The tale of the Celestial Thunder’s voyage spread among the Aegean islands, with the accompanying Greek fleet following behind, breaking the waves and aligning with the Celestial Thunder.

This was the fleet jointly supported by King Agamemnon of Greece and the King of Troy, waiting here to act together with the Celestial Thunder and provide escort.

Seeing the heroes on the deck full of grandeur, and Xue Dili, standing at the prow, exuding pride and vigor, Calypso was stunned at this moment.

She recalled her niece, Medea, and thought of the Argo that once crossed the Aegean Sea, wondering if Jason and Hercules were as spirited then as Xue Dili is now?

She seemed to understand why her niece Medea fell in love with Jason.

Just like now, looking at Xue Dili under the white robe, akin to a pure and beautiful hero, she felt her heart race unexpectedly.

She began to comprehend why Greek princesses and witches had a soft spot for heroes.

The Celestial Thunder and eight escort ships sailed towards Olympus, towards that foreknown fatal future.

...

Of course, such matters were not only of the heroes’ concern; the gods on Olympus paid even closer attention to this epic commencement.

In this era scarce of cultural entertainment information, for the gods, these heroes were their daily "adventure streamers" to follow, and they were the top supporters.

Watching the heroes they nurtured complete unprecedented great adventures, the gods were even more excited than the heroes themselves.

The hero’s story of the Celestial Thunder had intrigued the gods long ago, with many gods following these heroic adventure stories daily.

"Look quickly, Achilles caught the last ride, that child destined to become Troy’s great hero!" Some god pointed to the distant sea.

The gods looked and saw a little boy dressed in girls’ clothes, paddling a canoe furiously towards the Celestial Thunder.

Achilles, nicknamed the heel, was the most renowned hero in the later period of Ancient Greece.

At this time, though, he was just 12 years old, still naive, originally wishing to come to Troy to join this unprecedented grand endeavor.

But his mother prophesied that he would die here, so she forcibly dressed him as a girl and hid him among girls, forbidding him to come to Troy.

Even so, Achilles decisively abandoned the dozens of girls his mother prepared for him, donned girls’ clothing, and frantically rushed towards Troy.

When the horse got tired, he’d get off, carrying the horse on his back to Troy; when tired himself, he’d lay the horse down and rest on its back, running relentlessly for ten-odd days, still arriving a step late as the Celestial Thunder had just set sail.

But the heel hadn’t given up; he traded a sword for a fisherman’s canoe, attempting to row with sheer strength to catch up with the Celestial Thunder.

This scene made the gods on the Holy Mountain burst into laughter, for them, such amusing events alongside grand adventures also garnered affection.

Yet amid such an atmosphere, a group of gods led by Athena bore less cheerful expressions.

"Will the Queen of Heaven and the Goddess of Beauty interfere with the heroes?" Hercules asked Apollo.

"Certainly." Apollo said, the blessing given at the Celestial Thunder’s departure was real, after all, during the Golden Apple incident a fortnight ago, that kind-hearted hero managed to offend three goddesses at once.

The Greek goddesses were notoriously petty, and they knew this best.

And this time, who knows what mischievous deeds these petty goddesses are plotting secretly.

Yet while these two whispered, one of the petty goddesses they spoke of approached them.

"Speaking ill behind others’ backs is not a good character trait." A white owl flapped its wings between them, speaking.

"Athena, when did you arrive?" Hercules was momentarily taken aback.

Now, Athena felt like air in his perception, utterly different from her previous aura.

It seemed as though, on the surface, she was still Athena, but her essence had been entirely replaced with something else.

Otherwise, as a major god, they surely wouldn’t overlook her.

"Before your first word, I was already here." Said the owl. In the past, she might have really cared about Hercules and Apollo speaking ill behind her back.

But now, her focus lay solely on this epic.

The atmosphere fell silent instantly; these gods gathered, mainly to rebel against Zeus, they truly bore little affinity and feeling towards one another otherwise.

Perhaps, some gods were also captivated by that foreign hero.

"I’ve contacted Hestia and Mother Goddess Gaia, and secretly communicated with Prometheus, they will all come to our aid eventually." Athena brought forth good news.

The gods breathed a sigh of relief, whether for their earlier backdoor discussions or because Athena found other allies.

"Athena, did he succeed in the end? I mean in history as it originally was." Apollo broke the awkward silence, asking the goddess who had only shown them fragmentary glimpses of the fate.

Athena shared very few fragments, even for the overt rebel Apollo, he saw only the twilight of the gods, the apocalypse-ending deluge, the Genesis-initiating Zeus, and finally, the lone great hero Xediles facing Genesis Zeus in rebellion.

All around were seas dyed red with blood, shipwrecks and corpses floating on the waters, even just glimpsing that scene through fate, they felt the desperation and desolation.

Be it Hercules or the Moon God, they all turned their gaze to Athena; this fate was provided by Athena, she knew what the future held.

"Failed." The owl’s words extinguished their burdensome hopes, they knew not what words to speak.

"In the original destiny, they all perished miserably, eternally buried beneath the Aegean Sea, dying in a foreign land, yet even such an end couldn’t halt the advent of the apocalypse’s prologue."

Present were gods clenching their fists tightly, not solely from anger, but from a sense of shame.

They were famous battle gods or heroes ascended to godhood, yet in the end, needed a foreigner to sacrifice his life for salvation, this was a shame beyond shame for the Greek gods who revered valor and heroism.

Athena’s words were brief, yet with just these scant words, those present could envisage that time when Greece collapses, the Aegean Sea utterly submerges.

Such a future was absolutely unappealing to them.

Besides, doing nothing, waiting like a princess in the epics for a foreign guest to become the savior was intolerable for the Greek gods and heroes.

"So gentlemen, the war has only just begun." Athena looked at the gods present.

As well, with pity, she gazed at those gods gathered around Hera and Aphrodite in the distance.

"For the foolish lambs, since they’ve chosen Paradise, let them be buried along with Paradise beneath the Aegean Sea, there is no space for their great ship in the new century."

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com