Leveling with the Gods

C260

Hercules wielded a club.

That was in a distant future.

In the present, on the other hand, he used his bare fists or grabbed a nearby tree and swung it.

This was because he didn't have a decent weapon.

That's how Hercules fought in the beginning: with whatever he could get his hands on.

But one day, Hercules started wielding a wooden club made from the roots of the Yggdrasil plant.

And that's when...

Hercules began to be recognized as the man who would rise above Zeus.

"Yggdrasil?"

Odin's eyebrows twitched.

A very slight change in his expression.

It seemed like he wanted to say something but realized he was holding back due to the situation.

"We'll talk about it later."

"Sooner the better. I need it for this Ragnarok, if possible."

"You say it's urgent?"

"It will depend on the situation, but it's not a bad thing to have."

With that, YuWon stood up from his seat.

The words stung.

Then, Odin spoke to YuWon as he tried to leave the room.

"I don't need to explain to you what kind of tree Yggdrasil is, right?"

YuWon stopped in his tracks upon hearing those words.

Odin seemed about to refuse to hand over a Yggdrasil root but changed his mind. At the same time, Odin covered his face in annoyance.

"You knew I would do this, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Are you playing with me?"

"Please understand. But at least I didn't lie to you."

"Even if you said something wrong, it wouldn't be so unfortunate."

A sigh escaped involuntarily.

After a moment of deliberation, Odin made his decision.

"I'll have Brunhilde deliver it. You go do what you need to do."

Approval was given. Odin loved Yggdrasil more than anyone, so this decision couldn't have been easy for him.

'Well, at least one of the tasks to be done has been accomplished without much effort.'

Obtaining the roots of Yggdrasil and enhancing Hercules' power had been on YuWon's to-do list in the immediate future.

"Thank you."

YuWon began to hasten his steps downstairs to prepare to go to the lower floors.

***

***

Thump-.

The giants' footsteps resounded on the ground.

Kwajik-!

The bodies of players were trampled, turning into a puddle of blood.

Midgard's Commander, Don Quixote, shouted as he watched players being trampled and crushed by the Giants. (Note: I understood that reference)

"Hold on!"

Chaaaaahhh!

Midgard's High-Ranker Commander, Don Quixote, shouted for all to hear.

"Reinforcements are coming!"

Giant swords pierced through the giants.

Don Quixote swung his sword relentlessly, surveying the battlefield.

"They're too many."

Five or six players clung to each giant.

It was fortunate that the players of Midgard were united, or they would have been overwhelmed in an instant.

Luckily, even though they were outnumbered, they didn't have many Ranker Players.

'We can hold out.'

With all this, they should at least be able to protect the path to the city.

But...

'We can't win.'

It's just a matter of time.

It was a fight that would eventually end in defeat.

'I wonder how much longer we can hold out.'

Hours had already passed since the attack from Muspelheim.

It's impossible to say exactly how much time has elapsed in the fierce battle, but it's estimated to be around three hours.

Just enough time for reinforcements from Valhalla to arrive with the Valkyries.

'If only a few Valkyries could make it here first...'

There was no other answer but to act as an elite minority to receive support in a short period of time. The question was whether they could draw enough power from the Golden Castle.

'The fact that Muspelheim is on the move means we also have to worry about defense in other places.'

The relationship between Asgard and Muspelheim has been strained for a long time.

This attack meant that the festering wounds had finally burst open.

Thud!

A loud sound resonated.

Don Quixote immediately attacked the giant blocking his view.

Clang!

And then it appeared before him.

"Holy sh*t......."

A giant as big as a mountain.

It was a giant that made the other giants feel small.

It was enormous.

There weren't many giants of that size even in Muspelheim.

It was probably a High-Ranker Giant.

'Can we deal with that?'

He himself was a High-Ranker, although he was already at his limit.

Right now, he was the only one who could stop it.

"Huh-!"

Don Quixote's sword was infused with Arcane Power.

At the same time, he ran as fast as he could toward the giant.

'I must stop it.'

Thud.

"Aaaahhh-!"

"R-Run-!"

In a single step from the giant, the subordinates were crushed and exploded like insects, screaming in fear.

'I'm the only one here.'

Kaaaak-.

The giant sword flashed upward, concentrating all the power into its hilt.

'I must finish it with a single strike.'

Teng-.

Don Quixote's sword jumped as high as it could and pointed downward.

Clang!

A brutal slash.

Still, the effect wasn't bad.

No.

Tsk-tsk-.

On the contrary, the giant's body was sliced much more easily than Don Quixote had thought.

"Eh?

Was the opponent weaker than I thought?

No matter, it was strange to be cut so easily.

Furthermore...

'There was no sensation of cutting.'

At the next moment...

Chiiiit-.

Beyond the fallen giant's corpse, a player dressed in an unfamiliar manner became visible.

"Don't be afraid just because it's big. The important thing is momentum."

The man stood up, with the tip of his sword dripping with the giant's blood.

Don Quixote instinctively realized that it wasn't him who had killed the giant, but this man in front of him.

'Do we have a Ranker like this on our side?'

