打扑克的男女

ED: SlowAsLightning

Several Gods existed in Olympus just like it was the case for Asgard and Erin.

Gods that were close to being fairies.

The small Gods that were born with holy power by receiving the blood of Gods but weren’t treated as such.

The ones that became underlings of a strong God and received a portion of their divine power and fame.

The ones that were originally human but raised great merits and became middle Gods.

If you counted all of them they easily surpassed the hundreds and the thousands.

Gods that possessed real strength existed among them.

The 12 Gods of Olympus.

Gods that had a big influence in the mortal world and also in all of Olympus.

At the front was certainly the king of Gods Zeus.

He, who swung the sacred lightning that was called the wrath of the sky, possessed more strength than the remaining 12 Gods together and he was really someone suitable to be called king of Gods.

The other 12 Gods excluding Zeus were like this.

Zeus’ partner and protector of families Hera, the God of the sea Poseidon, the Goddess of the grain, the God of light Apollo, the Goddess of the hunt and the moon Artemis, The Goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite, The God of war Ares, the Goddess of warfare Athena, the God of metalworking Hephaestus, the God of communication Hermes, the God of wine Dionysus.

But of course, there were Gods that were stronger than them.

The owner of the underworld Hades and his consort Persephone, the Goddess of the hearth Hestia that gave up her seat as one of the Twelve Olympians in favor of Dionysus, the God of the sun Helios, etc.

The reason there were so many Gods in Olympus was simple.

Olympus still hadn’t faced a huge scaled war unlike Erin and Asgard.

Even though a thousand years had passed since the world was made, it maintained its structure without any big changes.

That was why Olympus was strong.

It possessed incomparable strength that Erin and Asgard couldn’t compare to.

&

Idun was running right now. There were few cases that she left her sanctum where the golden apple tree was at. It was because Heda woke up in her stead whenever she got out of her sanctum.

But it was different this time. She didn’t have the leisure to wake up Heda and change bodies. She was just filled with thoughts that she had to run faster.

Idun was heading to Freya. The Valkyries of Freya’s legion were bewildered at the sudden visit but Idun didn’t make a proper explanation to them, even though they were asking the reason for her visit. She just said that she had to meet Freya and headed to her palace.

She felt like her chest would burst.

Tae Ho’s connection was cut off by force. This wasn’t the first time it happened. It was the second time and that’s why she felt all the more anxious.

The fear she felt when the connection got cut off at the first time was starting to come back.

‘It will be fine. The situation is different from then.’

Heda said. Idun also knew this. The first time the connection got cut was really the worst.

Tae Ho was eaten by the World Wolf and the connection got cut. It was a situation where it was logical to think that he was dead.

She didn’t believe it later but at first Idun also thought that Tae Ho had died. That’s why she had fallen in a nasty despair.

Idun forced herself to breathe calmly. Heda spoke once again with the voice she managed to squeeze out.

‘The situation is different. He won this time and he didn’t get eaten either. We also know where he is. The connection between Asgard and Olympus has been severed, that’s all.’

That was the case. Tae Ho had won against the fake Achilles and didn’t get sent to another place.

But they couldn’t feel relieved.

Why did the connection get severed?

Why did the fake Achilles attack Tae Ho and the Valkyries?

They felt an uneasy feeling and the cause for that was in the strong divine power that closed down the path.

Idun could sense who it belonged to. She wanted to deny the truth but she couldn’t.

Why? For what!

“Freya-nim has said that she will meet you immediately.”

A Valkyrie of Freya’s legion said. It was a Valkyrie she knew the face of. Hrist. It was the Valkyrie that had the highest rank among the ones serving Freya.

Idun calmed her troubled face and took a deep breath once again. She calmed down herself but couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down.

Only ten days had passed. It hadn’t even been fifteen days.

The fierce battle that occurred in Valhalla.

The battle he put his life at stake by facing the Magician King and the World Wolf.

It was too short. The time Tae Ho could relax and rest and the time they could spend together.

Compared to Heda and Freya who thought that Idun was one independent Goddess, Idun thought that she was Heda’s assistant. Because of that, she had always suppressed her emotions by standing behind.

That’s why she felt more pained than Heda. She couldn’t endure the burst of emotions.

Idun clenched her chest and gulped down the grief and at that moment the door to Freya’s room opened.

Freya showed herself.

“Idun.”

Freya called for her. She looked at her messy face and embraced her instead of asking what had happened.

It was warm. That’s why she couldn’t suppress her emotions anymore.

Idun burst in tears. She explained what had happened to Tae Ho while crying.

&

“I will introduce myself once again. My name is Patroclus. I’m the lion of Athena-nim that received an order to notify Asgard of the danger Olympus is facing.”

