HPDBC Chapter 644: 217: Foolproof_2
Chapter 644: 217: Foolproof_2
Chapter 644: Chapter 217: Foolproof_2
After all, he couldn’t possibly go above ground in the guise of a River God and attempt to unify the many rivers. Not to mention whether the Divine King would object or how the Lord of Ocean would react, Styx alone was an insurmountable threshold for him.
So for a considerable amount of time, Charon was just an idler in the Underworld.
Hades initially thought so as well, even for himself who was short of help, Charon really didn’t have much of a presence.
This situation continued until the Typhon disaster, when the wraith Evans reported to him a discovery, marking the first time the River of Sorrow had actual significance. (See 3-168)
After personally making a significant effort to seal the “Silence Crown,” Hades who finally located the entrance to the Land of the Dead, Helheim, encountered trouble once again.
In this alien realm, filled with the aura of Death, he faced rejection once again.
Different from Asgard or any remnant of the Nine Realms, that world rejected living things; it was determined by its inherent law. Unfortunately, as a god of Chaos, Hades inherently lacked the possibility of death like the deities of the Nine Realms.
However, for Hades, encountering trouble was nothing out of the ordinary, as his divine life had always been about overcoming endless problems, never having stumbled upon fortunate windfalls like Zeus.
Therefore, after just a bit of thought, Hades came up with a solution.
If the environment rejected him, then he must either change himself or the environment.
As the Lord of the Underworld, Hades lacked the ability to change himself, and even if he could, he wouldn’t turn himself into a deceased. Thus, changing the environment remained the only solution.
For this purpose, he summoned Charon, deciding to use this useless Styx River to achieve his goal.
Three rivers of the Underworld, one flowing into the Abyss, one into the Spirit Realm, and this third one, into the Land of the Dead. Since he couldn’t collect a ferry fee at the gates of the Underworld, then he would collect it at Helheim’s gates.
As the river with some authority over the Underworld laws, allowing Acheron to burst into Helheim also meant the laws of the Underworld were eroding and assimilating that realm.
Strong though Helheim was, without the World Tree, if it claimed to match the entire Underworld, that would be an impossibility.
With the gap in strength, the outcome of the erosion was certain. And once this assimilation led by himself truly completed... Hades himself didn’t know what kind of benefits he would reap.
Before Poseidon, the sea had its master; before Zeus, the Mortal Realm had three generations of Divine Kings, but only the Underworld had a single ruler from beginning to end.
He is the Uranus of the Underworld, the original Lord of the Dead, the embodiment of the Underworld Land, and the one who contributed the most. So for him, strengthening the Underworld meant strengthening himself.
Let the Styx River pave the way, and later he would select capable wraiths and demigods from the Mortal Realm to enter, accelerating the occupation of Helheim, and when that time comes—
As for being killed, that was naturally impossible; Hades didn’t entertain such fantasies.
“Your Majesty is truly formidable, with far-sighted wisdom and marvelous stratagems! This time, it is surely foolproof!”
Praise came from beside him, as Charon, who had decided to align closely with a powerful ally, did not hesitate to flatter unabashedly.
If one overlooked the great disparities in their appearances, he even bore a slight resemblance to Zephyrus.
“Cough, let’s not celebrate in haste, wait for matters to conclude.”
Hades coughed lightly, feeling like he had been slightly too emotional.
But this was a normal reaction; anybody’s home being destroyed repeatedly would respond in kind.
“Since there’s an issue, you needn’t rush to leave. I want to see what sort of enemy Zeus has provoked in the Abyss.”
······
Boom——
The door at the junction of the Abyss and the Underworld shook with an increasingly violent rumble.
Inside Tartarus, Zeus was slowly retreating.
Though initially overwhelmed with rage, Zeus eventually remained Zeus.
For someone like him, unless cornered, engaging in a battle to the death without considering pros and cons was utterly out of the question.
So as he calmed down, Zeus began to move towards the gates of the Abyss.
As the King of All Gods, he had begun to realize during the fight that the Abyss was repelling not only him but also the opponent, albeit to a lesser degree.
The closer he got to the portal, the less pressure he felt upon himself, and the greater the pressure became on his adversary.
In such a scenario, there was no need to say how he would act... Defeat was not an option, nor was flight.
As the King of All Gods, even for the stability of his sovereignty, he could not afford to lose to an unknown foe.
‘Just “battled for three hundred rounds and emerged with a slight edge, but due to the conflicting interests of the gods over the ocean, had to retreat temporarily”...’ With the script silently planned, Zeus’s grip never loosened.
However, amidst the heat of battle, Zeus failed to notice a colossal entity, nearly fused with the chaotically profound void of the Abyss, was stealthily approaching him.