Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 314 The Age of Gods and Humans
In the distant past, the earth was teeming with animals, but there were no humans.

At this time, Prometheus, the god of the sky, set foot on the earth. He was the son of the goddess of justice and the giant. This wise and upright god traveled the earth and saw that the earth was suffering, so he had an idea.

The god first sought help from his grandmother Gaia, who sculpted a god-like form from water and clay. Then he turned to his friend Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who readily agreed to help her friend. Athena breathed divine breath into the clay figure, and the figure came to life.

The clay figures began to run, and thus, humankind came into being.

This was the first era of humankind, but with the war between monsters and gods, the human era fell into destruction.

The earth was torn apart, the land was submerged, flames burned the forest vegetation, the sky was blackened by smoke, and humanity faced annihilation.

But a couple named Deucalion and Pilate survived on a high mountain. They had been trapped by the flood for a long time and only realized that the world had been destroyed after the flood receded.

In desperation, the couple prayed to the gods, who told them to throw the soil behind them, and that soil became the new human beings.

And so, humanity survived the catastrophe that threatened to destroy itself.

……

"Therefore, humanity has already begun to reproduce again on the earth."

Beneath the underworld, the majestic and cold goddess, her face pale, asked the maids around her.

This serpent goddess serves the Lord of Destruction, yet also belongs to the underworld. In this time, she is working to rebuild the kingdom of the serpent people.

Those serpent servants were born in this dark and terrifying world of death.

On the other hand, the goddess also listens to news from the earth, especially news from humans, and she doesn't let it go. Because the serpent once casually mentioned that the protagonists of this world are both gods and humans, she took it to heart.

It will be ten thousand years before my father is freed from his predicament, but we must make good preparations before then.

"Yes."

The maid said respectfully.

After a moment's thought, the goddess dismissed the maid and closed her eyes.

She is known in Norse mythology as the Norse Handmaiden, born with the ability to foresee destiny. And after so many years, her talent has only grown more extraordinary, allowing her to see more and more; in this world, very little can escape her notice.

Right now, she's going to see who might be threatening her father. She has to help him find those "troublesome little bugs" he calls his.

Close your eyes, and you will see endless brilliance.

His body remained on the throne of bones, but his soul had already vanished into the cracks between worlds.

Numerous images appeared before Norn, but she remained indifferent, ignoring them completely, and headed straight for the distant horizon.

Further and further away, until finally, she felt she could vaguely see it.

But then, a stern voice rang out: "Who?!"

Oh no, a goddess of fate has noticed my actions.

The gods' control over the world lies in this: anything a god doesn't want mortals to understand, mortals cannot understand. Mona, however, is not on good terms with the goddess of fate; while she can glimpse destiny, she cannot see that far.

The goddess who was secretly watching fate did not want to fight with the goddess of fate. She only had time to jot down a few fragments before everything before her eyes shattered in an instant.

Above the sky, the future goddess opened her eyes and snorted coldly, slightly angry.

"That little snake."

However, this goddess was also wary of the monster's father's power. She slightly hindered the goddess from casually prying into fate, but did not pursue the matter further.

Beneath the underworld, Mona opened her eyes and fell into deep thought.

In the few lingering images she vaguely remembered, she vaguely saw a figure—a man with a thick, powerful neck and a terrifying, imposing gaze.

With his godlike figure and strong, muscular physique, Mona vaguely saw the man fighting against numerous powerful monsters. Through these many battles, the monsters he faced changed again and again, but the man's image remained constant.

As for the man's name...

"Alcides".

I didn't recite it aloud; I just pondered it silently in my heart.

After being stopped, Mona was unable to witness the era in which the man was born, nor did she know whether he was human or god. But Mona vaguely realized that if there was anyone in this world who could stop her father, then it was probably only this man.

This yet-to-be-born human/god will be the greatest obstacle to the Serpent Father's devouring of the world.

Without any further evidence, Mona simply made this judgment.

I must stop him.

The goddess thought this to herself.

……

Time flew by, and humanity once again multiplied, rebuilding civilization in this destroyed world.

In this world surrounded by the sea, civilizations gradually emerged on several of the largest continents, and people established city-states all over the world. The gods were quite pleased with these interesting mortals, and sometimes the noble gods would descend to earth to drink, make merry, dance, sing, and even have children with them.

Those descendants of gods, possessing divine blood, were far more powerful than ordinary people, becoming natural-born monarchs who conquered all directions and established one powerful kingdom after another.

The descendants of these gods also revered the gods, offering them sacrificial meat, temple maidens, pottery, music, and all the best things in the world.

During this period, humans and gods were never separated. It was natural for gods to come down from the clouds to the earth and for humans to go from the earth to the sacred mountain.

Until... a certain event occurred.

Tantalus was a mortal, but also the son of Zeus.

Zeus favored him so much that he enjoyed god-like treatment, allowed him to enter and leave the sacred mountain, travel with the gods, drink the gods' delicacies and wine, and rule over the most powerful country on earth.

Because of Zeus's special favor, Tantalus was also respected by the gods. If the proud gods ever respected a mortal, it would probably only be Tantalus.

