"Don't even think about getting through!"
At that moment, Little Medusa could no longer hold back.
She immediately summoned the Bronze Serpent Armor and shot toward Scylla, her bronze chain sword slashing, cutting, and stabbing all the way, leaving ghastly wounds across the mountain of octopus flesh.
"Ahhh~!"
Among the six heads, the woman's face twisted in agony, letting out furious shrieks.
Twelve octopus-like tentacles lashed out, sweeping violently through the air, trying to swat the tiny fly to death.
However, as a gorgon, little Medusa was already gifted with the ability to fly, and now, with the aid of the Bronze Serpent Armor, her agility and speed were pushed to their peak.
Facing those massive, forceful tentacle strikes, she easily evaded with extreme maneuverability, repeatedly finding openings to plunge the bronze chain sword into the monster's body.
"Die! Die!"
The sluggish Scylla couldn't catch her target at all, and could only let out futile, enraged curses while spraying venom, venting her frustration onto the already ravaged land below.
But as time went on, her reaction speed and the power of her tentacle strikes began to weaken.
On the other hand, Little Medusa fought with more and more vigor.
Divine power surged endlessly from within her, her aura continuously rising, and her face even showed a kind of satisfied, sated expression.
In truth, the gorgon is a blood-feeder—and so is the sword she holds.
While continuously wounding her opponent, the blood and divine energy from the target would flow back into Little Medusa through the chain sword in her hand.
At this pace, as long as she made no mistakes, she could eventually wear down and kill this giant monster by attrition alone.
However, the sea-born divine-blooded kin clearly had no intention of giving her that chance.
Seeing their attacks repeatedly thwarted, the three Siren sisters, women with human upper bodies and fishtails, could no longer sit still.
They straightened their backs in unison and raised their voices in song.
"Aaaaa——!"
As their intense notes echoed out, the densely packed sea beasts on the water instantly turned restless and violent, once again rallying into a vast beast tide, sweeping toward the coastal fortress of Crete.
Beneath the cold starlight, the Siren sisters, riling up the sea beasts anew, parted their lips to reveal rows of jagged, sharp white teeth, looking more beast than human.
In truth, in nature, the more beautiful and brightly colored a flower, the more poisonous it tends to be.
The same goes for the Siren sisters.
Their favorite pastime was luring passing ships with delicate appearances and enchanting songs—only to drag the sailors and crew into the sea, drown them, and devour them.
So, on the Oceanus Sea, though these fish-tailed sea demons were stunningly beautiful, they were anything but kind, in fact, they were a cruel and terrifying race of highly intelligent divine monsters.
Moreover, beyond their seductive songs, they were adept at manipulating storms and sea currents.
According to Circe, the Sirens were born oceanic magicians.
Now, with the three top-tier demigod Sirens acting in concert, the coastal defense line was about to face a catastrophic assault.
"Laaaaa——!"
The Siren sisters above the sea raised their voices even higher, stirring the powers of the ocean to summon an even more ferocious natural disaster of tides and waves.
Fierce winds howled, and towering waves surged.
Under the combined assault of the three top-tier demigods, even the grand ceremonial spell cast with the full power of the temple flickered like a candle in a storm.
Feathers, which were symbols of light and stability, were ripped off by the howling wind and shredded by the crashing waves.
In just a few breaths, the divine barrier standing before the coastal fortress began to flicker, on the verge of shattering.
One by one, the priests and priestesses, drained of magic and spirit, collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and fainted.
Soon, only Princess Ariadne, as the high priestess, was left struggling to hold on alone.
When it rains, it pours.
When a ship breaks, it meets a headwind.
Even worse calamities followed in quick succession.
"Eat them!"
"Eat them!"
"Eat them!"
With the magical and divine restraints gone, and no more arrows or javelins from the ground, the Siren demons in the sky shrieked with glee.
Carried by the storm winds, they howled down toward the collapsed priests and priestesses.
Compared to ordinary humans, these bodies nourished by aetheric magical essence were undoubtedly more delicious.
At the same time, Lamias and hordes of sea beasts surged in alongside the rising tide, which was now nearly level with the fortress walls.
