War Breaks Out, Titanomachy (8) Clash
War Breaks Out, Titanomachy (8) Clash
Kratos, son of Styx, received a secret order from his mother.
-Observe the situation and use your judgment.
Styx had struck a clandestine deal with Zeus, but she couldn't openly defy Cronus.
So she played a double game, leaning toward Zeus in secret while sending her children into Cronus's ranks.
-There's no way Lord Cronus could lose! Not a chance!
To be precise, Styx's husband, Pallas, was a vehement Cronus supporter.
Kratos was Styx's son, but also Pallas's child.
Thus he climbed Mount Olympus and joined Cronus's army, obeying his father's command while simultaneously carrying out his mother's secret mission.
If Zeus was at a disadvantage, follow Pallas.
If, by some chance, Cronus really was on the brink of defeat just as "the seer predicted," then surrender to Zeus and follow him instead.
-That Prometheus is a cunning bastard. He probably acted that way because he foresaw a future where Zeus just happened to arrive.
Styx placed tremendous weight on Prometheus's choice.
-He very cleverly sided with Zeus... which means he sided with Olympus. When has he ever backed the losing side? Never. So get into the thick of battle and see for yourself which side holds the advantage in this war.
Young blood chosen by a being whose prophecies rivaled even Gaia's own.
It was true that Zeus had fought well against Cronus, but no one yet believed he could face Cronus head-on and win.
If he really could win, he would have subdued Cronus the moment his ambush succeeded.
But all he'd managed was a temporary wound—nothing close to hurling Cronus into Tartarus.
If Zeus were truly stronger than Cronus, he ought to be able to rout this Epimetheus-led army, even without Cronus present, with ease.
To Kratos, a being with an exceptional talent for war, the Olympus faction's strength and tactics still looked like a disaster.
Shrr.
"...Hm?"
A pleasant fragrance drifted past.
At that scent, elusive as a woman's perfume, a sudden chill crawled up Kratos's spine.
Surrounded by nothing but sweaty men, and yet a woman's scent?
"What is—"
Shk.
"Aaaargh!!"
A scream erupted right beside him.
Kratos whipped his head around to see a Titan standing there, blood gushing from both severed hands.
"...An invisible enemy?"
Shk, shk.
Something moved swiftly.
Every time that unseen presence shifted, Titan soldiers shrieked and writhed in agony.
"M-my hands!!"
"Someone heal me! No, wait! Find my hands! My hands are gone!!"
The Titan soldiers screamed over their vanished hands.
The blood streaming from their severed wrists was secondary.
If they could just retrieve the hands, they could reattach them—but the problem was the hands were being kicked by soldiers' feet, tumbling down the mountainside.
"...Huh."
Another chill crawled down his spine.
If he hadn't caught on from that fragrance, the ghost-like woman would have likely targeted him next.
"Everyone, watch out! There's an invisible enemy!!"
The Titan soldiers pressed their backs together, scanning their surroundings.
And just like that, the screaming stopped.
"...What the hell is it?"
Thunk.
"...?"
Something embedded itself in his head.
Whatever had pierced his crown seemed stopped by his hard skull—no, it felt like it had lodged right in.
"...What is this?"
No pain.
Kratos plucked the object from his head and held it in his palm.
"An iron thorn...?"
What purpose could an iron thorn thinner than a finger, practically a darning needle, possibly serve?
"...What is it?"
Rumble.
As Kratos's puzzlement deepened, dark clouds began to cast their shadow over Mount Olympus.
* * *
My first attempt at using modern knowledge as a cheat had failed.
The moat idea—thinking I could block an invasion with a simple trench—had been a complacent plan that completely underestimated the Titans' physical abilities. I humbly admitted my mistake.
But did that mean I'd stop using my modern-knowledge cheat?
No!
'A man from the future who doesn't use modern cheats isn't a future man at all!'
If I only ever used K-Sex for sex, I'd be crushed by my own self-loathing.
I'd somehow managed to graduate high school, take the college entrance exams, do my military service, and even get accepted back into university. What kind of crap would it be if all I used my modern life for was fucking!
I'm a guy who'd soaked up some university life, too.
Sure, I spent more time chasing girls than books, but still—how could I not put what I'd actually learned to use?
"Prepare to advance."
I slung Astrape across my back.
It fit perfectly onto the mounting hook on my armor.
I hadn't worn armor against Cronus, but against foes who weren't Cronus, I could afford to suit up.
Bzzzzt.
Electricity surged from my back into both hands.
With Astrape mounted there, a meter-long bolt of lightning formed in my grasp, and I seized it, taking my place at the head of the Heraes.
"We charge on three. Ready——!"
No more words were needed.
One.
Two.
Three.
"Charge———!"
Waaaaaah!!
The Hecatoncheires barreled down the slope.
I sprinted headlong after them.
Fall down?
Titans who can leap moats several meters deep with ease aren't just our enemies.
We are Titans, too.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!!
