Chapter 168: Facing the Minotaur (4.2k)
On the hillside, King Admetus of Thessaly looked at the terrifying figures emerging from the underground caves, his face turning pale.
The Gigantes!
They are the bloodline of the Titans and are also called Giants.
Legend has it that when the second generation king of gods Kronos castrated Uranus, the father of heaven, under the order of Gaia, the mother of the earth, a large amount of divine blood spurted out from the wound under Uranus' crotch. The latter was absorbed by Gaia, and thus gave birth to a large number of Titans, which were the predecessors of the Guigantes clan.
Later, the Titanic War broke out, and Mount Olympus and Mount Othrys fought a bloody battle in Thessaly and won the final victory.
But those Titans who were dissatisfied with this did not choose to submit to the rule of the god-king Zeus, but instead integrated into the Guigantes clan and continued their cause of fighting against Olympus.
However, facing the powerful Olympian gods, the Guigantes were defeated time and time again and suffered continuous losses.
The most recent attack can be traced back to the rebellion of the Titan Atlas more than ten years ago.
Even though the Gigantes, led by the Titan Atlas, stormed into Olympus to challenge, they were ultimately defeated by the goddess of wisdom Athena. Even the Titan who was their leader has now become a prisoner of one corner of the sky.
Since that devastating blow, the severely damaged Guigantes clan gradually disappeared.
But unexpectedly, only a dozen years later, these remnants of the old era could no longer bear the loneliness and crawled out from the rat holes in the underground.
Moreover, the landing place they chose was Thessaly, which they controlled.
The King of Thessaly, surrounded by heavy shadows, craned his neck to look at the giants as tall as mountains around him, moved his throat with difficulty, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and secretly regretted not listening to the warning of the temple priests.
——In recent days, strange noises have been heard from underground in Thessaly, and the insects, fish, birds and animals in the mountains have also shown signs of unrest.
The temple priests who sensed the vision urged him to make a great sacrifice to the great god Zeus in order to obtain revelations from the gods.
However, at that time he was in love with his new wife and did not take the matter to heart.
As a result, one wrong step laid the seeds for disaster.
Realizing the critical situation, the King of Thessaly immediately drew the bronze sword from his waist and shouted at the guards behind him.
"Hurry back and report the news. Have the people in the city block the main gates and impose martial law!"
As the towering figures strode towards him, Admetus tore off his loose robe, took a round shield handed to him by the guards beside him, and stepped forward with a roar.
"Form a formation and meet the enemy!"
Obviously, he was trying to piece together a makeshift defense with himself as the core.
In the world of gods, humans are ultimately too small and fragile.
Even the God's Blood Guards from the City Builder Family were just slightly stronger ants facing these Gigantes giants.
Right now, the only one who could hinder them is probably himself, the demigod who is the city builder.
Whether it is the responsibility as a king or the awareness as a strong man.
He all needed to step forward at this moment to buy enough time for the people of Thessaly to react.
While preparing, Admetus did not forget to push the handsome shepherd beside him behind him and signaled his guards to mount him on the warhorse.
Although he was the monarch of this land, his life was not very comfortable because it was a poor and barren land that had been ravaged by the Titan War.
But since Thessaly followed the revelation of the great god Zeus and the prophecy of the temple priests and took in the two foreign slaves, everything began to improve.
Not only did the fishing and animal husbandry industries develop greatly thanks to the hard work of the two foreign slaves.
Even he himself, because of his kindness to the shepherd behind him, met with good luck and married a beautiful wife.
——The king of the neighboring country Iolcus, Pelias, only agreed to marry his daughter to a man who could ride in a chariot pulled by lions and bears. The shepherd behind him used his unique talent for manipulating animals to meet the marriage requirements and marry the princess of the neighboring country.
Now, he and his wife live in harmony and happiness.
In order to express his gratitude to the shepherd, Admetus not only reduced his hard labor, but also put aside his status as a ruler and often came to the shepherd's grazing place to listen to his performance as a listener.
After a few interactions, although Admetus vaguely knew that the shepherd had an unusual identity, he tactfully did not delve into it. The shepherd was also very satisfied with this way of getting along, and the two of them formed a deep friendship.
Whether out of friendship or gratitude, he wanted the shepherd to live.
However, the shepherd stood firmly where he was and refused to mount his horse, thus wasting all his efforts.
