Chapter 368: If You Want Your Life to Go Smoothly, You Need a Little Green on Your Head

Thessaly, the Great Temple.

“Ah-choo!”

Within the altar, the phantom image of the King of the Olympian Gods suddenly felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine and let out a particularly heavy sneeze.

‘Damn it. Who’s slandering me behind my back again?’

Zeus gave a cold snort before looking down indifferently at Heracles, who was kneeling in the great hall and waiting for his response.

He waved his hand dismissively.

“That will do. I already know about the Old Gods. You may withdraw for now.”

“What about tomorrow’s Divine Authority Council at War God Mountain?”

“If they want to hold a council, they can come to Olympus themselves. Do you seriously expect me, the King of Gods, to lower myself enough to go there?”

Zeus gave another disdainful snort, the displeasure on his face growing more pronounced.

Hearing this, Heracles hurriedly tried to persuade him.

“Father, the Old Gods are on the verge of launching a massive invasion! According to the oracle you gave us before, only the gods and humanity working together can overcome this catastrophe. Thessaly needs you, and the mortals on Earth need you as well. For the sake of those who serve and worship you day and night, please put aside your grievances with the other gods for the time being and go to War God Mountain. We need to discuss how we are going to fight the Old Gods together!”

“You’re teaching me how to do my job?”

The icy retort cut Heracles off.

One after another, pale silver bolts of thunder began to rumble and weave through the Great Temple, their terrifying presence filling the entire hall.

“No, no, I’m not…”

Heracles bit his lip and shook his head, struggling to explain himself.

“I simply believe that humanity is your people, Father, and that the Old Gods are the enemy we should all be fighting together…”

Seeing his son finally back down, Zeus’s gloomy expression softened somewhat and a faint, mocking hum escaped his lips.

“The gods have their affairs, and humanity has theirs. According to the Covenant of Fate, the gods are not permitted to casually interfere in the conflicts of the mortal world. Since those Old Gods are causing trouble among humanity, then humanity should deal with them itself.”

“And if humanity cannot stop them?” Heracles still sounded unwilling to accept this.

“Then I will deal with them when they finally reach Olympus.”

Zeus coldly cut off his son’s question.

His gaze swept over the golden Saint Cloth covering Heracles, and a trace of displeasure and darkness flashed through his eyes.

“Do what you are supposed to do. These matters are still not yours to interfere with.”

“But if Thessaly has no protection from a Main God…”

“What? Are you planning to defy my oracle?”

Zeus’s voice became colder.

“Do not forget who gave you everything you have. And do not forget how your teacher and your mother raised you.”

“I understand, Father…”

Under that scrutinizing gaze, Heracles slowly nodded.

His originally straight and proud back seemed to hunch in an instant.

Seeing his son lower his head obediently once again, Zeus’s brow relaxed as his phantom image gradually faded and disappeared into the altar.

Heracles rose from before the altar and clenched his fists tightly, but after a moment, he could only let them fall limply to his sides.

~~

The following morning, Lorne walked out of his residence feeling refreshed and made his way to the entrance of the Great Temple on War God Mountain.

“Smack!”

The moment he stepped through the door, a wax tablet flew off a table and nearly smashed straight into his face.

Lorne hurriedly tilted his head to avoid it and then, pretending nothing had happened, asked, “What’s with the temper this early in the morning?”

“Who else could it be? Zeus!”

Athena gritted her teeth and tossed aside the iron stylus she had just snapped in half, her expression dark.

“He refuses to attend the Divine Authority Council on War God Mountain, and he’s privately forbidding everyone else from coming as well! At a time like this, he’s still busy plotting against everyone else!”

Hearing Athena’s complaint, Lorne quietly pulled back the foot he had already begun withdrawing toward the doorway.

So she isn’t angry about that little incident between me and Hera.

Good.

With that concern out of his mind, he walked inside and asked,

“So, which of the Twelve Main Gods can’t make it?”

Athena rubbed her temples and answered irritably,

“Ares flat-out refused. Poseidon hasn’t responded. As for Hermes, that slippery bastard gave such an ambiguous answer that I can’t tell whether he’s coming or not…”

Lorne poured Athena a cup of fruit wine and smiled as he tried to reassure her. “That’s not too bad. At least eight of the Twelve Main Gods are still on our side.”

