The God of Underworld
Chapter 139 - 38

Chapter 139: Chapter 38

The gods stood atop the crumbling ridges just beyond Herion, their divine senses flaring, hearts pounding not in fear, but in awe and grim resolve.

Before them, rising like a mountain of writhing flesh and divinity, stood Gaia—or rather, what was once Gaia.

Her corrupted form towered into the clouds, her shape only vaguely humanoid.

Her body was covered in bark-like skin splitting with molten earth, tendrils and massive black tentacles pulsating from her back.

Dozens of eyes, some weeping blood, others glowing with madness, opened and closed randomly along her limbs.

The very sky warped around her presence, clouds pulled unnaturally like whirlpools toward her being.

She was walking, yes...but painfully slow, as if she was a mortal trying to move against the flow of a river.

Erebus watched silently, narrowing his eyes.

"She’s... slower than expected," he muttered. "She’s not this slow when she fought me before. Is she not in a hurry to destroy Herion?"

Poseidon huffed, arms crossed. "Maybe it’s scheming. We might’ve fallen into a trap without realising it. Why don’t we go back to Herion?"

"No," Erebus answered, his tone grim. "I can feel Time is distorted around her. I can feel the folds and fractures, it’s subtle, but present. Whatever it is, she’s not trying to move slower on her own accord. Someone is trying to delay her."

Athena stepped forward. "...who is it?"

Erebus thought for a moment and can only think of one being capable of this.

"It must be Khronos," Erebus said. "Yes, it must be him. He’s bending time to slow her movements."

"But why not stop her entirely?" Artemis asked.

Erebus stared at Gaia and grimaced. "Yes, that is probably because she’s gotten too strong."

Not to mention the entity came from the outside and existed outside of this universe’s timeline. Even the Fates couldn’t see it until Hades helped out.

For Khronos to affect something that shouldn’t have been affected by time just speaks volumes of his power.

"So..." Ares grinned, spinning his spear. "If she’s this slow, how long would it take her to reach Herion?"

Erebus nodded. "Two days. If she’s not stopped, then with her pace, she’d reach Herion within two days."

Artemis cracked her knuckles. "Then we’ll just have to delay her for a day, right? Leave it to me."

Without waiting, the goddess of the hunt soared high above, golden hair trailing behind her like comet fire.

A giant warp opened behind her as the moon descended from it. Then, with a snap, it turned into light and shoot towards Artemis, turning into an arrow.

She drew back the arrow shimmering with silver radiance and whispered,

"Disappear with the light of the moon: Orion!"

The arrow fired, no, roared through the sky, the concept of the moon itself compressed into a single bolt of destruction.

Not to be outdone, Apollo ascended beside her, radiant as a second sun. He raised his golden bow, eyes like miniature stars, and intoned.

"Pyroas Aeterna!"

The arrow formed from the entirety of the sun’s conceptual force, brighter than anything the battlefield had seen.

Both arrows collided mid-air, then fused, cascading into Gaia with a blinding pillar of white-gold annihilation.

The explosion silenced the world.

Mountains were vaporized. Skies turned white. The wind itself stopped from the force of the detonation.

For a breathless moment, the gods watched in silence as hope stirred in their chest.

But from within the molten crater of divine destruction... Gaia emerged, unbothered. She did not acknowledge the attack, still continuing to advance towards Herion.

She didn’t even glance at them. As if they were a spec of dust to be patted off.

"You’re kidding... Not even a scratch?" Ares gulped.

"So this is a Primordial huh," Zeus narrowed his eyes. Even he had to take the combined attack of Apollo and Artemis seriously.

Yet Gaia brushed it off like it was a gentle breeze.

Just then, before any of the gods could react, dozens—no, hundreds of flying abominations burst from the clouds.

Creatures with too many limbs, shrieking mouths in their wings, and spines that opened like gaping maws.

