Ch.71Ep.71 Along with the Gods

“Damn it! What the hell is Poseidon doing that she’s not coming back!”

“Brother! The boundary has been breached! Soon, those bastards will invade the Underworld!!”

“Lady Athena’s life signal has been cut off… she has perished…”

“Lord of the Underworld! We need your decision!!”

Hades gritted his teeth at the situation that wasn’t going according to his plans.

He hadn’t expected the Outer Gods’ invasion to happen so quickly.

Nor had he anticipated that Poseidon would show no movement despite the Underworld being in crisis.

Furthermore, judging by her presence being detected in Kadinant…

‘Have you sided with them… Poseidon!’

It seemed she had chosen Radios Magnum and his companions.

Given that Nyarlathotep wasn’t visible among the Outer Gods, she must be confronting Nyarlathotep in Kadinant.

Should he consider this fortunate?

He was tying up 20% of the Outer Gods’ forces, but…

The problem was that Olympus’s power had been severely weakened compared to the past.

‘Hermes and Athena are dead… Two Titans have been annihilated, and the life signals of the three Hecatoncheires brothers have also been cut off.’

All this devastation was caused by Veichel Breate who had invaded the Underworld.

Even if they released Tartarus now to confront them, would they be able to fight properly?

“Lord of the Underworld!!!”

Das Pluto and the messengers of the Underworld chanted Hades’ name, demanding a decision.

The Outer Gods were closing in their encirclement moment by moment, and Olympus had only two choices.

Fight to the death, or flee to Erebos and plan for the future.

“Grrrr!! All of Olympus, retreat to Erebos!”

“..!”

“I’ll open the path! We’ll enter Erebos swiftly! There must not be a single straggler!!”

“We receive the Lord’s command!!”

In the end, Hades chose to hope for another day.

Fighting the Outer Gods here and meeting a futile death would only end up helping Radios Magnum and his companions.

‘That bastard Radios…’

It was obvious he would attack as soon as he judged the Outer Gods’ forces had weakened.

He might not be much help alone, but there were two beings with Divine Order by his side.

Moreover, if the five-level seal placed on him were to break and he obtained an Order…

‘Whether we go this way or that, there’s no hope for Olympus anyway.’

If Poseidon had taken their side, it might have been different, but since she had defected to Radios…

Olympus had been designated as the weakest among the three major powers.

Veichel didn’t belong to any of the three powers, but if pressed, she seemed to be on Kadinant’s side.

So now…

They had to retreat to Erebos.

‘Being driven to this point… I should at least put up a struggle.’

Fwaaash!

Hades slashed his sword horizontally, creating a rift in space.

As the entrance to Erebos was completed, the prisoners of Tartarus and the beings of Olympus all rushed inside.

“Where do you think you’re escaping to!”

Yog-Sothoth, noticing Hades’ group retreating to Erebos, urgently moved to block them, but…

Boom boom boom boom.

“Hmm! This is unexpected!”

The sky of the Underworld began to rapidly descend toward the ground, and a giant who had been hiding his presence rose up.

“I wondered why I couldn’t see him, to think he was supporting the sky of the Underworld.”

One of the Titan gods, who along with Typhon had bared his teeth at Zeus.

So powerful that they couldn’t even think of killing him and instead made him hold up the sky.

It was the appearance of the Titan god, Atlas.

Crack! Clang clang clang!

As all the punishment he had received until now was released…

“Uoooooooooh!!”

He erupted with the anger that had accumulated over time, and at this, Yog-Sothoth could only let out a hollow laugh.

“Hah! As a prisoner, you accumulated an Order and finally reached the realm of Divine Order?!”

For eons, did he not think of holding up the massive sky as punishment…

But rather as a duty?

Atlas had completely changed his perspective, seeing himself as a being who protected the sky, and because of this…

He had awakened the Divine Order of ‘Great Strength.’

Moreover, the sight that greeted him after his punishment suddenly ended was Outer Gods desecrating the Underworld.

[How dare filthy bloodline beings trample the realm of Olympus!]

Even though his relationship with the Zeus brothers wasn’t good…

Naturally, stopping the invasion of another world took higher priority.

The Underworld should be Hades’ responsibility, but Hades was nowhere to be seen, and sensing that the energy of Olympus was gradually disappearing…

One might think they had already fled to Erebos.

“You have been abandoned. So, don’t you want to join us for revenge?”

Yog-Sothoth tried to cleverly use this to drive a wedge between Atlas and Olympus, but…

[Do you think I, Atlas, would fall for such cunning words!]

