In the next instant, a streak of light like wind and lightning latched tightly onto Samael's back.
"Didn't you hear a word I just said, you idiot?!"
"Tch, you think you can just eat and run? Not a chance!"
"How about I pay you back with a ton of gems?"
"Really? You said it! No takebacks!"
"…"
"Hey, why are you looking at me like that? We agreed on one ton, nonrefundable! Worst case, I'll take the loss and let you kiss me a few more times?"
Aboard the Boat of Heaven, Ishtar shrank her neck under those chilling serpent eyes, her gaze darting everywhere in panic. In the end, she forced out a dry laugh and leaned her pretty face closer.
"Kiss your head! You're going to drive me to death!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Can you pay up first before talking about dying? Even believers praying to this goddess have to offer the full amount of gems. What you did is blasphemy. A far more serious crime, so it costs extra! Hmph. Don't think you're getting rid of me until you've paid it all!"
Samael's face darkened like the bottom of a pot. Faced with this utterly shameless goddess who knowingly played dumb just to follow him, he was left speechless. After muttering a few half-hearted curses, he turned his head and accelerated forward.
Almost at the same moment, Ere, Tina, Gilgamesh, and the three goddesses of War God Mountain followed without hesitation, charging toward the Storm Sea.
Soon after, the Olympian gods and their divine retainers also began to move, advancing solemnly through layer upon layer of obstacles.
At that moment, the sea surged. Under the radiance of the stellar rings, Giant God Soldiers and mutated creatures emerged once more, landing in vast numbers and pressing toward Athens with overwhelming force.
The seventh wave of assault!
The Daughter of Calamity lounged lazily against the side of a statue's head, watching the wasteland as if she were sightseeing, her eyes filled with interest as tens of thousands of Giant God Soldiers and mutated creatures stormed ashore.
This might really be the final battle…
Watching humanity and the gods get scrubbed clean from the surface of the world would be quite a spectac—
Bang!
Just as malice toward life quietly flowed through Pandora's thoughts, a vicious gust struck from behind. A wing smacked squarely into her head, snapping her out of it.
"What are you daydreaming for? They're coming up already! Set up the defenses!"
The harpy Harpy, tasked with keeping an eye on a certain troublesome woman, glared sharply.
"Come to think of it, you haven't had a proper meal since landing on Aiu Island. Since this world is heading for its end anyway, why not indulge a little? No need to be so hard on yourself…"
Before Pandora could finish her tempting words, the harpy snorted coldly, her iron-hard wing smacking the witch's head again.
"Hmph! You think I'm that easy to fool? Don't try any funny business!"
"Tch. At this rate, the destruction of humanity and the gods is just a matter of time. Is it really worth fighting this hard?"
"My orders are to watch you, defend Athens, and protect this remnant of humanity. Even if they're going to die, they die after us, after the gods! Everything else is none of my concern!"
As she spoke, Harpy straightened unconsciously, looking righteously indignant, while casting a threatening glance at the serpent pattern on Pandora's chest.
Tch, another stupid bird tamed by that bastard. How boring.
Pandora raised a hand irritably, signaling to her jailer.
"What?"
"Help me up…"
"You've got legs. Can't you move yourself?"
"Of course I can. Do you think I want to sit on this cold, hard thing? It's digging into my ass. After all this fighting, I'm completely out of strength."
Harpy turned away unwillingly, then grabbed Pandora by the back of the neck like an eagle snatching up a chick, direct and rough.
The Daughter of Calamity felt the stabbing pain bloom in her chest again. With no choice, she obediently stretched her hands forward, manipulating the black mud to tighten its encirclement around Athens, pouring everything she had into summoning shadow Servants to rebuild the defensive line.
As the seventh wave crashed in, Pandora's slender body shook violently, her face turning deathly pale as she nearly collapsed. Harpy hurriedly caught the seemingly boneless Daughter of Calamity, propping her up so the defenses wouldn't fail.
But the black mud stretching across the front like a river had already been pulled taut to its limit. In the blink of an eye, dozens of sections snapped, and dense swarms of Giant God Soldiers and mutated creatures surged forward.
And as those monsters rapidly closed the distance, the serpent sigil branded on Pandora's chest flared to life, twisting and coiling with a sinister grip deep within her soul.
At this rate, even if humanity wasn't wiped out first, she'd be drained dry and eaten alive!
Pandora bit down until her cherry-colored lips broke, then raised her hand without hesitation. From the magecraft array, a constantly shifting crimson-black cube emerged.
All or nothing!
As the Daughter of Calamity suddenly clenched her fingers, the magic box bound to her shattered on the spot, dissolving into a torrent of filthy sludge. It poured down like a waterfall, spreading outward until it formed a crimson-black shell of mud that sealed off the remaining quarter of Athens that had yet to fall.
It worked!
Harpy, whose heart had been lodged in her throat the entire time, let out a cheer and spread her wings in excitement. As a result, the Daughter of Calamity she had been supporting promptly toppled headfirst off the giant statue, plunging straight down like a scallion stuck into a pile of rubble.
If you all want to die, why drag me with you?!
Just you wait. If I ever get the chance, I'll stew every last one of you stupid birds. That Caucasian divine eagle, Circe, and you harpies too!
Pandora harbored a deep loathing toward a certain eagle-cooking bastard and his lackeys. As the embodiment of this world's evil and humanity's enemy, being reduced to this state left the tightly leashed witch seething with humiliation and resentment.
Harpy might not fully understand why she was ordered to guard Athens, but Pandora, whose existence was closely bound to humanity as a whole, could roughly guess the reason.
The activation of the Alien Key was clearly accelerating the transformation and erosion of the world.
At the same time, the white colossus at sea was steadily gaining resistance to divine authority, becoming harder and harder to deal with, its self-repair speed increasing at an alarming rate.
Once the process was fully completed, there were only a few possible outcomes. Either the World Egg would collapse and the gods' authorities would be seized; or Sefar would absorb the entire civilizational essence of the Greek Age of Gods, advance to the sixth stage, and sweep away all remaining resistance; or the core of the Tear Star itself would descend, unleashing tens of thousands of Alien Vanguards…
No matter which it was, the result would be utterly catastrophic.
Ensuring humanity's continued existence and slowing Sefar's erosion of the Greek World. That was what she had to do.
These tiny, fragile lives might seem insignificant, but on the scale of the whole, they were no different from the final straw that could tip the balance. Their value was immeasurable.
Unfortunately, humanity was nothing more than a thin strand barely holding the scales back from tipping completely toward Sefar. It snapping was only a matter of time.
The battlefield that would truly decide Greece's fate was still that storm-wracked sea.
But dear Father God… it seems… you're running out of time…
Pandora struggled to her feet, her crimson eyes fixed on the turbulent Storm Sea with undisguised schadenfreude.
Szzzt! Szzzt! Szzzt!
The stellar patterns flickered between light and shadow as the luminous wheel turned. Three brilliant pillars of multicolored light burst skyward, gradually prying open this world's gateway to the starry abyss, welcoming the descent of the Judgment Star.