54 Chapter 54 – Victory of the Olympians: The Birth of a Monster!
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Author's note: the images/designs in my fanfic do not belong to me, they belong to their respective creators/artists/designers.
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- Location: Deepest place in the cave of the lakes / near the future Kastria / Future region of Achaea / Greece.
POV. Thor.
Although I wanted to get back to my quests, having a 'free passage' for the Telkhines to my home in the north authorized by the future rulers was something that would avoid troublesome situations.
So here I was, escorting Thetis to the place where the Hecatoncheires were currently being held...
The Greek underworld.
Hecatoncheires was someone quite underrated, after all, he was someone in the top 10, even if it's the last position, which was arrested by his father and left behind by his brother.
Although his release would mean victory for the Olympians, ironically Hecatoncheires would still have a job in Zeus' government if memory serves me right...
Stand as a guard and not let any Titans escape.
Wait... Did that mean he would technically still be trapped in the underworld? After all, he will practically stay in the same place, just without a chain holding him...
... Whatever, it's not my priority at the moment.
"... You're quite thoughtful... May I know why?" asks Thetis, who was guiding me in this place that was the underworld.
"...Not really, I'm just admiring the scenery," I said, looking around.
I was definitely not lying. After all, even though we were inside a cave, it was something spectacular...
The main reason for this was that when we went through a kind of obsidian gate that I thought was the end of the cave, I found myself in a completely different place in the Greek underworld...
And I must admit, it would be the dream of anyone who wanted to get rich.
Precious stones, of all sizes and qualities, are scattered throughout the place.
"So... I see you desire wealth," said Thetis.
"Not exactly... I'm thinking of something to give someone in the future" I said with a carefree smile, as I thought about someone.
I'm going to need some special metal if I want to convince her mother to accept my proposal from Kostr... But I have time for that.
"Oh?... It must be someone special," said Thetis with a smile.
I looked at Thetis and nodded.
We remained in comfortable silence as we walked deeper. I just carried the javelin spear on my shoulders, while I supported my arms and rested them on the spear nonchalantly, while Thetis glanced at me from time to time while looking around, almost as if...
"...Do you know where you're going?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
My question seemed to gain Thetis' attention as she looked at me blushing in embarrassment.
"...This is a labyrinth of caves... I'm sorry if it looks like we're lost, but I assure you that's not the case" said Thetis, as she just walked faster.
I only sweated in response but remained silent for the rest of the walk.
After some time wandering aimlessly through the cave I felt several presences nearby.
One of them was too close...
I shot my hand into a place in the cave that seemed to be completely bathed in shadows and grabbed something and pulled, flinging the object I'd grabbed out of the shadows.
From the shadows, only the body of a man emerged, holding a bident in one hand, as it hit the wall and created cracks.
"...You have a strange way of offering hospitality," I said, commenting to Thetis.
But it seemed that this was not planned, as Thetis wore a nervous face, not at me, but at the man I had thrown at the wall.
"Hades! What got into you?! Rhea said she wants to talk to him!" said Thetis, shouting at the man.
I just stared listlessly, though the man stood up and looked steadily at Thetis.
"It was the logical solution; we don't know the origin of this mortal, nor the reason why he wants the Telkhines... So the solution was to surprise him and take back Zeus' spear" said the man, identified as Hades.
I must admit... He's practical.
But acting this way will end up making this little shit everyone's enemy...
"Enough of that my son... I never expected such behavior from you" said a voice, which resounded through the cave.
Hades seemed to freeze at the voice, as he soon lowered his head and muttered something I assumed were apologies.
It was then that more figures approached us, some I could easily identify, although most I didn't know who they were.
The voice seemed to have come from the woman in front of the Greek group.
"Greetings, I'm Rhea, mother of the two rude young men you met... I hope you forgive me for my children's behavior, they rarely interact with mortals, especially Hades" said the woman, identified as Rhea.
Oh? So this was my mother's friend Frigg...
"...Hello, I'm...Aeolia, King of Knossos" I said, answering the greetings.
While some didn't seem to mind my lack of presentation and possibly lack of 'respect' for a divine being, others... Showed a considerable amount of irritation.
"Hey! Properly introduce yourself to my mother!" said someone, in a somewhat familiar voice.
I identified the source of the voice as being Hera, who was looking at me with a frown.
I just scoffed, huffing in response.
"...I'm not her son-in-law, so I don't see the point," I said, looking around the group.
