The Martial King clucked his tongue. “You know what my policy is, right?”

“Yes, I am aware.”

The Martial King had three rules for anything that involved the One-horned tribe: no interference, no involvement, no tolerance. They wouldn’t accept any interference. They wouldn’t get involved in anything either. But when either of the two occurred, they wouldn’t show any tolerance.

This was how the One-horned tribe had stood above the quarrels of the Eight Large Clans and continued to flourish. However, if Yeon-woo caused chaos in the Tower, he might drag the One-horned tribe into trouble.

The Devil Army and the Magic Tower alliance had already openly challenged the One-horned tribe and the Martial King, claiming that they were ready to fight. The alliance of Blood Land and Black Dragon even wished for the Martial King’s involvement—although they didn’t make this explicit, the fact that they had allied with Yeon-woo, who wasn’t that powerful, was clearly a ploy to drag the Martial King in.

However, the Martial King didn’t want to join anyone. The only reason he’d appeared to fight Red Dragon was due to the “no tolerance” rule; they’d only been swept up in battle because they were chasing down someone who’d murdered one of the tribe.

He laughed at those who fought over who was the strongest and had no interest in mud fights like that. His ambitions were loftier: to bring down Allforone, the guy who looked down on him from above.

The Martial King had come to tell Yeon-woo this. He had already kicked out two disciples and had just found this third one, who was showing some potential. He didn’t approve of the way Yeon-woo was always causing trouble, but then, he’d done the same thing when he was younger so he pretended not to notice anything.

But if Yeon-woo took it too far and splashed mud on him, he wouldn’t stay still. Yeon-woo was keenly aware of this, and he nodded. Before the Martial King had become his teacher, he’d cut ties with his own brother, and there was no way that Yeon-woo wouldn’t know the kind of person he was. “This is my fight.” At any rate, he wanted to carry out his revenge himself.

“I think you’ve said the same thing some time ago. Well, whatever. Come back safely. Although, it’ll be pretty hard.” And with that, the Martial King disappeared.

Yeon-woo bowed, knowing that his teacher was still watching him from somewhere, and he entered the portal. Light filled the world and blinded him.

* * *

[You have entered the hidden stage ‘Tartarus’.]

“The air is too stale.”

“There’s also pressure on souls. Is it because it’s a place where divine beings live?”

“So, this is Tartarus…”

The party frowned once they entered Tartarus. The stale air, ominous atmosphere, and the pressure that dragged them down made it clear that the living weren’t welcome, and mortals who didn’t know their levels were forbidden entry.

The party members felt like their souls and bodies would be separated if they didn’t hold onto their wits. Kahn and Doyle quickly activated Bian to avoid the pressure while Victoria activated the artifact that Anastasia had given her to create a spherical barrier around them. When Creutz planted the holy sword Zulfikar into the ground, another barrier appeared over it.

Henova, whose face had grown pale upon arriving in Tartarus, finally caught his breath. He looked at Yeon-woo. “You said we were going to the temple of the King of the Underworld, but it doesn’t look like we’re there.”

Even from what Yeon-woo could see, they were in a completely devastated environment. There were a few traces that showed that a battle had occurred here a long time ago. Yeon-woo turned to Brahm, who had created the scroll.

However, Brahm looked confused, as well. “I used the coordinates that you gave me.” .

Yeon-woo checked the coordinates, in case he had accidentally given the wrong ones. However, they were correct.

[Vimalacitra smiles in satisfaction at the familiar scene of war.]

[Cernunnos quietly watches you.]

[Persephone silently urges you to find her husband.]

While Yeon-woo frowned at the messages from his connected gods.

“Hades said the last of his territory was a temple, correct?” Brahm asked after silently looking at the sky.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then this must be his holy territory. If so, there are two possibilities.”

“What are they?”

“The first is that Hades was destroyed while you were looking for materials.”

[Persephone displays her anger!]

“Urk!” At that moment, Doyle suddenly wrapped his hands around his head and fell to his knees.

“What’s wrong?” Kahn tried to help him up, but Doyle pushed his hand aside and lifted his head.

The party staggered back from the energy he suddenly exuded. The barrier around them shook as his eyes glowed green.

