Free Web NovelSu-ho silently looked over the notifications.
And after checking the information on what he had acquired, he quietly nodded.
'There’s definitely less to it than with Girad.'
There were not even any bonus stats.
Of course, that did not mean the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia was bad.
It was only that, compared to Girad, it was nothing special.
Which made sense. Back with Girad, he had received bonus stats as a first-clear perk, gained various skills, and even gotten notifications related to the Transcendents.
But Paracondia had none of that.
'Since it was a Big Gate that appeared out of nowhere, I guess there’s no helping it?'
Well, if that was how it was, then that was how it was.
It was not as though the skill itself was trash, so it was fine.
'With this, the preparations are finished.'
There was nothing left to do.
Now he could focus solely on the Special Quest.
Su-ho recalled the contents of the refreshed Special Quest.
[ Special Quest ]
# A Special Quest that manifested for Player An Su-ho.
# It is a linked quest, and if you fail while carrying it out, it will automatically terminate.
# The quest reward is paid by accumulating the result values, and if you fail midway, no reward will be given.
# You have achieved the first quest.
# You have achieved the second quest.
# The third Special Quest occurs in the Gigantomachy.
It said the third Special Quest would occur in the Gigantomachy.
And at present, the only way Su-ho could participate in the Gigantomachy was by carrying out the "Hero’s Destiny" quest derived from the Hercules trait.
Su-ho immediately brought up the Hercules trait information.
[ Hercules ]
# One who has completed all labors and become, from a candidate, the true incarnation of Hercules.
# The incarnation of Hercules gains a 300% increase in additional attack power for all types of attack methods capable of inflicting physical damage on the opponent.
# The incarnation of Hercules gains a 300% increase in additional damage reduction against all damage.
# The incarnation of Hercules gains a 300% increase in all recovery power.
# The incarnation of Hercules gains a 300% increase in all physical abilities, including bodily durability and resistance.
# The incarnation of Hercules can summon Hercules’s club and lion-head helmet. The summoned divine treasures are affected by the summoner’s mana.
# The incarnation of Hercules can carry out the "Hero’s Destiny" quest.
The sentence related to the Hero’s Destiny quest written in the last line stood out darkly.
Su-ho immediately touched it.
[ Would you like to start the "Hero’s Destiny" quest? ]
A concise question.
The answer was obviously yes.
[ Starting the quest. ]
Fwaaash!
Light burst out, and Su-ho’s figure disappeared.
***
The Gigantomachy.
To summarize it, the great war in Greek mythology between the Gigas race and the Twelve Olympians.
To explain it more fully, after the Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus due to the Titanomachy, Gaia, the goddess of the earth, enraged by that, created many monsters and attacked Olympus, where the gods lived.
Hercules was on the side of the Olympian gods in this one.
Because there had been a prophecy that victory in the Gigantomachy would be impossible unless they borrowed the power of a great human hero.
So from then on, Zeus had relations with countless women and begot children, and what was created that way was Hercules, the strongest hero of the human world.
'And I’m the sole owner and incarnation of that Hercules trait.'
Back in the Titanomachy, he had become Cronos and led the Titanomachy to victory.
So this time, in the Gigantomachy, he would probably have to become Hercules and lead the war to victory.
Right around when those thoughts were continuing, his flickering vision returned, and the surrounding scenery began to take shape.
The first sense to be stimulated among them was none other than hearing.
"Kill them all!!"
"Don’t leave a single one alive!!"
"It’s time to avenge our mother’s resentment!!"
Thunderous shouts.
Following that stimulated hearing came the stench of blood and burning that stabbed at his nose, and soon after, the air itself rang sharply and battered his whole body.
The Gigantomachy—the war had already begun.
Kwarrrrrng!!
Shwaaaaaaa!!
Fwoooosh!!
Lightning, tidal waves, a sea of fire.
Disasters rarely seen were pouring forth as if overflowing, and amid them, the Olympian gods and beings with the lower bodies of snakes and the upper bodies of humans were fighting fiercely.
'So those bastards are the Gigantes.'
The Gigantes were the new children Gaia had borne together with Uranus for the sake of revenge.
With power mighty enough to rival the gods, they were madly pressing the Olympian camp.
At that moment, system notifications rose before Su-ho’s eyes.
[ Destiny has begun. ]
[ This is the region of Phlegrae, where the Gigantomachy is taking place. ]
[ You have become Hercules. ]
[ Your camp is being pushed back. ]
[ Meet Zeus, join the Olympian camp, and lead the war to victory. ]
Along with an explanation of the situation, the system notifications began telling Su-ho what he had to do.
After seeing the notifications, Su-ho let out a faint chuckle.
'Just as expected.'
There were no variables.
Just as he had expected, Su-ho had become Hercules, and all he had to do was help the Olympian gods and lead the Gigantomachy to victory.
But there was still one thing that had not been confirmed.
'The Hero’s Destiny quest has started, but separately, there’s still no notification about the Special Quest.'
So they were not progressing together?
Apparently not.
Still, since it had said in the Special Quest that the third Special Quest would occur in the Gigantomachy, he decided to proceed with the Hero’s Destiny quest for now and wait calmly.
Su-ho immediately [N O V E L I G H T] began arming himself.
[ Summoning Hercules’s lion-head helmet. ]
[ Summoning Hercules’s club. ]
[ Blood Armor is activated. ]
[ Blessing is activated. ]
[ Paladin is activated. ]
[ Divine Aura is activated. ]
[ Mana Detection is activated. ]
[ Endurance is activated. ]
[ Enhancement is activated. ]
[ Wildsmith’s Eye is activated. ]
[ Sword Energy is activated. ]
After finishing his basic armament, he immediately summoned Cheolma.