I was inciting irritation with a purpose…finding someone who didn't seem to be irritated by my behavior towards Rhea.
The reason for this was that I knew there was someone who was pretending to be on the side of the Olympians in this war.
So I was looking to identify someone suspicious as soon as I got to the group; after all, apart from Zeus, Hera and Thetis I hadn't seen, much less met anyone in the group.
Unfortunately... Everyone showed a slight frown.
Apparently, we have a good actor or actress...
"It's okay, calm down, please..." Rhea said, as she looked at the group and made calming hand gestures.
"But Mom—" cried Demeter, before Rhea quickly cutting her off.
"It's okay…Don't forget that we're the ones asking for help, so behave yourself and let me handle it," Rhea said, her tone firm as she looked at the group with a small frown.
... I was starting to like her, she reminds me of Frigg a lot, especially when she scolded me, just like my brothers.
But it looked like someone was ignoring the request.
"We don't need it mom after all... I have my Master Bolt back for me" Zeus said as he tried to reach for the javelin spear.
It was funny to see Zeus concentrating more and more and creating a frown.
"Here, let me make it easy for you," I said.
I quickly stabbed the spear into the ground and dropped it, crossing my arms shortly thereafter. Zeus showed irritation, only to have his frown replaced with disbelief.
"...I've been replaced," Zeus said, his eyes widening.
Zeus' words seemed to have taken most of the group by surprise, except for Thetis and Rhea...
Hmm... It looked like the information was just told to Rhea.
The reason for this was that maybe Thetis didn't know what to do after realizing I'm the new spear user, so the first person she spoke to was Rhea, not Hera.
In that case... Why did Rhea deliberately choose to withhold the information?...
In my mind, there were only two scenarios...
The first scenario was to prevent Zeus or anyone else from doing something reckless when he learned of this information.
The second scenario... She knew there was someone who was betraying her by giving information to the Titans, and she didn't want to risk her group had run out and losing a powerful weapon that changed the course of the war, such as the javelin spear, or Master Bolt, was one of the three weapons of mass destruction.
Of course, there was also the possibility that it could be both scenarios...
"Thief!" shouted Zeus, pointing at me.
"...The first thing you did when you saw me was trying to kill me...Consider it compensation for your recklessness," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
Actually, it was bullshit...
I didn't care if the spear wanted me as a user or not, although it was a good substitute weapon. However, it appeared that the spear was as fragile as Mjolnir, so I couldn't use my full strength.
"I did it because you were the only one close to Hera and Thetis in the middle of a broken land! What did you expect?! I thought you were one of my father's allies!" shouted Zeus indignantly.
Okay... That was even more bullshit.
"...You're a terrible liar," I said while looking listlessly at Zeus.
While this seemed to infuriate the future ruler of the Olympians, it was at this moment that Rhea chose to interrupt…again.
"Enough! Stop it now!!!" shouted Rhea.
It really felt like a mother's fury...
Well... Weirdly, it felt like I was being scolded by my own mother. Although I suppose this is the effect of Rhea's presence as a Titaness in which one of the aspects she represented was motherhood.
Rhea seemed to cough in embarrassment, but then she looked at me.
"So mortal, given recent events, I hope you can lend us your strength, via the javelin spear, in exchange for something you desire… What do you really desire?" asks Rhea.
I quickly responded without missing a beat.
"I wish that if I meet the Telkhines, they will be subordinate to me, and follow me wherever I and my lineage want to go," I said.
This seemed to bring a frown on some, as I expected some to find my conditions exorbitant… But the important thing was that Rhea was the one negotiating, so they didn't exactly have any say.
"...Can you tell me why?" asked Rhea, in curiosity.
"…I thought you just wanted to negotiate, not question my terms," I said, briefly.
Rhea was silent as she considered my request. I couldn't say exactly why I wanted the Telkhines, after all, if the Olympians discovered me as a deity from another pantheon, my very stay would be in question...
As well as possibly attracting Chaos' attention, which I wouldn't like one bit.
"...Your conditions are...Acceptable, we will swear by the Styx, you can have the Telkhines as servants in case you meet them, and in return, you will help us three times," Rhea said.
Now, wait a damn minute!
"Three?!" I questioned, hoping I'd heard wrong.
Rhea just smiled innocently.
"Due to you wanting the Telkhines as your servants, wielding the javelin spear, and basically jeopardizing this war by interfering indirectly and directly, I hope there is compensation," Rhea said.
