Chapter 5
As I hurried towards Mount Olympus, I saw countless Gigantes swarming the divine palace above the clouds. As I tried to find an opening to join Zeus, a brilliant light and thunderous roar erupted, sending some of the ant-like Gigantes flying.
Boom! Crash!
"Graaah!"
"Is this the lightning Mother spoke of?"
This attack that just blasted away dozens of Gigantes was Zeus's lightning bolt, Astrape. And that massive furnace-like shape pouring out intense heat from above must be Hestia's power... The grass and trees growing rapidly to bind the Gigantes, like a technique from a certain ninja manga I saw in my past life, is Demeter's power.
"Hahaha! Quite the struggle you're putting up!"
"Come on, give us more!"
Although our individual strength is overwhelming, the battle situation seemed evenly matched. The sheer number of enemies and the fact that they're all divine beings is part of the reason, but there's something else.
A 'flow' that affects the Gigantes as a collective, rather than individual Gigas entities. This seems to be why the gods, despite their overwhelming power, couldn't easily settle the battle.
I conveyed my thoughts to Zeus, the blonde-haired god frowning as he prepared another lightning bolt from above the clouds.
[Zeus, can you hear me?]
[Brother Hades, what about the Underworld? Why have you come here?]
[I've already dealt with all the Gigantes that came to the Underworld. I'll take the west side of Olympus, so don't throw Astrape in this direction]
[Thanks, be careful of their incredible regeneration and recovery. Olympus is grateful for your help.]
Zeus... When did you start speaking informally to your big brother?
Right, you rule the sky, don't you?
Putting aside thoughts of my impudent youngest brother, I quickly swept through the battlefield. Focusing on slowing the Gigantes' recovery with the power of death and breaking their formation, their ranks soon crumbled.
"There's something there! Urgh!"
"An assassin we can't sense, the Underworld god Hades that Mother spoke of!"
"Does this mean all our brothers who went to the Underworld have fallen?!"
As Gigantes were attacked and injured by an invisible force, they finally noticed me.
To lower their morale, I deliberately removed my helmet and gave a cold smile. They reacted like overzealous fans meeting a celebrity.
"Hades! We'll kill you!"
"You rat bastard!"
To respond to the Gigantes' warm welcome towards my handsome self, I raised one hand in acknowledgment before donning Kunee again. As soon as I concealed myself and leapt away, a burning oak tree crashed into where I had been standing.
"He disappeared again!"
"Come out, you! Raaah!"
These divine beings are impatient, simple-minded, and only strong in regeneration and power, but the reason we haven't won yet is likely due to fate. In Greek mythology, if something strange happens, it's usually because of fate. I should talk to Zeus about this after the battle.
Unlike when I fought them in the Underworld, they didn't die easily here. I considered using my authority to sweep them away en masse, but this isn't the Underworld, so it wouldn't have the expected effect.
"Urgh!"
In the end, I had to cut them down one by one with my sword. Leaving the blood-splattered Gigas behind, I set my sights on the next target. I circled behind and pierced straight through its chest.
I swung my sword frantically for a while. The Gigantes swung burning oak trees or hurled massive boulders, but not fast enough that I couldn't dodge. Slicing snake legs, stabbing arms holding boulders, evading Gigantes trying to gauge my position and attack...
Just as it was starting to get boring, another unexpected event shook the stagnant battlefield.
"What...? The ground is shaking!"
"Is Mother Gaia angry?"
Rumble... Crack.
A small fissure at the edge of the battlefield gradually grew larger. The Gigantes, caught up in the heat of battle, only then sensed something was amiss.
From a slight tremor to rocks moving on their own. From grass swaying to massive oak trees being uprooted. The ground began to shake more violently, now seeming to go berserk, overturning everything above it.
"Hahaha! I have arrived, Zeus!"
"Poseidon! Just in time!"
This level of earthquake must be Poseidon's Trident. The god of the sea had come to help Olympus after repelling the Gigantes that had invaded his domain.
Poseidon's hearty laughter echoed across Mount Olympus as he forcefully planted his Trident in the ground, and the Gigantes began to panic.
"Aaaagh!"
"We're sinking into the ground! Let's retreat for now!"
"Damn you, Zeus. We'll be back!"
