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Chapter 516
Leveling with the Gods

C516

Kwadduk-.

Kwajik, Ododok-.

A black chaos enveloped the body of Yog-Sothoth.

Soon, sounds were heard as if sharp teeth were chewing flesh and bones inside the black cocoon. Nyarlathotep voraciously devoured Yog-Sothoth, revealing his greed.

Features appeared on the blank, white face.

He was different from Yog-Sothoth.

He didn't fear the Name of Azathoth, and therefore, naturally, he wasn't affected by that Name.

'He calls Azathoth his father, but doesn't put him above himself, nor does he fear him.'

Nyarlathotep was the one who followed Azathoth the most of all.

From a skinny, faceless child to now.

His world was filled with Azathoth.

'That guy...'

That's why Nyarlathotep could have this moment.

'Was he waiting for this moment?'

To what extent did he foresee in the future?

He believed Azathoth would be alive. He was sure that someday he would appear, threaten Yog-Sothoth, and take his Name.

So, he waited for this moment.

The opportunity to take the Names Yog-Sothoth possessed.

"...Whether here or there, it's always the same guy."

YuWon's gaze changed.

The tone of his voice was also the same.

YuWon was no longer seeing Nyarlathotep as Azathoth.

Nyarlathotep, Foolish Chaos.

That guy had been the enemy that had most devastated him and the Tower, both in the future and the present.

Jeok-.

Ttuk, ttuk-.

With unfocused eyes, Nyarlathotep raised his head with blood dripping from his mouth.

"You're not the father I knew."

At Nyarlathotep's words acknowledging his own eyes, YuWon involuntarily sighed.

He didn't want to feel affinity this way. It seemed like he was developing a strange sympathy toward the one he intensely hated due to memories of Azathoth.

"You're the same guy I knew."

YuWon, who said that without thinking, sighed again.

"...No, maybe not."

Although the malevolence was still there, the external appearance had changed considerably.

The atmosphere he emanated was also different.

YuWon's eyes gleamed with fire.

"Since when?"

Taking a step toward Nyarlathotep, YuWon spat out the words bitterly.

"Since when did you plan this moment?"

Feeling betrayed.

It was an emotion he couldn't feel.

But YuWon, now as Azathoth, asked.

He had promised himself not to waver in the middle, but he couldn't help it.

Azathoth loved Nyarlathotep more than any other Name, and YuWon hated him more than anyone.

Ssss-.

Nyarlathotep wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at YuWon with a complex expression, just like YuWon.

"This is, um. It's confusing."

A worried expression.

YuWon thought it was incredible to see this kind of face on Foolish Chaos. And he thought once again that he had lived a long time.

"I don't know what to think of you...."

"No matter which side you choose, the result will be the same."

"Then...."

With a twisted smile that stretched below his ears, Nyarlathotep said:

"I'll think of the side that's more convenient."

Certainly, he was different from Yog-Sothoth.

Was it because he had achieved his goal, or because he never had any kind of reverence for Azathoth?

Nyarlathotep, unlike Yog-Sothoth, didn't exalt YuWon.

"Since when? Well, actually, it's a difficult question to answer. I don't even know since when."

After thinking for a while, he answered as if something had occurred to him.

"Since I saw your back, maybe?"

"My back?"

YuWon's expression hardened, thinking about when that had been.

Azathoth had shown him his back long before giving him the name "Nyarlathotep." Azathoth had guided him since he was a skinny, faceless child without a Name.

Since then?

With that in mind, YuWon asked.

"Since the beginning?"

He trusted and followed Azathoth more than anyone. Given his level of loyalty, YuWon thought he would have reflected and fought to the end against that betrayal.

But it wasn't so.

"In reality, it was since I was sure that he trusted me. I thought this moment would come. My father will never die."

"-It was you."

With those words, YuWon convinced himself.

The beginning of everything was right in front of him.

"You brought together Sothoth and that woman (whore), and made them distrust me. You started it all."

"It's too late to know."

Nyarlathotep raised his head.

And then, he uttered these words to his father, buried in his heart.

"Oh, my foolish and foolish father."

He had always said those words as a habit.

During the time that passed, no one had understood what those words meant.

Or, everyone was wrong.

A foolish father.

People thought that Nyarlathotep's words, "foolish father," were a critique of Azathoth's stupidity, who had lost the world for love.

But it wasn't like that.

"I've won."

The "foolishness (foolish)" Nyarlathotep spoke of wasn't that.

He had been deceiving the one he called father for a long time.

