Huh?
The fake Godslayer Sword… chose me?
Thea examined the blade still glowing gold in her hand.
Whatever its true power was, whatever hidden effects it held—
one thing was certain:
its appearance alone was absolutely top-tier.
While she was staring at the sword, Diana suddenly nudged her with an elbow.
"Hey—where's Ares?"
Right—wasn't this supposed to be their fated battle?
She'd waited five thousand years for this!
And all she got was beating up two muscular idiots?
The main boss didn't even get a proper intro before disappearing?
"He's trapped by my spell. With his power he'll definitely break out, but the time flow inside is different, so I—"
"You're dead!"
A blood-red flash tore open the air.
Ares burst out, dual swords in hand, fury roaring like a storm.
Thanks to the Chosen's night-vision gift, Thea wasn't surprised, and she'd been on guard anyway—
she jumped aside instantly.
Diana, who still had a bellyful of anger, didn't even think—
BANG!
She smashed him with her shield, sending him flying five meters.
"Huh?"
Of everyone present, Thea understood Ares's strength the best—
she'd been chased by him for ten straight minutes.
But now…
he seemed noticeably weaker.
Before she could think further, a gray-skinned, leather-armored minotaur leapt out of the red flash after Ares, hefting a massive battle-axe.
"Minotauros! Quick—flank that flying one!"
Ares ignored Diana completely—
he was dead set on killing Thea first.
Just as Thea rose into the air to dodge, she heard the bull mutter in a quiet, completely unfitting voice:
"Why…?
Didn't we finish our task by sending you out of the labyrinth…?"
…What?
This timid voice—
this minotaur… was a female?
Ares really put in effort, summoning a creature specifically to counter her—
except apparently this one wasn't on the same page as him at all.
Sure enough, Ares nearly had a stroke hearing that.
His current appearance was far from "divine."
His helmet was gone, half his left cheek was scorched, and his armor looked like it had been through an industrial grinder.
The Shadow Labyrinth had hurt him far more than Thea ever expected.
Normally, building such a labyrinth required a mage to construct it personally with mana—
the smarter and more powerful the mage, the larger and more complex the labyrinth.
But the version Thea inherited wasn't a spell—
it was a divine technique.
The core maze didn't require Thea to build anything.
Artemis had built it ages ago.
Not for Thea—
but for every Chosen and high priest under her.
This divine labyrinth embodied three qualities of Artemis's power:
vast, deep, and enormous.
The goddess treated her followers generously—
when faced with an unbeatable enemy, they could simply throw the enemy into the labyrinth.
The goddess would later draw the opponent into her divine realm and personally "handle" them.
Artemis was the Goddess of the Hunt.
And with the Greek gods' notoriously restless nature, she often roamed the multiverse.
Whenever she found an "interesting little creature," she tossed it inside to "train" later.
And Artemis's definition of "little creature"
was not rabbits or kittens.
But Artemis had a terrible memory.
Ragnarök came suddenly.
The labyrinth grew overrun with creatures reproducing unchecked…
So when Ares got dragged in, he just happened to meet three "little creatures":
A family of three black dragons, notorious for their violent temper.
Papa Dragon alone was a hundred meters long.
He was teaching Baby Dragon how to hunt—
when a burst of black smoke delivered Ares straight into the cave.
Before Ares even saw what hit him, Papa Dragon breathed a hurricane of fire right at his face.
Mama Dragon and the kid joined in immediately, tearing at him with claws and fangs.
The poor old crippled Ares—
fresh off being shot through the chest,
flung into a collapsing space tunnel,
battered on arrival,
and now assaulted by an entire dragon family.
Ares exploded with rage.
A tiger fallen into a flat plain is mocked by dogs, indeed!
He had no time to repair his body.
He threw aside the spear, summoned two greatswords, and fought the family head-on.
Without Thea's gender-biased debuff suppressing him, his strength recovered somewhat.
Through expert skill and raw divine force, he eventually slaughtered the three dragons—
into eighteen pieces—
possibly imagining Thea in their place the entire time.
When he looked around afterward, he realized…
he had no idea where he was.
His true body's memory was useless—
the War God didn't bother learning spells like this.
Earthquakes, meteors—yes.
Labyrinths—absolutely not.
He tried contacting his true body several times,
but all signals were blocked.
He didn't know the gods had sealed the War God's divine sight.
After being ambushed by giant flying fish and an enormous mountain-sized lion,
he finally understood the labyrinth's purpose.
"A maze? That's it? Pathetic!"
He didn't know the gods were blocking his true body—
he thought the lack of response was a temporary issue.
With no other choice, he burned divine power to summon a descendant of Minos from Hades's domain—
those creatures had a racial talent for navigating labyrinths.
To give Thea a lesson she'd never forget,
he specifically chose a female minotaur.
But he only got the beginning right—
the end was a disaster.
This minotaur looked honest—
but turned out to be a stubborn, uncooperative lump who clearly didn't want to fight.
"You dare betray me!?"
Ares had not had one smooth moment today.
His eye sockets felt like they were going to explode from rage.
The minotaur casually rolled her eyes and ignored him, resting the giant axe on her shoulder.
Ares wanted to throttle her to death—
but he really had no way to control her.
Her real boss was Hades, and she was only here as a "favor."
After barely forcing Diana back,
Ares realized he was once again under Thea's Eternal Night debuff—
his strength had fallen below half of what he started with.
What should have been an easy win had turned into a nightmare.
He couldn't beat Diana in a straight fight anymore—
his only chance was to rely on superior technique.
He steeled himself.
This unreliable minotaur was now his only hope.
Dodging Thea's magic arrows and using expert maneuvers to throw Diana aside—
Ares suddenly froze for a moment.
Then, recovering sharply, he lifted his hand.
A golden contract appeared.
"Hades's Contract!
Help me defeat them—
and you'll be completely free!"