Chapter 156

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Chapter 156: Artemis (1)

“Is this the planet Kalvine?”

Sixty gods and dragons stood neatly in formation around me.

They were far more energetic than the last time I saw them.

Have they recovered a good amount of strength from the Apostle’s Garden?

Their gazes were much more favorable than before.

I gave them orders.

“Yes. This is our target, Planet Kalvine. Everyone, spread out and focus solely on destroying the Pillars of Lightning. If you encounter any enemies, send me a message and request reverse summoning. There’s no need to clash unnecessarily.”

“Understood.”

The sixty gods split into teams of five and charged off in all directions.

“Summon map.”

I conjured a map to locate the Apostles.

Sixty red dots were spreading out in groups of five, with one dot moving alone.

That must be Drakina.

The lightning pillars illuminating the area began to vanish silently.

The ground, which had been as bright as noon, started to shift into a soft twilight hue.

The disappearance of the Thunder Souls was so rapid that I couldn’t even see my target.

As I watched, I recalled Athena’s message.

—I heard Apollo’s report. You’ve invaded Kalvine.

It was a message that appeared on Aegis’ Shield.

Athena already knew.

—I haven’t reported it to Zeus yet. He’s currently in seclusion, claiming to be handling important matters. But in a week, I’ll have to report this to him.

She was implying that I had one more week to attack again.

She also shared a few key facts with me.

Kalvine is guarded by Apollo and Artemis in alternating shifts of day and night, and the plains I stood on marked the boundary.

—Apollo is extremely loyal to Zeus. His loyalty is one of the highest in Olympus. But Artemis? She isn’t as loyal. It would be best to attack when she’s on duty.

She specifically recommended the time after sunset.

That transition period from Apollo to Artemis—she said it would be full of holes.

And just as she said, even as time passed, the apostle gods on the map kept advancing at high speed.

And that momentum only stopped about thirty minutes later.

[Kim Jiho. We've encountered enemies. Please reverse summon.]

The gods from the Hindu pantheon, who had gone north, sent a message.

Their advance had stopped, as shown on the map.

I immediately reverse-summoned them.

[We encountered a subordinate of Artemis. A young female—looks like a nymph… She seems to be around S-rank in power.]

As soon as I reverse-summoned them, the team I had sent west also sent a message.

When I reverse-summoned them, I started getting similar messages from all directions at nearly the same time.

Last time, they ran into enemies within five minutes, so they managed to do a lot better this time, lasting a full 30 minutes.

I recalled all the gods for now.

[Ah, these crazy wenches are too strong! We can’t hold out!]

Once I even recalled Drakina, I was the only one left on Kalvine.

Today’s gains were pretty good.

Thanks to the apostles spreading out and laying waste, we covered a much larger area than last time—and I leveled up by 20.

Not a single god on our side was lost.

Everyone was safely reverse-summoned, so there were zero casualties.

[Jiho. Let’s retreat. Even Zeus can’t ignore the damage we did.]

Drakia sounded satisfied and suggested we withdraw.

Yeah.

If we pull out now, this would count as a successful surprise raid.

But…

There was still more to gain.

“I’ll engage the enemies for a bit longer.”

[What? Are you serious? Sure, it’s just nymphs now, but if you keep fighting, Artemis will show up. She’s an SSS-rank Archgod.]

“I know.”

[Even if you’re the Soul God, going against an Archgod is reckless. And the Olympian Archgods aren’t ordinary ones. They can use Soul Reaper skills through Hercules and have amassed vast amounts of SP through infinite regression. Under equal conditions, even three SSS-rank gods wouldn’t be able to take on Artemis.]

Drakia had a point.

Olympian Archgods are stronger than those from other pantheons.

They have access to Soul Reaper abilities, and their SP reserves are enormous.

Under normal circumstances, I’d need to be upgraded one more tier to even stand a chance.

Still, I ran.

Each step surged with power, and my soul form shot out like a bullet.

The scenery around me whizzed past, and the once-dim dusk rapidly brightened again.

I sped through areas where the lightning pillars had been demolished by the gods over the past 30 minutes and arrived instantly at the site where they’d encountered the nymphs.

Pouring all my soul power into movement brought out this kind of speed.

[Wait, are you seriously—?!]

“Artemis is an Archgod. I know she’s strong.”

[Then why are you doing this?!]

“But what if… she can’t fight in her soul form?”

[What are you saying? Don’t tell me you’re doing this because of that rumor about Artemis?]

Drakia explained what they’d found out about Artemis.

[The virgin goddess Artemis is rumored to act like a libertine, constantly changing physical forms for pleasure. She supposedly never reveals her true soul form. But that’s when she’s playing. Would she really avoid soul form in a life-or-death battle?]

But Athena’s message was clear.

—Artemis will never use her soul form.

Even if it meant her end as a god, she would never reveal it.

Athena added:

—If she fights without soul form, her power is equivalent to a mid-tier god. If that’s the case…

“Oh my. I thought everyone ran away. Brother, you look tasty.”

A group of women barely covered in cloth appeared.

Some were nearly naked.

Greenish wings—damaged or bent—were on their backs, and their faces were caked with bizarre, thick makeup.

If they hadn’t worn that makeup, they might’ve looked like innocent fairies.

But it was like they refused to allow that.

Were these the nymphs the gods encountered?

“How brave. Want us to play with you?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s see if Artemis gets mad or not. Let’s take a bite first. Hahaha.”

Seeing me, they jiggled their chests to seduce.

If it weren’t for their post-apocalyptic rocker makeup, I might’ve actually flinched.

“Soul Release.”

I took a step forward.

Just one step.

I tore through space and leapt into the middle of the nymphs.

Fwoooosh.

White flames erupted.

The flame of my soul sword engulfed the nymphs.

