Chapter 184

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 184: Ares' Army (3)

Thanks to Hwanung’s active cooperation, things were proceeding smoothly.

“Hey, Amaterasu. Did you see the message I sent? Once you've made up your mind, please open the portal.”

“Ares tricked us. They’re not under the control of the system. If we continue like this, we’re just going to be used and die. I put my last hope in the Soul God. His conditions were…”

“You don’t believe me? Then take a look at this. Soul God, Ares already negotiated with us in advance and is trying to turn us all into Black Thunder. His goal is the downfall of Asgard… Even if I say this, there’s no penalty.”

“So, what are you going to do? Just swear you won’t harm us when we arrive. Then open the gate.”

Hwanung was constantly communicating with countless places.

He said he’d split himself for a moment—then ten versions of Hwanung appeared and began to handle business.

“Wow, now that’s some work ethic. He reminds me of Hermes.”

Artemis was impressed by Hwanung’s whirlwind efficiency.

Among the ten versions, the original came up to me and said,

“Ten minor divine realms have responded saying they wish to be annexed under the High God. I’ve mapped out the optimal route.”

“Yes, let’s go with that.”

And so we began traveling across various divine realms.

Hwanung’s guidance was almost too convenient.

And his leadership wasn’t over yet.

“Soul God. I’ve heard the offer from Hwanung. For us, relying on you is our only option now. But… while we’re at it, would it be okay if another god from our divine realm also became an Apostle? Under the same conditions?”

Japan’s sun goddess, Amaterasu.

A tall goddess with a small sun floating behind her head.

She was the first to respond favorably, and now she was asking for one more god to be included.

I was about to decline since the Apostle roster would get complicated before the garden could be upgraded into a divine realm.

But Hwanung, sensing this, jumped in ahead of me.

“This wasn’t part of the deal, was it? The Apostle slots are limited, and we need to unify several divine realms. I’ve already lost the Wind God and the Rain God, and even the Cloud Master sealed himself and entrusted his authority to me. Once we finish uniting the minor realms, I’m sure the Soul God will handle things appropriately.”

“Hmmm…”

“Do you know how many places are contacting us right now? We don’t have time to linger here!”

“Alright, alright. Jeez… Why are you the one making all the fuss?”

Amaterasu grumbled but eventually agreed to enter alone.

[High God ‘Amaterasu’ has joined the Apostle Garden.]

[Two more High Gods will upgrade the Apostle Garden into a Divine Realm.]

Following her lead, more gods began to join.

[Daevas has joined the Apostle Garden.]

[Sedna has joined the Apostle Garden.]

From the founding myths of many countries to the Inuit mythology.

Thanks to Hwanung’s prior negotiations, we not only secured the original ten realms but also four additional ones.

“Already fourteen realms…”

“So far, so good.”

“These were the divine realms that responded most favorably to my proposal. From here on, we’ll be dealing with the more hesitant ones.”

Hwanung looked at us nervously.

“You should prepare yourselves now. Initially, they weren’t open to the idea of opening a portal, then suddenly agreed. But they made it clear—they won’t make any system-bound oaths.”

“Hm. Could be a trap.”

“Yes. The one we’re dealing with is Enki, a god from Mesopotamian mythology… one of humanity’s oldest deities.”

“If you think it’s a trap, maybe we shouldn’t go…”

“But I’m certain he qualifies as a High God. And if we want to establish a divine realm, we need to reach out.”

We had absorbed 14 minor realms, but gaining High Gods wasn’t easy.

Early on, we had Hwanung and Amaterasu, so I thought we’d reach five in no time...

But the rest were just mid-tier gods—not quite what we needed.

At this rate, the roster would hit its cap, and we might have to kick out some Apostles.

“Let’s go. Even if it’s a trap, we’ll break through.”

“Understood. I’ll open the portal.”

At my decision, Hwanung opened the portal.

But I took precautions before stepping in.

“Soul Barrier.”

As I used Soul Barrier, everyone followed my lead and activated theirs as well.

Even Hwanung used it, then looked at me apologetically.

“If something happens in the Mesopotamian divine realm, I’ll have to withdraw. Just creating this barrier drained too much SP…”

Wait, he's out of SP just from this?

I knew he was broke, but not this broke.

“Do what you have to. I’ll go in first.”

As I stepped into the portal—

I noticed it immediately.

Ah.

It’s a trap.

Crackle!

A world of darkness.

Black Thunder rained down from all directions.

No time for questions—just attack.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thanks to the Soul Barrier, I took no damage.

But the attack was strong enough to trigger status messages.

[Soul Barrier is half-destroyed.]

[SP is being consumed to regenerate it.]

A space with not a single ray of light.

“Let there be light.”

I cast light, but it quickly faded.

For a brief moment, the scene was illuminated—revealing a landscape covered in crackling Black Thunder.

Black electric vines tangled across every direction.

This… doesn’t feel like a divine realm at all.

Was this even the Mesopotamian divine realm?

I scanned the surroundings quickly.

No sun in the sky.

I couldn’t use solar authority.

Apollo used to emit light himself…

But I don’t think my power is at that level yet.

Looks like I’ll have to handle it with soul energy.

“Soul Energy Emission.”

Whoosh!

I thrust my sword and struck the Black Thunder.

It sliced through the Black Thunder easily.

But it regenerated instantly and began to grow in scale.

Hmm.

This is...

Not going to be easy?

“Triaina. Pull up the map of Okeanos. Where am I?”

[Unable to determine user's location.]

