Hades, the Urban Legend

Chapter 538: Helius

When Stern finished saying the name "Apollo," it wasn't just Daphne who was dumbfounded and stunned, but also Solon, Master Yunmiao, Prince Sargeras, and others on the island who were all equally shocked!

Apollo?! This frivolous, unserious guy, a notorious black sheep in European aristocratic circles, a well-known wastrel of the Cromwell family, and a person with no proper conduct, is actually one of the legendary twelve main gods, the sun god Apollo?!

Seeing everyone's expressions of shock and disbelief, Stern, or rather Apollo, showed his displeasure, pouting and snorting, "What's with those looks? Why can that rascal Yang Chen be the Hades, but I, a dashing nobleman, can't be the sun god? I'm the real deal, always have been. That guy is just a kid who came in later!"

"Who the hell are you calling a rascal?! And who's the kid?! What did I ever do to you?" Yang Chen couldn't help but retort.

"Oh right," Apollo chuckled mischievously, "I misspoke. You're the henpecked little kid afraid of his wife."

Yang Chen stomped hard, creating a massive pit in the ground around him!

"You followed my wife around for the past couple of days, eating and drinking for free, and you still talk trash about me?!"

Apollo spread his hands and said disdainfully, "To put it bluntly, wasn't it just so we could be bodyguards for Persephone? If it wasn't for her kind heart, my sister and I wouldn't bother with your plans. We'd find this imposter in Paris our own way."

Listening to the back-and-forth between Yang Chen and Stern, everyone else was baffled, their faces frozen in disbelief.

What's going on here?! Are these two really gods?

Even Prince Sargeras, who had lived for over a thousand years, was sweating, while Lilith smiled seductively as if she found the situation particularly amusing.

Daphne, coming out of her shock, trembled with rage, her eyes full of malice, and said in a deep voice, "Even if you're Apollo, you can't stop me!"

With that, Daphne drew her golden longbow again, but this time, more crimson flames gathered, lighting up the entire deck like daylight!

The black-clad men around felt the heatwave and backed away in panic.

Apollo looked at Daphne with some pity and said, "Do you think you can threaten me with that counterfeit, no matter how powerful it gets? Let me show you the real deal and put an end to this."

As he spoke, Apollo turned and raised his left hand. His eyes instantly turned into a dazzling golden-red, as if flames were dancing within them—eerie and mesmerizing!

"Helius!" With his words, a nearly platinum flame, like a falling meteor, streaked across the dark night sky and landed in Apollo's left hand!

The platinum flame transformed into a fire dragon, spiraled around Apollo's arm a few times, and then stretched out into a blazing platinum longbow!

This bow looked quite similar to the golden one in Daphne's hand, but it was entirely made of flame!

The whole bow burned, and the temperature of the flames was so high that nearby metals began to melt!

Apollo set up a protective shield behind him to prevent the high temperature from affecting Lin Ruoxi and others, avoiding any accidental harm.

Seeing this platinum flame divine weapon that oppressed him with its mere presence, Daphne was terrified!

"This... this is..."

"This is the real 'Helius'. The one in your hand is just a defective product made by Hephaestus when he helped us main gods forge weapons. At best, it's a semi-divine weapon," Apollo said with a smile. "I don't know where you got that thing from, but it should be from the same place as the 'Sword of Death'. But it doesn't matter. These things are just trash to us."

In front of the screen, everyone stared in awe at the magnificent, fiery artifact in Apollo's hand. The sky above the battleship was already glowing a pale golden color!

Sargeras gasped in excitement, "According to legend, the sun god has three eras. The first Helios was the primordial incarnation of the sun, while the second Helios was the true sun god driving the chariot. Apollo was once thought to be confused with Helios. As the third-generation sun god, he uses a bow named 'Helios'. Could it be?"

Yang Chen picked up the conversation, "You're right. Actually, Helios, Helios, and Apollo are all the same person, just different awakened incarnations over time."

Sargeras nodded in understanding, "So that's why the main god can have replacements; it makes sense now."

Some of the people around didn't quite grasp what Yang Chen and Sargeras were discussing. After all, no one else had lived for millennia like Sargeras, so their knowledge of ancient secrets was limited.

However, just witnessing a god was enough to shake their hearts!

"No wonder you were so calm when Ruoxi was captured. You had planned this with Apollo from the start?" Yun Miao Shitai looked at Yang Chen with a complicated expression.

