Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-556

Yeon-woo fumed as he looked at the poisoned Athena, who was barely holding on as she breathed raggedly, and at Ares, who had a terrible wound in his chest. Ares' eyes were dimming, and Yeon-woo seemed to see the image of another person overlap the scene before his eyes. It was another person who was leaving his side in a heartbreaking manner. Yeon-woo hated the feeling of being left behind by someone close to him and of nursing his sadness and loneliness alone.

His heart ached when he saw the relief in Athena's eyes, and a strong emotion rose up in his chest.

『What…what the hell are you?』 Syceus had been pushed away after he blocked Yeon-woo's sudden attack. His sword, which represented him, was cracked, and it shook as if it would shatter at any moment. If his reflexes had been only a moment too late, Syceus wouldn't have survived.

Syceus wanted to know what Yeon-woo was and not who because Yeon-woo didn't seem like another god, nor did he seem like a demon or a dragon—beings that possessed abundant magic power. The closest thing he could think of was a giant, but Syceus could not sense the distinctive giant aura or unique characteristics.

Since he'd spent most of his time in Tartarus and didn't care what happened outside the heavenly world, Syceus did not know much about Yeon-woo. Although his associates had mentioned Yeon-woo before, once he discovered that Yeon-woo was just a mortal player, Syceus lost interest. However, it was clear that he had made a mistake by overlooking a powerful existence. When he saw Yeon-woo focusing solely on Athena and Ares without giving him a second glance, Syceus' anger overwhelmed him. 『You dare!』

Syceus started gathering his power to crush Yeon-woo. However, Yeon-woo turned to Syceus and said, "Stay right there."

Zap! Syceus froze as an electric shock ran through his body.'Wh-why has my…body…! I-I can't m-move!'He could not understand what was happening. Yeon-woo had used divine speech—words imbued with holy power—to move the laws of nature. With divine speech, one could imprison or disable someone else with one word. However, this only worked if one's power was overwhelmingly superior.

As a great god, Syceus could not understand why the newcomer's speech managed to affect him. His hands and feet had been bound by divine speech, which meant only one thing: the being in front of him…whether he was a god, demon, dragon, giant or whatever, this entity possessed a power beyond his wildest imagination. 'What the hell… is this guy?'

He could not understand. Fear of the unknown was obviously something that affected the gods more severely. Even after he'd defeated Typhon, Yeon-woo hadn't separated from the Demonism, and now that he'd already defeated a supreme god, there was no reason to even acknowledge a great god.

"Boo."

「I…await…your…orders.」 Boo appeared from the shadows, spreading his hand to raise his shadows around Ares. The shadows entered Ares' wound, mending his heart and stopping the holy power from flowing out. As though he were strumming a harp, Boo's left hand moved constantly, and the shadows flowed out like water into Athena, devouring the Hydra's venom. It didn't matter how powerful it was, it could not withstand Yeon-woo's <Formless Poison>. Through the shadows which were connected to Yeon-woo, Boo collected the venom and incinerated it with holy fire. Athena began to recover some of her powers, and her complexion improved. She looked at Yeon-woo with an expression of surprise. She had been certain that she had met her end, and now she was rapidly recovering. It wasn't easy to heal her injuries. How could Yeon-woo have grown so much in the time they'd lost contact?

Before astonishment had overwhelmed her, Athena's first reaction had been one of pity for Yeon-woo. She could only think of what he'd endured and gone through to develop so much in such a short time. The pain and suffering that Yeon-woo must have gone through made her heart ache.

"Hahaha! I knew it! I knew my Apostle is a cut above the rest!" Now that he was recovering, Ares burst into laughter as he looked at Yeon-woo. His eyes gleamed fiercely with a greedy sense of ownership.

Athena was dumbfounded by Ares' behavior. "Apostle? You still haven't given that up?"

"Of course not! Nothing can compare to this fine specimen! Even in a thousand years, no one will come close! Ooh. How can I persuade him this time around? Wait, no. Damn it! How can I let him see me in such a weak state? This isn't appropriate, right?" Ares seriously contemplated his options. Athena had always stepped in whenever Ares acted like this around Yeon-woo. However, this time, Ares was so consumed by his desire for Yeon-woo that he ignored Athena's reproachful gaze.

Athena decided that she would no longer stop Ares. Even at first glance, she could see that Yeon-woo had grown much more powerful than Ares, and she couldn't understand why Ares would think he could still make Yeon-woo his Apostle. She didn't know if Ares was just immature or overconfident. However, seeing him behave as he always did made her smile.

She could imagine watching Yeon-woo moving towards greater and loftier achievements, and her eyes gleamed brightly.

