The Villain of Ancient Greece

Inside the room, armor pieces and clothing were scattered everywhere, casually tossed aside.

Caenis had stripped off her equipment with great enthusiasm and now lay spread-eagled on the bed, fast asleep.

Beneath the loosely draped blanket, her healthy, wheat-colored skin took on an enticing honey tone in the moonlight.

Two heavy fruits were barely covered by a third of the fabric, leaving the summit scenery faintly visible.

Beside her, Lorne carefully removed the arm pressed down on his chest.

He glanced at the warrior, who had gone to bed practically naked, and felt an equal mix of amusement and helplessness.

’She really does treat me like family...’

As he shook his head, a low snore rose by his ear.

Caenis lay sprawled out in a star shape, her taut muscles visibly relaxed as she drifted through a state of deep sleep.

It was easy to see that she was genuinely exhausted.

After all, she had first pursued enemies for dozens of kilometers and fought a fierce battle against centaurs through the dense forest.

She was then hit by a strange curse that paralyzed her entire body, nearly getting buried under dozens of trees the centaurs pushed over.

The moment she recovered her wits, she immediately brought them into the city without stopping, all to meet the king of Thessaly...

Even someone made of iron would feel fatigued after being tossed around like that.

Understanding this, Lorne consciously lightened his movements and breathing to avoid disturbing his big-hearted sister’s rest.

Counting it up, the two little green teas outside were probably still lying in wait for him at this hour.

The moment he stepped out, it would likely turn into a white lotus performance or worse, an all-out scene of chaos.

If they got into a tangle, he could forget about having any peace tonight.

By comparison, although her figure was somewhat criminal and maintaining a proper distance was a challenge, Caenis genuinely treated him as a brother and her savior.

Compared to the two outside who would gladly swallow him whole, she was actually the safer option.

After briefly turning this over in his mind, he embraced a take-it-as-it-comes attitude, gently closed his eyes, and prepared to rest.

An hour later.

”Smack!”

Accompanied by a crisp sound,

Lorne opened his eyes.

He removed the paw that had slapped across his face for the thirteenth time, then looked down at the two full, rounded thighs locked around his waist in an old-tree-wrapping-roots posture.

With an expressionless face, he peeled apart the deadly pair of scissor legs.

However, the moment he freed his lower half, his upper half was immediately captured.

Fast asleep, Caenis waved and grabbed randomly with both hands.

She scooped up a certain soft object beside her as a pillow, stuffed it into her embrace, and let out a contented sleepy murmur.

Half of Lorne’s head sank into a valley.

Feeling the suffocation reaching his nose and mouth along with a distinct softness, his eyes widened as all sleepiness completely vanished.

’How is anyone supposed to sleep like this!’

Faced with his unscrupulous roommate’s repeated harassment, Lorne could bear it no longer.

His expression darkened, as he pulled the warrior off his body and decisively jumped off the bed.

He pushed open the door and slipped out to the courtyard, hoping a walk would clear his head.

At this point, the two little green teas were nowhere to be seen.

From the aura drifting out of their respective rooms, they had clearly gone inside to rest.

Lorne’s heart settled considerably.

He sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, took out his treasured fine wine, and leisurely drank alone.

The night air was cool as water and the moonlight thin as gauze.

As it mixed with waves of pleasant insect chirping, the atmosphere settled into quiet serenity.

After a few cups of wine, he dipped his fingertip into the liquid and traced several lines of Hermes script across the table’s surface.

As he channeled a thread of divine power into them, a faint humming sound rose.

A figure with purple hair and golden eyes gradually took shape within the activated magical formation diagram.

”Long time no see, Sis Athena.”

The purple-haired Goddess inside the diagram was bent over her desk processing documents.

Hearing his voice, she stopped her pen, raised her head, and arched an eyebrow with a light hum.

”Mm? When you are outside, what should you be calling me?”

”Alright, alright. My Lady Sasha.”

Lorne rolled his eyes and helplessly stepped into character.

”Still in Troezen?”

”Mm. That is right.”

”Why such a long delay? Did something come up?”

”There was indeed a small accident...”

Athena gave a nod, her gaze flickering as she answered in a deep voice.

”I ran into people from the Sea God’s temple here.”

”Anyone who makes you take them seriously shouldn’t be ordinary Atlanteans.”

He turned the wine cup in his hand, asking with playful curiosity.

Athena felt quite satisfied with her younger brother’s sharp perception, parting her lips to supply the intelligence.

”They call themselves [Sea Saints].

All of them are equipped with [Scale Armor] forged from orichalcum, making them quite troublesome to deal with.”

”Even stronger than the War God Mountain’s [Saint Cloths]?”

”Comparable in quality. But in quantity, the Sea God temple’s [Scale Armor] has already been fully distributed. Even ordinary Atlantean soldiers have them.”

”That shouldn’t be possible...”

Lorne furrowed his brow as confusion spread across his face.

