Chapter 1076: Mother of Monsters

Arima

"Dimension of Monsters"

Olympus Universe

Oktovrios 19th

Year 856 of the 50th General Calendar.

The dwelling place of the ’Queen of Monsters’ was a dimension she had created with her own power, located not too far from the place where her mate, Typhon, had been sealed away by Zeus.

The dimension was filled with the various creatures she had given birth to, as well as their long lines of descendants.

There were many famous creatures in Olympus among her children, from the Nemean Lion to the Great Chimaera, Orthrus, and even Hades’ guard dog, Cerberus.

If one climbed the genealogy tree of the famous monsters of Olympus, all of them had Echidna’s blood flowing through their veins, be it small or large.

Echidna didn’t just have many children, but also had relationships with several other men besides Typhon in order to have diverse children.

Even the Hero god of Olympus, Heracles, was one of such men.

Some stories said that Echidna had asked for this as compensation because Heracles had killed many of her children, including the Nemean Lion.

Regardless of the true reason, Echidna did have children with Heracles.

If one boiled it down, then Heracles had allowed her to bear his children as compensation for having killed her children.

It was a crazy story, but Olympus was full of many such crazy stories.

When Alexia’s spaceship got close, Arthur cast a glance towards the Hydra, who was finally able to walk without falling on its face every few steps.

It still looked awkward, though.

"You certainly don’t look happy for someone returning home after a hundred millennia."

At Arthur’s words, the Hydra simply narrowed its eyes.

"Mother doesn’t care about her children after they become independent," it said. "It was well within her capability to free me from that prison, but she didn’t."

There was no way Echidna didn’t know what had happened to the Hydra, as well as the location where it had been trapped.

But she’d simply let it be and never came to its rescue.

What’s more, she even had children with Heracles, the same man who had imprisoned it and killed its sibling, the Nemean Lion.

Thinking about this, Arthur couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle quietly while the ship moved through the crack in space that served as the dimension’s entrance.

The ship travelled through a sea of darkness for several minutes before the twinkling lights of distant stars gradually began appearing.

Also appearing alongside those distant lights were ginormous glowing eyes that locked onto the ship from every direction, each one exuding obvious hostility.

Feeling that hostility, Arthur raised an eyebrow and spoke.

|What? Y’all want to go again?|

|!!!|

The creatures hidden within the darkness flinched at the sound of his voice, their glowing eyes widening in recognition before obvious traces of fear appeared within them.

The Hydra was shocked upon noticing the fear in their gazes, as well as how many of them immediately scampered away at the sound of Arthur’s voice, before turning its eyes towards Arthur with an incredulous expression.

’Just what did he do here before?’

The moment that thought crossed its mind, a bewitching voice echoed throughout the space surrounding them.

|Please, I’d rather you not try to kill my children again. Just come over, and bring that one playing human beside you as well.|

The moment the voice finished speaking, the space in front of the ship warped as a spatial gate swirled into existence.

Seeing it, Arthur turned towards the interior of the ship and shouted. |I’ll take some time, so just go on ahead to the Underworld.|

Arthur didn’t receive a response, but he didn’t mind since he knew Alexia had definitely heard him.

He got up from his seat and teleported himself and the Hydra out of the ship before entering the spatial gate without hesitation.

He stepped out at the entrance of an enormous city covered by a giant dome, with an artificial night sky hanging above their heads.

Millions of creatures of all shapes and sizes moved around busily, and upon Arthur’s sudden arrival, hundreds of thousands of them turned in his direction, many of them carrying fearful expressions in their eyes.

Arthur simply chuckled at this reaction, and seeing it happen once again, the Hydra couldn’t hold back its curiosity any longer.

"What did you do when you came here before?"

"Hmm? Nothing much. I just taught them a lesson," Arthur replied with a shrug. "Your mother seemed to want to test me, so I played along with her game. It’s not my fault if that left all her children traumatised."

After speaking, he raised his hand and warped them directly into the castle at the centre of the city. They appeared inside a large room with close to a dozen other existences, each one exuding the power of at least a High-Tier Deity.

Arthur ignored all of them, his eyes instead landing on the woman positioned at the centre of the group.

Her upper body belonged to a beautiful woman, while her lower body was that of a massive snake covered in red scales. Her crimson hair, resembling flames, framed a face that looked somewhat similar to the Hydra’s, although her eyes and demeanour were vastly different.

She wore thin, semi-transparent robes that barely covered her chest, while an amused smile rested across her face.

"Hello there, godslayer."

"What’s up?" Arthur responded casually as he sat down on the couch opposite hers, raising his legs and crossing them atop the side stool positioned in front of it.

"I didn’t expect you to return so soon," she said, keeping her eyes fixed on Arthur while completely ignoring the Hydra as if it didn’t even exist.

The other creatures within the room all cast silent glances toward the Hydra, but just like their mother, they said nothing and returned their attention toward Arthur.

"I told you it wouldn’t take me long to find your missing kid, Echidna."

"True," Echidna affirmed with a nod. "But this is still far too fast. It hasn’t even been up to 300 hours."

"The earlier the better. I need to leave Olympus soon, after all."

