Chapter 10
“Weak! Weak! And you thought a snake trap would work? Ha ha ha!”
“Ugh!! Th-that crazy boar bastard…!”
“May the crow take you away!”
The trap was set last night with the full effort of Hephaistos’s sons and the craftsmen of the engineering department.
A strategy devised using all the devices studied in the Forest of Heroes, and the war histories of past heroes.
The tyrant’s mocking laughter at all their efforts made Theseus and Jason grit their teeth, but they had no choice.
The tyrant’s power was such that even mockery was tolerated.
“Hahahaha! As promised, tonight’s ration of wine is mine, right?”
“Ugh!! Tyrant! Go away!”
“Bloodline cheat! Monster!”
“Down with the tyrant!”
“Thanatos, what are you doing? Take away that monstrous brat!”
“Hahaha! Yes, wail all you want, losers! The wine is mine anyway!”
Even while facing the resentment from the infirmary head-on, the young tyrant laughed loudly without losing an inch of confidence.
His eyes, arrogantly laughing with black hair fluttering like a lion’s mane, shone intensely with intoxication from victory.
Son of Alcmene and prince of Mycenae. The man who strangled a snake to death at birth and the tyrant of the Forest of Heroes.
Hercules.
He was a tyrant that ignited the fighting spirit of everyone here and a warrior recognized by all.
Even his arrogant remarks and condescending gaze had to be acknowledged because he was Hercules.
Who would dare to oppose him? At his age, his martial arts skills were already on par with his teacher, Chiron, and his titanic strength was so overwhelming that no one could stand against him.
“Hercules… just wait and see. I still have about seventy-two strategies left to capture you!”
“Tactics Department, think hard today! We need to come up with a strategy that makes that bastard surrender with both hands up!”
“I’ll accept it anytime! Bring it on!”
The cheers of the warriors heated up the air in the infirmary.
On one side, as an arrogant king, and on the other, as a challenger, they always burned with fierce competitiveness towards each other.
“Who broke the door? Which bastard?”
“Heik?!”
The arrogantly smiling king was now gone, and Hercules shrank back at the voice flying from behind him.
It wasn’t just Hercules.
“Snore.”
“Mumble, mumble.”
The warriors, who had raised their voices against the tyrant, collapsed like corpses and closed their eyes.
“Oh, my dear Jason, the pain of battle torments me. Ah, it feels as though Hephaestus is hammering my head as if it were an anvil.”
“It must hurt a lot, my friend. May Apollo soothe your pain.”
The hero, who led them with his wit and intelligence, theatrically examined their wounds as if nothing had happened, not even glancing at the entrance where Hercules stood.
‘Cowards!’
“You again. You boar! Do you know how many times you’ve blown off the door?!”
It was a small boy.
White hair and a slender build. Even his skin was pale white. His deep green eyes were so
captivating that even forest nymphs would scream like girls.
The most fragile young man.
However, the patients at this clinic, who knew even a little about his background, could not see him as so delicate.
Asclepius.
The son of Apollo, the little god reigning over the clinic.
Even their teacher, Chiron, also called him a miraculous healer, surpassing even himself in medicine.
If Hercules was known as a tyrant in the Forest of Heroes, then he was known as the god of this clinic.
No matter how powerful a tyrant might be, in the realm of a god, he was just a lowly human.
Seeing those green eyes brimming with malice, even Hercules seemed to be terrified.
“U-u-u-u-um? Uh?”
“Do you have something to say?
Scalpel, small drill, bone saw, hammer, iron stake, etc.
In the white hands of Asclepius, menacing medical instruments began to appear one by one.
However, it was merely a threat, as Hercules had already experienced how thoroughly this pure white healer could torment a person.
Even as a newborn who had strangled two snakes to death, he had to deal with deadly poisons that appeared at all hours for a week, mixed with whatever he ate or drank.
“I will fix it!”
“That’s a given!! But why do you have to break all the doors?! This is a clinic!! Don’t you know that the patients need stability first?!”
Finally, an explosion.
