Episode 59/Chapter 8: God of conquest (8)

TL: Tsubak

ED: ET & StellarRain

The lair of the mother of monsters, Echidna, was at the west end of Olympus.

Her lair was hidden and protected by the power of the strongest monster of Olympus, Typhon.

“Typhon was the only one to have ever defeated Zeus.”

Echidna looked at a distant place after she got transferred by Hermes. The place her eyes reached was a huge, red volcano emitting fierce flames and smoke.

Typhon hadn’t died after he got defeated by Zeus, but he was exactly alive either.

It had already been more than a thousand years since he had fallen and been entombed in the ground but his state hadn’t changed since then.

He was in an apparent death state.

But his rage and strength didn’t weaken even after such a long time passed. The fire and smoke the volcano released was proof of that.

“It looks fiercer than usual today. It feels like Typhon is still alive at times like these.”

Echidna hid her bitterness with a playful smile and then turned to look at a close place. She saw Hermes, who was trembling while glancing at the fiery mountain and Hephaestus who was shrinking down while shutting his mouth.

Typhon was a being that wanted to destroy the world and the 12 Gods of Olympus were his natural enemies that resented him. The reaction of the two people wasn’t that weird.

“Hermes, you can return now. No, do it. I don’t know what kind of reaction will occur if two Gods of Olympus approach him.”

“Yes, I will leave first.”

Hermes answered quickly and then turned to look at Tae Ho while forcing out a smile. When Tae Ho nodded back, he didn’t delay any longer and flew away like the wind.

It seemed like he was planning to move the furthest he could as it took quite some time to activate the transference magic circle.

“Indeed, the fastest God of Olympus.”

Echidna snickered and slithered down the ground with her snake body. She lead the group of four that was originally five: Tae Ho, Echidna, Prometheus and Hephaestus.

The only God of Olympus among them was Hephaestus. Typhon could not differentiate whether Prometheus was a Titan that faced against the Gods of Olympus or surrendered to them, as he didn’t have a consciousness anymore.

Echidna moved through the crevices in the ground. When they passed the dark and narrow place, a wide place appeared and their surroundings was as bright as day from the flowing river of lava and the shining rocks that decorated the walls.

And when they reached a certain point, Echidna raised her hand lightly and stopped the group. Her body was wet with sweat from the heat emitted by the volcano.

“You can approach up to this point.. Afterwards, you will need master’s strength to get over here  like I told you before.”

Echidna swept away her hair wet with sweat and looked at Tae Ho. Tae Ho took a hot breath and looked far away with his ‘eyes of the dragon’. When he grasped the distance to the core of the volcano, he realized that they still had a long way to go.

“This is also where I will stop following you. I want to feel Typhon’s strength up close for the first time in a long time…. but the burden on master will become greater if he has to protect three instead of two.”

Echidna smiled bewitchingly while shrugging her shoulders. She pretended like nothing was happening to her but Tae Ho knew her true feelings as he had already conquered her. Echidna’s heart was filled with grief and sadness.

Typhon was a being that wanted to destroy the world, but Echidna was a being that wanted to maintain it. So how was she able to love Typhon? There was a physiological rejection and opposition between the two sides.

“How? I want to say something girly like ‘the power of love is great’ but that shouldn’t be the only thing.”

Echidna spoke in a low voice as if she had read through Tae Ho’s thoughts. She bit her lips slightly and then looked at her surroundings and said.

“There are also several kinds among the ones that want to destroy the world. I think that that is one of the reasons for that.”

This wasn’t the place to have a long conversation. Because of that Echidna stopped speaking and Tae Ho didn’t ask additional questions. He just thought of them in his head.

Loki and his wife Angrboda.

Loki, who couldn’t kill his children.

The Fomoire king Bress who was more obsessed in conquering and ruling rather than the destruction of the world.

Tae Ho released his dark blue divinity. He spread his ‘Hall of Valhalla’ narrowly but strongly in a radius of 3 meters to isolate Typhon’s power.

“Use this when you reach the center. You will be able to suppress Typhon’s enmity by a little.”

Echidna winked and gave him a red jewel the size of a thumb. It was filled with Echidna’s divine power.

Because Typhon loved Echidna just like how she loved him.

Echidna turned around and left as if that was her last business.

“Send Typhon my regards. And take care of yourselves.”

“I will be going.”

Tae Ho saluted Echidna, who was waving her hand playfully, and then headed to the core of Typhon.

