Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Black Soul's Acknowledgment
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Thud-.
A skeleton dressed in familiar clothes stepped forward before the armed gods.
It was Hades, the Olympian god who had guided Soo-hyuk to the place where Lightning resided.
Soo-hyuk had a feeling that his connection with Hades might not end here.
Unlike the other gods, he seemed to run into this one frequently—and always in unpleasant ways.
"What a pity."
A glint flashed in Hades' formerly empty eye sockets.
Hades had grown eyes. Whatever had happened in the past few days, he had changed as if reborn with new life.
"I didn't expect you to side with him. Have you chickened out and tucked tail?"
Behind him, the gods stood in formation, fully armed. They gripped spears and shields, ready to fight at any moment.
Just as Valkyries existed in Asgard, these must be some kind of divine military force.
And that wasn't all.
A three-headed, six-tailed monster, a serpent flying through the sky, a man with red silk around his neck standing atop a blazing wheel of fire, and more.
All sorts of gods had gathered here. Seeing them explained Hades' confident demeanor.
'It feels just like...'
Under the gazes of the gods looking down from the sky, Soo-hyuk's mind overlaid a certain scene.
'Those eyes from back then.'
It was probably the moment he first obtained the Lightning Heart.
Back then, he had felt the stares of nameless existences.
He didn't know their names, but he remembered those gazes. And he was certain some of them matched the ones up there now.
"Just as I thought..."
At that moment, Lightning's eyes caught sight of Mei and his mother's corpses on the ground.
They had been kicking a ball around together just moments ago. That was all it took.
These beings had turned an innocent village into a sea of blood simply for being connected to Lightning.
"I'm going to wipe every last one of these bastards out."
Crackle, crackle-.
He looked ready to explode at any second. Normally, his eyes would have rolled back, and he would have charged right in—no one would have thought it strange.
The only reason he held back was probably because Soo-hyuk was beside him.
Soo-hyuk turned his gaze to the dead gods scattered around.
They were likely not warriors—just gods born as such.
Those with no connection to this war had died first.
"Why did you kill these ones?"
Hades sneered back at Soo-hyuk's question.
"Indeed, why did you let them die?"
"Me? I let them die?"
"They died for sheltering you. They hid humans who rebelled against the gods, fed them, and let them sleep."
Soo-hyuk had indeed made that call. Hades was saying they died because of him.
Soo-hyuk shook his head.
"That's sophistry."
What nonsense. This took the cake.
"They didn't shelter us. And we didn't kill them—you did. Trying to dodge responsibility too? Gods have no sense of accountability or shame, do they?"
"Being close to death doesn't mean you have to get too close to it, does it?"
Humm-.
The Black Soul Ring trembled once more.
Was it because he wore the ring? Though it was just a vibration, Soo-hyuk felt as if the ring's intent was being conveyed to him.
No. Absolutely not.
Fortunately, Soo-hyuk thought the same.
"On the contrary."
"...?"
"The closer you are to death, the more you should understand its weight. You should feel the responsibility."
Soo-hyuk criticized Hades for treating death lightly.
"If you only value your own life, you don't deserve this power. That's why you're less than worthless, you damned bastard."
Those words must have been the trigger.
Whoosh-!
Gray light bloomed from the Black Soul Ring, spreading out in a perfect circle.
All the color drained from the world. Like a drawing inked with black lines, everything froze.
Lightning right beside him, Hades, the armed gods behind, and even the eyes in the sky.
All stood still as if painted in a picture.
He had expected a full-on battle to erupt, but with the entire world frozen in gray, Soo-hyuk panicked.
Condolences for the dead.
He never imagined that's what the Black Soul Ring had wanted.
In that moment when the world stood still in gray, Soo-hyuk noticed his hand had returned to normal.
He was back to being plain old Lee Soo-hyuk, no longer the Black Soul's master.
The original emaciated skeleton was before his eyes.
The true master of Black Soul.
The one who had slumbered within the ring now faced Soo-hyuk.
Having lived with that face for days, Soo-hyuk could sense satisfaction on the expressionless skull.
Of course, that was one thing...
"I wanted to see what comes next."
Soo-hyuk glanced at Lightning behind the pleased Black Soul.
"I wanted to see how this guy fights."
The fight was just about to begin. He wanted to witness the battle between those gods and Lightning—Lightning's beginning and end.
