Chapter 734: Isn't This Bullying My Baldy Kratos for Being Illiterate!? (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

For many players who had experienced the demo, waiting for God of War felt like an eternity.

After all, the game showcased in the demo was incredibly satisfying.

Of course, some players who hadn't tried it were skeptical, but after they actually played the demo for a few hours, these players clearly understood that Nebula Games had their wallets in its sights.

Compared to individual purchases, the three-in-one collection was clearly the most cost-effective option. Moreover, as a trilogy, the story of God of War was exceptionally coherent.

Just like the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, each installment was an independent story, but the characters' arcs connected throughout.

God of War was no different, and after playing it in depth.

Players quickly discovered that besides the extreme aesthetic of violence and epic BOSS battles.

The game's story was equally brilliant, depicting the life and experiences of Kratos, who looked like a major villain, with remarkable excellence.

In terms of plot arrangement, God of War 1 revealed Kratos's background, while also setting the stage for the game's theme.

It made players understand how Kratos's faith ultimately crumbled.

Initially, Kratos was a brave and skilled Spartan army commander, but in a war, Kratos was attacked by a barbarian prince, and the failure of the war put him in a dead end.

Kratos then prayed to Ares, the God of War and the Spartans' deity, offering his soul in exchange for victory against the enemy before him.

Ares, the God of War, answered his devotee, granting Kratos greater power and the Blades of Chaos.

Chains of unceasing fire wrapped around Kratos's arms, making him feel the agony of flames at all times; this was the price the user had to pay.

What Kratos didn't know, however, was that he, the barbarian prince, and everything else were mere pawns of the gods. Gods playing with mortals—this was the core theme of Greek mythology.

The origin of the events stemmed from a journey to acquire a divine fruit.

Before this, Kratos, as a Spartan general, had a daughter with the woman he loved all his life.

But when the child was born, she was covered in pustules. According to Spartan custom, a child born sick and weak could not survive.

To save his daughter's life, Kratos traveled to the Well of Asclepius in search of a divine fruit that could cure all ailments. Along the way, Kratos encountered other warriors also seeking the divine fruit.

Like Kratos, they had all come here after hearing rumors of the divine fruit, having seen their kinsmen or family members suddenly afflicted with terrible illnesses.

What they didn't know, however, was that all of them were merely pawns chosen by the gods for a meaningless gambling jest.

The bet involved: Ares, the God of War; Hades, the God of the Underworld; Poseidon, the God of the Sea; Helios, the Sun God; Artemis, the Goddess of Moon and Hunt; and Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods.

These six deities each chose a mortal warrior, secretly spreading disaster in their hometowns and then guiding them to seek the divine fruit, to see who could ultimately obtain it.

Kratos was precisely the pawn chosen by Ares.

Initially, it was just a tedious joke, but Ares, the God of War, soon took a liking to this heroic and battle-hardened warrior because of Kratos's performance.

After Kratos offered his soul, Ares aimed to make Kratos his most powerful warrior to overthrow Zeus's rule.

Ares once again orchestrated events, leading Kratos to personally kill his wife and daughter, intending to forge a terrifying war machine, the purest of warriors.

To create the purest warrior, one must stain them with the blood of enemies, innocents, and loved ones.

Amidst a great fire, the bodies of Kratos's wife and daughter turned to ash, permanently adhering to Kratos, forming a ghostly pallor that constantly reminded Kratos of the sins he had committed.

The monster shaped by Ares's own hands was born—the Ghost of Sparta!

However, this crossed Kratos's red line: his family.

So, Kratos, through his schemes, killed the Furies, but during this journey, he also lost his best friend.

Yet, this still didn't free him from his nightmares, so he began to serve other gods, hoping to atone for his sins.

Ten years passed. Kratos, having served the Olympian gods for a decade, questioned Athena, asking when he would receive his reward and when the gods would cleanse him of the sin of killing his family.

But Athena told him that to be completely free from his nightmares, he needed to serve the gods once more. This task was to defeat Ares, who sought to overthrow Zeus's rule and was currently attacking the city of Athens.