Twisted monsters, corrupted children of nature, now bound to the entity’s will.

They soared down like a swarm of locusts.

"What are these things!?" Artemis shouted, loosing arrow after arrow.

Apollo joined her, every shot a blazing comet, vaporizing a dozen beasts at once.

Zeus, rage mounting, unleashed bolts of divine thunder, obliterating the creatures in screaming flashes.

Ares leapt into the fray with a savage grin, swinging his spear in wide arcs, slicing through flying monsters mid-air, roaring like a true god of war.

Athena and Themis coordinated defenses, forming magical barriers and strategic volleys of holy flame and vines to delay the swarm’s momentum.

Hestia was burning the creatures, turning them back into their original nature while Poseidon was casually swinging his trident and annihilate them.

Astraea remained silent, simply brandishing her sword to kill those creatures one by one.

On the side, Erebus remained completely still. Swords and spears made of shadow would materialized around him and kill any creatures that dared to approach him.

He stared at Gaia’s legs before he closed his eyes and drew upon his full conceptual authority.

"Well then, time to get serious." he whispered.

The wind stopped as the light dimmed. The sky itself darkened as if it lost all its colors.

Erebus raised his hands—and the world bent.

A chasm opened beneath Gaia’s feet, deeper than any mortal could imagine.

A swirling sea of darkness, the void that existed before light, rushed to life.

"Fall... into the abyss!" Erebus roared.

The ground shattered. Gaia’s massive legs were swallowed by the black quicksand, her body dragged inch by inch into the suffocating mire of primordial darkness.

For the first time, Gaia paused.

The pull from the abyss was impossible for her, whose entire existence have been slowed, to escape.

She can only wait to be swallowed by the darkness.

The gods stared at that scene in shock and in awe. For a moment, hope rises to their chest, feeling like they can win this.

But it was short-lived.

With a sickening tear, multiple grotesque wings, malformed and twisted—erupted from Gaia’s back. Her flesh screamed as they grew, unfolding like bloodied curtains.

With a mighty flap, she ascended, slowly tearing herself from the abyss.

But Erebus’ abyss clung like chains.

She floated, caught in a tug-of-war against the pull of the primordial darkness..

"She’s escaping! Keep her down!" Erebus bellowed.

The gods didn’t need to be told twice.

Apollo and Artemis rained divine arrows.

Zeus and Poseidon unleashed storm and sea.

Ares, Hestia, and Athena slashed, flanked, and blasted.

Themis invoked her authority over justice and conjured chains, wrapping Gaia’s wings in roots from the world’s soul.

Still, Gaia fought upward.

Just then, Astraea stepped forward.

"Hold her down for a moment." She declared.

Then, the goddess of justice soared above, her golden wings shimmering like constellations.

Now standing amongst the stars, she clasped her hand as she whispered a prayer—not to Olympus, not to any god, but to her father, Astraeus, the Titan of stars and dusk.

She asked for strength. For his blessings.

And the stars answered.

A surge of stellar energy coursed through her. Her body glowed with the light of the cosmos, her eyes glowed like two galaxies.

With the power of stars internalised into her, she dropped down to earth with speed that surpasses light.

"Fall down!" she screamed, crashing her heel into Gaia’s skull like a meteor smashing into a continent.

The force shook the heavens. The earth cracked open.

Erebus and the Olympians shielded themselves from the impact.

A deafening roar burst from Gaia’s throat as she faltered.

Her resistance ceased and her body plummeted back down, crashing back into Erebus’ abyssal sea.

The entire battlefield fell into silence for a moment.

"Holy shit. I didn’t she was that strong." Ares exclaimed.

The others agreed.

Even Erebus was surprised by that power.

Gaia writhed, thrashing like a beast in chains, but for now... she remained in place.

The gods breathed heavily. They looked to each other—exhausted, strained, but alive.

One day.

They only needed to hold one more day.

But they all knew...

The worst was yet to come.