Thumbs Up, Level Up - Chapter 296

However, along with the Gates and the monsters, something unexpected appeared as well.

Roar!

Woong!

Rumble!

With all kinds of noises, spatial distortions appeared in thousands, maybe tens of thousands of places. These distortions were completely different from those caused by normal dungeon Gates opening.

“What is that?” Ji-Cheok thought about moving out immediately, but surprisingly, his Divine Intuition whispered to him that they were allies.

It was the Spirits that appeared. Countless Spirits had appeared from the distortions.

Dancing lightning, exploding flames, cracking rocks, raging winds, whirling water, growing grass, gloomy darkness, flickering light…

Spirits representing each element appeared. The first ones to appear were just low-level Spirits, but within moments, higher-level Spirits appeared as the scale of the spatial distortions increased.

Eventually, five beings with transcendental presence appeared.

[Who dares to target the World Tree?!]

The being that could be called the origin of the fire—the Fire Spirit King.

[The air here is so murky.]

The transcendental air being—the Wind Spirit King.

[Injured ones, come here.]

The being that emanated from the very source of life—the Water Spirit King.

[Oh, do these little ones dare aim for the World Tree?]

The embodiment of the earth itself—the Earth Spirit King.

[Oh, this is such a weak world of life… I feel pitiful for the World Tree.]

The being that rose up from the grass—the Grass Spirit King.

The moment these five appeared, the Gates that had opened here and there were forcibly closed.

‘Holy crap. What am I witnessing?!’

«Every single one of them is a transcendent being, which means they are as strong as a God.»

‘I know. I know that the Spirit Kings are like Gods. I also know that there is a being above the Spirit Kings, called the God of Spirits, who is considered a God among Gods. What surprises me is that there are five of them.’

«It appears that the World Tree is simply that important, Master.»

‘Yeah, I didn’t realize it but you might be right. It’s all thanks to the World Tree that the entire city of Paju is safe now.’

«Yes. It also means that your radius of action also expands. Right now, the World Tree’s protection radius is thirty kilometers. Those Spirit Kings will protect everything within it. Do you wish to proceed to the next step of your operation?»

‘I think that will be for the best.’

While Ji-Cheok was talking telepathically to Cheok-Liang, the Spirit Kings saw him. One of them, the Wind Spirit King, approached him.

[The World Tree will be ours to protect, young God. Go and do what you have to do.]

The transcendent Spirit King seemed to know what he was about to do.

“It feels good to have you by my side. I will definitely repay you later.”

[Huhuhu. I’m looking forward to it,] the Wind Spirit King said as he flew away.

The Spirit Kings were planning to slaughter all the monsters that had poured in all over Paju and forcefully close the Gates.

Ji-Cheok did not know how to do that, since he was just a young God, but he planned on buying the related skills from the Likes Shop later.

«Our team is also on the move, Master.»

‘Are they doing okay?’

«Yes. They are holding their ground as planned and they are doing well.»

“Good. So what I have to do is…”

Ji-Cheok unleashed his Divine Intuition to its full power, and he also used his Likes to increase the power of the skill as much as he could.

Moments later, the best course of action was decided.

He realized that among the countless dungeons in Korea, there was one that was particularly strong. In fact, he could feel that practically every country had one of these special dungeons.

From the dimension behind the Gate, he could feel the lurking power of monsters like the ones he had seen in Antarctica.

‘So I guess our enemies are not just trying to overwhelm us with numbers! Good. This is what I needed.’

“Activate Clairvoyance.”

He activated a skill that he had previously purchased with his Likes.

His physical body was in Paju, but his gaze was instantly drawn to the center of Seoul. Downtown Seoul had changed in an unrecognizable way in a year.

Large corporations had fortified their headquarters buildings with solid armor made of various alloys, and there was not a single person on the streets except for Hunters.

Monsters were pouring out of the dungeon Gates that had sprung up all over, dying in droves from the lightning bolts of the Great Generals of Protection and the attacks of the Korean Hunters.

In some places, high-level monsters burst out, destroying the Great Generals of Protection and killing Hunters. However, those monsters were also swiftly defeated by other Hunters and other Great Generals of Protection that were in close range.

Ji-Cheok then saw a giant Gate open in the sky above Yeouido. From within, he saw a purple, ominous monster that resembled a jellyfish slowly emerging.

Just one.

However, it was more dangerous than the monsters from hundreds of other dungeons combined. At least, that was what his Divine Intuition told him.

“Cheok-Liang, let’s go.”

«Yes, Master.»

One Step of Hermes later, they found themselves right above the Gate where the jellyfish monster had popped out.

“Gravity Drop Kick!”

Ji-Cheok cast a gravity spell, flipping himself in midair, his legs imbued with Augmented Qi. He landed in a flash, smashing like a meteor into the monster’s main body.

Boom!

The monster plummeted to the ground, crashing into the concrete. The shock of the impact sent debris flying everywhere.

Swoosh!

Tentacles that were too many to count extended toward Ji-Cheok. As he took some distance from the jellyfish, he noticed that the monster was completely uninjured and was starting to glow purple for some reason.

‘This bastard is stronger than I thought!’

«Soul Telekinesis!»

Cheok-Liang used his skill on Ji-Cheok’s behalf. The approaching tentacles paused for a bit in midair. In that short window of time, Ji-Cheok drew his swords and channeled his will into the two blades.

‘Mind Sword.’

The blades of his swords glowed with Augmented Qi, and he thrust them forward, just as he had learned while practicing the Heaven and Earth Chaotic Sword Art.

