Chapter 12
Morpheus said that when he went up to the surface to distribute dreams to the living beings, he saw an ibis on the ground.
As he found it strange to see an ibis collapsed and covered in blood, it suddenly transformed into the god Hermes.
"Morpheus... I must see Lord Hades right away..."
"What is this...?! God Hermes?"
So Morpheus urgently brought him to the underworld, and now he's being treated...
"Something urgent must have happened in Olympus!"
Hermes is the messenger of the gods and the one who delivers Zeus's commands.
He's one of the Twelve Olympians, born to Zeus and Maia, daughter of Atlas.
As is typical of messengers, Hermes is incredibly fast.
If we're being precise, Iris, who uses rainbows to traverse space, is faster when traveling long distances like between the underworld and Olympus.
But it's safe to say that almost no god can catch Hermes when he's running at full speed.
For a god boasting such speed to be collapsed at the entrance of the underworld, covered in blood?
Moreover, the Twelve Olympians have such high divine status that few would dare to touch them.
I entered the room where Hermes was said to be lying, trying to calm my confused mind.
"Lord Hades..."
"...What a state you're in, Hermes."
The young god who always brought life to Olympus with his cheerful smile and witty actions was in a miserable condition.
His handsome, mischievous face was covered in blood, and not a single part of his limbs was unharmed.
Despite attendants diligently changing his bandages and lesser gods infusing divine power to boost his strength, blood continued to flow.
Tears welled up in Hermes' eye as he glanced at me with the one eye not covered by bandages.
"A monster... there was a monster..."
"Tell me in detail, does Zeus know about this?"
An ordinary human, or even a nymph dwelling in nature or a lesser god, wouldn't be able to utter a single word with such severe injuries.
It was only because he was one of the Twelve Olympians granted the golden throne that he could speak.
"...A normal feast in Olympus... a monster calling itself Typhon... struck down Zeus with one blow..."
Piecing together his stuttering words, it went like this:
During a usual feast of the Olympian gods, a giant hand struck down on the banquet hall...
Zeus suffered a severe injury from the sudden attack and threw his lightning bolt, but the monster merely flinched.
The monster, introducing itself as Typhon, had a form similar to the Gigantes with a human upper body and a snake lower body,
and it was a terrifying sight with heat rivaling Hephaestus's fire flowing from its eyes and storms raging all over its body.
Other gods were either instantly defeated or fled, and Zeus remained until the last, resisting by wielding Schythe, but in the end...
"He had to use Schythe?"
"Yes... Father's Astrape and Poseidon's Trident couldn't inflict any wounds at all..."
Schythe.
It's the adamantine sickle that father Kronos used to cut off Uranus's genitals.
For Zeus to have to use that weapon made directly by Mother Earth Gaia, the monster's skin must be incredibly hard.
But Typhon... Typhon, it feels oddly familiar.
I certainly knew this name. Somewhere in the fading memories of my past life...
"Father... Zeus was caught in the monster's grasp... He told me to go to the underworld and request help..."
"Continue speaking."
"The monster laughed and my legs... sob... Please help Olympus, Uncle!"
Hermes, boasting the fastest speed in Olympus, tried to flee quickly from that place but got caught in the monster's storm engulfing Olympus.
Typhon, who let the other gods escape except Zeus, mocked Hermes and struck his legs.
With that single attack, the messenger god's legs were horribly twisted.
And to escape from the monster's sight as much as possible, he transformed into a small ibis and escaped...
Hermes lost consciousness after saying those words.
It was natural, as he had been forcibly holding onto consciousness to convey the situation in Olympus to me.
"Hades... Are you going to help Olympus?"
Goddess Styx looks at me with a deeply worried face.
Unlike when the Gigantes invaded the underworld, this time it's fighting in Olympus.
Poseidon in the sea and I in the underworld are truly invincible.
Then, how about Zeus in the heavens?
"A monster that defeated Olympus alone, this time it's really dangerous..."
The answer is the absolute 'god' itself that rules the world.
In the heavens, even if all the Twelve Olympians except me gathered, they couldn't match Zeus.
Yet the king of gods and chief god of Olympus was defeated in his own domain of the heavens, even while wielding Schythe, the most powerful weapon.
If one doesn't realize the strength of this monster called Typhon after hearing this, they must be the god of dullness.
"If we can just rescue Zeus, we'll have some chance of winning."
"But still..."
"Even if it's dangerous, I can at least extract myself, so please don't worry too much."
Since Zeus is an immortal god, that monster must have subdued Zeus and imprisoned him somewhere.
Then my task is clear.
To rescue Zeus and fight that monster called Typhon.
