On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Switch

–Being able to switch over without much concern

Means you are certain to be accepted.

●

The 200m mass of a flame dragon was simply thrown toward the land.

…That was clever.

In their previous battle, the flame dragons’ dragon cannons and serpentine attacks hadn’t worked.

So they had created a cannon type that specialized in dragon cannons, but that hadn’t worked either.

So now they had expanded on the serpentine variety and launched its disposable end.

…They can do self-protection, specialization, and mass-production.

They were clearly intelligent.

And this one had already revealed itself in the sky above.

“Not many life forms can develop this far in so short a time.”

“What is your opinion of them as a life form?”

“Trouble. Ordinarily, life forms evolve over a long period of time to acquire new abilities. Like gaining a thicker coat to live in a cold region, growing bigger fins to swim fast, or developing a more aerodynamic body.”

But…

“Acquiring tools or constructing new methods allows a life form to use a single idea to accomplish what takes evolution tens of thousands of years. Like creating fur clothing to live in a cold region or putting on flippers or developing a new swimming method to swim faster. That is something humans did after acquiring intelligence.”

<And then you see the present state of humanity.>

“Oh!? What’s this!? Sounds like you want me to say something, Balancer! Or were you hoping to join the church of big boobs worship!? Welcome! Our faith dates back to the ancient Greeks worshiping the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter as ‘pi’, and it has reached its latest form in Shinto! This is the true secret of the universe discovered by humanity! So why not worship them too!?”

“What even is intelligence?”

“I-isn’t it what humanity acquired?”

But the enemy was approaching overhead. Once it had arrived within 8km…

“I will shoot it down!”

I launched a water spear.

●

With a sound like bursting water, the 20m spear of compressed water took flight.

It covered the distance in no time and crashed into the enemy while enveloped by shimmering heat.

It hit.

When their positions overlapped, steam exploded out.

But then Kido gave a shout.

“It broke through!?”

The spear had hit on the left side of the long enemy. It had gouged out a large chunk of the flame dragon, but…

“That wasn’t a direct hit!? She missed!?”

“No. The enemy dodged it.”

“Yes,” someone replied. Kidou had been monitoring the enemy’s status on a Revelation Board and she displayed a diagram now.

“The parts stretched out along the lower sides aren’t just to gather air into its belly. The rear of them acts as rudders. It’s gliding, but it’s also swimming.”

“So it is intelligent.”

But just as everyone was wondering why it would go to such lengths…

“Does this mean they developed this countermeasure because Kido-san defeated their cannon ones before?”

“Then I need to boost the guidance and try again.”

“Hey, Kido-chan? Won’t that just make them develop another countermeasure for next time?”

●

Now that you mention it, thought Kido, suddenly uncertain.

“Then what do I do?”

“Hee hee. Then can you leave this one to me? I’ll fight back in a way they can’t make a countermeasure for.”

“Ohh, Seaweed Man! You can do that!?”

“You bet I can. But…”

Poseidon pointed up into the sky. The enemy had already approached within 2km and its appearance was much more clear to the naked eye.

“Human? Can I ask you something? If I like your answer, I’m willing to support you in every way I can from here on out.”

“Poseidon? What are you getting at?”

“Well,” replied Poseidon.

He quickly glanced towards us and the Egyptians.

“Isn’t it neat how so many gods are enjoying the human’s influence? Especially you, Echidna. I never knew you could be such a beautiful god.”

“And. So,” said Poseidon.

“I was hoping the same could happen for me. …Yes, so, human, while I will be dealing with this enemy regardless, will you answer me something real quick to help me shine in the future?”

“Sure! What is this, Seaweed Man!? A seaweed quiz!?”

“You could call it that. I want your answer, human.”

He presented his question to Izumi.

“What do you think my true form is?”

●

“Poseidon-san’s true form?”

What could that be? Did he even have one of those?

“Kido-san, does he have something like your Echidna? You know, your black-colored evil woman form.”

