A Human Who Fights Gods
The human who fights gods.
The fact that Yeo Deure might have actually defeated a god, along with the achievement and title that came with it… held enormous meaning for the users.
Its value was immense in terms of glory and honor, but the points were what truly mattered.
Achievement points and the points needed for preemption. While the score used to determine the ranking and who stood closest to Prunar operated on a slightly different system, they were still closely related.
The standard for becoming a Ranker was achievements and points.
When someone scored high enough on achievement points, the Ranker list would undoubtedly shift.
But the Rankers offered no answers. They were still holding their breath.
In their minds, the absurd display of power Dre had shown just moments ago was still burned into their retinas.
Especially Poise. She kept replaying how Dre had erased the Domain Expansion in an impossible way.
That’s ridiculous.
In truth, the gap wasn’t that wide yet.
The top-ranking users knew full well that the absurd power and phenomena Dre had displayed were only possible because of Equality.
But they also knew that even if they used the authority of Equality themselves, they could never do what he had done.
Just as Pristan had said, she wouldn’t lose to Dre yet… but she didn’t think she could win either.
Adel didn’t care about the users’ reactions. She was simply organizing her own thoughts.
And at that moment—
Dre’s foot completely crushed Poseid’s groin.
The sight of blood exploding outward made the community freeze for a moment….
The overwhelming energy has lifted…?
Renea, who had been directing rescue operations outside, raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
She wanted to go to that dangerous place herself to help with the rescue, but…
I’m reaching my limit…
Renea sighed as she looked down at her own hands, then turned to the two people beside her.
They were Head Instructor Blurt and Assistant Head Instructor Alfred.
The two immediately understood her meaning and entered the cave without hesitation.
Whatever had happened, the situation should have been resolved by now.
So why…
Renea couldn’t shake the strange feeling that it wasn’t over yet….
"Grrrrk…!"
"Huh? No dick?"
Dre, who had been mocking him, looked genuinely puzzled.
"You said you’d spread your seed. Where’s your dick? Oh, right. I guess you can just make one with divine power?"
"......"
Poseid trembled with humiliation before a faint smile crept across his lips.
"Torture, you say?"
"Yeah. I’m going to torture you. I already said I would, didn’t I?"
"Heh heh heh heh heh…"
The self-mocking laughter made Dre pause for a second.
"Torture… Yes, if it is you who defeated me, you have the right."
Even Poseid, whose pride bordered on arrogance, could not deny it.
Yeo Deure had deliberately waited until Equality ended before cutting down Poseid’s true form.
If that wasn’t defeat, what was?
Whether his stage had dropped or whether it wasn’t his real power… none of that mattered.
He had lost.
Therefore, he had to acknowledge that the being before him stood above him.
But there was one thing he could not accept.
Poseid believed that anyone who defeated him should possess the appropriate dignity.
"However, one must maintain proper dignity."
"What? Dignity?"
"Yes. Your status is high. I acknowledge it. Therefore, should you not also possess the character befitting that status?"
"...Ha. What the fuck are you even saying?"
Dre grabbed a fistful of Poseid’s hair and yanked him up.
"You’re just saying whatever you can to avoid getting beaten?"
"Hmph… Do you truly believe pain affects a god?"
"What?"
"A god’s sense of pain is extremely dull. Heh heh heh…"
"So what? You want me to just leave you alone?"
"If you are truly a being of high status, show mercy. Mercy is the virtue of the strong."
What kind of bullshit was he spouting so confidently? Dre was genuinely dumbfounded.
"If you do that, I shall overlook the blasphemy you showed against a god today."
"And if you don’t overlook it?"
"You will end up like that one over there."
Poseid’s gaze shifted toward Almiraj.
Dre blinked, then asked.
"...You mean losing all the power granted by the deities?"
"Exactly. Everything you have gained as a user… In simple terms, your stats, skills, authorities—everything will vanish."
This was why Poseid had maintained some composure even while being pushed back.
Although he had crossed the line this time, the deities were ultimately on his side.
The deities would not sit idly by while a mere human harmed one of their own.
At least, not if it was a deity from the same faction.
CRACK!
"KUUUAAAAAAGH?!?!"
His nose collapsed.
