Chapter 41 - To Poseidon's Realm
Chapter 41 - To Poseidon's Realm
"He's even more fearsome up close..." Alex commented on Zeus.
Athena nodded and warned him, "Yes, that's why you should avoid interacting with Father as of your current strength."
Alex nodded.
Suddenly, Athena screamed furiously with passion in her eyes, "I refuse to be indifferent any longer!"
Under the dumbfounded gaze of Alex, who's never heard her scream, she took out her spear and shield and got into her armor.
She then asked him, "Alex, do you still want to know why I was so anxious a few days ago?"
Alex nodded, confused.
"Then come with me." She stated as she climbed down the stairs and exited the tower.
Alex followed her lead, and she informed him, "We're going to be running all the way to the coast, do you have enough Faith Energy?"
'Faith Energy? Oh...' Alex remembered he used the last of his reserves back when he saved Achilles from Cronus' attacks.
He shook his head.
Athena nodded in understanding and approached him, she then put her hand on his chest and Alex felt a rush of energy entering his body.
After a dozen seconds of doing this, she removed her hand and said, "This should be enough for our trip."
Without waiting for his response, she bolted in the direction of the main plaza of Olympus.
Alex was taken aback but after replicating the scenario from Tartarus, he felt his entire body growing lighter and lighter as the surroundings slowed down.
He proceeded to start running and caught up to Athena, after which he adjusted his speed to hers.
They were going at such speed that even the rough terrain of the mountain range didn't obstruct them, and they only slowed down when they were climbing down the steep parts.
As they were running, he heard the voice of Athena.
"Alex, have you ever heard of the Theomachy?"
Alex contemplated for a second before giving out an answer, "A conflict between the gods?"
"Exactly. Recently, Uncle Poseidon has started taking away the powers of the minor sea gods, causing a rebellion that might spill over the land gods. Additionally, due to his poor knowledge of the intricacies of the sea, which are normally managed by the ecosystem of minor marine gods, disastrous weather events have hit the coast, and the whole of Olympus is losing reverence and credibility among mortals."
Athena explained to him as he could perceive her side profile, displaying a frown on her face.
"Is that what has been on your mind?" Alex asked her.
"If Father Zeus intervened, as he originally planned to, this situation would have become extremely troublesome." Athena clenched her fists.
"Therefore, I'm the one going, to teach a lesson to Uncle for the good of Olympus, and his own good." Athena looked determined.
As he saw her demeanor, she reminded him of a...monarch.
She somewhat emanated a similar aura to Zeus at this moment.
As Alex stared at her in silence, she lamented, "If it were just a few years ago, I would have ignored all of this."
"But you...refuse to be indifferent any longer?" Alex tried predicting her next sentence based on what she said earlier.
"Exactly. Olympus might not the most tightly-knit family, but fundamentally, we're an organization, and as the daughter of the leader, I can't overlook detrimental factors like this anymore."
Suddenly, they were ambushed by a snake-like monster, but without even halting, Athena just moved her spear, and the monster that obstructed the passage was cleanly decapitated, and its blood dyed the face of Athena a scary red.
Since they were moving in a straight line at an extremely fast speed, the waters of the Aegean soon greeted their sight, and they found themselves in the middle of a relatively big city by the name of Amphipolis.
Amphipolis was an ordinary port city that hosted a reasonable trade network with the rest of the mainland.
While running through the city's wide streets and avoiding the pedestrians, the mortals couldn't even get a glimpse of them as they passed at lightning speed.
They stopped by the port, and due to the extreme wind velocity they encountered, the blood on Athena's face was mostly gone and only small stains of dried blood remained.
She went by sea and washed her face and came back.
"Athena, so, what do we do now?" Alex rubbed his head.
The goddess in question didn't respond and approached a mortal who seemed to be a fisherman of some sort.
"I'm Eritra of Athens. Would you care to tell your boss I require a big ship?" Athena said incomprehensible words as she showed a golden symbol of an owl to the man.
The mortal looked stunned by her face and even more so, by her words and immediately ran somewhere.
"Who's Eritra of Athens?" Alex was confused.
"An identity I use when I don't want to reveal my status as Athena. Eritra is a wealthy noble from Athens who travels around Hellenia that I invented." She told him comprehensively.
The mortal fisherman then came back and approved of her request, "Lady Eritra, please follow me."
The man led them to a dock next to which was anchored a large ship.
"Would this ship satisfy your needs?" The man asked in a hoarse voice.
Athena nodded and gave the man a pouch full of coins. Following that, she got on the deck of the ship and he did the same.
Alex had severe seasickness back on Earth and could NOT stand nausea he experienced as ships moved left and right, but he felt like he had a stable footing as he positioned himself on the dock.
"Alex, I'll navigate. Remove the anchors." Athena asked of him.
Alex approached the extremity of the ship and held the thick string of the anchor, bringing it towards himself.
It felt extremely light, and the rusty metal anchor was soon in his hands as he placed it down the ship, and only then did he realize that it was actually relatively heavy.
He then opened the sails of the ship.
"Get ready!" Athena exclaimed as she clenched her hand on the helm of the ship and abruptly rotated it, moving the ship in the direction of the open sea.