Leveling with the Gods

The stairs were deep.

And incredible.

"The Celestial Prison doesn't have a long history."

"Stop!"

"Damn it, what kind of intruders are these?"

"How many are there?"

"Just one!"

YuWon whispered upon hearing a voice behind him.

"Ares. Arturo."

Shhh-.

The torches' shadows twisted and contorted.

"Go to the entrance and don't let anyone out."

Saaaa-.

The two undead moved, leaving no escape from the inside.

"It was created out of nothingness and started imprisoning sinners in a rather unnatural way."

As he spoke, Son OhGong seemed different from his usual self.

He appeared slightly more intelligent.

Apparently, he had studied and researched a bit in his quest for the King of Great Power.

"I believe that prison was created by my older brother."

"This way!"

"Get him!"

The guards descended into the basement.

YuWon's eyes lit up as he saw them through the Cinder Eyes.

"Are they all Rankers?"

There weren't many of them.

But each and every one of them was a Ranker.

Too many high-class ones to be rotting away in a prison like this.

"It's not natural."

Son OhGong's words gained more strength.

This wasn't an ordinary prison.

This was, as Son OhGong had said, a forest to imprison the King of Great Power. The prisoners were the trees that formed the forest, and the Rankers present here were the beasts guarding it.

Pa-.

The interior of the prison lit up.

Towards the end of the stairs, waves of violet flames descended.

"Uh, uh, uh?"

"Enough!"

Hwaah!

The Arcane Power of the Guards clashed with the Sacred Fire.

Like a tsunami, the bodies of the guards rolled down the stairs. As the guards were engulfed in flames, some of them shouted in alarm.

"This guy is no joke! Call for reinforcements!"

"My player kit isn't working!"

"How the hell is a player kit supposed to work in this mess? Get one of you out and call someone!"

"Damn it, what's the purpose of this bastard?"

None of the prisoners was large enough to cause such a commotion, so the guards, who hadn't expected an attack on the prison, were confused.

However, getting out wasn't that easy.

"What are these guys doing......."

"The door is frozen!"

Pow!

Pap, pap, pap-.

Ares blocked the door, and Arturo froze the area around it. The guards who tried to leave through the door and call for reinforcements couldn't pass through and were decapitated.

"What the hell is happening!"

Chaos erupted.

YuWon continued descending, unperturbed.

"How many underground floors are there?"

He had already descended more than ten floors.

He didn't expect the prison to extend so far underground. He had been told that the King of Great Power was imprisoned at the bottom of the dungeon, but they hadn't told him how many levels there were.

"How far do I have to go down?"

In the depths of his heart, he wanted to crush the ground beneath him.

But if he used too much Arcane Power, others would notice before long.

No.

Maybe some people had already noticed that something strange was happening in the prison.

"...It's time to fight, anyway."

Pup-.

YuWon clenched his fist with the Uranus Heart in it.

"So let's go."

Now he didn't even have time to think about it.

Pajijiji-!

A Lightning Bolt burst from his hand.

In an instant, the darkness of the prison was illuminated.

And right after...

Flash-!

Bang-!

The ground sank under the impact.

The bars holding the prisoners shattered, causing them to fall several floors.

"I'm free!"

"Aaahhh-!"

"What are you doing, run?!"

Sinners escaping from their broken cage.

YuWon didn't pay them much attention.

After all, they were just trees to hide the King of Great Power. There might be some who were truly guilty, but if so, they would probably be recaptured by the Celestial Realm soon.

Even if they weren't.

"They won't be able to escape anyway."

Ares and Arturo stood guard at the entrance to the outside.

As long as Arturo, a high-level Ranker, and Ares, another high-level Ranker, stayed there, the sinners trapped here wouldn't be able to break through even if they all charged.

The problem wasn't inside.

Fazizic-.

[The 'Uranus Heart' generates a 'Lightning Bolt']

A Lightning Bolt burst from YuWon's hand.

The power coiled around his fist and once again struck the ground.

"Once more..."

Boom-.

"More."

Kwalung-!

Kwagwagwang-!

Several floors collapsed in an instant.

Around 40 floors in total.

If this underground were flipped, it would have been the tallest building in the Celestial Realm.

"How the hell did they create such a deep prison."

Then...

Pang-.

Something hard caught YuWon's fist.

"An iron cage?"

Unlike the ground and the other cages, which had crumbled as easily as tofu, the cage beneath YuWon was solid and unbreakable.

YuWon's gaze naturally turned to the prisoner in the narrow cage.

Unlike the cages of the other prisoners, this cage was excessively narrow.

A man with long hair whose entire body was bound with chains even tighter than the cage.

His skin was so white it was almost transparent, as if he hadn't seen light in a long time, and a single horn on his head.

The moment he saw him, he was certain.

"It's him."

YuWon hurriedly descended in front of the cage.

When he stood before him, the sleeping man opened his eyes.

"...What a commotion."

"It's time for you to come out."

