Chapter 59
The poison mist rose thicker and thicker.
The venom of the Hydra—the same venom that killed a god, that killed Hephaestus—filled the air around me and Horus.
The poison seeped into Horus’ eyes, mouth, and nose, corrupting him from the inside.
The body of a god—once thought to be immortal—was melting away from within.
Blood poured from his eyes, and his skin sloughed off.
Feathers, soaked in blood, fell away, leaving behind oozing flesh.
Horus’ body, now too pitiful to be called divine.
Meanwhile, the poison had no effect on me.
[Poison Immunity – SS Rank]
[Description: No poison can taint your body.]
[Effect: Grants complete immunity to all poisons.]
Poison Immunity.
The ultimate support-type skill that grants resistance against every toxin.
Even Hydra’s venom could not harm me.
However, Horus’ flames, thrashing as he struggled against the poison mist, continued trying to burn my body.
Whether it was to resist the poison consuming him, or to destroy the enemy before him, Horus’ body radiated with greater and greater heat.
Whoosh!
The trees around us caught fire in an instant.
“Sorry, but your flames don’t work on me anymore.”
[Blessing of the Currents (1)]
Cool seawater rose to block the flames threatening to engulf me.
A barrier of flowing currents shielded me from Horus’ desperate resistance.
[Status Condition: Berserker – Stage 4]
[Effect: For betraying a Berserker’s pride by defending against attacks, you receive penalties.]
[Attack damage is weakened for 5 minutes.]
[Additional Effect: You feel no pain for 5 minutes.]
A damned status effect, really.
But for now, the Berserker penalties didn’t matter.
After all, it wasn’t my attacks that would finish Horus—it was Hydra’s poison.
I had no need to strike him myself.
If anything, not feeling the burning pain was a blessing.
“Release me!”
For the first time, fear flickered across the falcon god’s face as I held him tight.
“Cough! Hack!”
Horus’ face turned ashen gray.
His heated hand pushed against me, but I seized it tightly.
“Ghhh! You… wretched mortal…!”
“I told you, didn’t I? I’ll be with you until the end.”
“Cough! Gahhh!”
Blood spilled from his beak as he tried to chant another spell.
Lightning?
No—an earthquake.
Rumble.
The ground trembled, breaking apart the trap made from the stag beetle’s legs.
Crack!
The hooked bindings snapped, opening a gap between Horus and me.
At the same time, he spread his wings.
Flap! Flap!
Wind surged forth, his magic intent clear—scatter the poison-filled air.
“It’d be a problem if the wind blows that way.”
“I don’t care!”
His storm carried Hydra’s poison directly toward the guild members fighting Jörmungandr.
“Arghhh!”
Their screams rang out.
The guild members who had followed Horus inhaled the poison mist and collapsed one by one.
“You gods… all the same in the end.”
Then Horus’ body lifted off the ground.
He spread his wings—seeking to preserve only himself.
If he took to the sky, I would have no means to reach him.
‘I can’t let him escape.’
I stretched out my hand.
[Dragon Grab]
The dragon’s clutch dragged Horus back down.
“Ghhhk! What is this…!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Just before he could take flight, Horus was seized and pulled back down to me.
I grabbed his shoulder as he crashed near me.
The poison mist still lingered.
I had to force him to inhale more of it.
“Release me! I’ll kill you—!”
“You’re never leaving this forest. It’ll be your tomb.”
“Cough! Hack!”
Horus’ feathers melted.
Exposed too long at the heart of the poison cloud, even his divine body couldn’t endure it.
“No… impossible…”
“A pharaoh who won’t sacrifice himself for his people? Selfish to the end, aren’t you?”
“I cannot die here….”
The falcon of the sky, who claimed to be the sun, struggled with ferocity until the end.
He tried again to fly, wings beating desperately to rise above the poison before his body melted away completely.
“Planning to escape into the sky?”
“I’ll… see how long you can endure… Cough!”
“Sorry, but you’re not going anywhere.”
“What…?”
I swung the hammer clutched in my hand against his wing.
Crack!
“GRAAAHHHH!”
“Thanks. You just freed me from the trap.”
The stag beetle trap had bound us both—I couldn’t swing my hammer while ensnared, just as Horus couldn’t spread his wings.
But when he broke the trap in his panic to flee, it gave me the space I needed.
It was a fatal mistake born from his obsession to escape the poison.
“M-my wings…!”
“Told you—you’re not getting away from me.”
He grabbed my hand in desperation, stopping me from striking again.
A desperate struggle.
An ice spear formed before his chest, aimed directly at my heart.
“With a water shield, cough! you can’t block this…!”
The bitter cold froze the current barrier protecting me.
“Fool… Did you think a few tricks could defeat a god who’s reached the pinnacle of magic?”
“Damn it.”
“Die, pierced through the heart. This is the price for resisting the sun soaring in the sky.”
The spear of ice shot toward my chest.
I staggered back.
The spear pursued me relentlessly—
Goooooh.
From the ground, a magma golem erupted, melting the ice spear instantly.
“What—what is this…?”
“Everyone keeps a hidden trump card.”
The magma golem seized Horus.
“Radames! Igor! Young-Ah! Save me! Quickly!”
Horus shouted desperately for his apostles.
But his cries went unanswered.
His followers could not break through Jörmungandr’s barrier.
Most of the guild members had already fallen to the poison or died battling the serpent.
“Horus—die alone. This time, there’s no Hathor to heal you.”
“Ghhhhh….”
His breath grew ragged, his body thrashing in vain to escape.
The more he resisted, the deeper the poison ravaged him.
“Cough!”
Foam bubbled with blood from his mouth.
His falcon eyes glared at me bloodshot red, wheezing with fury.
Still, he kept struggling, wings twitching, breath rattling.
