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chapter 222 part 1
Chapter 47: The Queen's Request
October 23, 2023 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
Hera, the Queen of Heaven.
Orin Vale suddenly seemed to understand.
Until just a moment ago, he had assumed this was some tale of divine feuds and grudges involving the Divine Race's bloodline, a grand conspiracy where some supervillain sought to obtain the bloodline of Zeus. But that wasn't it.
After all that, it was just the main wife hunting down the mistress all over the world.
From this perspective, Hera must have a real headache. This wasn't a new habit for Zeus; for many years, he'd been like a pile driver wherever he went. The stack of green hats that had accumulated on Hera's head over the years could probably pierce the atmosphere. If any alien friends happened to pass by, they would be stunned, thinking they'd taken a wrong turn and arrived on Oa, because that sky-high stack looked just like the Green Lantern Corps' Central Power Battery.
Truth be told, if blame were to be assigned, the fault lay first with Zeus, who fabricated identities to trick and deceive young women. Yet Hera had the time to hunt for mistresses across the world but never tackled the problem at its source. Perhaps she figured she was no match for Zeus, and confronting him would likely just end with her getting the pile-driver treatment, so she decided not to bring that humiliation upon herself.
Of course, this was just speculation.
But when Orin Vale suggested that perhaps they could get Zeus to step in and resolve it—after all, it sounded like a domestic affair for Olympus—Queen Hippolyta rejected the idea.
"No one can find Zeus," she said, pausing for a moment. "At least, not anymore."
Orin Vale noticed the subtlety in her wording. "What do you mean?"
"The King of the Gods has not appeared for a long long time, and no one has heard any news of him. Even the other Gods don't know where he has gone."
Hippolyta shook her head, seemingly unwilling to continue on this topic.
"We have indeed received the god's will. Rest assured, Zola will be very safe on Paradise Island. And thank you very much for your help along the way.
"But as you should know, Paradise Island has very strict rules about men setting foot here. Even as Queen, I cannot arbitrarily change the laws, so..."
"It's fine, I didn't plan on staying long anyway," Orin Vale interrupted crisply, then said, "To be honest, I came here partly because of Zola's situation, and partly because a friend of mine sent me.
"He told me that Paradise Island stores some Nth Metal. He said he's an old friend who fought alongside you on the battlefield many years ago. I wonder if you remember this name...
"The Wizard Shazam?"
Queen Hippolyta's expression changed imperceptibly.
"Of course," she nodded. "The guardian of magic in the Current Reality, *that* Wizard who guards the Rock of Eternity—he's hard to forget. I remember."
Queen Hippolyta stopped walking. The Amazon warriors around her also stopped, casting questioning glances at her, waiting for her to speak.
She frowned in thought for a moment, seemingly making a difficult decision.
But it wasn't long before she looked up and made a hand gesture.
"Take Miss Zola to a safe place," Hippolyta said faintly, then turned to Orin Vale. "Follow me."
The two of them broke away from the main group. Orin Vale followed behind the Queen, weaving through the dense, overgrown Amazonian jungle.
They arrived before a rather steep rock face. The Queen refused Orin Vale's offer to fly her up, stubbornly climbing it with her bare hands. But she was quite agile, scaling the cliff in just a few movements. Orin Vale activated the propulsion at his feet and flew up after her.
A protruding rock appeared ahead. Queen Hippolyta walked forward and pressed her hand on the rock. The entire mountain peak immediately let out a low rumble. A pale blue fluorescent light flashed across the surface of the great rock, and a heavy stone door slid open with a boom.
Hippolyta led the way inside, and torches on both sides of the grotto lit themselves in sequence. The orange-yellow light flickered and danced within the cave, illuminating a bright path.
All sorts of weapons were displayed around the cave.
Swords, spears, halberds, shields, bows and arrows, and other weapons whose names he didn't know.
Although they were all melee weapons, Orin Vale's Super Senses could detect a certain dangerous aura from many of them.
The Amazons' combat methods were indeed primitive, but Orin Vale knew that many of their weapons were something special. A very small number of the weapons might be mixed with Nth Metal, while most others were forged from a magical alloy called "Amazonian Metal."
This metal was not only incredibly hard but also possessed a rather powerful property: an excellent affinity with magic. Its role as a material was similar to the Uru alloy from the Marvel Universe next door, used to forge Thor's hammer. Besides its own superior performance, its greatest characteristic was its suitability for enchanting, and it was known in the lore as "the metal of the gods."
Its most outstanding divine artifact representative is Wonder Woman's pair of Silver Bracelets. Whether in the movies or the Original Work, they displayed extraordinary defensive capabilities, being completely Impervious. They could even withstand a Kryptonian's Heat Vision. They also had the function of amplifying and unleashing Diana's divine power, or a Thornmail-like function of absorbing and reflecting energy, similar to the Vibranium from next door.
"Your Wizard friend was right. There is indeed still Nth Metal on Paradise Island, but very little is left."
Hippolyta spoke as she walked to the deepest part of the armory. She reached out and pressed on a hidden door, which quickly sprang open.
"But we have an abundance of our Amazonian Metal. It is also a very superior material... if you are interested."
Nth Metal is known as the Ninth Metal in the DC Comics system, and Amazonian Metal is the Eighth Metal. Not only does this material also have superior performance, but when the Eighth and Ninth Metals strike each other, they can trigger an additional effect.
"And then there's this."
She revealed a rope.
This time, Orin Vale was genuinely surprised.
The Lasso of Truth? Isn't that one of Wonder Woman's three iconic divine artifacts?
