Chapter 190: Heracles (15)
Hundreds of humans, goblins, beastkin, orcs, and others were stacked in orderly piles. Penthesilea finished her task and was heading toward her master.
In a different sense from Aresia, her grotesqueness left her with no particular emotions toward the enemies she had killed.
Her only concern was whether the offerings she presented to her master were too insignificant.
“Hmm, I wonder if I offered too weak ones to Master. They couldn’t even block a single arrow. If it had been my sister…”
Penthesilea swallowed her regret as she thought of Aresia, who handled the bow better than she did.
In truth, from the beginning, swords and fists had suited her, while bows and mana suited Aresia.
They had been born that way, yet due to their personalities, they often handled each other’s strengths in reverse.
“Still, that pathetic hunter will spread the word. All the way to the annoying ones leading this whole affair. Anyway, I took up the bow to avoid getting even a drop of filthy blood on me, but I’m not very satisfied. I should hurry back to Master’s side.”
Penthesilea casually tossed aside the bow she had been holding and walked toward her destination, speaking words that would have made the dead spirits vomit blood in resentment if they could hear.
Unlike Aresia, not a single drop of blood had stained Penthesilea’s battle—her approach was obsessively clean to the point of seeming meticulous.
And somewhere on a plain.
There, about two hundred knights faced off against a single person.
Though it lacked the tricky mages and assassins mixed in like with Aresia and Penthesilea,
Considering they were a knight order, it might actually be even more dangerous.
Knights were typically experts in war, and especially those from noble houses—no one among them hadn’t experienced tactics and battle.
“Does it make sense that we’re here to deal with just one little brat like this?”
“Exactly. What are the higher-ups thinking? And we even have to capture him alive?”
“That’s why it’s so absurd. Ordering a force this size to capture one kid.”
“Sigh. What can we do? Us underlings just follow orders.”
“Right, let’s finish this quick and go drink. But don’t let your guard down. They said a knight order or escort unit protecting the kid might show up.”
“Yeah, yeah. Even if they do, how many could there be? We’re a full two hundred elite knights.”
“Uhahahaha, true enough.”
To anyone watching, the matchup was utterly ridiculous.
Sending two hundred knights just to catch one little boy.
And not apprentices—these were full-fledged knights who had seen real war.
Someone among the higher-ups must have anticipated that the kid might have protecting knights or troops, but the knights were confident.
They were certain that no opponent could stand against them, drawn as they were from various noble houses.
“Sigh, kid. I won’t say don’t resent us. What can we do? Looks like you made some big mistake.”
Because of that confidence, the knights sent one of their own forward to face Alcides.
Even that knight’s face was plastered with annoyance.
“So, kid, come quietly. At least that way, not a single wound will come to you.”
“Hmm, is this the level of a noble’s knight?”
“Huh? What’d you say?”
The knight, as if he hadn’t heard properly, dug at his ear and asked.
In all his life, he had never once experienced a child calmly appraising a knight like this.
“Tch, I mean below expectations. Just some idiot wearing the title of knight.”
“What?!”
“Sigh… I should have just asked Master to send me where Auntie Aresia went. I wanted to experience a knight order for no good reason.”
“You little—!”
Thud.
But the knight, enraged by Alcides’s muttering, couldn’t fully express his anger before a large hole punched through his chest, sending him tumbling off his horse.
……
An unimaginable situation fell upon them. A sudden, heavy silence enveloped the relaxed knights chatting in the rear.
Even though he had been casually selected and sent forward, that knight had been above average within the order…
And he had died before he could even do anything.
—What… this is impossible.
—Collas!
The knights snapped back to their senses and immediately began moving. They had underestimated him as just a child, but after a comrade died in a single strike, they could no longer see him as an ordinary boy.
From their experience, it was commonplace—almost everyday—to see young Teras or other heteromorphic races in childlike forms or ages easily killing humans.
Thud thud thud thud thud.
With the thunder of hooves shaking the earth, the massive knight order charged toward Alcides like a giant ballista.
To most capable fighters, this would have been a terrifying sight.
Yet Alcides’s expression remained calm. He even looked somewhat bored.
“Really made a mistake. If I’d known it was only this level, I would have dumped it on Auntie Aresia. That Auntie is a barbarian—she would have loved it.”
Sighing, Alcides drew a wooden staff from thin air.
This was the weapon he had requested from his master, Njord, after learning that Njord’s staff could also take the form of a spear.
He didn’t know where Master had obtained it, but Njord had gifted it to him, saying it was made by compressing an entire olive tree that the goddess Athena cherished.
It didn’t have any special abilities, though.
Only one thing: its durability was comparable to the adamantine created by the goddess Gaia—enough to fully withstand Alcides’s strength.
Alcides gripped the wooden staff that had appeared in midair tightly.
“Focus! Form the formation! Treat that thing as a giant monster!!”
Formation!
Formation!
Formation!
The knight order no longer let their guard down. The moment the wooden staff appeared in the air, they instantly formed their battle array.
The knights’ mana intertwined into one, enveloping the charging knights.
Mana enveloped the knights like iron armor. Normally, reaching the level of mana manifestation required at least Archon-grade strength among warriors to even attempt such a feat.
Yet humans had endlessly researched ways to surpass individual limits through collective effort, even if only temporarily. One of the methods they discovered was the knight order’s formation.
