Leveling with the Gods

Side Story 76

Cough, cough~

Tsukuyomi coughed and blew her nose.

The cold night air pierced through her bones.

Tadaq, tadaq-

In front of her, a warm campfire burned, sending smoke into the sky.

Tsukuyomi wasn't the only one coughing.

"Achoo-!"

On the other side of her, Pandora also sneezed, warming her hands by the fire.

YuWon, who had lit the fire, looked at both of them with concern. He took a coat from his inventory and gave one to each of them.

Wrapped in the thick coat, Tsukuyomi could finally speak.

"The cold keeps building up."

It was strange. Tsukuyomi, a High-Ranker who used ice magic, hadn't felt cold in a long time. Even if this place was the Northern Sea of Murim, where winter was eternal and ice never melted. (Note: I like how the author keeps mentioning Murim, maybe they have a Murim novel too?)

And yet...

She felt this cold in the desert night.

"It must not be just the cold."

"And then?"

"It's something that constantly threatens us. So be careful. If you let your guard down, it might even devour your mind."

With those words, YuWon's gaze turned to Pandora.

Pandora sipped on hot water boiled over the fire.

YuWon sighed as he recalled the first time he met her.

'Maybe I shouldn't have brought her.'

Secretly, YuWon was worried. She had already gone through something similar once. And back then, things were even tougher. Most importantly, she was the one with the memories of Azathoth and the power of the Outers.

He could say that this was nothing to her, or she might be suffering even more from past trauma.

-How much longer do we have to go?

Meanwhile, the late Susanoo seemed to be the only calm one.

"I don't know how time passes, but it seems like more than ten days have passed."

"I don't know either. Let's just go and see."

"Shouldn't you tell that girl what you're looking for?"

Susanoo looked at Tsukuyomi, who was wrapping herself in the coat. When she asked him what Danpung was, YuWon simply replied, "You'll know when you see it."

A vague and hard-to-understand answer. But it's not that YuWon didn't want to give an explanation.

'I don't even know how to explain it...'

How do you explain Danpung?

A human the size of a palm?

A formless, amorphous being?

Or perhaps Azathoth?

'Explaining it like that... would be difficult.'

He didn't even know in what form it would exist. If it really existed at all. YuWon didn't know anything about it.

However, there was one thing he could assume.

"Ubbo-Sathla."

"Ubbo-Sathla? Is that Danpung?"

When Tsukuyomi asked about his words, YuWon shook his head.

"No. That's not it."

"And then?"

"That was its home. Originally."

A question mark appeared over Tsukuyomi's head.

Of course...

Both Danpung and Ubbo-Sathla were difficult explanations for her.

"Ubbo-Sathla was an Outer that appeared in Nibelung. Have you heard of it?"

"In Nibelung... Oh!"

Ten years ago. An enormous Outer that ravaged the land of Nibelung.

To face that city-sized creature, Nibelung, YuWon and The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, had joined forces. However, people remembered that event without including YuWon in the story.

However, the survivors of Nibelung who had lived to tell the tale had turned it into a song.

"I know. The Outer from Nibelung."

"We need to find that guy."

"Didn't I hear that they killed it back then?"

"That's correct."

Ubbo-Sathla had disappeared without a trace that day, in that place. It was defeated by the amorphous teeth of Azathoth, and no trace remained.

However...

What was there was simply something created by Yog-Sothoth.

"That guy was never alive in the first place."

"And then?"

"Danpung was that guy's home."

"His home?"

YuWon nodded and looked up at the sky.

"It was the home of the Great Father of this world. Sothoth copied him and gave him a name."

"...? ...? ...?"

"That's Ubbo-Sathla, the Amorphous Idiot."

"Ubbo... Sathla... Idiot...."

Tsukuyomi felt like tearing her hair out.

The Great Father, Sothoth.

Ubbo-Sathla, The Amorphous Idiot...

Despite hearing the explanation, she could only understand a few words.

"I don't understand anything you're saying."

"I told you. You wouldn't understand even if I explained."

Whoosh-.

YuWon smiled and stoked the fire.

[You ignite the "Flame of Death and Decay."]

As the flames grew, the shivering bodies of Tsukuyomi and Pandora began to warm up.

Flame of Death and Decay. Its name was so grand that even the spirits of the most insignificant Outers wouldn't dare to approach.

Pandora, feeling comfortable, was already nodding off.

YuWon stroked her head and said,

"Close your eyes for a bit, and then we move again."

-----------------

Crunch-.

A man in a cloak walked slowly on the sand.

Slow and measured steps.

YuWon suddenly woke up to the majesty emanating from those small steps.

["They're all here."]

Beeeh-.

Behind him came the bleat of a goat.

A familiar sound.

YuWon turned towards the goat and suddenly woke up.

'This is not my memory.'

He couldn't control his own body.

The moment he thought it might be a dream.

His feet started moving again.

Thud-.

Walking on the sandy slope, he carried the goat and the child home.

A cave that led underground.

Following the familiar path, he carried the goat and the child.

