Chapter 555
Chills…!
The blood in his veins turned ice cold.
Jinhyuk threw off his hood on the spot.
The nauseating energy had risen to his throat—he couldn’t endure it anymore.
“Ugh!”
The rest of the team realized, just a beat later, that something had gone terribly wrong.
“……”
Chun Yoosung reflexively drew his sword.
A green aura of internal energy surged along the blade.
“What the…?”
“T-The mana reaction is off…”
Teresa and Andrea froze in place.
Vrrrmm!
The eerie mana emitted by the [Sun Ring] began to resonate with Olympus as a whole.
‘Damn it.’
Jinhyuk clenched his teeth.
The ring had shown no abnormalities when he checked with [Eye of Gluttony].
And of course—it wouldn’t have.
The ring, by itself, wasn’t dangerous.
‘It must only activate upon contact with the mountain’s unique mana… a region-triggered trap.’
A trap hidden within a trap.
They’d been completely caught off guard.
Jinhyuk quickly pulled his mana together.
His veins felt like they were burning alive, and cold sweat poured from his body—but he had no choice.
No matter the strain, he had to push through this crisis.
Something was slithering from the ring, now fully bonded to his finger, into his body.
Poison…?
No, it felt more like a curse.
One thing was clear: neither [Blessing of the Stars] nor [Mandala] were of any help.
[Severe shock detected in the ‘Ring of Braham.’]
[A crack is forming.]
[Contract with the Progenitor ‘Alice von Ataraxia’ is destabilizing.]
A flood of urgent status messages.
He had to act fast.
Vrrrmm!
All the layered multi-barriers he’d prepared before entering Olympus activated simultaneously.
Lines along the ground shot upward into the sky.
[Zodiac Constellation – Virgo is activated!]
The sky turned black, and stars blazed to life.
Virgo’s trait: [Status Effect Purification].
A massive barrier that covered even conceptual anomalies like curses.
Now was the time for the countermeasure he’d prepared just in case to shine.
The starlight wrapped around Jinhyuk in a warm glow.
But—
Throb! Throb!
“…No way.”
The ring still wouldn’t come off.
And the pain didn’t subside.
This wasn’t Babich’s doing.
No matter how powerful a Titan was, this wasn’t within their means.
Just then—
“I heard you’re highly skilled with barriers. So this time, I made sure to prepare properly.”
A goddess with long black hair appeared among the giants.
The Goddess of War and Victory—
Athena.
“You’re the one who rigged this? Trying to trap me?”
“You don’t leave things to chance when hunting a tiger. I used every card I had.”
“Wow, to think a mighty goddess would call me a tiger. I’m honored. Truly, I’m blushing.”
“Psyching out your opponent is a common tactic of yours. But it won’t work on me.”
Boom!
Athena slammed her spear into the ground.
A gentle ripple spread outward.
At the same time—
The illusionary forest around them crumbled away.
What they thought was a woodland became a vast field.
And waiting there—
Was a massive army.
Musclebound warriors armed with spears and shields growled aggressively.
“Every last bastard I want to tear to shreds is all gathered here!”
“Just thinking about how you let the Norse fools play us…!”
“I’ll make sure to toy with you long and slow before I kill you!”
Once mere prey to be trampled without resistance.
Not long ago, the Norse were no match for Olympus.
They had ravaged Yggdrasil, humiliated retreating forces, and crushed everything in their path.
But with Jinhyuk and the Veteran Corporation now involved, everything had changed.
And the fury of Olympus could only be directed in one direction.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The warriors formed a perfect encirclement.
“Grrrr…”
“Kieeee!”
Mythical beasts like Cyclopes and Sirens also joined the battle.
“Shit.”
Chun Yoosung swallowed dryly.
Even facing Athena alone would be overwhelming, let alone an entire army.
Especially now, with the advantage of surprise gone, their odds had completely vanished.
Teresa and Andrea scanned the enemy ranks with grim expressions.
Trying desperately to find even the slightest gap to escape through.
But of course, there was none.
“You’ve done your homework, I’ll give you that. But did you know this?”
Jinhyuk gathered his scattered mana once more.
[Zodiac Constellation – Virgo’s Drizzle is activated!]
Starlight fell like gentle rain.
But this rain wasn’t meant for the whole battlefield.
It was for just one person.
“…What is this?”
Babich looked down at his slowly dampening body.
More precisely, at the massive gem hanging around his neck.
As the starlight rain touched it, the gem flickered with strange light.
[A powerful cleansing force seeps in.]
“My Virgo constellation specializes in breaking curses. Naturally, it affects the binding seal placed on the Titans.”
Athena, more than anyone, should know what it meant—
For a Titan’s seal to be broken.
And once the Titans realized they had been used, they wouldn’t leave Olympus standing.
