[Hrmm.]

As Lucifer looked down at Nekron's bone fragments with indifferent eyes, he could see something like a black haze s.h.i.+mmering from the broken bones. There was a pale violet bead sucking in the black haze. Lucifer touched his chin like it was interesting.

[Hoh. Is this the power of death that he had? It seems Pandora is absorbing it to recover the power.]

Lucifer quickly reached out for it. It was to absorb the power of death left behind by Nekron before Pandora absorbed it all. It wasn't so difficult for him with his power to realize imagination. Lucifer felt a formidable suction and then his arm shook. His large, swollen blood vessels seemed to move like a poisonous snake.

[Um.]

Lucifer frowned to endure the pain and Nekron's bone fragments broke and merged together again. They stuck to Lucifer's right shoulder like a shoulder blade and it changed to a new form. Lucifer's right arm now contained the power of darkness and death.

[Huhuhu. Good. I like it.]

Once it was finally absorbed, Lucifer smiled and clenched his fists. He revealed his distinctive sharp teeth as he smiled with satisfaction. Lucifer was now able to use some of the power of darkness and death that Nekron had. Of course, the absorbed power was only half. It was shabby compared to Pluto, one of the original three G.o.ds, but it was a great harvest. It happened when Lucifer wanted to retrieve Pandora...

[Uwaaaaaah—!]

[......!]

An enormous pressure was felt above Lucifer's head. Lucifer reflexively crossed his arms in an X to block them and started to quickly grasp the situation.

'Who is it? Is it those women from before?'

No. The three sisters didn't have such power left. They were lying over there.

'...Then it must be a third person. Is it a G.o.d?'

Lucifer quickly s.h.i.+fted his gaze to a huge object that was falling from above. It was a tree. It wasn't just a tree but a very hard and huge tree. It seemed that something strong and like it had been cut by something sharp. Lucifer couldn't believe that a tree could pressure him like this. He had to block this attack right away and prepare for a subsequent one. It was obvious that the unknown G.o.d who attacked him would probably carry out other types of attacks.

'What G.o.d is it? No, that isn't important. Will the next attack use their power?'

In any case, everything would be useless in front of the power of a G.o.d. Lucifer thought about who the G.o.d could be. In his mind, the power of different G.o.ds came to mind and disappeared. At this time, the pressure above his head became stronger. 

[Huaaaaaaah—!]

[Kuek]

The ground where Lucifer was standing collapsed and a huge pit appeared.

'No, this...'

Lucifer looked disbelieving as veins bulged on his forehead.

'Pure strength...!'

There was a ma.s.sive shockwave and earthquake that spread through Hesperides. Not only did a pit form but the ground was cracked and the surrounding trees were pulled out.

[Gasp. Is it a success?]

Then the half-human, half-G.o.d who attacked Lucifer appeared. It was Hercules. The moment he descended to the human world, he visited Hesperides in order to reconcile with Arethusa. He visited every day to apologize to Arethusa who said that she would forgive him if her father Atlas did. Hercules went straight to Atlas and had to listen to Atlas' angry scolding. Suddenly, Atlas said he felt Hesperides being attacked and told Hercules to go back as soon as possible. However, it was already like this when Hercules arrived.

'He endured that even though I used 80% of my strength. A monster is a monster. He truly is the former leader of the 12 Zodiacs.'

Then there was something that even Hercules didn't expect.

[Cough! It is a great power. You can reach this level with pure strength alone. It is amazing.]

[......!]

The surprised Hercules' eyes widened as he saw the shadow in the scattering dust. Finally, the dust settled and revealed Lucifer, whose arms had burst and disappeared. Thick black blood flowed from his damaged arms.

'Fortunately, it wasn't completely useless. Now that both hands are gone, it is only a matter of time until I kill him.'

However, Lucifer was calm.

[It would've been serious trouble if I hadn't absorbed this power beforehand. Hup!]

Lucifer's face distorted and new arms started to grow from his damaged ones. It was in an instant and Lucifer rotated both wrists like he was trying to adapt to his newly grown arms. Among the powers that were absorbed from Nekron earlier, there was the power to regenerate body parts that were removed like this. Of course, Nekron was cursed to become a full lich so he couldn't use it.

[...Crazy.]

This was Hercules' short comment.

[Hercules. You match your reputation. You are truly his son. It is very questionable that you didn't rise to becoming a zodiac despite having such strength. Have you lived hiding your strength?]

[......]

Hercules said nothing. There was only one reason why he didn't become a zodiac. He wanted to live freely without being bound by anyone. His innate strength was very strong and he reached this level due to his strength that gradually grew stronger even when he did nothing. Nevertheless, he never thought about becoming a zodiac For the current Hercules, Arethusa was more important.

[Well, there is no need for you to answer. You will have to withdraw soon anyway.]

[What does that mean?]

[This is the way it is.]

Dudududu!

The ground suddenly started to shake greatly. Hercules couldn't hide his bewilderment and looked around. Lucifer gave a low chuckle.

[You are a good opponent to test this strength.]

[What?]

Lucifer slowly started to rise in the air. Suddenly, something else happened on the other land around them. It was the undead created using the power of death that Nekron had. The undead that Nekron used were reproduced in his hands and surrounded Hercules and the three sisters in an instant.

[Huhu. To be honest, it is a waste to kill you like this. I will give you a chance. It is up to you to decide. Do you want to keep fighting me or will you quietly take them away?]

