Chapter 213

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 213: Olympus Raid (1)

[Is there only the statue of Zeus?]

Ares asked me nervously.

I scanned the inside of the Parthenon temple again, but that was all there was.

“Yeah. There’s only that statue of Zeus.”

[No statue of Hera or Athena…?]

“Nothing like that.”

[...Impossible. Soul God, send a clone and investigate. Find out where that power is headed.]

That’s not hard.

I created a clone and sent it into the Parthenon.

When I temporarily shared senses with the clone, I felt a tingling throughout my body.

The temple was already filled with an immense current.

If a human walked in, their body would burn to ashes instantly.

No, it wasn’t just electricity—it was infused with soul energy.

A human would be disintegrated on the spot.

“Soul Barrier.”

I put up a barrier and proceeded forward.

My target was the statue of Zeus.

I saw Zeus sitting arrogantly.

In his left hand, he held a staff engraved with an eagle.

In his right hand was a small statue of a winged goddess.

“Wow, it’s huge. Can’t believe something like this exists and no one knew about it…”

[It must be newly created.]

That would explain it.

After the thunderstorm broke out over Athens, all citizens evacuated.

There was no one left in the city—how would they know something like this had appeared?

[More importantly, where is the power headed? The direction of the thunder, I mean.]

“Up into the sky. And… it's trying to completely envelop the Parthenon.”

[Is it concentrating anywhere else near the statue?]

“Nope. It’s just taken control of the temple and is sending energy skyward.”

[I see…]

Ares fell silent.

I left him to think and decided to attack the statue of Zeus.

Right.

Time to try out the new power I got.

“Astrape.”

I fired Astrape infused with soul energy.

CRACK-BOOM!

A burst of radiant lightning shot from the clone’s palm.

It looked entirely different from the pure white electricity forming the Zeus statue.

Sizzle!

[Astrape? Did you say Astrape?!]

The statue’s eyes suddenly lit up.

It rose from its seat, flung away the small goddess statue in its right hand, and reached out to grab the Astrape.

CRACKLE!

The lightning in its hand crackled violently.

But this was an upgraded SSS-class attack skill, infused with overwhelming energy.

It wasn’t going down that easily.

Rather, the Astrape began dyeing the pure white lightning of the Zeus statue with its own multicolored glow.

Soon, Zeus’s right arm turned teal…

Snap!

The entire arm tore off and fell to the floor.

Then, as if it had fulfilled its purpose, the Astrape vanished.

This thing’s pretty useful.

[Return to your true master, Astrape!]

Despite losing its right arm, the statue didn’t hesitate—it extended its left hand toward me.

The electric staff it had been holding flew toward the clone.

[Soul God, make sure Astrape doesn’t get taken.]

“It turned into a skill though?”

[Is that so? Either way, be careful. There may be a method we’re not aware of.]

After remaining silent, Ares now gave me a warning upon witnessing the scene.

Right.

As much as I wanted to kill Zeus using his own weapon, I had to remember—the Astrape was retrieved to analyze Zeus, not destroy him.

“Go.”

Whoosh.

Tentacles wrapped around Zeus’s staff.

It was a pretty powerful attack, but at this level, it was only equivalent to a lesser god.

Compared to the defense-piercing attacks Ares had hit me with before, this was basically nothing.

“This is weak.”

As I suppressed the staff, it began to glow.

The divine power of the sun wrapped around the entire Parthenon.

The electricity that had filled the temple was completely subdued by the light infused with soul energy, severed strand by strand.

How weak is this?

The Zeus statue wasn’t any better.

As the light touched it, the Zeus statue—maintained by electricity—began to fade away.

[Uggh….]

“Why are you so weak?”

Sure, the statue wasn’t the real Zeus.

But compared to how Ares had sliced through my attacks, this was pathetically fragile.

I shattered the light-enshrouded Zeus statue into fragments and began analyzing it.

I thought it would be difficult, considering it was supposedly made by a creator deity…

But surprisingly?

The analysis was too easy.

There was no trace of chaos artifacts or the power of the creator deity.

It was just an upgraded version of the “Thunder God” skill I used to have.

“Nothing special... Just disappear.”

Sizzle...

At my command, the enormous statue of Zeus vanished without a trace.

“So weak. What was that statue?”

The clone had defeated it easily.

And the clone can’t even draw out my full power—yet this was the result.

[Wait. Zoom in on the floor where the Zeus statue was.]

Is there something there?

Following Ares’s instruction, I zoomed in and had the clone look at the floor.

Even after the Zeus statue disappeared, a few strands of electric current remained on the ground.

The remaining current gathered together and began to form a small shape.

“What is that…?”

[Hold on a moment.]

I was about to crush it, thinking it might be reviving, but Ares stopped me.

His voice carried a faint sense of hope.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but since I didn’t sense any powerful energy, I folded my arms and watched.

The first thing to be formed was a Greek-style temple.

A small model of the Parthenon rose to human height.

Then, in front of it, humanoid figures began forming one by one.

No, not humans—gods.

The first to appear was Zeus.

Then a woman formed beside him—the second to rise.

The third figure that appeared was Athena, whom I had seen before.

Apollo, Ares, Artemis, and Hermes followed.

One by one, the divine figures were created.

In total, there were twelve.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

They looked exactly like the Twelve Olympians.

[So. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Father Zeus……!]

Ares rejoiced at the sight.

“Damn, this guy… seeing him suddenly worship Zeus, maybe I shouldn’t have shown him that?”

“Should I destroy it again?”

Zzzzzzt—

At that moment, blue lightning gathered behind the Twelve Gods.

