King of Underworld

Chapter 173: A Strange Trojan War – (7)

Once again, the clash between the Greek forces and Troy resumed.

In the middle of the battlefield, Hector, the commander-in-chief of the Trojan army, felt something was amiss.

“That man is the commander of Troy, the one with the shining helmet, Hector!”

“Let’s bring down Troy today!!!”

First of all, the morale of the Greek army was unusually high.

Even though Menelaus, the king of Sparta, had avenged his brother Paris and presumably returned to his homeland, their spirits remained oddly elevated.

And then…

“Argh! Wh-what is that monster?”

“He caught an arrow with his bare hands. Is he… a god?”

“He’s not even wearing armor, so why can’t he be killed… Gah!”

Achilles rampaging at the center of the Greek army was at least within the realm of understanding.

He possessed martial skills slightly superior to Hector’s own.

But those two middle-aged warriors were something else entirely.

One man, without even donning armor, was punching his way through the Trojan soldiers with his bare fists.

“Gah… What the—”

“Crazy! Isn’t that pankration?”

“This is a battlefield! A battlefield! How is a bare-handed man…”

Thud. Crack.

“Ah, don’t swing things around like that—it’s dangerous.”

On the left flank of the Trojan army, a single bare-handed fighter was pushing them back.

Arrows aimed at him missed, spears and swords were either caught or shattered. Was such prowess truly something a mortal could display?

And yet, the situation elsewhere was no better. On the Trojan right flank, they were being driven back by an old warrior wielding a sword like a phantom.

Unlike Achilles, who had divine armor, this hero wielded only an old, battered sword as he crossed the battlefield.

Whoosh. Slice—

“Aaargh!”

“Can’t even block this? Have today’s lot been properly trained? Tsk.”

Hector soon realized their identities.

Only the legendary heroes who had once fought monsters and transcended human limits could exhibit such prowess.

The renowned warriors of Troy were falling one by one under their might.

“Is that Penthesilea, the Amazon queen and daughter of Ares?”

“Gah…”

“Since I owe a favor to the god of war, I’ll spare your life.”

Smack!

Even as Hector, Troy’s greatest warrior, stepped forward himself, he could not stop those heroes who had become monsters to defeat monsters.

The left flank. The right flank. Both fell to the heroes. In the center, Achilles continued his rampage.

Gritting his teeth, Hector raised his voice and shouted loudly.

“All forces, retreat! Do not engage them! Fall back into the city of Troy!”

In a full-scale confrontation, it was impossible to stop the Greek army that included those heroes.

Nestor, the commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition army, stepped onto the battlefield at Agamemnon’s request.

He swung his sword lazily, his expression bored.

Nestor was one of the mid-to-upper-tier heroes who had participated in the voyage of the Argo.

However, age had dulled his skills, and he no longer displayed the fervor or intimidating presence he once had while fighting mythical monsters.

His armor and sword were old and worn, relics from his training days in the underworld.

Clang—Shing—

“Huff… Huff. Urgh.”

“I couldn’t see the sword swing. Is that the power of a god?”

“What blessing did he receive for all our attacks to miss?”

Even so, none of the Trojan generals could counter his swordsmanship.

Naturally, attempts to hinder him with divine blessings, arrows, and even blinding mist failed to slow Nestor as he advanced through the battlefield.

Whoosh—Swish.

‘Is this the work of Ares? Hah. Even with our connection in the underworld, I see there’s no leniency here.’

It was all useless against him.

He had once fought against Gigantes who rivaled gods and survived the dragon that burned Colchis.

Of course, if divine punishment were outright declared with intent to kill, it would have been a different story. But such blatant intervention in a mere human war would have been dishonorable, lacked justification, and drew too much attention.

“All forces, retreat! Do not engage them! Fall back into the city of Troy!”

“Whoa! The Trojans are retreating into the city!”

“Let’s capture the city now. Bring the ladders!”

“The heroes are with us! Everyone, charge! Strike the retreating Trojan army!”

As Hector’s retreat orders were given, the Trojan army began withdrawing from the battlefield. The Greek army launched a pursuit.

Nestor, watching the coalition forces spear soldiers fleeing toward the city, shook his head.

“Nestor, do you see that?”

