Chapter 243: Gorgon
"I told you long ago..."
In the Blood Temple, Gorgon threw down a corpse and said, "Not a single human is to be left alive!"
Her massive serpentine body coiled within the cavern. "By now, all the cities in the north have already been swallowed into my belly."
"Destroying that detestable Northern Wall is merely a matter of time..."
"Yes, and by killing the king of this era..." Kingu echoed from the side, "the goddess who obtains the Holy Grail will become the ruler of this world!"
"And that goddess is you, Mother!"
His face was filled with piety as he hummed along with the snake goddess before him.
As a tool used to awaken Tiamat, Gorgon had no idea of her actual role in Kingu's plans; she likely truly believed Kingu was her offspring.
But the current situation in Uruk was growing more and more unexpected.
"We have already slain two Servants," Kingu reported. "Fuuma Kotarou and Amakusa Shirou Tokisada. This has effectively dealt a blow to Uruk's strength!"
Speaking of Servants, the start of everything spiraling out of control was that failed ambush to slay Tomoe Gozen.
Not only had they failed to succeed, but they had also lost so many Children of Tiamat in the process.
"It is still too slow..." Gorgon was clearly dissatisfied with their current efficiency.
"Servants... Heh, they still have quite a few Servants in their hands." A shadow of gloom flashed across Gorgon's eyes.
"Let us begin the attack on the Northern Wall," she spoke up. "We must break into Uruk before the other two Three Goddesses!"
"...Let us still not be too hasty, Mother," Kingu almost cursed aloud upon hearing this.
Gorgon made it sound simple, but he was afraid that once the attack commenced, Gorgon would just march straight into delivering her own head on a platter.
The current situation in Uruk was honestly a bit bizarre.
"Why do you stop me, my child?" Gorgon narrowed her eyes as she looked at Kingu. She wasn't completely oblivious to everything.
It was just that her hatred made her too lazy to bother with these suspicious points.
Gorgon is a magical creature from Greek Mythology, characterized by her snaky hair and ferocious countenance. Her representative image is the youngest of the three sisters, Medusa, whose gaze can petrify those who look directly at her.
The three Gorgon sisters were born to the sea monsters Phorcys and Ceto. In Hesiod's Theogony, they are named Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, of whom only Medusa could be killed by mortals.
Perseus severed her head with the aid of a mirrored shield or a sickle, and from her blood, the winged horse Pegasus and other descendants were born. Medusa's head was embedded into the Aegis by Athena. According to another version, Perseus buried it in the Argos marketplace, and her blood possessed the dual properties of resurrection and lethality, which was once used by the God of Medicine for healing.
The current Gorgon was the tragic result of growing up under a curse; it was a state where her monstrous nature as the original prototype was heavily emphasized due to certain factors.
She was at the stage just before a goddess completely transforms into the monster 'Gorgon'. Originally, she wouldn't have been summoned as a Servant, but since this was a Singularity, anything was possible. Moreover, having obtained a portion of Tiamat's Authority, Gorgon... was already an existence that could be called the Queen of Magical Beasts.
As a magical creature with a tragic fate, she insanely hated everything related to humans and vowed to exterminate humanity, making her the only one among the Three Goddess Alliance who was sincerely working.
"Mother," Kingu placated helplessly, "before the Demonic Beasts in our hands are sufficient to destroy Uruk in a single battle, it is unwise for us to expose too much of our strength."
"The humans of Uruk are nothing to fear. Do not forget, the other two Three Goddesses are our true opponents."
Kingu hummed, "Do not forget, although we have a covenant, this covenant will be dissolved once Uruk is destroyed. At that time, we will be enemies."
"The local Underworld goddess of Mesopotamia, Ereshkigal, and the highest point of the South American Mayan Divine Spirit System, Quetzalcoatl—neither of these two is weak."
"Although Ereshkigal stays within the Underworld year-round and cannot extend her power outward, she is invincible within the Underworld. Quetzalcoatl's power as the chief god of a pantheon is even more astonishing."
Kingu advised painstakingly, "For the ultimate victory, we cannot hastily expose our trump cards just for a momentary satisfaction. That will only make us a stepping stone for others."
"And aside from them, Uruk still has another goddess, Ishtar," his expression grew solemn as he spoke up to this point. "Although her own capabilities aren't enough for us to take seriously, the existence of the Bull of Heaven is a card that can turn the tide of battle."
"The Bull of Heaven..." Hearing this, a glint of wariness flashed across Gorgon's eyes.
