King of Underworld

Chapter 41 Ominous Signs – (3)

A monster with the lower body of a giant serpent and the upper body of a beautiful human woman,

but the one inhabiting this body was none other than Cronus, the god of time and agriculture.

“Why, didn’t you think I could return to the living world?”

“To be precise, I didn’t expect Lady Gaia… Gaia, to summon you.”

“Hahaha! How desperate must Mother have been to call upon me?”

As Cronus laughed, the flow of time around him became erratic.

The divine power of the first-generation Titan distorted the surroundings.

Damn you, Gaia.

So, it was Cronus that you planned to summon by sacrificing dozens of humans?

Were you so angry about your children, the Titans, being imprisoned in Tartarus?

At least I was fortunate enough to realize the hidden threat Gaia had been concealing.

If I had ignored the ritual and killed Echidna…

Olympus might have faced Cronus again someday, somewhere, after he had regained his strength.

“Gaia intends to pit you against us. Are you willing to be used by her only to be thrown back into Tartarus?”

“Simply being able to breathe the air of the living world is reward enough. Hahaha!”

Even though Cronus had weakened from his long imprisonment in Tartarus, he was still a Titan and the god of time.

Once, he was the supreme god who held dominion over the world, and even now, he posed a threat to us.

However, the conditions needed to drag a divine being from Tartarus into the living world were…

Dozens of human sacrifices, Gaia’s immense divine power, a body to possess, and a strange ritual circle.

These are not conditions that can be easily met multiple times, especially under the watchful eyes of the gods.

“Take a good look at the world one last time. You won’t get another chance to see it.”

“Don’t you realize yet? I’m becoming more and more accustomed to this body.”

Cronus, possessing the monster’s body, was gradually growing stronger as he adapted.

Encelados, who had been watching me warily with his club in hand, also began to smile with satisfaction.

But…

“You’re not the only one buying time.”

“What did you say?!”

As Cronus’s power increased,

Did he think the sun above wouldn’t notice?

*KRAKOOOM!!!*

A blazing beam of light pierced through the mountain, striking them directly.

The force of the attack stopped just in front of me.

*Rumble. Thud.*

The dark cave was completely blown away, and bright sunlight flooded the area.

A powerful attack that obliterated part of the mountain and precisely targeted Cronus’s newly released power.

Above the clouds, Apollo stood, holding his golden bow, watching us intently.

When he spoke, his majestic voice resonated in all directions.

“Mortals, close your eyes and do not look at the sky. If you gaze upon my true form, you will be incinerated!”

Any mortal who looked directly at a god’s true form would perish.

Semele, the mother of Dionysus, was an example of this, having died after witnessing Zeus’s true form.

A tremendous heat and radiance emanated from Apollo, causing the mortals to bow their heads in fear.

But those present here were gods, Titans, and monsters capable of challenging gods.

All of them stared directly at Apollo’s true form.

The Gigantes, who were picking themselves up, and Cronus, who had blocked Apollo’s attack, both scowled.

“Phew~! It’s an honor to meet you, Grandfather!”

“You’re late, Apollo.”

“The sun… you remind me of Helios. Are you that wretched Zeus’s son?”

“Lord Cronus! That is Apollo, the sun god!”

—

Apollo descended to the mortal world, unleashing the full power he had shown in his battle against Typhon.

The bright beams of sunlight illuminated the half-demolished mountain, highlighting his presence.

“I rushed here after receiving the message from Goddess Styx! Uncle—oh, should I call you Aunt now? Hahaha!”

“Save your nonsense for later.”

The sun god, who had just made a cheerful joke, quickly noticed the bodies of the dead humans on the ground.

But at the same time, as the god of reason, his eyes grew cold.

Apollo sneered and nocked another arrow of sunlight onto his bowstring.

Hades, too, formed a spear of black darkness and charged at Cronus.

“Hades! Attacking your father once again, you truly are the most impious of sons!”

“That’s rich coming from someone who devours his own children!”

As Cronus, now possessing the body of the monster with the serpent’s lower half, swung his hand, time slowed down.

Hades, who was charging at him, moved sluggishly, and sparks flew as their divine powers clashed.

*Crack! Sizzle!*

The Lord of the Underworld and the Master of Time,

Their confrontation accelerated the collapse of the already half-destroyed mountain.

Trees, fish, and all life in the vicinity aged rapidly or were consumed by the black energy and died.

“Do you really think you can challenge me without that bothersome Kynee?”

“Do you think I’d lose to an outdated relic like you, rotting away in Tartarus?”

