‘I expected this would happen someday once the war began.’
This is trouble.
Yu-hyun thought to himself as he looked at the two First Generation Divine Spirits who were watching this side with a bored gaze.
While most of the Great Army’s main gods possessed tremendous power, these two were particularly renowned for the massive "stories" they held.
The widespread nature of their stories indicated that the status of these divine spirits was equally elevated.
In that sense, those two, who had once shouldered the most famous myth in Earth's history, certainly deserved to be considered the highest among the First Generation Divine Spirits.
Especially Zeus. Although his title as Olympus' strongest had somewhat faded due to Hercules, he was still the one who had defeated Typhon and protected the throne of the heavens.
And that very Zeus was looking this way, particularly eyeing the women, with a gleam in his eyes.
“Oh. Such a beautiful maiden.”
What especially caught Zeus's gaze was Kang Hye-rim, who was glaring at him with a wary look.
“Radiant beauty that shines even amidst the battlefield, her gorgeous black hair, and those endlessly glimmering, piercing eyes.”
Zeus’s gaze briefly swept over a particular part of Kang Hye-rim.
“She would make a perfect match as my woman.”
“Is that sickness of yours flaring up again?”
Unable to bear it, Odin shot a reprimand at Zeus.
“Enough. They are enemies we must kill.”
“Must we really kill them? Love can still blossom, even in a war zone like this.”
“The love you talk about so incessantly has always been lighter than a feather, hasn’t it?”
“Even a feather can be genuine in this moment.”
Odin shook his head, purely exasperated, as though unwilling to interfere any further, and Zeus nodded in satisfaction at this silent concession.
He extended a hand to Kang Hye-rim.
“What do you think? You’re destined to perish and vanish if things continue like this, anyway. But if you agree to become my wife here, I could at least take you alone to the next universe. I’ll grant you the honor of becoming the Hera of the next universe.” �
His words were absurdly arrogant and frivolous, yet the fact that Zeus, this Divine Spirit, had uttered them somehow made it fitting.
He was that kind of character.
Even before being devoured by the story of Zeus, he was a notorious womanizer, and perhaps it was precisely for this trait that he had risen to the role of Zeus, the usurper.
“...Absolutely not.”
Kang Hye-rim looked at Zeus with a gaze filled with contempt. She had never before displayed such blatant revulsion.
“Heh. What a delightfully aloof woman.”
“...Yu-hyun, please leave this to me.”
“Hye-rim.”
Yu-hyun started to say something but stopped.
The moment he met her unwavering gaze, he immediately realized that any words would be useless.
She had ultimately stood here to fight.
How could he stop that resolve, that pride?
“Yes, I’ll leave it to you. And Jia, as well.”
“Right. I already knew, without you telling me.”
Kwon Jia, too, was exuding hostility toward the enemy in front of them.
Her gaze, in particular, was fixed on Odin, and had been for some time, locked onto him with unyielding intensity. Her tail, hidden until now, slipped out from under her clothing, swaying fiercely.
“Hmm?”
Perhaps Odin sensed something familiar, as he looked at Kwon Jia with his single eye, the other covered by an eyepatch.
His one eye widened sharply.
And then he smirked.
“I thought I’d seen you somewhere before. So you were here?”
He had thought this war meaningless, after all. He believed that everyone would kneel before Logos in the end, that the beings destined to move on to the next universe were already decided.
This was a world he had experienced multiple times.
Were there really no others who resisted Logos in the history of previous universes? There must have been countless. And the pattern would have repeated.
That was how it was. As Odin, the one who usurped the role of Odin from previous universes, he had no intention of partaking in a hopeless fight.
The winner would inevitably be Logos.
It was just tedious to watch this futilely large theater unfold.
That was all that had annoyed him.
But now, well.
“I take back what I said about this being boring.”
Responding to his master’s will, Sleipnir, his legendary steed, stomped the ground.
“Finally, a battle with meaning.”
No further words were needed.
As if they’d promised each other, the battle began.
Yu-hyun was the first to push off the ground and charge forward.
The path cut right between Odin and Zeus.