And the pain that followed was on a completely different level from anything before.
"Kyaagh, aaaaaagh?!"
It was no lie that gods were resilient to pain.
Since their very composition differed from living beings, the concept of true pain was fundamentally different for them.
But… what is this pain?
"The you who existed up there might not feel it, but the current you existing in Elyunarr is no different from a human. That’s why attribute changes work on you."
Poseid gaped at the bizarre Runar gathered in Dre’s hand.
"You… you reconstructed my body to make it easier to feel pain?!"
As if such a thing were possible. While Poseid was still reeling in shock, his arm literally shattered into pieces.
"Hrrk, kuhup?!?!"
Poseid desperately tried to hold back his screams as cold sweat poured down his face like rain.
At the same time, tears streamed from his eyes.
Dre paused for a moment. It wasn’t because of Poseid’s tears.
This strange sensation.
Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions… Countless memories and screams flooded through his body all at once.
He wondered if Poseid had done something, but no.
He was crying too.
"Can you feel them?"
"......"
"This is not a plea for my own safety. We were once absolute gods in our own dimensions… So what do you think happened to the creatures that existed in those dimensions?"
Poseid pointed at himself with both arms that had already regenerated.
"They are inside me."
"......"
"An infinite number of lives are scattered within me. Harming me is the same as killing all those lives."
Dre understood.
This was not something a person could endure.
No matter how evil or how much one enjoyed killing, if the sorrow of tens or hundreds of beings flooded your mind, the noise alone would drive you mad.
"Do you understand now?"
"...Yeah."
"Yes, you are… worthy of being a hero, worthy of Prunar. There is no way you could harm life—"
CRACK! CRUNCH!
"......Huh?"
Both legs.
And the opposite arm that had been cut off earlier were sliced into thousands of pieces.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH?!?!"
This time Poseid screamed without restraint as a heavy hand grabbed his lower jaw.
"Grrk, ugh… w-wait…!"
"Nah. I don’t want to."
The lower jaw began to stretch grotesquely and tear apart.
CRRRRRUNCH!
"Gyaagh, gaaaaaaa, gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
CRRRRRRRRRUNCH!
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAGH—!!!"
The pain of his lower jaw being ripped off by raw strength sent Poseid rolling across the floor, clutching his face. Dre kicked him, stomped him, and forced him back to his feet, baring his white teeth in a grin.
Poseid had not been lying.
Every time he wounded the god, countless screams echoed inside Dre’s head.
But Dre did not stop.
Instead, he punched even harder.
"You fucking pathetic piece of shit, running your mouth nonstop. What? Pain doesn’t scare you?"
"Gyaagh! Kaaagh!"
THUD! THWACK!
"You son of a bitch. You just didn’t know pain because you had a god’s body. Now that you do, you’re a fucking crybaby! Huh?!"
"S-stop! Stop it! Can’t you hear my children’s screams?! You cold-blooded monster!!"
"Cold-blooded?"
Poseid’s jaw had already regenerated.
Dre shoved his hand into the god’s mouth, grabbed his tongue, and ripped it out with a wet tearing sound.
"Krrgh, hrrgh."
"What about you? You sacrificed all your own creations because you were pissed, used them to gain knowledge and power, then shed a single tear and said sorry—so that makes you merciful? But I’m cold-blooded for killing the bastards who fucked with me? Your mouth smells like pure shit, you fuck."
CRACK!!
Cartilage shattered.
The pain of his collarbone, knees, and every bone in his body being pulverized… was truly unbearable.
"A, aaaaaaaaagh!!!"
"You do whatever the fuck you want, hit people, kill people, act however you please, and then you lecture me about dignity? Wow, now I see it—even your screams have dignity, Lord Poseid. Is this what godly dignity sounds like, you fucking bitch?"
Heavy fists rained down without pause. The lives of his children vanishing one by one made Poseid thrash wildly.
"N-no…! This cannot be… I feel no guilt—krrgh!"
A sword was shoved into his mouth.
Dre’s eyes glowed with murderous intent.
"If it was just me, I could’ve let it go."
"......"
"But you bastard… you dared, you fucking dared to lay a hand on Rena?"
CRAAAAACK!!
The sword shoved into his mouth pierced upward and split his skull.
