'Cronos!'

At the name Cronos, Su-ho’s eyes widened.

If it was Cronos, then among the twelve Titans born between Uranus, god of the sky, and Gaia, goddess of the earth, he was the youngest—and an even more famous fact was that he was the father of that famous god Zeus.

'Why is this man suddenly here?'

And he says he wants to lend me power?

When Su-ho reacted in surprise, Seolmundae Halmang smiled and said,

- Cronos, the youngest looks like he’s too shocked. How about you stop scaring him and come down now?

- All right.

After answering Seolmundae Halmang’s request, Cronos shrank his body.

Then, like Seolmundae Halmang, he reduced until he matched Su-ho’s eye level, and he held a hand out to Su-ho in greeting.

- Nice to meet you. My name is Cronos. I am one of the First Giants from Greece.

“Ah, yes, nice to meet you. I’m An Su-ho.”

As Su-ho quickly took his hand, Cronos narrowed his eyes and began to examine Su-ho closely.

- Hmm.......

- What is it?

- No, it’s just that you’re a bit smaller than I expected.

- Smaller?

At the word smaller, Seolmundae Halmang looked at Su-ho.

Then she burst into laughter.

- Haha! Cronos, if you set every man’s standard to you, there’ll be more people in this world who aren’t small!

- Then of course I should be the standard. When you say a giant man—especially if «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» he’s a First Giant—shouldn’t he at least possess a body worthy of his reputation? But this guy.......

Cronos swept Su-ho with a dissatisfied look.

- He doesn’t have generous muscles like me, and he doesn’t even have a beard. This guy—are you sure he’s a man?

Haha, yes, I am.

Should I pull my pants down for you?

But instead of saying that, Su-ho gave an awkward smile and said,

“Of course I am. I’m not really into beards and hulking muscles. By the way, I heard you really wanted to meet me—is that true?”

- Yes. Even if the others don’t, at least I have very important business with you.

“What business?”

At the word business, Cronos lifted his hand.

Then he pointed straight at Su-ho with his index finger and said,

- You. Go right now and fight those goddamn Olympus bastards.

“Excuse me?”

- You heard me. Don’t tell me you don’t know my myth?

“No, it’s not that I don’t know it. If anything, I know most of it, but.......”

The story of Cronos.

How could he not know?

It was so famous that even if you didn’t study world mythology for Gates, most people who had even a little interest in mythology would know it.

Things like the fact that he was the son born between Uranus and Gaia, and the father of Zeus, and that he was the one who caused that famous Titanomachy.

Knowing that kind of narrative, being told all of a sudden to fight the Olympus bastards could only be bewildering.

When Su-ho trailed off, Cronos frowned.

- You know it, and? So what? Don’t tell me you’re not confident.

“I am confident.”

- You’re confident?

At Su-ho’s answer without hesitation, Cronos lifted the corner of his mouth.

Yeah.

To put it bluntly, he was confident.

But there were conditions attached to that.

'If the Olympian gods are the same grade as me, I’m confident.'

On the way here, Su-ho had indirectly encountered some of the Olympian gods.

He’d also more or less experienced what kind of power they had, and so if he had to fight them as they were now, of course he had no confidence he’d win.

They were Olympian gods, people who radiated overwhelming pressure just by existing, and they held the status of Transcendents.

But would the muscle mass in front of him have told him to fight the Olympian gods without knowing that?

Since he knew that, Su-ho had answered confidently on purpose.

This place was a kind of testing ground he’d been invited to for upgrading his bloodline trait.

'Seolmundae Halmang said it too. That I should gain complete giant power through continuous tests. In that sense, Cronos is highly likely to be an examiner giving me new power.'

There was no reason to look bad in front of an examiner like that.

A good interview was, after all, matching the interviewer’s tastes.

Su-ho said,

“Yes. If they’re under the same conditions as me, then of course I’m confident I can win. However, I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’ve already indirectly encountered some of the Olympian gods, and I know well what kind of position they hold in the system. But I don’t think you’d be unaware of that, and I also don’t think you’d assign me a reckless task. That’s why I answered that I’m confident.”

When Su-ho answered crisply, Cronos made an odd expression. Then he slowly began to smile.

Seolmundae Halmang was the same.

- Wow, our youngest. You’re a lot sharper than I thought?

- Keh-heh-heh, seriously. I thought you’d hesitate because you look so scrawny, but even without muscles, you’ve got a full core.

......I’m pretty muscular, though?

Su-ho asked,

“Then what exactly is this test of fighting the Olympian gods?”

- Keh-heh-heh, it’s a bit less fun when you come in knowing it’s a test. Well, but it’s something you’ll run into sooner or later, so there’s no reason to hide it. Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times—go and experience it yourself.

Still smiling, Cronos snapped his fingers.

A wormhole appeared in front of him, and Cronos immediately lifted Su-ho up with a heave.

“Uh— I’ll just go in myself.”

- It’s fine. This is my special service.

Su-ho was thrown into the wormhole.

Flash!

With the throw, his vision flickered.

By the time his sight came back, what struck Su-ho’s senses first was none other than the sound of battle that felt like it would tear his eardrums apart.

“Kill them!!”