“Let’s go!”
“Hihihing!”
He had no intention of moving around stealthily.
Su-ho’s first objective, no matter what, was to meet Zeus.
'On a battlefield like this, it’s better to stand out instead.'
So he had deliberately put on even the helmet and armaments that would symbolize Hercules.
Zeus aside, at the very least, Hera, who had been at each other’s throats with him for so long, would recognize him.
It was then.
“The sky!”
“There’s someone in the sky!”
“The sky?!”
At someone’s shout, the gazes of those on the battlefield tangled toward Su-ho.
Most of them were Gigantes.
Those bastards with snake lower bodies were, without exception, all giants, and fortunately, unlike the Olympian gods, they did not have any special exclusive weapons.
But that was not much of an inconvenience for them.
Because those bastards—
“Throw!”
“Hit him!”
“Knock him down first!”
Ujijik!
Kugugugu!
—were the kind for whom throwing huge boulders or ripping up the ground and hurling it was an everyday thing, all on the strength of their overwhelming power.
“Hihihihiing!!”
All sorts of debris torn from the earth came flying toward Su-ho and Cheolma.
The size of it was no joke.
Because the debris of the earth that they, born as giants, tore up or lifted had a very massive default size.
'With just a little exaggeration, it feels like an entire mountain is flying at me.'
But the clever famed horse ostentatiously dodged those enormous projectiles and even pulled aerial acrobatics as a form of provocation, mocking the Gigantes.
Around then, someone raised a hand toward Su-ho and shouted.
“Over here!”
No matter how noisy a place may be, there are times when you recognize with uncanny certainty words calling out to you.
This was one of those times.
Turning his head and looking where the sound had come from, he saw a woman staring at him, and instinctively Su-ho knew who that woman was.
'That’s Hera.'
Up until now, he had only seen her through proxies or as a dim silhouette. This was the first time he was seeing her in person.
Su-ho immediately rode Cheolma and closed the distance with her.
Su-ho asked,
“Would you happen to be Hera?”
At the question of whether she was Hera, her brows immediately drew together in a wrinkle.
“Yes, I’m Hera. And you’re Hercules. But was your way of speaking always this insolent?”
At those words, Su-ho let out a faint laugh.
For a second there, I thought this was a Confucian country.
When was it that you hated me enough to do nothing but throw trials at me like you wanted me dead, and now all of a sudden you’re talking about manners?
But because he knew why Hera had hated Hercules, Su-ho decided to humor her mood to an appropriate degree.
“My apologies, Aunt. Since this is my first time actually seeing you, I needed to confirm.”
“...Fine, that will do. Anyway, do you know how the situation is unfolding?”
“More or less. Gaia started a war with her children, didn’t she? Which brings me to this—where is Father?”
At that moment—
Kwarrrrrrrrrrrng!!
An enormous bolt of lightning fell from the sky.
Quite literally, a bolt from the blue.
And in the present situation, there was only one person who could have caused lightning like that.
Hera gestured with her chin.
“There he is.”
“Thank you.”
Su-ho immediately rode Cheolma toward where Zeus was.
Zeus was armed with Keraunos, the weapon the Cyclopes had made for him during the Titanomachy, and was looking down upon the Gigantes.
As Su-ho approached him, Zeus recognized Hercules and greeted him brightly with a wide smile.
“You’ve finally come, my son!”
“Yes, your dependable son, Hercules, has arrived.”
“Yes, I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’ve come here. Now that you’ve come according to the prophecy, we’ll be able to win this war in splendid fashion.”
[ Meet Zeus, join the Olympian camp, and lead the war to victory. ]
No sooner had Zeus’s exclamation fallen than the system once again emphasized the objective.
But it had nothing to do with the Special Quest.
'When is the Special Quest going to activate?'
Let’s not get impatient.
If I wait, it’ll activate on its own.
Thinking that, he raised his weapon and said,
“So I just have to kill them all, right?”
“Yes, they’re all worthless creatures. Kill them all. If you can, of course.”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
“Whatever they may look like, they are all children of gods, born between god and god. On top of that, they’re giants, famed for their tenacity. They’re not immortal, but killing them absolutely won’t be easy.”
“That’s what he says, Jack?”
- Hmph! That’s something we’ll only know after seeing it!
At that moment, Jack, who had been waiting inside Su-ho’s shadow, revealed himself.
“Wipe them out.”
- Understood.
[ Umbra’s Shadow Legacy is activated. ]
[ Shadow Divine Beast King Hollow Jack summons the Black Army. ]
Kwaaaaaaaaah!
Black smoke erupted.
And at the same time, on Phlegrae, called the Burning Field, countless shadow knights appeared—far too many to count.
“...!!”
“...!!”
“...!!”
“...!!”
The Gigantes were startled by the sudden entry of the shadow knights into the battle.
At that, Jack curled up the corners of his mouth and gave the order. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
- Tear every last one of them apart.
Kwaaang!!
Having received the command, the shadow knights began charging at the Gigantes while giving off tremendous auras.
“Guaaaargh!!”
“W-What the hell are these things?!”
“Die!! Die!! Die!!”
The Gigantes, who had clearly held the upper hand just moments ago, began collapsing and crumbling like a lie under the overwhelming numbers of the shadow knights.
At the same time, Zeus’s mouth gradually fell wider and wider open.
