Chapter 52: Poseidon doesn’t like Greek and Roman mythology

Chapter 52: Argos—The Trace of Typhon (5)

“How dare they…”

It wasn’t that they didn’t know the sudden chaos had been caused by that creature called Typhon, but the real reason for their anger was the deeds he had committed on Olympus until now.

In short, it was a crime of insolence.

Because of that, the seas had turned violent. Humans and other races could not even approach rivers or springs, let alone fish.

One of the nations suffering the most from the aftermath was Corinth.

Simply by being next to Argos, it was taking all kinds of damage.

“Your Majesty, the rivers are flooding, and the spring nymphs are attacking anything that moves.”

“What? Why is this happening all of a sudden?”

“They say that in Argos, they captured and tortured Lord Poseidon’s investigation team.”

“Those lunatics. Any deaths?”

“There are no deaths, but the people cannot drink water, and because of storms and rapids, fishing at sea has become impossible.”

“This is driving me mad. First, release the supplies from the palace warehouses. For drinking water… I suppose we’ll have to ask the river god Asopus. The gods are truly tiresome.”

Other states such as Sparta and Thebes were also suffering damage.

***

On Olympus, Hera led the delegation. Accompanying her were the rainbow goddess Iris who served her, the star goddess Asteria, Athena who had connections or friendship with the sea gods, Bia the daughter of Styx, and Eirene the goddess of seasons and peace.

Soon, what the arriving goddesses witnessed were extraordinarily rough waves.

Even though the sea knew they had arrived, the waves crashed toward them as if to attack. Hera sighed and made her request.

“Goddess Eurynome, we have come as an official delegation. We are here to apologize.”

The sea parted, and Eurynome appeared, enveloped in rolling waves. She looked at the goddesses who claimed to be envoys and spoke expressionlessly.

“Well. In my opinion, my husband Poseidon, god of the sea, is far too lenient. In the ancient times, we would never have forgiven the mistake you committed just because you offered an apology.”

“This is no longer the ancient era—the age of the Protogenoi.”

“That’s a pity, Hera. Olympus may have moved on, but in this sea, there are still many who remember those old matters.”

With those words, the sea gods began to appear one by one.

Ceto and Eurybia, children of Pontus who had taken Poseidon’s side in the war.

The children of Nereus—the sea nymphs Thetis, Galatea, Psamathe, and others. Those who had distinguished themselves in the war against Pontus or had been forgiven their sins now appeared.

“Goddess Eurynome, I told you we did not come to fight.”

“I wouldn’t know about that, but you won’t be able to meet Poseidon. He’s already gone to Argos, intrigued by traces of Typhon.”

Hera inwardly cursed at Eurynome’s words.

If Poseidon had been there, at least these fierce sea goddesses might have calmed down enough to listen…

“We’re doomed. Everyone, prepare yourselves. We hold out until Poseidon arrives.”

At Hera’s command, battle broke out between the sea goddesses and the Olympian goddesses.

***

Meanwhile, Poseidon was heading to Argos with the goddess Hecate to examine the traces of Typhon.

“Lord Poseidon, is it really all right to go so slowly?”

“Hecate, there’s no rush. All we’re doing is looking at some traces, after all.”

Hecate nodded at Poseidon’s words.

He was right—there shouldn’t be any trouble just from looking at traces.

Avalkain—once a priestess of Hera, now a priestess of Typhon—panicked when she sensed the goddesses’ intrusion.

“This is terrible! Someone has broken into the hidden space.”

“What about the offerings and treasures inside?”

“Everything… has been taken.”

“Then…”

Leaving the flustered cultists behind, Avalkain hurried to the king of Argos.

She also sent urgent messengers to the nymphs and some river gods who had helped them.

“King Gof, everything we did has been discovered.”

“What…?! How was it discovered? Didn’t you say it would never happen?”

“It seems a high-ranking god has come in person.”

“Hah!”

Upon hearing the words of Avalkain, Typhon’s priestess, King Gof of Argos immediately ran toward the warehouse.

“We must flee. Argos is finished.”

