Chapter 114: Teammates
The king of Gods did not talk much, He just waved his hand, and a portal opened in front of the first line of people, "This portal lead to the underworld, you have half an hour to went inside," he said then disappeared in an instant.
Sol looked in a daze at the air where Jupiter was, he found his presence familiar in a horrifying way, the last time he senses the king of God's presence was when he broke his oath and attract a divine punishment from Jupiter.
Being in the presence of Jupiter, someone in the pinnacle even in the rank of Major God, everyone else also needed a few minutes to recover.
"Enough daydreaming, Move, move, move!" Their guides command and people started through the portal.
Sol's group about to follow but the Minor Demigod in their group stops them, "Wait, let us talk with each other first," she talked for the first time since they met.
The man in black looked at her for a few seconds before he nodded, "Fine, you have twenty-five minute, if you fail to pass through the gate then there is no second chance, I will have to deliver your punishment by myself," he said.
"That is enough, thank you," she thanked the stronger man and turned to Sol and the other, "Let us introduce ourselves to each other first," she started.
"We start by name, then our power and the reason we got here," he explained the rule of their introduction as she already assumes the position of a leader in their little group.
"My name is Tea, I excel in fire ability and I could conjure fire, I'm here as a volunteer to help the God," she announces with pride.
Everyone looked at her with puzzlement as they never thought that there would be someone who volunteers for a suicide mission.
They looked at the man in a suit as to see what was his reaction to the woman's claim, to their shock, the man nodded which mean Tea was really a volunteer.
Tea had finished her introduction but the other did not start their introduction, they were waiting for each other to start first.
It was then that the only other girl after Tea started her introduction, "I am Jennie, My power is to conjure wind, long story short, I tried to swindle Venus but failed," she said with a laugh.
Sol thought the girl would be innocent but it turns out that she got a gut of steel, she even brave enough to swindle a Goddess.
With the girl starting, the other also start to introduce themselves even though they kept it to the bare minimum.
"Tom, I could conjure metal, I offend a God," one man said in a nonchalant way, he tried to keep it short to reveal less of himself.
The on the man named Harry also kept his introduction short, he only said that he offend a God and he could conjure lightning.
Sol wanted to keep his introduction short too but Tea told him to be specific on the reason why he got there.
He did not know what did she have against him, he never meets her before but she already shows some interest in him.
Sol reluctantly explain how he kill a demigod under Vulcan right in front of the God himself, it made the other took a step back from him.
They thought that Sol was crazy, to kill someone in front of a God was like trampling the God's dignity, it was a miracle that he could survive long enough to be punished with them.
Sol was wary of Tea, knowing that her ability was related to fire, the two fire Demigod that he met tried to kill him and end up dying on his hand.
"Ugh… What is it between the fire user and me? Is it because I use ice while they use fire?" he lamented.
Tea did not know Sol was complaining about her while she continued her show of dominance, "I believe, we need to have a leader to lead us in the underworld, and to keep the key," she started.
"And as each of you knows, I'm the strongest person among us, that's why I also believe that I'm the right person for the job," she pats herself on the chest.
"Because I'm not a tyrant, we could vote, anyone who disagrees that I should be our leader, please raise your hand," She said with a smile.
No one raised their hand, they did not want to offend the girl as she would be their best chance to survive in the underworld.
Of course, they secretly displeased at the girl, She went on the mission for glory while they did not even want to be there, they only want to survive.
Sol wanted to raise his hand but he holds himself back, there was no need to start a fight when they haven't even got into the underworld.
He decided to let the girl be and only step in if the Girl was actually unfit for the job, he hoped that he would advance to be a Minor demigod by then, that way she would not be able to suppress him with power alone.
"Since on one object then I will be the leader, then each one of you will need to follow my instruction," she said while grinning.
"When we get in, we will go directly to the highest point of the underworld, since we don't have a lot of time then it would be best if we went directly to our goal," She told them her plan.
Sol looked at her as if he heard the most unbelievable thing in the world, he was shocked that She was actually the worst leader there is.
Tea only thinking about her goal without thinking about the possibility of them spending more than a hundred days time in the underworld.
If he were the one leading them then he would rather they set up their base of operation, getting the source of food, and get fresh water first.
Rushing to their goal was suicide, they need to think of the journey as a marathon, they need to be steady rather than being in a hurry only to stop halfway.
It seemed that the other also think as he did, they were not pleased by Tea's plan, but the same with him, they could not refute her.
In the end, everyone agreed to her, Sol planned to tell her when they got a setback, telling her now would only offend her and she would not listen to him.
Only when she fails would she think of the alternative, as long as Sol could not prove her was wrong then she would keep going as her plan.
Sol knew the type of person she was, young people who were ambitious for glory, they often time were blinded by the glory they would get if they succeed, they act as if they succeed already.
"Ugh… why fire ability user is so troublesome? I need to distance myself from people with fire ability," Sol lamented.
"Alright, your time is almost up, go to the portal now, you can continue your chit chat on the other side," the man in a suit hurried them to go.
The only person who could open the portal was Jupiter so if they got left behind, they would need the king of God's help to open another one which was impossible to get.
As they could see, Jupiter was a busy God, he did not have time for people such as Sol, it was easier to give them another punishment than asking the king of God.
"Don't worry, We will be back soon, whit me there, we would breeze through the underworld and open the gate of the underworld before you know it," Tea boast at the man.
The man did not show any expression, he only told her good luck and send them off to the portal.
They step foot through the portal at the same time, that way they would not be separated from each other.
Passing through the portal was like riding a roller coaster, it was quite disorienting for Sol and the group, they barely could stand straight once they reach the other side.
For a Demigod to get disoriented to such a degree means that it was a very bad experience, if a normal person went through it then they most probably faint on the process.
"Fuck! They did not warn us that it would be like this!" Sol cursed at the guides, they failed to warn them of such a thing.
It made them quite vulnerable as they were quite open for an ambush, if they got teleported near a monster or hostiles then they would have died by now.
Sol looked at the environment they were in, it was quite different than his expectation, he though the underworld would be very hot with a sea of fire everywhere, but what he saw was quite normal.
"This feel like earth before the upheaval," he thought.