The Greece Antagonist

"Hahaha! Good, very good!"

At this moment, Ares, having healed his wounds, spat out a mouthful of blood foam and burst into a frenzied laughter. He then tore off the strip of cloth from his eyes, his bloodshot eyes staring at Luo En ahead, his face corroded by poison revealing a fierce excitement.

"Little one, you're worth my full effort!"

"As a reward, this King will grant you death—in the way of a warrior!"

No sooner had his voice fallen than the bloody figure rushed in front of Luo En in an instant.

So fast!

Fast enough to even match the speed of [Goat]!

Luo En watched as the spearhead rapidly enlarged before him, a chill in his heart. He immediately sidestepped and leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the heavy and forceful strike.

Fortunately, what [Goat] possessed wasn't just speed, but also unmatched agility in complex terrain.

Seeing his strike miss, Ares pressed down on his wrist, the spearhead flicked upward, aiming straight for his target's throat.

Luo En then traced out over a hundred runes of Hermes Script in the air, but this time not to attack. Instead, they flew out in every direction, segmenting and transforming the space around them.

Both [Goat], derived from Pan, and [Bull], from Crete Island, possessed the trait of [Labyrinth].

Consequently, Ares, trapped within it, had difficulty discerning direction and could only watch helplessly as his opponent reopened the distance and fled backward.

"You only know how to flee? Coward!"

Witnessing this warrior, who clearly possessed formidable combat skills, starting to avoid the fight again, Ares, as the king of warriors, cursed this disgraced member of the warrior class.

However, Luo En cast a sweeping glance over the several deep pits gouged out by the blood-colored spear on the ground, and the terrifying intent to kill they contained; without a moment's hesitation, he turned his head and ran even faster.

Death! I must kill this coward!

Unable to bear it any longer, Ares slammed his wooden spear into the ground, breaking apart the Magic Array that trapped him, and then charged furiously towards the disgrace of the warrior class, his crimson eyes gradually filling with blood.

Seeing the bloody shadow relentlessly pursuing him, Luo En took advantage of the terrain and magic, fighting and retreating.

The swarming Runes and densely laid Magic Circles along his path detonated in succession, but failed to slow down Ares's speed.

Instead, as time passed, the bloody figure behind him drew nearer and nearer, the crimson flames even igniting the sky, his frenzied and brutal roars growing louder and louder.

"Die! Die! Die!"

Listening to the deafening roar behind him, Luo En's eyes narrowed, his peripheral vision caught sight of the monstrous beast-like figure with blood steaming and burning all over, and he felt greatly reassured.

Indeed, to invoke the war divinity to such an extent is not without its limits.

The answer is, it requires the sacrifice of rationality!

And this, too, perfectly fits Ares's usual way of fighting.

To exchange brains for brute strength? Utter folly!

A trace of coldness flickered in Luo En's eyes, and he then looked ahead at the vast blue sea, a sense of relief washing over his face.

At last, we're here!

And Ares, fully engulfed in his battle frenzy, by harnessing his burning war divinity to constantly break through his limits, closed in during the chase, wielding his spear and lunging at his target with a piercing thrust.

At the same time, the figure standing in the midst of the sea halted its escape, turned sharply and began rapidly chanting the Sacred Words.

"Let this rage rise! Waves flow backward by its power, all things perish for it! King of fire and smoke, the sovereign who swims in the vast sea, bearing the sin of [Envy], none shall stand above him!" Read exclusive chapters at empire

In an instant, the sea surface churned and swelled, as a Great Whale with hard scales, sharp teeth, and spiky underbelly emerged from the waves in a burst of blue.

It exhaled flames from its mouth and smoke from its nostrils, its jealousy towards "those stronger" erupting into a piercing shriek, with surging waves rolling towards the crimson light.

—Looking for death!

Ares, completely lost in his madness, raised his wooden spear and with a nasty laugh, thrust it through the blue illusion of the Great Whale.

"Splash!"

The towering waves, devoid of divine power, collapsed in an instant, turning into a rain curtain that poured down upon the shallows.

However, in the next moment, the land nourished by the rainfall sprouted dense grapevines. The tender green sprouts like living things climbed up Ares's limbs, burrowed into his wounds, voraciously draining his Divine Blood, and instilling a strange intoxication into his body.

Feeling the itch on his body, the King of Warriors instinctively summoned his divinity, attempting to ignite his Divine Blood and transform it into a crimson flame to burn away all evils, purging all negative states.

But before the crimson could fully brighten, a figure broke through the dense rain and charged into Ares's presence in an instant.

Lush green grapevines grew wild at his feet; clusters of dark red grapes burst open, and the air was filled with intoxicating scent of wine.

In a daze, Ares saw surrounding that figure were heads of various animals: goats, great whales, bulls, wild boars...

