes, YuWon shrugged. Seeing that he didn't deny it, the Bull Demon King murmured incredulously.

"So, there's another one like the youngest."

Wajak-.

"Anyway, whether you steal one or a hundred, the result is the same, right?"

"And what about the guardians of the Garden?"

"Of course, I silenced them. Since the Peach Garden wasn't ripe yet, the security wasn't as good as it used to be."

The Immortal Peach Garden was clearly a rather important place in the Celestial Realm.

However, its importance had significantly diminished since Son OhGong's commotion before the Great War.

The countless fruits that had matured over three to ten thousand years had disappeared, and all that remained were ordinary fruits that were nothing more than empty tablets.

The Celestial Realm didn't invest the same amount of manpower to protect them as before.

Of course.

"Still, it couldn't have been easy."

However, there were still plenty of Rankers in the Peach Garden.

Too many for an average thief to dare to cross.

"The Heavens must be in an uproar now."

The Garden had been violated, as well as the prison.

They must have thought that the Garden was no longer a great treasure, but thanks to them, the Bull Demon King was able to recover from his long imprisonment.

Bull Demon King.

The giant who threatened the Heavens had been liberated and emerged.

The situation was ripe for an emergency.

"It has been a long time, by the way."

After devouring all the fruits, the Bull Demon King's gaze shifted to the side.

He looked at Son OhGong.

"And the real one?"

"The main body is not in a condition to be here right now."

"...I see."

Son OhGong was trapped in the Five Elements Mountain.

The security there was probably even stricter than where the Bull Demon King was imprisoned.

On top of that, there was a seal on the mountain that would be difficult to break unless you were some kind of monster or shaman.

"Although I'm glad."

There was deep relief on the Bull Demon King's face.

"Because you're still alive."

A moment later...

Thud-.

The Bull Demon King's eyes closed, and he collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep.

"...The Bull Demon King has escaped."

A large conference hall with a wide-open roof.

Over a hundred Celestial Generals were gathered there.

"I am aware."

"Who is the prison administrator?"

"A Ranker named Jin Hurak."

"First, let's start with him and discipline him..."

"What kind of discipline are you going to give to someone who is already dead?"

"The Immortal Peach Garden was also robbed."

"Do not pay too much attention to that. It is not the most important thing right now."

"The Immortal Peach Garden is the history of the Celestial Realm! How can you say such a thing..."

The conference hall was in chaos.

The true dignitaries of the Celestial Realm had not yet arrived.

"Silence!"

Pak-.

A voice filled the conference hall.

In the face of the familiar voice, the Celestial Generals, who had been blaming each other, fell silent.

One by one, they rose from their seats.

Chuck, chuck-.

"We salute, Lord!"

"Chung-!"

A hundred Generals saluted Lee Rangin.

Although outwardly stiff and rigid, some of the Generals glanced sideways at Lee Rangin as he slowly entered the conference hall.

"I can't get used to seeing him for real."

"I can't believe the Grand General of the Celestial Realm has such a young face..."

"Are they sure it's really him?"

"Even I, a Ranker, know that you can't determine a person's age by their external appearance, but..."

The Rankers had not been in their positions as Celestial Generals for very long.

They had yet to see Lee Rangin in action.

It was understandable.

Since the war against Son OhGong, the Celestial Realm had not seen any major battles.

Even when the monsters were eliminated on a large scale, Lee Rangin's army barely participated.

But...

"I heard that the Bull Demon King escaped."

The story was different when it came to the Bull Demon King and the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

"Has the monkey's alter ego appeared?"

He was the main character who led the victory in the Great Celestial War.

Along with Ne Zha, he was the Highest-Ranked Hero of the Celestial Realm. It was not for nothing that he held the position of War Chief in the Celestial Realm and was spoken of as a symbol of the Celestial Realm.

The current situation was quite similar to that of the Celestial War.

The only difference was that back then, it was the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal who had escaped, but this time, it was the Bull Demon King.

And as long as the two were intertwined, Lee Rangjin had no intention of simply observing the problem as before.

"Yes. He used the Flying Nimbus to take the Bull Demon King out of the Celestial Realm."

"If they managed to escape, where did they go?"

"About that..."

Of course, there was no Ranker with the maneuverability to track them, at least not in the Celestial Realm.

It was to be expected.

Since he didn't expect much, Lee Rangjin didn't reprimand them.

Instead...

"If Sun OhGong had entered the Celestial Realm, there would have been signs of it long ago. The Unavoidable Net of the Celestial Realm is not that weak."

Breaking through the Unavoidable Net, digging into the prison, and saving the Bull Demon King.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't understand why he hadn't been able to detect Son OhGong's presence until now.

"What if the capture of the Bull Demon King and Son OhGong's infiltration were separate events?"

It would make sense if someone had captured the Bull Demon King and Son OhGong's alter ego, who broke through the Celestial/Unavoidable Net, took that Bull Demon King with him.

That's why Lee Rangjin was certain.

"It was the work of someone from within."

This work was not done by a single person, Son OhGong's alter ego.

"Tell me."

Soon, Lee Rangjin's gaze scanned the hundreds of Generals.

"Who did it?"