Leveling with the Gods

[Translator – Jreaming ]

[Proofreader – BringTheRayn]

Chapter 108

Ten days had passed.

[You have cleared the 40th floor.]

During that time, YuWon had focused solely on hunting. At about four floors per day, he ended up passing through fifty floors altogether.

His level that had refused to grow through the lower levels continued to steadily increase. Susanoo’s Dungeon was as good as most upper floor hunting grounds.

On top of that…

[Resentment was absorbed by Hell.]

Unknown messages were given as well.

‘Save me… No, no, kill me…’

‘I want to get out of here! Please!’

‘I don’t want to suffer any longer!’

The voices of the dead were heard every time he slayed Susanoo’s undead.

Resentment that had accumulated for hundreds and thousands of years and the souls that had changed because of it. These things started to flow into 「Kyneē」 and into YuWon’s ears.

“…So tiring.”

About after he reached the 40th floor, the rate at which he was climbing started to slow. The speed at which he was hunting had slowed down as well. Even though YuWon had the strength and skills far surpassing his current level, the difficulty of Susanoo’s Dungeon was still quite high.

On top of that…

‘These voices are eating away at my sanity.’

Hearing the voices of the dead was a first for YuWon as he wasn’t a spirit master nor a necromancer. He felt that the more he heard the resentments of the undead that Susanoo had enslaved, the more his sanity would be ground away.

Just what was all this? Had he learned a skill that could hear the voices of the dead after acquiring 「Kyneē?」

He thought about it, but YuWon felt that wasn’t the case.

‘These are voices I haven’t heard before. And hearing the voices of the dead is only possible for high-level necromancers like Susanoo…’

It was close to impossible for YuWon, who had no relevant skills.

One thing that bothered him was definitely the resentment of the souls that 「Kyneē」 was absorbing.

‘I never knew Kyneē would have such an effect.’

Just where were these resentments going? He couldn’t think of any place that they could go. He might have known if he was a necromancer, but that wasn’t the case.

YuWon never even knew that 「Kyneē」 had this ability to begin with, and none of his allies had known either.

“> That glove… It’s got a peculiar ability.”

That was the first thing Susanoo said after observing YuWon for a while.

YuWon was wondering why he had been quiet for so long, but looked like he was quite curious as well.

“> Why aren’t you using it properly? What, is it your secret ace or something?”

“Secret ace?”

“> Yeah. Looks like you’re the same as me, but why are you hiding it and not using it properly?”

Susanoo saw YuWon’s expression after he had talked a while, and he gave a short laugh.

“> Ah, alright. So it wasn’t something like you feel guilty about using it or anything like that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“> You haven’t used that item properly yet.”

Susanoo’s gaze turned to YuWon’s right hand.

The black glove, 「Kyneē.」

It was true that he hadn’t used [Hell] all this time. However, YuWon’s focus wasn’t on that part. He said YuWon was the same as him.

“Then how can I use it properly?”

“> Now, I don’t know that.”

“So you just wanted to act like you knew.”

“> What? You punk, even if I tell you…”

Although a lot of complaints were said, YuWon didn’t pay any attention to it. They weren’t necessary to him.

The important thing was the thing he said before.

‘Use it properly?’

The clues about 「Kyneē」 were still lacking. The one who actually used this item before, Hades, wasn’t that close with YuWon, and even among the “Big Three” gods of Olympus, he was the Ranker most shrouded in secrecy.

Until now, YuWon had only used 「Kyneē」 as an amplification item that could bring out his mana. Even with that, 「Kyneē」 was quite a powerful item. However…

‘Was I not using this item properly yet?’

The properties of 「Kyneē」 and the item’s original owner, Hades.

‘It’s pretty decent information.’

It was always good news to hear that one could increase the effectiveness of an item. It couldn’t be helped that he would need to figure out how himself, but YuWon had some ideas.

He lifted his head and looked up.

A ceiling that wouldn’t break with his strength alone.

Unless a Ranker as strong as Susanoo was to come here, that ceiling was probably unbreakable. No, perhaps the small tower itself was recognized as a ‘dungeon,’ a test that could receive the support of the system. If that was the case, even if an Administrator was to come, they wouldn’t be able to break it.

“This will take a while.”

YuWon settled his thoughts and brushed himself off as he stood up.

It was time to climb again.

And so, a month later…

[You have cleared the 50th floor.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your Strength has increased by 1.]

[Your Dexterity has increased by 1.]

[Your Constitution has increased by 1.]

[You have found Susanoo’s first legacy.]

[You have acquired Elemental Worshiper’s Garment.]

After clearing the 50th floor, he received the first reward.

It was a welcome sight for YuWon, who had only climbed with experience and leveling up in mind. When he grasped the clothes, YuWon nearly shouted in excitement, forgetting for a moment that Susanoo was there.

[Elemental Worshiper’s Garment]

ᗌ Fire, water, wind, lighting—armor with the four elements and the blessing of the Elemental King imbued into it. You gain a strong resistance to each of the elements.

ᗌ Increases resistance against the fire attribute.

ᗌ Increases resistance against the water attribute.

ᗌ Increases resistance against the wind attribute.

ᗌ Increases resistance against the lightning attribute.

