King Of Underworld [EN]: Chapter 76

The King of the Underworld is Tired – 76 (76/82)

A Slightly Different Story of Thebes – (2)

“A spy consumed by madness! Kill him!”

“Ugh! Haa!”

Clang! Clatter!

The place had turned into a battlefield of clashing spears and swords.

The man, eyes bloodshot, charged at the soldiers, using his full strength to cut down one of them.

Splat-

Red blood splattered inside the once peaceful room, and the furniture was scattered and destroyed.

Pilatos couldn’t quite understand what was happening.

The only thing he knew for sure was that the man was acting strangely, and the soldiers seemed used to such situations.

“Ugh!”

“Kugh, strength!”

“Priest! That guy…”

He quickly moved to help the soldiers.

Pilatos swiftly moved behind the madman, drew the sword from his waist, and raised it high.

Following the swordsmanship he had learned, he struck down fiercely on the crazed man’s shoulder.

The sharp blade, honed on a whetstone, gleamed with a cold light.

“Hup!”

Thwack-

The muscular man’s arm, known for its immense strength even in Sparta, was severed, causing a fountain of blood to erupt.

However, the madman didn’t yield and charged forward.

He tried to retrieve his sword and swing it again, but the madman was too close.

Pilatos was astonished by the madman’s unnatural strength.

“Kugh!”

He barely managed to block the madman’s attack with his sword, but that was all he could do.

How could a guy with one arm cut off wield such strength?

He bit his lip, wondering if he would meet Thanatos [the personification of death] like this…

“Haa! Ah…”

Thud.

Suddenly, the madman’s movements stopped, and he collapsed powerlessly.

A priest, who was stretching out his hand from a short distance away, spoke.

“You cannot withstand the authority of Hypnos [the god of sleep] forever.”

A priest of Hypnos, the god of sleep.

The soldiers dragged the madman away, still wary.

“Tsk. It’s been a while since they came… Well, it was about time…”

The middle-aged priest handed him a mysterious stone.

“Are you the last one? Put your hand on the stone quickly; if you’re sane, nothing will happen.”

“Hmm… I understand. I am in my right mind…”

Fwoosh-

The same white light as those who passed before. Not the red light, the sign of madness.

Pilatos slightly relaxed, and the soldiers lowered their guard.

“From now on, I will guide them. You guys can go back to your duties.”

“Yes, Priest.”

“Then we will also step back.”

Only three people passed this strange test.

They followed the middle-aged priest, who dismissed all the soldiers and led the three of them alone.

What was this strange test, and who was that madman?

Why did the gods make those who wanted to become heroes go through such trials?

* * *

The place they arrived at was the deepest room inside the temple.

The three, who had gone through strict security to get here, looked uneasy.

“Now, everyone, look at this parchment.”

“What is this again?”

“It’s the third test. Read the parchment carefully and swear on the Styx [a river in the underworld; an unbreakable oath] that you will abide by everything written there.”

“Wh-what?! The Styx?!”

“No, is this really necessary?”

Swearing on the Styx was an immutable law that could never be broken.

But the restrictions written on this parchment were too numerous.

“A ban on disclosing everything you see and hear from now on, and it’s impossible to indirectly inform others through writing or drawing…”

“Once you sign, you must follow the control until you take your first step as a hero? And…”

“I, I can’t do it! How am I supposed to do this?”

One of the three who passed the test shook his head and refused.

Another one also turned pale after seeing too many prohibitions.

“Okay, two have refused. Then swear that you will not reveal anything about the tests you have received in Thebes so far and leave.”

“…I understand. I swear to the Styx that I will not tell anyone about everything I have seen and heard in this ‘test’…”

“Me too…”

The two went back the way they came, but Pilatos didn’t give up.

He had come all the way from Sparta to become a hero, and he couldn’t give up.

“I swear to the Styx that I will abide by the contents written on this parchment.”

“Oh… so there’s still one hero. Of course, not yet…”

“Now that I’ve sworn, can’t you tell me about the process so far?”

The middle-aged priest nodded.

“I can’t tell you everything… but the stone you saw earlier is a stone imbued with the power of Dionysus [the god of wine, madness, and ecstasy].”

“The power of the god of madness…?”

“Of course, it doesn’t drive sane people into madness, but it makes it unbearable for those already consumed by it.”

“So that’s why you used the expression ‘spy.’ Is it some other god… ?”

“You know about the snake monsters that appeared all over Greece in the past, right? Think of them as spies sent from that side.”

He also knew about the snake monsters, the Gigantes [a race of giants in Greek mythology].

He couldn’t not know about the powerful monsters that destroyed temples and killed heroes or demigods all over Greece.

But monsters drive humans into madness and use them as spies?

It must be that they were caught up in a complicated battle between the gods.

“Damn it… I shouldn’t get involved in the affairs of the gods… but I have no choice. Now that it’s come to this…”

“Heh heh. Good thinking. Finally, one person comes out in almost a month.”

The middle-aged priest opened the door inside the room.

A stone staircase leading downwards was in front of them, and torches were hung on both walls at regular intervals.

“Follow me this way.”

“It looks like a place to perform some kind of ritual.”

“Just follow me and you’ll know, heh heh.”

Thump. Thump.

And in Pilatos’s eyes, who had reached somewhere underground…!