“
Even though she couldn’t wield her primary power, Kang Hye-rim raised her sword.
“We’ll only know if I try.”
“What a beautiful woman you are.”
Zeus’s face, which had remained gentlemanly and benevolent, twisted into a repulsive grin.
“To the point where I want to take you by force.”
He had restrained himself all this time, but from the moment he saw Kang Hye-rim, his mind was filled with the thought of possessing her.
Although he dressed elegantly, spoke with refined words, and tried to hide his true nature.
His true self was a philanderer who couldn’t sit still when he saw a beautiful woman.
“Well then. Show me what you’ve got, my sweet child.”
“Let’s see if you can still talk after your tongue’s cut off.”
Kang Hye-rim gripped her sword and lunged toward Zeus.
Even without the lightning, as long as she had a single sword, she could continue fighting.
For her essence, after all, was that of a swordswoman.
* * *
“Ha, what a battle I can’t even interfere in.”
Watching the fight between Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim, Yoo Young-min clicked his tongue. In such a close, intertwined battle, providing support fire with sniping would be difficult.
The skill level was too high; he couldn’t intervene.
Yoo Young-min decided to recall his original objective.
The Allied Forces’ top priority was sending Yu-hyun to the shrine. To accomplish this, they first needed to secure Yu-hyun’s backup.
‘Attacks fired from beyond their detection range won’t be noticed by anyone.’
From this position, he could land a few fatal hits without anyone realizing it.
Just as he was thinking that, the sky above Yoo Young-min’s head grew blindingly bright.
‘Light? Why did it suddenly get so bright?’
As he wondered about this, his [Danger Detection] skill rang alarms through his instincts.
He didn’t know what was approaching. Even though he was at the center of a fortified defensive position created by his subordinates.
With the [Fortification] skill active, this should have been a place resilient enough to withstand Earth’s missile bombardment, yet this level of crisis was bearing down.
“You all!”
“Captain? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Everyone, get out of here...!”
Yoo Young-min’s words didn’t make it to the end.
A massive light beam descended from the sky, sweeping over Yoo Young-min and his mercenary corps.
In an instant, the light bombardment obliterated 70 percent of the mercenary members without them being able to respond.
Corpses and body fragments were shredded by the light, scattering in all directions.
‘What the...!’
Those who survived were mostly in critical condition, needing immediate medical attention to survive.
Only Yoo Young-min, who had layered defensive skills over his entire body, survived with light injuries.
“You guys! Is everyone alright?! Answer me!”
He shouted into the smoky aftermath of the explosion, but there was no response.
Biting his lip, Yoo Young-min looked up at the sky.
In a single strike, every defense skill he had layered on himself was stripped away. The one responsible stood above, holding spears of light, gazing down at him.
“Ahura... Mazda.”
Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Zoroastrianism, and the origin of Persian mythology.
He had personally come to eliminate Yoo Young-min.
Yoo Young-min pondered why such a high-level being would go out of his way to strike him down, but quickly realized it was pointless.
It was clear that, even if Ahura Mazda pretended otherwise, he found it irritating that Yoo Young-min was a sniper picking off commanders on their side.
This was a battlefield. There was no need for long explanations once an enemy was met.
‘With my current level, there’s no chance of winning.’
Yoo Young-min was someone who avoided fights he couldn’t win. That’s why he had chosen the safe role of a sniper. Standing on the frontlines, getting injured and battered while fighting like the others was not his style.
And now that his position as a sniper had been revealed, retreating should have been his priority.
‘But I can’t.’
Yoo Young-min saw the aftermath of the explosion.
His subordinates, who had followed him loyally. Just last night, they had laughed and joked with him, but now they lay cold and lifeless.
After five years of working together under the name of the Mercenary King, the bodies of his comrades were now beginning to dissolve into text, disappearing one by one.
Seeing this, how could he possibly choose to run?
“...Well. I’ve always been curious.”
Yoo Young-min gripped his sniper rifle, glaring at Ahura Mazda with murderous intent.
“I wonder what will happen if a bullet lodges between those haughty gods’ brows.”