Chapter 286. Side Story – Heimdall Pt. 6

The power of Zeus had appeared, but then it quickly disappeared after a moment. Heimdall had quickly tried to track it. Unfortunately, it felt like it had crossed over into another dimension.

“Damn it. It disappeared in an instant.”

Suddenly, there was no sign of Zeus at all.

‘I thought things would be resolved easily, but...’

In the end, the fact remained that he had to go out and find Zeus himself. Still, one thing was certain: Zeus was here.

“We just have to find him.”

“...”

Athena nodded.

“Are we really dealing with an enemy that would require Zeus to use his true power? I just don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Then shouldn’t we hurry and find him?”

Even though he was filled with a little doubt, Heimdall still agreed with Athena’s suggestion. Regardless of what was going on, everything would be solved once they found him. If Zeus needed help, they would help him then.

‘So, even in this life, I’m here again with Athena.’

Thus, the two of them began to move forward, both filled with their own mixture of memories of the Gate, both good and bad.

***

The monsters here were no different. They were the same as the ones that they had always hunted.

‘But there’s something strangely off about this.’

The monsters in the Gate were the same in type and behavior, but there was a slight difference in power. Although the subtle difference nagged at him slightly, that was all there was to it.

Squelch!

A rainbow sword cut down in a straight light and swept away the horde of monsters.

Woosh!

As the cleaved monsters fell to the ground and twitched, another rainbow fell down from the sky, leaving the twitching monsters at peace. They were monsters that he had slain dozens of times, if not more. Even if they had become slightly stronger—no, even if their mana had reached a point beyond imagination, it wouldn’t have been enough.

“They’re easy opponents,” Heimdall said, laughing.

Squelch!

Athena stalked the battlefield with a spear in hand. While Heimdall may have specialized in wide-area attacks, Athena specialized in one-on-one combat. Each thrust resulted in death. However, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t make any wide-area attacks.

BOOM!

Her large shield, the divine item Aegis, hit the ground.

RUMBLE!

An earthquake rocked the ground, splitting it in two. Monsters fell helplessly into the chasm. Heimdall whistled as he saw it, dusting off his chest.

‘You’ve become incredibly strong.’

The current Athena was the strongest Heimdall had ever met. If she were to fight him the way he was now, then it would have been a bitter battle. He could see how much she had tried.

“You really put in a lot of effort.”

It must have been a truly painful time.

Perhaps realizing her lack of power during their battle with the Demon King, it was clear that she had been gathering as much power as possible in preparation for a possible enemy. After having regained her memories, Athena had trained like a madwoman, knowing what it was like to fear powerful enemies. As a result, her strength had reached beyond common sense.

“It’s just so...” Athena stopped and looked at Heimdall. “Easy.”

He could feel a deep sadness in her words. This was the same Gate that Athena had suffered in the past. Furthermore, she had lost her family because of these monsters. She had both lost everything and been reborn here.

Andlangr was a personal hell where people were dragged into to fight for unwanted powers. It had also been an opportunity for Athena to completely change her entire existence. This was a place where Athena had to have been saved by Heimdall. However, now, she was tearing through it all with her own strength. The most fortunate part about it was that her reason for sadness had disappeared as well.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“Your family is still alive right now, right?” Heimdall said with a smile.

Everything about her had changed. Because of Lee Jun-Kyeong, everyone had returned to the past and the Sponsors had disappeared.

“That’s right. My family members who were originally dead...” She laughed. “All of them are alive. It’s all thanks to that child.”

Her family members were all managers of Olympus, and as Athena’s family, they all enjoyed wealth and fame. They all lived healthy lives, and with her aid, they all became as strong as any Hunter so that they would be able to protect themselves.

“Good. It’s a good thing, then.”

Heimdall laughed. Their break had ended.

“I can feel his aura.”

Zeus’ presence was beginning to appear. He was fighting—seemingly fighting someone while suppressing the waves of mana.

“Who could it be?”

Considering it was someone that Zeus had to fight with some degree of sincerity, Heimdall wondered who it could be. But there was something he was more curious about.

“Why on Earth is he fighting here?”

Athena turned her head slightly in alarm at Heimdall’s question, even though he hadn’t noticed it.

***

CRACK!!

The sky shook as lightning fell. A battle was taking place at a location that others couldn’t sense due to the expanding barrier.

Zzt.

Suddenly, something broke through the barrier and appeared. The two figures battling turned to look at the intruder.

“Heimdall...! Wait, Athena, you too?!” Zeus shouted, his face hardening.

“Zeus. Just why the hell are you here, of all places? Also...” Heimdall said as he looked over at Zeus’ opponent. However, he was unable to finish his statement as a thunderbolt that shook the world struck right where he and Athena were standing.

BOOM!

That hadn’t been Zeus’ doing, but Heimdall could guess as to who had struck at them.

“This...!”

The changes that had resulted from the regression hadn’t only occurred to Athena and the others.

