Ominous Omen - (2)
"Lord Hades! Please help us! A monster that is part snake and part human...!"
This is... the prayer of a follower.
Moreover, it is the earnest prayer of one who has officially become a priest.
As I followed the plea and focused briefly on the follower's vision, something appeared.
A faint image passed by, a monster with a snake's lower body and a human's upper body... the Gigas!
Have I finally caught their trail?
"Lady Styx, it seems a Gigas has appeared in the mortal realm. I must descend into a human body for a moment..."
"...! I will inform Olympus right away!"
The goddess Styx quickly set down the nectar she was drinking and moved with agility.
I too swiftly left the banquet hall.
"What...!"
"A Gigas?!"
It is too far to run from the Underworld to Thebes.
My follower possesses enough faith to accept me...
Descending into that human body to grasp the situation is the fastest way.
"Hehe... It wouldn't even be noticed if we devoured one human..."
"Hold on, we need to use them as offerings for the descent."
At the foot of a mountain not far from Thebes, in a dark cave.
Muscular monsters with a snake's lower body and a human's upper body licked their lips as they looked at the humans dragged into the cave.
About a dozen monsters, each the size of several adult men combined.
As Hades suspected, they were the Titans, adversaries of the gods.
"Ugh... Mom..."
"The god Apollo will help us from the heavens..."
"Lady Artemis, please respond to us."
Dozens of people trembled in one corner of the cave.
These were ordinary civilians who had been kidnapped by the Gigas near Thebes.
Among them was a female priest of the Hades temple, Phenedaiya.
She had thought no one would dare touch a priest of the Underworld and had stepped outside Thebes with a sense of security,
"There was a reason why people often went missing near Thebes..."
Little did she expect that monsters far beyond human capabilities would take her.
"Hahaha! Do you think the gods of Olympus can look into this cave?!"
"If you wait quietly, I will grant you a painless death!"
The Gigas mocked the despairing people who were shedding tears.
The gods did not respond to their earnest prayers.
Because not all wishes reach the gods.
Prayers not offered in a god's temple, or those without many offerings,
Prayers from nymphs, demigods, or formal priests do not easily reach the ears of the gods.
"Is the reason we were kidnapped for that ritual taking place over there?"
While all the other monsters had male faces,
The monster in the center of the cave was different.
A beautiful female monster standing on a blood-formed magic circle, chanting spells.
"This amount of offerings should be enough to summon her..."
"Lord Encelados, we are ready now."
"Really? Push the humans in!"
One of the half-human, half-snake monsters called over another monster wielding a massive club.
He was likely the one commanding these monsters.
"Come here first."
"Ahhh!"
A rough hand grabbed the woman's hair and threw her.
The female monster reached out, grasped the heart, and pulled it out, spilling it on the ground.
"Ugh... Aah!"
"No! I don't want to die!"
Thud.
"Don't scream so loudly."
Even if they tried to escape, it was useless.
Even if they tried to resist, it was futile.
All the humans dragged here could not escape,
They would merely be offered as sacrifices for that grotesque ritual.
The next chosen male sacrifice shouted.
"Do you think the gods will remain silent? I will watch your end from the Underworld!"
"How scary. Hahaha! I would prefer if the goddess Athena came!"
As the leader monster with the club laughed, the cave echoed with their laughter.
The inhuman beings who did not even fear the gods made the humans tremble in greater terror.
"Heh. Once I defeat all the gods of Olympus, Athena will become my wife."
"Of course, Lord Encelados can do that. But first, we must summon her..."
"Shut up, are you ordering me while believing in your defeated husband?"
As the female monster urged the ritual, the head monster rebuked her.
Hades' priest, Phenedaiya, closed her eyes and offered the most earnest prayer she had ever made.
"Lord Hades! Please help us! A monster that is part snake and part human...!"
"Hey, bring that woman in black over here."
"Yes!"
Next is her turn.
The Gigas, following orders, roughly grabbed the priest's long hair.
Phenedaiya, biting her lips until they bled, clasped her hands and murmured.
"Please... I earnestly pray. These terrible monsters..."
The endless prayer continued,
And in that moment that felt like an eternity,
"Do not worry anymore, I have arrived."
Salvation had come to the mortal.
