### Chapter: 430
Parthes Constellation.
This is the land where the members of such a constellation reside.
The Black Land.
Rising tall above the blackened earth is a singular castle.
This castle belongs to Parthes, the god of death among the Five Great Gods.
Far from this castle, the gods were constructing a massive city as if marking their territory.
For gods, a dwelling is just a temporary resting place.
So, it was primarily the Celestials of Parthes Constellation who actually lived there.
While managing the city built for the gods, they ironically couldn’t live in the homes the gods rarely occupied, instead residing in the surrounding city.
Among these Celestials, a strange rumor had recently been circulating.
“Hey, Reki, have you heard? Mid-tier gods have been disappearing one after the other.”
“Can mid-tier gods even go missing?”
It was indeed about the disappearance of mid-tier gods.
Mid-tier gods, unlike their low-tier counterparts, possessed a life almost equivalent to immortality.
So, it was unbelievable that they were suddenly vanishing.
“Maybe one of the high-tier gods is punishing the mid-tier ones?”
One of the Celestials raised this possibility.
“A high-tier god would bother with mid-tier gods?”
“Maybe someone irritated them.”
“But they’re affiliated with the constellation. If this happens, it’ll just end up causing conflicts with other high-tier gods.”
As their status rises, so does the pride of the gods.
Thus, there’s no way they would just let it slide if someone meddled with their constellation.
“I hear some high-tier gods are keeping a close watch on this.”
“Wouldn’t that just turn the divine realm into chaos?”
The Celestials, aware of what happens when high-tier gods get involved, were trembling at the thought.
With a high number of high-tier gods within Parthes, the Celestials often had to cross paths with them.
High-tier gods are disasters unto themselves.
With a mere gesture, they could turn heaven and earth upside-down.
What would happen if such high-tier gods clash with one another?
It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.
“If the rumor is spreading among us, the gods most likely already know about it.”
“The culprit might know as well.”
As whispers continued among the Celestials, a mid-tier god was rolling on the ground, fleeing for his life.
Originally a god who could wield flames at will, for some reason, he found himself unable to harness any flames now.
Whoosh!
Instead, flames flowed relentlessly from his pursuer.
“W-What the?!”
He exclaimed in horror.
No matter how he tried, he couldn’t summon any divine powers.
Thud!
At that moment, a figure shrouded in ash-gray flames stood in his path.
With a swift strike, the figure’s sword cleanly severed the mid-tier god’s head.
The disembodied head rolled away.
Seeing this, the man raised his hand.
A light began to drain the divine power from the mid-tier god.
In an instant, as all divine power was extracted, the mid-tier god crumbled into ash.
Kraush glanced at the collapsing mid-tier god and flexed his fingers.
“How many is that now?”
“Twentieth, sir.”
Kraush turned his head at the response from behind.
There stood Maios, diligently assisting him.
Ever since nearly being obliterated by Kraush, he had become Kraush’s subordinate.
It was thanks to Maios’s information that Kraush knew the location of the mid-tier gods scattered across the realms.
All the mid-tier gods Kraush was currently hunting had interfered with the Middle Realm.
Some gods were even remembered for their association with technology.
Killing them didn’t bother Kraush one bit.
After all, the casualties they’d caused during the Second Ragnarok in the Middle Realm were beyond counting.
What annoyed him the most was their attempt to bring about world erosion for their own greed.
“Really? So do you think I can take on a high-tier god with the strength I have now?”
Maios silently studied Kraush.
Kraush, who had devoured twenty mid-tier gods, now emanated an entirely different power than before.
If it had been before, absorbing this much power would have left him a mess.
But Kraush’s body had been reconstructed through the magic of the Sanctuary.
Moreover, reaching the realm of the Sanctuary had increased the total amount of energy within him.
As a result, Kraush could now absorb divine energy almost infinitely.
“Not happening.”
Maios bluntly replied that the current Kraush wouldn’t be able to contend with high-tier gods.
Even after swallowing so many mid-tier gods, it still wasn’t enough. That was the implication.
But ironically, he hadn’t yet reached the strength he demonstrated when he broke through Abella’s Sanctuary magic.
That strike had shocked even the gods in the divine realm and made them peer into the Middle Realm.
That strike was a desperate blow that combined the power of world erosion with all the strengths of the Middle Realm.
Even for high-tier gods, it was lethal.
Since he hadn’t yet matched that strike, it was certain he couldn’t take on a high-tier god.
‘The problem is being able to wield that strike freely.’
Kraush swallowed hard.
High-tier gods remained an insurmountable wall.
Considering if he could wield the Sanctuary magic that Abella used with ease made him feel hopeless.
And then…
‘The more I absorb divine power, the more I feel myself drifting from humanity.’
Kraush glanced at his hands.
The thought flickered through his mind.
If he continued absorbing divine energy like this, would he still be able to return to the Middle Realm?
Even low-tier gods could only cross into the Middle Realm through the Lower World Gate, which ignored several laws.
Kraush had already surpassed low-tier gods and reached a mature state among mid-tier gods. Would he even be able to step back to the Middle Realm?
‘No, I will.’
Kraush, without hesitation, affirmed that.
His loved ones were waiting for him.
