The King of the Underworld is Tired

Chapter 124: The Second Task – Slaying the Hydra (3)

Heracles dodged the Hydra’s relentless attacks, which kept regenerating and drawing nearer.

His mind raced, searching for a way to stop the Hydra's regeneration.

"If burning it doesn’t work... maybe if I impale it, it won’t regenerate."

If I drive many stakes into its body, press it down with a boulder, and bury it in the earth, even an immortal beast like this would die.

But...

"Have I retreated this far?"

Heracles looked around and realized where he stood.

He had rolled on the ground to avoid the Hydra’s deadly poison and had taken several steps back.

Meanwhile, the monster kept advancing, even as its heads were destroyed, constantly regenerating.

The contrast between hero and monster was stark.

It was clear to anyone watching who was the hunter and who was the hunted.

'Grit.'

Heracles clenched his teeth unconsciously.

Is this... right? Even if I manage to kill it, will that repay the humiliation I’m enduring now?

How could a coward who runs from the Hydra’s poison ever dare to challenge the position of the gods?

"The thought of burning and burying it under a pile of dirt out of fear of its regenerative power is something only other heroes would think of."

If I can’t face such a beast head-on, I will only move further away from Olympus!

"Yes, trying to use tricks from the start was a mistake."

Crack.

Heracles gripped his iron club tightly with both hands, which he had previously been swinging with just one.

Under the pressure of his grip, the iron warped and strained, emitting harsh sounds, but he ignored it, his gaze fixed on the Hydra before him.

Humans who used cunning and trickery to deceive and kill monsters were all praised as heroes.

But he was challenging divinity. To become a god who looked down on all from above...!

“I will crush you.”

The beast’s regeneration? I’ll break through it head-on.

Recalling the Nemean Lion he had killed with his bare hands, Heracles swung his iron club.

Unlike before, when he had cautiously swung to avoid getting its poison on him, this time he put all his strength into it.

Whooosh! Splat!

"If its fluid is poisonous, then instead of dodging, I’ll blow it away with the wind pressure!"

One of the Hydra’s heads flew off, but not a single drop of its fluid reached his direction.

With renewed confidence, Heracles continued swinging his club.

From left to right. From right to left. He repeated his full-powered strikes.

How long would he continue? Naturally, until the beast before him stopped regenerating and died!

Whoooosh—! Splat! Splash!

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“Hraaaaaaaah!!!”

One strike after another.

Heracles’ body, strengthened by Hera’s milk and the power of the River Styx, was the greatest human physique.

So even though he swung with all his might again and again, he did not tire.

All of his nerves were focused on destroying the monster in front of him.

His goal wasn’t merely to kill the enemy, but to completely pulverize it with a whirlwind of strikes.

Whether it was a mountain, a beast, or poison. Anything that stood in his way would be smashed to pieces.

"Let’s see whether your regeneration is faster, or if I can smash you faster!!!"

Ssssiiiiik?!

One of the Hydra’s heads exploded.

It regenerated.

Two of its heads exploded simultaneously.

It regenerated.

Three, no, four heads were torn apart.

And regenerated again...

One of the monster's heads spewed poison, intending to dissolve the human.

But Heracles’ club struck the head off first.

Their battle continued for two whole days.

The poison dripping from the Hydra and the sweat pouring from Heracles fell to the ground, while debris flew in all directions.

The regenerating monster and the destructive hero.

In this endless cycle, the first to declare surrender was the monster.

As its heads continued to burst, the Hydra turned and tried to flee, desperate to escape this terrifying human.

But Heracles’ strikes were faster.

Crunch. Splat. Crack!

The massive body of the Hydra was slowly being hacked away.

The monster’s regeneration could no longer keep up with the wounds that were continually bursting open.

And finally...

Boom!—Splaaash!!!

A desperate, all-out strike blasted the Hydra’s gigantic body apart.

All nine of its heads, along with its torso.

“...Did I finish it?”

The venomous serpent, which had endless regenerative power...

...was finally slain by Heracles, who possessed endless strength.

* * *

Heracles sat down on the ground, slowly taking off the Nemean Lion’s skin.

The most troublesome part of slaying the Hydra was its deadly poison.

Even Heracles had to be mindful of its venom throughout the two-day battle.

He looked at the green poison that had stained the lion's hide and shook his head.

If it weren’t for the training he had undergone with the goddess Megaera in the underworld, he might have died here.

“Hah…”

Neither Bellerophon nor Cadmus had ever been able to wound him, but the power of the gods could so easily inflict harm upon him...

It was thanks to his experience of learning techniques, desperately defending, and dodging attacks like the other heroes...

The sparring sessions with the goddess had elevated Heracles’ abilities by several levels, and this was the result.

As he caught his breath and inspected his body, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

When he turned his head, he saw a group of soldiers, terrified as they looked at the torn-up ground and the aftermath of the battle.

“Gasp… Gasp!”

“What in the world…!”

“Hm? Soldiers? Who sent you?”

Stammering, the soldiers replied to his question.

"U-uh... We serve the King of Argos… We came after the citizens reported hearing loud noises in the area..."