Even though the powerful Astrape only caused pain without inflicting any wounds, I should at least be able to distract it until Zeus can cut its neck with Schythe.
"But... taking the underworld's army with you might..."
"It would be meaningless sacrifice."
If Hermes was caught in the storm surrounding Typhon's body, pushing with numbers won't work.
Even if I brought the underworld's army, Typhon probably wouldn't even give them a glance.
I forcibly turned my gaze away from Goddess Styx with small tears in her eyes and left the place.
***
I returned to the underworld fortress.
More precisely, I returned to the audience chamber where my throne is and sat down.
Why do these troublesome events keep happening?
Busy work always awaits me, and just when the underworld seems a bit less hectic, problems arise elsewhere.
I sighed and reached out to the side of the throne.
My fingers caught on an ordinary-looking worn helmet.
Kynee.
Until now, no living beings have been able to see through me wearing Kynee, but will it work on that monster too?
I have no choice but to trust in this helmet made directly by Arges, one of the Cyclops brothers.
I gripped Kynee tightly and put on my weapons and armor.
The Styx sword at my waist, and black armor forged from the underworld's rivers enveloping my entire body.
As I finished arming myself to some extent, Thanatos entered the audience chamber, his black wings fluttering.
He opens his mouth in a solemn tone.
"Hades, I heard Olympus has fallen into crisis."
"Thanatos."
"This monster called Typhon has immortality. My power doesn't work on it, just like us gods."
Did Thanatos see Typhon?
He sends out avatars to roam the world of the living day and night, so it's possible he saw Typhon.
"I only observed that enormous body from afar. When I tried to use my power to extract its soul, it turned its head towards me. Fortunately, it was focused on something else, so it didn't pursue me..."
If it has immortality like us, Typhon is likely of divine lineage.
Perhaps of Titan blood... or sent by Gaia, given its form similar to the Gigantes.
Did she send it to finish us off after we repelled the Gigantes' first offensive?
"Tsk. You're full of thoughts of going right away. Be careful."
I passed by Thanatos and left the fortress.
For the first time in a long while, I crossed the rivers of the underworld in full armor and set foot in the world of the living.
Thud.
Instead of the gloomy air of the underworld, the clear, clean atmosphere of the surface greets me.
I liked the feel of the earth full of Demeter's blessings, but I'm not here to sightsee.
It's nighttime in the world now.
With my divine, transcendent vision, I can see Selene, the goddess of the moon, riding her silver chariot across the sky.
One black horse and one white horse were busily pulling the moon.
But they don't usually fly that high, and the horses aren't even trembling as if afraid of something on the ground.
Is it indeed Typhon's influence? I put on Kynee and headed towards Mount Olympus.
***
The lofty Mount Olympus... was half-destroyed.
The divine palace in the clouds atop the mountain had also turned into ruins full of debris, as if trampled by someone enormous.
I couldn't sense the presence of any gods, but I saw one monster resembling a Gigas.
What was emanating from the body of the monster, large enough to cover Mount Olympus, was a fierce gale.
Whoosh...
The monster, with shoulders touching the sky and head brushing the stars, bursts with rage.
Every time it became angry, the snakes on its hair spewed lightning and venom wildly.
Boom! Rumble...
When it struck Mount Olympus with its fist, a decent-sized peak crumbled completely.
"Raaah! Moirai! How dare you deceive me?!"
The Moirai are the three goddesses of fate, but why them?
"Lord Typhon! What exactly did they do?"
"Delphyne! Those old hags Moirai on that small mountain deceived me!"
A monster with a dragon's lower body and a human's upper body spoke to Typhon.
Probably one of Typhon's monster subordinates.
"The fruit they gave me, saying it would grant me powerful strength, is weakening me!"
"Those ones...?"
The three goddesses of fate from Mount Nysa helped us.
But if this is its weakened state, there's still no chance of winning in a direct fight, so I should find Zeus first.
"Grr... It doesn't matter! The only one dangerous to me was Zeus, who's already trapped in a cave!"
Judging by how it's blurting out information thinking no one is around, it's clear this monster was born not long ago.
Experienced gods or Titans who've been through war would never do such a thing...
My suspicion grew stronger that this was a monster recently created by grandmother Gaia.
Does it not know about my Kynee?
Or did it think I wouldn't help Olympus?
As I was about to search for the cave where Zeus was said to be trapped, I saw a strange animal.
A creature I'd never seen before, with a goat's upper body and a fish's lower body, was trembling in fear and hiding in the bushes.
I passed by this creature, undoubtedly one of the gods transformed, with a sigh.