Watching the king’s behavior, Avalkain felt puzzled and followed him.

“Why are you panicking so much? Typhon’s power still protects us. Because of the strategies we used, Olympus cannot move quickly. We can use that gap to take everything and escape.”

King Gof gave Avalkain a look that said, ‘As expected, a madwoman is a madwoman,’ and replied.

He deeply regretted ever letting his desires lead him to aid these lunatics.

“I’ll tell you since you helped me. The sea gods are not usually rational. You can see it just by looking at the river gods of Argos. So you do whatever you want. I have to survive my own way. Once I’m out of Argos, the sea gods won’t care about me.”

“What do you mean…?”

Avalkain stopped in her tracks, unable to finish her sentence as she watched King Gof flee.

No matter how much she had betrayed Hera, as a former high priestess of Hera she understood the system of the gods well.

By now, they would probably have sent envoys and be talking things over…

But unfortunately, there was something the former priestess of Hera, Avalkain, had failed to consider.

Unlike Olympus, which at least held minimal discussions, the sea gods tended to act first and think later.

From far away, one of Typhon’s followers came running.

“Lady Avalkain! A tsunami—a tsunami is coming!”

“!!!”

Avalkain froze, as did the remaining residents of Argos as they saw the tsunami bearing down on them.

***

The quick-witted and the innocent had already evacuated to high hills with the help of river and sea nymphs, so only the guilty remained in the city.

When Poseidon lightly swung his trident near the sea off Argos, the ocean advanced as if it had a will of its own.

Hecate, watching from the side, could not help but marvel.

To be able to move a part of the world so effortlessly.

She knew everything from ancient secret arts to the latest magic, sorcery, and necromancy, yet there were things she could not easily do even if she wagered everything.

One of them was transforming and controlling a part of the world.

Even for a god, reshaping, manipulating, or transforming a portion of the world required an absurd amount of power, and performing it through magic demanded vast quantities of reagents, potions, or materials.

“No wonder the three chief gods and the powerful ancient gods are objects of fear.”

The waves were so high that across all of Argos, sunlight was blocked and it felt like gloomy night had fallen.

Even Helios seemed to be fleeing in surprise from the gigantic wave.

“Even a god like Helios…”

Hecate marveled beside him, but Poseidon simply continued as if it were routine—raising waves and causing earthquakes.

With something so monstrous nearby, it would be rude to simply enter without greeting.

“Whoa. What the hell is that thing? I’ve never seen anything like it, even in war.”

The colossal tsunami crashed over Argos. With its overwhelming weight, size, and speed, everything in the surrounding area was literally crushed flat.

Flash—

As the tsunami advanced, pulverizing everything around Argos, a giant appeared in the city, accompanied by a crimson glow and a pungent sulfur stench.

Its appearance was so hideous that it was nightmare-inducing: the body of a human twisted by curses, a serpent’s tail, surrounded by lava, with countless reptilian eyes covering its entire form—the very sight Hecate had glimpsed before.

It seemed Typhon had created this guardian to protect his priests and followers at the very least…

The irony was that the giant meant to safeguard Argos was instead tormenting Typhon’s own followers.

—Argh! Save me!

—Lord Typhon! Why?!

—Damn it, I’m a god!!

Every human, god, nymph, and other being who had aided Typhon or entered a pact with him for gain—their life force was being drained into the giant.

Kieeeek!!!

Unfortunately, despite its grandiose entrance, the giant could not even utter a death cry before it was crushed beneath the tsunami.

It had inflicted nothing but suffering on those who had dealt with or followed Typhon, only to collapse meaninglessly in the end.

From the perspective of Typhon’s believers, it was enough to drive them mad with rage—but what could they do? They had made their choice.

Soon, the earthquake that landed from the sea along with the tsunami left nothing of Argos behind.

Gazing at the flattened Argos, now as if trampled by the giant with nothing remaining, Poseidon wore an expression that said,

“Hmm… it’s ruined.”

“What are we going to do about this? Trident! I let you run wild because you wanted to, and now there’s nothing left—not even the traces!!!”

“…….”

