Chapter 299: Poseidon (11)

'Huh?'

Yeon-woo's eyes shot open. He had been recovering, but the feeling that something was missing was so strong he had to open his eyes.

He saw that one of his Channelings were gone.

The Channeling with Azrael. When he opened the status window, he saw the 3rd Spirit was also gone.

'What happened?'

The 3rd Soul was actually the Authority that Yeon-woo used the most.

It was because it dealt with souls easily and helped strengthen his Monster Portents. Moreover, with Azrael's continued Blessings, he was using it quite efficiently, but it had disappeared in the blink of an eye. He couldn't feel Azrael's gaze that was always on him either.

"Shanon! Hanryeong!"

Yeon-woo frantically called for his Spirit Familiars guarding the cave. He didn't have any time to confirm the changes in his body of the 90%-progressed Demonic Divine Dragon Body.

Shanon and Hanryeong appeared from the shadow on the floor.

「What's wrong, Master? Is something the matter?」

「Yes, Master.」

"Did something happen to me while I was sleeping?"

「Hm?」

"Like anyone coming by or something happening to my body."

「Of course not. We were protecting this place closely. We even checked you occasionally in case something happened to you.」

Hanryeong nodded heavily in agreement.

However, Yeon-woo's face turned stiffer as he listened to them. He lifted his head to look up at Rebecca, the spirit who had been protecting him.

Rebecca shook her head; she was in her human form for the first time in a while.

'What happened?'

Azrael had put a lot of effort into making him his apostle. Considering his yearning for the Black King, he definitely wasn't a being who would've given up on him that easily.

The problem was the reactions of the other gods and demons.

[Hermes comforts you, saying not to worry.]

[Athena silently nods.]

[Hondon is quiet.]

[Agares snorts, saying he knew it would happen. He chuckles, feeling refreshed.]

It was clear they knew something.

And the reactions of the gods and demons of death after that were.....

[Thanatos is silent.]

[The King of Seven Hells is silent.]

[Ksitigarbha is silent.]

[Aesma-daeva shakes his head.]

[Halphas is silent.]

.....

'Something's definitely up.'

Yeon-woo's eyes darkened. Thinking he could see something, he scrolled through the messages and to check if there was anything he missed.

A message that popped up when he was sleeping stood out.

[You have satisfied the conditions.]

[The 'Grief of the Black King' has been unsealed.]

'The conditions were satisfied?'

What did that mean? The secret of the fetter was suddenly released?

Yeon-woo quickly checked the Grief of the Black King around his left ankle.

[The 'Despair of the Black King' and 'Grief of the Black King' have been combined, and the 'Cast of the Black King(⅔) is being opened.]

[Cast of the Black King]

Category: Set

Rank: ???

Summary: The past ??? were always fearful of the great and mighty king who ruled over death and darkness.

In the end, they betrayed him and locked him away in the darkness.

The Black King trembled with rage during that immeasurable eternity. Thanks to that, the three objects that bound him became his servants.

The grudge inside the objects will try to test the user because it is dark.

Be careful not to be swallowed by it.

The handcuffs represented the souls; the fetter, death; and the pillory, darkness.

*Soul Collector

The user can collect the souls of those he kills. Then, the soul will become a ghost and lose all its powers. Only the deep grudges will be left behind.

The collected souls cannot leave the collection. Depending on the proficiency of the user, the size of the collection can grow as well.

*Black Evil

A form of strengthened black energy. It uses the bound souls and can change magic power into the darkness property. The user's properties will be strengthened as much as the number of souls that are used.

The magic power used will buff the user and debuff the opponent. The random curses can be critical to the opponent.

* 2nd Spirit

The souls bound to the collection always hate their owner. However, they are able to be freely controlled under the absolute power of the user.

They steal the vitality of any living thing that comes their way, and not a single blade of grass is safe from their strength.

Also, when the user would like, the souls can become an Evil Spirit, a Monster Portent, or even something beyond that.

They will become the faithful followers of the user and carry out any orders they receive with joy.

*Summon of the Dead

Using a part of the souls collected, the user can forcefully summon dead souls from the Beyond. Depending on the level of the soul, the length of time they can stay,and the number of souls that can be summoned differ, so the user must be careful.

However, the summoned souls have free will, so there are limits to binding them.

* ???

Not active. (Sealed)

**This artifact is 'Unique.' There is only one in the Tower, and it is completely bound to its owner. It cannot be shared or traded with anyone else.

**Some functions are sealed. You can only break the seal once you have certain qualifications.

**You cannot see part of the information. You can only see it once you satisfy the conditions.

**Currently collected set (⅔)

-Despair: You can collect souls that are in despair.

-Grief: You can go against deaths filled with grief.

It looked similar to before, but there were many minor changes.

First, the Soul Collector.