I just smile in response.
Well, she's not wrong on the last one... And it seems that everyone in the group seemed to agree with Rhea.
"... Deal," I said, waving lightly.
Interestingly, as soon as everyone answered, the sound of a drum resounded throughout the cave.
"Styx heard us... The deal it's done," Hades said.
"…So it's time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain. Tell me, what should I do?" I asked.
Rhea promptly answered me.
"You must use the spear you wield and, together with my two sons, must break the bonds of Hecatoncheires," Rhea said.
Well... Sounds easy.
With the agreement made, we all headed to the place that would be considered the Hecatoncheires prison. The Greek underworld was initially very similar to the underworld of Erishkgal and the underworld of Hel, cold and wet... But on a certain level, magma began to be seen more often.
Besides the fact that a new presence seemed to be watching us all the time.
The problem was, even with the Viljestyrke – Archer, I was unable to properly locate this presence.
It was as if the presence was everywhere...
"Where are we exactly?" I asked.
The one who answered me was Rhea, who was also attentive, although less noticeable than I was.
"...We're inside my uncle," Rhea said.
That... It sounded wrong.
"... I beg your pardon?" I questioned once more, this time raising my eyebrows in surprise.
This time, it wasn't Rhea or anyone else in the group who answered... It was another voice.
"You are invading me," said the voice, with a dark tone.
It was then that cracks were created, and then magma floated until it came together and formed a sort of giant spherical body.
The sphere was 100 meters long, and when the magma solidified, hundreds of eyes opened, as well as creating tentacles made of unsolidified magma.
"Uncle," Rhea said, bowing in respect.
Everyone in the group seemed to follow suit, even me... Although my definition of bowing was basically a nod.
"What do you want?... Rhea..." said the orb full of eyes.
"Uncle... Tartarus... On behalf of this group, I apologize if I offended you in any way... But I came here in order to free my brother," Rhea said.
"Do you think… niece… that I would simply give away my power source? Shall I remind you that the more powerful existences I trapped here, the stronger I will be?" asked the eyed orb, identified as Tartarus.
Tartarus's own tone showed displeasure, so I closed my grip on the javelin spear in my hand and began to prepare for any situation...
The question is how to destroy this guy, since from what it felt like this guy was the place and the body in front of me was just a representation.
"If we win the war... We'll bring the Titans to occupy this place" Rhea said, showing a little sadness, after all, it was still her family.
POV. Third-person.
"Hmm... Agreed, I want at least 5 Titans to replace Hecatoncheires, out of five, some of them must be Cronus, Perses..." said Tartarus.
It was then that the hundreds of eyes were fixed on someone in the group.
"... And him," said Tartarus and raising a tentacle towards someone.
That someone had a look of surprise, although he immediately narrowed his eyes...
It was Thor.
As soon as Rhea realized who Tartarus was pointing at, she spoke.
"Wait uncle, he's not part of the deal!" said Rhea firmly.
"He's strong, I could feel it the moment he stepped on my body," Tartarus said.
Because Tartarus was technically where the Olympian group was at the moment, he felt, after a while, a brief fraction of the power that the group's 'human' had...
Tartarus had to accumulate more powerful beings for him to grow in power; after all, he was not an entity with the god Ra, who constantly grew power according to the sun.
It was then that everyone was surprised by Thor's next statement.
"...I stay behind, swear by the Styx you'll leave Rhea and her group can free Hechatoncheires and come back whenever they want, in exchange for my being left behind," said Thor.
Before Rhea could deny Thor's request, Tartarus' voice resounded throughout the place like an echo.
"Deal!" shouted Tartarus.
The drumming sound of Styx's oath resounded throughout the place.
"Aeolia! What did you just do?! You doomed yourself!" cried Thetis in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Zeus was thinking that he would finally have his spear back. Though it appeared that Thor wasn't worried about Thetis' statement...
"Go ahead... I'll sort things out here," said Thor looking at Tartarus.
The group, though with a reluctant minority, continued to the site of Hecatoncheires.
Leaving Thor behind...
"You will be a good addition to my source of power," said Tartarus, in a tone that betrayed delight.
Thor, however, didn't smile and just watched the Olympian group walk away. Only when the Olympians walked away did Thor finally look at Tartarus seriously.
"...If I demolish this place to the ground... Will you die?" asked Thor, in an innocent tone.