”The War God Mountain’s [Saint Cloths] were personally forged by Hephaestus on your commission, so they possess extraordinary divine nature and power.

Poseidon has been beaten down so many times and even had the entire continent of Atlantis sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Where did he get this many armor pieces? Even if their orichalcum were as common as cabbage, the craftsmanship alone shouldn’t be something easily resolved.

Could the other side actually have a craftsman God?”

”They actually do...”

”?”

Lorne’s eyes widened in astonishment as he looked at her.

’Did Hephaestus defect? That’s impossible, surely.’

”It has nothing to do with Hephaestus. It is a foreign God named Vulcan, and apparently the Sea God temple’s [Scale Armor] pieces came from his hands.”

Athena picked up her pen and sketched a simple drawing of a red-bearded, muscular man alongside several strange bronze machines, showing it to him.

”Beyond that, he also created something called [Mechanical Warriors] to assist the Sea Saints in combat, compensating for the Atlantean clan’s population shortage.”

’Vulcan?’

Hearing this name, Lorne could not help furrowing his brow deeply.

This was the God of Flame and Craftsmanship in future Roman mythology, the equivalent of Hephaestus.

Since the Venus and Mars he encountered in Thessaly corresponded to Aphrodite and Ares, three appearing one after another proved these ”foreign visitors” were deeply suspicious.

Thinking this through, he told Athena everything he had seen and heard in Thessaly.

The Goddess of Wisdom fell into thought for a moment before murmuring as though realizing something.

”No wonder...”

”What did you think of?”

At his question, Athena came back to herself and spoke quietly.

”Do you remember Talos on Crete Island?”

”The bronze giant?”

”Mm.” She gave a nod, her gaze deepening. ”I suspect the people we’ve been encountering might come from the same group as Talos.”

”The Bronze People?” Lorne paused, puzzled. ”Weren’t they wiped out by Zeus?”

”The Golden Humans were wiped out once too, yet look at them, still alive and kicking in Atlantis.

The primordial birth sea is boundless, so if someone is determined, hiding away isn’t particularly difficult.”

Athena spoke lightly, her gaze flickering as she added in a deep voice: ”Moreover, do you know the true reason the Bronze People were destroyed back then?”

”What?”

”Usurping divine names, stealing God power, and attempting to claim heaven’s mandate with non-God bodies!”

She mused quietly, the corner of her mouth curving into a playful smile.

”It seems my uncle has gotten himself mixed up with them.”

”Sea Saints, Scale Armor, Mechanical Warriors, survivors of the Bronze Age... With this many troubles, can you handle it?” Lorne asked with concern.

Athena gave him a proud sidelong look, letting out an impatient hum.

”You really underestimate me.

Think about why you happened to encounter those [God Machines] in Thessaly in the first place.”

Lorne thought briefly as the answer dawned on him.

”You dealt with the Sea God’s temple? Since they couldn’t make any progress against you in Troezen, those God Machines came inland to find new city-states as stepping stones?”

”You’re fairly clever.”

Athena raised her smooth chin slightly, a trace of self-satisfaction rising on her face.

”After several exchanges with those machines, I stabilized the situation and won, despite being caught off guard initially.

The Sea God’s temple failed to gain any advantage against me.

Even Theseus, whom they wanted to recruit, has been taken under my banner as the Aries Palace Saint.”

”Even if you turned Theseus, sweeping away their influence in Troezen couldn’t have been easy. After all, three God Machines, Poseidon, and a large group of sea Gods wouldn’t just stand by and watch.”

”So I transferred quite a few old friends from the War God Mountain.”

Athena blinked with a teasing smile as she laid out her current troop strength.

Besides Theseus, there was the divine healer Asclepius, whose body was remade to inherit the Ophiuchus Saint Cloth, and the second-generation Justice Goddess Astraea, who was given the Libra Saint Cloth.

She had also brought in the recently appointed Sagittarius Teacher Horse along with his large group of excellent graduates from the Athens Academy.

Since these God-blooded descendants had trained at the academy, quite a few were given bronze and silver Saint Cloths upon graduation, forming direct troops for the War God Mountain.

Lorne listened to her combat strength configuration and clicked his tongue in amazement.

Over thirty silver and bronze Saints, plus four golden Saints old and new. Setting aside the newly recruited Theseus, the divine healer Asclepius, the Justice Goddess Astraea, and the sage Chiron were all top-tier combat power and support among the Gods.

Combined with the amplification of the golden Saint Cloths, even Poseidon had to think carefully about whether his teeth were strong enough.

No wonder the Sea God’s temple had failed to take Troezen and turned to Thessaly instead.

One had to admit that in terms of recruiting subordinates,

Miss Sasha was performing impressively as Athena’s representative.

Shortly after leaving the mountain, she had already gathered a large group of capable followers.

By comparison, Lorne was doing all the heavy lifting in Arcadia.

