Chapter 425 Missing
Under the gloomy sky, the sun was blocked by clouds.
The battlefield that had just been flooded was desolate.
Like a basin of cold water poured on their heads, the soldiers who longed for wealth and victory were hit hard.
At the same time, on a dangerous peak thousands of miles away from the Aigario Mountains, the gods looked at each other in silence.
The coalition forces were coming, and a grand war was about to take place.
And perhaps because of the rhythm from the priesthood, the god of war Ares seemed very excited in recent days.
Especially the Spartans who originally worshipped Apollo more than him were willing to obey the will of the gods this time, which made him feel even better.
However, when he was loudly talking about his martial arts and describing the fighting skills to the goddesses, he never expected to see such a scene.
There was no impact of the battle formation, no collision of courage, and no contest of martial arts.
Those Athenians just used the water to break through the camp, and a massacre followed.
The Mycenaean pioneer warriors didn't even have time to see each other's faces before their chests were pierced by the knights following closely behind.
Most of them didn't even have time to put on their armor, and they became another dead soul under the lance.
All this happened so fast that Ares didn't have time to react.
So much so that he was just praising courage and martial arts, and the next moment someone told him that these were not always useful.
"... This is a despicable act, a shameless conspiracy!"
"If both sides set up their battle formations, even if they were the elite knights of the Athenians, we couldn't fail so easily!"
Gnashing his teeth, even though Mycenae was not a city-state that worshipped Ares as the main god, the god of war still looked very angry at this moment.
This was not in line with the rules, nor the aesthetics of war.
They should have the heroes of both sides duel in front of the battle, and then the winner would be in high spirits and attack the loser.
Borrowing the power of nature to win is simply a morally corrupt act!
"Ahem, but they did."
"So Ares, what are you going to do?"
Among the gods, a special existence spoke.
Ares looked in the direction of the voice, but only saw a mask made of gold.
It was a chair suspended in the air, with a hazy halo around it that blocked his sight.
A sturdy but somewhat short man was sitting on it.
It was this cripple again...Even though the mask blocked his face, Ares still couldn't hide his disgust.
If the other party didn't have some skills, what qualifications would he have to stand here with him?
"Humph - this shameless behavior should be condemned, and everyone should despise the behavior of the Athenians!"
Gritting his teeth, Ares finally squeezed out such a sentence.
And he also knew that this was actually nonsense.
In the classical era, no matter which civilization or which world, human wars did seem to be somewhat polite.
Perhaps because of the small population in the ancient times, or perhaps because of the inconvenient transportation, the simple killing and occupation of land did not make much sense.
In short, whether in the West or the East, they all had an era of "etiquette" on the battlefield.
For example, do not attack injured knights, for example, when chasing the enemy, if you see that the enemy's chariot is damaged, you should help them repair it first, then watch them continue to run, and then continue to chase.
For example, you cannot attack the enemy crossing the river, you cannot attack the army formation that is not yet prepared, etc.
Of course, all these "courtesy" are not permanent, and they will often be gradually abandoned with the development of the times.
Just like "the first blow is strong, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted", the beginning of this story is just a victory of a person who abandoned "etiquette" over those who abide by "etiquette".
It's just that with the subsequent collapse of "etiquette", this has become a manifestation of wisdom.
Today, Chaos is also in such an era.
Although there are so-called commonly known rules between countries, not everyone will implement them.
Similar behaviors are common, not to mention that Athens is already the target of public criticism, so there is no point in condemning their behavior.
"No way, no way. What's the point of saying this?"
With a sneer, the god on the suspended chair received an angry look, but Hephaestus did not react.
Although he appeared here, it did not mean that he had any interest in attacking Athens.
It was just that since Aphrodite came to invite him personally, he would give her some face.
"I think what the god of craftsman said makes sense, and Ares, I have a lot of things to do here."
"If there is nothing, I'm afraid I will leave first."
At the edge of the circle, Apollo, dressed and handsome, held a lyre.