“Um, Douhai-san?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I’m pretty sure I only let Izumi see that form.”

“Oh! Um, I didn’t actually see it myself, so no doing the ‘I’m leaving now that you saw my true form’ thing!”

“Am I crane now?”

“Kido-senpai’s Echidna form was the best! It was like an evil general! If you’d all seen it, I just know you’d’ve been waiting in front of the TV on Sunday morning!”

“It was that good…?”

“Funto!”

“Hee hee. So that’s how you two react to each other.”

“Hey, um, the enemy’s still on its way!!”

●

Kuwajiri thought as she watched the flame dragon which could now be said to be “overhead”.

…How will he repel it?

It was already dangerously close. It was too close for a pressurized water spear like Kido used because the resultant steam explosion would reach them here.

What method would he use? And at the same time…

“What could Poseidon’s true form be?”

“I actually already let that one slip to you. When Zeus attacked us and ended up fighting Raidou-senpai, Raidou-senpai rebuked him for it. Ever since, Poseidon has been friends with Raidou-senpai.”

But anyway…

“It takes a fair amount of deduction, but it isn’t impossible to work out. And you’ve seen more than enough of what you need. So I wonder what Sumeragi will say.”

●

I thought this had to be a tricky one.

With Senpai, there had been a lot going on behind the scenes. With mom – with Kido-senpai, she had had her…position? Morality? Well, something like that swapped out on her.

…But she was busty either way!

Yes. Even when a god changed form, their bustiness stayed the same. Big boobs were so powerful! Well worth worshiping!

But what about with Seaweed Man? He was busty, but the male kind of busty. That alone sapped a lot of my motivation, but out of all the stuff I had heard about him, one thing had seemed odd to me.

…Why is he considered Zeus’s brother?

●

…The ages don’t fit.

Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon were all supposed to be brothers, right? But in games, Hades was usually some old guy. And Zeus was pretty old…well, maybe not old but middle-aged at least. But Poseidon was either middle-aged or even a young guy.

And this Poseidon here was pretty young.

…I bet he’s younger than Demeter.

“Oh!? What’s that accusatory look for!?”

“Aunt! Aunt! You’re imagining things!”

Or something like that. But their ages really didn’t make sense. But…

“Kuwajiri? When people arrived in Greece and conquered the different lands there, didn’t you say the people who worshiped Zeus and the people who worshiped Poseidon joined together, making those gods into brothers?”

“Yes. That is the history behind it.”

“Then,” I said before asking another question.

“What kind of sons does Zeus have?”

“If we limit that query to just the ones with his wife Hera, he has Ares and Hephaestus. He also has daughters, but I get the feeling you aren’t asking about them.”

Kuwajiri threw more words out there to get ahead of my questions.

“Much like with Kido-senpai, Ares was originally a god worshiped by hunters who lived from the Black Sea region to West Asia. The Greeks then included him in their myths. Hephaestus is a god of excellent technical skills and is aid to be Zeus’s first son, but other stories say he was born to Hera alone.”

●

“This is getting complicated again.”

“Ares was worshiped by the Scythians too. Herodotus introduced him as one of the gods who was not overwritten with Greek mythology.”

“That would mean Ares was a foreign god and Hephaestus was a local one.”

“Based on the previous patterns, Hera was probably a god of the people who the Zeus worshipers either conquered or allied with. And maybe that Hepha-whatever one was the god of a group of craftsmen, so he wasn’t seen as an official child of Zeus?”

“Hephaestus was worshiped on the Greek island of Lemnos. The sea goddesses were long worshiped there and it was once said to be an island of only women. From that, the myths present him as an ally to Hera.”

“A craftsman and an ally to women? That sounds unusual for the time.”

●

“I see,” I said.

I was using all of my brainpower. Just like I did when getting through a hard part of a game. And I knew just what to ask to finish it off.

“Kuwajiri.”

“Zeus worship began on the island of Crete.”

She answered like she knew exactly what I was going to ask. At the same time, Senpai spoke up.

