On the sea of Okeanos, a long and intense chase was still continuing.
The two sides chasing and fleeing seemed to both have a pent-up anger in their hearts, neither willing to give up easily, so each used all their strength, competing on the sea surface.
In front, Lorne drove the bronze chariot, pushing the [Goat]'s divine speed and the [Whale]'s sea blessing to the extreme.
With the assistance of the Goddess of Justice, Astraea's defensive support, he gradually widened the distance from the four great evil women of Greece, relentlessly pursuing behind.
But even so, he still frowned tightly, his expression far from optimistic.
Because the time he could stack and use [Goat] and [Whale] was not long.
On one hand, this was no small burden for him personally.
On the other hand, pouring these two authorities into the two warhorses also caused enormous strain.
If they were not immortal divine horses with extremely strong adaptability, they would probably have exploded directly under the impact of the authorities and divine power.
Even so, these two thick-skinned and durable divine horses had already sweated profusely after continuous torment, with a rich, bloody smell mixed in, clearly reaching their limit.
"How much farther?" Lorne asked.
"Right ahead!" Astraea answered without thinking.
At the same time, she raised her hand to point at a small island on the sea surface to the left front, whose vague outline could faintly be seen.
Seeing that the destination was about to be reached, Lorne secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
However, before he could even out his breathing, the two divine horses galloping ahead let out a mournful cry. Bursts of blood mist exploded from their bodies, their four hooves went soft, and the entire chariot lurched forward.
"Jump!"
Lorne scooped up the unconscious Thetis beside him and jumped off the chariot decisively.
At the same time, he did not forget to shout a warning to the new teammate behind.
As the sister of the star gods and the four wind gods, Astraea's reaction and speed were not slow either.
She spread the starlight wings behind her and rose into the air, flinging out several sword beams to obstruct the pursuers behind while protecting the two "righteous people" in her mind, fighting and retreating.
But due to this delay, the three Furies and Eris inevitably caught up.
Seeing the critical situation, Astraea immediately vibrated her wings, drew her sword in mid-air, and struck a righteous and heroic pose.
"You go first, I'll cover the rear!"
Her appearance was exactly like a tragic hero from classical literature.
Smack!
However, this righteous person had not taken two steps before a hard knock landed on her head from behind.
"Cover what rear? There's a barrier on the island. Open the door first!"
"Oh, I forgot. Right away, right away!"
Astraea suddenly realized and immediately slapped her forehead, accelerating past the two figures ahead and charging to the front of the island first.
Lorne looked at a certain golden-haired goddess who was far ahead, then at himself holding Thetis and exposed to the gazes of the four evil women behind, and his face instantly filled with black lines.
Forget it, forget it.
Why get angry at a hot-blooded idiot?
The young man took a deep breath, barely suppressing the resentment in his heart, and immediately raised his hand to throw the Thetis in his arms.
"Catch!"
At the same time, his fingertips sketched several Hermes scripts in the air, then reached into the formed purple-red magic array, slowly drawing out the [Spear of Nation Founding] inch by inch.
The blood-bathed [Warrior] and the unstoppable [Wild Boar] appeared together behind him.
"With one defeat ten, with ten defeat a hundred, with a hundred strike a thousand enemies, with a thousand annihilate ten thousand enemies!
I am the strongest, grasping all victors, and will surely defeat all strong enemies and evildoers!"
Accompanied by solemn divine speech, the authorities of [Warrior] and [Wild Boar] surged together into the [Spear of Nation Founding].
A thick intent of death washed forward, turning into a red-black light stream that annihilated everything.
Sensing the destructive power contained within, the three Furies and Eris, who had caught up, did not dare to meet it head-on.
They all gathered large stretches of blood aura, turning into layers of scarlet barriers.
When the two collided, the space condensed with high-concentration ether twisted and contracted, then exploded with a boom, forming a huge mushroom cloud.
This time, Lorne did not retreat.
The opponents were forced back a hundred meters or so.