Then it spread rapidly, expanding as it grew.

It soon formed a gigantic shape.

“That thing has come alive again.”

[No way……?]

A large platform rose behind the Twelve Gods, and a massive throne appeared.

And sitting on the throne was a gigantic Zeus of lightning.

He looked exactly like the Zeus statue I briefly fought earlier.

I had just destroyed it moments ago, yet here it was again.

But earlier, the Twelve Gods weren’t standing in front of it…

Zzzzzzt.

The seated Zeus statue began to move.

He raised his enormous foot and crushed the ground where the Twelve Gods were standing.

One god at a time.

The first to be crushed was the god standing at the end.

As Zeus's foot touched the god holding a goblet, they were absorbed into his sole.

[No……!]

Boom. Boom.

The motion continued.

Zeus's foot captured the gods one by one from the edges inward.

Unknown gods and goddesses disappeared one after another, and even Hermes and Artemis, who were standing near the center, were soon trampled and vanished.

[To think… you would crush us and smile while doing it…]

The Zeus statue trampling the Twelve Gods wore a grotesque smile.

As if smiling… yet one side of the face was stiff.

With that expression, he crushed all the gods, until only two remained.

Zeus and the goddess beside him.

That must be Hera, right?

Zeus, who had been gleefully stomping until now, hesitated for a moment.

But soon he gave that twisted smile again and stomped Hera as well.

[Mother……]

Zzzzzzt.

Unlike the other gods, Hera didn’t vanish in a single stomp.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

But after the second, third time, she couldn't resist the force and was eventually absorbed too.

Finally, the remaining Zeus was absorbed into the Zeus statue.

Thanks to the statue’s trampling, even the Greek temple that remained in the background was completely absorbed into him.

Once everything was absorbed, it returned to the same Zeus statue I had seen at the very beginning.

Sitting alone inside this massive Parthenon temple.

“We’re back to the start.”

[So in the end, you crushed everyone. Even here. Was that your will, Father……?]

Ares spoke sorrowfully from within the sealing stone.

“Hey. What the hell is that? How about telling me what’s going on now?”

[Alright.]

Ares responded immediately to my question.

It seemed his heart had changed.

[This place was meant to be the foundation of a new Olympus, once Zeus became the Creator. Centered around the Zeus statue, everyone would be reborn as new soul entities, to build a new divine realm on Earth.]

“With that? Sounds like a kid’s toy.”

[Right now, fighting the Soul God takes priority, so we weren’t fully prepared. But according to our plan, there should’ve been at least five divine forms created within the Parthenon. As you saw, they were initially formed but…]

“They got stomped.”

[Exactly. That’s what I hate. It really seems like he’s trying to exclude us. Even Mother…]

Zeus even trampled Hera.

Did that change Ares’s heart?

[Even if the divine forms were created, we weren’t sure we would be part of Zeus’s plan. But now that he’s crushed us with his own feet… it’s clear Olympus no longer exists in his vision.]

“Ever since he devoured Apollo, really. He was that kind of guy from the start.”

[……Back then, I convinced myself it was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. But not anymore.]

“Good. That’s the soul. So why don’t you help take Zeus down? Should I break your seal?”

[No. I’m fine in this state. That would sever my oath with Zeus.]

“What oath with Zeus?”

[An oath overseen by Mother Hera. Only she knows the full details.]

Hera?

Ares—this guy—

Maybe he knows as little as Apollo did?

[We’re not allowed to know it completely. The contents can’t be revealed, so only the agent of the oath—Mother—could understand it.]

“What kind of scam contract is that…”

[How could I doubt my own mother and father?]

“They’re your parents. Other gods might not feel the same.”

[Mother Hera was deeply respected in Olympus. No one would’ve doubted her. Basically, the oath said this: in return for our complete loyalty and devotion to Zeus, he would create a new Olympus for us once he became the Creator. Because of this, Zeus couldn’t kill the chief gods with his own hands.]

“But Apollo got captured.”

[He attacked Asgard and failed to fulfill his duty to serve Zeus. That’s why he was executed.]

“Really? But still, couldn’t Zeus just go ahead and create Olympus? Why kill you all first?”

[Because of you, obviously.]

Ares sighed deeply and looked at me.

[The supply of SP stopped, and you kept getting stronger. Before the SP supply issue, Zeus had enough power to honor the oath. But once the supply stopped, the SP-consuming oath became a burden.]

“So the oath to create a new Olympus… that consumes SP? Couldn’t he just settle it by fighting me?”

[I don’t know all the specifics, but once he became the Creator, he would’ve had to start establishing the divine realm. That would consume SP due to the oath. No one expected you to become an obstacle to Olympus.]

The Olympian gods gave their absolute loyalty to Zeus, and in return, Zeus was to create a new Olympus once he became a Creator.

This contract automatically triggered upon becoming the Creator.

“So because that oath drained SP, and he was running out, he started finding excuses to kill the other gods? Like Hermes and Apollo?”

[Yes…… He twisted it cleverly to avoid breaking the oath directly. But when too many gods disappeared, Mother declared that Father had violated the oath and confronted him alone. Since that day, she’s been missing.]

“Hmph. Everyone in Olympus keeps disappearing. Where did they all go? Did Zeus eat them?”

[No, not entirely. He wouldn’t have been able to, not due to the oath. I suspect a place where they might be held…]

“Where?”

[Inside Olympus.]

“We can’t go there. Don’t even know where that is.”

[But I do.]

Suddenly, the sealing stone shimmered with light.

[Soul God, will you go see for yourself?]

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]