Chapter 67
Near Mount Etna, a group of beautiful nymphs and goddesses were playing ball.
Among them was a goddess born between Demeter, the goddess of the earth, and Zeus, the king of gods.
"Kyahaha! Throw it here!"
"Lady Kore, catching it with flowers is cheating!"
"What's wrong with that? You should use your abilities too!"
A goddess who appeared to be in her early 20s with shining golden hair and beautiful features.
The one reminiscent of a flower opened her mouth.
"Sigh... Mother seems to think I'm too weak."
"The goddess of the earth?"
Her formal name is Persephone.
She's affectionately called Kore.
"Yes! Even if I go out to play a little, she says be careful of monsters, be careful of Gigas... Phew!"
"It seems Demeter really loves Kore."
The goddess of spring and seeds was playing with numerous nymphs when...
She suddenly tilted her head and showed a puzzled expression.
"Hm? Don't you all hear something?"
"Is it the sound of birds chirping?"
"I can hear the sound of cool streams flowing in the forest..."
While other nymphs and lesser gods didn't notice,
she, the child of Zeus and Demeter, could sense it.
An intense vibration seemingly coming from underground...
Boom! Crash-
Suddenly, monsters with snake lower bodies and human upper bodies appeared from underground a short distance away.
They were Gigas, the arch-enemies of the gods.
"Kyaaah! Suddenly monsters!"
"Gi... Gigas?!"
"Oh my... Zeus!"
The nymphs were startled by the appearance of large, hideous monsters.
But it was too early to be startled,
as the Gigas emerging from the ground were not just one or two.
Pop. Rumble...
The nymphs tried to run away in any direction but soon had to stop.
Because Gigas had already spread all around, looking at them.
"Kuhahaha! Are these creations of the gods? They look quite delicious."
"That blonde one seems to be a goddess, let's capture and take her!"
"Don't forget our purpose is our brother buried under the mountain!"
"Then brothers! Let's kill all witnesses and dig up Mount Etna!"
The nymphs froze in fear at the ominous conversation of these monsters combined of snake and human.
Who could stand against these powerful monsters, each equal to a lesser god or human hero...
"Hah!"
Whoosh-
"Cough! Cough! Is this poison?!"
"What is this. Cough.. A divine power? Let's take down that goddess first..."
"Ugh...! Plants are binding us..."
Only a god might be able to do this, right?
As yellow powder spread from Persephone's hand, her eyes sharply raised, the Gigas couldn't hold back their coughs.
Then flowers and plants rapidly grew from the ground, binding them.
"...Lady Kore!"
"Zeus! Please help us!"
This is the power of the goddess of spring.
Her power over spring and seeds is not suitable for combat,
but as the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Persephone's divine status is quite high.
"Cough... There was also a goddess who handles poison and plants?"
"Ha, but she's just one!"
"It's not poison, it's pollen! You monsters!"
However, the Gigas gathered here were not to be taken lightly either.
Even though Persephone's divine status is next to the 12 Olympian gods,
there were hundreds of Gigas that appeared here...
"Peloreos! Let's overturn Mount Etna before Olympus notices quickly."
"Thoas, you worry too much."
"Kuh! Olympus? If they come, I'll kill them all!"
"We should be careful as Zeus might be watching, Pallas."
Four commanding Gigas comparable to or slightly below the 12 Olympian gods.
Persephone definitely cannot be safe.
***
Boom!
While many Gigas were digging up Mount Etna, the rest surrounded Persephone and the nymphs.
The monsters approached with sneers, seemingly planning to toy with them slowly.
"Kuhehe. I want to hear your screams."
"Wh-What should we do... Kyaaah!"
"Please save us! Lady Demeter! Aaah!"
The surrounding nymphs were gradually eaten or torn apart by the Gigas.
No matter how much Persephone resisted, she was alone, and the monsters were overwhelmingly numerous.
"I'll take care of that goddess."
"Pallas. Are you having fun by yourself?"
"Uwahaha! If you have complaints, come at me too."
"Haa... Tch.."
Persephone gritted her teeth, forcibly drawing out her depleted divine power.
Even if she grew plants to interfere, scattered pollen, or struck with divine power,
That Gigas called Pallas was too strong.
Certainly comparable to the 12 Olympian gods.
There were three other Gigas commanding units besides that monster.
Even if her mother, Demeter, came directly... she couldn't defeat all these monsters.
Swish-
The Gigas in front of her slowly approached, stretching out its hand towards her.
Its snake lower body moved creepily, pressuring the goddess.
"Have you given up already? Goddess?"
"My father is Zeus, and my mother is Goddess Demeter! You'll all die miserably! I, Persephone, assure you!"
"Huh? What, a curse?"
Even a curse that could destroy a city with a single word was useless.
The daughter of Zeus and Demeter felt powerless for the first time in her life.
The monster that had suddenly come right up to her face, grabbing and lifting her by the neck.
"Eek..."
But she couldn't resist at all.
She had exhausted all her divine power and was so fatigued that ichor flowing from her wounds filled the ground.
Thump thump thump-
She, who was born with the golden bloodline everyone envied and lived a life without regrets,
to be defeated by such a hideous monster.
"You seem to be a young god, resent your fate."
Whoosh-
Just as Persephone tightly closed her eyes to endure the pain that was about to come, she felt a strange sensation on her side,
and a thick man's palm gently pulled her.
