Chapter 458 – 458. The Godhead
After the ordeal was over, Eun-hyeon’s partners were Ae-chang and Brunak.
[Have you calmed down?]
“… Okay.”
As Siete returned to the underworld following Proserpina, Eun-hyeon, who was left alone, lay down on the floor answering Brunak’s question.
“Whoa…”
The exhaustion of the exhausted body and the exhaustion of the mind from being pushed to the limit didn’t make the whole body weak, but the feeling wasn’t too bad.
“Haha.”
[… What are you splitting?]
Seeing Eunhyeon lying on the floor with a large figure and smiling, Brunak asked.
“Just. I feel good.”
After 400 years, he was recognized by his master for the first time.
How could he not be happy when Xie Te said that he would treat him as a swordsman of the same level as himself, rather than just being acknowledged?
Eunhyeon recalled her own experience that brought her memories of the future.
After about 400 years, he attained the realm of a swordsman.
It was very intense to experience that experience indirectly.
The experience of his own body moving on its own, not flowing by his own will, was strongly embedded in Eun-hyeon’s head as an unforgettable special experience.
“…”
Eunhyeon was lost in thought as she could not express the experience in words, which was not enough even with the expression “Great.”
Before long, he shifted his gaze to Bryenak, who kept watching his and Siete’s engagement.
[What you looking at.]
“How was it?”
[…]
Brunak was lost in thought.
Eun-hyeon’s question was that she asked for her evaluation of the battle between herself and Xie Te from the point of view of a spectator.
Brunak did not immediately answer that question.
Fittingly with the title of divine spear, even Brunak, who is a weapon and has mastery in some field of martial arts, could not express the fight between the two in any words.
It was a funny story that he, who had mastered the spearmanship at the pinnacle, evaluated the swordsmanship of Eunhyeon and Siete, but at least Brünak could see that the martial arts that the two competed against were not something that ordinary humans could show.
[It was great.]
Bryenak, after much contemplation, just expressed his sentiments honestly.
[To be honest… Do you need me now?]
Eunhyun smiled at Brunak’s question, which contained a slightly uneasy tone.
“Why? Are you afraid that you won’t use it anymore?”
[No. What… Not necessarily…]
Brunak’s attitude, which seemed to be creeping in, had a special character that had never been shown even in the past before it disappeared.
The swordsmanship Eunhyeon showed was so good that Brunak felt skeptical about his necessity.
If you look only at that level, Eunhyeon no longer needs a weapon other than a sword.
Even if he is himself with a special performance called Shinchang (神槍), he has the ability to summon a weapon that is of the same level as himself to Eunhyun.
He doesn’t have to insist on himself.
“Don’t worry.”
Eun-hyeon moved his finger and manipulated Brunak, which was stuck on the floor at a distance, to fly toward him.
The blade of the spear stuck in the floor was pulled out, and Brunak, floating in the air, flew towards Eunhyeon.
Eunhyun said as she tightly gripped the spear stick in her hand with a feeling of tight grip.
“Because I honestly don’t know if I can do it again right now.”
[What are you talking about? That is?]
“Before, that was just a representation of my future self.”
It was her own body, but it wasn’t Eunhyeon who moved that body.
He moved his body, and the one who competed sword with Shiete was his future self that he descended from.
[… Is that possible?]
Although Brunak was a weapon called a divine spear in the underworld, it is not detailed about this field.
For Brünak, who was bound by the providence of the underworld and existed only in the underworld, fields such as the divine world and the authority of goddesses were very unfamiliar concepts.
“It worked because I did it. However… To be honest, I don’t want to do it again.”
It is a borrowed experience, not purely one’s own.
In addition, I did not want to repeat the experience of feeling a headache that seemed like it would break while accepting the enormous experience accumulated over 400 years.
It was possible to activate the thought acceleration with the authority bestowed by Belldandy and proceed with the information processing easily, but it is inefficient to repeat the cumbersome process every time it is necessary.
In addition, there was also an emotional factor.
“… That state is my new goal.”
Rather than using authority to bring those memories back to the present, he himself must pursue them into the realm of the future.
The memories of the future disappeared, but the remnants of those memories still remained in Eun-hyeon’s body.
Making and digesting this experience completely as one’s own is the first step in catching up with oneself who has reached the level of being a swordsman in the future.
“And swordsmanship isn’t the only thing among my goals.”
The same goes for spearmanship using his own weapon and partner Brunak.
I was convinced that there must be a way to grow further.
“You obviously… There will be a future where I can use you better than now.”
Just as there was the 800-year-old Eunhyeon who took the title of swordsman at another turning point, he must have walked the path of a spearman and honed his skills to the extreme.
Even if the probability is one in a few thousand, tens of thousands, no, even one in a few hundred million, I was able to gain the conviction that the future would definitely exist, and through this incident, I was able to gain confidence.
“Then let’s continue together.”
Eun-hyeon had no intention of choosing the path of giving up Brunak.
[… Is that so.]
His request was a very happy invitation from the point of view of Brunak, the weapon.
How could he not be happy with the ambition to use himself to continue honing his spearmanship and reach a higher level, and the honor of being able to be with him in the future?
Before long, Eun-hyeon raised her body from lying on the floor.
“Well then…”
The tiredness mixed with drowsiness still lingered in his languid body, but he couldn’t just lie here all the time.
“I’ll call you back later.”
[Okay. I get it.]
Brunak, who finished his role, agreed with Eunhyeon’s words and was reverse summoned, and Eunhyeon opened his mouth while staring at the sky.
“How was the ordeal?”
In order to answer Eunhyun’s question, the divine power was concentrated in one place and a god appeared.
He was the male god, Jupiter, who imposed three trials on himself.
[Your ordeal has been successfully passed.]
