Became the Weapon Monopolist of the Gods-Chapter 53: A bet with Hercules
“Are you the master here?”
Amber eyes, resembling those of a beast, locked onto me.
The man had short, curly brown hair and deep amber eyes. His muscular, sun-kissed skin was visible as he wasn’t wearing any clothes.
“I’m sure I entered Molorkos’s house, but this place opened up.”
Despite Vanessa’s cautious gaze, the man remained completely at ease.
“But I’ve been looking around, since everything here is something I’ve never seen before.”
He casually picked up a pair of goggles from the shelf, examining them with curious eyes.
“It doesn’t seem like a work of Hephaestus...”
The man turned to me and asked.
“What is this place?”
“...”
From his words, I deduced his identity.
— I’m sure I entered ‘Molorkos’s’ house, but this place opened up.
Molorkos was a poor farmer who had lost his child to the Nemean Lion.
And the man said he had entered Molorkos’s house, but had ended up in our curiosity shop instead.
In that case, it made sense why the man was so calm despite Vanessa’s threat.
He was someone who couldn’t be intimidated by her.
If my guess was correct, the man might not be threatened ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) by anyone I knew.
He was a demigod.
He was none other than Hercules.
The son of Zeus, king of the gods, and born a hero of the ‘Divine Era’ to stop the Gigantomachy, the great war of the Olympian gods.
— I have encountered Hercules of the failed timeline.
— Hercules [Help Hercules complete the 12 Labors.]
[Reward: Nemean Lion’s Skin]
The man was none other than Hercules, the demigod from Greek mythology.
That meant I had traveled to a world where the gods still had influence on the earth.
It was the era where myths were alive.
It was the ‘Divine Era.’
According to myth, Hercules, driven mad by Hera, ended up killing his own family.
The ‘12 Labors’ were the twelve trials Hercules had to complete to atone for the murder of his family.
After completing all twelve, Hercules would be cleansed of his sins, become an immortal, and be accepted into Olympus after his death.
However, Hercules had yet to complete even the first of the twelve trials.
The first trial was to slay the Nemean Lion.
If he had already slain the Nemean Lion, he wouldn’t have stayed at Molorkos’s house, nor would he have been walking around with his shirt off like this.
‘The symbol of Hercules is the skin of the Nemean Lion.’
Even after he was accepted as a god in Olympus, Hercules continued to wear the skin of the Nemean Lion.
But the status screen was telling me that the symbol of that god would be given as a reward.
It was probably referring to a part of the skin.
The Nemean Lion was said to be a gigantic monster.
Of course, even just a part of the skin would still be an enormous reward.
The skin of the Nemean Lion was so tough that no weapon, sword or spear, could penetrate it.
If it was an artifact imbued with Hercules’s power as a demigod, it wouldn’t just be a tough piece of skin.
Of course, to obtain it, I would first have to help Hercules with the twelve labors...
But the key thing not to overlook was that this was a ‘failed timeline.’
“The Nemean Lion is something I can handle alone.”
Hercules rejected my help without a second thought.
“The task given by Hera can only be completed by me alone.”
He didn’t seem interested in accepting help with his labor.
“Seo-jun, it seems he’s not willing to listen.”
“Forget it, Eun-gong. It might be fine to fail one quest, right?”
“...”
Vanessa was suggesting giving up, which spoke volumes about Hercules’s stubbornness.
He wouldn’t even listen to simple advice.
In a bad light, he was mad, but in a good light, his self-esteem was incredibly high.
Even I had to consider Vanessa’s suggestion for a moment.
After all, I had been wasting my time for three days.
But...
“Giving up is not an option. We can’t be sure we can return to the real world.”
The problem was that we couldn’t be sure whether we could return.
For both Vanessa and Jeanne, the timelines had warped after their quests succeeded.
Technically speaking, it wasn’t a ‘failure.’
So, giving up wasn’t an option.
The issue was Hercules’s inflated pride.
‘Is this why it’s a failed timeline?’
In the original timeline, Hercules was proud, but not stubborn.
