Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 584: The Passage Not Found
Endless darkness, indescribable scene.

It's like floating between existence and non-existence, unable to distinguish between inside and outside.

In the dream, Dionysus felt as if he had done a lot of things and said a lot of words.

In the illusory light and shadow, he saw the sky falling and the earth shaking. The statue turned into a human body and replaced the glory of the old master.

The starlight descended and rose from his own body.

A transaction, a replacement.

The one thereby descended into the earth, and the other thereby ascended to the top of the mountain.

The eternal lost eternity, and light rose in the darkness. It was as if the light had broken through the chaotic thoughts, and Dionysus finally found himself.

Is this a dream, an endless earthly dream...

“…Wake up…”

"Wake up..."

"Wake up!"

"Ho-"

In the nameless valley, I was awakened by the calling voice.

Dionysus woke up suddenly, but was blinded by the dazzling light.

In front of him, Hercules was looking at him with some concern.

Obviously, the great hero had not expected that his companion would suddenly fall into such a deep sleep that he almost never woke up.

"Wait, stop shouting, I'm already awake...Hercules, did I suddenly fall asleep?"

He covered his forehead with his right hand and stopped the big hand that was shaking his body with his left hand.

Dionysus felt as if his head was a little dizzy, as if he was not sleeping peacefully but was beaten in his dream.

Ah... by the way, there is also Amon. I seem to have dreamed about him.

In the dream, he asked himself if he remembered the oath he had promised him, and Dionysus naturally said that he had not forgotten.

Although he is an immortal god, he has recognized this friend. He will live forever in Chaos World with his share.

"...Dionysus, I don't know what happened to you."

"When I answered the three questions of the Sphinx, you were already unconscious here."

Heaving a sigh of relief, and seeing his companion finally wake up, the great hero reached out his hand to lend a hand and pulled him up from the ground.

"Why, were you attacked by some kind of conspiracy just now?"

"Such a deep sleep doesn't seem to happen naturally."

"Maybe...but it's over now."

Shaking his head slightly, Dionysus tried to release the heaviness in his mind, but it was in vain.

An inexplicable feeling of weakness came from the bottom of his heart. As a god without a priesthood, although he was immortal, he was not immortal in the sense of ordinary people.

Once all traces of himself are erased, he will fall into a slumber deeper than that of a Star God, without even the chance to wake up.

After all, the Star God still has a tough star core as an anchor point. Normally, no god would want to crush this thing into ashes, but he doesn't have such luck.

Therefore, Dionysus always cherished every bit of his divine power, even though Zeus gave him a lot of faith.

But today, he felt that his divine power had been consumed for no apparent reason.

"It's probably the power of the rules of the sphinx... It is very likely that there is a conflict between it and the power of the Father God."

"Whether it's [Royalty] or [Law], they are the same as the rules of the Sphinx. In fact, they are all derived from one of the highest and most core parts of the world, [Order]."

"They can either combine with each other, one obeys the other and thus makes the other stronger, or they will conflict with each other and find it difficult to coexist."

"The ancient Titan left the Temple because of this, and the power of the Sphinx may have also affected me... Every failure is a lesson for me, and next time, I won't be so careless again."

All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind, and Dionysus rested for a while.

Finally, he indicated that he was fine and could continue on his way.

Of course, Zeus' power cannot be spoken directly.

So Dionysus also chose to decline Prometheus's suggestion to check his physical condition.

"...Okay, since you're okay, let's set off for the real ruins of Mount Odile now."

Nodding, Hercules did not refuse.

After receiving the Sphinx's legacy, he now felt a strange swelling sensation all over his body.

At this moment, he really wanted to find something to fight with, or to light a fire.

Although according to the records in the [Book of Purgatory], the road leading to the fourth layer of the spiritual world at the foot of Mount Odilus is a "dead end", he still wants to take a look.

After all, he still remembered the words of the Athenian wise man and his own intuition in the Eye of the Sea. (See 3-347)

No matter what he did, no matter if he just wanted to go to the fourth level of the spirit world to fulfill the oath he made to himself...it seemed that one day, he would have to walk this 'correct' path.

——Starting from the bottom of the Pillar of Heaven in the present world, walk along the ridge of Mount Sinai all the way to its end.

There, all doubts can be answered and all difficulties no longer exist.

Maybe that day, he won't need to use logic, but can verify the Sphinx's question himself.

Is the so-called 'omniscience and omnipotence' real?
······
Heading westward, Hercules walked who knew how many hundreds or thousands of miles since leaving that nameless valley.

Compared to when he came, he had one more artifact of the Goddess of Law.

I don’t know if I have won the bet between the goddess and the Sphinx since I caused its death.

"It's a bit strange to say... Ender, have you ever thought about a question?" He spoke silently in his heart. With the help of Ender's ingenious mental thread, the great hero could talk to it directly in his heart.

"The rules of the Sphinx's domain stipulate that no matter who begins to ask questions to the Sphinx, if he fails to answer a single question, he will lose everything."

"On the other hand, if he answers all three questions correctly, the Sphinx will lose everything and the person who answered the questions will gain fame. Is that right?"

"Yes," Ander answered. He already knew what Hercules was going to ask. "You mean, such a clear rule, as the goddess of justice, Themis, she must be able to see it."

"So her bet with the Sphinx was meaningless from the beginning, because even if the other party lost, a dead person would not be able to fulfill the bet."

"The reason why the rules of the Sphinx are so powerful is that even if the gods enter its domain and voluntarily start to ask questions, they will not be able to escape the sanctions of the rules if they fail. This is because this power hurts both the enemy and itself. In fact, even the Sphinx itself cannot restrain it..."

