Chapter 224

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 224: The Great Migration (4)

“Let’s begin.”

Thanks to the false soul, there was no longer any risk of being discovered by Zeus’s faction.

Now I could quickly swap out souls and prepare for the Great Migration.

I’d have to summon a massive number of clones and extract the souls of all humanity.

And since there’s likely something related to the false soul out there in the universe…

I need more clones.

Even more.

They’ll have to scout the universe as well.

For that, I need a larger space than this house…

Ah.

Right.

My temple should be big enough, shouldn’t it?

“Move.”

I moved my main body to the temple.

Possibly because Artemis had a hand in its creation, the building had a strong Greek temple vibe, even though it was essentially a modern building.

On top was a large crescent moon sculpture, making it feel more like a temple to Artemis than mine.

Next to the moon was a sun sculpture as well.

Apollo, that guy must’ve added it just for show while slacking off.

Inside, in soul form, a vast space revealed itself.

The building had no separated floors — more like a giant hollow chamber.

No one was there, aside from the floating figures of Apollo and Artemis frowning from the ceiling.

“Oh… Soul God? What brings you here?”

Apollo came down upon noticing me.

Artemis, who had been concentrating with her eyes closed, quickly followed after him from the ceiling.

“Perfect timing. I was about to report something strange.”

“What is it?”

“Aphrodite’s power suddenly weakened significantly.”

“Oh, that…”

I explained that I had raided Olympus and was currently purifying the sealing stones.

The two of them widened their eyes in surprise.

“You raided all of Olympus?”

“There should’ve been plenty of gods… though I guess with the Soul God’s power, they wouldn’t have been able to stop you.”

“So, does that mean no more disasters?”

“No, not quite. Hades is still around.”

“Hades? But Uncle Hades is on the side of Chaos.”

“Seems like Zeus borrowed some of Chaos’s power. If an EX-rank gives the order, you just have to follow it.”

“Whoa… Colluding with Chaos, huh…”

Apollo’s face twisted at my words.

“If Hades’s authority activates, it’ll be instant death.”

“Hm… Then how about absorbing all human souls before that happens? If they fall into Zeus’s hands, it’ll be troublesome.”

“Artemis has a point. Wouldn’t it be better for the Soul God to absorb humanity into SP and create a new world?”

Artemis suggested absorbing all human souls.

As expected, the gods always think the same way.

They always just want to wipe out humanity and start over.

To be fair, it is the most efficient approach…

“No, I’m taking humanity with me. Using soul stones.”

“Hmm… Why go through all that trouble?”

“Because I need this world, this society — to keep living as Kim Jiho.”

Apollo looked at me quietly, then nodded slightly.

“Your power grew too fast compared to your sense of self. You need humanity to avoid losing yourself, don’t you?”

“Exactly. Abandoning current humanity is easy. But if I do that, Kim Jiho loses his place to return to. Only the Soul God remains, not ‘Kim Jiho the Soul God.’”

“Still, absorbing them into SP would be far easier than sealing them in soul stones.”

“That’s why I came here. Clone summon.”

Inside the temple, I began summoning clones in earnest.

From floor to ceiling, soul forms that looked like me were mass-produced like factory goods.

“Wait… all of these are clones?”

“With this many, the job might actually get done…”

The two gods spoke in disbelief.

But I couldn’t respond.

Having ten thousand clones spawn at once meant a flood of simultaneous input into my main body.

Seeing, hearing, smelling — all at once.

Normally, clones don’t affect the main body that much, but at this scale, it’s different.

“Spread out across Earth. Start collecting human souls. Begin from the outskirts, centered on Korea.”

“Understood.”

Ten thousand Kim Jihos responded in unison and dispersed instantly.

An enormous amount of SP began depleting.

After summoning about ten such waves of Kim Jiho’s army, I got a message saying I was out of SP.

[SP has been depleted.]

“Link to my account. Auto-withdraw SP.”

[SP will now be automatically withdrawn from your account when depleted.]

