Multiverse: Becoming a Giant of Light, Godslayer from the Start

Hearing Su Mo's words, Doni's eyes lit up immediately. But he didn't accept right away. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and asked skeptically, "If it's really such a great opportunity, would you actually hand it to me?"

Powerful heretic gods often came with equally powerful Authorities. For any god-slayer, they were prime hunting targets. If he were being honest with himself, Doni knew—if he had intel like this, he wouldn't share it either. Greed was simply part of the god-slayer's nature. So, he couldn't believe Su Mo would just give him such a golden opportunity out of goodwill.

Su Mo, of course, had expected his suspicion. "Didn't I just say it? The information isn't free. You'll have to pay a little price for it."

"But more than that, there's a special reason." Su Mo spoke openly.

"That particular heretic god is currently in slumber. Waking him up would take some real effort."

"For me, it's too troublesome to deal with him right now. It's easier to find a different heretic god to summon." Doni nodded. That part, at least, made sense. After all, he'd just seen Su Mo summon two heretic gods with relative ease. Compared to that, traditional methods of locating them were indeed slow and inefficient.

"But that's not the only reason, is it?" Doni wasn't convinced that Su Mo would give up a heretic god just because he found it inconvenient. Even if he didn't want to summon it now, couldn't he just save it for later? There was no reason to let someone else benefit. His brain, usually slow, was firing on all cylinders now—because it involved heretic gods.

"You're right." Su Mo nodded, lips curling into a teasing smirk.

"The real reason is very simple."

"As I said before—that heretic god is strong."

"I estimate that you wouldn't be able to beat him. That's why I'm giving you the lead."

"Even if you do find him and challenge him, if you lose, I'll just step in and finish it."

"That's the real reason I'm telling you."

Different people required different methods. For someone like Doni—who had beast-like instincts but the subtlety of a brick—Su Mo chose brutal honesty and laid it all out like an open provocation.

"So then, knowing this," he said with a faint smirk, "do you still want to try?" His tone was laced with challenge. A wise man would have backed off. Or at least pressed for more information about the heretic god in question. But Doni wasn't a wise man. He was a warrior who thrived on challenges. Hearing Su Mo's lightly condescending tone, his competitive spirit instantly flared up.

"I know you're trying to goad me, dear friend... but I still can't help feeling a bit pissed off!" Doni's eyes burned with defiance.

"Sure, you defeated me with overwhelming power—but I didn't even get to use my full hand!"

"I want to see what kind of heretic god could make me look powerless!" Had anyone else suggested there was a heretic god out there that Doni couldn't beat, he would've scoffed. Not because of arrogance, but because god-slayers were miracle-makers. Even before they became god-slayers, they had defeated divine beings while still mortal. Now, having ascended beyond humanity, how could they fear the gods?

Yes, heretic gods were powerful. And yes, sometimes even god-slayers lost. But "completely unbeatable"? That was not something a god-slayer believed in. Still, the fact that Su Mo—another god-slayer—said so made Doni pay attention. More than fear, what rose within him was battle-lust.

"If I defeat this heretic god who even you find tricky... wouldn't that mean I've evened the score a little?" Doni muttered, clearly invested. Despite accepting his previous defeat with grace, he still carried a deep frustration. His magic sword's Authority had been sealed, his steel body's immortality countered, and his martial skills completely overwhelmed.

Su Mo was his natural enemy. He'd lost before he could even use his full strength. But if the opponent wasn't Su Mo, but rather a heretic god with comparable power—then maybe he could win. Especially since his ultimate card—his Meteor Sword, orbiting high above Earth—hadn't even come into play before it was sealed.

If he could unleash that one trump card...

Then maybe even Su Mo wouldn't have been able to defend against it. But since Su Mo had that golden sword, that power would always be off-limits in their fights. So, rather than waste it on him, why not use it to slay a heretic god?

Shock Su Mo a little. Gain a new Authority while he was at it. Who knows? Maybe he could get a power-up strong enough to reverse their positions next time. With those thoughts racing through his mind, Doni gave his full and eager agreement.

"No problem! I accept your terms!" And just like that—the contract was formed.

"Well, you're braver than I expected," Su Mo commented with an amused look, though clearly not surprised.

