Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

"Cruel enough?"

"What do you mean?"

Subconsciously, he raised his head and met Ryan's eyes.

This time, no one spoke, but the invisible message still emerged in Hercules' mind.

The painting on the dome seemed to have a double image, and another vortex opposite to it was born in the swirling vortex.

Hercules saw life, killing and flesh and blood in it; he also saw deception, lies and civilization.

On the ninth level, there sits a king with red eyes and wings; in the endless void, there are ancient snakes hissing around the atrium.

And on the central axis of the nine-layer interface, Hercules seemed to see a giant winding tree.

Order and oath are its branches, and blood and body become the source of its power.

At this moment, Hercules' intuition told him that he could achieve his goal here, and there were laws and clues to follow.

This interface hidden in Tartarus never denies the desires of anyone in the world as long as he can afford an equal price.

"Here...it is also harvesting faith and souls?"

"This shouldn't be surprising, after all, the gods harvest with blood and kingdoms, and the devils harvest with desires and contracts. What's the difference in essence?"

Spreading his hands, Ryan asked casually:

"Actually, you can still refuse the latter, but you can't refuse the former as long as you are still alive."

"Just like now, the gods won't respond to you, but the devil can, so are you going to refuse?"

"..."

There was a silence even longer than the previous two times, and Hercules didn't know how he could deny it.

Is he going to refuse?

Of course he could refuse.

But compared to the difficulty of the first two methods, the third one is so simple.

Kill, sacrifice, and accumulate enough 'price'.

Not only the soul, but also the essence of flesh and blood in the real world is also meaningful to Purgatory. After all, the Abyss is different from the spirit world. Although it is chaotic, it also has material things.

All he had to do was kill. With Hercules' power, he could become a guest of honor in all countries and start slaughtering openly.

What's wrong with killing the enemy's soldiers, exchanging their lives for status and fame, and using their flesh and blood and souls after death to fulfill your own wishes?

Isn't it the same with the gods? They take everything from mortals before and after their death, and call it protection...

"No!"

Startled, Hercules took a step back.

All the previous thoughts seemed to turn into real voices echoing in his ears, and he looked solemnly at Ryan in front of him.

Did he do it, or was it because of my own weak mind?

Hercules didn't know, but what he knew was that he was indeed moved.

He can refuse now, but he doesn't know if he will be able to refuse in the future.

"Why, do you still want to give up on the third method?"

"..."

Silent as it is, Hercules is not a strictly 'righteous' person.

If it was just about killing a few people, he might have agreed.

But to achieve what he wants, Hercules may need to create a sea of ​​blood and corpses.

It is not difficult to come back from the dead, but it is difficult to survive.

It is extremely difficult for a mortal to achieve true "immortality".

After all, there are too many things in this world that can take the life of an immortal. Even Hercules himself cannot ignore the attack of divine power.

"If I agree now, maybe nothing will happen now."

"But after I have slaughtered countless lives, will I really still want to pay this price just to revive one person?"

tread--

Taking a step forward, a golden light appeared in Hercules' eyes.

Three questions, three thoughts, his divinity at this moment was like a short-lived and illusory flame ignited.

It burns flesh, bones, spirit, and itself.

It seemed like something was burned, but also like nothing was left.

But for some reason, Hercules felt a lot more relaxed.

"Ah."

"The pursuit of supreme power."

"Devour the wisdom of the wise."

"A cold, heartless heart."

"Zeus' will flows in your blood. If you were influenced by him once, why can't you be influenced by him a second time?"

With a faint smile, even if he had not seen it with his own eyes, Ryan was sure that the person Hercules wanted to resurrect had something to do with Zeus.

Because the only people in this world who could influence him were Hera, who had fed him, and Zeus, who had brought him divine blood.

But a true demigod would always reject these innate influences.

"Ah, warrior from Thebes, it seems that you are not satisfied with your previous three methods."

"What a picky young man. But it doesn't matter. As I said, there is little in this world that I don't know."

Although he seemed a little distressed, Ryan did not disappoint Hercules in the end.

He raised his hand for the last time and gently stroked the dome of the temple.

The shadows of Tartarus and Purgatory also disappeared, as if everything in this world had disappeared.

However, feeling the gradually extinguishing "flame" in his body, Hercules seemed to see something else.

"That is……"

All tangible things are gone, but all intangible things come into being.

Faintly, in that empty dome, Hercules felt as if he saw another world.

It corresponds to all material things in a distance, but it also contains all possibilities in the world.

"what is this?"

Hercules asked.

Standing on one side, Ryan replied with a smile.

"Naturally that's what you want, the last solution."

"Since you don't want the first three, there is only one way left for you."

"You are going to the spirit world, the real spirit world."

"It's not smuggling, it's not a mission for anyone, it's just for what you want."

“You will head west, find the correct entrance under Mount Odisha, which once supported the heaven and earth, and then begin a great adventure.”

"adventure?"

"Yes."

The smile remained, and Ryan opened his arms as if embracing the world.

"According to ancient rumors, at the beginning of all things, spirit and matter were born at the beginning of everything."

“Everything in the material world is born from this, and the spiritual master has pulled up seven layers of curtains and overlooks the world from the top of the spiritual mountain.