But right at that moment, the Black Soul trial ended.
It was a shame. If it was going to end like this, why start at all? It just left him itching.
But of course, there was no reply.
Suddenly, Soo-hyuk grew curious.
Had he died by Lightning's hand? Or had he, like Soo-hyuk just now, expressed condolences for the dead?
Maybe what he had shown Soo-hyuk wasn't solely because of the ring.
Soo-hyuk slowly opened his eyes.
Standing before him with a smile, after days of him sleeping, was Ha-ilz.
Soo-hyuk asked the meaningfully smiling Ha-ilz,
"Were you waiting?"
"You were sleeping so soundly, I was about to wake you."
It had taken longer than expected. Soo-hyuk checked the ring on his finger.
Sometime during his sleep, the Black Soul Ring had resized perfectly to fit his finger. It now felt like an extension of his body.
"I was the same when I first got a god-rank item. This thing is so picky."
Ha-ilz tugged at the Ebony Wing floating above her head. It thrashed like it had a mind of its own, trying to escape her grasp.
"That's what got you called Archmage, isn't it?"
"I'd have been an archmage without it too. It just sped things up by a few years."
Having used Ebony Wing for so long, she knew the power of god-rank items better than anyone.
"Two with Clementine, one with you, one with Kim Il-su. Who's got the last one?"
There were five known god-rank items. Soo-hyuk knew the origins of four.
He suddenly wondered about the owner of the fifth.
"Who else? Heavenly Demon, obviously."
Ha-ilz said it like it was a given.
"The sword he uses is the last god-rank item. It's the most recent one too."
"That sword?"
Soo-hyuk had fought Heavenly Demon before. He had toyed with him half the time, but they had clashed blades up close.
"Didn't feel anything special."
"I haven't seen him use it properly either."
That made sense. Would Heavenly Demon rely on an item? He'd only use it when absolutely necessary, and no one could push him that far.
"Stop eyeing others' snacks and check yours already."
He had planned to anyway.
He had no idea how long he had waited for this moment to see the god-rank item's effects.
Ha-ilz urged him on.
"Don't keep it to yourself—tell me too. I'm dying of curiosity."
Soo-hyuk shared the Black Soul Ring's effects.
Ha-ilz's expression was ambiguous upon hearing them.
"It suits you but doesn't at the same time."
She instantly grasped the item's synergy with Soo-hyuk.
"The first effect is perfect for you... but the last one's the issue. You use skills that light up the darkness."
"Still guarantees at least 20%, right?"
"True. Wow, yeah. Thinking about it that way, it really is god-rank."
A flat 20% power boost with no conditions. That alone made it incredible.
Not to mention if the battlefield was at night or in a dark cave?
Even if he drove away the darkness with Lightning, he might still get over 50% effect.
Tssst-.
Soo-hyuk immediately summoned Lightning.
Thunder boomed from the massively amplified Lightning, which strained his stamina.
Unhyang and Ye-ryeong, training in the distance, turned their heads. As he ramped up the output, a tingling sensation spread through his hands.
All the safeguards Soo-hyuk had built up resisted Lightning's power.
How far could he push it? Even for him, cranking the output this high was new.
Lightning shot skyward. Everyone in the formation looked up.
The clear blue sky filled with dark storm clouds. A gale began to blow around Soo-hyuk.
As her hair whipped in the wind, Ha-ilz erected a magical barrier before her eyes.
Gazing at Soo-hyuk up close, awe flickered in Ha-ilz's eyes.
She must not have fully grasped it until now. Seeing him wield Lightning right in front of her made her truly feel that Lee Soo-hyuk, who had died, had been resurrected.
Crack-.
A fracture appeared in Ha-ilz's barrier. It shattered, unable to hold any longer.
Seeing this, Soo-hyuk stopped ramping up the power. The black clouds receded from the sky, and the fierce storm died down.
Drip. Sweat from Soo-hyuk's forehead hit the ground.
Ha-ilz noticed his trembling fingertips and asked,
"You could have kept going, right?"
To her implication that he had stopped out of worry for her, Soo-hyuk nodded.
As expected. Ha-ilz smiled brightly, knowing he wouldn't stop over a little sweat.
"How much more?"
Even after summoning a storm that shattered an archmage's barrier, Soo-hyuk's answer was shocking.
"A lot more."