Chapter 364: The Great Victory of the Horrid Fathers

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of monster beasts in the sky raised their heads in unison, gathering violent spell projectiles that shot toward the island in rapid succession.

Along the coastline, piercing sounds of snapping trees and rumbling earth tremors echoed as hydras, sirens, lamias, and other aquatic monsters completed their landings one after another, closing their encirclement around Ladon and her companions.

Seeing the grim situation, Ladon, having reverted to her hundred-headed dragon form, raised her heads, rapidly chanting divine words in a peculiar cadence.

Magical formation diagrams of varying sizes gathered before her like stars igniting across the night sky.

Condensed magical elements of fire, venom, frost, thunder, and meteorites surged forth, unleashing wide-area bombardment upon the monster beasts closing in from the sky and sea.

Vibrant arcs of light illuminated this chaotic stretch of sea.

Under this saturated magical strike, the monster beasts within range were instantly shredded by the terrifying ether storm before they could even scream, sending a dense stench of blood drifting outward.

"Good! Excellent! Worthy of an offspring inheriting this King’s pure bloodline, far superior to the foul vermin spawned from those beast nests!"

Witnessing this scene,

Typhon, the Father of Monsters who had descended his consciousness into the three-headed venomous dragon, let out a wild, satisfied laugh.

His gaze toward Ladon grew all the more burning and greedy.

Facing her old father’s deep affection and praise, Ladon felt an inexplicable chill surge in her heart and she immediately chanted divine words at high speed without hesitation to launch a fierce magical barrage straight at the three-headed venomous dragon in mid-air.

However, with merely a slight flap of Typhon’s wings, a reddish-black bloody light laden with the power of the abyss and nothingness erupted from his body, devouring every incoming magical attack whole.

At the same time, swarms of monster beasts took advantage of the clash between father and daughter to land from the rear of the island, heading straight for the half-collapsed cavern exuding divine aura.

Standing among the rubble, the three nymphs bearing the brunt of the assault watched the horde of monster beasts rushing forward with bared white fangs and dripping viscous saliva.

Their faces turned pale as they hastily summoned cloud-haze as shields and gale-winds as spears, attempting to intercept the charging monsters.

Yet the Father of Monsters possessed supreme Authority over monster beasts, and the diverse divine beasts gathered here were not only vast in number, but also formidable in strength.

The three nymphs, who usually tended to flowers, herbs, and the Sacred Garden, were ill-suited for combat.

The defenses and attacks summoned in haste proved utterly fragile, collapsing beneath the dense beast tide in the blink of an eye.

"Get back!"

Accompanied by a cold, clear shout, a pair of fair arms pulled the three trembling girls behind her.

Those slender, luminous hands made a subtle drawing motion, gathering thunder into a bow and lightning into arrows, continuously releasing the bowstring toward the beast tide.

Instantly, fierce streaks of lightning tore through the air, detonating violently within the densest clusters of monster beasts to leave behind craters hundreds of meters wide and charred scraps of flesh scattered everywhere.

Yet facing the death of their kin, the monster beasts showed no fear at all; instead, spurred by the scent of blood, they turned even more frenzied.

They swarmed forward, swallowing the severed limbs on the ground whole, absorbing the residual divine nature and power within the corpses to strengthen themselves before resuming their assault upon the three fresher and more delectable deities.

Seeing several heavily injured monster beasts rapidly heal their squirming wounds after consuming the flesh and blood, even regenerating severed limbs, Hera felt her heart sink to the bottom.

The Great Authority of Beasts!

This legendary Father of Monsters could not only dominate beasts, but also induce their frenzy and evolution through the influence of bloodline and divine nature.

Back then, precisely because of this trait, he had rallied a terrifying demonic army shortly after his birth, nearly leveling Olympus and its assembly of deities and main Gods single-handedly.

Seeing the monster beasts surging forward in dense droves and knowing the vicinity of the cave was no longer safe, Ladon bellowed in a low voice:

"Take them and run!"

Hera nodded decisively, dragging the three nymphs toward the deep, sheltered woods.

Seeing her four companions retreat behind her, Ladon took to the skies with beating wings, her hundred heads acting like a hundred mobile artillery turrets as they poured firepower recklessly upon the surrounding monster beasts.

For a time, rubble flew, the earth trembled, and thousands of monster beasts perished on the spot beneath this meteor-like bombardment.

Yet even more monster beasts and divine creatures arrived from beneath the waters and above the skies, fearlessly crossing the death zone woven from Ladon’s magic to pursue Hera’s group in the mountain forest.

No, there are too many!

The intense exhaustion and the monster beasts breaking through the blockade to flood the woods filled Ladon with immense urgency, forcing her gaze toward the source of calamity in the sky.