The numerous Gigantes who had shown remarkable regeneration and combat endurance on land found it difficult to fight in the massive earthquake and temporarily withdrew.
After the intense battle with the Gigantes ended, I approached Zeus, who was catching his breath and wiping sweat from his brow. What on earth did Mother Gaia create to drive us out, and did he know anything more about this situation?
Poseidon and I posed questions to Zeus.
"There was actually a prophecy, big brother."
"A prophecy... from the three goddesses of fate?"
The three goddesses of fate, the Moirai, daughters of Nyx, the goddess of night. Clotho, who governs the past, Lachesis, who governs the present, and Atropos, who creates the future.
The fate determined by these three goddesses, who appear as old women, is absolute, and no god can defy them. Clotho spins the thread of fate, Lachesis measures and weaves the length of life, and when Atropos cuts the thread, life ends.
"The prophecy said that we gods cannot win the war without the help of great human heroes."
"Humans...? Was there such a race?"
"If there's no human race, we can create one. We should have Prometheus, who surrendered to us, create humans in our image."
"No wonder the ones that came to the sea seemed so confident... it could have been the influence of the prophecy."
"And those Gigantes are divine beings born when Grandmother conceived them from the blood that spilled when Uranus had his genitals cut off by Cronus."
"They may not be immortal, but they wield divine power. We should be cautious."
"Hmph... They still can't match us Olympian gods."
We all agreed to discuss detailed countermeasures in the Olympian palace. Suggestions ranged from asking the three goddesses of fate to slightly twist the prophecy to visiting Grandmother Gaia to persuade her.
"Let's first bring about these humans and then think about it."
"We could also consider creating other life forms besides humans..."
"The number of gods is far too few. We'll only lose at this rate."
"We don't know when they'll invade next, but they'll surely come in numbers incomparable to now."
I wonder if this is around the time Zeus, who still seems rational, turns into a crazed rapist? With the prophecy about human heroes and the need to replenish our forces due to the shortage of gods during the war... please, at least refrain from incestuous rape.
As the meeting dragged on and I was about to leave for the Underworld after exchanging some words with the other gods, someone stopped me.
"Hades, come this way for a moment."
Following the small hand tugging at my collar, I turned to see a petite goddess.
It was Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home, with her well-suited short brown hair. She watched me while stirring the logs in the hearth with a poker.
What could she want? She had been sitting in a corner during the gods' meeting without offering much opinion. I looked around cautiously before carefully sitting beside her.
"Would it be possible to make a hearth in the Underworld too?"
The Underworld and a hearth, truly an ill-fitting combination. Personal preferences aside, this would be encroaching on another god's domain.
The Hestia I've observed is certainly not a thoughtless or rude goddess. Placing her symbol of home protection in the Underworld, what could she be thinking?
As I looked at Hestia with puzzlement, she spoke shyly.
"Well... we talked about creating life forms other than us gods, right?"
That's right, we need human heroes to win the war. And we'll likely create many other life forms for humans' survival.
"Zeus dislikes having his authority challenged, so the newly created life forms probably won't be immortal, right?"
Of course. Zeus is acting as our leader, calling himself the king of gods who rules the sky. I'm not particularly interested in power, but Poseidon seemed quite dissatisfied.
The new life forms will likely be created as mortals without immortality, unable to threaten Zeus's authority. It was that way in the original mythology, so it probably won't be much different here.
"Then your subjects will increase from now on, and I want to comfort the poor souls who come to the Underworld, even if just a little, so they won't tremble in fear."
We don't experience death. Greek gods may not be perfect absolute beings, but at least we're eternally immortal.
But she's a benevolent goddess. She's closer to reward than punishment, to sympathy than indifference. Hestia, who showed compassion for the trees swept away by Poseidon's earthquake, seems to have given thought to the concept of death for living beings.
"Could we do something, even if just at the entrance? They may lose all memories at the River Lethe, but fear of the Underworld might still be etched in their souls."
Seeing my hesitation, the benevolent goddess clasped her hands in plea. Well, I suppose it wouldn't matter if it's just at the entrance to the Underworld, outside the fortress.
As I slowly nodded, her face flushed and she smiled brightly.
"Thank you for granting my request. Next time, I'll visit the Underworld myself to create a hearth."
The Underworld might not be as gloomy as I thought from now on.