Chapter 165

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Chapter 165: Shooting the Sun (1)

“What do you mean by that?”

[God of Souls. I don’t understand your intention…]

A faint smile spread across Artemis’s face.

In contrast, K'aai looked displeased.

Well, considering their conditions, K'aai was more likely to be chosen—no wonder he looked unhappy.

“K'aai, your side needs a piece of a divine soul, right?”

[Yes. And not just any divine soul—a pure, white soul fragment from a being who’s lost their reason.]

“If that’s what you need, I can give it to you.”

[No way… How? Ah, because you're the God of Souls?]

“Exactly. Hmm. Artemis, let me see your arm. I’m going to harvest a piece of your soul.”

At that, Artemis’s right arm, previously shrouded in darkness, was revealed.

Pale but with well-defined muscles.

[Will this suffice?]

“Yeah. Alright then—let's harvest the soul. Artemis, you consent, right?”

“Uh… I suppose so.”

Artemis nodded, dazed.

With her permission, I brought the Soul Sword to her arm.

“Adjusting soul energy output…”

The blade shrank, about the size of a kitchen knife.

I pressed it to Artemis’s soul and carefully began slicing.

Zzzzzzzt.

“Ugh…”

She gritted her teeth, enduring the pain.

But seeing her biting her lip harder showed it definitely hurt.

Even though I lowered the output, it still caused pain.

[Heh. To feel pain from just this? God of Souls, whatever you're doing, wouldn’t plain torture be quicker?]

“Hold on, I’m nearly done.”

Zzzzzzzt.

Bit by bit, the Soul Sword cut into Artemis’s soul.

Whether it was because of the lower output or the nature of divine soul, it didn’t cut easily.

Snip.

Still, I didn’t give up.

With careful slicing, a small part of the soul was finally separated.

A tiny piece of flesh from her arm—just a minute fragment of divine soul.

“This much should be regenerable, right, Artemis?”

“Ugh… Yes, it should be.”

“Good. Then… Soul Fusion.”

I opened the Soul Fusion window.

The main component: Artemis’s soul fragment.

The sacrifice: …

“Summon Clone.”

I summoned my clone.

Since it’s for sacrifice, there’s no need to give it my full form—just a simple orb.

[Hoooh…]

“Uh… What are you doing? Are you combining your soul with mine?”

“Yep. Should make for a decent result.”

Artemis flushed bright red and looked flustered.

What’s up with her?

Ignoring Artemis, I began the fusion.

[Soul Fusion in progress...]

The Soul Fusion window began to glow.

Before the result appeared, I silently wished for a pure soul fragment.

If my will as the God of Souls imbues the process, the result will likely follow that direction.

Ever since reaching SS-rank, I’ve known this instinctively.

And my intention bore fruit—the result was satisfying.

[SSS-Rank Divine Soul Fragment has been created.]

[Fused with the God of Souls' essence. Soul fragment’s size and purity have increased.]

Success.

The resulting fragment looked like a transparent glass bead.

Completely different from Artemis’s white soul.

K'aai was visibly thrilled at the sight.

[Ooooh… That soul fragment…! Excellent. Wonderful…!]

He was totally ecstatic.

Meanwhile, Artemis, looking pale, asked me,

“Wait. Are you seriously going to give that to him?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“But still… it’s a fusion of my soul and yours… How can you just give that away?”

“Huh? Why not? You said it was a regenerable amount. Same goes for me.”

“But combining two divine souls is like… like having a child together!”

Wait, what?

How did she even come to that conclusion…?

Her wild imagination left me speechless.

“…Are you crazy? That was just a piece of your arm.”

“That’s just how a human sees it! No matter the part, a god’s soul contains divine information! When two divine souls are fused, it’s basically like we’ve had a child together!”

[Heh heh heh. That’s just a soul fragment, Artemis. Stop spouting nonsense and worry about your own life. A virgin goddess imagining that… how absurd.]

K'aai immediately shot her down.

Still, her reaction left me feeling uneasy.

Better double-check.

“Soul Disassembly.”

Using Soul Disassembly, I examined the soul fragment.

I carefully searched for any trace of my or Artemis’s soul essence—but found none.

Maybe because I had wished for a pure soul fragment?

What these false gods want is a blank, untainted divine soul to replace their own.

This should be safe to hand over.

“There’s no trace of either of our essences in it. It’s a pure soul. No need to worry.”

“Hmm… Still…”

“And what if I don’t hand it over? You planning to die here?”

“…No, I’m not.”

Artemis reluctantly accepted it.

Yeah.

Her own life matters most.

K'aai laughed at that.

[As if she’d die for it… God of Souls, may I have the fragment?]

“You know this one piece won’t be anywhere near enough for your goal, right?”

[Of course. You made it as a sample, didn’t you? So I could experience it firsthand.]

“Good. Glad you caught on.”

[Please toss the soul fragment into the vortex.]

I threw the fragment into K'aai’s vortex.

It swallowed the soul immediately.

A green gem shimmered brightly.

[Oooooh. This… it really works…!]

The vortex began spinning wildly.

With the jewel flashing so intensely, it looked like a mirrorball in a nightclub.

“…I’m sorry…”

Artemis clenched her jaw, staring at the scene.

Lady, I told you it wasn’t our kid.

Why do you look like you sold your own child?

Whirrrrrr.

The flashing went on for about 10 minutes.

Eventually, the vortex’s spin began to slow.

Then finally…

[I have manifested one at last!]

Zzzzt. Zzzzt.

One strand of the swirling darkness began to change.

A lump of flesh in a pale apricot hue suddenly emerged, slowly morphing and elongating on its own.

What eventually formed was a tentacle.

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It even had suction cups, resembling an octopus arm.

“Ugh… tentacles again?”