“Sumeragi-kun, overhead!”

Yeah, I knew. The flame dragon had fallen far enough for me to feel the heat.

But I still asked a question.

“Senpai! Will you be proud of me if I get it right!?”

“Yes!”

She didn’t even need to think about it. So I answered too. The sea god stood in front of me, entirely unconcerned by the approaching flames. I spoke to him.

“Seaweed Man! Were you actually…Zeus’s son?”

●

Poseidon tilted his head with an “Oh?”

“Don’t you think that’s too much of a leap? I mean, no such theory exists in this era at least.”

“Um, yeah. This is just my guess or my fantasy.”

“But,” said the human.

“Zeus’s sons all come from outside Greece, right? But Zeus is a sky god and he was worshiped on an island called Crete, so why doesn’t he have any sea gods in his family or friends?”

So…

“I know a similar story: Mr. V. He was originally a spring water god and an earth god, but he became something else when Greek mythology showed up. Yes…he became ‘something else’.”

“Human? Can I ask something?”

“What is it? I am a little worried about that thing above us, so could you make it quick?”

“You’ll be fine. I can handle it. …Now my question. I became Zeus’s brother because Zeus’s people joined with the people who had me as their chief god. So where does me being Zeus’s son fit into that?”

“It’s like I said. You became ‘something else’,” said the human.

“Zeus had a sea god as his son. But when you showed up and had sea god powers, that son disappeared. I mean, you only need one sea god and the chief god of the people who joined you is more important. But…”

“But?”

“But the worship of Zeus’s vanished son is still there inside you. The mythologies were combined, not erased. That’s why you’re supposed to be Zeus’s brother, but you’re so young you’d think someone got your age wrong and you’re a mischievous troublemaker!”

A breath.

“This is all a guess with no proof to back it up. But I see that story in you. You’re a god who was made into Zeus’s brother, but I can’t help but think you might have been Zeus’s son too! That’s my image of you!”

●

Immediately afterwards.

…Ahh! Overhead!

The flame dragon was close enough I could feel the heat on my hair, but Poseidon-san finally acted.

“You’re making up too much.”

He spread his arms and stomped with his right foot. I wasn’t sure what that would accomplish, but I had a sense he had changed his environmental settings.

“Split for me, okay?”

The ground split.

●

“Ehhhh!?”

The ground I had made – that is, the 300m-high tableland – split in two like an opening book.

It made a rumbling sound like stone cleaved in two.

“That’s flashier than my lock controls!”

The newly made fissure was about 40m wide. We stood on the side with the stone hut and Poseidon-san stood on the other side.

“Sorry this is all I can do for you.”

As soon as the flame dragon dropped into the fissure in the tableland, Poseidon-san stomped his foot again.

And at the same time…

“–––––!!”

The tableland closed back up. This time, there was no sound as it was restored instantly.

“So the flame dragon was caught in the fissure and disappeared, huh?”

That was exactly what happened.

●

“W-wow! If being shown what a major god can do wasn’t bad enough, he even took control of the stone tableland I made. That makes it feel kind of personal…”

“Oh, sorry about that. But I was afraid the flame dragons would hear if I said what I was going to do.”

“And,” said Poseidon.

“When I used my authority, you hurriedly switched off your protection of the tableland, didn’t you? It wouldn’t have been that easy if you hadn’t.”

“Th-thank you for throwing me a bone!”

●

“That was impressive. They don’t call you the Earth Shaker for nothing.”

Raidou looked down at the ground. Kuwajiri already had her hand against it to inspect it, but she shook her head, suggesting the restoration was flawless.

“No sign of the flame dragon. It was completely crushed and absorbed.”

“Well? The flame dragons can’t adapt to that method, can they?”

“That was really swiiiing. I liiiiked it.”

If it had Shinsei’s approval, then Poseidon’s skill was really something.

In the distance, the flame dragons weren’t just moving away. They were sinking down and disappearing.

