Leveling with the Gods

If YuWon had to pick a person that he respected the most, he’d have picked Hercules. 

He was a hero. Hercules never hesitated to punish evil, and he had enough power to do so. He was kind to the weak, and he never abused his powers. In terms of strength, he was stronger than anyone else in the Tower. That was Hercules. 

“What I’m hoping for is ‘Gigantification.’”

This was right before the war against the Outer Gods broke out. It was during the time when Chronos had told them about the possibility of the 「Clock Movement,」 and they had started discussing who would be sent to the past. 

Son OhGong, Chronos, Hercules, Odin. Many of the greatest beings in the Tower had gathered in one place to debate on what to obtain and what to toss aside.

“No. That’s too inefficient.”

Odin had rejected Hercules’s suggestion. 

[Gigantification] was certainly a good skill. Even if you searched all over the Tower, there were probably less than a hundred skills that could be considered better. However, obtaining it was far too complicated.

“Besides, that doesn’t match up with our goals. You do know what killing 10,000 Giants and getting drenched in blood would mean, right?”

Hercules looked over at Son OhGong, who was sleeping in the corner.

That was when YuWon understood what Hercules was trying to say.

“Suruhtra.”

“That’s right.”

“You want to catch him?”

“Were you only planning on running away from it until time ran out? Although I guess that would be much safer.”

Hercules shrugged his shoulders. 

Hercules was among the candidates to return to the past. After hearing about Suruhtra, he thought he had found a potential key for [Gigantification.] 

It wasn’t an unfounded idea. Giants were one of the ruling races of the Tower. So what would happen if one were to drench oneself in a Giant’s blood during the Tutorial? It might have been possible to obtain [Gigantification] with just a single 「Giant’s Heart.」

“We should kill it.”

“There isn’t really an opportunity for it otherwise.”

“I vote yes.”

“I vote no. It’s far too dangerous.”

“I’ll… abstain from the vote.”

The vote ended. The result was “yes.”

It was all thanks to the final vote in favor by YuWon.

“I guess now we need to start thinking about how someone can defeat Suruhtra.”

“They will need points. If they can just get the Arctic Steel Sword…”

“That won’t be enough. They’ll need an even greater ice attribute…”

The focus of the meeting had suddenly changed to ‘how to defeat Suruhtra.’ 

「Arctic Steel Sword」 and 「Ice Crystals.」 「Pyromancy Robe」 and [Cinder Eyes.] Ways to obtain points. Suruhtra’s weaknesses and patterns…

After talking over countless ideas, in the end, the conclusion was that it was possible. 

“If you are unable to properly handle Gigantification, give up on going after the Chimera Creator.”

The true final boss of the Tutorial, Childe the Chimera Creator, was brought up.

“After causing a mess in the lower floors, he might have lost his powers and gotten exiled to the Tutorial, but he’s still dangerous. Not to mention, he’d also have human-type Chimeras.”

“Would it be possible to get proficient at Gigantification in just a few days?”

“It’d be quite difficult.”

After saying that, Hercules looked over at Son OhGong. 

“Don’t you have anything to add? If I recall correctly, you were the one that defeated him while climbing the Tower.”

“‘Anything to add’?”

This happened when Son OhGong was in the process of climbing the 50th floor. He had become quite famous as a Ranker candidate. Childe ended up losing after attempting to capture him to make him into a Chimera. 

Son OhGong was the only one there that knew anything about the Chimera Creator. 

“I don’t really have anything to tell ya.”

Seeming disinterested, Son OhGong yawned widely before continuing. 

“Nothing besides…”

* * *

Crack, snap—

The muscles in YuWon’s arm started convulsing. His arm didn’t actually become as large as a Giant’s. However, after activating [Gigantification,] the muscles in his arms became ripped like a Giant’s. 

[Your arm has been imbued with the power of a Giant.]

[You have a low proficiency.]

[Your Constitution stat will temporarily change into Strength.]

[Your Constitution is too low.]

[Partial Gigantification will occur.]

Only his right arm had been imbued with the power of a Giant. Due to a low proficiency and Constitution, YuWon couldn’t properly utilize [Gigantification] yet. 

However, this was enough.

‘I see. So this is my limit at this point.’

YuWon massaged his right arm while stretching.

[Gigantification] was a skill that required more Constitution than Arcane Power. It worked by turning your Constitution into Strength so you could unleash explosive power. 

Luckily, YuWon had gained quite a bit of Strength and Constitution from eating Suruhtra’s heart, but he was still far from being able to unleash the full power of [Gigantification.]

‘Still…’

Clench—

YuWon tightened his fist, feeling the power in his right arm.

“This should suffice.”

Thud—

YuWon’s feet touched the ground.

Feeling ignored, Childe’s face once again turned sour.

“Alright, fine.”

Wiggle, wiggle—

The black mana convulsed, turning into dozens of strands. Then Childe raised up his staff and arms while shouting, “I’ll hear your answer after I’ve torn you to shreds. Even if you are a direct descendent of Olympus like that halfbreed, you’re still just a li’l runt!”

Woosh—!

All of the strands of mana flew towards YuWon. 

At the same time, YuWon stretched out his hands in front of him.

Grasp—

Riiip, snap—

“…!”

“You talk too much.”

YuWon’s grip tore apart the strands of mana, making them lose power and dissipate. 

Shocked, Childe imbued more mana into his staff.

