Leveling with the Gods

In the battle against the Outer Gods, Danpung's presence would clearly a great advantage.

At least against the Outer Gods he had encountered so far, Danpung was their natural enemy.

But what about other situations?

'How to use his Divine Power...'

The value of a single statistic was enormous. The value of a statistic over 100 was indescribable.

Currently, Danpung's Divine Power was comparable to YuWon's Arcane Power.

If he could borrow the power of such a statistic, his power would increase significantly.

However...

"I don't know how."

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how to use that Divine Power.

Suddenly, something else crossed his mind.

'Why am I thinking about this?'

The Divine Power was something that Danpung possessed, not YuWon.

Even an ordinary divine beast could help its master with its own will, but Danpung was not an ordinary divine beast.

He had his own will and moved as he pleased.

He was much more special than an ordinary divine beast.

That's why YuWon thought that Danpung would be able to help him in his battle.

"Baah?"

Danpung tilted his head as if he didn't know what that meant.

Was he too young to understand his words?

No.

Danpung wasn't that stupid, at least not initially.

'This kid...'

Yoowon's forehead furrowed.

"Are you bothering me or are you tired?"

"Baah, baah-!"

He couldn't hear what he was saying, but it sounded like one thing or the other.

YuWon shook his head resolutely as he looked at Danpung.

"No work, no food."

Raising children sometimes meant being strict.

"If you don't help, you can't eat that."

"Abaaaaaah-."

Danpung puffed up his cheeks in frustration.

But it still had an effect.

Hwareuk-.

Yu-Won's body ignited.

The flames crackled with purple light.

The Sacred Fire had been activated.

YuWon's confused eyes widened.

'What's happening? I haven't used the ability.'

Clearly, he didn't have enough Arcane Power left to use the ability. In fact, he didn't even have any Mana left.

This fire was used by Danpung.

'Can he also use my abilities?'

Hwareuk, Hwareuk-.

The fire in his body didn't feel hot to YuWon.

No, rather...

Hiss, hiss-.

The fire was absorbed by YuWon's body.

[Divine Power has been absorbed]

[You will regain some of your Arcane Power]

[You can use a little bit of the Divine Power]

[Your Arcane Power is partially restored...]

One message after another.

The Sacred Fire seeped into YuWon's body, restoring his depleted power.

He never thought this would happen.

'The Sacred Fire was originally an Outer Gods Power.'

Yu-Won remembered the first time he saw the Sacred Fire on the tenth floor.

'Could it be that the owner of the Sacred Fire...?'

"Baah-."

Danpung with arms around his waist and a cheerful face.

YuWon wore an expression of perplexity as he looked at Danpung.

"Are you going to fight too?"

"Baa-."

"Well, that sounds good."

Jjeouk-.

The Predator within YuWon opened its mouth.

Thanks to this, his strength had recovered quite a bit. His body, which had been heavy with all the drained mana, felt light again.

'This should be enough.'

Kwok-.

He regained his confidence.

Yamata no Orochi was undoubtedly a tough enemy, but now it was heavily weakened.

To begin with, it was missing a head at first, and now it had lost or injured more than half of them in its fight with Amaterasu.

"Thanks to you, I have healed, so I will try to fight again..."

YuWon's eyes turned to Tsukuyomi and Susanoo.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Of course..."

Tsukuyomi, who had been staring into space, turned his head.

Saaa-.

The air around him turned cold.

Enveloped in cold and death, YuWon felt as if the season had changed to winter.

"We must fight."

If it was Amaterasu who had planned Susanoo's death.

It was Orochi who was the direct cause of his death.

Even if they left it alone, Yamata no Orochi would eventually be subdued. After all, a guild as powerful as Asgard would not stand idly by and let another floor of the world be destroyed.

"That damn serpent...."

It is said that when a woman harbors resentment, frost will fall even in summer.

YuWon suddenly felt terrified of Tsukuyomi before him.

"I will definitely kill it."

Kyaaaa-!

Orochi's screams tore through the clouds.

One of the battling heads fell to the side, followed by the other, which turned its head and stared directly at Tsukuyomi.

And then...

Kak-.

Pure white ice covered the head. The moisture that had been enveloping its heads for some time had frozen.

But.

Zap-.

The ice quickly cracked, and the head started moving again.

Boom!

Kyaaaaaaah!

Orochi's head screamed and bared its teeth at Tsukuyomi.

But in the fraction of a second that the head was frozen, Tsukuyomi had already vanished from the scene.

Fuuk-.

A short dagger embedded itself in its head.

Ziiiit-.

Tsukuyomi's dagger pierced Yamata no Orochi's head.

Chaaaaaah-!

The weapon split its head in half.

Venomous blood sprayed across the sky. Soon, a lightning bolt struck through the cracked wound.

Kwalung-!

Puuuuuk-.

The lightning pierced through the punctured leather.

Yamata no Orochi's head twitched.

But only for a moment.

Thud-.

Another head fell to the ground, unconscious.

Now, only one head remained.

