Chapter 557: Kronos (7)

Rumble. The rumblings from the clash between the Titans and Gigantes at the Temple of the King of the Underworld reverberated, and the battle scenes seemed to come straight out of the old legends. The Titans, who could expand in size, picked up entire mountains to throw at the Gigantes. Fierce winds blew and wreaked havoc on Tartarus as they showed off their immense power.

The Gigantes countered the Titans' attacks and focused on tiring out their opponents. A few of the Gigantes stood out from the rest.

『Fall.』Boom! A few of the eight great gods of the Gigantes displayed their immense powers, throwing down lightning bolts and fireballs while using divine speech. Since they served under Persephone, Mother Earth had blessed them and given them the task of ruling over Olympus once the twelve Olympians fled.

Although Typhon and Syceus were missing, the rest of the great gods amply demonstrated how powerful the Gigantes were. They had lost their ownership of the temple and no longer controlled the holy territories, but the Gigantes still had a tremendous amount of power in Tartarus because of Mother Earth's blessing and influence. It seemed that they would soon have the Temple of the King of the Underworld within their grasp.

However, Persephone's attacks were the most shocking and overwhelming. Whoosh! She didn't move around the battlefield, and her powerful aura exerted so much pressure that none of the Titans could approach her, allowing her forces to attack as they wished.

Eyes opened in the shadows that swirled around her ankles. The shadows spread through the battlefield like tentacles, the eyes within the shadows moving to designated areas and pulling themselves upright. The shadows formed hundreds of black thorns and began attacking the Titans.

『Ah...!』 The pain-filled screams and cries of the Titan shook the sky. The black thorns relentlessly attacked the Titans and inflicted incredible damage. Although the Titans tried to clear the black thorns, they couldn't withstand the poison that had seeped inside their bodies, and they found it increasingly difficult to move.

『Hydra's...venom...how did they...?』

A single drop of Hydra's venom could disable and even kill lower-level gods. How did the Gigantes and their forces manage to obtain and utilize this poison? They could only make guesses. The Hydra was one of Typhon's monstrous offspring, and perhaps Typhon had provided the poison. However, Hercules had already killed the Hydra eons ago. The black thorns' poison also included more than just Hydra's venom—it also mixed in Nemean Lion's fangs, Chimera's flame, and other substances. Mother Earth's divine power combined all these elements together and infused the black thorns with them.

"Nothing is impossible for our great Mother Earth." Persephone laughed out loud.

Sss. The Titan's bodies were ravaged from the inside as the various divine powers rapidly spread.

『So it is...Mother Earth is finally...using the World Tree...』 A Titan managed to say a few words before becoming dust and scattering in the wind.

"How dare you try to read our Mother Earth's thoughts? Such an unworthy being. That is why unbelievers like you cannot be saved even after death. Hmph!" Persephone looked at the dead Titan with contemptuous eyes. She clucked her tongue and moved the shadow to its next target. She continued to direct the shadows on the battlefield, making it easier for the Gigantes to hunt down the Titans. She could change the tide of battle just with her presence, and she also controlled the Channel with the other hardworking great gods, guiding the Gigantes to an advantageous position in the war.

However, Persephone's frown did not let up. Their overwhelming amount of combat power allowed the Gigantes to gain the advantage, but they still made little progress in capturing the Temple of the King of the Underworld because of their enemies' strong defense.

'It was a huge loss to lose control over the center of Tartarus. That child, Athena, is the answer to regaining the upper hand.'

Mother Earth had always struggled to break free from the limitations of being a conceptual god. A concept was an embodiment of a natural law, which could be said to be truth itself. All transcendental beings longed for the seat of a conceptual god, but to Mother Earth, it was simply a shackle. She had birthed the entire world, and she had no desire to be locked up behind a concept.

She desired power commensurate with her hard work, which meant power over all dimensions and the universe. However, many gods and demons suppressed Mother Earth since they would not tolerate an absolutely powerful being. Mother Earth believed that she'd been suppressed and defeated because she was a conceptual god. Since she dealt with concepts, there was a limit to her ability to exert physical power and reason logically.

So, after much deliberation, Mother Earth decided to take special countermeasures. The first was to transcend the limits of her reasoning by possessing and acting through an alter ego. Thus, after a long search, Mother Earth chose someone compatible with her: Vieira Dune. When Vieira Dune invaded her using a Soulstone, Mother Earth allowed it to happen. Therefore, Mother Earth, who wanted an alter ego, and Vieira Dune, who longed to reach higher places of power, made a contract with each other.

