Chapter 3099: Mercury Chronicles (49)

Hades' body had become very stiff, looking as though he faced a monster head-on and yet was utterly powerless to retaliate. Regardless, he fought to the last moment, earning respect as a formidable opponent—the Young Avengers chose not to move his body, instead bypassing it to head behind the throne.

There they found a Teleportation Portal to the Olympus Mountain Temple. The good news was the portal still worked; the bad news was that it appeared to have been activated not long ago. If the secretive eldest son really had been released and had gone through the portal to the Olympus Mountain Temple, then the prospects for the Olympus Gods were very grim.

Without hesitation, they passed through the portal at top speed, finding Mount Olympus eerily quiet.

Despite being called Mount Olympus, this wasn't exactly a mountain; it was more like a complex of temples, or as Clark would say, the living district of gods.

The first thing that caught their eyes was a floating staircase that led straight up into the clouds, with the massive temple intermittently visible. That was Zeus's abode, surrounded around the back by Hera's temple and gardens. Besides Hades' temple, the temples of the Twelve Pillar Gods were also veiled in the clouds and Holy Light.

The team members quickly ascended the grand staircase, arriving at the entrance to Zeus's temple; both Zeus and the Queen of Gods, Hera, were missing from their usual places.

Dick and his team didn't take chances—they meticulously searched the area, finding traces of a minor skirmish, but these didn't seem to have been left by the eldest son, being distinctly different from the wounds on Hades.

Continuing past the Temple of Zeus, they headed towards the Temple of Ares, the War God. Though Ares held a high status, his temple was situated far off because his role was similar to Asgard's Heimdall, needing to guard the entrances leading from Mount Olympus to various places.

Before they even got close to the temple, Dick felt a disturbing premonition; indeed, the Temple of Ares was riddled with damage almost identical to that in the Netherworld Temple, violent and wild.

They bypassed the front temple, reached the back and found the War God Ares dead.

He, too, had suffered a blow to the chest, his head taken, blood splattered all around. It seemed he had managed a brief struggle against the eldest son but, unfortunately, met with a tragic defeat in the end.

Having reached this point in their investigation, it was unwise to continue the inquiry rashly. It was time to summarize the clues they had collected.

Returning to Ares' temple, they formed a circle in the middle, and Dick was the first to speak, "It seems Hades fought to prevent the eldest son from leaving the Underworld, but met his defeat, and Ares, too, suffered the same fate while trying to impede his exit from Mount Olympus."

Jason shook his head, "No, it isn't like that."

Everyone looked at him.

It was natural for Hades, the Underworld God, to try stopping the eldest son because the son held a grudge against the gods of Mount Olympus. If he left the Underworld for Mount Olympus, it would lead to a bloodbath, and as one of the gods, Hades certainly intended to prevent it.

But Ares had no real reason to stop the eldest son—on the contrary, the further away this terrible trouble was, the better. As long as he didn't slaughter those on Mount Olympus, no one would care where he went.

And the eldest son had no motive to leave Mount Olympus. If it were true that Zeus and Hera had imprisoned him, then his only enemies were his parents. Could it be that he would go to Earth for revenge?

Though such mythological beings may not normally care for the lives of the human race, he wasn't the type of Evil God who needed to consume human souls for power. Already powerful enough to kill the Underworld God in one blow, slaughtering humans was of no benefit to him. Why would he go through the trouble of going through Mount Olympus' portal to the Human World after already reaching Mount Olympus?

This explanation led to an epiphany for the others.

Indeed, from the motive perspective, it made sense for Hades to resist desperately; on one hand, not resisting meant the eldest son would definitely not spare him—he might as well fight with all he had. On the other hand, once the eldest son ascended Mount Olympus and killed Zeus, Hades would lose his backing. If Zeus lived, he was bound to hold Hades accountable for his negligence. Both morally and logically, Hades had to try everything to stop him.

However, Ares' situation was different altogether. If he could let this monster leave directly through the portal, it would be considered a great favor.

But the problem was that the eldest son wouldn't just leave. All his enemies were here, where else would he go?

Jason again spoke, "That's why it's very irregular for Ares to die near this portal. Once the eldest son arrived at Mount Olympus, he would surely seek out Zeus first. How could Ares have not gone to help?"

Everyone began pondering this question. Raven, after some thought, said, "Could it be that he felt confident about facing the eldest son, so he decided to seal the portal, trying to trap him?"

"That's impossible," Faust spoke. "Ares was there when the eldest son was born. If he had been confident, he would have obeyed Zeus's order to kill him directly, rather than causing a fuss and eventually sealing him in the Underworld."

