Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 593: Potion and Recruitment

"Is this the golden apple?"

"Yes, this is the golden apple."

Hercules did not stay in the Queen of Heaven's garden for long. With the fruits he had obtained, he used a bronze rod to stabilize the tsunami, wind and rain around the Holy Island, and together with his two companions, he set up a big pot on the edge of the island.

The various medicinal herbs collected along the way were piled up beside him, with the golden apple that had just been picked at the top.

Just looking at these so-called 'golden apples', Prometheus was a little disappointed.

"Well, maybe it's a golden apple too."

"But compared to the real golden apple, this is just a fruit that is very useful to mortals."

In the ancient times, before the creation of the silver humans, the Forerunner had followed his father to the abode of the Earth Mother, which was then the Great Plain of Delphi that belonged to her.

There he saw the real golden apple tree and the fruits that made even the gods excited.

Compared with them, these so-called golden apples before their eyes are nothing but empty in appearance. Their only effect on the gods may be to speed up the regeneration of their divine bodies after destruction.

Apart from that, the only thing that makes sense is the taste... Of course, that's God's opinion.

To humans, these golden apples may not be any different from the original ones, because their greatest function is to grant mortals near eternal life.

Closely, but not absolutely, because the power of the golden apple will eventually be exhausted, but that day will be so long that it will take tens of thousands of years.

Shaking his head slightly, Prometheus no longer paid attention to this fake.

He simply took out the [Book of Purgatory] and found the page that contained the potion formula.

"Go ahead and make your potion."

"It's not difficult. This is not a potion in the traditional sense, but a decoction with unique imagery... It can put your existence between 'life' and 'death', avoiding the recognition of certain rules."

"it is good."

Nodding slowly, Hercules took the [Book of Purgatory].

Only after watching this scene did Dionysus on the side suddenly react.

What potion, what rules of identification, what is this used for?

Weren’t they the team that assisted Hercules in completing the Twelve Trials? Could it be that after defeating the dragon Ladon, the God of the West Wind had already been here?

"Ahem, what is this used for?"

If you don’t understand, just ask, Dionysus asked, pointing to the cauldron in front of him.

"Of course, it's to brew a potion called 'Living Hell Potion'."

He opened his mouth to explain. At this point, the great hero also wanted to see what choice his companion would make.

"You just heard about its function. It can reverse the state between life and death, making the user neither alive nor dead, thus avoiding the constraints of certain rules."

"Some rules?"

Not understanding, Dionysus continued to ask.

"for example?"

"For example, the power of the water of the Styx."

Speaking quietly, Hercules replied.

"Styx?"

Dionysus was stunned after hearing this, and then he suddenly understood.

"So you already knew that."

The power of the water of the Styx. When the great hero mentioned this word, his first reaction was the River of Oaths, Styx, followed by the Acheron River that blocked the entrance to the underworld.

According to the arrangements made by Zephyros and the King of Gods, their next step would indeed be to head to the underworld.

The attitude of the Skybreaker is clear, and next is Hades, the god of the underworld.

Although the underworld has always been regarded as a remote and poor place by the gods, it does not mean that Zeus does not value their existence.

On the contrary, the underworld holds too many secrets. If Hercules had not personally walked through the abyss, Tartarus would probably have been just a stop on his journey.

Dionysus did not know all of this, but he knew some of it.

"So your potion was originally prepared for a trip to the underworld? Actually, that's not necessary."

"Chiron, the ferryman of the Styx, would never dare to stop you from crossing the river. At most, he would play a little trick on you... Well, it's better to be prepared. After all, that's the underworld."

Dionysus nodded to show that he understood.

Beside him, Hercules remained silent after hearing this, and finally just shook his head with a puzzled expression.

Is this really the case? It turns out that the subsequent trials arranged by the gods are also in the underworld? This is really a coincidence guided by fate.

Looking up at the bronze stick standing near the island to stabilize the sea border, the hero felt more and more this mysterious power.