To catch the bandits, first capture the ringleader.

’To stop these monster beasts, I must eliminate this old bastard first!’

Having made up her mind, the hundred-headed dragon let out a low roar, her wings kicking up a powerful ether storm as she charged straight at her father Typhon, who possessed the three-headed venomous dragon.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, inside the mountain forest, beast roars echoed endlessly alongside explosions.

Hera leaned sideways to dodge three screeching spell projectiles, turning around within the explosion’s firelight to draw the divine Heart-Seeking Bow.

She released lightning arrows, shattering three lamias poking their heads from behind a stone wall into fine powder.

Yet after this barrage, the shockwaves of their clashes had left the surroundings pockmarked with craters, virtually exhausting the trees and rocks available for leverage and maneuvering.

Seeing those monster beasts hauntingly closing in once more,

Hera had no choice but to continue fighting while retreating with the three nymphs.

Under Typhon’s domination, however, these monster beasts had become not only bloodthirsty and cruel, but also far more cunning and sinister.

"Whine—!"

Dozens of demonic hounds with sharp bone spurs on their necks and silver-gray fur hard as metal flanked the four deities unnoticed.

Lunging from the shadows when least expected, they pounced toward the three weaker nymphs.

Hera’s eyes narrowed, as she stomped her foot to halt instantly and drew the bowstring to shoot down more than a dozen pouncing hounds.

Even so, a few slipped through the barrage of lightning arrows, closing in right before the four.

At such close range, using the immensely powerful Heart-Seeking Bow risked causing friendly fire.

"Roar!"

The leaping hounds snapped their jaws toward their prey, eager to savor the delicious flesh and blood of the deities.

However, the earth beneath them surged violently, and several brownish-yellow golems formed from compacted rubble burst from the ground.

Some swung fists to smash the leaping hounds against protruding rock walls into meat paste, while others uprooted nearby trees as thick as a man’s torso, sweeping the approaching hounds away amid flying leaves and woodchips.

Rumble!

Amid rising dust, these burly colossi stepped across the gore and blood on the ground, standing like an impregnable wall that blocked the monster beasts’ successive assaults.

Phew...

Hera let out a long breath, lightly raising her left hand resting on the ground.

Though she had lost the Golden Apple Tree and the Sacred Garden, her comprehension of the Earth Mother Authority had deepened to another level, allowing her to easily summon Earth Guardians to fight on her behalf.

It seems that losing certain things might not necessarily be a bad development.

Feeling a touch of realization,

Queen Hera squeezed the trembling hands of the three nymphs, her bright eyes filled with warmth and encouragement.

Buzz!

Lined in formation, the Earth Guardians raised their hands in a grasping gesture as if sensing her intent.

Under the vibrations of atmospheric ether, earthen javelins coalesced in their hands, their divine nature and resonance drawn from the earth growing all the more intense.

The Earth Mother who bears life requires a compassionate heart.

Boom!

Right at this moment, a dark-golden crescent arc slashed through the sky like a giant anaconda coiling around its prey, brutally piercing and crushing several Earth Guardians to pieces.

As the dark-golden arc detonated, an intense spatial distortion rippled outward.

Crack!

Amid a sickening sound of fracturing stone, the upper torsos of the stationary Earth Guardians slid off from their waists, crashing heavily to the ground and kicking up thick plumes of dust.

Whoosh!

At the same time, a brilliant silver light-arrow pierced the air with a screech, plunging into the open ground before the Earth Guardians.

Rippling like solid beams of light, boundless radiance melted the surrounding Earth Guardians and gathered monster beasts into drifting ashes.

This is... the power of a main God!

Sensing the Authority contained within, Hera looked up at the burly, hideous giant figures standing upon the sea, her expression changing drastically.

The Gigantes...

More precisely, Gigantes who have inherited the Authorities of the Titan Main Gods!

From among several giants bearing divine emblems engraved upon their bodies, Hera identified the aura of the previous attacks, her eyes clouding over.

Hyperion, the God of Heavenly Light, and...

"Finally found you, my good daughter."

A low, chilling voice drifted out as Alcyoneus, King of the Gigantes, looked up toward Hera in the forest.

From the crown-like divine emblem behind him came a sinister, cold chuckle.

Hearing that familiar manner of address, nightmarish memories surged into Hera’s mind, draining all color from her face.

—The God King Kronos has returned!

"Rumble—!"

Just as Hera’s heart sank to the bottom, millions of lightning bolts brewing in the distant sky detonated.

The violent, peerless force tore the massive three-headed venomous dragon apart inch by inch.

Shattered scales and chunks of flesh rained down into the sea.

The virulent poison contained within diffused across the waters, dissolving hundreds of sea beasts and monsters into pools of foul blood.

