No More Pretending, Time to Show Our Hand! 2/2
On the vast and ethereal Machine God Corridor, the Argo Heroes, arrayed in formation, advanced forward, shields in hand and spears at their sides.
Because the Son of the Sea God Tethys was taken hostage, the Olympus soldiers along the way had to retreat again and again.
Having arrived at the end of the corridor without incident, Circe and Medea, after receiving feedback through their perception Magecraft, nodded slightly to indicate that the road ahead was safe.
As a criminal gang with extensive experience in committing crimes, the Argo Heroes tacitly divided into small teams, climbing the spiral staircase one by one, leaving the most important members of Mount of Ares, who were holding hostages, in the middle.
Following Tess's reply, we passed through the Machine God Corridor, ascended the spiral staircase, and arrived at the top of Olympus, the interstellar mountain city, at the ring-shaped building—the Crown of Cronus.
Rhode, the little mermaid who was sacrificed, was imprisoned at the innermost Great Altar.
With the hostages leading the way, the Argo Heroes quickly broke through the obstacles and reached the Great Altar.
During this process, there were many guards who wanted to take risks and act rashly. With the support of the three top archers, Atalanta, the moon goddess, and Heracles, those who were overconfident all died under the elusive arrows.
The self-regulating devices and Olympus soldiers guarding the route, seeing this, were even more wary of Tesseng's safety and could only watch helplessly as these bandits swaggered open the bronze door and entered the Great Altar, which was a sacred forbidden area.
As the bronze gate closed again, the threat from outside was temporarily blocked. The group, who had been on edge the whole way, finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and looked around, and finally fixed their gaze on the center with strange expressions.
Above the open-air dome is a huge openwork star disk, which draws down thousands of starlight and condenses it into a light prison that confines the sacrifices.
Below, Sorcery Array with intricate divine runes is inscribed, nested and fitting seamlessly with the area sealed by the light prison.
Of course, all of this is normal.
The problem is that mermaids and whales are not the same species at all!
The Argo Heroes gazed longingly at the Leviathan Whale within the light prison, its body curled into a ball, its skin a greyish-black hue, as if frozen into a sculpture. They looked at each other in bewilderment, and when they came to their senses, they couldn't help but feel somewhat frantic.
Our little guide, our big mermaid!
"Wait, look, this looks like the Leviathan Whale she rode!"
After observing for a moment, Prince of Calydon, who was the first to react, subconsciously frowned and spoke.
The Argo Heroes, drawn by the sight, examined it closely and immediately recognized its identity from the familiar patterns, outline, and size of the Leviathan Whale.
Yes, that's the one!
Moreover, the taste is quite good...
Some of the Argo Heroes, whose memories were stirred, couldn't help but have strange thoughts pop into their minds and subconsciously swallowed.
We've gone off-topic.
What are we doing again? Right, looking for that child.
Since all her whales are here, where is she?
Filled with suspicion, the crowd looked around and, following the hostages' gaze, their eyes fell once more on the Leviathan Whale, which had rolled into a sphere.
Could it be...
Just then, a barely audible snap of the fingers stirred up an invisible tremor.
Click!
Immediately, the layer of gray-black hard shell that had formed on the skin of the Leviathan Whale in the light prison cracked and peeled off.
This sea beast, which occupied most of the altar, resembled a snake emerging from hibernation. It shook its head and tail, stretched its body, and after a while, opened its huge mouth and spat out a stream of salty seawater.
A tiny figure, enveloped in a layer of pale blue water film, was clearly visible within it.
As this protective barrier crumbled, the little mermaid Rhode yawned and opened her sleepy eyes. She looked around groggily and saw the Argo Heroes surrounding her, staring intently at her. She was embarrassed and her little face was full of astonishment.
"You... you've come here."
How can you sleep like this? Little girl, you need to be more careful!
The Argo Heroes, caught up in this situation for no apparent reason, were both amused and exasperated. In the end Orpheus, who was skilled in bard epics, squatted in front of the light prison and whispered to the little mermaid about their predicament and current situation.
Amidst the girl's exclamations of surprise and her bewildered, distressed, and embarrassed expressions, everyone couldn't help but chuckle. The perilous situation of being surrounded was actually alleviated by a significant reduction in the oppressive atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the light prison was indestructible, seemingly integrated with the entire Great Altar and even the surrounding structure, the Crown of Cronus.