Because Zeus had a decree that Olympians could not wage war amongst themselves after the Great War, the task of destroying Ares, a god-slaying mission, naturally fell to Kratos, who had already broken his blood curse with Ares.

Recalling that Ares was the mastermind behind the deaths of his wife and daughter, Kratos accepted this mission, which offered both revenge and a chance to forget his nightmares.

Upon arriving in Athens, he saw the “giant” Ares ravaging various areas.

Among the temple's oracles, Kratos learned that to defeat Ares, he needed to obtain the powerful magic within Pandora's Box, thus beginning his journey to find it.

Athens, the Desert of Lost Souls, Pandora's Temple, the Underworld, the large temple built by Phordes III…

Scene after scene of unique settings appeared before the players.

Entering the heart of the Desert of Lost Souls, Kratos encountered the previous ruler, the Titan King.

Because the Titans were defeated in the Great War, all of them were banished by the Olympian gods.

As the Titan King, he was no exception, banished by his son to the boundless Desert of Lost Souls.

Having lost his soul, he shambled like a zombie across the desolate Desert of Lost Souls, burdened by the colossal Mount Pandora, where Pandora's Box rested.

After countless trials, Kratos finally found Pandora's Box. At this moment, Ares also learned the news; he used his divine power to kill Kratos and commanded his vultures to retrieve the box.

Ambushed by Ares and plummeting to the Underworld, Kratos encountered the captain he had once killed midway through his fall.

Kratos then used the captain's body to stop his descent into the Underworld and slowly climbed towards the surface.

Ultimately, Kratos successfully climbed back from the Underworld and returned to Athens.

Gazing at Ares in the distance, Kratos, having returned from the Underworld, snatched Pandora's Box from Ares's grasp and opened it.

The immense power made Kratos as gigantic as Ares.

Finally, an enraged Kratos used a gigantic bridge as a divine sword to pierce Ares's chest, accomplishing the impossible task of mortal god-slaying.

Kratos's journey through Greek mythology was, one might say, a chain of events, each leading to the next.

And the entire story progressed little by little towards a magnificent epic.

In God of War 1, Kratos initially faced various monsters from Greek mythology.

For example, beings like the Hydra; only towards the very end did Kratos truly confront Ares, the God of War.

And with the help of Pandora's Box and the power of the gods, he accomplished the great feat of mortal god-slaying.

But this was merely the beginning.

Kratos killed Ares, thus avenging his wife and daughter.

He also completed the gods' mission.

However, after all this concluded, Kratos received a disappointing answer.

The gods could help Kratos alleviate his guilt, but the fact that Kratos had killed his wife and daughter could not be erased.

In other words, all of this was simply a deception by the Olympian gods; they were just playing a word game.

Thus came the scene at the beginning of God of War's prologue, where Kratos, utterly disheartened, leaped from a cliff, seeking liberation through death.

But with such a good “helper,” how could the Olympian gods let Kratos go?

So, at the very moment Kratos plunged into the sea and was about to die, Athena rescued him with her divine power.

At the same time, Athena told Kratos that one position among the Twelve Olympian Gods could not remain vacant.

After Ares's death, the position of God of War was empty. Kratos would become the new God of War, ascending beyond mortality, which might also be a form of liberation.

So Kratos ascended Mount Olympus and ultimately took his seat as the God of War.

Zhang Yi, who hadn't quite recovered from the previous battle in the game, couldn't help but smack his lips as he watched Athena's narration to Kratos.

“Isn't this bullying people? Bullying my Baldy Kratos for being uncultured? Playing these word games?”

As for Kratos, Zhang Yi didn't particularly like the protagonist, at least not yet. After all, this Baldy Kratos could be said to have committed all sorts of evil deeds, though, of course, he was quite good when playing Red Soul Extraction mini-game with the Greek Athenian girls.

Although he had no particular fondness for Kratos, Zhang Yi absolutely detested the gods.

Especially Athena's current statement—wasn't this just playing a word game?

Wasn't this misleading people!?

Isn't this bullying my Baldy Kratos for being illiterate?

(End of Chapter) <>