It wasn’t a single person’s power, but a connection of multiples that allowed them to temporarily exceed their stage.
And this was precisely why noble houses and nations held such strength.
It wasn’t mere imitation of mana manifestation—they created actual armor and shields made of mana.
In truth, this secret art, which replicated not only defensive power but even the weight of shields, was the driving force that allowed them to rule wearing the mantle of nobles and kings in this era of superhumans.
A massive chariot clad in enormous shields and iron armor charged toward Alcides at the speed of galloping horses.
With momentum that seemed capable of crushing everything in its path.
Ku ku ku ku kung.
The heavy sound and vibration drew closer until it was only five hundred paces from Alcides.
“Hoo… Still lacking, but at this level, I can give it a try.”
Yet Alcides showed no sign of tension. He drew the spear back fully, extending it forward along with his rear foot in one smooth motion.
And then.
[Alcides Style — Athanatos Skapho (Athanatos Skapho): The One Who Pierces Immortality]
The technique Alcides had created—born from Njord’s teachings and his endless battles against the still-unconquered Aresia—revealed itself against the knight order.
Without a single ounce of wasted force, power surged through the tip of the olive-wood staff, blending Alcides’s raw physical strength, the flow of mana he had realized, and his honed technique into a single thrust.
The mana that faintly manifested seemed far too feeble compared to the knight order’s formation.
A hazy, wavering heat shimmer—like something that might flicker out at any moment—extended forward.
Huuuup!!!
But that slow, seemingly weak attack—if the nine-year-old Alcides from the arena had witnessed it—would have left him speechless in awe.
Because, however faintly, it contained a trace of the very technique Njord had once shown him long ago.
Pop.
With the soft sound of thick wool enveloping something,
Gi gi gi gik!
Followed by the tortured screech of metal twisting under impossible force—the knight order’s formation shattered.
More precisely, it was crushed flat. The knights within felt the same sensation as their formation breaking, along with an inexplicable light, before losing consciousness.
Unaware that it was the last light they would ever see.
Contrary to its outwardly weak appearance, that single thrust split the earth, cracked the ground, and shook the air.
“Hmm, still not enough. Master was somehow different.”
Yet the evaluation from Alcides, the one who had created this entire scene, was utterly dismissive.
Even as he surveyed the knight order—reduced to scattered limbs and fragments with no other trace left—and the plain that looked beyond repair, utterly devastated.
He was already looking farther ahead.
Beyond the carnage before him, toward something more distant.
The single technique his master had shown him.
“It definitely felt like something piercing through. Not this messy.”
Murmuring that thought, Alcides recited softly to himself.
***
The forces wiped out respectively by Aresia, Penthesilea, and Alcides.
No matter how much the nobles claimed they hadn’t revealed their full strength, no one could easily laugh off or accept losses of this magnitude.
“What in the world is going on?! Just to kill three people, we spent two thousand talents (two hundred thousand gold coins) hiring ranger units, assassin guilds, and mercenary guilds! And that’s not all—there was even the knight order we nobles pooled together to form…”
They were annihilated!!!
No one dared step forward to calm the person shouting at the top of their lungs, veins bulging.
They were all just as furious. Or perhaps it was fear more than anger.
Only now were they truly realizing what kind of beings they had provoked.
It felt worse than the records and history suggested. No—perhaps that would have been better. If even one among them had reached the Heros (hero) level—a stage rare even across all of human history…
“Now, now, calm down. Things have escalated a bit, but we still have some leeway, don’t we?”
At that moment, Teleos—the only one maintaining composure in the room—stepped in to soothe the nobles.
They were still necessary to him; he couldn’t let them lose their reason just yet.
“Lord Teleos. You were the one leading this plan, but things have grown far bigger than expected.”
“Indeed. Judging by the results alone, we now have no choice but to commit our full strength. I have no intention of shifting blame onto you. But the situation is undeniably painful.”
—That’s true.
—Agreed.
—I feel the same.
But the nobles weren’t fools. The foolish ones had already perished or were dying off constantly in this era.
Precisely because they weren’t fools, even while still feeling the need for Teleos, they began to harbor doubts toward him.
A suspicion: Had he hidden information from us?
Of course, before Teleos took the lead, they themselves had investigated the sisters, Alcides, and the mage—so they had agreed and proceeded with the plan.
Yet it was undeniable that Teleos currently knew the most about the enemies, and he had been the one to quickly devise the concrete strategy.
“Haha, I feel the same way. It certainly deviated a bit from my expectations. But everyone—among us here, is there anyone who has gathered as much information on the black market and the merfolk pirates as I have? Please trust me just one more time.”
“Of course we trust you. It’s just that the damage is turning out far greater than anticipated—that’s all we’re saying.”
“Right. When we first made the plan, we never imagined we’d need to prepare for this level.”
Amid the rising suspicion, Teleos met eyes with the head of the Apopolitos family—who was effectively acting as the leader of this alliance—and smiled.
Teleos was trying to use them once more, while the Apopolitos family head regarded him with openly wary eyes.
(‘Hoo, not easy. I thought they were just idiots.’)
(‘Hmm… I can guess what that one’s thinking. If it benefits us, there’s no reason not to use him. Above all, we must avoid provoking the Theban royal family. But… something feels ominous.’)
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