Across the Fields of Truth, Lorne and his two companions rushed through the wild grass at high speed, trying to shake off the pursuit of the god of sleep, Hypnos.
The endless grass beneath their feet swayed in the dim light.
This place would never be illuminated by the sun and forever resembled dusk or night.
There were no lamps either.
Small white flowers sensed the passing visitors and swayed with the wind like faint ghosts, flickering with a soft glow.
These were the narcissus flowers of the Underworld.
They differed from those in the mortal world, and since they flourished throughout the Fields of Truth, this place was also called the Narcissus Plain.
All ordinary people who had neither accomplished great deeds nor committed terrible crimes would remain on this plain.
Their souls were exiled here after drinking the water of the River Lethe, which erased all memories of their lives.
As the white narcissus flowers faintly glowed, Lorne and the others saw countless muddle headed souls wandering across the vast plain.
Because of the water of Lethe, they had no memories, no future, no emotions, and no purpose.
When hunger came, they simply wandered to the riverside and fed on the flowers growing there.
Those flowers were a type of Underworld plant called Golden Ear Flowers, growing near the banks of the river and providing the souls with deathly energy, easing the hunger within their spirits.
Of course, aside from Golden Ear Flowers, there was another kind of food that could satisfy these wandering spirits.
The fresh blood and life of the living.
"Over there... smells good..."
"Delicious..."
"Alive... eat..."
Countless hungry and crazed whispers echoed from all directions.
Empty eyes stared straight at the three figures moving through the flowers while their throats twitched and their sharpened hands lifted instinctively, rushing toward the living vitality from the human world.
Seeing the thousands of spirits suddenly regain energy and surge toward them like a tidal wave,
Lorne could not help thinking of students rushing toward the cafeteria the moment the school bell rang.
"Run!"
Without hesitation, Sisyphus once again demonstrated his natural talent as the "Rider of the Wind."
He pushed the blood of the wind god within his body to its limit and took off first.
After all, the two teammates behind him were both ridiculously powerful and mysterious.
Their safety and speed were not something he needed to worry about.
Instead of worrying about them, it was better to worry about himself in advance.
Sure enough, after Sisyphus ran only a few steps, a violent gust of wind rushed past him and easily left him behind.
Even worse, the huge group of crazed spirits ran straight toward him.
Even when he urgently changed direction, they continued chasing him without hesitation.
Being chased like a rabbit and forced to run wildly everywhere, Sisyphus finally snapped.
"Why are they only chasing me and not chasing you two?"
"Oh, I just cast a suppression spell that sealed the life aura within our flesh and souls."
Using the divine speed of the "Goat" while pulling Thetis along and maintaining a steady lead, Lorne turned his head casually and answered.
Looking at the shameless couple running ahead of him, Sisyphus stared with grief and anger. "What about me?"
"Who told you to run so fast? Every time you run away first!"
"..."
Under Lorne's contemptuous gaze, the guilty con artist was instantly left speechless.
However, while he was distracted for a moment, a wandering spirit suddenly lunged out from the grass at his side.
Opening its drooling mouth, it bit down fiercely on the plumpest and most elastic piece of flesh in front of it.
"Aaaah! My butt!"
The fleeing son of the wind god screamed miserably as he kicked violently, sending the rude spirit that was clamped onto his butt flying away, With tears almost in his eyes, he cried out toward the front.
"The suppression spell! Brother, hurry and give me one!"
"What benefit do I get?"
"When we get back to Corinth, the divine nectar wine personally given to me by the god of wine will be yours to drink as much as you want!"
Sisyphus promised solemnly.
"Hmm..."
Lorne nodded with a smile and gave a meaningful hum as the speed at which he traced Hermes runes in the air slowed slightly.
This liar truly never changed his ways, so it would do him good to suffer a little.
"Ah! Stop biting! You bastards, stop biting randomly!"
Because a certain scheming god intentionally delayed the rhythm, Sisyphus was pounced on by several more spirits.
Wounds soon appeared on his arms, his butt, and even the base of his thighs.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of suffering, Lorne completed the suppression spell in his hand and successfully pulled Sisyphus out of the encirclement of spirits.
"Brother..."
The surviving Sisyphus staggered out of the grass like a girl who had been ravaged by hundreds of men.
Tears filled his eyes as he looked at the comrade who had extended a helping hand.
He swore that next time he would definitely not run first.
Staying beside this guy seemed to be the safest option.
Just as Sisyphus silently made this resolution and walked toward Lorne, he suddenly saw Lorne's expression change slightly.
Without warning, the latter grabbed Thetis beside him and instantly dodged to the side.
"Whoosh!"
At the same time, a black butterfly with a terrifying ghostlike face flapped its wings and flew straight forward, smashing directly into Sisyphus' head.
Damn it...
Sisyphus' vision went dark.
Before the furious curse could even leave his mouth, his consciousness sank into endless chaos.
Seeing his pitiful teammate collapse stiffly onto the ground with a painful expression, Lorne turned around angrily. "You are the dignified god of sleep, yet you use sneak attacks like this? No sense of honor!"
However, when his gaze landed behind him, he suddenly realized that the one who had arrived was not Hypnos.
A humanoid monster wearing black armor with dark wings and possessing beastlike teeth and claws spoke in a deep muffled voice.
"Not bad. You managed to avoid that attack just now. It seems you are indeed the target Father ordered us to capture."
Father? Is he Hypnos' son?
Hearing this, Lorne was slightly stunned.
At that moment the tall and ferocious humanoid monster licked its long crimson tongue like a lizard as a gleam of excitement flashed within its vertical snake like pupils.
