Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 313 The Goddess Who Doesn't Know Love

Above the clouds, Athena, who was talking with the Serpent Goddess, looked down and saw the gods laughing on the grass, and Ares, the God of War, staring in disbelief. The majestic Goddess of War looked embarrassed and annoyed, and casually picked up a bolt of lightning from the clouds and threw it down below.

"Rumble..."

Atop the sacred mountain, thunder suddenly roared, a bolt of lightning striking the clear sky, shaking the very souls of the gods.

Seeing that Athena was angry, and having already enjoyed the spectacle, the gods laughed and dispersed. Before leaving, Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, glanced at Ares, the god of war, and seeing his bewildered expression, a smirk appeared on her lips, seemingly quite pleased that he had been tricked instead of winning Athena's heart.

Ares then came to his senses, his face turning pale. The spring goddess Tarot realized her joke had gone too far and apologized to Ares. She promised that any war that broke out in her springtime season would be marred by rivers of blood, with flowers blooming on the battlefield to honor the god of war.

Ares looked slightly better, but he didn't say much, and just left angrily.

The farce ended there, but Athena, high in the clouds, seemed not to have let it go, her face still showing displeasure.

Mona, the snake girl, who witnessed this scene, played her harp, strummed the strings, and sang an ancient song.

"Invincible love, oh love, you spend long nights on the tender face of a maiden. You often cross the sea and roam the fields in the wilderness. Immortal gods or short-lived mortals, none can escape your grasp; you drive lovers mad..."

"You ruined a perfectly upright man, turning him into a wicked and disgraced individual. You instigated this conflict among your closest blood relatives. The passion in the beautiful bride's eyes overwhelmed everything..."

This song, originating from mortals, sings of the power of love, a passion that drives even gods mad. It seems to mock the god of war's obsessive love, yet also to ridicule the stern goddess before him.

Athena sensed the snake woman's slight sarcasm and said seriously.

“Majestic goddess, please stop teasing me. I am a goddess who is born without love and will never climb into the bed of any god.”

The snake woman was somewhat surprised.

She had assumed that Athena rejected Ares because she didn't like him, but Athena's answer was somewhat unexpected.

"Athena, I thought it was this somewhat reckless god of war who didn't agree with you, but it turns out it's because you're unwilling to marry?"

She had already followed her father god to three worlds and seen three different pantheons, but she had never actually met a goddess who was born without love or desire.

Gods are naturally revered, the cornerstone of the world, its rulers and sovereigns, and the entire world changes according to their will. But even gods have desires and love; or rather, the world only truly came alive from the moment Eros, the god of love, was born. Before the birth of desire and love, the world existed eternally, but it was merely a mortal existence. Only after the advent of love and desire did the world transcend its inanimate state and gain vitality.

But what did she see now? A goddess who openly declared she had no romantic love?
Athena nodded and said.

“From the moment I was born, my father made me ignorant of the magic arrow of love and the allure of desire. But because of this, without the influence of love and desire, I can be the most fair and rational wise god among all the gods. Isn’t that wonderful?”

This goddess did not shy away from this point at all; on the contrary, she seemed to be secretly proud of it.

The snake woman, who had lived for millions of years, seemed to have seen something and asked a question with a hint of deeper meaning.

"Then, goddess who knows no love, if you walk among men not for love, then for what purpose do you walk?"

The goddess's eyes flickered slightly, but she did not answer directly. Instead, she subtly changed the subject and started talking to the snake woman about other things.

Looking at the goddess, the snake woman had some thoughts in her mind.

……

Deepest beneath the underworld, beyond the abyss of Tartarus.

In the dark and gloomy world of the dead, there exists a colossal mountain range, stretching for countless miles, traversing half of the world and crossing the River Styx, blocking the dead from reaching the realm of the dead. When a living being dies, they must traverse this majestic mountain range before reaching the world of the dead, lest they become wandering ghosts.

If you trace this mountain range back to its source, you will eventually see it fall into the endless abyss of Tartarus.

But it wasn't a "mountain" at all; it was the tail of an unprecedented giant serpent whose body had fallen into Tartarus. Even the abyss couldn't fully contain the monster, leaving half of its tail in the underworld.

Above the abyss, a goddess with a cold expression was speaking softly.

“Father, I think I may have found some very interesting information…” Deep in the abyss, the monster listened quietly to his daughter’s words in a state between sleep and wakefulness. After a long while, a deep groan echoed from the bottom of the endless abyss.

"Hmph, an interesting little deity, my daughter. Do you know that Athena did not tell you the whole truth?"

"Father God, please reveal this to me."

Mona humbly lowered her head, seeking answers from the highest and most powerful god in the world.

