Marvel: Beginning with the Collection of Shinra Tensei

This wasn't something any normal person could achieve—no, not even a hero could possibly have such stamina.

Ristarte stood there dumbfounded, staring at him. Suddenly, Han Yu's gaze shifted to her. He stood up, walked over, and extended his hand, only to stop in a motion resembling a "kabedon."

Looking at Han Yu, who was now incredibly close, Ristarte 's face flushed with a tinge of shyness. She thought he was about to do something. "Han Yu, why are you staring at me like that..."

In the next moment, Han Yu reached behind her, turned the doorknob, and shoved her out of the room.

"You're distracting me," he said, closing the door behind her.

Being kicked out once again, Ristarte couldn't help but laugh angrily. "Hey! I'm still a goddess, you know! It's bad enough that you're not madly in love with me, but do you really have to treat me like this? Is this how it's supposed to be?"

Inside the room, Han Yu rolled his eyes. A goddess? More like a drama queen. Aside from looking pretty, the only help she's been in battle so far is opening a portal to escape.

Having learned her lesson, Ristarte didn't immediately go after Han Yu this time. She had started to understand him a little—he was far more cautious than most people.

"Fine. If you don't want to deal with me, I'll just take a look myself. Luckily, I have a crystal that lets me observe the lower realms. Let's see what's going on down there."

From a corner of the room, Ristarte retrieved a crystal mounted on a tripod. She stood before it and began chanting an incantation:

"O crystal that perceives the three thousand worlds, reveal any looming danger."

The moment she finished speaking, the crystal emitted a faint glow. As the light subsided, the scene that appeared within the crystal made Ristarte 's blood run cold.

It was the small town they were headed to. Chaos had already arrived there, standing with two people beneath his feet. The massive sword in his hand was pressed against one of their necks. As though sensing Ristarte 's surveillance, he lifted his head and looked directly at her—straight into her perspective.

"Hero and goddess, I know you're watching. If you don't come out soon, the people of this town will all be dead. Starting now, I'll kill one person every ten minutes. You'd better hurry."

"You twisted maniac!"

Furious, Ristarte grabbed the crystal and stormed toward Han Yu's room. Just like before, she barged in without knocking. Inside, Han Yu was still doing push-ups at an astonishing speed.

"Why aren't you knocking again this time?" Han Yu asked, his tone tinged with irritation.

"It's an emergency! Chaos is about to start a massacre in the town we were heading to. We need to leave immediately!" Ristarte said urgently.

"Has he started killing yet?" Han Yu asked.

"What?"

"I asked, has he started killing yet?"

"N-no, he said he'll kill one person every ten minutes," Ristarte replied.

Han Yu paused for a moment and mused, "The time flow between the divine realm and the lower world isn't the same, is it?"

In most cases, the divine realm followed a "one day in the heavens equals one year on earth" rule. Han Yu's question was to clarify if such a rule applied here. If not, he'd leave immediately. If it did, there was no rush.

"Uh, right, the flow is different. Time here moves at one percent of the speed down there. Ten minutes on earth equals sixteen hours for us," Ristarte confirmed.

"Sixteen hours, huh? That's plenty of time."

Han Yu nodded and resumed his workout.

"How can you stay so calm? Those are human lives at stake! We should leave immediately!" Ristarte protested, visibly agitated.

"What's the rush? To you, it's just another lower realm, another mission. If I die, it's merely a failed task for you. But for that world? If I fail, it's their entire existence that gets wiped out."

"This isn't a child's game. Going out unprepared will only lead to death."

Han Yu's voice was cold, but his words rang true.

Ristarte found some logic in his argument, but her pride as a self-proclaimed goddess wouldn't allow her to admit it. She stubbornly retorted, "But those are still human lives! Any normal hero would've gone by now!"

Hearing this, Han Yu stopped his workout and stood up. Towering over her by a full head, he looked down at her with an oppressive aura that made the air feel heavier.

"Do you think this is a game? What would happen if a 'normal hero' went? Haven't there been heroes summoned to Gaeabrande before? Did any of them change the outcome?"

"Maybe their worlds were destroyed by the Demon King, and you felt bad for a while. But soon enough, you'd cheerfully move on to the next mission, saving another world with your so-called 'heroic' ideals. To you goddesses, it's just a game. There's no real consequence—at most, your performance metrics stagnate for a while."

"This is war, not a game!"

Han Yu's words struck Ristarte silent. She couldn't refute him. After all, the nature of her role was exactly as he described. If a mission failed, the hero returned to their original world, the goddess returned to the divine realm, and the world meant to be saved was utterly destroyed.

The hero would remain unscathed. The goddess would just chalk it up as a failed task. But for the people of that world, it was unending slaughter with no hope of salvation.

"You're such a coward! That's why you're so cautious, isn't it? You're just a pathetic, spineless coward! I never should've summoned you! No matter how strong you are, you're the worst hero ever!" Ristarte snapped in frustration.

Han Yu ignored her. To him, she was nothing more than an impulsive, self-righteous fool who rushed headlong into danger under the guise of bravery and compassion.

He was grateful she was the one summoning heroes. If she had been a hero herself, she would've charged blindly into Chaos during their last encounter and likely gotten herself killed.

"Alright, I'm ready. With my current level, I should be able to take her on."

Han Yu jumped to his feet with a swift kip-up, clenching his fists as he felt the power surging through his body. He couldn't help but smile faintly, satisfied with his preparation.

As for the fate of Gaeabrande's people, Han Yu truly didn't care. If the divine realm had any sense of responsibility, they wouldn't have let this clueless goddess summon him. With no combat ability and a tendency to panic, Ristarte was little more than a liability. For Han Yu, the only path forward was to focus on completing his mission calmly and methodically.

Just then, a voice echoed in his mind—his miscellaneous system notification.

"Side quest [Fully Prepared] completed. Reward: 100 upgrade points!"

Hearing the notification, Han Yu's eyes lit up. A single side quest granting so many upgrade points? His cautious approach had definitely paid off.

"I'll have to be even more careful going forward. With rewards like this, there's no way I'm letting this opportunity slip through my fingers!"

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