Atlas once said that holding up the sky does not depend on the size of one's strength, but more on one's qualifications.

There may not be another person in the entire world who has this qualification, but I just happen to have it.

However, there is no love or hate without reason in this world.

I am so different, so what is the price?

Typhon was born great and glorious, but their final fate was to lose their lives and everything.

If one day in the future, I am in the same situation as it, what choice will I make?

"Andre."

The great hero asked in his heart as his hands kept moving.

"I heard from His Majesty Prometheus that the God King tried to persuade it to surrender during the Typhon Disaster?"

"That's true," Ander confirmed.

"Tell me...what was it thinking at that time?"

"How do I know this?"

Shaking his head slightly, the puppet guessed:

"No one knows exactly how the God King uses coercion and inducement, but it's probably just about talking about things he cares about."

"For example, when you are alive you have everything, but when you die you have nothing. As a monster, it will only be a foil in the stories of the gods; as a demon, its resistance will become a laughing stock, and the world will only laugh at its incompetence."

"But these are probably useless to Typhon. I can even guess how it will respond to him."

"Oh?"

"Nothing to be surprised about." Ander said with a smile, "It will probably just tell Zeus that I am a monster... I am a demon."

"..."

"You're right."

After a moment's silence, Hercules spoke calmly. He didn't know what the real situation was, but the great hero was willing to believe the puppet's guess.

Monsters and demons are symbols that Typhon was born with, and his luck and misfortune all come from this.

But the King of Monsters never cared about this... So no matter whether the gift of fate was good or not, when the day came when its price came, Hercules chose to accept it with pleasure.

······
At the edge of the Holy Island, the great hero brewed his own potion. In the center of the Holy Island, several sea nymphs who woke up from their coma were unable to accept the resistance of humans for a while, but they were afraid of Hercules' power.

Long before today, in their memory, humans had never disobeyed the orders of the gods. And from the gods who occasionally came to the Holy Island, they heard only the piety and kindness of the gods' followers.

No matter who it is, as long as they are related to God, even mortals who are not his believers will definitely worship him. This is the innate nature of human beings.

Until recently, when that guy named Hercules brazenly broke in, they panickedly realized that humans were as daring as demons to hurt them.

This completely goes against their previous worldview and is simply unbelievable.

Fortunately, a nymph raised questions at this moment because the dragon Ladon was already dead.

"He must not be human, because humans cannot defeat Ladon."

The Fairy Nymph gave a further example, saying, "No gods can defeat the son of Typhon. Only the great God King can imprison him."

"That guy is definitely not a human. He is the incarnation of an ancient god who is dissatisfied with the Divine Court. He came here just to provoke Her Majesty the Queen of Heaven."

"The most important thing we should do now is not to rush to the sacred mountain to complain to His Majesty the Divine King. A human overturned the garden of His Majesty the Queen of Heaven and took away all the fruits here."

"With His Majesty the Divine King taking action, no matter who he is, he will no longer be able to get away with it."

As soon as she spoke, Ning Fu's words immediately won the approval of everyone present.

The seven sea nymphs and nymphs then selected a representative to go to Olympus to accuse Hercules of his crimes.

As for the rest, they will stay here and continue to complete the work assigned to them by Hera.

"Well... But speaking of that."

"That ancient god disguised as a human doesn't seem to know that there are always more than just fruits on the trees in your Majesty's orchard."

"Except for those that have not been picked yet, the ones we have stored away are the bulk, and are also the stock that Your Majesty will use when he entertains the gods."

After hesitating for a moment, before setting off, the sea fairy who was chosen to deliver the message suddenly spoke.

"It's a pity that we sisters have been guarding the Golden Apple Orchard for so many years, but we have never tasted the taste of golden apples."

"You say... isn't this a pity?"

"..."

As soon as she said this, the sea fairy regretted it.

I was too rash. How could I say what was in my heart like that? Although they had expressed envy in casual conversations on weekdays, the situation was different now...

