Chapter 360: Apollo’s Despair

Chapter 360 - Apollo’s Despair

Inside Babel, the gods stared at Mahiro’s actions.

They whispered amongst themselves about what would happen next.

Amid the lively discussion, a discordant voice stood out. It belonged to Apollo.

He glanced at the members of his familia before turning his attention back to Mahiro.

"Who knows if he is just bluffing?"

"Apollo, are you still trying to act tough?"

"Look at him, stubborn to the very end, haha."

"Make sure to remember Apollo’s face today so we can laugh about it later."

The other deities laughed at Apollo’s claim, refusing to take him seriously.

"Shut up, you blind fools!" Apollo shouted.

"At the end of the day, Mahiro is only a level 2 adventurer. No matter how great his potential, his level is still a fact."

"Apollo, what are you even trying to say? Are you trying to play the fool or is this the best a god can do?" Freya sat comfortably in her seat. She cast a lazy glance toward Apollo and spoke softly, "Don’t forget, Mahiro may be low level, but his actual combat power rivals a top adventurer."

"I heard your child could not even survive a single blow before falling."

She chuckled quietly.

Although Freya seemed indifferent, Apollo caught the faint contempt hidden in her eyes.

He bristled with rage and almost yelled back but since the speaker was Freya, he knew he could not cross her.

Swallowing his anger, he forced himself to quiet down.

"Freya, I know you think highly of Mahiro, but..." Apollo turned his gaze away from Freya and looked over at Loki. "Loki, Riveria is the strongest mage in Orario."

"Tell me, if Riveria were there, could she cast long range magic from such a vast distance?"

"Well, sure," Loki said, taken aback by Apollo turning to her out of nowhere.

After taking a second to think, she nodded. "However, hitting something from that far away requires wide area magic."

Wide area magic centered around the caster, expanding outward to deal damage over a broad area.

"Besides, even if Riveria tried to strike from the distance Mahiro is at, she could only destroy a few buildings at most," Loki added truthfully.

The larger the scale of a spell, the harder it was to aim precisely.

A spell spanning such extreme distance and scope made pinpoint accuracy nearly impossible.

At best, it could only carpet the general area to sweep away as many enemies as possible.

Riveria had used spells like that many times to clear out waves of monsters for her familia but adventurers were not mindless dungeon monsters.

They moved far quicker and with much greater agility.

"Did you hear that, everyone?" Hearing Loki’s confirmation, Apollo felt a surge of relief and a smug smile returned to his tense face. He paused before continuing.

"I admit Mahiro is a remarkable fighter, far superior to any youngster I have ever seen."

The gods nodded in silent agreement.

Defeating a high tier adventurer while still at level 2, displaying power equal to a level 5 adventurer was an achievement worthy of being recorded in the history of Orario if not the entire world.

"However, he has not been an adventurer for long, and his talent lies primarily in close combat," Apollo argued.

"That means his path as a mage is short."

"Even if he learned such powerful magic, could he possibly have enough mind to sustain it?"

Broadly speaking, adventurers tended to fall into two main categories: mages and vanguard warriors.

Those who excelled in combat rarely have deep mage expertise.

Furthermore, outside of elves, very few adventurers could cast area of effect spells.

It was not just a matter of racial talent, but also a limit of an adventurer’s mind.

Even if an adventurer from another race managed to learn magic, without the capacity of an elf, they rarely had enough mind to cast it effectively.

Exhausting one’s mind so drastically caused severe strain.

Just like Bell in the anime, who lost consciousness in the dungeon after overusing his magic.

"Right now, he has not only drained his mind by casting that spell but also exposed his location to everyone," Apollo said with a broad grin.

The gloom that had weighed on his mind vanished completely.

Earlier, he had worried that Mahiro might defeat his familia but he had never expected the boy to hand them such an obvious advantage.

"Look, both Ishtar’s children and mine have noticed what happened."

"They are already sending scouts to investigate. Your child made a foolish mistake, Hestia."

Apollo cast a smug glance at Hestia, expecting to see terror written across her face.

To his frustration, Hestia showed no sign of fear.

Instead, her eyes held a look of quiet pity that irritated him to his core. ℯℯ𝑙.

"I’m sorry to disappoint you, Apollo but Mahiro is not casting wide area magic," Hestia raised her finger toward the divine mirror.

"Besides, Apollo," Hestia added.

"Are you talking so much just to soothe your own anxiety?"

"Rather than wasting your breath, you would do better to look at the mirror."

"Look closely. This spell is far more complex than you think."

As if answering her words, the image shifted once more, leaving the deities speechless.

As Mahiro finished his chant, endless lightning crashed down from the sky.

Yet the bolts did not fade away like normal lightning upon striking the ground.

Instead, some transformed into armored warriors, others into beasts, and several took the form of pterosaurs soaring through the midair.

"If you had just shown a little patience, you would not have made such a fool of yourself."

Hestia remarked with genuine sympathy.

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