However—
Despite Jinhyuk’s counterattack, Athena’s expression didn’t change.
As if to say, I expected this much.
“Indeed, you’re not someone to go down without a fight. But you’re mistaken about one thing. I figured if you were planning to strike with a small team, you’d bring at least one trump card.”
And there was only one trump card that could truly hurt Olympus.
Using the Titans.
As long as that was anticipated, there were no other surprises to worry about.
“Which is why… I set the perfect bait. Using the Titan Babich as bait, to be exact. Isn’t that right?”
Athena casually threw the question toward Babich.
And then—an unbelievable event occurred.
The towering Babich vanished like smoke.
[Special Skill ‘False Avatar’ has been deactivated.]
Puff!
Smoke billowed thickly into the air.
And from within it stepped out—
A much smaller figure.
“Everything you said is correct.”
Golden hair that seemed to swallow sunlight.
It was Baldur, one of the Norse Primordial Gods. (T/N: Damn it. I thought it was Loki, but I guess that’s too obvious.)
The traitor among the candidates had now been fully revealed.
But it didn’t make sense.
It wasn’t power-hungry Loki or Hel.
Why had this calm and upright god betrayed them?
“…Why?”
“The reason? Simple.”
Baldur shrugged with an innocent smile.
“When you compare a doomed faction to one backed by the 50th floor, there’s not much to weigh. And thanks to you—no, because of you—the seat of the Sun God on Olympus happened to be vacant. So I was promised that too.”
He simply bet on the side with better odds.
Especially as someone constantly overshadowed by Thor and Loki in the Norse faction, resentment had been piling up.
Why was he never even second place—always third or less, just a background figure?
“You dare… think you can replace my brother? You little worm!”
Artemis’s eyes narrowed like a predator’s.
She had already drawn her bowstring taut.
The arrow vanished.
A fierce gust and thunderous twang.
Even weakened, the Goddess of the Hunt was still deadly.
Especially when enraged.
But—
BOOM!
The arrow was blocked just short of Baldur.
Athena, shield in hand, stared Artemis down.
“Athena! Get out of my way! That bastard insulted my brother!”
“You, who betrayed Olympus, dare speak so righteously?”
“Grr…!”
The standoff between the two goddesses intensified.
Jinhyuk let out a long sigh.
‘Seriously, Athena’s always the worst to deal with.’
If he had to name the one god in Olympus he most hated running into, it would be Athena—without a doubt.
More than Zeus’s brute force, it was her precision and foresight that made her so dangerous.
Yeah.
If he hadn’t understood her nature, they’d be completely screwed by now.
If this were their first encounter…
“Thanks for gathering all your forces here.”
To maximize the effect, he needed as many enemies clustered together as possible.
If Olympus’s main force was concentrated here, that meant the rest of Olympus was left vulnerable.
“…What are you implying?”
Isn’t it obvious?
“I’m going to give you a parting gift you’ll never forget.”
Vrrrmm!
Jinhyuk pulled a uniquely shaped item from his subspace inventory.
Athena’s eyes widened.
Her face—showing an expression never seen before.
“T-That’s…?”
Of course she recognized it.
How could she not?
It was the legendary relic that once drove them to hell.
[Activating the Drum that Signals the Gigantomachy!]
[The seal restraining the Titans has been broken.]
[Apocalypse of Calamity begins.]
The sky turned black.
⁕⁕⁕
Long ago.
There was a time when Olympus, with nothing to fear in the world, was nearly destroyed.
It was when the Titans, the giant gods, gathered to annihilate them.
Even with Zeus and the other Primordial Gods united, driving back the Titans was impossible.
It was a moment of utter crisis.
Had time passed a little longer, Olympus would’ve fallen to the Titans.
But salvation came—
In the form of Heracles, one of mythology’s greatest demigod heroes.
Having completed the 12 Labors, Heracles, as prophesied, drove the Titans away and saved Olympus.
It was a myth no one could dispute.
‘But that monster isn’t here now.’
Jinhyuk’s lips curled upward.
On the front lines—
In the heart of Yggdrasil in Norse territory, Thor was keeping Heracles tied down.
In other words, there was no one who could stop the Titans from rampaging now.
‘I need to finish this before Alice’s contract fully collapses.’
He didn’t know exactly what tricks were used, but once the cursed target died, the curse would lose its power.
“S-Stop it! We have to stop this now…!”
Athena screamed.
But it was already too late.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Massive explosions erupted across Olympus.
The Titans, once sealed by gemstones, began to awaken—one by one.
“GRRROOOAAAH!”
“ROOAAAR!”
Their crimson eyes flared—
Unleashing everything that had been suppressed until now.
(T/N: HORISHEEEEEET!!!)