Leveling with the Gods

Side Story 61

Tenth Floor

A world that has given birth to countless High-Ranker Players. This is the place where the basic concepts of Martial Arts are learned. Each sect has various Ranker Players representing it.

The Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families.

They are the most prestigious sects in the Murim World.

However, no one disputes who is the best.

¡Paak-!

"Haap-!"

Players extending their fists. They were Players training on Heavenly Mountain and undergoing the trial of the tenth floor.

"It's the fighting spirit! The fighting spirit! If your voices are so weak, how can you have strength in your fists!"

"Haahp-!"

"The voice is the breath, idiots! Do you think you can become strong just by shouting loudly?"

"Euaap-!"

¡Paak-!

They wear heavy steel protectors on their arms, heavier than stones, and strike with all their might.

It's hard even to move their arms, and on top of that, they are told to shout with fighting spirit.

Some have already fainted and collapsed on the ground with their fists extended.

And the instructor looked at them disdainfully.

"Tsk. How weak they are."

Guang Hamuk, a Cultist of the Heavenly Demon Cult, clicked his tongue disinterestedly.

Most Players who enter the Heavenly Demon Cult don't last even ten days.

They faint and lose consciousness several times a day, often ending up descending the mountain.

However, there is a reason why so many Players have been coming to Heavenly Mountain lately.

At some point, the Heavenly Demon Cult opened its doors wide and significantly reduced the difficulty of the trial.

Of course...

'There are no shortcuts.'

The success rate is still abysmal.

Out of every 100 people, only 1 manages to pass the trial.

Thud-.

The last remaining apprentice collapsed on the ground. His eyes rolled back, and his clothes were soaked as if he had been in a torrential rain.

There are no apprentices who can continue with the training anymore.

"That's it for today!"

Guang Hamuk shouted as he watched the apprentice who endured until the end.

Guang Hamuk turned around.

As soon as he moved away a bit, he heard the voices of the Players lying on the ground.

"Ugh... exhausting...."

"I'm really going to die."

"But at least I have to try it once."

"They say those who persevered and climbed up here became famous."

"Also, these days, even the Great Guilds are paying attention to people from the Heavenly Demon Cult."

There was a single reason why they challenged the trial of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Ascension.

Those two words were the only reason they had come to this rough and dangerous Heavenly Demon Cult.

'It seems they want to pass the trial without putting in effort.'

Guang Hamuk shook his head disinterestedly.

His companion, So Cheon, nodded.

"You're right. There's no one who really wants to be strong."

None of them came here with the pure desire to learn the martial arts of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

It's a pity that they even failed in the first stage of the trial of the Heavenly Demon Cult, which consisted of training their bodies to the limit.

"Is the next stage ready?"

"It's ready, but I wonder how many of them will overcome it."

"Maybe three at most. One at least."

"It looks like this time too, only you will have to work hard."

Guang Hamuk and So Cheon descended the mountain while conversing.

Both of them thought that all the Players who had come this time were a disaster.

'However, it's strange.'

As he descended the mountain, Guang Hamuk once again felt a strange sense of incongruity.

'Why weren't there so many Cultists before?'

Until about ten years ago, no one had passed the trial of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

'I heard the difficulty was very different...'

The question was why the difficulty had suddenly dropped so much. It wasn't possible that the Heavenly Demon Cult lowered the difficulty just because there were no Players passing.

It was a question that arose every time he finished training the Players in the morning.

Step, step.

As they descended the mountain like this...

"Mmm?"

So Cheon suddenly stopped.

Guang Hamuk, who also stopped, looked at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Isn't someone there?"

"It shouldn't be a stranger, but who..."

Guang Hamuk, who said it was impossible, squinted and looked in the direction So Cheon indicated.

In the dark forest even in the morning. Two people could be seen ascending from the foot of the rough Heavenly Mountain.

"...It was true."

Guang Hamuk observed the appearance of the two people.

A man with black hair, common in the Murim World, and a woman with red hair who had half of her face covered with a mask.

The only special thing was the beauty of the woman.

Even with more than half of her face covered, her beauty was evident.

It was as if she were the only flower blooming there, in the gloomy Heavenly Mountain.

"Peculiar hair."

If such a woman were on the Heavenly Mountain, he would have known.

Probably rumors would have already spread.

Above all, it was strange for an outsider to enter the main mountain.

It was strange.

This was the home of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Originally, no one could enter without the permission of the Heavenly Demon.

"You two!"

Guang Hamuk called the two and waved his hand.

"Come here."

It was quite an arrogant attitude. His current position was that of an examiner for the first stage of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

All Players coming from outside the Heavenly Demon Cult were under his control.

"Us?"

"It seems so."

The two looked at each other and approached Guang Hamuk and So Cheon.

The two people who were climbing the mountain like that.

Guang Hamuk looked at them and tilted his head.

''I've seen them somewhere...''

They were familiar faces.

Both of them were.

Both of them were.

A strange sense of déjà vu.

And that was the feeling most people facing YuWon felt.

And just then...

'What was his name?'

YuWon was also feeling the same sensation.

Faces he had seen somewhere.

As he looked at Guang Hamuk for a moment, trying to remember where he had met him, the Heavenly Demon Cult Trial that took place on the 10th floor crossed YuWon's mind.

'That's right, Guang Hamuk.'

The man he first met upon entering Heavenly Demon Cult.

'Although he's not a Ranker, he seems to have talent for martial arts. Has he been stuck here?'