I pulled up the map to figure out where I was, but Triaina showed a message saying my location couldn’t be identified.

Not even in the divine realm...

So this portal was a complete trap, huh?

Whoosh. Whoosh.

I strengthened the Soul Energy Emission and swung my sword again.

Crackle.

The Black Thunder vanished in an instant.

But its regeneration was just as fast.

On top of that, slashing it didn’t absorb any SP—it was just draining mine.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

This really isn’t worth it.

“Kim Jiho. It was a trap, wasn’t it?”

A familiar voice—Artemis—from behind.

She hasn’t come through yet.

Hiding behind a god as an apostle… tsk tsk…

“Yeah. Let’s pull out. This isn’t the divine realm.”

I retreated before the others could enter.

As I stepped into the still-open portal, Black Thunder poured down on me like a storm, as if trying to stop me from escaping.

I slashed it all away and passed through the portal.

Crackle!

Even inside the portal, Black Thunder reached for me.

I casually deflected it, and it vanished without a trace.

“It really was… a trap?”

“Yes. There was nothing but Black Thunder.”

Then Hwanung bowed his head and apologized.

“My apologies, my lord. I should’ve analyzed it better…”

“No need. We did manage to integrate 14 minor divine realms easily, didn’t we?”

“From now on, we should avoid using portals. Even Enki only pretended to be friendly… We shouldn’t trust divine realms that haven’t sworn an oath.”

“Agreed. From now on, we’ll travel via Triaina. Hwanung, continue to reach out to other realms, but don’t trust those who haven’t pledged.”

We were low on numbers, so we took the risk—and almost paid for it.

Honestly, I thought even if it was a trap, we’d be fine, but the Black Thunder world wasn’t that easy.

If the trap had been just a bit stronger, I might not have escaped.

I pulled up Triaina again and returned to Okeanos to resume movement.

This time, the map in Triaina showed a different situation.

“Is it because we integrated those minor divine realms? The targets for the enemy legions have disappeared. Now they’re heading elsewhere.”

“Huh? The number of divine realms has decreased a lot?”

“Yeah. Aside from the well-known higher realms, most are vanishing. Even if we count the ones that joined us as sealed, the others disappearing is strange…”

Countless dots were disappearing from the map.

When I entered the portal earlier, they were still there.

Hwanung, who was also looking at the map, shared his thoughts.

“Ares seems to be making his move on the divine realms he lured with sweet talk. With the revelations from Pungbaek and Usa, he must’ve realized he can’t move quietly anymore.”

“Then shouldn’t we send legions to Okeanos? How is he already taking over divine realms?”

“Think about the minor realms you destroyed earlier. Weren’t more than half of them already filled with Black Thunder? Many of those were already half-claimed. They were fooled with promises of release, and now that their secret’s out, he’s revealing his true colors. After the trap failed, he’s resorting to force.”

So they’re trying to take over the divine realms before I can destroy them?

“Should I not have exposed them back then?”

“Even if you hadn’t, any realm with Black Thunder in it was already a colony of theirs. This way, we can clearly see who’s friend and foe. Let’s focus our efforts on the remaining minor divine realms. You try to contact as many gods as you can.”

Hwanung split into ten copies and began reaching out in all directions.

One major change was that many communications were failing.

Hwanung kept track of the unreachable ones, and when he got through to someone, he made full use of it.

“Do you know there’s a major upheaval? Any divine realm with Black Thunder installed has lost all communication. Ares is swallowing the minor realms whole.”

“They pretended to be friendly with us, but all along, they intended to devour everything. Zeus is capable of distorting even the system itself. Instead of trusting him, why not turn to the Soul God? His terms are fair, and he openly vowed to bind himself through the system.”

He worked tirelessly, calling every contact whether it connected or not.

Watching all this, I let out a deep sigh as I saw Kuuga staring dumbfounded and Artemis playing with the map screen.

“Hey. Don’t you two have anything to do?”

“Ah, uh… yes, my lord. Umm… Oh! Right. I’ll contact my allies and ask them to explain the situation to their respective realms.”

“Good. Do it.”

Kuuga racked his brain and came up with a decent plan.

Meanwhile, Artemis averted her gaze and kept staring at the map.

“Got any ideas?”

“Me? I… hmm… I’ll just keep monitoring the map. I don’t really know much about these minor divine realms. Just think of me as a combat unit.”

“… Fine. Suit yourself.”

Yeah.

What would she even know about those realms?

She’s been cut off from Olympus too…

She’s only needed during battles.

“Let’s head to the next remaining realm.”

We moved Triaina toward one of the remaining divine realms.

While Triaina was in motion, I sent a message to my apostles.

I explained the situation and asked them to reach out to any divine realms they knew.

Soon, responses began coming in.

[Yes. I’ll try contacting the minor divine realms I know right away… Oh, they’re not answering.]

[I heard from Kuuga and tried contacting them as well, but most aren’t responding.]

Most of the places were completely unreachable.

On the map, the divine realms that were labeled as “minor” were disappearing rapidly.

“Huh. The closest realm just vanished?”

“Then let’s head to the next target.”

At Artemis’s cue, we rerouted Triaina again.

After about three or four misses, we finally found a spot.

Then Artemis, staring closely at the map, pointed at a location.

“Then how about going here? That’s where the enemy legions seem to be headed. If they’re going there, it’s probably a valuable target.”

The divine realm she pointed to.

It didn’t seem any different in size, but there was something unusual about it.

“That divine realm… doesn’t have a name…”

“That’s next to Asgard.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]