Chapter 154

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Chapter 154: Suicide Squad (1)

My vision gradually returned.

Elprian’s hideout—this place again.

I sure come here often.

[Are you alright?]

“Yeah. The teleportation wasn't blocked. But that god back there… her presence was overwhelming.”

[Hmm. She looked like Artemis, the goddess of the moon.]

Artemis, the goddess of the moon and of chastity.

One of the twelve Olympian gods, a well-known deity.

I used to borrow her bow and made good use of it.

“She’s a famous virgin goddess, right?”

[Right. One of Olympus’s high gods.]

“Then why is she like that?”

That voice just now… the way she spoke was far from what you'd expect from a virgin goddess.

She sounded more like a temptress than a symbol of purity.

[Well, I’m not sure either. Maybe try asking Asgard?]

“Asgard?”

[They used to be allied with Olympus, so they might know something.]

Contacting Asgard, huh.

Let me think—there was something I remember.

When Apollo made Diana his apostle, his true intent was to gift her to Artemis as a new vessel for her virgin goddess form.

That was back when Olympus and Asgard shared and rotated stewardship over the worlds.

They might know something about Artemis.

I contacted Loki right then and there.

[Yo. What’s up?]

“I wanted to ask about Artemis.”

[Artemis? Why her all of a sudden? Wait, Kim Jiho… don’t tell me you got seduced by that vixen?]

Loki cut in before I even finished my question, his expression dead serious.

“No. I was in Kalvine and felt her gaze. It felt unusual, so I’m asking.”

[Artemis was originally the goddess of chastity and purity, as you know.]

“Yeah. But what’s with her now?”

[At some point during the infinite regressions, she did a complete 180 and started acting strange.]

It’s said that Artemis, the moon goddess and virgin deity, stopped using her soul form entirely at some point.

Even though it’s far more convenient for a god to act through a soul body, she insisted on always using a physical one.

She’d pick various races—but always females.

Usually, she preferred human forms, but sometimes she’d use nymphs, elves, even dragons and dark elves.

Once she chose a body, she’d keep it until the world reset.

[The bodies she picked were always the most beautiful among their races. And with them, she indulged in… physical pleasure.]

“She indulged in sex?”

That sultry, sticky voice I heard from the sky…

So that’s where all that seductive energy came from.

[Yup. No one knows exactly why she changed. She became obsessed with men. Every time the world reset, she cycled through hundreds—maybe thousands—of them. It was a huge shock to both Olympus and Asgard.]

In the beginning, even the gods of Olympus and Asgard showed interest in her.

She was once the virgin goddess, after all.

Artemis, once famed for her beauty.

Since she accepted every god who came her way, they flocked to her in droves at first.

[But no one ever saw her soul form. Even though the mortal vessels were stunning, what the gods really wanted was a glimpse of her divine, pure soul form. But she never revealed it. Eventually, the gods lost interest and stopped visiting her.]

As the divine visits dwindled, Artemis started seeing just anyone—regardless of status.

Even non-awakened mortals.

She didn’t care.

[To us in Asgard, Artemis is just a symbol of lust now. No one thinks of her as a virgin goddess anymore.]

Damn.

It’s that bad?

If I’d stuck around longer earlier, she might’ve outright tried to seduce me.

[But wait—why were you in Kalvine anyway? Artemis was there?]

I told Loki what happened in Kalvine, and his face shifted into one of intense interest.

[Zeus was doing that in Kalvine?]

“Yeah. The Thunder Spirit was rooted in the ground, linking heaven and earth. It looked like they were harvesting SP through it.”

[That’s valuable intel. We’ve been too busy to scout other planets. Drakia really pulled through this time.]

After listening, Loki thought for a moment before asking a question.

[Do you still have open apostle slots?]

“I have a lot left. I haven’t taken on any human apostles yet.”

[If someone becomes your apostle, they can use the Soul Reaper skill, right?]

“Yeah, that’s possible.”

[Then could you take on some more gods?]

A sudden proposal from Loki.

“I’ve got room. I can take up to 100 gods. Including the few regular apostles I have now, that leaves 94 slots.”

[That’s more than enough.]

“But why gods?”

[I’m thinking of forming a suicide squad.]

Loki’s plan was this:

Borrow help from godly realms with many deities and recruit low-tier gods as temporary apostles.

Then, I’d lead them into Kalvine to destroy the Thunder Spirits.

Not like today where I went alone—this time, I’d have many gods with me, so the destruction would be much faster.

“Sounds like a decent plan, but destroying the Thunder Spirits doesn’t really require soul energy output. Wouldn’t it be faster to just attack now rather than going through the hassle of making them apostles?”

[The divine realms don’t have enough SP to launch full god-army assaults right now. Plus, they don’t have the Soul Reaper skill. If we launched a large-scale invasion, we’d get massacred. We need to do this like a terrorist strike—with a suicide squad ready to die even as gods.]

Loki emphasized that this was a terror strike, not a head-on war.

[If they become your apostles, they can use Soul Barrier, right? If enemies respond while we’re destroying the spirits, they can use Soul Barrier to retreat.]

“So that’s why you need them apostled.”

[Exactly.]

“Alright, got it. So when will you bring them over?”

[I’ll start sounding out the divine realms. Might take some time. Let’s aim for fifty for now.]

“Sure. Oh, and for reference—I can only apostle S-grade or above.”

[Haha. No worries. Anyone SS-grade or higher wouldn’t volunteer for a suicide squad anyway.]

With that, the call ended.

As Loki disappeared, a voice echoed in my ear.

