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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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The Divine Realm.
Upon an enormously tall stone pillar, a god sat perched at its very peak.
The being, appearing as an ordinary human male, recalled with an expressionless face the words he had just heard from a human.
“Born a god from birth, never having experienced disrespect from anything.” -“Next time, face me directly.” -“Otherwise, I’ll consider you a coward hiding in the divine realm.”
The corners of the man’s mouth turned upward.
“An interesting fellow.”
If the person had seemed only somewhat insane, he might have felt anger.
But since they seemed completely insane, he didn’t feel any anger at all.
The man with striking red eyes had black hair.
Leviathan.
He certainly remembered having such a being as his subordinate.
The monster of the great sea, was it?
But he hadn’t paid much attention to it.
It felt like thousands of years had passed.
Of course, gods don’t suffer from ailments like memory loss.
If he traced his memories, he could remember everything.
Anyway, since the demigod-level monster he had subjugated had died, he felt the need to confirm who killed it.
The man recalled why he had bestowed divine power upon and made a subordinate of that being who wielded considerable power in the middle realm.
‘The War of the Gods.’
The gods were bored precisely because they were gods.
War was impossible.
Conflict was impossible.
Those who couldn’t endure this boredom were the Eight Evil Gods.
And the man was one of them.
What the Eight Evil Gods desired was growth.
Ironically, the same growth achieved by humans, whom they considered primitive.
Growing like humans – that was the reason why the Eight Evil Gods initiated the Divine Realm War and killed other gods.
A life of complacency in the divine realm.
They found it profoundly meaningless and boring.
Growth and struggle were necessary.
Thus, they killed several other gods, seeking escape from their tedious divine existence.
The reason for granting divine power to Leviathan, who had been moderately active in the middle realm, and allowing it to oppress the merfolk and other sea races was simple.
It was to lower the divine rank of the God of Purification, Seculus, a god he had annihilated.
The man, God of War and Struggle, Barbatos, and Seculus whom he killed were both First-Rank gods.
The greatest gods, except for the ancient gods whose whereabouts were unknown and who had transcended even the hierarchy.
Gods called the total sum of power and influence ‘divine rank.’
The supremacy between gods of equal power could be reversed by ‘influence.’
Influence on this world.
Seculus was a god with quite substantial influence.
This was because he extensively embraced and supported the merfolk and forest races in the middle realm.
Barbatos wanted to create a change in his boring divine life.
However, he didn’t want to leave any possibility of defeat.
So, to lower the divine rank, he granted divine power to a few sea monsters who were fighting against the merfolk and other races.
Starting with Leviathan, who was originally the strongest.
He created an army of marine monsters.
And then destroyed the world of the merfolk that was incredibly close to being called [Atlantis], which Seculus had carefully built.
After clearly lowering Seculus’s divine rank, he tore Seculus apart in a god versus god confrontation.
With fists and feet imbued with divine power.
Combat God.
The reason why Barbatos, the God of War and Struggle, was called the Combat God among gods was because he had absorbed and mastered all martial arts that were considered the exclusive domain of humans.
Martial Arts.
Barbatos was a god who, from birth, was full of interest and desire for various martial arts and weapons.
The reason he didn’t think of abandoning his human-like outer appearance was to use martial arts effectively.
Just as Barbatos was thinking there was a need to learn about the one who dared lecture him about manners,
Ding dong!
A bell sound came from below.
It meant another god was visiting his territory.
Barbatos looked down and spoke again.
“Wait.”
Barbatos slowly lifted his feet from the towering stone pillar.
Whoosh!
Barbatos’s divine form passed through the stone pillar, through the mist, and landed on the ground.
Boom!
As Barbatos slowly raised his body, he looked at the huge crow that appeared before him.
Malphas.
He was the god who first recognized that Incrinew among the Eight Evil Gods had died, and who had sent a nun from his controlled religious order Figero to confirm the existence of Yuma.
“What brings you here, Malphas?”
The mouth of the huge black crow opened.
“Barbatos, there’s someone you should know about.”
Malphas was considerably tense.
Gods generally have little interest in the middle realm.
They only have slight interest in humans and races who spend time trying to increase their divine rank.
And gods have little interest in each other as well.
The Eight Evil Gods, who belonged to this category and possessed the highest divine rank in the current divine realm, were even more so.
Though now they had become the Seven Evil Gods.
Even that didn’t concern the gods belonging to the Eight Evil Gods much.
The gods belonging to the Eight Evil Gods were all those who had killed at least one First-Rank god of equal status.
Therefore, there was an enormous gap in divine rank between the other First-Rank gods currently in the divine realm and the Eight Evil Gods.
Gods above gods.
It would be fair to see them as such.