Together, Mother Earth and Vieira Dune could have a clearer will based on reason. It was around this time that Mother Earth began to reappear in the world in earnest and reveal her ambitions. She strengthened Persephone and captured Olympus, and under the pretext of bringing Allforone down, she interacted more frequently with the godly societies.

In addition, she broke the first pact and tried to partner with the Crawling Chaos—an attempt that ended in failure. However, despite this misstep, she continued to progress smoothly.

Unfortunately, to fully manifest, she had to acquire a vessel or a physical body. Even though she possessed an ego, she would remain restricted as a conceptual god. What Mother Earth wanted the most was complete freedom from the constraints of the law of causality and the law of nature.

She needed a sturdy vessel, and she had chosen Sesha at first. However, the Devil Army, who wanted the child for their own purposes, kept interrupting her, and in the end, Yeon-woo had defeated them all. She tried to use the half-dragon Ananta as another vessel, but this also ended in failure when Yeon-woo broke into Walpurgisnacht.

In the end, she was forced to try to create a vessel instead, and she tried to use the Elohim clan as guinea pigs.

'However, even that failed.'

Yeon-woo was the problem. He always got in the way every time she tried to do something, and she couldn't help being angered by his opposition. Mother Earth possessed Vieira Dune's ego, but the Vieira Dune no longer existed. To attain higher levels of power, Vieira Dune had fundamentally changed, and she couldn't even recall any memories of her mortal life.

Even so, Yeon-woo hadn't let go of his grudges and blocked Mother Earth's efforts at every turn. It annoyed Mother Earth, but since Yeon-woo was a successor of the Black King, he could not be ignored.

'Mother, you're so obsessed with the King of the Underworld, who has the same background as Heaven Wing. It's probably because they possess clues about the Black King.' Mother Earth especially desired the powers of the Black King.

In the meantime, she had not given up on obtaining a vessel, and her next target was Athena. As soon as Persephone confirmed that Athena had returned to Tartarus, Mother Earth ordered Persephone to send out Syceus to capture Athena and bring her back alive. Mother Earth had singled out Syceus because she knew about his obsession with Athena.

'Athena, once I get my hands on her, things will go smoothly...!' As she thought about this, Persephone felt the strongest Channel connected to her cut off abruptly. Click! It was her Channel with Syceus.

Athena had defeated him? She'd believed that it would be impossible for Syceus to lose to Athena, and she'd stopped guiding him. She quickly read the remnants of the vestiges that Syceus left behind and discovered who had killed him—Yeon-woo.

Syceus' last memory was of Yeon-woo's smirk. Persephone was incredibly humiliated; it felt as though Yeon-woo was smirking at her. In fact, she was sure that this was a message for her. There was no way Yeon-woo did not know that she would see this. Persephone could not contain her anger and trembled visibly. '###...! Cain! It's you again! Again!'

Persephone exploded in anger. This guy always interfered with Mother Earth's various plans, had taken Typhon's life, and now this! Persephone recalled how Yeon-woo rejected her offer to negotiate a truce. She felt the humiliation of that time creeping up on her once more.

'No, not to the likes of you...!' Since the current situation showed no signs of improving, Persephone felt that she had to take other measures.

Rumble! Suddenly, the entire area, including the temple, shook violently. It was not a simple earthquake, and all the gods on the battlefield, including Persephone, froze. They quickly looked around with fearful, wary eyes. The Gigantes were stupefied. On the other hand, the Titans cheered. It was the unimaginable pressure of many supreme gods preparing to manifest at the same time.

Boom! Suddenly, the ground in front of the temple collapsed, and a large ridge suddenly rose up. It was a terrifying supreme god who had transformed into a monster with over a hundred hands and fifty heads.

"Briareos!" Persephone cried out in astonishment and fear as she saw the most powerful monster among the Hecatonchires appear. It was the offspring of Uranus and Gaia, conceived at the beginning of time.

When Zeus rebelled, the Hecatonchires had taken Zeus' side and led Zeus to victory. They later took roles as sentinels to watch over the Titans. Persephone couldn't understand why these monstrous beings were now appearing after such a long time.

Theia sat on Briareos' biggest head, looking at Persephone with a sly smile. It was only then that Persephone realized that the Titans had not rebelled without a plan. If Briareos and the other Hecatonchires took the Titans' side, the battle would turn into a stalemate. Persephone could not figure out why the Hecatonchires had taken the side of their enemies. However, the battle had just grown so perilous that a single mistake might mean not only failing to take the temple but also receiving so much damage that they would be forced to retreat.

At that moment, she saw Theia flying towards her. Persephone's face stiffened, and she flew to meet Theia. Black shadow thorns rose like porcupine quills and shot out at the Hecatonchires.

Boom! A powerful storm raged as the two goddesses collided.