Chapter 148: War
Sol had been looking all over the city but he could not find any clue, the colosseum, and the black market was unmanned as the demigods of notable power were missing.
"There doesn't seem to be any sign of fight in the colosseum and the black market so they must have gone with their own free will," he analyzed as could only hypothesize about things until he met someone who could answer all his questions.
He went to the black market looking for a new map because the map they bought was with Tea and the other would need his own map if he wanted to go to the gate of the underworld.
"If they are not there then I would need to find them or another group from our world," he thought as he did not have the key given by Jupiter with him.
The key was with Tea as it would be safer if she kept them close all the time, he was only a lesser demigod while she was a minor demigod so it did not take a lot of consideration to let her keep it.
"I should not have trusted Tyx, that girl was suspicious from the beginning, I would not be in this situation if it was not for her," he lamented.
After a few moments of consideration, maybe he ended up better than his companions as they were with the Titan, their current condition was unknown too, they might be in the Titan's mercy right now.
"hah... There is no use thinking about things that could not be changed, let's just finish my preparation before continuing my journey," he sighed.
He could take anything he wanted as the black market was unmanned, he might look like someone who fishes in murky water but in desperate times, desperate measures were needed.
Sol left a few gold coins in the inn's lobby before he left with his new map and a backpack filled with things he would need in his journey.
"I should be ready now," he thought as he went toward the city gate.
If he wants to catch up with the other in case they continue toward the gate, then it's better that he depart faster.
He looked at Nai who was following him all this time, "Nai, can you return to being a knife or will it hurt you to do so?" he asked the knife.
"Eh? No, I will be fine. It's my true form after all," it said as the ice body started to crystallize and compressed into a knife covered in crystal.
His familiar kitchen knife was nowhere to be seen as it had transformed into the crystal knife after it gained sentience and body.
"Eh, this is quite cool," he inspected the knife, "I no longer need to carry a kitchen knife everywhere to fight," he mused.
Sol threw the knife at the sky before resummoning it into his hand, realizing there was no problem with his control of the knife he put it in a scabbard he conjured with the sun ice ability.
The knife did not complain, Sol did not know if it was because it was a newborn or because it was a knife but it liked to keep silent whenever he did not talk to it.
With everything in order, he left the city alone but the moment he stepped out of the city, he could sense a major demigod in the direction he found familiar.
It was the place his teammates used for gathering points in case something happened, "They are here?" he thought to himself as he rushed toward the direction.
He instinctively conjured knife aura to increase his speed along the way, it would only take him a few minutes to reach it.
"Wait, why is there only one presence? And why do I only sense it now? Is this a trap?" he thought as he prepared for an ambush.
The other side seems to sense him too as he could see a silhouette at the distance, the demigod turned around and started to run deeper into the forest when it noticed him.
"You are not running away," he thought as purple lightning and ice fog could be seen under his usual white cloak.
Sol was wearing his white cloak to disguise himself as it would be better if people thought he was dead in case they have any bad intention toward him.
The demigod could not get away as Sol was way faster than they are, Sol was about to tackle the demigod to stop him but to his surprise fire blazed around him and covered the demigod in a barrier of fire.
The moment he touched the fire it started to cover every inch of his body and burn him, not even his purple lightning could extinguish it in time before more fire spread, only his regeneration allowed him to stay unburned.
The ability gave away who the demigod was, "Tea! Stop, it's me Sol!" he said as the fire burned away his coat revealing his face.
The demigod who was running suddenly paused on her feet and looked back at him, she opened her own coat revealing herself.
"Sol? You did not get kidnapped by the city lord and that Titan?" she was shocked.
"Yeah, but before we talk, can you spare me the trouble?" he pointed at himself, who was still burning in fire.
"Ah, right. How can you be unharmed by my fire?" she asked as she dismissed the fire.
"My regeneration was simply faster than its burning speed, if you conjure it as a sword or knife then it would still cut me," he explained.
"As for your earlier question, I was not with them when they got back. How about you, why are you out here and where is the other?" he questioned back.
Tea looked around before signing him to follow her, "Let's not talk here, we might not be safe out here," she said as she led him to a natural cave.
He could see a makeshift bed and what looked like a fireplace, it seems that Tea was staying in the cave for quite some time.
Once they sit near the fireplace, Tea lights it up and starts to tell her story.
"When you guys get into the trial ground, I felt something was wrong so I ran from the city, not long after, the city lord sent his people to catch me, I hid here and tried my best to hide my presence," she started.
"After a few days not being able to find me they give up on the search, I did not leave and wait for your return but a day ago a sudden chaos appears in the city, I went to take a look from far away to find A giant or to be exact The titan of Endurance was leading every minor demigod out of the city," she explained.
"the city lord was following him as they went toward the east, I saw Teo and the other following him as well," she explained.
"You were not discovered?" he asked her in doubt.
"I was hiding my presence, after a week of hiding, my hiding skill was already exceptional you know?" she told him.
"I found you quite easily," he pointed out.
"Well there suddenly was a creature coming attacking, I used my ability to finish it, that's why you can find me," she explained.
"I see, then where are they going?" he asked again.
"If I'm not wrong, they are going to a neighboring city but I do not know what they want," he replied.
"Atlas wanted to take revenge on Jupiter but he could not do it in the underworld, he would need to open the gate of the underworld if he wanted revenge. But he would not need to bring every minor demigod in the city if he only wanted to do that, so there could only be one thing he wanted to do," Sol got a premonition.
"What is that? Is he going to make a blood ritual?" Tea asked him.
"Not something like that, I think it would be something simpler, he was gathering an army for a war with the god of the underworld so he can open the gate," he explained his theory.
"A war? Are you sure about this?" she asked him in shock.
"This is just my hypothesis but it most probably true, he probably thinks doing things discreetly would take too much time and it would be better if we just fight head on," he tried to explain his rationale.
"Then what do you think we should do? Should we join them since we have the same goal?" Tea asked him.
"If we join them then we would just be cannon fodder, this war would include people at god rank and above, probably the god of the dead and underworld would fight as well. At that level of fight we would not be much of a help," he told her.
"Then what should we do?" she asked again.
"We are going to open the gate of the underworld while they are busy fighting," He said with a grin.