Chapter 206

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 206: Overwhelming with SP (4)

"Is this it?"

A cold sensation was felt from the tentacle.

Upon closer inspection, it was a blue gem.

Should it be said to be about the size of a person?

It had been so deeply hidden that it hadn't been discovered until now.

"Inventory."

When I tried to put it into my inventory, a message appeared.

["Core of the Divine Realm" cannot be placed in the inventory.]

It couldn't go into the inventory?

Hmm.

Then I’d have to send this clone back home.

"So, you were there……!"

Ares, who had been fighting my clones, spotted it.

Even though tentacles were covering everything, he quickly figured it out.

"Oh father Zeus, grant me your power."

As Ares laid down his spear and sword, tentacles aimed at him while he was exposed.

Tentacles poured in from all directions.

Just when it seemed like Ares would be pierced instantly, black lightning flared up around his body.

Zzzzzzt.

Even though the tentacles were shrouded in energy, they couldn't withstand the black lightning that surged from his body.

The tentacles burned away and vanished completely.

Ares, now transformed into a stream of black lightning, shot toward the Core of the Divine Realm like a bolt.

"Heimdall's Return."

First, I had to send the clone holding the Core back home.

But the clone didn’t return right away and started to struggle.

Watching to see what was wrong, I saw that it was being restrained by the black lightning Ares was spreading.

What the……?

Just turning into black lightning made him that strong?

I definitely needed to analyze that thoroughly.

But for now...

“Block him!”

All my clones threw themselves in.

Soul Barriers couldn’t regenerate, but the ones already deployed were still active, so I could buy some time.

“How bothersome……!”

Ares rushed in like a gale.

My clones vanished in a single strike.

Even the enormous amount of SP I had was useless in that moment.

Was receiving EX-grade power really on a whole different level?

I had thought it was over after getting SP in the tens of trillions, but he was still such a headache.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound of Soul Barriers shattering echoed around me.

A clone with my face was pierced in a single blow and disappeared.

Even the wall made of tentacles was pierced right through.

But in the end, pouring all that power in had worked.

The clone’s body began to turn completely white.

Heimdall’s Return had started to activate.

“Grr...!”

Had he noticed?

Ares readied to throw his spear.

His weapon turned pitch black and transformed into a streak of lightning.

Still, with the clones acting as shields, the return should succeed…!

[You're too slow.]

A sudden voice rang out.

It was Zeus’s voice—I had heard it before.

With that voice, Ares’s spear flew at an incredible speed.

My clones threw themselves in to block it.

But they were being shredded too quickly.

Damn it……?

I thought we had escaped safely……!

[Would you like to regenerate the Soul Barrier? Due to the EX-grade attack, regenerating it will consume SP at 100 times the normal rate.]

A message popped up out of nowhere.

Of course, since I had nothing but SP, I chose YES.

Then Ares’s spear started to slow down.

No further regeneration messages appeared after that, but it was enough.

I pushed the Core of the Divine Realm as far away as I could with my tentacles……!

Zzzzt!

Just as it seemed the hidden Core had been slightly grazed, the clone escaped the realm of Taoist gods unharmed.

The clone returned to my house in Seoul.

“That was insane.”

The clone’s body was nearly disintegrated.

It had been directly pierced by Ares’s spear.

Still, it had brought back the Core of the Divine Realm……

Looking closely, the top part had been slightly damaged.

“No matter how much SP I have, fighting Zeus isn’t going to be easy.”

He pierced through the Soul Barrier like nothing.

Even Ares, when turned into black lightning, was too much to handle, not even worth trying to stall.

I thought I had won after gaining SP in the tens of trillions……

But in a one-on-one, it was still tough.

“Still, I think I’ve gotten a bit of a clue.”

The countless deaths of my clones built up a kind of instinctive experience.

The Soul Barrier that kept collapsing finally regenerated once at the last moment.

Thinking back, it wasn’t just a coincidence, but the result of all those clones’ sacrifices.

“Looks like I’ll have to go die to Ares some more.”

I had burned through an enormous amount of SP by sending in all those clones.

There wasn’t much SP left, so I’d have to withdraw another 10 trillion.

But with an abundance of SP, it didn’t matter.

Right now, understanding that power came before anything else—even if I had to go and die again.