"So in this case, the goddess shouldn't do such stupid things, right?"

"……Roughly the same."

Acknowledging this, the great hero was indeed somewhat confused.

Before dying, the Sphinx told it that its life and death was also a mystery, and the answer had already been in front of Hercules.

But perhaps the first three questions consumed too much of the hero's energy, and he couldn't figure out the reasons for a while.

"Well... I'm not sure if what I said is correct. I can only give you a guess."

Changing his posture in the pocket of his shirt, the puppet said with a smile: "You should also know that the Goddess of Law is not only the God of Justice, but also the God of Fairness."

"So when she does things, she shouldn't simply favor one side."

"However, from the moment she restricted the Sphinx to stay in the valley, to the moment she set up the 'balance of equivalence' at the valley entrance, using divine power in exchange for the life of the person answering the question, although each of these actions were fair actions she had obtained the Sphinx's consent and paid for herself, if you look closely, you can see that they are somewhat biased towards humans."

"But you must know, Hercules, that the goddess of law Themis has never been a human. She is an ancient Titan, the daughter of Father Sky and Mother Earth, and the legislator who eradicates cancer in the world."

"In her eyes, demons, humans, giants, sea monsters, and even the ants under her feet, there is actually no difference between them. They are all just ordinary creatures."

"In the entire world, perhaps only evil creatures with chaotic natures can disgust her... Other than that, what is so special about humans?"

"So if you think about it carefully, you will find that the Sphinx is treated the same as humans."

"It is confined in the valley, which looks like a cage... But if we look at it over a longer period of time, if it still rampages in the human world, the gods may not be able to do anything to it, but one day, when Oedipus, who was calculated by the gods and followed the destiny, comes before it, can it really be as 'lucky' as it is now and finally wait for your arrival?"

"It lost its freedom, but gained hundreds of years of life in return... If you look at the stone balance in front of the valley from this perspective, you may see a different result."

"You mean..." Hercules' mind moved slightly, and he felt as if he understood something: "The reason why the goddess left a glimmer of hope for the humans who came here to answer the questions is not because she has special pity for these people who came here for wealth, status, and fame, but ultimately for their own greed."

"But because she had already shown mercy to their opponents, she gave them the same opportunity?"

"The goddess first made a bet with the Sphinx using the divine weapon, and then this valley came into being... It's like mortgaging their freedom to the goddess first, and the divine power crystals they got in return can save them from being wiped out by the rules."

"The answerer gives her his freedom in exchange for the divine power to save his life. The price is that after failure, he will fight for the cause of [justice] for the rest of his life... The Sphinx puts his freedom on the gambling table in exchange for the artifact [Golden Balance]. The price is that after failure, he will serve the goddess forever..."

"So the reason why I was able to pick up this artifact as a bet was not because of the goddess's appreciation, but because of her [fairness]."

"Just as the crystals of divine power that those who failed the test used to exchange for their lives eventually became food for the sphinx, the divine weapon [Golden Balance] is also the spoils of war that I deserve."

His heart was shaken. At this moment, Hercules was shocked by the ancient god's distant and long gaze, but so was the absolute fairness in her actions.

Her existence seemed to be the interpretation of this priesthood, and the proof of the word "justice"... Looking down at the "Golden Balance" on his waist, the great hero knew that this artifact would not belong to him forever.

The crystal of divine power was permanently paid to the Sphinx because those who failed to answer the questions eventually left with nothing.

Even though the Sphinx somehow managed to escape with its life, everything it once possessed was used to fulfill Hercules's wish.

Even the great hero cannot guarantee what form the escaped life will take.

"Stone statue... or undead?"

Looking back, at this moment, Hercules had to admit that perhaps some gods' actions seemed so ridiculous and so disrespectful.

But in the world of Chaos, those ancient gods who are truly unchanging and have lasted for more than one era are by no means as shallow as ordinary people imagine.

Sure enough, weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, only arrogance is.

······
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Hercules has circled around Mount Odile several times.

Collapsed ruins, dried-up rivers; burned-out trees, tenaciously growing plants.

In this ruins from ten thousand years ago, the great hero saw ruins that seemed to be left over from the Golden Age, and saw a few inscriptions written in some kind of hieroglyphics.

With the help of the interpretation of the [Book of Purgatory], several people followed the notes recorded on the stone tablet and found an independent building that was said to be very close to the former golden human gathering area.

But as time passed, especially the catastrophe during the battle with Typhon at the end of the second season, the earth's crust moved and plates overlapped.

Although Hercules found the building, he still failed to discover the remains of the main city of the Golden Age.

Holding up the stone tablet that had guided them all the way towards the sun, the great hero once again looked at the relief with matching text on it.

The clouds in the sky looked like they were burned by fire.

On the top of the tall pillar of heaven, there are several abstract figures as tall as the sky overlooking the world.

Some of them are indifferent, some are majestic, some are dignified, and some are full of disgust.

The humans on earth were worshipping and praising the greatness of the gods... and in between, a scarlet meteor was falling from the sky to the earth.

"This record..."

"When fire falls from the sky, there will be a disaster..."

Hercules read the words on the stone tablet in a difficult and awkward tone.

"It looks like it records a warning from the gods to humans at that time...but what's the use of it?"

Shaking his head slightly, the hero looked around, feeling somewhat helpless.

He has found this place, the base of this ancient sacred mountain that remains in the world.

But the problem is, the so-called 'correct' path to the spiritual world doesn't seem to be open to him.

(End of this chapter)