Leveling with the Gods

C500

Surrounded by countless Outers, the fear of being torn apart while still standing was an unforgettable memory.

Fortunately, there was no pain.

After all, this was not an "experience" but a "memory."

There shouldn't be pain in memories, and although he could hear the bites, there was no cold and icy sensation in the teeth.

"I thought they would stop."

It was from then on that Azathoth's voice was heard.

Hwaaa!

The landscape around him changed in an instant. The purple waves falling from the sky all distorted, revealing the original Black Woods.

"......"

YuWon looked at his hands.

Slender, delicate hands, but covered in calluses.

It was his original hand, different from the white hand he had just seen.

And right in front of YuWon's eyes...

"You have a pretty foolish face."

Someone was standing there.

YuWon's eyes trembled.

Right now, he was inside "Amorphous Chaos."

Those not allowed or those unqualified couldn't set foot here.

That's why he was surprised when Pandora suddenly appeared.

That means...

"Are you Azathoth?"

This man was the same one who had been YuWon until a moment ago.

Hilk-.

YuWon observed Azathoth.

If Danpung were to become an adult, would it be like this?

The neatly ordered white hair and the face as pale as the color of his hair, the black clothes covering his body created a mysterious atmosphere with the combination of black and white.

"What kind of person are you to ask something you already know?"

"There was something I wanted to ask you when we met."

"What is it?"

"What is Danpung?"

YuWon had always been curious.

What was Danpung? Why did it come out of that small Egg?

And why, all of a sudden, did it disappear from his side?

"That kid, is it you? Or is it a Name that detached from you? Or is it just…."

YuWon stopped while asking these questions.

These were various conjectures he had been thinking by himself.

But anyway, after meeting Azathoth, the conjectures he made alone no longer made sense.

Anyway, he would have all the answers.

"That guy was Azathoth."

Azathoth opened his mouth.

And it was exactly as YuWon had expected.

However...

"It was almost like that."

Those words from Azathoth were instantly reversed.

"Almost, you say?"

"I don't die. It just seems like I die, and I feel sorry like that."

A word that felt familiar in some way.

"Even the mere Phoenix is reborn from the extinguished ashes. Shouldn't I be able to do that?"

YuWon had also heard these words.

‘Was this also back then?’

Azathoth was the one who cut Shub-Niggurath's neck and took back the Name. He conveyed to YuWon the story he had with Shub-Niggurath. And YuWon realized what Azathoth meant by those words.

"Was that Egg a means for your resurrection?"

Azathoth smiled weakly.

The meaning of that smile, was it positive or negative?

Azathoth smiled like that and raised his head. The black sky here was different from the purple sky outside that YuWon knew.

"You asked me, why I did it, right?"

He definitely did.

For a brief moment, YuWon became Azathoth and walked through his memory. His life was never understood, and his end was even more incomprehensible.

Why the hell did he do it?

Certainly, Azathoth had enough Names to overwhelm all those Outers.

"As I said before, I thought they would stop. I thought they would be satisfied after taking away all the Names I had left."

Did he sacrifice himself for that?

"Why did you have to do that? By doing that, you could only lose your power, right?"

"You still don't know me. Or do you know but ask anyway?"

It was a word that got straight to the point.

Actually, he knew why Azathoth made that decision.

However, he just wanted to hear it from his mouth once again.

"Why did you give Names to them?"

"Because they are your children."

"You know well."

He had no choice but to know.

For a moment, he became Azathoth. He had his memories, shared his thoughts.

Born amid terrible chaos, his only weakness... was his love for the things he named.

"Azathoth doesn't die."

He pronounced his name as if it were the Name of someone else.

"He only rebirths."

Azathoth's gaze turned to YuWon's feet.

YuWon's eyes followed Azathoth's eyes to see what he was seeing. And there was a familiar boy reaching out to YuWon.

"Abba-."

"Danpung?"

YuWon hugged Danpung approaching him. Somehow, he felt much heavier than before. He also seemed a bit taller.

"Amorphous Chaos. It was the first name that came to my mind for him."

"Are you talking about Danpung?"

"I really don't like that stupid Name, (I don't like that horrible name)."

"It's much easier and cuter than those weird and difficult names you come up with."

Without a doubt, the name that easily came up just by considering his appearance was "Danpung."

Amorphous Chaos, Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, Nyarlathotep, etc, etc, etc.

All kinds of complex, difficult, and vague names.

The Names given by YuWon and Azathoth were chosen in completely different ways.

"Isn't that right?"

"Abba."

In response to YuWon's question, Danpung raised his charming little hand and nodded repeatedly.

Danpung was already completely in love with his own Name. From his birth, he never heard another Name besides his own.

