Tartarus

I must have fallen for several minutes after I jumped into Tartarus. The air grew frigid and I felt the world around me shift as I fell through some sort of dimensional barrier.

I saw a light approaching fast and slowed my fall with a bit of wind manipulation. My feet touched the strange red ground and I looked around my new surroundings. 

I have never been to hell, but Tartarus was exactly what I expected hell to look like. Everything was a shade of red and either in ruins or on fire.

The ruins looked like they had been dropped into Tartarus from different periods in time. There was everything from medieval buildings to industrial age factories to Greek temples.

Some were crumbling, some burned with eternal fire, and some were crumbling and on fire. All in all, the whole place looked like a shit hole, but in red. 

I could smell the monsters before they came into view. Something along the lines of hot sewage mixed with putrid fish.

Not that the air itself was any better. The air reeked like the inside of a middle school boys locker room. I mentally noted that the air was potentially toxic and what little vegetation I saw was likely poisonous.

I quickly opened my system only for the screen to flicker. Frowning, I scanned the system for any notifications. 

(Main Quest) 'The Last Olympian'

Objectives:

Save the Demigods: Complete 

Protect Olympus: Complete 

Defeat Kronos: Complete

Bonus:

Keep Property Damage Minimal: Complete 

Save Luke: Complete 

Take Less Than 10% Damage: Complete

Kill Kronos: Complete

Rewards:

Title: 'King of the Gods'

Random Skill

100,000 EXP

System Update

My frown deepened, the notification was exceptionally late considering that I had finished the quest a while ago. The screen flickered again. I had a feeling that either the Fates were responsible or that being Tartarus had an effect on my system. Just as I was about to close the UI another notification popped up. 

System Error

System Update Required

Update Now?

[Yes][No]

I sighed, while it was stupid standing around in the middle of literal hell distracted by a floating screen I couldn't just ignore the message.

On the off chance that my system was actually getting buggy because of an update, I wasn't taking any chances on it suddenly messing up and potentially fucking me over in the middle of something important.

I selected 'Yes' and watched as the screen flickered once more before the final message was displayed. 

System Updating

Functionality Temporarily Limited

Access to Inventory: Full

Access to Perks: Limited

Access to Skills: Limited

Pocket Dimension: Limited

Update Complete in:

[119:59:00]

'Great, I have limited access to my abilities for five fucking days. At least I have full access to my inventory… it could be worse, oh wait I'm literally looking for Selene in hell surrounded by monsters with absolutely no idea how big this place is.' 

'At least you have me father.'  

'Tia?'  

'I am here.'  

'Oh thank fuck.'  

It was fortuitous that my familiars were still reachable. With Tiamat it would be much easier to search this place. Then again having a massive fuck off dragon helped in any regard.

Whether it was slaughtering armies or razing villages to the ground, a dragon really made things fun. Tiamat jumped from my tattoo and stood in front of me in her human form. 

"The air smells bad." She muttered. 

"As expected of the place, can you help?" 

"We're searching for mother?" 

"Yes, and please feel free to eat any monster you run across here." 

She grinned, turning without another word she jumped into the air as a pair of wings shot out of her back and carried her off.

When she was too far to see I looked down at what I was wearing and contemplated switching to a different set of clothes. I had been wearing the same type of outfit for a few days now and had gotten tired of it. 

'I should try to stick with the theme. Don't have any Olympian style clothing though.' I mused. 

Seeing that my system was still updating I settled for wearing the full set of armor I had in my inventory that I hadn't worn since leaving the Underworld universe.

Looking at the dark steel plates I grinned, while it wasn't anything special it was certainly intimidating enough. It also helped that I cast a spell that made the whole set indestructible. 

'Magic is definitely becoming more and more useful.' I thought to myself as I put the helmet on. 

I took Sky Scorcher and transformed it back to Dark Sister before sheathing it at my hip. Satisfied with my preparation I began to walk in the opposite direction that Tiamat had gone. 

[Scene Break]

Her breath came out in ragged gasps as she ran from the monsters pursuing her. Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, running from monsters. Any other day and she would have laughed at the thought. However, running was something she was all too willing to do at the moment. Seeing that she had lost her knives after Typhon struck her down, she ran out of arrows after the first few hours she had been awake, and her powers seemed to not be working as they should. One look at her surroundings told her all she needed to know. She had been killed by Typhon's last attack. She was now in Tartarus where her powers were limited. Not only that but there were hundreds of monsters who would happily turn her into food if not a plaything. She was strong, but she wasn't stupid enough to think that she could handle fighting off hundreds of monsters alone. Especially when she was powerless. 

Artemis turned to look at her pursuers only to feel a stinging pain as a hellhound caught her leg in its jaws. A strangled scream escaped her lips as she fell to the ground. The wind knocked out of her she screamed again when the hound tore into her shoulder dragging her to its fellow hounds. For the first time in millennia Artemis felt fear in her gut. She would end up as food for these dogs. She didn't even know what happened to immortals should they die in Tartarus. She felt a tear slide down her cheek at the thought of being killed by lowly mongrels when the hound closest to her burst into black flames. The hellhound yelped in pain before having its head separated from the rest of its body. There was a roar close by and a large black shape crashed into the monsters. Artemis struggled to get up but her shoulder and leg were too mangled, she was losing too much blood. Her vision grew faint and just before she lost consciousness she saw a massive black wolf tear into the monsters with a feral gleam in its golden eyes. 

Selene sat up with a gasp. The last thing she remembered was shoving Lena out of the way just as Zeus threw a bolt of lightning at them. She had taken the full force of the attack and promptly blacked out. Looking around with a groan she realized what had happened. The attack must have 'killed' her and sent her to be reformed in Tartarus. The former queen of Olympus had been so kind to explain how the world they were in worked. Hera had also given her the run down as to her responsibilities now that she was queen. Things were going great up until Zeus and Ares had come into the throne room demanding things. 

The former Death Dealer brushed off her clothes and took stock of her situation. She could still access her natural hybrid abilities but the new godly abilities were dulled as if locked behind a wall. She assumed that Tartarus affected divine beings in a way that stifled their powers. Thankfully she was a hybrid first and foremost. Her strengths didn't only rely on divine power. 

Selene heard growling coming from a short distance and drew the dagger she had concealed on her person. She cursed not having a suitable weapon at the moment and readied herself to fight whatever beast came to attack her. A large black hound with flaming red eyes suddenly materialized out of nowhere and rushed her. The hound was larger than several horses and faster than any wolf she'd ever seen. Cursing Selene turned to start running just as a large shape swooped in and tore the hound's head clean off. 

An all too familiar roar shook the ground around her and Selene grinned just as Tiamat, her adoptive daughter, landed and shifted to her human form. The two ran to each other and embraced. 

"Tia." Selene sighed in relief. 

"Mother, father sent me to look for you." 

"I take it he didn't take too kindly to Zeus and Ares?" 

"Killed the two of them personally and had me eat Ares' sons." 

"Right, how did the Olympians react?"

"Shocked, I'd go as far as to say that they didn't expect such swift retaliation." 

"Your father has the tendency to act first and ask questions after he's already beheaded his enemies." 

"A good way to live." Tiamat hummed. 

Selene sighed, "Anyways, is he here?" 

"Oh yes, we parted ways a few hours ago. I've been flying around searching for you." 

"Well you've found me, what now?" 

Just then an explosion rocked the world around them. Selene sighed again, looking at Tiamat she motioned towards the mushroom cloud forming in the distance. 

"I'm willing to bet that's where we'll find your father."

Tiamat grinned, "Hop on, we'll go see what pissed him off enough to make him smite something."