Episode 173: The Peculiar Trojan War – (7)
The clash between the Greek and Trojan armies resumed once more.
In the midst of the battlefield, Hector, the supreme commander of the Trojan forces, felt something was amiss.
"That’s the supreme commander of Troy, Hector of the Shining Helm!"
"Let’s take Troy down today!!!"
"Kill the traitor Paris (파리스)!"
The morale of the Greek army was abnormally high.
Even if they had killed his brother Paris, hadn’t Menelaus, the king of Sparta, already returned to his homeland?
And then…
"Argh! What… what is that monster?!"
"He caught an arrow with his bare hands. Is… is he a god?"
"He doesn’t even have armor! Why can’t anyone kill him… Gah!"
Achilles rampaging at the center of the Greek forces was, at least, within the realm of comprehension.
He was merely slightly superior to Hector in martial prowess.
But those two middle-aged commanders… they were different.
One of them charged forward, unarmed, toppling Trojan soldiers with his bare hands.
"Urgh… What is this?"
"Insane. Isn’t that pankration?"
"This is a battlefield! A battlefield! And he’s just… barehanded…"
Bam! Crunch!
"Ah, ah. Don’t stick that out; it’s dangerous."
The left flank of the Trojan army was being pushed back by one man, who was fighting barehanded.
Arrows aimed at him missed, and spears and swords were either caught or shattered. Could this kind of prowess truly be shown by a mortal?
And things weren’t any better elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the right flank wasn’t faring any better, being overwhelmed by an elderly warrior wielding a sword like a phantom.
It wasn’t a divine weapon like Achilles’ armor, but merely an old, worn blade. Yet he was tearing through the battlefield effortlessly.
Swish. Slash—
"Argh!"
"You can’t even block this? What kind of training are soldiers getting these days, I wonder."
Hector soon realized their true identities.
No ordinary human could show such feats unless they were legendary heroes who had surpassed mortal limits to fight monsters.
Before his eyes, Troy’s most renowned generals were falling one by one.
“You must be Penthesilea, daughter of Ares and queen of the Amazons?”
"Is that Penthesilea, daughter of Ares and queen of the Amazons?"
"Ugh…"
"I owe the God of War a debt, so I’ll spare your life."
Smack!
Even for Troy’s greatest warrior to step forward personally…
He could not stop these heroes who had become monsters to fight monsters.
The left flank. The right flank. Both had been crushed by the heroes. Meanwhile, Achilles was rampaging in the center.
Gritting his teeth, Hector raised his voice and shouted:
"All troops! Retreat! Do not engage them!
Fall back to the walls of Troy!"
In an open battle, it was impossible to stop the Greek forces when those heroes were among them.
* * *
At the request of Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Greek allied forces, Nestor had joined the battlefield.
With a bored expression, he swung his sword half-heartedly.
Nestor was a mid-tier hero among those who had participated in the Argonauts’ expedition.
Now, his skills had dulled with age. He no longer summoned the fighting spirit or exuded the imposing aura he once had when battling mythical monsters.
The worn armor and sword he donned were relics from his days training in the underworld, and he seemed entirely uninterested in the fight.
Slash! Clang!
“Gah… Huff. Huff.”
“I couldn’t even see the swing of his blade. Is it divine power?”
“What kind of blessing does he have for every attack to miss?”
Yet, no Trojan commander could withstand even a single strike from him.
To stop his advance, those blessed by the gods fired arrows, obscured his vision with mist, and attempted all manner of interference…
Whoosh—! Swish!
‘Is this the work of Lord Ares? Hah. Even with our history in the underworld, it seems there’s no mercy.’
None of it mattered.
It had no effect on a hero who had battled Gigantes rivaling the gods and survived the fire-breathing dragon of Colchis. Such trifling hindrances were meaningless to him.
Of course, if the gods themselves unleashed divine punishment to kill him, that would be a different story. But on a mere mortal battlefield, such a spectacle lacked justification, pride, or necessity.
"All troops! Retreat! Do not engage them! Fall back to the walls of Troy!"
“Whoa! The Trojans are retreating into their walls!”
“Let’s capture the city! Bring the ladders!”
“With heroes on our side, charge! Strike the Trojans as they flee!”
As Hector gave the retreat order, the Trojans withdrew from the battlefield, and the Greeks began their pursuit.