“They must know that plan won’t work.”

“So the threat is gone for the time being.”

The noncombatants sighed when they heard that. And Senpai-san…

“Well done, Sumeragi-kun!”

She patted Sumeragi on the head, but why did he start shaking and hopping? Was he moving to create the illusion that her boobs were jiggling?

Anyway, a hand went up.

“Was Human-senpai’s answer correct?”

●

Kuwajiri tilted her head at her underclassman’s question.

“Who knows. …To be honest, Raidou-senpai suggested the same thing when Zeus attacked before and Zeus said ‘Don’t just assume you’re always right about everything.’ ”

“That’s so cool…”

“Hee hee. I honestly don’t really care one way or the other. But you know what?”

The skilled sea god sounded relaxed.

“We’ve combined mythologies plenty of times like when we influenced Rome, so sometimes I wonder who we really are deep down. There has to be more than the later additions and exaggerations, right? So when we attacked Tooru-chan’s place, Zeus acted like we were a monolith and that’s how Tooru-chan responded.”

A breath.

“At the time, I told him he was imagining things. But afterwards, I got to thinking about it and realized Tooru-chan and Shifu-chan were giving real thought to who I am. So, well…I feel indebted to them.”

“Did Izumi’s theory make you feel anything?”

“Echidna? I think I know why you ended up that way now. Is it because the human is actually looking at us?”

“For me, it’s because Izumi is Izumi. He is my son and the one who chose Douhai-san.”

“Oh, oh, thank you very much! I’d been feeling this harsh invisible barrier between us since you’re a major god and I’m a weakling god, so I wasn’t sure if I should join this conversation!”

“I think you’d have a hard time arguing I’m a major god.”

“You could say the same about me. But, Balancer, what do you have to say about Temanko-kouhai’s question?”

●

<Well,> replied Balancer.

<There is no evidence at all of Zeus having a sea god son. But that is a passive rejection, not an active one. Because we have no evidence that he didn’t have one either.>

“Just like with me, there was no written language back when Zeus was worshiped on Crete. So when you say there is no evidence, you have to remember they had no written language with which to leave behind evidence.”

“This feels like the lead in to a scam.”

<At the same time, the name Zeus is equivalent to the word Dyeus in the Indian region and some theorize it is linked to the thunder bird Zu from Babylonian mythology. That means Zeus spread across the east and west as a sky god. Do you know what that means?>

A hand went up: Kuwajiri’s.

“Those are Laurasian mythologies. That tells us the name Zeus is found in the Laurasian mythologies.”

What did that mean?

<The mythologies containing Zeus had a narrative, but they also had to have an organization or society with Zeus at the top. But…>

But something odd happened here.

<You can see something interesting if you exclude the foreign gods from Greek mythology. You can see what kind of organization or society Zeus led when his people entered Europe.>

“What does that original form look like?”

<It shows us that, in addition to Zeus, they only brought Eos and the Dioskouroi with them.>

●

“Who are Eos and the Dioskouroi?”

“Eos is the goddess of the dawn and the Dioskouroi are Zeus’s sons, said to be twins and demigods.”

“I see… Wait, but how is that enough for an organization or society?”

<It isn’t. Greek mythology was formed by combining different mythologies, but when viewed as a Laurasian mythology, the original mythology didn’t have any kind of mythological society. Maybe there was a mythology with a Zeus-centered society that predated written records and that was overwritten as it combined with other mythologies…but if not, we have a mystery.>

●

“It’s the same for me. A lot like with Demeter, I was originally an earth god, but I’m also a god of the underworld’s rivers and a god of springs and spring water, so I’ve had a lot combined into me.”

“The same applies to me. Looking at our origins in Europe, Poseidon and I come from the same place – or at least somewhere similar – but some theorize it was Poseidon who was incorporated into Greek mythology as a simple sea god.”

“Is that why it was so easy for you to be influenced and overwritten by Posei-chan?”

Poseidon felt really bad for Mr. V and Salacia for that.

