Chapter 320 (1/2)
Phaethon’s expression crumpled unsightly at Su-hyeun’s provocation.
But he couldn’t immediately vent his anger toward Su-hyeun. Instead, he thickened the wall of flames burning all around them, and only then did he begin to say something.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
The first thing he chose to do was to feign ignorance.
Unfortunately, his eyes faltered noticeably. He might be good at lying, but it seemed that he didn’t know how to respond when his lies were exposed.
“Hercules is the son of Zeus and has acquired his qualification of godhood through his blood. He is not the same as you, who directly borrows the power of a god through ‘Union with God,'” Su-hyeun continued.
Phaethon’s eyes quivered even more.
“Union with God”—Su-hyeun had come across this ability once before.
During the trial on the 60th floor, the Jade Emperor used this “Union with God” ability to directly borrow and use Buddha’s powers.
The level of power one could borrow would vary with each individual, but according to the Bull Demon King’s analysis, the Jade Emperor only managed to bring out less than one percent of Buddha’s actual powers.
Phaethon’s case seemed to be better than the Jade Emperor’s. Su-hyeun didn’t know what method Phaethon resorted to, but he managed to borrow quite a lot of power, so much so that an ordinary person would start wondering if he really was a son of a god and possessed the qualification of the godhood through his bloodline.
“You…How do you…?”
“Someone told me,” said Su-hyeun before shifting his gaze. He scanned the still-remaining Giants and the Gigantes before continuing, “For now, why don’t we get rid of all the hindrances first?”
Shu-rung—
He unsheathed his sword. At the same time, a breeze blew among all the hotly burning flames.
“Blow away—”
[The Wave Sword—Explosion Style]
[Palm Leaf Sword]
Giii-iiing—
Just as the wind blew, the magical energy permeating within the sword rapidly got amplified. The Palm Leaf and the skill that amplified the force, the Explosion Style, joined as one.
“…Palm Leaf.”
Sha-ahah—
The slowly swung sword didn’t touch any of the Giants. Even then, Phaethon instinctively placed an even thicker wall of flames all around his body.
Right after that…
Chuwa-aaaaah—!
Jets of blood gushed out from the Giants’ bodies. It was the same story for the Gigantes as well.
Phaethon soon withdrew the flames around him, and when he did, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
“What just happened?!” he thought.
He sensed a bone-chilling danger looming over, so he protected himself with flames but that ended up obscuring his view. However, when he confirmed the situation afterward, what greeted him was a horrifying bloodbath. Everything happened in the blink of an eye, quite literally at that.
“This…Isn’t this way crazier than what I’ve heard?!”
He had heard stories related to Hercules as well. According to some accounts, one punch of his would be enough to cause an earthquake, or one swing of his club would shatter a mountain or blow up the head of a Giant, and so on. Phaethon had heard all sorts of improbable rumors up until now.
However, he didn’t believe any of those rumors.
Even if that man were the son of the god Zeus, in the end, he was a half-blood. Phaethon believed that Hercules simply could not be stronger than he was, the one who borrowed the powers of a god.
“Alright, now. We’ve more or less created a suitable environment, so why don’t we finish our discussion from earlier? As for that thing…” Su-hyeun spoke while glancing at the wall of flames belonging to Phaethon, which hadn’t dissipated yet. “Whether you cancel that or not, I’ll leave that up to you.”
“Damn it.”
Grit—
Phaethon cussed under his breath and gritted his teeth. He then shouted at Su-hyeun, his brows shooting up higher. “Haven’t I asked you already to clarify what the hell you are even talking about?!”
“The one who must start the interrogation shouldn’t be you, but our side. Honestly speaking, I don’t think you alone could’ve staged this whole thing, so I’m guessing that including the knight I saw earlier, Chris, pretty much all the important higher-ups are in the know.”
The longer Su-hyeun continued, the redder Phaethon’s face got.
Nonetheless, Phaethon gradually became calmer as well because he soon realized that he didn’t need to keep lying anymore.
Phaethon sighed deeply and, with a comparatively calmer voice, asked Su-hyeun, “How did you figure it out?”
“Two reasons. One, I’ve already come across someone who had a vibe that was similar to yours a while ago.”
He was referring to back when he fought against the Jade Emperor.
As he had experienced it once before already, Su-hyeun could figure out that Phaethon’s power was not the same as “godhood” but still rather similar to it.
If it weren’t for that, Su-hyeun would’ve been just as confused as Hercules. One could definitely sense a power similar to godhood from Phaethon, yet it didn’t actually belong to him, after all.
“As for the second reason…”
And there was another reason, one that made him far more confident of his guesses.
“Because I’ve called him here.”
RUMBLE—
Crimson flames began coagulating in one spot. The flame that made a person think there couldn’t be another flame redder than this one rapidly took on the silhouette of a man.
The silhouette that was slightly larger than Hercules’s built was more beautiful than any sculpture in existence despite being formed out of blazing flames.
And the moment Phaethon witnessed this being, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “L—lord Apollo?!”
“Nice to meet you. This will be our first time meeting and chatting face to face like this, right?”
He was Apollo, the god of the sun and fire; he was also the son of Zeus.
Phaethon immediately gathered his hands together and bowed reverentially.
Even if he dared to call himself the son of a god and tried to pull the wool over people’s eyes, he was still a citizen of the Holy Kingdom that worshiped Apollo. Besides, there wouldn’t be all that many humans in this world who were capable of standing upright in the presence of a god.
“A faithful servant to Lord Apollo, Phaethon, pays his respects to his lord.”
“Sure, sure. Oh, and you’re supposed to be my son, right?”
Apollo asked with an amused face. Of course, this topic wasn’t something to be discussed with an expression like that from Phaethon’s perspective.
“T—that, that was…”
Apollo smirked at Phaethon’s expression which was a cross between perplexity and embarrassment. The latter briefly looked relieved from that grin, but what the sun god said next caused a dazed and blank expression to fill his face.
“I’ll ‘talk’ to you later about it.”
“…”
A con that sold itself in the name of a god—just what kind of punishment would be in store for that?
Phaethon had never imagined in his life that Apollo would personally manifest through the flames, and he slowly fell down on his knees.
In the meantime, Apollo shifted his gaze over to Su-hyeun. The latter had no particular expression on his face as he stared right back at the sun god.
Apollo studied that expression and frowned ever so slightly. “Strange.”
“What is?”
“I can’t read you. Have you acquired godhood already?”