Hercules was deeply troubled. In fact, he didn't think he would lose if he fought Lucifer. At the very least, he could achieve a draw. The problem was fighting while protecting the three sisters. It might be impossible to fight properly if they were here. The important thing to Hercules now was the lives of the three of them, including Arethusa.

He warned Lucifer, [...If you follow me, I will do my best to destroy you.]

[Huhu. Do as you like. I think I will see you again soon anyway.]

[Good. Then I'm leaving.]

[It is the right choice. I will make an agreement to meet you again.]

Hercules slowly turned back and quickly walked toward Arethusa, Erytheia, and Aegle. Fortunately, they seemed alive but he had to do the treatment quickly.

'I have to hurry and go to where Atlas is.'

He glared at Lucifer who was floating in the air and quickly started to move away. Lucifer laughed wildly when he saw Hercules' back.

* * *

At Union headquarters, the monitoring room...

“The Philippines has lost its logout capabilities!”

“Nigeria's logout feature has just disappeared!”

“It is the same for the United States!”

“France as well...!”

The staff members were busy. They were currently moving their fingers at the speed of light to solve this absurd situation.

“There is no way. Why is this happening?”

Lee Seokjun, who was scheduled to become the next chairman, was devastated. Yoo Minseok couldn't say anything to him. Currently, his mind was just focused on the message he had seen before.

'They can't logout. Is it hacked by someone? The staff members are at a loss. This seems to have been planned in advance.'

Yoo Minseok's thoughts deepened. Union had the best employees from all over the world and was home to promising talents such as hackers and programmers. The most prominent one among them was Cha Jincheol and it was true that Yoo Minseok had a lot of expectations for him. However, Cha Jincheol, who was currently looking at Yoo Minseok, shook his head.

“......”

Even Yoo Minseok didn't know how to accept the current situation. If this situation persisted, not only would there be great chaos but a tenth of humanity would die before a fortnight was over. The developer who created the capsule came and said that the life support device in it could keep the user alive for up to a fortnight in real time.

The brainwave generating system and the freezing system that was harmless to the human body had been proudly patented by Union. If they didn't find countermeasures within a limited period of time, then everyone who was connected to the game would be dead. There were already a few hundred cases reported where the capsules were forcefully opened and the person inside was killed.

In this way, Yoo Minseok couldn't imagine what would happen once Union and its employees became the public enemy of humanity. The only way to put out the fire was to stop the increase of more victims with an official announcement and swift news reports.

“s.h.i.+t!”

Was this the disaster that Dr Kang Jaeseong foreshadowed? Yoo Minseok thought that everything seemed to fit and gritted his teeth.

* * *

At the deep sea city of Atlantis...

Kang Jaeseong quickly swam in the current and came out at Atlantis Square. It was very fast swimming worthy of the G.o.d of the land and the sea. He appeared in an instant and started to quickly destroy the group of helcurts gathered together.

[There are too many.]

The helcurts came endlessly. Moreover, the fact that they had demonic energy was fatal to the merfolk. He could already see some of the soldiers who died and were floating. In the distance, Clymene and Deucalion were fighting fiercely against the helcurts.

Kang Jaeseong immediately fired a powerful water ball there. It flew in a straight line and burst like a bomb, annihilating hundreds of helcurts in an instant. At the same time, the morale of the merfolk rose as they screamed that Atlantis' guardian deity had come out. Kang Jaeseong had lived for a long time as Neptune so he swam to the location of these two people casually.

However, the offensive of the helcurts was constant. There were still tens of thousands of helcurts remaining.

[These guys!]

Moreover, tens of thousands of helcurts swarmed toward Kang Jaeseong. The feeling of pressure was like a black wave was coming. Kang Jaeseong narrowed his eyes and started to think in the flowing water.

'The helcurts are definitely one of the first monsters created while planning Atlantis. The only reason they are capable of such tactical movements is because they are controlled by someone. No way, is the queen here?'

Then Kang Jaeseong's eyes widened.

Behind the demon king Leviathan in the distance was a giant helcurt. It was obvious with one glance that this was the queen. Then once he killed the queen, the helcurts would be free of her control and scatter in an instant. Then victory would surely lean towards them.

[Really. I am great for predicting this situation and preparing for it.]

Kang Jaeseong looked calm as he held Alexus' Fork Spoon that he received from Choi Chuntaek in his right hand. In fact, this fork spoon had one more hidden piece that was hidden before Dr Kang Jaeseong fell into a coma. Now was the time to use it. Hot water gathered at his fingertips and in an instant, a huge fork spoon was held in his hand. Kang Jaeseong grasped it with both hands and swung it in front of him.

[Huup!]

The helcurts struggled in the midst of the sudden waves. The shape of the waves resembled white horses and it was like a huge herd of horses was trampling on the helcurts. There was also a sudden whirlpool that moved back and forth, sweeping away the helcurts. In a short time, tens of thousands of them were killed.

[Yes. This is enough to give the taste of playing a game.]

The true form of the fork spear—it was the 'trident' of Neptune, G.o.d of the land and sea. Kang Jaeseong summoned a seahorse and boarded it. Then he threw the trident at the huge queen in the distance. There was a roaring current and the trident pierced the queen's body before sticking deeply into the seabed.

At the same time, an earthquake occurred that shook the sea.

[What are these things messing with the developer?]

It was the appearance of a typical game developer.