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My Two Status Windows-Chapter 141
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 141: Athena’s Contact (1)
Damn… was the time limit 24 hours?
I ran around as fast as I could, but since I wasn’t using spatial movement, I couldn’t clear all the dungeons.
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According to Kang Shia’s reports, the major powers had mostly cleared their dungeons on their own.
However, the progress was slower in regions like Africa and Central Asia, where many hunters had defected to stronger nations.
Even so, since the difficulty level wasn’t too high, I thought most of the dungeons would have been cleared—but 11 still remained.
“Heimdall’s Return.”
I returned home.
In the past 24 hours, I had gone on a tour from Japan to Southeast Asia.
[Did you see the message about Zeus’ Lightning activating? Right now… it’s expanding in the regions where the dungeons weren’t cleared.]
A message from Kang Shia, my apostle, popped up.
At her words, I turned on the TV and saw a live broadcast covering the situation.
Zeus’ Lightning, which stood tall as if connecting the sky and the earth, suddenly expanded and began to engulf the cities.
The lightning streaked endlessly in all directions, overturning everything in its path.
[Zeus’ Lightning, which has grown this large, is now sweeping across the city. The range now extends beyond the city itself…]
The news anchor’s voice narrated the changing footage.
Analysis reports showed that the lightning had spread across the entire metropolitan area and even the surrounding regions.
If the lightning covered such a massive range…
Wouldn’t that mean instant death for everyone?
Damn…!
Zeus’ Lightning, which had overturned the city in an instant, suddenly began to lose its glow.
Just as it had expanded in a flash, it vanished just as quickly.
And in the aftermath of the disappearing lightning…
“Huh? It’s… intact?”
The city emerged completely unscathed.
Not a single trace of damage.
The footage split into multiple screens, showing the 11 cities one by one.
All of them had been struck by Zeus’ Lightning, yet every single one appeared perfectly intact.
[Jiho-nim. There are no casualties reported in the regions where Zeus’ Lightning struck.]
Kang Shia reported the damage assessment.
All 11 cities had zero casualties.
There were some injuries and property damage caused by panicked people creating chaos during the evacuation, but no one had been electrocuted by the lightning itself.
As I listened to Kang Shia’s report, the news was also announcing that there were no casualties.
[Zeus’ Lightning, which had swept through the cities in an instant, disappeared just as quickly. …Breaking news. Amazingly, there are no casualties in the areas struck by the lightning.]
Kang Shia’s information was faster than the news.
The broadcast showed footage of the cities.
People were hugging each other, overjoyed at having survived.
Zeus…
If no one was going to be harmed, why did you strike 100 cities with lightning?
It reminded me of the time Zeus had used Astrape to cover the entire Earth with lightning.
Back then, he said it was to transform humans into Thunder Spirits.
Didn’t he mention that 1% of their souls would be transformed with each strike?
If repeated 100 times, it would fully convert their souls into Thunder Spirits.
Hmm… could this be a miniature version of that process?
I contacted my father, and he had a similar thought.
[We’ve reached the same conclusion. We’re dispatching angels to investigate the situation. The Divine Realm Alliance is also planning to send their apostles. Once we uncover the truth, I’ll inform you.]
“Yes, Father.”
The communication ended.
I could feel the tension on my father’s side.
It was reassuring that the Divine Realm Alliance was stepping in right away.
“Zeus… you’ve been quiet for a while…”
The dungeon difficulty had clearly been low.
Even B- and C-rank hunters, if they worked together properly, could clear them without divine intervention.
But I had a feeling this was only the beginning.
When I entered the Pantheon, there had been countless marble statues.
If those powerful beings started moving, it would become a real headache.
With that in mind, I was still puzzled by Zeus’ decision to only deploy C-rank minions.
If he had assigned stronger A- and B-rank subordinates to the dungeons, they could have caused much more damage.
Was he still lacking in SP?
Sigh.
I’d have to wait until the situation was fully understood.
I kept the news running in the background and logged into HunterNet.
Once I accessed the portal, it was flooded with articles about Zeus’ Lightning.
[It’s the end of the world. The end.]
[Wow. Is that the same lightning that struck the entire Earth before? I don’t remember it.]
[But why is Zeus so powerful? Aren’t other gods more famous?]
[The lightning in Seoul disappeared quickly, but Busan was in total chaos. I’ve never seen such pandemonium during an evacuation…]
ㄴYeah, but Busan’s was nothing. Other countries were even worse—it was practically a riot.
[Looking for a child lost during the evacuation. Seven-year-old Ha Dongjun. Here’s the link to his photo…]
Although the lightning itself didn’t cause any direct casualties, the chaotic evacuations resulted in plenty of incidental damage.
Tsk.
I should’ve marked coordinates in Busan too.
As I scrolled through the comments, something caught my eye.
[Link to the person who dispelled Zeus’ Lightning.]
I followed the link and found a video showing me and the Busan hunters.
Watching it in video form felt strange.
Even though I had ascended to godhood, I didn’t look any different on camera.
In the footage, the hunters all froze when I spoke.
Then, I walked into the lightning and emerged shortly after.
The lightning vanished in less than a minute.
I disappeared from the screen as the video faded to black.
Just when I thought the short video was over, an interview segment began.
It showed the hunters being interviewed inside a building.
“This is Kim Jia, a reporter from HunterNet. What exactly happened out there?”
Ah, so this was a HunterNet production.
At the reporter’s question, the hunters exchanged glances.
Then, a man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward and answered.