"Those tiny things only know that I am powerful and invincible, but they don't know that there is nothing in this world that can escape my thoughts, perceptions, and experiences. After all, it's the perspective of a tiny insect. Even a god is just a long-lived insect. They are completely unaware that so-called wisdom and ingenuity are nothing more than the dregs I have discarded..."

"The scheming of that little deity can only fool those with short lifespans and immortal gods; how could it possibly deceive me..."

Beneath the abyss, the monster sneered disdainfully, its deep voice reverberating through the endless abyss, piercing the winds of the underworld, and reaching the ears of the Serpent Maiden.

Amidst the resounding echoes that shook the abyss, the monster slowly began to tell an ancient story.

That's a story that happened a long, long time ago.

Before the birth of the goddess Athena, and before Zeus became the king of the gods, in the ancient past, the sky god Uranus and the earth goddess Gaia had twelve Titans.

Each Titan's birth signifies the joint creation of a new being by heaven and earth. Oceanus, the god of the ocean, is the great river that encircles the earth. This ocean is boundless, stretching endlessly outwards, and is therefore known as the Sea of ​​Oceanus, the Sea of ​​the End. If mortals could steer their ships, overcoming storms, reefs, and whirlpools, and journeying ever further into the Sea of ​​the End, they might even reach other worlds.

This is the design of the world by the gods of this world, a world enveloped by an endless ocean.

Oceanus, the god of the ocean, eventually married Tethys, a fellow Titan goddess of the sea, and they had many goddesses, among whom was Metis, the goddess of wisdom. She was the most intelligent and beautiful of the sea gods, and the wisest among both humans and gods.

Meanwhile, Cronus, the youngest Titan and son of Uranus, had overthrown his father and become the new king of the gods, ruling for countless years. To maintain his rule, Cronus swallowed all his children to prevent them from usurping power.

But the youngest child, Zeus, survived by chance. In order to overthrow his tyrannical father, Zeus married Metis, the goddess of wisdom, to gain the support of the ocean gods, and overthrew the old king of the gods to become the new king of the gods.

But when Cronus, the father of Zeus, was overthrown, the sleeping gods Uranus and Gaia made a prophecy that the son born to Zeus and Metis would overthrow him and become the fourth king of the gods.

Zeus was deeply terrified of this prophecy. It stemmed from the original curse, the curse uttered by the god Uranus when he was overthrown by his own children. The gods cursed Cronus to be overthrown by his own children, and even their children would be overthrown by their own children, in an endless cycle.

To avoid this curse, Zeus swallowed the pregnant goddess Metis before she gave birth, thus gaining her wisdom and preventing the birth of his son with her.

But after Zeus swallowed Metis, he often suffered from unbearable headaches. In the end, the king of the gods had no choice but to let Prometheus split open his head. However, as soon as Prometheus raised his axe, a beautiful goddess named Tritogenia, with a graceful figure and wearing armor, leaped out of Zeus's head. She was radiant and had a magnificent presence, which surprised all the gods.

This goddess was a fearsome warrior who roared and howled, and an invincible queen. Because of her extraordinary mind and wisdom, she was also known as "Athena (mind and divine wisdom)".

"Athena should have been born as a male god, but she descended to earth as a goddess. Therefore, she is a deity who possesses the mind of both a male god and a goddess, and whose calmness and rationality surpass those of other gods. Hehehehehe... Interesting little deity, Mona. She will not fall in love with any human or god, because what fills her heart is not the light of love, but the fire of ambition."

The monster sneered.

Athena was prophesied to become the Queen of the Gods, but this destiny was severed by her own father. The wise yet ruthless Queen of the Gods—even fate itself halted before her, forever postponing her destiny.

Athena's ambition was well concealed. She cautiously maintained humility towards her father, avoiding arousing his suspicion, and carefully preserved her relationship with the Olympian gods. None of the gods realized the ambition hidden in Athena's heart. Even Mona, who had survived the destruction of two worlds, only vaguely sensed something was amiss. But to the monster, it was clear at a glance.

However, with that lion-like god-king around, will Athena really have a chance to realize her ambitions?

Male lions never hunt themselves, but instead drive loyal lionesses to hunt, while they reap the rewards, appearing lazy, sleepy, and idle all day, swishing their tails. However, once something truly threatens their power and status, the newly grown cubs and challengers will witness the cruel and terrifying side of the male lion.

The monster, observing indifferently, didn't care and had nothing to do with it.

He only needs to wait ten thousand years, and then everything will end.

Before that, the monster could just sit on the sidelines and watch how the seemingly lazy and idle lion dealt with his growing cubs and his brothers with ulterior motives.

(End of this chapter)