“You dare discuss my husband’s death? A debased being who’s fallen from holiness?” The sharp voice was accompanied by the exertion of holy power. Persephone herself had manifested into Doyle’s body to speak.

“Persephone.” With narrowed eyes, Brahm looked at Doyle, whose hair was standing on end. Even though Persephone had belittled him, his eyes were dark.

“Brahma, if you don’t watch your words…”

“What? Are you going to punish me? How? From that prison on the ninety-eighth floor?” Brahm scoffed even as Persephone radiated a violent aura. He had shown his generous side while taking care of Sesha, but he was also a cynical being who had been called the Exile. His dislike of divine beings tied to the ninety-eighth floor had only grown as time passed. “If you’re worried about your husband, you should just shut up and watch.” Brahm put his hand on Doyle’s head like he didn’t want to talk to Persephone anymore.

The hair standing straight on Doyle’s head settled down, and the green light in his eyes disappeared. Doyle’s eyes widened, not knowing what had happened. Then, he smiled bitterly as he spoke to Brahm. “You were too harsh, Brahm.”

“Why? I guess she told you off?”

Doyle couldn’t say anything. Although he hadn’t been serving her for a long time, he was still Persephone’s Apostle. But Brahm had also once been a divine being. Doyle had heard a bit about Brahm’s situation from Yeon-woo, and he couldn’t disrespect Brahm either.

“Just ignore her.” Brahm ended the conversation and clucked his tongue as he turned to Yeon-woo. “She’s famous for being ladylike, but she goes off whenever her husband is brought up. Tsk.”

Yeon-woo saw Brahm in a different light. “What’s the second possibility? You didn’t get to say it.”

“Oh, that? Simple. Hades temporarily changed the coordinates of the holy territory.”

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. “That means…?”

“There’s probably a fight going on somewhere. Since his holy territory is quite sizable, he probably can’t change the coordinates by much.”

Yeon-woo quickly summoned Nike and sent him into the sky. Nike flapped his wings, and as he circled the sky, he saw darkness wavering in the distance. 『Master! There’s something there!』

Yeon-woo quickly tapped into Nike’s vision. The sky of Tartarus was perennially gray and dark, so it was hard to tell how far things were.

[Draconic Eyes]

But when he observed the imperfections, he noticed something wavering. ‘A Giant god.’ Beings similar to the Titan he’d seen when he first entered Tartarus were fighting fiercely.

Darkness split, and lighting shot down. The ground cracked, and a column of fire soared up. Monsters too horrendous to be described poured out of the cracks in space.

It was a battle with high stakes, but it was hard to tell who was winning. It would be good if Hades’ side was, but Yeon-woo felt anxious. If Hades were winning, he wouldn’t have had to change the coordinates.

『It’s too far!』 Nike squinted, estimating the distance. The only reason he could do this was that he was a Legendary Beast. Ordinary players wouldn’t be able to tell, no matter how hard they tried.

‘Fire Wings, Blink, and Wind Path can decrease the distance somewhat.’ Yeon-woo spun his Magic Circuit to its fullest.

[Heaven Wing Mana Control]

[Magic Circuit – Total Output]

“Brahm, take your time.”

[Wind Path – Gale]

Boom! Yeon-woo didn’t wait for Brahm’s reply and quickly stepped on the fastest wind of Wind Path. He could hear Kahn and Doyle shouting something behind him, but it was muffled by the explosion. He wasn’t too concerned. Brahm would know what was happening through their connection, so he could explain things to the others.

Besides, Kahn and Doyle had Bian, and Victoria was skilled in magic. They could follow after him fairly quickly. Yeon-woo rode the Wind Path and used Blink consecutively. Boo buffed him from the shadows.

* * *

How far had he gone? Boom! Yeon-woo could see all kinds of monsters descending from the sky. ‘One, two…there are nineteen at the very least.’

Seeing a single Giant god kilometers tall fighting was shocking already, and watching a bunch of them move together made him speechless. It wasn’t even that he was scared. The difference between him and them was so great that he couldn’t even feel fear.

Hades seemed like he was in danger as he swung his sword, speeding through the Titans. Darkness splattered like blood with every strike, and limbs like mountains fell to the ground. His divinity was more powerful than the Titans’, but to Yeon-woo, he seemed like a ship stranded in a storm.

