Chapter 530 Underground

Passing through nine layers of clouds, stepping on the sea of ​​clouds underfoot.

It didn't take long before the Olympus Mountains were in sight.

Lifted by a ball of flame, Hestia crossed the rows of various palaces and went straight to the entrance of the Golden Palace at the top of the sacred mountain.

The palace of the God King is as solemn and solemn as ever, with divine splendor spreading all around.

What surprised the goddess was that the gate of the temple was closed tightly at this moment, and she could not feel any breath of Zeus.

"Where is the God King? Where has he gone?"

Zeus was obviously not here. His thoughts swept up and down the sacred mountain, but Hestia still found no trace of him.

Frowning slightly, the Kitchen Goddess had no choice but to ask the two guards at the door who were acting as decorations.

If her guess was correct, her brother was probably out having fun again... Hestia pursed her lips and didn't know what to say to him.

In the final analysis, if we rule out the premise that Hera is the guardian of marriage, this is just a personal hobby of Zeus.

I was already prepared to have no results before asking, but what surprised the goddess again was that the two guards at the door unexpectedly gave the answer.

"Reporting to His Majesty, His Majesty returned to the Holy Mountain from Hades not long ago. After summoning the Goddess of Life and the God of Craftsman, he left in a hurry."

"Before he left, His Majesty made an announcement. Soon he would have something important to announce, and all the gods in heaven and earth who are willing to obey him would be present. But because His Highness was not at the Holy Mountain at the time, I had to convey it on his behalf."

"In addition to you, the gods in the underworld and the ocean are also included in the invitation. Since His Majesty the God of Winds is not here, Her Majesty Iris, the attendant of the Queen of Heaven, will personally convey the message on your behalf."

"Important things?"

Hestia was slightly startled when she heard this. Hestia did not expect to get such a result.

There was some doubt in her heart, but she did not ask, because the two guards were obviously just conveying Zeus's will, and they could not know what happened.

However, she had not encountered such a serious notice for a long time. In addition, Pluto and Neptune had not been on the ground for a long time.

What on earth was going on that was worthy of Zeus going to such great lengths to go to war, even to the point of recalling all the brothers they disliked to each other to the sacred mountain?

Her expression softened slightly, Hestia still didn't know that her other brother had already returned to her father.

The goddess only felt that Zeus had done something good. When he announced the big event, he at least remembered his brother who was far away.

It would be nice to get together, since the three brothers separated, there was almost no time to get together. If there was a chance, she would also like to hear them talk about their lives in the sea and Hades.

A place like the underworld does seem a lot more desolate and lonely.

"Okay, I understand, you can continue to guard this place."

He nodded slightly, then turned and left. Since Zeus is not here, there is no need for the Goddess of Fire to stay long.

Although matters in this world are important, we should not rush them.

After all, for gods, even though the Olympus gods are more aware of the length of time than the former Titan gods, they still do not regard the short time in their eyes.

Just like the turbulence on the sea, although it is very obvious to some people, few people notice it to the gods on the earth.

At most, they were aware of the abnormal turmoil in the East China Sea, but no one would think that the Sea Emperor, the immortal god consecrated by the Divine Court, had left the world just like that.

In their eyes, Poseidon has caused some trouble at most, and is probably cultivating in his own territory now.

Anyway, affairs on the sea have always been handled by the ancient sea gods, and whether there is Poseidon or not does not seem to be that important.

······

If in today's era, Mount Olympus is the center of the east of the earth, then the entire east of the earth can be regarded as the center of the human world.

Even after exhausting the development of mortals for thousands of years, human beings have only occupied the vast land east of the sacred mountain, and more places are still primitive and wild.

Since the fall of Typhon, countless demons have spread across the land, and evil things that are difficult to eradicate have grown everywhere.

The weeds on the roadside, the birds and beasts on the mountainside, even a piece of soil or a stone may all be affected by the strange sunlight that once briefly illuminated the world, and become completely different from their previous selves.

Even though the gods encircled and suppressed it several times, there was still no success in the end. Because they are endless and they kill endlessly.

As long as there is a little spark left, it may reappear after a long time. Therefore, the gods had no choice but to seize the big ones and let go the small ones, turning a deaf ear to the vast majority of evil objects that were not of a sufficient level.

Since then, evil gods who accidentally gained godhood, criminals who were expelled from the human kingdom, and even some intelligent beings that are different from humans.

Most of these beings who were rejected by human nations and gods moved here and continued to survive through slash-and-burn farming.

In response, the gods had no choice but to give up tracking them.

After all, in a world where the power of the true God cannot be displayed, it is undoubtedly as difficult as ascending to heaven to purge the entire earth.

As long as the main body of humanity is in their hands, there is no need to kill all these losers.