ᗌ By resonating with mana, the resistance against each element can be increased further.

It was simple but effective. An item that granted strong resistance against the four most common elemental attributes. Additionally, it was a cheat item where one could increase the resistance even more by pouring mana into it.

‘Although its physical resistance is weak, I can sufficiently dodge those with Sensory Field.”

Shwip—

YuWon took off his 「Pyromancer Robe」 and put it into his inventory and immediately put on the dusty 「Spirit Worshiper’s Garment.」

And so an hour later, YuWon moved towards the next level.

“> This is interesting.”

YuWon hadn’t heard Susanoo’s voice in a while, but as always, he ignored what Susanoo was saying as most of it wasn’t useful at all.

“> It definitely showed you being a player at the 21st Floor on your player kit, but the way you fight looks like an experienced High-Ranker. And yet your skills are severely lacking to be a High-Ranker…”

“Stop buzzing around. You’re not even a fly.”

YuWon picked his ears and swatted his hands as if shooing a fly, but as this had become quite common, Susanoo didn’t pay it any heed and continued talking.

“> And you’ve definitely become stronger than you were when you first entered.”

YuWon’s growth rate was surprising even for Susanoo, who had been by his side this whole time.

As YuWon’s level increased one by one, his skills had also noticeably increased. This was an expected change.

In the field of fighting, YuWon was someone who had already become one of the highest ranked High-Rankers and had even fought against the Outer Gods.

Battle sense? Currently, there probably weren’t that many who could compete against YuWon in battle ability in the tower.

The skills he had didn’t even need to be discussed. [Cinder Eyes,] [Gigantification,] [Holy Fire,] and so on. He had numerous skills that even High-Rankers would be envious of.

Same with the items. If Hades were to find out that 「Kyneē」 and 「Edge of Nightfall」 were crafted from the 「Divine Dark Crystal,」 he would definitely try and acquire them.

All this meant was that the engine inside him was already quite incredible, but the problem came from the body that was utilizing the engine. Because of this, as YuWon’s level and stats increased, his power didn’t grow additionally but exponentially.

“> You… Just what are you?”

This was the question that swam around inside Susanoo’s head, but YuWon didn’t answer this time either.

Susanoo closed his mouth again.

The next time he spoke again was when YuWon had reached the 60th floor.

“> This part will be quite difficult.”

“…?”

For the first time, YuWon was intrigued at something Susanoo said.

Difficult? That wasn’t something Susanoo would say. He probably said this to match YuWon’s level, but the fact that such a word came out of Susanoo’s mouth was shocking.

“What is it?”

“> Are you finally curious now?”

A smile crept onto his face, but he closed his mouth again. He was probably taking his revenge like ‘Since you didn’t listen to me, I won’t listen to you.’

YuWon sighed with regret. If it truly was a dangerous floor, it would’ve been nice to get one or two hints from Susanoo, but if he wasn’t going to answer him, he could only face it head on in the end.

Step—

Creak—

He walked up the stairs and opened the door. The door was rusted and worn out, just like the doors to all the other floors.

[You have arrived at the 60th floor.]

The message appeared after the door opened, and he took a step inside.

The first thing YuWon did was to scan the interior of the floor.

Unlike the other floors that were decorated with different background elements, the 60th floor had nothing. It literally had nothing. There weren’t any of the common stones, nor furniture, nor walls. It was truly just an empty space.

‘Is there really nothing?’

After looking at his surroundings, YuWon walked forward.

If there really was nothing, all he had to do was to move towards the door to the next floor. But there would definitely be an entity that guarded that door.

Just as he suspected…

‘There is.’

In the distance, YuWon saw something as small as a dot. It was pretty far away, about a few kilometers.

YuWon used [Cinder Eyes] to check the form of the target.

‘Is it a knight?’

It was a knight sitting on the ground in heavy, full plate armor with a helmet on its head.

While approaching it, the knight seemed to detect YuWon’s presence, and it slowly lifted its head.

Clank—

As the rusted armor moved, it produced an unpleasant sound.

YuWon moved closer and looked down on the sitting knight.

It still wasn’t moving, probably because YuWon wasn’t close enough.

“Is this the thing you said would be difficult?”

Creak—

The knight stretched its knees and started to stand up. Seeing that, YuWon swung his sword. There wasn’t a need to wait for it.

Bang—!

The sword slash infused with [Holy Fire] cut at the knight’s feet. However…

Chiiiiiii—

The sole unrusted sword of the knight had blocked YuWon’s slash. It had done so while sitting down and with amazing speed and precision.

‘It definitely…’

YuWon observed the knight standing up and readjusted the grip on his sword.

‘Feels dangerous.’

The blue glint from its eyes shining through the helmet wasn’t ordinary.

Although it definitely was an Undead, YuWon could nearly feel its essence from when it was alive.

It was different from all the other Undeads he had met until now. It felt like he was meeting a living entity for the first time since entering this tower.

The knight finished standing up and raised its blade.

At that moment…

[Defeat the Death Knight, the Knight of Knights, Arthur.]

The identity of the knight in front of him was revealed through a message.

“…Arthur?”

YuWon’s eyes grew wide.

Was it really Arthur?