But because of this, he seemed to have become too indulgent. The increasingly arrogant king no longer respected the gods and even dared to mock them. He invited the gods to his home, killed his own son, cooked him into meat, and disguised it as beef to entertain the gods, in order to test whether the gods were really so omniscient.

The gods all realized the truth, and in their astonishment, they looked at each other blankly, none of them eating. Only Demeter, the goddess of justice, was distracted by the fact that her daughter had been abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, to be his wife. In her anxiety and distraction, she ate a piece of shoulder blade.

In their horror, the gods threw the meat from the plate into a box. Clotho, the goddess of the future, then took a living child from the box—none other than Pepros, son of Tantalus. However, the piece of shoulder blade that the goddess had eaten from the poor boy had to be replaced with ivory.

When the mortals' purpose in provoking and testing the gods was exposed, the father of gods and men became angry.

"Tantaros, my child on earth, have I not treated you well?"

At that terrifying feast, the Father of God and Man coldly gazed at his son on the ground and calmly asked.

For the first time, Tantalus felt fear. Before this god-king who ruled over gods and men, even the most powerful king on earth was silent and trembling.

Without uttering any further words, the disappointed God-King simply waved his hand. Accompanied by a sudden gust of yin wind, warriors from the underworld emerged from the ground, one on the left and one on the right, dragging the soul of this once all-powerful king into the underworld, and even deeper into it.

Meanwhile, Mona, the serpent goddess who was also invited to the banquet, watched all of this with cold eyes, witnessing the king's soul struggling in terror, screaming, but still being dragged into the depths of the earth.

This banquet clearly angered and displeased Zeus. He snorted and left, and the other gods followed suit.

But the troubles of Tantalus were only the beginning. Not long after, Tantalus' daughter also met with misfortune.

Niobe, daughter of Tantalus.

This woman, of noble birth and illustrious lineage, married the King of Thebes and became Queen of Thebes. She was beautiful and dignified, more like a goddess than an ordinary person.

Her father, Tantalus, was a guest of honor of the gods, and her husband was the ruler of a powerful kingdom. What made her even more proud were her seven sons and seven daughters; all her sons were handsome and valiant warriors, and all her daughters were beautiful and charming princesses.

Power, wealth, fame, family, beauty... she had everything a woman could want. It could be said that there was no happier mother in the world.

However, like her father, she also developed a conceited and arrogant attitude.

One day, her husband Amphion received a remarkable artifact from the Muses: a beautiful harp. By plucking the strings, stones could automatically assemble into a wide city wall.

Her husband was overjoyed and celebrated it throughout Thebes with a festivities.

The noble queen, on a whim, went for a stroll in the city and saw several women praying before an altar during the celebration.

This wouldn't have been a problem in itself, but because of her father's death, the queen had recently become quite resentful of the gods, so she glanced at the altar a few more times. Then she couldn't help but burst into laughter, and even stepped down from her carriage to mock the group of women.

"Poor fools, it would be fine if you prayed to Zeus, the god of the sky, and Hera, the queen of the gods, for happiness and health. It would also be fine if you prayed to Poseidon, Ares, and Athena for strong and intelligent children. But you want to pray to this goddess who can't even protect herself?"

The queen, dressed in magnificent robes, raised her head proudly and looked disdainfully at the goddess statue on the altar.

"This poor woman was just the least known daughter of the Titans. She bore two children for Zeus, but she had no place to live and was forced to hide all day long. She could only barely live on a small island that was barely visible in the water."

On the altar was clearly the Titan goddess Leto.

The queen's words were full of contempt for the goddess.

This goddess is not particularly famous among the gods, but she gave birth to two great and renowned gods, Apollo and Artemis, for Zeus.

However, because of this, when she became pregnant, the angry Queen Hera cruelly persecuted the poor goddess, forcing her to flee during her pregnancy.

But all the gods feared Hera and dared not accept this goddess. Even the earth dared not provide her with a place to give birth. Only the island of Delos, which appeared and disappeared in the water, accepted her and allowed her to give birth to two gods on this watery island.

While mocking the goddess, the queen arrogantly boasted on the other side.

"In comparison, wasn't my father revered by the gods? Wasn't my mother Dione the sister of the seven stars in the sky? My ancestor Atlas was incredibly strong; he could carry the entire heavens on his shoulders. My grandfather Zeus was the father of all the gods. Wasn't my husband the most powerful king of Thebes, a king renowned throughout the land? Aren't my sons and daughters more numerous than those poor goddess's two children? My wealth could fill every room of a palace; isn't it more than that of the goddess who hides in hiding? Isn't my beauty precisely what goddesses possess?"

"The most honorable king on earth is right before your eyes, yet you do not come to pay homage, but instead go to pay homage to a goddess whose whereabouts are unknown and who is in dire need of protection herself?"

Faced with the queen's rapid-fire words, the women gathered together looked at each other in dismay and had no choice but to remove the offerings and take off the garland from the goddess's head.

The queen, who was basking in the glory of her victory over the goddess, was unaware that the goddess Leto, far away on Mount Canthos, had overheard her words.

Hearing the queen's words, the goddess trembled with anger and couldn't help but shed tears.

Suppressing her anger, she sent her servants to the sacred mountain and forest to call for her children.

(End of this chapter)