Chapter 107

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 107: Oath of Hercules

Lee Jinseong held his head, looking puzzled.

"Talking about an A-rank dungeon...?"

"You don’t mean...?"

"Ugh... The past? Elf and dwarf helpers, the Order faction... Isn’t that what it should be? What’s with this Neutral stuff...?"

Could it be that he’s regained memories of the previous world?

"Huff, huff..."

Lee Jinseong took a deep breath and stood back up.

Then he looked at Diana, startled.

"Lady Liana?"

He recognized that name?

It’s confirmed—he remembers his past life.

"Ugh. What the hell is going on here?"

I explained that we had been sent back in time by the gods of Olympus and Asgard.

At first, Lee Jinseong was confused, but after 30 minutes of healing and explanations, he slowly began to accept reality.

"So the gods of Olympus sealed the others... Oh, right. My family used to be Buddhist."

"Yeah. Do you remember that too?"

"Uh... Is it because I’m your apostle? And these things called SP? What’s SP again... Anyway, they’re turning time back to consume that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Ah... those bastards. Damn it..."

Lee Jinseong started swearing, spouting off a long string of curses.

Diana listened with a strange expression.

"Does translation magic even work for that?"

"Yes, but there are many elven curses that don’t translate well. Human swearing is quite diverse."

"Yeah... Korean probably has the most swears."

"Oh, that’s the language of Jiho’s country?"

"Ugh, whatever."

After yelling his head off, Lee Jinseong let out a deep sigh, looking at us in defeat.

Then he fixed me with a serious gaze.

"So, what’s the plan now?"

"Hmm, still figuring things out as they come. I’m just trying to survive. I recruited apostles to deal with the A-rank dungeon."

"Because you’ll be trapped in there for 10 days?"

"Yeah, and the gods reset our levels and memories so they can find soul-type awakeners. What if they find one—or fail to? Will they spend all that energy and cost to rewind time again?"

"Hmm... So they’ll reset things? Only the gods will go back in time?"

"Yeah, that’s what I think."

Lee Jinseong nodded thoughtfully before questioning me.

"Then why bother stopping the A-rank dungeon?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, if they keep rewinding time anyway, do we really need to stop the dungeon? It won’t matter if they just rewind it."

"We need to prevent the damage..."

"But they’ll just reset it anyway, right?"

"Hmm..."

"And if we clear the A-rank dungeon, won’t they just see us as a threat and start monitoring us?"

He had a point.

It was hard to believe this was the same guy who’d just been writhing around in pain.

"And are we sure those chaos beings won’t invade if we stop the gods? Can we get a solid guarantee?"

"A guarantee?"

"Yeah. If they invade after all this, we’ll just get crushed without any divine backup."

"Hmm..."

"Or, what if we ride the time-travel train with them and build our own Olympus or Asgard? Damn it, let’s recruit more apostles and make our own divine realm! Who says only they get to be gods? Let’s go, damn it!"

He suddenly raised his hands in the air, shouting like a maniac.

Ugh, what a lunatic.

Talking about a "Jiho divine realm" and everything.

But Diana, who’d been listening, looked thoughtful.

"Jiho, that’s actually not a bad idea."

"...Not bad?"

"Yes. Building a divine realm is going too far, but I agree with the idea of building a faction. Since Hercules is providing dungeons, if they keep rewinding time, we should use it to slowly expand our forces. No matter how strong you get, you can’t face the gods of two worlds alone."

"That’s true."

"You need a reliable group of allies. The apostles you have now are weak, but if the time loop continues, they’ll grow stronger and become trustworthy allies. But secrecy is critical."

"Right. I wouldn’t betray them, but who knows about others? And what if the gods capture them and magically extract their memories?"

Hmm.

At first, I’d just planned to recruit apostles to deal with future A-rank dungeons, but now that we’re talking about building real power, there’s a lot to consider.

It’s tough trying to secretly build strength under the gods’ noses.

"This is getting complicated."

"Yeah... Same here. Just a little while ago, I was a huge fan of Thor and Guan Yu, but now Thor’s fan club is canceled. Guan Yu is still the best."

"Ugh, you lunatic. Let me reverse-summon you. You can check out the apostle space."

"Okay."

I reverse-summoned Lee Jinseong and discussed our strategy with Diana.

"What do you think of his ideas?"

"I think many of his points make sense."

"Really?"

"Yes, but humans don’t have anything like the Elves’ Oath to enforce vows, do they?"

"No... we don’t."

"Hmm, then we’ll need some kind of vow-enforcing skill to ensure secrecy. Until we have that, it will be difficult to accept new apostles, even if your friend is reliable."

That’s true.

Maybe I could use a dragon-language vow?

But at only 6th circle, it wouldn’t be strong enough to guarantee secrecy.

There must be some kind of airtight skill for this.

I’ll ask the sealed gods about it.

They’re like a secret society—they must have some way to handle secrecy.

Even if Loki infiltrated, there’s no helping that.

"And shouldn’t we get confirmation from Hercules?"

"Yeah, we need to be sure that stopping Olympus and Asgard’s scheme will actually stop the chaos forces."

I reverse-summoned Diana and used the system to contact my father, who was Michael’s avatar.

[Yes, Jiho. What’s the matter?]

"I’m thinking of recruiting apostles."

[Apostles? You? But you’re an A-rank, aren’t you?]

"I got a skill from a god from another world. Since this world keeps resetting, I think I need to build a faction too..."

