Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

"Even if Zeus comes, so what? Believe me, Athena, I also have the means to contend with the king of the gods."

Tsugumi believed in Athena and liked her, not only because she had raised her, but also because—she was indeed a kind and righteous goddess.

In Greek mythology, Athena is almost a flawless goddess. It was the later Romans who, in their copying of Athena's Minerva, added a few dubious flaws and stories.

Athena is the mother of heroes and a female warrior who protects the weak. But interestingly, later generations, like the Romans, neither believed in nor liked this morally upright character, instead portraying her as a schemer in various literary works.

This is largely because the plot twists make the character more memorable, and also because the story of Athena's birth is well-suited to the role of the fourth generation of gods who attempted to overthrow Zeus.

However, the Athena before Tsugumi is not the scheming goddess portrayed in fan fiction. She genuinely protects Tsugumi's existence and hopes to restrain the arbitrariness of the gods, ushering in a new era for humanity.

"...So it seems you already know how fate will weave your final chapter this time," Athena said softly.

In fact, Tsugumi had already guessed where the destructive end woven for him by the three Fates would unfold.

Colchis – The Story of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece

That was the country where he grew up. Although it would be absurd for Tsugumi to want to develop any genuine and passionate feelings for the people there, he certainly wouldn't stand idly by and watch a tragedy that shouldn't have happened occur.

He will definitely go back and step onto the stage that the three sisters of fate have written for him to conclude.

The reason he assassinated the king was simply to complete his wish list before the curtain fell.

Seeing Tsugumi's attitude, Athena remained silent for a long time, and finally her radiance faded.

Immediately afterwards, an ancient and sacred shield dressed in goatskin appeared before Dongjiang.

Athena has already left and disappeared, and the last support she can give Tsugumi is this shield.

"Aegis Aegis..."

Tsurugi raised the artifact in her hand, which had once belonged to Zeus and was later passed on to Athena. After the king of the gods had gained the power to overcome fate, the artifact itself was no longer of any use to Zeus.

However, Athena took a huge risk by choosing to bestow such a weapon upon herself.

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Then, he took to the air and sped off towards Korkis.

Meanwhile, on the towering Mount Olympus, the bored gods once again began their game and gamble.

And at the heart of this game is the Argo hero, currently sailing at sea and about to arrive at Colchis.

Look at the heroes on this ship! It's a veritable gathering of heroes!

Orpheus, Theseus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta, and even the great Heracles—except he disembarked midway.

The sheer number and quality of the fifty heroes surpassed even the Trojan War, which spanned ten years.

All of this was for the sole purpose of obtaining a golden fleece.

It is truly incredible that such a large team of heroes could be assembled for such a trivial purpose.

But if you see who started this game, you won't see any problem.

"After many hardships, Jason finally arrived at Colchis and was about to complete his adventure."

Inside the palace of the gods, surrounded by the blazing Olympian flame, Hera, the queen of the gods, seated on her throne with a dignified and imposing presence, joyfully announced...

"I'm about to win."

The gods present did not react, or rather, they did not want to react; they just wanted this boring adventure to end as soon as possible.

After all, what's the fun in a betting game if there's no one willing to go against the other side?

The reason is simple: this was a game initiated by Hera, and the Olympian gods were unwilling to offend the petty Queen of the Gods for the sake of such a game.

In truth, the Queen of the Goddess's favor towards Jason wasn't because she genuinely liked him—it was simply because he wanted to take revenge on his uncle Pelias.

Hera hated Pelias because he had never offered her a sacrifice or shown her the respect she deserved. Furthermore, when Tyre's cruel stepmother Sideroth fled to Hera's temple seeking her protection, Pelias stormed in and killed Sideroth, an act of righteousness that severely offended Hera's authority.

Therefore, the story of the Argonauts' heroic adventure was born out of a desire for brutal revenge for these acts of dishonor against her.

To put it bluntly, Hera simply wanted to use others to kill, to equally torture and humiliate all those who offended her.

So the Argonauts had almost no trouble along their journey. Hera summoned the heroes, Athena helped them build their ships, and Apollo guided them through oracles. The only obstacle they encountered came from Zeus, and that was on their return journey.

I don't think so.

But some people just couldn't stand Hera's smugness. Poseidon stroked his deep blue beard, watching the queen of the gods on her throne, laughing.

"How can our discerning Queen Hera help those heroes eliminate the powerful Titan son, Karel?"

Fall in love with reading, starting with our book club forum. Please make sure you recognize the domain name.

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739. Slaying the Sea Monster Charybdis

Athena watched all of this with indifference.

To be honest, a large part of the reason she was able to hide Tsurugi was that the Olympian gods had been watching the Argo's progress for the past two years.

There are too many participants in this game initiated by Hera.

Atalanta was Artemis's messenger, Theseus was a descendant of Poseidon, and Euphemiah was Apollo's chosen people...

That's why the Queen of Heaven has so much influence. With just a few words, she can gather so many heroes for what can only be described as a trivial adventure.

For the Olympian gods, the adventures of mortals were like team-building activities.

After defeating the Titans and enjoying a long period of peace, there were few things left to bring them together on Mount Olympus.