When he faced his second trial, he even received help from his nephew and half-brother, Iolaus.
‘Maybe he still hasn’t broken free from Hera’s curse of madness.’
Hercules had killed his family because of Hera’s jealousy, which drove him mad.
Even now, there was an occasional hint of unrefined madness in his demeanor.
That madness, intertwined with his enormous pride, was holding him back.
Pride, when it turns into arrogance, prevents flexible thinking.
Pride...
“Hmm.”
An idea crossed my mind.
That afternoon.
When Hercules visited the curiosity shop, I spoke to him while he was admiring the artifacts.
“You won’t be able to defeat the Nemean Lion.”
“Hoh, you say I can’t defeat it?”
A fierce light filled his amber-colored eyes, resembling those of a beast.
The aura of a demigod was so overwhelming that I could feel goosebumps rising all over my body, but...
“Yes.”
I didn’t change my answer. freewёbnoνel.com
“I will defeat the Nemean Lion.”
“You won’t be able to.”
I deliberately provoked Hercules’s pride.
“If you’re trying to do it the way you are now, even if you died and came back, you won’t succeed.”
“Do you want to bet?”
“...A bet?”
There was a moment of confusion in his amber eyes.
“Yes, a bet. If you manage to defeat the Nemean Lion your way, I will admit I was wrong and apologize.”
I spoke, facing Hercules, who was listening intently.
“If you fail, you will have to admit that you were wrong.”
It was just a provocative challenge.
But I was certain that Hercules would accept the bet.
He was an epic hero with an unmatched ego.
And then...
“Fine. If I fail, I will admit that I was wrong. But if I succeed, you will apologize to me.”
“I understand.”
Hercules lifted his club.
“Thirty days. In that time, you will defeat the Nemean Lion.”
The bet with Hercules began, lasting thirty days.
A demigod.
It was an transcendent being with power beyond the limits of my imagination.
Crack—!
The world shook as if it were cracking, and the landscape crumbled.
Boom! Boom!
The valley, the mountains, the fields.
The terrain was being destroyed and reshaped.
With each swing of Hercules’s club, Mount Tretos screamed.
Khuuuu—!
Every time the Nemean Lion’s paw collided with Hercules’s club, space itself trembled.
The aftershocks alone were enough to change the surroundings.
The site of unimaginable destruction.
Even an S-rank awakener could not touch Hercules; he was a colossal beast.
Indeed, he was a true hero of the gods.
However...
“You won’t catch it.”
“Yes, I know.”
I agreed with Vanessa’s words.
We were sitting on the edge of the mountain, watching the fight between Hercules and the Nemean Lion in the valley.
Every time his massive club swung, the Nemean Lion was pushed back or sent flying.
It would crash into the mountain slope, hide in caves, and flee from Hercules.
Hercules relentlessly pressed the Nemean Lion.
But despite being pushed back, the Nemean Lion showed no signs of injury.
The Nemean Lion was a beast that couldn’t be caught in such a manner.
One day, two days. Three, four...
Time kept passing.
Even after ten days, then twenty, Hercules still hadn’t surpassed the trial.
He continued swinging his club, and the Nemean Lion roared.
Then, on the last day of the thirty-day bet that Hercules had promised to defeat the Nemean Lion...
Hercules emerged from the valley, climbing up the mountain slope.
His face was harder than usual.
“Tell me, what should I do?”
“...”
Hercules finally asked me for a solution.
At the end of the bet, this mighty hero had finally let go of his pride.
“Do you admit you were wrong?”
“...I admit it. This method doesn’t work.”
In that instant, a shadow appeared behind Hercules.
—Krrrrr!
A massive lion appeared, roaring in fury.
The beast’s roar froze me in place.
The Nemean Lion’s paw was raised, ready to strike Hercules.
In that moment of tension, the amber eyes, filled with shadows, were fixed solely on me.
I looked directly into Hercules’s eyes and said.
“Throw away the club, Hercules.”
“...”
“Without a weapon, you are better suited.”