They streamed unimpeded toward this final line of defense.
They could barely contain their excitement to crack open this hard shell and feast on the tasty filling inside.
"You pack of beasts! I'm not dead yet!"
Facing the ferocious beast tide mixed with numerous godblooded kin and the combined spell of the Siren sisters, King Minos, the only one who could resist it, roared and raised his golden scepter high, unleashing his divine power without reservation.
From the clouds above, he summoned streaks of golden lightning that struck down upon the nearly-collapsing front lines.
In an instant, the fierce lightning tore apart the raging storm, struck down a large number of shrieking Siren demons, and then crashed into the surging waves, charring thousands of sea beasts in the water into blackened corpses.
However, in the face of the brutal deaths of their subordinates, even their own kind, the three Siren demonesses perched atop a giant whale showed not a shred of pain or pity.
Their six enchanting eyes gazed coldly at the old man standing atop the fortress wall, and within their pupils flickered a cruel excitement.
"Hiss!"
Almost at the very moment King Minos focused all his attention on the frontlines, a long, translucent claw, hidden within the veils of rain, pierced through from behind like a bolt of lightning, aiming straight for the old man's back.
The angle of attack was vicious and precise, the timing perfectly calculated, impossible to guard against.
Clearly, she had been lurking nearby, patiently waiting.
Snakes are excellent at hiding and hunting.
They patiently bide their time to strike with a single lethal bite.
And as a pureblood Lamia, a top-tier demigod, she had elevated that instinct into an art form.
Beneath flickering patterns of light, that serpent woman covered in golden scales, with her eyes gouged out from her sockets and replaced by the desire of greed, curled her lips into a twisted smile.
But at that same moment, King Minos, standing at the front, also sensed the malicious wind behind him as a cold, cunning smile tugged at his own lips in return.
"Pft!"
At the same time, a cold flash burst from the crowd.
An ancient bronze longsword thrust diagonally out like a meteor shower, piercing straight through the chest of the Lamia and nailing her firmly to the city wall.
"Hssss~!!"
Agonizing pain tore through her body.
The Lamia shrieked and curled up, her teary face appearing fragile and pitiable, seemingly too much to bear.
Yet the hand gripping the sword hilt showed no hesitation.
With a sudden twist, the still-beating heart inside her chest was pulverized into minced flesh.
"PFT!!"
In that moment, a massive bloody hole burst open in her chest.
The golden-scaled Lamia stopped struggling entirely, and her lifeless body slid weakly to the ground.
As soon as they confirmed the target's life had ended, Lorne and King Minos, still gazing at each other from a distance, let out a breath of relief.
Finally, they had taken down the sixth top-tier demigod.
That's right, ever since the beast tide began landing, the two most perceptive among them had vaguely sensed that the one commanding the horde wasn't five demigods, but six.
And this one had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
But a beast is still just a beast.
Long years of slaughter and frenzied corruption had made them forget that humans are the most cunning, the most cooperative, and the most skilled hunters in the world.
And so, apart from a few subtle attacks, Lorne had remained hidden among the crowd all this time, waiting for this hidden top-tier demigod sea monster to reveal herself.
Then, working with King Minos who acted as bait, they took her out in one strike, severing the enemy's arm first.
And from the outcome, they had succeeded.
Now that the command hub of the beastmasters had been exposed…
King Minos and Lorne exchanged a nod.
The old man gave up his passive defense, raised the golden scepter high above his head, and pointed it toward the still-dense tide of beasts ahead, chanting solemnly:
"Tempered through tribulation, reborn in fire!"
Drawing a deep breath, the old man played his final trump card, shouting with solemn might:
"In the name of the King of Crete, I command you to rise—Bronze Giant, Talos!"
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
As chains snapped with a crisp crack, the earth beneath the entire island of Crete trembled and roared.
Under the shocked gazes of both enemies and allies, a hundred-meter-tall metallic giant, with its flesh forged of stone and its skin clad in bronze, broke through the ground like a descending god, standing imposingly upon the land!
(End of Chapter)