The mass of 151 bodies thundered down the mountain in an instant, and the vibration made all of Olympus groan as if the mountain itself was shaking.
The Lightning Spears clutched in my hands bucked wildly, ready to erupt sideways at any moment.
"Aaaaaaah!!"
A battle cry surged toward the front lines, chambering a round.
Faster than my own sprint, I hurled the Lightning Spear forward!
Kwaang——!!
Like an explosion, the spear shot straight down, running almost parallel to the mountain ridge.
Had my strength been even slightly less, it would have plunged into the slope, but my throw didn't dip at all, striking its target with absolute precision.
Wham.
The Lightning Spear lodged itself in the solar plexus of a Titan god climbing the ridge.
Bzzzzzzzt!!
The heavily bearded bastard froze, body trembling violently.
This was no minor shudder—he convulsed and blacked out, thrashing like an eel flung onto land.
"Whoa."
I barely managed to control my body against the recoil, skidding to a halt.
The Heraes rushed past me, brushing against my sides, and I planted both feet on the ground.
"This is pretty manageable?"
One throw, one down.
Seared by lightning, the bastard collapsed, black smoke billowing from his entire body.
He didn't look like he had any chance of getting back up, which proved Astrape's lightning was reliable enough to drop even a Titan god.
Wham——!!
The Heraes launched their physical assault, slamming shoulder-first into the foremost Titans.
Even though they had women's bodies—even though they were clones—the sight of them ramming a Titan's solar plexus and sending him flying backward was an aggressive attack I couldn't dream of matching.
Aaaargh!!
The Titans bulldozed by the Heraes tumbled down the mountainside along with the Titans behind them.
Their charge looked like barbarians being swept aside by a charge of heavy cavalry knights in a medieval movie.
"I need to do my part, too."
While the Heraes fought on the front lines, crashing into the enemy, I had my own task.
My role was to support the 150 from the rear as artillery—a ranged DPS.
Shelling deep into the enemy's rear lines and shattering their formation was my job in this opening battle.
"Hades should have finished her prep work."
Hades couldn't be hit.
But the others would have no way of avoiding it.
The tactic was simple.
I'd hurl a lightning spear drawn from Astrape straight into the enemy's rear.
But since the Lightning Spear had a narrow impact range, I had to hit dead-on, and some Titan gods would undoubtedly see my spear descending in a parabolic arc and dodge.
So I had to land it with pinpoint accuracy.
'We've already tested everything.'
Every tactic had been test-run from the peak of Olympus.
All that was left was execution.
Rumble.
The enemy's rear.
Dark clouds began to roll slowly across the sky, and I hurled a Lightning Spear high toward that spot.
"The 150 win one-on-one. And the rest..."
I'll sweep them all away.
Ssshhh——!!
The Lightning Spear shot into the sky, piercing the dark clouds.
Raindrops fell from those clouds, and from the gaps shrouded in gloom, lightning surged down.
Kwoooong——!!
A thunderous boom.
The Titans tilted their heads back toward the heavens.
I could see it.
The way the corners of their mouths rose.
The confidence shining in their eyes, certain they could dodge any bolt falling from the sky like a blind arrow.
How long would that arrogance last?
Aaaargh——!!
Someone screamed.
Not a bolt had yet fallen, but one of the Titans shrieked in pain.
"As expected of Hades."
A thin, elongated iron needle was lodged in the bastard's head.
Hades had driven it in while moving concealed under the Kynee's power.
And then.
Bzzzzzzzt!!
The lightning struck precisely upon that bastard's head.
"Codename: Prometheus."
Lightning into every Titan's crown.
* * *
The peak of Mount Olympus.
One man with a conspicuously gleaming head, Prometheus, knelt before a small altar built deep inside a cave, his hands clasped tightly together.
"Lord Zeus's victory. I see a future where Lord Zeus wins."
Prometheus lowered his head in self-deprecation.
Zeus wins.
Olympus wins.
But Prometheus suffers.
"...I suppose I'll be in agony for the next ten thousand years."
The future is fixed.
Fate would not be overthrown, and Prometheus knew his own future.
An eagle. A liver. A cliff.
Fragmented as it was, he dimly understood what awaited him.
He would achieve something for Olympus, but would fall out of favor with Zeus and be harshly punished.
A sorrowful fate—yet that was the very way to save his younger sisters.
Only then could they prepare for the coming "uncertain future."
"...A new future unknown even to the Three Fates, unknown even to the Earth Mother Goddess."
The fixed destiny would flow as it must, but the branches differed.
And those branches, one by one, could gather together and create an irreversible, colossal current.
A day would come when prophecy itself would become useless.
Fixed destiny could vanish, and a new era might open.
Still.
One thing was certain.
"Lord Zeus, please be merciful."
Prometheus pressed his hands together and prayed.
"...Please do not throw my younger sister into Tartarus, but rape her."
The only fate Prometheus had read was Zeus's victory.