[Greek mythology] Apollo's counterattack plan

a new day.

After the rosy dawn ended, Helios, the sun god, sprinkled golden light on the boundless sea and the magical land on the sea—Atlantis.

There are no mountains and lakes here, only low mounds and towering temples built on them.All the buildings are neatly arranged together, forming several concentric circles, surrounding the huge brass-colored pillar in the center of the continent.

Between the gray and white temples, there are dotted with green trees and grass, as well as countless thick marble pillars, like sharp swords with handles, piercing straight into the sky.

The hares are jumping in the grass, the birds are singing on the branches, the breeze is passing through the forest, and the waves are rushing onto the beach.

There is no lack of vitality on this continent. However, it is strange that other things that should appear, such as city-states surrounded by high walls, heavily guarded palaces, bustling markets, and busy mortals, are instead. not a single one.

On the huge piece of land, there are only temples one after another and a group of priests in robes shuttling between the colonnades.

It turns out that Atlantis is not a continent, but a general term for ten continents.However, these ten pieces of land are not scattered side by side on the sea, but are strung together by a huge copper pillar like ten pearls. Only the top piece is exposed to the water, and the rest are all Buried at different depths below the sea surface, it is suspended steadily with the support of the pillars.Below all the continents is the quiet and deep seabed, which is where the Sea God Temple is located.

These continents should have been submerged by the sea, but Poseidon used his divine power to push back the sea, making it stand upright like a wall, surrounding the ten continents, and this provided enough life for the inhabitants of the land. space.

The Pillars of Atlantis in the middle of the continent are deeply rooted in the seabed.The part that emerges from the water constantly absorbs sunlight, turning itself into a luminous body for the remaining nine continents to illuminate.And those hollow marble columns transport the air continuously, and at the same time, they also serve as passages for residents to travel between different continents.

Of course, without the permission of the Sea God, ordinary people can only move about on a few pieces of land below the water surface, and are not allowed to come to the surface of the sea.Only the most devout priests enjoy the privilege of being showered with fresh sunlight every day.

In other words, the entire Atlantis is a strictly controlled place where you can only enter and cannot exit.

When Apollo learned this basic situation from Triton, he felt from the bottom of his heart that Poseidon is really a god who is even more asshole than Zeus.

And as a prisoner of this sea tyrant, his life is much worse now than it was in Olympos.

Don't even think about going to the piece of land above the sea.The sun has not been seen for a long time.The other continents and the Sea God Temple where Poseidon and Terry live together allow him to come and go freely, but what's the use, he's still bored every day.

Because of this, he couldn't wait to get out of this ghostly place, but so far, the plan has not gone well.

He first politely proposed to Triton that he wanted to borrow his conch to play with, but that stingy guy would change the subject with a smile every time, and would not borrow anything, even letting him conch. It doesn't work even if you look at it.

Then, he tried to grab it hard.

Apollo thought that with his divine power, even if he couldn't beat the sea god, he would be more than enough to kill the sea prince.

As a result, Triton never confronted him head-on. As long as he made a move, he would run away immediately. The long fish tail was like the body of a snake, extremely slippery, and could slide far away with just a few twists.Apollo couldn't even catch it, let alone snatch something from him.

After several times, he had no choice but to give up and find other ways.

This morning, Triton rarely stayed in the Sea God Temple, but went out to run some errands.Apollo couldn't wait for it, so he refused the company of a group of attendants and maids, and went out alone.

He went straight through the wall made of seawater, to the room where the marble pillars were, and then got into the hollow pillars, and climbed up the revolving stone ladder.

This is a passage exclusively used by everyone in the Sea God Temple, and no one else is using it, so on the long stone steps, only his footsteps echoed.The candles on the stone wall gave off a dim yellow light, flickering occasionally with the breeze brought by his walking.

Having just climbed to the ninth floor of the continent, Apollo couldn't bear this extremely boring state, and refused to climb up again, so he immediately got out of the stone pillar.

The exit is a room inside the temple, and there is no guard at the door.He walked out swaggeringly, and when he passed the altar, he even took a gold wine glass.

I met countless priests along the way, and all of them stared at him dumbfounded, but no one came forward to ask.