But the clash of divine powers wasn’t confined to this place alone.

“Kraaaah! Apollo! I am Encelados!”

Encelados, who had moved to a different location to avoid interfering with Cronus, began to grow in size.

As he let out a monstrous roar, his already massive frame expanded further, and his ferocity intensified.

He moved his serpentine lower body and charged at Apollo.

His attack was powerful enough that even some gods would struggle against it.

*Whoosh! Sizzle!*

Apollo’s response was to face it head-on.

As the god of archery, he fired a volley of sunlit arrows that shot out like rays of light, halting the monster’s advance.

“A mere monster cannot compare to the grandeur of a god. Know your place and bow down.”

The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the arrows embedded themselves in the Gigas’s arm.

But only briefly. The monster quickly regenerated and charged again, swinging his massive fist at the god.

*Boom! Crash!*

The battle between the Titan, the gods, and the monsters caused the mountain to crumble,

and the nearby city of Thebes began to feel the effects.

*Rumble… Crash!*

The humans living peacefully in Thebes were gripped with terror as the earth shook beneath them.

Buildings collapsed in the horrific quake.

A wave of murderous intent rippled through the air.

The fear that gods had descended nearby and were fighting spread rapidly among the people.

Chaos quickly ensued.

“The ground is shaking!”

“Didn’t you hear Apollo when he descended earlier?”

“Get inside, bow your heads, and pray!”

“Lord Dionysus! Please save us!”

However, Dionysus’s divine leopards, which were widespread in Thebes, appeared and began to transport his followers.

With the assistance of several other gods, the humans were spared from full-blown panic.

“The leopard… Lord Dionysus is watching over us!”

“We must offer a sacrifice at the temple later.”

“Lord Zeus…”

The humans retreated to their respective temples or homes and began to pray.

They prayed that the gods above the clouds would take away their wrath.

—

*Whoooo-*

Damn my father, Cronus is strong.

During the Titanomachy, despite many of the Titan gods siding with us,

“Shouldn’t you return to the Underworld and retrieve your Kynee?”

“You seem to be struggling without your Scythe.”

Cronus was a god we couldn’t defeat until the three sacred treasures forged by the Cyclopes and the support of the Hecatoncheires were secured.

And even then, it took several of us working together to drive him back.

This heavy blow coming my way must be a remnant of that power.

It was a power I had faced in the war, manipulating time to its fullest extent to destabilize everything.

*Tick. Tock.*

The sound of sand falling in an hourglass echoed as time twisted chaotically.

Cronus’s sneering laugh slowly reverberated through the slowed world…

My son

You still

cannot

defeat me…

Even as time slowed, I could see the claws of Echidna, possessed by Cronus, slashing towards me.

With a victorious smile on the monster’s face, Cronus swung his hand.

The sharp, terrifying claws were about to strike me…

*Thunk.*

But I raised my hand, now shrouded in an inky black divine power, and caught his wrist.

Reality shattered, and the flow of time returned to normal.

“What…!”

Neither Cronus nor I were in our full strength.

But he had spent far too long resting in Tartarus.

The penalty for a god breaking a vow to the River Styx is a year of suspended animation and nine years of exclusion from meetings.

To an immortal, this may seem like the blink of an eye, but there’s a simple reason why all gods fear this vow.

Even a decade of neglecting one’s domain can result in significant loss.

The more important a domain a god oversees, the stronger they become.

It is no coincidence that the three major gods oversee the Underworld, the sea, and the sky.

Right now, the Titans are mostly weakened because Olympus holds dominion over the world.

This is why Apollo, a newer sun god, is stronger than Helios.

So, how powerful is Cronus, a defeated Titan who has been in Tartarus for eons?

*Squish!*

“Gah!”

The answer is “significantly weakened

.”

Time is an immensely important and essential aspect of the world.

But ever since we defeated him, Cronus’s power has diminished rapidly.

Even in his weakened state, he’s still a match for the Twelve Olympian Gods, but…

“I am the King of the Underworld. I won’t lose to some outdated relic.”

“You… You damned…!”

I was able to break through the distorted flow of time with my power.

Cronus glared at me, bloodshot eyes wide, as I plunged my hand into his chest.

“Your little stroll ends here. It’s time to go back to Tartarus.”

“If only… I had a better body…!”

The light in Cronus’s eyes, which had been filled with chaotic time, began to fade.

The Titan of Time, who had descended to the living world, was sent back to Tartarus by the Lord of the Underworld.