Chapter 243
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 243
Chapter Title: Bound Prophet
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-Uwaaaaaagh!!
A towering mountain peak that pierced the heavens.
At its summit, a man's agonized scream echoed like thunder.
-Aaaaaagh!
-Kieeeek!
-Kiaaak!
Their beaks were like spears forged by the gods themselves, and their wings vast enough to easily cover two or three grown men.
These two enormous eagles, which had feasted on the flesh and blood of the wisest and most ancient giant god in all of Greece for thousands of years under the command of the supreme deity, paid no heed to his thunderous cries. They merely squabbled over the massive chunk of meat between them.
"Urk... Urgh!"
Hundreds of kingdoms had risen and fallen countless times over the ages.
For that span of time, the giant god bound to the mountain peak had endured endless torment, his mouth now vomiting forth horrific agony.
-Caw!
How long had he endured like this?
As Helios's radiant sun rose, the eagles finished their meal and flapped their wings, taking to the skies.
"Hah! Huugh!"
A curse, or perhaps a blessing.
Any ordinary god would have long since succumbed to the gut-wrenching pain, abandoning immortality to escape. But he, brother to Cronus and inheritor of the purest blood of raw power, could only groan as he watched his savagely torn abdomen—ripped open like a drawing on water's surface—begin to regenerate.
"Urk..."
His name was Prometheus.
The Forethinker, the one who sees first.
The prophet who shaped humanity from clay, gifted them fire, and ignited the spark within their souls. For that crime, he had been seized by the supreme god and made to suffer as a prisoner.
"Kuh... Kuhuh..."
His tangled hair and beard, stained with blood from vomiting.
Even for a giant god boasting immense strength, millennia of torture and the barren prison of the mountaintop had worn him down to ruin.
Yet his eyes.
Those profound eyes, which even the supreme god feared to meet, still gleamed with vitality and sharpness.
Though his body was chained here, his mind gazed into the distant unknown.
"At last. It has finally begun..."
The prophet let out a bloody chuckle, unable to hide his excitement at the flames rising far away.
The future he had foreseen and recounted thousands, tens of thousands of times.
Yet now, a being that shattered his prophecies in an instant, stirring colossal ripples, had finally revealed itself.
The traveler who would soon come to him.
The god-slaying adversary who would shatter his chains and end his punishment, not far off.
A soul of humanity he had shaped, carrying the spark he ignited, blazing more brilliantly than any other—having traversed eons even he could not foresee.
This black flame, granted ultimate freedom by the darkness and the Abyss, would upheave the stale myths of the gods and unleash unprecedented turmoil.
Prometheus, who had endured thirty thousand years of ascetic torment, would gladly devote all his power to let that flame rage freely.
"Zeus... Your arrogant heart must be gripped by utmost dread by now."
Turmoil heralds upheaval.
It means the foundations once built will shake, allowing new things to rise from the cracks.
Just as Zeus had toppled Cronus to establish Olympus, and before that, Cronus had slain his father Uranus to claim the throne.
Zeus had long feared the history foretold by Gaia and affirmed by Prometheus, hounding, threatening, and coaxing him.
"Kukukul..."
Gaia had left Zeus with three oracles, two of which were already prepared, awaiting only their moment.
The colossal serpents matured in Tartarus, and the human heroes readying for the great war they would bring.
And the final one.
The last divine oracle, revealed only through Prometheus's eyes and spoken only from his lips, along with Gaia's prophecy of downfall, was enough to instill terror in Zeus.
The supreme god, glaring in wait for his mouth to open, had finally panicked at a mere murmur and imprisoned himself in his own kingdom.
"Kekekke! How thrilling. So thrilling!"
The flames from afar burned with unfathomable depth and intensity.
Yet in the futures he had glimpsed repeatedly, the black shadow scattered by lightning lingered vividly in his mind.
But as Zeus secluded himself in his kingdom, sowing discord with his family...
