Became the Weapon Monopolist of the Gods-Chapter 54: The one who thinks first

Having been taught by the wise centaur Chiron, the half-man, half-beast mentor of heroes, Heracles was a weapon master who could handle every weapon.

However, his true power lay not in his weapon handling skills but in his superhuman 'strength.'

Thud.

The club dropped from Heracles’ hand.

“Khuhhh!”

At the same time, the front paw of the Nemean Lion fell toward Heracles.

Without turning around, Heracles raised his right hand.

Swoosh.

The lion’s sharp claws were caught in Heracles' right hand.

“Grrrrr...”

A brief struggle of strength ensued.

And then...

The lion’s front paw was slowly lifted.

Heracles grabbed the raised front paw with both hands and threw it with all his might.

Boom─!

The Nemean Lion, sent flying, crashed into a cliff.

It was an incredible feat of strength.

“We must strangle it to death.”

According to myth, Heracles strangled the Nemean Lion to death because weapons could not harm it.

In a reenactment of the myth, Heracles approached the Nemean Lion and strangled the neck of the beast that tried to rise.

“Grrr...”

The Nemean Lion, struggling and thrashing in desperation, tried to break free.

Boom─! Boom─!

The mountain trembled, and the earth and cliffs were torn apart.

However, it could never escape from Heracles' grasp.

Heracles continued to strangle the Nemean Lion’s neck from day to night.

We could only watch Heracles, offering no help.

The Twelve Labors given to Heracles were tasks he had to solve on his own.

Only when the world darkened did Heracles release the Nemean Lion’s lifeless neck.

The strange phenomenon occurred right after that.

“Grrr...”

As Heracles walked away from the corpse to retrieve his club, the Nemean Lion, which he believed to be dead, suddenly rose.

It was as if it had two lives.

“Heracles!”

I shouted in surprise as Heracles had already grabbed the lion’s neck again.

‘Did he not strangle it properly?’

No, that wasn’t it.

The Nemean Lion’s power was far stronger than before.

Heracles, despite facing a stronger version of the lion, once again strangled it and finally crushed its throat, but it took half a day before he succeeded.

By dawn the next day, Heracles was able to kill it.

‘Was there a story like this in the myth?’

There wasn’t.

Although Greek mythology has many variations, nowhere did it mention that the Nemean Lion had two lives.

Nor did it mention its strength increasing.

‘There are more variables than I expected.’

Heracles, who hadn’t cleansed Hera’s madness.

The Nemean Lion, whose life was doubled.

Something felt off in the Greek myths I knew.

In the end, I had to find someone who might know the answer to all this.

Having captured the Nemean Lion, we first went to find Molorcus.

When we found Molorcus, he was performing a ritual, believing that Heracles was dead. It was past the day he had promised to bring the Nemean Lion.

Boom─.

Molorcus, who was performing the ritual, looked up in surprise at the returned Heracles.

“You’ve brought the lion, just as promised.”

When Heracles laid the Nemean Lion’s corpse down, Molorcus’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You really brought it!”

“That’s right. ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ So, the tribute should be offered to Zeus, not to me.”

“Understood.”

Heracles credited the accomplishment of slaying the lion to his father, Zeus.

Then, he once again hoisted the Nemean Lion’s corpse and began walking.

“Where are you going?”

“To Mycenae, to show the king the lion and prove that I have completed the task.”

“I will accompany you.”

“Accompany?”

“You need to cleanse the madness, don’t you?”

“......”

Heracles, unable to cleanse Hera’s madness, was currently not in a complete state of mind.

He was only enduring and holding on.

If not, he would have come up with a way to kill the Nemean Lion on his own, without my help.

And I had a way to cleanse the madness placed upon Heracles.

“If you receive Jeanne’s help, Heracles’ madness will be cleansed.”

“You mean the girl who appears and disappears suddenly?”

“That’s right.”

Jeanne’s divine powers could purify Hera’s madness.

In the myths, Heracles also visited the temple of Athena to undergo a purification ceremony to overcome his madness.

Jeanne, too, said it would take time to undo the curse of the goddess.

And then...

“I will also be able to help with future tasks.”

“Who are you to try to help me?”