He had two horns on his head, his hands entwined with grapevines, and his feet shaped like the hind legs of a goat, reminiscent of Pan's cloven hooves.

Had Ares read the unabridged version of "The Orphic Hymns" and the [Divine Chronicle] within a certain secretive cult, he would've been astonished to find—all these details matched the mythological narratives in the secret scriptures.

It was—The First One, Phanes!

The next moment, the [Great Whale] lashed its tail, giving rise to new waves and storms; the [Goat] ran, fast as lightning; the [Bull]'s hooves stomped, the ground thundered and trembled; Lastly, the [Wild Boar] erupted in a brutal roar, proudly presenting its sharp tusks like two pointed long spears, and charged, unstoppable, towards the king of warriors.

Ares's pupils dilated rapidly, and he instinctively let out a roar, swinging his long spear forward.

Two shadows interweaved, and the unignited bloody divine flame was quenched by the overwhelming waves; A drenched Ares stiffly lowered his head, staring in disbelief at the blasted-open chest and the vacant thoracic cavity.

That bloody heart was vividly in Luo En's hand.

"Pfft!"

Accompanied by the muffled sound of flesh being crushed, Lycurgus, possessed by Ares, collapsed to the ground like a puppet downed from its core.

Finally, it was over...

Once he confirmed the last wisp of life had extinguished from that shell, Luo En breathed a sigh of relief, feeling incredibly fortunate.

Fortunately, Cyprus Island was by the sea, which allowed the [Great Whale]'s specialties to come into play;

Fortunately, the sea's blessings possessed a healing effect, reawakening the shattered divine avatar;n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Fortunately, Ares chose to abandon his wits, giving in to blood rage, and stubbornly contested every attack to the end...

Fortunately, he had the foresight to construct the concept of "Phanes" in the Divine Chronicle and [Holy Verses] he composed, setting the foundation to simultaneously wield the power of four divine avatars, hiding his strongest trump card.

Otherwise, it might have been him lying down now.

Luo En slowly looked down, feeling a lingering fear as he gazed at the wooden spear that had pierced through his shoulder blade, and took a forceful attempt to pull it out.

A jet of blood shot from the wound, blasting a deep pit in the sand. The dense intention of death materialized like ink, causing the grapevines around to wither and perish.

He had to expel this power as soon as possible!

Witnessing this scene, Luo En's heart tightened, and he immediately threw the wooden spear into the Magic Circle Diagram, intending to leave the battlefield quickly and find a secluded place to recuperate.

However, he had only taken a few steps when the divine avatar that simultaneously bore the images of the [Bull], [Great Whale], [Goat], and [Wild Boar] abruptly shattered, dissipating into specks of light dust.

Damn it!

The [Original] state, wielding four avatars at once, was not perfected and couldn't be sustained for long!

Luo En cursed under his breath, suddenly feeling a brutal force from the wound on his shoulder violently barging into his body.

"Pfft!"

With his organs jolted, a sweet, bloody taste filled his throat, and he spat out a puddle of death-laden black-red blood. His vision began to spin wildly.

In the midst of severe pain and confusion, Luo En barely concentrated a shred of will, diving into the sea, trying to counteract the surging death intent in his body with the sea's healing magical protection.

However, faced with the will of a dying [World], the solitary sea divinity clearly couldn't provide effective suppression.

When the intention of death burst forth in another concentrated outbreak, Luo En's vision darkened. He managed to set up a protective spell just in time before he completely lost consciousness, and his uncontrolled body sank into the depths of the dark sea.

Time passed and how long, no one could tell; then, a faint light began to glimmer in the darkness.

A graceful silhouette, amidst the escort and murmuring of marine creatures, swam through a resplendent coral forest, toward that flickering cocoon of light at the center.

Is it him?

The golden-haired, blue-eyed goddess hesitated for a moment before she bit her lip and reached out to lift the cocoon of light.

However, as if instinctively feeling something, two arms broke through the flickering cocoon and firmly wrapped around her slender waist, a head nestling into her warm, soft bosom.

This little bastard!

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the golden-haired goddess's cheeks flushed and she cursed under her breath, trying to shake the other off.

But in the next moment, several tendrils as thin as hairs—light-like vegetal roots—pierced into her skin, causing the sea divinity and divine blood within her to gush out like a breached dam.

At the same time, an eerie intoxication made her feel as if she had been force-fed barrel upon barrel of strong wine; her whole body went limp and hot, unable to move, as she let the creature, like an octopus, cling onto her, frantically sucking and drawing.

Moreover, the loss of divine power and divine blood brought an inexplicable sense of pleasure, continuously washing over her mind and reason.

"Mmm, get me back quickly!"

In her urgency, she couldn't afford to think further, and with a suppressed moan escaping her lips, she hastily summoned a white dolphin and gave the command.

The dolphin immediately carried the joined pair on its back, flicked its tail, and vanished swiftly into the vast darkness.