Raven thought this over and agreed, as she also didn't believe Zeus and Hera had any familial affection for the eldest son. Sealing him in the Underworld was clearly not just to spare his life but because they had no other choice. If Ares had been so confident, the eldest son wouldn't be alive today.

"Is it really the first crime scene there at the teleportation portal?" Aisha rubbed her chin, "I'll go back and check."

After a brief return, Aisha came back shaking her head, "I didn't find any signs of the body being dragged. The direction of the blood splatter is also totally consistent; there's no apparent sign of fabrication. It seems he indeed died right there."

"Well, that leaves only one possibility," Dick said. "Ares knew he was no match and wanted to escape."

"Then he couldn't possibly take this teleportation portal," Faust said. "You also saw that there were no signs of fight in Zeus and Hera's palaces, yet they disappeared. It's highly unlikely that the eldest son ate them. It's more likely that the Divine King and Queen of Gods had already received word and took the gods somewhere safe."

"So, was Ares meant to cover their retreat?"

"That doesn't fit either," Dick shook his head. "If Zeus and Hera could leave so swiftly and cleanly, it indicates that the situation wasn't that urgent. There was no need to leave someone to cover their retreat; Ares could have left with them."

The speculation reached a stalemate once again, with none of the scenarios seeming right, but Jason suddenly had an epiphany, "What if Ares was not a victim but the mastermind?"

Everyone cast curious glances at him.

"Think about it, from breaking free to entering the Underworld to killing Hades, there was some time. Though Hades fell in one blow, there was time from detecting the eldest son to facing him directly to send a warning to Zeus."

Everyone nodded, agreeing that Jason's idea made sense. The Underworld was Hades's domain; it was impossible for such a significant event as releasing the eldest son not to alert Hades. Before the eldest son truly confronted him, he would certainly inform Zeus.

Meaning that not long after the eldest son broke free, Zeus and Hera knew he might come calling. They might have suffered at this powerful being's hands before, so this time they chose to avoid the confrontation, leading all the gods to temporarily evacuate Mount Olympus.

With Zeus gone, Mount Olympus was almost completely unmonitored, giving any remaining figures on the mountain a chance to act without obeying Zeus—something that was impossible under normal circumstances.

Dick pondered for a moment before continuing, "So, are you suggesting that Ares intentionally stayed behind, taking advantage of Zeus's absence to start some kind of plot? What did he want to do?"

"He wanted to go to the Human World," Jason said, "just like Poseidon."

It then struck everyone—there was another critical element amid these events: the sudden appearance of Poseidon at Atlantis, which was extremely abnormal.

Although Poseidon was the Sea God and had a deep relationship with Zeus, Zeus, after all, was the Divine King. Without Zeus's permission, how could Poseidon dare to descend to the human realm and stir up trouble?

And from Zeus's perspective, with a great enemy, the eldest son, at hand, although they had places to run, what if the enemy chased them?

Thus, for Zeus, the best strategy was to consolidate all forces in his hand to combat the eldest son. Losing the Underworld God was unfortunate, but the War God and Sea God were among the top combat forces on Mount Olympus. How could Zeus afford to let them go to the Human World to cause trouble rather than keep them close at hand during such a time?

That is to say, the War God and Sea God might not have followed Zeus's command.

As Jason pointed out, converting these two from victims to instigators explained everything. They planned to wait for Zeus to flee in panic, then seize the opportunity to open the teleportation portal to the Human World.

It's also possible that they knew about the eldest son's impending release earlier than Zeus, having waited for this day for a long time—his release might not be unrelated to their actions.

From the beginning to the end, their goal had been to force Zeus's family to relinquish control over Mount Olympus, providing them with the opportunity to take advantage."

Funa shook her head, "But I can't see what benefits them to go to the lower realm; their grudges on Mount Olympus have nothing to do with humans."

Jason also fell into thought, as he indeed couldn't see why they would go to such lengths to enter the lower realm; it seemed there was no obvious benefit, and instead Ares bungled it, running a step too slow and falling in front of the teleportation portal, costing him his life.

At that moment, Aisha spoke up, "What they intended to do, we know by looking at Poseidon."

"Poseidon?" Jason softly repeated the name, thinking about what Poseidon had done and grasping the key point.

"Poseidon was not just causing chaos in the Atlantic. His most damaging act was attacking Atlantis!" Jason suddenly realized something. "And once Atlantis was in trouble, Aquaman Arthur couldn't possibly ignore it."

Everyone exchanged glances, then simultaneously uttered a word: "Mercury!"