Good.

That works.

SP recharged quickly.

I used it to mass-produce more Kim Jihos.

With over 100,000 clones, I began to receive a flood of sensory input.

Ah…

This scale is too much.

The clones are everywhere.

Gyeongbokgung, the Great Wall, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal…

The heritage of mankind captured simultaneously.

With over 100,000 visual feeds coming in at once — it’s overwhelming.

I might need to turn this off.

Did I overdo it?

[User's consciousness is rapidly expanding.]

[You can now handle more SP.]

[Continuing to receive sensory input will further enhance your consciousness.]

Just as I was about to shut it all off, a message appeared.

It was from the Soul Sword.

Encouraging me to endure — that I’d need this level of mental fortitude to raise my consciousness.

In that case…

I have no choice but to endure it.

I’ll need to increase usable SP to fight Zeus anyway.

Better this than being devoured by SP.

[User's consciousness is rapidly expanding.]

[User's consciousness is rapidly expanding.]

As 100,000 turned into 200,000, then 500,000, the growth messages kept coming.

Of course, the overwhelming flood of sensations nearly drove me mad.

Clones deployed across the entire globe — their simultaneous input made my mind blur.

Still… it’s strange how I’m managing to endure.

Maybe that’s what it means to be a god.

With hundreds of thousands of simultaneous sensory inputs, you'd think it’d be impossible to handle…

Yet somehow, I’m making it work.

The more information I process, the more adept I become.

If I knew growth was this fast, I would’ve done this sooner.

[SP has been depleted. Automatically withdrawing SP from account.]

[SP handling capacity has increased. Withdraw more SP? Current cap: 50 trillion.]

As hundreds of thousands of Kim Jihos began working, SP plummeted rapidly.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

When I tried to auto-replenish, a message popped up — I could now handle up to 50 trillion SP.

Is growth supposed to be this fast?

If you own 50 trillion, can you really exert five times the power compared to when you had 10 trillion?

I was curious whether it was truly possible to grow that much, so I tried withdrawing 50 trillion.

"Ugh... damn... this 50 trillion..."

It’s overwhelming.

I felt like 'Kim Jiho' had shrunk so small.

With SP five times greater than usual, I felt like a speck of dust.

Like an ant trying to control an elephant.

And then, with 800,000 Kim Jihos sending information all at once, my sense of self became even fainter.

“Ugh... damn it. And even the clones have grown fivefold.”

My clones, already stronger than most regular surrogates, became five times more powerful with the 50 trillion SP.

The sensory input I received from them was also amplified fivefold—it was maddening.

Like turning an already noisy volume up five times.

My mind was truly spinning.

That damn Soul Sword...

What?

You’re saying I can go up to 50 trillion?

At this rate, I’ll be crushed.

[It is possible. And this is the minimum required for growth. If you can’t endure even this, how do you expect to defeat Zeus, supported by Chaos?]

Messages from the Soul Sword kept pushing me whenever I started losing consciousness.

Was it trying to snap me out of it?

The tone was getting increasingly provocative.

[Can’t even handle this? At this measly level? And you tried to preserve your ego like this?]

[Remaining at a human level of consciousness is nonsense. If you can’t endure this, just give your soul over to the SP. Then you’ll become a true Soul God and wipe out Zeus in one strike.]

[Still can’t get a grip? In that case, just withdraw more SP. How about 5,000 trillion? Just hit ‘Yes’—it’ll make things easier.]

A message window popped up: “Would you really like to withdraw 5,000 trillion?”

This bastard...

By now, I couldn’t tell if it was trying to piss me off to help me regain clarity, or actually trying to push me into becoming a Soul God.

“Kim Jiho, aren’t you going to summon more clones?”

Artemis's voice came from beside me.

“Ah... I summoned too many... I’m being overwhelmed by the information.”

“No wonder... You really overdid it. Artemis, try touching his soul body a bit.”

“Huh... why?”

“The main body’s senses should take priority. Stimulate him. All over.”