Once he finished this work, he was determined to return no matter what.
At least it was fortunate that he was still in contact with Crimson Garden.
Crimson Garden had yet to receive good news regarding Arthur’s disappearance.
It seemed the Lower World Gate itself was such a rare occurrence that gathering information was proving to be a hassle.
‘In the end, do I need to defeat the high-tier god, Demaris, to learn about the Lower World Gate?’
Kraush let out a sigh.
I wonder if that guy, Arthur, is okay.
It was worrying since there hadn’t been any news for a while.
‘He’s not the kind to get caught easily.’
It might be better to find the Thief God first.
She might be able to lead him to Arthur.
‘That’s settled.’
Kraush began to bottle the ash of the mid-tier god.
He needed it to forge the Judgment Sword, which he had asked Lizis, a Celestial, to create.
As much as he would have preferred it made to a high-tier god’s specifications, reality was that he couldn’t match one.
So, for the time being, he aimed to make do with what he had.
“Kraush, it seems the upper gods will start to move soon.”
In a short span, he had already slain twenty mid-tier gods belonging to the constellation.
It was only natural for the higher-ups to cease their passive observation.
“Do you think they’re aware of my existence?”
“Yeah, it’s the same situation as when the Thief God was stirring up trouble.”
The Thief God also steals divine powers and turns deities to ash.
Though he managed to tidy up the ash, surely some of the high-tier gods must have noticed.
“Looks like hunting mid-tier gods is nearing its limit.”
“Frankly speaking, no matter how many mid-tier gods I absorb, I don’t think I’ll be able to match a high-tier god.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because mid-tier and high-tier gods fundamentally differ in existence.”
“What do you mean by fundamentally different?”
Maios raised his hand.
Suddenly, his hand vanished into thin air.
But Kraush knew it hadn’t actually disappeared.
He had shed his physical form, turning part of his body into starlight.
“When you reach the mid-tier level, you can shed your physical body to an extent, but that’s where the limit lies.
And this too offers little help in reality. But for high-tier gods…”
Maios said that things changed.
High-tier gods can become pure stars themselves.
They were not bound by a physical form.
The only reason they maintain a physical body is so that others can recognize them as beings.
In essence, they had already shed their physical forms and evolved into divine entities.
“To help clarify with an analogy: low-tier gods are like caterpillars, mid-tier gods are chrysalises, and high-tier gods are butterflies.
There’s a significant difference between chrysalis and butterfly.
Even if a chrysalis runs rampant, it can never keep up with a butterfly that spreads its wings, much like us.”
Fundamentally different.
That notion began to make some sense to Kraush.
“So, I need to become a star myself. Is that it?”
“The concept is similar. It’s just that I still haven’t understood all aspects of it myself.”
If Maios knew how to shed his physical form, he would’ve become a high-tier god long ago.
He remained a mid-tier god simply because he lacked this knowledge.
“It just doesn’t make sense for a butterfly and a chrysalis to fight.”
To a butterfly, the chrysalis is merely a stationary object.
It can’t cause any damage.
“So, what about the five gods called the supreme gods?”
“I don’t know much about them either. How should I put it? They’re more like phenomena than beings.
They are the oldest of the gods.”
Dealing with high-tier gods was already troublesome, so the supreme gods were a conversation one could hardly have.
Once again, Kraush grasped what kind of place the divine realm was.
“They might even be watching us right now. The divine realm belongs to them, after all.”
Maios looked up at the sky.
The sky was densely filled with massive celestial bodies and stars, all visible right before their eyes.
‘A monster nest.’
Just one mid-tier god reincarnating could wreak havoc on the Middle Realm.
Yet here, mid-tier gods were commonplace.
‘It’s absurd how I’ve ended up in such a place.’
Did they really think the Thief God would be of help?
Honestly, Kraush was feeling overwhelmed by the divine realm.
He continually understood why there was a chasm separating humans and gods.
“Huh?”
At that moment, as Maios looked up at the sky, he reacted.
Hearing his reaction, Kraush turned his head just in time to see a falling meteor.
Seeing this, an expression of unease washed over Maios’s face.
“K-Kraush! This is bad!”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s a high-tier god! One of the high-tier gods is heading this way!”
Kraush’s face hardened.
He never imagined a high-tier god would appear personally.
“Damn it, have we been discovered?”
Kraush immediately turned to flee.
But the meteor clung onto his tail relentlessly.
His body shimmered as Invisibility activated, allowing him to partially disappear.
At the same time, he activated Excel to buy some time, planning to escape as best he could.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, flames erupted from Kraush’s body.
Startled, Kraush’s eyes widened.
‘Ignes?’
Ignes was reacting violently.
Kraush glanced back at the meteor.
‘Could it be?’
Boom!
In that moment, something landed with a crash, sending plumes of smoke rising.
As Kraush took two steps back to avoid the area, the smoke instantly vanished.
Moments later, as the smoke cleared, Kraush’s eyes widened.
With hair ablaze toward the sky and fiery red eyes, the being was enveloped in flames as they smiled slowly at Kraush.
[You’ve been using my Ignes chaotically up until now.]
A high-tier god.
Inferno.
The master of Ignes had arrived.
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