Admetus raised his round shield, gritted his teeth to block a gray-brown arm, swung his sword to cut off two fingers as thick as tree trunks, and couldn't help turning his head and shouting.
"You idiot, if you don't leave now it will be too late!"
"Need not……"
The shepherd was pushed and shoved by the two God-Blood Guards, and he murmured and looked forward. His handsome face was gloomy and there was an inexplicable sense of humiliation in his eyes.
"We don't have to run away."
“BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!”
At the same time, the earth trembled, and the ether in the air gathered and surged wildly. A mighty and majestic golden bull shadow rushed out of the mountain road at lightning speed, ramming and trampling on the Titans on the path, and blocked the pasture where Apollo and the King of Thessaly were like a mountain.
A group of Titans and monsters who had just crawled out of the underground were blown high into the air by the sudden huge force before they could react. They fell heavily to the ground, with bright red blood splattered everywhere and the crisp sound of broken bones could be heard continuously.
The three giants, who were confident in their arm strength and bravery, waved their fists in defiance and stepped forward shoulder to shoulder, trying to tear the rampaging bull into pieces.
But as soon as it made contact, the originally powerful [Bull] suddenly became ethereal and turned into a nimble and swift [Goat], leaping high above their heads. Then, two thighs wrapped in golden divinity, stirring up a fierce wind, fell down like a long whip made of steel.
With a dull bang, the heads of the three Titan giants blocking the road exploded, and a smelly liquid mixed with red, black and white gushed out from the broken necks, pouring down like raindrops onto the surrounding dense forests and the ground.
"Damn it! It's the bastards from Olympus, attack them all!"
The giant leader with a lion's head in the front of the team saw his companions fall one after another under that figure. He immediately waved his hands and roared, ordering his men to deal with the threat from both sides first.
Upon hearing the order, the Titan monster with eagle wings and human body, the rock giant with burning body, and the primitive monster with seven or eight giant snake heads, roared and rushed out of the team, taking out their respective killer weapons.
All at once, bronze feathers shooting like sharp arrows, gushing red and black flames, and dark green poisonous juice that hit him on the head, all attacked one after another.
Seeing that there was no escape, Loen stomped his foot hard, and the wheel behind him started to spin. The streams in the surrounding rivers, the moisture in the air, and even the water veins underground were all pulled together around him by the divine power, and turned into a huge aqua-blue narwhal.
Then, the giant whale swung its head and tail, opened its mouth and drank, sucking the feathers, flames and venom into its body.
Then, at the moment of being on the verge of its limit, the giant whale, which had been dyed into a black and green monster, roared and crashed into the enemy formation in front of it, exploding with a loud bang.
The eagle-winged monsters, rock giants and primitive demon beasts were caught off guard and were drenched all over. They immediately made a squeaking sound of corrosion and large amounts of pungent smoke rose from their bodies.
Screams of pain followed.
"It's my turn!"
At the same time, the figure on the mountain path had rushed into the formation at the speed of a "goat", and then switched to a golden "bull" phantom behind him. The arm wrapped in golden divinity swung down like a huge battering ram.
The rock giant, which was the first to be hit, was instantly shattered into pieces and turned into charred stones rolling all over the ground. The original living fire was also annihilated in the violent divine impact.
The eagle-winged monster following closely behind also had no time to react before a hand grabbed its thigh.
Then, this Titan monster, which was more than ten meters tall, was swung left and right by a violent force like a broken sack, and continued to smash heavily onto the ground, leaving one terrifying deep pit after another.
Large pieces of feathers and flesh flew everywhere, making the scene look bloody and cruel.
“Hiss~~!”
Upon seeing its two companions meet such a tragic end, the last primitive monster immediately let out a terrified roar, raised several snake heads that had been corroded to the bones, and frantically spewed venom mixed with its own divine blood.
As soon as the thick green juice came into contact with the air, it instantly spread into a large area of poisonous fog, sweeping forward.
Suddenly, the surroundings were filled with darkness. Once the plants and animals in the area came into contact with the toxins, they immediately withered and died. Even the stones were smoking.
Loen just took a breath from a distance, and his head felt a little dizzy and his vision became blurred.
It has to be said that in the Greek Age of Gods, [poison] is a kind of divinity that is quite difficult to evaluate, with both the upper and lower limits being very high.
Even powerful heroes like Hercules and sage Chiron fell under the corrosion of the divinity of [poison].