"Finished... finished it..."

Amid the fading lightning, the hundred-headed dragon Ladon lowered her heads, panting heavily.

Her body was covered in tearing wounds and her silver scales were dull and lifeless, showing severe exhaustion.

After all, that was Typhon, the Father of All Monsters, a God King once mentioned in the same breath as Kronos and Zeus.

To cast this old monster back into Tartarus, she had fought and deflected continuously, finally deploying her strongest spell to barely destroy the shell of the three-headed venomous dragon.

Though heavily injured in the process, she had ultimately won.

With the culprit dealt with, the small fry blocking the path should settle down, right?

No!

The monster beast horde hasn’t fled or retreated!

Amid rustling sounds of movement, Hera looked at the sea monsters and beasts still surging in droves.

Disregarding her own precarious situation, she turned toward Ladon in mid-air and shouted.

"Careful! It’s still alive!"

"Buzz!"

Before her voice had even settled, a crimson bloody light erupted from the waters where the three-headed dragon’s corpse had sunk, striking Ladon in mid-air with lightning speed.

Not good!

Realizing the danger, Ladon tried to shake off that eerie blood-red hue.

Yet it was too late;

A tyrannical, sinister, and maddened consciousness flooded her mind along with the bloody light, rapidly eroding her inner world.

"Hahahaha! Perfect divine power, complete divine nature, it’s back, everything is back!"

Amid wild, unbridled laughter, brilliant bloody light erupted from Ladon’s body.

Her silver scales were stained pitch-black inch by inch, her slender and elegant form grew taut with ferocious menace, and the light in her slit pupils was swallowed one by one by that domineering madness.

It succeeded!

Seeing this, the Gigantes cheered in delight, turning their excited gazes toward Hera, who was now cornered in the mountain forest.

As long as they captured this Queen of Olympus and sacrificed her to God King Kronos to further liberate the divine nature and Authorities of the Titans, the vanguard of the Gigantes would be unstoppable, allowing them to rebuild the glory of the Old Gods together!

Envisioning that grand future, the Gigantes drove the monster beasts to close in on Hera and the nymphs in the forest.

Right at this moment, a terrifying ether storm swept in from the sea, hurling the approaching monster beasts and Gigantes kilometers away.

Enveloped in reddish-black aura, the hundred-headed dragon crashed into the Gigantes’ formation like a meteorite, forcefully carving open a passage.

"Run! Hurry... run!"

The sole remaining silver head among the hundred twisted backward, roaring at Hera and the three nymphs through gritted teeth.

Hera understood that this was Ladon’s last remaining shred of will, and the final thing she could do for them.

The once-lofty Queen took a deep look at that silver dragon head gradually being tainted by darkness.

Biting her lip until blood seeped, she dragged the three nymphs, turned decisively, and charged toward the boundless sea of chaos.

"Pfft!"

Yet before taking more than a few steps, a brutal sound of tearing flesh came from behind.

The elegant silver-white dragon head was bitten off at the neck by the other pitch-black heads and tossed to the ground.

"If you wish to die, this King shall grant it, wretched spawn!"

Typhon raised his massive claw, stepping down mercilessly toward the head housing Ladon’s consciousness.

A figure proved faster than him, snatching the head away like a flash of lightning.

"Good, good, good—you actually dare to return!"

At that moment, a towering, sinister figure blocked Queen Hera’s path of retreat.

Within that crown-like divine emblem, the phantom of God King Kronos merged into the body of Alcyoneus, King of the Gigantes, erupting into a chilling sneer. "Trying to flee? Can you escape? Better let this father dote on you properly!"

As he spoke, a giant scythe forged from volcanic stone manifested in the grasp of Alcyoneus, slashing toward Hera.

Having gradually taken control of his new body, Typhon also spread his wings and took flight, glaring coldly at the head of Ladon in Hera’s embrace.

Under the pincer attack of two horrid fathers, the two daughters had nowhere to run, reaching the end of their path.

Is it... over just like this?

Hera tightened her grip on Ladon’s head in her arms, pursing her lips.

A daughter of the Titans and Queen of Olympus had not fallen so low as to beg for life from others.

She clearly did not fear death, yet why did a sense of unease and panic stir within her heart?

"Whoosh!"

A spear of withered branches radiating hundreds of feet of majesty pierced through the vast sea mist, plunging through the shoulder of Alcyoneus and pinning him to the stone cliff behind.

A figure radiant as a gemstone glided forward, spreading golden wings to stand before Hera.

Solid as rock, steady as a towering mountain.

Gazing at the back before her, the Queen seemed to find the answer to the question in her heart, a flower-like smile blooming across her face.

Her hero had truly arrived.

(End of the Chapter)