Then Apollo approached me.

He began roughly touching different parts of my soul body—my face, chest, and eventually tried to move lower.

Ah, this crazy pervert!

“You... you sick bastard!”

I blocked his hands with both of mine.

“See? That snapped you out of it. Alright, now it’s your turn.”

Apollo stepped back with a shrug and motioned to Artemis to take over.

“Sigh... I guess I have no choice.”

She let out a deep sigh and came closer—but her eyes were sparkling.

What the hell are these people doing?

Stroke. Stroke.

Unlike Apollo, Artemis gently caressed my body.

At first it felt awkward, but she gradually moved her hands with increasing skill.

The touch of a goddess on my soul body was strangely ticklish...

“Artemis, you’re better at this than I expected.”

“Hmph. This is nothing. I’m just touching. Kim Jiho, feeling any more clear-headed?”

“Not yet. The stimulation’s too weak. You need to remove the clothes and stimulate the lower body. Especially the groin.”

“Ah... really? That’s what it takes?”

“Yeah. He’s a male god too, so the genitals will be the most sensitive.”

“Well, I guess I have no choice... Should I take off the clothes?”

“Yeah, strip him. While you do that, I’ll leave the temple. Aphrodite’s power has weakened anyway—no need for you to remain a virgin anymore.”

“Ugh, Apollo. Are you insane? Your brain is full of filth.”

Even as she protested, Artemis smoothly undid the buttons of my clothing.

“Ugh. This one won’t come undone. Should I burn it?”

“Oh, good thinking. Burn the entire lower body, then douse it and touch it. Switching between pain and pleasure should snap his senses back.”

She was about to burn my pants instead of unfastening them.

Apollo, ever the madman, went as far as suggesting she burn my... you-know-what.

Ah... these damn lunatics.

Faced with the threat to my manhood, my consciousness suddenly surged.

The overwhelmed mind regained control.

“Hey! Hey! Stop it! I’m fully awake now!”

“Oh? That quick?”

Artemis looked disappointed.

“To think this little was all it took. You’re not much of a Soul God after all.”

Apollo shook his head like it was no big deal.

“Yeah... damn it. Thanks... you freaks.”

Sigh.

Well, I did get my mind back, but... it feels kinda gross.

A little disappointing too...

If only they hadn’t tried to burn my junk, I wonder how far this would've gone...

Ahem.

“Soul God. Are we starting now?”

“Yes. My clones are already spread across the planet and have seized control of all humans.”

800,000 Kim Jiho clones.

They had already spread across Earth and completed the preparation for soul sealing.

To seal 7 billion humans, the number of clones might seem excessive.

But this number was necessary to seal them all at once and implant fake souls.

“You’re not going to give humans a choice?”

“Why would I? That’s like asking, ‘Do you want to die by Hades or be sealed by me?’ It would only cause confusion. It’s better if they don’t know and just get sealed.”

It’s better for them to be sealed without knowing, then restored once everything is over.

If panic breaks out before the sealing, it’ll just be troublesome.

And Zeus might catch on.

“Yeah... that’s natural. Humans must obey the will of the gods. Soul God, you’re slowly shedding your humanity and becoming divine.”

Apollo grinned, showing his teeth.

What?

You think that’s impressive?

Pfft.

I’ll just do what I need to do.

“Great Migration, begin.”

All 800,000 Kim Jiho clones simultaneously seized the soul bodies of humans across the planet.

Souls were pulled out and neatly packed into soul stones—7 billion of them.

Maybe I over-prepared.

The entire process happened in the blink of an eye.

“One minute. That’s all it took.”

The time it took to seal all of Earth’s human souls into soul stones:

Just one minute.

The Great Migration was now complete...

“Creating substitute souls.”

The next step was to implant fake souls.

They just needed to function like real humans for a while, so Zeus wouldn’t notice.

But just as I was about to insert the replacement souls—

[Would you like to define the soul traits of the substitutes?]

A new message popped up.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]