"Ah, that commotion earlier was because I was dealing with the Hydra, Chrysaor, and Lamia."

"Wha-what?!"

"I beat the Hydra to death with a club, and if you keep walking that way, you'll find the corpses of Chrysaor and Lamia."

The soldiers of Argos were dumbfounded by his words.

What kind of nonsense was this madman spouting? Not just the venom-spewing Hydra, but also the golden sword-wielding Chrysaor, and even Lamia, infamous near Athens?

However, the overwhelming signs of an intense battle and the sweat on his forehead, his enormous muscles that looked capable of slaying monsters, and the Nemean Lion's skin stained with green venom led the soldiers to feel a mix of skepticism and belief.

"Hey, isn't that green fluid on the ground proof that the Hydra rampaged here?"

"Is that… are those the torn remains of the Hydra? Did a divine punishment strike here?"

"Oh my god… aren't you Heracles, who wiped out the Nemean lions? I have a relative who's a priestess of Hera..."

"What am I looking at… is the Hydra truly dead?"

"And that golden sword at your waist—is it really Chrysaor’s...?"

"Anyway, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now."

Ignoring their reverent mutterings about him being a great hero or a manifestation of the gods, Heracles picked up the Nemean Lion's skin and began to move.

"Do you even know what a god is? Do you think it's merely a perfect being with great strength and immortality?"

Even though he was this strong, and the feats he'd already accomplished should have been more than enough.

"A god is a being that exists to maintain the balance of the world. No matter how many great deeds you achieve, as long as you hold onto such simple thoughts… you will never become a god."

Why did the lord of the underworld tell him he could never become a god?

His overwhelming strength alone should have been enough to make him worthy of divinity, shouldn't it?

The great hero still did not know.

* * *

So, in the end, Heracles had killed the Hydra.

And, as a bonus, Chrysaor, wielder of the golden sword, and Lamia, who had been devouring children near Athens.

"Hades, I brought Lamia."

"Thank you, Thanatos."

Thus, Lamia arrived in the underworld and, naturally, met me.

Lamia trembled in fear, kneeling and bowing on the floor of the audience chamber.

From a brief glance at her eyes, I could feel many emotions: anger, fear, resentment toward the gods, and sorrow… As expected, her hatred was so deep that even the waters of Lethe couldn't wash it away.

"Raise your head, Queen of Libya."

"Q-Queen?! Haha… Am I still a queen?"

"Look at your body. Do you still have the lower half of a snake?"

The curse of Hera was lifted with Lamia's death.

To be precise… while the curse remained on her corpse, her soul in the underworld was freed from the form of the half-human, half-serpent monster.

"I devoured over a hundred children… Haha… What punishment will you give me? Tartarus…?"

"I know that you became that way because of Hera’s divine punishment."

"……"

"I also know that you led a blood-stained life after receiving Hera’s curse as a result of your love affair with Zeus. And I’ll take into consideration the fact that, as a mere human, you couldn’t possibly have refused Zeus."

The price of her affair with Zeus was Hera’s curse.

She had lived a pitiful life, stealing children from other women and devouring them, seducing men only to kill them.

But I couldn’t show her complete mercy.

"The number of children you devoured is far too great. Even though it was due to Hera’s curse, you still need to atone for your sins."

"…Hehe…"

"Since it wasn’t your will but a curse that drove you, I’ll grant you the blessing of forgetfulness and erase your memories."

With a gesture from the goddess of oblivion, Lamia’s eyes turned vacant.

Still, since she committed so many sins, she had to pay the price. Maybe, after several hundred years of atonement, she would be allowed to reincarnate…

As Lamia departed, the goddess Lethe approached me.

"As for Chrysaor, as I mentioned…"

"Yes, the goddess Medusa is meeting him. Just like Pegasus, he seems to be following his mother well."

"Soon we’ll send him to the Hero Training Grounds. He may no longer wield the golden sword that flew through the skies, but even without it, his body should be more than enough for the heroes."

Monsters often didn’t rest in peace, even in death.

The Nemean Lion and the Chimera were already in the training grounds of the underworld… Bellerophon despised it, but it was a necessary task.

Chrysaor would soon meet the same fate.

"Hades, at this point, shouldn’t we put a stop to Heracles' trials?"

"…?"

"Even among the gods of Olympus, opinions are divided. He’s already slain two of Typhon’s children. Isn’t it time to acknowledge him as the hero of prophecy?"

"And how is Hera reacting?"

"I heard from Hermes, who came to the underworld, that Hera was furious. Watching Zeus's illegitimate child complete her trials and slay monsters in front of her made her seethe with anger."

Now 

that the theory of Heracles being the hero of prophecy was gaining traction, it would be even harder for Hera to kill him.

I had already decreed that he wasn’t to be killed, so she’d likely just keep throwing him difficult tasks.

However, I heard that Gaia herself had appeared before Heracles to block his path when he went to slay the Hydra.

There’s a chance she might continue to interfere with him.

"It’s too late now… Even if a Gigantes escapes the gods’ sight, with Heracles around…"

Should I kidnap a Gigantes and throw it at him, perhaps?