The Byzantine Empire has a population of one million, and although its population density is much smaller than that of Athens, if Apollo is really determined to go against Hilde, and the plague spreads throughout the Byzantine Empire, I am afraid that Hilde will really be powerless to save the situation. Because, according to the level of this era, the plague can easily destroy a country, which is too normal.
Moreover, plague is generally considered to be a punishment from God.
Hilde as monarch.
They will definitely be rejected by the people.
If Hilde were Apollo, Hilde would definitely do this.
"So, the only thing left for us is to get rid of Apollo?"
Tomyris thought about it carefully.
She had never fought with Apollo, so she didn't know how powerful Apollo was.
However, she believed one thing, that is, since gods can die, there must be a way to defeat them.
"Kill Apollo?"
"Yes, is it possible?"
"Yes... but at least the backup has to arrive. I don't know if I can defeat Apollo. If I can... I will get rid of him even if it means sacrificing my own life!"
Hearing Hilde say this.
Sophia said with some fear:
"Are we going to officially go to war with the gods?"
"…Not really. There's only Apollo."
"but……"
"If we don't do this, we will definitely die, Sophia." Hilde knew why Sophia was so scared, so he walked up to Sophia and patted her shoulder gently. "So, rather than doing nothing, I still want to fight for it. This is a dead end."
Chapter 4, Section 1: Gods in Rage
Hilde's words.
It also dispelled their concerns.
The difficulty they are facing now is a dead end. There is no other way to choose. There is no other way to go except to fight Apollo to the death. So this time, it is likely to be a battle that will cost everything. If it succeeds, it will temporarily keep the peace, at least everyone will be fine. If it fails, it is likely that all the efforts of so many years will go to waste. For Hilde, this is a very difficult decision.
But just as Hilde said.
Now we have to fight whether we want to or not.
Sophia nodded.
"I understand. Since there is no way to stop this battle, let's face it. Don't worry, Sissi. No matter when and where, I will always stand by your side. Even if we have to face the gods and fight Apollo to the death, I will still stand by your side."
"Your words make me feel half relieved. Don't worry, we still have a chance. On the one hand, Apollo doesn't dare to act rashly, and on the other hand, we have strong backup forces. Unless this time... our backup forces can't arrive in time."
"Xiao Xuexue will definitely be able to do it."
Sophia seemed to be encouraging Hilde.
She patted Hilde's back gently.
"And even without Xiao Xuexue, I think we can definitely defeat Apollo."
"It's really great to hear you say that... Don't worry, I will be prepared."
Hilde hesitated.
Then he turned around and asked Tomyris beside him.
"What are you going to do next?"
"Since I promised to help you in this matter, I will never run away. When Apollo really comes, I will join your side. If there is no way to defeat Apollo, my beloved country and people will definitely be harmed by Apollo. So no matter what, I must fight this battle."
"...Although I have many prejudices against your country and I will never forgive your father for betraying us, I must admit that you are the best princess I have ever seen. You are worthy of being the woman who inherited the name of Cyrus the Destroyer. This time, you must do better than the previous Queen of Scythia. You must destroy Apollo."
“It’s really difficult.”
Although they were going to face a particularly terrifying enemy next, they had already had the experience of fighting with Apollo once, so when facing this matter again, everyone did not seem so panicked.
In this battle, they indeed realized the terrifying side of Apollo and how huge the gap was between the oracle and the gods. However, the gap they discovered could not stop them from giving up resistance, because they realized that Apollo was not invincible. He was just like ordinary humans. Although he was powerful, he still had the possibility of being defeated.
This is where Hilde and others’ confidence comes from.
Since it has been decided.
In Amphipolis they could not stay long.
Hilde went straight to Brasidas of Sparta.
"How is your sister?"
"The situation is not very good, but at least my life is saved."
Hearing Hilde say this, Brasidas couldn't help but laugh.
"Then this trip won't be in vain."
"If it weren't for you, I really don't know how to delay the time for Apollo to be controlled by us in this rescue operation. So I have to thank you for your support to a large extent for rescuing my sister."
Hilde's gratitude was from the heart. After all, the Spartans were once enemies of the Byzantines. As the Spartan oracle, Brasidas had no reason to help Hilde. But he still did it, partly out of consideration for Sparta. But if Brasidas hadn't been there, it would have been hard to say what would have happened.
"You're welcome."
Brasidas said helplessly.
"In fact, this action has also sounded a wake-up call for me. I didn't realize that there was such a powerful god in Athens. Now it seems that I must report this intelligence truthfully to His Majesty the King of Sparta. Otherwise, I am afraid that the god will take action and cause us Sparta to suffer huge losses."
"That's true. The same is true for us Byzantines. After Apollo finds out that Diony has been taken away, he will definitely not give up, and his next target will definitely be our Byzantine Kingdom. So, I will have to take them back to the Byzantine Kingdom later."
"So you're leaving."
Brasidas also understood Hilde's difficulties.
He stood up straight and put his fist to his chest.
"It is my honor to fight alongside you this time. I have achieved such a great result and saved a person from the hands of a great god. This may be the most exciting and thrilling battle in my career. Unfortunately, I will not be able to help you any further in the future. I hope you can get through this difficult time smoothly. May the gods bless you."
"You too."
Hilde also bowed slightly.
"May the gods bless you."
After a brief farewell, Hilde immediately asked Tomyris and Sophia to take the unconscious Dione away from Amphipolis. Next, they would set out from Amphipolis and then return to the Byzantine Kingdom along the coastline at the fastest speed to prepare for the defense of Apollo.