He could feel Hades’ exhaustion from fighting the Titans without any support for a long time. Yeon-woo looked around. There was a siege of a large castle ongoing, and Dis Pluto was fighting the lower-level creatures that the Titans had brought along.

They pushed back the creatures who tried climbing the castle walls, their determination to protect the last of their territory clear on their faces. However, regardless of their will, they were clearly at a disadvantage.

Although the corpses of the creatures had piled up like mountains around the castle walls, more continued to pour from the sky. They didn’t care about their fellow creatures as they stepped on their bodies to climb the walls. They used the corpses like shields or else infused them with magic power and tossed them into the holy territory like bombs.

Dis Pluto seemed tired from the never-ending battle. Some soldiers were so exhausted that they fell from the castle walls along with the monsters. Yeon-woo noticed a few people who didn’t have any divinity fighting alongside Dis Pluto. With a single glance, he noticed that they were players like himself. He didn’t know how they managed to get there, but he put them out of his mind and began to rack his brain.

[Time Difference]

“It’s too dangerous. Is there a way to stop those monsters, even temporarily?” Yeon-woo spread his territory of recognition around. Fortunately, the divine beings weren’t interested in a weakling like Yeon-woo, and it was a good opportunity for him to investigate.

‘There.’ His Extrasensory Perception honed in on a being surrounded by the Titans—a woman with long, green hair. Although she was tiny compared to the Titans, her level was as high as theirs. She stared at the barriers around the holy territory with a bored expression, holding a crystal that emanated a black light. Its energy was similar to that of the monsters descending from the skies, and it seemed like the crystal was a summoning artifact.

‘Is this going to work?’ In the slowed time, countless calculations and theories ran through his head, but each outcome was failure. Unless he were at the Martial King’s level, or even one of the other Nine Kings, it would be impossible to fight a divine being. He might only enrage them and make things worse.

It would be possible if he had a power that killed divine beings, but there was nothing like that among the 900 powers available to him. There was no way gods and demons would give him something that would hurt one of them. He had to think outside the box. ‘What if I just aim for the crystal?’

The chances of success were only at five percent. The difference between him and his opponent was too great. He needed to close the gap. ‘What if I go crazy and awaken all the powers?’ He would risk holy fever again, but he couldn’t worry about that right now.

However, the results were at fifteen percent. ‘It’s a little higher, but still not good enough. What if I use the Dragon Killer method?’ If he risked the destruction of his body and just used Regeneration to heal…it would push the chances to twenty percent. It still wasn’t enough.

At that moment, a thought occurred to him. He had a weapon that struck fear in the gods and demons, a divine item that could bind them: divine iron. ‘The pieces of the Ruyi Bang…’

He spread his hand open. The pieces he’d gained after defeating the Devil Army glowed and spun around on his palm. A smile spread across his face. ‘Thirty percent.’ Yeon-woo stopped running and time went back to normal.

[The 3rd step of the awakening has been activated. ]

[All powers have been released.]

Crunch, crunch! His body couldn’t endure the powers that suddenly burst out and began to shake. Regeneration activated to hold him still, and he forced the 900 disconnected Channels to Tartarus. He poured all the power into the Ruyi Bang.

[Fiery Golden Eyes]

The pieces of the Ruyi Bang cried out as they glowed. Yeon-woo’s eyes glowed with a golden light as well. The Monkey King’s golden eyes settled over his Draconic Eyes. The pieces danced in the air and began to gather together.

Clack, clack! A golden weapon appeared in his hand; it was a staff around two meters long. Yeon-woo pulled Vigrid out and fixed it to the end of the staff. Vigrid’s hilt and the staff fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Yeon-woo got into a fighting stance as he gripped the new spear. His body was still trembling, and the Philosopher’s Stone had already overheated.

[Dragon Killer]

[Holy Fire]

[Heaven Bracket – Flame Wheel]

Fire shot out from Vigrid’s blade. The Demonic Fire that the Great Sage had used when he burned the heavenly world flared up and combined with the Holy Fire to create a black-red Divine Fire.

Yeon-woo threw the spear. Vigrid’s option had activated and was already headed for the target. “Extend, Ruyi Bang!”