The Unexpected Uninvited Guest

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever raised a dog.

In my first life, I was too busy just trying to survive. In my second, I was too busy in my youth, and in my old age, I was wandering about without the luxury of time to care for one.

I thought I had lived a life where I’d done everything there was to do, but seeing this, I laughed as I walked alongside Orthrus, realizing there were still so many new things left to experience.

There was never a dull moment with the tune Orthrus was humming, thumping along as if he were having the time of his life.

It seemed he had gone berserk by mistaking the depletion of his origin energy for hunger, but with my divinity working properly, the thirst and hunger seemed to have largely faded.

He had been thumping along happily, but suddenly he sat down and began to whimper. I was coaxing him along like we were on a stroll to shake off any potential inner demons that might be lurking, but even as he wagged his tail and called me "Big Brother," he would tear up, looking for his mother and father.

However, I found it incredibly difficult to speak about his parents. His father, Typhon, had been sealed beneath Mount Etna and turned into Hephaestus's furnace, and while the whereabouts of his mother, Echidna, were unknown, I had only confirmed she was barely alive through rumors of a beautiful monster with a snake's lower body and wings.

How was I supposed to tell this giant child that his father had become a furnace and his mother had become a boss monster for farming achievements?

As I hurriedly changed the subject, Orthrus became excited and immediately began bragging about his siblings.

I can't. I absolutely cannot tell him.

His little sister was pierced through the mouth and killed by a demigod riding a winged horse ages ago. How could I tell him that his other siblings would also be slaughtered by a monster-slayer currently in training and end up as trophies?

Seeing the tail wagging as if just thinking about them was exciting, and the two pairs of eyes sparkling with happiness, I was at a loss for words and could only laugh. As I pondered how to handle this and lead him out, Orthrus pushed his nose forward and asked me.

This was inside the mind; there was no way there could be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠physical scents, so what they described as a scent must have been the aura of divinity or demonic energy I possessed. Seeing them follow me, feeling this as something familiar, a sudden idea flashed through my mind.

Seeing Orthrus tilt his head in unison with innocent eyes, I cheered inwardly, thinking, "This is it."

At the words that his siblings were sick and I needed his help to find them, Orth and Thor's ears perked up. Orthrus, who had been thumping the ground with his wagging tail, stood up vigorously and raised his head.

The ideal world that had protected and imprisoned itself began to crumble slowly at the roar of the giant two-headed dog.

'It worked!'

The mind was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠foundation of the spirit that formed oneself, a fortress, and a prison that trapped oneself to avoid the world's storms. Since he was trying to break out of that prison and ideal world with his own will, once I fully restored his origin energy...

With an unpleasant voice embedding itself in my mind and a hot sensation digging into my abdomen, I felt as if my eyes were popping out.

'This is...!'

When I gritted my teeth against the burning agony and barely managed to open my eyes, an arrow shining brilliantly in gold had pierced through my stomach.

Fortunately, it was the moment Orthrus's energy circulation had ended, so I was able to avoid the disaster of falling into qigong deviation, but the problem was that the golden arrow piercing my stomach was clearly no ordinary object. If it had been a mere arrow or a fire-attribute hidden weapon, it wouldn't have been able to pierce my protective aura, no matter how weakened I was from the circulation. But this golden arrow was radiating pure, extreme solar energy, slowly burning me from the inside.

However, what shocked me more than the pain was Orthrus, who was flickering like a heat haze and disappearing.

Even though I reached out my hand in surprise, Orthrus had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanished in an instant, and I couldn't even feel his presence. With the hot energy surging up at that moment of distraction, I desperately steadied my breath and focused on my energy circulation.

As I protected my insides with my protective ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aura and demonic energy, and stopped the bleeding and burns with acupoint pressure, a voice that sounded like it was gloating from above my head reached me.

A brilliant golden chariot illuminating the night sky, and the golden-maned white horses pulling it. And that unpleasant, blonde pretty-boy holding the reins and a bow was looking down at me, sneering unpleasantly.

Damn it. Antaios had clearly told me, so why had I overlooked it? This Red Island, Erytheia, was the territory where Helios's temple stood, the place where the Sun's chariot rested its reins. If so, I should have known that not only Helios but also Apollo, who pulled the chariot from east to west, was a variable!

The twin god who had been intertwined with me in a bad relationship from beginning to end. Apollo of the Sun was nocking an arrow to his bowstring again, sneering at me.

Perhaps thinking that my kneeling to manage my internal injuries was due to pain and fear, Apollo boasted and showed off.

Oh, I don't know about anything else, but I can't stand seeing a petty crook like that acting triumphant over my head.

When I brought up the fact that he had taken a punch to the face from me for breaking my flute a while ago, his arrogant face twisted in an instant.

Whether I had hit the nail on the head, Apollo glared at me, grinding his teeth, but he wore a sneer again, as if he thought he had the upper hand.

A divine duty is the essence and reason for a god's existence, and any god must respect the performance of it. A prime example is the dispute over the offerings between Prometheus and Zeus in the beginning, isn't it?

Prometheus loved humans and tricked the gods into accepting bones as offerings, and Zeus, as the great King of Gods, could not refuse the offerings piously presented to the gods due to the responsibility of his divine duty. Even today, in ancient rituals, bones and fat are offered as sacrifices.

Even the King of Gods is forced by his divine duty to fall for the prophet's tricks, no matter how much he dislikes it. That is what a divine duty is.

And yet, he invaded another god's divine duty over a petty grudge?

I had already swallowed and toyed with his sister's lunar magic once, so why couldn't I swallow her brother's solar rays? Foolishly, Apollo, who had given me time, had thrown away even the smallest possibility of ending my life, and all that remained for him would not be glory and radiance, but long, long regret and fear.

The golden arrow, broken in two inside me, was quickly pulled out. The golden arrow tried to ignite its solar power as if resisting my pitch-black demonic energy, but it eventually melted into the darkness like morning dew. And the solar power that had been struggling in my wound was also devoured by the black flames, and the wound vanished without a trace.

A god is still a god. Unlike in the Hero's Forest, Apollo's divine power, heightened by his own divine artifacts and the influence of the holy ground, was densely settled everywhere. Normally, I would have fainted from the heat and density of that extreme solar energy.

But for me, whose three dantian were almost depleted, that divine power was nothing more than a delicious buffet.

No matter how brilliantly the sun shines, it is like a small candle floating in a vast darkness, so savoring it would only be my pleasure.

The Absorption Technique of the Great Wave Art that allowed me to fully enjoy the true divine power for the first time in Phasos. The Ghost Buddha's demonic art, which had finally regained its full divine status from my past life, revealed its greedy maw to the world.