In the crashing waves, under one towering breaker after another, in that dark, ink-colored, divinity-laden torrent, even cries of despair could not be uttered.
Those fearless warriors who had charged forward did not even reach the monsters' bodies before they were swallowed, along with their courage and unwillingness, by the black surging waves, silently erased.
Everyone was devoured in the "play" and "feasting" of these two divine monsters.
Not one escaped.
How could mortal legs ever outrun waves driven by divine power, waves that swallowed all?
After consuming all the people in this tribe, the two Abyssal Whelps—once still a bit stupid, acting in muddled impulse—had now gained true, cunning "intelligence."
They were even delighted to discover that not only their wisdom, but their already powerful bodies had grown somewhat stronger!
Not enough to turn the world upside down, but the increase was noticeable.
The second generation of humans had been somewhat less effective.
But the first generation of humankind were, without doubt, "treasures."
They were the primal essence of all things granted by Mother Gaia, fused with the grace-rains of the God-King Zeus and the spiritual waters of the supreme goddess Dione.
Then personally shaped by the fully awakened gods of foresight, foreknowledge, and afterthought.
Their souls had been strengthened and granted wisdom by the bright, great Goddess of Wisdom, Metis.
Later, they had been bathed more than once in the law-nurturing golden rain of His Majesty the God-King's grace.
If, in this era, the cosmic system of "cultivation" already existed—if the related laws and energies had been born—
then these first humans, with only a little effort, would each be the sort of "peerless prodigy" later ages would revere.
And their ceilings would far surpass any ordinary prodigy.
Ten thousand so-called geniuses—
even if one boiled all their blood dry—would not match a single drop of these first humans' blood.
But now…
that origin, that "preciousness," had become their greatest calamity.
They had become the finest "supplements" in the eyes of many low-tier divine lives.
Whether in flesh or in mind…
they were unmatched as nourishment.
Too many beings coveted them.
That feeling as "wisdom" shot upward—
that wondrous sense of one's spirit "completing," one's thoughts turning "crystal clear"—
was more exquisite than devouring ten thousand ordinary mortals.
Now that they possessed genuine higher intelligence, the Abyssal Whelps understood clearly the true value of these "supplements" called humankind.
They tacitly agreed to guard this secret fiercely.
They were well aware that their newly "clever" minds would not keep the secret for long.
After all, they were far from the only ones who smelled the "fragrance of wisdom."
But before those damned rivals acted, they could fully exploit their "first to the water" advantage and grab as much "nourishment" as they could.
So their increasingly greedy and cruel, cunning gazes turned toward the other human tribes along the distant riverbanks.
With their newfound cleverness, they began for the first time truly to think.
To consider pros and cons.
To consider how to maximize their gains.
And how to… ensure their own safety.
Now that they were smarter, they understood just how reckless their behavior had been.
High above Olympus's clouds, Epimetheus watched all this in silence.
His face still wore the same mild, slow-to-react calm, expressionless.
But in those eyes that saw through all "past," there lay a deep, indescribable sorrow.
His dear elder brother Prometheus loved humans so deeply.
But when had he himself ever loved them less?
These too were children he had personally given form to.
Yet he merely watched.
At the same time, he was far from the only god on Olympus watching humankind.
The eternal God-King Zeus sat upon the highest throne, gazing down upon the earth with absolute coldness and calm.
He watched with cold eyes.
With an almost perfectly rational indifference, He saw it all.
This was not only an ordeal civilization had to pass through,
it was also a key step in testing and furthering the renewal of cosmic Order.
Hestia of the warm hearth, Demeter Mother of the earth, and Hera, supreme sovereign of fertility—
these three great goddesses renowned for gentleness and love, watching the bloody feast unfolding below, were both shocked and furious.
In their gentle eyes, the true wrath of gods had kindled.
Even the mildest and most merciful of them, Hestia, unconsciously lifted her flawless hand.
The warm, protective holy flame at her fingertips had already taken on the slightest trace of a power capable of annihilating all.
She nearly could not hold back from sending down a bolt of sacred fire to utterly incinerate those two foul, stinking abominations along with their chaotic divinity.
But in the end, she restrained herself.
Out of respect for the supreme God-King she loved—
she had to, and would, obey that supreme Holy Just Order.
She had to obey the God-King's own word, the "covenant of gods and mortals" only just established.
Because of Prometheus's foolish actions, any matter involving "how to treat humankind" had already become a highly sensitive political issue on Olympus.
It was now, at root, an issue of loyalty and attitude toward His Majesty.
Loyalty to the God-King's authority and dignity.
Adherence to the Holy Just Order.
Their stance on the covenant spoken by the God-King Himself.
After Prometheus's open deception and insult, the God-King had already shown His wrath.
If, at this very juncture, those goddesses closest to Him should also defy His Order on behalf of humans…
where would that leave the God-King's majesty?!
At this moment, she had neither the standing nor the legal ground to shield humankind.
That would not be protection; it would be open humiliation of the God-King who had been deceived!
It would be the utter betrayal of the covenant of gods and mortals!
Nor did she have any basis for striking at these two Abyssal Whelps.
Because, from the perspective of the current Holy Just Order laid down by His Majesty…
these two divine monsters had not violated the God-King's Law.
Mortals may eat mortals; how then could it be wrong for divine beings with godly blood to eat some mortals?
