Chapter 133 The End of the Underworld

The Underworld was utterly finished.

Cracks across the Tartarus lands continuously extended, eventually splitting the entire Elysian Fields in two. The massive fissure traversed the whole land, like an invisible blade slicing through the artificial continent. After the Elysian Fields crumbled, the fissure crossed the dried-up River of Woe, stretching to the barren wilderness on the Underworld's edge...

Scorching magma spewed from the earth's depths, while smaller fissures erupted with countless hundred-meter-high steam columns. Large sections of the rock stratum collapsed into the endless void below. Howling energy storms surged from the depths. The once-solid Underworld ground now rippled like melting cream before collapsing.

Kronos led the ancient Titans in their escape from the rapidly collapsing world. They clung tightly to the equally fast-crumbling Underworld Spire, scaling towards Olympus above.

Though the giants' movements seemed slow, each climb, propelled by their enormous limbs, carried them tens of meters. Their seemingly unhurried ascent outpaced the Spire's collapse. They left destruction far behind.

Hao Ren glanced below. A simple calculation revealed his group's speed within the tunnel exceeded the Titans' climb. The latter posed no threat. Reassured, he breathed a sigh and asked with curiosity, "Can they really climb Olympus like that?"

Hasse looked upwards. The group had begun passing through the spatial opening at the Underworld's top, a vast lightning-shaped rift several kilometers thick. "Yes—as long as they maintain this speed. This tunnel is essentially a rapid transit conduit. The spatial rift is opened and maintained by a rift generator on Olympus, so even if the Underworld Spire shuts down, the spatial gate remains. We can traverse Olympus's mountain body directly to Hades's Temple through the conduit, while the Titans must climb the mountain walls… But either way, they will ascend Olympus."

As Hasse spoke, they crossed the boundary between the Underworld and Olympus.

Through the constantly shifting, wide cracks in the conduit's outer wall, Hao Ren saw the outside world blur momentarily, as if swirling light surrounded the conduit. When the blurry images cleared, the scenery opened up.

An endless, pristine sea of clouds.

The vast sea appeared only briefly before being replaced by continuous, overhanging rocky foundations. Then, the scenery plunged into darkness again.

In the darkness, fleeting, gleaming metal rings whizzed by. Hao Ren realized they were passing through Olympus's mountain interior, like riding a train through a tunnel.

The Titans scaling the outside wouldn't be able to follow them. They would have to climb the Olympus sky-mountain's foundation. If the mighty giants managed that without falling, they would likely ascend the cliffs of Hades Peak.

Only then did Hesperiana exhale. "Phew… Finally, I don't have to look at those hideous giants."

Lily also sighed. "Phew… By the way, is Kronos really Zeus's father?"

Hasse nodded. "That's absolutely true."

Lily looked horrified. "Is Zeus seventy or eighty meters tall too?"

Hasse shook his head. "Zeus is about the same height as Hades. They are large types of Thunder Giants, growing to a maximum of four or five meters."

The husky girl's expression was priceless, her mind racing with bizarre connections. "... Holy crap, no wonder they say things are messed up on Olympus. Zeus never questioned his parentage seeing his dad like that? Uh… wait, could family issues be why Zeus locked Kronos up?"

Hasse was stunned by the husky's bizarre tangent. He paused for a moment before explaining helplessly, "According to our intelligence, Zeus imprisoned the Titans, including Kronos, because they mutated for unknown reasons. They became gigantic, lost their minds, and began polluting Olympus, with signs of spreading the mutation. Under these circumstances, the Olympus 'gods' had to imprison their forefathers..."

"Mutated? So those Titans were about the same size as Zeus originally?"

"Correct. The Olympus 'gods' only have two sizes. The large ones are over three meters tall, and the small ones are about human height. Kronos is obviously a mutation. We also discovered that those 'small types' similar to humans should also be mutations, the result of genetic degradation after pure-blooded Olympus 'gods' bred on Earth. The truly original Olympus 'gods' are those three-to-four-meter tall fellows. 'Shorties' like Hesperiana are descendants bred after they settled on Earth. Compared to the gigantification mutation in Kronos and other Titans, however, miniaturization has no negative side effects. Therefore, the genetically degraded Olympus 'gods' are still regarded as their own kind by Zeus and aren't discriminated against on Olympus."