But immediately after, the chaotic aura in his body could no longer be suppressed. A sweet and fishy taste surged in his throat as he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of golden-red, filthy blood, his face turning slightly pale.
No way around it. One against four was still too much for him, and none of them were pushovers.
"Done, it's open!"
At this moment, a cheer came from behind, like music from heaven.
Well done, Astraea!
Seeing that the goal of stalling had been achieved, Lorne immediately withdrew and followed the golden-haired goddess, plunging headfirst into the slowly opening starlight curtain.
"Bastards, don't even think of running!"
Having chased all this way without catching even a hair,
Eris could not help but fly into a rage.
Her mind heated up, she vibrated the black wings behind her, and charged toward that curtain.
Lorne, who was at the very back, seemed to have reached his limit.
In front of the wide-open starlight curtain, his feet staggered, and the opening behind him became completely exposed.
Seeing such a golden opportunity, Eris's eyes lit up.
She immediately accelerated toward Lorne, reaching out to grab the back of his neck.
After going through so much trouble and wasting so much time, she couldn't go back empty-handed, right?
Otherwise, wouldn't she be laughed at to death?
However, at the moment the two were about to make contact, Lorne, who had been falling forward, suddenly twisted his body, turned his head, grinned backward, grabbed Eris's wrist, and pulled the unprepared Goddess of Discord into the starlight curtain along with him.
'Tricked, I'm done for!'
Eris realized something was wrong and subconsciously tried to break free.
However, it was too late.
Lorne immediately used the exquisite close-combat grappling techniques from [Infinite Martial Training], pressed Eris down, pinned her arms, then straddled her waist and abdomen, fixing her torso and lower limbs.
"Close the door quickly!"
Accompanied by a roar beside her ear, Astraea, in front of the starlight curtain, snapped out of her daze, hurriedly withdrew her strange observing gaze, raised her hand to turn the golden scales on both sides of the sword hilt, and commanded the starlight curtain to close.
The three Furies on the sea surface saw their ally unfortunately captured and immediately let out hoarse roars, swinging their viper whips and summoning a sky full of blood mist to slam into the starlight curtain, rushing to the rescue at full speed.
As the encroaching scarlet landed on the starlight curtain, sizzling corrosive sounds rose and fell.
The starlight barrier outside the island was rapidly dissolving.
At this moment, beneath the brilliant starlight sky, a cold and solemn whisper came.
"Order shall return here..."
In an instant, accompanied by the rhythm of divine speech, beams of starlight fell like judgment swords descending from heaven, sweeping away the thick blood light spreading outside the island.
On the island, an elegant goddess with golden hair over her shoulders and a white veil on her head walked barefoot along a gravel path shaded by woods, arriving in front of the starlight curtain.
She wore a semi-transparent thin blue cloth through which her skin could be seen, adorned with several gorgeous gold ornaments inlaid with rubies.
She had a voluptuous body and stunning beauty, holding a scale-sword symbolizing justice and law.
Unlike Astraea, this absolutely beautiful and serene figure had her eyes covered by a black gauze scarf, but her movements were smooth and flowing.
She seemed completely unaffected by the darkness before her eyes.
Clearly, she was not truly blind.
The [Scales] symbolized absolute fairness and justice, used to measure all injustice in the world.
The [Sword of Judgment] symbolized slaying all evil people in the world and punishing evil while promoting good.
[Scales above, sword blade below] indicated that although she advocated justice, she did not advocate unnecessary killing, and also implied that no one could use the name of justice to kill others without reason.
Finally, covering the eyes with black gauze symbolized her impartiality and lack of favoritism; no matter who stood before her, she would treat them equally.
At this moment, Lorne finally remembered what was missing from Astraea's outfit when he first met her compared to the first-generation one.
That's right, a [blindfold].
At this time, the golden-haired, blindfolded goddess slightly raised her head, looked at the three Furies outside the curtain, and spoke softly.
Her voice was like a cold and bitter ice spring.
"Blood offspring of Uranus, you have overstepped..."