***

「Master.」

"There are many others around. Make sure to keep those two safe."

「All right.」 After receiving his orders, Shanon quietly blended into the shadows. Yeon-woo walked towards Syceus, who was still immobile. Vigrid cried out softly in Yeon-woo's hand. Urrrng. Urrrng.

Vigrid seemed immensely satisfied with Yeon-woo's thoughts. Yeon-woo hadn't separated from the Demonism yet since there were so many divine beings running around in Tartarus. Besides, the Demonism did not want to leave. This was the kind of situation he wanted in the first place.

'The Demonism probably wants me to devour as many divine beings as possible.' The Demonism's condition was that he would take all the egos of all the divine beings Yeon-woo devoured, just as he'd taken the Crawling Chaos' ego. Yeon-woo could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, but he didn't know what the Demonism was up to. However, if he agreed to this single condition, Yeon-woo could operate with the Demonism while still retaining his consciousness and ego. He also calculated that his power would increase enough from devouring the divine beings that he might be able to overpower the Demonism.

However, all of these thoughts disappeared when Yeon-woo saw Athena's injuries. The only thing he could think of was to chase Syceus and the Gigantes out of Tartarus. His eyes were calm and collected and his actions purposeful despite his burning anger.

Boom! After taking a step forward, Yeon-woo's figure blurred. Then, he appeared right in front of Syceus.

『Pompous bastard!』 As Vigrid appeared near his head, Syceus frowned. Though he was still afraid, Syceus was infuriated that Athena, whom he had been about to conquer, had shown her vulnerable side to Yeon-woo. As Syceus released all his powers, he finally freed himself from the restrictions of Yeon-woo's divine speech.

Rumble! His flaming sword thrust upwards. Clash! Full of magic power, Vigrid not only shattered Syceus' sword but also continued its downward trajectory to slice Syceus' right arm off. Rip!

『Argh! My arm…!』 Syceus' severed arm flew into the air. The red veins in Syceus' eyes started bulging.

"You shouldn't cry so much about losing one arm."

『Die!』 As if he couldn't take any more, Syceus swung at Yeon-woo with his left hand. The flames bursting from his fingertips created a large explosion, and the earth was turned over as a fire pillar shot up from the ground below Yeon-woo's feet.

Syceus used the explosion to distract Yeon-woo as he retreated quickly. Although he seemed emotional, he was coldly analyzing the current situation, and he concluded that he would lose to Yeon-woo if he continued fighting. It was too dangerous to battle this human or whatever mutant it was. Although he was filled with bitterness that Ares and Athena were escaping right in front of his eyes, now that he knew where they were, it wouldn't be difficult to find them again.

He thought it would be more prudent to retreat for now and discuss the next steps with Persephone. This time around, he swore to pay attention and find out more about Yeon-woo.

However, he heard Yeon-woo's terror-inducing voice behind him. "Where do you think you're going?"

Slice!

『Ah!』 This time, Syceus' left leg was cut off at the knee. As it flew in the air, Syceus didn't even have time to cry out further as Vigrid struck again and again. Swish! Swish! Swish! Bam!

Yeon-woo made quick work of Syceus' remaining limbs. Although Syceus tried to release a variety of divine skills to save himself, they bounced off Vigrid's powerful strikes harmlessly. Syceus found himself falling into despair.

Finally, Yeon-woo stabbed him in the abdomen. Syceus couldn't even cry out in pain. His screams and cries were stuck in his throat. The Sword Thunder that Yeon-woo had applied to Vigrid not only incinerated Syceus' holy powers within Syceus, they destroyed his entire being. Losing his ability to even voice his pain meant that he'd been seriously injured.

『S…!』 As he tried to force out words, his holy power leaked faster than he could gather it back. He couldn't speak at all.

Yeon-woo looked at Syceus, the corner of his lips raised. "I've sent Typhon ahead, so you shouldn't be lonely."

Syceus' eyes widened at the news that Typhon had succumbed.

['Hades' Spirit Eating Sword' is consuming!]

Yeon-woo gripped Syceus' head firmly.

Argh! Hades' Spirit Eating Sword consumed the screaming Syceus quickly. Once Yeon-woo confirmed that Syceus had been completely devoured, he got to his feet, supporting himself with Vigrid.

The troops following Syceus seemed to have already fallen to Shanon and Yeon-woo's other familiars since everything was quiet. Yeon-woo was about to announce that the coast was clear when Athena suddenly jumped into his arms. Unsure what was happening, Yeon-woo instinctively returned the embrace. A smile spread on his face as he gently patted Athena's back. He seemed to be consoling her, letting her know that there wasn't anything left to worry about.