“Chi-Woo!”

“Thor!”

Heimdall and Athena shouted at the same time. Things had changed due to the regression, and Athena’s family wasn’t the only one still living in this timeline. Thor, Zeus’s brother, Chi-Woo, who had merged into Zeus’ powers, was also still alive.

“Dodge!” Zeus shouted again.

The lightning strike from before was one that was easily blocked, but the impending blow was different. A huge amount of mana swirled in the sky.

“This is dangerous.”

Heimdall stepped forward, his face stony. In a split second, Athena found his back before her, covering her from the coming lightning strike and protecting her.

BOOM!!!!

The sky shook as the heavens fell. Zeus fell to his knees as if he had exhausted all of his strength.

‘I heard that Chi-Woo had gone on a journey to become stronger, but...’

Chi-Woo’s second life was no different from before. He had just focused on becoming stronger to defeat his younger brother through the strength he had accumulated.

‘This bastard is an SSS-Rank Hunter, too.’

Heimdall was confused. Why was he fighting with Zeus here?

“Although I don’t know why you’re attacking me...”

Woosh!

All of a sudden, Heimdall’s armor changed again.

However, this time, it wasn’t the top-of-the-line luxury product that Park Jae-Hyun had forged. Now, surrounding his body was a golden armor as he held his divine item, Bifrost, in his hand. He was in his true form.

The reason he had worn Park Jae-Hyun’s armor was the same as Lee Jun-Kyeong.

‘I can’t use this for long.’

While it may have been different back then during the midst of the cataclysm, in this era of peace, a weapon such as this was dangerous. Not to himself but to the world. He was someone who had reached the highest rank a Hunter could reach, SSS. However, the rank of a fully armed Heimdall couldn’t be measured.

“An attack on Athena is unforgivable,” Heimdall said as he struck down with his rainbow sword. A rainbow divided the empty sky.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

However, the huge explosion that followed was proof that his swing hadn’t just been on empty air. The world was consumed by colorful light. However, all of a sudden, Zeus, who had seemed to have been exhausted, began to push against his strength.

“Why...?”

RUMBLE!

Zeus was adding more and more strength to that dangerous bolt of lightning. Heimdall was confused.

‘Is Zeus smiling?’

Could this all have been a trap? A trap to take him down?

“There’s no way!”

Were they aiming for Athena, too?!

“It’s dangerous,” Athena’ quietly said, her voice piercing through the noise. Suddenly, she was standing in front of Heimdall.

“Athena!”

Heimdall was struck by a momentary bout of helplessness after taking a loss due to the previous pushback from Zeus. Suddenly, he found himself being protected by Athena.

CRACK! CRACKLE!!

The huge bolt of lightning floating in the sky was finally about to descend upon them. Heimdall quickly pushed her away and tried to block it, but Athena shook her head and stood firm, raising her shield.

“Trust me.”

Light flowed from her. Gold and silver swirled around her, forming beautiful colors that couldn’t be described. Then, with the sound of her voice, the entire world exploded.

“This time, I will be the one to save you.”

BOOOM!!!!

***

It was an incredibly huge wave of power and something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. The mana that made his entire body feel as though it was being torn apart came like a tsunami crashing over them.

“Athena.”

However, Heimdall was able to stand tall, thanks to Athena blocking the way in front of him.

“Is this real...”

Surprisingly, the light that had appeared from her had become her new armor. It was a divine item so incredible that it made his own pale in comparison. Even the mana that threatened to tear through his flesh could do nothing before her armor. She was the perfect barrier.

“I will protect you.”

She was the one protecting him. The bolt of lightning struck down. As the resulting flash of light gradually disappeared, the surrounding landscape came into view. It was complete destruction. Nothing was left on the horizon. The only thing remaining was the ground underneath Athena and his feet.

“Where’s Zeus...!”

He didn’t know why they had attacked him, but he had to locate Zeus and Chi-Woo. With only that goal on his mind, Heimdall quickly turned his head.

Thud, thud.

Then, the sound of footsteps entered his ears. In the midst of the blue light that had yet to disappear completely, two men—no, two beings as lively as could be were walking toward them.

“Just how...?”

All Heimdall could do was mutter to himself, as the face of the person walking toward him was one everyone here knew.

“Please take it.”

Then, Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was the closer of the two people walking toward him, handed over a bouquet of flowers. At the sudden situation, feeling as though he was unable to keep up, Heimdall stopped and babbled like a broken record.

“Yeo Seong-Gu.” Athena turned around and called out to Heimdall with a smile on her lips. “Will you marry me?”

“H...huh??”

He just couldn’t keep up.

He just...

It was a Whirlwind Proposal.[1] Athena’s surprise proposal was something that Yeo Seong-Gu would remember for the rest of his life.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He could see it clearly within her hands as she knelt on one knee.

“Please take it.”

A ring.

1. Lit. A proposal after the overall mood becomes suddenly chilly. Koreans have really weird sayings. ?