AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 608 Gifts and Golems
Hundreds of miles away, at the center of Ares's army.
Unlike the loose formations around them, the tens of thousands of soldiers surrounding Ares were a truly elite force.
Knights selected from divine noble families wore heavy armor, forming lines under the command of the War God Church and patrolling both flanks; heavily armored warriors with giant shields advanced at the front, protecting archers with longbows, moving steadily across the land.
From top to bottom, from man to horse, under the influence of Wardivine magic, tens of thousands moved as one.
Even under the Authority of War, they received the most blessings, each person exuding a sharp, incisive aura.
Sitting in a bronze chariot pulled by four sky horses, Ares's gaze swept over the army he commanded.
...Not bad," he commented indifferently, then shifted his gaze.
He was certain that under the suppression of the current royal authorityorder, no kingdom's army could directly confront him.
This was his true strength, an unparalleled oppressive force on the battlefield—though watching this scene, Ares was not particularly pleased.
After all, while he liked War, he did not like this kind of War.
In Ares's eyes, true War should never be a bunch of ants fighting to the death on the ground, winning victory with their courage and strength, or the Wisdom and tenacity of their commanders.
This was neither glorious nor great.
Because if it came to competing in courage and strength, these lowly mortals were only fit to be backdrops.
Only heroes and demigods chosen by the gods were worthy of spilling blood and demonstrating their abilities on the land.
And if it was about competing in Wisdom and strategy, that was even more of a blasphemy—because only he, Ares, was the true God of War, and no one else.
Anyone who dared to mention War Wisdom in front of him should be hanged in front of Athena's temple and left to dry into mummies.
As for the common soldiers who had no presence whatsoever in the War God's eyes… their true value should be as backdrops.
Their deaths should highlight the power of true warriors, just as the most precious gems should be placed on trays made of gold; this was their reason for existence.
However, at this moment, Ares had to suppress the thoughts in his heart.
Because he knew that his enemies probably wouldn't give him the opportunity to display the beauty of War.
"Truly despicable humans… as cunning as Athena."
With an unpleasant expression, the War God closed his eyes, allowing the bronze chariot to advance automatically.
However, after a short while, the warhorses suddenly neighed, as if indicating someone was approaching.
"Neigh…"
Crack—
—"Quiet down!"
Frowning, Ares brought down his whip.
Konabos, the sky horse symbolizing the 'Riot' of War, immediately received a lash, grimacing in pain.
Ignoring the thoughts of a horse, Ares coldly looked at the newcomer who had caused Konabos's reaction.
"What is it?"
"Your Highness."
Kneeling on one knee, the middle-aged knight dared not look directly at his divine ancestor from six generations ago: "Our vanguard has approached the city of those ancient gods… the evil god believers."
"As per your request, we had no intention of negotiating with them, but were prepared to go straight to War."
"However, before that, an evil witch appeared before us."
"She easily subdued the vanguard commander with her wicked sorcery, but did not continue to slaughter our soldiers. Instead, she sent them back to deliver a message to you…"
"What did she say?"
His expression was not good; he hadn't expected his vanguard to be taken down so easily.
But Ares did not get angry, because he had sent out over a dozen vanguards.
Hmm… that's how it is.
After all, for an army of tens of thousands, one vanguard is sent; for hundreds of thousands or millions, over a dozen should be sent. This is very reasonable.
So even if one was defeated, it was no big deal. In comparison, Areswas more concerned about what those wizards wanted to tell him.
"This…" The middle-aged knight hesitated, unsure whether he should speak.
However, under Ares's piercing gaze, he still bit the bullet and relayed the witch's request.
"Your Highness, she said… she said she was a bit disappointed, not expecting even the War God to stoop to driving common laborers and serfs… "
"She originally wanted to witness Your Highness's bravery, but didn't expect that the mighty War God would also fear wizards… Your Highness, I am merely relaying her words—"
—"Hmph, I know. Do you think I would senselessly vent my anger on you?!"
With an angry snort, Ares suppressed the impulse in his heart as he looked at the divine descendant before him.
Heh, these wizards are truly ridiculous.
Such a simple provocation, did they think he wouldn't recognize it?
His gaze swept over the four sky horses: Burning, Riot, Flame, Terror. These were the imageries of their names, and also the desires in the War God's heart.
He craved bloody slaughter, yes, but that was truly meaningful slaughter, like that Heracles… no, like those heroes with divine blood flowing through them.
Fighting them on the battlefield, displaying martial arts and courage, and finally striking them down, that was the kind of battle he wanted.
As for those wizards, what else could they do besides playing those ridiculous tricks?
"What, is there anything else you haven't told me?"
Catching a glimpse of the middle-aged knight who seemed to have something more to say, Ares asked curiously.
"This…"
After a moment of hesitation, the middle-aged knight took out a gift box from behind him.
"Your Highness, this is a gift from that witch after she expressed her disappointment."
"She said that their Golem, meticulously crafted to battle Titans, probably wouldn't have a chance to test the War God's sharpness. So she had another gift that should be very suitable for Your Highness now."
"Because this is something dedicated to you, I dared not open it… But Your Highness, wizards are cunning, there might be evil curses inside."
"Curses?"
"Heh, where do you think this is?"
With a disdainful laugh, Ares snatched the gift box, finding the ignorance of the bloodline descendant before him laughable.
"This is the center of the army, and I am the War God, guarded by a million soldiers."
"Nothing can curse me, nothing at all!"
Tear—
Roughly tearing open the gift box, Ares was indeed a little curious about what kind of gift the other party had sent him.
"Most suitable for him now," what did that mean? Was it a marshal's cloak…?
"…What is this?"
Looking at the strangely styled fabric before him, Ares didn't react for a moment.
"This is a nightingale's underwear, Your Highness, and it's the most popular style in the kingdom."