It was the same as the option before. However, when Yeon-woo looked at the collection, his eyes widened. The number of souls he could have was incomparable to the amount he could have in the past.

'20,000.....'

He had increased the size by raising the proficiency, but 5,000 was the limit. But this new change had more than doubled it.

Could he even use all of them?

'If I can fill it up, a lot of things will be possible.'

It was something he realized recently, but the more souls he had, the better. They could be used in many ways.

Changing them into black energy, barriers, buffs, and sometimes, just condensing them into a weapon was impactful.

He realized this after earning the 3rd Spirit, but now, he could do more than that.

'Black Evil is the updated version of Black Energy.'

It was perfect to mix with Black Aura, like someone had prepared it just for Yeon-woo. If Black Evil was added on top of the fire property and activated random curses? It would be destructive beyond words.

'I'll be carrying around a great weapon.'

But what stood out to him was the next option.

'The 2nd Spirit.'

It was obviously a stronger version of the 3rd Spirit.

Frequently in legends, the skies were divided into six floors. The third floor was for humans, and the second floor was where gods punished the humans who disobeyed them.

The 2nd Spirit allowed him to do everything the 3rd Spirit did and beyond. It even allowed him to "increase levels."

The souls, Evil Spirits, and Monster Portents.

It said he could create beings that exceeded them.

'With this, I can evolve Monster Portents to a greater level than before.'

The reason why Yeon-woo fed them the Residual Poison Blood was because they couldn't grow stronger, and he was attempting to give them another attacking method.

But this new option said he could increase their levels.

His current Monster Portents could easily defeat most players, so what kind of power would they have if their levels increased?

He could also probably increase the limit of 30.

'Azrael suddenly disappeared, but instead, the seal was unlocked, and a more powerful Authority was given.....?'

Logically, he was suspicious.

'There's no way Azrael would suddenly release the seal out of goodwill and disappear.'

The immortal gods and demons that Yeon-woo had observed so far were all selfish. He could see they were trying to build their reputation and become even more renowned.

The same went for Azrael. There was no way he would've stepped back like that.

It was easier to think that Azrael had taken back his power on purpose while Yeon-woo was sleeping.

'Did this item swallow Azrael?'

As Yeon-woo was continuing to make guesses.....

'No way.'

He laughed at himself.

An artifact that swallowed gods. There was no way something like that would exist.

'If it did, the Tower would be flipped on its side.'

The gods and demons would never leave it alone. They took pride in the fact that they were invincible.

Also, the Bureau wouldn't let it go either. No, the system wouldn't have allowed it in the first place.

But.....

[Hermes is silent.]

[Hel is silent.]

[Nergal is silent.]

......

The reactions of the gods and demons of death were a bit strange.

Continued silence.

They didn't show any reaction to Azrael's disappearance. No, it seemed like they didn't want to respond to it. A few of the gods and demons temporarily took their gazes off of him.

'What happened?'

He looked at the bracelet and sabaton with wide eyes, but they just shook silently like always.

They didn't answer any of Yeon-woo's questions.

Urrrng—

* * *

The 98th floor.

In the temple of the sea god, part of Olympus's holy territory, a furious shout came exploding out.

None of Poseidon's servants dared to take a step inside Poseidon's holy land. They knew that quite a lot of time would be required for their king to calm down.

"No. No.....!"

Poseidon seemed exhausted. His lion-mane hair was gone in chunks, and his wide stature was thinner. The black circles under his eyes showed how much holy power he lost.

From Hermes, Athena, Hondon, Agares, Azrael, and the gods and demons of death.

He had failed to descend because of them and had his apostle stolen. Because his holy power was forced away from him, even a mighty being like Poseidon was damaged greatly.

"Stupid fools. They're letting that go.....? How, how can they do that as immortals.....?!"

Poseidon couldn't understand their decision.

He could account for Hermes and Athena since they were the children of the foolish Zeus. Since they were still young and couldn't see, it was possible they had poor judgement. Hondon was always an evil demon whom he couldn't read, and Agares was a crazy bastard, so that could somewhat explain why.

But what about the gods and demons of death?

They knew where all their powers came from. Technically, the player named Cha Yeon-woo could be a danger to them. But they were taking his side and supporting him? It didn't make any sense.

Or.

'Are they aiming for what comes after that?'

Whatever they were planning on, it wasn't acceptable for Poseidon. "It" was a mistake that they had committed in the past, and also "his" inheritance reminded them of their desire and greed in the past.

With Zeus in a deep slumber and Hades missing, only he could step up to stop the player named Cha Yeon-woo.

"I must go look for my siblings."

He clenched his teeth. Hera, Demeter, Hestia. He had to speak with his siblings who were still in Olympus.

His eyes flashed darkly.

It was proof that his holy power was slowly being polluted.