Hao Ren frowned, guessing the reason. "These changes are probably related to crossing the world barrier."

Earth was not the homeworld of these aliens.

For the "alien" refugees from the Plane of Dreams, crossing the world barrier on Yggdrasil was a near-death journey. More than half the races died from environmental changes upon reaching Earth. Even the survivors faced immense trials and tribulations. Only ten percent were lucky enough to truly adapt to Earth's environment. The others suffered varying degrees of damage during the adaptation process: limb mutations, genetic degradation, alien diseases, Earth's native toxins... These things cast an inescapable shadow over the aliens for the first thousand years after their arrival, resulting in the countless ancient monsters in later human myths and legends.

Aside from those who were truly monstrous in their Plane of Dreams homeworlds, most ancient monsters mutated into their horrifying forms after arriving on Earth.

Like Zeus's father, Mr. Kronos, who was leading his eleven siblings up Olympus at this very moment, was one such victim.

The aliens' arrival on Earth was a complete mess.

After traversing Olympus's interior for a long time, Hao Ren finally noticed a change outside the conduit.

The glowing rings flashing downwards became continuous, dim pipelines. The rapidly receding walls gradually slowed, and the pulling force weakened. All signs pointed to one thing: they were nearing the end.

"Prepare your weapons!"

Hasse said softly.

Although Hades's Temple had been purged, all resistance eliminated, and Olympus was being consumed by the radiating energy field, it was always good to prepare, even if a large number of demon hunters were unlikely to be active on Hades Peak.

Hao Ren retrieved two Swords of the Universe Fragment from his dimensional pocket. The Godslayer greeted him as soon as it appeared. "Ah, partner, long time no see. What's with all the fighting and killing again? I can feel the murderous aura the moment I came out…"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

Almost as soon as they were ready, the pulling force vanished, and normal gravity reappeared inside the tunnel.

As they fell, countless metal fragments flew from the rotating structures on all sides, rapidly assembling into a solid floor beneath their feet.

In front of Hao Ren, the constantly moving black parts receded, revealing a door. Beyond the door lay a dark, silent palace.

"Stay alert," Hao Ren whispered, taking the lead with Lily, wielding her alloy greatsword, close behind.

The palace was deathly still, seemingly empty.

This should be the "transport hall" specifically for connecting to the Underworld, a place for transferring supplies and gathering personnel. It was vast and tall, with a cylindrical structure forged from black metal. The dome above was decorated with countless scenes of war and death, and dozens of exquisite metal sculptures stood around the hall.

Each exquisite sculpture depicted Hades—the Hades nailed to the Wailing Wall.

"That guy's pretty narcissistic," Lily commented.

Hasse's voice came from behind. "Every self-proclaimed god is 'narcissistic'… Oh, I didn't mean the real god we know."

"It's okay, Raven 12345 is narcissistic too, not just narcissistic but also a braggart," Hao Ren waved his hand. "But her divine character is much better than these unlicensed fakes."

Everyone entered the hall. Almost as Little Hesperiana walked through the door last, an ear-piercing mechanical grinding sound came from the conduit.

The rotating conduit port in the hall sparked, and the rapidly moving metal components slowed visibly.

The massive collapse in the lower half of the Underworld Spire had clearly begun to affect the entire conduit's operation.

Although the conduit seemed to be barely holding on, its complete shutdown was only a matter of time. Lily couldn't help but shake her head. "I wonder where Kronos and the others have climbed to…"

Hao Ren grinned. "I hope they climb up successfully now."

Lily was momentarily confused. "Huh?"

"Whether they go up against the demon hunters or the Olympus 'gods', they'll create massive chaos, and chaos is exactly what we need."