Tartarus was surprised by the question.
"Aren't you afraid of the deadly Styx curse? You swore by her, remember?" said Tartarus, in an emotionless tone.
That didn't seem to shake Thor.
"I said my group can 'left me behind', and lo and behold... My group just left me behind," said Thor, pointing to the last spot he saw the Olympian group.
Tartarus looked displeased, though he seemed to be more amused by the statement.
"Maybe you're right… But do you really expect to get out of here? You are inside my body, here I rule as I please; so you really think you have a chance?" asked Tartarus rhetorically.
The voice of the answer that followed seemed to have frozen the Abyss Primordial.
"...Yes," said Thor, his eyes glowing with power.
Time seemed to freeze when no one made a move...
Until magma quickly emerged from the ground, at the same time Thor disappeared from view and reappeared with the javelin spear raised ready to stab the 'body' that represented Tartarus, who had all eyes wide in surprise.
*BOOM*
The resulting explosion when Thor connected the spearhead with Tartarus' body would be heard and felt by all beings in the Greek underworld...
Meanwhile, with the Olympian group...
As Thor spoke to Tartarus before the charge, the group looked a little disheartened by the current situation...
"Tartarus must already have the mortal trapped... Do you already have access to your spear, Zeus?" asked Hades, in an emotionless tone.
For Hades, Tartarus was practically doing himself a favor by getting rid of the mortal who had been a nuisance up until this point...
Zeus frowned in concentration until he shook his head.
"No, I still don't feel an answer," said Zeus disappointed.
"It's only a matter of time..." said Poseidon, already summoning the trident.
It was then that someone spoke.
"How can you say that?! He was left behind because of us!" shouted someone indignantly.
It was Thetis, who looked at the trio of brothers in disappointment.
Hades and Poseidon seemed to shrug their shoulders in disrespect, while Zeus decided to respond...
"Well... He volunteered," said Zeus.
It was then that Demeter chose that moment to speak.
"Also, thanks to the sacrifice of the human, we don't need to face Tartarus on the way back when we want to leave," Demeter said.
To Demeter, the 'human' was just another ant in the vast anthill... The anthill didn't care if an ant died or not.
"…I don't like it either," someone said unexpectedly.
It was Hera, who was frowning.
"Have you come to like the human, Hera?" asked Poseidon, with a mocking tone.
Zeus frowned.
"No! No! It's not like this! It's just... It's wrong," Hera said.
Rhea then chose to speak.
"Anyway, if we win the war, I hope this human's sacrifice will be remembered," Rhea said.
Although the 'human' would be imprisoned in Tartarus, Rhea hoped that in the future she could convince her uncle to release him.
"... We can take him out of here later if he's not dead at the end of this war mother," Hades said.
If there was anyone Hades cared about deeply, it was his mother...
Rhea gave a reassuring smile before answering.
"Thank you, my son, but –?!"
*BOOM*
An explosion that made the ground shake rudely interrupted Rhea's response, resulting in everyone clinging to the nearest thing.
When the explosion ended, everyone looked at each other.
"... What was that? Earthquake?" asked Poseidon, confused.
Nobody had the slightest idea, so the question remained in the air...
"We can't risk staying here too long any longer, let's free Hecatoncheires and leave Tartarus!" said Zeus, with a tone of command.
"Only the three spears can break the prison... The chances of me and Poseidon breaking the seals are extremely low without Master Bolt's help," Hades said.
"We don't have much choice now, we've already found Tartarus, I don't want to meet Thanatos or Hypnos, or worse…their mother," Zeus said, shuddering.
The twin gods, Thanatos and Hypnos were famous for being quite powerful, although they had no interest in breaking into the top 10 through conquests, they were content to just stay hidden and do each other's respective jobs...
This was something they had copied from their mother...
Nyx.
A primordial that prefers to remain neutral and not participate in anything active, as the night-time primal seemed to like to relax.
Everyone in the group nodded and continued on their way.
When they arrived at the place, which was Hecatoncheires' cell, everyone saw that what prevented Hecatoncheires from seeing the light of day was a colossal door made of obsidian.
"Poseidon, Hades, get ready! I will help you right away, even without my spear it should be enough to open even a breach!" shouted Zeus, summoning yellow lightning in his hands.
Hades and Poseidon followed the command and prepared to attack with the bident and trident respectively.