That was a Demonic Beast at the absolute peak of a pantheon. In Greek Mythology, the Demonic Beast sitting in this position was called Typhon.
Of course, Gugalanna was probably not as strong as Typhon; after all, Typhon's battle record could be verified, having won a head-on battle against Zeus.
But Gugalanna was not an existence that just any random nobody could mess with either.
In FSN, the Bull of Heaven summoned by the goddess Ishtar showed just how powerful Gugalanna was at its peak.
Its total length exceeded 500 kilometers (Volume 4 states it exceeds 800 kilometers), and its area in Volume 8 reached the size of the state of Nevada, which is 286,000 square kilometers.
Its body contained a hundred times the energy of a magnitude 9 earthquake, capable of directly swallowing the largest piece of the fallen moon that contained an atomic disintegration thaumaturgy formula.
Under the trampling of the bull's hooves, the global atmosphere would howl, exactly as if Ayers Rock and a downburst slammed down together, making one's worst fears come true.
A normal breath was explicitly stated to be city-destroying, directly flattening Snowfield City.
Its roar reached all the way to the Far Side of the Moon, making Europe even think the end of the world was near, with lightning striking over ten thousand times within 10 seconds near Snowfield City.
A full-power breath could completely convert itself into a fierce gale and exhale entirely, reconstructing itself at the target location—this was also a collision, with a speed comparable to Jupiter's stratosphere, explicitly granting the attack success and directly causing irreversible impacts on the entire globe.
When the lightning armor activated, it directly electrolyzed the thaumaturgy formula that caused molecular motion to grind to a halt. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of lightning bolts illuminated the sky, like the parting of heaven and earth or an apocalyptic thunderclap shaking the world, giving Alcides a direct hallucination of Zeus.
After Ishtar exited the stage, even under the conditions where the connection was severed and the Age of Gods environment faded, it could still instantly turn the western side of the North American continent into a windless zone, pouring 80% of its energy into a lightning spear and hurling it out to instantly erase 30% of Alcides's existence, causing a massive impact on him—all merely to protect the humans on the ground whom Ishtar viewed as her subjects and the land itself.
Its posture reminded Alcides, who sought revenge against the gods, of his glorious life spending his power for others on the Argo, and he bluntly stated that he would eventually leave the stage, completely unlike leaving behind the Black Mud inside his body and the divine energy stolen from the bull. The bull's mission had already been fulfilled, and he expressed his respect to the bull, who as a divine beast should have been loathed.
And in the Absolute Demonic Front, Gilgamesh, without knowing that Gugalanna had been lost, directly placed It as the final trump card to block Tiamat in his plan, confidently feeling that this plan would definitely succeed.
From this, it could be seen that the strength of the Bull of Heaven was absolutely sufficient; even if it couldn't defeat Tiamat who was an Evil of Humanity, it could still use its over-the-top strength to forcefully stall her.
It couldn't be helped; the Beast's Authority was simply too absolute. Even a Bull of Heaven this powerful was inadequate when facing Tiamat, as a single Anti-Genesis could neutralize the vast majority of powerhouses on this planet. Any existence born within Human History would be affected by this ability.
Not to mention that under normal circumstances, as the Mother of Life, Tiamat simply did not have the concept of death.
As for Gorgon... how should one put it, even with Tiamat's Authority, Gorgon did not think she could handle such a powerful divine beast alone. In the plan, this divine beast required the Three Goddesses to surround and suppress it together.
None of them currently knew about the fact that Gugalanna had been lost by a certain useless goddess.
Therefore, after hearing about so many potential threats, even Gorgon felt it was worth repressing her temper to continue producing more magical beasts.
Meanwhile, in the current Uruk, the Chaldea duo, having worked for a whole day, was walking on the path back home.
"Laying bricks is really interesting, Senpai," Mash's steps were light, her expression filled with vitality.
"Mash really likes Uruk, doesn't she?" Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled, dragging her exhausted body.
She wasn't like Mash who was a Pseudo-Servant; the latter's physical stamina far surpassed her own as a Master. Mash thought it was interesting after working for a whole day, while Fujimaru Ritsuka felt like she was about to die from exhaustion.
"This is my first time experiencing daily life anywhere outside of Chaldea," Mash's eyes sparkled. "It really is an unprecedented experience!"
After all, back in Chaldea, this kind of work wouldn't be hers to do.
"Speaking of which, today's work was actually quite difficult," Fujimaru Ritsuka complained. "The wall has to be laid without being crooked, and it still has to look good... But come to think of it, did the Babylonian era have brick-firing technology?"