Like Hephaestus, he was also one of the gods who was pulled here.
If it weren't for the request of the mother goddess Leto, he would not have come at all.
What does Athens have to do with him...As for what Leto asked him to do, it's actually very simple.
Because Apollo's sister, Artemis, is in Athens.
Apollo didn't know very much about why his sister didn't grow up with him.
But no matter how the process was, it didn't affect his obedience to Leto's request.
After all, to be honest, Apollo and Leto can be regarded as the rare model mother and son in Chaos.
Not only have they never had any conflicts, but on the contrary, they have a very close relationship.
But come back, Apollo is not here to listen to nonsense.
"Speaking of which, you really should learn from Athena."
"Facts have proved that wisdom is more likely to lead to victory in war, while courage and martial arts are still far behind."
This is not a mockery, Apollo really thinks so.
However, when this sentence fell into Ares' ears, it was not the case.
"Far behind? It's a joke. This battle is not commanded by me. This failure is only due to the incompetence of those mortals."
Ares shouted angrily, his eyes were cold.
"Apollo, since you like to talk nonsense so much, why don't you show your archery skills and shoot those Athenians to death!"
"If you can't do it, don't talk nonsense here!"
"Can't do it?"
"Hehe, Ares, Athens is still too far away from me, but you are quite close."
"Why don't you bear the trouble first and try my arrows!"
Hearing this, Apollo also changed his color and held the silver bow from behind.
The invisible momentum collided in the void, as if the two would fight in the next second.
But the next moment, as a lightning struck between the two, the solemn atmosphere was immediately stopped.
"Enough!"
With an ugly face, Hera didn't know what sin she had committed, and she always encountered such things.
It was just a mob. If they were not gods, they would not even be as good as the mortal Odysseus.
After all, although he didn't have such strong power and immortality, he was at least organizing the wounded and looking for a place to stay.
Instead of being like them, only knowing meaningless quarrels and infighting.
"Okay, since you are all useless, I will do it myself."
With a blank expression, Hera first looked at the goddess of beauty.
He is not good at doing things, but good at making trouble. This is the guy.
"Aphrodite, didn't you say that you can let Demeter join us completely? Where is she now?"
"I...how do I know she can be so tolerant..."
With a bit of an ugly face, Aphrodite was a bit speechless.
Is Demeter a cotton ball? What is she doing now?
"It seems that she can't be counted on - I know you can't do anything."
Ignoring the goddess of beauty whose face was getting worse and worse, Hera looked at her son who was conceived alone again.
Hephaestus, Hera's feelings for him were also a bit complicated.
When Zeus found him, Hera was surprised.
But when the other party was canonized as the main god and married the daughter of Eurynome, she did not stop him.
A god born out of his jealousy, he was born ugly.
But when he grew up, his abilities were extraordinary.
But no matter what, since he is here now, he has to play a role.
"Hephaestus, I want you to make a set of armor for the heroes of the world. It must be indestructible and hard to be hurt by anything."
"This should not be difficult for you."
"It is not difficult, but it will take several months."
Speaking lightly, Hephaestus seemed to be responding to the request of a strange god.
"Okay, it will take about the same amount of time for the kingdoms of mortals to gather together."
Seeing a satisfactory response, Hera looked at Apollo again.
"Apollo, I don't have any requirements for you."
"But you drive in the sky every day, so I think you can see all kinds of things in the world."
"I want you to help the mortal army solve the crisis at a critical moment. This is not difficult for you."
"I know, I will do it myself when I see Artemis."
Nodding in agreement, Apollo did not have a good impression of this queen who had persecuted his mother and son.
But since they have a common goal now, let's just agree to it for now.
"Yeah."
Nodding slightly, Hera went on to arrange some things.
Although they are outnumbered, a lion will use all its strength to fight a rabbit, not to mention that Athena is not a rabbit.
"Unfortunately, Zephyrus is not here."
"He is much stronger than Aphrodite. If she hadn't acted on her own, Demeter might have been "rescued" instead of hiding somewhere now."