[An assault squad, huh. If we can gather enough numbers, it should be fine.]

"Yes. There are fifty lower gods. We should be able to gather them quickly, no?"

[Hmm… I’m not so sure. We’ll have to wait and see. I'm not convinced that immortal gods would risk their lives so easily.]

“Well then, let’s wait until we’ve gathered enough.”

[Alright. I’ll do some reconnaissance in the meantime. Let me know once you’ve got the numbers.]

With that, Drakia disappeared.

I decided to return to Earth and wait for the formation of the assault squad.

“Just like the high gods announced last time, a week later, Zeus’s lightning began to strike.”

A week after Zeus’s lightning had struck.

Again, in the exact same location, Zeus’s lightning reappeared.

The number was the same—one hundred.

The same pattern as before.

This time, I’ll make sure not a single one remains.

I climbed to the rooftop of the apartment I had acquired and summoned the five gods who had become my apostles.

“How have you all been?”

[Translator - Night]

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Compared to when I first met them, the five gods looked much more radiant.

When I asked about their well-being, they excitedly began to speak.

“Thanks to you, we’ve regained much of our power, Kim Jiho-nim. This SP Intermediary skill—it's truly incredible.”

“The Apostle’s Garden was so comfortable. Entrusting ourselves to you, Jiho-nim, was a wise decision.”

“That’s good to hear. Then, may I ask a small favor?”

All five gods immediately lowered their heads respectfully.

“Jiho-nim, you are our god.”

“No matter what divine beings we were before, we are now merely apostles.”

“A favor? We are honored. Please command us.”

Uh…

Why are they being so loyal all of a sudden?

I guess that SP supply is no joke.

“Alright then. Here is my command. Today, Zeus’s lightning has appeared. Please take care of it.”

The gods actually seemed excited by my request.

“It’s what we’ve been hoping for.”

“This will allow us to regain our presence as gods once forgotten by humanity.”

“Please let us handle it.”

I brought up a world map and showed them the 100 major cities where Zeus’s lightning had formed.

Each of the five gods memorized the map and started allocating territories among themselves.

“I used to be a god active in the Inca region. I can easily move across modern-day Central and South America with my authority.”

“I was active in Central Asia. I’ll handle that region.”

Each god took charge of regions where they had once been active.

Because their past domains varied, the five of them could cover a wide range of areas.

I decided to take care of Northeast Asia myself, so everything was more or less covered.

“Let’s head out immediately.”

“Yes, understood!”

Apparently, their strength had been well restored in the Apostle’s Garden.

The five gods swiftly departed for their assigned regions the moment I gave the order.

In the blink of an eye, they were gone—truly godlike.

It hadn’t been long since they regained their power, but their presence was already impressive.

“I better get moving too.”

I covered Seoul, Busan, then moved on to Japan and Southeast Asia.

“Ah! That person… that's the god who was on TV!”

Even Zeus’s lightning in Seoul had attracted spectators.

I cleared the dungeon casually and came out to cheers and flashing cameras.

“Wow! A god of the 21st century!”

Busan.

I cleared it too, and suddenly people were calling me a 21st-century god and cheering wildly.

A 21st-century god… are they calling me that because a modern human became a god?

“A Korean god has come to help!”

“Wow, did you see him flying? He was too fast to even follow with your eyes!”

I also easily destroyed the lightning strikes in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Each time I did, the public's cheers grew louder, and in some cities, they even began chanting my name, Kim Jiho.

“Kim Jiho!”

“God Kim Jiho! Please accept me as your follower!”

There were more and more onlookers.

Leaving the cheers behind, I finished clearing the Southeast Asia region.

Total time taken: five hours.

Much faster than last week.

Well, considering how much my power has grown, that’s to be expected.

[Shia. How’s the situation looking now?]

I sent a message to Kang Shia through the apostle link and got a response right away.

[It looks like we’ll be able to clear all of Zeus’s lightning this time. The five newly arrived gods are performing amazingly. Each of them has already cleared at least ten locations.]

Really?

Good thing I sent them.

[But they’re also causing a bit of trouble.]

[What kind of trouble?]

[They keep declaring themselves as Jiho-nim’s apostles while clearing dungeons, and now our guild is being overwhelmed with inquiries about when they can become apostles too. It’s almost paralyzing our operations.]

Seriously?

They’re doing that without even being told…

[Should we accept more apostles?]

[No, just take in a hundred more. I’ve got some partnerships coming up with the gods, so we need to keep some spots open.]

[A hundred… We do have some candidates ready.]

[Let’s just do one more round of recruitment and select from that group. Dragging this out for too long wouldn’t be good.]

[Understood.]

Since the clear looks to be guaranteed, I don’t need to travel around anymore.

In the final city, Jakarta, Indonesia, I set a return point and headed back home.

“My name is really getting mentioned a lot.”

I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV—my name was being mentioned constantly.

Each time one of my five apostle gods cleared a Zeus lightning strike, they shouted, “I am an apostle of Kim Jiho-nim!”

Yikes… no wonder my name’s all over the place.

But how did they become so loyal just from staying in the Apostle’s Garden?

If I’d known they’d be like this, I should’ve summoned them when I attacked Kalvine.

“I’ll definitely summon them next time.”

With Johannesburg, South Africa, being the final one cleared, all of Zeus’s lightning was completely dealt with.

No casualties, total success.

The world was in a celebratory mood.

We made it through this one safely.

Having fended off their attack, now it’s time to strike back.

And the next day—

Loki informed me that the suicide squad was ready.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]