*BOOM*
But before anyone could start, a blue bolt passed through everyone and hit the gate...
Breaking it in just one move.
The javelin spear rose from the rubble and floated slowly from the ground and quickly flew away from the group, towards where it was thrown.
Everyone knew what that meant... Although some still remained in disbelief.
"...How the hell did he hit a target he wasn't supposed to see?" asked Maia, eyes wide.
No one knew how to answer the question, though Hades looked at the spot where the javelin spear came from as he frowned, he then looked at Rhea.
"Mother... Is he like Gilgamesh?" asked Hades.
Rhea knew what her eldest son talked about... After all, she told her children stories whenever she was available...
And one of them was of a particular human capable of going against gods.
Although Hades never took the story seriously, as did his brothers and sisters, seeing the accomplishments of this 'human' in front of him made the story a little more truthful, as well as established something. Which it is, that among the 'weak humans'...
There could be a monster.
Before Rhea could answer, a new voice emerged.
"... Rhea"
The voice seemed to come from fifty heads talking at once...
Hecatocheires was free.
After rescuing Hecatoncheires, the Olympian group quickly returned to the Tartarus exit while being surprised by signs of struggle everywhere, as if someone was demolishing the entire place.
After everyone left, everyone was once again surprised by what they saw.
Standing just a step away from entering Tartarus' body was Thor, or Aeolia as they knew it...
Perfectly well.
With just some dust, but physically fine.
"...That concludes 2 aids Rhea," said Thor, glancing lazily.
This seemed to surprise Rhea, while some expressed indignation.
"two?! Wait a minute, it should be just one!" said Metis.
Thor quickly denied it and soon went to explain, but was defeated by Rhea.
"... I see... One for offering yourself, hold back Tartarus and allowing him to ignore us on the way back and forth; and another for helping to destroy the prison gate as planned before," Rhea said.
Thor smiled and waved in response.
"Exactly, you never specified that you necessarily need to ask me for help directly, so my fight with Tartarus was included... You only have one so use it wisely," said Thor.
Thor didn't wait for anyone to respond to the statement and just turned his back on the group and then started walking out the same way he had come back.
"I know the way back, so I don't need to be followed!" said Thor, as he briefly waved goodbye.
Thor then just placed the javelin spear on his shoulder and rested his arms in boredom, though he was glared at by some of the disgruntled group.
"... Let's go, we must transport Hecatoncheires to Olympus," said Rhea.
As the group was out of Tartarus, Rhea soon created a teleportation circle, which transported everyone out of the caverns of the underworld, towards Mount Olympus, a place called by the group their new home.
Meanwhile, Thor returned to his people, where he was greeted with curiosity and asked where he had gone.
Needless to say, Thor didn't care and just wanted to get some rest before returning to the Telkhine quests, so he let slip that he'd gone to the underworld and fought a god.
Needless to say, Thor's people built a statue made entirely of rock-crystal just a week after Thor's arrival.
Thor was unwittingly creating a new religion, as the people of Knossos were assuming that their king, Aeolia, had ascended to immortality and become something close to the gods.
Years passed, and though Thor was initially concerned that the island's humans would notice his lack of aging, none of the people showed to be displeased, much less distrustful of their king.
In fact, it looked like they were even happy with the 'immortal king'.
Another thing that changed was that Thor discovered through Thetis, who frequented his island, the victory of the Olympians and the imprisonment of the defeated who refused to surrender in Tartarus.
Although the titans' spy was never discovered, all Olympians were more concerned with establishing the government.
When the division was made, Thor was present at Rhea's request, to see who would be the leader, the three brothers made the division through a game.
Take out the smallest toothpick.
Where there were three matchsticks of unequal sizes and whoever drew the smallest would have priority of choice...
And Thor saw Zeus steal in the game shamelessly!
- Location: Tartarus / Greek Underworld.
While the division between the three brother gods was taking place, a woman arrived in Tartarus...
"Brother... I need your help," Gaea said, her tone somber.
She was quite annoyed, due to the fact that more of her children were trapped.
"... What do you want sister?" the voice of Tartarus resounded throughout the place.
Gaia was silent... Until she gave a cruel smile and answered.
"Help me have a monster...".
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Well, that's all folks!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
'When will Thor's journey in Greece end?'
A: Possibly after the Trojan War, since at the same time there are people I want to recruit into Thor's group.
Title for the next chapter:
Chapter 55 – The Doom of Olympus!