“I… I still haven’t… become the sun…”
His flames blazed brighter.
The stronger the fire, the stronger the poison burned him away.
They say a candle burns brightest before it goes out.
Lifting his gaze toward the heavens, not at me but at the sun, Horus’ body glowed brighter than ever.
“Grandfather Sun… I will…”
Eyes blazing, he looked upward.
And in that posture, he breathed his last.
The flames went out.
The falcon of the sky, who longed to become the sun, was dead.
The final blaze of the bird that wished to be the sun died with him, his body collapsing lifelessly forward.
Thud.
Thus perished Horus, god of the sky.
His body, overwhelmed by Hydra’s venom, melted rapidly—too far gone ever to be revived.
“Damn…”
I stared down at the smoldering remains.
Though the Blessing of the Currents and the Breath of the Ice Spirit had helped, the fire magic unleashed by a god was not something one could easily withstand.
My body boiled with heat, burns glaring red across my torso.
“The Ice Spirit’s Breath is spent, too.”
Without it, I’d have burned alive or melted.
– “That’s reckless!”
That’s what Lee Soo-yeon said when I first proposed dragging Horus into the poison mist.
– “This method is too dangerous. Better I fight him.”
Even Jörmungandr opposed the plan.
Who would so easily accept the idea of grappling Horus within Hydra’s poison?
Considering his magic and the venom, it was madness.
But there was no other way.
Objectively, a drawn-out battle was unwinnable.
If Horus kept his distance, using flight and magic to wear me down, I could never win.
And I lacked weapons strong enough to kill him.
Honestly, Horus wasn’t meant to be my opponent yet.
It wasn’t because he was stronger than the other gods.
But right now, I had no skills that could counter his magic and flight.
Still, I couldn’t just sit and let danger fester.
‘I had to use everything I had.’
So I threw myself at him before the fight could drag on.
I used the last of Hydra’s venom.
‘Anyway… it worked.’
Relief filled me as I looked at Horus’ dissolving corpse.
I’d been lucky—
He underestimated me.
He panicked at my fake traps.
He never managed to cast his eighth-stage magic.
Luck, coincidence, and my preparations combined to bring him down.
And then, a reward appeared.
[You have slain the falcon of the sky, once the sun god.]
[As a reward, the skill of the “Falcon of the Sky” is recorded in your Chronicle.]
[Falcon of the Sky – S Rank]
[Skill: Eye of Horus]
[Description: Wear the Eye of Horus, symbol of wisdom and the moon.]
[Effect 1: Analyze and use magical formulae up to 5th stage.]
[Effect 2: Familiar – Share sight with your summoned creatures.]
[???: Sealed. Unlocked when paired with Eye of Ra.]
[Chronicle Lv. 17]
[Available Skill Slots – 5]
The ability to analyze and use 5th stage magic?
An absurdly powerful skill.
Mages divided magic into eight stages.
1st–2nd: beginner spells—Ice Bolt, Magic Arrow, small combat and binding magic.
3rd–4th: intermediate spells—the bulk of combat magic.
5th: the domain of true experts.
6th: the level of professors.
7th: the level of archmages.
8th: transcendence itself.
In this age, no mage had reached the 8th stage.
In my past life, only two ever had: Odin and Merlin.
Even Horus—said to have reached the pinnacle of magic—was only 7th stage.
If he had lived longer, maybe he would have reached the 8th.
But this Eye of Horus allowed even someone with no magical knowledge to wield 5th stage spells.
This was why Horus had been revered as a master of magic.
‘This skill outshines even SS ranks.’
I checked my current skills.
[Poison Immunity – SS Rank]
[Description: No poison can taint your body.]
[Effect: Complete immunity to all poisons.]
[Song of Nibelung – A Rank]
[Skill: Dragon Grab]
[Effect: Pulls enemies close with draconic power.]
[Volcanic Colossus – SS Rank]
[Skill: Earth Explosion]
[Effect: Hephaestus, god of the forge and volcanoes, splits the earth in a volcanic blast.]
[2 uses per day.]
[Enhanced by Hephaestus’ Hammer.]
[Boiling Lava – S Rank]
[Skill: Summon Magma Golem]
[Description: With the power of Igni, the incarnation of magma, you can control his avatar.]
[The golem’s level matches the Chronicle’s level.]
[Chronicle Lv. 17]
[Predator of Currents – S Rank]
[Skill: Blessing of the Currents]
[Effect: Summons a powerful shield of water to protect a 3m radius.]
And then:
[Berserk – B Rank]
[Effect 1: Double attack power, but lose distinction between friend and foe. (5 min)]
[Effect 2: Collapse into helplessness for 10 min after use.]
[Does not consume a skill slot.]
That made 6 total skills (5 using slots + Berserk).
But I only had 5 available slots.
To gain the Eye of Horus, I needed to discard one.
‘Not a single one I want to give up….’
The A-rank Dragon Grab was weakest by grade, but its utility was undeniable.
Poison Immunity, Blessing of Currents, Earth Explosion—all too essential to lose.
The magma golem summon was powerful, but less vital right now, since Jörmungandr was present.
‘Then I’ll drop Magma Golem Summon and take the Eye of Horus.’
[Magma Golem Summon removed. Skill erased.]
[Eye of Horus equipped.]
Szzzzzt!
“Ghhhk!”
Agony flared in my left eye.
When the burning stopped and I opened it again—
—A list of 5th stage spells I could now use appeared before me.
‘I’ll test magic later.’
I turned from Horus’ corpse toward Igor, bound tightly by Jörmungandr’s ropes.
He was the only apostle to survive the poison.
The guild members were all dead or dying.
“Well then… shall we, the survivors, have a little chat?”
The Eye of Horus in my gaze gleamed.