Yang Chen shrugged, "When Ruoxi and I were kidnapped to a warehouse in Romii City and met those siblings, I knew who they were. I wondered why they pretended to be captured. After thinking it over, I understood part of it. But according to their plan, even if they found the mastermind, they couldn't catch all the culprits. So, I had them follow my plan. It took longer, but it was more effective in luring out the snake from its hole. And here we are, with the Vatican also exposed."

Sauron and the others wiped the sweat off their foreheads. They were quite frightened, but now that everything was under Yang Chen's control, they felt particularly proud.

"But I never thought the Cromwell siblings were gods. That's really unexpected," Sauron said, suddenly realizing something. "Since Lord Stern is Apollo, then who is Miss Alice?"

Yang Chen smiled without answering, pointing to the screen, urging everyone to keep watching.

At this moment, Daipuni had no retreat. His face was ashen, and his bones felt like they were turning to water.

But in a final act of desperation, Daipuni drew his bowstring with all his might and shouted, "Go!"

The arrow, imbued with the strongest flame power, shot towards Apollo's brow like a laser!

However, just as the unstoppable arrow was about to reach Apollo's face, it suddenly froze in mid-air!

Apollo playfully stuck out his tongue and then opened his mouth wide, swallowing the flaming arrow in one gulp!

Daipuni watched in horror as his concentrated flaming arrow, powerful enough to destroy a battleship, was casually devoured by Apollo. His face turned ashen, and he no longer had the strength to draw his bow.

Apollo smacked his lips, "If you used another semi-artifact, it might have some effect on me. But flames are useless against me."

With that, Apollo raised the Helios bow in his hand and began to draw an arrow.

A white-gold flame arrow materialized out of thin air. But it was evident to everyone that this arrow was far more terrifying than Daipuni's.

Even as the arrow formed, parts of the steel deck of the battleship began to show signs of melting into molten steel!

"Oh dear, the flame is too intense. I need to shoot quickly," Apollo muttered, annoyed, as he released the white flame arrow from his bow!

Everyone saw a flash, and the screen was filled with blinding white light.

After a long time, they heard a burst of white light from the distant sea, illuminating half the sky and tearing the thick night apart.

"This is just like thunder and lightning," muttered Fodessa, who had been in a state of shock, finally managing to swallow his saliva and speak.

The others felt a chill in their hearts at this incredible sight, thinking of the destruction it could cause in human society.

A moment later, the screen finally returned to normal.

Contrary to their expectations that such a heaven-shattering strike would destroy the entire battleship, the only area affected was where Daipuni stood, leaving the rest of the battleship relatively unscathed.

The white flame arrow had miraculously confined its destructive force to a small vertical area targeting Daipuni with precise control beyond imagination.

However, what stunned everyone even more was that Daipuni was still alive!

Daipuni, with slightly singed hair, looked extremely disheveled but was otherwise intact, squatting in place, breathing heavily, and his face flushed red.

Apollo was also momentarily stunned. He looked down at the fragmented object at Daipuni's feet and then realized, "So that's it. Although that bow is a defective product, it still contained divine power. That last strike sacrificed itself to protect you. But it also shows that your physical resilience is quite extraordinary."

Daipuni's eyes showed a hint of unwillingness, but more of a fanatical determination in the face of death.

Licking his cracked lips, Daipuni whispered, "Even if I don't survive today, I won't let anyone on this island live."

With that, Daipuni suddenly pulled out a detonator from his pocket and pressed the red button with all his might!

At the critical moment, Apollo took no action, yet Daipuni still failed to press the button successfully.

"Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!"

A series of crisp, freezing sounds echoed as Daipuni's body, from head to toe, was suddenly encased in a layer of icy frost!

In the astonished gazes of everyone, Daipuni was instantaneously frozen in a block of cold blue ice, all expressions and movements halted.

Just then, the previously reclining Alice stood up gracefully from behind Apollo, her silver hair shimmering as she elegantly flipped it back, casting a playful glance at Apollo. "Darling, did you really have to make me do this? Another arrow would have settled it."

Apollo retracted the Helios bow in his hand, which transformed into a flicker of flame and vanished.

"Artemis, my dear sister, you can't blame me for this. That boring Hades insisted on finding out what secret Daipuni was hiding. After much thought, the safest way was to have you freeze him. If I acted, there was a chance I might kill him or give him a chance to commit suicide, which would be troublesome," Apollo said, shamelessly wrapping an arm around Alice's shoulder and impatiently kissing her earlobe, as if he had been longing for this moment of intimacy.

The people on the island and the battleship were still marveling at the ice block encasing Daipuni when Apollo's words dropped another bombshell!

What? Artemis?