Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

Deep in the trench, Pontos finally accepted this statement.

However, what really made the original sea god determined in his idea could not be because of Zeus' previous behavior of tampering with history and reversing the truth, nor could it be the ridiculous reason of believing that the giant snake from the abyss must be very honest.

This is just something to joke about, but if we really want to make a judgment, we obviously need more actual evidence.

For Pontus, the direct reason for his judgment was undoubtedly Zeus's own character and his desire for power.

Needless to say, the struggle between the sea gods throughout the Second Era was nothing more than to unify the sea and break through the upper limit of the power of the true gods.

His so-called seclusion from the world was actually because he was frightened by the sun bathing in the sea and felt that his possibility of defeating the Ocean God was very low, rather than that he had truly seen through the world.

As for the former... this is Zeus' consistent style.

Although there is no word "politics" in Chaos today, words with similar meanings still exist. At least in Pontus's view, Zeus is undoubtedly a being whose thinking is more inclined to political thinking rather than divine thinking. He is also a rare outlier among the innate gods.

Just as he had judged Zeus before, if the original sea gods were willing to obey the Divine Court, then the King of Gods would definitely forgive them for their past mistakes.

But on the other hand, if he chose to abandon Zeus and completely break away from the gods to establish his own lineage, what kind of reaction would Zeus give?

"A wise choice, Pontus. Zeus is such a man. Even if you set up your own business, he will definitely weigh the pros and cons and make the most 'appropriate' decision when the day comes."

Nodding slightly, Erebus felt more at ease when he saw that Pontus had finally given in.

Even though he holds the card of Uranus, if Pontus is determined to give up everything and refuses to cooperate with him even if he wants to sleep forever, then Erebus really has no choice.

After all, he is not the God of the Sea. In the world of the innate gods, violence cannot solve all problems. Fortunately, the other party has figured out the key points, so the rest of the things will be much easier.

"Now, let's talk about what happens next. Zeus probably won't stay in the underworld for too long. When he comes back, it will be time for me to leave."

"Let's get back to the point. If you want to gain more powerful strength, you are probably destined to put aside your past grudges with your old friend and get together with him."

"……it is good."

Pontos nodded in agreement and had no objection to this.

Unifying the sea is the most direct way for the God of the Sea to increase his power, but before, both he and the God of the Ocean wanted to achieve the unification by themselves.

But now they are probably going to have to take a step back. After all, facing the impending threat, if they don't want to pin all their hopes on Zeus, they will have to start over.

Although Zeus is a person who will give in for his goals, the prerequisite is that you must have the capital to make him give in.

For him, the only thing that can bring him benefits but not threats is the wheat in the fields. After harvesting one year, there will be wheat next year. Just like the goddess of agriculture, Zeus never considers what she thinks.

And those who can bring threats to him but cannot bring any benefits at all are the demon kings like Typhon, who are the existence that destroys the stability and peace of the current world. Zeus will only bring all the gods in the pantheon to try to destroy you. If he cannot defeat you, he will reject you. There will be no other option.

Only the third type of gods would really make him put a lot of effort to win them over, that is, those who could bring benefits and pose enough threat to Zeus.

When the Father of Heaven awakened, he and Zeus automatically had common interests, so as long as he made himself threatening enough, the crisis from Zeus would collapse on its own.

If it were Poseidon, he might get so angry that both he and the traitor would suffer losses, but Zeus is not that kind of person.

"You have convinced me, Your Highness Erebus... But before that, I still hope you can understand."

Pontos said in a deep voice as he looked at the Dark Lord's arm holding the warm ball of light.

"I don't know about others, but at least I will never accept a result where Oceanus gets the most benefit. Otherwise, what was the purpose of my struggle for the past era?"

"...Oh, of course, I will."

The Dark Lord spoke calmly, not caring about Pontos' words.

Let them make trouble if they want to, but it would be best if they continued to make trouble after the war that he predicted would end the Third Age was over.

······

Underworld.

At the former site of the Garden of Truth, after being freed from combat, Zeus' body finally regained its integrity.

But compared to the recovery of his physical injuries, his mental trauma was far from recovered.

The giant shadow in the sky disappeared at some point, but the traces it left behind remain.

The edge of the underworld seemed to have an extra layer of wall that was so high that the top was invisible. The breath left by the powerful life made any foreign objects instinctively unwilling to approach.

But this is not the reason why Zeus is in a bad mood. In fact, the person who really makes him put on a smile is not someone else, but his own brother.

"Hades, you're here. I didn't seem to see you much just now... As the King of Hell, is your palace usually empty?"

He forced a smile, but Zeus couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark in the end.

However, Hades, who hurried back to the old site of the temple, had a blank expression on his face. He looked cold and indifferent, which was no different from the stereotype of him that the gods had had in the past.

"Zeus, the Temple of Hades is usually occupied by people, but after the gatekeeper of the underworld reported your whereabouts to me, no one is here anymore."

"After all, you are here to track down the enemy, and I don't have much confidence in you."

Hades spoke calmly, his words blunt and merciless.

"...Hey, Hades, my brother, you didn't believe the monster's lies, did you?"

"As you can see, it didn't dare to attack me again. The initial failure was just an accident..."