The Argo Heroes took turns attacking; the weaker ones couldn't break through the defenses, while the stronger ones easily wiped out the entire Great Altar, including the little mermaid inside.
However, Rhode, though imprisoned, was a natural optimist, and none of this diminished her interest in chattering with the Argo Heroes.
The goddesses of the moon, Atalanta, Caenis, Circe, and other women couldn't resist going up to tease this adorable and mischievous little girl.
At this moment, Samael, the habitual bandit leader in charge of taking hostages, leaned against the sea-patterned pillar outside the Great Altar, staring at the mournful Leviathan Whale from afar, his eyes half-open and half-closed in a mischievous manner.
Deep within the sea beast's pupils, a blood-red shadow resembling an Ouroboros emerged.
Okay, I'm coming clean.
He had to admit that the Atlantis hadn't made a mistake; the blame really did fall on him.
In fact, when Samael parted ways with the young guide in the Stormy Sea Region, he had a vague sense of foreboding about the abnormalities in the area, such as the wind pillars, whirlpools, and crashing rocks.
Therefore, just to be on the safe side, he had prepared a little trick beforehand inside the Leviathan Whale that he had recreated (see the end of Chapter 194 for details) to ensure the safety of the little mermaid Rhode.
Logically speaking, with this Sea Royal Family familiar with the Stormy Sea Region leading the way, they should have passed through smoothly.
However, problems arose frequently along the way, and the safe routes that the Sea Royal Family had developed were no longer safe.
It seems that someone, or some potential force, is preventing the Argo from entering. Now it appears that their purpose is mostly to conceal the existence of Atlantis.
When the naive girl was about to leave, she thought there was something wrong with the sea chart and was afraid that her people who had surfaced would be in danger, so she hurriedly ran back to report the news.
Little did they know that this force, while hindering the Argo, also put the Little Mermaid Rhode grave danger.
Therefore, Samael worried when they parted that her people might not have any good intentions towards Rhode.
Fortunately, he had left a protective divine seal inside the Leviathan Whale, which would activate immediately if he sensed any danger to the little girl.
After all, from an official standpoint, they might need this girl to "enthusiastically" lead the way to the Paradise Island they're looking for.
Personally, he found this friendly young guide to be a good fit, and it was only natural for him to help out.
As expected, when the girl returned and was about to be sacrificed and placed on the Great Altar, the Leviathan Whale became an insurmountable obstacle, delaying the return of the Argo Heroes until they finally reached the Eye of the Tide Sea.
However, this also leads to a problem.
He inadvertently disrupted the Atlantis Sea God Festival, which was shrouded in mystery and held some unknown secrets, thus betraying his future ally, Poseidon.
It's really nothing. As long as I don't admit it, who will know that I did it?
Samael muttered to himself, sorted out his thoughts, and glanced listlessly at his side.
"Your Highness, if you don't want the entire Great Altar to be destroyed, release them."
Te Yi snorted coldly, hesitated for a moment, stepped forward, raised his hand, and twisted his fingers and palm against the star chart on the dome, sometimes facing forward and sometimes backward.
With a creaking sound as the mechanism turned, the star chart split and closed, revealing the entire sky overhead, and the light prison went out.
The little mermaid who stepped out of the Sorcery Array of the Great Altar was immediately cuddled and hugged by the group of heroines like a little pet.
Samael glanced at the grumpy-faced Tessa beside him with ill intent, stretched his back, and muttered to himself with pleasure.
Alright, the prison break is complete. All that's left is to get to the port and escape on the Argo...
The ancient serpent's thoughts came to an abrupt halt. At the last second, its outstretched hand gripped Heracles's incoming fist tightly. Its eyes caught sight of the pink mist rising from the Hercules' body, and its pupils contracted sharply.
The Aphrodite's Authority? How could that be!
"With your insignificant bodies, how dare you blaspheme the gods! Heh heh heh... Tremble— You are the Lust of Chaotic Stars!"
At that moment, a lighthearted and playful chuckle came from the sky. Samael looked up and was astonished to find a pair of pink metallic wings covering the open dome of stars.
A thin pink mist drifted down, and the male heroes present stiffened and turned their heads, glaring fiercely at the few remaining conscious individuals on the field.
[True Body Machine God] - Aphrodite!
Damn it! Could it be that even the Machine God was created by Atlantis?!
What kind of advanced technology does the Sea Royal Family possess?
Seeing this, Samael cursed under his breath.