Guang Hamuk was quite talented.

For some reason, he had joined Heavenly Demon Cult and was working for them, but if he started climbing the Tower again, he could surely become a Ranker.

"You, your names..."

Guang Hamuk's words, about to ask YuWon and Pandora's names, stopped.

"...are?"

A question that came out unnaturally.

Because he was born in Heavenly Demon Cult and had been there for a long time, Guang Hamuk rarely was the first to be polite to someone.

Heavenly Demon Cult is the strongest group in the Murim World.

That was why Guang Hamuk thought that if he, a member of that place, bowed first, the position of Heavenly Demon Cult would weaken.

However...

'What's going on? Seriously.'

Encountering the man in front of him face to face, Guang Hamuk felt completely different from how he usually felt.

It was as if he were in front of a great being whom he couldn't treat lightly.

'Is he a Ranker who was in seclusion? No, the energy I feel is nothing special. He's not emitting any particular threat either.'

Guang Hamuk's knees started trembling.

His body was telling him something different from his head.

It was telling him to kneel and show respect to the man in front of him.

And YuWon knew the reason why he felt that way.

[The 'Heavenly Demon Cult Subchief' reprimands the believer 'Guang Hamuk' for disrespect.]

[The 'Heavenly Demon Cult Subchief' exercises control over all within 'Heavenly Demon Cult' except the 'Heavenly Demon Cult Chief.']

A title he had forgotten for not using it for a long time. However, it had activated automatically upon encountering Guang Hamuk in Heavenly Demon Cult.

'It seems to activate even if they don't know who I am.'

YuWon was also hesitating.

Heavenly Demon Cult Subchief.

A title he obtained after passing the Heavenly Demon Trial and acquiring the Holy Fire of Tulzscha. He wondered if the effect of that title would still hold now that they had forgotten his name and face.

However...

"Sub...Subchief of Heavenly Demon Cult..."

He collapsed.

The Player who was next to Guang Hamuk, the Instructor of Heavenly Demon Cult, So Cheon, knelt before YuWon.

"I...I offer my respects."

He didn't even know why he was doing this.

Guang Hamuk didn't scold So Cheon, even though he himself didn't kneel.

No, he couldn't.

If he hadn't knelt, he would have knelt too.

"Huu-."

Guang Hamuk took a deep breath, calming his trembling legs and agitated breath.

Then, he respectfully asked YuWon and Pandora again.

"My name is Guang Hamuk from Heavenly Demon Cult. Where do you come from?"

There was no reason to deny his instincts. It was much better to acknowledge and treat the other person with respect than to act unnaturally.

"We don't have a proper place to call home."

"Meaning, you don't have a Guild to belong to?"

"A place we belong to..."

YuWon pondered for a moment on Guang Hamuk's question.

Belonging...

It was quite an important matter for Players living in the Tower.

One's position depended on the Guild they belonged to, and most of the time, they presented themselves by their Guild rather than their name.

That's why...

"If we talk about a place we belong to, then yes, we have it."

In the end, YuWon put aside his doubts and decided.

"The Heavenly Demon Cult."

[The 'Title: Subchief of Heavenly Demon Cult' is revealed.]

Fwoooosh!

The presence he had been containing was revealed.

The vast Heavenly Mountain trembled at the arrival of its Subchief.

Guang Hamuk knelt before the majesty emanating from YuWon. By intentionally revealing his title, YuWon's identity passed through Guang Hamuk's mind.

"Sub... Subchief?"

He couldn't look him in the eyes without permission.

The position of Subchief meant the successor to their God, The Heavenly Demon, and the second in command of Heavenly Demon Cult.

However, this man he was seeing for the first time in his life proclaimed himself the Subchief of Heavenly Demon Cult.

'Does the System never lie? And moreover, this majesty...'

Guang Hamuk barely lifted his head to look at YuWon.

'Is this guy really our young God?'

Heavenly Demon Cult was a religious group.

The God they worshipped was The Heavenly Demon.

In other words, Chun Mujin, the ruler of Heavenly Mountain and the leader of Heavenly Demon Cult.

And if YuWon, who was in front of him, was the successor to that Chun Mujin, it meant he was a being who would become their God.

And at least in Guang Hamuk's eyes, YuWon seemed to lack nothing.

Tak~

"You don't have to kneel. Stand up."

YuWon extended his hand to Guang Hamuk and So Cheon to lift them.

With YuWon's permission, Guang Hamuk rose from his kneeling position and asked with a visibly tense face.

"Are you really... our Subchief?"

"For now."

"For now?"

"I haven't officially joined the Cult. I just have the title."

Guang Hamuk's expression became serious. If that was true, then YuWon was undoubtedly the Subchief of Heavenly Demon Cult. However, YuWon himself, sitting there, seemed to have no interest in Heavenly Demon Cult.

Guang Hamuk bit his lip. The words he was about to say were a disrespect he shouldn't dare to say to the Subchief.

"Where... have you been until now?"

"Are you going to scold me for coming now?"

Guang Hamuk closed his mouth being touched on his sensitive point.

YuWon, as if he had expected that, nodded and shifted his gaze to the top of Heavenly Mountain.

"I will hear that story from Heavenly Demon himself. His feelings must not be pleasant either."

Anyway, the place YuWon was heading to was the top. It was where the God of Heavenly Demon Cult was, located at the highest point of Heavenly Mountain.

"Guide me."

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