However, just as she was about to remedy the situation, she unexpectedly discovered that the others had all fallen silent.

The bare golden apple tree swayed in the wind. The sea nymph gritted her teeth and said, "Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back." She mustered up her courage and asked tentatively:

"Tell me, how many golden apples did this mysterious ancient god who dared to challenge the Divine Court take away?"

"I don't remember how many fruits were on the tree before. Does anyone remember?"

There were one hundred and seven of them on the tree; she remembered them clearly.

But there was only a short silence, and then Nymph said in a low voice:

"I can't remember exactly, maybe more than a hundred."

"Well, of course... I might have remembered it wrong, or maybe more."

"After all, that god was too powerful. Even if we joined forces, we couldn't stop him at all."

"..."

No one refuted, and no one agreed.

At this moment, several sea nymphs and nymphs looked at each other.

If the legendary goddess of justice Themis was still on the sacred mountain, they would never dare to act recklessly.

In front of that prince, the lies of the few people were like a joke, and any sin they committed would be exposed under the [Sword of Extermination].

However, the Goddess of Law had already left the sacred mountain long ago, and who would listen to the explanation of an ancient god who had once raided the Golden Apple Garden?

"…This is not our fault. If you want to blame someone, blame this ancient god for being so evil."

"He disguised himself as a human, injured us, and stole one-third of the Holy Island... half of it... and all the golden apples! But there is nothing we can do about it. After all, his strength is too strong. Even Ladon was killed by him."

"In front of him, we are powerless to stop him with our strength."

"Alas... it's a pity that we have failed His Majesty's trust. I'm afraid we won't see golden apples at His Majesty's banquet next year... How about we all go and apologize to His Majesty together?"

"……it is good."

"……you're right……"

"……right……"

After looking at each other again, they seemed to have reached some kind of consensus.

Soon, an ocean current turned into a ship under the control of the sea fairy, carrying the seven people towards the mainland.

The golden apples may not be of much use to the true gods, but they are not true gods either.

Especially for the nymphs who are transformed from plants, the golden apple is no less than a second life to them.

It would have been fine if there was no opportunity before, but now that there is an opportunity... who would not want such a treasure that captures the essence of heaven and earth?

……

The next day.

The outskirts of Olympia, where a fight had just taken place not long ago.

Ares stands majestically, fully armed.

The bronze chariot had been repaired and the four celestial horses were luckily still alive.

The God of War held a spear and a shield, reviewing the hastily organized army in front of him.

The formation is neat and tidy when standing still, but once they move, the formation will probably be scattered... However, the good morale makes up for this, as each of them is a fanatical believer of the gods.

With little time left, this was the best result Ares could achieve.

With Olympia as the center, he recruited hundreds of thousands of fully armed soldiers, and millions of cannon fodder and farmers followed the army.

Even if he hadn't done anything yet, when he personally took on the role of commander of this army as a god, an extremely powerful force was bestowed upon the God of War.

This was the first time he did this, and the effect was beyond Ares's expectations.

In the past, due to his status as a deity, the God of War almost never commanded an army of more than 100,000 people as a 'commander-in-chief'. He fought more as a general and a warrior on the battlefield.

But what he didn't expect was that when he finally did it, he suddenly discovered a detail that he hadn't noticed before - when he was in the vast military formation, as the real commander of the army, the power from the "royal order" seemed to begin to connect with him.

For a moment, the suppression of the laws of the world seemed to relax a little, and they were weakened by the order established by the God-King himself.

Feeling all this, Ares' eyes welled up with tears. It turned out that although Father God was so strict with me, he still cared about me in his heart.

Long before everything started, he left himself a 'back door'!
Not knowing that this was just a coincidence, the God of War was filled with gratitude at the moment.

Come, Father, and watch from Olympus.

This time, I will use the blood of my enemies to justify my title of God of War!

(End of this chapter)