YuWon looked at Azathoth as if saying, "See?". Azathoth avoided his gaze and turned his head away.

He had a face that seemed somewhat disgusted.

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, from now on, you will be the one carrying the burden, not me."

"Me?"

"As I said before, Azathoth will not die. He will only be reborn."

Although they were the same words, the sense of acceptance was completely different.

YuWon looked at Danpung in his arms.

Although he seemed to know nothing, he was clearly destined to be the next Azathoth.

"Azathoth is a Name that does not disappear even if he disappears. He is reborn with a new form and regains his Name with the previous memories in the new body. That was how it was for me too, you know?"

Memory meant Pandora. What she had shown YuWon was undoubtedly Azathoth's past.

So, was the new body this?

'Is this kid?'

Danpung waved his arms and asked to be put down as he found it uncomfortable being cuddled.

YuWon put him down and heard the following words from Azathoth.

"That kid was the one I planned to be the next Azathoth, until you showed up."

"Why me?"

"This kid cared about you."

"For me?"

It was not surprising at all.

Danpung worrying about him was something YuWon knew from the beginning.

The kid had warned him of the 'Danger' when he asked for help in the battle against Shubh-Niggurath.

Those words undoubtedly stemmed from concern for YuWon.

"He wanted you to become Azathoth."

"Do you also think so?"

"Truthfully, I never thought about it until that moment, but I also believe that you are the most suitable."

"Why?"

"Because, unlike me, you hate them."

Them.

He referred to the Outers.

YuWon nodded at Azathoth's gaze, asking if that was true.

It was true.

He hated them.

"I didn't know that the body I planned would end up in the hands of someone like you. A being who knows the Outers. An enemy to them. Interestingly, the conditions fit perfectly like that."

A situation that not even Azathoth had foreseen.

That was YuWon's existence, and Azathoth's Name was in his hands.

It may have been perplexing, but it wasn't something bad.

If this was destiny.

According to that destiny, Azathoth was willing to obediently follow.

"You're a coward, huh?"

YuWon now understood Azathoth.

He knew how grand he was as a being and how weak he was inside.

Although he knew he had been insulted, Azathoth smiled.

He did not deny YuWon's words.

"There's something the kid told me in the end. 'My foolish, foolish father.'"

The faceless kid who followed Azathoth.

Nyarlathotep. A traitor who stole the Name "Foolish Chaos" from Azathoth.

He called Azathoth foolish. Probably, what he meant was that Azathoth had foolishly given up all his Names.

"It's true. I was foolish. I couldn't strengthen my heart and vainly hoped they would stop."

"Because you had power from the beginning. But most are different."

YuWon climbed the Tower, passed the Trials, and became a Ranker.

In that process, he saw many Players. Those who cried with happiness after completing the Tutorial and reaching the first floor. Those who came with determination and resolution.

Surely, they were much stronger than at the beginning. But still, they climbed the Tower.

'I was also like that at the beginning.'

He remembered when he first entered the Tower.

Now, YuWon climbed the Tower at an astonishing speed.

He quickly made a name for himself by changing the rankings on each Floor. By the time he became a Ranker, YuWon was already on par with the High-Rankers.

And the reason he could do it was one...

The desire to climb higher.

"Once you have power, you want more. When you have more power, you want even more. And eventually, you don't know where to stop."

Words arising from experience.

Azathoth nodded.

He was a perfect existence from the beginning.

That was Azathoth's biggest flaw, and that's why he didn't realize that those to whom he gave Names were different from him.

"Even if you don't know it, that kid said something wise. 'My foolish and stupid father.' It suits you well."

"Aren't you different?"

Azathoth's expectations for YuWon.

It was because of YuWon's purpose, which was opposite to his.

"You have a goal."

YuWon closed his eyes.

The day he finished his fight against Foolish Chaos and went back in time.

Chronos handed him the Clock Movement and said.

"Start again."

Ssshhhh.

Azathoth's figure dispersed into black powder. Slowly disappearing from the feet to the waist, his existence began to vanish.

"Take back the Names of the things to which I gave Names and kill them again. That is why I chose you."

Azathoth reached his hand forward.

Finally, the day he had been waiting for had come.

Azathoth, who had existed for a long time, was no more. Now it was the turn of a new existence with his memories, power, and name.

"From now on, you are 'Azathoth'."

Pssss.

Azathoth's figure disappeared completely.

In the chaos where all sounds faded away...

Sshhh.

YuWon, who slowly opened his eyes, looked at Danpung rolling on the ground.

[A new Name is being engraved.]

[You have acquired the ‘True Name (眞名) - Azathoth’.]

With eyes different from before, the eyes when Azathoth took over him.