Goo-ooo-

A space where an ominous aura was fluctuating, no, a rift appeared.

A rift that emitted black light, as if the space itself was broken and connected to somewhere, was open in a size that several people could pass through.

“Wh-what is this?! I’ve never seen anything like this before…! Is it the power of the Olympian gods?”

“It’s a door to the underworld. If you go inside, you can receive training to become a hero.”

“Th-the… the underworld?!”

The underworld. Or the land of the dead.

Wasn’t that the place where only the dead could go, the domain of Pluto [the god of the underworld]?

To train heroes here. The reason why this was created in the basement of the Pluto Temple…

The priest’s advice interrupted his thoughts.

“I will not force you since you have sworn an oath on the Styx with a non-disclosure agreement.”

“Hmm!”

“If you are worthy of becoming a hero, you will pass through this, and if not, you will give up.”

Pilatos couldn’t easily take a step, even with words that touched his pride.

How could a living person cross over to the underworld?

“But if you eat food from the underworld, you can never return to this world, right?”

“Of course, the food you eat is brought from this world on a regular basis.”

“There must be a lot of food piled up from this world over there.”

Do you have to train in the underworld to walk the path of a hero?

Looking for another way…

“…Did everyone else go through this process?”

“Of course. Some who came here gave up, and some are training inside.”

“Pluto is directly training heroes in his domain, what is this…”

The priest, with a calm expression, spoke again.

“Doesn’t that mean the gods are interested in you? The choice is yours.”

“To the underworld… hmm…”

There was no possibility that this priest had deceived him.

What the followers of Pluto feared most was judgment in the underworld.

There were almost no crimes committed by Pluto’s followers, who believed that the sins of this world would be fairly paid for in the underworld.

After a long time of deliberation, he slowly walked forward.

A step towards becoming a hero.

“…I will go to the underworld. I will surely become a hero and kill that Gigas!”

“Oh. Good luck.”

The strange gap in space gradually approached, and he gritted his teeth and took a step.

* * *

Swoosh-

Pilatos couldn’t help but be greatly surprised by the scenery of the underworld after passing through the rift.

“Is this… the underworld?!”

A different feeling from the underworld he had imagined.

He had braced himself for a dark and gloomy space of death, but,

There were canyons made of stone and vast plains all around, and even some light was shining.

A space where green grass grew like a meadow, and even trees.

He spoke, possessed by a feeling that was too unlike the underworld.

“Did I die and come to Elysium [the paradise in the underworld reserved for heroes and the virtuous]…?!”

“Of course not! Haha! The real Elysium is incomparable to this place.”

When he turned his head to the voice that suddenly came from the side, he saw a translucent centaur [a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse].

He was clearly a dead spirit, and he was looking down at Pilatos with a hearty laugh.

“Um?! Yo… you are?”

“I am Chiron [a wise and benevolent centaur]. A centaur who will be your teacher from now on.”

“The wise Chiron?!”

Chiron’s fame remained even after his death.

Pilatos now realized why heroes were being trained in the underworld.

“But is this really the underworld? Why is the scenery similar to this world…”

“That’s because the goddess of spring and several other gods used their power, worried that the living would not be able to adapt to the underworld. Just don’t cross the end of the barrier you see there.”

“The goddess Persephone [the queen of the underworld]… I see.”

Indeed, from the space beyond, the scenery of the underworld, full of black space, was visible.

He could instinctively sense it. That if he crossed that boundary, he would face death.

The space allowed to hero aspirants from this world was only around this canyon.

But this much space is enough.

The wise Chiron is teaching me directly, I’m glad I came to Thebes!

But… that impression was shattered at once.

Swoosh- Kwang!

“Kuh-ugh!”

A figure flying from afar splattered blood and crashed into a rock.

The one who had just flown was seen as a hero aspirant like him.

What Pilatos saw when he hurriedly turned his head was…

“Kuaaa!”

“No, I heard they were weakened after death, but how can they be so strong!”

“Think about it! Do you think we are Apollo [the god of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty, and archery]!”

“Ugh! Just die!”

Kuaaaaa!!!

“Use some strength! You’re a demigod!”

“I’ve been doing my best since earlier… Keok!”

“Damn it! Protos was hit!”

Crack- Kwaaaang!

A tremendously huge and indescribably powerful aura was emitting…

A translucent snake monster was casually sweeping away the hero aspirants rushing in from all directions with its tail.

Just touching it sent people flying and shields breaking, it was a mess.

Clang! Ting!

“Damn it! Shoot an arrow and hit its eyes!”

“Just die, damn it!”

Nevertheless, the heroes bit their teeth and rushed in.

But there was no sign that the attack was working on the monster.

“Ah. That’s the King Snake Python. Hades [another name for Pluto] lent it to train the heroes.”

“No, is that… is that the Python that Apollo killed himself?”

“Is there any other Python besides that Python?”

He asked, losing his mind at the sound of having to face a monster that even a god had to kill,

But Chiron rather asked back.

“Do we have to face such a monster?”

“…? Didn’t you come to the underworld because you wanted to become a hero?”

“But…”

He certainly took a step into the underworld with full courage.

But… but…

“Ah, by the way, thanks to Pluto’s grace, you don’t die easily in the underworld, so don’t worry.”

“…You can’t even die?”

He wanted to go back to this world again.