The middle-aged knight's face was ashen, not daring to reply at all.
But beside Ares, another knight instantly blurted out its name.
"…What is a nightingale?"
Still not reacting, in Ares's impression, he had never seen anything similar.
However, just as he asked this question, the War God suddenly recalled a past event.
It seemed his wife, Aphrodite, had once mentioned this word to him.
At that time, she complained to him that among humans, unmarried maidens preferred to worship Athena and Artemis, while ladies who remained unmarried for Life preferred to worship Hestia. Married ladies worshipped Queen Hera, and as for her… those who loved beauty believed in her to some extent, but her true most devoted followers were those dissolute nightingales…
Boom—
A powerful force instantly erupted, Ares's hair standing on end, his eyes bloodshot.
He remembered, he had recalled what a nightingale was.
The 'gift' in his hand instantly turned to dust, and along with it, everyone who had witnessed him receiving the gift died.
In this era, provoking the enemy army through mockery and insults was already common, but there was no second 'gift' like this in the world.
What provocation, what challenge, Ares no longer cared.
Although in someone's Memory, a certain Sima family member in later generations faced such humiliation with indifference, even appearing composed, the War God clearly did not have such a mindset.
He only knew that if he could tolerate this, he would truly be unworthy of being a god.
"Ah—die!"
A divine light shot into the sky, heading straight for the front lines of the two armies, which had not yet engaged. And just as he approached, several prepared auras emanated from that direction.
On a distant mountain peak, watching this historical scene, Ryan couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
"This… is truly unexpected…"
He had just set up his Alchemy telescope and already witnessed such an event.
Ryan could guarantee that today's events had absolutely nothing to do with him.
After all, he hadn't expected that old witch to come up with such a method to provoke Ares… However, this time, Ryan understood the WarGod's choice.
After all, later history had already proven that when dealing with an enemy general, such a provocation was quite effective.
Shaking his head slightly, Ryan turned his head a little and saw Clotho's bewildered gaze.
Clearly, the Goddess of Fate did not understand what there was to be angry about.
Even if she could glimpse Fate, this was something that had never happened in the history of Chaos.
"Hmm… never mind."
Without any intention of explaining, Ryan shook his head slightly and chose to continue observing.
…
"Here he comes."
Gazing into the distance, keen senses instantly captured the erupting power from afar.
The white-haired old woman smiled faintly, unsurprised by the success of the strategy.
What kind of person Ares was could be seen from his various deeds on earth.
If it were Zeus, perhaps he might ignore such humiliation.
But since it was Ares, he would almost certainly abandon his army and charge forward alone.
"But even though he's coming, we can't fight him."
"Because sorcery never confronts head-on, and although Ares's anger has temporarily overridden his reason, once he formally engages us, he will quickly grow tired of our fighting style and return to his army."
"So we need to find an opponent for him… like the Titan Golem."
Nodding slowly, a grim-faced Great Wizard expressed his agreement.
Indeed, confronting a demigod-level enemy as a High Legend was not difficult for a wizard; this was a systemic advantage.
But if he were to engage in a head-on battle with a god wielding the Authority of War in the human realm, it was best to abandon that idea early.
Fortunately, the power of wizards was never limited to themselves; external forces were also an important part of their strength.
For example, Golems were the top invention after the Typhon Disaster.
Just as the Chief of the White Tower created the Artificial Magic Net, other Great Wizards also had their own masterpieces.
Combining research related to soul-boxes and souls, and Alchemy's exploration of the Life domain, Alchemy Golems were thus born.
It was just unfortunate that, perhaps because Golem creation required the use of Life souls, this success ultimately did not see widespread application and was prohibited under the Church's strict condemnation.
Aside from a few Golems created at the very beginning, only these few most powerful Titan Golems remained…
Slightly raising his hand, the grim-faced Great Wizard pointed in the air, and an invisible ripple emanated.
The next moment, the ground beneath their feet trembled slightly, then immediately split open.
From the fissures in the cracked earth, a wave of shadow surged forth.
Several giants, over a hundred feet tall and composed entirely of flowing metal, slowly emerged, like mountains rising from the depths of the earth.
"Titan Golem, the bones of terrestrial demons and sea monsters, extraordinary metals extracted through Alchemy, fragments of ancient stars that fell to earth after shattering, and even the divine blood of ancient Titans spilled during their great battles…"
"Unable to manufacture them on a large scale, I had no choice but to exchange some lower-realm soul crystals from the devils, and from the best of the best, I made it."
"I heard one of their lords is also preparing to create a soul prism, I wonder if there's anything special about it…"
Speaking with regret, the grim-faced Great Wizard couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
How wonderful it would have been if his experiments hadn't been forbidden; perhaps he could have created a race?
After all, God created humans, and he created Golems.
They also possessed souls, even if they were plundered, but didn't the devils of hell do the same? Who questioned whether they were a race?
If he could forge a Golem empire, and then extract his own soul to create the strongest, continuously self-evolving Golem, who was to say he couldn't become a racial progenitor, or even the God of Golems?
What a pity, it's just some souls, and I didn't intend to destroy them.
Even that great master of the spirit realm shouldn't mind my small transgression, should he…
"Alright, stop sighing, let's get moving."
"Ares is coming. Once the battle begins, remember to cooperate with me to lure him away from the army."
The white-haired old woman beside him spoke calmly, reminding him.
"Okay."
Nodding slowly, the grim-faced Great Wizard put away his thoughts.
Gods were indeed powerful, and the Authority of War was equally so, but these gods simply didn't know how to use this heaven-bestowed treasure.
As long as the connection between Ares and this million-strong army was severed… it would take at most fifteen minutes.
Their colleagues back in the city could ensure that most of the enemies died on the spot, without even leaving a last will.