In terms of "law," this was entirely proper.
Hestia forced down the fire in her heart and held back the two sisters whose anger was flaring out of control, quickly explaining the stakes.
Demeter and Hera trembled with rage after hearing their elder sister's reasoning, yet they had no choice but to draw back.
They turned their faces away; they could no longer bear to look upon the mortal carnage.
It was not just them.
Now, no god on Olympus, however they felt inside, was allowed to shield humankind.
Until humans fulfilled their duties as mortals in sacrifice, no god could protect them.
Until the sacrificial fires again burned offerings to the gods,
until the idols symbolizing divine holiness and majesty were properly raised—
so long as no one broke His Majesty's Holy Just Order, then whatever any other being chose to do to humans was "as it should be."
Still, there were exceptions.
Those greater, more mature Mother Goddesses who loved humankind did indeed care for them, but without doubt they loved their Lord and beloved—the God-King Zeus—far more deeply.
For their beloved God-King's dignity and authority, once they saw the political undercurrents behind this, they would never defy His will in such matters.
But…
there were some "little goddesses" who simply could not endure.
The nine radiant, holy Muses, goddesses over all civilization, arts, and sciences, watched the students they had painstakingly taught be devoured by two ugly fools—
and their hearts were filled with both pain and hate.
If those fools had only eaten a few to fill their bellies, they might have turned a blind eye.
But in a single gulp, thousands died!
An entire tribe, only just regaining a little vitality, wiped out!
Since the loss of holy fire, in just these few months, humankind had already suffered terribly; their numbers had fallen sharply.
In only a few months, their total population had dropped by a tenth, even a fifth.
Those still alive were barely clinging on.
Yet they could persevere and even improve day by day—
so long as they did not encounter a truly "trans-dimensional strike" like this.
This was no longer something mortal will and wisdom could stand against.
The nine Muses did not think of humans as their "children," but they did see them as students.
Those simple, humble, eager-to-learn, kind students who had just begun to grasp music and poetry, inquiry and thought—they liked them very much.
And what were these hideous beasts supposed to be?!
No wisdom! No looks! No character!
Just filth born from some lesser god's dripping corruption—such creatures dare, and presume, to devour our students?!
Forget you foul beasts!
Forget even your mistress, Absu Naya!
Go and ask Phorcys and Ceto now if they dare offend us?!
Forget your grandparents; ask your grandfather, the ancient Pontus of the deep sea—does he dare?!
That brood of fence-sitters in the Titanomachy (the inner-sea pantheon), who wavered on the wall and never joined either side—they do not even count as formal members of the sky pantheon!
And they dare rampage so brazenly in the mortal world?!
Truly—they know not life from death!
The charming, intelligent Goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne, watched her daughters, all about to explode, and only lifted her brows with fond amusement.
This great goddess, who embodied all the deep charm of civilization, lay languidly sideways upon a splendid couch.
Her all-embracing eyes, which saw through all past and future, shone with a mesmerizing light of wisdom.
A flicker of laughter passed through the deep, crystal-black of her gaze.
Her full, luscious lips, sweeter than any wine, curved slightly.
She knew everything, but even if it were not these two abominations—if Pontus himself dared make her daughters unhappy—he would pay dearly.
Her daughters, and the supreme God-King, had absolute license to be willful.
Still, this matter was special.
Her daughters' thinking was not yet so thorough.
As their Mother, she had to think for them.
Other goddesses might not know Zeus's true intent, but how could she not?
Her omniscience, strictly speaking, was part of Zeus's own power.
How could she not know the true will of her supreme beloved?
Zeus did not object to humankind's civilization enduring some hardships as it grew.
Nor did He mind if low divine lives exercised some "little whims" toward humankind in the mortal realm.
However…
this sort of blanket, exterminating slaughter was absolutely not something Zeus wanted to see.
The loss so far was not yet beyond bearing.
But if such behavior went unchecked, humankind's civilization was doomed to die young.
In every sense, that was not something Zeus—or the Olympians—wanted.
Humans were to be a crucial link in the future Sacred Order.
They would be the best adhesive between god and mortal, and a key catalyst in the cosmos's development.
How could they be eaten clean by a bunch of "little big shots" in advance?
So it was necessary to teach these rampaging divine lives some rules.
But the method and pretext had to be chosen carefully.
Nothing could be allowed to mar the God-King's majesty.
Nothing could undercut the covenant of gods and mortals.
So Mnemosyne spoke.
Her voice, rich with feminine allure and mature charm, a voice that could awaken all memory, flowed lightly from her lips, more intoxicating than divine wine:
"Calliope, my beloved daughter—in the mortal world I seem to have dropped an edelweiss."
"It is a flower I am quite fond of, but sadly it is very delicate."
As she said this, the great, all-knowing goddess of civilization idly flicked a deep-violet lacquered fingertip.
A thread of golden light flew and, in an instant, pressed a coordinate in the mortal realm into the mind of Calliope, goddess of epic.
"Go and retrieve it for Mother."
"Be quick, and be careful. Do not let the filth there destroy it."
______
(≧◡≦) ♡ Support me and read 20 chapters ahead – patreon.com/Mutter
Every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter on Saturday.
Every 5 reviews = 1 extra chapter on Saturday.