He hadn't stabbed Azathoth, who trusted him and showed him his back, as Shub-Niggurath had done, but because he was waiting for a safer moment.

Guggugugugu.

The sky distorted. The dim lights returned one by one, and the name of Yog-Sothoth, which he had possessed, appeared in the sky again.

Stars shining and twinkling.

[The Sky of the World Turns into a Nebula]

Seeing Nyarlathotep, who began to rule those stars, YuWon slowly opened his mouth.

"Do you know what?"

Swish-.

YuWon lightly brandished the sword he held in his hand.

It wasn't an act with any special meaning.

It was simply a way to confirm that it was YuWon, not Azathoth, with the sword, and to break the atmosphere.

"I've killed you once."

Nyarlathotep's expression cracked.

"In the future you were in, you say?"

"I knew you took Mimir's eye."

YuWon nodded indifferently.

Indeed, it was better if the conversation flowed smoothly.

"There, unlike what you expected, Azathoth didn't appear. So, this... is a change that occurred when I came back, huh?"

In the future where YuWon was, Nyarlathotep died, and Yog-Sothoth survived.

An outcome opposite to the current one.

But for that reason, YuWon didn't consider the current situation to be that bad.

"But nothing will change. This time too, you will die at my hands. And we will win."

"You're dreaming of something difficult."

"I've already done it, so I know."

Nyarlathotep's expression twisted at YuWon's words with disdain.

In response to YuWon's words, Nyarlathotep mocked him.

"You know that this won't end here even if you defeat me, right?"

Those words made YuWon's gaze waver.

"I know because I've experienced it. No, even if you don't know, I know it well. I've lived mixed with them (Outers) longer than any of you."

How much time passed between Azathoth's death and his rebirth from the Egg?

How much more time did Nyarlathotep spend inside the Tower searching for Azathoth?

That was something neither YuWon nor Azathoth knew. But, of course, that time wouldn't be shorter than Odin's age.

"Even if you defeat me, it won't be a victory for you. It will be your victory."

Nyarlathotep said with conviction.

"That 'this time we will win'? It's nonsense. 'You' can't beat 'us.'"

YuWon closed his eyes for a moment.

Yes.

His goal wasn't just to defeat Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth in this place.

It was to save as many comrades as possible and win this war.

Since that was the ultimate goal, even if he somehow managed to defeat Nyarlathotep here, if the battle in the Tower was lost, it would ultimately be a meaningless victory.

But...

"We will win."

YuWon's thoughts were different.

In YuWon's mind, the final battles unfolded. The Outers filling the sky and the comrades who had been defeated by them and were barely hiding, waiting for an opportunity.

The destroyed future world.

He had come to this place after experiencing that world. The same went for Son OhGong.

Hercules too. Odin too. Mimir too.

Everyone had cultivated their strength to avoid repeating the same.

"My thoughts haven't changed."

Even putting aside all those thoughts, it's not possible for his mind to be disoriented by that snake tongue.

Therefore,

"We will defeat 'them.'"

Now, there is nothing left but to believe.

------------------

The blood and screams of the battlefield didn't cease.

Amidst the smell of blood and the unknown odor emanating from the corpses of the Outers, the cries of encouragement, pain, and fear continued without stopping.

"Aaaaargh!"

"Aaargh! Save me...!"

"Injured! Bring the wounded over here...."

"Now I have to take care of the wounded!"

Gradually, the battlefield tilted more and more towards the tougher side.

And the one who experienced that reality earliest was Odin.

"...Many died."

He led this battlefield with the power of his Myth, "The King of Asgard."

That's why.

Odin was feeling on his skin who was dying and who was surviving in this battle.

Half of the Demon Kings had died, and Diablo was furious, burning his remaining life.

Miguel's wings had been torn in half. Lee Rangjin's grand weapon had been broken in half, and he wielded a sword that no one knew where it came from.

One of Asura's four arms had been cut off.

In the center of the battlefield, Artemis cried for the death of her brother Apollo. Hades surrounded her to protect her, who was half-lost and hugging Apollo.

Click

Odin held Gungnir in his hand.

He too had reached the limit.

'I only have one shot left.'

This shot would probably be the last one he could throw.

So, just as Odin was about to throw his last spear into the center of the battlefield...

"Bam!"

The sky was dyed in gold.

"Klong!"

A familiar thunderous sound.

The moment that light and sound stimulated the eyes and ears, Odin stopped the throw of Gungnir.

"Coming late even at this time...."