Angels were spirits that served the light.
Most lower- and mid-ranking angels lacked fixed forms or faces and had no clear gender. To put it plainly, they were tools and servant warriors in God's service.
And now, before Samael's eyes, one humanoid being after another, formed from the flame elementals Ifrit released from the divine lamps and bathed in divine light, carried different numbers of luminous wings on their backs. They wore full-body armor, held weapons, and were powered by fire and Ether. They were unmistakably the image of angels in his memory.
Fire was light…
The Ancient Serpent once again recalled the definitions of Zoroastrianism, along with its worship of flame and light, and understood.
However, even if the Persians had summoned angels, it still could not give them much of an advantage.
The Valkyrie Legion of the Pan-Hellenic allied forces had already spread their swan wings and taken to the sky, throwing themselves into battle against these so-called angels.
The ringing clash of weapons and the roar of bursting flames rose one after another. For the moment, the limited number of Valkyries could not break through, and the aerial battlefield fell into a stalemate.
"Open the hatches. Release the Lamia mass-production units and break free of the beast tide!"
Immediately after, Odysseus deployed swarms of snake women into the waters behind them, using the mass-produced weapons from the Echidna Armory to intercept the frenzied sea beasts chasing them while gathering the Deep Sea Fleet.
At the same time, the pitch-black hulls rang with the piercing screech of grinding metal. Slits opened one after another, and savage gun barrels lit up as they charged.
Squads of standby Atlantis soldiers, Olympus Guards, wide-area annihilation weapons, and humanoid self-defense weapons were awakened. Some boarded the decks to operate weapons, while others ignited and lifted into the air, ready to launch.
"All units. Charge! Attack!"
Odysseus, piloting the large silver-white mechanical armament, commanded the mechanized cluster armed with black technology to begin their assault.
In an instant, blazing Ether particles tore through the sea fog, forming thousands of dark-red streams of light. Like the scythe of death, they shredded the unprepared Persian warships one after another as if they were paper.
At the same time, the Lamia dragging ships down from below and the wide-area annihilation weapons firing Mana beams from the sky left the Persians overwhelmed. Warships struck by the bombardment exploded one after another.
Even when the enemy desperately tried to close the distance for ramming and boarding actions, the Greek heavy infantry, fierce as wolves and tigers, the Berserkers driven into madness after their Madness Enhancement, and the heavily armed Atlantis soldiers and Olympus Guards inflicted heavy casualties on the Persians, who had nothing but numbers on their side.
In fact, as time passed, the Persians could not even maintain that numerical advantage, and they fell completely into the lower hand.
If not for the Leviathan serpents and frenzied sea monsters still clinging to them, forcing the Pan-Hellenic allied forces to divide part of their attention and troops, the Persian fleet would have collapsed even faster.
Standing before the sand table, Samael reconstructed the interlocked battlefield in real time according to the changing situation, acting as the lubricant that coordinated the operations of all three sides.
By his estimate, it would not be long before they pierced through the Persian fleet's defense line and landed near Thermopylae.
Boom!
Suddenly, the Argo shook violently, knocking over several pieces on the sand table.
The Magecraft barrier was breached? That shouldn't be possible!
Samael felt the intense tremor beneath his feet. His expression sharpened, and he immediately rushed out of the command room to confirm the situation.
But after looking around, he found that the Argo was completely intact. Under the protection of these formidable Divine Blood Heroes, forget the Persians, even the angels above instinctively avoided this moving fortress.
Boom…
Then another violent tremor came, sending the hull pitching from side to side.
This time, however, Samael saw the true source.
On land!
Something moving on land was causing the sea to shake.
The Ancient Serpent's cross-shaped star pupils opened and closed, piercing through layers of sea fog as he looked as far as he could.
Rumble!
As if confirming Samael's thoughts, a deafening roar rang out. A wave of earth hundreds of meters high surged upward, forming dust clouds that blotted out the sky.
And at the edge of that blurred, distant vision, the Ancient Serpent vaguely saw several towering mountains slowly moving.
No. They were not mountains!
After confirming it again, Samael's pupils contracted sharply, and he could not help drawing in a cold breath.
They were giant beasts more than a thousand meters long, their bodies covered in stone and trees.
Those things had thick manes and heads like a cross between a hippopotamus and a gorilla, with a pair of huge tusks extending outward. Though their appearance resembled Persian mammoth war elephants enlarged hundreds of times, their forelimbs were a pair of sharp claws, and they seemed capable of briefly walking upright.
Wherever they passed, mountains shattered, ravines split through the earth, and rivers were forcibly cut off.
Samael looked at those mountain-like monsters and gave the answer in a dry voice.
King of the Land, Behemoth!
Legend said that on the sixth day of Genesis, God created Behemoth and Leviathan from clay.
Leviathan was the overlord of the sea, while Behemoth meant "beasts" in Hebrew, referring to its enormous body, so vast that only all beasts together could compare to it.
In addition, it had another name, one just as famous in the history of monsters and divine beasts: the Behemoth.
And because of later mistransmission, the Arabs also called it "Bahamut."
In the biblical stories that incorporated multiple mythological systems, the Deep Sea Serpent Leviathan and the Behemoth war beast were the King of the Sea and King of the Land among all beasts.
Wait! Behemoth's attack direction isn't toward the sea?
Thermopylae!
The Persians intended to storm Thermopylae before the naval battle was settled!
Samael realized it with a start. His pupils contracted sharply as he instantly understood the enemy's plan.
"Jason, Odysseus, I'm leaving the naval battle to you. Thermopylae is in danger. I'm going ahead!"
As the earth-shaking roar came like the beat of a great drum, the Ancient Serpent's face turned grave, and he made his decision at once.
Bang!
In an instant, the Saint King summoned the Sagittarius Cloth, stepped forward, and stomped hard. Amid the explosive roar of Ether and the shaking of the hull, he shot into the sky, swept over the sea at lightning speed, and headed straight for the Thermopylae defense line.
However, to reach Thermopylae, he had to cut straight through the Persian fleet. The nearby angels formed from the flame elementals Ifrit immediately swarmed to block the intruder.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
And that was not all.
At that moment, a fierce hurricane rose from the sea. A massive dark-red bird with wings that blotted out the sky screeched as it took flight from the land, carrying a violent Ether turbulence as it swept toward the fleet.
King of the Sky, giant bird Shiz!
If he remembered correctly, according to the Book of Job, these three great beasts would fight one another when the end of days arrived, before becoming food for the holy ones.
Sure enough, all these giant beasts that heralded the apocalypse had come out.
Samael had no intention of stopping to deal with them. He pushed his speed to the limit and charged straight ahead.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
At the same time, sharp sounds of splitting air rang out in rapid succession. Hundreds of angels along the path had their cores pierced through, their bodies falling apart amid bursts of Ether.
Orion, Atalanta, and Heracles followed close behind, drawing their bows in perfect coordination. After clearing away the nearby angels, each of them locked onto one of the diving divine beasts and began the hunt, clearing the way for their comrade, their king.