“I’m Lee Myeonggon, a hunter from the Busan Hunter Association. We were dispatched toward Zeus’ Lightning, but our forces alone couldn’t clear it. We were at a loss when suddenly…”
“Yes, I heard that several C-rank hunters had gone missing in other regions. It would have been difficult to proceed without sufficient forces.”
“Exactly. So, we were waiting for reinforcements from Seoul. But then, a man appeared out of nowhere.”
“That man claimed to be a god. He looked just like any other Korean guy, though!”
“He told us to check HunterNet later. Reporter, do you know anything? You’re from HunterNet, after all.”
The hunters turned the question on the reporter.
She shook her head, clearly unaware.
“We have no information on this. Did the man who claimed to be a god mention his name?”
“No. He just showed his face.”
“What did he look like? Was he handsome?”
“No, just a regular young man in his 20s from South Korea.”
The hunter heavily emphasized the word regular.
You bastard… you’re disqualified from becoming my apostle.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“I see… While we can’t confirm whether the man in the video is truly a god, his incredible performance is undeniable. His speed rivaled that of the minor god Jiang Ziya, who cleared the dungeon in China. According to reports, he didn’t just clear Seoul’s Zeus’ Lightning—he also dispelled over 10 lightning strikes across Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam in a single day.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“It seems that, just like in Busan, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and cleared the dungeon. Let me show you the related footage.”
The screen displayed me traveling around Japan and Southeast Asia, clearing dungeons.
Foreign hunters were startled when I emerged from concealment without warning.
Ignoring their reactions, I simply entered the dungeon and cleared it right away.
Around ten clips of me doing this were shown.
“They say he used a peculiar barrier before entering the dungeon.”
“Ah, that’s right. A golden barrier enveloped his entire body.”
“He was also holding a sword of light.”
Since the dungeon was created by Zeus, I had dispelled my concealment and entered in full combat mode, wary of any potential traps.
That’s why everything was captured on video.
Eh, whatever.
Kang Shia is going to reveal me as a god on HunterNet anyway.
It’s good to have some tangible achievements.
Since I cleared the dungeon, this would help establish a favorable image at the start.
After the interview footage ended, news of me began trending in the popular searches.
Kang Shia would know how to make good use of this.
For now, I needed to review my skills before receiving the ones from Asura.
I had to get a clear grasp of my current arsenal.
I started by examining my S-rank skills.
Heimdall’s Return was an escape skill.
Dragon Heart wasn’t an attack skill but a passive one, making it tricky to combine with Soul Emission and Soul Barrier.
Then there was Aegis Shield, a defensive skill.
I rarely used it because of Soul Barrier...
But what if I combined it with Soul Barrier?
“Aegis Shield.”
When I activated the skill, a small shield materialized and floated around me in the air.
Now, let’s try Soul Barrier with it.
“Soul Barrier.”
The shield became coated in a golden protective layer.
[You have used Soul Barrier on an S-rank skill.]
[Defense and SP efficiency have significantly increased.]
[SP consumption has increased.]
Oh-ho.
What a synergy effect.
The increased SP consumption was a drawback, but the enhancement was worth it.
That bastard Hercules should’ve told me about this earlier.
Feeling eager to test other skills, I continued scanning my skill list.
Why were there so few S-rank attack skills?
Thunder God was just an A-rank skill.
“This one’s no good. Neither is this one…”
After skipping through multiple skills, my eyes landed on Dragon’s Power.
Dragon’s Power—the skill I obtained after completing the quest related to the dragon god, Drakia, and perfecting Dragon Heart.
I hadn’t found much use for it since acquiring it.
It was labeled as a special skill, without a specific rank.
“Dragon’s Power.”
I decided to summon just a tiny fraction of its strength.
A flame, no larger than a fingernail, flickered to life above my palm.
It was incredibly small.
Yet, the moment it appeared, the temperature in the room spiked.
“Smaller. Soul Emission.”
I shrank the flame down to the size of a speck of dust.
Then, I infused it with Soul Emission.
The crimson flame turned pure white.
[You have used Soul Emission on a special skill.]
[The special skill Dragon’s Power now scales with the rank of Dragon Heart.]
[The attack power and SP efficiency of Soul Emission have greatly increased.]
[SP consumption has increased.]
Whoa.
This works too?
I couldn’t see the exact synergy values, but it was definitely better than nothing.
I should’ve been using this combo all along…
I could use this for ranged attacks, and receive close-combat skills from Asura.
Not bad—my current skills weren’t useless after all.
“Release Dragon’s Power.”
I deactivated Dragon’s Power and was about to dispel the floating Aegis Shield as well.
I attempted to deactivate Soul Barrier and reverse-summon the shield, but…
There was some writing behind the shield.
Huh?
It was in Korean?
It hadn’t been there before.
[Soul God Kim Jiho. Use the Magic Encyclopedia. There is a message for you.]
Magic Encyclopedia?
That was the skill Athena had given me.
I hadn’t used it since learning Dragon Speech, so it had been collecting dust.
And Aegis Shield was also a gift from Athena…
Was this from her?
Athena—the goddess of war.
Also a goddess of strategy, tactics, and wisdom.
Considering the hostile relationship with Olympus, a message from their goddess of wisdom seemed…
Suspicious.
Was it a trap?
[You have no reason to trust me. However, as one who has already ascended to godhood, you won’t be affected by the A-rank skill Magic Encyclopedia. You must do this to evade Zeus’s gaze. Please, trust me. I cannot hold this message on the shield for long.]
That was a fair point…
And my upgraded danger sense wasn’t triggering.
Still, I hesitated.
Sensing my caution, Athena added a tempting hook.
[Don’t you wonder about the whereabouts of your avatar?]
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]