'Huh?'
Pop-
When Persephone slowly opened her eyes,
what she saw was a Gigas with its head terribly exploded and dead, and...
"Are you alright?"
A male god with black hair and black eyes who had put her on the chariot he was riding.
***
She could quickly tell who the god was that saved her from this critical moment.
An overwhelmingly powerful aura that far surpassed her mother, Demeter, one of the 12 Olympian gods and goddess of the earth.
Perhaps... a black-haired male god with power comparable even to Zeus, the king of gods,
as far as she knew, there was only one such being.
'The lord of the underworld, Hades...'
As the surrounding monsters all rushed in at their comrade's death,
a two-pronged spear that appeared from thin air in the male god's hand was shot.
Boom!!!
A black beam emitting a chilling aura crossed space,
and the Gigas caught in the destructive black current disappeared as if evaporating.
Crack... Whoosh-
As that terrifying trace of destruction was engraved on the earth,
and split the clouds in the sky in half, the Gigas were shocked.
"Huh... Huh!"
"Kyaaah! What kind of god is this!"
"This power...! Is it one of the 12 Olympian gods? Ares? Hephaestus?"
"Nonsense! Such a guy..."
Hades charged forward on his chariot with Persephone behind him.
The Gigas, each at least equal to a lower divine status, died in vain.
The moment he swung his spear was not even visible, and the snake monsters' attacks couldn't inflict any damage.
Neigh! Snort!!!
The ghost horses driving the chariot charged and trampled the lower bodies of the Gigas,
followed by a black spear strike containing chilling killing intent, and without fail, the monster's corpse was strewn about.
Crash! Pop-
"Ugh!"
"Eurytos! Let's attack together!"
"You create an opening, Thoas!"
The Gigas tried to hold him back to create a chance to extract Typhon's body somehow.
All three commanding units that Persephone had seen earlier rushed in and surrounded the chariot flowing with black currents.
Just as the goddess of spring was about to say it was dangerous, thinking it was a crisis,
the cold smile on Hades' lips deepened.
Swish-
The two-pronged spear, Bident, was stuck into the earth.
A huge crack spread, temporarily connecting the mortal world and the underworld.
The atmosphere became heavy, and black energy erupted from the ground.
What came out of the endless crack were soldiers of the underworld.
Ghost soldiers with semi-transparent bodies came out endlessly, holding spears and swords.
"Damn it! It's Hades, the god of the underworld!"
"Uwaah! Die!"
"Even if he's one of the Big Three, he's alone!"
"Those already dead are coming to the mortal world!"
Crack! Boom!
The Gigas resisted by uprooting nearby trees and swinging their fists, but...
the underworld soldiers kept increasing in number, too many to count.
The underworld forces that have been growing continuously since humans were first created.
The army of semi-transparent dead emitting the aura of death successfully blocked the Gigas trying to extract Typhon.
"Peloreos! If we take down Hades, we win! Get your head straight!"
"For Mother Gaia!"
A diagonal spear strike extended towards the sky and blew away the upper body of another Gigas.
There's no monster that can regenerate even when half of its body is blown away by the underworld's divine power.
"Take- this!!!!"
Thoas swung down a tree club on Hades' head as he was retrieving his spear on the chariot.
As if putting all his strength into this attack, its power could have destroyed a mountain.
Crash!
However, the lord of the underworld lightly blocked it with one hand, drawing a black longsword from his waist,
and a thunderous sound erupted from the collision of mighty powers, devastating the surroundings.
Boom. Crash!!!
Even in this chaos, Persephone's body behind Hades was unharmed without a single scratch.
And she realized that the lord of the underworld had not allowed a single effective hit.
'He's toying with monsters each equal to an Olympian god...'
The 12 Olympian gods include Zeus and Poseidon, but they are grouped with Hades as the Big Three.
And the rumor that even if all 12 gods of the golden throne attacked together, they couldn't defeat one of the Big Three.
So that story we laughed and talked about with the nymphs was true.
As if just noticing Hades' cold smile that had been there since the battle started,
one of the Gigas commanding units that was catching its breath rushed in excitedly.
"Damn it! Don't look down on us, Hades!"
"Wait...! Eurytos!! Don't rush in excitedly..."
Slash- Pop!
"Kyaaah!"
But as the pitch-black longsword flashed, both arms of the charging Gigas were cut off.
Eurytos, who had rushed in proudly, rolled on the ground, spurting blood.
"Ugh... Ugh..."
"He's stronger than we thought...!"
Persephone had heard many rumors about Hades, the lord of the underworld.
That he must look hideous and terrible because he rules the underworld... mostly ominous rumors.
She was a young goddess who hadn't even been to Olympian feasts, so even more so.
Even though there were talks about him being a merciful god among humans, she thought it was just talk because they hadn't seen him directly.
It wasn't rare for humans to sublimate their fear into faith...
But now Persephone could see that all of that was wrong.
The gentleness of softly embracing her waist and saving her from danger.
Strength comparable to her father Zeus, careful consideration protecting her throughout the battle.
Lastly, she had imagined a hideous appearance, but...
His cold and handsome face, unlike what you'd expect from the lord of the underworld.
A small whisper flowed from Persephone's lips as if enchanted.
"He's cool..."