"Even Father keeps praising you, so this is perfect. Let me test your ability!"
In an instant the creature spread its black wings as countless dark phosphorescent lights scattered around.
The surrounding space twisted and stretched along with its body, transforming into a gigantic dragon over one hundred meters long as it raised its head and roared.
"Roar!"
The powerful roar echoed in all directions while countless pure black Underworld butterflies appeared from the glowing dust, before transforming into thousands of two legged wyverns that gathered in the sky and surrounded the area completely.
"They are the Oneiroi..."
Thetis spoke softly beside him, and after her brief explanation Lorne understood the origin of their opponent.
The Oneiroi, also known as Oneiroi gods, were the dream spirits of Greek mythology.
They were the sons of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and were the embodiments of all dreams.
Legend said there were three thousand of them.
Usually the dream spirits possessed black wings and lived at the edge of the Underworld in the land of dreams, serving under Hypnos, responsible for creating dreams for all living beings in the world.
The three thousand dream spirits were divided into three categories based on their functions, each governed by one of Hypnos' three most outstanding sons.
The first was Morpheus, also called the Shaper, the dream god of human forms who could transform into human appearances.
He was the leader of the three thousand dream spirits.
The second was Phantasos, also called the Illusion Maker, the dream god of objects who could transform into stone, water, plants, and other inanimate forms.
The third was Phobetor, also called the Terrifier, the dream god of beasts who specialized in transforming into animals and monsters.
Because of this ability, the gods also called him Icelos, the Image Maker.
Clearly, the dream god who had transformed into a giant dragon blocking their path was Phobetor, the Terrifier, along with the group of beast form dream spirits under his command.
"Weren't we supposed to have a one on one fight? Why did he bring a bunch of minions to clear the map?"
Lorne could not help complaining about Hypnos' lack of fairness.
'Minions? Is he talking about us?'
That bastard!
Hearing those words, Phobetor, who had transformed into the giant dragon, felt deeply insulted.
Instantly he threw aside the order from his father Hypnos that instructed them not to act rashly after locating the target, and flapped his wings furiously, rushing forward, spewing blazing hellfire from his mouth.
At the same time the thousands of wyverns formed from the dream spirits in the sky dove downward, launching a coordinated attack against the three criminals of the Underworld.
Looking at the fierce dragon swarm rushing toward him, Lorne snorted coldly.
The golden halo behind him rotated toward the fifth slot as crimson battle flames erupted toward the sky as he hurled the Spear of Nation Creation forward, tearing through the raging dragon fire and shooting across the sky with lightning speed.
"Pfft!"
"Aaaah!"
With the dull sound of a blade piercing flesh and a painful scream, the black dragon fell from the sky like a crashed fighter jet.
Half of its wing had been completely destroyed as it plunged headfirst into the dark soil of the Underworld, smashing a deep crater nearly one hundred meters wide.
"Dammit!"
Phobetor, now restored to human form, climbed out of the crater while cursing angrily.
Before he could recover, a figure as fast as lightning rushed toward him and kicked him violently into the soil at the edge of the pit.
Under the violent impact the already injured dream god Phobetor suffered several broken ribs.
Purple black blood sprayed from his mouth as his spirit weakened immediately.
Lorne grabbed Phobetor by hand and pulled him out of the soil like a rag doll, lifting him into the air while sneering disdainfully.
"What? You don't accept being called a minion? If you want to capture me, at least let Hypnos come himself.
You're not qualified."
After all, he had already drawn power from half of Olympus' major gods.
Combined with the god slaying attribute of the Spear of Nation Creation, ordinary gods would basically be defeated instantly against him.
Phobetor's face flushed red with anger as he tried to argue, but faced with an undeniable reality he could only vent his anger on his subordinates.
"What are you waiting for? You useless trash!"
Hearing this, thousands of wyverns instantly landed and transformed into lions, leopards, demonic boars, giant serpents, and all kinds of strange beasts before swarming toward Thetis and the unconscious Sisyphus.
They were not stupid.
Even their boss had been defeated in a single move, so rushing Lorne together would only mean delivering themselves to death.
If they wanted an easy target, they should attack the weaker ones.
Seeing Thetis struggling under the intensified assault while guarding Sisyphus, Lorne's expression turned cold.
Without hesitation he twisted and broke Phobetor's remaining arm that could still move, then shouted forward. "All of you behave!"
Hearing the crisp sound of bones breaking behind them along with their leader's painful groan, the beast transformed dream spirits immediately stopped their attack.
Lorne then squeezed the broken bone in Phobetor's arm and looked at the twisted face that was distorted by pain.
"You too. Why show off like this?
We don't even have any grudges against each other. Be sensible. If you don't want to suffer more, remove the dream curse you placed earlier and we'll go our separate ways."
"I agree! I agree!"
Under the oppressive pressure of that terrifying man, Phobetor, who was almost fainting from pain, nodded humiliatingly and hurriedly flicked a drop of blood toward Sisyphus' forehead as a strand of black mist filled with screams and wails dissipated instantly.
"Pleasure doing business."
Seeing how cooperative he was, Lorne smiled with satisfaction.
Then threw Phobetor backward with force while decisively grabbing Thetis and Sisyphus, activating the divine speed of the Goat and rushing out of the beast swarm's encirclement.
Everyone knew that Greek gods rarely followed rules and each of them held grudges easily.
Expecting them to swallow their losses silently was basically impossible.
"There they are! Catch them!"
Sure enough, before Lorne could run very far, Phobetor's furious shout echoed from behind.
However this time he had clearly become smarter.
He began calling the other dream gods and his father Hypnos to gather together before launching another attack.
(End of Chapter)