Hearing Heracles' words, Kratos somehow recalled what his adoptive mother had said.
He remembered when he asked her to tattoo him with such a design, she looked at him in the same way and spoke to him earnestly.
However, now, his adoptive mother had passed away peacefully in Sparta, having lived a stable remaining life. Unfortunately, she was not a demigod with divine blood. After Kratos grew up, her age was considered quite old for that era. Although she seemed very strong in her youth, she ultimately couldn't withstand the ravages of time.
Kratos still remembered the day she died; his teacher, the High Priest, personally came to guard her tomb for a day, only leaving peacefully after seemingly confirming something. However, all the things she knew about Kratos were also taken with her into the grave, and Kratos had no way to ask her about the truth and details of the past.
But now, the demigod hero Heracles in front of him also said the same words, which made Kratos feel some suspicion.
"Do you know something about me?" Seeing that Heracles seemed to be retreating, he brandished the Chaos Blades in his hands and pressed.
"I do know, but now is not the time to tell you." Heracles took a step back, then clutched the necklace on his chest: "When the time comes, you will naturally know everything."
"Stay! Finish what you're saying!"
Kratos roared as he threw his blades at Heracles, but his Chaos Blades passed through Heracles' body as if striking an illusion. Then, Heracles' figure twisted and disappeared like a dream bubble.
"Illusion?" Kratos was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "No, it's spatial teleportation magic!"
He searched around again but couldn't find Heracles. In the end, he could only scratch his bald head helplessly, put away his weapons, and walked back in the direction he came from, to regroup with the Olympus Gods' army.
Meanwhile, the Giant Race's divine city had been completely breached by the Olympus Gods. Only a few Snake-Footed Giants remained, and they all had wounds left by Kratos or Heracles, which broke their immortality. Therefore, these Snake-Footed Giants were quickly encircled and annihilated by the divine army. Even the "Swift-Footed" Thoon was locked onto by Hermes, then shot full of holes by Helios and Selene, the siblings, using the power of the Sun God and Moon God.
Ephialtes, the human who had schemed for the Giant Race and betrayed the Gods, was also cornered by the divine army. Seeing no hope of survival, he ignited the palace he resided in amidst a burst of wild laughter, burying himself and the entire palace in a sea of fire.
Only Alcyoneus, the King of the Giant Race, successfully escaped. This Giant King seemed to possess another, more powerful blessing in addition to the immortality that all Giants had. In the previous battle, Kratos had already left a wound on him, and theoretically, his immortality should have been broken. However, when he escaped the Giant Race's divine city and stepped into the Pallene Peninsula, he regained that resilient vitality.
Even when Zeus and Hades jointly destroyed Alcyoneus' upper body, they still couldn't kill him. The Gods could only watch him escape into the darkness of the Pallene Peninsula.
Under the night sky, Alcyoneus, having escaped the Gods' pursuit, desperately ran with his head down. He looked incredibly miserable at this moment; his upper body was shattered by lightning, and it was slowly healing, but the residual death qi in the wounds was furiously devouring his vitality. The itching and pain from constant regeneration and destruction of his flesh made him incredibly uncomfortable, but what pained Alcyoneus the most at this moment was his own heart.
His people were destroyed by the Gods, and along with them, his ambitions and pride were shattered. Perhaps from the beginning, their race should not have listened to the messages from the planetary suppressive force, but instead lived a carefree life on the Pallene Peninsula, rather than trying to contend with Zeus and them for world domination and hegemony over heaven and earth.
As he ran, his mind echoed with the last advice from his strategist, Ephialtes:
"Do not leave the Pallene Peninsula. Go to the river in the center of the island; the land there will protect you."
"The Giants' vital weakness has been found by the Gods. Our defeat is inevitable, but at least, Alcyoneus, you must not be killed by Zeus and them!"
"Ephialtes…"
He murmured the name of the human who had betrayed his own race and made a wager with him. Unfortunately, all the past laughter and high spirits had now turned into a bubble. The position of God of Wisdom he had promised Ephialtes was gone, and Ephialtes' promise to introduce him to the most beautiful goddess in the three realms as his wife could no longer be fulfilled.
Rumble!
After running for an unknown period, until a glimmer of dawn appeared in the distant sky, Alcyoneus finally arrived at the large river in the center of the Pallene Peninsula.
He bent down, cupped a handful of river water from the "ditch" below, and then tilted his head back and drank it all.
Something miraculous happened: this seemingly ordinary large river was somehow filled with the breath of life. After he drank its water, the river water transformed into a warm essence that rushed into his internal organs, nourishing his body. With the movement of this essence, Alcyoneus' body rapidly recovered, and the wounds caused by Zeus and Hades slowly returned to normal.
After a while, Alcyoneus was surprised to find that after drinking the river water, his body was not only recovering quickly but also gradually shrinking, just like the "Shrinking Potion" Ephialtes had given them earlier.
Alcyoneus quickly understood Ephialtes' intention. Indeed, for the dominant side, a huge body is a powerful tool for attacking cities, but for a loser like him now, a smaller size would be more convenient for hiding and avoiding being found by the Gods pursuing him.
Alcyoneus felt grateful to his strategist, and after his body stopped shrinking, he prepared to leave and find a hidden cave or forest to hide for thousands or tens of thousands of years.
But at that moment, as if knowing his physical condition, huge splashes suddenly erupted on the previously calm large river. These splashes transformed into clear streams of water that pulled his limbs and arms. Alcyoneus, caught off guard, was directly swept into the surging waves of the river by these currents and disappeared into the rolling waters.