(Greek Mythology) The Abyss
Chapter Thirty-Six
Tartarus realized he'd been too naive to think that Hemera and Aether were on their honeymoon and undisturbed. He now missed the days when he could sleep for tens of thousands of years without a care in the world.
It wasn't that Tartarus particularly enjoyed sleeping; rather, when awake, he genuinely didn't know what he could do. While watching dramas was somewhat interesting, good shows didn't come every day.
According to Hemera, Tartarus was a typical overpowered character, possessing abilities so extreme they were considered abhorrent. Even in his less-than-ideal past life, he was a prodigy—highly intelligent, handsome, talented, and from a noble family—let alone in this life as the God of the Abyss.
His lofty position allowed him to look down on everything as a matter of course, which also shaped his indifferent personality. When everything was readily available, what was there to care about? So, when he had nothing to do and possessed eternal life, Tartarus's life became quite unpleasant.
From now on, he'd argue with anyone who told him immortality was good. What was so great about this utterly boring life? (He didn't know how lucky he was.)
Standing before the cabinet for a while, Tartarus took out two crystal bottles containing colorless liquid and two arrows, one gold and one lead. For a time, Tartarus had been very interested in Eros's power and had asked Eros for a few arrows for research. He thought the remaining ones might be useful later, so he kept them, and now they came in handy.
The golden arrow melted instantly upon contact with the liquid in the crystal bottle, turning the originally colorless liquid a brilliant gold. Slender fingers gently swirled the bottle around its neck, and after a long while, the liquid returned to its original colorless state, with only a faint golden hue visible under light.
After treating the lead arrow in the same way, Tartarus handed both bottles to Denise.
Denise, overwhelmed by documents and utterly unlucky, felt she needed to pity herself first.
#WorkloadIncreasedAgain,SoHappier#
#MyBossNeverThinksOfMeUnlessHeIsOther#
#DruggingTheGodIsTooDifficult,YourMajestyIReallyCan'tDoIt#
Holding the bottle with a heavy heart, Denise was almost in tears. Your Majesty, you've given her an insurmountable challenge, and what's worse, she had to complete it. Couldn't you give her a way out?
If Iapetus knew all this, he would surely protest his innocence. In truth, his actions were purely impulsive; he hadn't known he'd wake Tartarus. Although Iapetus was once considered a madman, he wouldn't unnecessarily offend the god of the abyss, especially since he was planning a collaboration with the underworld. Doing something like this at this time was beyond his comprehension; he wasn't like Cronus, lacking both intelligence and emotional intelligence.
But Tartarus was never one to tolerate mischief, so he didn't care whether Iapetus acted intentionally or unintentionally. If he was unhappy, no one else would be.
There are many ways to torment someone, but Tartarus needed Iapetus to cause trouble for the gods and the sea, so many methods were unusable. Therefore, he decided to try a different approach, such as adding further obstacles to Iapetus's already troublesome love life.
It wasn't that Denise lacked ability, so she kept Iapetus; it was that her imagination was lacking. It's simply that there's a difference between normal thinking and that of a psychopath. Compared to Denise's conventional and unoriginal approach, Iapetus's was clearly more in line with Tartarus's wishes.
Don't misunderstand, Tartarus isn't a psychopath, although he does have some psychopathic tendencies, but he really isn't.
Tartarus had a terrible childhood, an extreme and biased personality, and all the necessary conditions for developing a psychopath, but in his previous life, he lived in a world where most people were normal. At least on the surface, he appeared normal. Besides, Tartarus was very busy back then—busy scheming against his illegitimate sister, busy plotting, busy learning various skills, and busy dealing with the messes caused by his incompetent mother. He simply didn't have time to contemplate life.
So-called "illness" is actually all born of idleness. Whether it's manipulating people's hearts, taking revenge on society, or destroying the world, when you're busy to a certain extent, you'll only think about how to rest, not these messy things, let alone put them into practice.
Therefore, Tartarus only had this tendency, not that he was truly insane. And when he finally succeeded in seizing power, ousting his father and taking control of the family, he had the leisure to return here.
The phrase "without joy, sorrow, desire, or ambition" describes Tartarus's state just after waking from chaos. Although he improved somewhat later, Tartarus still showed almost no strong emotional fluctuations, naturally not twisted into something like Iapetus.
Dealing with someone insane really doesn't involve effective psychological attacks. Simply put, their thought processes are different. They always have their own unique, inexplicable logic that confuses everyone except themselves. Therefore, generally speaking, the best approach is to simply and humanely annihilate them.
But Tartarus wasn't that foolish as to kill a high-ranking deity for being woken from his sleep.
Moreover, Iapetus wasn't just any high-ranking deity; he was the god of death, one of the twelve Titan chief gods.
Tartarus wasn't too concerned about the backlash. The difference in power between him and Iapetus was obvious; the backlash would only hurt him a little. Tartarus had always had exceptional pain tolerance; his days in chaos had honed his resistance to pain, and this little bit of pain would pass quickly.
What annoyed Tartarus was the laws' long, monotone lectures directed at him. (Please consider the "length" according to the standards of a deity.)
#Unexpectedly, the Law is quite the chatterbox#
Tartarus only learned a few days ago, when the Law took the initiative to speak with him, that his beloved father god had indeed slipped away to another world. It just goes to show how carefree the world of Greek mythology is. Normally, the King of Gods and a whole host of other gods are busy managing affairs and handling problems. Even if something goes wrong, the five primordial gods are there to cover for them. Therefore, Chaos, the creator god, is truly idle. So idle that he merely stayed here until the early days of the world's creation, demonstrating that he had fulfilled his responsibilities, and then he could wander in other worlds for years without returning.
With Chaos no longer drawing attention, Tartarus, the abyss god second only to the Chaos God, became the Law's primary focus. Tartarus swore on his almost photographic memory that the Law had spoken to him more in the past few years than it had in billions of years before.
Tartarus could only say that he needed to have a talk with Chaos about life. He wondered why, even though he hadn't appeared in so long, he kept making his presence felt and causing Chaos trouble.
Chapter 36