Upon hearing the words "not exactly good," the Atlanteans around them grew anxious.
Although they themselves were dead, their wives, children, families, and friends were still living in Atlantis, so they quickly pressed for more information:
"What do you mean?"
"After Poseidon's divine punishment arrived, many people died. Although the remaining nine kings of Atlantis gathered in the Sea God Temple to pray overnight, it had little effect. Poseidon firmly believed it was all our fault, and his wrath did not diminish in the slightest."
The Atlantean ghost, controlled by Ares, spread his hands and said:
"Later, I heard that the nine kings, having no other choice, sacrificed the Third Princess and the widows from several noble families in that area to appease the Sea God's anger."
"What did you say?" The commander of the Atlanteans here widened his eyes upon hearing this and asked, "The Third Princess?"
As mentioned before, this commander was one of the ten kings of Atlantis before becoming the commander of the Atlantean expeditionary force, and he ranked third among all the kings. Naturally, the "Third Princess" who was offered as a sacrifice was actually his daughter.
Afterward, the commander further inquired about the specific "noble widows," and upon asking, he discovered that these noble widows were almost all the wives and daughters of the Atlanteans who had died in battle there. This fact enraged the Atlanteans present.
"Damn it!" An Atlantean warrior shouted, "It was his own blind command that caused us to lose!"
Another Atlantean yelled, "If those Spartans weren't there, what would a mere Athenian amount to?!"
The Atlanteans were in an uproar for a long time, and soon reached a consensus:
Find a way to sneak out of the Underworld and demand an explanation from that bastard-god Poseidon.
"But the monster guarding the Hell Gate is incredibly fierce. Since arriving here, I have witnessed many unruly ghosts being swallowed alive by that demon."
When this issue was brought up, the Atlantean commander looked gravely at his compatriots:
"Don't let our current numbers deceive you; if we truly try to force our way through, even ten times this many people would end up as prey for that beast."
"Even if we break through the Hell Gate and return to the living world, how will we fight Poseidon? We don't even know where he lives…"
"That's secondary. It's hard to say whether Poseidon even fears little ghosts like us…"
As soon as these practical problems were mentioned, the Atlanteans' grand ambitions were immediately doused with a bucket of cold water. They looked at each other, somewhat disheartened, and said:
"After all, he is a god. What do we mortals have to fight them with?"
"Alas, if my wife and daughter follow Poseidon in the future, perhaps their lives will be better than with me…"
"My daughter…"
Seeing the Atlanteans' distressed expressions, Ares knew it was his time to appear. So he manipulated the familiar, which had transformed into an Atlantean commoner ghost, to step forward and address the Atlanteans:
"Don't despair. In fact, there might be a way for us to deal with Poseidon."
"What way?"
The unwilling Atlanteans, upon hearing Ares's words, instantly perked up. They first cautiously glanced at the surrounding ghosts, then formed a circle with Ares at the center, and quietly asked.
"We mortals currently have no way to deal with gods, so…" Ares raised an index finger. "We must use a god to deal with a god."
"Use a god to deal with a god?"
The Atlantean commander heard this, a look of hesitation on his face:
"Do you mean we should try to incite other gods to deal with Poseidon? But which gods can we incite? Now that we are all dead, the only god we might be able to contact is Hades. Are we supposed to try to make Hades fight Poseidon? Poseidon is his own brother. Between us mortal ghosts and Poseidon, isn't it obvious who Hades would help?"
"That's not necessarily true, and I never said we should use Hades to fight Poseidon."
Ares pretended to look around, then lowered his voice and whispered to the Atlantean leaders, "Actually, before I died, I once heard a bard singing in a tavern that Zeus, King of the Gods, was wary of his elder brother Hades, and therefore wanted to find a way for the gods to set a trap for him, to make him seize a Queen of the Underworld for himself, in order to curb his authority as King of the Underworld."
"What? Is that true?"
Perhaps the gene for gossip runs in human blood. Upon hearing this news, all the Atlanteans present showed curious expressions. The Atlantean commander also lowered his voice and quietly asked:
"So, Zeus and Poseidon have such a bad relationship with Hades?"
"Brothers turning against each other is a common occurrence. It's not as if it hasn't happened among us mortals," Ares replied.
"So you mean…" The Atlantean commander pondered for a moment, then asked, "We should go tell the King of the Underworld this news, and then incite him to teach his brother Poseidon a lesson…"
"No, no, that would be redundant."
Ares shook his head:
"According to the news I heard from those Atlantean bards, we Atlanteans are highly likely to be judged and sent to Tartarus to suffer before the Fields of Truth. At that time, you can ask the King of the Underworld for mercy, and then naturally sell this news to him. After that, you don't need to say anything or ask anything. If the King of the Underworld asks where you heard this news, you just say that Poseidon, the Sea God, drunkenly blurted it out."
"Oh, oh, oh." The Atlantean commander listened, gradually understanding the cleverness of the plan. He continued to ask, "So, Hades will hate Poseidon?"
"No, the bards all say that Hades, King of the Underworld, is magnanimous. Facing his two younger brothers, he would most likely yield proactively and not quibble with Poseidon like this." Ares continued, "The god we need to use against Poseidon is Zeus, King of the Gods. Think about it, for such a big matter concerning Hades, Zeus would certainly demand Poseidon to keep it a secret beforehand. If Hades escapes Zeus's scheme because Poseidon leaked the news, will Zeus hate Hades, or will he hate the leaker, Poseidon?"
"Wow, brilliant, brilliant." After hearing Ares's plan, the Atlanteans all expressed their admiration. The Atlantean commander exclaimed, "Alas, it's a pity you are a commoner. If only you had been my strategist when we fought Athens.