While Malphas was quite wary of the human ‘Yuma’ who had managed to annihilate such a god above gods, most of the Eight Evil Gods were not.
They had originally thought little of the annihilated Incrinew.
Most thought he had barely qualified for the Eight Evil Gods with just one innately superior authority.
Even if he died, they wouldn’t die.
Because they who led the god-killing were different from that inferior one who joined later.
‘That’s what they must be thinking.’
So from Malphas’s perspective, he had no choice but to come out directly to seek their help.
More precisely, he needed a blade to try cutting that fellow first.
That’s why he came to Combat God Barbatos, the third strongest god among the Eight Evil Gods.
“The one who killed Incrinew. A human called Yuma. I’m not sure exactly how he killed Incrinew yet.”
Barbatos narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, they said Incrinew was killed by a human. Not even a non-human. A human. That was quite surprising.”
Barbatos created a handful of light. Then threw that light into the air.
Flash!
The light floating in the air suddenly turned into a mirror.
In that mirror appeared the exact image of Yuma whom he had just faced through the eyes of the now-dead Leviathan.
“Is it this fellow, by any chance?”
The black pupils of the god Malphas in his huge crow form grew very large.
“…That’s right. Barbatos. I didn’t expect you to know this one.”
“He just killed a demigod-level monster that I had subjugated during the Divine Realm War to lower my prey’s divine rank.”
Barbatos felt his interest in Yuma grow slightly stronger.
Malphas furrowed his brow.
“Is it a coincidence? Or… are those on the good side providing full support to this human to kill us?”
Barbatos slowly shook his head at Malphas’s words.
“If they were providing support, wouldn’t they support elves or bird-folk who have the potential to reach demigod status? Why support a human with clear limitations?”
And he continued.
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those who believe in that nonsensical talk about humans being the only beings capable of reaching godhood?”
“H-how could that be? I know. I know that was only possible in those times when gods bore children with humans.”
Malphas broke out in a cold sweat at Barbatos’s questioning.
Unlike himself, who was close to the bottom in terms of power among the Eight Evil Gods, Barbatos possessed power that contested for 2nd or 3rd place.
But from Malphas’s perspective, that human, Yuma, was definitely someone who needed to be watched carefully.
“Malphas.”
Barbatos’s red pupils stared directly at Malphas.
“It seems you want me to kill that fellow with my own hands? Were you afraid to descend directly yourself?”
Malphas felt cold sweat running down his back.
‘This bastard, when did someone who only had martial arts in his head become so smart?’
Malphas felt the need to change the subject.
“How could that be, Barbatos. Ah, you probably haven’t heard yet. They say Rockmenton, who was a Second-Rank god, might achieve awakening advancement to First-Rank.”
Barbatos showed considerable interest in Malphas’s words.
“That scholar? How?”
Scholar-type gods didn’t easily climb to First-Rank. Not without awakening to some tremendous authority.
“They say he awakened to time-related authority.”
“Tell me more details.”
Malphas gave Barbatos detailed information about the authority that Rockmenton, the God of Wisdom and Magic, had awakened to.
Barbatos listened very carefully to Malphas’s words, as if savoring them.
And after hearing the full explanation, he very slowly opened his mouth.
“A very good authority.”
Malphas nodded his head.
“Right, I was surprised too.”
“I must take it.”
Deep greed dwelled in Barbatos’s red eyes as he spoke thus.
“Huh?”
“I’ll kill him and steal his authority. Then I’ll go kill that human you’re wary of.”
“I’ll kill him and steal his authority. Then I’ll go kill that human you’re wary of.”
Malphas’s jaw dropped as he heard Barbatos suddenly declare another god-killing.
The crow’s beak, that is.
Barbatos continued.
“Think about it. If I, not that scholar, had that power, what being, what god could stop me?”
The crow gulped.
There was nothing wrong with what he was saying.
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Yuma had various conversations while returning to the island with the Mullen tribe.
Most of his conversation was with Yercur, the king of the Mullen tribe.
Yercur nodded his head, shaking his long white hair as he listened to Yuma’s words.
“You’re saying you want us to lend our strength against the dark cloud likely to strike in 4 months?”
Yuma nodded.
“That’s right.”
“If something is indeed going to strike in 4 months, we will naturally help, staking the honor of the Mullen tribe. Yuma.”
“Thank you.”
Since the original purpose was preparation against the demon realm army,
They had achieved their primary goal of forming a solid alliance.
‘And Cloney’s growth potential has become even more limitless.’
Being able to achieve it through magic using natural elements as a medium was equivalent to pioneering a new unique realm as a magician.
Yuma organized his thoughts while stroking the white mane of the giant silver seahorse.
Soon, the island of the Mullen tribe began to come into view.
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