Tsukuyomi once again radiated ice power towards the head and looked at YuWon from a distance, who was preparing his lightning spear again.

'I've seen it before, but that lightning is a force to be reckoned with.'

He observed the fight between YuWon and Amaterasu.

Even with Susanoo by his side, YuWon's lightning power was enough to pose a threat to Amaterasu.

He wondered what his Arcane Power stats were and what kind of power that lightning possessed.

Knowing that YuWon had just reached the 44th floor, he couldn't believe it.

Furthermore...

'Isn't he just powerful?'

Kakak-!

YuWon's lightning soared once again.

Flash-!

The spear emitted an intense light and drew a long line.

If it were just a powerful spear, it wouldn't have surprised him as much. Tsukuyomi was capable of producing a technique of that power.

However, YuWon's ability to wield it was beyond Tsukuyomi's comprehension.

'Like a High Rank that has already matured. No...'

A person appeared in Tsukuyomi's mind.

One of the rulers of this ancient Tower came to his mind.

'It's like looking at Zeus, the God of Heaven.'

A High Rank among the High Ranks who ruled this great tower.

The idea that such a being would coincide with YuWon seemed ridiculous.

But that's how it was.

Even she, a top 100 player, did not trust her ability to wield an ability of such power with such precision.

Chi-ak-!

The Totsuka Sword pierced one of the remaining heads.

Susanoo's strength was a fraction of what it had been when he was alive, but his fighting style and swordsmanship remained unchanged.

And with only one head remaining, Orochi's strength was much weaker than it had been at the beginning.

-At last, I see the end.

Kwok-.

Susanoo's eyes gleamed as he held the Kusanagi Sword in his hand.

-I will take the Kusanagi.

Woowook-.

The tip of Susanoo's sword sank into Orochi's head. In that moment, the sword rang out, and Susanoo's body sank into Orochi's body.

And then.

SLASH!

What remained of Orochi's body was split in half.

Woo-!

A fountain of blood shot up into the sky.

Poisonous blood rained down onto the ground.

[Your level has increased.]

[Your strength has increased by 1.]

[Agility has increased by 1.]

[Endurance has increased by 1.]

It was Yamata no Orochi.

As all the heads fell, a tremendous amount of experience flowed in, enough to raise his level from where it had been stagnant until now.

'I guess my Arcane Power isn't going to increase after all.'

Like all players, YuWon's most essential statistic was Arcane Power.

However, he was already above 120 and had reached a point where it couldn't be increased just by leveling up.

Thud-.

Orochi's corpse fell to the ground. Susanoo staggered out of the corpse.

His whole body was covered in poisonous blood.

In his hand was the Kusanagi with a bright red color.

-This is my sword from now on.

His eyes were greedy.

Kuk-.

As if he would never let go, Susanoo tightly gripped the Kusanagi.

It was the first time YuWon had seen him wield the Kusanagi. The Totsuka Sword worked well, but for a swordsman like Susanoo, the Kusanagi fit perfectly.

"Do as you please."

-For once, a pleasing response.

Then...

Pap-.

Susanoo's figure gradually faded away.

The same with the Kusanagi.

Gradually becoming a blur of smoke, Susanoo was absorbed by YuWon's shadows once again.

-...What?

"You'll talk about everything later..."

After the fight with Amaterasu, immediately followed by the fight with Orochi, YuWon felt dizzy.

"I'm a little busy right now."

Suuh-.

Tsukuyomi frowned at Susanoo's disappearance into YuWon's shadows.

"What are you doing now?"

Tsukuyomi had been waiting for this fight to end.

Amaterasu and Yamata no Orochi.

Only after the entire fight was over could she properly talk.

However, YuWon halted that meeting.

"I already said, you'll talk about it later."

YuWon stepped on his shadow with his foot and continued.

"Because keeping this guy here any longer is difficult even for me."

His face was even paler than before.

His Arcane Power had been drained. Up until this point, he had fought as hard as he could.

"...Fine."

Although she nodded, Tsukuyomi couldn't hide her disappointment.

At this rate, she wouldn't see Susanoo again until YuWon was fully recovered.

However...

"Just wait a bit longer."

YuWon walked toward Orochi's corpse.

"A bit longer?"

"Just five minutes."

Five minutes.

No matter how fast his recovery was, it would take half a day to replenish all his depleted mana.

Even if it was barely enough to summon Susanoo, it would take over an hour.

The timeframe YuWon was talking about was impossible unless his stats suddenly increased.

But...

"It's not like there isn't a way."

Purr-.

Danpung's stomach growled.

Apparently, he was hungry.

"Well done."

"Baah-."

Drooling, Danpung raised his head.

Looking at the boy who was quite patient, YuWon smiled wholeheartedly.

"Now, you can eat."

Danpung's eyes gleamed at the long-awaited permission.

And then...

Sreuk-.

Jjeouk-.

[The 'Predator' swallows saliva]

Around the corpse of the giant Orochi, thousands of teeth were revealed.

Yamata no Orochi, the giant marshmallow.

It was time for the long-awaited reward.