Athena accepted the cup and took a large drink before thoughtfully turning her golden eyes toward her younger brother. “You don’t seem surprised at all.”

“Ares and Hermes weren’t on our side during the last Olympian God War either. Although our relationship with them has improved since then, it’s perfectly normal for them to still have their doubts about us. If they’re following Zeus’s orders, that’s understandable.”

Lorne took a leisurely sip from his own cup before continuing.

“As for Old guy’s divine character… well, everyone knows what he’s like. He only wants to take advantage of others and never wants to suffer any losses himself. Until he’s backed into a corner, expecting anything from him is about as useful as expecting a lamb chop to solve the problem for us…”

Athena continued staring at him, her golden eyes; deep and unreadable.

“What about Zeus? How do you know he won’t come to the Divine Authority Council?”

“Atlas and Prometheus were punished by divine decree, and that punishment was personally established by His Majesty the God King.”

Lorne gently swirled the wine in his cup, his tone becoming meaningful.

“Do you really think the Giants could rescue those two Titans without alerting him?”

“Use one enemy to deal with another… I see.”

Athena suddenly understood and a cold smile appeared on her face.

“He only has one or two holy sites in the mortal world, and even when it comes to competing for faith, he can’t beat Hermes. Rather than follow the path we’ve designed for him, he’d be better off flipping the table entirely.”

“By using the Old Gods to weaken the various Main God factions and the major city-states, he can sit back and let us destroy each other. Then, once everything has been sufficiently weakened, he’ll emerge to clean up the mess and force all of us to kneel before him again.”

“After all, as long as Fate remains on his side, he will win eventually.”

“And besides…”

Lorne narrowed his eyes as he thought back over everything that had happened since he left Arcadia and arrived in Thessaly.

“Don’t you think everything has been developing far too quickly? And the timing has been almost suspiciously perfect.”

“How long has it actually been?”

“First, Arcadia was hit by a beast tide and the Demon Ancestor Typhon reappeared. Then Thessaly was attacked by the Giants, while the ancient Titan Gods began awakening. After that, when they encountered resistance in Thessaly, they went out into the open sea and rescued two heavyweight Titans, Prometheus and Atlas.”

“And finally, they even invaded the Holy Garden and seriously wounded Hera…”

Lorne’s eyes narrowed further.

“So many incidents have happened one after another. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s an invisible hand manipulating everything from behind the scenes.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help recalling the mysterious, nameless girl with long black-and-purple hair whom he had encountered inside the underground Titan temple.

After hearing his reminder, Athena’s brows knitted together slightly.

“Now that you put it that way, I also feel that something is wrong. Could it really be connected to him?”

“We don’t have any direct evidence, but there’s no harm in being cautious.”

Lorne shrugged as a dark glint appeared in his eyes.

“Looks like our dear God King isn’t particularly interested in following the rules of these three hundred years.”

“He doesn’t want to follow them? Well, neither do I!”

Athena gave a cold laugh, showing absolutely no reverence toward the God King.

“Once we’ve dealt with those old fossils crawling out from underground, we’ll start making preparations ahead of time as well.”

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Just as the two were discussing their plans for the future, the disaster bells in the Acropolis of Athens suddenly began ringing frantically.

It’s here!

Lorne and Athena exchanged a glance before rushing out of the great hall at the same time.

At that very moment, beyond the coast of Athens—

Waves almost level with War God Mountain came rolling toward the city.

The entire Acropolis of Athens was about to be swallowed beneath the approaching tsunami.

An overwhelming expanse of deep blue filled the horizon, while the salty, bitter moisture carried by the seawater made it difficult even to breathe.

Just as billions of tons of seawater were about to come crashing down upon the city, the clear ringing of metal ornaments suddenly echoed through the sacred temple of War God Mountain.

For an instant, it was as though heaven and earth themselves had fallen silent.

In the next moment, Medusa, dressed in a white gauze skirt and holding a golden staff, stepped off the temple stairs.

In a single stride, she crossed several kilometers and appeared above the surface of the distant sea.

Her pale fingers moved the staff according to a strange and intricate rhythm.

At once, blue-and-white starlight descended from the heavens, forming a magnificent curtain of light that blocked the enormous waves from advancing any further.

After absorbing the divine nature of the ancient sea god Pontus,

Medusa had also gained a certain degree of mastery over the authority of the ocean.