The woman, whose hair was being held, suddenly raised her head and faced the Gigas before her.
Instead of the eyes a human should have, deep darkness swirled in her gaze.
"Huh? This creature's eyes... Gahhh!"
A shadow surged from beneath, piercing through the Gigas' wrist and neck in succession.
For a monster that could stand against the gods, it was an incredibly anticlimactic death.
"Power? No matter how much of an Olympian god you are, while possessing a human body...!"
"You've come here without divine artifacts or weapons!"
Then, with a slight wave of her hand, she, no, he drew a black line connecting the Gigas that were rushing toward her.
The pitch-black divine power tore through the space, ripping apart the bodies of the monsters, which were harder than steel.
Crash! Boom!
Now what remains is...
Encelados, blocking the female monster with a massive club.
And behind him, the female monster frowned.
"Who are you, one of the twelve gods of Olympus?"
"I am Pluto, the god of wealth... no, Hades. You must have heard my name at least?"
"... The three gods!"
The embodiment does not respond to the avatar but only to the true call of Hades.
The black sword of Styx is at the waist of the true body in the Underworld.
The divine artifact created by the Cyclopes, the Quin, is stored in the treasure vault of the Underworld.
The body of the praying human is an ordinary female priest, neither a hero nor a demigod.
However, the identity of the god that has descended here is the lord of the Underworld, Hades.
"Damn you filthy bastards..."
The careless Gigas could not stand against him.
I successfully descended at a critical moment.
If I had been even a moment later, my priest's head would have been crushed by the Gigas' touch.
"Pluto... Lord Hades!"
"Master of the Underworld..."
"The wealthiest one, the lord of souls has come to save us in the mortal realm..."
The surrounding humans murmured.
However, rather than fear, they felt relief at the name Hades.
After all, they were about to be offered as sacrifices for that horrific ritual...
Kneeling and clasping their hands, the humans wept as they glanced at me before turning their gaze back to the Gigas wielding the club.
The one who met my gaze flinched for a moment before commanding the female monster behind him.
"Heh. You are no problem at all. If only that one would come!"
But by the time I descended here, I had grasped the entire situation.
I knew what that ritual was.
"The strange formation on the ground resembles the traps you set on Naxos Island."
"...!"
"The thick divine power of the earth, the feeling of wishing to descend somewhere, it is similar to the magic shown by the goddess Hecate during the Titanomachy..."
I waved my hand, sending the humans away.
From now on, this cave and mountain might collapse entirely.
"Hurry and proceed with the ritual!"
"I have no intention of stopping, so take your time preparing. I must see with my own eyes who is siding with you."
The two monsters were extremely wary of me, but I had no intention of stopping the ritual at all.
The strange formation on the ground, created by pouring countless humans and the divine power of the earth, was for the descent of a god.
I must confirm here who is siding with the Gigas.
When the ritual of descent succeeds, the energy released will alert the gods.
It will not be long before the gods' attack will overturn this mountain.
There is no way Gaia would not know this.
Yet, the reason someone is trying to descend is...
"A declaration of war from Lady Gaia. A provocation and warning regarding the failure of the traps set on Naxos Island."
"What nonsense are you spouting, you!"
"By the way, who are you behind? All Gigas are male. You are not a Gigas."
The female monster, struck at her core, trembled.
She was a monster with a snake's lower body, similar to a Gigas, but she did not feel like a Gigas at all.
She must be another monster that merely looks similar.
"I am Echidna, wife of Typhon! I will kill all you hateful gods!"
The wife of Typhon, so that was it.
The motive is explained.
The strange ritual on the ground must have been informed by Lady Gaia.
"Come to me! Great Titan who exists everywhere and never disappears!"
Thud!
Echidna raised a dagger high and stabbed it into her chest.
She collapsed, but the powerful divine power spread from the wound, shaking the cave.
Kuooh—
Her body stiffened.
Time gradually slowed.
Soon, Echidna, who had stabbed herself in the chest and fallen to the ground, stood up and looked at me.
This was a method of using poison to counter poison that would not sit well with Gaia either...
It seems the earth goddess truly wanted to drive us away.
"It has been a long time. My eldest son, Hades. Did you miss your father?"
To bring the consciousness of Cronos, trapped in Tartarus, to the mortal realm.