“I’ll keep sending in clones.”

The divine realm of Taoism was being utterly destroyed.

Into that crumbling realm, I kept deploying suicide squads against Ares, who was single-handedly rampaging through it.

Just then, Ares was about to leave.

In his hand was a fragment of the divine realm’s core.

It must have chipped slightly when my spear grazed it earlier.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Whoosh.

My clones kept pouring in, all extending their tendrils toward Ares.

“Hmph...!”

Ares tried to hide himself again, just like before.

I was about to give up on obtaining more information—but then…

“Oh? He couldn’t hide that?”

The core fragment of the divine realm remained where Ares had vanished.

Even if I couldn’t kill him, just retrieving the core would be a gain.

“Damn!”

Realizing this loophole, Ares reappeared to protect the fragment.

My clones began forming a siege around him.

“That face again... how tiresome!”

Ares unleashed black lightning in all directions.

My clones were swept away like autumn leaves, but something had changed since earlier.

[Would you like to regenerate Soul Barrier? Due to an EX-rank attack, regenerating will consume SP at 100 times the usual rate.]

The regeneration message for Soul Barrier started appearing more frequently.

Good.

It was working.

“Authority of the Sun God.”

I continued to strike Ares with rays of light.

Of course, my attacks didn’t hit.

Ares’s martial skill was worthy of the title “God of War.”

He deflected not only the tendrils but even the divine light itself.

Fine.

Kill him—kill him.

Over a hundred clones disappeared in an instant.

By now, the number of clones lost to Ares must’ve exceeded a thousand.

But thanks to those sacrifices, there was definite progress.

[Would you like to regenerate Soul Barrier? Due to an EX-rank attack, regenerating will consume SP at 89 times the usual rate.]

The SP cost had dropped from 100 times to 89 times.

On top of that, every barrier had regenerated at least once by now.

Good. I could keep going at this rate.

Rumble—

At that moment, the Taoist divine realm began collapsing in earnest.

This place, which had originally been underground, had completely unraveled—now sky and earth swirled in a chaotic vortex.

At first, it didn’t matter since we were fighting as soul forms…

“Ugh…!”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

But as the world collapsed, the pull from the center of the vortex grew stronger.

At the heart of it was a black void.

Even the light emitted by the Sun God’s power was sucked in and vanished.

“Huh, even soul forms…?!”

Ares, who had been blocking my attacks, and my clones alike—everyone began being slowly pulled into it.

Was this how the Taoist divine realm would end?

What would happen when it finally collapsed?

“Even the outside looks like a dark void, like outer space…”

As the world kept unraveling, I could now see the end of it with the naked eye.

A completely dark, empty void—pure nothingness.

Out of curiosity, I sent a clone toward that space…

“Aaaaagh!”

It vanished the moment it made contact, severing all control.

What was that dark space?

It felt different from Oceanos.

At the very least, I now knew this: touching it meant annihilation.

Whether you were pulled into the vortex or touched the void outside, you would disappear.

That meant there wasn’t much time left to fight in this space.

If my clones and Ares perished together here, that wouldn’t be so bad either.

I continued sending in clones into this collapsing world.

“Ha! How much SP do you have to spare?!”

Ares’s attacks grew even faster.

After wiping out a wave of my clones, he tried to escape this world like me—using recall magic, planting a flag, opening a portal.

He tried every method he could think of.

But I completely surrounded him with tendrils filled with soul energy, thwarting all his escape attempts.

“At this rate, you won’t survive either.”

“It’s fine. They’re just clones.”

“Heh. You really don’t care about SP, do you? In that case, I’ll just wipe them all out and escape!”

Ares began attacking more aggressively.

Whereas before his offense and defense had been perfectly balanced, now he focused solely on attack.

Crackle—

When Ares swung his sword through the air, black lightning consumed the collapsing world.

Soul Barriers shattered all at once.

The clones that had already used their one-time regeneration vanished immediately.

Abandoning defense, Ares now aimed to wipe out the clones quickly and flee.

His method was effective—more than half my clones were swept away in no time.

And with the space shrinking, summoning new clones became harder.

To summon, I had to open a portal, but if I opened it too close to Ares and he jumped in, it would be a disaster.

I somehow managed to replenish the clones, but their numbers were noticeably fewer.

