Chapter 325. Ark-Roa (4)

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“Ahhh…”

Hera—or rather Allison—was screaming, while being choked in mid-air.

And bleeding profusely.

‘This maniac!’

Allison grit her teeth at the man who was choking her, treating her like some random street dog.

Why was he being so cold when she had listened well, and was even willing to offer her body?

The man smiled coldly as he stared at Hera’s confused expression.

‘How dare you scum…’

Of course, using this girl would’ve been beneficial for him.

Since the others over there would also listen well.

But he himself might get mixed up as food for the Ark-Roa if he tangled with those kids.

And another thing.

He did not like these kids at all.

He actually wanted them to die in misery.

-Boom!-

“Argh!”

The man threw Allison down on the ground, and even kicked the Dark King.

“Kuhuk!”

“Take this guy too, and do whatever you want with him.”

The man smiled as he saw the movements of the people standing on the hill above.

‘Yes, run far, far away, and get devoured…’

***

-Tatatatatak!-

“Fuck… He’s just insane!”

Hermes cursed and ran away after seeing the man attack Allison immediately.

He was sure that madman had never planned to let the twelve of them live in the first place.

Which meant that there was no room for negotiation.

‘Fuck… Do we really have to become that thing’s food?’

Hermes grit his teeth.

He could not allow that.

He believed that there was always a way.

‘I don’t know what the hell I can do with these retards though.’

Hermes glanced over at Ares who was chewing on his nails beside him.

“Ahhh… No way. Why? Why, when he has so much strength…”

The guy, who looked to be barely twenty, was almost going mad with worry.

Of course it made sense.

Since he was part of the lucky few.

He had been able to come up to the Green Zone without facing a single hurdle in just one year.

And the moment he got up to the zone, he had become a transcendent after being found by that guy.

To him, this current life was probably much more fun than his old one back in the real world.

He was probably an A+ nerd who’d been ignored by everyone.

But after coming here, he had basically become a king.

He hadn’t hesitated to abuse his power either.

Even Hermes was shocked at how good Ares was at killing and pouncing on women.

That was one of the reasons he had named him Ares as well.

‘… We have no other options. We have to go to that man.’

That man probably had something up his sleeves since he was preparing to fight that monster.

‘… I just don’t have enough intel. Damn… I don’t like having to get help from some unknown stranger.’

But as Hermes was about to speak to Zeus…

-Parrrrrrrrk!-

A bird flew towards them at a very fast speed.

To Ares.

‘… Flier? A message? From who? Athena? Poseidon? Or is it Artemis?’

Very childish names they were, but they were easy to memorize.

‘I hope it’s Athena…’

Hermes mumbled, as he thought about the mysterious woman who always seemed to have been hiding something.

Ares shouted out in glee.

“We can live! Hahahaha! We’ll live! Long live Poseidon! Hahaha!”

“Huh? What are you saying?”

Everybody made confused faces at Ares who was laughing like a madman, and he continued to scream:

“It’s done! Poseidon has almost killed that monster! With Artemis! Hahaha!”

“Huh?”

The faces of everybody changed.

The fire was put out.

According to Hades, that monster had the ability to find them like a hunting dog.

That was why they’d been afraid.

But that monster was now dead.

Though that man guarding the elevator was strong, he wouldn’t be able to find them.

Just how large was this continent?

They could just all split up and slowly get stronger.

‘Good! Good! Good!’

Ares smiled.

This was how it should’ve been.

No matter how strong the monster was, it shouldn’t have been able to threaten transcendents like themselves.

Humans were the king of the world, and only other transcendents were worthy opponents for them.

If a monster that strong already existed, why hadn’t they seen them around by now?

At this point, there should’ve been plenty of monsters who were weaker than that black shadow, but stronger than the Kang-Kions all over the continent.

But as Ares smiled, Hermes smiled back and said,

“Then… Our business is finished, right? Let’s split up then.”

“Huh? What?”

Then-

-Boooom!

The space below Hermes exploded as his body disappeared in a flash.

Into the distance.

And Ares was at a loss.

‘Why is that fogey in such a rush?’

They could at least discuss their next plan of action, right?

It was really rare for so many of them to gather in one place.

But Ares suddenly realized something as he stared at the shape of Hermes disappearing into the distance.

‘Where is he…?’

The direction which the Flier had come from.

Which was the direction where Poseidon’s base was located.

Hermes was going in that exact direction.

Ares had forgotten about it for a moment.

That monster was also an abyssal creature.

An extremely strong one at that.

‘F***! That thing should have left a ton of crystals!’

He didn’t know how Poseidon and Artemis had almost killed it, but if that thing was as strong as he’d heard, those two should be half dead as well.

So if one of them could get there, and then finish them all off, then they could reap an endless amount of benefits.

Then-

“How cold. I’m going to go help Poseidon.”

“Me too, I’m quite close with Artemis.”