YuWon looked the man in the eyes as he raised his head.

"Ox King (Bull Demon King)"

The eyes of the Bull Demon King met YuWon's.

It was just eye contact, but YuWon felt that his eyes were not only looking at him.

What was it?

He wasn't just looking at him; it seemed like he could see through everything.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes."

"How do you know I'm here?"

"Sun Wukong told me."

"Sun Wukong?"

His eyes narrowed.

This should have agitated him, but the reaction of the Bull Demon King was calm.

It was strange.

Clearly, his entire body was tightly bound, and he couldn't feel any Arcane Power.

And yet...

The mere presence of the Bull Demon King in front of him seemed immense.

The momentum of a King of Great Power.

Gulp~

It was the first time YuWon encountered the Bull Demon King.

He was a Ranker who didn't exist in the future. He was also a Ranker who had to exist in the future.

"Who needs to be saved? I'm sure there are many, but Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven, must be saved."

"Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven? Yes, I forgot. Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven, was incredible. Even if it's not in a war against the Celestial Realm, his influence in this Tower has been immense since ancient times."

"I've heard the stories. He was the most powerful man before Hercules arrived."

"And the greatest in Sorcery (Witchcraft)"

Odin, Cronos, and Vishnu.

The oldest of the Tower shared their memories of Great Sage, Who Pacifies Heaven.

Naturally, YuWon was intrigued by their stories.

What kind of person was the Bull Demon King?

How strong was he that even these people praised him so much?

Why was he trapped in this place?

"It's impossible for you to know that I'm here."

When the Bull Demon King raised his head and looked at YuWon, the gaze in his eyes wasn't much different from the first time.

He was right.

Son OhGong didn't know that the Bull Demon King was here.

At least, not the Son OhGong of this moment.

Furthermore...

"And he's already dead."

There must be some misunderstanding.

"What do you mean?"

"That's what they said. There's no way he could have survived the war against the Celestial Realm. If he had won, the Celestial Realm would have been destroyed, and if he had lost, he would be dead."

"Is that what the Celestial Realm is saying, that Son OhGong is dead?"

Instead of nodding or answering YuWon's question, the Bull Demon King looked at YuWon with a slightly different look than before.

It seemed so.

"But he's overthinking it."

That certainly was quite plausible.

The Bull Demon King was no stranger to Son OhGong's battles against the Celestial Realm. No matter how deep underground he was, it was impossible for him not to have felt Son OhGong's Mana invading the Celestial Realm.

The Celestial Realm and Son OhGong were bitter enemies.

And naturally, the one who lost the battle wouldn't survive.

Originally, that's how it would be.

But...

"He is immortal."

"Immortal?"

A fact that the Bull Demon King and even Son OhGong himself didn't know until recently.

That's why the Bull Demon King had believed the words of the Celestial Realm that Son OhGong was dead.

In reality, the Celestial Realm had tried to kill him.

But no spear, no sword, no blazing flame could sever Son OhGong's breath of life.

In the end, the Celestial Realm chose to seal him away forever.

"I don't think I know the exact reason, but I suspect the Peach Garden is the key."

"Peach Garden, immortal..."

The Bull Demon King pondered YuWon's words.

And as he did, YuWon continued.

"Son OhGong was sealed away. The place he was sealed is the Five Elements Mountain. It is the place where he was born."

"Five Elements Mountain..."

"To break the seal, you must first undo a spell. I've heard that in this Tower, you are the best at spells."

YuWon tilted his head.

"Please, help me save my friend."

"Although if you put it that way..."

C-Clack.

The Bull Demon King shook his body, and the chains that bound him rattled.

"I can't even break free from these unbreakable things."

It was the chains that sealed the Bull Demon King, no one else.

Those chains also absorbed the opponent's mana while restricting his body. Because of this, not even a trace of Arcane Power remained in the Bull Demon King's body.

Furthermore, all the tendons in his arms, legs, and other parts of his body had been severed, so he couldn't even use his strength.

And since he couldn't regain his Arcane Power, it would be difficult to repair those severed tendons.

Not even the so-called King of Great Power could break the chains and escape in such a state.

Of course...

"What if your body is a little better?"

"My body?"

"There's something I sneaked in here."

YuWon reached into his inventory and pulled out the object he had packed before coming to the prison.

A white, crisp fruit.

It wasn't ripe yet, but the eyes of the Bull Demon King gleamed as he recognized it.

"Your liver is just like that bastard's (Son OhGong)."

A Peach.

It seemed to be only a thousand years old, but the amount of Arcane Power it contained was considerable.

It would probably be enough to escape from this prison.

However, from the moment he touched it, it was as if YuWon was completely at odds with the Celestial Realm.

"It's a death sentence just for causing this mess here in the first place."

With the Peach in his hand, YuWon asked.

"What would you like to do?"

"Of course..."

After meeting with the Bull Demon King.

For the first time, the intensity in his eyes returned.

"We must go rescue the younger one."