Still…

“Guh…! Was this the soul energy emission of the Soul God…?!”

The tentacles began to reach Ares's soul form.

Because Ares had been solely focused on offense, small openings had started to appear.

Light and tentacles pierced through those openings, and one tentacle lightly brushed against his armor.

Crack.

Ares’s armor shattered in an instant.

Despite his almost inexplicably overwhelming offensive power, his defense seemed relatively weak.

Well, up until now, he had been blocking everything perfectly with just his sword and spear...

This was the first time something actually touched his body.

“You were in too much of a hurry...!”

After allowing a single hit, Ares began to pay more attention to defense again.

Even though the tentacle had only grazed him, it felt like it landed a solid blow.

Now that he changed tactics, the clones could start entering the divine realm again, one after another.

“Let’s keep playing... until the world is completely destroyed.”

The SP cost for the barrier had now dropped to just 50 times the original.

Some of the clones could now block up to two attacks.

Good.

The analysis was finally progressing.

Rather than analyzing Asgard’s black lightning for ages, getting beaten and dying like this made things much clearer.

“Let’s die together, Ares.”

“Let’s die together, Ares.”

Hundreds of clones said it at the same time.

Ares swung his sword with a look of utter disgust.

But his attacks were clearly weaker than before.

At this rate, it seemed possible to destroy both the world and him together…!

[My son Ares. Hand over the shard of the core to me without conditions. Then I will release you from this space.]

Suddenly, Zeus’s voice was heard.

He had empowered the destruction of the alternate god-core, so it was strange he had been just watching silently until now.

And now he was suddenly asking for the core shard without conditions...

This guy.

Was he trying to make a deal with his own son?

“I cannot… Father. Didn’t you make a promise to me?”

[Hahaha. Our promise was based on the complete core of the alternate god-realm. What use do I have for that tiny shard? Ares, I say this because I care for you. Do you intend to die here with the clone of the Soul God?]

“I cannot…”

[Your mother, Hera, is in tears. She blames me for abandoning our child. Even the iron-willed Hera must see you as a child she can't bear to lose.]

“Mother… No! You must not yield to Father…!”

When Hera was mentioned, a faint opening appeared in Ares’s guard.

What were they talking about?

I didn’t know the details, but I couldn’t let the opening go to waste.

Sizzle!

“Gah!”

A tentacle brushed his armor.

The armor was pierced completely, revealing his pale flesh underneath.

If it were a human, it would’ve been like a light scratch on the skin.

But once the attack landed, Ares’s movements noticeably slowed.

“Ugh. My SP…!”

Oh?

That attack seemed to have drained a fair amount of his SP.

The fierce beast’s momentum was finally broken.

After being beaten down one-sidedly until now, the moment for counterattack had finally arrived.

The tentacles extended all at once.

They collided with Ares’s weapons.

Of course, the moment they touched the black lightning, the tentacles vanished instantly…

[Since I cannot convince you, I must show Hera your peril.]

As Zeus said that, the black lightning contained within Ares’s weapons vanished.

Then Ares’s sword clinked as it touched the tentacles.

The overwhelming force from before was gone, and now the sword merely held its ground against the tentacles.

Crack.

But soon, unable to withstand the tentacle’s strength, it snapped.

[The tentacle, imbued with the energy of the Soul Sword, has destroyed an SS-grade divine weapon of Order.]

[Conditions for the Soul Sword’s ascension have been fulfilled.]

Oh?

A nice bonus.

While the Soul Sword’s advancement was welcome, taking down Ares came first.

But if I killed Ares outright like this, wouldn’t that feel like helping Zeus?

Judging from what I’d heard, it seemed Zeus wanted Hera to see Ares being defeated.

I couldn't just help that bastard, could I?

Stab. Stab.

I pierced Ares’s body with the tentacles, but disabled the soul energy emission.

That way, his soul wouldn’t be destroyed.

“Deactivate the Authority of the Sun God.”

Then, I released the powerful Sun God’s authority and retrieved the shard of the core from Ares’s hand.

Even as I casually took the shard, Zeus did nothing to stop me.

What was that bastard thinking?

For now, I sent the clone that had taken the shard back to Earth…

“Soul God…?”

“Be sealed, for now.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]