As the poisonous fog spread, Loen turned his head back, looking past the cattle and sheep that were foaming at the mouth and falling to the ground, and looked at the figures who were staggering and falling like drunks, his brows twisted into a knot.
Although the poison on the opposite side may not be as terrifying as that of the nine-headed Hydra, and is far from enough to knock him down, ordinary demigods and mortals may not be able to withstand it.
In just a few seconds, all the ordinary people affected were lying down.
At this time, seeing that the Blood Guards of the Gods and the Demigod King Admetus beside him were both in a coma, their faces were blue and purple, and a trickle of black blood was flowing out of their mouths, Apollo finally couldn't bear it anymore. He hugged his good friend, bit his lips with his steel teeth, turned his head to the figure that appeared in front of him, and roared in humiliation.
"Help me!"
“Zheng~!”
At this moment, a clear sound of a lyre came from outside the green poisonous fog, followed by the sound of flutes, divine words, and chants.
"Poem of sound, chapter of music, I will make you see the light again!"
Along with elegant chords and chants, the rich ether, under the call of divine law, transformed into notes and crashed into the poisonous fog, bringing out a sizzling sound, burning away the fetid gray-green fog, like light breaking through the clouds.
For a moment, the Guigantes, who had lived underground for a long time, covered their eyes and wailed in pain.
The lion-headed leader in the team was obviously a connoisseur. When he saw nine intellectual goddesses holding musical instruments, scrolls and wax tablets approaching gracefully, his pupils shrank immediately and he waved his hand and gave orders.
"It's Muse! Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
Hearing the iconic name of God, the dozen or so remaining giants hurriedly jumped into the cave, and with the divinity bestowed by the earth, they fled to the depths of the earth's veins.
As the last Titan monster disappeared over the horizon, this small-scale rebellion of the Guigantes once again ended in vain.
The nine Muses who came to the rescue quickly flew through the dissipated poisonous fog, and came to the gentle slope one after another. They stretched out their arms and tried to help the main god up.
"Master Apollo, how are you?"
“Get lost!”
However, Apollo, who was dressed as a shepherd, swept his arm and mercilessly pushed away the beauties around him, his face as gloomy as dead water.
"A bunch of useless trash!"
After being scolded for no reason, the nine Muses bit their lips tightly and looked a little pale.
Seeing this, Loen couldn't help but frown and speak up for them.
"Apollo, what are you doing?"
"I am disciplining my slave, when is it your turn to butt in?"
Hearing the question, Apollo glanced at Loen behind him and became even more angry.
It’s all this guy’s fault. He exposed his most miserable and unbearable side in front of his subordinates!
And these muses are also a bunch of useless trash!
He didn't show up earlier or later, but had to arrive at the scene just when I asked for help.
At this moment, seemingly because he could not stand the workplace bullying of the God of Light, Loen spoke righteously and loudly to fight for the innocent Muses around him.
"During the time you were punished, Lady Artemis entrusted them to me to take care of. Seeing that they were treated unfairly, I certainly have the obligation to protect them!"
Hearing this, Apollo felt like he was struck by lightning. His face immediately turned purple and he looked at the Muses around him and Lorne in front of him in disbelief.
"You... take care of them?"
“That’s right!”
Lorne nodded and frankly told him everything that had happened over the past three years.
"Because you were punished, they were also coveted and implicated. In order to protect their safety, Lady Artemis asked me to take care of these Muses for you."
"Take care of me? Then should I thank you?" Apollo's face was cold and his voice trembled slightly.
"That's not necessary. I was just asked by Lady Artemis to do this."
Loen waved his hand magnanimously, but then his expression changed. He pointed at the muses behind him and indignantly expressed his grievances on their behalf.
"But these Muses, despite your involvement, did not give up their duties and maintained the temple for you. They heard that Thessaly was unsafe, so they came all the way from Olympus to visit you. It would have been fine if you didn't appreciate it, but you actually spoke ill of them. That's too much!"
Hearing the merciless and loud rebuke, the Muses, who were familiar with Apollo's temper, were frightened.
They were about to open their mouths to make amends, but unexpectedly the God of Light burst into a gloomy sneer, and looked at Muse and Lorne in front of him with disgust and humiliation, as if he was looking at a group of adulterous couples.
"Okay, okay! So you two are in the same group. Do you want me to give you my seat?"
(End of this chapter)
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