The amber-colored eyes filled with doubt stared at me.

The half-god’s eyes glimmered as if to pierce through my true intentions.

In front of those eyes, I spoke the truth.

“I have my own tasks.”

“Oh? You also have tasks?”

“Yes, they are somewhat different from Heracles’ tasks.”

The quests the system gave me could also be considered tasks.

“My task is to help those who visit my statue.”

“Interesting.”

“Really interesting. Many kinds of people come.”

Yi Sun-sin, Napoleon, Joan of Arc...

Unexpected heroes have visited.

“So, I must be one of those strange people?”

“I won’t deny it.”

Heracles was indeed the most special of those strange people.

A demigod, not human.

This was the first time that a ‘god’ who would later be accepted into Olympus had visited.

Anyway...

“My task this time is to help you.”

With those words, I opened the door to Molorcus’s barn.

Beyond the open door, the pleasant smell of seaweed soup wafted through.

“It’s ready, Seo-jun.”

“Eat, Eun-gong.”

Jeanne and Vanesha greeted us.

On ‘Napoleon’s Table,’ a variety of side dishes, including seaweed soup, were laid out.

I said to Heracles, who was staring at the food in surprise,

“Let’s eat before we go to Mycenae. Heracles.”

Heracles and I arrived at Mycenae, where King Eurystheus of Argos resided.

When we arrived, Eurystheus was enjoying dinner in a grand hall with the nobles.

“Hahaha! Drink! Drink!”

“Congratulations, Eurystheus!”

Eurystheus was the agent who oversaw the Twelve Labors on behalf of the goddess Hera.

He was also the one Hera placed on the throne after taking the king’s position from Heracles, who should have been the king of Argos.

Eurystheus, always living in fear of a rebellion from Heracles, believed that Heracles had died when he didn’t return from hunting the Nemean Lion, so he continued to hold banquets every day.

Boom─!

Heracles threw the Nemean Lion in front of Eurystheus.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Eurystheus, who had been drinking wine, fell off his chair in shock.

“Your Majesty, I have completed the first task.”

“...I... I see. I acknowledge it.”

Eurystheus, trembling in fear of Heracles, acknowledged the completion of the trial without any protest.

“What is the next task?”

“Go to the Lerna Swamp and bring back the Hydra with twelve heads. That is the second task the goddess Hera has given you.”

“......”

At the mention of the Hydra, Heracles frowned.

Like the Nemean Lion, the Hydra was no ordinary monster.

Born of Echidna, the mother of all monsters, and Typhon, the storm god.

They, too, were demigods like Heracles.

“It's the task the goddess Hera has given you.”

Eurystheus, finding even his own words nonsensical, only watched Heracles for his reaction.

I asked Eurystheus.

“Why does it have twelve heads?”

“I... I don’t know. It has always had twelve.”

“......”

I frowned.

‘Why does it have twelve heads?’

The Hydra in the myth had nine heads.

An immortal creature with the ability to regenerate its heads infinitely when cut.

It could have been that someone had cut its heads several times, causing it to grow to twelve, but somehow, that didn’t seem likely.

‘Could this be another variable?’

“I see. I acknowledge it. Please take the body.”

Stomp, stomp.

Heracles, carrying the Nemean Lion’s corpse, left the banquet hall.

─Make the bronze jar! Hurry!

Ignoring the urgent voice of the king coming from inside.

‘Unsolved Hera’s madness.’

‘The Nemean Lion with two lives.’

‘The Hydra with twelve heads.’

I decided to seek out the being who might have the answer to this unsolvable riddle.

Creak─ creak─

He was bound to a rock.

An eagle was pecking at his liver, constantly repeating regeneration and destruction.

He was a ‘traitor.’

A sinner who betrayed the gods, punished by being bound to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle forever. And...

‘The one who thinks first.’

A prophet who could see the future, predict the present, and knew the past.

A being who could provide the answer to my unresolved question.

“...You’ve come.”

The elderly man, bound by chains and having his liver eaten by the eagle, raised his head.

His pale eyes stared at me.

The god who gave fire to humans, Prometheus.

“Stranger.”

He had already known that I would come to find him.