"Of course I am! I'm crazy brave!" Doni declared, puffing out his chest with pride. Andre, watching from the side, felt like his King had just walked straight into a trap. But wisely, he kept his mouth shut. There was no room for ordinary people to interrupt a conversation between Campiones.

After giving his agreement, Doni suddenly remembered something, and his expression turned wary. "Wait, dear friend! Since this information isn't being given away for free… you're not planning to have me do something impossible, are you?"

"Like, I don't know, going and capturing the old man Voban or something?"

Having previously suffered thanks to his carelessness in magical contracts, Doni was now much more alert to potential traps. It didn't take a genius to realize that someone in possession of the divine summoning ritual—like Su Mo—would inevitably seek out other Campiones as catalysts once he was done using Doni. That's why the moment Su Mo mentioned there were conditions to receiving the intel on heretic gods, Doni panicked at the idea of being tasked with something insane—like going after Voban.

That old fossil was not exactly what you'd call "friendly." Having nearly been beaten to death by him once, Doni still had PTSD from the experience. Compared to that, Su Mo might be powerful, but at least he wasn't murderous—much easier to deal with. Hearing Doni's suspicion, Su Mo couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Isn't it a little late to be asking that?"

"But don't worry. I'm not like you."

"Sure, the information isn't free, but the price won't be anything you can't handle." Su Mo genuinely didn't have anything outrageous in mind for Doni. After all, he had already squeezed most of this guy's value dry—no need to overdo it.

"Really? What is it, then?" Doni let out a breath of relief and asked.

"I remember you're the King who governs the Southern European magic associations, right?" Su Mo asked casually.

"Uh… am I?" Doni scratched his head and looked over at Andre, uncertain whether he had the title right. Andre nearly coughed up blood at that. Their own liege forgetting the name of the organization he ruled—truly, there was no one else like him. Still, in front of Su Mo, Andre suppressed his urge to mock and instead bowed respectfully.

"Yes, you are indeed the King of all magic associations in Southern Europe."

"Perfect," Su Mo nodded. "I recently accepted two knights into my service. They belong to Italy's magic association."

"So, my condition is this: hand over the Italian territory to me. Shouldn't be a problem, right?" Thinking about the affiliations of his two knight girls, Su Mo made his request.

For most Campiones, this might've required some thought. But for the King of Swords—

"Oh? That's all you want?" Doni looked genuinely surprised.

"No problem! Take it all if you want!" He had never cared about ruling the associations, only uniting them. As such, territorial disputes held no meaning for him. Hearing Su Mo's request, he nodded enthusiastically. Then, leaning in closer, he grinned.

"So, dear friend... that heretic god intel you mentioned?" Clearly, he hadn't forgotten.

"You'll get it," Su Mo nodded.

Doni's face lit up—until Su Mo added: "But only after I complete my next summoning ritual." Doni's smile instantly fell apart.

Still, the summoning was part of their agreement, so he couldn't complain. Deflated, he could only hang his head and follow Su Mo back to the beach. The magic associations had already delivered new materials. After setting up the array again, Su Mo reactivated the ritual. But this time... even after twenty attempts, no heretic god descended.

"That's strange..." Su Mo frowned. Out of the twenty activations, six had successfully reached the stage of contacting divine beings. But none had answered the call. It felt like they were being rejected outright. Combining that with his earlier observations, Su Mo came to a conclusion.

"It seems once a god has descended through the ritual, they absolutely won't respond to another summons for a while." The summoning array had a 30% success rate. But that rate only applied to successfully contacting a god. Whether the god responded was something the ritual couldn't and didn't control. More importantly, the magic array had no built-in filter to skip gods who had already been summoned. Which meant...

Every time Su Mo ran the ritual using the same catalyst, it would try to call Dionysus or Siegfried again—gods who would no longer respond. As a result, after successfully summoning a heretic god once, future attempts using the same medium would suffer a steep drop in success rate. And with each additional failure, the chances dropped even further.

First time, he summoned Dionysus on the first try. Then Siegfried, after seven attempts. Now, over twenty times—and still no response. Fortunately, running the array wasn't especially taxing. Su Mo didn't stop. Eventually, by the fortieth attempt... Finally, a familiar divine radiance shimmered across the array. A heretic god descended.