The man who approached him, speaking, was Polydoros, his fists dripping with fresh blood.

In the past, the master of Pankration, who could only distract the dragon of Colchis without using force, seemed to fully display his prowess on the battlefield of mortals.

Like Nestor, his body bore not a single wound.

It was evident that he had broken through by overwhelming his enemies with sheer strength.

“The walls of Troy? Of course, I can see them clearly.”

“I heard that those walls were built by the gods Apollo and Poseidon together. Even if we tried, we wouldn’t be able to break them.”

“Ha… by the gods themselves?”

As the Greek allied forces approached the fortress, they prepared ladders and began climbing the walls one by one.

The siege battle commenced in earnest. Of course, not a single soldier could make it over the walls due to the resistance of the Trojan army, but if those two intervened…

“So, do we climb up the ladder? To what extent should we proceed?”

“Still, we made a promise to Agamemnon to capture the fortress. If we go too far, wouldn’t the gods intervene?”

“True, that’s a fair point.”

Nodding at each other, they soon climbed the ladders and began scaling the walls.

The Trojans, who had been fighting bravely, were terrified at the sight of those men climbing up.

“Hi-Hiiik! Those guys!”

“Pour all the boiling water we have! Archers, shoot arrows…”

“Throw stones down!”

-Splaash!-

“Aaagh!”

“It’s hot! Aaaah!”

The Trojans poured boiling water over the Greek soldiers scaling the walls, causing many to scream and fall to the ground.

Of course, such measures were of no hindrance to heroes who had endured dragon flames. Just as Polydoros was about to reach the top of the wall, a Trojan soldier appeared above him.

The soldier’s eyes, tinged with faint irritation, gazed coldly down at them.

But instead of thrusting his spear or resisting to prevent them from climbing the walls, he simply muttered a few words in a casual tone.

“Go back down.”

“…?”

What is this guy?

Polydoros threw a punch to knock down the Trojan soldier before him.

The punch of the greatest Pankration master in Greece, radiating an eerie destructive force, flew straight at the soldier’s face…

-Thud.-

“What!”

…Only to be caught effortlessly.

It was then that Polydoros could clearly see the soldier’s eyes.

Instead of pupils that a human should have, there was only a swirling abyss of pure blackness.

An overwhelming presence far beyond that of mortals. A lofty divine nature. A god descending temporarily into a human form. And this chilling, fearsome aura was unmistakably…

The very essence of the Underworld that they had always felt during their harrowing training at the hero’s academy.

Although Chiron, their teacher, had explained that the goddess of spring had neutralized the power of the Underworld there, the trainees had always been gripped by primordial fear.

Even with the presence of the spring goddess’s energy, that place was still the Underworld. The final destination for all mortals.

Then the identity of the god standing before them could only be one thing.

“How dare you throw a punch at me?”

“Could it be… Are you Pluto, the god of the Underworld?!”

“Correct. Son of Zeus. And you, Nestor, coming up right below him, listen carefully.”

“Y-Yes! Please, speak!”

Nestor and Polydoros nodded fervently, their faces stricken with shock.

Why was one of the Three Great Gods here? And on Troy’s side, no less?

Of all gods, why would the god of the Underworld descend onto a mortal battlefield?

Was he here to drag all the mortals he deemed unworthy straight to the Underworld?

Had they committed some grave sin? Even if the Trojans worshipped Pluto, would that justify his direct intervention…?

“I trained you in the Underworld to give you the strength to fight monsters, and now you use that strength to turn on your fellow humans?”

“That’s… This is war, so…”

“Do you think I had Chiron train you to massacre your fellow humans in a frenzy for glory?”

“N-No! We would never…!”

Faced with the visibly displeased god of the Underworld, the seasoned heroes could only tremble.

It didn’t matter if the soldiers below the ladder were puzzled or if the Trojans, sensing something strange, started approaching. All they could see was the god of the Underworld before them.

After glaring at them for a moment, the god pointed a finger downward.

“Get down immediately. If you withdraw from this war now, I may consider sparing you.”

“H-Haha… Of course! Let’s go down, Nestor!”

“Ahem! It was an honor to meet you in person, Lord Pluto!”

-Swoosh-

Faithful to the god’s command, they released their grip on the ladder and jumped straight to the ground.