Nestor, watching the allied forces thrusting their spears at the fleeing soldiers, shook his head in disapproval.
“Nestor. Do you see that?”
A man suddenly appeared at his side, speaking casually. His fists were drenched in red blood—Polydeuces.
Once, during the Colchis expedition, he could only serve as a distraction for the dragon since his fists were ineffective. But here, on a human battlefield, the pankration master had displayed his full prowess.
Like Nestor, there wasn’t a single wound on his body.
It was clear he had broken through the enemy ranks with overwhelming power.
“Troy’s walls? Of course, I can see them.”
“I’ve heard those were built by the gods Apollo and Poseidon. Even if we intervened, I doubt we could destroy them.”
“Hah… Built by the gods themselves?”
As the Greek allied forces neared the fortress, they began preparing ladders to climb the walls, initiating a full-scale siege. The Trojans fiercely resisted from the walls, ensuring not a single Greek soldier could breach them. However, if they got involved…
“Should we climb the ladders? How far do we need to go here? Sigh.”
“Still, we promised Agamemnon we’d capture the city. If we go too far, won’t the gods stop us?”
“Fair point.”
The two nodded at each other, then began ascending the ladders.
Naturally, the sight of these heroes climbing the ladders terrified the Trojan soldiers.
“Ah… Ahhh! It’s them!”
“Pour boiling water on them! Archers, fire arrows—”
“Throw stones down on them!”
Splash!
“Aaaaargh!”
“It’s burning hot! Gah!”
The Trojans poured boiling water on the Greek soldiers scaling the walls, forcing many to scream and fall.
But to heroes who had withstood the flames of a dragon, such measures were useless.
As Polydeuces was about to reach the top of the wall, a Trojan soldier appeared above him.
With eyes tinged with mild irritation, the soldier glared coldly down at them.
Yet, he neither thrust his spear nor resisted their ascent.
Instead, he simply muttered as if complaining.
“Go back down.”
“…What?”
What’s with this guy?
Polydeuces struck at the Trojan soldier before him, aiming to bring him down with a blow of his fist.
The punch, delivered by the greatest pankration master of Greece, tore through the air with an ominous sound, heading straight for the soldier’s face…
Thunk!
“What?!”
It was caught effortlessly.
Only then did Polydeuces get a clear look at the soldier’s eyes.
Instead of the irises that a mortal should have, swirling black voids filled his gaze.
A presence that far surpassed anything mortal. A being of immense divinity. A god temporarily descended into a human vessel.
And this cold, dreadful aura…
It was the very same power of the Underworld that he had experienced in that accursed hero training ground.
Though Chiron had explained that the goddess of spring tempered the Underworld’s energy there, they had still been plagued by primal fear throughout their training.
Even if that canyon carried the goddess’s energy, it was still the Underworld. The final destination for all mortals.
So then, could the identity of this god before them be…?
“How dare you throw a punch at me?”
“C-Could you be… Lord Pluto?!”
“Yes. The son of Zeus. And Nestor, climbing up from below—listen well, both of you.”
“Y-Yes, my lord! We’re listening!”
Nestor and Polydeuces, their faces stricken with shock, nodded fervently.
Why in the world was one of the three great gods here—on the side of Troy, no less?
Why would the god of the Underworld descend to a mortal battlefield?
Was he here to drag every mortal he disliked in this war to the Underworld?
Had they somehow committed a grave offense? Even if the Trojans worshiped Pluto, would he descend in person…?
“I brought you to the Underworld and trained you to fight against monsters, and now you’re using that strength against other humans?”
“Well, that is… the nature of war…”
“Do you think I sent Chiron to teach you so you could slaughter your own kind? Are you planning to lose yourself to bloodlust and commit a massacre?”
“N-no, my lord! ! We would never…!”
Faced with the visibly displeased god of the Underworld, the seasoned heroes could only stammer in panic.
Regardless of the puzzled soldiers below or the confused Trojans approaching to investigate, the heroes saw only the god of the Underworld.
The god frowned briefly, then pointed his finger downward.
“Go back down immediately. If you withdraw from this war now, I might show you some leniency.”
“H-Haha… Of course! Let’s go back down, Nestor!”
“Ahem! It has been an honor to meet you in person, Lord Pluto!”
Whoosh—!
To faithfully carry out the god’s command, they immediately let go of the ladder and leapt back down to the ground.