Chapter 325 (1/2)
Did he say he burned hell down?
That was a truly flabbergasting thing to say.
Meanwhile, Apollo was laughing sheepishly. It seemed that even he found his own actions way too absurd to behold, and Su-hyeun got an even bigger sense of disharmony while looking at the sun god who was laughing awkwardly like that.
“Was the story of you burning hell down something that can be recounted so nonchalantly like this?” Su-hyeun sighed softly under breath.
If Apollo wasn’t a god on friendly terms with him, he would be busy thinking of ways to escape from this place right now.
It didn’t matter what anyone said, Apollo was a top-tier god. His class was on another realm compared to Su-hyeun, who only recently earned his qualifications of godhood, or a demigod like Hercules.
On top of that, someone on his caliber wouldn’t just show up to spew lies so that they could share a good chuckle together either. He really must have been banished to hell and escaped from it in one day.
“If you are on the run, is it okay for you to be here like this?”
“This place is fine, actually. We’re inside the conflagration I’ve created, after all. I won’t be discovered as long as I stay inside.”
“But what if you step outside?”
“Well, my uncle will immediately chase me down, and I’ll be locked up in hell for about 10,000 years.”
Ten thousand years, he said.
That sounded like an eternity of torture to a normal person, yet Apollo spoke as if it didn’t even bother him one bit.
Did that period of 10,000 years come across as merely “suitably” long to him?
Su-hyeun shook his head. There would be no end in sight if he kept getting impressed, shocked, or even ponder too deeply at every little thing Apollo said.
Such questions should be asked later. For now…
“But why did you have to escape while going that far? Is it really because of me?”
“Well, yeah. That’s one of the reasons.”
“One of the reasons?”
“What you’re guessing is correct, but honestly, it was not just for you but for the sake of the gods, too. Although father and the other gods don’t seem to share the same opinion.”
“Are you really planning to use a human to defeat Uranus? And is that why you were using Hercules?”
Apollo looked a little stunned by Su-hyeun’s questions. He must have not expected the name “Uranus” to leave Su-hyeun’s lips.
“This is why talking to a human whose mind can’t be read is so tough. Did you hear that from Hercules?”
“Yes, I’ve heard everything, including Uranus being the predator.”
“Sounds like you already know what a predator is. Well, you’re not from here but from the other side, so…that makes sense.”
As expected, Apollo was aware that Su-hyeun was not a person from this world.
“Right, you’re correct. Father is thinking of developing Hercules and letting him defeat Uranus. Hercules has the potential to become strong enough to do that, after all.”
“In that case, shouldn’t you be aiding Hercules instead of me?”
“My thought process is a little different.”
“How so?”
“It’s the question of investment. I figured that you’re better than Hercules, although other gods don’t see it that way yet. Whatever the case may be, you’re a pure human, aren’t you?”
“What kind of situation is this? Investment? It’s not like you’re raising a game character to defend your nodes either…” Su-hyeun recalled a video game he used to play in the distant past and chuckled in dismay.
To stop the race of Giants from invading the human world, gods were raising Hercules, while Apollo chose to support Su-hyeun. He understood this much, and at the same time, he felt that this whole thing was rather absurd.
“If that’s what you were all doing, why don’t you personally step forward instead?”
If no special promise or something was preventing him, just the presence of Apollo alone would become a great help to this side, especially more so when, unlike the other gods, the sun god seemed to be rather friendly toward humanity.
“You mean, me?” Apollo asked.
“Yes.”
Apollo shook his head. “Well, in my heart, I would like to, but I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Apollo answered Su-hyeun’s inquiry with a slightly bitter expression, “That side is not completely safe either.”
* * *
From the scorched skies to the black land still filled with fierce flames, the whole world seemed to be burning away.
An old man was walking amid all these hot flames. “…Everything has burned away.”
He shook his head and headed toward a tall gate. When he stood before it, the gate opened up and revealed a pathway connected to a lengthy cave.
“He has already escaped.”
The old man shifted his gaze over to the pile of bones lying on the ground, which definitely belonged to Cerberus that should have been guarding the gate.
Hell, that was the name of the world found beyond the gate; it was also the world that this old man was in charge of.
“Arise.”
Creak, creaaak—
The old man, Hades, issued a command, and the pile of bones began creaking and moving about.
Pitch-black aura permeated into the bone pile and became the flesh, intestines, and hides of the creature.
Soon, a massive hound with three heads, Cerberus, stood back up.
Krrrr—
“Was this Apollo’s handiwork?”
His question was answered by a couple of fierce cries.
“I see. I shall punish him. It must’ve hurt a lot, didn’t it?”
Hades gently patted the heads of Cerberus as the hell hound whimpered and lowered itself.
The god of the netherworld never expected Apollo to escape when he had to vacate his post for a little while. He knew that the sun god had an undignified side to him, but even then, he was obedient to his father Zeus and adhered to his commands.
“He needs to be captured again, but…”
However, even if this was hell’s matter, the top god of fire Apollo couldn’t simply be apprehended by force and dragged back here. It meant that Hades, a fellow god and the top god of death, had to personally step forward.
“But before that…”
The old man turned his head toward a new presence in his realm.
Not many guests would come to visit hell on their own volition. Those who did were either fellow gods or sometimes an unwelcome guest.
And there could only be one existence that Hades thought of as an “unwelcome guest.”
“Unfortunately, hell has burned down.”
KRRRR—
A growl came from a distance.
Hades discovered an ominous glare shooting out from a pair of eyes from the end of the cave, and he straightened his previously bent back.
“Why don’t you call it a day here and go back? I was going out to catch my troublesome nephew, you see.”
“O—lym—pus…” The voice of the monster responsible for that nightmarish glare could be heard now.
It uttered Olympus—the world where the gods besides Hades lived—with clear and unmistakable hostility.