Jupiter finally declared that Eunhyun’s ordeal had successfully ended.
These three ordeals are the rites of passage that the yet imperfect ‘half-god’ Eun-hyeon had to go through in order to acquire the proper ‘god status’ and use the power of a proper god.
The ordeal passed successfully, but Eun-hyeon felt puzzled that no change had occurred in her body yet.
[Godship is not something that is easily created.]
“Then… Do you still have something left?”
[It remains.]
“What is it?”
Unbelievably, after going through such a hard time, what on earth should I do? Eun-hyeon, who wondered, glared at Jupiter with a suspicious gaze, narrowing his eyes.
Jupiter smiled as he saw Eun-hyeon, who was not enough to treat him with respect and dignity, giving himself the look of a swindler, the king of Dodecatheon.
[Time.]
“Hour… Is it?”
[What do you think constitutes God?]
“…”
Eunhyun did not immediately answer Jupiter’s question and fell into trouble.
Afterwards, he thought about his own thoughts and expressed his conclusions.
“Godhead? Divine power? No… I do not know.”
[We, no. There is no God that even we can clearly explain our birth and origins. We have just existed from the beginning, and as gods, each of us has been given a role.]
Just like the characters that exist in a book, that existed from the beginning.
[However, among humans, there is a case where a person was born with a special nature, took on the status of a god, and grew into a ‘half god’. Among them, the most representative case is my son Hercules.]
Not in the current summer world, but in the distant past, when discipline was weak, among Jupiter and human women, Hercules had a body that boasted excellent muscular strength and solid durability from an infant, and was able to grow as a great hero. He was endowed with talent.
Later, as an adult, he accomplished the feat of 12 tasks in the underworld and was recognized for his achievements, becoming a ‘demigod’.
[Do you know what you and my son, Hercules have in common?]
“… Built in the underworld… Is it an achievement?”
It was very embarrassing and unconscionable for the person to call the work he had done as an achievement, but Eunhyeon asked Jupiter to progress the story.
[Half right, half wrong. What you and Hercules have in common is the journey you showed while achieving that feat, and the story that unfolded in it.]
The ordeal that Eunhyeon faced is not a great achievement in a sense.
The ordeal, which was just to promote one’s own growth, was of great help to Eun-hyeon personally, but the result was only helpful to Eun-hyeon, and it could not be seen that it was of great help to the divine world or the lower world.
The three ordeals given to Eun-hyeon were literally ‘the story of Eun-hyeon growing up’.
[Divinity means the status of a god. What it takes to have that status means building a story. In other words, what you needed was a story centered on you. It is a ‘myth’.]
“My… ‘Mythology’… ?”
[Yes.]
The reason why Eunhyeon has been incomplete as a ‘half god’ so far is that there is no ‘myth’ suitable for her.
In other words, the three ordeals that Eunhyeon is currently being given were rites of passage to build that myth.
The first ordeal is to draw a different outcome in the face of death in the past.
The second ordeal is to shake off the past of having to sacrifice a precious partner helplessly.
The third ordeal is to surpass the teacher he met again.
All of these were stepping stones for Eunhyun to pursue personal growth.
[You have successfully completed the ordeal. Sooner or later, the gods who acknowledge your myth will appear one by one.]
“…”
Only then did Eunhyeon understand the meaning of Jupiter, which means time is needed.
It is the other gods who exist in the divine realm that acknowledge the trials they have gone through and the activities they have been doing in the underworld as ‘myths’.
[Already in the Dodecatheon, many gods, including Vulcanus, Vesta, Minerva and Mars, have recognized your work as a ‘myth’.]
The gods who were showing favor to him already acknowledged Eunhyeon.
“Ah…”
After Jupiter said those words, Eunhyeon felt a mysterious feeling.
A refreshing aura as if his own body and soul were filled with clean water.
It felt richer and cleaner than when Vulcan’s hammer and Aegis were imprinted on his soul for the first time before.
[It will take time until you receive the recognition of more gods and your mythology becomes complete. Take a break in the meantime. I’ll give you a place to rest.]
“Oh, you don’t have to.”
[What?]
Eunhyun didn’t answer Jupiter’s question and immediately closed her eyes.
During the ordeal, after calling her name several times and giving up, she recalled the face of the goddess she had longed to see and had endured so far.
‘Berdandi. I would like to see.’
[I get it.]
It took less than a second for Belldandi’s answer to come back, as if he had been waiting for Eunhyeon’s prayer.
“The place where I should rest has already been decided.”
As soon as I accepted her prayers, Eun-hyeon’s gradually faded to translucent.
[… The envious guy.]
Looking at Eunhyun, who was feeling relieved after finishing a big homework assignment, Jupiter put on a disapproving expression.
Eunhyeon tilted her head at Jupiter’s sharp voice that suddenly flew in.
“… Yes?”
[I’m sure she’ll bury her face in her big breasts and roll around on the bed.]
Perhaps because he knew about the relationship between Eunhyun and Belldandi, Jupiter glared at Eunhyun with various emotions mixed with genuine envy and annoyance.
“…”
She had forgotten about it, but when Eun-hyeon recalled that that god was really a god with no answers, she was at a loss for words.
I immediately grimaced at Jupiter’s sexual harassment, which came right in without a brake.
[I’ll prepare another myth especially suitable for you. How about a harem god…]
“Noisy.”
Eunhyeon cut off Jupiter’s words roughly with an annoyed face.
I strongly regretted how I had thought of being tried by such a pathetic god.
It was a very rude and disrespectful behavior and attitude shown by Eun-hyeon, who was only a ‘half god’, but Jupiter did not care about Eun-hyeon’s attitude at all.
“If you go back, I will immediately protest to my goddess.”
[Envious bastard…]
Jupiter repeated the same words until Eunhyeon disappeared.
