Boom!
Amid a thunderous detonation, intertwined black-and-gold light patterns erupted outward, blooming into a dazzling haze. The earth shook violently as the soil rippled like disturbed water, waves of radiating fissures tearing across the ground. Wherever they spread, walls collapsed, houses crumbled, and trees snapped apart.
Hiss!
After clashing head-on with the hundred-armed giant using sheer brute force, Samael's feet carved two deep furrows into the ground. He slid seven or eight meters before finally grinding to a halt.
What terrifying strength!
The Ancient Serpent steadied the churning blood in his chest and cast a cold look at the hundred-armed giant still standing tall. A twisted, mocking smile crept across his face.
Crack!
With a crisp echo, the pair of arms that had just crossed and slammed down their weapons twisted grotesquely. Bones shattered, flesh burst apart, and the two arms collapsed limply, like overcooked noodles.
I got pushed back, it lost two arms. Not a bad trade.
Just a shame… this thing has more arms than a damn centipede has legs.
Roar!
Overwhelmed by agony, dozens of heads on the hundred-armed giant threw themselves back and howled in unison. Its remaining arms flailed wildly as it ripped off the ruined limbs and shoved them into its mouths, chewing them down without hesitation.
"Rebels, give it up. You have no chance," Hades said coldly, having stabilized his injuries behind the army of Old Gods. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and leaned on his sword as he spoke. "Surrender obediently and follow me to Olympus to atone. This king may consider pleading on your behalf."
Yet when his pitch-black gaze swept over the three fallen Underworld Judges and the Moon Goddess Hecate, a trace of disappointment surfaced on his face.
At the same time, rippling waves of dark light spread outward from the sword in Hades' hand.
The ground beneath everyone's feet melted into transparent glass, forming a vast chasm plunging straight into darkness. Beneath the radiant Elysian Fields, the true abyss of the depths was laid bare.
Samael looked down and involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air. His expression stiffened as he turned back toward Hades and spoke with difficulty.
"So this is where your confidence comes from… why you can neglect the Underworld, and why Zeus can sit back and let Olympus tear itself apart…"
Before them stretched broad corridors built from pitch-black volcanic rock, crisscrossing in orderly ranks, numbering well over a thousand.
Along the stone walls, at fixed intervals, dark caverns had been carved out, like enlarged shrines. Their entrances were sealed by luminous screens woven from divine script.
Inside each chamber stood a motionless figure, some ferocious, some majestic, some grim, some solemn, frozen like statues. On every forehead, a lightning-shaped mark lay dormant and dim.
Among them were defeated Titans, gods and monsters of countless forms, fallen Old Gods long thought vanished, and hideous demonic beasts…
A rough count put their number at no less than ten thousand.
It was obvious now. The New–Old God War, the battle against Typhon, and the Old Gods who disappeared with the decline of the Age of Gods had all been brought under control by Zeus' divine seals.
The Elysian Fields and the Tartarus prison were, in truth, massive armories. They were where Zeus corroded human Heroic Spirits, Typhon's monsters, and Titan Old Gods alike, completing their transformation into enslaved forces.
As the Ancient Serpent imagined the war god's domain and the sea god's palace joining forces to forcibly imprison that so-called wise God King, the thought of these hidden troops bursting out of Tartarus through the Elysian Fields sent a chill straight down his spine.
No wonder that rebellion in history ended without a trace. If this card hadn't been uncovered in advance, even the combined might of the war god and the sea god would never have gained the upper hand.
Now it was clear. Of the three hundred-armed giants bound by Zeus' pact, two answered to Hades, guarding the critically important Tartarus prison and the Elysian Fields. As for the hundred-armed giant Briareos at Poseidon's side, that was no coincidence. It was almost certainly a pawn Zeus deliberately planted, a safeguard against a certain "beloved brother" turning traitor.
If not for this outsider's interference, detonating that hidden landmine early and exposing the secrets of Paradise Island, Poseidon could have rebelled eight hundred times and still never succeeded once.
With that realization settling in, Samael fixed Hades with an icy gaze and spoke, laying bare Zeus' true ally in a single sentence.
"Whether it's the gods of Olympus, the priests of the human kingdoms, or the sea gods led by Poseidon, Zeus has never truly trusted any of them. The only ones he has ever truly trusted are you, Lord of the Underworld, and those puppets corroded by the divine seals!"