Without a common enemy, the gods had no reason to gather together, and most of them didn't even stay on Mount Olympus.

Therefore, the King of Gods was happy to see such an event, as it was one of the few 'family games' that could bring families together.

Which gods participated in this battle of Argonauts?

Hera, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, and Ares—these five were the main participants, while other gods either stood by or were uninterested.

Although Athena admired the brave tales of heroes' adventures, she did not like such games among the gods.

In her view, mortal adventures should involve facing treacherous nature and terrifying monsters, and if wars between people are involved, then the goal should be to maintain fairness to each other as much as possible.

This Argonautical adventure is the best example of the gods interfering in the games of mortals. So many heroes were gathered together for the sake of the Golden Fleece, and a 'heroic legend' was forced to act for a trivial purpose.

Hera's capriciousness and recklessness are vividly displayed here, and her authority as the Queen of the Gods, who shares half of the King of the Gods' power, is unique in its own way.

Thinking of this, Athena closed her eyes and stopped looking.

She undoubtedly supported Tsurugi in her heart. Perhaps the adopted son she had failed to protect the first time could... be here to give Hera a good slap in the face!

"Child of Titans, who are you referring to?"

Hera frowned slightly, unsure who Poseidon was referring to.

"Don't you recognize him? Queen, oh, he is the son of Helios, named Calair, with extraordinary strength and unparalleled power."

The talkative Hermes spoke in a rapid-fire voice.

"Helios's child? What's there to worry about?"

Hera scoffed dismissively. If you said he was the son of Zeus, Hera would be worried—or rather, annoyed. But what does being the son of Helios matter?

The sun god who betrayed the Titans and sided with Olympus is long gone, and even the sun god's authority is gradually being lost.

Even though he remains powerful, even more so than many of the Olympian gods, the Titan bloodline has long since faded in this era. Their control over the world is vastly different from that of the Golden Age, and their inability to produce powerful offspring is irrefutable proof of their loss of power.

"That's not how it works, Karl is very strong," Hermes said with a grin.

"He once wrestled with Heracles to a draw. He also nearly put the river god Acromeu into eternal sleep. If you ask me, there are few mortals more powerful than him."

When Hercules was mentioned, the Queen finally took it seriously.

Although she loathed and even hated this illegitimate son who claimed to praise her but was actually insulting her, Hera was well aware of the immense power he possessed.

However, Heracles disembarked halfway because if he had stayed on the ship, all the adventures would have been meaningless, and the protagonist of the adventure would have changed.

The story of the Argonauts will only become a minor 'Golden Fleece' tale on the path of the Hercules legend, rather than existing as a separate and legendary epic.

Where is this son of the Titan now?

"He's on his way back to Colchis." Poseidon waved his hand, and the sacred flame before him distorted, revealing the image of the Tsurugi River speeding across the sea like a missile.

“His appearance was concealed by witchcraft, perhaps by Helios.”

Poseidon casually filled in some details about Tsurugi's character, but Hera didn't care about these trivial matters. Instead, she watched the Titan's son rapidly traversing the ocean and fell into deep thought.

"Let me test his skills, Charybdis!!!"

Poseidon, eager to make his move, struck the ground lightly with his trident. The next moment, a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared on the calm sea.

Right in the very center of that whirlpool, almost instantly, hundreds of ferocious and terrifying tentacles burst from the sea surface and lunged at Dongjiang!

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Caught completely off guard, Dongjiang was instantly entangled by more than a dozen tentacles and then violently dragged into the endless vortex.

"It's over. This son of the Titan is unlikely to survive."

Hera commented with a disdainful tone.

No matter how powerful this son of the Titans was, he had already fallen into the ocean. Remember this name: Book Club Forum. Remember this domain name: . Good books don't get lost. And it was Charybdis who dragged him down.

In human legends, Charybdis is a monster born from the union of Poseidon and Gaia—but in reality, it's not that monstrous. Rather than Poseidon having sex with his grandmother, Charybdis, like Scylla, is a product of the fusion of divine power.

Poseidon is not only the god of the sea, but also the god of earthquakes. When his divine power is active, he inevitably interacts with Gaia, the mother of the earth.

Charybdis was a product of this impact; in other words, he was essentially a twisted 'sea god'.

Poseidon's fervent efforts were largely driven by revenge. Although the sons of Oceanus were not his own, Poseidon arrogantly considered all aquatic creatures to belong to him!

But the very next second after Hera gave that assessment—

As if to slap her in the face, the bright red cloak burst out of the huge vortex in the next instant!

The tiny figure shot out a crimson beam from its eyes the instant it charged out, severing more than twenty pursuing tentacles.

The foul-smelling purple blood emitted an unpleasant odor as it was burned, which further enraged the monster beneath the vortex.

With a terrifying shriek, dozens of vortexes of varying sizes burst forth from below, and within the vortexes, thousands of tentacles appeared, blotting out the sky!

"Annoying..." Tsurugi looked at the tentacles with annoyance, but he knew that Poseidon was probably looking at him at that moment.

But Tsurugi didn't want to waste time getting entangled with such a thing, so it immediately flew straight into the sky.

In just a moment, he reached a height that was shoulder to shoulder with the sun.