Thinking this way, Hera felt a little annoyed.
'Hercules', Hera's glory.
She knew that this mortal was gifted, but she still didn't plan to contact him directly.
After all, their direct grievances were long-standing.
She still remembered the day when Zeus and Alcmene gave birth to this child, and the God King also declared that his next offspring would have a promising future and would achieve great things in the future.
So she used the divine power of reproduction to let another offspring of Zeus be born first, destroying his plan.
Alcmene was so frightened that she dared not raise the child, so she abandoned him in the field.
But perhaps it was a coincidence of fate that Hera happened to pass by the field on the same day.
She saw that the abandoned child was cute, so she chose to feed him with her own milk.
The milk of the gods has extraordinary power, not to mention Hera, the queen of fertility.
Perhaps Hercules' extraordinaryness was established from birth, and so was his name.
Because although the child returned to his biological mother by coincidence after several turns, Hera also tried to send a poisonous snake to kill him after she understood.
But as Hera's adopted son, he still got the name of 'Heraculus', which can never be erased.
So Hera's attitude towards him is also complicated.
She did not use means to persecute him, but she did not intend to have anything to do with him anymore.
"Zeus, huh... you really like him."
Hera sneered. The place where Zephyros was was probably a certain manifestation of Zeus' will.
So Zephyros's attention to Hercules was equivalent to Zeus's attention.
I don't know what's so special about him that Zeus cares so much?
But it's probably not a good thing. After all, few people and gods who are concerned by Zeus have encountered good things.
······
On the nameless mountain, Hera was thinking about the whereabouts of the god of the west wind.
In the east of the earth, the armies of various countries were also slowly gathering.
However, at this moment, Zephyros, who was worried about by the queen of heaven, was not at ease.
Following the order of the God King, he finally convinced the special mortal to do what he wanted, but who knew that the first trial would go wrong.
It was agreed that Demeter would be trapped in the city, but she disappeared.
This made the West Wind God, who later knew the cause and effect, secretly curse Aphrodite for looking for trouble, but he had to clean up the mess.
So he immediately arranged a second task, asking Hercules to go to the north of the continent to hunt a powerful demon lion.
Zephyros didn't know much about the lion.
He just knew that it was rampant in the north and was not even afraid of Apollo's bow.
But no matter what it was, Zephyros didn't think Hercules would fail.
Even if he really encountered difficulties, he still had him.
When Perseus went on an adventure, he brought a set of artifacts with him.
Of course, whenever possible, he would let Hercules solve it himself.
After all, this was a trial for him and a way to exercise his abilities.
But...
"But where are they?"
Turning into invisible wind, Zephyros wandered over an ancient forest that stretched for hundreds of miles.
This is the north of Athens, a place that is getting colder and more desolate.
But there are always all kinds of surprises in the mythological world, such as this place.
But these are not taken care of by the god of the west wind. What really bothers him is that he followed Hercules all the way, but lost him after resting for a while.
Where can he run to such a big living person?
"Damn it, although my skills in hiding my whereabouts are unparalleled in the world, finding people is really not my forte..."
With an ugly face, Zephyros remembered the only mistake in his life.
At that time, the second generation of the gods was still in power, and he was responsible for monitoring whether anyone had sneaked into the Delphi Plain where Gaia was.
In the end, I don't know how, Iapetus ran in.
This is definitely not because of his poor ability to hide his whereabouts, but it can only be said that he didn't see it.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the ability of the ancient sun god 'High-altitude Overlooker'."
"Otherwise, how could I have such a loophole."
Gnashing his teeth secretly, but then, the God of the West Wind comforted himself again.
No god is invincible, and gods always have weaknesses.
Since God has given him an ability, it seems that there is nothing wrong with giving him a deficiency.
He quickly calmed down, but Zephyrus knew that he still had to find someone, and he had to find it himself first.
If Zeus knew that he couldn't even do this little thing well, it would probably damage his image in front of the King of Gods.