[Triple Dark Casket]

Thunk—

Rattle, rattle—

Three [Dark Caskets] popped up from the ground, swallowing YuWon one after another. This was a much sturdier restraint. However…

Smash—!

… Nothing changed this time around. The [Dark Caskets] easily crumbled under YuWon’s punch. But having expected that, Childe cast a follow-up skill. 

[Corrupted Venom Fang]

Whirr—

Dozens of fangs appeared around YuWon and Childe. Each of them were tough enough to easily pierce steel, not to mention that they were poisonous. 

“Don’t die from this.”

Childe laughed with a twisted smile as he swung his staff.

“I have a lot I want to hear from you.”

Woosh, woosh, woosh—!

All the fangs flew towards YuWon. 

Fwoosh—

The red in YuWon’s eye became more saturated.

The fangs that were flying towards him all looked slow. YuWon didn’t even attempt to dodge them.

Smash—!

One of the fangs shattered into pieces, its fragments flying everywhere. 

One was okay. Childe had expected that, but…

Smash, smash—!

Seeing his fangs get broken one after another slowly wiped the smile off Childe’s face.

“How is this…?”

Smash—!

At least half the fangs were destroyed. 

Childe sensed the flow of mana in YuWon’s arm. 

[Gigantification] wasn’t a skill that only raised one’s strength. The skill basically turned one’s body into a lethal weapon. 

‘Even if he is a descendant of Hercules, how can a participant of the Tutorial break these with sheer force?’

YuWon had gotten closer to Childe. 

To Childe, YuWon appeared like an angry bull, coming closer while demolishing dozens of fangs. 

Childe prepared his next skill.

[Ebony Thornwall] 

Rumble—

A double-layered black wall appeared. This wall made up of hundreds of thorns was currently the strongest defensive skill that Childe could use after falling to the Tutorial area. 

‘Try and get through this. Before you can break through, your hand will—’

Wham—!

Crack—

Having thought he was safe surrounded by the thornwall, Childe was shocked. He felt the impact from outside. 

A fracture appeared in the [Ebony Thornwall.] 

YuWon was unphased, continuing to attempt to break it down.

“Crazy son of a bitch!”

Whirr—

Childe imbued more mana into the [Ebony Thornwall.] 

Wham, wham—!

Rumble, rumble—

The wall continued to shake.

Wham—!

Kk-crack—

The crack continued to grow larger. 

Sweat gathered on Childe’s forehead as he continued to imbue mana into the wall.

Wham—!!

That was the final blow. 

For a moment, YuWon’s punches stopped.

“Haa… Haa…”

Childe collected his breath, having become drenched in sweat from using so much mana.

‘Did he stop?’

The impacts had stopped. 

Childe regained his smile slowly.

‘Yeah. I bet he’s also tired. He probably wrecked his hand trying to break the Ebony Thornwall.’

Crack—

His assumptions were quickly crushed. 

The wall surrounding him started falling apart. And in the blink of an eye, a hand broke through the opening. 

Grasp—

“Kugh!”

Childe was choked as he was raised up into the air by his neck.

Slam—!

After raising him up high, YuWon immediately slammed his head into the ground. Then YuWon imbued mana into his fist and started bashing his face in.

Wham, wham, wham—!

The ground shook as Childe’s head was buried deep into the ground. 

Blood dripped from YuWon’s fist, a result of being injured from breaking through the Ebony Thornwall. 

“I… will not… die…”

Despite the fact that his head was being pushed into the ground, Childe was smiling. Even after being pummeled with punches strengthened by [Gigantification,] he only had a broken nose and teeth. He didn’t look all that hurt. His body was much tougher than it had appeared.

“You’re as persistent as the rumors said.”

Childe the Chimera Creator was no ordinary boss. He was a Ranker from a thousand years ago, and he was set to soon become a participant in the Tutorial and reclimb the Tower as a player. It was for that moment that Childe had long been preparing his body. 

“I’m… immortal.”

After attaching body parts from countless participants and experimenting on himself for almost a thousand years, his entire body was harder than steel. 

His body had been strengthened through dark magic experiments unrelated to the Constitution stat. This is why, in the future, when Childe started climbing the Tower again, he came to be known as the ‘Undead Chimera.’

This was the real reason why Childe was dangerous. He had a body that couldn’t be broken or injured. He was the true boss of the Tutorial, far stronger than the unsealed Chimera. 

Despite that, YuWon reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

“You’ll be able to see everything as long as you have these.”

Snap—

Riiiiip—!

“Ahhhhh!” Childe screamed in pain.

YuWon had forcibly torn off his right arm. 

Childe grasped where his arm was so easily torn off. 

“My arm. My aaaarm—!

“You attached body parts together like they were toys. No wonder it came off so easily.”

Fwoosh—

The cause of YuWon’s red vision, [Cinder Eyes,] the eyes that can see through all of creation, allowed YuWon to see the faint lines that connected Childe’s body together.

YuWon reached for Childe’s other arm.

Grasp—

“P-Please… STOOOOOOP—!”

Snap—

Riiip—!

Even if it had been strengthened through experiments, it was still a body that was made from attaching the body parts of other participants. And as it was not a perfect whole, the conjoining points were bound to be weaknesses.

“Why are you asking me to stop?”

YuWon grabbed Childe’s thigh next. While tightening his grasp, YuWon looked Childe straight in the eyes.

“Have you forgotten how many people you’ve torn apart?”