The Atlanteans, the favored people of the sea god Poseidon, a group who regard themselves as the descendants of the sea god, have a strong reverence for the ocean.
In the sea, they take on a half-human, half-fish form, with concealed gills growing behind their ears that allow them to breathe underwater freely.
When they reach land, they can grow legs and switch into a human form, thus perfectly adapting to both land and sea environments.
It is said that this is because the divine blood of Poseidon flows within them, and they are beloved by the sea.
Others say they were once part of the old humanity who fled to the sea seeking Poseidon's protection during the gods' great flood meant to destroy the world.
The god of sea hid them away and later bestowed his divine blessing upon them, allowing them to thrive on a land called "Atlantis," becoming Poseidon's loyal followers.
Regardless of which version is true, in the region of Oceanus, they are the undisputed overlords, spreading the faith of the ocean and carrying out Poseidon's will.
Of course, following the noble tradition of the Greek divine era where fathers are kind and sons are filial, brothers are friendly and loyal—this hidden power is, in fact, Poseidon's secret maneuver to expand the authority of the sea god and eventually encroach upon the authority of the sky god.
Therefore, even his stupid mentor, the ancient demi-goddess witch Circe, spoke of these Atlanteans with considerable wariness.
Additionally, as Lorne knows, Atlantis is actually a continent hidden within the primordial sea, internally divided into ten districts, which are ten kingdoms, each ruled by one of Poseidon's ten divine-blooded offspring.
Their method of governance is similar to the Greek city-states.
The ten kings of Atlantis each wield absolute power over their respective territories, each adopting different national structures.
To maintain communication, every five to six years they gather at the Temple of Poseidon to discuss their relationships and governing authorities.
Once agreements are reached, they slit the throat of a cow raised in the temple and use its blood to inscribe the resolution on the columns of the Temple of Poseidon, to enhance the sacred and inviolable authority of the decision.
It is said that under Poseidon's blessing and the protection of oceanic divine authority, each of Atlantis' ten kings possesses power close to that of a god.
At the same time, Atlantis' military organization is extremely meticulous.
The territory is divided into 90,000 military zones, each assigned a commander responsible for the deployment of 12 warriors, two warhorses, one chariot, and all necessary supplies.
And among them, the most valiant and martial are the [Royal Guard], selected from across the entirety of Atlantis.
They operate independently from the 90,000 military regions and report directly to the ten kings and the Temple of Poseidon.
They possess the authority to mobilize the subordinate military districts.
These elites among elites not only possess formidable combat strength, but each one also carries a strong divine bloodline.
Therefore, as the face of Poseidon's forces, the Gold Rank is merely the entry threshold.
Having three demigods leading them is not at all unusual.
However, what Lorne couldn't understand was why this group of Atlanteans, who usually avoided the public eye to prevent being casually wiped out by Zeus and mostly remained within the primordial seas beyond Oceanus, suddenly came all the way into the inland sea to hunt him down.
"You killed so many divine-blood descendants of the ocean god system, and even took out one of Poseidon's own sons. As the lord of the seas, that sea god had to make some kind of statement."
Seeing the confused expression on his face, a certain goddess responsible for "newbie guidance" explained with a flowing gaze and a soft smile.
Hearing this, Lorne's face instantly darkened, and he cursed inwardly.
Damn it, so this is where the difficulty spike kicks in!
I knew none of those three options came without a trap!
First off, defiling Athena.
While the term "defile" doesn't just refer to physical one..and is fairly broad, ranging from physical contact, verbal provocation, to actual combat and such actions that might all fall under its umbrella...
Does anyone really think Athena's off-the-charts combat power and Iq are just for show?
The moment you choose that one, you may as well announce that dinner is served.
Second, destroying a temple of Apollo.
The real problem isn't the temple itself, but the connection between the temple and the deity.
Not to mention how hard it is to find an Apollo temple in the vast ocean, let's just assume that he even finds one, the battalion of temple guards and priests inside would already be more than enough to suffer.
If his luck's particularly bad, which it obviously was, he might end up triggering an avatar of Apollo himself.
As for those excuses like "reconstruction" or "relocation," the god of light and prophecy wasn't an idiot. Plus, who knows if there's a time limit for this mission? A procedure that tedious might not even be doable in time.
Lastly, taking out one of Poseidon's demigod offspring.
While that seems like the easiest of the three tasks, it's a trap all the same.
On one hand, Polyphemus may be ugly, but he's one of the few sons Poseidon actually cares about.
In the epic Odyssey, after being stabbed in the eye by the demigod hero Odysseus, the Cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon for revenge.
Poseidon, as a principal god, shamelessly intervened without caring about anything, summoning massive waves and violent storms to blow Odysseus's ship off course, sending him into endless trials and tribulations.
And that was with Athena's protection (Athena has a soft spot for heroes with wisdom. In the epic, Odysseus was favored by Athena and was saved from danger many times).
But Lorne had outright killed that one-eyed giant, which was the equivalent of blasting Poseidon in the face at point-blank range.
On the other hand, the sacrificial offerings he used to ascend to demigod status were all divine-blooded sea monsters and sea beasts.
And it wasn't just one, two, tens..he killed more than a hundred of them...
Poseidon, as the master of the sea, considers the ocean and everything within it his personal property.
Even fishermen have to perform rituals and offer sacrifices to the sea god before heading out to fish.
So, even without any familial connection to those sea monsters, Poseidon would never tolerate someone from the outside wantonly butchering his "assets."
After all, this was about his divine authority. There's no way he'd just sit back and let it slide.
And so, right after Lorne had painstakingly taken down the Cyclops Polyphemus, a wave of Atlantean super soldiers erupted onto the sea.
Based on the timeline, these Atlantis Royal Guards probably set out back when Lorne was still hunting down divine-blood sea creatures like Lamias and Sirens.
Thinking back to Hecate's earlier assurance, his expression turned grim.
"Didn't you say that with the enhancement of the [Dice], whatever I do, the Twelve Olympians wouldn't find out?"
"It seems that they were ordered to come here to investigate the cause because of the large-scale death of the blood-sirens in this area."
Hecate gestured toward the headless corpse of the Cyclops and the golden blood slowly spreading across the sea surface as she shrugged, hands open in helplessness, with a look of innocence on her face.
"But then you, right in front of them, not only killed Poseidon's beloved son, you even cut off his head. So tell me, what do you think the Atlantean Royal Guards are going to do?"
"…"
Staring out at the horizon, Lorne saw the Atlantis Royal Guard following the trail of golden blood on the sea's surface, bearing down on the scene of the crime with terrifying momentum and his eyelids twitched violently.
The, without another word, he immediately turned and sprinted toward the cedarwood boat stashed in the middle of the reef.
He didn't know exactly what the Royal Guard would do next.
But Lorne did know what he had to do now.
Sticking around was a guaranteed way to get wrecked.
If he didn't run now, when would he?
(End of Chapter)