*Chapter 205: A Long Health Bar Means Strength (Part 3)*

The unstoppable thunder collided with Ares' extraordinarily strong divine body, and in that moment, the entire castle ruins lit up with brilliance, dimming all other lights in the world.

It was the glow of the Thunder Law—the embodiment of the world’s top-tier wind elemental power!

Ares no longer dared to underestimate his opponent. He had donned the divine armor of the "God of War." Unlike the golden armor of the Greek mythological era or the brass armor favored by mortal warriors, his armor was a silver-black material, resembling steel.

As the lightning reflected off it, mysterious Olympian runes appeared densely across his divine armor. His divine power formed a silver-gray network of overlapping layers.

Two distinctly different powers enveloped Ares' body, and after a brief but intense clash, the remaining thunder energy spread out in all directions. Centered on Ares, it seemed like a nuclear explosion's shockwave delayed for a moment before sweeping across the entire castle ruins.

The already half-collapsed castle exploded into pieces, with its massive bricks, weighing over a ton, flying like crumbs. The ancient trees surrounding the castle toppled and broke as if they were stalks of wheat in a storm.

At that moment, it wasn’t just the castle that was affected; the entire country of Belgium seemed to experience a terrifying earthquake. Cracks appeared on the streets of nearby cities, and sinkholes of various sizes emerged everywhere.

The whole nation was in chaos.

At the explosion’s center, three people huddled together, with Wonder Woman holding her divine shield in front, Atreus in the middle, and Penthesilea hiding behind Atreus.

Struggling to withstand the shockwave, Diana’s legs plowed through the ground as the impact pushed her back several meters, despite her breaking numerous floor tiles beneath her feet.

The powerful jets created by the explosion, starting from the shield, carved out a sharp-angled triangular section of the ground.

Where they stood, the ground next to them was lowered by more than two meters due to the shockwave.

With Diana tanking the attack upfront, Atreus had a clear view of the situation ahead. Seeing the figure at the explosion’s center still standing and not receiving any system kill notification, Atreus knew Ares hadn’t kicked the bucket yet.

“Damn Athena—”

With a surge of ferocious energy, Ares’ enraged voice echoed from the center.

By now, Diana was somewhat exhausted from withstanding the shockwave.

Without hesitation, Atreus and Penthesilea stepped out from behind the shield’s protection.

“I’ll go left.”

“I’ll go right!”

Wasting no more words, two figures bolted toward Ares, still standing in the center of the battlefield.

Ares was in bad shape. As the dust cleared a bit, Atreus could clearly see that Ares' entire left chest had been pierced through—a hole large enough to fit an adult's fist.

Had it been a human, he would’ve been dead already.

But the divine body of an Olympian god was truly formidable.

Despite such a severe wound, Ares still had the strength to curse.

As a seasoned fighter, Atreus naturally knew—strike when the enemy is weak!

His assault was the swiftest.

At that moment, Ares, instinctively clutching the hole in his left chest with his left hand, suddenly raised his right hand and grasped at the air.

Immediately, Atreus and Penthesilea felt the ground beneath their feet respond to Ares' power. Over ten acres of land began to react, screeching.

Even though Atreus didn’t want to use the word "screech" to describe the lifeless earth, it truly was a soul-piercing wail.

Ares had awakened the countless restless spirits that had died on this battlefield long ago.

Though they were no longer complete souls, they still obeyed Ares' command and swarmed toward the two like living creatures. The dirt and rubble on the ground rose in waves, defying gravity, rushing toward them.

"Ah!" Penthesilea, leaping two meters off the ground, couldn’t dodge in time. Her left ankle felt like it had been struck by a speeding motorcycle, causing her to cry out in pain.

Given her physique, the injury was nothing more than a superficial wound.

But the sheer volume and weight of the flying dirt and rubble were overwhelming. In just one breath, tons of debris had already wrapped around her, pulling her down like a giant weight.

Just as she thought she would be crushed or suffocated by the dirt and stones, a large chunk of the debris surrounding her was pierced by an arrow.

A lightning-infused arrow.

Even while sprinting, Atreus still managed to pull Penthesilea out of danger using his "Giant Longbow."

The Amazonian queen was freed, but the pincer attack they had planned was now lost, leaving Atreus to face a severely injured Ares alone.

“Kid—” Ares cursed again, his voice filled with rage.

A small hill appeared almost out of thin air and came crashing down toward Atreus.

Atreus dodged it with a speed and agility even the gods found astonishing. Only then did Ares realize that this Kratos wasn’t just wearing Hephaestus-forged divine armor; the kid was also sporting a pair of sandals with wings on the heels.

Ares recognized the boots well.

They were the "Winged Sandals of Hermes," though whether they were authentic remained unknown.

Yet, even if they were replicas, they were still genuine divine gear.

This kid's equipment was impressive.

Indeed, Atreus had found them in the legendary treasure trove of his "sister-in-law," Hippolyta. The sandals boosted Atreus's speed by 200% and added 150 points to his agility.

Though not as fast as the original, which "flew like thought," they were close enough, perfectly compensating for the agility lost due to the heavy divine armor.

Thanks to the winged sandals, Atreus easily dodged all of Ares’ earth-based attacks with unparalleled agility.

When the dirt and rubble couldn’t keep up with Atreus’s speed, all the attacks became little more than background noise.

“You—”

Ares was utterly furious. No longer concerned with his dignity, he crouched down and thrust his right hand deep into the ground.

In the next moment, a massive chunk of rock, large enough to be called an island, was wrenched from the ground.

It defied all logic. How could such a small point of force support a rock weighing tens of thousands of tons?

Well, perhaps that’s the power of a god!

Before Atreus could react, the enormous rock came crashing toward him in a devastating sweep, leveling everything in its path.

“Damn!” Atreus cursed aloud.

Ares was being downright shameless. Unable to hit Atreus directly, he resorted to an all-encompassing area-of-effect attack.

Sure, Atreus had high agility, but how was he supposed to dodge a rock with a striking area of over 3,000 square meters, moving with such terrifying speed?

Poor Atreus was like a nail, hammered into some unknown corner of the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)