[What can we do? The human who designed us must have hated the sea… or seafood.]

K'aai replied, shaking the tentacle with a gleeful wobble.

Just what kind of person came up with this guy?

I’ll have to look them up once I get back to Earth.

Sigh.

Do I have to start researching human myths now too?

[Oh Soul God, can you provide us with these soul fragments? If you do, the gods of Dreamland shall aid you.]

“Dreamland?”

“That’s basically the divine realm of those false gods.”

Hmm.

Like Olympus, maybe?

But the quest was just to reconstruct K'aai as a god.

There’s also a quest reward offering an alliance with the Great Old One—so is it really necessary to supply soul fragments?

“The quest I got only requires me to make you a god. The alliance with the Great Old One was listed as a reward anyway.”

[Heh. In the current situation, I'm the only proper Great Old One left. The others used up all their power in Dreamland and are now sealed… If you want true strength, provide the soul fragments.]

“What, are you scamming me? You put ‘alliance’ as a reward, but it turns out it’s useless?”

[Well, if you disassemble Artemis’ soul, all you'd get is food for me anyway. It's not a lie. You’re asking if it’s useless because I’m the only one left... well…]

K'aai wiggled the tentacle into a circle.

Ugh, this bastard.

Turns out he’s got nothing?

Artemis, also looking dumbfounded, spoke to me.

“Soul God… Are you really going to trust those tricksters who have no power? Just kill him and free me. I’ll help you with all I have.”

[Heh… No power, you say. We were the ones who executed Zeus’s ‘Heaven and Earth Overhaul’ operation. We put all of Earth’s gods into a temporary comatose state, and the Olympus side sealed them off...]

That event—when numerous gods across the divine realms were sealed all at once.

Was that the work of the Dreamland faction?

Artemis didn’t seem to deny it either.

“If they managed to halt all the gods of Earth even for a while, then they must’ve drained all their SP. Would helping them now even be worth it?”

[Heh… If we gain divine soul fragments, it certainly will be… especially considering what Zeus is planning.]

K'aai extended a tentacle into the air before the vortex.

A large screen appeared, displaying something.

“The Pillar of Thunder?”

[Soul God. I commend your surprise attack on Kalvine. It significantly cut off Zeus’s SP supply. However, his plans will proceed nonetheless.]

Seven Pillars of Thunder appeared on the screen.

One of them stood out with an unusual color.

It didn’t just shine white—it shimmered with iridescent light, obviously extraordinary.

[Zeus plans to invade Earth’s divine realm.]

“He’s going to attack a divine realm? He’s already been blasting lightning on Earth weekly—does he really have enough energy for more?”

[He is an EX-rank god now. Don’t underestimate his potential, Soul God.]

K'aai didn’t say which realm would be attacked, but insisted that a major invasion was coming soon.

He lightly tapped the rainbow lightning on the screen with a tentacle.

[This lightning will be a major factor in the invasion. It seems to contain some of our false gods’ powers as well.]

“The same power that rendered gods comatose?”

[Yes. It was a miracle only possible because we were false gods. But now that Zeus has reached EX-rank, he can imitate it. He’ll find a way to use it. Still, it won’t work on us.]

Thus, K'aai proposed to restore the power of the Dreamland gods and form an alliance.

Talk about desperation to become a true god.

“Let’s just finish the quest involving you first. We’ll figure out the rest afterward. I can’t perform infinite soul fusions in a day, you know.”

[Hmm… Such a miracle isn’t easily achieved, I understand…]

He accepted it rather obediently, suggesting those soul fragments really were that valuable.

[Then let us form a contract—agree to provide me with soul fragments, and I shall release Artemis.]

“Alright. I’ll try to make at least one per day.”

[One a day… Then it will take about a year for full recovery. If possible, I’d appreciate it being faster.]

“I got it.”

With the contract to supply soul fragments made, Artemis was released.

Her nude form was fully revealed.

Her snow-white body was dazzling.

She stood about 160 cm tall—not very tall, with a delicate, girlish build, yet firm muscle underneath.

She even had abs.

Not much in the way of curves; more of a straight-lined body shape.

Hmm. Hmmm.

Her face and body gave off a vibe—like a teenager in middle or high school.

“What are you staring at!?”

Artemis shouted sharply.

She tapped her body with a finger, and a white dress materialized to cover her.

[Heh. Now that you’re an apostle, you should obey your divine master… how disrespectful.]

“Ugh… not yet.”

Artemis denied it while grinding her teeth.

Just then, the quest completion window popped up.

[You have freed Artemis.]

[You have completed a special quest.]

[Goddess Artemis has become an apostle of Soul God Kim Jiho.]

Artemis must have seen the message too.

With a gloomy expression, she asked me,

“…So you’re my apostle god now. Want me to undress again?”

“No, it’s fine. Nothing to see anyway.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

I like voluptuous figures, so I’m good.

Relieved, Artemis looked visibly more at ease.

[Heh. After seeing so many indecent sights, and you're still embarrassed over mere nudity? You're such a child.]

“Silence, monster. I’ll repay every disgrace I’ve suffered so far.”

Artemis summoned her bow and aimed it at K'aai.

I get it—after being imprisoned and humiliated for so long, it makes sense she’s angry.

But she shouldn’t act on her own.

“Stop, Artemis. We still have much to cooperate on with him. Settle the score after everything’s done.”

“Grr… Fine.”

She lowered her bow obediently.

Well, at least she listens to me now as an apostle.

[Soul God. I have a good suggestion.]

K'aai, watching the scene unfold, spoke with his usual eerie and cunning tone.

[Apollo is outside right now… Perhaps worried for his twin sister. He’s been waiting a long time. Wouldn’t this be a perfect chance to eliminate him?]

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