"So, Your Majesty, I don't care which of you is telling the truth, but what are you going to do about the destruction of my palace?"

"..."

Speechless for a moment, Zeus' cheeks twitched a little.

If possible, he would naturally want to say something like "Then I'll build another one for you", but just as he was about to say it, he suddenly found that he didn't seem to have the ability to do so.

Well, that's right. After all, Hades was so cruel that he actually used divine materials to build such a large temple.

You know, with this amount of material, even Hades, who holds the corresponding authority, would probably have spent at least hundreds of years collecting the material, and as for Zeus... So it’s not a question of whether it’s precious or not, but that the God’s Court simply doesn’t have that much in reserve.

After all, for normal use, no god would need so many materials. If there was no demand, there would be no storage.

And thinking of this, Zeus's face couldn't help but turn black. He felt waves of phantom pain coming from his body, and he still couldn't figure out why Hades did this.

"... Let's put aside the matter of your palace. My brother, can you answer a question of mine first?" Zeus took a deep breath and asked as calmly as possible: "Why did you build such a palace? I mean, it is not necessary at all."

"No, it is necessary. It has collapsed three times before, and twice it was related to you, and now it is the fourth time."

"So it turns out that not only was it necessary for me to do this, but I also didn't do enough. After all, no one would have thought that this time it would be destroyed by you personally."

Speaking quietly, Hades looked at Zeus and then continued to ask soul-searching questions.

"So, Your Majesty, the King of Olympus, how are you going to compensate me for the loss you made by entering the underworld without prior notice and then destroying my property? Since you didn't do it on purpose, my request is not high. You just need to build me a new one exactly as it is."

"..."

Speechless again, Zeus suddenly remembered what happened in the 'previous two' destructions, and it was indeed related to him.

At this moment, Zeus felt that he should not have come to the underworld, because all that awaited him here were troubles... Fortunately, although the situation was a bit awkward for a moment, he immediately thought of a way to temporarily solve the problem.

"Ahem, Hades, listen to me. I deeply sympathize with your experience, but you can see that every disaster before was not caused by me, but by someone who wanted to challenge my authority."

"Well, the banquet on the ground is still going on. Before I left, the gods were already at loggerheads. I need to go back and stabilize the situation first. As for your palace..."

After a moment's silence, Zeus made a promise.

"Once the new palace is built, I will bless it with the authority of the God King, giving it the power to be indestructible. And just like the seal that once imprisoned the giants in the abyss, this blessing will be with the throne of the God King. It will never be destroyed. Even if it is damaged by a force that exceeds the limit, it can be restored to its original state."

"What do you think of this approach?"

Hades was slightly stunned when he heard this. In fact, he didn't expect Zeus to build a new one for him. After all, most of the minerals in the world were under his jurisdiction, and he knew very well whether the other party had the ability to do so.

But he thought the new compensation plan proposed by Zeus was not bad.

Indeed, he had not thought enough before. If he simply connected the palace with the power of the underworld, it might not necessarily be indestructible forever. But if he could add an insurance from the authority of the God-King, it should be foolproof.

After all, there is no shortage of crazy gods in this world, such as Gaia. She dares to collide with even the pillars of heaven, so she doesn't care about the underworld. But Hades has never heard of anyone who can destroy the authority of the God King.

The throne of the God King lasts as long as the world. Just as the gods will never die, the authority of the God King will never be in question.

"Okay, I agree, but remember to send the Cyclops over, as well as Hephaestus. I'll send you a message when the new palace is built."

His tone softened a lot, and Hades accepted the compensation.

Double-layered protection.

This time, there will definitely be no problems with his fifth-generation temple.

……

The affairs of the underworld finally came to an end, and Zeus tried to unify with Hades about his failure.

But unfortunately, Hades said that there are not many gods in the underworld, but infinite mortal creatures, and the primordial god and the goddess of the underworld are watching, so it is not as easy to handle as things on the ground.

And like the case of Typhon, no matter what, Zeus won in the end, so if you win, it's easy to explain it. But Zeus obviously didn't win in the short fight not long ago, so any explanation would only have the opposite effect.

"Then let's exaggerate its evilness and let the gods know that no matter how strong this monster is, it must be evil enough to not coexist with the gods."

Making the decision silently was the only solution Zeus could think of.

After crossing the Styx Acheron, the God King decided to return to the human world. But at this moment, he suddenly looked back.

In the underworld... no, in the abyss, some intuition told him that something closely related to him seemed to be happening there.

What was that? Zeus was somewhat puzzled. This was not the first time that he had this special feeling about the abyss.

However, at this moment he was well aware of the danger there. No matter what, he would not go there until he was absolutely sure.

"…It seems I have to think of other ways."

"This intuition of fate... No, I still need to understand it."

I can't get in, and the gods who go in may not be able to come back. So what kind of existence can go in and has the ability to avoid being killed by ordinary native creatures and not be targeted by the two beings of hell?

"Humans, like Perseus in the past, hold the artifacts of the gods and help them solve their problems."

"I remember that I seemed to have left a child like this in the human world a few years ago?"

It seemed to be the case, Zeus remembered, and the child accidentally had some relationship with Hera.

It is said that before recognizing the child's true identity, Hera gave him a name... I think it was called 'Hera's Glory'?