When I explained Lee Jinseong’s suggestions, my father sounded pleased.

[Jinseong’s a hunter too? Well, it’s good he’s still hanging out with you, even though you have no friends.]

"I’m the one entertaining him."

[Do you have any other apostle candidates?]

"Ahem... The situation is serious, so could you answer my question?"

[Alright, hold on. I’ll ask Michael.]

After a brief pause, my father responded.

[Honestly, I’m not thrilled about my son recruiting apostles and stepping toward divinity. But... Michael has granted permission. There’s a skill just like what you need.]

"What is it?"

[There’s a faction that hasn’t given you a skill stone yet because you haven’t mediated a soul deal with them. They’ll welcome you with open arms. I’ll contact you in a few days.]

"Got it."

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Now that the oath issue is in my father’s hands, I should go see Hercules.

Just as I was about to use Heimdall’s Return to head to Hercules, my phone suddenly rang.

The name on the caller ID was Aria.

She’s the captain of the Valkyries on Earth.

Why does she always call at the perfect time, like when I’m plotting treason?

"Hello?"

[Is this Jiho Kim’s phone?]

"Yes, Aria."

[You weren’t able to enter the Broken World because you ascended to semi-divinity, correct? We’ve made adjustments so you can now access it.]

Come to think of it, I was denied entry to the Broken World after reaching A-rank.

Looks like they’re only now letting me know about that incident.

"Thank you."

[I tried calling you several times, but you didn’t pick up. And it just happened to be around the time things were going crazy in the Broken World.]

Aria’s voice turned meaningful.

[We in Asgard hope to maintain a positive relationship with you, Jiho, as a Soul Awakener. If you have any grievances, please let us know so we can make improvements accordingly. We also hope you’ll continue to envision a cooperative future with us.]

Her tone was calm as usual, but anyone could tell there was an edge to her words.

"Understood, Aria."

[Very well, then. Please make sure to use our services whenever you enter the Broken World. Goodbye.]

Aria hung up.

In short, she was basically saying, "Stop causing trouble and join our side."

It also sounded like she was subtly telling me not to use Heimdall’s Return for travel to the Broken World.

Since she went through the trouble of calling, I guess I’ll walk this time.

"Welcome, Jiho Kim."

At the Seoul Gangnam Hunter Division, Aria greeted me with a bright smile near the portal to the Broken World.

Her expression hadn’t changed, but because of our earlier conversation, her gaze felt watchful.

"Where are you headed, Jiho?"

"I’m headed to Eshtar."

"Understood. I’ll personally escort you."

The number of people going to the Broken World had increased considerably.

"Who’s that?"

"Why is Aria personally guiding him?"

People murmured as they watched Aria escort me herself.

"Jealous..."

"The Valkyries won’t even let anyone approach her, but look at him…"

Jealous?

You shouldn’t be.

Feels more like I’m being closely monitored to prevent any trouble.

As we approached Eshtar’s portal, Aria quietly spoke again.

"Jiho, I hope you keep my words in mind. The gods see everything."

"I understand."

After giving me one last warning, she bowed slightly and stepped back.

Hmm… I’ve been stirring up a lot lately.

I need to move a bit more cautiously now...

"What have you been doing to attract so much attention from them?"

When I reached the mountaintop where Hercules was opening the portal, he suddenly appeared and asked bluntly.

"I’ve been causing a bit of a ruckus."

"At this rate, they’ll hear everything. Too annoying. Soul Barrier."

Hercules activated a Soul Barrier.

That reminded me of Achilles.

"Achilles used that too."

"Soul Barrier? Why would he? That guy was always jealous of me for being a Soul Reaper. He’d come drunk, whining about how he was a great hero too but couldn’t awaken it… tsk tsk."

Hercules clicked his tongue, then his expression darkened.

"Now that I think about it, he did keep collecting samples from me, saying he was studying soul-awakener powers."

"Can collecting samples allow someone to use that skill?"

"Ahem… I don’t know about hair or blood, but Aphrodite kept pushing him to collect samples…"

Hercules gave a sheepish smile.

This guy clearly did something.

"Now that I think about it, Aphrodite possessed Diana once. She kept calling me impotent before she left Diana’s body."

"Really? You’re more impressive than I thought. Resisting that temptation... Anyway, your words make me suspicious of Aphrodite. Don’t let her tempt you."

Hercules warned me with a serious tone.

"You’re one to talk, after enjoying yourself…"

"Ahem, like I knew this would happen?"

"Anyway, there’s something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Is it true that you’ll all leave once Olympus and Asgard’s time loops end?"

Hercules went silent, closing his eyes in thought before softly asking:

"Why?"

"I need confirmation. If Olympus and Asgard’s schemes are shattered, but you still invade Earth, it’s doomsday."

"I told you we would."

"Are we stopping the loop or destroying them completely? I need to know that first."

"Hmm…"

"And I want a solemn assurance that Chaos won’t interfere."

Hercules remained silent, gazing at the sky.

He said nothing for ten minutes, just staring at the heavens.

Then he spoke again.

"Alright. I swear it. If Olympus and Asgard’s infinite past loops are stopped, I swear as Lord of Chaos that Chaos will not invade Earth."

Hercules continued in a firm tone:

"If I break this vow, I’ll turn my sword against Chaos myself. If that’s impossible, I’ll self-destruct. This is a vow sealed with my very existence as the Lord of Chaos."

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]