Rasgrid held her breath for a moment at Patroclus’ introduction and glanced at Tae Ho. Tae Ho nodded and asked as everyone’s representative.

“Patroclus, can you tell us what happened in Olympus? And also about why the great hero of Olympus Achilles attacked us.”

He hadn’t seen wrong. The one that had attacked the Valkyries and the warriors of Valhalla suddenly was Achilles and the warriors that had appeared to assist him were the Myrmidons.

Patroclus nodded instead of making an excuse. He spoke with a calm voice once again.

“I will tell you everything one by one. First, the one that attacked us was really my best friend Achilles. Precisely speaking, it’s a copy of mine that was created by Pygmalion and is controlled by Achilles....you can say that it’s a kind of puppet. I have an ability to borrow Achilles’ appearance and strength for a moment.”

That was the reason Achilles had the name of Patroclus prototype.

Tae Ho frowned at Patroclus’ explanation. It was because there may be more fake Achilles’s that had the strength of a superior ranked warrior but also because he heard a familiar name.

‘What? Is there something weird?’

‘No, it’s fine.’

Pygmalion.

The sculptor that loved the sculpture he made too much.

The story that Aphrodite gave life to the sculpture because she was moved by his devoted love was a really famous story.

‘It was one of the few happy endings in Greek mythology.’

Tae Ho himself also liked this story but the story wasn’t the important thing now. In addition, there was a high probability the Pygmalion Tae Ho knew of was different to the real one just like the several characters of Erin and Asgard.

Tae Ho concentrated on Patroclus once again and he opened his mouth right in time.

“Achilles had originally come to stop me.”

“Are you saying to stop you from transmitting the news to Asgard?”

“That’s right. In that time, I encountered your troop of warriors and battle occurred. Achilles would have wanted to hide that he had infiltrated Asgard.”

Patroclus answered Rasgrid’s words and paused for a moment. Rasgrid felt regret at his depressed look but they weren’t in a situation to wait and understand everything.

“So you came to this place. To trick Achilles’ eyes for a moment.”

“Just like you said. Achilles will think that I headed to Asgard.....so I thought that he won’t find me for some time if I headed to Olympus.”

“We have been a nuisance.”

Rasgrid bowed. The reason Patroclus revealed himself was to rescue Rasgrid.

“No, how could I leave you behind when you were dying? Also, in an aspect all of this is Olympus’ fault. It’s not your fault at all. In addition, I would have been discovered immediately even if I didn’t rescue you and kept going.”

Patroclus shook his hands. There was a deep anxiety and guilt in his eyes.

“Patroclus, did an internal problem occur in Olympus?”

Adenmaha asked in a low voice. Patroclus closed his eyes tightly and answered.

“That’s right. It’s not the Gigantomakhia but an internal problem.”

Gandur and Ingrid kept silent. They had already expected this answer but they felt gloomy when they heard it for real.

But this wasn’t all.

Rasgrid forced herself to talk and mentioned one fact she couldn’t say it out loud.

“The divine power that closed the path....Does it really belong to that person? That person.....Asgard’s.....no, did they become enemies of the ones wanting to maintain the world?”

Her voice trembled. It was unavoidable.

Because the divine power that closed the path belonged to that person.

The absolute being that was above all the other Gods.

The king of Gods that was stronger than the other 12 Gods together.

Zeus.

It was him. The divine power belonged to him. You could only experience his divine power if you visited Olympus at least once as it remained in several parts of Olympus.

“It’s not only him.”

Patroclus said. He was rather calm. But that’s why his despair showed even more. Even Nidhogg who didn’t know the God that was mentioned put on a scared face and embraced Adenmaha.

“Most of the 12 Gods including Zeus have become existences that wish for the destruction of their world. They ended up becoming our enemies.”

Rasgrid closed her eyes and Gandur cursed out.

“What about the others?”

Ingrid barely managed to ask. It was important to know why they had suddenly changed sides but what they needed most to grasp the situation was the number of Gods that had turned their backs.

Patroclus answered with a dark expression.

“The certain thing is Athena-nim and the queen of Gods Hera-nim, that have sent me. I don’t know about the others precisely.”

Merely 2 among 12.

Patroclus had used the expression ‘most of them’. They would still have to listen to the story a bit more but it was certain that more than half of them had turned their backs.

And what that meant.

The meaning that had having Zeus and the others turn into ones wanting to destroy the world.

“A war between Asgard and Olympus.”

Tae Ho said.

Patroclus nodded.

“It’s not that far. It will begin on the day Zeus takes control over all of Olympus.”

A war between a world and another one.

Tae Ho closed his eyes. He thought of Idun’s and Heda’s face which he saw before the connection got severed.

< Episode 49 – The Goddess of warfare Athena (1) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~