After some time passed. Prometheus spoke as if the thought had just surged up.

“It’s a bit different to what I thought.”

His words were pointed to the core of Typhon and Echidna’s relationship. Tae Ho nodded in agreement and kept advancing.

It was an obvious thing but the temperature in their surroundings increased the closer they approached the core. The divine power of Typhon also thickened so it became hard to breathe even though the ‘Hall of Valhalla’ was present. It felt like they had entered a place where gravity was a few times stronger.

Tae Ho shortened the range of the ‘Hall of Valhalla’. He felt that he would be able to counter Typhon’s strength completely if he was determined to do it but they weren’t going to leave soon and needed a considerable amount of time to make the weapon. He couldn’t waste strength in vain.

And more time passed. The core of Typhon was made with a big cave and dozens of streams of flowing magma.

But amazingly there was a boulder about ten meters big in the center of the magma as if it was a floating island with huge flames burning endlessly around it.

Echidna said that the truefire of Typhon was inside that flame. Tae Ho told himself that his actions were crazy in a long while and strengthened the power of ‘Hall of Valhalla’. He not only isolated the surroundings with his dark blue divinity but also covered himself, Prometheus and Hephaestus with his divinity.

‘Throw Gae Bolg far away if you feel like you are going to die. At least I should get out alive.’

Tae Ho ignored Cuchulainn’s joke and stepped forward. The flame of Typhon burned even bigger as if welcoming Tae Ho.

&

Time continued to flow.

The sun set and it became night, dawn passed and morning came.

The polis of Apollo, that Tae Ho picked to fight against Poseidon, was busy with war preparations.

Athena recovered some of her strength and dignity as the Goddess of warfare after taking over Apollo’s sacred force, although she still wasn’t even at peak condition. She looked down at a map with small figures on top that represented foes and allies.

Atalante was still controlling over Artemis’ sacred force in the northeast.

The three Valkyries, including Rasgrid, supported and surveilled Atalante at the same time.

Echidna and her children were saving their energy in Mesena, the polis Athena was currently in.

They were gathering people and forces from their surroundings but their main force was still Echidna’s children.

Siri and Bracky, who had been in charge of the defenses of Mesena, headed to the south east for a moment. It was because they were worried about the forces of Zeus that were blocking the connecting path.

Athena turned to the northwest. Blue figures that represented Poseidon’s forces advancing southward covered the map.

The army’s marching speed was faster than they thought. They had been expecting a week but  at this rate it seemed like Poseidon would reach Mesena in four or five days.

But this was merely an expectation. It was because the underlings of Hermes who had gone out on scouting hadn’t returned yet.

Athena closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. She calmed her anxiety and thoughts.

‘Let’s wait for now. We can’t do anything without information.’

But night came again and no scouts of Hermes returned even after dawn.

&

A day passed after the news from the scouts was cut off.

It had also been a while since evacuees stopped coming from the northwest.

It was obvious that something had gone wrong.

“Can’t do anything about it.”

Hermes left Mesena. He would be able to personally bring notices from the northwest in less than a day if it was him, the fastest God of Olympus.

“Don’t overdo it.”

“I won’t even if you tell me to.”

Hermes winked at Athena’s request and flew up with his winged shoes Talaria.

Athena waited for Hermes.  But when dusk came that day Hermes still hadn’t returned.

&

When the sun rose up Athena made a decision.

She closed the gates and made Echidna and her children get ready for battle. She also called a post station to call back Siri and Bracky hurriedly since they were going to the southeast.

And on the afternoon of that day.

What had happened on the northwest and why Hermes and his scouts hadn’t returned.

Athena learned the reason for that.

&

The flame of Typhon wasn’t red.

Hephaestus and Prometheus hammered Aegis, that had been melted with the blue flames, without stop.

The muscles of the two people swelled up to the point it seemed they might explode. Their entire bodies were wet with sweat but they didn’t have the leisure to dry themselves.

The hammering of Hephaestus and Prometheus was different from normal blacksmiths. Each one of their actions was part of their huge consciousness.

They hammered down with their divine power and engraved magic formulas with each swing.

Aegis, now a lump of silver metal, began to take a new shape.

Tae Ho forgot about time while he was maintaining the ‘Hall of Valhalla’. He constantly added the power of Asgard and Erin to the metal that the blacksmith Gods of Olympus were striking.

And at some point.

Tae Ho realized something. It was possible as he had acquired the countless magical knowledge inherited as the successor of Odin.