And here in Athens.
When Apollo returned to Athens.
Then I realized Dione was gone.
After careful questioning, Creon told the whole story. Of course, Creon was afraid that Apollo would punish him, so he described his defeat in a very exaggerated way, as if Creon had encountered a powerful enemy, and after a desperate resistance, Diony was finally kidnapped by the enemy.
"You are such a loser! I asked you to watch someone in such a short time, but you couldn't do it! And yet these guys snatched the person away right under my nose! Cleon! If you were not my oracle now, I would have twisted your head off long ago!"
“I’m so sorry!!!”
Creon knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe.
Now he has directly angered Apollo.
"Please give me a chance to atone for my sins!"
"Opportunity? Do you think you deserve such a thing?"
The last chance in the second section of the fourth tune
One can imagine how angry Apollo is now.
Apollo is a god, the god of light, one of the twelve gods on Mount Olympus, the object of worship of thousands of Greeks, and the oracle god of the Temple of Delphi. Apollo has so many halos, but at this moment, such a powerful Apollo can't even keep one person.
First, when facing Hilde, he was attacked unexpectedly, and was caught off guard and almost exposed his miserable side. In the end, the other party seized the opportunity and had Dione taken away from the city of Athens. Moreover, his oracle was taken away without any ability to resist.
This was a great humiliation for Apollo.
In his long life.
This is the first time such a thing has happened.
Even the bad things that happened during the Trojan War did not make Apollo so angry. Now Apollo wanted to rush to the Byzantine Kingdom immediately and let everyone in the Byzantine Kingdom be infected with the plague until the country was completely wiped out. But after calming down a little, Apollo realized that he couldn't do that. If he really put the entire Byzantine Kingdom in crisis, then the other gods in the realm of gods would definitely be able to detect the problem.
After all, Apollo wanted to take Hilde's original book of creation for himself, and what Hilde possessed was Athena's body. Although Hilde made Apollo very angry, he thought that if he could control Hilde in his hands, he could use Athena's nearly perfect body unscrupulously and ravage Hilde's soul at will.
Apollo's bad mood.
Now it has recovered a little.
Things are not as bad as I thought.
There are plenty of opportunities now.
"Forget it. They used these tricks to take Dione away. It's useless to blame you now. So, compared to these, I would like to know if you have any remedies that you think you can do to make me happy."
"Please forgive my stupidity."
Looking at Clion kneeling on the ground, not daring to raise his head.
Apollo's mood grew worse.
"When I chose the Oracle, I didn't expect you to be such a loser. If I had known this, I would never have given you my power." Apollo did not hide his criticism and disdain for Cleon in his words. "You don't even know how to make up for the mistakes you made."
"Lord Apollo, my ability is limited. Although I have considered whether to lead troops to the Byzantine Kingdom and bring Dione back,
"Forget it. You can't even defeat one of them, and you still want to lead your troops to the Byzantine Kingdom. Are you going there to die?" Apollo rubbed his temple. Although he was a god, Cleon's performance was really giving him a headache. "Speaking of which, I was attacked by three oracles at the same time this time."
"at the same time?"
Cleon was stunned.
"There are actually three of them? Including the one who attacked me, there are a total of four!"
"That's true. One of the three people I fought with was Hilde, and the other was the oracle I met in the Byzantine Kingdom. There was another person I had never seen before, but I saw that he was wearing armor that only Spartan generals would wear, and his fighting style was very fierce. From him, I also felt a divine power that was somewhat similar to Ares."
"understood!"
Creon suddenly realized.
"This must be Brasidas!"
"Is that the oracle of Sparta you spoke of?"
"Yes, Brasidas is in Amphipolis, north of Athens. So if Hilde and the others were rushing to Athens from the north, they would definitely pass through Amphipolis. At that time, they might also get the original book of Brasidas. After all, Sparta and Athens are enemies. As long as something can affect Athens, Brasidas will definitely be willing to intervene."
“That’s really interesting.”
Apollo couldn't help but laugh.
"I never thought that Ares couldn't control his own men and make them obey, and they would cause such trouble."
"This Brasidas, people praise him as the world's number one oracle. He is indeed very powerful. When he led his army to besiege Athens, Rhodes, the oracle of Poseidon at the time, was completely helpless against him. And with my ability, I am afraid I have no way to defeat Brasidas."
"You don't need to tell me that."
Apollo glared at Creon.
"I have fought him before, and you are definitely no match for him."
"Yes, Master Apollo."
"But you don't need to be depressed. Didn't I give you a divine bow? If you want to defeat Brasidas, you don't have to fight him head-on. There are many ways. Cleon, you are a very smart person. I don't think I need to say more. You should understand what I mean."
"Yes, I understand."
Creon knew what Apollo wanted to say.
And he also understood that this was the last chance Apollo gave him.
If you don't grasp it well.
I'm afraid it won't be necessary on the battlefield. Apollo will kill him here.
For such a god, it would be easy to change another oracle and continue to rule Athens. So he had no doubt that Apollo would do so.
So for Creon now, there is probably only one way left for him.
"This Brasidas is the oracle of Ares. If I kill him, I'm afraid it will arouse Ares' suspicion. Ares is a straightforward guy and will definitely come to cause trouble for me. I don't want to cause trouble. However, Brasidas makes me very unhappy. I don't want to see him in this world again."
