Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Carefully avoiding the layer closest to the entrance, Helios made his way deeper into Tartarus.

He felt somewhat relieved that he had arrived early; the material layers seemed to be not completely perfected and did not yet occupy a significant amount in terms of space and time.

If he had arrived any later, it’s likely that upon passing through the entrance to the Abyss and the Underworld, he would have directly fallen into the first stratum, rather than appearing within the true depths of the Abyss as he did now.

At that time, for Helios, who had never been to this place before, his only choice would have been to return the way he came. After all, faced with the countless, overlapping different strata, even the God of Sun felt somewhat dazzled.

It was a good thing that there were no native deities in the Abyss; otherwise, even if each stratum gave birth to just one territorial god, Helios thought the sight would have been sufficiently terrifying.

"So this is the true face of Tartarus... If there were even more life, I might even mistake it for the Underworld, only with a harsher environment."

"However, speaking of my trip to the Underworld this time, I always feel that the Law of the Nether has become more active. Is it just my imagination?"

With some confusion, he then shook his head and, after briefly recording the surrounding environment, Helios did not linger any longer.

Time in the Abyss passed much quicker than in the outside world, even on the outskirts the difference with the material world was clear. However, it was foreseeable that the effort he would spend here would be substantial.

After all, this was a vast space equivalent to the material world, unfathomably deep. Finding traces left by Gaia here would not be an easy task.

...

Flashing through the chaotic spacetime and following traces left by layer after layer, from the shallow to the deep, Helios continued to delve into the inner parts of the Abyss.

Various wondrous scenes flashed by, and each stratum seemed to follow laws that were vastly different from the others. And the deeper he went, the more he noticed that the changes in the spacetime of the entire Tartarus seemed to have never stopped.

The worlds born within It were still expanding, their status in spacetime becoming ever more significant. Perhaps one day, these strata would become the primary components of the Abyss, and the originally unstable spacetime would become a thing of the past.

Like in the material world, it is said that at the beginning of creation, the whole world was an immense void. Then Mother Earth was born within it, perhaps the Abyss also underwent such a process.

Boom——!

Whoosh——

"Cough cough——"

"What in the world is this stuff, even stronger than Hestia’s divine fire?"

A flash of golden light accompanied by a bout of coughing, Helios quickly moved away from a dark red stratum.

Within Tartarus, to avoid getting lost, the layers from shallow to deep served as the best guide. However, at this moment, the aura on the God of Sun was somewhat uncertain, as if he had suffered some injuries.

Some signs of scorching were visible on his body, evidently inflicted by some kind of fire. This was not because he had encountered a disaster that even his immense divine power could not withstand, but rather in this place, Helios instinctively did not want to use too much of his strength.

The Titan god Crius was once imprisoned here, after all, and who knew where he might be now. Hence, caught off guard, Helios had suffered a minor injury.

But even so, it was quite terrifying. In the past, Helios believed there were only two kinds of fire that were the most powerful. One was the fire of the Spirit Realm that forged the chariot of the Sun God, and the other was the protective fire wielded by the Goddess of Hearthfire. But now, he had seen a new form of pure fire that contained the power of destruction.

It existed within the three hundred and third stratum of the Abyss, which was one of the rare worlds that already seemed fairly complete. In it spread lava, and a type of mineral that emitted a pungent odor, which the Sun God had never seen before.

Yet, being more ’complete,’ the stratum also seemed more ’explosive.’ Helios had intended to get a closer look, but that directly triggered an innate reaction from the layer, causing the dark fire to burst forth and catching him off guard.

"Cough cough... What a nuisance."

Coughing again, he slowly stabilized his breath, and the injuries on his body healed at a visibly rapid rate.

After all, these were just some superficial wounds, nothing significant for Helios. However, surveying his surroundings, the Sun God abruptly realized that he seemed to have deviated from his intended path.

Previously, he had been descending by following the arrangement of the Abyss’s strata, but now he seemed to have gone quite far off course... Shaking his head, Helios was about to return the same way, but in the next moment, he abruptly stopped.

Just now, he thought he heard a noise.

"That sound... there’s life over there?"

His expression shifted slightly; in Helios’s inherent understanding, the Abyss was inherently lifeless. So if there were unusual noises here, it could only be from outsiders.

It was either the Titan god Crius, whom he sought to avoid, or Gaia, who he was searching for. One was to be steered clear of, the other was his goal.

"...Let’s go check it out."

After a moment’s hesitation, Helios made a decision. He immediately suppressed his aura and flew toward the source of the sound. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

If it was Mother Earth, that would be more than ideal. But if it was that former colleague... Although he was unsure how the other, who once deemed him a traitor, might see him, the Sun God thought it would be best not to meet at all.