The transcendents started to leave one-by-one.

“Damn it!”

-Booom!-

Ares started to charge towards Poseidon’s base as well.

‘If I can have that crystal… I’ll be able to beat that b****, Athena!’

The woman who’d made his heart beat.

Which was why he’d always been depressed about it.

Since she was stronger than him.

If she was weaker, he would’ve been able to dominate her.

This was the perfect chance.

For revenge.

He had been beaten halfway to death after trying it get it on with her in the past.

Ares threw away the message and disappeared into the horizon as well.

To chase after those who had gone first.

“Damn… What’s going on?”

Zeus was at a loss for words as he looked at his comrades charging off with greed-filled eyes.

Even the Dark King, whose feet had been cut off, was charging over.

‘I don’t feel good about this.’

With a worried expression, Zeus picked up the message Ares had thrown away.

It was clearly Poseidon’s handwriting.

But something felt amiss.

Zeus made a different decision as he headed towards Hansoo’s location.

***

-Rumble-

A snow-covered tundra.

A giant hill which originally held a cave had melted down entirely.

-Bubble, bubble-

And from the middle of the melted-down land, a man stood up.

‘Good.’

Hansoo moved his hands around as he checked the status of his body.

The attempt was a success.

The spores of the Pandemic Blade were no longer a threat to him.

No, they were now a powerful part of his strength.

-Sssssk-

Hansoo mumbled to himself as he looked at the red cloud floating around his body.

‘Should I have done this from the beginning…?’

Hansoo felt the tremendous amount of strength inside him.

With this, he would be able to do a lot more.

But he soon shook his head.

-Bubble, Bubble-

Everything within a few-hundred-meters radius had entirely melted down.

He hadn’t been able to fully suppress the toxins of the Pandemic Blade during the process.

If he had done it with ease, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Which meant that it was a very close call.

He had only succeeded because his body had gotten used to it; if he had tried this from the very beginning then it wouldn’t have stopped at just melting him.

-Bubble, Bubble, Bubble-

Hansoo stood up from the bubbling land and looked towards the distance.

‘Let’s head on over.’

Then-

“Hey! Did you succeed?!”

A familiar voice was heard.

Zeus’s voice.

Hansoo jumped up, landed by Zeus and spoke to him.

“What a dissapointment. I told you to bring everyone else, but you only brought one?”

Zeus was at a loss.

He brought someone?

-Sss-

Somebody appeared out of thin air.

“Ugh… Amazing. This is one of my hidden cards.”

“Huh?”

Zeus was shocked to see the man who had followed him.

He was someone who should not be here.

“What the… Hermes? Why are you here?”

Hermes touched the goosebumps on his arms as he spoke.

“I didn’t feel right about it.”

‘So I lured them away.’

There were plenty of brains within the group.

***

“Hahaha! Poseidon! Where are you?!”

‘After I get the crystal, I’ll find that b**** Athena first, and… see how she screams.’

Ares looked around once he arrived.

Indeed, a battle had occurred here.

-Rumble-

Poseidon’s former lake-side city had been half destroyed.

All the people seemed to have already run away, but they weren’t within his interests anyway.

‘Anyways, those fogeys are real slow.’

Ares laughed as he thought of the others who would be running over.

If you left out Hermes, his own speed was the fastest of them all.

‘Anyway, Hermes should’ve arrived first. Where is he?’

As Ares looked around with a hurried expression.

He saw someone on the ground in the distance.

And he rushed over the moment he realized who it was.

‘… Poseidon? Did he get killed?’

That colorful outfit was hard to miss.

Ares flew over and shook Poseidon.

“Hey! What happened! You said you almost won! Where did that monster go!?”

He didn’t care about Poseidon’s health, but if that monster was still alive and kicking, it would be a huge issue.

Then-

A strange voice came out from Poseidon.

“Right… here.”

“Huh?”

While Ares was feeling shocked by the strange voice…

-Crunch-

Poseidon’s body started to twist and turn in a weird angle.

“Ahhh!”

Ares freaked out and tried to push Poseidon away, but it was too late.

A dark mouth charged out from Poseidon’s shoulder and chomped down on Ares’s hand.

-Kwaduk-

“UAHH!”

A happy voice came out from Poseidon’s mouth.

“If… eat… you. Two more.”

It even knew their names.

Demeter, Artemis, Poseidon, Ares.

Two more.

After two more, it would be able to evolve.

-Crunch-

Poseidon’s mouth split apart as he swallowed Ares whole.

-Crunch, Crunch-

The Ark-Roa’s shape started to change again.

To look like Ares which it had just eaten.

Then-

A strange voice came out from his mouth.

“He… Hey! F… Found it! Found it! Guys, I found it!”

It started off weird, but soon it was able to perfectly copy Ares’s voice.

It then started to laugh coldly at the thought of the others who should be rushing over at any moment now.