“Tch, negotiations failed, huh.”

As mentioned earlier, for Atlas, defeating foreign powers took precedence over his fleeing brothers.

[I will not forgive you, villains!!]

With his massive fist targeting Yog-Sothoth as a start…

“This is… becoming troublesome!”

Kaboom!!

The invasion of the Underworld entered its latter stages.

Meanwhile, Hades, who had retreated to Erebos…

“Zeus, prepare.”

“For what, brother! Atlas was our last reserve! He’s not someone to be used against mere—”

“I’m going to awaken Lady Nyx and Lady Hemera.”

“..!”

Nyx and Hemera.

Among the children of Chaos, the origin of Olympus, they symbolized night and day respectively.

Ancient gods who pioneered the foundation of Olympus before suddenly falling into eternal sleep after Uranus’s death.

For them, the Zeus brothers were the bloodline of Cronos who executed Uranus, so they wouldn’t be pleased, but…

“We killed Cronos ourselves. So won’t they look upon our circumstances with favor?”

“Brother… but if we awaken them…”

“We’ll lose our authority. But if we don’t awaken them, we’ll lose our lives.”

“…”

He knows.

Why wouldn’t he?

No matter how much the ancient gods help them…

Eventually, power will naturally shift to them.

But to become usurpers again…

They lack the support base, and how could they possibly stand against beings possessing two Divine Orders?

“Perhaps we should have awakened them from the first invasion.”

“Brother…”

Olympus, with its long history, has produced many beings with Divine Orders.

Of course, now there are only Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.

But going back to previous generations, there were Cronos, Uranus, and Gaia, as well as…

Nyx, Hemera, Eros, Pontus, Erebos, Tartarus, and others who possessed Divine Orders.

The creator, Chaos, also possessed a Divine Order.

Although Erebos and Tartarus faded into spaces themselves…

Pontus became the sea itself, and Eros faded into a concept…

Uniquely, only Nyx and Hemera did not fade into concepts but maintained their physical forms.

The Zeus brothers feared that if they ever awakened, they would lose control of Olympus, so they couldn’t do anything.

But now, when everything is about to disappear, what use is power or anything else?

“So stop arguing and prepare. We must accept night and day.”

“…Understood.”

Zeus reluctantly nodded.

Even Hades wouldn’t have wanted to come up with the insane idea of awakening the ancient gods.

But arrogance encouraged defeat, and greed brought about the end.

To atone for all these karmic debts, they had to sacrifice something.

And if they could defeat the Outer Gods and even exterminate the rebels of Kadinant…

‘The world will once again revere Olympus.’

By then, there’s a possibility that Nyx and Hemera might return to sleep.

Though the chances are slim.

“Just wait, Yog-Sothoth, Radios, Veichel… We will purge you all…”

With Hades’ eerie laughter, the defeated army of Olympus all embraced the bosom of Erebos.

“Everyone! Remember this humiliating defeat! From now on, I, Hades, will awaken the ancient gods Nyx and Hemera!”

“..!”

“L-Lord of the Underworld!”

“I will not accept any objections! We, cornered as we are, have abandoned even Atlas who supported the sky and fled!”

The army of Olympus showed anxious looks at the Lord’s declaration.

They too knew.

That the bloodline that killed Uranus, the brother of Nyx and Hemera…

Is the one leading the current Olympus.

But Hades’ thoughts were only resolute.

“If we continue like this, we will eventually be defeated! But, under the protection of the ancient gods, how prosperous has our Olympus been!”

Nyx created night herself, and Hemera made day.

Gaia gave birth to the earth, Erebos to darkness, and Eros to love.

Tartarus created the prison of the abyss beneath all of this.

Without them, the current Olympus wouldn’t exist.

“From this moment on, I, Hades, declare!”

Boom!

As Hades stomped his foot, his Divine Order of death began to surround the entire region of Erebos.

“Death to the forces of the Outer Gods! And dominion once again over Kadinant!”

“Waaaaaaah!!”

“Hades! Hades! Hades!”

Fanatics praise Hades with strange gazes.

Those who had survived this long war had quick minds.

Following the trend wasn’t a problem.

But was it a problem that they were too comfortable with the current royal authority?

“We’ll kill Hades before Nyx and Hemera are resurrected.”

“Do we have enough power?”

“Plenty.”

Among the surviving twelve Olympian gods…

No one would have noticed that there were rebels among them.