As Poseidon jumped up and down, glaring at his spear, the Trident, Hecate could only remain silent before the entire spectacle.

If it had been Iris or Athena who were originally with her, they might have had to fight fiercely against that giant—yet it had been reduced to a crumpled lump of stone. Everything in Argos had vanished without a trace.

Such things didn’t particularly surprise her. What truly astonished her was that Poseidon had grown even stronger than during the Titanomachy.

In response to Hecate’s silence, Poseidon, who had been quiet behind her, whispered to the Trident.

“Oh no… Trident, it looks like Hecate is angry because of you.”

Wooong—

“Don’t make excuses. You should have held back. You’re driving me insane.”

“Boo wooong—”

“Good grief. You always have a smooth tongue.”

Meanwhile, deep within a volcano on the earth.

A certain being enveloped in lava opened its eyes, sensing its power vanishing.

—That direction is Argos. The giant couldn’t even resist…

—This feeling… it’s Poseidon.

The gods’ power was stronger than expected—a slight deviation from its predictions, but this incident was merely the beginning…

—Now I understand why the monsters and followers fear them so much. But this is only the start.

—The time of the end is coming.

Having finished what felt like a light stroll, Poseidon returned and clutched his head at the sight before him.

“What the… why were you all fighting?”

At Poseidon’s question, everyone who had been battling—except Eurynome and Hera—lowered their heads.

“I thought you would guide them properly in my absence, Eurynome.”

“That’s something you should ask them, I think. Olympus’s behavior has gone too far.”

“Ha! Isn’t the same true for you? The sea gods cause all sorts of trouble on land, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“How absurd. The land is originally a shared domain, isn’t it? If we’re going to argue ownership of the land, it belongs to my husband.”

“Ha?! Are you disregarding the authority of Olympus, which governs all gods?”

“It’s you who are disregarding it.”

Poseidon clutched his forehead as he watched Hera and Eurynome continue their verbal sparring in front of him.

As the argument escalated beyond words and threatened to turn physical—

Thud thud thud!

He slammed the Trident on the ground and shouted.

“Enough! Enough! How can the Queen of the Sky and the Queen of the Sea behave like this?”

At Poseidon’s anger, Eurynome and Hera realized their lack of decorum in this place, wore embarrassed expressions, and quietly stepped away from each other.

“Athena, you explain. Why have you come?”

“Yes. Regarding this incident, Lord Zeus expresses deep regret and has sent gifts of apology to Lord Poseidon.”

As Athena spoke, an attendant behind her showed Poseidon a single document.

The contents roughly stated: I was wrong. In exchange, I will completely cede ownership of certain cities on land. Let us settle it with this.

“I understand. You propose to settle by ceding the lands near Argos.”

“Yes.”

“And yet you were fighting here.”

“…….”

Poseidon sighed at his sister, who seemed to know she was in the wrong and avoided his gaze.

Whenever she came to the sea, she reverted to her youthful self.

“I understand Olympus’s position well. But that alone cannot fully compensate for the damage to my dignity. Unfortunately, it is true that Hera’s priestess destroyed my temple.”

At those words, Hera, now back to her composed role as head of the delegation, replied.

“Olympus expresses profound regret regarding that matter and will take the lead in quelling rumors among the earthly races related to this incident.”

“We will also grant extraterritorial rights to certain individuals you permit on land. Of course, the number will be limited.”

Ho…

More than anything else, the mention of extraterritorial rights caught Poseidon’s attention.

The sea gods were constantly causing incidents, leading to endless protest letters from Olympus and the underworld.

“Good. That should be sufficient compensation. Right, Eurynome?”

“Hmm… it’s borderline, but yes. Such authority, leaving no room for dispute, is quite powerful.”

“Very well. Let’s settle it that way.”

Poseidon shook Hera’s hand, conveniently omitting the fact that he had already razed Argos to the ground.

If Olympus had known that, they probably wouldn’t have taken such a humble stance…

‘Anyway, this damn Trident is the problem.’

And the goddess Hecate, who had been with him until moments ago, gazed at Poseidon with a peculiar expression.

“…….”

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