Ch.78Ep.78 Incomplete Awakening

“That was close. If you hadn’t escaped from there, you would have died.”

“Hah… Yog-Sothoth really is a crazy bastard.”

Radios was catching his breath and calming himself down in a dark alley.

From the moment Yog-Sothoth released his domain, Radios abandoned any thought of fighting him.

To be precise, Azathoth had signaled him to flee when Yog-Sothoth released his domain.

The domain itself was a structure created by permanently consuming divine order.

The moment he absorbed the domain, Yog-Sothoth’s power would increase exponentially.

As Radios fled from him, he felt the unbridgeable gap in their orders.

To awaken his order, he needed to defeat someone possessing divine order.

“I couldn’t awaken it by sparring with Poseidon and winning, could I?”

“Life and death battle. Victory in a genuine fight where you kill or be killed is the condition for awakening your order.”

“Damn… I have no idea when to make my move.”

He knew firsthand how powerful beings with divine order were.

Even Nyarlathotep required significant help from Poseidon to be repelled.

It seemed like awakening his order would take quite a long time.

“But there’s another problem. One fragment seems to have completely disappeared.”

“What? Disappeared?”

“I can’t even detect it. Yog-Sothoth couldn’t have swallowed it… This power…”

Azathoth fell silent for a moment, then muttered with interest.

“I see… So that one is also preparing to be reborn.”

“That one? Is there something else I don’t know about?”

“Veichel Breate, was it? It seems she has devoured my fragment.”

“What?”

Radios was startled when Veichel’s name suddenly came up.

It was shocking because she had apparently absorbed a fragment that even Yog-Sothoth couldn’t fully absorb.

It simply didn’t make sense.

“Wait. Isn’t that a big problem? The power residing in your fragment…”

“She won’t be able to fully digest it. Her devouring ability is still insufficient. However… she has likely met the minimum conditions for awakening divine order.”

“..!”

The minimum conditions for awakening divine order.

Hearing those words, Radios felt an inexplicable sense of defeat.

While he was still unable to awaken his order and remained at square one, she kept moving ahead.

“Anyway, Yog-Sothoth won’t recklessly descend to Kadinant, so you can let your guard down.”

“That’s one good thing at least.”

Reassured by Azathoth’s confidence, Radios released his goblin mask and began relieving the fatigue built up in his body.

Though he seemed to have stolen the fragment more easily than expected, he felt uneasy about not awakening his order.

‘There’s going to be a ton of work ahead… sigh…’

From now on, it’s essentially all-out war.

Yog-Sothoth, having lost his fragment, would be furious and attempt to conquer Olympus.

Olympus would prepare a counterattack as well.

To make matters worse, Veichel, a fourth faction, had met the minimum conditions for divine order awakening through devouring.

‘When Veichel awakens her divine order, she might reach a level I can’t match.’

He needed to become stronger.

He had already transcended humanity and grown enough to exchange a few blows with beings possessing divine order.

But this wasn’t nearly enough.

He needed to become stronger and stronger to protect Kadinant.

As Radios was making this resolution…

Ding.

A notification appeared in his system window.

[You have recorded a draw in a battle with a being possessing divine order.]

[50% of transcendence will proceed.]

[The concept of order begins to establish itself.]

Flash!

A bright light enveloped Radios, and an indescribable power began to surge within him.

“This is…!”

Transcendence, or the preliminary stage to obtaining order.

Feeling as if he could fly through the sky, Radios didn’t know how to react.

He had only awakened half of it, yet he could gain this much power?

It felt like he’d been living his life all wrong.

Radios clenched his fist to test how strong he had become.

Bang!

The air instantly compressed, and the surrounding air pressure rose sharply.

“Whoa… this is insane.”

He could exert this level of power even without using the goblin mask.

If he were to use the goblin mask now…

‘Maybe I could even defeat Yog-Sothoth?’

“Stop it. He’s not as weak as you think.”

As if reading Radios’s thoughts, Azathoth dissuaded him.

Azathoth was the creator of the Outer Gods, including Yog-Sothoth.

He could claim to know everything about Yog-Sothoth.

Of course, assuming Yog-Sothoth had developed independent power after the betrayal, he might not know everything.

A Yog-Sothoth who was determined to fight was an opponent even Azathoth couldn’t afford to underestimate.