Their soul barriers flared briefly, but they were incinerated in moments.

With maximum soul energy and SP prepared, low-tier gods didn’t stand a chance anymore.

The instant five nymphs vanished, the others’ expressions changed, and they scattered.

“Soul Release!”

“He’s the Soul God!”

“Stop playing! This guy’s strong!”

Their swift reaction showed they didn’t rise to low-tier godhood on luck alone.

Vzzzzzzzzzt—

They all summoned something into their hands.

Ropes—with leather straps in the middle.

Slingshots.

The nymphs loaded small sticks instead of rocks.

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These sticks… they looked strangely familiar.

“Soul Barrier.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The enemy's thrown weapons bounced off the Soul Barrier one after another.

They were soaked in pure white soul energy, but lost power and fell to the ground.

At first, they looked like blunt wooden sticks, but watching them fall…

“Wait, are these… penises?”

“Kekeke. Must be some pervy transformation from the Soul God. They say these are dicks.”

“That’s what I’m saying. If they’re dicks, they should have balls too. Like this.”

The nymphs summoned the items again.

This time, they summoned not just the stick shapes but also two balls.

Just as I initially suspected, they were indeed male genitalia.

Sigh.

What use could those possibly have as weapons?

These little things… they told me not to mess around earlier, but now they're throwing this?

“Aegis Shield.”

I summoned the shield and charged into the enemy formation.

“Scatter!”

The enemies tried to spread out.

But the difference in power was overwhelming.

What I could reach in one step, they needed ten to get to.

Their barriers couldn’t block my strikes, and their clumsy sling attacks didn’t even tickle.

It was an easy battle, like a wolf attacking a flock of sheep.

[You have leveled up.

Even though they were wiped out in a single strike, they still had the audacity to pop up level-up messages like gods.

Shraaak.

“Ugh… hehe… I… I’m dying…”

As I cut her neck with the soul sword, the nymph burned with a peaceful expression, just for that moment.

The pain of the soul body burning must be immense, yet every time they died, they seemed oddly… relieved.

Geez.

They’re the enemy, so I cut them down without question, but it’s all kind of unsettling.

Still, I cut them.

After annihilating the northern group of nymphs, I continued advancing north.

A little further on, more lightning pillars appeared, densely planted again.

I checked the SP of the apostles affiliated with the Apostle’s Garden, picked the top 20, and summoned them again.

As a bonus, I summoned Drakina too.

“Just like before. Handle it if any enemies appear and send a message.”

“Understood!”

After the gods departed northward, I waited for a moment.

Then a group of nymphs began following me like a unit.

“The Soul God wiped out the 15th legion sisters.”

“Stay sharp! Take them down with full power!”

The number of nymphs: fifty.

Five times more than before.

Though they warned each other not to lower their guard, they all drew slings just like before.

And they loaded them with the exact same thing.

Are they even being serious?

I considered sweeping them away from range, but to save SP, I handled them with the soul sword alone.

They were about the same as the previous enemies.

Aside from their ridiculous dick projectiles, they couldn’t penetrate the Soul Barrier, so the fight was one-sided.

“Heh, finally!”

Every time I struck one down, they had this strangely liberated expression as they burned.

After cutting down the last nymph, another level-up message appeared.

I had already reached level 148.

Since most of these nymphs were near the level of low-ranking gods, they contributed significantly to the godslayer count and leveling.

At this rate, I might hit 200 by the end of the day.

As long as there are no surprises.

[Kim Jiho-nim. The Moonlight is attacking us. Ughh. We can’t hold on…!]

A sudden urgent message.

It arrived from nearly all the gods at once.

Twenty gods were simultaneously facing life-threatening danger.

“Reverse summon.”

I instantly reverse-summoned them all.

The apostles returned to the Apostle’s Garden.

Their SP was almost completely depleted.

“Oppa. We finally meet.”

A voice came from behind me.

It was that sultry voice I’d heard from the sky.

She had approached without a trace of presence…

Even if she wasn’t in soul form, but physical… a deity is still a deity?

“You’re Artemis?”

When I turned around, Artemis came into view.

Her black hair was cut into a short bob.

She wore only white lace underwear that left her dark skin exposed.

Piercings adorned her navel and lips, and her brown eyes were clouded with impurity.

This… is Artemis, the virgin goddess?

She’s nothing like the image I had in mind.

She just looks like a pierced-up, sultry black model dripping with swag.

“That’s right. Hehe. What perfect timing for an ambush. Almost like someone tipped you off.”

Artemis slowly approached me.

Her black cat-like features exuded a seductive aura that could swallow me whole.

“But now that we’re face to face, you won’t be running wild anymore. Now we’ll play a fun little game, just the two of us.”

Her eyes glowed a bright yellow.

And with that, her appearance began to change in my perception.

She was already stunning before, but now she looked like something from another world.

More beautiful than anyone I had ever seen, and a strong desire to obey her welled up inside me.

If I weren’t a god myself, I would’ve already lost my mind.

What is this… she’s not a succubus, is she?!

“Oh my. Your eyes still have some fight in them…”

Artemis smiled seductively as she drew closer.

As she did, the strength in my arms began to drain away.

The soul sword flickered and vanished.

Seeing that, Artemis smiled even more.

The distance between us was now mere inches.

She knelt in front of me.

And slowly, her hand reached for the waistband of my pants.

“Yes, that’s it, good boy… Let’s see if you’re really a 3…… huh!?”

Shluk!

A tentacle shot out from my chest and pierced through Artemis’s neck.

Her eyes blinked in confusion.

And in that moment, my body was free again.

“Your gaze is deadly, I’ll give you that. Soul Energy Emission.”

The soul sword reappeared in a blazing flare.

Artemis stood there, dazed.

And then…

I cut her neck clean through.

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