And just today, west of Mount Olympus, across the endless mountains and rivers, near a remote stream, a group of strange and beautiful beings walked out of a dark hole one after another.

The cave is so deep that the bottom cannot be seen, as if it goes straight to the core of the earth.

They groped their way out cautiously. Although it looked like it was not their first time on the ground, their fear of the human world was clearly evident in their behavior.

Tread...

Move in a uniform manner and try not to cause any extra noise.

He nimbly crossed the seemingly ordinary bushes and tree stumps, and inadvertently checked the traps he had set when he arrived last time.

After patrolling an area thousands of steps in diameter, there was no sign of any trap being triggered.

It's hard to say whether this is a bad thing or a good thing. The group of people returned to the starting position. A trace of regret flashed in the eyes of the leader, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

They came here for "hunting", but the results of hunting are often accompanied by a crisis of life and death.

Even though her loyalty to her 'mother' was absolutely the same, she knew clearly that death and death were different after witnessing a horrific scene.

Being killed by 'prey' is different from others. Those depraved and evil beings will not let the dead sleep peacefully.

She cannot return to nature after death, which is the source of her fear.

"Keep moving forward."

"Direction, true north."

The leader spoke, and pleasant but not human language came out of his mouth.

Seeing that he was not found, the fellow travelers behind him also breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to continue the unfinished task before.

Every time they come to the surface, they will expand the scope of exploration and set up new traps.

Until one day, they caught enough 'prey' here, or attracted beings beyond their imagination, and then their death declared that this exit was classified as a restricted area.

This cycle starts over and over again.

After all, except for a very few very stable passages, which can even go down to the Hades world at the bottom of the world, most of the passages to and from the ground are sometimes stable and sometimes broken.

With the underground turmoil they call the 'Mother Earth's Breath', new cracks will always be born. So for them, there is never a shortage of portals to the ground if they want to find them.

After just taking a short rest, the group continued to carefully explore the surroundings.

Follow the river and keep going.

After arriving at the edge of the previously explored area, the short distance of a few hundred steps took these handsome creatures a long time to walk.

It wasn't until sunset was approaching that the leader took a look at the sky and prepared to return with regret and joy.

It was another day of futility, but that was indeed the case for them most of the time.

"alright."

“Let’s stop here for today and wait until we continue next time.

"Get ready, the rear team becomes the front team, and retreat one by one. Remember to be careful..."

"--etc!"

The originally low voice suddenly became urgent, and then he raised his hand sharply. At the leader's signal, the group stopped immediately.

Because of their position, the people behind could not see beyond the first person's field of vision, let alone what she saw. But under her urgent order, the overall movements of the team appeared neat and standardized.

In an instant, the only sound left in the entire forest was the sound of rapid breathing and the sound of leaves in the wind. Only the leader continued to observe his findings carefully.

On the other side of the river, two thousand steps away, a few green flesh worms on a tall ancient tree were eating the fallen leaves, and some were spinning out white filaments to weave themselves cocoons of transformation. house.

Creatures and nature coexist harmoniously together, and it looks no different from other places.

However, such an ordinary scene was not so in the eyes of the leader. A trace of fear and excitement flashed in the dark pupils.

There, a trace of light red lines vaguely wrapped around the body of a caterpillar, as inconspicuous as a natural pattern.

If any human were here, they would probably think that this was just accidentally contaminated resin, or an alien species that accidentally mutated among the caterpillars.

But for the captain who had come into contact with the 'prey' more than once, she knew very well what it was.

This represents an opportunity for them and a natural disaster for the area.

"Recorder, record."

"Crack No. 8-3-7251, a life carrying [Scars of Corruption] was discovered today."

"The source of the corruption is unknown, but preliminary estimates should not exceed 'high-level evil objects'. They can be hunted and then sacrificed to the Great Mother. After returning, they can ask for support."

"Now, continue with my previous orders."

Check out the 16-9 book bar to see the correct version!

"The rear team becomes the front team, we retreat carefully."

There was no response, but the entire team turned and retreated in unison.

Just as careful as when we came, we didn't make any noise on the road.

Until they returned to the dark cave entrance, nothing happened again.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, the leader took one last look at the dense forest by the river. She knew that when she came here next time, there might not be any living creatures here.

When traces of corruption are discovered in an area, everything there will soon be contaminated. They are the tentacles of the Mother of Flesh and Blood, touching the divine power of [life] in that dirty way.

Only great mothers can save all this, and they are the staunchest guards in protecting nature.

Salsa…

The figure disappeared at the entrance of the cave, and the forest fell into silence again.

Thousands of steps away from the cave entrance, by the river, that special caterpillar continued to eat the leaves. Only the silent trees around it witnessed what was happening.

After a long time, when the sun sets and everything returns to the darkness, life on earth falls into deep sleep.