[“Do you need to eat something?”]

He leaned down and looked at the child. When the child, who had been watching, nodded, YuWon's body moved.

[“I'll go find something. Take a look around here.”]

Beeeh-.

The goat grabbed the child by the body and dragged him. As if it were a superior, telling him to follow.

[“You have to stay close to me. You could easily get lost.”]

The child nodded again. Nyarlathotep thus followed Shub-Niggurath.

Crunch-.

YuWon's body. The Great Father of the World, Azathoth, walked like this through his home.

To find something to eat for Nyarla.

And so, they entered.

[“Are you okay?”]

Plop-.

Plop, pop-.

Numerous eyes and mouths blinked and opened as if to greet him.

[“My children.”]

----------------

Crack-.

He woke up suddenly, as if abruptly awakening from a nightmare. He turned his head at the sound of a whisper and saw that he was sleeping with Pandora, his head resting on hers.

-Did you wake up?

Susanoo's voice. With his sword half-drawn, he stood behind the three sleepers. As if he were on guard.

"I fell asleep."

To have fallen asleep like that, not knowing when he had fallen asleep. In response to YuWon's puzzled murmur, Susanoo said,

"It was strange."

"What?"

-It was too sudden. It didn't seem like you fell asleep but rather like you passed out.

YuWon nodded at those words.

It was strange.

It's not like he thought he had to sleep, or that he was tired from lack of rest or from battle. And least of all was his mental strength so weak that he couldn't bear a bit of drowsiness.

"That dream..."

YuWon's eyebrows furrowed deeply as he concentrated.

"Is that why?"

If someone had made him sleep to show him that dream. Then it made sense. Despite his memories, YuWon hadn't dreamed of Azathoth even once in the last 10 years.

And yet, now, suddenly...

The dream showed Azathoth returning home with Shub-Niggurath and Nyarlathotep.

"Don't tell me..."

Someone was sending him a signal. YuWon's eyes snapped open at the thought of who that "someone" might be.

"Pandora. Tsukuyomi."

YuWon hurriedly woke up the two who were still asleep. The two, who had been sleeping soundly, opened their eyes.

Tsukuyomi rubbed her eyes and asked,

"Yes? What's going on?"

"We need to hurry."

YuWon looked to the other side of the desert.

Although before the dream he couldn't distinguish anything, now, curiously, the path that had seemed the same for more than ten days seemed different to him.

"It can't be far."

----------------

Whoosh-.

Swoosh-.

The desert split in two, and the four people began to move quickly. YuWon at the front, closely followed by Pandora. And Susanoo running with Tsukuyomi on his back.

Tsukuyomi looked at YuWon's back, running towards a place at a different speed than before.

'Why so fast?'

It was hard to keep up on Susanoo's back. The reason she was riding on Susanoo's back was that it was difficult to chase after him.

YuWon was running at full speed. So much so that the others could barely keep up.

'As if he's sure of the way...'

He had awakened from a dream and hurried them, where was he heading?

Swish-.

YuWon, advancing quickly, stopped and gestured to the others.

The speed gradually slowed down. At the same time, he infused his Arcane Power into Tsukuyomi's eyes.

[The 'Eyes of Izanagi' are activated.]

Sizzle-.

The white pupils revealed invisible things. Under the empty desert, something huge could be seen moving.

"They're coming."

"They're coming."

YuWon and Tsukuyomi spoke at the same time.

And at that moment.

Boom-!

A massive worm shot out of the desert.

YuWon and Tsukuyomi, who knew it from the beginning, unsheathed their swords and attacked.

Swoosh-.

The Outer, whose body was cut into four pieces, couldn't even scream, and its viscous remains fell to the ground. The desert sand, as if finding a delicacy after a long time, quickly absorbed the Outer's corpse into the sand.

However...

It wasn't just one...

[Aaaah-!]

[Aaaah-!]

Otherworldly creatures kept rising, roaring. As if they had a common goal, they appeared over the desert, blocking YuWon and his group's path.

"This is...."

Tsukuyomi's eyes scanned the front. She had used Izanagi to observe this world several times after crossing the wall. She knew that unnamed Outers inhabited the entire desert. But this was a bit exaggerated.

"Too many?"

[Aaaah-!]

[Aaaah-!]

She couldn't understand what they were saying. However, the shapeless beings only screeched the same cry, blocking the group's path.

And how many were there?

All this desert was only them.

Crunch-.

YuWon, who had stopped his steps for a moment, started walking, looking up at them. He had found the way and wanted to get there fast, but they were blocking it. He seemed a bit annoyed, knowing who was responsible.

"It seems they thought my house was theirs because I left it empty for a while."

And at that moment.

The other Name of YuWon, which he hadn't used in a long time, shone, a Name he didn't think he would need to use anymore.

["The Otherworld Adversary" reveals his name].

"...Sothoth."

-KO-FI

'Ko-Fi' for Advanc3 Ch4pt3rs (Up to '95' more ch4pt3rs)Publication of up to 6 weekly ch4pters, thanks.

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