Chapter 281: Lift

"Strong enough… to destroy the entire planet?"

Even though it has been more than a week since Athena and Evangeline concocted their unexpectedly simple plan, Van still had no idea why all this preparation and distraction was necessary. According to their intel, the only one that would prove to be a challenge was Sarah's grandfather, Clark Hearst.

Other than that, there will only be the enhanced humans as well as one Platinum-rank Explorer from another country guarding the place where they are being produced-- the place that their group would be infiltrating.

Even Athena herself told Van that with the right plan, even he by himself could conquer the country's Circle. He just had to kill Clark before he could detect him as they do not know the extent of his powers.

So the reason why they weren't doing just that… was because Hermes's body would explode if handled wrongly? What does that even mean?

It wasn't only Van that had a bewildered expression, but Sarah who was out of the loop as well. She was already told that she was essential to the plan because she would be the one responsible for extracting Hermes's body, as it was her grandfather who created the machinery that I was currently encased in.

Hermes's body, with the spine as the center, was also riddled with enormous syringes, connected to hundreds of tubes that were then individually connected to a human. The whole process of enhancing a human takes about a week. At first, the success rate of the enhancement was less than 30%, but with time, out of a hundred humans, only a single one would die, sometimes even none.

And the one responsible for all of this was Clark Hearst. His control of blood was enough to even manipulate even Hermes. Even if he was already deceased and his body already waning and weakened, Hermes was still a god.

For this reason, it wasn't enough for just Angela to copy Sarah's [Skills]. The success of their plan solely relied on whether Sarah would be successful. Of course, Sarah already knew that. What she didn't know, however, was that Hermes's body would explode.

And not just a normal explosion, but an explosion enough to wipe out all of them.

"Wait, wait," Sarah could not help but suddenly step back, "That's just the worst-case scenario, right?"

"No, it could be even considered light," Angela shook her head, "The worst-case scenario is that we would still be alive after the explosion. We would feel ourselves slowly dying as the earth crumbles, our skin will stick to the dirt and melt along--"

"Stop," Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why wasn't I informed about this? If I knew I would be responsible for something like this, then I would have practiced my skills first."

"Any practice you do would prove to be irrelevant and useless," Athena was the one to answer Sarah, "The only thing it would do is to make your confidence crumble even further as the pressure slowly gets to you."

"Then why tell me now!?"

"...Adrenaline."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"You'll be alright, kid," Angela patted Sarah's leg a few times as she tried to comfort her, "You're the only one who could do this."

"Thanks," Sarah could not help but groan and roll her eyes as she stepped away to collect herself. In the end, she just chose to meditate while they wait for their army to distract the main base of the Circle.

"Evangeline," this time, it was Van who held a certain weight in his voice, "So you were originally going to do this plan by yourself?"

"Not by myself. Everyone here except you and the Olympians would still be involved," Evangeline quickly answered as her eyes did not leave the horizon for even a second.

"Then what were you going to do if the plan fails and Hermes's body explodes? Just let the rest of us die?" Van blocked Evangeline's view, floating in front of her with his [Air Step] skill.

"Everyone except you," Evangeline said as she stepped to the side, "You would have been in one of the Fragmented worlds as I enact this plan. You would be safe."

"What did you think would happen if I come back with the world destroyed?"

"You would have found a way to survive, as you always have. That is your core, my son. You are meant and built to survive anything, no matter--"

Before Evangeline could even finish her words, a loud explosion erupted from the horizon. And as soon as the noise reached their ears, they all looked at each other and nodded. Sarah, who was meditating on the side, also stood up as she quickly joined the group.

"Are you ready, sis?"

"Let's go."

Angelica, Angela's sister, was the first to move. Running towards the direction of the reservoir where Hermes's body was hidden before completely disappearing into thin air. She was then followed by Angela, who flew into the air before also disappearing, just like her sister.

"We'll see you up there, Master," Angela's voice then faded into the distance.

"Stay by Artemis's side, blood bender," Athena's voice was firm as she looked at Sarah.

"I know," Sarah quickly answered as she let out a long and deep breath before walking behind, "It's the only thing you told me to do."

"Everyone ready?" Athena then said as she summoned almost a hundred weapons, all penetrated to the ground as they made a sort of wall around the 5 of them.

"Hm."