“Don’t let a single one of them live!!”

“Kill them!!”

“Waaaaaah!!”

Boooom!!

Kwaaaang!!

Kurrurururung!!

Shouts and screams. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

And between them, intermittent crashes that filled the gaps.

When his vision fully returned, what Su-ho saw was none other than the scene of a blood-splattered battlefield.

'Where is this...... no way?'

The moment questions surged about where this was, Su-ho remembered what Cronos had said.

- Go and fight those Olympus bastards.

Then this was a place where a fight against the Olympian gods was happening, and the one leading it was Cronos, so there was only one most likely possibility.

'Titanomachy?'

The great war where the gods under Zeus, based on Mount Olympus, and the Titan gods under Cronos, based on Mount Othrys, fought over supremacy of the world.

Before Gigantomachy, there was Titanomachy.

The result was Cronos’s side losing.

And sure enough, this was Mount Othrys, where Titanomachy was raging at its height.

That was when it happened.

[ The test has begun. ]

[ This is Mount Othrys, where Titanomachy is taking place. ]

[ You have become Cronos. ]

[ Your side is being pushed back. ]

[ Neutralize the enemy’s key forces and lead the war to victory. ]

Along with an explanation of the situation, the system notifications began to tell Su-ho what he had to do.

Su-ho frowned as he read them.

'So it really is Titanomachy.'

No wonder he told me to fight Olympus.

But I’m Cronos?

Su-ho immediately checked his body.

But unlike the hulking Cronos he’d seen earlier, his body didn’t have any particular outward changes.

Even the clothes he was wearing were the same.

That was when it happened.

“Cronos!”

Someone shouting.

When he turned his head, a young handsome man was aiming a trident that looked anything but ordinary at him.

'Who...... ah, no way?'

He’d never seen him before in person, but the instant he saw that ominous-looking trident, he knew.

Poseidon.

There was a high chance that guy was Poseidon.

The moment Su-ho realized it, sure enough, a nameplate floated over his head.

- ★Poseidon Lv.???

That was right.

He really was Poseidon.

But there was a star attached in front of the name.

Did that mean he was one of the “key forces” the system mentioned?

That seemed to be the case.

Su-ho grinned and said with easygoing cheek.

“Yeah, my son.”

“What son—die!!”

Look at that—what a filial little bastard.

What kind of son in the world tells his father to die?

Of course, he could understand that guy.

Cronos swallowed Poseidon the moment he was born.

'But that’s not like I swallowed you.'

Su-ho immediately began arming himself.

[ You summon Hercules’s Lion-Head Helm. ]

[ You summon Hercules’s Club. ]

[ Blood Armory activates. ]

[ Blessing activates. ]

[ Paladion activates. ]

[ Divine Aura activates. ]

[ Mana Detection activates. ]

[ Endurance activates. ]

[ Enhancement activates. ]

[ Night Watchman’s Eyes activates. ]

[ Sword Aura activates. ]

Thankfully, everything summoned smoothly without anything getting blocked.

Especially the Hercules series—he’d been worried it might not summon because the time background didn’t match, but it descended in front of him as if to show off.

Around then, Poseidon bravely charged in and thrust his trident at Su-ho.

“Die!”

Kaaang!!

A sharp metallic grinding sound.

Su-ho raised his blood sword and blocked the guy’s spear.

A shockwave burst out, too.

But Poseidon didn’t care about a mere shockwave and pressed down hard on Su-ho.

A heavy blow.

Blocking Poseidon’s attack, Su-ho smiled slickly and said,

“My son, your attack is pretty heavy, isn’t it?”

“What son!”

Kaang!!

Poseidon knocked Su-ho’s sword aside.

Then he drove his trident into the ground and caused a massive earthquake.

[ Poseidon causes an earthquake. ]

Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!

“Oh, wow.”

The moment the ground shattered, Su-ho immediately sprang up into the sky.

No—he tried to.

If something hadn’t grabbed his ankle.

“What?”

It wasn’t his imagination.

Something really did grab Su-ho’s ankle and stopped his leap.

Because of that, Su-ho couldn’t escape the collapsing ground and ended up getting swept up in the earthquake.

A thick cloud of dust.

In that moment, Su-ho’s face appeared through the dense dust.

“Hihihing!”

At the same time, Cheolma’s face appeared.

The sharp-witted steel pegasus Cheolma had saved Su-ho from the earthquake.

But what was that just now?

All he’d seen was Poseidon.

So what on earth grabbed my ankle?

'Something’s there.'

But he couldn’t tell what it was.

The sensation around his ankle had clearly been a person’s hand.

It felt like someone had hidden themselves and deliberately approached.

'Wait. Hidden?'

At the word hidden, one piece of information flashed through his head.

'Well, would you look at these bastards.'

You’re going to cheap-shot me with a group?

Su-ho immediately activated an additional skill.

[ Vivara’s Spell activates. ]

Kurrrrung! Swaaaah!!

The moment he activated the skill, wind and rain began to whip up.

At the same time, Su-ho narrowed his eyes and searched every corner.

Then he found a presence that couldn’t avoid the falling rain and had its silhouette revealed by the raindrops.

It was Hades, wearing a transparent helmet.