Seeing the figure appearing below, the previously arrogant three Furies could not help but swallow hard.
A deep wariness flashed in their eyes befire they spoke in hoarse voices.
"Hand over Lady Eris, and we will leave immediately."
Themis did not answer.
She turned to look at Lorne and Astraea beside her with a businesslike attitude.
"Things end here. What do you two think?"
"Of course!"
Lorne immediately grabbed Astraea, who wanted to step forward to protest, smiled slightly, and proactively released the restrained Eris.
Themis nodded slightly.
Before Eris could speak, she turned the sword hilt, opened the starlight curtain, used divine power to throw the Goddess of Discord out of the island, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Four of you, this is my residence.
It is inconvenient to receive outsiders. Please leave."
"They are not... mmm..."
The indignant Eris tried to argue, but was immediately gagged and dragged away by the three Furies who swarmed over.
Although Eris was the beloved daughter of the God-King Zeus and someone they served, the one on the island was even more untouchable.
If they did not take the offered step, what they would face would probably not be those three little ones, but this ancient Titan god.
Thinking of the starlight sword rain that had just dissolved most of their blood aura in one strike, the three Furies felt a chill in their hearts.
They hurriedly carried the struggling little princess Eris and quickly fled beyond everyone's perception.
Watching the four figures outside the island gradually move away until they disappeared, Themis then turned around and looked at her disciple before her.
An invisible reproach and sternness showed in her eyes beneath the black gauze.
Astraea shrank her neck like a mouse seeing a cat and hid behind Lorne, avoiding her teacher Themis's gaze that made her feel as if thorns were on her back.
'Sigh, how many times have I said it, yet she still has this temper.'
Hasn't she suffered enough because of this before?
Toward this disciple whose nature was hard to change, the Goddess of Justice could only sigh helplessly, before her gaze fell on Thetis beside her.
After a brief examination, she understood.
"Vengeance brand? Quickly bring her inside."
"Good! I knew teacher you wouldn't stand by and watch!"
Hearing her own teacher take the initiative, Astraea immediately beamed and flattered.
She reached out to help support Thetis into the hall.
However, as soon as Astraea raised her arm, a sheathed long sword came down and knocked her solidly.
"You stay. Guard outside."
Hearing this arrangement that carried a bit of punishment, Astraea could only respond dejectedly and obediently stand guard outside as punishment, sending Lorne a "can't help you" look.
Lorne nodded solemnly, then bent down to support the unconscious Thetis and followed the Goddess of Justice's footsteps into the hall.
"You're back? The ice hasn't melted yet. Want another glass?"
As soon as they entered, a lazy voice with a strangely familiar tone came from the inner hall.
Someone else?
Lorne subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the sound.
He was shocked to see a graceful purple-haired figure with long hair over her shoulders, turning a wine glass in one hand while playing with a few oak-carved chess pieces in the other, sitting on one side of the hall's square table.
Sensing the gaze, the purple-haired goddess elegantly turned her head, looked quietly at the entering Lorne, and smiled with delight.
"We meet again, my lovely grand-disciple."
"What a coincidence, grandmaster..."
Lorne replied with a fake smile, his flickering gaze fixed on Hecate, who had appeared before him, secretly growing a bit wary in his heart.
How did this woman run out from the underworld?
And she's mixed up with Themis?
At the same time, the Justice Goddess's black-gauze-covered eyes swept over the two people with the subtly tense atmosphere, and her brows also furrowed slightly.
They know each other?
Just as the three gods on the field were secretly sizing each other up, their thoughts surging,
Thetis in Lorne's arms let out a painful moan, breaking the strange silence.
"Come, follow me into the room!"
Themis's expression turned serious.
She immediately set aside her doubts, leading Lorne and the patient in his arms toward the backyard.
Watching the three figures pass by her, Hecate raised her hand to drop an ice cube into an empty wine glass, refilled it with wine, and leisurely tasted it.
The corners of her lips curved up in delight.
She had thought it was just an uninteresting journey, but unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise.
(End of this chapter)