"Zeus led us to victory in the war between the old and new gods, triumphed over Typhon, brought order to the world, and restored glory to Olympus. He is the most suitable leader Greece could have."
The Lord of the Underworld replied evenly, recounting his brother's achievements with a solemn tone, as if everything he said were self-evident.
"Heh. Don't forget, you share the same blood. The curse of Kronos will come due sooner or later.
Once these old gods are dealt with, the only ones left who can threaten him will be you and Poseidon. Lord Hades, there's a saying in Greece: when the donkey finishes grinding the mill, and the hounds have no prey left to chase, they lose their value. Do you really think you'll be spared?"
With his hands clasped behind his back, Samael paced forward, his mocking tone deliberately driving a wedge between Hades and Zeus. It was his specialty, striking at the heart, attempting to turn the Lord of the Underworld against his ally.
At the same time, hidden behind his back, the Ancient Serpent's fingers curled and flicked, sending out a subtle signal.
A tiny black lizard, barely three inches long and easy to overlook, lay perched on young Medea's shoulder. Catching the gesture traced faintly in the air, its vertical pupils narrowed and widened. It spread its wings and silently slipped toward the glowing wall at the rear.
Facing the taunts of the rebellious god, Hades remained unmoved, his expression instead filled with disdain.
"The war between old and new gods may be over, and the battle with Typhon concluded, but a new calamity is already approaching.
You short-sighted fools, hiding in the shadows plotting power grabs, obsessed with internal strife. You'll spend your entire existence cowering in underground holes, never glimpsing the depth and vastness of the starry sky.
Only thunder that shatters the heavens can command the stars.
Hmph. One day, you'll understand that Zeus was right."
A faint tremor passed through Samael's mind. He wanted to press further, to seize upon that sudden hint of insight, but Hades had already lost patience with these rebellious gods. With a sweep of his sword, he issued his command, and hundreds of ancient gods and demonic beasts surged forward to encircle them.
At the same time, the awakened Heroic Spirits, influenced by the patterns of the Underworld King's blade, felt the divine seals on their foreheads gradually reactivate, their hostility toward Samael and the others laid bare.
Mandate of Heaven: Suppression!
Samael stamped the ground hard. Golden ripples from the Tablet of Destinies spread outward, binding the silver-white divine seals on the human Heroic Spirits with layers of radiant gold.
However, the Greek human race had been indirectly created by him. The Mandate of Heaven's collective Word Spirit was devastatingly effective against humans, but against ancient gods and monsters that had been deeply corroded for centuries, nearly stripped of their sense of self, it achieved little.
"What are you waiting for? Move!"
The Ancient Serpent spoke sharply, gripping his spear as he charged forward.
Artemis drew her bow and fired as she advanced, drawing away the hundred-armed giant that had already lost two arms.
Hecate clenched her teeth and stopped hesitating. She drove the Underworld Moon staff into the earth, and three ascending Magecraft arrays shot straight into the sky.
From within them emerged the God of Death, the ferryman of the underworld river, and the God of Sleep. They gave their former master an awkward smile before lowering their heads and joining the melee, assisting Heracles and the other human Heroic Spirits in holding back the tide of ancient gods and monsters.
The Goddess of the Dark Moon swung her staff casually. Thousands upon thousands of overlapping magic circles bloomed into existence, unleashing a relentless bombardment upon the second hundred-armed giant.
At the same time, on the left flank, Heracles cast aside his bronze shield. Striking it with his nameless axe-sword, he roared at the hesitant heroes.
"Once, we were driven by divine will and fought for glory. Now, we fight for our freedom as humans, for the right to live our lives to the fullest!"
On the right, Sisyphus echoed him with fiery passion.
"In life, we were heroes who scorned authority and feared nothing. After death, are we suddenly not?
People of Greece, reclaim your pride and show the gods the masterpiece called humanity!"
Realizing that their divine seals were suppressed, the proud champions of humanity gathered with feral grins, forming ranks on their own to withstand the dividing assaults of gods and monsters.
They had never been meek, gullible believers. Anyone who wanted to treat them like dogs would first have to count how many hands they themselves had.
Hades' face darkened to the color of ash.
But as black shadows surged forward, the Lord of the Underworld had no time left to rage at his subordinates' betrayal or the defiance of these prisoners.
That monster was already charging in.
...
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