The pilgrim who arrived in this world would complete his pilgrimage and ascend to godhood, forging his own realm.
"If that comes to pass, no one will be able to stop him any longer."
That was the power of humanity as Prometheus had foreseen and sensed.
To win the great war, human strength would be needed.
Gaia's second prophecy remained vivid amid the twisted fates.
In the shadows of tangled destinies, things that should never rise again were stirring.
The turmoil they unleashed would even alter the war's very meaning.
Though Zeus finding a way out through Prometheus's words was far from ideal...
If it meant a path for the spark he ignited to live on, then so be it...
"Come slowly, child. I can wait forever."
Gazing at the traveler halting before the sea of trials in the distance, the father of humanity smiled softly.
Olympia.
The capital city of the Elis kingdom, a united realm of myriad poleis. It served as the sole gateway to the western Oceanus sea.
A holy site dedicated to Zeus, famed for his grand temple and the athletic festivals held in his honor.
"We finally made it..."
-Prriiing!
-Fwoosh!
Overlooking the majestic temple in the distance and the teeming crowds below, I, Baekpa, and Corynetes sighed in unison.
"I mean, no matter how bad the public order is supposed to be, does it make sense for bandits to swarm every pass?"
It had taken ten days.
Ten days to cross this puny mountain range.
I'd figured three days at most, but we'd exceeded the usual week's estimate by three whole days before emerging.
With tireless divine horse Baekpa, the Night Forest illuminating paths like daylight with Corynetes's flames, and me—who never tired from mere mountain trekking—we formed a perfect trio. Three days was a generous estimate.
Yet it had dragged on like this.
"All because of that worthless scum, holding us back like this..."
Periphetes.
According to Corynetes's flames, I'd dismissed him as street trash, but he turned out to be the bandit lord ruling this range.
Normally, bandits would infight over their boss's death, vying for control.
But these lunatics kept charging at me day after day, hellbent on killing me to claim the mountains.
"So damn annoying. Infuriating."
By the second day, as they ambushed us at every turn, I lost it.
When I came to, every bandit in the Erymanthus Mountains had been uprooted.
Behind Baekpa trailed a procession of liberated villagers from the bandit camps, bowing to me in gratitude.
Locals from nearby settlements or merchants crossing the range had fallen victim.
Remembering Atalanta and Eireneia's woes over reduced taxes and dead trade, I gave them tokens and told them to seek settlement aid in Arcadia.
After all that ordeal, we'd descended the Erymanthus Mountains and reached Olympia.
"Hyah!"
-Hiihing!
No sooner had I gripped the reins and shouted than Baekpa kicked off down the path, carrying me to Olympia's gates faster than the wind.
"...H-Halt! Who goes there?"
Baekpa set me down right at the gates, with no crowd in sight to wait for.
Overwhelmed by Baekpa, a young-looking guard stammered out the challenge in a trembling voice.
"I-I'm Glakesios, on gate duty today! State your identity!"
"Well, you see..."
I had a hero's forest token and identity voucher for times like this.
As I reached for it, hurried footsteps rushed toward us from behind the gatekeeper.
"Diiiiaaa!!"
"Huh?"
In all the vast lands of Greece, only one person called me Dia.
"Neri?"
White hair like morning waves, sapphire eyes sparkling with luster.
A beautiful girl blending a child's innocence with a woman's allure.
The wave princess who had swept me into this world leapt joyfully into my arms, beaming brightly.
-Whoosh!
The fresh sea scent tickling my nose, her cool skin, impossibly soft body, and the firm presence of her breasts—all treasures of the sea I had long cradled.
"Hehe, it's been so long! Too long!"
"...I've missed you too."
I didn't know how she knew or came ahead, but seeing Neri smile innocently in my embrace made it irrelevant.
-Mwah!
"Eek?!"
In my excitement, I impulsively kissed her forehead. Her blushing face brought a rare smile to mine after so long.