Apollo felt a tinge of regret.

He was looking forward to someone finding fault, so that he could find a chance to fight.

After leaving the temple, bypassing the palace, and passing through a residential area, you will arrive at the busiest market.

He wandered the streets aimlessly, trying to find interesting gadgets.

It can be seen from the satisfied expressions of the residents and the dazzling array of commodities on the street that Atlantis is a land of rich products.

However, the things placed on the stalls are either food or clothing. Even if there is an occasional wood carving and stone statue, the simple and dull shape is horrible.

All the characters are looking straight ahead, with their hands drooping, like a well-behaved guard standing guard, with no movements, no curves, and no artistic beauty at all.

Apollo looked at them one by one with little interest, and was about to go back home when something suddenly flashed in front of him, making his whole eyes light up.

It was a small corner of the bazaar.

A blue and white headscarf was spread on the ground, with some seafood scattered on it.The most eye-catching are several semi-circular shells and the huge pearls displayed in them.

The shiny luster caused passers-by to stop one after another, but most of them just admired it, and left in a hurry without even daring to ask the price.

Although Atlantis was facing the sea, the residents did not dare to rush into the sea due to its depth below the sea surface—the huge pressure alone was enough to kill them.And the wall of water surrounding the continent is not like ocean waves, it will surge towards the shore wave after wave, so there are very few shells and the like that are washed to the shore.

In this way, gadgets that are commonplace in other city-states have become priceless treasures here.

Therefore, there are always some courageous and agile young people who stand on the edge of the mainland, waiting for the rare gift from the sea, and at the same time carefully avoid being drawn into the sea.

The owner of this small stall is one of them.

He is a young man with black hair and black eyes, with slender limbs, strong muscles, a high nose bridge, and deep eyes. He can be said to be a most beautiful young man.It's just that the expression is cold, and people don't want to get close when they see it.

He kept his head down, staring at the treasures that he almost sacrificed his life for, as if he had never heard of the hustle and bustle of the market.

Although it took most of the day and nothing was sold, he was not in a hurry.

He is waiting, waiting for someone who really knows the goods.

He knew the value of these things, just those few beautiful big pearls were enough to make those noble ladies and ladies fight over their heads.

Of course, it wasn't those small milky white beads that attracted Apollo - this thing was as ordinary as pebbles in his temple of light, and could be seen everywhere.

What caught his eyes was a conch next to the shell.

Off-white shell, spiral patterns, brown spots, and three gold borders on the body of the snail.

This is almost exactly the same as the one in Terry's hand.

Apollo has long suspected that the conch in the hands of the Sea Prince may not be special, because it looks like a natural thing, unlike Poseidon's trident, which is carefully crafted by hand. become.

The reason why there is such a miraculous effect should be the use of divine power when blowing the conch.Or, this conch species is a bit special?

However, after thinking about it, Apollo has never had a chance to verify it.He had no idea where to find a similar one.

What I never expected was that this opportunity was far away and close at hand.

The God of Light touched the golden wine glass in his pocket, and secretly sighed that he was so prescient.No matter how precious that conch is, the price should be enough.

As soon as he moved his feet, he walked towards that corner.

Before I got to the front, I heard a passer-by squatting in front of the small stall saying: "Plato, I will exchange a hundred barrels of wine for this pearl, will you sell it or not?"

"Not for sale." The boy named Plato refused straight away.

"Then, let's make a price."

"Two hundred barrels."

"It's too expensive," the man exclaimed. "Less. I'm your regular customer."

Plato didn't speak, but shook his head.

"Well then," the man seemed to know his temper well and didn't bother, "Who pleases my mistress. I'll take the pearl. Should the wine be put in my cellar first? Or send it immediately to your house?"

"Let it go to you first." Plato said.

The man carefully closed the shell and put it in the innermost pocket of his robe.Judging from his expression, he didn't suffer from this deal.

When it was Apollo's turn, he took out the golden cup, waved it to Plato's eyes, and put it on the ground.

The boy's pupils shrank.

Apollo thought he was moved, so he smiled confidently, "Is it okay to exchange a cup for that conch?"

After a while, Plato exhaled a sigh of relief and answered concisely: "No."