Athena, Van, and Sarah all looked at each other before nodding towards Evangeline. Evangeline then looked towards Artemis, who was the only one who still had not responded from the group and had been quiet ever since they got into position.

"Artemis?" Athena furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her attention towards Artemis.

"Are you alright?" Van then approached Artemis, holding her arm as she checked on her. Artemis immediately turned her head towards Van in response, looking at him straight in the face with her eyes slightly moist.

But after a few seconds, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Before we do this, I have something to say," Artemis then lifted her head, "I could feel something growing inside me."

"...What? Is it the fires of battle?" Athena blinked a couple of times, "That's the kind of enthusiasm we want, let's do this."

"No," Artemis shook her head vehemently, "Something is literally growing inside me, I could feel it moving."

"Wha--" Athena was going to say something, but as soon as she saw Artemis touching her belly, her eyes could not help but widen in shock.

"No," Athena raised her voice as she looked back and forth between Artemis's face and her belly, "Seriously? Already!? Now!?"

"What are the two of you talking about?" The impatience in Evangeline's tone was clear for everyone to hear, "You should have discussed this earlier, time is moving."

"It's your son," Athena then looked at Evangeline while pointing her finger at Van, "He had already placed a seed inside Artemis… and it seems to already be budding, maybe even growing."

"..."

Sarah, who was forced to hear the conversation, could not help but also widen her eyes as they slowly turned towards Van.

"Is… Is this true, son?" And for the first time in a few weeks, Evangeline stuttered. Everyone was looking at Van, their faces all holding all sorts of different expressions.

The one at the center of attention, however, was completely at a loss as to what to say. The only thing he could do was look at Artemis's belly and say,

"You're pregnant?"

Artemis quickly nodded her head as a tear almost fell from her eye.

"But the first time we did it was just a week ago," Van could not help but release faint breaths, "Could it be because we did it every day since?"

"Van!" Artemis quickly covered Van's mouth before he could say anything more.

"It's definitely not that," Athena let out a long and deep sigh as she looked to the side, "Births of us Olympians have always been tricky. I, for example, was already fully grown when Father's forehead… gave birth to me. So it is no surprise that something is already growing inside Artemis… maybe she will even give birth soon."

"...Fuck," Van could not help but curse as he once again looked at Artemis's belly.

"I am sorry," Artemis quickly said as she hugged Van, "I didn't know that this would happen."

"No, it's… it's fine," Van's muffled voice permeated, "I just… wow. Me, a father?"

"The Olympians will rise!" Athena then took one of the weapons she summoned and raised it into the air.

"Enough!" But before she could fully celebrate, Evangeline grabbed her hand and pulled it down, "We will discuss this as soon as we get Hermes's body. Focus on the plan for now!"

"Didn't you hear? You're going to be a grandmother?" Athena could not help but smirk, "Chances are you wouldn't even get a chance to see it since Van would do his best to stay away from you."

"Ever since you Olympians have arrived, my plan for my son has been ruined," Evangeline shook her head as she let out a long and deep breath, "Nothing changes, only my son matters."

"That's not very mothe--"

Before Athena could even finish her words, the ground beneath them started to shake. And as soon as it did so, Athena's expression quickly shifted, "Let's talk about this later."

Evangeline then slowly raised both her hands in the air. It was as if her hands were tied by an invisible string, pulling the weight of a thousand iron balls.

"You can do this, right?" Athena then talked in a very subtle tone, "Do not make a mistake."

"Stop speaking, you disgusting Olympian. It is my plan, of course, I can do it," Evangeline said as her feet slowly lifted from the ground inch by inch.

Surprisingly, Athena did not really have any reply towards Evangeline's bicker, instead, she closed her eyes as her right foot tapped them in a certain fashion. There was a sort of rhythm to it as if following the beat of cries of war that was happening in the Circle's main base.

And soon, within a kilometer of the reservoir, a web of cracks appeared from the ground. The cracks traveled extremely fast, and soon, they surrounded the reservoir in a circle.

Evangeline then opened her mouth, releasing a shrilling scream as wings made of light suddenly emerged from her back. And soon, the ground within the cracks slowly lifted into the air.

Yes, this was one of the major parts of their plan-- lifting the whole reservoir along with the hidden base into the air…

...Away from the rest of the battle.