But the force of the raging sea was astonishing.

The enormous waves slammed repeatedly against the golden staff, causing it to ring without end, while the starlit barrier flickered violently under the impact.

And before the first tsunami wave had even completely dissipated, another enormous wave was already surging forward behind it.

Medusa frowned deeply.

She was just about to summon her two sisters to help when the dozens-of-meters-tall statue of the Goddess of Wisdom standing atop War God Mountain suddenly moved.

Carved entirely from pure white marble, the statue seemed almost alive as it turned its body and hurled the weapon in its hand forward.

In an instant, the long spear held in the palm of the Athena statue shot through the sky like a meteor, dragging behind it a long flaming tail produced by the violent friction against the atmosphere, plunging directly into the second wave.

BOOM!

The marble spear exploded within the wall of water.

Its fragments shot outward in every direction, slicing the enormous wave into thousands upon thousands of pieces. The chaotic kinetic forces within those fragments collided, canceled one another out, and gradually dissipated.

By the time the remaining force reached the shore, most of the terrifying momentum had already collapsed on its own.

It had been nothing more than a casual strike.

Something seemingly simple had achieved an almost miraculous result.

The contrast between the marble spear and the enormous tsunami—in terms of both size and sheer power—was almost like watching an ant lift a mountain.

And the key factor that had caused the enormous wave to destroy itself through its own conflicting forces was none other than the application of wisdom.

At the Academy of Athens, magicians, scholars, and warriors who had looked up to witness this astonishing scene were all visibly moved.

Those particularly talented individuals who gained some form of enlightenment from what they had witnessed secretly offered their thanks to the Goddess of Wisdom for the inspiration.

Don’t be frightened by a difficult problem.

Calm yourself, find the right point of entry, and even the most troublesome problem may have a solution.

Wisdom possesses limitless potential.

It can redraw the boundaries of order within a chaotic world.

At this moment, Medusa hovered in the air.

Seeing that the crisis had once again been eliminated, the fingers gripping her staff relaxed slightly.

She looked up at the silver-white streak of light racing toward them from Olympus, her eyes filled with unconcealed admiration.

Lady Athena’s control over her power has become even stronger.

‘I have to work harder and catch up!’

Boom!

The silver-white meteor descended from the sky and crashed into the center of the walls surrounding the Acropolis of Athens.

Riding the divine horse Pegasus, the Goddess of War raised the Staff of Victory in one hand and the Aegis in the other as she galloped along the city wall.

Her entire body radiated dazzling light, and her majestic appearance immediately sent the people of Athens into a frenzy of excitement.

“Athena! Athena! Athena!”

Once upon a time, their goddess had defeated Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, twice.

She had given Athens its name and brought prosperity and peace to this land.

And now—

Their goddess was still here.

Still standing alongside Athens.

Still standing alongside her people!

After raising the morale of the entire city to an almost feverish level,

Athena decisively took control of the entire city-state.

She calmly and systematically organized the evacuation of the people living outside the city and activated the coastal magical defensive barrier.

To minimize casualties and preserve as much manpower as possible, the Goddess of Wisdom did not hesitate to deploy most of the remaining forces stationed on War God Mountain.

Their mission was to contact the scattered towns under Athens’ jurisdiction and coordinate their defenses.

One hero after another, clad in Bronze, Silver, or Gold Saint Cloths of various designs, mounted Pegasus horses of different colors that had now multiplied into entire bloodlines of their own.

Like shooting stars, they streaked across the sky, carrying their respective missions as they raced toward every corner of the territory.

But War God Mountain was not the only force being mobilized.

The potential of the Academy of Athens was also being pushed to its absolute limit.

Every teacher and student was urgently called into service.

The scholars and magicians were assigned tasks ranging from engraving defensive formations and calculating the areas that would be affected by the tsunami to determining how the city should respond to the next wave of impact.

The people of Athens were fired with enthusiasm.

They faithfully carried out every divine decree issued by War God Mountain, working feverishly to reinforce the city walls, modify defensive lines, or simply bring their own swords, shields, and armor and join the city guard.

Satisfaction and pride could be seen on everyone’s faces.

Under the coordinated efforts of all these “gears” and “screws,” the entire city began to resemble a machine whose clockwork had been wound to its limit.

And it displayed an astonishing vitality.

(End of Chapter)