In the deep night, a plain voice suddenly comes from the forest.

"..."

"How is it? I've seen it, it should meet your requirements."

"Compared with humans, isn't there any difference?"

The voice startled a flock of flying birds, and the next moment, as if they had been there from the beginning to the end, two figures appeared silently in the air.

Zeus did not hide his admiration as he swept his eyes across the hole that led directly to the ground not far away.

"It's really not bad, and even with the level they show, it has surpassed more than 99% of humans."

"Although the power is not strong, it's just because they don't have the blood of gods... But sometimes, this shortcoming is exactly what I need."

"I didn't expect that you would have such an achievement in the field of creation."

Elves, or 'dark elves'.

Once created by the Lord of Darkness with the help of the Goddess of Life, intelligent life.

They have been active underground in Chaos for a long time, but Zeus only noticed their existence recently.

And he was shocked at the sight of them.

Without experiencing the evolution of three generations of humans and without holding the power of [life], the Lord of Darkness actually created this kind of life group that evolved independently and could provide faith.

In contrast, Zeus himself had made more than one attempt in secret, but the life he finally created was either a human subspecies that could not escape the barriers, or an existence that could not provide enough faith like the golden generation in the past.

More often, the reincarnation of the spiritual world did not recognize that this was an independent life at all, and never cast a soul on it.

It was because of the failure that Zeus knew how difficult it was.

The gods on the earth went through four generations before there were today's humans.

And Erebus only made a little move to create such a perfect race.

Even if these elves did not have their own "creator" and the relatively rare number, I am afraid that these elves would have the ability to replace humans.

For a moment, the God King's originally swollen heart calmed down again.

With the help of the power of the "One Day Fruit" to take on most of the power of the King of Ten Thousand Monsters, Zeus thought he had gradually caught up with the gap with these primitive gods.

But now it seems that he is still far behind.

"It's just a casual creation, not worth mentioning."

"In fact, I have never paid attention to their life or death."

He spoke lightly, admitting this point.

However, Erebus obviously did not intend to explain the fact that he got the bodies of foreign elves and dwarves from Svartalfheim, the country of darkness and the underground, and then easily created life on this basis.

After all, he has also made localized improvements to make them look more in line with the aesthetics of the Chaos Protoss. So from this perspective, there is nothing wrong with saying that this is what he created.

"Okay, Zeus, tell me your reasons."

"I remember that you were not as eager for the abyss as you are now. What's wrong? Did you suffer another loss at sea, so you want to get back at me?"

"You should be able to deal with a projection of power... Is this a small matter worth coming to see me?"

With calm and indifferent eyes, the Lord of Darkness's gaze swept across the God King, and finally fell on the hole that led directly to the ground, as if he saw the underworld behind him

During the conversation, he seemed to be uninterested in Zeus' previous proposal. But only he knew that he was also eager to try at this moment.

Not long ago, Zeus's incarnation came all the way to the underworld just to chase the god who was in charge of [Sleep], but finally stopped in front of the realm of eternal night.

He asked the three-headed demon dog what happened here, and then left his own methods. However, from beginning to end, he seemed to have forgotten that there was a third witness there.

The realm of eternal night and lightlessness enveloped the underworld and surrounded the entire space and time. So Erebus also saw what happened at the door.

However, unlike Zeus's various speculations about Nyx, he was not surprised that the god of sleep could walk into the eternal night.

Countless years ago, he had witnessed the other party walking out like this, and there was nothing special about walking back now.

And Nyx probably never paid attention to him at all, just as the other party had never cared about the ruthless gods of the underworld born from the power of the eternal night.

It's just that Erebus didn't care about the existence of Hypnos, but it didn't mean that he didn't care about other things.

That day, the Lord of Darkness, who had watched everything, suddenly remembered that although he had been paying attention to Ryan, he seemed to have overlooked something.

He still remembered that when he first fought with Ryan, it was the turn of the second and third eras. He followed the power in the soul of the silver human and discovered the birth of the interface in the abyss. It was also from that day that he had the idea of ​​breaking free from the shackles.

As a primitive god, Erebus knew very well how chaotic the time sequence of Tartarus was.

Ten thousand years in the outside world, but he didn't know how much time had passed in his heart.

Maybe hundreds of thousands of years, maybe millions of years. Although time has no meaning to him, after so many years, what happened to the interface in the abyss? What changes did he undergo? Did he encounter any problems?

Those who don't plan for eternity are not qualified to plan for the present moment.

The Lord of Darkness didn't know this, but he undoubtedly wanted to know.

In addition, he had some unknown plans.

In short, since the creation of the Dark Elves, Erebus has been imitating them even if he doesn't know why.

So even if Zeus didn't come to him, he would find a reason to arouse his interest later.

With the current God King in front of him, his goal would undoubtedly be much smaller.