Flash!

The creature vanished in front of his eyes. Ji-Cheok’s Augmented Sword Qi sliced the ground like tofu, but Cheok-Liang immediately grabbed him with his Soul Telekinesis and threw him to the side.

Boom!

Tentacles crashed down on his spot, tearing up the ground. The concrete floor crumbled like sand, revealing the ground and scattering debris.

‘Wow! That monster can use short-range teleportation! You sure are sneaky for your size, aren’t ya?’

«As a servant of mana, I command thee! Mana, follow my will! Respond to my will! Bend to my will!»

Cheok-Liang stepped back and chanted a magic spell. Ji-Cheok could feel mana twisting, bending, and eventually beginning to move along something of a regular pattern.

It was a High-Level Magic Spell.

Even for Archmages, it was hard to use High-Level Magic Spells in a short period of time, so they had to stay in one place and work hard to cast them.

The jellyfish seemed to know this, and its tentacles instantly flew at Cheok-Liang, threatening to whip him into the ground.

However, Ji-Cheok was not going to let that happen.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

‘One strike, hundred swords!’

Ji-Cheok attacked the opponent with one hundred swords! A hundred swords manifested by Mind Sword collided with the tentacles. Fortunately, its tentacles were not quite as tough as his Mind Sword, and they were instantly cut into pieces.

Kiieeeak!

It screamed in a strange mental wavelength, and countless eye-like markings appeared on its body. Fresh tentacles suddenly appeared from all the stubs of the severed ones.

‘What the hell? It doesn’t seem like it used any regeneration skills.’

Just then, from those eye-like markings, beams of mana shot out!

‘God damn it!’

“Open Shadow Pouch!”

The Guardian of Hope burst out from the shadows at lightning speed and defended him. As the beams of mana slammed into his shield with a mighty blast, he used the Steps of Hermes and appeared underneath the monster’s torso. Seeing the myriad of tentacles wriggling above his head, he slashed upward with both his swords.

Slash!

A bundle of tentacles and part of the jellyfish’s body were sliced off. Hot green fluid poured out of it, along with its guts.

‘So this thing was a life form after all!’ Ji-Cheok thought as he shielded himself from the monster’s bodily fluids with his Soul Telekinesis. While he was thinking that, the monster let out a scream.

Just like the one before, it was not actually a physical sound, but a mental wave. It was an ominous, maddening cry of the soul. If there had been another Hunter instead of Ji-Cheok, someone that did not have any protection skills for their mental state, something terrible would have happened to them.

‘But what you see in front of you is a God, you bastard!’

Boom!

Under his feet, he created an ectoplasmic floor, kicked it, and jumped up. He erupted like a volcano from underneath the monster’s body, slicing through it with the full force of his dual swords. As he soared through the air, slicing the creature in half in an instant, he saw something unexpected.

Its body was starting to glue back together!

‘What? How is that possible? What the hell is this? It looks like it’s going back in time…’

Just as he thought that, Cheok-Liang was about to finish his chant.

«And thou shalt be crushed here between the dimensions! Pulverize Dimension!»

The magic spell was activated. Hundreds of tiny vortices formed around the violet jellyfish, spinning it around, crushing and grinding it to pieces. The monster appeared to be using some bizarre and powerful abilities, but Cheok-Liang’s Class 8 Magic Spell was enough to turn it into minced meat.

The spatial vortices simply tore parts of its body and sent them into another dimension.

When it was done, the monster’s body was torn to shreds and scattered across the ground.

However, without any warning, the monster suddenly stood there, reassembled once more.

‘What the hell… This guy is different from the other monsters that I have encountered!’

«I think it is using some kind of time manipulating ability!»

‘Time manipulating abilities? That’s annoying… So what you are trying to say is that this bastard can send mental waves that could drive people crazy, has countless tentacles with power almost as great as my Augmented Qi, AND has a time manipulation ability? What the hell?! I don’t think any high-level Hunter can kill this thing! What’s up with the fucking System?’

“It’s a good thing I’m here to handle this guy.”

He thrust his swords at the reassembled jellyfish with all his might. The blades sliced through the creature’s torso and this time they crushed the inside of its guts.

«As I said before, I do not think that is going to work—»

‘I know what I’m doing! Now, I just need to…’

“Time Acceleration!”

Ji-Cheok actually cast a time acceleration spell and sped up the creature’s time!

Kieeeaak!

It let out another mental cry.

‘Yeah, that’s right. I know you have to turn back time in order to survive, so if I accelerate time, it ain’t gonna be that easy! Tit for tat, you bastard!’

Its body was about to be put itself together again, but it exploded once more. Now that a direct clash of energies was happening inside the monster, the damage was spreading throughout its body. It was not surprising—monstrous though it was, it was still a living being, and there was no way it could handle so much internal damage.

‘Okay, time to die!’

“Die!”

Ji-Cheok cast the Time Acceleration spell in all directions, while simultaneously slicing the monster into pieces with the Mind Sword.

Splash!

“Whew. That will do….”

«I did not think of this… You are my master after all.»

“You don’t think that thing will come back to life again, do you?”

Thud. Splash.

The remains of the monster crashed to the ground, turning into a nondescript pile of flesh and dirt. Acrid smoke billowed from the wreckage, but Ji-Cheok used his Shadow Pouch to send everything into his subspace.

‘Seoul is cleared. Let’s see what it’s like elsewhere.’

“Activate Clairvoyance.”

He first had to take a look at what was going on with the rest of the team and his younger brother.