"And if you can follow the right path, pass through the veil that God has drawn in the world, and finally reach the top of the mountain of God..."

"Then whatever your wish is, it will surely be fulfilled."

"...the Lord...of the Spirit World?"

Hercules silently pronounced the name, and felt that although this was difficult, it was not impossible.

He didn't know how to impress an ancient god who was born at the beginning of creation, but if it was just to meet him, he felt he could still do it.

What's more, compared to stealing from other people's homes, he would rather meet the owner directly and talk to him.

So looking at the illusory dome, Hercules said seriously: "Thank you for your wisdom."

"If I can really accomplish what I want, I will also fulfill my promise."

"Not urgent."

Shaking his head slightly, Ryan turned his back to the young hero.

In front of him was a broken statue of Demeter, which was somewhat ironic in this temple that originally belonged to her.

"It's not an easy task to pass through the seven spiritual realms."

"You may have enough strength, but your experience, knowledge, wisdom and skills are far from enough."

"You need to hone yourself, but a few trials alone are not enough to make you perfect."

"You also need a mentor, someone who can really fill in the gaps for you."

"Where can such a person be found, in the starry sky, the sea, the mountains, or the netherworld?"

"It's just east of Athens, near the middle of the sea."

As he paced slowly, Ryan's voice seemed to have a hint of playfulness.

"This person meets my requirements, and he will definitely help you."

"You won't doubt him because you know he won't hurt you."

"As for his name, you've actually guessed it, right?"

“…Yes, you are right.

"I've already guessed it."

There will be no one else. There is only one person in the East China Sea who meets these requirements.

At the beginning of the era, he was the creator of bronze humans, the thief of heavenly fire, and the prophetic Titan god.

Prometheus is still imprisoned in the sea eye and tortured to warn the world.

······

wow——

"hiss--"

In the dim and dark void, a giant snake is crawling.

The time and space of the abyss are infinite, but in front of the giant snake, nothing is absolute.

In just a few swings, the Atrium Serpent arrived at the closest place to Hell and the Underworld, and then swung forward.

The barrier of time and space was penetrated, and the huge body came out into the outside world.

But it was only a moment. With the overflow of power, the big snake returned to the barrier before a few gazes could sweep over it.

He cannot leave the abyss for a short time... Fortunately, this is nothing to Him.

One is everything, and everything is one.

The will of the Serpent existed in every bit of his strength, and the same was true of the bit of strength he left.

Transformed into a small, pitch-black snake, the tiny incarnation swam through the underworld.

Swim across rivers of fire and swim along the banks of the Acheron.

It came to the human world, to the East China Sea, to the huge whirlpool.

At the end of the Second Age, another collision between the sun and the sea created this wound.

It is just like the Guixu in later legends, where thousands of rivers flow down but the bottom is not visible.

However, when you are actually in it, ordinary people cannot appreciate its enormity.

This vortex, which spreads over a thousand miles, is so huge that any living creature would think that they have arrived in a sea area where the flow is becoming increasingly turbulent.

Located above the vortex, the little black snake looked down.

However, perhaps because this was a wound caused by the sun, all the light and heat from the outside world could not approach here.

Even though the little snake knew that the bronze human creator was locked up here, he could not see any related images.

"hiss--"

"It's really troublesome. Wouldn't it be better to just make him my follower?"

"Let him kill and kill in the world. What if he follows the rumors of later generations and tries to 'prove his truth through killing'?"

The snake's tongue swayed slightly in the air, and the malice in its eyes almost overflowed.

Although they are essentially the same person, this does not mean that Orochi's views on things are the same as other parts.

In addition to the unified understanding of "self", the Atrium Snake also has many ideas of its own.

For example, he once thought of creating a Hercules to suppress the gods.

Anyway, he is destined to become a god, so he will not be punished by the rules of the world.

Then it is also possible to go a step further by suppressing the gods.

After all, he is the son of Zeus, and gods and laws are closely related.

Suppressing the gods can also be considered as suppressing the corresponding laws.

So if Hercules finally suppressed them all, did he use "tyrannical" means to obtain the "qualification to be king"?

Then maybe in the future, when the throne of the king of gods collapses, Hercules will be able to inherit Zeus's legacy and become the 'God of Kingship'.

"Although there are risks, it's worth a try... What a shame."

The snake's head swayed slightly, revealing a human expression of regret.

I don't know whether I am regretting that Hercules didn't take the "right path" or regretting that I didn't see the killing.

In short, the snake in the courtyard lingered here for a while, and finally swam downstream.

Ryan tells Hercules that he can come here and free Prometheus.

But just telling is meaningless, because it is the power of the God-King that locks Prometheus up.

So if you want to solve it...it's not that easy.

PS: I had something to do yesterday, so I added a paragraph to the end of the previous chapter title this morning, saying I would post it in the evening. But now it seems that this is not very intuitive, and many people did not notice it, so I will post a separate chapter next time.

Also, although this "evening" is a bit late, I still update at night, right? Emmm. Actually, it's so late mainly because I'm coding the second chapter. After all, I have something else to do today, so I'll post this one in advance and post it now.