The thing being smelted in front of his eyes wasn’t a simple scabbard.

Hephaestus’ claim that he would grant the scabbard the power to kill a God wasn’t a lie but that wasn’t a perfect truth either. The object in front of him didn’t only amount to that.

Cuchulainn realized it immediately. He could understand it as he had encountered countless mystical magics as he was the son of the God of light Lugh and the disciple of the queen of the land of darkness Scathach.

‘This crazy. Such mad men.’

The voice of Cuchulainn only reached Tae Ho, but Hephaestus and Prometheus began to hammer even more fiercely as if they had heard his amazement.

&

The sea was approaching.

And this wasn’t only hail.

A massive wave of water.

A sea that spanned several kilometers and rose to a dozen meters tall..

The thing that appeared to be a isolated part of the sea was charging towards Mesena. The sea monsters and the nymphs that were Poseidon’s dependents weren’t on land but in the cut off sea.

That was the reason Poseidon’s movement speed was much faster than expected.

Echidna cursed out and forced a smile while Athena bit her dry lips.

Hestia covered her mouth with her hands and held a scream.

It wasn’t because a cut off part of the sea was an unnatural scene.

It was because of the existence that was located at the center of the sea in a pillar of water surging up as if hanging on it.

Hermes was crying and screaming with both of his arms pierced by tentacles and there was nothing below his knees.

[Flee!]

Hermes screamed using the voice of Gods with the little divine power he had remaining. Athena gritted her teeth at his yell that was filled only with despair.

Hermes’ words were right. They couldn’t fight against a moving sea as their opponent. In addition, the one that had surged up the sea and was in front of their eyes wasn’t the Poseidon Athena knew.

“Protogenoi.”

Echidna said. There wasn’t even a forced smile on her face anymore.

Pontus.

The primeval God of sea.

His sea was with Poseidon.

&

Poseidon looked at Mesena.

There were many voices ringing in his head

He followed the voice. His strength that was the best among the 12 Olympians excluding Zeus swelled up.

“I won’t let you go.”

It won’t happen like in Athens.

He cut off the legs of Hermes who had tried to escape. He cut off Demeter’s tendons so that she wasn’t able to move at all.

What did he have to do with Athena and Hestia? Why did he have to kill the mother of all monsters that was raising her weapons without fear?

Poseidon looked at a distant place. He didn’t make fun of Athena who was trying to escape without even fighting. She was wise. Not getting drunk on recklessness and foolishness could be said to be real courage.

But that was merely a compliment.

Poseidon looked below his feet. The winged shoes Talaria, that he had taken from Hermes, was being suppressed by Poseidon’s divine power and was suffering as if it was a living being.

Poseidon laughed again. He kicked up and surged up.

“Talaria.”

The moment he spoke with a low tone he wasn’t with the sea anymore. His feet reached the walls of Mesena.

“It’s been a while.”

He wasn’t talking to Athena. He was talking to his sister who had retired long ago.

“Poseidon.”

Hestia said. She called the name of her older yet younger brother and then vomited blood. She stared at the shaft of the trident Triana, that had pierced her chest with teary eyes.

“Poseidon!”

Athena yelled and pulled out her sword. The walls of the fortress shook from her power.

But Poseidon didn’t fear her. He swung his trident and threw Hestia towards Athena. He looked at Athena that had retrieved her sword reflexively and grabbed Hestia and clicked his tongue.

Poseidon clenched his fist. At that moment, a vast amount of water surged up below his feet. It was the right of Pontus, the sea itself.

A huge wave of water covered the walls in an instant. Athena grabbed Hestia but was swept away by the water. It was no different for the soldiers who were on top of the walls.

[Not yet.]

Poseidon spoke with the voices of the Gods. Athena still hadn’t recovered her strength. She wasn’t the strongest being in this castle.

Poseidon entrusted Athena to the current of water that had covered the walls. As a living sea it would plentily be able to restrain the likes of Athena.

Athena wouldn’t be able to escape alone now that Hestia was vomiting blood in front of her. It would have been different if she hadn’t seen that but she couldn’t ignore Hestia who was dying right in front of her eyes. Athena wasn’t that ruthless.

Now that Athena was incapacitated, Poseidon turned to look at the next strongest being. She was a really familiar face.

And his opponent also knew him well.

“Echidna.”

“Poseidon.”

Echidna’s voice was shaking. She was putting on a fierce expression but that was merely a mask to hide her fear.

Poseidon held his trident and crossed the air with the power of Talaria.