Leveling with the Gods
chapter-515

C515

YuWon looked at Sothoth with complex eyes.

He felt confused seeing him with the same face as his.

He had wondered why he coveted his Name so much.

As he had enough power, he knew how useless it was, so he was even more curious.

"Was it just this...?"

"Did you say 'just'?"

Yog-Sothoth, with Azathoth's face, opened his mouth with a resentful expression completely different from Azathoth's.

"You don't know how great you are. How is the Name of A■thoth, which is difficult to mention even with words?"

Crack!

Sothoth took a step forward.

Grrr!

The desert stirred. Sothoth, beyond the sky, also wanted to turn the ground into his territory.

"So now let it be. That Name is not worthy to be had by that kind of human."

That kind of human...

That referred to Kim YuWon.

Sothoth knew it too.

The fact that Azathoth was passed on as a Name and not as an existence.

"...Insolent Sothoth."

Through Kim YuWon's eyes, compassion reflected.

"Do you consider me an enemy?"

"It's an obvious question."

Yog-Sothoth.

If you think about it, it had always been like this since he received the Name Azathoth.

The sky, which was already high and vast, always envied and opposed Azathoth, who had more Names after receiving the Name.

That's why Azathoth also didn't consider his betrayal as a great surprise.

But if that was the case, it was even more disappointing.

"But it's strange."

With compassionate eyes, YuWon asked.

"Why do you still exalt me so much? Why, if you are my enemy?"

Crack!

YuWon took a step, approaching Sothoth.

Sothoth stopped.

YuWon smiled at him with contempt.

"You still fear me. You demean yourself, exalt me. You still consider yourself inferior to me."

"Isn't that..."

"Appearance is not important."

Grrr!

The trembling earth calmed down.

"What's important is essence."

Azathoth's presence enveloped the desert that had been dominated by Sothoth.

The crushed land gradually calmed like a tranquil lake, and a ripple passed through Sothoth's face.

"Did you think something would change if you changed your appearance so much? Did you think you would become someone if you accumulated many Names?"

"Hasn't it changed?"

"You can't even pronounce my Name."

Sothoth's gaze trembled.

Clearly, just before, he couldn't pronounce the name "Azathoth."

YuWon's observation made Sothoth agitated.

He realized that he still couldn't mention that Name and that he felt very far from Azathoth.

"You fear me, but you want to be me. It's a comedy."

Tsss!

The desert was dyed black.

The Name possessed by YuWon threatened Yog-Sothoth.

The difference in power wasn't large. If they had fought like this, the fight would never have ended.

But another variable emerged that surpassed that difference.

Grrr!

Sothoth took a step back.

Looking down at the feet that moved unconsciously, Sothoth shouted.

"It's not like that!"

Sh!

The darkness that began to take over the desert despite Sothoth's resistance didn't stop.

Soon, the darkness seized his body. Surrounded by the dark darkness, Sothoth couldn't move.

"It's not like that."

The corners of YuWon's mouth lifted.

Wanting to become Azathoth means admiring him.

The moment he appeared in front of him with Azathoth's face, YuWon felt pity and laughter at the same time.

"The moment you see your own Name as inferior to mine, the relationship of superiority and subordination is already determined, isn't it?"

Sothoth's eyes violently shook.

YuWon looked at him with pity.

"Sothoth. Oh, foolish Sothoth...".

A call full of pain.

YuWon was no longer looking at him. He had already lost his luster, eclipsed by the Name of Azathoth.

Instead, he said:

"Can't you see who is behind you anymore?"

"What...?"

Bwuuk-!

A white and transparent arm that cut Sothoth's body in half from behind.

YuWon looked at Sothoth with an expression of sadness.

"Now I see that you were a puppet."

That arm had been lurking around Sothoth for a long time.

Crouched, hidden in the darkness, with teeth and claws concealed.

Crack, crack-!

Ssss-!

Sothoth's body, with the same face as his in the past, was cracking. It wasn't a very pleasant sight, but he didn't feel like helping him.

Sothoth no longer paid attention to YuWon.

Instead, he turned his head to look into the eyes of the owner of the arm that had pierced his body.

"You...!"

"I believed in you, Father."

Flap-!

Sothoth's robe fluttered with anger.

The gaze hidden in the shadow glowed with greed.

"I knew you would."

No one believed Azathoth was alive.

But only one was different.

The youngest and purest, and the one who followed Azathoth with such blind obedience that it was Foolish, he believed Azathoth was alive.

And at this moment...

"So, thanks to you...".

Towards the Name that had lost its power, crushed by Azathoth's name.

['Foolish Chaos' makes its appearance]

"I will accept it with gratitude, Father."

The featureless white mass bared its black teeth.

Kwaak-!

The one better known to YuWon as "Foolish Chaos."