As the commander of Midgard, he remembered all the allied Rankers.

Not only that, but he had memorized the faces of all the other prominent Asgardians, but the man in front of him seemed vaguely familiar, yet he couldn't place him.

"Who..."

"I am the support."

"The Support?"

Could it be that Asgard sent this one man as reinforcement?

'Were we abandoned? No, that doesn't make sense. So is their side also in an equally difficult situation?'

Apparently, Odin told me to wait a bit, that help was on the way.

True to his word, help arrived, but only one.

Don Quixote asked cautiously, just in case.

"Are you someone from Asgard?"

"I am Kim YuWon."

"Kim YuWon?"

Don Quixote's eyes widened.

That was a name not unknown to him.

A player who held the 400th position but had not yet become a Ranker.

Kim YuWon's name had been widely known among high-rank players lately.

"There are many rumors that he is just a braggart, but he is still a high-rank player."

Moreover, anyone above 400 was ranked higher than him.

The presence of a high-rank player was enough to turn the tide of a battle.

For now, he had to take advantage of YuWon's help.

Once decided, Don Quixote looked around the battlefield and spoke.

"First, we need to get into position..."

"Send the soldiers back."

"What?"

Don Quixote asked, confused.

"Are you serious right now?"

YuWon nodded.

He didn't seem to have said something wrong. YuWon spoke again as he looked at the Muspellheim giants rushing towards them.

"Can you do it?"

"Yes, I can. But if we do that, the line will collapse."

"If we take too long, the soldiers will also be caught in the crossfire."

Fajik, fajijijik-.

A lightning bolt shot out from YuWon's hand.

A black lightning coiled with Dark Mana.

The lightning not only emanated from YuWon's hand but also soared into the sky as a black bolt.

Don Quixote's gaze followed the bolt upwards.

Zzzt-.

Then, he noticed dense clouds floating in the sky.

"......!"

The flow of Mana from YuWon and the ominous omen brought Don Quixote to his senses.

And at that moment...

"Fall back from the front lines!"

[Lion's Roar has been used].

Ung-.

Don Quixote's voice, containing his ability, covered the battlefield.

"Hurry!"

"Withdraw from the front lines?"

"Are you telling us to retreat?"

"But if we do that, Midgard..."

"At my command! Quickly!"

The soldiers of Midgard began to move.

Leaving the giants behind. A hole that started to open up destroyed the front lines in an instant, and the giants drew closer and closer to the city walls.

Behind them was the city.

Once the giants set foot in it, the city of Midgard would be in ruins from then on.

"Please..."

But Don Quixote, who had given the order, looked anxiously at YuWon.

"What you're about to do, I hope it works."

Fazik, fazik, fazik-.

YuWon continuously fired through the Uranus Heart.

The soldiers of Midgard rushed past on both sides.

At this moment, the sound of the giants' footsteps was drawing closer.

"Thanks to the help of the Valkyries, I arrived here quickly, but..."

Thump, thump, thump, thump-.

Several giants approached.

One of them reached out his hand toward the still-standing YuWon.

In that moment...

Flash-!

Puaang-!

YuWon's extended fist sent the giant's body flying backward.

The chaotic battlefield paused for a moment. Attention focused, and YuWon unleashed a barrage of blows among them again.

"They are too many."

More numerous than expected.

But the good news was that the level of each of the Giants was not that high.

"The one I knocked down earlier was not high-rank, just foolishly large."

The size of the giants was known to be related to their strength.

However, once they reached a certain size, the giants no longer focused on increasing their size.

Unless they were overwhelmingly large, like the Bull Demon King Behemoth, they realized that relying on their size to fight was futile.

There were no true experts here.

So...

"I need a safe shot with a long range."

YuWon thought of Zeus's lightning.

The giant lightning that struck King Arthur's birthplace, Camelot, in Great Britain.

It had the power and range to level a city with a single strike.

"It's not possible with what I have."

Neither in terms of Arcane Power nor in terms of skill with lightning.

YuWon was still far behind Zeus in this regard.

Furthermore, since Zeus had the power to rain any amount of lightning, it made him realize how vast the gap was.

But...

Fazik, fazik-.

Kurrrr-.

YuWon's gaze shifted to the dark clouds in the sky.

"If I can follow his technique..."

It didn't matter if it wasn't a skill.

Although system-generated skills added convenience, it was still possible to imitate them if you knew the principles.

Son OhGong's technique, the Flying Nimbus.

OhGong's symbol, which, like Zeus's lightning, swept the skies with its bolt.

Kurr-.

YuWon's dark cloud filled with lightning began to gradually expand.

"Just a little more."

More Arcane Power was needed to maximize the power of a single strike.

More, more, and more.

Even if he had to create the same lightning that nearly destroyed Camelot, now was the time to wait.

Finally...

Thump, thump, thump-.

The giants moved again and approached YuWon to crush him.

And then...

"Strike them."

The waiting was over.

Flash-!

A black-as-jet light emerged from the thick clouds in the sky.

"Flying Nimbus (근두운/Jīndǒuyún)"