First, Thea wouldn't entrust her safety to someone who'd been an enemy just minutes ago. She wasn't that reckless.
Second, even if Hera were trustworthy, she couldn't withstand the densely packed monsters around them, especially when several of them looked particularly formidable with their extraordinary builds.
Thea only glanced briefly and recognized several that had left their mark in mythology.
Like the legendary Arachne, who competed with Athena in weaving and now had a woman's upper body and a spider's lower body.
Or the bizarrely shaped amphisbaena, a two-headed lizard said to cure rheumatism. This thing didn't have two heads side by side in the traditional sense—it had one head in front and one in back.
There were many more: an eyeless Medusa, a Cerberus missing two heads.
Things Thea recognized and didn't recognize filled the area. It was dizzying.
As for fighting their way out and finding a deserted place to slowly study spatial coordinates—that was unrealistic. The entire Underworld was Hades' domain. As long as they remained in this world, he could track them down. Trying to kill all the Underworld's monsters with just the two of them? The difficulty wasn't just high—it was astronomical.
"Hey, how good are you in a fight? In a bit, I'll draw Hades' attention, and you seize the opportunity to grab one of the candles from his head. Then we can successfully leave the Underworld." Unable to run for now and not in a hurry to fight, the two walked slowly along the path left for them. After not going very far, Hera finally came up with a plan.
Thea certainly couldn't brag about being one of the contemporary masters of combat, skilled in both magic and martial arts, and so on. She vaguely indicated she could handle it.
As for how to use Hades' candle—whether it would directly open a gate or create a teleportation point somewhere—Hera wasn't clear either. After all, no one had ever dared to make trouble on the King of the Underworld's turf before. Hera only knew this information because Zeus had once told her.
The two continued refining their plan along the way. Actually, there wasn't much to discuss—the more detailed a plan, the easier it was for something to go wrong. Just look at Hermes, who'd used both a ruse and a self-harm scheme.
After walking for a while, they entered a city. An ancient metropolis of brick and stone, the roads fairly well-maintained, just lacking the teeming crowds of the living. The nearby flower beds had no flowers, the distant fountains had no water. It was so quiet and empty you could only hear their footsteps.
Thea felt the air here was so heavy it was hard to breathe. The holy sword in her body kept up a low rumbling, as if urging her to leave this place quickly.
"Stay calm, young lady." Hera thought she was nervous.
Thea said nothing, working hard to suppress the holy sword, keeping it from jumping out on its own—that was her current task. The holy sword absolutely loathed this place. Thea could only coax it, keeping it from leaping out to slaughter everything in sight.
Though the journey was long, it had an end. Shortly after entering the city, a squadron of black-armored knights came to escort—or perhaps monitor—them deeper inside.
At the city's very center, Thea finally met the renowned Hades. She felt somewhat disappointed. Not one of these old gods was pleasing to the eye.
She remembered someone commenting that all these old gods had been turned into emos. It was absolutely true.
The goddesses were at least acceptable, still looking human. But Hades before her eyes was simply a joke. Less than five feet tall, wearing mismatched red and black clothes. Of course, the most eye-catching feature was his gleaming head.
Like a birthday cake perched on top, seven or eight candles stuck in his crown, sticky wax dripping down his face. No hair, no eyes, only the mouth area still showing any trace of features.
This hideous appearance, and he wanted to marry Hera? Diana? Thea was already preparing her ultimate move, ready to give this bastard something fierce in a moment.
When Hades saw the two arrive, like some country's third-in-line fat leader, he clapped his hands twice in an extremely fake manner.
Several ghostly hags who wouldn't need makeup to star in horror movies magically appeared, each holding a "wedding dress" in their arms, apparently for Hera to choose from.
In the distance, two honor guard processions approached. Leading the drummers were members of the same tribe as the young cow Thea was quite friendly with—two male minotaurs over nine feet tall.
Behind the minotaurs stood many humans holding various musical instruments. They should all be those talented singers and dancers from the Greek era, now fallen into Hades' hands after death.
Hades naturally wasn't unprepared. His armies were assembled in the far distance. In his view, Hera was meat on the chopping block, ready to be carved up at will. As for Thea? Who was that? The old King of the Underworld indicated he'd never even heard of her...
"Put on your new clothes and become my bride. This is your destiny, Hera. To celebrate my obtaining the throne of God King, I'll let you keep some things... Is that your handmaid beside you? You can keep her."
Hades, with a mass of candlelight on his head, couldn't show clear expressions. After a brief moment of thought, as if the other party was just an ant and everything was under his control, he decided both their fates.
Thea's appearance made him look twice. First point: the King of the Underworld didn't recognize this woman, meaning she was a nobody. Second, Thea's appearance and figure, leaning toward modern aesthetics, looked just average in Hades' eyes.
This was the difference between ancient and modern beauty standards. Nowadays, Thea and Diana's appearances were hard to distinguish in terms of superiority. Modern people generally found Thea slightly more pleasing to the eye. But the same appearance in Hades' eyes made him think Diana was more beautiful. Someone like Thea would at most be a "handmaid" to him.
Thea wasn't furious about being called a "handmaid" at this moment. Upon seeing Hades, the holy sword had been continuously transmitting one message: Go up and cut him down!
She was about to lose control. Sweat beaded on Thea's forehead. This deepened Hades' satisfaction—the other party was trembling in fear before his supreme divine might. This meant the King of the Underworld's power was still quite sufficient. Though he had some vague sense of unease, Hades believed the unease should come from whatever trump card Hera held.
As Zeus's divine consort, it was perfectly normal for her to be clutching a few ultimate weapons. Hades kept using words to probe Hera, even trying to anger her, just to see what other cards she had up her sleeve. The little follower beside Hera was automatically ignored by him.
Being the boss for so many years, Hades had no habit of investigating others' energy. In his fixed perception, aside from Zeus, no one was stronger than him. Even Poseidon was a line below him. Now you wanted him to investigate Hera's handmaid? Wasn't that a joke?
Seeing Hera remain silent, Hades felt she probably had no more tricks. He ordered the hags to hand over the clothes. He was in a hurry.
"Take this and go change quickly!" One hag pulled out a tattered dress and contemptuously handed it to Thea. She had no idea she'd just nearly poked a hole in the sky.
"Get lost!—You ants!" She could hold back no longer!