But today was a good day.

Someone here had gone to the trouble of looking into what he was deep down.

Instead of looking at the end point of “Poseidon”, he had asked what ended up being called Poseidon.

Today was a good day.

So he asked another question. To the human.

“Do you know why I go by the name Poseidon when I’m such a mess like that?”

“It’s your stage name!” said the human. “Demeter and the others are on the land and Hades(?) is below it in the underworld. That means there’s no place on land for you to call your own. So you’ve gotta go to the sea, right? And setting aside my earlier fantasy, I have another idea. …For example, there’s Mr. V who’s a hill sea god, but looking at them just as sea gods, his wife is stronger and more like the real one, right?”

Then what about this?

“What if it was the same for you? Maybe all the previous combining of myths made you into a guy, but you combined with a sea goddess when you became a sea god, right? You still have a lot of goddess in you, don’t you?”

“For your information, Poseidon does have a sea god wife called Amphitrite. Is that what you mean?”

“But that Amphi-whatever wasn’t around back before they could write, right? I bet Seaweed Man was joined with a sea goddess whose name we don’t know. And that turned him into a sea god. That goddess defined you…just like we’re doing now.”

●

Demeter saw it.

“Ha ha!”

The wind, water, and all flowing things rapidly wrapped around the Greek sea god and created a certain form.

“There it is! That’s the female form seen on the Cretan clay tablets written in the newly-made ancient Greek language!”

The wind scattered and the rain drops departed, revealing who now stood there.

The tall goddess had tanned skin and hair that flowed like waves.

“Call me Posidaia.”

She was a sea goddess.

●

“Did not see that coming.”

<To clarify, Poseidon was a god of a people who came from northern Europe or Anatolia in ancient times and he was a god of horses and earth. When his myths entered the Mycenaean civilization in the Greek region, he gained many new traits and relationships with the other gods. Based on the ancient records, his worship was wider spread than that of Zeus. For example, there was a time when he was made the partner of a birth goddess and protected her.>

And…

<The ancient Greek records found on Crete include some mentions of Poseidon as female. That female version is Posidaia. It is thought she later became Amphitrite and there is no proof she was a sea goddess, but given Crete’s location and Poseidon’s later situation, it is quite likely that is when he gained his sea god identity.>

“With the name Poseidon, I had assumed he got the sea element through the ‘Don means river’ thing we discussed related to Anne-senpai.”

<That wouldn’t explain the change to Posidaia. Of course, it is always possible the Poseidon name became its own thing on the way to Greece.>

<Anyway,> said Balancer, addressing the goddess who probably hadn’t made an appearance for millennia.

<How do you like the way human myth toys with the gods?>

“It’s great.”

She looked at her own hands, brushed a hand through her hair, and laughed.

“It was through ‘her’ that I became who I am. And she later split off into Amphitrite, allowing me to live with her.”

●

“I am so confused.”

My honest opinion made Shifu-san laugh.

“The worst part is there’s no malice or underhandedness to it.”

“Right? If this had been set up, I could at least follow why it happened, but this was the result of several mixtures of happenstance.”

“But,” I said.

I had had trouble grasping Poseidon-san’s character and had mostly just through of him as a powerful major god, but…

“You really care about your wife, don’t you?”

“You could call her my better half.”

And now he was speaking while taking her form.

“I envy you. You need to make sure he really looks at you.”

“Of course! I already let him stare at me!”

Why did everyone glare at me for that?

●

Raidou decided this was a good stopping point and clapped his hands.

He scanned the horizon but saw no further sign of flame dragon attacks.

“Their attack today didn’t work and they couldn’t have predicted that counterattack. That’ll buy us some time until they try something else, so let’s get back to the divine world.”

“Then we can eat dinner.”

“After that, I can deal with the flooding.”

Raidou looked up into the dark cloudy sky. The wind was blowing and carrying sparks with it, but…

“I bet we’ll be busy next time we come here.”

But for now, they would return to the divine world.

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