“The reason you could escape this time was because he carelessly released his domain and was reluctant to use his divine order. Moreover, Atlas and Tartarus had already drained his energy. Plus, there was his unprecedented fear of Outer Devouring, concerns about the concentration of fragments, suspicion about being backstabbed if he used his full power, and—”

“Stop rubbing it in… I get it…”

How does this guy manage to hit all the painful spots with just facts?

Yes, with that much explanation, how could he not understand how formidable Yog-Sothoth was?

Moreover, luck played a huge role in this battle.

Though Azathoth didn’t mention it, Namgung Ihyun was also a major obstacle for Yog-Sothoth.

She fully utilized her usage rights to the Necronomicon, preventing Yog-Sothoth from using it completely.

If even one of these factors hadn’t been met…

“I would have died.”

To use an analogy, Radios was a hornet, and Yog-Sothoth was a human.

Like a hornet with a sharp attack that could kill if successful.

But humans have many means to nullify a hornet’s attack.

With extreme luck, a hornet might kill a human, and if careless, a human might fall to a hornet.

“Let’s head back to the village for now.”

The priority was to heal Kraud with the two fragments.

He’d think about Olympus and the Outer God forces later.

**********

“This is such a pain…”

“Invaded… Olympus…”

“Die.”

Boom!

As Idra shot a beam from her palm, Atlas’s head flew off.

Tartarus was immobilized, engulfed in Nyarlathotep’s chaos.

As a result, Nyarlathotep also couldn’t move.

The Underworld battle was already as good as won by the Outer God forces.

“Sigh… Sothoth, that damn bastard…”

Idra, like all Outer Gods, could sense it.

Yog-Sothoth’s domain surrounding the Olympus throne had completely disappeared.

This meant that Yog-Sothoth had abandoned his arrogance and was getting serious.

‘Should I have sided with Father instead? If so…’

Even if the situation didn’t improve, it wouldn’t have gotten worse.

In truth, Idra had no particular feelings about the Blind Idiot God.

He was simply her creator.

Nothing more, nothing less, and she had no desire to follow him.

She enjoyed wandering outside, even being called eccentric by other Outer Gods.

Such a person became an accomplice in Yog-Sothoth’s betrayal after learning about it.

Out of simple curiosity, she wondered what would happen if they killed their creator.

The result was this mess.

Yog-Sothoth, who had seized power, didn’t allow the valuable asset Idra to wander outside.

Once, she revealed her full power, determined to settle things.

‘I lost. Overwhelmingly.’

Even without using the four fragments, Yog-Sothoth was still Yog-Sothoth.

In the end, Idra had no choice but to submit to him and become a pawn of the Outer God forces.

“When will this wretched business end— Huh?”

As darkness suddenly fell around her, Idra felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

According to the Outer God forces’ investigation, night never comes to the Underworld.

The Underworld is a place of rest for the dead, with sinners confined to Tartarus.

Additionally, the absence of night helps in completely removing the concept of time.

But now night was falling?

[My, my… I heard the Underworld was being invaded, but you’re losing to these guys?]

“..!”

A powerful being!

Idra felt an indescribable pressure from the voice echoing throughout the Underworld.

And she realized.

These Olympians were far more insane than they had anticipated.

“Idra. This is…”

“Nyx. One of the ancient gods of Olympus who rules over the night…”

Idra answered Nyarla’s question through gritted teeth.

Each of Olympus’s ancient gods boasts a different dimension of power.

They are overwhelming beings who could easily destroy planets if they wished.

But they thought the current Olympus regime would never call them due to their lust for power.

“Contact Sothoth!”

“What!”

“We need to… wake them up too.”

As Idra spoke as if there was no other choice, Nyarlathotep’s expression soured.

She knew exactly who Idra was referring to.

“The Elder Gods… Without them, we have no hope.”

Those who were sealed away long ago by Azathoth, considered failures.

They possess skills on par with the Outer Gods.

Their leader, Yad-Thatag, has power comparable to Yog-Sothoth.

And that’s not all.

Jehirete, who hates darkness.

Oztalun, who ripples with golden light.

Orix, the brilliant dread flame.

Shavalios, the formless dim one.

Un’tse Cambl, who spreads radiance over the world.

All of them are beings possessing divine order.

They didn’t fight because Azathoth sealed them directly, but if they had been present…

Yog-Sothoth would never have seized power.

“For now… we retreat.”

An ally you can’t control is not an ally.

However, Idra couldn’t know.

What madness Yog-Sothoth would unleash.