Hearing Arthur mention his intention to leave Olympus, Echidna fell silent for a moment before suddenly closing the distance, sitting beside him and leaning her body against his as she said, "What about my offer? I think five kids would be perfect."

Arthur rolled his eyes at the woman’s words, raising his hand and pushing her face away from his.

"Like I said before, Echidna, I wouldn’t have any kids with a woman who isn’t my lover."

"But you haven’t seen this lover of yours in a century, have you?" Echidna asked with a raised eyebrow. "She also believes you’re dead, so don’t you think she might’ve moved on by now? Maybe she even has another man?"

"Don’t push it," Arthur said, his tone becoming slightly colder.

At this, Echidna went silent before sighing, backing away and raising her hands in mock surrender.

Her eyes then turned toward the Hydra, which was standing awkwardly off to the side, and she studied it silently for a moment.

"I thought I’d never be able to see you again because I heard that you got done by Heracles, but it’s really nice to see you like this."

"Uh...yes."

The Hydra was somewhat lost for words, unsure of what it should say, but before it could even think of an appropriate response, Echidna turned around as if she had nothing else to say and returned her attention to Arthur.

The conversation between mother and child who had reunited after a hundred thousand years had ended with nothing more than that.

"So? I heard Hermes is dead. Was it you who killed him?" Echidna asked, her tone as light as usual.

She didn’t seem bothered by the Hydra’s complicated gaze towards her, and Arthur, after casting a glance at the Hydra, looked back at Echidna with a question.

"How did you know? The Olympians are keeping a tight lid on the news."

"I can see what happens across the universe through the eyes of my children," Echidna replied confidently, revealing information that was most definitely a major security concern for all of Olympus.

Arthur’s eyes immediately narrowed, and Echidna smiled softly upon noticing the change in his expression.

"Your father’s guard dog isn’t one I can look through," she said.

The look in Arthur’s eyes changed slightly, and seeing that, a mischievous smile appeared on Echidna’s face as she added, "Or...is it?"

Arthur simply shook his head, making a mental note to warn Hades later, while Echidna, seeing that he wasn’t reacting in the way she wanted, decided to put an end to her little game and return to the main topic of their conversation.

"So, you killed Hermes, right?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Arthur asked. "Are you suddenly regretting rejecting my offer?"

"Please, no," Echidna replied, waving her hands dismissively.

"Too bad," Arthur muttered with a shrug, seemingly unconcerned by Echidna’s refusal.

This little interaction revealed to the Hydra the reason why Arthur had come to Echidna before, something the Hydra had been unaware of until now.

’I see. So he tried to make her his subordinate first...’

Clearly, that hadn’t worked, which was why Arthur had eventually turned his attention to the Hydra.

But unlike with the Hydra, Arthur didn’t seem to care much about Echidna’s refusal, and he had no intention of forcing things even though he possessed the power to do so.

Seeing how easily he backed off without even bothering to persuade her, Echidna shook her head, then leaned closer to Arthur as she said, "You’re much too green, godslayer."

Arthur blinked in confusion at her sudden words, turning towards her as he asked, "I’m much too green, you say?"

"Yes," Echidna affirmed. "Likely soft at heart too."

Arthur’s expression became incredulous, and Echidna laughed lightly at his reaction.

"My words sound ridiculous, but such is the truth. One rarely realises such things about oneself, after all."

Raising her hand, she poked his chest with her finger and continued, "I know not if it is your upbringing, or the difference between our universes of origin, but your decision to back off after my refusal... it surprises me."

Echidna snapped her fingers, and the room around them became completely transparent, revealing the vast underground city surrounding them.

"This entire dimension is filled with billions upon billions of creatures. My children, their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on and so forth.

All of which are under my command."

Looking back at Arthur, she said, "If you make me yours, then this vast army would become yours to control, and yet, even though you possess the strength to force me to do your bidding, you chose not to exert that strength when I refused you."

Arthur cast a glance around at the transparent walls before looking back at Echidna and asking, "What are you getting at?"

"What I’m getting at is the fact that you simply accepted my refusal without question," Echidna immediately replied, the lightness in her tone fading.

"That one behind us owed you its servitude for releasing it from captivity. Beating it into submission is well within your rights. But you didn’t display that same attitude with me, even though I’m objectively a much greater asset."

The way Echidna spoke made it seem as if she’d been expecting Arthur to use his power to beat her into submission just like he’d done to the Hydra, forcibly making her his subordinate so he could gain control over her army of children.

"That’s why I said you’re green and soft at heart, godslayer."

At Echidna’s words, Arthur scoffed and turned his gaze away from her.

"Queen of Monsters, have you forgotten that I was the one who baited Zeus into attacking me and planned everything so that my grandfather arrived only AFTER the deed was done, triggering a war between Hell and Olympus that has now expanded to encompass this entire region of the multiverse for the past century?"

"Oh, I have nothing against your schemes," Echidna replied, shaking her head. "What I do have an issue with is your hesitation."

"Hesitation?"

"Mhmm. Tell me, godslayer, do the denizens of Hell that you call ’loved ones’ know that you survived?"

"Some do," Arthur replied calmly.

"Let me guess...your mother is one?"