Chapter 31: Velber 03

[3rd POV]

Athena and Prometheus finished their deal and walked out of the cave. When they stepped outside, they saw that Ares had already separated the group of humans into two smaller groups.

One group remained where they were, while the other had been separated and was now standing in front of Ares.

The ones left behind appeared somewhat weak and thin, but the ones Ares had picked were all tall, strong, and muscular men.

Seeing his actions, both Athena and Prometheus were momentarily stunned. Prometheus then asked, "Ares, what are you doing?"

"Obviously, I'm selecting my champions!"

Ares declared loudly, "Athena, just watch! In the future, my followers will beat your people so badly they'll be crawling on the ground."

"You do whatever makes you happy."

Athena said, rubbing her forehead and right now, she could only think about finding the "hope" coordinates that Prometheus had given her.

"I'm leaving now. You can stay here and keep playing with your mud."

"Wait! Stop right there!"

Ares threw the mud from his hands, stood up, and shouted angrily, "We're not done yet!"

"Ares, now you're just being unreasonable."

Prometheus interjected, stepping in to support Athena, "Athena is different from us. She has plenty of important matters to handle every day."

"Prometheus, stay out of this. This is between me and her."

Ares shot him a glare before continuing, "Don't forget, I haven't given your creations my 'gift' yet. If you keep nagging, I might not give it to you."

Prometheus immediately fell silent.

Athena, however, stared at Ares for a moment before speaking in a low, serious stone, "Ares, are you really determined against me, Athena, to the very end?"

"Huh? Why would you ask such a stupid question?"

Ares laughed heartily, "I've already told you so many times. Do you still think I was joking?"

"Alright, I understand."

Athena nodded and suddenly smiled brightly, "Then let's have a race! We'll start from here and run all the way to the edge of Oceanus. If you win, I'll return the divine authority over victory and strategic warfare to you. But if you lose, you'll stop bothering me for a while."

"Deal!"

Ares didn't hesitate at all and agreed right away.

Under Prometheus' watchful gaze, the two gods crouched at the starting line that Ares had carved into the ground with his flaming sword.

As soon as Prometheus gave the signal, Athena and Ares shot forward like two meteors, streaking across the earth with a powerful burst of divine energy.

Their race quickly caught the attention of Zeus and the other gods in the sky.

Drawn to the unexpected race, they turned their gaze toward Ares and Athena, eager to watch the competition unfold.

However, for both Athena and Ares, this race was merely a trick.

Athena wasn't racing to win, and she was using this as a distraction to escape Zeus's attention and head toward the "hope" coordinates.

Meanwhile, Ares had his own plan. He wanted to stall Athena because he already knew where "hope" was, Hecate had already revealed the location of "hope" to him.

On the other side, Ares had also asked Hecate to open a portal leading directly to the location of "hope." He had even sent an avatar version of himself to deceive Athena.

Ares' real goal was to reach "hope" before Athena and uncover the mysterious power that is said to be capable of killing Zeus.

The two gods raced like lightning, swiftly crossing the lands ruled by the Greek pantheon.

Soon, they reached the vast domain of Oceanus and Poseidon. Their incredible speed left two glowing trails on the surface of the sea that stayed there long after they had passed.

Even Oceanus and Poseidon were drawn to the race. Then they rose to the surface, bringing sea nymphs and their many children to watch the race between the two gods.

After years of fulfilling her divine duties, Athena had grown much stronger. Ares, on the other hand, had become weaker because his authority had been reduced, and his avatar in this race was merely a copy infused with a fraction of his divine power and soul.

As a result, the gap between them quickly widened. No matter how much he pushed himself, Ares couldn't catch up himself. Athena was simply too fast, and her figure began to vanish.

'Is this really the best I can do to slow her down?'

Ares thought, feeling frustrated.

However, some distance was still left before reaching the edge of Oceanus. Meanwhile, the other avatar already had the deepest part of the ocean so far away that even Zeus couldn't see it.

Following Hecate's guidance, Ares dove deep into the ocean, reaching the very bottom of the deepest trench, and could already see the very edge of the "world."

The ocean seemed to stop suddenly as if it had been cut off. While the water still flowed, the various sea beasts, fish, and monstrous creatures couldn't pass beyond an invisible barrier.

As Ares descended the trench, he deliberately moved closer to the barrier, carefully observing its structure.

It was constructed of powerful magic. Behind the barrier, Ares could see swirling chaotic whirlpools and streams of terrifying energy.

According to Hecate, this was the work of the Counter Force.

After the old gods lost their divine powers due to Velber, their scattered divinities dispersed across the world, giving birth to the 'Second Age of Gods' on Earth.

These scattered divinities formed different pantheons in various places, at different times, and in different spaces, and multiple pantheons could exist simultaneously on Earth.

To prevent these pantheons from clashing and starting a war among the gods that might lead to the merging of divinities and restoring the First Age of Gods, Earth's natural 'Counter Force' instinctively created these barriers.

These barriers separated the different pantheons into their own isolated "world, "preventing their direct interaction.

Not even Zeus, the king of the gods, could pass through this barrier to reach the other worlds but strangely, the "Power of Hope" that Hecate had predicted was inside this thick barrier.

Ares continued to descend, following the path that Hecate had given. He reached the bottom of the trench, and even light had long vanished.

He could barely sense Oceanus and Poseidon's presence, and their divine presence was now faint and weak.

However, what was truly strange was the area in front of him, there was a space where the "barrier" set up by Counter Force seemed to vanish.

Ares slipped through the opening and swam into the space to enter the barrier. After moving forward for another two minutes, a faint red glow appeared in his field of vision.

He lifted his head, and to his surprise, deep at the bottom of the ocean, he saw a giant object peacefully resting.

It resembled an almond-shaped cube with the cube had several gaps in it, and inside these gaps were square pipes glowing with powerful magical energy.

These glowing patterns formed a nearly invisible barrier, preventing the magical force caused by the Counter Force from getting through.

On the surface of the giant cube, there was also a spaceship that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. However, the ship was only half intact, with the other half nowhere to be seen.

The remaining section of the spaceship was pierced into the big, six-hundred-meter-wide cube like a sharp sword.

On the spaceship's hull, a line of special symbols looked like they had been burned into the surface with intense heat.

Strangely, Ares was sure he had never seen these symbols before, but he could somehow understand what they meant.

He couldn't help but read the symbol aloud, "This is a piece of the Harvest Star, Velber. It's one of the starship scouts that invaded the galaxy, numbered Velber... 03?"

To be continued...

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300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter

A/N: Every 300 power stone, I'll drop bonus chapter...