Like a dragon spewing fire, or rather, poison mist, Asclepius, nicknamed Aes, began to rampage furiously.
Ah, that cannot be stopped.
Knowing that once Aes went on a rampage, no one could stop him, the nymphs and centaurs of the infirmary showcased their artistic retreats and stepped back.
The other students, as if they were corpses, rolled their eyes back and stuck out their tongues, pretending to be dead with even more enthusiasm.
The two heroes, known for their wisdom and strategy, had long since snuck away.
Unfortunately, with the only brake, their teacher, Chiron, absent, the pure white bachelor’s wrath fell entirely on Hercules.
‘Father Zeus! Have you abandoned me like this?!’
“Didn’t I clearly write it in front? When entering the infirmary, absolutely clean from head to toe, at least a bath, but this bastard didn’t even wash his hands and feet, let alone take a bath?”
“Hey, Aes?”
“What?”
“Why are you taking out poison from your pocket while we’re talking?”
“Why do this? Is your body a normal body? To mix it just enough not to kill you, I have to observe and improve it like this.”
Right, but improve what?
The question rose up in his throat, but he couldn’t even bring himself to say it out loud.
“Hey, we are humans, right? Right? We are talented humans who even learned from the famous teacher Chiron, right?”
“So?”
“Let’s resolve this with words…”
Oh, gods.
That Hercules. That tyrant who just laughs and says the weak are the ones who should use their brains wants to resolve things with words now?
Praying to their respective gods, like Apollo, Artemis, Zeus, and so on, for their ears and the well-being of that boar, the students pondered whether they should just pretend to sleep while they were pretending to be dead.
-Bbuu~ Bbuu~ Bbuu~
“The sound of trumpet?”
“It rang three times, right?”
The huge horn sound echoed throughout the forest.
Once, it signified the appearance of a monster; twice, the occurrence of an intruder; and thrice, the arrival of a new student.
“A new student?”
“A new student!”
“It’s a new student!!”
The students, who had been lying around like corpses, suddenly sprang up like the dead rising at the command of Hades and ran to the entrance.
“A new student! Hahaha! Who is it?! Is a new challenger finally arriving?!”
And at the very front, a man with incredible strength was running, laughing loudly with a face that looked alive.
With a sense of relief that he was alive, he made a firm resolve to never mess around in the infirmary again.
“Huh… What is this?”
I was now in the Colosseum.
As soon as Chiron arrived at the forest, the gatekeeper saw me and blew the giant horn trumpet three times.
Seeing that, Chiron immediately took me to the armory to choose a weapon I liked.
Then he brought me to the colosseum, where nearly a thousand students with gleaming eyes cheered.
Freshman! Freshman! Freshman!
“Wow… Is that a girl? She’s really pretty.”
“Hey, don’t you have eyes? It’s a boy.”
“But something seems off about him.”
Students, who seemed to be around their teenage years, murmured in the stands with various emotions.
However, three presences stood out the most.
“Oh, someone with that kind of aura again. If we can win him over, our tactics will be twice as effective.”
“Doesn’t that guy seem to know some unique strategies or skills?”
“……”
The brown-haired boy with an air that reminded me of the Jin-wi general and the bright-eyed handsome boy that brought to mind Gwi Hyun-sa, my strategist from my previous life as the Heavenly Demon Divine Emperor.
And the black-haired boy, who, at a glance, looked eager for a fight.
“Just by looking, you can tell who is who, right?”
“Theseus, Jason, and Hercules, in that order.”
Names that appeared countless times in novels, books, games, and on the internet.
Seeing them in person was a new experience.
‘They look like extraordinary kids.’
I must be really old.
Whether they were mythical heroes or not, they just looked like kids with a promising future.
But one thing was certain—the power I felt from them.
Each of them had a force similar to the divine power and aura I felt when I clashed with Artemis a while ago.
“Well, I can deal with the young ones later…”
At present, the seasoned half-human, half-horse, in front of me was the one I had to deal with.
In my current state, he was a very tricky opponent.