He produced over eighty percent of the team’s damage output in group fights, practically working himself to the bone just to carry a bunch of unreliable teammates to a win.

When all was said and done, he had only completed the enrollment procedures for the twin brothers.

His recruiting performance was completely blown away by hers.

Though the numbers didn’t look good, he attempted to salvage some dignity by offering her a bit of moral criticism.

”Theseus and Asclepius are one thing, but Astraea is Themis’s disciple and attendant Goddess. You recruited her under your own banner, so how will you explain yourself when Themis wakes up?”

”Explain what? The entire War God Mountain is mine, so what’s wrong with having her disciple?

When she wakes up, if her strength isn’t up to standard, I actually plan to take her in as well.”

The original source of all NTR culture spoke without reservation, her domineering aura radiating outward.

As the second-generation bull-headed God, Lorne felt a quiet sense of alert in his heart.

Themis hadn’t even woken yet and Athena was already setting her sights on her.

What if he ended up in a weakened state?

This Goddess of Wisdom would show no mercy whatsoever.

She would beat him to his knees and drag him back to be a Saint.

To ensure he didn’t end up beneath her, he had to stay ahead of his elder sister in every respect.

Feeling an urgent pressure, he immediately asked for more intelligence about the Saint Cloths to quickly improve his own recruiting performance.

”Speaking of which, aren’t there only supposed to be twelve golden Saint Cloths for the twelve zodiac palaces? What’s the deal with Ophiuchus?”

”Who told you they were fixed at twelve sets?”

Lorne was left momentarily speechless.

Seeing this, Athena patiently explained.

”Nothing is eternally unchanging. Since creation, tens of millions of years have passed.

After such large-scale evolution, even the North Star isn’t motionless.

Old stars die as new stars are born, which are common occurrences.

To make the star map more beautiful, stars even exchange positions with each other. The position of the twelve zodiac palaces isn’t always fixed.”

”But I remember the original design rank of Ophiuchus was silver.

Can it really replace one of the twelve zodiac palaces?”

”Does silver necessarily mean weaker than gold? Can a child wearing armor truly defeat an unarmored God-blooded person?”

Hearing her meaningful question, Lorne fell into contemplation.

”So true strength isn’t just about the Saint Cloth itself, but also the user’s potential?”

Athena nodded and looked at him, musing quietly.

”I suspect your progress has been slow because you think the number of golden rank Cloths is too small, making you overly cautious in selecting candidates.

You probably worry that assigning silver or bronze ranks might limit their original abilities.”

Lorne gave a helpless nod, as that was precisely his concern.

Because of this, neither Medea nor Atalanta had been assigned a suitable Saint Cloth to this day, despite both being quite capable.

”You’re overthinking it.”

Athena gave her overly clever younger brother a sidelong glance, humming with mild impatience.

”The coloring of the Saint Cloths only represents status within the sanctuary, it doesn’t dictate strength.

Who is stronger still comes down to the users themselves, so you can freely give them to candidates you consider worthy.”

”Isn’t that a bit too casual? What if the user dies?”

”All the better. If they die, the Cloth automatically returns to the sanctuary to be passed on to the next person. The more people who have wielded it, the more battle experience the next user can draw from.”

”?”

Lorne looked up in surprise.

”A memory function...” Athena explained casually. ”When Mnemosyne was staying on the mountain, I asked her to weave a thread of memory divine nature into the Cloths. This allows them to absorb each user’s talent and experience, ensuring they grow stronger through use. After all, only by continuously reaching new heights can they strip away the power of the heavens.”

Catching the implication within her words, a trace of surprise rose in his eyes. ”So the Saint Cloths are alive? They continuously evolve through being cultivated by their users?”

’Meaning those users also serve as experience points, becoming upgrade materials for the Cloths?’

”Correct. Golden, silver, bronze... none of these are their endpoint.”

Athena paused, then spoke quietly.

”Pulling the glory of the Gods down to earth, allowing mortals to stand alongside them; that is the true form of the Saint Cloths!”

”God Cloths?”

”Mm, calling them that isn’t wrong. Unfortunately, among the eighty-eight Saint Cloths, currently only Ophiuchus has broken through the limit.”

Everything clicked for Lorne.

The Ophiuchus Saint Cloth hadn’t simply evolved to the golden rank; rather, because the divine healer achieved the feat of standing alongside the Gods, it became a God Cloth.

Equally, what Athena truly wanted wasn’t just eighty-eight Saints she could call upon at will, but eighty-eight stellar Gods who could seize divine authority.

”Then why not say all of this clearly from the beginning?”

”Only twelve golden Saints are truly useful, while the remaining silver and bronze Saints are mediocre filler... Isn’t it better for outsiders to think this way?”

”...”

Lorne found nothing to say and silently gave her a thumbs up.

When it came to scheming and depth of strategy, Sister Na was truly unmatched.

(End of Chapter)

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