Nyarlathotep.

He was enjoying the moment he had been waiting for a long time.

A small, stick-thin boy held sand in his hand.

How long had he been hungry? After a moment of deliberation, the boy put sand in his mouth and began to chew.

Crunch!

It had no taste.

The sand was hard and dry, without a hint of moisture. The boy, who had not eaten or drunk anything for a long time, had a throat so dry it was difficult to swallow the sand.

"Spit!"

The boy quickly spat it out.

He felt crazy.

If he could eat this sand world, why worry about starving to death?

Still, the boy couldn't shake off his greed.

He was hungry. No, he wanted to live.

Beeeh!

"...?"

The bleating of a goat could be heard.

The boy swallowed saliva, thinking he had found something to eat. He could tear the flesh off the goat and eat it raw, whatever it took.

That's what he thought.

However,

"...You're skinny."

At the top of a desert hill, there was a man looking at him from the side of the goat.

His face wasn't visible due to the light, but the boy, instead of the goat beside him, gazed at him enchanted.

The hunger disappeared.

He felt that he wouldn't be hungry if he were with that man.

The boy began to follow the man who turned around.

"I won't give you anything to eat."

Those were the words the boy heard after following him for several days.

He wasn't discouraged.

It wasn't that he wouldn't give him food, but he couldn't. The boy had never seen the man eat anything.

"Will you still follow me?"

Those words sounded like he was asking if he would finally give up.

The boy nodded.

He wanted to be by his side. Then he wouldn't feel lonely or hungry.

"...Alright. Then do it."

The man said that and began walking again.

The boy looked at him for a moment, perplexed. Then, the goat beside him baaed as if telling him to do something.

Beeeh!

The boy looked at the goat pushing him from behind.

Its name was Shub-Niggurath, right?

The man sometimes seemed to talk to that animal.

"...I'm coming."

The boy followed the man again.

Days passed, then months.

About a year later, hunger began to return.

Grrr!

Where would this road end?

Without a destination, he followed the man with his weak body.

He no longer had any thoughts.

His only concern was not losing him.

So, as he walked in a rage, unaware of how time passed,

Crack!

The man in front turned around.

"I give up."

The man approached slowly.

The man crouched down and looked the boy in the eyes.

For the first time, he looked at him straight, not looking up at him.

"I will give you a Name."

Ssss!

The man extended his hand.

A Name?

What was that?

The boy had no concept of a "Name." It was natural since he had never been called by a name before.

But,

"Your Name is... Nyarlathotep. That's your Name."

"Nyarlathotep..."

The moment he heard his Name, the boy understood immediately.

Nyarlathotep.

Nyarlathotep.

Nyarlathotep...

The boy repeated his Name quietly.

Azatoth, who glanced at the boy, began to walk again.

He thought he was a mysterious but interesting boy.

Azathoth stopped handing out Names.

He didn't have many Names left, but more than anything, the world was full of names.

He settled in a small cabin. In that cabin were Shub-Niggurath and Nyarlathotep.

Now, no one could call Nyarlathotep "boy" anymore.

He had his own Name, Nyarlathotep, and he was too big to be called that.

Of course, his featureless face was the same.

"Father..."

Azathoth turned when he heard Nyarlathotep's call.

He still didn't like that title.

"Don't call me that."

"I knew you'd say that."

"And why do you keep calling me father?"

"You gave me a Name."

"..."

In response to Nyarlathotep's words, Azathoth turned away in silence from his hard wooden bed and asked:

"Why did you call me?"

"I just wanted to call you, Father."

"Is that all?"

"Watch out for Yog-Sothoth. She's the same."

Shub-Niggurath.

She had been in close contact with Yog-Sothoth recently.

It wasn't just the two of them.

Everyone outside the small cabin did.

Everyone was enchanted by the Names and coveted the remaining Names Azathoth had, drooling.

Even Shub-Niggurath, who was now absent from the cabin.

"And you?"

Azathoth still had his back turned.

"Should I watch out for you too?"

"I..."

Nyarlathotep hesitated before answering.

Everyone in this world turned their back on Azathoth. The same went for Shub-Niggurath, whom he considered closest to Azathoth.

But in this world, there was only one person.

"I'm fine."

It was okay to show his back to that one person.

"I'm still okay."

Shak-shak-.

After answering like that, Nyarlathotep covered himself with an old blanket and turned away beside Azathoth.

Nyarlathotep thought to himself:

'Even if everyone in this world turns against you, I won't.'

Even if this is the perfect opportunity to attack you, I won't.

It's not necessary.

You love us too much, don't you?

Look. Aren't you showing your back right now, as if to be stabbed in the back?"

"Aah-."

My foolish and foolish father.

There's no need to rush like that.

Didn't I tell you? I'm fine.

-Because I'm looking beyond.