As bubbles formed and regeneration tried to begin, Dre grabbed it with raw strength and tore—
Someone retched at the horrific sight, but Dre paid it no mind.
"Kyaagh, aaaaaaaaaagh!"
"You fucking piece of shit."
He released the hands that had been tearing the body in half and raised his fists again.
Poseid, whose mind had gone blank from unimaginable pain and was only waiting for automatic recovery, snapped his eyes wide open.
THUD! CRUNCH! CRACK! THUD!
Blood sprayed. Teeth scattered in every direction.
Yet the body that kept regenerating forced him to feel endless pain.
"Suddenly using polite speech like ‘you’ and ‘sir’ because you’re scared, then threatening that if I hit you you’ll lose all your power! Our esteemed deity is so elegantly archaic! Please teach me! In this situation, how should I scream to maintain proper dignity? Hm? Hm? Hm?"
THUD! THWACK! THWACK!
"Krrghk! Kaagh! Kraagh!"
Was this even human?
Setting emotion aside, how could any physical being endure the screams of countless children?
How could he bear the souls that resented him?
The god’s eyes had swollen shut and filled with blood. Through that blood-soaked vision, Dre looked like a monster.
The emotion Poseid had desperately tried to hide—
Fear.
It tore through the thin wrapping of dignity and poured out.
"Hrrk! Haah! S-stop… please!"
"No! I don’t want to! Huh?! I said no, you fuck!!"
The screams no longer registered in Dre’s mind.
All he could see was Rena, the girl who had tried to protect him, slamming her head against the ground from Poseid’s shockwave and bleeding.
If he hadn’t stood there like an idiot, that child would never have ended up like that.
Dre thought.
Why.
Why is it that even though this fucking bastard Poseid’s face is getting smashed to pieces, my fists aren’t breaking too?
It would feel so much better if both broke—
"S-stop, stop… ugh, krrgh!"
THUD! CRUNCH! CRACK! THWACK! THWACK!
Perhaps because he had grown slightly accustomed to the pain, he could think of other things even while hurting. No—perhaps thinking was the only way to endure it even a little.
As he thought, Poseid grew suspicious.
Why wasn’t his body regenerating?
Yeo Deure possessed the attribute of destruction that prevented regeneration…
…Ah.
He understood.
This bastard was deliberately allowing regeneration.
To make the pain last even longer.
And that meant this torture might continue indefinitely.
Fear shattered what remained of his pride as a god.
"A, aaaaaaaaaah!!"
Poseid turned and threw himself to the ground.
"Oh?"
Dre grabbed his hair, but Poseid crawled desperately on all fours, not even noticing his scalp being torn off, only wanting to escape.
Dignity? Pride?
He no longer cared.
He only wanted to get away from this monster.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
Dre laughed like a madman.
Slightly hunched over, eyes blazing, a wicked grin on his lips, he clapped his hands together.
"Wow. Lord Poseid. Our dear Lord Poseid! You look so magnificent! How can crawling look so sticky and elegant, like a snail?"
"A, aaaa…"
Crawl. Crawl.
"Come on, come on, little slug. Crawl harder. Yeah?"
The sight of him slowly chasing the fleeing Poseid with both fists clenched… resembled not a god, but a demon. No—an evil god.
"This is getting too much."
Along with those words…
FLASH!
Dre found himself in a different location.
When he looked around, beings of various forms stood on both sides of him as if facing off, with him at the center.
"Shouldn’t you show some restraint?"
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
A being that stirred wind across its entire body.
Next to it, a being that emitted pitch-black darkness…
They were faces he had seen before.
And they all shared one thing in common.
They radiated divine power.
They were deities.
The gods had summoned Dre.
"......Huh?"
However, the number was strange.
As far as Dre knew, there were 999 deities.
Excluding exceptions like Poseid or the Dragon God, that left 997.
1356.
An ambiguous number.
Dre immediately recalled that there were another 999 beings besides the gods.
Beings he had never seen in the flesh.
430 'Evil Gods' are watching you.
The notification he had heard once before rang in Dre’s ears.
And Dre…
"Heh."
Smirked viciously.
"What the hell did you call me for?"
With utmost arrogance, Dre looked down upon the gods.