"I bet King Gilgamesh saw it through his Clairvoyance again..."
She hadn't forgotten how on that day in the Ziggurat, Gilgamesh had blurted out the phrase 'adolescent young girl'...
And along with Kiana's questioning, Fujimaru Ritsuka also really wanted to know what exactly Gilgamesh usually used his Clairvoyance to look at~~~
"But I've finally started getting used to this work lately," Fujimaru Ritsuka rubbed her slightly aching arms. At the beginning, her entire body had been sore, but now her body was gradually adapting.
Right then, Fufu on her shoulder suddenly let out a couple of cries, then jumped off her shoulder and looked toward a dark alley.
"Fufu?" Fujimaru Ritsuka also turned her head to look in its direction.
"That person..." She saw someone wearing a tattered green robe sitting cross-legged in the alley, looking down and out.
"They must be hungry," Mash guessed.
Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but walk toward that person, crouching down in front of them.
"Um... maybe it's none of my business," she pulled out a piece of wheat cake and handed it over. "This... if you need it..."
The old man on the ground looked at the wheat cake, not wanting to accept it.
Mainly, the aura of an outsider on it was simply too dense... it was clearly made by her own hands.
The moment he thought of the Counter Force's requirements, he got a headache.
What did it mean by 'ignore it if you can, but still manage it so she doesn't do anything major to destroy Earth'...
"Senseless pity is an evil," after hesitating for two seconds, he finally spoke. "Senseless shame is also an evil."
"But this old man must still thank you for your kindness," he reached out to take the wheat cake and placed it into his robes. "In that case, let me give you a return gift."
Just as he was about to speak to give a warning, a sound of footsteps appeared at the mouth of the alley.
"Yo, so you guys are here," Xia Yu walked over with a smile. "What are you doing?"
Her gaze scrutinized the old man.
And the old man also made it clear that she knew his identity.
"Big Sister Kiana," Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash happily waved toward Xia Yu.
"Mhm, and this person is..." Xia Yu's gaze landed on the Old Man of the Mountain in front of her.
"...Listen closely!"
He didn't want to have any communication with the outsider in front of him. He was merely here to deliver the mission of the Human Order, so he spoke directly to Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Uruk will encounter three storms from now on!"
"To those who harbor hatred, you must not show understanding!"
"To those who harbor pleasure, you must not show agreement!"
"To those who harbor pain, you must not show praise!"
"Never forget, preaching humanity to a god is the height of foolishness!"
After saying this, the Old Man of the Mountain intended to slip away.
"Eh, only three storms?" Xia Yu suddenly said curiously, "Just the three of them?"
She approached the Old Man of the Mountain with a smile, "Is there really no storm involving me?"
"...Evil is also love," the old man looked at the young girl in front of him and said. "Two sides of the same coin, light and shadow are born together."
Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't understand what he was saying, but Xia Yu understood.
If she began to commit evil and endanger Proper Human History, then Tiamat, as an Evil of Humanity, might not necessarily be unable to become her enemy.
Because deep within Tiamat's heart, there was still love for all living things under heaven and earth.
Among Tiamat's Authorities, there was a Self-Sealing.
That was the self-harming rope that bound Beast II. Lamenting and detesting the sadness of being exiled by humanity's collective unconsciousness which deemed her 'no longer needed', Beast II's deep consciousness nevertheless accepted it as 'something that couldn't be helped'.
The desire to 'become a sanctuary for humanity', which Beast II held to the very end due to her root being 'Mother', was exactly what this Self-Sealing materialized.
Tiamat hated the gods and humanity because they had exiled her.
Tiamat loved the gods and humanity because they were her children.
Because of hatred, she became an Evil of Humanity, becoming a Beast.
Because of love, even after her regression, the Self-Sealing still bound her to the Persian Gulf.
As mentioned earlier, Merlin's dreamscape was far from sufficient to achieve the miracle of completely controlling a Beast.
The fact that he could do such a thing was purely because he had grasped Tiamat's weakness—her love.
Rather than saying Tiamat was sealed in the dreamscape, it was more accurate to say she willingly indulged in the dreamscape, because she knew that once she woke up, her role as the Genesis Mother Goddess would be suppressed by the instincts of a Beast.
"Evil, huh..." Xia Yu shook her head. "You locals are really strange."
"Compared to them, humans are clearly the greatest and worst villains in this universe. If the civilizations within 13.7 billion light-years knew what you were doing..."
"I bet their UOs would already be on their way to destroy Earth by now~~~"
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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
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