Chapter 47: The Queen's Request
October 23, 2023 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
Hera, the Queen of Heaven.
Orin Vale suddenly seemed to understand.
Until just a moment ago, he had assumed this was some tale of divine feuds and grudges involving the Divine Race's bloodline, a grand conspiracy where some supervillain sought to obtain the bloodline of Zeus. But that wasn't it.
After all that, it was just the main wife hunting down the mistress all over the world.
From this perspective, Hera must have a real headache. This wasn't a new habit for Zeus; for many years, he'd been like a pile driver wherever he went. The stack of green hats that had accumulated on Hera's head over the years could probably pierce the atmosphere. If any alien friends happened to pass by, they would be stunned, thinking they'd taken a wrong turn and arrived on Oa, because that sky-high stack looked just like the Green Lantern Corps' Central Power Battery.
Truth be told, if blame were to be assigned, the fault lay first with Zeus, who fabricated identities to trick and deceive young women. Yet Hera had the time to hunt for mistresses across the world but never tackled the problem at its source. Perhaps she figured she was no match for Zeus, and confronting him would likely just end with her getting the pile-driver treatment, so she decided not to bring that humiliation upon herself.
Of course, this was just speculation.
But when Orin Vale suggested that perhaps they could get Zeus to step in and resolve it—after all, it sounded like a domestic affair for Olympus—Queen Hippolyta rejected the idea.
"No one can find Zeus," she said, pausing for a moment. "At least, not anymore."
Orin Vale noticed the subtlety in her wording. "What do you mean?"
"The King of the Gods has not appeared for a long long time, and no one has heard any news of him. Even the other Gods don't know where he has gone."
Hippolyta shook her head, seemingly unwilling to continue on this topic.
"We have indeed received the god's will. Rest assured, Zola will be very safe on Paradise Island. And thank you very much for your help along the way.
"But as you should know, Paradise Island has very strict rules about men setting foot here. Even as Queen, I cannot arbitrarily change the laws, so..."
"It's fine, I didn't plan on staying long anyway," Orin Vale interrupted crisply, then said, "To be honest, I came here partly because of Zola's situation, and partly because a friend of mine sent me.
"He told me that Paradise Island stores some Nth Metal. He said he's an old friend who fought alongside you on the battlefield many years ago. I wonder if you remember this name...
"The Wizard Shazam?"
Queen Hippolyta's expression changed imperceptibly.
"Of course," she nodded. "The guardian of magic in the Current Reality, *that* Wizard who guards the Rock of Eternity—he's hard to forget. I remember."
Queen Hippolyta stopped walking. The Amazon warriors around her also stopped, casting questioning glances at her, waiting for her to speak.
She frowned in thought for a moment, seemingly making a difficult decision.
But it wasn't long before she looked up and made a hand gesture.
"Take Miss Zola to a safe place," Hippolyta said faintly, then turned to Orin Vale. "Follow me."
The two of them broke away from the main group. Orin Vale followed behind the Queen, weaving through the dense, overgrown Amazonian jungle.
They arrived before a rather steep rock face. The Queen refused Orin Vale's offer to fly her up, stubbornly climbing it with her bare hands. But she was quite agile, scaling the cliff in just a few movements. Orin Vale activated the propulsion at his feet and flew up after her.
A protruding rock appeared ahead. Queen Hippolyta walked forward and pressed her hand on the rock. The entire mountain peak immediately let out a low rumble. A pale blue fluorescent light flashed across the surface of the great rock, and a heavy stone door slid open with a boom.
Hippolyta led the way inside, and torches on both sides of the grotto lit themselves in sequence. The orange-yellow light flickered and danced within the cave, illuminating a bright path.
All sorts of weapons were displayed around the cave.
Swords, spears, halberds, shields, bows and arrows, and other weapons whose names he didn't know.
Although they were all melee weapons, Orin Vale's Super Senses could detect a certain dangerous aura from many of them.
The Amazons' combat methods were indeed primitive, but Orin Vale knew that many of their weapons were something special. A very small number of the weapons might be mixed with Nth Metal, while most others were forged from a magical alloy called "Amazonian Metal."
This metal was not only incredibly hard but also possessed a rather powerful property: an excellent affinity with magic. Its role as a material was similar to the Uru alloy from the Marvel Universe next door, used to forge Thor's hammer. Besides its own superior performance, its greatest characteristic was its suitability for enchanting, and it was known in the lore as "the metal of the gods."
Its most outstanding divine artifact representative is Wonder Woman's pair of Silver Bracelets. Whether in the movies or the Original Work, they displayed extraordinary defensive capabilities, being completely Impervious. They could even withstand a Kryptonian's Heat Vision. They also had the function of amplifying and unleashing Diana's divine power, or a Thornmail-like function of absorbing and reflecting energy, similar to the Vibranium from next door.
"Your Wizard friend was right. There is indeed still Nth Metal on Paradise Island, but very little is left."
Hippolyta spoke as she walked to the deepest part of the armory. She reached out and pressed on a hidden door, which quickly sprang open.
"But we have an abundance of our Amazonian Metal. It is also a very superior material... if you are interested."
Nth Metal is known as the Ninth Metal in the DC Comics system, and Amazonian Metal is the Eighth Metal. Not only does this material also have superior performance, but when the Eighth and Ninth Metals strike each other, they can trigger an additional effect.
"And then there's this."
She revealed a rope.
This time, Orin Vale was genuinely surprised.
The Lasso of Truth? Isn't that one of Wonder Woman's three iconic divine artifacts?
